Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Getting back to the main point,

Among the more than seven hundred names on the list on Zongxuan's desk, Sakura Haruno only excelled in academic subjects; her practical training grades were only average, placing her in the upper-middle range. However, teaming up with Naruto and Sasuke would be a stretch. As for the others…

Zongxian flipped through the first two pages and read on, but it seemed there were no suitable candidates.

The list in his hand was sorted by grades, and the names at the end became increasingly mediocre, even less impressive than Sakura Haruno, who had made it to the first page with her top-notch academic scores!

"This is a bit troublesome!"

Zongxian rubbed his temples.

"Cong Yun, do you have any suggestions?"

"This... I don't know either." Kurama Murakumo shook his head. As the Minister of Education, he had of course seriously studied the important name of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, but just like Sogen, he had not found a good candidate.

only,

He can leave this matter to Zongxian to handle.

However, Sogen couldn't pass the buck to anyone else. It involved the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and it wouldn't be appropriate for anyone else to make the decision. Only he, as the Hokage, was the most suitable.

[Chapter 333 Sakura Haruno's Strange Encounter]

Sakura Haruno walked out of the ninja academy gates with the crowd.

In fact,

She received an invitation from Yakumo, Ino and the others to go to karaoke. Her excellent grades in academic subjects did not mean that she was the kind of bookworm who only knew how to bury herself in books. Even if she was not as dazzling as Yakumo and Fujika, she was still an active member of the girls' group.

In terms of care,

She would never miss a pre-graduation party like this.

But the world doesn't always operate on a stable, fixed track; unexpected things can happen. Even when faced with an invitation to a pre-graduation party, Sakura Haruno used an urgent matter as an excuse to embark on her journey home in the warm spring breeze.

Sakura Haruno's home is located in the heart of the village, not far from the Ninja Academy. Just three streets away, you can see a two-story detached house with a "Haruno" sign hanging in front of it. It is an old house with more than fifty years of history. The Haruno family is not as ancient as the Uchiha or Hyuga families, which can be traced back a thousand years, but it is still one of the many families that initially followed the Senju and Uchiha to establish Konoha.

Of course, unlike the Uchiha and Hyuga clans which have remained prosperous to this day, the Haruno family has always been an inconspicuous small family, without any outstanding moments of glory, but at least it has maintained the family name and the inheritance of its bloodline.

Most of the houses in this area are old houses, belonging to families similar to the Haruno family. Although the walls have been repainted, the smooth and shiny bluestone pavement, worn smooth by countless footsteps, still shows the marks of time. The old dog lying in the yard heard the footsteps passing by outside, raised its eyelids to take a look, and when it saw that it was the Haruno family's child, it closed its eyes again and continued to doze off.

Along the way,

"Oh my! Sakura, is school over already?"

"Didn't you go play with your classmates today? Sakura's grown up so much!"

"Sakura, I heard you're graduating soon? That's great! I wonder if my brat will even pass his graduation exams."

Skillfully ignoring the greetings from neighbors and acquaintances, she returned home like a sturgeon swimming upstream. She kicked off her shoes in the entryway, quickly ran back to her room, changed into old clothes used for practicing martial arts, grabbed a bubble-blowing kit from the table, and dashed out the door like the wind, leaving only the words, "Mom, save some dinner for me, I'll eat when I get back," before disappearing without a trace.

The route I took was different from the one I took on my way home.

This time,

The girl displayed the skills of ninjas—no, she demonstrated the ability to scale rooftops and climb walls.

He took a shortcut to the training ground not far from his home, stood under a cherry tree in the corner of the training ground, panting heavily. It took him more than ten seconds to calm his breathing before he looked up and said, "Senior, I'm here."

Amidst the delicate pink cherry blossoms, a light blue feather robe sways gently in the wind.

The young man sitting in the tree looked down at the girl below, his expression as indifferent as a marble sculpture without flesh and blood. "Continue practicing." His words fell lightly, and the girl became excited as if she had been injected with chicken blood, and began to practice on the training ground.

She is practicing—

Blowing bubbles.

Yes,

correct,

Sakura Haruno stood on the training field, holding a bubble wand that resembled a small trumpet, meticulously blowing bubbles. One by one, transparent bubbles flew out and slowly drifted towards the wooden stakes not far away, but they all burst before hitting the stakes, the crackling sounds echoing across the training field.

"The chakra output is too low."

"Yes."

"...Stability has dropped again."

"Yes."

"Don't pursue speed and destructive power for now. Stability is the most important thing. Once you've maintained the stability of the bubbles, then slowly try to increase speed and destructive power. Don't be impatient or have unrealistic ambitions."

Despite the cold and unapproachable appearance of the young man sitting in the tree, he was actually incredibly meticulous when instructing the girl. He broke down the ninjutsu he created, explained it to her in detail, and practically guided her step by step on how to do it.

In fact, at the beginning, the girl was truly guided step by step on how to master this skill.

Sakura Haruno devoted herself wholeheartedly to her training.

He was completely absorbed in the knowledge and experience, wanting to engrave it all in his heart and thoroughly digest it to make it his own.

but--

so hard!

The more I tried to remember all of this, the more anxious and impatient I felt.

She was not a genius with a photographic memory.

However, she knew very well that such an opportunity was not something that could be encountered casually. If she missed this chance, it would be difficult to have another one in the future. The ninja school's curriculum was divided into two types: academic courses and practical training courses. Although, according to the school's rules, the grades in both types of courses were equally important.

But rules are rules.

In fact, compared to academic grades, both teachers and students place more emphasis on practical training scores.

In the past, Sakura Haruno watched as prominent figures like Yakumo Kurama, Fujika Uchiha, Hotaru Tsuchigumo, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha displayed their skills in practical training, and she was filled with envy. She had fantasized countless times about standing in the center of the field, radiating dazzling light, and becoming the center of attention.

Unfortunately, fantasy is always unrealistic. The difficult battles against her classmates who were only of average ability had already exhausted her strength. She had once sparred with Kurama Yakumo and lost completely. The huge gap in skill had almost made her give up on becoming a ninja, but thankfully she persevered in the end.

Just a month ago,

Sakura Haruno was training at this training ground when she encountered her senior who was sitting in a tree blowing bubbles.

To be precise, she had been seeing seniors blowing bubbles near the training ground from time to time for the past two months. She didn't pay any attention to this senior who wasn't wearing a ninja headband and was observing her training. However, a month ago, the senior who had been observing her for a long time suddenly took the initiative to talk to her and asked if she had any thoughts about learning ninjutsu.

And at that time, he demonstrated his ability to manipulate bubbles in combat.

Without much hesitation, Sakura Haruno readily agreed. As a bright girl who excelled in academic subjects, she wasn't without suspicion that there might be a hidden thorn in the side of this seemingly easy opportunity. However, her desire to become stronger and more dazzling overwhelmed her hesitation.

However, the senior did not accept her as a disciple. He instructed that he found her quite pleasing to the eye and was willing to teach her a little something, but he did not intend to take her as a disciple.

then,

She became even more reluctant to slack off.

Not being formally a master and apprentice meant that she might never find this senior, whose name she didn't even know, again. She always felt a sense of urgency that kept her from slacking off for a moment. She even resolutely refused the pre-graduation party, just so as not to miss this priceless opportunity.

Time passed by,

As the sun gradually set, darkness slowly enveloped the entire village.

"Alright, that's enough for today," the young man sitting in the tree said.

Exhausted and panting, Sakura Haruno, covered in sweat, nearly lost her balance and collapsed upon hearing this. She quickly lowered her center of gravity to regain her footing, avoiding a nasty fall. Dragging her heavy steps, she reached the tree and looked up at the young man above. "Senpai, I'll be there tomorrow..."

"Graduation exam? Go for it!"

"Yes, senior. From now on..."

"You don't need to come here to find me anymore. Once you pass the graduation exam, you'll be a full-fledged ninja."

"Huh?"

The girl panicked.

"If you need to contact me, just go to the Kirigakure Embassy."

After speaking, the young man waved his hand, signaling the girl to hurry home. Sakura Haruno had a lot of questions she wanted to ask: Kirigakure Embassy? Is the senior a Kirigakure ninja? Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

However, he didn't have the courage to ask questions of this teacher who didn't have an official title, and could only worry in his heart about whether it would have any impact.

She whispered goodbye, and her figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.

Immediately,

The young man turned his head to look into the darkness on the other side. "Friends from Konoha, can we come out now?"

"I originally planned to come and see what this year's graduates are like, but I didn't expect to encounter this situation... Bubble, won't the Mizukage have any objections to you taking on disciples in Konoha?" Zongxian walked out of the darkness, looking at the young man with great interest.

He was troubled about how to arrange Naruto's third partner.

So he decided to leave the shadow clones to do the work while his main body slipped out of the Hokage Building to conduct an on-site investigation. Data and information on paper can never fully show a person's complete appearance. Of course, this doesn't mean that you can see through a person completely with just a glance, but with the power of the Rinnegan, it should be possible to see some deeper things.

This is not,

The eye power of the Rinnegan is used without any need for its appearance.

I already saw things that weren't in the report.

"The Sixth Hokage...?"

Bubble's face stiffened.

Damn it,

I thought it was Konoha's ANBU or some Jonin who had nothing better to do, but... how did they end up provoking Konoha's ultimate boss? He came to Konoha as an envoy from Kirigakure, although he never expected that he, a Jinchuriki, would have the opportunity to be sent abroad as an envoy.

But it did happen.

He arrived in Konoha at the end of last year and has been living there for about half a year.

However, he had only met the Sixth Hokage once in all this time. This was their second meeting, and he didn't know if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the Hokage's aura had changed compared to their first meeting. He seemed to be in an extremely lofty position.

To give an example, which may or may not be appropriate,

He felt like a god looking down on the human world from the clouds.

"No need to be nervous! I'm not here to cause trouble. Although you are a Mist Ninja, it's a bit troublesome for you to take Konoha ninjas as your disciples... but it's not a big deal. Konoha won't have any objections. However, if the Mizukage has any opinions, it will be difficult for me to help you."

"It's alright!"

Bubble jumped down from the tree without making a sound.

Speaking to the Sixth Hokage from a superior position was incredibly awkward.

It's more comfortable standing on the ground.