Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

"Yeah, I never expected that Hua Lian could actually overpower Nawaki. It's amazing. We can't bully her anymore."

"Karen, do your best and defeat Nawaki!"

……

The classmates watching from the sidelines all showed expressions of surprise as they watched Hua Lian display his skills, pinning down Rope Tree.

Although Hua Lian is cute, he is usually unremarkable. They never expected that Hua Lian, who is usually timid and submissive to everyone, would be so strong when he gets serious.

"I never expected that the Hyuga clan would produce such an extraordinary child. His Water Release: Water Whip technique is truly exceptional, as nimble as his hands and feet. Moreover, he has already awakened the Byakugan at such a young age and uses it with such skill. Haha, I really look forward to seeing this new bud of Konoha."

On the other side, the Third Hokage was also watching the battle between Nawaki and Karen using his telescope technique, and was equally astonished by the amazing performance that this seemingly weak girl had suddenly displayed.

Chapter 31: Intelligence

"Damn it, this person actually saw through my true form all along! What should I do? What should I do..."

Rope Tree dodged the rapidly approaching water whips time and time again, his heart filled with anxiety.

He thought this opponent would be easy to defeat, but he didn't expect this girl from the Hyuga branch family to be so troublesome. His usual shadow clone tactic was completely useless against her Byakugan eyes and could not confuse her at all.

This was the first time Rope Tree had encountered such a situation.

Moreover, his opponent was faster than him and used very troublesome water-style ninjutsu, giving him no chance to form hand seals.

He now deeply regrets not having worked harder to improve his chakra control, which is why he has been unable to simplify the number of hand seals for the various ninjutsu he has learned.

The hand seals in ninjutsu can be simplified. A ninja who is proficient in a certain ninjutsu can simplify a ninjutsu that originally required more than ten hand seals to a single number, or even release it without hand seals. To do this, one must have excellent chakra control.

The reason why ninjutsu requires hand seals is that hand seals can mobilize the chakra in the body, allowing the chakra to move along the chakra meridian system in the body along a certain route, and then smoothly release the ninjutsu.

If a ninja is already familiar with the chakra pathways of this ninjutsu, they can rely on their excellent chakra control to manipulate the chakra along these pathways, thereby simplifying the number of hand seals and ultimately achieving release without hand seals.

"See? He didn't listen to his brother, and now he's paying the price."

Kirito sighed as he looked at Nawaki's frustrated expression.

After his battles with Nawaki, he would often remind Nawaki to work hard to improve his chakra control.

Unfortunately, this guy, relying on the Shadow Clone Technique, could safely hide and perform hand seals, ignoring his words and choosing to spend his time learning ninjutsu and taijutsu.

Now he has encountered the Byakugan, whose observational ability surpasses even that of the Sharingan. It can accurately locate his true form, and his Shadow Clone Technique has been broken. He is unable to smoothly complete hand seals to use other ninjutsu and make full use of his Chaton's advantage, and he is instantly plunged into a bitter battle.

However, Kirito was still taken aback by Karen's ability to keep track of Nawaki's true form with his Byakugan.

Logically speaking, shadow clones are materialized clones, and the Byakugan cannot distinguish between the original body and the clone. In the original story, Hyuga Neji, the genius of the Hyuga clan, never found Naruto's true body.

He put in a lot of hard work to solve this problem.

So how did Karen manage to keep track of Nawaki's clone?

There must be a secret unique to Hua Lian in this.

"That's about it, this idiot is going to lose."

Suddenly, Chizuru spoke up from the side.

Upon hearing this, Kirito looked at Nawaki's increasingly grim expression and heard the other classmates around him mocking Nawaki. He nodded thoughtfully.

Nawaki is simple-minded and impulsive, much like Naruto. When faced with difficulties that cannot be resolved quickly, he becomes impatient and acts recklessly without thinking.

Judging from the current situation, Rope Tree's patience has reached its limit.

When the shadow clones created by the fourth use of the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique were once again destroyed by Hua Lian, Nawaki, who was losing face, finally exploded. He shouted angrily, "Damn it, don't think I'm afraid to fight you in close combat!"

This time, instead of dodging the rapidly approaching water whip, he took out a kunai and charged at Hua Lian.

As a result, Hua Lian slightly adjusted the movement of the water whip, and the water whip avoided the rope tree's kunai, and then wrapped around the rope tree's body.

With his body bound by the water whip, Rope Tree panicked. While his hands were still free, he quickly formed hand seals, preparing to use the Substitution Technique to escape his predicament.

But then, a bolt of lightning appeared from Hua Lian's hand as he controlled the water whip.

In an instant, electricity was conducted through the water and acted on the rope tree.

"what!!!"

Rope Tree immediately let out a scream, and was so shocked by the electric shock that his whole body went numb and he was unable to move.

"The winner is Hyuga Karen."

Upon seeing this, Wasabi Mitarai decisively announced the outcome of the battle.

Upon hearing this, Hua Lian, who was slightly out of breath, immediately stopped releasing her lightning chakra and deactivated her Water Release: Water Whip. She then closed her Byakugan and turned to look at Kirito with a smile.

But she discovered that Kirito was talking to a person wearing a mask.

She recognized the man; he was an ANBU ninja from the village.

"Kirito Tohsaka, the Third Hokage wants to see you. Please come with me."

The ANBU ninja coldly addressed Kirito.

"The third generation is looking for me?"

Kirito looked at the ANBU ninja who had suddenly appeared before him, and a sense of doubt arose in his heart.

"Yes, I understand."

He quickly realized why the Third Hokage had come to him, nodded, and then looked at Wasabi Mitarai, who was looking over here.

Since it was the Third Hokage's order, Wasabi Mitarashi naturally had no reason to object. However, as a ninja, she never let her guard down and stared at the Anbu ninja with a suspicious look.

The ANBU ninja knew exactly what to do and quickly produced something.

When Wasabi Mitarashi saw that thing, she nodded to Kirito, indicating that he could go with the ANBU ninja.

The arrival of the ANBU ninjas undoubtedly attracted the attention of the group of curious children present. After Kirito left with the ANBU ninjas, they started discussing why Kirito had been summoned by the Third Hokage.

Intelligent people like Chizuru, Shikaku, and Karen immediately guessed that it was related to Kirito's newly developed Magnet Release. Those who were less intelligent and jealous of Kirito suspected that Kirito had done something bad and would be punished by the Third Hokage later, and they chuckled to themselves.

However, given Kirito's outstanding performance at the Ninja Academy, most people believed that Kirito was there to receive praise from the Third Hokage.

Wasabi Mitarai wasn't going to tolerate her students. She immediately suppressed them with her cold gaze and moved on to the next group's competition.

Seeing that Kirito wasn't there, Chizuru left on her own before get out of class ended.

She simply climbed over the wall and left the school, going home.

After Rope Tree regained his mobility, he silently went to a corner, collapsed on the ground, and drew circles with a branch in utter frustration.

Soon, he stood up again and, like Chizuru, went home without permission before school was over.

Karen reverted to her previous timid and meek self, returning to the crowd. She quietly watched Kirito leave, thinking to herself, "I won, Kirito-kun. Are you happy?"

……

"Wow!"

A sharp eagle's cry rang out above the Sand Village, which was surrounded by layers of rock.

Then, a messenger eagle with a letter tube wrapped around its leg flew into a tall tower in Sunagakure.

"It's actually top-level intelligence."

The Sand Ninja stationed in the tower saw the red letter tube on the messenger hawk's leg and immediately showed a surprised expression. He then stepped forward and took out the information from the letter tube.

Shortly afterward, an urgent intelligence report that had been declassified was quickly sent to the Wind Shadow Building.

Chapter 32: The Third Hokage

This was Kirito's first time entering the Hokage Building since his rebirth.

Upon entering, he used his excellent chakra perception to discover that there were many chakras here, and they were at least Chunin level, with a few even Jonin level.

In addition, he sensed several hidden chakras sweeping over him, clearly indicating that a sensory ninja was using sensory ninjutsu on him from the shadows.

Kirito doesn't yet know sensory ninjutsu, but he has been refining his Yin Release chakra nature training for the past two years, ever since he mastered it.

Surprisingly, his talent for training Yin Release chakra nature was even better than that for Lightning Release chakra nature.

Over the past two years, changes in his attribute panel have revealed that his Lightning Release chakra nature has increased from 1 to 2, while his Yin Release chakra nature has reached 3.

The main manifestation of this change in chakra nature is that one becomes more adept at using that type of chakra, enhances the power of released lightning ninjutsu, and increases one's resistance to that type of chakra.

For example, when Kirito first started training in Lightning Release Chakra Nature, he was often injured by electric shocks. However, as his training deepened and he gained a more profound understanding of Lightning Release Chakra Nature, progressing from 1 to 2, he was able to withstand even high-voltage electricity without any problems, at most experiencing a slight tingling sensation.

Of course, prolonged exposure to high voltage can still cause electric shock.

The same applies to Yin Release chakra nature; this enhancement of chakra nature can strengthen his resistance to genjutsu.

Chizuru possesses a two-tomoe Sharingan, and naturally, she has also successfully cultivated Yin-attribute chakra and can use genjutsu. However, so far, none of her genjutsu has ever succeeded on him; they are easily broken as soon as they are used.

In addition to enhancing resistance to genjutsu, the Yin Release chakra nature can also increase the power of genjutsu and sensory abilities.

Even though Kirito can no longer sense ninjutsu, he can still sense any chakra-possessing creature within a hundred meters by relying solely on his chakra perception.

Led by an ANBU ninja, Kirito walked through a corridor heavily monitored by ANBU ninjas and finally arrived at the Hokage's office.

The Hokage's office before him was similar to what Kirito remembered: a large desk piled high with documents, surrounded by shelves filled with various files and materials, a sofa, and several chairs, etc.

The interior design style tends to be simple.

Here, an elderly man dressed in a sacred robe is looking at him kindly.

This was Kirito's first official meeting with the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He had seen Hiruzen several times before, but only from afar in the village.

He is a kind-hearted person who prioritizes the big picture, is good at mediating disputes, and possesses a firm will of fire.

However, he was too soft-hearted and lacked a clear sense of public and private matters, which led him to indulge Danzo too much. This caused Danzo to lack respect for him and to act insincerely, resulting in a series of bad things that got out of his control and sowing the seeds of Konoha's decline.

But judging from the current situation, he has done a very good job as the Third Hokage. He is not yet fifty years old, his strength is still at its peak, and he has also trained the Sannin who have gradually made a name for themselves in the Second Shinobi World War. In the end, he relied on Danzo, the Dark Lord of Konoha, to eliminate various obstacles.

He has firmly secured his position as Hokage.

It can be said that this is the peak of the Third Generation's power. Even Danzo doesn't dare to openly obey him but secretly accumulate power and wait for the right opportunity.

"I'm sorry, Kirito, for interrupting your class."

When the Third Hokage saw Kirito enter, he immediately smiled and said something.

Kirito dared not be impolite just because the Third Hokage was smiling at him. He bowed respectfully to the Third Hokage, then gave an innocent smile and replied, "That's not true at all. I'm more than happy that the Third Hokage is looking for me."

What a polite child.