"Becoming an official ninja or learning new ninjutsu..." the child muttered to himself with lowered eyes.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he looked up at Ryohei, the confusion on his face swept away.
"Thank you for the guidance, Uncle." The child bowed to Ryohei in thanks, and then ran off without looking back.
"Hey, wait." Ryohei blocked the child's path with a Body Flicker technique and asked in confusion, "Where are you going?"
"To find Iruka-sensei and graduate!" The child said as a matter of course, "I already possess the standard of an official ninja and can no longer learn anything at the academy, so if I want to graduate early, it should be fine, right!"
This silly kid...
I made it this obvious, can he still not tell?
The corner of Ryohei's eye seemed to twitch, and he sighed, "It is not like before anymore. There is no war, and the village is not in urgent need of manpower, so they will not let you graduate early."
After speaking, he crossed his arms over his chest and watched the show leisurely.
Waiting to see the child complain with a long face, be at a loss, or beg him to teach him ninjutsu.
However, none of the situations he expected happened.
The child just stood there, sizing him up with suspicious eyes.
Ryohei asked somewhat blankly, "Why... are you looking at me like that?"
"Did you plan this from the very beginning?"
"Plan this?" Ryohei was stunned for a moment, "Plan what?"
"To make me beg you to learn ninjutsu, and conveniently take me as your master or something."
"Huh?" Ryohei opened his mouth wide.
"That is how it is written in novels."
The child said leisurely, "You have been secretly watching me train recently. Did you see my good talent, had the thought of taking a disciple, but couldn't put down your pride to actively take me as a disciple, so you deliberately waited for such an opportunity."
This brat has too much inner drama.
Ryohei was dumbfounded.
He only saw this guy and recalled some things from the past, felt somewhat touched inside, so he wanted to give some guidance in passing.
After a pause, he asked, "Why would you think that?"
The child crossed his arms over his chest, let out a disdainful sound, and said, "In trashy novels like The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, this kind of plot device has been written to death."
So that is how it is...
Ryohei didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He touched the tip of his nose and asked, "If it really is like this, then are you willing to be my disciple?"
The child's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Do you really want to take me as a disciple?"
"No." Ryohei answered truthfully.
The child's bright eyes dimmed a little.
Seeing this, Ryohei smiled, "Although I haven't thought about taking a disciple, teaching you ninjutsu is not out of the question."
"Really?"
The child who appeared somewhat down just a moment ago instantly became in high spirits.
He raised his head to look at Ryohei, his pitch-black eyes flickering with anticipation.
Seeing this pair of eyes, Ryohei was stunned, and his smile gradually faded.
He once again thought of the past.
"What, is it not possible?" the child pressed.
Ryohei came back to his senses and looked at the tender face in front of him, bringing anticipation amidst nervousness.
"Of course you can."
He reached out and rubbed the child's head, his tone becoming somewhat deep and drawn out, "What is your name."
"Jokichi, my name is Sakakura Jokichi."
"Jokichi, quite a nice name!"
"I think so too."
"Then, let me teach you a ninjutsu right now!"
"What is it?"
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
"What kind of jutsu is that, is it very powerful?"
"Mhm, very powerful."
...
Hokage Building.
Hiruzen sat at his desk, looking at the warm and harmonious scene in the crystal ball, his wrinkles almost squeezing together.
"Teaching the younger generation..."
"Not bad either."
Hiruzen muttered to himself, his aged face smiling even more radiantly.
There were many good seedlings in this new generation, and Jokichi was the one he valued the most.
In him, Hiruzen saw a potential that was different from the Sannin, Minato, Kakashi, and Itachi, yet not in the slightest inferior to them.
He would often go to the academy, and occasionally pass by the Ninth Training Ground after school to observe Jokichi's training, incidentally answering some training-related questions for him.
Regarding Jokichi's strength, Hiruzen knew it like the back of his hand, and also felt distressed because of it.
Because Jokichi had long since possessed the strength of an official ninja.
And recently, apart from experience, he comprehensively possessed the qualities of a ninja.
Keeping him in the academy would only waste his talent.
But this was not wartime, and there was no urgent need for combat power.
Graduating early would increase the risk of dying young.
Although true geniuses have come through all kinds of hardships, if Jokichi is a true genius, graduating early wouldn't be a big deal.
But increasing the risk for nothing, isn't that being a fool?
Back then, Itachi's teacher believed Itachi's strength was very high and there was no meaning in staying at the academy, so he approached the Konoha higher-ups to propose letting him graduate early.
Hiruzen was very opposed, but the others agreed.
And used past geniuses who successfully survived the battlefield and grew rapidly as examples to refute him.
The most crucial thing was that the Uchiha clan treated Itachi being able to graduate at age 5 as a glory, and also leaned towards letting him graduate.
Left with no choice, Hiruzen had to agree.
Now, no matter what, he would not agree to let the new batch of students graduate early.
However, continuing to let Jokichi stay at the academy was indeed a huge waste of his talent.
Letting him graduate early increased the risk of dying young.
Keeping him at the academy wasted his talent.
Regarding this problem, Hiruzen hesitated greatly, considering whether to find a ninja to open a back door for him.
After all, the potential Jokichi displayed was astonishing, so he certainly couldn't just casually find any ninja to teach him.
Otherwise, the level would not be enough.
Let alone unearthing his potential, leading a student astray could also happen, wasting such a good seedling in vain.
And powerful ninjas...
Having them abandon missions to exclusively teach a ninja student would bring a huge loss to the village.
Now, Ryohei had found a goal to live for from Jokichi, and was willing to teach him ninjutsu and guide his training, which exactly solved Hiruzen's distress.
After all, as an Anbu squad captain from Root, even if his strength was not at the absolute top, it was still outstanding.
Teaching a ninja student would still be no problem.
He had to talk to Iruka and tell him to be a bit more lenient with Jokichi's time off.
After all, formal ninjutsu training requires a lot of time.
...
"The above is the Third Hokage's reaction after our successful play acting."
Inside the dojo of Jokichi's home.
Jokichi had his legs crossed, lying flat on his back on the tatami, and voiced out Hiruzen's psychological activities.
Ryohei sat on his knees to the side with some confusion, "Setting aside whether Master's conjecture is correct, how can we confirm that our trick fooled Lord Hokage?"
"This is very simple. Tomorrow I will go find Iruka-sensei to ask for a leave of absence, directly asking for two months," Jokichi said indifferently.
"That long, the academy probably won't approve it!"
"Exactly." Jokichi nodded and said, "However, if we fooled Lord Hokage, then he will definitely give me a massive amount of time to train, and he will certainly give Iruka a heads up."
"So that is how it is." Ryohei realized.
Jokichi glanced at him and joked, "Speaking of which, your acting skills are really quite good. Your expressions and emotions were spot on and very natural, making it completely impossible to tell you were acting, whereas I..."
"Hehe, if Lord Hokage wasn't peeking remotely but was on the scene, he would be a hundred percent able to tell I was acting!"
To this, Ryohei remained silent.
He wasn't acting, but was genuinely moved.
The prosperity of Konoha, the energetic students...
These all made him recall his original intention for becoming a part of Root.
—Everything is for Konoha.