The next day, Team Hiruzen gathered at the village gate.
“This mission is to receive a missing-nin who escaped from Iwagakure,” Hiruzen Sarutobi explained.
“He brought out a large amount of high-level Iwagakure intelligence and is seeking Konoha’s protection.”
“Just for our protection?” Hatake Sakumo frowned.
“He has no other demands?”
“Of course he does,” Hiruzen said.
“His son was killed by a Kumogakure higher-up.
He wants to exchange that intelligence for that man’s life.”
Hiruzen glanced at Shanks and Sakumo.
“No way.
Last time it was Sunagakure’s tailed beast.
This time it’s a Kumogakure higher-up.
Next time, will it be the Second Tsuchikage?”
Shanks complained immediately.
“Second Uncle really thinks highly of us.”
“Haha!
Who told you two to be geniuses?” Hiruzen laughed.
“Your last mission was completed very well.
More importantly, you’re young.
No one pays attention to two eight-year-old brats.”
“That makes so much sense I can’t even argue.”
Shanks felt deeply wronged.
“Shouldn’t young children be protected more?
Why do I keep getting thrown into these high-difficulty missions?”
“Don’t worry,” Hiruzen said comfortingly.
“The Kumogakure higher-up only has a powerful family background.
His own strength is only around chūnin level.
He’s an old man.”
“Hehe.”
Shanks answered with the universal sound of sarcasm.
“Is this like last time?” Sakumo asked.
“Disguise ourselves as another village?”
“Yes.
As long as it isn’t Konoha, any village will do.”
Hiruzen looked at Sakumo with appreciation.
“Is this also an S-rank mission?” Shanks asked.
“Receiving the missing-nin is A-rank.
Once the assassination of that higher-up is included, it becomes S-rank.”
“Then tell Second Uncle to prepare the money.
If I come back alive, I’ll send Brother Kagami a big red packet for his wedding.”
The three of them set off and soon reached the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Iron.
There, Hiruzen sensed a large amount of chakra fluctuation not far ahead.
“They should be up ahead,” Hiruzen said.
“Two elite jōnin and six chūnin.”
His expression sharpened.
“I’ll hold the two elite jōnin.
You two eliminate the six chūnin as quickly as possible.”
“No problem.
Same as usual.
I’ll take the front, Sakumo collects the heads.”
After speaking, Shanks did not draw his sword.
Instead, he charged forward while forming seals.
“Water Release: White Whale Leap!”
Above several Kumogakure shinobi, a massive white whale made of water appeared and slammed down toward them.
“Not good!
Dodge!”
The elite jōnin reacted quickly.
Boom, boom, boom!
The surrounding area was wrecked by the impact.
Both elite jōnin dodged, but the chūnin did not have such luck.
Three chūnin at the center were crushed instantly.
The other three at the edge suffered different degrees of injury.
A flash of white light swept past.
“White Fang Pursuit!”
Swish, swish, swish!
Three heads flew into the air.
“Chisato!
You bastards!”
One of the elite jōnin roared and tried to rush forward, but the other stopped him.
“A large A-rank Water Release.
I didn’t expect Konoha to produce two such remarkable boys aside from the Second Hokage.”
The elite jōnin narrowed his eyes.
“Red hair.
Uzumaki Clan.
White hair with clean, decisive swordsmanship.
Hatake Clan.
Impressive.”
“Oh, you’re right.”
Shanks rested Withered Wood on his shoulder, completely ignorant of the word humility.
“This young master is none other than Uzumaki Super Invincible Heaven-Piercing Earth-Shaking Raw Fish-Shrimp-Crab-Eating Konoha Super Genius Extremely Domineering Shanks.
Uncle, you have good eyes.”
“…”
Hatake Sakumo looked up at the sky.
“…”
Hiruzen Sarutobi also looked up at the sky.
Who am I?
Where am I?
Even the rescued background missing-nin looked up at the sky in confusion.
“You little bastard!”
The other elite jōnin could no longer endure it.
He had never seen someone this arrogant.
“Attack!”
Shanks stopped wasting words and charged in with his sword.
“One-Sword Style: Konoha Sword Art Secret Technique, Thousand Years of Death!”
More than a dozen flying slashes, each around four or five meters long, cut toward the enraged elite jōnin.
“What kind of sword technique is this?”
Although the elite jōnin was shocked by the swordsmanship, he did not panic.
He shifted to the side and dodged the slashes.
“Lightning Severing Flash!”
A white streak flashed past.
The elite jōnin dodged instinctively, avoiding a fatal blow, but Sakumo still cut his shoulder.
“You two bastards.”
“Lightning Release: Heavy Lariat!”
“Chakra-Enhanced Armament: Old Man’s Pushcart!”
Shanks’s darkened fist collided with the elite jōnin’s Lightning Release-coated palm.
Boom!
Crack!
A figure flew backward and smashed through more than ten trees.
Shanks was also exhausted after the strike.
That had been his current full-power blow.
The other elite jōnin tried to rescue his companion, but a staff stopped him.
“Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Does Konoha want war with Kumogakure?”
“Ah, so it’s Rikuchi.”
Hiruzen shrugged.
“This is already the Land of Fire border.
You were the ones who acted here first.
We tried to stop you, but since persuasion failed, we had no choice but to use force.”
“Good.
Konoha, just wait.”
After saying that, Rikuchi flashed away with the elite jōnin Shanks had sent flying.
“No need to chase,” Hiruzen said when he saw Shanks and Sakumo still wanting to pursue.
“Our mission ends here.”
“Why?
We could have kept him here,” Shanks said.
“That large Water Release you used was too obvious.
Kumogakure must have sensed the battle by now.
Their reinforcements are probably already on the way.
We leave first.”
“Fine.”
Shanks sighed.
“There goes the S-rank reward.”
He already knew they would not be going to Kumogakure now.
After Rikuchi and the other elite jōnin returned, they would definitely report information about him and Sakumo.
Combined with the recent Sunagakure incident, anyone with a brain could figure out what had happened.
Konoha had produced two super geniuses.
Uzumaki Shanks.
Uzumaki Clan.
Eight years old.
Skilled in Water Release, special swordsmanship, and special taijutsu.
At age eight, he infiltrated Sunagakure, killed fifteen Sunagakure chūnin and two special jōnin, then took advantage of Sunagakure reinforcing its tailed beast seal to provoke the tailed beast into breaking free, causing massive losses.
At the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Iron, he used a large A-rank Water Release to kill three Kumogakure chūnin.
Together with Hatake Sakumo, he wounded one Kumogakure elite jōnin.
Hatake Sakumo.
Hatake Clan.
Eight years old.
Skilled in the inherited Hatake sword style.
Together with Uzumaki Shanks, he infiltrated Sunagakure, killed eight chūnin and three special jōnin, then took advantage of Sunagakure reinforcing its tailed beast seal to provoke the tailed beast into breaking free, causing massive losses.
At the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Iron, he used the Hatake sword style to kill three Kumogakure chūnin.
Together with Uzumaki Shanks, he wounded one Kumogakure elite jōnin.
By the time Shanks and the others returned to Konoha, these two pieces of intelligence had spread throughout the shinobi world.
Shanks became famous.
Hatake Sakumo became famous too.
And right after them, Senju Tobirama’s reputation as an old schemer also shook the shinobi world.
After “fastest shinobi” and “Water God,” Tobirama gained another title.
Old Schemer.
Right now, across the shinobi world, the title Old Schemer was even louder than God of Shinobi.
When the Second Tsuchikage heard the news, he touched his head, which had once been swollen from Uchiha Madara’s beating, and looked up at the sky.
“What will happen to Iwagakure’s next generation?”
It was said that after Shamon of Sunagakure heard the news, he shut himself at home and began working furiously to produce more children.
As for Sunagakure’s advisor Chiyo, after learning the truth, she deeply remembered the name Hatake Sakumo.
Hatake Sakumo: ???
The Hatake Clan head, Sakumo’s father, drank an entire bottle of sake in one breath and laughed toward the sky.
The next day, a neighbor reportedly went to Tobirama and reported that the Hatake Clan head had gone mad.
Uzumaki Mito said, “As expected of my good nephew.”
Senju Hashirama completely ignored Tobirama’s dark expression beside him.
“Hahaha!
Old Schemer of the shinobi world!
That title suits you too well, Tobirama!”
In short, Shanks now walked through Konoha like someone loved by all.
Wherever he went, people smiled.
Even flowers seemed to bloom for him.
Hatake Sakumo also found older girls deliberately teasing him from time to time, leaving him red-faced and flustered.
“Hey, Sakumo, aren’t you too weak?” Shanks complained.
“A few words from an older girl and you blush that much?
How are you going to find a girlfriend in the future?”
“I’m just… not used to it yet.”
Hatake Sakumo stammered.
“You need to learn to be thicker-skinned.
No matter what other people say, your face must not change.
Look at me.
Auntie said that when I turn fourteen, I’ll be engaged to Haruko.”
Shanks raised his eyebrows proudly.
“I’ll never learn to be like you.”
Hatake Sakumo could not help replying.
“You confessed to someone when you were just over five.”
“What do you understand?
A good dish must be reserved early.
The first to act gains the advantage.
The one who acts late suffers.”
Uzumaki Love Saint Shanks slowly began teaching Hatake Sakumo the art of chasing girls.
“That’s still too early,” Sakumo said, shaking his head.
“My father said I’m only allowed to find a woman and marry after I turn twenty-five.”
“…”
“Your family is so rigid.”
Shanks sighed and patiently guided him.
“The times are different now.
What if your son becomes exactly like you in the future?
By then, all the good women will have been taken.
What will happen to the Hatake bloodline?”
“I’m only eight right now.
How could I think that far ahead?
I’ll talk about it later.”
“Ugh.
Dead-brained.”
Shanks sighed.