Sarutobi Clan Compound
Sarutobi Shinnosuke had spent several hours training with Sarutobi Asuma.
By now, Asuma was exhausted and had already returned to his room to sleep.
It wasn’t until midnight that Sarutobi Hiruzen finally returned home.
Seeing his eldest son waiting in the living room, Hiruzen couldn’t help but pause in surprise.
“Shinnosuke, is something wrong?”
Hiruzen knew his eldest son was mature and level-headed.
If he had stayed here waiting for his father to return, there had to be a reason.
However, since he had waited at home instead of going directly to the Hokage’s office, it probably wasn’t anything particularly serious.
At least, it wasn’t urgent.
“It’s about Asuma.”
Sarutobi Shinnosuke spoke up.
“There seems to be an extremely talented student in Asuma’s class, and apparently the two of them have some sort of conflict.”
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen Asuma look that furious.
It caught my attention.”
Like most older brothers in this world, Sarutobi Shinnosuke was also something of a brocon when it came to his younger brother.
After all, wasn’t this a world created by a brocon in the first place?
There weren’t many people Shinnosuke particularly cared about.
Sarutobi Asuma was one of them.
The moment Sarutobi Hiruzen heard this, he knew exactly what was going on.
He smiled.
“You mean Kuroda Ren?”
“It’s not really a conflict.
They’re just children squabbling.”
With that, Hiruzen explained the so-called “conflict” between the two.
As the Ninja Academy’s nominal principal, Sarutobi Hiruzen naturally had considerable control over the school.
And because his youngest son was part of this particular class, Hiruzen had deliberately kept an eye on it.
Naturally, he knew quite a lot about what was happening.
In simple terms, Sarutobi Asuma had developed a vague crush on Yūhi Kurenai.
Unfortunately for him, Kurenai liked sticking close to Kuroda Ren.
As a result, Asuma had developed an intense dislike for Ren.
Combined with the fact that Asuma had already lost to Ren several times, he had become thoroughly frustrated.
But in Sarutobi Hiruzen’s eyes, this was nothing more than childish squabbling.
There was no reason to take it seriously.
“I see.”
Sarutobi Shinnosuke relaxed after hearing the explanation.
Getting involved in a little quarrel between children really would be inappropriate for adults.
If it were a matter of power or political interests, getting one’s hands dirty was understandable.
But if the Hokage’s family started interfering in children’s romantic squabbles, what would happen to the Hokage’s authority?
Besides, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
And there was always the possibility that such a rival would eventually become a close friend.
Just like Jiraiya and Orochimaru had once been.
If this rivalry could push Sarutobi Asuma to mature faster while simultaneously cultivating a talented civilian shinobi, it would naturally be highly beneficial to the Sarutobi clan.
“I was originally planning to investigate it myself.”
Sarutobi Shinnosuke smiled.
“But since you put it that way, I suppose I don’t need to interfere.”
“Still, judging from what you’ve said, that child is extremely talented?”
“Very.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded.
“Even more talented than you.”
He thought for a moment before continuing.
“He reminds me a lot of Minato.”
“Another civilian-born genius with enormous chakra reserves and excellent physical abilities.”
“The only thing he lacks compared to Minato is Minato’s combat intuition.”
“But he learns extremely quickly.”
“Another Namikaze Minato?”
Sarutobi Shinnosuke fell into thought.
“Then we definitely need to bring him into our fold.”
“Perhaps we should arrange a teacher for him?”
The master-disciple relationship was one of the most stable bonds in Konoha.
In some respects, it was even stronger than the bonds between clans or parent and child.
If a promising genius could be assigned to one of their own people as a teacher early on, bringing that genius into their faction from the beginning, it was undoubtedly the best possible arrangement.
They couldn’t let him turn out like Hatake Sakumo.
Sakumo had grown entirely through his own efforts and had no connection to the Hokage faction.
Instead, he had developed his own ideas and remained somewhat detached from Konoha’s leadership.
Someone like Namikaze Minato was much better.
Even though Minato had his own ideas, because of the bond between master and disciple, he would still listen to the Third Hokage’s faction when it mattered.
“Finding a suitable teacher would certainly be a good idea.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep drag from his pipe and exhaled a large cloud of smoke.
“But I can’t think of anyone particularly suitable right now.”
“Actually, considering strength and age, Hatake Sakumo would be the best choice.”
“But…”
Hiruzen shook his head and didn’t continue.
Sarutobi Shinnosuke immediately understood what he meant.
Hatake Sakumo wasn’t part of the “Hokage faction.”
After making a name for himself during the Second Shinobi World War, he had developed the desire to fight for the interests of ordinary civilian shinobi.
On many issues, his ideas were completely at odds with the Konoha leadership’s governing philosophy.
Someone like that could never be allowed to teach the next generation of geniuses.
Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn’t risk allowing Hatake Sakumo’s influence to grow even further.
At present, Sakumo’s achievements on the battlefield and his enormous prestige among ordinary shinobi were already giving the village leadership a headache.
If Sakumo were allowed to take on a genius disciple and raise another powerful young shinobi, his influence might eventually become strong enough to threaten the Hokage himself. Get faster updates on novelping(.)com.
“How about Minato?”
Sarutobi Shinnosuke proposed another candidate.
“Minato is Jiraiya’s disciple, which technically makes him your grand-disciple.”
“And didn’t you say that Kuroda Ren resembles Minato when he was young?”
“Minato’s strength is sufficient, and there are no problems with his background.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded thoughtfully.
“It’s just that he’s a little too young.”
“But in a few years, having Minato take a disciple shouldn’t be a problem.”
“The only concern is whether this child might graduate early.”
“If he does, we’ll have no choice but to assign him a team leader.”
The Second Shinobi World War had essentially come to an end, but some local battlefronts were still locked in prolonged standoffs.
Under such circumstances, the village wouldn’t prohibit students from graduating early.
If anything, it would encourage them.
For a genius like Kuroda Ren, if there was little left for him to learn at the Ninja Academy, graduating early would be perfectly normal.
“If necessary, I can personally take him.”
Sarutobi Shinnosuke couldn’t resist joking.
But he also knew that, as an Anbu Commander, he couldn’t possibly become a regular team leader.
The Anbu and ordinary shinobi operated within two completely different systems.
“Don’t make jokes like that.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head.
“You’re more important to me in the Anbu.”
“Over the next few years, I’ll find a way to remove Danzō from his position and have you take control of the Anbu.”
“The Anbu controls the intelligence network.”
“It is the sharpest blade in the Hokage’s hand.”
“You must help me keep that blade firmly under my control.”
At present, Danzō was still nominally the head of the Anbu.
However, with Sarutobi Hiruzen’s support, Sarutobi Shinnosuke had already seized most of Danzō’s authority as an Anbu squad commander, forcing Danzō’s core forces to retreat and consolidate within Root.
But taking the position of Anbu Commander outright wasn’t easy.
They needed to wait for the right opportunity.
Under these circumstances, Sarutobi Hiruzen would never allow Sarutobi Shinnosuke to leave the Anbu.
“As for Kuroda Ren, I’ll think about it.”
Hiruzen waved his hand.
“You don’t need to interfere.”
“As for Asuma, spend more time with him.”
“And choose a few suitable Fire Release techniques from the Sarutobi clan’s arsenal, along with some Wind Release techniques from the village, and teach them to him.”
“Since he’s so determined to defeat Kuroda Ren, we might as well use this opportunity to squeeze every bit of potential out of Asuma.”
“That was exactly what I had in mind.”
Sarutobi Shinnosuke smiled.
“Asuma’s talent is actually quite good.”
“He’s just a little too lazy.”
“Now that he has some pressure on him, this is the perfect opportunity to make him work harder.”
◇ Bonus Chapter Goals ◇