Standing beneath the shade, Muzan extended a pale hand from beneath his black cloak.
His porcelain-white skin contrasted sharply against the dark kunai in his grasp.
The sight immediately drew everyone’s attention.
Watching him, Kaizen frowned.
Muzan wasn’t using any recognizable throwing stance or technique.
If he was relying on raw strength alone, Kaizen didn’t believe the kunai would hit the target.
“Whoosh!” “What?!” A black streak flashed through the air.
The kunai struck the bullseye dead center.
After awakening his bloodline, Muzan’s physical abilities had increased dramatically.
Combined with his heightened senses, hitting a stationary target wasn’t difficult at all.
“H-He actually hit it?” As a member of the Uchiha clan, Obito stood frozen.
The comparison was painfully humiliating.
“So he didn’t use any special technique…
just his perception and throwing power.
And he’s only a child.
As expected of Sakumo-sama’s son.” If nothing unexpected happened, the boy would almost certainly become a jonin one day.
Talent meant everything in the shinobi world.
At least, Kaizen had never seen anyone become a jonin through hard work alone.
Besides Muzan, a few other children also landed perfect shots.
They all came from shinobi clans and had received training since childhood.
“This alone shows the difference between civilian shinobi and clan shinobi.
For some people, another person’s starting line is already their finish line.” Muzan noticed the disappointed expressions on the civilian children.
Although they had all entered the Ninja Academy together, the gap between them would only continue to widen.
Setting hard work aside, clan shinobi possessed better training, more resources, stronger ninjutsu…
And most importantly— Bloodlines.
The Uchiha.
The Hyuga.
The Uzumaki.
Only monsters who defied common sense could surpass those advantages.
Thanks to that single throw, combined with the mysterious aura surrounding him, quite a few girls began stealing glances at Muzan.
Everyone knew children this age had only two goals.
First…
Become a Genin.
Second…
Find someone they liked.
“Kakashi…
have you ever seen what’s under his cloak?” Nohara Rin tugged gently at Kakashi’s sleeve, blushing as she peeked toward Muzan beneath the shade.
“I…
I want to know what he looks like.” Standing nearby, Obito immediately turned bright red.
The moment he realized Rin seemed interested in Muzan, he loudly protested.
“H-He must be ugly!
That’s why he hides his face!” “I don’t talk to idiots.” “You…!” Kakashi didn’t answer.
Muzan wasn’t ugly.
Quite the opposite.
There was simply something strangely enchanting about his appearance.
Anyone who saw his face would remember it for the rest of their life.
Meanwhile, standing beneath a large tree and watching the sunlight filter through the leaves, Muzan was thinking about how to get into Konoha Hospital.
After all, it wasn’t exactly easy for a child to gain access.
Just then, someone shouted his name.
Turning around, he found Obito charging toward him.
“Damn you, Muzan!
I challenge you!” To keep his future girlfriend from being stolen away, Uchiha Obito had decided to challenge him.
Obito rushed straight in.
From Muzan’s perspective…
He was painfully slow.
At the moment Obito closed the distance, Muzan simply sidestepped before casually extending one foot.
Bang!
“You’re too slow, Obito.” “And stop bothering me.” Squatting down, Muzan looked calmly at the furious Obito.
At this point, Obito hadn’t yet experienced Rin’s death.
He hadn’t awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Nor had he become the man who would threaten the entire shinobi world under Uchiha Madara’s name.
“Damn it!” Obito lifted his head, blood trickling from his nose.
Seeing the disappointment in Rin’s eyes only filled him with greater despair.
“You made me embarrass myself in front of Rin!” “I’m going all out!” What no one expected…
Was that Obito suddenly grabbed hold of Muzan’s black cloak and yanked it downward.
The cloak fell to the ground.
For the first time…
Everyone saw the face hidden beneath it.
His skin was unnaturally pale, so translucent that the veins beneath it were faintly visible.
His silver-white Hatake hair framed an impossibly beautiful face.
But what truly captivated everyone…
Were his scarlet eyes.
They resembled an awakened Sharingan.
Merely looking into them created the illusion of standing before an ancient noble.
Elegant.
Refined.
Yet possessing an eerie, almost supernatural presence.
Could a human really look like this?
Watching everyone’s reactions, Muzan sighed inwardly.
After inheriting the Demon King’s bloodline, he naturally exuded a presence that influenced those with weak wills.
Obito, lying on the ground, experienced it more intensely than anyone else.
Especially when Muzan lowered his gaze slightly to look down at him.
Those eyes…
As though every living creature beneath them was insignificant.
Obito’s entire body trembled uncontrollably.
“You children…” “Can’t you just play nicely together?” Retracting his gaze, Muzan picked up the fallen cloak and draped it over himself once more.
The mysterious boy hidden in the shadows had returned.
“Nii-san, are you alright?” Only Kakashi understood why Muzan always wore the black cloak.
He anxiously checked the sunlight filtering through the leaves overhead several times.
“I’m fine.” “The sunlight never touched me.” Only Muzan knew the truth.
The brief contact with sunlight had immediately begun damaging his body, but his terrifying regenerative abilities healed the burns just as quickly.
Combined with how fast he had put the cloak back on, the damage had been negligible.
As for the culprit…
Kakashi grabbed Obito by the collar and lifted him into the air.
“Do you realize what would’ve happened if we’d reacted even a second later?” “He could’ve been seriously burned!” “I…
I…” Speechless, Obito couldn’t even meet Kakashi’s furious glare.
If Kaizen hadn’t arrived in time, things probably would’ve escalated even further.
Muzan paid no attention to what happened afterward.
Kunai throwing wasn’t particularly difficult.
With his precise muscular control, it took him less than half an hour to completely master the technique.
To become a medical ninja, he needed extensive medical knowledge…
And incredibly precise chakra control.
After settling the children’s quarrel, Kaizen noticed Muzan standing beneath the academy’s roof, quietly manipulating chakra.
“So you’ve already started practicing chakra control.” “But controlling it like that won’t get you very far.” Whether it was tree climbing or water walking, both required fine chakra control.
But for a medical ninja…
That level wasn’t nearly enough.
Kaizen’s words immediately caught Muzan’s interest.
After all, their homeroom teacher wasn’t one of the peaceful instructors from later generations.
He was a shinobi who had survived real battlefields.
“I once fought against Sunagakure shinobi.” “Their puppet masters possessed incredibly precise chakra control.” “You could learn a lot from them.” Puppet masters relied on delicate chakra manipulation and meticulous craftsmanship rather than overwhelming chakra reserves.
In that regard…
They weren’t so different from medical ninja.
One manipulated threads to control puppets that killed.
The other manipulated chakra scalpels to heal patients.
Kaizen casually picked up a leaf from the ground, tied a string to it, and handed it to Muzan.
With the breeze gently carrying it through the air, Muzan began attempting to guide the leaf’s movement solely through chakra control.
Watching him grasp the concept almost immediately, Kaizen smiled from the bottom of his heart.
“It seems the rumors around the village were wrong.” “Sakumo-sama’s eldest son…” “…isn’t some weak, useless child after all.” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Hidden_Quill Thank you so much for reading!