Chapter 20: Ninja Squad

"The top student of the Ninja Academy? Who is it? It couldn't possibly be your son Asuma, could it?"

Danzō was slightly stunned for a moment before asking.

Although geniuses in the Ninja Academy weren't worth much, they were still, at the very least, Jonin-level prospects. Looking across the entire Root, Jonin were not exactly a dime a dozen; you could count them on your fingers.

It was just that Danzō remembered that after Kakashi graduated early, the most famous person in the Ninja Academy was the Third Hokage's son, Asuma. The Third Hokage couldn't possibly let his own son join the Root, could he?

The Third Hokage gave Danzō a speechless look. He would throw his own son into the Root? What kind of dream was this guy having?

"I'm not talking about Asuma. This time, the top student of the Ninja Academy is an Uchiha, that Uchiha Feiyu who was admitted under special circumstances!"

Upon hearing the five words "Uchiha Feiyu," a look of clear disdain appeared on Danzō's face:

"Uchiha Feiyu? That slacker who joined the Uchiha late and entered the Ninja Academy at ten? How could the Root ever want someone like that!"

"Do you want him to come to our Root and preach how to do less and take more, run away at the first sign of trouble, and corrupt our morale?!"

As Danzō spoke, his eyes widened, and he was on the verge of cursing out loud. The Third Hokage hadn't expected Danzō to actually know about Uchiha Feiyu, so he spoke with some frustration:

"Don't say it like that... although his personality isn't great, his potential is actually quite good... and perhaps the Root could reshape his personality..."

"Heh heh heh, his parents are dead and his Sharingan hasn't even evolved. Not to mention his potential, we have no way to reshape a personality like that in the Root!"

Although the Root conducts brainwashing training, the targets are always ninja with flawed personalities or children raised from a young age. For ninja who have already formed complete worldviews, the Root's brainwashing training is helpless.

And among them, hot-blooded men like Guy and slacker youths like Uchiha Feiyu are the types of people who simply cannot be brainwashed. Not to mention the hot-blooded men, the slacker youth doesn't even care about his own parents, so there's nowhere to even start the brainwashing!

Sarutobi Hiruzen twitched his mouth. Come to think of it, his understanding of Uchiha Feiyu came from his youngest son, Asuma. It was precisely because Asuma muttered about him every day that he paid a little attention to this oddity in the Ninja Academy.

Regarding this Uchiha's personality, the Third Hokage also had nothing to say. However, there were plenty of lunatics within the Uchiha, and the fact that such a guy who didn't even seem like a ninja appeared still left a deep impression on the Third Hokage.

He had originally wanted to throw this guy into Danzō's Root, which would have at least counted as appeasing Danzō. Unfortunately, Danzō somehow found out about Uchiha Feiyu's background, causing the Third Hokage's well-laid plans to fail completely.

Wait, how did Danzō find out about Uchiha Feiyu? And he even knew his parents were dead and his Sharingan hadn't evolved?

These thoughts flashed through the Third Hokage's mind, but a mere Uchiha—and not even a core Uchiha at that—really couldn't be considered important to the Third Hokage. Even if he knew there was something fishy going on, the Third Hokage had no heart to manage it.

"Alright, since you don't want to pick him, then forget it. At most, I'll add ten more slots for you to replenish the Root, but don't even think about Kakashi!"

"Hiruzen, if you indulge Kakashi like this, you will definitely..."

"I will not regret it!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen coldly interrupted Danzō and waved his hand directly:

"If there's nothing else, you can leave right now! With the Third Shinobi World War about to break out, are you and your Root really that idle?"

Danzō: "..."

So infuriating! When did this guy Sarutobi Hiruzen learn to be so quick with his retorts!

After Danzō left the Hokage Office, the Third Hokage picked up Uchiha Feiyu's file with some distress:

"This troublesome guy, where should I assign him?"

"Hmm, hasn't Asuma been clamoring to defeat this Uchiha Feiyu? Let's arrange them together!"

There was one more point the Third Hokage was aware of but didn't say—with Uchiha Feiyu's personality, there was clearly no need to worry about him getting hot-headed and encountering any danger.

As his own son, at least during his early years as a Genin, it was impossible for him to be assigned to a truly life-or-death dangerous mission.

It was just that Asuma had a rebellious personality, and there was no such thing as absolute safety in many ninja missions. To prevent him from being too impulsive, having a ninja who believed in "safety first" by his side could serve as an insurance policy.

So the next morning, Uchiha Feiyu discovered that his teammates in his ninja squad were actually Asuma and Kurenai.

"Uchiha Feiyu, I didn't expect to be assigned to a squad with you this time! That's fine too; I will slowly surpass you in the future!"

"Ah, yes, yes! I, a piece of Uchiha trash like me, believe I'll be surpassed by you in less than two years."

"You guy, you're brushing me off again! Do you think I'm easy to dismiss?"

Facing the red-faced and angry Asuma, Uchiha Feiyu chatted with him half-heartedly, while Kurenai on the side covered her mouth and giggled as she watched the calm Uchiha Feiyu and the jumping-around Asuma.

However, Uchiha Feiyu was still a little surprised. Although he had achieved the top grade in his year, considering his current age of thirteen or fourteen, other ninja probably wouldn't recognize his potential much. He didn't expect to be assigned with Asuma this time.

But there were benefits to being assigned with the Hokage's youngest son; at least there was no need to worry about executing cannon-fodder missions.

The Third Hokage might not necessarily show much favoritism to his youngest son on the surface, but surely no one would dare let Asuma execute those life-or-death, dangerous missions.

Of course, there was never absolute safety in the ninja world; even a Hokage could die, let alone the Hokage's son. But regardless, being in a group with Asuma meant Uchiha Feiyu's safety coefficient was greatly increased.

"Asuma, stop arguing, and Feiyu, don't tease Asuma anymore! Do you two know who our teacher is?"

Hearing Kurenai's words, Uchiha Feiyu shook his head directly:

"I don't know. Asuma, your sources should be better informed. Do you know who our squad leader is?"

Asuma held his head high and said haughtily:

"Do you think I'm the type of person who would use my status as the Hokage's son to casually ask about classified information?"

"So?"

"Uh... I don't know who the teacher is either!"

Uchiha Feiyu rolled his eyes, put his hands behind his head, and propped up one foot:

"Fine, it doesn't matter to me anyway. The squad leader definitely won't be an Uchiha, and I doubt they can teach me anything."

"You two both have family-inherited ninjutsu, so you don't need to consider learning anything from the squad leader either."

(End of chapter)