A cold, synthesized voice echoed softly into the quiet void.
"Such a perfect container... I truly did not expect to encounter a vessel of this quality on a backwater, primitive planet like this."
The alien entity leaned back slightly, his mind running through the intelligence gathered from the recent battle.
Adaptation...
It was a power that could be absurdly strong, yet remarkably weak at the same time depending on how it was used. According to the reports, the creature that the boy summoned couldn't even manage a clean one-shot victory against an ordinary local fighter—a mortal that this world's native inhabitants referred to as a 'Shadow-rank powerhouse.'
To an interstellar conqueror, a Kage-level shinobi was nothing more than a slightly larger ant crawling in the dirt. But despite the pathetic scale of the fight, the entity did not underestimate the creature's underlying mechanics. A power that continuously adapts to all phenomena until invincibility is achieved... that was a concept that bypassed standard logic altogether.
"If the host weren't only five years old," Ishiki murmured, his fingers twitching with restraint, "I would already be down there planting my Karma mark directly onto his forehead."
However, a five-year-old human child was far too fragile.
At that age, the boy's body was practically made of paper.
"Patience," He told himself, closing his eyes to meditate. "I will wait. I must wait until he is at least eight to ten years old... once his physical foundation stabilizes, that body will belong to me."
Meanwhile, inside the Konoha General Hospital...
Room 404 was heavy with the smell of rubbing alcohol, disinfectant, and deep, existential regret.
Hiruzen Sarutobi lay flat on his back in the center of the room, looking like a mummy a runaway had run over. Bandages were wrapped tightly around his chest, arms, and head, leaving only one eye and his mouth exposed.
He stared blankly at the plain white ceiling tiles, completely questioning every single decision he had made over his life.
I lost...
I actually lost to a five-year-old kid.
And the most painful part? The brat hadn't even used his full power!
Sure, Hiruzen didn't believe for a second that the boy's other shadow summons were as absurdly overpowered as that white, wheel-toting monster, Mahoraga. But at the end of the day, the cold, brutal fact remained: Rei had beaten him into a bloody pulp while keeping the rest of his deck firmly in his pocket.
No... no... Hiruzen shook his head internally, wincing as a sharp pain shot through his bandaged neck. How can this be a bad thing?!
He forced his mind into overdrive, desperate to find a silver lining to save his rapidly dying self-esteem.
Sure, pretty much every single ninja in the Five Great Nations is probably laughing their asses off at me right now. Sure, my reputation as the 'Professor of Ninjutsu' is basically in the gutter. BUT WHO CARES?! Konoha is about to get a second Senju Hashirama! A god of shinobi under our roof!
Just thinking about the glorious, terrifying future of the village, a wide smile slowly began to spread across Hiruzen's bruised, swollen face.
"Have you completely lost your mind, Hiruzen?"
A sharp, mocking voice suddenly rang out from the shadowy corner of the room.
The moment the voice hit his ears, Hiruzen's cheerful smile instantly died. His single visible eye darkened into a furious glare as he slowly turned his head toward the visitor's chair.
"Danzo..." Hiruzen growled, his voice muffled by the bandages around his jaw. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Danzo sat casually near the window, holding a small paring knife in one hand and a freshly peeled apple in the other. He leaned back in his chair, looking at his old rival with a mixture of pity and amusement.
"What do you mean, 'what am I doing here'?" Danzo scoffed smoothly, slicing off a small piece of the apple and popping it into his mouth. CRUNCH. "I naturally came over to visit my dear, cherished friend in his time of need."
Danzo chewed slowly, swallowing before adding with a razor-thin smirk, "Though I really didn't expect that the great 'Professor of Ninjutsu'... the undisputed ruler of Konoha... would end up getting beaten black and blue by a toddler."
TWITCH.
Hiruzen's eye twitched violently. A wave of pure rage surged through his chest, and he desperately wanted to fire back with a scathing retort. He wanted to yell about how absurd the monster was, how the kid was a freak of nature, or how he was just holding back to protect the village!
But as he looked at Danzo's smug face, Hiruzen ultimately stayed silent.
Because... it was 100% true. Every single word of it. He had gotten his ass handed to him, and no amount of political spin could change the facts.
"Anyway..." Hiruzen muttered bitterly, gritting his teeth behind his wrappings. "You've seen me. I'm alive. Now get the fuck out. I want to rest."
Hiruzen was still furious at this bastard. Danzo was the one who had surreptitiously leaked the news of the spar to the clan heads in the first place! If Danzo hadn't opened his big mouth, Hiruzen could have covered the whole thing up as a 'private training exercise.' The outcome of the fight wouldn't have changed, but at least he wouldn't be the literal joke of the entire ninja world right now!
While Hiruzen was actively plotting three different ways to punish Danzo for the next decade, a sudden ripple in the air broke the tension.
SHIN-IN!
An Anbu operative wearing a dog mask materialized in the center of the hospital room, dropping to one knee with absolute urgency.
"Hokage-sama!" the Anbu reported hastily. "Lord Rei has arrived to visit you. He is currently waiting in the hallway outside."
Hearing the title used by the operative, Hiruzen blinked in mild shock.
Lord Rei...
Even the Anbu had subconsciously shifted their tone. But that was just the reality of the shinobi world.
In this bloody, brutal world, political titles, money, and noble lineage were all secondary. Only one thing truly mattered above all else: absolute strength.
Back in the founding era, if Senju Hashirama hadn't possessed a gentle heart and a desire to coexist peacefully with the Fire Country and the rest of the world... there wouldn't be Five Great Nations today. There would just be Konoha, and everyone else would be paying them tribute.
Now, a five-year-old kid had displayed a fraction of that exact same world-ending potential. Automatically, the entire hierarchy had to adjust around him.
Seeing that Rei had actually come to visit him, Hiruzen's expression became deeply hesitant.
Honestly... he had no idea what kind of attitude he was supposed to adopt when dealing with the boy right now.
A deep, burning sense of embarrassment filled Hiruzen's chest. First, he had stepped in to shield Jiraiya after that idiot almost killed him. Then, after waking up from his own coma, Hiruzen had shamelessly marched over, acting like a wise, all-knowing old grandfather in an attempt to fool him.
And how did that end? With Hiruzen getting kicked across a training field like a stray dog.
He had completely lost his chance to act like the high-and-mighty Hokage. Now, he couldn't take the initiative at all. He had to sit here and wait to see how Rei intended to treat him.
While Hiruzen was still drowning in his internal crisis, paralyzed by hesitation, Danzo's cold voice cut through the air.
"What the fuck are you waiting for?" Danzo barked at the Anbu operative, waving his hand impatiently. "Call him in immediately!"
The Anbu blinked behind his mask, glanced at the mummified Hokage, and quickly nodded. "Understood!"
POOF!
The Anbu vanished in a cloud of smoke to fetch the boy.
"HEY!" Hiruzen glared at Danzo, his blood pressure shooting through the hospital roof. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Danzo?!"
"What do you mean, Hiruzen?" Danzo replied smoothly, taking another slow bite of his apple. "A promising junior from our village has taken the time out of his day to visit a bedridden senior. How could you possibly be so rude as to leave him waiting out in the hallway?"
"Danzo, you shameless bastard—!"
Before Hiruzen could finish cursing his lifelong rival into the ground, a soft CLICK echoed through the room.
The heavy wood-and-glass hospital door slid open smoothly on its tracks.
Small, calm footsteps echoed against the clean linoleum floor as five-year-old Rei casually strolled into the room, his hands tucked neatly into his pockets. Right behind him walked Tsunade, holding a clipboard in one hand and carrying an amused, slightly mocking smirk on her face as she looked at her mummified leader.
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