What she had just handed in might be more than a report.
It was enough to change the future—and might even drag her into the storm.
What would Hokage-sama think when he saw it? And what would her recommendation do to tie her fate to that mysterious boy?
Kurenai Yuhi stood at the window, staring at the distant Hokage Monument, wordless for the longest time… as night deepened.
After the daytime bustle, Konoha Village slowly quieted. Apart from the patrols and Anbu Ninja, most villagers were already asleep.
Yet the light in the Hokage Office stayed on.
Mountains of paperwork almost swallowed the slightly stooped figure of Hiruzen Sarutobi. He drew on his pipe, puff after puff; in the swirling smoke his face looked tired. As the Village's supreme leader, he never ran out of work.
Knock, knock.
A soft rap sounded.
"Enter." The Third Hokage didn't lift his head.
An Anbu Ninja wearing an animal mask appeared before the desk like a ghost. He knelt on one knee and presented a scroll with both hands.
"Hokage-sama, Jonin Kurenai's urgent special report."
"Special report?" Hiruzen's movement paused. He raised his head, a gleam flashing in his eyes.
He knew exactly what an urgent special report meant: the matter exceeded any normal department and required his personal decision. Kurenai was a famed elite Jonin—meticulous and observant. For her to use this channel, the matter could not be simple.
"Set it down."
"Yes, sir." The Anbu placed the scroll on the table, flickered, and melted back into the shadows as if he'd never been there.
Hiruzen set aside his pipe, picked up the scroll with solemn care, and slowly unrolled it.
His gaze first fell on Kurenai's elegant handwriting. The opening was a routine summary of the graduation exam; he skimmed it.
But when he turned to the appended sheet—an assessment of graduate Uesugi Toru's special ability—his expression turned grave at once.
He read slowly, almost word by word.
"…instantaneous rearward shift without smoke or substitute…"
"…a relative spatial displacement of less than half a centimetre…"
"…achieved highly efficient evasion at minimal cost…"
"…scalpel-precise Chakra control…"
Only the rustle of paper filled the office.
Hiruzen's brows knit tighter. Kurenai's description was objective, detached, devoid of emotion—therefore all the more forceful.
She never used the word "genius," yet every line pointed to a monster beyond genius.
When he reached "evasion achieved with the least possible Chakra," his pupils contracted sharply.
A memory surged up.
In his mind appeared a figure—golden hair flying, the Hokage Cloak fluttering, a warm smile.
Minato Namikaze.
The Yellow Flash, world-famous for his ghost-like speed and uncanny evasion—the Fourth Hokage.
But… no.
Hiruzen at once sensed the fundamental difference.
He lifted his pipe again, drew a deep breath; the acrid tobacco stung his nerves and sharpened his thoughts.
Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique was an improvement on the Second Hokage's space-time Ninjutsu. Its essence was leaping between marked points in space—a mighty, creative art. Its power rested on the jutsu's own rank and the user's outstanding talent.
What Uesugi Toru had done was the exact opposite.
He had created no new, high-level technique.
He had merely taken a basic D-rank art—the Substitution Jutsu—dissected and optimised it. Like a harsh craftsman he stripped every flourish, focusing every ounce of energy on the single core function: evasion.
Two utterly different philosophies.
Minato's gift was creation; Toru's gift was analysis.
Minato forged mighty new Ninjutsu; Toru's potential was to change how existing Ninjutsu were fundamentally understood!
The shock inside Hiruzen was far greater than Kurenai's.
He understood better than anyone what it signified.
Bloodline Limits were the unshakeable law of the Ninja World for millennia—they set a shinobi's ceiling and determined a clan's nobility. The Uchiha's Sharingan, the Hyuga's Byakugan—powers ordinary people could never grasp.
But this Uesugi Toru seemed to show him an entirely new direction.
He saw another possibility.
A path that, without relying on bloodlines or talent, could—through deep study of knowledge and precise control of Chakra—reach, and perhaps even surpass, a Bloodline Limit.
If this ability could be replicated and popularized, it would have an enormous impact on the future of Konoha—and even the entire Ninja World!
At the thought, even Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage who had weathered countless storms, felt his heart race.
He set the report down, his expression turning grave.
"Anbu!" he called in a low voice.
"Sir!" Four Anbu Ninja materialized in the four corners of the office.
"Pull the complete file on Ninja Academy graduate Uesugi Toru—every record since enrollment. Daily habits, interpersonal relations, classroom performance... I want every minor detail of these six years."
"Yes, sir!"
"In addition," Hiruzen added, issuing a second order, "list Uesugi Toru as a Priority-A Person of Interest. From now on I want real-time awareness of all his movements. Remember: observe, do not surveil. Ensure his safety—no direct contact."
"Priority-A?!" The Anbu captain in charge was startled.
Priority-A status was normally reserved for enemy Village Kage or S-rank rogue Ninja. Applying it to a twelve-year-old who had just graduated was unprecedented.
But he asked no questions.
"Understood!"
The four Anbu vanished, and the office fell silent once more.
Hiruzen rose, walked to the window, and gazed out at Konoha Village in the night, eyes profound.
Could this... be a new hope for the Village?
...At the same time.
Beneath Konoha's bustling surface, deep inside a cold underground base, the air reeked of dampness.
This was Root headquarters—an organization that exists in no official Konoha file, yet spreads through the darkness like the Village's own Roots.
Its leader, Danzo Shimura, sat behind a frigid stone table, perusing intelligence just handed up by a subordinate.
The content mirrored Kurenai Yuhi's report, but the wording was blunter, focused on data and results.
"Target: Uesugi Toru."
"Behavior: During graduation exam, evaded two all-out attacks from Chunin Ebisu by unknown means."
"Method analysis: Not Body Flicker, not Bloodline Limit. Characteristics: very low Chakra cost, very high evasion efficiency."
"Preliminary assessment: Extremely high development value and combat-application potential."
The single exposed eye of Danzo glinted with greedy, cold light.
He was different from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Where Hiruzen saw another possibility and thought of the Village's future and the Will of Fire, Danzo saw high development value and thought of a useful tool.
A weapon that could be analyzed, copied, and mass-produced.
He pictured every Root member mastering this efficient evasion technique—what a terrifying assassination force that would be. Mission success and survival rates would skyrocket.
As for who Uesugi Toru was, what he thought, what future he might have—Danzo could not care less.
In his world, people were only two things: useful tools or useless trash.
And Uesugi Toru clearly belonged to the former—an apex prototype tool seen once in a millennium.
He closed the file and tapped a finger on the cold tabletop.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The monotonous rhythm echoed through the stone chamber, unsettling.
A Root Ninja in a blank white mask beside him slowed his breathing; he knew this was Lord Danzo's habit before a crucial decision.
At last the tapping stopped.
Danzo lifted his gaze to the Ninja and, in a tone devoid of emotion, issued his order.
"Find out everything about him."
That night, Konoha's highest and deepest places—the Hokage's office and Root's base—two diametrically opposed gazes pierced the darkness and focused on an ordinary apartment at the Village's edge, on a boy who knew nothing of it.
One gaze carried cautious hope, the other icy desire.
Two forces had their sights on the unsuspecting Uesugi Toru. Would the Hokage reach him first, or would Root strike?