Come to think of it, the whole thing was pretty ironic.
When the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, founded the hidden village system, his original hope had been simple: children from shinobi clans would no longer have to step onto the battlefield at six or seven years old.
They would be allowed to grow up in peace and enjoy an ordinary childhood.
And yet now, if a child could graduate early and become a shinobi at six or seven, they would be praised by the entire village and envied by everyone around them.
Kizaru, who had personally received an early graduation invitation from the Third Hokage, naturally became the center of attention.
His classmates, their parents, and even the clans behind them were all filled with envy. Some were even a little jealous that the Shimura clan had produced such a monstrous genius.
Since so many parents had been watching outside the Academy on the day of the exam, news of Kizaru's performance spread through the village at astonishing speed.
Before long, everyone in Konoha knew that Shimura Kizaru not only possessed terrifying physical ability, but also displayed absurdly high talent in ninjutsu.
As a result, the Shimura clan quickly became one of the hottest places in the village. One shinobi clan after another found perfectly "reasonable" excuses to come calling.
After all, the current head of the Shimura clan was Danzō—a Hokage advisor who had single-handedly built up Root.
And now the clan's future had a super-genius like Shimura Kizaru.
Anyone with a functioning brain could see it.
Barring some disaster, the Shimura clan's future over the next few decades was bright beyond measure.
The Yamanaka clan and the Aburame clan, who had already maintained good relations with the Shimura, took the initiative to send a number of promising shinobi from their own families into Root as a gesture of closeness. That alone strengthened Root considerably.
As for Danzō, the man sitting at the center of it all, he remained as expressionless as ever on the surface.
Inside, though, he was delighted.
As a result, Danzō looked upon Kizaru even more fondly than before.
And in order to push Kizaru's reputation even further, he arranged for members of the Shimura clan and Root operatives to quietly spread another piece of news through the village:
At just six years old, Shimura Kizaru had already improved several of Wind Release's Vacuum-style techniques. Among them were the B-rank Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere, the A-rank Wind Release: Great Vacuum Sphere, Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves, and even an S-rank variant of Wind Release: Vacuum Waves.
The moment that news spread, the village erupted into heated discussion.
Shimura Kizaru became everyone's favorite topic overnight, and people marveled once again at just how outrageous his talent really was.
When the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, heard the news, his expression turned a little complicated.
It wasn't that Hiruzen disliked seeing a genius emerge from the Shimura clan.
Not at all.
The problem was that, as Danzō's old friend, Hiruzen knew perfectly well that those techniques had originally been improved by Danzō himself.
Back when Danzō had been developing those Wind Release techniques, their teacher—the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama—had given him quite a bit of guidance.
Hiruzen himself had also contributed no small number of ideas and suggestions.
Thinking back on it, Hiruzen couldn't help sighing.
His old friend really had given everything he had to support the next generation.
Sitting in his office, Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly smoked his pipe, feeling rather emotional.
And then, when he thought about the Sarutobi clan…
Not a single descendant worthy of that level of investment.
At that point, even Hiruzen couldn't help feeling a little envious of Danzō.
It seemed he still had to work harder.
Since the "main account" clearly wasn't producing anything promising, the only option left was to work on a "small account" and see if that got him anywhere. (PS: Don't tell me...)
Rubbing his aging lower back, Hiruzen silently resolved to make use of the time he had left while he was still not too old.
While Hiruzen was lamenting the lack of worthy heirs in his own clan and deciding to start over from scratch, Danzō was suffering from the opposite problem.
His family's younger generation was too outstanding.
As far as Danzō was concerned, there was nothing wrong with supporting his old friend's wish to have Kizaru graduate early.
The problem was that the person involved had absolutely no interest in cooperating.
And that made things troublesome.
The Hokage wanted Kizaru to graduate early.
The Academy teachers wanted Kizaru to graduate early.
Even the villagers were already waiting eagerly for the day he would take the early graduation exam, looking forward to seeing how absurd his performance would be.
The whole village's expectations had already been pushed this far—
And yet the boy at the center of it all refused to graduate early and insisted on staying in school.
That made things very awkward.
Honestly, even Kizaru was starting to feel creeped out by the whole thing. He still hadn't fully adjusted to this world, so watching everyone around him act like turning a kid into a child soldier was completely normal made even his usual lazy, easygoing self want to start cursing in his old hometown language.
"What the fuck is wrong with these people?!"
He was genuinely disturbed.
In the current atmosphere, as long as Kizaru participated in the early graduation assessment and used his Bloodline Limit to defeat a jōnin examiner in public, his reputation as a super-genius would be completely cemented.
From there, as long as he avoided making any major mistakes, continued growing steadily, and carried the expectations placed on him—with Danzō supporting him from behind—then becoming a top powerhouse, earning great military merit, building overwhelming prestige, and eventually stepping into the seat of Hokage…
Wouldn't that all be practically his for the taking?
Danzō had already gone so far as to imagine what he would do after his nephew became Hokage.
He would finally realize his political ambitions.
He would strengthen Konoha.
And perhaps, one day, even unify the shinobi world.
But now, the very first step in that grand plan had run straight into a wall.
Kizaru refused to graduate early.
He wanted to keep studying.
"It's not that I'm trying to go back on my word," Danzō said as he sat across from Kizaru, wearing the expression of a man forced into a corner. "It's just that this request came from the Hokage. I can't very well refuse it."
"Uncle, I still think the original three-year plan was a good one," Kizaru replied with a smile. "There's no need to change it."
"Things in this world are never so fixed," Danzō said calmly. "Unexpected changes happen all the time. Your talent is far beyond what even I anticipated. At this point, keeping you in the Academy is no longer appropriate."
"I think it's perfectly appropriate," Kizaru said lightly. "A six-year-old should be in school studying."
Danzō stared silently at his eldest nephew.
Tall, solidly built, and long-limbed, Kizaru looked less like a six-year-old boy and more like some freak accident in human form.
Already around one hundred seventy-five centimeters.
No matter how he looked at it, it was hard to connect the creature sitting in front of him with the phrase six-year-old child.
The six-year-old you and the phrase normal six-year-old have nothing to do with each other, alright?
Danzō wanted to say that out loud.
In the end, he held it in.
Kizaru had no idea that his dear uncle had already quietly removed him from the category of "normal human child" and tossed him into "strange creature with no human rights" just because he happened to be tall.
After a long moment of silence, Danzō finally chose to compromise.
"I understand what concerns you," he said. "How about this? You apply for early graduation now, but for the first two years after graduating, you won't be required to take missions. You'll only receive training."
Hearing the revised arrangement, Kizaru didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he considered it seriously.
His uncle's meaning was clear enough.
If he graduated early, the time he "lost" from leaving the Academy would simply be paid back afterward. For two years after graduation, he wouldn't need to carry out missions. He could stay home and train in peace.
After thinking it through carefully, Kizaru finally looked at Danzō and said,
"I can accept that arrangement. But I have one condition."
"What condition?" Danzō asked at once.
"Let me finish first grade properly," Kizaru said. "Call it starting something and seeing it through to the end."
"No problem," Danzō answered without hesitation.
Even if it meant delaying things a little, he was already more than satisfied that Kizaru had agreed to the early graduation arrangement at all.
"Then if there's nothing else, I'll be going now, Uncle."
As he spoke, Kizaru rose from his seat.
"Wait."
Seeing that he was about to leave, Danzō called him back.
"Something else?" Kizaru asked, looking down at him.
"After graduation… have you thought about your instructor?"
"My instructor?" Kizaru actually hadn't considered that at all.
He tilted his head, looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then lowered his gaze again.
"What a pain," he said casually. "I'll leave it to you, Uncle."
And with that, Kizaru turned and left without giving Danzō any chance to continue the conversation.
Watching his nephew's departing back, Danzō could only shake his head helplessly.
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