A few minutes later,

"I give up!" Nawaki raises his hands in defeat.

"It's impossible to wake him up!" He shakes his head.

"Alright, I will help you carry him." Yuji picks up Choza and places him on his back.

"Heavy… he is so heavy!"

The group slowly walks towards Konoha. Nawaki, Minato, Kushina, and Shikaku talk about their previous spar.

"You were amazing, Shikaku. We were never able to beat Yuji on our own. But with your help, we easily beat him."

"Haha… I just got lucky. Yuji was unaware of my secret technique." Shikaku shakes his head.

Meanwhile, Yuji analyzes his previous spar with the group.

'I wasn't prepared for Shikaku's jutsu and thus was caught off-guard, which ultimately led to my defeat. It might be fine in a spar but in a life-death battle, such a mistake might lead to death. I should always prepare myself for unexpected situations. Sparring and winning against these kids made me complacent about my abilities.'

Yuji continues to analyze the previous spar.

'No, even if there was something odd about the situation, I would have recognized it.' Yuji ponders deeper.

'During the battle, I had my eyes on every movement of Nawaki, Yuji, and Kushina. Wait, I never saw Shikaku make a move during the battle. He was passively observing our fight. Hmm… could it be?'

Yuji speculates something incredulous.

'During the entire battle, he was observing and analyzing our movements and devising a strategy to counterattack. During the heat of battle, he predicted my next move and interrupted me from my blind spot during a crucial movement. His calculations were flawless and his execution of it perfect. Shikaku seems like someone if have to be wary of if he was my enemy.' Yuji sees Shikaku in a new light.

He stares at the figure of Minato, Nawaki, Kushina, and Shikaku happily chatting with each other.

'I am surrounded by prodigies. Minato is a genius when it comes to learning. He can pretty much learn anything very quickly. Nawaki is a person with abnormal endurance. His will and tenacity are something else. Kushina is also someone with a massive reserve of chakra that far outclasses anyone among her peers. Shikaku is an intellect with extraordinary analysis skills. He is the type of person I would like to avoid the most. Since no one can predict when and where will they strike.' Yuji sighs slightly.

'And then there is you and me." He turns towards the sleeping Choza on his back.

'Perhaps there is something extraordinary about you, too.' After the previous incident of underestimating his enemies, he has lost his bias toward these kids who strive to be shinobi.

'That said…"

"Heavy! He is so heavy that my spine might break at any moment. G… guys… I can't… I can't carry him anymore. Can somebody help me?" Nawaki stops and places the sleeping Choza.

"We are almost at the academy. I will help you out." Minato offers to help them.

Yuji, Nawaki, and Shikaku are walking with a bent back. Their spine is aching while carrying Choza from the forest to the center of the village.

Swoosh…

With a gentle breeze, a fragrance of freshly grilled teriyaki wafts in the air.

Sniff… sniff…

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Choza's nose twitches slightly.

Yawn…

He slowly opens his eyes and rubs his stomach.

"What a delicious smell! I am hungry again."

He places his hand in his pocket and fetches a few hundred Ryo notes from it.

"I hope it's enough to get something to eat!" Choza ignores everyone and enchantingly walks towards the smell.

"…"

The group turns speechless.

"So lucky! Why is Minato so lucky?" Nawaki complains. Kushina refused to help them carry Choza. So, Yuji, Nawaki, Shikaku, and Minato are the only people left to carry him.

Yuji volunteered to carry him first since he lost the bet. Nawaki, Shikaku, and Minato decided to play pull a stick game. Minato won by picking the biggest stick and Nawaki lost by pulling the smallest stick.

"Even I couldn't think of such a method to wake him up." Shikaku shakes his head.

"Hmm… this smell… it's really good!" Even Kushina gets affected by the smell.

"I want to check out what they are selling?" She also follows the scent.

"Now even I am tempted by it." Nawaki follows her.

"Sigh…" Yuji, Minato, and Shikaku sigh at the same time.

Haha…

They stare at each other and burst out into laughter.

"Let's follow them!"

"Mm… I never ate something like this. It smells different from Yuji's fish."

"I will buy some for Hana and other orphans in the orphanage. Hana will be happy to eat something like this." Yuji counts the money in his pocket.

'I saved some money from the weapon shop. Since I have extra money, it will be a waste to not use it to give a fulfilling experience to those kids. Eating too many fish is also not good for their health.' Yuji also follows them.

"Wait for me!" He chases them.

-----------------------

Somewhere in Konoha, in an underground facility,

Inside a dark room,

"Have you completed the mission I tasked you to do?" A deep voice questions an anbu in black clothes.

"I have completed the task according to your instructions, Danzo-sama!" An emotionless voice addresses him.

"Hmm…"

The masked anbu passes a scroll to Danzo as he reports.

"There were a few casualties during the operation, but no clues or traces were left behind."

"Very well! You can take your leave now. I will assign another mission to you in the future." Danzo waves his hand to dismiss him.

Danzo opens the scroll and reads the details.

"The number of deaths is lower than my expectations. I can't repeat the same strategy again or else it might alert them of outside interference. But there is no efficient way to escalate the rising tension.

If I want to achieve my goals and make Konoha great again, then a few sacrifices are necessary."

Danzo jots down a few things on a scroll. He makes some hand signs and seals the scroll.

"Deliver this scroll to the Hanzo of the Salamander in Amegakure."

"Yes, Danzo-sama!" Another anbu member grabs the scroll and disappears from Danzo's vision.

"Hanzo is a very cynical person. He might disregard the information I sent him on the surface, but his greedy nature will surface and he will make a move against the Land of Earth to achieve his goal of unification of all nations. Haha…" Danzo chuckles to himself.

"Does he really think that an overly ambitious fool like him can achieve such a grand dream? Achieving such a grand ambition requires both brain and brawn. If it was someone else, then he might not have fallen fool for my ploy, but if it's him, then I'm sure he won't rest until he confirms everything with eyes."

A dangerous gleam flashes across Danzo's eyes.

"Back then, I always followed Tobirama Sensei's teachings and ideals. Yet Tobirama Sensei entrusted the position of Hokage to a fool like Hiruzen over me. But now, I will prove it… I will prove to him that his choice was a mistake. I will achieve what he couldn't. I will reunite the entire shinobi world under the banner of Konoha."

Crack… crack…

Danzo clutches his fists.

He summons another member of his Root organization.

"Summon the doctor!"

A few minutes later.

A spectacled slender man in white clothes enters the room.

"How is the situation with the test subjects? It has been eight years and yet there are no results?"

"D… Danzo-sama! We are so close to achieving the result. Give me a few more months, and I will…"

"Enough!" Danzo silences him.

"I have been hearing the same words for the past seven years and yet there are no results. Looks like we no longer have any need for you." Danzo signals a nearby Anbu.

"Dispose him!"

Swish…

The root member takes out his blade and walks toward the doctor with emotionless eyes.

"NO! WAIT! DANZO-SAMA… YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME. DANZO-SAMA… JUST GIVE ME SLIGHTLY MORE TIME. I WILL PRODUCE A RESULT THIS TIME. DANZO-SAMA…"

Whoosh…

The root member swings his sword to slice the doctor's neck in half.

"DANZO-SAMA, the experiment is a failure because all test subjects are too inferior to receive Lord Hashirama's power. Only if we could find a test subject with a strong body, then the chances of success are higher… no, it's guaranteed!" The doctor screams his lungs out.

"Wait!" Danzo orders the Anbu to stop.

Whoosh…

The root member's blade cuts through a thin layer of skin on the doctor's neck. Blood trickles down from the doctor's body but he dares not to take another loud breath.

"So, you meant to say that those orphan civilians kids I sent you to experiment upon are failures."

"Y… yes!" The doctor hurriedly nods his head.

"Hmm… I also think so. So, what kind of test subjects do you think will have a higher chance of success?" Danzo glares at the Doctor with a piercing gaze.

The blade of the root member is still resting against the doctor's neck.