400. The New Generation of Konoha

"Father of the Nation?"

"So they’ve given me such a title, huh..."

Danzō chuckled as he read the secret letter in his hand.

The Shinobi World United News, an organization Danzō had founded himself, naturally couldn’t escape his notice, especially when it came to major events like the summary report of the first four-year plan.

Before this issue of the newspaper even went to print, its contents had already been delivered to Danzō.

However, since it was a gesture of goodwill from Minato and others, Danzō simply chose to let it slide.

The immediate consequence of this newspaper issue’s release was a massive surge in his skill points, skyrocketing to over 100,000!!

This meant Danzō now had enough points to upgrade several abilities to S-rank.

But why S-rank and not S+?

The main reason was that Danzō had discovered that to upgrade an ability to S+, certain special conditions had to be met.

For example, his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan was currently at S-rank.

To upgrade it to S+, not only would it cost a staggering 100,000 skill points, but he would also need to meet the conditions of having Wood Release at S-rank and both Yin and Yang Release at double S-rank.

Such stringent conditions only reinforced Danzō’s belief.

The next evolution after the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan must be the Rinnegan.

After all, the condition for the Eternal Mangekyō to evolve into the Rinnegan was to possess the combined powers of the Senju and Uchiha clans, thereby obtaining the power of Creation of All Things.

The Uchiha’s power was undoubtedly represented by the Sharingan and Yin Release, while the Senju’s power lay in Wood Release and Yang Release.

Of course, whether it was the Uchiha or the Senju, their powers were essentially derived from Asura and Indra. The Sharingan, Yin Release, Wood Release, Yang Release...

These were merely the external manifestations of the reincarnations of the Sage of Six Paths’ two sons.

Regardless, this discovery gave Danzō a clear path to achieving Six Paths-level power.

As long as he could awaken the Rinnegan, successfully gather the nine tailed beasts, summon the Ten-Tails, and become its jinchūriki, even if Kaguya Ōtsutsuki were to break free or the Sage of Six Paths were to revive, Danzō would still have the power to fight.

As for the potential threat of the Ōtsutsuki clan, he could only hope to push the limits of his system.

In any case, thanks to the massive gains from the "Father of the Nation" title, Danzō had directly upgraded Wood Release, Yin Release, and Yang Release to S-rank.

The total cost was 150,000 points...

This also meant that his once-abundant skill points had taken a significant hit.

To awaken the Rinnegan, he would have to wait for the next surge in points.

However, Danzō believed that day wouldn’t be too far off.

Once the internal affairs of the Land of Fire were settled, his next goal would be clear—

Unify the shinobi world!!

Once he achieved this unprecedented feat, a mere 100,000 skill points would be nothing.

Of course, aside from the secret letter from the newspaper agency, Danzō also received a letter from Kabuto.

After reading his second disciple’s plan, a mischievous smile spread across Danzō’s face.

"Let’s see just how far the talents of these kids can take them."

A glimmer of anticipation flashed in Danzō’s eyes.

At this point, Itachi Uchiha and Kabuto Shimura were both ten years old.

Chino had also turned seven.

It was time for them to experience the harsh realities of the shinobi world.

Thus, under Danzō’s direction, a trial for Konoha’s new generation quietly began.

————————

Meanwhile, Kabuto was unaware that he had also been drawn into the scheme.

At the moment, he was quietly leading Chino to the Uchiha clan compound.

Why quietly?

Kabuto was mainly concerned that their identities might attract too much attention, which would make it difficult to carry out their plan.

So, they sneaked over to the vicinity of the Uchiha clan head’s residence.

Then, a pure white pigeon flew out from Kabuto’s hand.

In this timeline, since Kabuto hadn’t been influenced by Orochimaru, he hadn’t chosen the cold, sinister white snake as his symbol.

Instead, he had chosen the white pigeon, a symbol of purity and peace.

The pigeon he had just released was the prearranged signal between him and Itachi.

Sure enough, when Itachi saw the pigeon land on his windowsill, he immediately understood.

Just as he was about to leave home, his younger brother Sasuke, who was only four or five years old, ran after him, pouting and asking, "Didn’t you promise to teach me shurikenjutsu today?"

Hearing this, a hint of embarrassment flashed across Itachi’s face. But he quickly thought of a way to handle it.

He walked over to Sasuke and, as usual, tapped his brother’s forehead with two fingers.

"Forgive me, Sasuke. I have something important to do."

"Next time, I promise!"

As expected, this move left Sasuke standing there in a daze.

By the time he snapped out of it, Itachi had already disappeared.

"Again! That stupid brother of mine!!"

After successfully brushing off Sasuke, Itachi quickly found Kabuto and Chino.

"What’s going on?"

He appeared at the entrance of the alley where Kabuto and Chino were hiding, his hands in his pockets.

The moment Chino saw Itachi, her initial impression of him was confirmed.

Arrogant!

This arrogance wasn’t in his words or demeanor, but rather in an innate aura—a quality that was hard to put into words.

Of course, Kabuto didn’t dislike this trait in Itachi.

In his eyes, strong individuals all had something unique about them, while the weak simply blended into the crowd.

"This is Chino, my junior sister."

Kabuto first introduced Chino, and after Itachi nodded slightly, he explained their purpose.

"We came to invite you to join us in visiting the military district."

"The military district?"

Itachi frowned.

The military district was currently one of Konoha’s most heavily guarded secrets, with numerous professional shinobi stationed there. It wasn’t a place one could just waltz into.

But Kabuto nodded and explained, "Today, there’s a large-scale Red vs. Blue military exercise organized by the higher-ups. Chino and I wanted to see the gap between us and the professional shinobi."

"Is that so..."

Itachi pondered for a moment.

As the eldest son of the Uchiha clan, he had plenty of professional shinobi as sparring partners.

But sparring was one thing; real battlefield combat was entirely different.

If he could use this military exercise to get a feel for actual combat, it might benefit his training...

With this in mind, Itachi quickly agreed to Kabuto and Chino’s proposal.

Little did he know, he had already stepped into the trial Danzō had prepared for them.