Thanks to the Flying Thunder God technique, his near-peak reaction speed finally had a real chance to shine. Even Kage-level experts could be easily defeated—or even killed—if they weren't careful.
However, Minato Namikaze currently had a weakness—his attack power was relatively weak and posed little threat to those shadow-level ninja with extremely high defense. Still, Shiyu Uchiha wasn't sure if Minato had completed his own no-hand-seal jutsu—the Rasengan.
Based on Kushina's words, he guessed it was more likely that the Rasengan was still in development. Plus, these days Minato excelled at Wind Release techniques, whose destructive power definitely shouldn't be underestimated.
In fact, from Shiyu Uchiha's perspective, combining the Flying Thunder God with long-range attacks would make enemies feel even more frustrated. Most importantly, anyone trying to suddenly assassinate him would soon find out that Minato's close-combat abilities were equally terrifying.
Indeed, this was accurate. Back then, while Minato was carrying out a mission, he encountered a powerful enemy who used a forbidden jutsu to dramatically increase his speed in desperation to turn the battle around.
Nonetheless, despite their hardships—and even though teammates sacrificed themselves fearlessly to support his charge—when he finally reached Minato, Minato effortlessly ended the fight using kunai, a moment full of dramatic irony.
Meanwhile, Shiyu Uchiha recalled Kushina Uzumaki's final speech: *"Absolutely do not disappoint Ling Uzumaki."*
These words deeply moved him, prompting him to consider whether he should also start a family. Actually, another important reason led Shiyu Uchiha to think along these lines.
He could already sense that Uchiha Shizhi's vitality was fading fast, and his time was running out. Facing this reality, Shiyu realized time was pressing—he decided he must marry quickly so as not to leave any regrets for Uchiha Shizhi.
The next day, Shiyu Uchiha came to the Hokage Tower. He walked straight up to the Hokage's office without any hindrance. After being announced by Anbu, he finally met the Third Hokage—Hiruzen Sarutobi.
At that moment, Hiruzen sat behind his desk. His sharp eagle-like gaze and slightly upturned mouth exuded an aura of authority without anger. Although over fifty years old, his tall figure remained strong, his well-defined muscles pulsing with untapped strength.
Shiyu carefully observed this legendary figure, silently sighing inwardly. Though still radiating authority, Hiruzen had definitely aged since the last time Shiyu saw him.
Shiyu Uchiha couldn't help but think: *"Hiruzen is already over fifty now; even if he died right away, it would be considered a blessed passing within the Ninja World. After all, both Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju hadn't lived this long."*
Yet he quickly realized his thoughts might seem disrespectful, so he adjusted his mindset immediately—it wouldn't do to keep thinking like this here, or trouble might arise.
Still, recalling the timing of the man's death mentioned in the original story, Shiyu Uchiha couldn't help but mutter deep inside: *"No wonder he's called the 'Strongest' Hokage—he just won't die!"*
However, he didn't show it outwardly. Keeping a servile smile on his face, he spoke with false humility: "Thank you for your concern, Lord Hokage. This is my journal documenting what I witnessed during my mission outside the village. I hope you'll take a look."
As he spoke, Shiyu Uchiha carefully pulled out his mission log and handed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi, worried that the elder might detect his subtle deception just now. However, clearly, Hiruzen wasn't perceptive enough to catch on.
This mission log recorded intelligence regarding Cloud-nin, Sand-nin, and Iwa-nin that Shiyu had observed while traveling through the Jinja World.
While watching Hiruzen read through his mission log, Shiyu couldn't determine the old man's thoughts. But judging from the recent incident where he'd pressured Sakumo Hatake, the Sarutobi leader's mind was no longer as sharp and wise on the inside as he appeared on the surface—he'd begun showing signs of aging and decline.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have made such an unwise move as to push a powerful Kage-level ninja into desperation, which made him the laughingstock of the entire village. This wasn't exactly a secret among Konoha's ninja clans, though everyone had remained politely silent about it—because at that time, Sakumo Hatake had been a staunch supporter of the Hokage.
In the original storyline, this incident would later become a source of ridicule across the ninja world. Therefore, Shiyu started doubting whether Hiruzen would even take his intel seriously.
After skimming through the mission log, Hiruzen's face showed a faint smile. Then he began asking Shiyu about some detailed points.
After Hiruzen's questions, Shiyu combined the information he provided with details from the original story to deduce certain situations. He pretended they were his own insights and shared them with Hiruzen.
"Based on my collected intelligence," Shiyu said thoughtfully, "I speculate that all nations have already completed their initial reinforcement and training of ninja units. After some additional practice, they should be ready for deployment in warfare."
Pausing briefly, he continued, "Furthermore, based on my observation, the ninjas' capabilities in villages like Kumogakure and Sunagakure have significantly improved. Especially Kumogakure—their Lightning Release techniques are highly distinctive and advanced. Besides that, Iwa-nin have an unusually large number of shinobi. As for Mist Village, I didn't obtain much intelligence, but I'm sure they're not weak either."
"Mm, your analysis makes sense," Hiruzen nodded in agreement. "Then what do you think we should do in response?"
"I believe we should strengthen our training of the ninja forces to improve both their abilities and combat skills," Shiyu suggested. "At the same time, we must intensify our intelligence gathering and analysis efforts to stay updated on other nations' developments in real time."
This was Shiyu's subtle way of helping Konoha, using his position as a shinobi to offer strategic advice. It was meant to let Hiruzen realize that the other Hidden Villages, which hadn't taken much damage in the Second Ninja War, had mostly regained their strength. Some of them had even seen notable increases in both the quantity and quality of elite ninjas.
"Mm, those are indeed important measures," Hiruzen nodded again but didn't show particular concern. "Any other suggestions?"
However, Hiruzen Sarutobi's focus might have been completely elsewhere. Either he completely missed Shiyu Uchiha's point, or he understood but thought Shiyu too young to be taken seriously, dismissing his analysis as unreliable. This made Shiyu lose interest in continuing the conversation.
After a brief chat, Sarutobi ended up giving Shiyu a lecture on [Fire's Wisdom Suppression]—laced with his own personal biases.
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