They had already decided the Third Hokage would eventually step down, so why would Shiki or Orochimaru still care about Hiruzen's position?
Neither of them even bothered lowering their voices.
Many people around heard their conversation clearly…
But every single one of them stared straight ahead, pretending to notice absolutely nothing.
Joking aside—whether it was Hiruzen Sarutobi, or two of the Legendary Sannin, or the Golden Lion Shiki, none of them were people ordinary shinobi could afford to be on bad terms with.
Playing deaf was the safest option.
But obviously, not everyone possessed that level of self-preservation.
"No, I believe Hokage-sama must have handled everything in advance. That's why he has the free time to come here!"
Of course—the only person who would dare say something like that at a time like this…
was Minato Namikaze.
"Minitoe…"
Kushina sighed helplessly beside him, rubbing her forehead.
Even if she was hot-tempered, she wasn't stupid.
The atmosphere was clearly off, and Minato had just walked right into the middle of it without realizing.
Minato was amazing at everything—except being politically aware.
To put it bluntly… he was a little too pure.
"What? Kushina, did I say something wrong?" he asked earnestly.
"…No."
What could Kushina even say at that point?
Even Jiraiya stared at him speechlessly.
Had he failed at raising this apprentice?
How was Minato this strong but this oblivious?
"In the shinobi world, there are many prodigies… but prodigies without any caution or scheming rarely live long."
Shiki glanced at Minato as he spoke calmly.
He was genuinely trying to warn him.
Shiki didn't dislike Minato...
as long as he didn't blindly devote himself to Hiruzen, Shiki had no reason to be hostile.
Unfortunately, Minato completely missed the point.
He nodded with serious admiration:
"This is a great line! I can use this when teaching my students. Lord Shiki truly speaks in classics!"
"…"
Shiki almost laughed.
Teach your students?
I was talking about YOU.
Even Orochimaru and Tsunade had to turn their faces away for a moment to suppress their laughter.
Orochimaru leaned slightly toward Jiraiya, voice dripping with mock pity.
"Your student never fails to impress."
"…Hey! I can hear that, you damn snake!"
Jiraiya snapped, glaring at him.
But instead of arguing more, he grabbed Minato by the shoulder.
He had just made up his mind—after this exam, he seriously needed to teach Minato a few things besides ninjutsu.
If Minato kept growing in power while his brain stayed like this…his life expectancy might drop significantly.
While they chatted, the graduation assessment finally began.
"The first match! Inuzuka Aka versus Yamanaka Heiichi!"
Both were from clan families, but neither name rang any bells for Shiki.
Probably background characters.
The fight was boring...
kids who hadn't even graduated yet, flailing around with basic taijutsu.
To Shiki and the others, it was like watching children play pretend.
In the end, the Inuzuka kid won thanks to help from his ninja dog.
The following matches were similar—unremarkable.
Only the match between Kurenai and Shizune had anything worth watching.
After years of being mentored by Tsunade and training beside Shiki, Kurenai's fundamentals were far beyond normal Academy level.
She dispatched her opponent cleanly and elegantly.
"Shiki-nii!"
Still wearing her newly obtained forehead protector, Kurenai waved excitedly from the arena.
Shiki waved back.
And then he caught sight of Yūhi Shinku's resentful expression.
"Uh… what's wrong?" Shiki asked.
"…Nothing."
Shinku stood there in silent heartbreak.
His daughter finished her exam…
and the first person she greeted wasn't him.
He had no idea why…
which only made the sadness worse.
"This girl is named Kurenai? She is Impressive."
"Indeed. She's already as strong as a chūnin right after graduation."
"No wonder Lord Shiki and Tsunade-sama took a liking to her."
The surrounding jōnin whispered among themselves.
If she hadn't been trained by Shiki and Tsunade, most of them wouldn't have cared at all.
But now that she had real talent and famous mentors, she immediately attracted attention.
Shiki only smiled.
Tsunade, on the other hand, was visibly proud.
She had spent years watching other people brag about their apprentices...finally, she could brag about hers.
Whether those compliments were sincere or not didn't matter.
Tsunade enjoyed every second.
Originally, Shiki thought only Kurenai and Shizune were worth his attention today.
But then a boy caught his eye.
A teenager wearing the Uchiha clan crest—
about Kurenai's agebut with a calm, mature demeanor.
His strength had already reached Chunin, almost on par with Kurenai.
Tsunade and the others noticed him as well.
"Who is that?" Shiki asked.
"No idea," Tsunade replied.
"He's clearly a genius, but I've never seen him before."
"Ahem."
Just when Shiki was wondering, someone coughed nearby.
He turned to find a stern-looking Uchiha man approaching...one dressed in the full Uchiha clan style.
"Lord Shiki," the man said with pride,
"This boy is from my clan—Uchiha Shisui."
Other clan shinobi looked away indifferently.
Their opinions of the Uchiha weren't particularly high.
"And you are…?" Shiki asked.
The man straightened his back.
"Lord Shiki, I am the current Uchiha patriarch—Uchiha Fugaku."
"Oh. No wonder you looked unlucky."
Fugaku pretended not to hear that.
He watched the young Shisui finish his match, then smile politely and help his opponent off the ground.
Fugaku nodded with satisfaction.
"Shisui has always been an exceptional talent of our clan."
"…"
Exceptional, sure… But in the original timeline, he was also the one who helped usher in the downfall of his entire clan.
A prodigy with no political sense—
a genius who let himself be brainwashed by the Will of Fire.
Thinking of that, Shiki deliberately turned to glance at Minato.
"Uh…"
Minato felt uncomfortable, like he had been silently insulted…but since Shiki didn't say anything aloud, he didn't ask.
The graduation exam officially concluded.
Kurenai and Shizune, both full of joy and forehead protectors shining, ran toward Shiki.
"Shiki-nii! I'm awesome, right!?" Kurenai beamed.
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