Konoha Year 48, December 27th.
More than two months had passed since the Nine-Tails' rampage, and today Konoha was finally lively again.
Yagyu, who had just woken up, went out for breakfast and saw the villagers discussing something with great excitement. The topic of conversation was surprisingly consistent.
After listening closely, Yagyu came to a slight realization.
It turned out that the eldest daughter of the Hyūga clan's main house, the "Byakugan Princess" Hyūga Hinata, had been born.
With Hinata's birth, all twelve members of the future generation were now present.
"So, is there still three years?"
Yagyu rubbed his chin with his hand. The "three years" he referred to was the kidnapping of Hinata.
On Hinata's third birthday, the Cloud Village would come to Konoha under the guise of signing a peace treaty, then kidnap Hinata to obtain the secrets of the Byakugan. The kidnapper would be killed by Hyūga Hiashi. Afterward, not only would the Cloud Village deny the kidnapping, but they would also use the death of their envoy as an excuse to pressure Konoha, demanding the corpse of the Hyūga clan leader, or else they would wage war against Konoha.
Having just experienced the Nine-Tails' rampage, with the Fourth Hokage sacrificed, the new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki being just an infant, and Orochimaru having defected, Konoha could not afford the consumption of war.
Having lost his edge as the "Professor of Shinobi," Sarutobi Hiruzen could only bow his head to the Cloud Village. Hyūga Hizashi, in order to save the Hyūga clan and Konoha, willingly sacrificed himself in place of his older brother.
Konoha extinguished the fuse of war in an extremely humiliating manner.
Who could imagine that the once strongest ninja village, Konoha, which had won three Great Ninja Wars, would be weak to this extent?
All of this was due to Danzo and the Third Hokage.
However, Yagyu knew that three years later was only the beginning.
A few years after that, the Uchiha clan, known as the strongest clan in the ninja world, would be exterminated by their own.
At that time, Konoha's deterrence would drop to its lowest point, so weak that even Orochimaru could make a mess of it.
"Well, none of this has anything to do with me... Peaceful times are quite good; at least I can develop in peace."
Yagyu shook his head to clear his thoughts and arrived at the famous Ichiraku Ramen. After finishing breakfast, he consciously went to the training ground to practice ninjutsu.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had taught Yagyu for nearly a month. After helping him become familiar with the village, he entrusted the heavy responsibility of taking care of Yagyu to Yūhi Kurenai and stopped coming every day.
During this month, Yagyu learned four ninjutsu from Sarutobi Hiruzen, two Water Release and two Earth Release.
They were: Water Release: Water Formation Wall, Water Release: Water Shockwave; Earth Release: Earth Flow River, Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet.
These formed two sets of combination ninjutsu, all of which were B-rank elemental ninjutsu.
If he were an ordinary child, or even his own son Sarutobi Asuma, Sarutobi Hiruzen would not have taught such high-level ninjutsu.
But Yagyu was different; his chakra volume was too massive.
Even with B-rank ninjutsu, Yagyu could perform them.
What was even more frightening was that Yagyu learned these B-rank ninjutsu at a glance as well.
Yagyu deliberately exposed this to shape a genius image specifically to obtain the Second Hokage's forbidden techniques later.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, unaware of the system's existence, could only sigh that Yagyu was indeed a genius who inherited the "Power of God."
The Wood Release scroll had been given, and the elemental ninjutsu had been taught. After Sarutobi Hiruzen decided there was nothing more to teach at this stage, he returned to his busy work and entrusted the task of caring for Yagyu to Yūhi Kurenai in the form of a mission.
Through their interactions over this period, Yagyu and Yūhi Kurenai gradually became familiar with each other.
Yūhi Kurenai liked this well-behaved and polite genius very much.
The grief of her father's sacrifice made her involuntarily adopt the role of an older sister while taking care of Yagyu, unknowingly investing her emotions.
However, Yagyu, who treated this as a game, only saw her as a usable NPC.
Even Yagyu's politeness toward her was merely to gain her favorability, making her another tool he could utilize.
As for romance, Yagyu, whose body had not yet developed, had absolutely no thoughts in that regard.
Returning to reality, Yagyu arrived at the training ground Sarutobi Hiruzen had prepared for him and began his day-after-day grind for proficiency.
"First... Wood Release: Wood Clone Technique."
Yagyu formed hand seals, and his body split into two identical Wood Clones.
Then the three of them divided the work, each standing on one side, performing three different types of ninjutsu to ravage the ground.
"Water Release: Water Shockwave."
A Wood Clone clasped his hands together. His whole body emitted blue chakra fluctuations as a large amount of water rose from beneath his feet and then surged outward into the surroundings.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow River."
The other Wood Clone slapped his hands on the ground. With the help of the water flow, he turned the ground within a fifteen-meter radius into liquid, like a swamp, making it difficult for anyone who fell in to get out.
The chakra within the two Wood Clones was not much, barely enough to perform these ninjutsu two or three times.
Yagyu did not intend to grind the proficiency of the elemental ninjutsu extensively; he only let the clones practice a few times each day.
As the main body, he kept his distance from the two Wood Clones and focused on grinding Wood Release proficiency.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence."
Several lifeless trees broke through the earth, growing into small trees over a meter high in the blink of an eye.
This move was probably the most famous among Wood Release ninjutsu, but when performed by Yagyu's hands, it completely ruined the reputation of Wood Release.
It couldn't be helped; although the comprehension requirements for Deep Forest Emergence were low, the power of this move depended on the user.
For example, the first time Senju Hashirama was brought back via Impure World Reincarnation, his Deep Forest Emergence wasn't even fit to carry Uchiha Madara's shoes.
Yagyu's Wood Release and Yang Release levels were too low, and the proficiency of Deep Forest Emergence was barely Level 1. At full power, he could only force the growth of a large tree about five meters tall. He was far from creating a forest; he couldn't even create a small grove.
"I wonder what level of Yang Release is needed to generate trees full of vitality."
Looking at the bare trees in front of him, Yagyu found their color very eyesore.
Without even a single leaf, such trees could be cut down by others with a kunai. If he created a forest like this, a single Fire Release would probably burn it all to ashes.
True Wood Release was an all-powerful and unsolvable existence, tough enough to ignore A-rank and S-rank ninjutsu, and capable of draining the enemy's chakra once caught.
Thinking this, Yagyu held onto his expectations for the future and continued grinding proficiency.
Watching the Wood Clones disappear not far away, Yagyu created two more clones to continue grinding the proficiency of Water Release and Earth Release.
After his chakra was exhausted, Yagyu found a clean spot to recover chakra.
Then he continued...
It wasn't until noon, when Yagyu's spiritual energy was nearly dried up and it was no longer suitable to continue refining chakra, that he finally went home.