After Akira left, Tsunade headed straight to the Hokage's office. She slammed her hand on the desk and said to Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Old man, Akira plans to graduate early. I'm going to be his squad leader for a while. You don't have any objections, right?"
Seeing Tsunade's threatening gaze, Hiruzen gave a wry smile. "War is about to break out. We'll soon be fighting Sunagakure. Chiyo is extremely skilled with poison—we can't do without you. You understand that. Let someone else take him. I'll assign a reliable elite jonin instead, alright?"
At the same time, Hiruzen was a bit surprised.
Akira choosing to graduate at this timing… that was unusual thinking.
"Who?" Tsunade asked.
She knew Hiruzen was right, so she didn't insist. Her real goal was simply to find Akira a competent team leader.
Hiruzen thought for a moment. "How about Kurenai Yuhi's father? He's the head of the Yūhi clan, an elite jonin specializing in genjutsu. With him leading, there shouldn't be any issues."
Tsunade recalled briefly, then gave Hiruzen a strange look. "Him? Isn't he the father of Akira's little girlfriend? Old man, are you sure you're not setting Akira up? That guy probably doesn't like him much."
"Cough—of course not!" Hiruzen nearly choked on his smoke and defended himself. "Kurenai's father isn't like that! And what's wrong with young people dating? I'm sure they'll get along. Akira should be able to handle his relationship with him."
In his mind, he was practically helping Akira build a good relationship with his future father-in-law.
Good people like him were truly rare.
"Fine. Him it is."
Tsunade nodded in satisfaction, then warned, "Make sure he doesn't get assigned overly dangerous missions anytime soon. You know I don't have many family members left. Akira is basically the last of the Senju line. If anything happens to him, don't blame me for turning on you completely."
"That's all."
With that, she turned and left.
Although she had no concrete proof, whether it was the decline of the Senju main branch, Nawaki's death, or Dan's death—there always seemed to be shadows of Konoha behind it.
The fact that she hadn't already turned against Hiruzen was only out of respect for his past teachings—and because this village was built by her two grandfathers.
She had originally planned to leave Konoha.
But now war had broken out.
Annoying.
"Yare yare…"
Watching her leave, Hiruzen sighed. "Looks like Tsunade still holds grudges… Hopefully that can be resolved someday."
As for Akira—he wasn't a threat. Just keep him out of danger as much as possible.
Meanwhile, Akira left Tsunade and headed to the Hatake residence.
Sakumo Hatake was still there.
"Sensei, I plan to graduate early," Akira said directly.
"Oh?"
Sakumo looked a bit surprised. "You too?"
"Too?"
Akira paused, then quickly realized something. "Don't tell me… Kakashi Hatake also wants to graduate early?"
"Correct."
Sakumo nodded. "That child says he's already learned everything the Academy can teach him, so he wants to graduate early. I didn't expect you to think the same."
"What are you two thinking? Don't you know war is about to break out?"
He had just received orders—he would depart in two days for the eastern border to guard against Kirigakure.
Akira repeated the reasoning he had given Tsunade.
After hearing it, Sakumo smiled with approval and patted Akira's shoulder. "You're different from Kakashi. You've clearly thought this through carefully."
"Very well. I have no objections."
"However, I hope you and Kakashi can be placed on the same team—and that you take care of him."
"He's still immature… in many ways. You, on the other hand—I trust."
Sakumo knew Akira's strength best.
Over the past two months, they had sparred frequently—though mostly Sakumo guiding him.
After training in the Lightning Body Tempering technique, Sakumo's strength had increased by at least fifty percent.
Under his pressure, Akira's combat experience had grown rapidly.
Ordinary jonin likely weren't even his match anymore.
If not for chakra limitations, Akira's combat power would already be at elite jonin level.
"Oh?"
Akira raised an eyebrow. "Kakashi and I can be on the same team? That's great. Don't worry, Sensei—I'll take care of him."
"Haha! Good!"
Sakumo nodded in satisfaction.
After chatting a bit more, Akira left and headed to the Ninja Academy.
He went straight to the teachers' office and found his homeroom teacher to submit his graduation request.
"What? You too want to graduate early?"
Fujimoto stared at Akira in shock, then gave a bitter smile. "You barely even attend classes, and now war is about to break out. Are you sure you don't want to reconsider?"
He genuinely meant well.
He didn't want such a young child stepping onto the battlefield.
"No need."
Akira shook his head. "I've already thought it through. Tsunade-nee and my teacher, the White Fang, have both agreed."
"And I need to correct one thing, sensei—I have been attending class."
Even if he was graduating, he wouldn't tolerate false accusations.
Fujimoto looked at him speechlessly. "Yes, you've been attending… but that was a shadow clone."
Does that even count?
"It still counts as me, doesn't it? All the memories return to my brain every day."
Akira tapped his head.
Don't underestimate shadow clones.
Using them to attend class was proof of excellence.
After all, geniuses like Orochimaru and Itachi Uchiha had done the same.
Who could deny their brilliance?
(Minato: I didn't. Don't drag me into this.)
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