The next day, while regular students were attending their classes, Itachi arrived at a large classroom, ready to take on his graduation assessment.
In the classroom, there were three people present aside from Itachi: the headmaster of the Academy, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Itachi's teacher, and Nagasawa, who had come to observe. Because of that, Itachi's teacher seemed more nervous than Itachi, and to an outsider, it might seem like he was the one about to be assessed.
Itachi's teacher glanced enviously at Itachi, thinking that a true genius like Itachi was given a special treatment that even such prominent figures came to observe.
One was the former Hokage, and the other was the current Hokage Assistant, who was acknowledged as the most powerful Shinobi in Konoha and likely to become the Fifth Hokage, Fujiwara Nagasawa.
Both of them were figures that Itachi's teacher rarely had the opportunity to interact with. After all, he was just an ordinary Chuunin teacher.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, despite being the headmaster of the Academy, rarely visited the Academy. He usually only came to give speeches at the start of the term or for significant events. During regular days, he was rarely seen there.
"Itachi Uchiha, quite impressive. The children these days are getting stronger with each passing year. Kabuto also graduated in his first grade, didn't he?" The Third Hokage smiled kindly while stroking his small beard.
"Kabuto indeed also graduated in the first grade, but he spent an extra semester compared to Itachi," Nagasawa nodded in agreement.
Kabuto and Itachi had different approaches. Although both felt that the academy's curriculum was too basic, Kabuto enjoyed attending classes and graduated after finishing his first year. Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi and Nagasawa discuss Kabuto, Itachi wasn't surprised. After all, Nagasawa was Kabuto's brother, and Hiruzen Sarutobi was Kabuto's Ninjutsu teacher.
"I've heard that you've already learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu. How about demonstrating it for us?" the Third Hokage suggested.
Itachi nodded calmly even though it was the previous Hokage who just spoke to him. With swift hand seals, he conjured five Shadow Clones.
The Third Hokage nodded in approval. It was evident from this Shadow Clone Technique that Itachi was skilled. The speed of his hand seal was impressive, and he created five Shadow Clones at once as if it was nothing.
Suddenly, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt interested in taking Itachi as his disciple.
In the eyes of others, Hiruzen Sarutobi was a typical winner in life. Born into a renowned Shinobi Clan, his father was a renowned ninja during the Warring States period. His teacher was the Second Hokage, and he eventually became the Third Hokage. He married a good wife, had two talented children, and his three disciples became well-known Shinobi.
However, Hiruzen had so many regrets. He only survived the Second Shinobi World War because his teacher sacrificed himself to protect him. Despite becoming the Third Hokage, he didn't lead Konoha to new heights and merely preserved the foundation left by his predecessors. Even his youngest child was not well-guided and currently in a rebellious phase.
While his three disciples had made their name, none of them had inherited his legacy.
Hiruzen knew that while he may have contributed to the success of his three disciples, he wasn't the deciding factor. Even if someone else had been their teacher, they would likely have still become legendary Shinobi.
Now that he had stepped down from the position of Hokage and had plenty of time on his hands, he wanted to focus on teaching his disciples.
"Considering your skill with Shadow Clone Jutsu, I believe you are ready to graduate," the Third Hokage said. He then looked at Nagasawa and Itachi's teacher.
Nagasawa smiled and nodded, saying, "Itachi, you've done very well. In my opinion, you are qualified."
Then, Nagasawa turned to Itachi's teacher, who had yet to say a word.
Feeling the gaze of the two esteemed figures, Itachi's teacher struggled to remain composed and said, "I agree with the Third Hokage and Nagasawa. Itachi, you are qualified."
"My apologies, Lord Third, I'm going to steal your job now and present Itachi with his forehead protector," Nagasawa joked.
Hiruzen looked at Nagasawa in bewilderment, not understanding why Nagasawa wanted to take over this duty. Did Nagasawa also want to take Itachi as his disciple?
"To be honest, I am Itachi's teacher. This is a memorable moment, so I'd like to do this myself," Nagasawa explained.
Hiruzen immediately cast aside his thoughts of taking Itachi as a disciple. He couldn't believe how quickly Nagasawa made his move as he had already made Itachi his disciple before he even graduated. However, that just went to show that Nagasawa valued Itachi that highly.
At that moment, Hiruzen suddenly remembered that Nagasawa had asked Shisui Uchiha from him prior to this and showed interest in Shisui's abilities and talents.
'Could it be that he's trying to resolve Uchiha Clan's issue?' Hiruzen suddenly suspected.
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Uchiha Clan had always been a major concern for Konoha. Hiruzen had wanted to address the Uchiha issue, but the deep-rooted conflict made it difficult for him to do anything.
So, he tackled the problem from a different approach by handling Uchiha Clan by using one of their own. That was the reason Shisui was then recruited into the Third Hokage's Anbu.
Now that he thought about it, Nagasawa had was the leader of Training Team and Special Combat Division, both of which had members from Uchiha Clan, and he had taken Uchiha Clan leader's son under his wing, which seemed like an excellent plan.
Not too long ago, there was an idea of reforming Konoha's Military Police Force, turning it into a division that wasn't exclusive to just Uchiha Clan. At that time, the two Council members refused, thinking that it would undermine Uchiha Clan's authority. At that time, Nagasawa had strongly refuted their arguments, pointing out the benefits of the reform and the drawbacks of Uchiha Clan's monopoly over Konoha's Military Police Force. Eventually, they had no choice but to agree.
Hiruzen remembered how awkward it was to watch his two old friends, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, being so powerless in an argument.
However, on the other hand, Hiruzen had to admit that Nagasawa's words made a lot of sense.
In the end, Hiruzen decided to play dead, closing his eyes and let Minato and Nagasawa do whatever they wanted. After all, he wasn't the Hokage anymore.
Nagasawa picked up Konoha forehead protector from the table and walked toward Itachi. He personally placed the headband on Itachi's forehead and patted his shoulder, saying with a smile, "From now on, you are officially Konoha's Shinobi, a proud Genin!"
Itachi looked up at Nagasawa. This moment was etched into his memory. Today, Itachi was different from before because he had become a true Shinobi.
This marked his commitment to working harder to fulfill his dreams.
The news of Itachi's early graduation quickly spread through the Academy and even throughout Konoha. After all, Itachi had stopped attending classes, and it was easy to find out the reason by asking the teachers.
Many people found it unbelievable. They even found Kabuto's case hard to believe, let alone Itachi's.
Hanayo overheard other students discussing about Itachi's graduation. At first, she thought she must have misheard things.
She remembered that Itachi had just enrolled the Academy as her underclassman. How could he graduate so quickly?
Hanayo then asked around, and to her surprise, it was indeed the same Uchiha Itachi she knew. She was dumbfounded, especially since she had offered to look after Itachi, and yet he had graduated ahead of her.
...
Today was a special day because Nagasawa had achieved a new record in his points, accumulating a total of 250,000 points.
In the past, there was almost no downtime between templates, and his Prosperity would grow too quickly, so by the time he used up his points, the Prosperity would reach the threshold and a new template would be unlocked.
However, now his Prosperity was only at 2,700, and he still needed 300 more to unlock the next template.
His Prosperity barely increased at this stage, especially because it was harder to raise it the more Prosperity he had, so Nagasawa could accumulate points more easily.
Without hesitation, Nagasawa clicked on the template and entered Sage Mode Simulated Training.
[Would you like to continue the previously saved (Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode I)?] Nagasawa quickly confirmed and invested a massive 200,000 points on that save point.
At the moment of confirmation, Nagasawa's consciousness once again entered the training space.
Within the training space, Nagasawa's Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode made a significant progress with each passing second. The questions that he stumbled into regarding Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode would be answered in the next moment.
Time passed quickly, and within the simulated space, the concept of time didn't exist. Nagasawa couldn't tell how long he had spent in there, but he felt like he exited the simulation space quite fast.
However, upon exiting, Nagasawa's Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode had advanced from Sage-level to Great Sage-level.
"Well, 200,000 points is really something," Nagasawa said with a smirk.
Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode was better for offensive. Combined with Sun Breathing it might create different sparks from Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Mode.
After advancing to Great Sage level, it took Nagasawa two days to get used to the new abilities he got before attempting Tobirama's Challenge Mission again.
[Tobirama Senju Challenge Mission: Defeat Uchiha Madara in Six Paths mode and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki in the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Reward upon completion: Fusion Rate of 10%.]
[Do you wish to attempt the challenge?]
"Yes."
[Due to the high difficulty of the challenge, you will not directly replace your template character. On that note, you can choose to use your true appearance. Would you like to use it?]
"Yes."
This time, Nagasawa didn't intend to pretend to be the Second Hokage; he wanted to try something different. He had prepared a whole new character for himself.
He decided to keep his name as it was, so people would call him by his own name instead of "Second Hokage" or "Tobirama," which was confusing, and sometimes he wouldn't realize they were calling him.
For this new character, he portrayed himself as an ordinary civilian, who managed to bring peace from the warring period and was ultimately acknowledged by the Third Hokage, becoming the Fourth Hokage.
To embody this character, Nagasawa even wore the Fourth Hokage's mantle.
The scene changed, and when Nagasawa opened his eyes again, he found himself in Uchiha's underground chamber. Next to him were the four Hokages that had just been revived.
"One, two, three, four,... five." Suigetsu counted the Hokages that were revived with Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation and was baffled as he said, "Five?"
"Young man, you might not be aware of this, but it's common knowledge that the Four Heavenly Kings actually have five members. So, having five Hokages is quite normal," Nagasawa said in a serious tone.
"I've never heard of this common knowledge," Suigetsu scratched his head in confusion and then quipped, "Wait, I guess I mostly stay in the base, and I don't have much common knowledge to begin with."
"Who are you?" Hashirama tilted his body, stroking his chin, and looked at Nagasawa with an air of intelligence. He felt that this person was quite interesting and might be someone he could have a good conversation with.
Nagasawa turned around to show the back of his mantle to Hashirama and pointed to the words on it. "I am the Fourth Hokage."
Minato next to Nagasawa was speechless.
If you're the Fourth Hokage? Then, who am I?
"So, Konoha already has Four Hokage, huh? But since you've also been resurrected using the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation. Who's the Fifth Hokage?" Hashirama asked with keen interest.
"It's your granddaughter, Tsunade," Orochimaru answered Hashirama's question.
Hashirama's expression sunk. He prayed that Konoha was safe.
"Well, actually, I'm also the Fourth Hokage," Minato sheepishly interjected and then turned around to show everyone the large characters spelling out "Fourth Hokage" on his back.
"How come there are two Fourth Hokages? Is Konoha really in such chaos now? Saru, what have you done?" Tobirama frowned and stared at Hiruzen with a displeased expression.
Hiruzen, who inadvertently took the brunt of it, just stroked his white little beard in silence. At his age, he looked much older than Tobirama, yet he was being reprimanded by Tobirama.
Hiruzen pointed to Minato and explained, "As far as I know, Minato is the real Fourth Hokage. I don't know the other person who claims to be the Fourth Hokage. He's probably someone Orochimaru recruited from somewhere to try to confuse Lord First and Lord."
After saying this, Hashirama turned to Orochimaru and asked, "Why did you even resurrect me, your teacher, with Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation this time? What's your purpose? Are you planning to attack Konoha?"
Orochimaru chuckled lightly, "Sarutobi-sensei, you've got it wrong this time. That 'Fourth Hokage' over there isn't someone I summoned to confuse Lord First and Second. If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't have hesitated to confuse you as well. And, this time, I've summoned you guys not to destroy Konoha, but to help answer some questions for the young man beside me."
Nagasawa looked at Hiruzen and widened his eyes, saying, "Lord Third, how can you tell such a blatant lie? It was clearly you who appointed me as a Hokage."
Hiruzen nearly plucked out his beard when Nagasawa said that, but he was saved by his thoughtful disciple, Orochimaru.
"Well then, the other 'Fourth Hokage,' may I ask how you get here? It's obvious that you're not brought here through Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, yet you've appeared alongside the Hokages that I've summoned with Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation," Orochimaru licked his lips with an eerie smile.
"And, I don't recall any Hokage candidates that resemble you back then," he continued.
Nagasawa pondered for a moment and replied, "I think I understand what's going on now. It might be because of quantum physics! Perhaps, this is no longer the world I originally belonged to."
Then Nagasawa started throwing around a bunch of scientific terms and explanations, confusing both Tobirama and Orochimaru, who found it all beyond their understanding.
Finally, Nagasawa demonstrated his Flying Thunder God Technique.
The moment he used Flying Thunder God Technique, everyone's expressions changed. They began to waver.
Flying Thunder God Technique was a space-time Ninjutsu created by Tobirama Senju and only Konoha Shinobi could learn it. Anyone who could use Flying Thunder God should know tgus.
"I don't care whether that Fourth Hokage really comes from another world or not. I just want your answers, and I'll decide whether to destroy or help Konoha based on those answers," Sasuke said coldly.
His aloof attitude certainly won Sakura's heart, but Nagasawa was there as well. Would Nagasawa allow someone to outdo him in acting cool?
Nagasawa released his overwhelming Color of Supreme King Haki, enveloping the entire underground chamber, causing the underground chamber to shake. Sand fell from above, as if the chamber was on the verge of collapsing.
"Who gave you the permission to utter the words 'destroy Konoha' before me?" Nagasawa's Color of Supreme King Haki continued to surge as he rushed towards Sasuke.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, resisting the pressure from Nagasawa's Color of Supreme King Haki. He felt like his body was wailing. He couldn't comprehend why the person before him was this powerful. It was bewildering that just his aura was nearly enough to bring him to his knees.