"With Sensei around, I naturally feel at ease."
Hyuga Yuto smiled, wrapping his arms and hands with bandages once more.
"Eh? Sensei, where's Shizune?"
"I dropped her off at the Ninja Academy," the blonde beauty yawned.
"I'm a bit busy lately and can't take care of her for now. Letting her go to school and interact with her peers is a good thing."
Hyuga Yuto was a little surprised.
"Tsunade-sensei, are you back in an official position in the village?"
"No, it's just that the old man assigned me some tasks... Oh, right, this has something to do with you too." Tsunade paused, then continued,
"Yuto, you've been away from the village for two months. How did you find the outside world?"
"Life is quite difficult in most areas. The Land of Fire is still the most peaceful." Hyuga Yuto spoke sincerely. Setting aside personal biases, Konoha Village was indeed a harmonious place. In the end, the world was a comparison game, and there were far worse places than Konoha.
"Is it chaotic?"
"Very, very chaotic, Sensei. Around the Land of Fire, there are more and more traces of unidentified shinobi... Is war coming?"
"Yes." Tsunade nodded. As a veteran of the Second Shinobi World War, she was familiar with this situation.
"Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next second, war could break out at any moment. It depends on who loses their patience first... Konoha's first batch of combat troops has already assembled, led by Orochimaru."
"Given the current situation, the village needs a large number of available combat forces and outstanding elites who can act independently."
"In a few days, the old man will promote several young people to Jonin. This is both to expand the elite team and to boost morale—look, the flames of Konoha are ever-burning, and outstanding talents emerge endlessly."
"The old man insisted that I be the chief examiner. Tsk, he just thinks I'm too idle... Cough."
"Back to the main topic, I've seen the list of Jonin promotions this time. You're on the list. Oh, right, that White Fang's son, Hatake Kakashi, is also on it."
Hyuga Yuto suddenly felt a sense of exhilaration, like "finally, I have someone above me."
—The chief examiner for the promotion is his own teacher, how could he lose?
Perhaps guessing her student's thoughts, the blonde woman reached out and flicked Hyuga Yuto's forehead protector.
"You are my student, but I won't go easy on you because of that, understand?"
"Understood, Sensei. Your heart is vast, encompassing a love that embraces the entire village."
"Heh..." Tsunade glanced down at herself, feeling that those words had a teasing undertone. If it were Jiraiya speaking, he would have probably thrown a punch by now.
But when she looked up, she met the pure, innocent eyes of her 13-year-old student (in a sense, they were indeed whiter than paper). She immediately felt that she was overthinking things. Yuto was a positive and good child, not that lecherous Jiraiya.
The blonde woman coughed lightly, masking her embarrassment.
"Don't be a smart aleck. In short, there's only one thing: I won't give you special treatment, and I might even make it harder for you to pass because you are my student, a genius of the Hokage's lineage, a role model! But if you fail because of this... Hmph!" Her hand suddenly tightened, creating a popping sound.
"Understood!" Hyuga Yuto nodded frantically.
"Eh? But Sensei, I remember that the mission merits I've accumulated aren't enough for a Jonin promotion..."
"War could break out at any moment. We can't follow the old rules."
"Okay, Sensei... Oh, right, these are for you. I went to the Land of Waterfalls and found some gemstones. They're all thumb-sized, perfect for carrying around. Natural gambling chips..."
...
Hyuga Yuto finished his meal at Tsunade's house, chatted for a while, and left the Senju compound in the afternoon.
By this time, due to the tense situation outside, the village had reduced the number of missions issued and recalled a large number of ninja.
Along the way, Hyuga Yuto encountered many familiar faces: Hatake Kakashi with his half-face mask, the energetic Uchiha Obito, Sarutobi Asuma and Yuhi Kurenai, who were still on good terms at this time...
He even saw a little guy carrying an even smaller one on his back, buying candy on the street.
"Shisui and... Itachi?"
Uchiha Itachi was only a few months old, but those tear troughs were too prominent. Combined with his age, it was no surprise that Hyuga Yuto recognized him.
However, the Branch House boy only glanced at them before continuing on his way.
Itachi and Shisui could wait. There would be plenty of opportunities to observe them later. At their current age, they were too young to be of any use. Even stealing their eyes wouldn't be of much value.
Hyuga Yuto soon arrived at the Hyuga Clan compound.
Unexpectedly, he didn't see Hiashi. After a brief inquiry, he learned that Hiashi and several other clan leaders had been summoned to the Hokage Tower for a meeting.
—War was truly imminent.
With Hiashi absent and Hiruzen Sarutobi likely too busy to hear his report, Hyuga Yuto had nothing else to do for the day.
The sudden free time made him feel a little uneasy.
"Go to Sensei's?"
The thought flashed through Hyuga Yuto's mind, but he immediately shook his head. Based on his understanding of Tsunade, she was most likely being fleeced at the gambling den at this very moment.
With nowhere else to go, he could only return to his home in the Hyuga compound.
It was still deserted. After two months of being unoccupied, cobwebs had formed in the corners again.
Hyuga Yuto sighed and took out his cleaning tools once more, meticulously cleaning the house.
Thanks to his growing body and the training in Super Strength and medical ninjutsu, his coordination had greatly improved, and even cleaning became much faster. Before nightfall, Hyuga Yuto had tidied up the entire house.
Chakra could be considered the "productivity" of the shinobi world, incredibly efficient. With chakra, anything could be done twice as fast.
After finishing his chores, Hyuga Yuto didn't feel hungry, so he didn't bother cooking. He simply lay down in his room, staring blankly at the ceiling.
He didn't know how long he lay there before the Branch House boy suddenly got up and left the house.
Exiting the clan compound, he followed the familiar path to his secret training ground.
Hyuga Yuto took a deep breath and felt his mood lighten considerably.
When he was idle, he always felt panicked and uneasy. The Caged Bird Seal etched on his forehead seemed like a curse driving him to endlessly move forward. Hyuga Yuto couldn't stop. He had never experienced the carefree attitude of "stealing a half-day's leisure" that his transmigrator predecessors enjoyed.
"Born to toil, huh?" Hyuga Yuto mocked himself, retrieving the training dummy from the tree hollow and setting it up in the woods.
Thump, thump, thump...
Hyuga Yuto struck repeatedly, utilizing all the techniques he had learned.
When he was finally exhausted, he felt a sense of calm.