The Third Hokage exhaled a smoke ring forcefully, his mind made up.
Regarding the Uchiha Clan, the Third Hokage didn't harbor as much hostility as Danzo or Utatane Koharu, but to say he was friendly? That would be nonsense.
Back then, Uchiha Fugaku, the head of the Uchiha Clan, named his youngest son after the Third Hokage's father, Sarutobi Sasuke. This wasn't to say, 'I named my son Sasuke, so I'm your dad,' but rather a gesture of goodwill, hoping his son would grow to be a powerful Ninja like Sarutobi Sasuke.
The Third Hokage wasn't oblivious to Uchiha Fugaku's efforts to restrain his clansmen, but on the eve of the Uchiha Clan Downfall, he still tacitly approved of it.
He still somewhat valued Uchiha Sasuke, but the Village was too big, with too many people. Sasuke, no matter how he looked at it, wasn't within his "Yuan Guidance" scope; he wasn't one of their own, so certain methods could be used.
"Good, seal this part of his Dojutsu Power."
Whether intentionally or not, the four old men, each with their own thoughts, acted in unison, preparing to cast Sealing Technique formulas onto Sasuke from four directions.
The four old men combined were nearly three hundred years old. Among them, the Third Hokage and Danzo were masters of Sealing Technique. Once their Sealing Technique formulas landed, Sasuke would certainly be safe; those rampaging Dojutsu Power wouldn't produce another ripple. However, it was estimated that Sasuke would find it very difficult to break through the seal and successfully awaken his Sharingan for the rest of his life.
Inoichi and Hyuga Hiashi, feeling unconcerned, stood still.
Kakashi hesitated for a moment, and his friendship with Uchiha Obito ultimately gained the upper hand. He darted forward, grabbed Sasuke's arm, pulled him behind him, and used his own body to block the four.
"Hokage-sama, Advisor, is such a strong seal really necessary?"
Danzo gave him a sinister look, implying, 'Are you telling me how to do my job?'
Kakashi had shed his usual laziness, his right eye filled with determination.
He wouldn't fight the Hokage or the Advisor for Sasuke, but as a Jonin of the Village and a disciple of the Fourth Hokage, when he raised an objection, the Village's higher-ups had to give him an explanation.
Kakashi was definitely an important figure in the "Yuan Guidance" sequence. Seeing his strong opposition, the Third Hokage took the opportunity to shift the blame onto the other three.
"What are you all thinking? It's just sealing a portion of his Dojutsu Power; there's no need for so many people. Stop, I'll do it myself."
This time, Kakashi didn't object. The Third Hokage concentrated Chakra on his finger, adding Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water Release properties to the Chakra on his finger in sequence. Then, he aimed at Sasuke's stomach and cast the "Five Elements Seal" technique.
"Kakashi, take this child to the hospital for treatment. The expenses will be covered by the Village. If possible, please take some time in the next few days to guide him and see if he can bypass the seal and awaken his Sharingan."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Sakura was not Tsunade's disciple at this time. She was just a civilian and had neither the qualification nor the courage to force her way into the Hokage's office.
She waited outside the building for a while and soon saw Iruka dragging Naruto out. One day later, the news of Sasuke's hospitalization spread among his many fangirls and then throughout the entire school.
"What? Sasuke is hospitalized? He seemed perfectly fine yesterday!" Ino heard the news from Shikamaru and was a little surprised.
Currently, Ino was working at her family's flower shop, Shikamaru was working as a caretaker at his family's ranch, and Choji was making military rations by rolling hawthorns at his family's shop. The three of them had started working for living expenses even before graduating.
The three of them were busy training, working, and attending school every day. Shikamaru used an excuse to go out for a stroll and told Ino the news.
Inoichi felt that this matter had nothing to do with his daughter; Sasuke had injured himself through reckless training.
He hadn't told Ino about the series of events that followed, so Ino was completely unaware that Sasuke's current condition was directly related to her.
She recognized the business opportunity in this.
Her classmates were so enthusiastic and friendly; it wouldn't be too much to leverage that to earn a little extra money, would it?
Thanks to the Yamanaka Clan's tireless promotion, Konoha Village truly bought flowers for everything.
Buying flowers for childbirth, buying flowers for children starting school, buying flowers for teachers on holidays, buying flowers for graduation, buying flowers for visiting the sick, and even buying flowers when someone died!
They were the only flower shop in the entire Village, yet they always presented themselves as being very poor to the outside world.
Ino didn't bother to greet Shikamaru and Choji; she bustled about and changed the signboard in front of the shop.
She wrote on the signboard, "Buy 99 carnations and receive a lucky rabbit's foot! Wishing the patient a speedy recovery, a future full of good luck, and a long and prosperous life!"
And indeed, with this change to the signboard, the number of flower buyers immediately increased by fifty percent, with Sasuke's fangirls making up the majority.
When she encountered fangirls who didn't want to spend money, Ino would subtly hint.
Do you truly love Sasuke? If you do, send him flowers! He's sick, how pitiful. If you just talk about love and don't send flowers, that's just being a hooligan!
After a flurry of flower language persuasion, 'You can't buy 999 flowers? How about 99? Or even 9 will do!'
If they bought 99 carnations, she would give them a lucky rabbit's foot. Some would just buy the rabbit's foot, and she would also sell two flowers with it. By the end of the day, she had earned a good amount of commission.
While selling flowers, Ino was also researching her 'pot points.'
A great harvest!
The acquisition of pot points was directly related to the scale of the mischief and the number of people involved. If she could pin a huge 'pot' on the Six Paths Sage, she estimated that her attribute panel would be maxed out in minutes, but she didn't dare.
The riddle-solving incident only involved some Ninja Academy students. The black pot had accumulated about half a pot point, which was normal. But what happened next was not normal.
The energy in the black pot surged, and now two pot points had accumulated. Ino was bewildered.
She had to bear some responsibility for Sasuke's injury, but who was the rest of the blame pinned on? Some important figure? Was someone like Indra still alive? Did the world know about Indra's existence? No, that couldn't be right?
If she couldn't figure it out, she wouldn't dwell on it. Since she had two pot points, she certainly couldn't waste them.
Ino's current attributes were Nin 7, Tai 3, Gen 3, Int 6, Str 2, Spd 5, Sta 6, Hand Seals 5, with a total attribute of 37. In terms of skills, she had Yin Release Level 2, Water Release Level 1, and mastered the B-rank Secret Technique: Mind Body Disturbance Technique, the C-rank Secret Technique: Mind Body Switch Technique, the C-rank Water Release: Water Prison Technique, the C-rank Water Release: Wild Water Wave, and the D-rank Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique.
According to Ino's analysis, the three attributes of "Nin," "Sta," and "Spd" were the most important.
The Kage of each Village, including the Sannin, the Akatsuki Organization, and Kakashi, all had a "Nin" attribute of 10, except for Kisame, who was still diligently forming hand seals even when overpowered characters were flying around in the later stages. This was an essential attribute for a strong Ninja.
"Sta" determined whether Chakra could turn into 'Chakra tons.'
"Spd" represented the speed during escape. As soon as Pain floated up, one could immediately run out of the Village—that was good enough!
These three attributes were all very important.
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