[please send some power stones]
After settling a few key matters, Hikaru's days became extremely regular.
With no leave, he could only do the honest thing: go out on missions with Kakashi.
Luckily, his assignment streak was good—nothing particularly difficult.
Mostly patrol work: checking for spies, tracking missing-nin slipping out of the village, or intercepting thugs pretending to be foreign shinobi while trying to stir trouble against Konoha.
For Hikaru and Kakashi, it was all fairly easy.
At least they didn't run into anyone like Kakuzu again… or a headache like Yashamaru.
It was almost funny in a way.
Their first mission together ran straight into Kakuzu—basically Kage-class.
Their second mission ran into Yashamaru—an elite jōnin.
And after that? The worst they faced was "only" jōnin-level.
Jōnin were already the elite of a village. Even in Konoha, there weren't many.
Maybe a bit over two hundred, give or take—though if you counted people by overall combat ability, the number might rise.
But even if it doubled, compared to Konoha's population, it was still tiny.
How many people did Konoha have?
If you included civilians, well over a hundred thousand wasn't unrealistic.
Against that kind of base, even twice the number of jōnin was still a laughably small group.
Perhaps because the two of them kept performing so well, their captain didn't rush to fill the missing slots in Hikaru's squad.
The captain probably understood Hikaru's stance: training shinobi wasn't simple—especially ANBU. Even reserve candidates were precious.
Before long, more than a month passed.
Hikaru and Kakashi's consistent results earned them three days of leave.
That made Hikaru genuinely happy.
Three days wasn't long—but for him, it was still prime time to use properly.
And during that month of missions, he'd basically finished every sealing-related book he could access. Not just read—memorized.
What he lacked wasn't information anymore.
He lacked systematic teaching: guidance that could turn memorized knowledge into real, functional fūinjutsu.
"Tomorrow the break starts. Tomorrow, I'll visit the Fourth Hokage!"
After clocking out that night, Hikaru said goodbye to Kakashi and headed home alone. As he walked, he pulled up his status panel.
He was curious what it looked like now.
But when he actually checked it, surprise hit first—then delight.
Name: Senju Hikaru
Gender: Male
Birthday: Konoha Calendar Year 34, March 24
Rank: Jōnin (Chūnin)
Bloodline Development: Beginner (Senju Secret Art)
Seeds:
Jōnin Chakra Capacity Seed (Maturity 60%)
Advanced Earth Release Seed (Maturity 85%)
Advanced Earth Release Seed (Maturity 71%)
Advanced Water Release Seed (Maturity 71%)
Fruits: None
Quest: Become the true Final Boss of the shinobi world (Unique)
"The Advanced Earth Release Seed's maturity went up again?"
He honestly hadn't expected that.
His other seeds weren't completely stagnant—but the Earth and Water at only one percent progress each still made him go quiet for a moment.
As for the chakra-capacity seed… he didn't even want to look at it.
If his bloodline development hadn't explicitly labeled "Senju Secret Art," and if his "cheap parents" weren't absolutely Senju, and if not for the aftereffects of what he'd done to himself as a kid…
He might've started doubting whether he was even Senju-descended at all.
That chakra growth rate wasn't just embarrassing—it was tragic.
"…Whatever. At least there's a pleasant surprise."
He sighed, letting it go. Over the years, he'd gotten used to it.
And the senjutsu seed was a real surprise.
Even if it was only intermediate-level and therefore easier to cultivate, it still mattered.
Because once he mastered an intermediate Sage Mode, his current foundation should explode into something much more frightening.
"And if I add Flying Thunder God on top of that…"
He didn't even dare continue that thought too far.
He'd wondered before if the system would start judging him as "Kage-level."
Kage-level was a qualitative jump. Far rarer than jōnin.
Even at Konoha's absolute peak, there were only about six "Kage-class" figures holding the village up at once:
Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzō Shimura, Sakumo Hatake, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.
That was Konoha's strongest era after the two-god period—and it had already passed.
Still, he quickly shook his head.
Even if he learned Flying Thunder God, he probably wouldn't truly qualify as Kage-level in sustained terms.
His chakra reserves were still too small for long fights, and true Kage-class shinobi didn't have that weakness.
But "near-Kage" by overall performance?
That felt realistic.
"In this world, power rankings aren't as clear as the system makes them look."
A genin could kill a jōnin if the tactics were right and a kunai landed in the right spot.
Still, having the system's evaluation gave him clarity about himself.
And even "near-Kage" meant something important in this era:
It meant he could survive.
With a small smile, Hikaru found himself looking forward to fūinjutsu—and Flying Thunder God—more than ever.
He headed home quickly, and when he passed the elder's cabin, he slipped a scroll inside as usual.
Then he lingered in the shadows until he confirmed someone inside took it.
Only then did he return to his small house.
"Hmm?"
When he stepped inside, he froze.
His home had been cleaned.
That was strange—he didn't remember hiring anyone to do that.
And his room barely had anything in it. What was there to clean, spiderwebs?
"An enemy? Or something else?"
He didn't understand, but he did what he always did: he checked everything carefully.
After a thorough inspection, he became fully confident—
Someone had simply come in and cleaned, nothing more.
So what was this?
Hikaru rubbed his head.
Was the clan planning to arrange a fiancée for him or something?
Major clans often had a "benefit" like that: arranged marriage.
Hikaru was only fourteen, but engagement wasn't impossible.
The thought made his expression turn awkward.
Were they really going to introduce Renka to him?
He shook his head, not bothering to chase the thought further.
For now, he would sleep properly.
Tomorrow, he was going to see Minato Namikaze.
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