Naruto: The King Behind the Curtain

The next day, at the Hokage building. 

As he was handling official matters, the Third Hokage suddenly froze mid-movement. Without looking up, he asked, "Speak up, what is it?" 

From the shadows of the room, an Anbu ninja stepped forward. "Hokage-sama, a student from the Ninja Academy, Seiki Shimaseki, has requested an audience with you." 

To reflect Konoha's approachable policies, the Hokage never turned down such requests. Fully aware of this, the Anbu ninja didn't refuse outright. 

"Seiki Shimaseki?" The Third said with slight puzzlement but smiled nonetheless. "Alright then, let me meet our little prodigy from Konoha." 

"Yes." The Anbu replied, then exited to have others remove the barriers. 

Soon after, Seiki Shimaseki entered the Hokage's office. 

"Seiki Shimaseki, my lad," the Third greeted warmly, "what brings you here today?" 

"Uncle Sarutobi," Seiki Shimaseki politely replied, "I'd like to exchange for some Ninjutsu." 

Hearing such a familiar address, the Third's smile deepened slightly, though soon gave way to confusion again. "Didn't Orochimaru already give you all his techniques?" 

Seiki Shimaseki shook his head. "The last set of techniques were already given to us by Lord Orochimaru." 

"The last set?" The Third immediately caught Seiki Shimaseki's meaning. He chuckled while puffing on his pipe. "You've already developed your own techniques? Impressive! You truly are Konoha's young prodigy. Asuma is talented as well, though he still has some catching up to do." 

"No, not really. Asuma works hard too!" 

"That's true enough." 

The Third gave a satisfied nod. True, Asuma could still be a bit reckless at times, but compared to before, he had definitely grown. 

"Friends really can make all the difference!" The Third lifted his hat slightly and leaned forward. "So, Seiki Shimaseki, which level of Ninjutsu are you hoping to exchange?" 

He mused inwardly, secretly amused, *D-rank or C-rank? No matter how mature they act, kids will always want a little spotlight.* 

In his mind, techniques at this level could easily be obtained through school teachers. He assumed Seiki Shimaseki must have come specifically just to show off. 

Still, he didn't say anything directly—after all, it was normal for children to want recognition; one shouldn't discourage their enthusiasm… As he thought this, Seiki Shimaseki spoke up. 

"I want to exchange for an A-ranked technique—the [Eight Gates]!" 

"Oh, the [Eight Gates], huh…" The Third nodded slightly, then suddenly widened his eyes in shock, two streams of white mist shooting out from his nose. 

"[Eight Gates]… cough!" He moved his pipe farther away, looked into Seiki Shimaseki's bright eyes, and carefully chose his words. "Seiki Shimaseki, you can only exchange techniques of the same rank as those you've developed yourself." 

Seiki Shimaseki blinked innocently. "But Big Brother Minato said this technique is worthy of an A-rank!" 

"Minato, huh?" The Third's gaze grew serious. 

If not for the peaceful years following the war making it difficult to accumulate sufficient contributions, Minato would have long since been promoted to Jonin. 

"If he says so, then it must be true!"

"Thinking about this, even the Third's usually calm heart began to race with excitement.

An A-ranked jutsu already carried significant strategic value, but what truly thrilled him was that someone like Seiki—who possessed the Will of Fire—had emerged as a genius.

Such talent actually eclipsed even Orochimaru and Minato!

"Minato is nine years older than Seiki. If they could work back-to-back... perhaps the true golden age of Konoha could be realized through them!"

Once he calmed himself, the Third gave a kinder smile. "Little Seiki, show me this technique you developed!"

"Mm-hmm, though... this technique was actually developed together with Minato-niisan." As he spoke, a blue chakra sphere began to form in Seiki's palm.

Spinning at incredible speed, the orb created a gentle breeze around his hand.

This technique that pushed shape transformation to its extreme required extremely refined chakra control—for someone like Seiki, it was actually less demanding than techniques that included nature transformation.

Even more importantly, he had fully participated in developing the Rasengan. The derivation process was all laid out there. Not understanding it would be an insult to his intelligence.

The Third turned his gaze from Seiki to the chakra sphere resting in his palm.

With his keen eyesight, he easily recognized the power and potential within this technique.

"High-speed rotation, densely compressed chakra, capable of releasing tremendous force in an instant. The irregular chakra flow can even temporarily disrupt an enemy's chakra."

Most importantly, the potential... the Third's eyes turned serious. "If pure shape transformation can get this good, just imagine how powerful it'll become once you add nature transformation—it'll definitely reach Ultimate Art level!"

Seeing the Third lost in thought, Seiki asked somewhat nervously, "Uncle Sarutobi, did this technique reach A-rank standard?"

After several calls, the Third finally came back to reality, his gaze burning with admiration toward Seiki as he laughed heartily. "Certainly A-rank standard! But tell me, do you really want to give it to the village?"

The Third narrowed his eyes conspiratorially. "If you keep it to yourself, it could become your signature jutsu!"

Seiki tilted his head, puzzled. "And then?"

The Third hesitated slightly before asking, "Don't you want your name to spread throughout the shinobi world? Plus, the fewer people who use this technique, the less information enemies can gather about you."

Seiki remained silent for a moment before firmly replying, "I'd rather boost the village's real combat strength than chase after temporary glory. As for intelligence gathering... well, everyone always protects medical ninja. So the stronger my teammates are, the safer I'll be, right?"

Hearing Seiki's answer, the Third's smile grew so wide it seemed it might never fade. "Such a wonderful child! However, the village never neglects its own people. After submitting your jutsu, besides being able to exchange for another of equal rank, you'll also receive a portion of contribution points whenever others acquire your technique."

Seiki wasn't surprised by this. Only sufficient benefits could encourage clans to share their techniques, while for the village itself, these contribution points were simply moving resources from one hand to another.

"Seiki," the Third interrupted himself halfway through, "later on, you should record the mechanism, training methods, chakra pathways, and hand seals of this jutsu onto a scroll..." He suddenly trailed off.

Wait—didn't Seiki just use this technique without any hand seals?

"Seiki, is this another Sealless Ninjutsu?"

Seeing the Third staring at him with an intense expression, Seiki sheepishly replied, "Is it really necessary to use hand seals? Maybe we can just… pretend?"

The Third practically did a spit-take. Looking at Seiki, then thinking about his own troublesome son Asuma back home,

His earlier sense of satisfaction over Asuma's growth instantly vanished. Inside his head, he started plotting: "Time for Asuma to feel the true weight of fatherly love!"

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