Starting From Being Adopted by the Second Hokage!

"Yo, just got back from a mission?"

At the gates of Konoha, just as the trio entered the village, a familiar voice rang out from a distance.

They saw Senju Yūsuke walking over with three genin behind him.

When Renya saw the three behind Yūsuke, a look of surprise flashed across his face.

Senju Yūsuke grinned and explained, "These are the students I just started mentoring."

He turned to the three behind him and said, "Come on."

At his words, the three looked a bit awkward.

"Tch, Nara Motoha, pretending you don't know me already?" Renya clicked his tongue, then glanced at the white-eyed boy beside him. "What about you, King of Smug?"

"Haha, Renya-kun, long time no see." Nara Motoha scratched his head in embarrassment.

They had entered the Academy together, but while Renya had already become a chūnin, they had just graduated. How could that be fair?

Hyūga Muki showed no expression and replied flatly,

"Uchiha Renya. Long time no see."

He had heard that Renya had been promoted to chūnin, but didn't care much.

From the beginning, his goal was to lead the Hyūga clan to the pinnacle.

That was his mission in the shinobi world.

He had started training in the clan's secret techniques at the age of three.

And for the past eight years, he had never missed a day.

The only time he slacked off was when he went out to eat with Renya and the others—though he made up for it with extra training afterward.

Seeing Hyūga Muki's reaction, Renya's mouth twitched slightly as he muttered internally,

"As expected of the King of Smug. That act is just too polished."

A whole year had passed, but the King of Smug hadn't changed a bit.

Senju Yūsuke was a little surprised. "Wait, you all know each other?"

Shimura Danzō explained, "Jōnin Yūsuke, we were in the same class back at the Academy."

"I see," Yūsuke nodded—then paused. "Wait… what did you just call me?"

If he'd heard right, that brat didn't call him 'sensei,' but 'jōnin'!

"Yūsuke-jōnin, is there a problem?" Danzō asked with an innocent face. "You're not our instructor anymore, so calling you jōnin should be fine, right?"

Senju Yūsuke's eyelid twitched uncontrollably.

The chūnin exams had just ended, hadn't they? This brat forgot his roots way too quickly!

"Fine, fine! I'll remember you, kid!" Yūsuke glared at Danzō. "Just wait and see!"

"Haha, Yūsuke-sensei, I was just joking with you." Danzō gave a dry laugh. 

"Haha, I knew you were joking." Yūsuke slapped Danzō on the shoulder, then added sharply, "But I wasn't joking. Watch your step."

With that, he left with his students.

In the distance, they could still hear Yūsuke's voice: "Don't go copying those guys, got it?"

"Yes, Yūsuke-sensei!" x3

Only Danzō was left standing in the wind, feeling disoriented. He really just meant it as a joke…

Why did Yūsuke-sensei take it so seriously?

"Danzō, what were you even thinking, joking around like that?" Renya asked in confusion.

Danzō wasn't usually the joking type…

"You've got a lot of nerve asking me that!" Danzō complained. "I learned it from you!"

Renya: "…"

Wow. He was actually blaming this on him.

At his age, he was already so good at shifting blame onto others.

Koharu Utatane laughed and said, "You two should really stop joking around. It's not funny at all."

...

Senju Tobirama's Residence

"Hmph, finally succeeded." Senju Tobirama looked at the scroll in his hand with a satisfied smile.

"Now I just need to find a test subject."

After countless sleepless nights, he had finally developed a jutsu that could bring the dead back to the shinobi world to fight again.

"I suppose I'll call this jutsu [Edo Tensei]." He wrote the jutsu name on the scroll.

Just then, he sensed a familiar chakra signature approaching rapidly.

"Hm? Why is that brat coming back now?" Tobirama quickly hid the scroll.

This kind of thing absolutely could not be discovered.

If word got to his big brother, it would definitely be banned—especially since the jutsu required a sacrifice…

He had just hidden the scroll when Renya walked into the house.

"Whoa, you're actually home? That's rare!"

In Renya's mind, this old man was always coming and going. He only came home for meals—who knew what he was up to the rest of the time?

Renya guessed he was probably hiding away somewhere doing forbidden jutsu research.

After all, Senju Hashirama had explicitly forbidden him from developing forbidden techniques, so Tobirama could only do it in secret.

There were many jutsu Tobirama had started but never completed—only because his big brother found out and made him stop.

Otherwise, Tobirama would've invented way more jutsu by now!

"I've been free these past couple of days, so I've been staying home," Tobirama replied.

"Oh, I see." Renya didn't buy that excuse for a second.

He figured Hashirama had probably discovered some forbidden research and confiscated the scroll, and Tobirama had come home sulking. Now he'd run into Renya and had to come up with a clumsy excuse.

Still, Renya couldn't be bothered to call him out. "Have you eaten?"

It was already past mealtime, and Renya had just come back from a mission. He wasn't sure if the old man had eaten yet.

"Not yet. Make more." Tobirama didn't hesitate at all.

He'd eaten a soldier pill at noon, but those didn't taste anything like real food.

Thanks to Renya being out on missions all the time, his opportunities to eat good food had decreased drastically.

What used to be three meals a day had become once every three days… or even once a week...

He really missed the days when Renya was still a student.

Back then, he had no idea how good he had it...

...

At the dinner table, just as the two sat down and were about to eat—

Senju Hashirama walked in holding baby Tsunade.

"Wow, you guys started eating without me!"

"Hashirama-san, come join us." Renya stood up and brought over a bowl and chopsticks.

"Big brother, why are you here?" Tobirama asked. "Finished with work?"

Hashirama stuffed some food in his mouth and mumbled,

"Tsunade's here, so I let a Wood Clone handle the paperwork."

Truthfully, he had come over to secretly check if Tobirama was doing any jutsu research behind his back. But he happened to catch the two of them having dinner.

Helpless, he had no choice but to grab a set of utensils and join in.

Tobirama understood instantly and looked over at little Tsunade.

The baby girl was staring at the food on the table, waving her tiny hands and babbling excitedly.

"Hmph, Tsunade, you're not ready to eat solid food yet." Tobirama said dotingly.

But suddenly, his expression changed dramatically.

"Big brother, what are you doing?!"

Senju Hashirama had just fed a small bite of food to Tsunade.

"She looked like she wanted it, so I gave her some," Hashirama explained.

Tobirama sighed helplessly. "Big brother, Tsunade doesn't even have—"

Before he could finish, he saw Tsunade swallow the food and wave her hands again, clearly wanting more.

Senju Tobirama: "???"

"Hahaha! Don't worry, little Tsunade! Grandpa will get you more!"

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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