After leaving ANBU, Souma kept circling around one question in his mind—
How should he make use of the Sharingan?
If he followed Kakashi's or Danzō's route, it didn't feel worth it. The chakra consumption was simply too high. He'd be better off finding ways to further amplify his strength in Sage Mode.
Or…
He could consider copying Uchiha Madara's method—plug-and-play.
Recovery wasn't an issue.
Souma was confident that as his techniques spread and evolved, his overall capabilities—especially regeneration—would only continue to strengthen.
But…
Plug-and-play…
That hurt, didn't it?
Digging out an eye every single time—wasn't that just self-inflicted torture?
"Or maybe… something like the Sand Eye?"
Souma suddenly paused mid-thought.
"Simulate neural signal transmission with chakra… connect the eye using chakra threads?"
He froze.
This plan…
Actually sounded feasible?
"Hiss—"
"If that's the case, I probably need to talk to the Third about Sunagakure's post-surrender compensation."
Souma immediately changed direction.
Earlier, the Third Hokage had been talking with Jiraiya, so Souma hadn't brought it up. Now was the perfect chance.
Moreover, the Third had already returned to the Hokage Tower and wasn't far away.
Souma used Shunshin and headed straight for the Hokage Tower.
Before long—
The Third himself walked over, and the two met outside a shop.
"Walk and talk?" the Third suggested.
"Yes," Souma nodded.
Seems like Jiraiya had already said something to him.
Souma understood.
"Souma, about Danzō's Root…" the Third said slowly.
"I want to hear your thoughts going forward. Don't think of me as Hokage—just as Sarutobi Hiruzen."
"Root shouldn't exist," Souma replied plainly.
The Third raised an eyebrow and studied him for several seconds, then nodded.
"Root truly has no reason to exist. Though… my thinking may differ from you young people."
"Oh?"
"In the past, I actually agreed with some of Danzō's ideas," the Third sighed.
"There were things a Hokage couldn't do openly, so he handled them instead. Looking back now… perhaps everything was a mistake."
"If Root truly had value, Konoha wouldn't be declining."
Souma spoke calmly.
"The true 'root' should be the foundation, not a shadowy organization."
"For example—why do I research ninjutsu that are easy to learn, then spread them? Because only then can Konoha's foundation grow stronger."
The Third fell into deep thought.
This argument…
He'd heard fragments of it from Asuma and indirectly understood some of Souma's ideas—but this was the first time Souma had laid out his vision so clearly.
Strengthening Konoha's foundation through ninjutsu.
What was the foundation?
Shinobi. Children.
In the end, it boiled down to one word—
Education.
The Third raised his pipe, then paused.
"Mind if I smoke?"
"Not at all."
"So, as you say, Konoha's true root is people?" the Third asked.
"Yes," Souma nodded.
"The Land of Fire has excellent geography and is one of the wealthiest of the Five Great Nations. We should leverage those advantages and cultivate more talent."
The Third gestured with his pipe, signaling Souma to continue.
"For example—Wood Release. My shadow clone discussed several projects with the Daimyō. I think they have huge potential."
"First, Wood Release growth techniques.
Second, ninja-beast companion pets.
Third, large-scale construction."
"???"
The Third was completely baffled.
He stood there for a long moment without smoking, then said blankly,
"Wait, hold on. This… I can't quite follow. Let's take them one at a time."
Souma understood. At this point, the Third really should retire. Bringing Tsunade back wasn't a bad idea.
He began explaining patiently.
Wood Release growth techniques were straightforward—this was a registered research project Souma had already proposed. The current bottleneck was simply cultivating more Wood Release users.
The second idea, however, was… wild.
Raising ninja beasts and selling them to nobles?
Wasn't that a complete waste?
If the Inuzuka clan found out their techniques were being used for this, they'd probably storm over to settle scores with both Souma and the Hokage.
But—
After Souma explained the full plan…
"You mean… selling the intelligent but non-combat-capable ones to nobles and wealthy merchants?"
"Yes."
"That's actually…"
A brilliant two-birds-with-one-stone solution.
The Third took several deep puffs of his pipe.
This kid's mind really worked differently. The same cultivation process, yet the 'defective' ninja beasts were turned into luxury commodities.
If this scaled up, Konoha's financial pressure would be drastically eased.
As for the third idea—
That barely needed explanation.
The research institute was already being built by Yamato's team.
Souma's idea was simply to incorporate Earth Release users and form a professional construction corps.
The idea was excellent, but the Third felt there was more beneath the surface.
He narrowed his eyes.
"These are your ideas, but the Daimyō will likely have additional demands. Aside from bodyguard shinobi, he'll probably want command authority over these teams."
Bodyguards were understandable.
Especially now that they knew of Akatsuki. If some monster assassinated the Daimyō…
Konoha would have a massive headache.
But these teams—
"They can have them," Souma said.
"For wh—ah, I see."
The Third understood halfway through.
"Education. The Daimyō lacks the ability to train them. In the end, we still decide who the people are."
Even if the Daimyō controlled deployment, Konoha controlled the source.
This kid really had vision.
If this proposal succeeded, even the Daimyō would likely support Souma becoming Hokage. Maybe once Souma turned twenty, the Daimyō would start pushing the Fifth to step down.
The Third suddenly felt sorry for Tsunade.
Though…
They might not even find her. If that failed, Kakashi would have to do.
A bit forced, but…
"By the way," the Third asked,
"you must've had something else in mind. Otherwise you wouldn't come looking for me."
"Not at all. I've just been busy with research, so I haven't had time for other matters. That said, I do have a few needs—this was one of them."
Souma then stated his real request.
Ninjutsu knowledge.
Specifically—
The Sand Eye.
The Third's eyelids twitched. He waved his hands repeatedly.
"Ninjutsu are each village's classified secrets. They absolutely cannot be used as compensation. Sunagakure would never accept that."
Continuing the war was also something Konoha couldn't afford.
Iwagakure and Kumogakure were growing stronger by the day, while Konoha had only recently begun recovering.
Souma's request was basically forcing Sunagakure into a corner.
But—
Souma smiled.
"What if we trade?"
"Trade?"
The Third froze, then began to think.
Trading…
"Using knowledge we don't urgently need in exchange for techniques we haven't explored—this would be an absolute win for the village," Souma said.
He paused, then added,
"If ownership is a concern, we can trade using my techniques. After all, I'm the one initiating it."
"Or…"
"You could try improving their techniques?"
"Third-sama," Souma coughed lightly,
"that's not 'improving'. That's creating."
Clearly, he had already planned for that.
"I originally intended to keep the One-Tail Jinchūriki as a hostage," the Third said thoughtfully.
"But now… that may not be necessary."
"We can keep him temporarily during negotiations," Souma suggested.
"Let Naruto spend some time with him—plant the seeds of friendship. The future of Konoha and Sunagakure should be mutual cooperation."
The Third nodded.
This Chūnin Exam had already deviated far from the original timeline.
For instance—
Naruto hadn't even reached the third stage, let alone fought Gaara. There was no "Jinchūriki friendship" to speak of.
They needed to create that bond manually.
"Alright," the Third said decisively.
"We'll do it your way."
After that, Souma no longer took part in the negotiations.
Aside from Sunagakure talks, he also needed to research his own Sand Eye—
And improving, recreating Sunagakure's techniques would also take time.
Sunagakure's core techniques were limited:
Wind Release, puppet techniques, and poison.
He didn't understand Wind Release.
As for poison—Sunagakure had decades of accumulated research. Souma's own medical knowledge wasn't deep enough to produce something appealing in a short time.
That left only one solution—
Puppet techniques.
He'd originally planned to research them himself, but on the way back to the institute, he saw Tenten at an intersection, manipulating steel wires and tools to help restore the streets.
And immediately—
He had his answer.
Once she finished, Souma waved.
"Tenten!"
"What is it?"
She sounded irritable—mostly from exhaustion. Her chakra reserves weren't large.
"Take a break. I've got a brain-heavy job for you."
Before she could react, Souma dragged her into a nearby teahouse and ordered a cup of refreshing tea.
Once seated, he took out his notebook and flipped to an earlier page.
On it was his ninja tool concept—
A modular weapon with dual-stage transformation, combining hidden weapons and close-combat arms.
"Remember the weapons we talked about before?"
"Of course. I've been researching them lately."
Tenten pulled out her own notebook. Flipping to the back, it was filled with various weapon blueprints—diverse and intricate.
Souma clapped excitedly.
"This is great! You really worked on it!"
"That makes things easier. Build a few of these first, and I'll design a specialized control technique to match."
"Urgent?" Tenten asked.
"In two or three days. I need that time to study puppet techniques."
Souma added,
"Without foundational knowledge, even with references, it won't be easy."
Two or three days…
Tenten opened her mouth, then closed it.
…She should be used to this by now.
She flipped her notebook again.
"I've thought about puppets too. Large-scale ones are still beyond my current tech, so I focused on partial applications."
"Let me see!"
Souma took it, read through it twice, then his eyes lit up.
"This is perfect—I've got ideas now!"
He immediately started sketching.
Tenten leaned over—
And saw Souma rapidly draw a spider-like design.
"…Is that a ninja tool or a puppet?" she asked.
"Both," Souma replied.
"But just puppets won't make Sunagakure 'bleed'. I want to create a special taijutsu designed specifically to pair with puppet tools."
"You're… going to make money off Sunagakure using puppet techniques?"
Tenten's eyes widened.
That was insane.
It was like selling Gentle Fist back to the Hyūga clan.
Wait—
Didn't Souma already do something like that?
And succeed?
Hyūga Hiashi had even visited him twice.
Is this what genius looks like?
"What?" Souma asked.
"No—nothing. I just think your ideas are ridiculous genius. If this works…"
"Relax," Souma said lightly.
"I'll teach it to you too. But this path doesn't have a high ceiling. Just practice casually—don't obsess over it like Sunagakure does."
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