After Sarutobi Hiruzen entered the Iwagakure front, the war did not become more intense.
On the contrary, the tension dropped sharply.
Iwagakure did not launch large-scale assaults. Instead, they held their position, sending only small groups to patrol and probe Konoha's defensive lines, searching for weaknesses.
Hiruzen and Onoki did fight several times, destroying quite a few mountains and forests. Eventually, both sides realized neither could gain the upper hand, and the clashes stopped.
Their battles were not something ordinary ninja could participate in.
Unless one was at least jonin-level, it was nearly impossible to even approach the fight.
Thus, the front between Iwagakure and Konoha entered a strange state of peace.
The person most dissatisfied with this situation was Hyuga Akira.
"Fight! Kill! I want to see rivers of blood!" Akira waved his fists while loudly complaining to Hiruzen.
Every time Hiruzen met Akira, he felt a headache coming on.
It was as if the kid was his natural nemesis.
"Iwagakure doesn't want excessive losses, so of course they won't launch reckless attacks," Hiruzen patiently explained to the young ninja.
After all, over the past few months he had personally witnessed Akira's terrifying battlefield suppression ability.
Who would have thought that a small fireball could suddenly explode into a dragon?
Even Hiruzen himself would be caught off guard if that happened.
And that dragon wasn't even the boy's strongest attack.
Sometimes the dragon would suddenly sprout nine heads—that technique, Fire Release: Nine-Headed Dragon Technique, was the truly terrifying one.
Its range far exceeded Great Fire Dragon Technique, and its power was even greater.
Because of that, the technique had already been added to Konoha's ninjutsu archives.
It was rated S-rank.
A ninjutsu's rank did not necessarily represent its destructive power—it represented difficulty.
The Nine-Headed Dragon Technique required almost absurd levels of chakra control.
Even Hiruzen himself found it difficult to perform.
Classifying it as S-rank was completely reasonable.
And yes—
Hiruzen could use the technique as well, though his version wasn't the blue-flame variant.
Still, adding a powerful ninjutsu to his arsenal was worth celebrating.
Of course, Hiruzen wasn't the type to steal credit for someone else's work.
Akira wasn't an Uchiha—
Actually, even if he were an Uchiha, Hiruzen wouldn't take their credit.
However, he couldn't award Akira with war merits.
According to Konoha's agreement with the Hyuga clan, all battlefield achievements of Hyuga members belonged to the Hyuga main family.
So instead, Hiruzen granted Akira full access to the village's ninjutsu archives, allowing him to study whatever he wished.
And what did Akira ask to learn?
Impure World Reincarnation.
After some very friendly persuasion from Hiruzen (with a bit of force), Akira reluctantly picked several Fire Release techniques instead.
For a while, Akira stayed quiet while studying them.
But today he suddenly came to protest.
And the content of his protest—
"Besides," Hiruzen said earnestly.
Then he slammed both hands on the table and roared at Akira,
"KONOHA IS A PEACE-LOVING VILLAGE! WE DO NOT START CONFLICTS WITHOUT CAUSE!"
No wonder the boy didn't get along with the Hyuga main family.
His killing intent was a little too strong.
Hopefully the Hyuga main family would remain safe in the future.
Hiruzen had a feeling this kid might cause serious trouble someday.
For a genius like him, Hiruzen doubted the Caged Bird Seal could truly restrain him forever.
Akira slammed the table as well and shouted back:
"As long as we kill them all, Konoha will never be threatened again!"
Was this kid born under a killing star?
For a moment, Hiruzen felt like he was looking at a younger Uchiha Madara.
That thought made him uneasy.
"I am the Hokage here!"
Akira snorted.
"You'll regret this, Hiruzen."
Then he turned and walked out of the tent.
Wait—
Hiruzen blinked in confusion.
That exchange sounded strangely familiar.
But that wasn't the point.
"Brat! Call me Hokage-sama!"
The kid dared to call him by name.
Was his courage growing bigger by the day?
…
Akira glanced at his experience pool.
[EXP: 301,484]
Three hundred thousand experience points.
All earned through months of hard work.
When the battlefield had been intense, he could earn 100,000 EXP in a single day.
Now after several months he had only gained 300,000.
It was outrageous.
He had thought Hiruzen's arrival would heat the battlefield to its peak.
But this was the result?
Akira cursed under his breath as he returned to his tent.
Several scrolls lay on his bed.
If he had gained anything over the past few months, it was this—
He had learned quite a few new ninjutsu from Hiruzen.
[Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet (lv1) Exp (0/100)]
[Fire Release: Flame Meteor (lv1) Exp (0/100)]
[Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu (lv1) Exp (0/100)]
[Fire Release: Dragon Flame Jutsu (lv1) Exp (0/100)]
[Fire Release: Flame Bullet (lv1) Exp (0/100)]
[Fire Release: Flame Strike (lv1) Exp (0/100)]
These techniques all had something in common.
They were C-rank Fire Release.
B-rank Fire Release techniques required far too much experience.
C-rank techniques were much easier.
Maxing one only required a little over 50,000 EXP.
Altogether, leveling them all would require just over 300,000 EXP.
If he could grind another three hundred thousand experience points, he could max out all of them.
But it had already taken months to earn the first three hundred thousand.
At this rate, the year might end before he got another three hundred thousand.
War was the best time to grind experience.
And because of Akira's presence, this year's battles had started extremely fiercely.
After this year, the war might even end early.
Then the next chance to farm like this would be during the Third Great Ninja War.
Akira kept grumbling.
Though he failed to realize—
He himself was the main reason the front had calmed down.
Hiruzen's presence was certainly intimidating, but he mostly served as a deterrent.
As long as Onoki didn't act, Hiruzen wouldn't easily intervene either.
Iwagakure troops didn't dare advance recklessly.
Because they feared that at any moment—
A fireball might suddenly appear.
And once that blue fireball appeared, it became a guessing game.
Was it just a normal blue fireball?
Or a fireball hiding a dragon?
Or maybe a fireball hiding a nine-headed dragon?
The Iwa ninja were mentally exhausted.
Until they found a way to counter that attack—
No one dared charge forward.
No matter how much Akira complained, that fact wouldn't change.
He glanced at the experience he had accumulated over the past few months and decided to max out the three advanced Fire Release techniques first.
As for the lower-level Fire Release techniques—
He doubted he would use them often.
He would leave them for now, see how much experience remained later, and then decide whether to upgrade them.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested:
patreon.com/KuroTL