As for the other trainee Anbu hanging from the trees, although he couldn't plant the Tongue Eradication Seal on them, Jie still needed to tie up a few loose ends. After all, there was no telling if anyone had woken up and overheard his conversation with Joren.
Utilizing Sharingan genjutsu, Jie Uchiha implanted a fabricated memory into the minds of all the participating Anbu trainees. Upon waking, they would only remember being ambushed and knocked unconscious by Heavenly Fiend during the exam, before eventually waking up strung up in the branches. They would know absolutely nothing else.
While manipulating their memories, Jie also managed to locate the final pair of scrolls he had been missing.
Jie never could have imagined in a million years that Zane would actually hide the last pair of scrolls inside his own pants. If it weren't for the two bizarre, suspicious bulges protruding from Zane's trousers as he hung upside down, even Jie probably wouldn't have noticed anything amiss.
Jie cast a disgusted look at where Zane had stashed the items. He suddenly didn't want that final pair of scrolls anymore. Honestly, collecting twenty-nine pairs was good enough.
However, catching his new master's repulsed expression, Joren immediately volunteered to retrieve the hidden scrolls from Zane's trousers himself. Although it was a trivial task, Joren wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to flatter him.
With all the scrolls finally in hand, Jie entered the central tower.
He could have skipped this step altogether, considering Joren was fully in charge of this Anbu assessment. Now that the proctor had submitted to him, the so-called exam was nothing more than a mere formality for Jie. But the Anbu assessment itself wasn't what mattered to him; he simply wanted to see what kind of reward Hiruzen Sarutobi was prepared to offer.
More specifically, he was looking forward to seeing the look on the Hokage's face when the old man realized Jie was the only one to pass, thus claiming all the rewards for himself.
A Flying Thunder God formation was carved into the floor of the central tower. It was exactly through this array that Joren had managed to bypass Jie's sensory perception and arrive inside the tower earlier. The array was a simplified version of the Flying Thunder God Technique. By channeling chakra into pre-prepared seal formulas, a user could teleport between two fixed locations. However, it consumed a massive amount of chakra. While convenient, it lacked combat practicality.
Upon entering the tower, Joren activated the Flying Thunder God formation, transmitting the signal to Hiruzen Sarutobi that the exam had concluded.
About five minutes later, the surrounding space rippled and distorted. Hiruzen Sarutobi, clad in his official Hokage robes and clutching his signature pipe, materialized inside the central tower.
"Lord Third," Joren said respectfully, bowing his head. "The Anbu assessment has concluded. The sole victor this time is Heavenly Fiend."
"Only one person?" Hiruzen mused. "It seems the Anbu truly is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers."
He nodded in satisfaction and instructed Joren to bring this sole victor, Heavenly Fiend, before him.
'Now that Jie Uchiha has faced reality, he should understand the massive gap between himself and a true Anbu,' Hiruzen thought. 'He's just a child, after all. Later, I'll lecture him on the Will of Fire. Then he'll surely understand that his clan is insignificant, and only the village is truly great. Perhaps I should arrange for Shisui to interact with him more. With Shisui as a role model, Jie should come to understand the village's painstaking efforts.'
Hiruzen puffed on his pipe, his mind filled with idealized scenarios. When it came to the art of manipulation and brainwashing, how could the petty Uchiha clan possibly compare to him, the great Third Hokage?
The Senju clan had already faded into the shadows of history, their legacy effectively erased, leaving him—Hiruzen Sarutobi—to be hailed as the strongest Hokage in history. His will was the Will of Fire.
Jie Uchiha was merely a six-year-old child. How could a boy that age possibly maintain his original loyalties while constantly being bombarded by the Will of Fire in the Anbu?
'If the Uchiha clan members eventually realize that the one who destroyed them was their own respected young clan head... Oh, how beautiful that scene would be,' he mused.
Thinking of this, Hiruzen smiled amiably and took a deep, satisfying drag from his pipe.
'And Heavenly Fiend... what an excellent codename.' Anyone capable of defeating all the participating Anbu trainees, including Jie, had to be a rare, once-in-a-generation genius. Such a prodigy was well worth investing resources into. Perhaps this Heavenly Fiend could serve as another sharp blade against the Uchiha in the future.
He just wondered if this Heavenly Fiend was a civilian ninja or a clan scion.
'It would be best if he is a civilian ninja. Someone with no background is much easier to mold and control, just like the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.'
Just as Hiruzen was fantasizing about Heavenly Fiend's identity, Joren respectfully led the victor over to him.
Brimming with eager anticipation, Hiruzen turned to look at the so-called Heavenly Fiend. Instantly, the amiable smile froze completely on his face.
A petite stature. Spiky black hair. Even with the Anbu mask covering his face, anyone could tell at a glance that the person standing before him was merely a child. And the only child who had participated in this Anbu exam was the one Hiruzen himself had specially approved: Jie Uchiha.
Therefore, Jie was the Heavenly Fiend who had crushed all the other trainee Anbu.
For a moment, Hiruzen felt his idealized fantasies curdle into something as repulsive as dog shit.
"So, Jie, you are Heavenly Fiend. Truly, heroes emerge from the youth. The future of the Hidden Leaf is in the hands of you young people," Hiruzen said, forcefully squeezing out a stiff smile to spout his platitudes.
'As for the reward he had previously promised? What reward?'
Hiruzen Sarutobi conveniently forgot he had ever mentioned it....
Upto 40 chapters ahead on patreon :-
patreon.com/Vristikk