Chapter 13 (Patreon)

It took more than an hour for all the graduating students to finish taking their official shinobi photographs.

By the time Mihawk and Hinata walked out of the Academy, they noticed a lone figure sitting on the swing near the school grounds.

It was Naruto Uzumaki.

With his Observation Haki awakened, Mihawk could clearly hear the parents gathered nearby as they waited for their children.

They were all talking about Naruto.

Not a single kind word was spoken. Every whisper carried the same disgust and resentment.

Mihawk’s expression did not change as he watched the scene, but inwardly, he let out a quiet sigh.

Naruto was the son of the man who had saved Konoha.

He was also the child carrying the burden that kept the Nine-Tails imprisoned.

Yet instead of being treated as a hero, he was treated like the monster responsible for the attack.

Had Mihawk been subjected to the same treatment in his previous life, he doubted he could have endured it without growing to hate Konoha.

He shook his head slightly and left the Academy with Hinata.

Since it was still daytime, Mihawk did not walk her all the way back to the Hyūga compound. They separated near his house, and he watched her leave before going inside.

Once he returned to his room, Mihawk placed his new forehead protector on the counter.

He removed his kimono, took a shower, and changed into his training clothes before entering the dōjō to complete his daily task.

The contents of that task had not changed over the past two years.

A year ago, the required number of sword swings had settled at two thousand.

However, Mihawk had long since merged the principles of cutting into every basic swing.

Now, each time he moved his sword, the blade carried the intent to cut.

Even so, not a single mark appeared on the floor, walls, or training equipment around him.

He had learned to cut only what he intended to cut.

As Mihawk repeated the motion again and again, dusk gradually settled over Konoha.

When night finally arrived, the deceived Child of Prophecy began to move.

Mihawk knew that Naruto would steal the Scroll of Seals that night.

Even so, he had no intention of involving himself.

The entire incident was filled with obvious flaws.

Naruto had managed to steal one of Konoha’s most heavily guarded treasures after being manipulated by an Academy instructor, yet the village’s response was strangely restrained.

To Mihawk, it was clear that the Third Hokage intended to use Naruto to draw Mizuki out while also giving the Fourth Hokage’s son a small amount of compensation for everything he had endured.

Only a fool would willingly interfere in such an arrangement.

After running around Konoha for two hours as part of his physical training, Mihawk returned home, took another shower, and went to bed early.

He lay beneath the covers and stared through the window at the star-filled night sky.

Despite the late hour, he did not feel sleepy.

Tomorrow was the day the graduating students would be assigned to their three-man cells.

Mihawk still had no idea which team he would join.

Team 7 was impossible.

The Third Hokage would never place both the top-ranked graduate and the second-ranked graduate on the same team. Doing so would make the balance between the rookie teams far too uneven.

There was also the connection between Naruto and Sasuke.

They were the latest reincarnations of Asura and Indra, the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki and the last loyal Uchiha in Konoha.

Whether it was the pull of fate or the village’s political considerations, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha were destined to be placed together.

Furthermore, three-man cells were normally formed with two boys and one girl to help maintain balance within the team.

That meant the third member of Team 7 could not be Mihawk.

Team 10 was equally impossible.

The new generation of Ino–Shika–Chō had already been decided. It was a formation passed down through their clans, and there was no room for an outsider.

That left Team 8.

However, Hinata, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame were all shinobi suited to tracking and reconnaissance.

The chances of Mihawk being placed on such a specialized team were almost nonexistent.

So how would the Third Hokage arrange the top graduate of the year?

Would he simply be placed with two ordinary students?

The more Mihawk thought about it, the worse his mood became.

Being assigned to an ordinary team was not a problem by itself.

However, if his teammates were completely incompetent and caused the entire group to fail their jōnin instructor’s survival exercise, all three of them could be sent back to the Academy.

In that case, Mihawk would not even be recognized as a proper genin.

He had no interest in becoming a babysitter.

Still, even if he failed to become a shinobi through the normal system, Mihawk was confident that he could make a name for himself in this dangerous era.

Once he reached that decision, his irritation gradually faded.

Mihawk closed his eyes and slowly drifted into sleep.

What he did not know was that someone else was struggling with the exact same problem that night.

That person was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Late at night, after the incident involving Naruto and the Scroll of Seals had been resolved, Iruka delivered the final list of students who had graduated.

Hiruzen sat behind his desk and began arranging the names into teams.

Without Mihawk’s existence—or had Mihawk not performed so exceptionally well—the assignments would have been simple.

The children of the major clans could be divided between two teams.

Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki would be placed together, and the final position on their team would be given to a girl Naruto cared about.

With that, the new generation’s team assignments would have been complete.

However, the unexpected presence of Nerona Mihawk made the arrangement far more difficult.

The Ino–Shika–Chō formation could not be altered.

That left Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyūga, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki.

Adding Mihawk brought the number to six—exactly enough for two three-man cells.

But just as Mihawk had considered earlier, placing both the top-ranked and second-ranked graduates on the same team would be unfair to all the others.

A team composed entirely of boys could also develop unnecessary friction without someone present to balance their personalities.

If Sasuke and Naruto were removed from consideration, the remaining clan heirs were Kiba of the Inuzuka clan, Shino of the Aburame clan, and Hinata of the Hyūga clan.

Two boys and one girl.

They fit perfectly into a single team.

But that would leave Mihawk, the highest-ranked graduate, to be placed alongside two ordinary students.

“Nerona Mihawk… So this is the genius everyone has been talking about.”

Hiruzen drew slowly from his pipe, smoke drifting around his face as he studied the shinobi registration file lying on his desk.

His gaze settled on Mihawk’s photograph.

A strange feeling of familiarity rose within him.

Then he remembered the scenes he had occasionally observed through the Telescope Technique.

A silver-haired child training alone day after day, swinging his sword with unwavering focus.

“So the child who devoted himself so completely to swordsmanship has already grown this much…”

A trace of nostalgia appeared in Hiruzen’s clouded eyes.

“And he became the top graduate of his year.”

For a moment, two familiar figures came to mind.

Minato Namikaze.

Sakumo Hatake.

“He truly does resemble those two.”

After speaking those words, the hesitation in Hiruzen’s expression finally disappeared.

He had made his decision.

The Third Hokage picked up the numbered assignment stamp and pressed it firmly onto Nerona Mihawk’s file.