Chapter 8

A man once said that madness is repeating the same action over and over again while hoping for a different result.  

The agonizing seconds of waiting before the start of the fight stretched on like an eternity. The Third Hokage was lost in his own thoughts about the unnoticed passage of years, which seemed to have flown by. Takeshi had proven through his own example that what is most valued in a shinobi is not the number of techniques or special genetic traits, but rather the situations in which a shinobi can emerge victorious and, most importantly, remain alive.  

Many missions, tasks, and operations in which Takeshi had participated ended in success. Not everything went smoothly due to the unpredictable factor that shinobi from other villages represented. Even though the war had long since ended, skirmishes still occurred among ANBU and rogue shinobi. These could be called small wars between villages, attempts to strengthen their respective forces. There were operations with an absurdly low survival rate, yet Takeshi always managed to return alive. No matter what...

"Shinobi from other villages started calling him 'Blessed by Death' due to the fact that after meeting him, very few survived, and even Death itself could not claim him. Despite his identity being hidden, the fact that he served Konoha couldn't be concealed due to a leak of information within the village, which led to a considerable bounty being placed on his head in the Bingo Book. This quickly pushed him into the top ten most wanted worldwide. For this reason, the Hokage was forced to keep him within the village walls and assign him the mission of monitoring Naruto Uzumaki.

Without his usual ANBU mask, which the Hokage had politely asked him to remove before the encounter, Takeshi no longer looked like a boy. He could now be confidently described as a man. His face was stern and plain, his gray-blue eyes cold, and his short, unruly black hair had a fringe that slightly covered his eyes.

'Where would you like to begin, Hokage-sama?' he asked.

'Your choice. It may not seem like it, but I'm quite proficient in both taijutsu and ninjutsu, so the decision is yours.'

'Very well, let's start with close combat.'

With a small flick of his hand, the Hokage performed a quick trick. His usual red-and-white traditional robes shifted into a black and gray combat outfit, complete with a battle helmet bearing Konoha's emblem.

Takeshi's sudden rush toward the Hokage was accompanied by a sharp whistle and the ground cracking beneath his feet at the starting point. His right-hand strike landed on a cross-block, pushing the Hokage back a few meters. The Hokage's counterattack was calmly deflected by Takeshi's palm, resulting in a brief clap and a burst of air. The next move was a short jump and an aerial strike, which Takeshi twisted out of, delivering a spinning heel kick from his other leg. The Hokage easily dodged it, causing the kick to shatter the ground, leaving behind a small circular crater with web-like cracks.

The Hokage noticed that Takeshi's hand-to-hand style bore some resemblance to that of the monks from the Fire Temple. The strikes and blocks, delivered with palms, created small explosions of air, visually appearing as if they wouldn't cause significant damage. However, this was merely an illusion. Each strike was aimed not at injuring the body, but at damaging the opponent's internal organs. For this reason, the Hokage remained extremely cautious, always managing to block or evade the blows while simultaneously controlling his chakra flow to reinforce his body, protecting it from such attacks. Sarutobi Hiruzen understood why Takeshi refrained from using these techniques on missions.

'The Monks may appear peaceful, but their combat style is brutal and dangerous, and most importantly, it's effective against nearly any enemy,' Takeshi remarked. 'This is why this fighting technique was highly valued in my world.'

Spinning in place, Takeshi ignited his fists, creating a ring of fire before slamming them into the ground right in front of the Hokage. The Hokage narrowly dodged a five-meter column of flame that erupted where he had stood.

'Now the real fun begins!'

Seeing two swords materialize from the flames in an instant, the Hokage realized that fighting without a weapon would put him at a significant disadvantage.

'Summoning!' he shouted, slapping his hand onto the ground. Out of the cloud of smoke appeared a small monkey in clothing, which, before it could fully grasp the situation, transformed into a formidable battle staff, perfectly blocking the strike from the two blades.

Takeshi's assault was chaotic and unpredictable, his style difficult to read. After a series of sword strikes, he suddenly let go of his weapons, which dissipated into flames as they fell to the ground. In their place, a new weapon appeared—a simple spear. He thrust it forward. A switch. A massive horizontal slash from a rusted great cleaver. Another switch. The Hokage quickly created distance and hurled a dozen shuriken, forming several hand seals.

'Ninpo: Shadow Shuriken!'  

The storm of shuriken was successfully blocked by a massive tower shield created from flames. Despite this, Sarutobi Hiruzen kept up, deflecting strikes and avoiding attacks. But a sudden punch to his chest, delivered with incredible speed, sent him flying backward.

'Kh-hou!..'

As he crashed through trees in his path, Takeshi summoned a golden bow from the magic of the Light Gods and fired three bolts in quick succession, which the Hokage managed to deflect while still airborne. Striking his staff against the ground, he managed to stop his momentum and catch his breath.

'Looks like I'm starting to lose my edge…'

Just as he said that, a small cloud of fire appeared above his head, from which nameless double-edged swords rained down, piercing the ground dangerously close to him. Takeshi used the hilts as footholds, rapidly closing the distance between him and the Hokage with short leaps, until he jumped from the last embedded sword and conjured a giant hammer in his hands—the mighty Ledo. With incredible force, he brought it down on the Hokage. Despite successfully blocking the strike, the ground beneath Sarutobi shattered, forming a massive crater.

The hammer disappeared from Takeshi's hands, and in his right hand appeared something resembling a small ragdoll. To be precise, it was a special talisman for creating miracles of the Light Gods. A joyful, mad smile played on his lips as his hand became enveloped in a yellow sheet of lightning, which created a towering thunder pillar with a single strike. The Third Hokage failed to completely evade it but managed to deliver a powerful kick to Takeshi's chest, sending him flying back a good dozen meters.

'I admit, Takeshi, your power is remarkable, but do you truly believe that it's enough to stand against the power of a Kage?' With a single hand sign, he created shadow clones, and at supersonic speed, four clones spread out in different directions, surrounding Takeshi.

'Combination of Five Elements!' they all shouted, forming seals at incredible speed and unleashing elemental streams simultaneously from their mouths. Lightning, Wind, Earth, Water, and Fire combined into a chaotic sphere, ready to detonate and turn its target into nothing.

However, a second later, a brilliant white light momentarily blinded Sarutobi Hiruzen as an unknown, invisible wave shattered his techniques with a thunderous crash. This was the highest form of Light Magic, known as the Wrath of the Gods. It created a spherical invisible wave around the user, capable of serving not only as an offensive attack but also as a defensive barrier, effectively blocking long-range assaults. Takeshi raised his hand to the sky, holding a small black-and-red flame. When he clenched his fist, the flame vanished, and patches of fire spread across his body.

'So, who will be the victor in the end?' he whispered softly, a faint smile still lingering on his face.

Battles to the death with powerful opponents always brought him pleasure. He had hidden this fact from the very beginning because many would simply not understand him and would consider him a madman, which, in truth, wasn't far from the reality. During combat, he often lost touch with reality and became intensely focused on killing his opponent. Nothing else mattered anymore. And now, that old, forgotten part of himself had resurfaced. His most dangerous part..."

With a strike of his staff against the ground, six spherical clusters of energy appeared beside him. Moving at the speed of sound, they hurtled towards the Hokage. While they flew towards him, Takeshi prepared a large-scale directed attack. At the end of his staff, a vortex-like orb of immense mana formed and released a vast wave of destructive energy, annihilating everything in its path.

Takeshi's hand, covered in the Flame of Pyromancy, created in mere moments complex and truly formidable spells. Dust of Chaos Bed—casting gigantic fireballs; a snap of his fingers in a fiery glove detonated visible points or objects with fire, culminating this "performance" with his most powerful pyromancy—the Chaos Storm. His hands hit the ground, and enormous columns of flame erupted intermittently, turning the forest field into a 'Burning Hell.'

The surrounding forest now resembled a destroyed, burning wasteland, with only two men breathing heavily and looking at each other. Takeshi hadn't used the weapons of the Ash Lords because of their incredible power. If he had, the battle would have quickly become one-sided, despite the interesting-looking monkey that could transform into a staff, occasionally aiding the Hokage. This battle... wouldn't have brought him as much pleasure as it did now, so he decided to end it. He decided to put a definitive end to this battle, a display of his true strength.

"Hold out against this and prove that you can handle such power, Hokage-sama!"

With several hand seals, five shadow clones rushed to momentarily detain the Hokage. Meanwhile, Takeshi knelt down and stretched his hands towards the sky, which, during the battle, had become covered with dark, stormy clouds, intermittently lit by lightning. From his mouth, a massive stream of flame began to emerge, forming a huge fiery orb in the sky that grew larger and larger.

This was the art of demons. A special technique possessed by the Immortal Demon Prince. Once its preparation was complete, it was almost impossible to dodge due to the radius of its effect and the fact that the technique literally pursued its target. It could either be interrupted or one could attempt to defend against it. Given that Nameless had killed the Lords of Ash and Monsters numerous times, he had learned to utilize their abilities. By aggregating and merging the fragments of their souls from all subsequent cycles, he could learn about their past and, most importantly, about their strength before they lost themselves.

Realizing that it was too late to interrupt the attack, the Hokage slapped his hands on the ground.

"Summoning: Quintuple Rashomon!"

Five giant, identically-sized ornate gates rose, summoned by the Hokage, while above them, the immense fiery orb detonated, splitting into several dozen fireballs that sequentially flew towards him. One fireball after another, they breached and destroyed the gates on their path, but at the same time, they dissipated their power and slowed their advance. In the end, only one ball fell dangerously close to Sarutobi Hiruzen and knocked him aside with the shockwave. He rolled across the ground, a terrible ringing in his ears slightly disorienting him.

"Even… five gates were not enough. Although these gates could stop a biju bomb," he rasped, struggling to catch his breath, leaning on his staff. Despite his incredible power, experience, and techniques, the only aspect in which Takeshi surpassed him was stamina. His strength was based on the power of the soul, not chakra, allowing him to fight for hours... unlike the Hokage. In a blurred leap, Takeshi landed right next to him, bearing several bruises, scratches, and wounds, but still with a resolve in his eyes to fight to the very end. The smile quickly vanished from his face when he noticed the state of the Hokage. He realized that continuing the battle now would be inappropriate. His instincts. His madness. His desires should not take over. After all, he had found what he had long desired. A home. A place. Before, his desires and decisions didn't matter. Now, in this world, he had to consider them, to live for those who needed him.

"Takeshi, that's enough."

"Very well, Hokage-sama," Takeshi replied with a brief, respectful nod, his eyes closed. "It was a good fight. I am grateful to you."

"Yes... who would have thought that at my age I'd still be fighting to the death with my own protege. How am I supposed to explain these wounds and chakra exhaustion to my subordinates?"

"Don't worry about that. I expected such an outcome. Stand next to me," Takeshi said, clutching another talisman in his right hand and kneeling down, he recited a prayer in a language unknown to this world, ultimately creating a spherical runic pentagram that instantaneously healed their wounds and removed their fatigue.

"Interesting… is there something you don't know how to do, Takeshi?"

"I don't know how to change human nature," Takeshi added sarcastically, chuckling, prompting the Hokage to laugh a little.

"Well, no one can change that. What can you do? It was a pointless question; you didn't have to answer."

"I know. Just decided to joke."

"Takeshi jokes? Was your village replaced by another?"

"I'm just trying to be more human, Hokage-sama. As you wish."

"And why do I feel like you were still holding back in that battle?"

"Because... there are things too dangerous for people, Hokage-sama. And I wasn't sure I should show them just because of your command."

"You know, at times like this, I'm very glad you're on our side."

"Don't take this as an offense..."

"No, no, what are you... I'm old but I know the limits of my abilities, so you don't have to worry about such foolish things as human pride or envy because of defeat. I just want this power to be used for good and not cause more destruction and unnecessary deaths."

"My feelings are mutual. I enjoy battles with strong opponents, but I abhor the thought of senseless carnage and the pursuit of greater power. 'A king without subjects is no king at all...'"

"You remind me of Minato. He was extremely powerful and could quickly separate his kind side from his cruel side. If you were his friend, consider him your warm, shining sun; but if you were his enemy, you should expect a swift and sudden death. Minato and Jiraiya... both only wanted one thing, namely, to find a way to bring people to a basic understanding of each other. What do you think kills people? Kunai? No. Techniques? Again, no. The correct answer is hatred. People hate and kill each other for various reasons. Senseless, stupid, but sometimes reasonable. 'I will kill you because the shinobi of your village killed my father!' says one. 'And I will kill you because the shinobi of your village killed my mother!' says another, and this cycle still continues. We are trapped in this loop, Takeshi. The only question is, who will finally be able to break it?"

"Just like my world... a cycle, but a voluntary one."

"In a sense, you could say that. Even though the times of war have long passed, the hatred hasn't gone anywhere."

"Then... I give you my word that I will be the one to break this loop. No matter what."

"That's a very serious promise, Takeshi. You shouldn't..."

"I've made this decision myself."

"Well, if that's the case, then I'd be pleased to see it with my own eyes," the Hokage said with a light smile, slowly walking alongside Takeshi closer and closer to the gates of their village.

Upon arriving in the village, the Hokage asked Takeshi to return to his duties for now, so he could prepare for the upcoming events. Tomorrow was the genin exam, and it was essential for everything to go smoothly. Takeshi briefly indulged in memories from four years ago.

A dark figure, faceless, grasping the face of a little boy, with only a fierce snarl as its distinguishing feature.

"Why are you still lying in bed? Have you forgotten your promise? Have you forgotten why you need strength?"

"They see weakness in me. They laugh, mock, and hate behind my back for what I haven't done!"

Tears of weakness. Of hatred. Of injustice. Once again, he could do nothing and was ready to accept his fate of defeat.

"Then smile back at them for their foolish choice. Let them feel defeated every time they try to break you. Let them remember you like that."

"Me... remembered... like that."

The boy fell asleep, barely remembering the silhouette of the stranger who taught him that valuable lesson. Every time Takeshi watched him, he could see the clear changes in him.

Naruto Uzumaki was again pitted against Sasuke Uchiha. Teacher Iruka obviously intentionally set the weakest of their group against the strongest just to feel some satisfaction? A distasteful spectacle...

An obvious defeat. A too vast difference in strength, speed, and hand-to-hand combat skills. Despite this, Naruto got up from the ground and, bowing, cheerfully and briefly replied:

"Thank you for the sparring! Teacher! Can I fight Sasuke again next time?"

The teacher was confused; he clearly did not expect such a response from Uzumaki, but to Naruto's surprise, he did not refuse. Apparently, he just wanted to break him with stupid and obvious defeats. To prove to the boy the apparent fact that he would never beat a shinobi from the Uchiha clan.

Defeat after defeat, the boy still got up, smiled, and thanked for the fight. Until at some point, the battle between the underdog and the class's best student became... equal. The sparring usually ended in a couple of minutes, but this fight lasted longer than usual. Sasuke Uchiha noticed something strange in this style. It seemed to him that he had definitely seen it somewhere... until at one point Naruto stood on his hands and, spinning his body, made a kick, slightly pushing Sasuke aside. A brief pause flickered among the spectators, the teacher, and the participants.

"You...! You stole that move from me!"

Rage, malice, and hatred in the eyes of someone who had lost everything in their life and felt insulted by the fact that someone just "steals" what rightfully belongs to them.

"Well, what can I do," he shrugged awkwardly, with a slight uncertain smile. "I don't have a teacher, so I decided to try that move. It looked too cool!"

"I will finish you!" Sasuke began forming seals in a fire technique, not accepting their equality.

"Sasuke, don't do this!" Naruto shouted in panic, more concerned not just for himself but for his fellow fate sharer. After all, like everyone else, he knew about the fate of his clan. A short stream of flame uncontrollably scorched the hands of its inexperienced user, and if not for Teacher Iruka's intervention, the consequences could have been much worse.

Afterward, in the classroom, Sasuke sat with his hands bandaged, while his fangirls tried in every possible way to assist him.

"Sorry, Sasuke-teme. Next time I won't touch your style, okay? I just decided to try."

"Shut up... Naruto."

"Yes, be quiet, Naruto! Don't you see Sasuke got hurt because of you!" Haruno Sakura supported her idol, to which he hesitantly responded with a light smile.

"Sakura, tell me honestly, what do you like most about Sasuke?"

"Isn't it obvious? He's more handsome, stronger, and way cooler than you. Why are you asking?"

"What if I become more handsome, stronger, and cooler than Sasuke-teme, can I then be your boyfriend, Sakura?!"

Ino Yamanaka snorted into her fist to suppress her laughter, and Sakura, noticing this, blushed either from anger or embarrassment, responding a bit uncertainly.

"Naruto, you fool! You'll never be cooler than Sasuke!"

"Then... let's make a bet!" he offered, smiling more like a snarl, extending his fist with his little finger outstretched. "If I become stronger, more handsome, and cooler than Sasuke, then you'll be my girlfriend, and if not, I'll admit I'm the weakest and eternal loser and forget about my dream."

"Oh... what dream?"

"Ah! So I want to..." he began to tell her joyfully about his dream, then suddenly stopped himself, slightly angered as if at himself. "Argh, sorry Sakura-chan, I just remembered that I can't tell anyone about it. If I say it, it might not come true."

"So... it's a stupid dream," the girl muttered, turning away, but crossed her little finger with his, hiding her blush.

"Yes, I think whoever I told it to would call it stupid," he said uncertainly, laughing a bit.

"You... smile too often."

"It's more comfortable for me. Thank you, Sakura-chan, for this promise! Now I have one more reason to become stronger!"

"The forehead wants to be a couple with the loser! What a joke..." Ino added mockingly again.

"I don't want anything! Just, if he finally loses this bet, he'll leave me alone! That's all!"

"Yeah right... if you didn't hide your face from me, I'd believe that."

Time returned to its usual course, and on the following evening, he discreetly, from a short distance, invisibly observed Naruto and Mizuki, and after a while, the timely-arriving Iruka managed to "timely" intervene. True, Teacher Iruka could not prevent him from revealing excessive and important information regarding who he really is. The jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. Shock, misunderstanding, confusion, and fear. Naruto was not able to accept the truth about himself so quickly, and Mizuki took advantage of this, throwing a giant shuriken at him. Iruka covered him with his back, despite his years of experience as a teacher and service in ANBU. Apparently, he simply wanted to show his desire to help and protect the boy. To pay for his mistakes in the past with this small pain.

"I won't let you harm my teacher anymore! Shadow Cloning!" Hundreds, or even more, shadow clones were an incredible achievement. No wonder Mizuki didn't have much of a chance to win in this uneven battle. As a reward for his "rescue," Teacher Iruka provided Naruto with a headband and congratulated him on achieving the rank of genin.

In his report, Takeshi mentioned an information leak, to which the Hokage merely sighed wearily and dispatched two members: one from the Yamanaka clan—to check the emotional state of the jinchuriki, and another—to assess the condition of the seal holding the Nine-Tails.

"Naruto is stable, as much as that is possible. But the seal is weakening. It's only a matter of time before the Fox makes itself known. In case of awakening, you have the right to intervene. Except for Jiraiya, we have no good experts in barrier techniques, so for the time being, you may use this," the Third Hokage placed a small white paper with a single kanji for 'expel' on his desk. With a short nod, the seal disappeared from the table.

"Starting tomorrow, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno will be undergoing the exam with Hatake Kakashi. As agreed, I will be ready to assist if necessary."

"I just hope it won't come to that," Takeshi said somewhat resignedly, "but some people simply refuse to change. Therefore, when the time comes, I might have to teach a lesson not only to his students but to him as well..."

"Just don't overdo it," Hiruzen said with a light smile, coughing slightly from his frequent tobacco use.

Takeshi could hardly expect that his calm, observant life would be interrupted by events with Team 7 within the coming month. But then, what else could he expect from such a team, right?

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