Supporting the rise of another Dao

Hiruzen was currently at home and, who would have thought, was reading one of his favorite books. He was just about to turn the page with a tiny mote of wind chakra when his instincts started warning him of something. A frown appeared on his face as he opened his mouth to begin speaking.

"What do you want, Yuna?"

Moments later, Yuna appeared in the middle of the room with an amused smirk on her face.

"I am impressed; you are getting better at this."

Hiruzen ignored Yuna's praise and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, tell me why you are here already."

"Hehe, are you sure you want to take that kind of attitude with me? I currently have some more... love stories... with me."

Hiruzen immediately froze up when he heard Yuna's words, and moments later, a loud gulp echoed through the room.

"I-I didn't hear anything about a new book coming out."

"Hehe, of course, you didn't. After all, it doesn't have an official release date yet."

"W-What do you want?"

Yuna's smile widened when she heard Hiruzen's questions.

"Nothing..."

"Bullshit!"

Before Yuna could finish speaking, Hiruzen interrupted her, causing her to roll her eyes.

"At least let me finish speaking."

"*Cough* Sorry about that. That came out on instinct."

"Anyway, strictly speaking, I don't want anything from you; I just want to see how far you can go."

"How far I can go? What is that supposed to mean?"

Naturally, Hiruzen was confused by Yuna's words, but Yuna already predicted that to happen, so she smoothly continued her explanation.

"I am someone who enjoys teaching people how to get stronger, but what I enjoy most about that is to see weirdos with weird obsessions surpassing those with more orthodox methods. Like a talentless young man pushing himself hard enough to fight a monster like me due to his obsession with youth. Or, a young woman who started training properly very late in her life, almost surpassing the aforementioned man due to her obsessive perversion alone. Or..."

Yuna's deep purple eyes met Hiruzen's, causing him to shiver.

"... an old man who was clearly at the end of his life span, managing to gain chakra control far surpassing what he had at his peak."

Yet again, a shudder went through his body when he saw Yuna's facial expression. He knew that facial expression very well since he would occasionally have it as well. The face of an old teacher, who thought that they had just found a hidden gem in their students.

Hiruzen looked into Yuna's eyes that seemed to have age behind them, far surpassing even Hiruzen himself, and came to a realization.

"All those years ago when I met Chion Uzumaki to talk about the reestablishment of the Uzumaki clan, that was you, wasn't it?"

Yuna's smile widened as she answered Hiruzen's question somewhat indirectly.

"Hehe, who might you be talking about? There is no one named Chion in my Uzumaki clan."

Hiruzen could only smile wryly when Yuna more or less admitted that a person named Chion never existed.

'So she really did all of those things when she was just a young girl? How is that even possible?'

"Who are y..."

Before Hiruzen could finish his question, another question popped up in his mind.

'Does it matter? No, it doesn't. The Uzumaki clan currently lives in Konoha, and as far as I have heard, Naruto is very fond of them. So, as long as they are in Konoha, Naruto will protect it, and as long as Naruto is willing to protect Konoha, Yuna will do the same. I don't know how she will interpret my question, and she might even get angry due to it, so there is no point in asking in the first place. So, there is only one thing that is truly important now.'

"Haha, is that so? I must be becoming senile. Anyway, can I have the new book now?"

'I NEED TO GET THE NEW BOOK!!!'

Yuna could more or less interpret what Hiruzen was thinking due to the minuscule twitches in his facial expression, so she could only chuckle in amusement when she heard what type of comeback he decided to give.

"Hehe, of course, here it is."

Moments later, a small book appeared on top of the table, causing Hiruzen's instincts to flare. He needed that book!

He gave Yuna another glance, and when he saw that she didn't appear to be planning anything, he picked up the book with shaking hands and read the title.

"Fox meets Pervert, huh. That name is much more direct than the previous ones."

"Hehe, naturally. After all, this one's content is a little more... on the heavy side."

Hiruzen's eyebrow rose before he nodded his head in acknowledgment. He was just about to open the book, so he could start reading while completely ignoring Yuna's presence when Yuna began speaking again.

"Oh? It seems you are already satisfied with one. I guess there was no point in preparing a few more then."

Hiruzen, who was just about to open the first page, froze in place.

"A f-few m-more? A-as in more than one."

"Hehe, that's right, do you want them?"

"I WANT THEM!!!"

An earth-shaking roar echoed through Hiruzen's living room after Hiruzen heard Yuna's question. When Yuna handed over the first book, there was still some doubt in his mind that Yuna might use it to bribe him, but now all of that doubt was gone. Or rather, it would be more appropriate to say that he accepted Yuna's bribery and was willing to do whatever she wanted in exchange for those books.

Yuna nodded in approval, and with a wave of her hand, a stack of books appeared on the table, causing Hiruzen to drool a little. The book's title on top of the pile was "A Meeting of Ice and Fire", which Hiruzen found a little weird since the naming sense was somewhat different from the previous ones, but he didn't mind. Since Yuna gave those books to him, he did not doubt their quality.

When Yuna saw that Hiruzen was already engrossed in reading, she nodded in approval.

"Let me see how far your dao can bring you, Hiruzen."

Unfortunately, Hiruzen didn't even notice that Yuna was still in the room, so he naturally didn't hear her words either, which caused Yuna to laugh out loud in anticipation.

"Hahaha, how interesting. I'm looking forward to how far he can go despite his age."

[The masochist pervert Karin vs the reading pervert Hiruzen, indeed an epic battle...]

'Hahaha, I know, right?'

[Urgh, that was supposed to be sarcasm, but whatever.]