"This... this is a new student?"
In the office of the Hokage Building, the old man wearing a red conical hat fell into deep thought.
The crystal ball before him played the scene of the pink-haired girl blasting the teachers with a Chakra Storm.
'The Ninja Academy's teachers were all Chunin. How could they not even withstand this girl's Chakra?'
'-And she was just six years old?'
"Is it some kind of special Kekkei Genkai?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had originally been spying on Konoha's new sprouts on a whim, became interested.
"Crow!"
"Go check that child's background."
"Oh, and remember to tell the Academy's teachers to keep that child's matter confidential."
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, his old eyes fixed on the girl's figure in the crystal ball.
"Yes!"
A low response sounded. A blurred shadow flashed by. It seemed something had left the old man's side.
Unlike the smoke-filled office, the air was fresh above the commercial street on the east side of Konoha Village.
Sakura, having finished her test, was led by her father towards the famous Yakiniku Q restaurant.
"Yosh! To celebrate Sakura passing the test, Dad's treating you to barbecue today!"
In high spirits, Kizashi patted his chest. Just as the two lifted the restaurant's curtain, a girl in light orange clothes standing by the counter happened to turn around and see the Haruno father and daughter.
"Ah, Sakura!"
"Ino?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Sakura called out the girl's name.
This girl is the eldest daughter of the Yamanaka Clan's head, Yamanaka Ino.
Ino happily ran forward and took Sakura's hand.
"Hey, didn't we agree to go to the entrance ceremony together today? I looked for you for ages!"
Ino, who had been about to complain further, noticed Kizashi and realized her rudeness.
She let go of Sakura's hand and bowed to Kizashi.
"Ah, sorry, Uncle. My apologies."
"No problem, no problem. Is Inoichi here too? I haven't seen him in a long time!"
Just as Kizashi finished speaking, a man with similarly platinum-blond hair walked out from inside.
Seeing Kizashi and the friend his daughter was holding hands with, he paused for a moment before smiling.
"Kizashi, and Sakura-chan! Are you here to celebrate too? Want to join us?"
"Oh, then we won't stand on ceremony!"
Kizashi, who was on very good terms with Yamanaka Inoichi, didn't refuse and brought Sakura to join them.
It so happened that today was the day the children of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were enrolling, so Inoichi had actually come with Nara Shikaku and Akimichi Choza.
After Sakura and Kizashi joined, the adults conveniently separated the children into their own private room, opening two rooms in the barbecue restaurant.
Inside the private room, Sakura and Ino sat together.
Across from them, Nara Shikamaru observed Sakura, while Akimichi Choji beside him devoured the barbecue at an astonishing speed.
"By the way, Sakura, how was your entrance test today?"
Ino elegantly picked up a piece of barbecue, drizzled it with lemon juice, and popped it into her mouth.
"It should be alright. Getting in shouldn't be a problem."
Sakura's emerald-green eyes reflected on the achievement she'd made today as she answered casually.
With such a massive amount of Chakra, as long as the Academy's teachers hadn't lost their minds, they couldn't possibly refuse her enrollment.
"That's great! From now on, Sakura and I will be classmates!"
Ino excitedly grabbed Sakura's hand, cheering and jumping for joy.
"Ino, who is this?"
Just as the two girls were immersed in their own little world, Shikamaru made his presence known.
"Oh, look at me!"
Ino tapped her own little head.
"Sakura, this is Nara Shikamaru, and this is Akimichi Choji."
"Shikamaru, Choji, this is Sakura, Haruno Sakura."
Ino, acting as the bridge between the three, introduced them to each other.
"Hello!"
Sakura nodded to Shikamaru and Choji.
"Hello!"
"Osu!"
Shikamaru replied politely to Sakura, while Choji raised his chopsticks in acknowledgment.
The children, now acquainted, chatted in the private room. The laughter and clinking of cups from the adults next door gradually grew louder.
After eating and drinking their fill, the four families said their goodbyes in front of the barbecue restaurant.
"Honestly, you drink too much... Mom is going to scold you when we get home!"
Sakura supported the swaying Kizashi, complaining a little about her father's unreliability.
"It's fine. Mom loves Dad the most. She wouldn't have the heart to scold me~"
Kizashi chuckled, with a look of happiness on his face.
Sakura was about to say more when suddenly, the light of Observation Haki flashed in her eyes.
She immediately turned her head, looking towards the top of a tall power pole about a kilometer away.
'No way? This is a full kilometer away!'
The man crouching on the power pole, his figure completely concealed by darkness and Genjutsu, broke out in a cold sweat.
He had thought that by observing from such a long distance, a little girl who had just entered the Ninja Academy would absolutely not be able to detect him.
However, not only had the other party detected him, but it had also caused his mission to fail.
"Sigh."
The man wearing a crow mask stood up, made an apologetic gesture towards the distant Sakura, and then used the Body Flicker Technique to leave the power pole.
'Anbu? Has word of today's events already reached Konoha's upper-echelons?'
Noticing the other party's apology, Sakura raised an eyebrow and continued supporting Kizashi towards home.
Meanwhile, the Anbu she had spotted moved swiftly across the rooftops of Konoha's residential buildings.
After a few leaps, he gave the secret signal used by the Anbu and entered the Hokage Building.
"Crow, why are you back?"
Sensing an extra presence beside him, Hiruzen looked towards the empty space next to him in surprise.
"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, the mission has failed."
"Hah?"
Hiruzen's hand, which had been correcting documents, froze mid-air. He turned his head mechanically.
"Her sensory abilities are too strong. I was exposed at a distance of about one kilometer."
The Ninja wearing the crow mask appeared, kneeling on one knee, his voice filled with apology.
After listening, Hiruzen pulled out the file on the girl's family from his office drawer.
As intelligence experts, the Ninja had thoroughly investigated the Haruno Family's background in less than a day.
Commoner origins, clean family history, moved to Konoha four generations ago, grew up in Konoha since childhood… the very picture of normal family.
'Another genius from the common people...'
Hiruzen's eyes showed a trace of nostalgia. As his gaze fell, he saw a photo frame pressed at the very bottom of the drawer by files.
A corner of the signboard was visible, faintly revealing a figure clad in a white Hokage Robe.
Since the sacrifice of the Fourth Hokage and his wife, talented commoners in the village had become increasingly scarce.
'Sensei... was my approach right or wrong?'
Hiruzen's figure seemed to hunch over. He picked up his pen and wrote a note.
"Tell the Academy's teachers to pay more attention to that child. If needed, they can come directly to me."
The Anbu with the crow mask took the note and vanished from the office with a Body Flicker Technique.
Not long after the other party left, heavy footsteps sounded from outside the office.
The wooden door that had witnessed four generations of Hokage was roughly knocked open.
Seeing the appearance of his old friend, Hiruzen increased his intake of tobacco.
He used the pungency of the tobacco to calm his nerves first, lest his blood pressure spike later.
"Hiruzen, I heard the Ninja Academy discovered an excellent seedling today!"
Shimura Danzo, covered in bandages, started right off the bat with his hand-out routine.
Every time this old friend appeared in his office, it was either 'Hiruzen, I want this' or 'Hiruzen, I want that'.
'Was I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, your, Danzo's wet nurse? Did you think you could just cry a little and get milk?'
Moreover, this guy's infiltration of the village's Anbu had reached a level that alarmed Hiruzen.
Just the retrieval of a file, and even after he had explicitly ordered confidentiality, this old bastard still received the news and came knocking.
'Root...'
"Hiruzen, trust me. That child, you..."
Seeing the other party hadn't responded, Danzo, thinking he had a chance, began his performance.
"You can't handle it. Hand her over to Root, and we can definitely train her into a weapon to protect the village, right?"
Hiruzen put down his pipe and looked at him expressionlessly.
'What kind of person are you, Danzo? Don't you have any self-awareness? Do I have to spell it out for you?'
Noticing his old friend's gaze, Danzo, feeling somewhat awkward, said in a low voice, "I'm doing this for Konoha!"
"If it's for Konoha, then it's perfect timing. There's some unusual movement on the Land of Earth's border. Dispatch a team of Ninjas from Root to replace the Jonin stationed there and bring them back."
Hiruzen waved his pen swiftly, quickly writing out a Hokage's order and stamping it.
"What!" Danzo was stunned when he received the order.
'The script is wrong. Didn't I come here to take someone? Why did you take my people away instead?'
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and said meaningfully, "Isn't it for Konoha?"
"Tch." Danzo gritted his teeth, "Hiruzen, you will regret this one day!"
Hearing this, Hiruzen snorted coldly, "Remember, I am the Hokage!"
Danzo, who had not only been cheated but also had his face rubbed in it, couldn't stand the indignity and stormed out, slamming the door.