Although he had a pessimistic view of the front lines, this time Uchiha Feiyu didn't plan to run.
What belonged to Konoha belonged to Konoha; what belonged to him belonged to him. At this point, Feiyu was confident enough in his own strength that even if Konoha suffered a crushing defeat with massive casualties, as long as he really wanted to escape, he was absolutely sure he could make it back alive.
And Konoha might take losses, but it was never going to be destroyed. If things were pushed to the brink, the forbidden techniques left behind by the Second Hokage alone would be enough to make any village choke.
More importantly, Feiyu had just obtained his blood pool. He urgently needed a large number of ninja lives to feed into it and further develop his bloodline. If he didn't take advantage of the chaos of war now and drag back more corpses from the battlefield, when was he supposed to?
With that in mind, after talking with Orochimaru, Feiyu waited a few more days. Finally, an ANBU messenger arrived with a summon from the Hokage.
This time, the ANBU at least didn't come through the window. He actually knocked like a decent human being. When Feiyu stepped outside, the ANBU relayed the Hokage's orders and led him to the Hokage's office.
When he pushed the office door open again, the room was hazy with smoke. The Third Hokage, face lined with age, looked up at Feiyu. On that worried face, he somehow managed to squeeze out a small smile.
"Feiyu, you're here! Come, have a seat."
The Third set down his pipe, all kindly and gentle. Feiyu didn't beat around the bush; he sat down in the nearby chair.
"Hokage-sama, just tell me the mission directly. Is it time to head to the battlefield?"
"It seems you've already heard some of the news… Yes, this time it is a battlefield deployment."
The Third Hokage sighed lightly, then continued:
"Root isn't exactly the best place to grow. For most ordinary shinobi, it's hard to develop a proper future there. This time, since you're being called out of Root, you can serve as a regular mission ninja instead. It'll be safer, and your future prospects will be broader."
Feiyu blinked. What the Third said made sense. From the standpoint of personal development, Root shinobi definitely weren't as free—or as promising—as regular shinobi.
But he didn't believe for a second that the Third Hokage was doing this purely for his benefit. With just a little turn of the brain, Feiyu saw what was really going on.
Obviously, the Third was still guarding against Danzō. They were old teammates; there was no way Hiruzen didn't know what Danzō was thinking.
Even if Feiyu wasn't loyal to Danzō, just joining Root at all gave Root a huge power boost and disrupted Konoha's internal balance. Of course the Third would be worried.
Thinking that far, Feiyu actually found it kind of funny. At a time like this, the Hokage was still worrying about internal faction balance?
"Pull me out of Root, huh? We can talk about that later," Feiyu said lightly. "Right now, dealing with Kumogakure should be the top priority, shouldn't it?"
He wasn't actually keen on leaving Root.
All those rules and restrictions were for cannon fodder. With Feiyu's level of power, he was more like Danzō's honored guest. Operating under Root's name made it much easier to move around and strip-mine resources.
Of course, there was no need to openly contradict the Third Hokage. Just because he couldn't officially stay in Root didn't mean he couldn't work with Danzō under the table.
If Orochimaru could do dirty deals with Danzō, Feiyu could easily follow the same model. It wasn't like he had any ambition to become Hokage.
And as for the long-standing bad blood between Shimura Danzō and the Uchiha clan—knowing that old bastard, as long as there was profit to be made, he couldn't care less whose name was on the family register.
Coincidentally, Feiyu was exactly the same.
"You're right," the Third admitted. "Then let's talk about the war. This time, when you're dispatched to the front lines, you'll be assigned three subordinates. You'll act as their leader and help guide the new recruits."
Feiyu froze for a moment, then opened his mouth in disbelief.
"You want me to lead rookies? Hokage-sama, you're joking, right? I'm basically a rookie myself—I only graduated from the Academy a little over a year ago. Isn't this setting them up for failure?"
"But you're already a jōnin now—and not just any jōnin, but a famous elite jōnin," the Third replied. "Besides, when I say 'lead rookies,' I mostly mean that I want you to look after them a bit on the battlefield."
"They're good kids, and they're all familiar with you. They should grow quickly, and it won't take long for them to adapt to the war."
"Familiar with me? Hokage-sama, who exactly are you asking me to lead?"
"Heh heh, Kakashi, Obito, and Nohara Rin. With Kakashi helping you, I'm sure it won't be hard for you to serve as their squad leader."
The corner of Feiyu's mouth twitched. He glanced at the old man in front of him. This geezer really did make use of everything.
Even if he didn't think too hard about it, Feiyu knew perfectly well what the Third was trying to do—this was a deliberate attempt to create "bonds" and chain him emotionally to Konoha, turning him into a "proper" Leaf shinobi.
Unfortunately, Feiyu didn't see himself falling for that.
And among the three kids under him, Kakashi probably didn't have that much affection for Konoha either.
As for Uchiha Obito—well, that walking time-bomb of an Uchiha, who knew when he'd suddenly snap and hit Konoha with a killing blow?
When he really thought about it, the only one in that entire squad who would reliably believe in the Will of Fire was the little girl Nohara Rin.
As Obito's "bond," she fit perfectly. As Kakashi's bond, she worked too. But for Feiyu, she'd at most be someone he got along with.
What bothered him wasn't so much the Third's little scheme, but—
If he became the teacher of Kakashi, Obito, and the others, would that draw the attention of a certain Uchiha Madara lying underground connected to life support?
Then again, so what if it did? Uchiha as a whole had this mental illness–meets–OCD thing going on. Madara had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, faked his death, and hidden underground for years for the sake of his "perfect" plan. There was no way he'd blow his cover taking a swing at Feiyu.
Even if he planned to screw over Obito—what did that have to do with Feiyu? Feiyu certainly wasn't planning to heroically save Obito from fire and water. If Madara wanted to dig a pit for him, Feiyu had no intention of filling it in.
"All right, fine. Since it's those three, I'll take them," Feiyu said at last. "But I'm not going to have much time to babysit them on the battlefield. The gap in power is just too big."
Namikaze Minato could bring kids along and still jump into top-tier battles thanks to Flying Thunder God—and even then, he'd ended up getting Obito and Rin killed. If you swapped him for Feiyu, then the moment he got involved in a battle at his level, everyone but Kakashi would be ending up as names on the memorial stone.
"Of course…" the Third Hokage said. "You only need to guide them at the beginning. By the time you're moving out on missions at your level, they should be ready to stand on their own."
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