Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi

The final battle was about to begin. After this match, all the genin who had advanced to the third test would be confirmed.

"Go for it, Lee! We believe in you!" Tenten waved her little pink fists, cheering for Lee. Neji, who had been carried off the field, had recovered after a short rest and was also looking at Lee with encouragement.

"Yeah!" With the support of his teammates, Lee, with his thick eyebrows, round eyes, and bizarre green training suit, nodded heavily.

Upstairs, Might Guy gave a big thumbs up. "Lee! It's time to let them see your true strength after all your training!" Hearing his teacher's support, Lee, who was already full of fighting spirit, became even more excited. He jumped into the battlefield with a beautiful somersault. This flashy move drew a round of gasps.

"Hmph, just showing off. Gaara will make you stop smiling soon enough," Temari said with disdain, leaning against her giant fan. Kankuro felt the same. They had deep faith in Gaara's strength. They didn't believe there was anyone present who could defeat him. Except for... that one man.

Soon, Gaara and Lee clashed. Compared to the previous battles, this one was on a much larger scale. Lee's solid fundamentals, combined with his currently unrivaled physical fitness, allowed him to press Gaara from the start. Gaara, who had been dismissive at first, gradually got angry, and the sand from his gourd erupted with astonishing power. The two went back and forth, fighting fiercely.

BOOM!

After a temporary break, Lee removed the weight blocks from his body. The huge impact made everyone's jaws drop.

"Hiss."

"Is that for real?"

"How could anyone wear such heavy weights? How did he do it?"

"Too amazing."

At this scene, Temari and Kankuro were no longer calm. It should be known that Gaara had been seriously injured by Kusuo before, his Armor of Sand shattered. He was not in his peak condition. "Konoha... it's Konoha again. It seems we can no longer underestimate this village."

"As expected of the number one ninja village, there are too many geniuses."

The ninja from other villages looked at each other, their hearts heavy. With so many outstanding next-generation talents, Konoha's title as the number one ninja village was well-deserved. A shadow of gloom was cast over everyone's hearts.

But it was far from over.

In the middle of the exchange, Rock Lee smiled.

"Eight Gates, First Gate of Opening, Open!"

"..."

"Fourth Gate, the Gate of Pain, Open!"

"Fifth Gate, the Gate of Closing, Open!"

The battle had reached a fever pitch. After opening the Eight Gates, Lee's strength skyrocketed by more than just one level.

BOOM! A powerful aura burst forth, shaking the heavens and the earth. This was a battle that completely surpassed the level of a chunin. This time, almost no one in the audience could see his movements clearly.

PAK!

The sound of a kick hitting a face was crisp and loud. Gaara's head snapped to the side, and he was sent flying to the ground by Lee.

"Primary Lotus!" Lee pressed his advantage, wrapping Gaara up and slamming him into the ground in a high-speed spinning piledriver.

When the commotion subsided and the smoke cleared, everyone saw that Gaara's face was covered in blood.

"Th-this is impossible?"

"Besides that guy, there's someone else who can hurt Gaara?"

Temari and Kankuro's eyes were wide, all their previous arrogance and disdain gone. Because now, the fact that Gaara was injured was set in stone.

But... "This kid is in danger now," they muttered in their hearts.

Sure enough, seeing his own blood again, Gaara gradually went mad. He laughed ferociously, and his chakra erupted, surging upwards in waves like a tangible substance. It almost affected the entire building. It was hard to imagine that such a small body could contain such vast chakra. How shocking. The ninja who didn't know Gaara was a Jinchuriki watched all of this with horrified faces.

"Sand Coffin!"

He pressed his hands down in the air. The ground shook violently, and Lee's leg was entangled by the suddenly accelerating sand. But unlike in the original story, Lee wasn't completely incapacitated. He actually relied on his own physical strength to barely break free from the sand's restraint.

"Gaara is definitely not in his peak condition," Temari and Kankuro had already seen the weakness in Gaara and watched the development on the field nervously.

After a long entanglement, Lee exhausted his strength and was forced to exit the Eight Gates state. Gaara seized this opportunity, and an arm made of sand grabbed him and threw him out of the ring.

Hayate Gekko quickly entered the field and announced the result. "Gaara wins!"

Phew~ Temari and Kankuro let out a long sigh of relief. It was only after seeing Gaara win that their suspended hearts could finally rest. At the same time, they were filled with a deep sense of lingering fear. The injury that Hatake Kusuo had given Gaara before was actually that severe. They secretly glanced at the boy in red in the distance, who had remained calm the entire time. A bitter taste filled their mouths.

After the preliminary rounds ended, Kusuo didn't stay long, directly leaving the venue with Hinata. Naruto, on the other hand, found Asuma to show off and simultaneously request more training.

...

"Kusuo, that person named Rock Lee is so strong. I had to use my Byakugan just now to see his movements," Hinata said, nestled in Kusuo's embrace as she recalled the battle scene.

"Mm," Kusuo hummed lightly, not having much of a reaction. The Eight Gates. To be honest, that forbidden technique was practically a bug in the world of Naruto. It didn't rely on bloodline or ninjutsu, only taijutsu. If all eight gates were opened, fighting someone at the level of the Sage of Six Paths would be like child's play. The only side effect was that the body couldn't withstand such strong power and would collapse. For Lee to be able to open five gates at this age was monstrous enough to be nearly unstoppable.

But for him, who had mastered the super-enhanced version of Total Concentration: Constant from the system, it wasn't a big deal. He was looking forward to seeing just how exaggerated the strength of his fully unlocked template would be in the future.

"By the way, after the preliminaries, we'll have a one-month preparation period. You should stay at my place during that time," Kusuo suddenly said, looking down at Hinata.

"Ah? I... I..." Hinata immediately blushed, not knowing what to say.

"Don't worry. It'll be a good chance for me to give you some extra training. Maybe you'll definitely be able to beat that guy Naruto to a pulp." After the preliminaries, the matchups for the third round were drawn. And Hinata, who had defeated Neji, had drawn her own teammate, Naruto.

The thought of slapping the buffoon Naruto silly made Hinata giggle. She covered her mouth with her small, fair hand. "Mm!"

And just like that, Kusuo logically and properly brought Hinata back home with him.

"So, who do you guys think will be promoted to chunin this year?" After the matches, Kakashi and the other jonin went to a barbecue restaurant for a meal. Kurenai was suddenly very curious about which of these genin would stand out.

"That would be my student, of course! Who else could it be?" Asuma said proudly through a mouthful of barbecue, blurting it out. Kusuo's amazing performance had completely overshadowed Sasuke's. Even Hinata was now someone to be reckoned with. How could he not be happy? How could he not gloat? The jonin, who had been secretly competing all along, were now competing over whose students were more outstanding.

The moment Asuma's words came out, the other jonin fell silent. They looked at his face, which was blooming with a smile, and really wanted to punch him, but found they were helpless. They couldn't refute it at all. That's right. That kid, Kusuo, his strength was indeed too exaggerated, several tiers above everyone else. Even Gaara, who had appeared at the end, didn't seem to be enough.

"That boy, Hatake Kusuo, is very strong. You have a good student, Asuma," Kurenai affirmed to Asuma. Hearing his beloved's acknowledgment, Asuma's mood became even more cheerful. He had deliberately proposed this dinner after the preliminaries, just waiting for this moment.

"Hinata's change is also amazing," Guy said. Although he was usually loud, he was occasionally very reliable. Neji was on his team, so he was the most familiar with the affairs of the Hyuga clan among the jonin present. He honestly hadn't expected Hinata to be able to defeat Neji.

"Do you think Hinata's sudden increase in strength is also because of that boy?" Although Kurenai was no longer a youth, she had always held hope for the beautiful vision of a young boy and girl supporting and growing together. In her eyes, there was nothing more romantic than making progress and growing together with the encouragement of a loved one.

"That... is impossible, right? Even if that boy Kusuo is strong, it doesn't mean he can also teach others," the other teachers said, a bit skeptical.

Just then, Kakashi spoke up. "No. Hinata did indeed become stronger because of my cousin."

At these words, everyone looked at him in astonishment.

"Kakashi, how did you figure that out?" Kurenai and Guy both looked at him anxiously, curious as to how he knew.

"During Hinata's match against Neji earlier, I used my Sharingan. I saw that her body and Kusuo's had the same internal flow of breathing. The abundance of oxygen supply, the activity of her cells and organs... it was all far beyond that of a normal person."

"No way! The breathing method we were guessing about was created by that kid? He's a member of your Hatake clan, could it be an ancestral secret art of the Hatake?" Guy, the taijutsu master, was the most interested in this and quickly asked.

Kakashi shook his head. He was certain that his clan had no such inherited breathing method.

Hiss! Kakashi shook his head. They also fell silent.

To create his own secret art, at only twelve years old, and his swordsmanship is reminiscent of the White Fang in his prime... A monster-level prodigy. The name Hatake Kusuo was now thoroughly imprinted in their hearts.

"Speaking of which, that child, Kusuo, has also helped me before," Asuma said after a long silence, seeming a bit wistful. Everyone looked at him, confused.

Then, Asuma told them everything: how he had been defeated by his own student right after the teams were formed, and how Kusuo had later reminded him of his path. Since Kusuo's strength had already been acknowledged by everyone, it wasn't too shameful to admit he had been defeated by him at this point.

"You're saying... you gave up following in Lord Third's footsteps and started specializing in Wind Style and the Wind Blade because of his influence?" Kurenai's small mouth opened slightly in surprise. Even she, as his lover, didn't know the inside story of this matter. Only now did she find out that it was also thanks to that boy.

"That's right. I still remember what that kid said to this day. 'It's better to be a master of one than a jack-of-all-trades. Doing an ordinary thing to the extreme can have extraordinary results.'"

The eyes of the teachers present lit up. What he said made a lot of sense. Better to be a master of one than a jack-of-all-trades. The perspective of a genius was truly different.

-------

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