Danzo frowned and said.

"The light of fire will illuminate the darkness in his heart."

Hiruzen said firmly.

Because he still had one trump card in his hand—that was Uchiha Shisui.

However, Shisui's Anbu identity was top secret; in the whole of Konoha, right now only he, the Hokage, knew about it.

He was effectively the seventy-first off-the-books member of Anbu.

And he was also Itachi's close friend; he would definitely guide Itachi onto the right path.

Danzo didn't say anything more after that, he stood up and left.

◎

"Taking the Chunin Exam alone? What is Konoha playing at?"

This year's Konoha Chunin Exam was particularly lively.

Because not only Konoha Genin were participating; Genin from other Countries had also joined in.

You could call it a Joint Chunin Exam for all Countries.

And the main venue, however, was here in Konoha.

The reason the other Countries' Ninja Villages agreed was that they all wanted to test the younger generation of Konoha Ninja—and of course, they also had the intention of flexing their muscles in front of other Countries.

It was just that, in the middle of all this, Konoha also exposed one piece of information: this year there would be one Konoha Ninja participating in the Chunin Exam as a solo candidate.

And that Konoha Ninja who would take the Chunin Exam alone was exactly the Uchiha Itachi whom Ichihime was paying attention to.

A genius of the Uchiha Clan, following after Shisui of the Body Flicker.

Only, compared to Uchiha Itachi's own fame at this moment, people's attention was all on the fact that he was entering the Chunin Exam solo.

This, in the history of the Chunin Exam, was considered an unusual existence.

Ninja are not meant for solo combat; many times, the role of a team is far more important than that of an individual.

Whether Genin, Chunin, or even the stronger Jonin, they all had to understand teamwork.

Especially in Konoha, which was guided by the Will of Fire, even more emphasis was placed on team spirit.

To be sure, there were also speed-type Ninja like Namikaze Minato, who weren't suited to cooperate with teammates—but it was also precisely because of the special nature of his Space-Time Jumping Jutsu that the legend of the Yellow Flash was born.

But Uchiha Itachi, however you looked at him, was not the same type of Ninja as Namikaze Minato.

Based on that, Ichihime felt this was probably some scheme the Konoha leadership was planning.

Only that could explain Uchiha Itachi entering the Chunin Exam alone.

This exam, for Uchiha Itachi, could be said to be extremely unfavorable.

"He'll probably fail in the second stage of the exam."

The Witch accompanying her said so.

This time, among those taking part in Konoha's Chunin Exam were also elite Genin from the other Five Great Nations, and they were all in three-man cells.

The first stage was a written test; it was said that while at the Ninja School, Uchiha Itachi had perfect scores in theory, so the written exam posed basically no difficulty for him.

But the second stage of the exam would be a direct clash of strength.

For Uchiha Itachi acting alone, no matter how you looked at it, it would be very hard for him to stand out in this exam.

"Since Konoha's Uchiha praise him as a once-in-twenty-years genius, he can't be judged by common sense. In any case, I'm very interested in his results in the exams to come."

Ichihime said this.

Common sense is a word used to bind ordinary people, and geniuses cannot be confined by common sense.

Especially a genius like Uchiha Itachi—there might be some unexpected surprises.

◎

"Less than six hours… in terms of speed in clearing the second stage, you could say he's the fastest in history."

The masked Anbu reported to the Hokage sitting there, and to the Root Leader Danzo.

Hearing this result, the two high-ranking elders of Konoha couldn't help but be surprised.

The examinee the Anbu was referring to was, of course, Uchiha Itachi, the one who had entered this Chunin Exam solo.

He had achieved an almost perfect score in the first written test; in the second stage, the Death Forest, he successfully reached the central tower of the Death Forest in under six hours, taking first place.

Hiruzen took a deep breath, as if something had come to mind. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"With results like this, he can already be compared to Minato back then."

The difference, however, was that Minato at the time had completed the Chunin Exam as part of a three-man squad, whereas Itachi had done it alone.

From that point of view, you couldn't say Itachi had completely surpassed Minato, but for him to achieve such results was already shocking enough to the world, and something to be proud of.

"Next is the third stage of the exam; for Itachi, that shouldn't be a problem."

Hiruzen let out a breath of relief.

In truth, when he let Itachi enter the Chunin Exam alone, he himself hadn't been sure.

But seeing Itachi's results now, he was full of confidence about Itachi taking part in the third stage.

In this Joint Chunin Exam, there was absolutely no Genin who could defeat Itachi.

To say nothing of that, there wasn't a single Genin who could even stand on the same level as Itachi.

Results like these were impossible even for a formally ranked Chunin.

Itachi's strength had already surpassed that of most Chunin.

And he was only ten years old.

"So you're relieved?"

Danzo asked like this.

Hiruzen nodded, without trying to hide it.

"These results are indeed something to be proud of. If only he weren't from the Uchiha Clan, it would be even better."

Danzo said this, half intentionally, half not.

Hiruzen fell silent.

Yes, if he weren't a Ninja of the Uchiha Clan, it would be even better.

The Uchiha were, in the end, a thorn that was hard to pull out.

Among the younger generation of the Hokage Faction right now, only Kakashi alone could shoulder great responsibility.

The other young Ninja were all a bit inferior.

And the Uchiha?

The war had only made their Sharingan even stronger, and geniuses kept appearing.

No matter the era, they had never had a break in succession; they were never lacking in powerful Ninja capable of supporting the whole clan.