Naruto: Assistant to the Hokage

The mesh gates of the Forest of Death slowly opened.

A group of lower ninjas darted in through their respective entrances.

There were quite a few competitors for this exam, and an earlier entrance would give them an early head start, whether it was to familiarize themselves with the environment ahead of time or to set up traps within the forest.

Even the Uchiha Itachi was no exception.

Only Kagura slowly paced his way into the examination room, the Earth Character scroll weighed in his hands as he calmly gazed openly into the depths of the dark, deadly forest.

"Hey, brat!"

A female ninja, who was responsible for opening the mesh door to this side of the exam, seemed to be a bit impatient with Kagura's slow speed, and opened her mouth to chide, "Hurry up and get inside now! If you slow down any more, you'll probably be killed tonight!"

"..."

Kagura glanced back at the other party.

This female ninja's body was dressed in an earthy yellow trench coat with a mesh shirt underneath, a pair of exposed legs with mesh socks, her light purple hair was tied up loose in a messy pill head, and she didn't look too old.

"Hurry up!"

The female ninja's face was a bit impatient, staring at Kagura as she had just walked into the examination room before her palm slammed the door shut with a hard slap of her own.

"What's your name, big sister?"

Akihara Kagura stood inside and looked at the female ninja with a smile.

"Huh?"

The female ninja was a bit surprised at this brat's boldness, and suddenly a playful smile appeared on her face, "Brat, taking such a dangerous exam and still being so bold... My name is Anko Mitarashi, if you can come out alive, treat me to some pills!"

"I'll remember you."

Kagura half-heartedly mentioned the treat.

He hadn't recognized the wrong person at all, this female ninja named Anko was once Orochimaru's disciple, and she also carried a flavor of Orochimaru's chakra on her body.

In a sense, this person named Anko was also one's former colleague, and one's current colleague, so I'll bring her to meet the old leader sometime.

"What a spirited little kid..."

Anko tilted her head and squinted her own eyes with a smile, "Then do your best and try not to die too early in the Forest of Death!"

"Well, I'll keep you in mind."

Kagura nodded and repeated her words.

Just as Anko wanted to say something, she saw Kagura violently raise his fingers and join them together to form the Seal of Si!

"Wood release - Tree Realm Birthday!"

A thick vine root drilled out of the ground!

A tall, sky-high giant tree rose up from the ground as the vine roots extended!

Kagura controlled his chakra and once again raised his fingers, manipulating the branches of a large tree to converge together!

"Wood release - Wooden Dragon Technique!"

A huge wooden dragon snaked out from the tree trunk!

Slowly dwarfing its body as if it were a giant beast, this wooden dragon slid in front of Akihara Kagura's body, lifting the teenager's body with its head and slowly rearing its head.

"How is this possible...Wood release Ninjutsu..."

Anko looked at the scene within the Forest of Death with a face full of horror.

"I'll remember you."

Kagura turned back and repeated once again towards Anko, maneuvering the wooden dragon to hover and wander towards the depths of the Forest of Death.

"Let's go say hello to all of you first..."

"This brat..."

Anko pondered for a moment, and sped towards the direction where the examiner was!

In fact there was no need for Anko to go ahead and report back, almost everyone present had seen the huge wooden dragon out and about, the one that practically floated above the Forest of Death, to the point where the crowd thought they had been attacked by an inexplicable enemy.

Hokage Building.

A group of Konoha executives gazed at what was happening in the screen in amazement.

Even Danzo had known for a long time that Kagura had mastered the art of Wood release, but he had never imagined that this child would be able to restore it in its entirety in his own abstract way of teaching.

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had his pipe in his hand and was slow to put it in his mouth, his mind whirling rapidly as he calmly pondered what this child who had mastered the Wood release actually meant to the Konoha.

Compared to Sarutobi, the other two Hokage advisors didn't have to think about it as much, and the starting point of their proposal was all in the interest of Konoha.

Their eyes immediately fell on Shimura Danzo.

One of them was an old man wearing glasses named Homura; the other was an old woman with narrowed eyes named Koharu.

These two Hokage advisors had both been teammates of Shimura Danzo at one time, so naturally they weren't so inhibited when speaking, and opened their mouths to directly ask the most crucial question.

"Danzo, when did this child awaken Wood release?"

"Danzo, whose child is this child? How did the wood bloodline in his body awaken? Does he have the bloodline of the Senjou clan in his body?"

"..."

Shimura Danzo was silent for a while before he opened his mouth and replied, "This is a child from the Konoha orphanage, many years ago, Orochimaru survived the violation of the Wood bloodline human experiments on him, originally, seeing that this child's life force was tenacious, I brought this child to Roots, and it was not until not long ago that he suddenly awakened the Wood release... "

"Like that?"

Homura's brow wrinkled with layers of old age lines as he sighed, "It seems to be a very fortuitous event..."

The tone in which Koharu spoke was no longer so excited, "I thought that I could bring back the village's possession of the first Hokage-sama's Wood bloodline, and that those human experiments, if they were conducted, would ultimately be too dangerous for those who participated in them."

"Kou is just an example."

Danzo slowly nodded as well.

"..."

Hiruzen finished his thinking, picked up his pipe again, and slowly spat out the first sentence, "It seems that this child's Wood release is very powerful, and is almost able to completely restore the Wood Ninjutsu of the first Hokage-sama, so one day, it may not be impossible for him to become the next first Hokage-sama!"

"Oh?"

The two Hokage advisors were immediately curious.

Hiruma had never paid attention to those Wood Ninjutsu recorded in the Book of Seals, after all, Konoha had never been able to recover the First Generation Hokage's Wood release, and he subconsciously pursued the question.

"Can this child become a ninja as powerful as the first generation Hokage?"

"Huh?"

Shimura Danzo understood Sarutobi's meaning almost immediately, and hurriedly said, "This child's Wood Ninjutsu simply cannot be compared to that of the First Generation Hokage-sama, Tree Realm Descending Birth..."

"Danzo, you're too limited."

Sarutobi glanced at Shimura Danzo and seemed to be seriously explaining, "The Tree Realm Descending Birthday jutsu isn't perfect yet... but the Wooden Dragon jutsu isn't the same!"

"If the effect of his Mokuton no Jutsu is the same as the one recorded in the Book of Seals, it could even have the effect of suppressing the Tailed Beasts... this child's talent for Wood release is much stronger than you think... it's too much of a waste to let him go to do all those little things in the darkness in the Roots..."

"Wait..."

Danzo eyes widened involuntarily.

"Yeah, Danzo!"

Koharu frowned and spoke up, suggesting, "Danzo, it's too much of a waste to keep this child at Root... we should give this child to Sarutobi..."

"..."

Shimura Danzo gripped his cane hard.

Why did this sentence sound somewhat familiar? Those words that he had always said to Sarutobi in the past, how come it was his turn to hear them today?