Chapter 302: All Creatures Compete for Freedom under the Frosty Sky X The Philosophy of Struggle
"I love reading,"
"I love learning,"
"If I don't read or learn for a single day, my entire body feels uncomfortable..."
Several massive sentences faintly floated over Ryo's head. Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his eyes to look at the boy, who was blinking at him "innocently," putting on the facade of a student dedicated to studying... further recalling that the boy had once told him he had a "hobby of learning in his dreams."
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff of his tobacco pipe and stared deeply at the boy, saying, "Give this old man a reason."
"A reason to permit you to look at the Scroll of Seals..."
It must be understood that the Scroll of Seals was not something any random person could study. Even for those Jonin who had once established immortal merits for the village, catching a single glimpse of it was exceptionally difficult.
After all, it was far from a regular ninjutsu scroll. It was a restricted ninjutsu scroll sealed by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and passed down to be guarded by successive generations of Hokage. Within it... rested the essence of ninjutsu from past Hokage and Jonin, specifically recording—but not limited to—forbidden jutsu that carried extremely high risks to the caster or others, violated ethics, or possessed overwhelming power.
Famous examples included Edo Tensei, Multi-Size Clone Jutsu, and Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags—kinjutsu capable of altering the tides of battle or granting a shinobi massive elevation in capability!
"Didn't I say it... compensation for mental distress," Ryo stated expressionlessly. "No one likes to be peeped at. I think Hokage-sama should understand this point."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Ryo silently without speaking.
Puff~ A cloud of dry smoke was slowly exhaled from the old man's lips. Before it could even drift in front of Ryo, it was automatically blown back by a miniature vortex of wind swirling an inch before the boy.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes flashed. Wind Release?
Looking at this level of effortless control, it was obvious that the boy's attainment in Wind Release was far from mundane.
Invisibly shrouded in the smoke, Hiruzen slowly shook his head after a long pause: "Ryo, you know very well that this is not enough."
The old man looked at the boy and said, "This old man doesn't know from where you heard about the Scroll of Seals, but since you know of it, you must already understand that it is far from an ordinary ninja archive..."
The implicit meaning was: You need to add more value.
Ryo was not surprised in the slightest. A trace of mockery traced the corner of his mouth as he said, "Is the Limb Regeneration Technique enough?"
"Hokage-sama better not tell me that a technique capable of resolving wartime disabilities and immensely salvaging the village's immediate combat strength... is also unworthy..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent.
He was not a Hokage who merely engaged in armchair strategy; he was a true veteran who had fought and survived alongside Tobirama Senju during the Second Shinobi World War. How could he not understand that a ninjutsu capable of helping disabled shinobi restore their hands and feet, enabling them to reclaim the path of a ninja, possessed priceless strategic value?
The crucial problem, however, was—
The boy's surname was Uchiha!
He belonged to the Uchiha clan, whom his teacher had once evaluated as "inherently evil"!
Even though Hiruzen Sarutobi had tried his absolute best to avoid looking at the Uchiha clan through colored glasses, it remained highly difficult to treat them identically to major Konoha clans like the Hyuga, Akimichi, Nara, Yamanaka, or Inuzuka... The root cause, in the end, lay in the fact that this clan had possessed a dishonorable historical record since ancient times.
Therefore, if for nothing else but the grand concepts of "Balance" and "Stability," Hiruzen Sarutobi had to maintain a layer of vigilance, tacitly permitting the suppression plan covertly formulated by Danzo, Homura, and Koharu. Furthermore, Hiruzen Sarutobi believed that no matter who sat in the position of Hokage in the future, they would act exactly like him—or perhaps do so even more severely!
Leisurely time slipped through his fingers...
Silence blanketed the Hokage office at this moment.
By then, the red sun had leaped past the horizon, wantonly radiating its brilliance. It poured through the massive curved floor-to-ceiling windows of the Hokage office, illuminating Hiruzen Sarutobi's contemplative face, half of which was hidden in the light and shadows.
Whether it had been a minute or two, the old man gently put down the pipe in his hand and stood up by himself. Turning his back to Ryo, he faced the Hokage Rock, watching the clear profiles of Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and his own face bathing in the sunlight, gazing profoundly across Konoha.
Hiruzen Sarutobi finally spoke: "Jin, you are correct. This old man must admit that the Limb Regeneration Technique holds monumental significance for the village, and furthermore..."
"Based on my understanding of war and the future landscape, Limb Regeneration is far more vital than you or I can imagine. Therefore," Hiruzen slowly turned around, looking earnestly at Ryo, "In both reason and fairness, I should grant your request."
"But before that, this old man must clarify one thing." The Hokage cloak draped over Hiruzen Sarutobi swayed with the wind. At this exact moment, he no longer carried the air of the Hokage, but rather resembled an ordinary old man of the village, asking Ryo softly:
"Are you asking this old man as an Uchiha, or..."
"Are you demanding this of this old man as a part of Konoha?!"
The words the boy had once thrown back as a question when a single, logic-defying Fire Release blasted the Academy wall... were now spinning back like a boomerang, striking Ryo.
Ryo froze slightly, raising his eyes to meet Hiruzen Sarutobi's deep, sharp gaze. It had to be admitted... as the reincarnation of Indra, the Uchiha clan had to exhaust the absolute depths of "crazy, twisted darkness" if they wished to obtain power, only growing and strengthening amidst absolute agony! And this "crazy, twisted darkness" was far from anything Hiruzen Sarutobi wished to see, and far from anything Konoha could accept... It completely transcended the boundaries of what a normal person could comprehend!
After all, no one wanted to abandon a peaceful, normal life to play along with a group of ticking "terrorists" who could explode at any second! But just as "flowers" require "green leaves" for contrast, and "light" requires "darkness" as a foil, the vast world—be it Hunter, Demon Slayer, Naruto, or Bleach, or even his previous ordinary world that lacked any supernatural forces like Nen or Chakra—was never a simple, binary world. Instead, it resembled a multi-dimensional world of "Yin and Yang complementing each other," "entropy increasing and decreasing," and "containing contradictions, yet opposite and unified" in an endless loop.
And so,
"Why must Hokage-sama distinguish things so rigidly?"
The young boy's black hair swayed with the wind. His clear, bright eyes stared straight into Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes, neither servile nor overbearing, let alone timidly shrinking back. Rising from his chair alongside the old man, he paced over to the window, gazing far out into the distance alongside him, watching the sunlight strike the Hokage Rock, reflecting a brilliant, magnificent red.
Standing with his hands behind his back under Hiruzen Sarutobi's burning, locked-in gaze, Ryo spoke leisurely:
"To be honest with Hokage-sama, a great man once told me: All creatures compete for freedom under the frosty sky!"
"To struggle against heaven is infinite joy! To struggle against earth is infinite joy! To struggle against man is infinite joy!"
"As long as it is a living entity, it must face endless struggle, never pausing until death. Therefore,"
"Hokage-sama might as well try to consider... if the Uchiha were completely gone, would Konoha truly settle into absolute peace and tranquility? Would internal strife never occur again?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth opened and closed. For a time, he stared at Ryo in absolute shock, unable to utter a single syllable.
He simply stared blankly at the boy, his memories flipping open, flashing continuously back through the First War, the Second War, and even the current Third War... endless slaughter, endless injuries, endless pain, and endless terror. Ever since he had birthed consciousness from his swaddling clothes and gained the capacity for cognition, he had never witnessed it pause... It was as if Ryo's single sentence had pierced right through his mental defense, exposing his entire life of ceaseless struggle, along with that of the vast masses!
After a long while, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally seemed to recover his capacity to organize language, asking with a hoarse voice, "Who is he?"
"Who is that great man? Is he also a teacher you paid respects to within your dreams?"
Ryo let out a helpless laugh of shame, shaking his head: "I certainly wish I could be his student, but unfortunately... I am not..."
The boy straightened his spine, slowly exhaling a breath from his mouth as he said, "Doesn't Hokage-sama wish to know the answer?"
"I can tell you right now."
Gazing out the window at the Hokage Rock sitting at the absolute highest point of Konoha, Ryo said calmly, "I can belong to Konoha, and I can also belong to the Uchiha. Similarly, I can choose not to belong to Konoha, nor to the Uchiha..."
"What do you mean?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's brow furrowed. Subsequently... he saw the boy blink at him, laughing mischievously: "Simple. If Konoha acts against me, then I am an Uchiha; if the Uchiha act against me, then I am Konoha. I am myself—belonging to everyone, yet belonging to no one. Hokage-sama, do you understand now?"
"You..." Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened. He pointed a finger at Ryo, but lowered it halfway through, laughing in spite of his anger... The old man barked a laugh at Ryo: "Good brat, your bottom line is certainly flexible."
Ryo shrugged, neither denying nor refuting it, completely accepting it openly: "What I desire is merely more right of choice. Even if I don't use it, I cannot be without it."
In a rare move, Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, not picking up the conversation further. He merely turned around, facing away from Ryo as he sat back down at his desk. Picking up the battle report laid open on the desk, he began reading without lifting his head, stating, "This old man understands."
"The door is right there, I assume I don't need to point it out for you? Beat it!"
Ryo: "And the matter regarding the Scroll of Seals?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi shot an annoyed sidelong glance: "Tomorrow this old man will be working from home. Just come over by yourself."
Ryo smiled faintly, "Thanks."
His figure subsequently merged into the light, flashing as he utilized Light Release to vanish toward the doorway...
Creak~ The door that had been heavily slammed shut by Danzo earlier opened.
Ryo stepped out from the light in a single stride, about to leave, when suddenly... Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "Can this old man frame that sentence and hang it in the office?"
Ryo paused his steps, turning back to smile at Hiruzen Sarutobi: "Hokage-sama may do as he pleases. I think if that person knew, he certainly wouldn't mind either..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, "Thank him on my behalf."
"I believe he must be an exceptionally extraordinary man!"
"Of course!" Ryo's expression turned solemn, filled with absolute reverence as he said, "Believe me, he is only far more extraordinary than you can imagine!"
Following that, he gently closed the door with a creak, transforming into a streak of light that vanished from Hiruzen Sarutobi's vision in a flash.
The old man was left entirely solitary, sitting alone at his desk. After a long while, he lit his tobacco pipe again and took a puff. Suddenly laughing, he murmured aloud, "I wonder if he smokes tobacco too?"
Smack~ Another smoke ring expanded with the wind, drifting and dispersing gradually until it dissolved completely into the air, vanishing without a trace...
Chime~ At that exact time, it was nine o'clock in the morning, as the clock hanging on the living room wall struck the hour.
After leaving the Hokage Building, Ryo relied on Light Release to break spatial constraints, covering a thousand meters in a single stride. After ten or so strides, in less than a few breaths' time, he returned to his own home.
Perhaps having delayed too long in the Hokage office, by the time Ryo stepped out from the light in the living room and revealed his form, Tsunade and Shizune had already vanished without a trace.
Left within the modest, warm living room were Fugaku and Itachi, alongside a prepared breakfast covered by a tray, quietly awaiting him.
"I'm back..." A faint smile hung on the boy's flawlessly handsome small face.
Pacing over to Itachi's side, he sat cross-legged right beside the boy, casually picking up the breakfast placed on the floor and eating it. Meanwhile, he listened to Fugaku say, "Tsunade-sama has left."
"Did she say anything?"
"No, merely that she will arrange for someone to buy a table and send it over later."
"No need to trouble her. A chair with two legs is hard to find, but a table with four legs is everywhere..."
Ryo finished his breakfast in a few large gulps, casually taking the tissue handed over by Itachi to wipe his mouth. Reaching a hand out toward the empty floor, his Nen aura moved with his thought, splitting into two wisps—representing Water and Earth. In the blink of an eye, they blended together seamlessly, condensing into Wood Release as it slowly shaped into a square tatami table, materializing before Fugaku and Itachi's eyes.
Fugaku and Itachi simultaneously cast a glance at Ryo. It hadn't been long since "this child" / "Nii-san" condensed a teacup, right? Now, he could unexpectedly fashion a tatami table with such proficiency.
Fugaku watched silently as the tatami table settled slowly onto the floor, dropping a single sentence: "Don't forget your training." He stood up, donned his Jonin vest, and walked out the door.
"Does Father not intend to ask where I just went? Or whom I met? Or what was said?" Ryo heard the door click, turning his head toward the entryway.
Fugaku, who had already opened the front door and slipped into his shoes, said without turning his head, "There is no need for that. Whether I ask or not, you are my son. There is no need to expend that mental effort..."
Saying this, without waiting for Ryo to open his mouth to say anything more, the man closed the door directly and headed off to his shift with his Konoha forehead protector secured.
Ryo's clear, bright eyes penetrated the front door, tracking his far-from-broad back as it receded into the distance. In this single fraction of a second, he appeared to see a shadow of Silva, staring blankly for a long, long time until...
His sleeve was tugged by Itachi.
He heard the boy say, "Nii-san~ let's head out for training too. It's past nine o'clock, Shisui-niisan must be waiting anxiously..."
Ryo withdrew his gaze at the right time, smiling as he rubbed Itachi's forehead, speaking warmly: "Alright."
Following that, after greeting their mother Mikoto, he took Itachi out of the Uchiha clan compound, rushing toward the Southern Forest.
At that familiar training ground, they witnessed Shisui Uchiha, who had already begun practicing his sword entirely alone...
"Nii-san, someone is targeting you!"
☆☆☆
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