Starting with the Uchiha clan, they began cultivating demonic arts.

Chapter 25 The Third Hokage

The enormous pangolin thrashed about for several minutes before finally dying amidst the raging flames, leaving behind only its massive carapace.

In addition, Uchiha Tou, who had been watching the show from above, also gained something: the pangolin's soul.

Although the pangolin's soul is far inferior to that of Hatake Sakumo, it possesses a very advanced earth-based technique, which will not only be useful for training earth-based chakra in the future, but also for escaping.

It's important to know that even if most animals possess chakra, it's of the non-attribute type. Those with attribute chakra are extremely rare, with only one in ten possessing it. Those with pure attribute chakra, or even those with innate ninjutsu, are truly one in a thousand.

Furthermore, the vast majority of innate ninjutsu are tricks like spraying water or breathing wind, and ninjutsu like Earthwalking Technique, which is also very useful against Uchiha Touya, is extremely rare.

It was just luck that Uchiha Touyu got a useful soul during this mission; such things are rare and hard to come by.

For the next month or so, although the team carried out more than a dozen missions, things were mostly peaceful, and at most they obtained the souls of a few ordinary chakra animals.

However, in the past month or so, Uchiha Tou's strength has improved significantly again.

Although he had obtained Sakumo Hatake's soul and learned the White Fang Sword Technique, he still lacked in areas such as chakra nature transformation and muscle memory training.

Ultimately, he had only possessed Sakumo Hatake's soul for a few days. Even if he learned and progressed extremely quickly through possession, it was impossible for him to fully exploit it in such a short time.

In the past month or so, the White Fang Sword Technique, which he had initially grasped only rudimentarily, has gradually been transformed into muscle memory by Uchiha Hiu, resulting in a significant improvement in the flexibility and continuity of his moves.

Furthermore, the original Lightning Release chakra attribute transformation has been greatly improved, with both the power of the blade's edge and the speed stimulated by Lightning Release being significantly enhanced.

Even his chakra increased significantly. This was not only due to the stimulation from Hatake Sakumo's soul, but also because Uchiha Touyu possessed the Sharingan with two tomoe, and his bloodline nourished his body, which also improved his talent.

The most obvious characteristic is that during this period of sparring with Hyuga Hizashi, Hyuga Hizashi became increasingly unable to hold back, and eventually he even stated that it was no longer possible to conduct full-power training battles without either of them getting injured.

According to Hyuga Hizashi, while Uchiha Tou might have flaws in other aspects, in terms of pure combat strength, Uchiha Tou was already at the Jonin level.

Uchiha Tou's abnormally fast progress also spurred on his two friends. Unfortunately, no matter how hard Asuma and Kurenai trained, compared to Uchiha Tou's cheat-like progress, their progress was like a tortoise crawling.

In just over a month, the two of them had only experienced some actual combat with chakra animals, drawing a little blood and gaining some combat experience, but they still hadn't made any substantial improvement in their strength.

After completing his mission that day, Uchiha Hiyu returned to the Forest of Death for further training. As soon as he entered the forest and saw the training grounds that had been cleared out, he was slightly taken aback.

The training ground inside the Forest of Death was actually just a flat area that he and Kakashi cleared by cutting down some large trees. It was naturally incomparable to a proper training ground, but it didn't cost much.

At this moment, in the center of the training field, Kakashi, with his silver hair, stood respectfully in front of a short old man, who was none other than the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"What brings the Hokage here? Is he here to investigate our destruction of the Death Forest? I don't have the money to pay for it!"

Uchiha Touyu's face showed a hint of trepidation, causing Kakashi, who already knew a bit about his nature, to secretly roll his eyes a few times. The Third Hokage, upon hearing this, also paused slightly, then shook his head.

"I'm not here today to investigate the destruction of the Death Forest... Of course, it's best to avoid doing things like this in the future."

The Third Hokage stroked his chin and spoke with a smile.

That's just a figure of speech. As wielders of extraordinary power, if a ninja is even slightly strong, eight out of ten will establish secret bases. It's estimated that a large portion of the underground area of ​​the entire Hidden Leaf Village has been dug out.

The little thing Kakashi and Uchiha Tou did wouldn't even alarm the Third Hokage, and he wasn't there for that matter at all.

In fact, Kakashi may not have thought much because he was still young, but when Uchiha Tou saw the Third Hokage, he already knew why he had come—nothing more than to win over the two youngest geniuses of Konoha.

Uchiha Tou's performance in Team 1 was something that neither Hyuga Hizashi nor Asuma would have kept from the Third Hokage.

He is only fourteen years old now, but he already has the combat power of a standard Jonin. Kakashi is only eight or nine years old, but he defeated Kondo Kunihiko, who was a Special Jonin. No matter how you look at it, the two of them will at least be Kage-level powerhouses in the future.

The Third Hokage would certainly try to win over such a promising talent and recruit him for his own use, which has always been the style of the Third Hokage's lineage.

"As long as I don't lose money, that's fine. I'm really poor right now; my savings don't even amount to 100,000 taels."

Uchiha Touya patted his chest, looking relieved, which made the Third Hokage choke for a moment.

"It seems you're having a hard time. This is a mistake on our part. We will provide more subsidies to orphaned students at the Ninja Academy in the future."

Although Tobi Uchiha understood the Third Hokage's thoughts, he had no intention of aligning himself with him.

First of all, he is an Uchiha, even if he is a marginalized member of the Uchiha clan who is not well received, it is hard to say what the higher-ups would think of him.

Secondly, it's World War III now. If you join a faction, you'll probably have to take on some important tasks and go directly to the battlefield!

Not to mention that they would become targets, attracting countless conspiracies and schemes, and might even become cannon fodder.

Kakashi is a prime example. First, he followed Minato Namikaze and spent time on the most dangerous battlefield of the Third Shinobi World War. Then, he was targeted by Danzo and barely escaped with his life.

"I don't care about the subsidies or anything, it's not like they're going to give them to me anyway. By the way, if the Hokage isn't here to hold us accountable, then what are you doing here today?"

With a slightly relaxed smile, Uchiha Tou asked, while the Third Hokage smiled gently at Uchiha Tou and Kakashi:

"I'm sorry about what happened to White Fang. Fortunately, he left you two as his successors. You are both the most outstanding geniuses in the entire Hidden Leaf Village. If you have any problems, you can talk to me."

(End of this chapter)