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

Chapter 65 Returning to Konoha

"Finally back..."

Uchiha Touyu looked at Konoha Village and let out a long sigh of relief.

Most of the ninjas who stayed on the Sand Village front in the Land of Rivers have now returned, leaving only a small number of ninjas on border patrol and guard duties.

The force of over a thousand ninjas was impressive, but upon seeing Konoha Village, countless ninjas shed tears. Although Uchiha Touya seemed to have fought the battle easily, Konoha Village had actually suffered heavy losses.

Putting aside other issues, in the decisive battle against the Sand Village alone, Konoha lost more than 2000 ninjas due to the poison gas, which was almost half of Konoha's initial main force.

Adding in the casualties from other miscellaneous battles, the ninjas on the entire front are now reduced to only about 30% of their original strength.

This is only the beginning of the Ninja World War; it may become even more brutal as it goes on.

After returning to Konoha, many of the ninja's relatives came out to search for their loved ones. Some found their families, while others could only find an urn containing ashes.

Overjoyed and weeping, some even sobbing uncontrollably, all sorts of human emotions were on display in the small ninja village.

Uchiha Touyu was undoubtedly an outlier among them. Not to mention his parents, he didn't even have many friends in the entire Hidden Leaf Village, so naturally he couldn't empathize with these people.

"Come with me to the Hokage's office, Tou-kun. You've done a great service this time, and the Hokage needs to see you."

Orochimaru, with an equally indifferent expression, spoke to Uchiha Touyu. Uchiha Touyu nodded. Besides having made great contributions in battle, he had now become Orochimaru's apprentice, so the Third Hokage naturally wanted to find out more about him.

Following Orochimaru into the Hokage's office, Uchiha Touyu was slightly taken aback as soon as he pushed open the door.

Besides the Third Hokage, there was also a blonde, burly woman in the office, listening impatiently to the Third Hokage's rambling.

"Enough, old man, do you really expect me to go to the battlefield?"

The blonde beauty slammed her hand on the table and shouted loudly. Just then, Orochimaru and Uchiha Tou walked in. The blonde beauty, who had just realized what was happening, paused for a moment, then snorted and walked straight out of the room.

"well……"

The Third Hokage sighed, took a puff of his pipe, looked up at Orochimaru, and a smile returned to his face.

"You've worked hard, Orochimaru. And our little hero, Touya, you probably don't know, but you now have the nickname 'White Fang'."

"Little White Fang"... What kind of ridiculous title is this? It's not even as good as the "Kōnoha Ghost" that the Sand Village ninjas call him!

Uchiha Touyu mentally grumbled a couple of times, but outwardly remained expressionless, while Orochimaru frowned:

"Is Tsunade still unwilling to participate in the war? If Tsunade had been there when we were fighting against Sunagakure, we wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses."

The Third Hokage shook his head and sighed:

"Not yet. You know, Tsunade hasn't gotten over her inner turmoil yet."

The Third Hokage's words were somewhat cryptic, but Orochimaru understood perfectly. He meant that Tsunade's hemophobia had not yet recovered.

Tsunade's hemophobia is arguably Konoha's top secret. With an "outsider" like Uchiha Tou in the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage naturally couldn't reveal it openly.

Orochimaru nodded knowingly, and without saying anything more about Tsunade, he spoke to the Third Hokage:

"Feiyu is now my disciple. The merits he has made on the front lines are enough to exchange for several S-rank ninjutsu. I brought him here this time so that he could choose a few ninjutsu from the Book of Sealing."

The Third Hokage took a drag of his cigarette and nodded.

"That's only right. With the merits you've made so far, you can choose three S-rank ninjutsu from the Book of Sealing. Of course, these ninjutsu are not easy to master. In my opinion, you should only choose one S-rank ninjutsu as your main focus, and then choose some A-rank ninjutsu to make up for the rest."

Uchiha Touyu nodded. Even if the Third Hokage's words had some personal motives, they were indeed wise words from an experienced person.

Kakashi in Shippuden is said to have mastered a thousand ninjutsu, but when he really fights, he still uses the old Chidori plus Lightning Blade. The Uchiha clan's three-tomoe technique can almost be copied by everyone, and when fighting, he basically uses Fire Release plus Sharingan genjutsu.

For top-tier ninjas, ordinary ninjutsu is merely used to compensate for weaknesses. They often possess a powerful set of ninjutsu that they are most proficient in, serving as their true battle template.

Even the Third Hokage, who seemed to have the most diverse range of skills, had his own specialty: taijutsu and staff techniques that complemented Enma, as well as mixed ninjutsu that he could perform by combining the five elemental ninjutsu. However, because this kind of ninjutsu required a large number of elemental ninjutsu as a foundation, he learned so many ordinary ninjutsu.

As for Hiruzen Sarutobi's personal motives, it was probably that he didn't want more S-rank ninjutsu to be revealed. After all, Tobi Uchiha was also an Uchiha, and if he were to reveal these Konoha's secret ninjutsu to the Uchiha clan, it would definitely not be a good thing for Konoha.

In the ninja world, some mental techniques can create a seal in the brain to prevent others from stealing the ninjutsu. However, if the ninjutsu user reveals it voluntarily, there is no way to stop them.

This world isn't some kind of cultivation world; there are no vows or oaths of faith or anything like that. Although ninja villages have rules like not being allowed to privately impart high-level ninjutsu, the effectiveness depends entirely on an individual's moral character and respect for those rules.

Fortunately, Uchiha Touyu didn't care much about the ninjutsu in the Scroll of Seals. In any case, the Third Hokage would definitely not put forbidden techniques like the Impure World Reincarnation or the Reaper Death Seal in the Scroll of Seals. Touyu had to praise the Third Hokage for his magnanimity for finding the Flying Thunder God Technique in there.

The Third Hokage formed hand seals and summoned a huge scroll with a bang. Uchiha Touyu peeked at it and immediately confirmed that the Scroll of Seals that Naruto Uzumaki stole in the original story was definitely a fake.

Because this Book of Seals is densely covered with countless seals, it would be strange if Naruto, with his carelessness, could even open it. Even his parents would have to spend ages trying to unseal it without anyone bothering them.

The Third Hokage was clearly adept at breaking seals, but it still took him three or four minutes to remove most of the seals from the Book of Seals. He then handed it to Uchiha Tou and began to speak.

"A small portion of the contents of this Book of Seals remains, which is truly against the natural order, so it remains sealed and will not be passed on unless Konoha faces a life-or-death crisis."

(End of this chapter)