Chapter 581: Black Zetsu Recommends a Talent

Konohagakure Ninja Academy.

The Ninja Academy students were running laps on the training field to exercise their bodies.

Because Rock Lee himself was on the smaller and thinner side, and he had never trained beforehand, in other words, his body was slightly weaker than that of his peers.

So after running three laps, Rock Lee gradually began to fall behind the pace. By the sixth lap, Rock Lee was half a lap behind his classmates, while Neji, who had been running at a steady pace at the front the entire time, had already passed Rock Lee so many times that Rock Lee had lost count.

PS: You can’t generalize when it comes to people’s physiques. This is the shinobi world.

By the time the teacher announced that they could stop, Rock Lee was so exhausted that he could no longer hear the teacher clearly. When he saw that everyone else had stopped, he finally stopped as well.

"Rock Lee, didn’t you say you wanted to become a great shinobi who uses only Taijutsu without using Genjutsu and Ninjutsu? At this rate, that’s not going to work."

Someone teased Rock Lee with a laugh.

Perhaps because Rock Lee had made such a bold claim during his self-introduction, his classmates usually paid a little more attention to his performance.

However, Rock Lee’s performance did not live up to what he had said. When it came to Chakra cultivation, he was dead last in the class. His theoretical grades were also poor, and although his Taijutsu training was not the worst, he was still among the weaker students. He could be described as a poor student in every aspect.

"I’ll keep working hard!" Rock Lee took two deep breaths and replied.

At this moment, Neji passed by Rock Lee, and Rock Lee glanced at Neji.

Compared to him, who was panting heavily, drenched in sweat, unable to straighten his back, and looking completely disheveled, Neji looked far too relaxed. There was only a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, and his breathing was no different from usual, as if the exercise just now had been nothing more than a simple warm-up for him.

"Neji, you’re amazing. You must have run twice as many laps as us, right? And you’re still looking so relaxed." Tenten took a deep breath to steady her breathing before saying with a smile.

"It’s nothing. Once you’ve trained enough, you can do the same." Neji replied indifferently.

It was only running, not some Secret Technique with an extremely high difficulty. The reason he could be so relaxed was not because he was naturally powerful or exceptionally talented. It was simply because he had received training from the Hyuga clan from a young age, and later trained together with Nagasawa in various ways.

"How could it be as easy as you make it sound? You definitely have to work hard for a long time." Tenten complained, feeling like she had just been shown up.

"As expected of a shinobi from one of Konoha’s prestigious clans. What an annoying genius." Tenten teased in a joking tone.

After learning about the existence of the Hyuga clan that day, she went home and asked her parents. She learned that the Hyuga clan, to which Neji belonged, was one of the strongest shinobi clans in Konoha and could be considered a prestigious clan.

Neji was unmoved. In fact, he did not think that he was particularly talented. Perhaps it was because he had met too many freaks through Nagasawa?

Neji could only use the words freaks or even monsters to describe the terrifying talents and strength of those people.

Uchiha Itachi. With Itachi, Neji had felt pressure even greater than what he felt from Hiashi Hyuga.

How old was Uchiha Itachi? Ten years old!

Hiashi Hyuga was the clan head of the Hyuga clan and the strongest member of the Hyuga clan, while the Hyuga clan was one of Konoha’s top shinobi clans.

What did that mean? The strongest member of a top shinobi clan was inferior to a ten-year-old child.

It could be said to be an extremely outrageous thing, so outrageous that if a novel were written like this, the author would be flamed to death.

But the reality was that Uchiha Itachi was absurdly strong. At an age when everyone else was still attending the Ninja Academy, he already possessed extremely powerful strength.

There was also Kabuto, whose age and strength were not far behind Itachi’s. He was quite the freak as well.

Kakashi, Shisui, Might Guy, and the others who were older were already outside Neji’s consideration, because these people were already genuine powerhouses.

Then there were some who were younger than Neji who often made Neji feel that he simply had no talent as a shinobi.

Naruto and Sasuke were one year younger than Neji, but when Neji watched Naruto and Sasuke fight, he imagined himself facing either one of them and was surprised to discover that he was not confident he could definitely defeat either of them.

Neji trained with Nagasawa and truly felt that he was too ordinary. Gaara had a formidable Sand Manipulation Technique and could also use Tailed Beast Chakra to strengthen himself.

As for Neji, aside from his Byakugan and a slight advantage in Taijutsu, he was purely at the bottom of the pecking order on Nagasawa’s side.

Training among such a group of freaks, Neji simply did not feel that there was anything particularly genius-like about himself.

"Neji performed very well. Everyone else did well too. Take a good rest for now." Fujita Shoichi smiled and told everyone to rest.

Neji walked up to Fujita Shoichi and said something to him, then continued training.

This amount of exercise was truly just a warm-up for him. For the sake of his dream, Neji did not want to waste time. He wanted to carry out his own training.

Fujita Shoichi also took into consideration that Neji was a genius, so he let him do as he pleased. After all, Neji really did look very relaxed.

This scene was seen by Rock Lee.

’He not only has an extremely high talent for being a shinobi, but he also never slacks off in his training. Is this what a true genius is like...’

Rock Lee suddenly felt his blood burn with determination.

If he could defeat such a genius, then perhaps he really could become a legendary shinobi, become a great shinobi.

Rock Lee set his first goal in his heart. He would defeat the genius Neji Hyuga and take the first step toward becoming a great shinobi.

Even though his grades in every aspect were currently terrible, Rock Lee firmly believed that as long as he trained hard, everything could change.

...

"How many of the students from the previous batch joined the Kara Organization?" Isshiki casually flipped through the documents while asking a member of the Kara Organization.

"Only five. And only one of them is a shinobi from a shinobi village, and he isn’t from one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages." The Kara Organization member reported somewhat nervously.

The results this time were simply too poor. There were no shinobi from the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and the quality was not good either.

"Why is it so different from last time?" Isshiki asked with a slight frown.

Being slightly worse would have been fine, but this time there were only one-fourth as many people as last time. That was already too few. If it were only the number, that would have been one thing, but the quality was poor as well.

"Perhaps our actions in the latest war caused those shinobi villages to become wary of us." The Kara Organization member speculated.

Although the Chakra Technology Company had not personally participated in the war, the assistance the Chakra Technology Company had provided to Nagato was very real.

The Chakra Technology Company had paid a considerable price to let the matter pass.

The Kara Organization member felt that this incident had caused those shinobi to change their view of the Chakra Technology Company.

"I understand. Continue carrying out the plan as usual." Isshiki said indifferently.

He thought about it and felt that the truth might indeed be as the Kara Organization member had said. It was because of the impact of this war.

Having understood the reason, Isshiki no longer cared about it.

Those short-lived natives had no memory. As long as the Chakra Technology Company continued to maintain its lead, things would soon return to how they were before.

After the Kara Organization member left, a black figure gradually appeared in the room.

"Isshiki-sama, I have a very good talent I would like to recommend to you. He can increase our strength and allow you to complete your plan sooner."

"Who?"

"Uchiha Madara."