As Suzuki stared at Asuma—the man who, in the original timeline, was tragically destined to leave his team leader Kurenai as a grieving single mother—Asuma stared right back, looking equally surprised.

"Suzuki Tanaka?"

While Asuma had never formally met Suzuki, he certainly knew of him. He knew that his aging father had suddenly taken on a new, incredibly young disciple—likely his final one. Naturally, Asuma had been shocked that Hiruzen would bother taking on a student at his age, but he had also heard rumors of Suzuki’s monstrous talent.

How did Asuma know all this without ever stepping foot in the Hokage’s office?

Well, partly because he frequently went out drinking with Kurenai, and partly because—

"Suzuki-kun!"

Before anyone else could react, Ino Yamanaka launched herself across the room. She collided with Suzuki, wrapping her arms and legs around him and clinging to him as tightly as a koala refusing to let go of its favorite branch.

"...It’s been a while, Ino."

Suzuki desperately tried to maintain a calm, stoic expression, even under the intense, scrutinizing gazes of Hiruzen, Asuma, Shikamaru, and Choji.

"I missed you so much..." Ino murmured, burying her face in his chest, genuinely looking like she was about to cry after not seeing him for several weeks. She looked up with big, watery eyes. "Did you miss me?"

"I missed you, too."

His voice was as smooth and soothing as a gentle morning breeze. Hearing it, Ino’s bright smile bloomed instantly, as radiant as the flowers in her family’s shop.

"I missed you so, so much! By the way, did you know I found a really good dessert shop in that neighborhood we walked through last time? It’s super popular, so we should go together! Ah, and remember that beautiful older sister you were staring at before..."

"Hmm?"

Hiruzen raised an amused eyebrow, staring directly at Suzuki upon hearing Ino casually mention a ’beautiful older sister’.

As expected of my disciple... Hiruzen nodded sagely, stroking his goatee with immense, grandfatherly satisfaction.

"...." Suzuki kept his face perfectly blank, aggressively ignoring his master’s look.

Regardless of the comedic situation, Suzuki’s highly analytical mind couldn’t help but calculate the heavy political implications of this embrace. It felt as though their innocent relationship was already becoming politically tangled. He knew perfectly well that if he and Ino Yamanaka ended up together in the future, it would be a massive geopolitical shift within the village.

The Ino-Shika-Cho formation—the famous trio of Konoha’s noble clans—had always been intimately tied to the Sarutobi Clan. If Suzuki, the Hokage’s personal disciple, married the Yamanaka heiress, it would permanently bind all of those powerful factions to him.

What am I even thinking about? Suzuki scolded himself.

He was far too young to be deeply analyzing marriage politics right now.

No one interrupted as Ino happily continued to ramble, until she suddenly glanced around and realized exactly where she was currently clinging to a boy.

"..."

"I-I am so sorry!" Ino squeaked, instantly untangling herself and bowing nervously. She realized just how incredibly rude and inappropriate her outburst was inside the Hokage’s official office.

"Sensei, please forgive her," Suzuki smoothly stepped in, taking the blame so Ino wouldn’t have to bear the pressure of the room. "She’s just a bit overly excited because we haven’t seen each other in a while."

"It’s perfectly fine. You don’t have to worry," Hiruzen chuckled, a benevolent, warm smile on his face as he watched the interaction between the two youths. "It’s completely natural for her to act that way. You have been away from the village for quite some time, after all."

"...."

Suzuki remained silent, feeling the heavy weight of everyone’s eyes on him—especially Ino’s, which were practically sparkling with sheer admiration after he smoothly protected her from the Hokage’s potential scolding.

Away from the village? Was he on a highly classified mission? Shikamaru wondered lazily. He was curious, but honestly, it sounded like a massive drag to ask. It was better not to pry into the Third Hokage’s secrets. Besides, he knew Ino would definitely interrogate Suzuki later, so Shikamaru didn’t have to take the responsibility of asking.

I’m hungry, Choji thought, his mind delightfully simple.

"Old man, who exactly is this?" Asuma finally asked, taking a long drag from his cigarette. Even though he already knew Suzuki’s identity, he wanted to hear it formally.

Hiruzen sighed heavily at his son’s absolute lack of manners. "You should already know, Asuma. He is my personal student."

"Well, you never formally introduced him to me, so how was I supposed to know?"

The atmosphere in the room shifted slightly. The relationship between Hiruzen and Asuma was visibly strained and awkward.

Suzuki felt it was completely understandable. As the Hokage, Hiruzen barely had any time to be a father. In the past, when Hiruzen’s wife, Biwako, was still alive, the Hokage was forced to go home regularly out of fear of his wife’s terrifying wrath. But now? After she had been tragically killed during the Nine-Tails incident, Hiruzen had thrown himself entirely into running Konoha, inadvertently leaving his family matters to rot.

"His name is Suzuki Tanaka. I know you’ve heard the name," Hiruzen said firmly.

"Hello, sir," Suzuki bowed politely. "It’s an honor to officially meet you."

"You don’t have to be so incredibly stiff with me, kid. I’m not like my old man." Asuma casually tapped his ashes onto the floor, acting as if he were lounging in his own living room. "You’re the genin on Kurenai’s team, right? She talks about you quite a bit. Word is you’re pretty strong."

"She overpraises me. She is a highly capable leader who guides the team well."

Achooo!

Across the village, Kurenai vigorously rubbed her itchy nose, suddenly feeling an inexplicable sense of pride.

"Ahahaha!" Asuma laughed loudly, shaking his head. "Come on, I know her better than that. She’s incredibly clumsy when it comes to leadership. This is her first time handling a genin squad, so I know she must be making a ton of mistakes."

"No..."

Suzuki could only sigh weakly in his mind. Asuma wasn’t exactly wrong. Kurenai was a decent shinobi, but despite proudly calling herself the strongest female genjutsu user in Konoha, her actual combat strength was somewhat lacking. Then again, the total number of dedicated genjutsu specialists in Konoha was abysmally low. Since she was practically the only one, calling herself the ’number one female genjutsu user’ was true by default.

("...." Kurenai suddenly felt a strange wave of depression wash over her.)

If I remember correctly, there should be a stronger genjutsu user hiding in the village, Suzuki thought, recalling the tragic filler-arc character, Yakumo Kurama. However, he knew better than to bring up classified clan secrets, especially with Asuma constantly looking to stir the pot.

"By the way, are you entering the upcoming Chunin Exams, Suzuki-kun?" Asuma asked, suddenly shifting the topic.

"Yes, I am," Suzuki nodded calmly, entirely ignoring the fact that Asuma was already casually using his first name.

"That’s great. If you get the chance during the exams, you should team up with Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji. To be completely honest, I feel like they’re just going to mess around and get themselves eliminated otherwise."

"...." Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino simultaneously glared at their sensei. They desperately wanted to refute his claim, but deep down, they knew perfectly well how lazy and disorganized they could be.

"That being said..." Asuma took a step forward, looking down at Suzuki with a sharp, challenging grin. "Do you have some free time right now?"

"Do you need something from me?"

"I told you, don’t be so stiff. Just call me Asuma-san. Or you can even call me Aniki (Big Bro). You are my father’s disciple, after all."

Yet, the more Asuma casually tried to close the distance between them, the more Hiruzen’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "What exactly are you trying to do, Asuma?"

"Don’t be so ridiculously overprotective, Old Man," Asuma scoffed. "He’s a shinobi, not a porcelain doll. He can’t be coddled forever. I want to see exactly how strong your precious new disciple really is." Asuma cracked his knuckles, grinning widely at Suzuki. "How about it, Suzuki-kun? Do you want to have a little spar with me?"

"....."

Staring silently at the bearded Jonin, a highly inappropriate, borderline-degenerate thought suddenly crossed Suzuki’s mind regarding Kurenai. He brutally suppressed his troublesome desires, pushing the NTR-esque thoughts into the mental gutter where they belonged.

He gave a polite, measured nod. "Please take care of me, Asuma-san."

"Good! I like your attitude, kid! Let’s go spar!"

"..."

While Asuma laughed boisterously and headed for the door, the rest of the room stared at his back in absolute, stunned silence.

---

I am sorry for making all of you wait for so long!

Yeah, my final semester of exams is over!

From now on, I am going to take a break from learning law. Yeah, it’s fun, but I have to admit it was tough to learn it for the past two weeks without stopping. Still, regardless, I am back.

To be honest, I gave the wrong date as I only realized my exam was over on the 23rd instead of the 22nd, but as I had promised all of you that I would return today, as my exam ended yesterday, based on my announcement, then of course, I had to return today.

It was tough to write after all of the exams, so I have uploaded the Chapters. I am going to sleep now.

See you tomorrow. I will update the Chapter as usual from today. By the way, I am thinking of writing an original novel. I am going to change my author name, too, for this original novel.

If I had written 20 Chapters, then I would start to upload them on RoyalRoad, probably.

Regardless, please enjoy, and thank you once again.

From your lovely author, Akikan40!

Now, I am going to sleep!