The sun had just peeked over the eastern horizon, sweeping away the remnants of night's darkness, when Wang Jian returned to Konoha. With the same short-distance teleportation technique as before, he appeared in a deserted alley within the village walls.
The streets were still empty. Most civilians had just woken up, only a few merchants were beginning to open shops and arrange their wares. Pedestrians were dominated by ninjas—some had just returned from night missions, some others were preparing to start patrols or daily duties.
As a Genin, Wang Jian might be slightly known thanks to his handsome face; many kunoichi secretly had feelings for him. However, in the end, he was still a Genin—the lowest ninja rank.
Moreover, his age had reached 18 years and he was still a Genin, so many other ninjas considered him to have no bright future prospects. Thus, passing ninjas only glanced at him briefly, then paid him no more attention.
Wang Jian didn't mind being looked down upon. As long as no one deliberately looked for trouble like the typical "arrogant young master" scene in Chinese novels, he didn't care. His thoughts were instead focused on Tsubame and Moeha.
"Tsubame and Moeha are probably still asleep. Last night I was a bit excessive." He muttered while smiling thinly.
Remembering last night's scene, Wang Jian felt a bit guilty for making the new mattress creak so loudly.
He continued walking toward the Hokage Building. No one suspected him—at least for now. After all, ninjas coming in and out of that administrative building to report or take missions was a common thing.
However, as soon as he approached the secret archive room on a certain floor, an Anbu suddenly appeared before him, blocking the way with a firm attitude.
"Stop! This is a forbidden area! Leave here quickly!" The Anbu warned with a vigilant tone.
"No need to be vigilant. I just want to copy some ninjutsu from the Scroll of Seals." Wang Jian said casually, while taking out the Passport of Satan and showing it in front of the Anbu's eyes.
The effect worked instantly. Not only the Anbu in front of him who was affected, but also several other Anbu hiding behind shadows—as soon as their gaze saw the Passport of Satan, their critical logic immediately dulled.
"I see. Do as you please."
Not realizing the fundamental logical error, the Anbu disappeared with Body Flicker Technique.
"Very easy."
Wang Jian smiled thinly, put away the Passport of Satan, then opened the archive room door and entered.
The room was dark, full of scroll racks and secret documents. Wang Jian didn't turn on the lights—light could attract unwanted attention. After all, his Rikugan could see in darkness like nocturnal animals.
"Found it!"
He ignored various intelligence documents that could shake the ninja world, and went straight to a large-sized Scroll of Seals—the same one Naruto had stolen at the beginning of the series.
While stroking the scroll, Wang Jian remembered an incident.
"With the tight surveillance of the Anbu, how could Naruto successfully steal it? He was even caught by that old monkey Hiruzen. Did the Anbu just eat their salaries for nothing?"
His thoughts immediately drew a conclusion.
"The most logical explanation is that it was all already a Third Hokage conspiracy. He must have known Mizuki was a traitor from the start. Naruto was closely monitored by the Anbu; it's impossible they didn't report Mizuki's suspicious approach to Hiruzen."
"Instead of catching Mizuki immediately, Hiruzen used it to strengthen Naruto's bond with Konoha—through Iruka's sacrifice protecting him. Otherwise, how could Iruka, an ordinary Chūnin, know Naruto stole the Scroll of Seals? Clearly, Hiruzen ordered the Anbu to tell him."
Wang Jian sighed.
The title "Strongest Hokage in History" bestowed on Hiruzen in the public eye was just nonsense to strengthen his image.
Over time, people who had witnessed Hashirama's power were gone. For the current generation, the founder of Konoha's power was just a vague legend. Compared to Hashirama's power they had never seen, Hiruzen's lie that he was the Strongest Hokage was easier to believe.
"In terms of cunning and political schemes, Hiruzen indeed surpasses the naive Hashirama, even exceeds the harsh Tobirama."
"Tobirama might be racist toward the Uchiha Clan and even discriminate against them, but he never intended to annihilate them. The proof is, he appointed Uchiha Kagami as one of his students. Different from Hiruzen, who used Danzō as a tool to wipe out the entire Uchiha Clan because he didn't want to dirty his hands."
"Unfortunately, the Uchiha Massacre Night had already happened when I reincarnated here. Otherwise, I wouldn't play it safe. When opening the Infinity ability on my template seal, I could help the Uchiha Clan face the Konoha Council who were only good at igniting internal conflicts."
Wang Jian shook his head, trying not to think about useless regrets. His focus now was to copy all ninjutsu in that Scroll of Seals—an important step to strengthen himself before a bigger storm came.
"Well, let's start copying."
Wang Jian opened the Scroll of Seals. Immediately, rows of forbidden and secret technique names filled his view:
Impure World Reincarnation, Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags, Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, Flying Thunder God Technique, Rasengan, Shadow Clone Technique, Water Dragon Bullet Technique, Summoning: Rashōmon... and many more.
"This Scroll of Seals contains a collection of powerful ninjutsu ever created by various ninjas throughout Konoha's history, but the majority is dominated by Tobirama's creations."
He nodded slowly, a sense of respect arising in his mind.
"In the aspect of creating ninjutsu, Tobirama is indeed the strongest. His techniques are not only diverse, mainly focused on countering the Uchiha Clan. You could say, he might understand the Uchiha Clan better than Madara himself."
He observed the long list containing nearly two hundred techniques, including many that never appeared in the original storyline. Without wasting time, Wang Jian took out the smartphone he brought from the previous Planar World. With the camera app that still functioned, he began photographing each page of the scroll.
*CLICK-CLICK-CLICK!*
The faint shutter sound filled the silent room. Photographing was clearly much faster and more accurate than manually copying by hand.
"Haaah..." Wang Jian sighed lightly while continuing to work. "Tobirama created so many ninjutsu so that the next generation could learn them and strengthen Konoha. Unfortunately, in Hiruzen's government era, the education system was instead castrated. Students at the Ninja Academy were only taught the Three Basic Techniques, while greater focus was given to 'Will of Fire' brainwashing."
He was certain that if Tobirama knew the education system he built was destroyed to such an extent by his own favorite student, surely the Second Hokage would rise from the grave just to whip Hiruzen.
After the last page was clearly captured in his phone's memory, Wang Jian made sure nothing was missed. Calmly, he rolled back the Scroll of Seals and placed it in its original position, exactly as before he entered.
Then, with confident steps, he exited the archive room—still under the "surveillance" of the hypnotized Anbu—and left the Hokage Building.
No one suspected him, no one asked questions. In their eyes, Wang Jian was just a Genin who finished ordinary administrative business.
The sun had risen higher, illuminating Konoha's streets that were starting to get busy. Wang Jian safely stored his phone, while in his heart he had already begun planning the next step: studying those jutsu, and perhaps... creating some modifications of his own.