Though, now that we were talking about my parents…
“Did you know them, Hokage-sama?” Stupid question, I know. But I think it is unrealistic for a 5-year-old to elaborate whether Hiruzen knows them personally or just professionally.
“I do.” The Hokage starts, “Hashira was an energetic man who made people confused when he took the job at barrier division. Ah, sorry, Takeshi-kun. Working at barrier division, which deals with fuinjutsu, most of the time was like doing homework. It’s writing then thinking and writing again.”
I nodded at that explanation. That kind of sums up working with fuinjutsu nicely for a kid.
“Tamako on the other hand, was a gentle lady who had shown interest in iryojutsu since her academy days. She’s gone for an apprenticeship at the Konoha Hospital just about a year after graduation. In fact, she can be considered half disciple to one of my own disciples.”
Now this is dangerous.
While Tsunade was famous as THE medic nin, Nobu Takeshi was supposed to not known about it yet. The orphanage staffs for some reason never talked about her, at least not openly in front of me.
Maybe, just maybe, they kinda regretted her absence when Kurama’s rampage happened.
Man, it’s hard to play mind games like this, where I have to be careful of showing knowledge from previous life that I shouldn’t have possessed yet.
Okay, let’s play dumb just a wee bit. It should be expected from a somewhat nervous child, right?
“You taught at the hospital, Hokage-sama?” Heh, how about that?
The Hokage smiled at my query. “I was not, Takeshi-kun. It was my student who taught at the hospital, and your mother was taught for a while by that student of mine. If it was not because of … unfortunate circumstances, your mom should have become a student of my student.”
Is he talking about the death of Nawaki and Dan? The timeline should fit somewhat. Now, I need to know more of me daddy.
“I see. Then how about my father? How did he like… fuinjutsu so much if all that he did in the job was doing homework?”
Hiruzen laughs a bit at that. “Your father originally did not have any interest in fuinjutsu. But an accident almost harmed him and your father ended up saved by it. Since then, he actively trying to learn fuinjutsu and he even often asks the Fourth for tips on it.”
… Whoa there, hold the phone.
So, not only did my parents have great foresight to invest their money, but they also have quite the connection in Konoha? Wow, what an amazing background that I have here.
Hiruzen then continues, “Your parents first met in the hospital. Hashira was injured at that time and your mom was the one who treated him. They quickly became close after that.”
What a classic meeting story. I can only nod to that.
I mean, I really would love to hear more. Like, what happened to them that night on Kyuubi’s Rampage? How did they die? But it seemed the old man didn’t plan on telling me more. Hopefully only for now.
Still, gotta thank him for telling me this much.
“Thank you so much for telling me this, Hokage-sama. I… I will do my best to master both of my parent’s legacy! I will make them proud!” I said with as much fanfare as it was natural coming from a kid my age.
Though for some reason, I could see his smile twitched a bit.
“That is a great goal, Takeshi-kun. But I think you should focus on one first; either fuinjutsu or iryojutsu.”
Is that why his smile twitched? Make sense, I guess. Both iryo and fuin should be the most rigorous fields you can study as a ninja. Did he worry I would be overwhelmed if I studied both at once so early?
“Okay, Hokage-sama! Then I will master fuinjutsu first!” I said with “determination”.
“Good, good, good. Ah, I would love to talk more with you, Takeshi-kun. Unfortunately, I have to go now.” Hiruzen said as he stood up and beckoned to me. “Would you please see me out, Takeshi-kun?”
“Yes, Hokage-sama.” I nodded, stood up, and followed Hiruzen to the door. After he opened the door and stepped outside the doorframe, he paused for a second before he took a scroll from within his robe and looked at me.
“I almost forgot. Happy birthday, Takeshi-kun. Here’s a couple gifts from me. First, a little fuinjutsu demonstration; using the storage scroll.”
Before I could reply, he unrolled the scroll down with one hand and placed the palm of his other hand at the front of the unfurled scroll. With a poof, a short wooden sword emerges.
“My second gift,” Hiruzen said as he handed me the wooden sword, “is this wooden sword. Your father used to rely on kenjutsu for his combat, as you might find later in one of the books. You can use this sword to practice what is taught in that book.”
I received the sword silently. After a few seconds of staring at it while holding it in my hand, I hugged the sword whilst I bowed to the Hokage. “Thank you very much, Hokage-sama!”
Hiruzen smiled and nodded as he rolled back the scroll, “You are very welcome, Takeshi-kun. See you later.” Hiruzen walked away as I watched his back being bathed in radiant glow of the setting sun.
…A shame there was no one who shouted ‘YOUTH!’ at this very moment.
I went back inside after Hiruzen disappeared from my sight.
I sat back at the dining chair and put the wooden sword on top of the dining table in front of me. I stared at the sword, but my mind was elsewhere. It was on the visual details that I noticed when I was talking with Hiruzen.
That slightest shoulder sagging when I described what the (suspected) Root agent did to me? Pretty sure normally I wouldn’t have noticed, Hiruzen wouldn’t let me. Even as a kid I am, I think the Hokage would never showed that much weakness to its subject.
Regular subject, that is. There are of course exception like his teammates and his disciples. Which obviously I was no part of.
The most I think he would have showed me was that apologetic expression when we were talking about the bullying that happened at the orphanage. Which I did catch as that was quite obvious.
Speaking of which, now I remembered how perceptive I was back at the orphanage. Especially perceptive was my visual, how I could easily noticed details that the staffs missed.
Admittedly, it could be overworking that made the staffs not as alert. But none of the other kids also noticed either. Or they were not bothered to care or tell. Regardless…
I let my body relax as I leaned back against the chair’s backrest. Then I tried to focus my thoughtinto my eyes as I kept staring forward. Then, automagicly, I felt a bit the warmth that was coursing through my body seeped into my eyes.
As that happened, my vision changed.
What was originally the dining room in my vision was now the outside of the house after what felt like a bit of zooming-in. I looked around, and indeed, it was the outside of the house.
Weirder still was the fact that I can HEAR what I saw. That group of housewives that just passed through? They discussed about discounted price of beef for tomorrow. Useful info, definitely gotta catch that deal.
Anyway.
With just a mental command, my vision returned to normal. Which brought me quite a relief.
Admittedly, I think I’m still quite a nervous wreck right now after that meeting with Hiruzen. I don’t think me in normal state of mind would nonchalantly tried to mess around with my eye like that.
But with how easily and naturally I activated that ability, I can’t help but wanting to test just one more thing.
So now I set my sight on my palm, and with another mental command, a red dust manifested on it. The red dust was swirling for a little while until I willed it to disappear.
That about confirms it.
No wonder I felt familiar when I see these eyes. These eyes should be the exact same dojutsu as that one kid from OG Naruto filler arc. The kekkei genkai of the kid partner of lighning twin-sword holder from Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
I shivered from both excitement and relief. The former needs no explanation. The latter because of the close brush I’ve had with Root back in the orphanage. Thankfully they didn’t take me away because of this dojutsu.
Either they simply didn’t notice, or my dojutsu were somehow “dormant” all this time until today. I mean, I have no recollection of seeing and hearing through wall in my time at the orphanage after all.
Is it possible that it was my parents’ influence which prevented Danzo from taking me? Not impossible, but the chances are close to none.
All that influence, favour, laws, and whatnot are useless if the one enforcing it were unable to do so. And indeed, Hiruzen was… being Hiruzen. Especially if its pertaining matters related to Danzo. Yeah, nuff said.
But I digressed.
Anyway, it is an incredible fortune to possess a dojutsu in this world. Especially a very useful one if these eyes can do everything I remember the eyes from the anime series can do.
Still, a very powerful tool will only help me. In the end, it is my own power and capabilities that will dictate my survival in this world. With that said, time to start reading all those books. Gotta finish reading all of that before I start training for real.
I looked at the stack of books in front of me before smiling wrily.
… I should’ve asked the old man to bring the books back to the study.
Note
And there it is! Another 'cheat' in the form of Ranmaru's Kekkei Genkai. Haven't really gave it a name, so whenever it's mentioned in foreseeable future I will just use "my dojutsu" as this is a first-person pov.