While reading the report the Ninja Academy provided, requesting a budget for the necessary teaching materials, along with the new curriculum and the various courses that would be offered—since my reforms had brought about constant changes to the courses—I found myself thinking about Yami.
That brat, who, ironically, is every reincarnated being's dream human, possessing both Uchiha and Senju blood, has me completely unsure what to do with him.
Between the training I've given him and the fact that he learned the academy's three jutsu when the scrolls were stolen from my office, there's not much I can do there.
He knows some theory, perhaps not very precisely, but I know people who become ninjas with minimal theoretical knowledge, so that detail doesn't matter. He also knows the ninja rules, something I'm partly to blame for because of how I taught him, and above all, he's very good at practical skills.
This is to the point that I could graduate him on the first day of class and have enough justification to do so without anyone accusing me of favoritism.
Just look at the cases of Itachi, Minato, Kakashi, or even myself. If it weren't for these proven cases that prodigies can indeed be created naturally, and perhaps not so naturally, I would have thought Yami was a reincarnation, just like me.
But I haven't confirmed it yet, though that possibility always exists, since in ninja terms, they have to lie, and by default, Yami is good at it. But the way he acts around me and his dependence on both me and that airheaded duo make me think that maybe, just maybe, he is a reincarnation.
He just sighed, pulling out a kunai he had hidden in his hand and throwing it at the window.
There was Jiraiya, deflecting my attack with his own kunai as he entered the room.
"What's got you sighing so much?" I asked, ignoring the furious glare I gave him.
"I remember saying that when you enter my office, you have to knock without exception, and there you were," I scolded him, somewhat annoyed.
"Oh, right, I forgot," he replied, looking around without even noticing me. "But getting back to the point, what's got you so pensive?"
"No wonder my mom never noticed you; you're an idiot," I said, completely unkind, to get back at him for his disrespect.
"Oh, that really got to me," he exclaimed, acting like an actor, clutching his heart as if he'd just been told the worst news in the world.
I just sighed and went back to looking at the document.
"Hmm, if I recall correctly, your eldest son is enrolling in the academy this year; that must be what's got you sighing so much," the old pervert behind me said, looking at the documents.
"Something like that," I said, not paying much attention.
"I've heard he's quite the prodigy. I wonder if he'll graduate this year," Jiraiya commented, sitting back down on the couch.
"I hope not," I said with another sigh.
"Hmm? Why is that?" Jiraiya asked, intrigued by my line of thinking.
"He sent Yami to the academy to build bonds and friendships, not so he'd graduate quickly. If that were the case, he wouldn't even need to enroll him; he'd just give him the headband now," I explained.
"I see," Jiraiya said thoughtfully. "And what if your idea doesn't work?"
His question left me wondering what to do if my plan didn't work.
"Then I'll let him graduate, period. There's no point in leaving him somewhere he doesn't belong," I finished, closing the papers.
Faced with this, I can't help but wonder what the future holds for that kid. Having Senju and Uchiha blood can mean everything and nothing at the same time.
There's the joke that the fusion of these two genes can cause the Rinnegan to appear, but it's possible that's not quite the case. After all, the only ones who have possessed it are reincarnations of the Sage of Six Paths' sons.
So, perhaps, it's not enough to simply have part of the other's body; you also need their chakra, like Madara obtained it from Hashirama and like Sasuke obtained it from the Sage.
Therefore, there's a possibility that even if Yami awakens the Sharingan to its fullest potential and the Sage's body also reaches its epitome of power, he'll never awaken the Rinnegan, since he lacks the chakra of that old man's sons.
It's just a hypothesis, though; nothing is certain, especially with so little evidence.
The moment I stood up, Jiraiya did the same.
"Shall we go right away?" the wise toad asked.
"Yes, we don't want to waste any time, especially knowing how long it will take to analyze the seal."
Jiraiya nodded in agreement.
...
In the underground chambers of the village's bar division, a somewhat distraught young woman clutched her shirt, unsure of what to do.
This was none other than Orochimaru's disciple, Mitarashi Anko, whom I had summoned to this secluded room.
"I see you didn't delay your arrival, Anko," I said, looking at her, my gaze fixed on the seal around her neck.
"Yes, indeed, Hikage-sama. I wouldn't dare disobey your orders," she replied, her voice betraying her nervousness.
"Oh, so this is the old dispute involving that pale snake," Jiraiya remarked, appearing behind me.
Before coming here, I had instructed him not to mention Orochimaru's name in front of this young woman, lest she be reminded of the unpleasant memories of her former master.
I also told her about her life since Orochimaru's defection and subsequent escape from prison.
At first, Minato was merciful to her, mostly because she didn't know how to handle the situation, and given the needs of the moment, she ended up neglecting her. It wasn't out of malice, but because of the circumstances.
As the story goes, Minato went out partying with the shinigami, and I took over. I spoke with her and made things clear. I told her I wasn't going to pity her or treat her like a victim. She had to prove herself that she wasn't Orochimaru's spy and make those around her believe she was loyal to the village and her friends.
And that's what I've tried to do these past years. And it's only worked to a degree.
Some still don't trust her and think she'll betray them, causing some to back out of certain missions upon learning of her presence, while others know her and consider her a trustworthy kunoichi.
"Well, you know why I called you here, right?" I asked my subordinate.
"Y-yes, I called you here to discuss the seal that guy put on my neck," she stated as formally as she could, but her nervousness betrayed her.
I couldn't tell if it was out of fear of me, given my harsh demeanor when I first met her, or because of the opportunity to free herself from the place that still bound her to that traitor.
"I won't give you false hope, and I'll explain right away that this is just to take a superficial look and see if anything can be done about this peculiar seal," I explained.
"I understand," Anko replied more calmly.
"Come on, don't be so harsh on her. Surely there's a way to remove that seal, right?" Jiraiya said, winking at Anko.
"You're a degenerate. I didn't know you'd sunk so low as to flirt with such a young man; it disgusts me." I mocked him, adopting a cold tone and a poker face.
"It's not like that. I was just trying to calm her down and let her know everything would be alright," he tried to justify himself.
"I see flirting with my mother isn't working for you, so you resort to young girls lacking paternal love. How disgusting," I said, spitting at his feet as I entered the room. "Follow me, Anko."
At my command, Anko, who had witnessed everything, simply stopped looking at the Sannin and followed me without saying a word to the perverted sage.
We both ignored the look of despair on Jiraiya's face as he heard my words.
"That's not how it is," he complained silently, following us, looking somewhat depressed.
At this, I couldn't help but smile, but I hid it so neither of them would see.
...
Sitting in a rather plain chair, I watched as Jiraiya continued examining the seals and various scrolls scattered on the floor and table in the room, trying to decipher what was on the kunoichi's neck.
It had been about four hours since we'd both started staring at the cursed mark, still unsure of how it worked.
Thanks to my knowledge and a bit of knowing the future plot, we were able to decipher two things. First, that this object held a portion of Orochimaru's life force, and second, that it contained natural energy.
But beyond that, we couldn't see any further.
Even with several scrolls from the Senju estate, belonging to Granny Mito, we still didn't know how to fully decipher what that madman had accomplished.
"This is insane. There are several intertwined sealing methods that, logically, shouldn't work, but there's something—I don't quite know what it is—that makes it work," Jiraiya complained, taking a step back to catch his breath.
"That bastard must know something we don't," I commented, standing up to look at the seal again.
Like the perverted toad said, there were several things I recognized, but also others I didn't, but the symbolism...
Anko's neck, which should have only had three magatama, was covered with multiple seals and writing.
This was a sealing technique used to reveal what wasn't visible to the naked eye, since seals, when used, tend to compress everything in the ink or simply conceal it.
The symbols and their geometric shapes made it quite clear, something neither of us could deny.
This had the Uzumaki signature all over it, but I had all the Uzumaki jutsu reports and scrolls from the village. So either I wasn't an Uzumaki and was just imitating him, or Orochimaru knew something about my grandmother's clan seals that we didn't, something that wasn't written down.
"It's useless," Jiraiya said, sitting down to rest. "Without the necessary knowledge, it's like walking in circles."
Interestingly, that metaphor wasn't far from the truth.
Sighing, I looked at Anko, who was already looking a bit numb in her position.
"You can get dressed now, Anko. We're done for now," I told her, and she adjusted the bandages covering her breasts, avoiding being completely naked.
"It's about time," she said, cracking her neck, her nervousness gone now, having vanished a while ago. "From what I can see, I couldn't do anything."
"Girl, we could see its possible purpose; what you don't know is how to get rid of it," Jiraiya corrected her.
"We just need to identify the exact sealing formulas that make up the cursed mark on your neck, and we can remove it. That way, in the future, if that pedophile tries to mark someone in the village, we can remove it immediately and prevent the same thing from happening to you," I explained. Anko made a face of dissatisfaction, but then it softened into one of relief.
"Then I hope you can do it as soon as possible," she said, forcing a smile.
"There's no certainty about the future, but if you pursue something, it's very possible you'll achieve it eventually." I tried to reassure her while maintaining my military-leader demeanor, but even I wasn't entirely sure what I'd just said.
"Anyway, now that I know a little more about the origin of these seals, I plan to visit the Uzu ruins to see if I can obtain anything from there," Jiraiya explained, standing up.
"Is there anything there?" I asked, thinking that the place must be the most looted in shinobi history.
"I'll only know when I search; now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get some extremely important material," Jiraiya exclaimed, starting to leave.
"Pervert," I said.
"Disgusting," Anko continued.
"Disgusting old man," I added.
"Depraved," my subordinate continued.
"Disgusting," I exclaimed.
"Repulsive," the purple-haired woman said.
Each word we said made Jiraiya walk slower as he slowly collapsed to the ground.
"And not to mention he must be a terrible lover if he hasn't had a single partner in his life," and with that, I killed him.
Jiraiya lay lifeless on the ground, a small ghost of him emerging from his mouth.
Anko and I looked at each other and laughed at the wise toad's situation.
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Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing well.
Due to university matters, mainly my thesis, which I'm at a crucial point in, I'll have to take a week off. I'll actually start tomorrow, since I want to finish writing what I was working on for the other fic. So, my break will begin tomorrow, and the next chapter of this fic will be posted next Sunday.
I hope you understand my situation, but I have to prioritize my university studies, as my future depends on it.
With nothing more to add, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you later.