[1st POV]
"Oh, this is good. Did you really make these?" I asked while stuffing my face with the food the Hokage brought me.
Since I came very early in the morning, I had not even had breakfast yet. But the old man was thoughtful enough to bring me a nicely made bento. It had eggs, fish, rice, and some seaweed.
"Ever since my wife passed, I have done most of the cooking," he admitted with a smile.
"Sorry to hear that," I said.
"Not at all, we were both lucky enough to grow old together, watch all our children become adults. We are luckier than most," he said, and I could see that those words came from his pity towards my parents still.
"So, what are we doing after this?" I asked, having finished half of the bento by now.
As the sun rose, the shade of the tree which we sat under changed location, so we had to scoot toward the shade from time to time.
"You are very eager to learn, that's good," he said and thoughtfully looked toward the sky. "I'm not sure. I only had the bell test prepared for today. I didn't think you would get it that fast, or get the bell at all."
"Teach me ninjutsu then," I said.
"Hm? You want to learn ninjutsu already?" he asked.
I swallowed first before answering, "Yes. Sasuke already has some jutsus in his arsenal, and so do almost all the clan heirs, for that matter. I really need to learn them."
I didn't lie, I knew they already had jutsus. As kids, it was hard for them not to brag when their parents taught them their clan jutsu.
"Well, you already have a solid foundation. It wouldn't hurt to teach you some," he said. "But the trick is to always master everything in your arsenal first before learning new ones."
"We will begin after you finish eating," he said.
And off the food went down my throat in bulk. I choked and thought I would die a few times, but the food managed to go down in the end.
"Done," I said. The Hokage deadpanned at me.
"Don't do that again, please," he said.
I smiled sheepishly.
"Before I can teach you any ninjutsu, we first have to know what type of affinity you have. There are five elemental affinities people have: lightning, wind, fire, water, and earth. Most people have one affinity; some remarkable talents have two," he said. "I myself have two chakra affinities, fire and earth. And there have been rare cases of prodigies having three affinities, but not more."
He reached under his attire and pulled out a piece of paper.
"This is a chakra paper, made from a special chakra tree and processed in such a way that the paper will react to the slightest affinity in your chakra. If you have wind affinity, it will cut in half; if you have lightning, it will wrinkle; fire, and it will turn to ash. If you have water affinity, the paper will become damp, while the earth element will make it turn to dirt and crumble," he explained.
"Seems simple enough," I said with a shrug.
Hiruzen handed me the paper. "Here, go and try to put your chakra into the paper."
I did, and the result was kind of expected.
Firstly, the paper was cut into four parts. Wind affinity.
One part turned to ash. Fire.
One part turned damp. Water.
One part wrinkled. Lightning.
And the final piece of paper turned into dirt and crumbled. Earth.
"...."
"...."
"Haha, my eyesight is very bad these days. I guess it's a sign I'm getting old," he said and took out another paper. "Here, try again."
I did, and the same thing happened.
"...."
"...."
"Are these bad products?" he asked before disappearing quickly with the Body Flicker Jutsu. His speed was simply astounding. I could not even catch a glimpse of him. His Body Flicker was many times faster than mine.
He returned after ten seconds.
"Here, try it with these," he said and handed me two more papers.
I held the papers with both hands and infused them with my chakra. He watched everything attentively this time. His face was only an inch from the paper.
But lo and behold, the same thing happened.
Now it was undeniable. That was what full stat in potential would get you.
"This is deeply concerning," Hiruzen said, his voice dipping extremely low. His face was the personification of grave seriousness.
"For the other villages!! Haha!!" A silly smile took over his face as he jumped up with both hands in the air. He was celebrating, hopping up and down like he had won something.
"Uhhh, Lord Hokage?" I asked, a bit weirded out to see an old man celebrating like that.
He quickly gathered his calm after I called out. He stood straight in front of me, his stance once more dignified as he coughed a few times.
"Young Suyou, it seems you have an affinity for all the elemental natures. To put this into perspective, the last person we know to have such talent was the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju," he said.
"Advanced battle IQ, talent for training, affinity in all chakra natures, and an unknown kekkei genkai," he said with a grin. "Tell me, have you ever considered being the Hokage?"
"Uh... no? Sounds like too much work," I said.
He nodded. "It is too much work. Then you can be the village's secret weapon."
"Don't I get a say in this?"
"Of course..." he trailed, "...you don't. Not with that kind of talent."
I gulped.
He laughed. "I'm just messing with you. Pardon me, Suyou, I don't remember the last time I got this excited."
"It's okay. But you said something about a kekkei genkai?" I asked.
"Hmm? Oh, I am referring to that weird chakra construct that you can make. I have never known anyone else who can do something like that, hence it is a kekkei genkai," he said.
"You didn't ask me anything about that. I thought you would," I said. I was waiting for him to ask me about that the whole time I had the bento.
"Well, everyone has the right to have their secrets. The matter of kekkei genkai is always sensitive, even among the many clans in Konoha. It's polite not to ask about such things, and I didn't want to come off as someone who needs to know everything about you," he said.
"Unless, of course, you want to tell me about it. I am very, very, veryyyyy interested in that topic," he said.
"I am still figuring them out myself," I lied. I knew exactly what it was. "But basically..."
I activated my Susanoo. It was not full; only the torso came out from the level of my feet. My chakra had grown exponentially ever since I started to train. I guess the experience of two lives and the physical training were responsible. My chakra reserves had all but tripled in just two weeks.
The Susanoo was of a darker shade due to this. It was not as transparent. It didn't have bones or armor; it was simply a humanoid figure with horns and glowing eyes.
"I can make these constructs with my chakra outside my body," I said.
"Hmmm?" Hiruzen was silent for a moment. He did not even look toward my Susanoo. Instead, he eyeballed his surroundings carefully, and I felt a surge of his chakra spreading through the whole mountain in waves.
It was like a sonar, and I could guess that he was making sure no one was spying or listening. After his face hardened for some time, he turned back to me with a softer expression.
He then carefully observed my Susanoo. He looked around me carefully, analyzing every bit of the chakra, perhaps searching for a weakness. He even put his hands on the Susanoo and tried to disrupt it with a push of his chakra, but nothing worked.
In the end, he stood in front of me and suddenly punched.
BOOOOM!
A huge shockwave exploded out, causing the weeds to bend from the sheer blast of wind.
I was surprised.
"It can tank a Jonin-level physical attack," he said and knocked at where he punched. "It's sturdy."
I felt a chunk of chakra leaving the Susanoo to tank that blow. I was not too comfortable anymore, so I deactivated it. The Susanoo returned to my body; there was no waste of chakra.
"That is an exceptional power," he said. "Make sure you don't rely on it too much."
"Of course," I said.
The reason why I was so open to sharing was that I knew Hiruzen was not a bad guy. At least from what I could tell so far. He was also my teacher, and he could help me train because I was honestly lost on how to use it.
I was also sure he knew of it before I even told him; hiding it further would only put a wall between each other's trust. And it was not like my Susanoo could be countered anyway, and it would only grow stronger. He didn't know that.
"The Susanoo," Hiruzen said.
"!!!"
"What?"
"Your kekkei genkai reminds me of the Susanoo. A secret technique of the Uchiha clan that only those with the Mangekyou Sharingan could use," he said.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan?" I asked, acting confused.
"The three-tomoe Sharingan, which you probably have heard of, is not the final stage of the Sharingan. There is one more, a hidden and forbidden form called the Mangekyou Sharingan. Those with such eyes could also use their chakra to make humanoid constructs," he said.
"It's hidden knowledge that no one is supposed to know. But I'm telling you because you have been kind enough to trust me, so I trust you," he said and smiled.
"Your grandfather, your father's father, was a Uchiha. Hence, your father was a half Uchiha, and it is partly due to this heritage that he could become a Jonin," he said, revealing something I was not aware of.
"I didn't know that," I said.
"As you shouldn't. Your father was a bastard, so the Uchiha clan did their best to ignore him and hide the information," he said.
Wow, it's almost like he knew about my special ability beforehand and had done thorough research. Heh, who am I kidding? There was no use hiding it.
"So you think my kekkei genkai came from there?"
"Most likely," he said.
"I am a quarter Uchiha," I said in disbelief. "Do you think I can awaken a Sharingan?"
He grinned widely. "I hope so. That will make the other Kage shit their pants."
"What's with you and the other villages?"
"It's a friendly competition. No worries," he said. "Talking about how Konoha has no bright future after the loss of the Uchiha clan. Oh, they are so wrong."
"If your kekkei genkai can be passed to your children, you can very well start a new clan in Konoha," he said.
I never even thought about that, but that sounded fun. And it would probably be a huge achievement to leave such a legacy.
"Okay, enough talking, let's train, shall we," he said, this time more eager than I.
"What was your goal in life again? To achieve all you can and have reasons to regret dying?" he asked. "Well, let me tell you what all you can achieve really means for you."
"The strongest shinobi," he said, his eyes glinting.
"You really think I can do that?" I asked.
"With all the potential I see in you? It's not even a question. Your peers don't even come close," he stated confidently.
"Okay," I said.
"Promise me one thing, though, before I help you," he said.
"Be kind, no matter how strong you become, hold those in your life close and your morals even closer," he said.
"I promise."
"Then off we go, to the path of the strongest shinobi," he said, bringing out a scroll that summoned more scrolls when opened.
Ninjutsu scrolls rained down on me. I could read many D-rank and C-rank jutsus on the covers of the scrolls.
I finally matched his grin.
Let's fucking do this.
..
..
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