Mikoto just looked at the two of them. She already knew this would be their response. She wasn't even expecting them to believe her. How could she explain how absurd her younger brother was?
"Can you please tell me everything, Mikoto, and who was your brother's teacher?" Orochimaru asked, his eyes not leaving Hakeru for a moment.
"Okay, it started like this. Yuta was just a year old when he started eating solid food. One day we were eating, and I was feeding him rice balls. Yuta refused and pointed to my meat instead. I said no, so he also refused to take the rice from me."
"My uncle noticed because he was with us while my dad was away on a mission. My uncle said that if Yuta didn't want the rice, I shouldn't give it to him. Yuta grabbed the plate in front of him and threw it at my uncle, who dodged it easily. Then Yuta picked up another plate and threw it again, with the same result."
"Yuta got angry, and I don't know how a kunai got into his hands, but he threw it. My uncle blocked it effortlessly. That night, my uncle beat him so badly that he cried the entire night."
"The next day, my uncle came to check on us as he normally did, but this time he brought a wooden target. He asked me to bring Yuta to the training ground, which I didn't dare question. Then he pulled out a sealing scroll and brought out a huge box full of roasted meat. He gave Yuta a kunai and told him that if he hit the target, he could eat as much as he wanted. But Yuta refused and was about to crawl back inside when my uncle told him that if he didn't throw it, he would never eat meat again as long as my uncle was alive," Mikoto said.
"Huh, poor baby. Mikoto, your uncle is evil," Kushina said, hugging Mikoto in sympathy. She didn't seem to remember that the uncle in question was standing right there.
"Can you let her continue the story and save that for another day?" Nawaki said. He wasn't sure where this story was going.
"Okay," Kushina nodded, and Grandma Mito gave her a warm smile.
"He threw the kunai and hit the bullseye," Mikoto said.
"What! That's a lie. You're making this up," Nawaki said. It was just too absurd that a one-and-a-half-year-old boy could throw a kunai like that. It sounded like a story meant for children.
"I don't believe it either. As a former child and now a medical ninja, I can tell you it's impossible," Tsunade added.
"I can't believe it either. A one-year-old throwing kunai accurately? I don't think so," Jiraiya said, thinking through the possibility.
Mikoto made up her mind right then that she would never tell anyone about Yuta's childhood again.
"I think I believe it. Can you tell me more about your brother's story?" Orochimaru said with a grin on his face, like he had just discovered a gem.
"Orochimaru, what do you mean you believe that story?" Jiraiya asked, because it was rare for Orochimaru to show interest in things like this. Orochimaru rarely talked this much.
Orochimaru just gave Jiraiya a side-eye, like he was used to his friend being stupid.
"Can you just shut up and let her finish? If you people have a problem with the story, you can close your ears," he replied.
Orochimaru's words shocked all his comrades. Even his student Nawaki hid behind his sister because he knew his teacher was angry.
"So tell me, how many kunai did he throw, and how many hit the target?" Orochimaru asked Mikoto.
Mikoto was now scared, but her father's presence beside her reassured her. "Ten kunai thrown, and all of them hit the target."
"So what happened after that day? Did your brother start training in close combat?" Orochimaru asked.
"Yes. Since then, my uncle has been my brother's teacher. Every morning before sunrise, he picks him up and brings him back at night. All I can say is that Yuta is always exhausted, with marks on his body, saying Uncle is going to kill him."
"After a week of school, I decided to check what his training was like. I went to my uncle's police squad training ground and saw my brother and uncle fighting," Mikoto said.
"What do you mean by fighting?" Nawaki asked.
Orochimaru gave Nawaki a cold side-eye, sending a shock down his spine.
"Yes, Yuta was given a real kunai while my uncle was using a short sword. And Yuta was matching my uncle in speed. My uncle was even using his Sharingan in that battle, which told me he was going all out," Mikoto said.
"Is that true, Hakeru?" Mayeri asked.
He surely wasn't aware of most of this. No wonder his son always told him not to go out of the village for missions anymore. And Yuta didn't like his presence at all.
"Yes, it's true, and I don't see anything wrong with it," Hakeru replied.
The tension between the brothers began to suffocate the younger ones nearby. Mayeri had activated his Sharingan, and Hakeru's hand had gripped his sword hilt.
"Can you two stop being foolish?" their father said, stepping in. He couldn't let his sons fight in front of that red-haired woman.
"Okay, Mikoto, what did you see that makes you say that you, Kushina, and especially Nawaki can't beat your brother in a fight?" Orochimaru asked again. He didn't care about the old man or his sons.
"You see, Yuta has the ability to—"
"Hmm, can't you learn to stop talking for a bit? And you didn't even greet me when you got here," Yuta's grandfather interrupted Mikoto before she could say anything further.
He was afraid that if Mikoto mentioned Yuta's genjutsu ability, it would not be good for his grandson at this moment.
The moment the old man interrupted Mikoto, Orochimaru, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Grandma Mito could immediately tell that something was suspicious.
"Oh, I saw you, old man. I just didn't want to greet you," Mikoto said to her grandfather.
"You…" the old man was so furious that he could only hide it since he was still in front of Mito.
"Mayeri, you see what your two children have been doing? And you, Hakeru, when you have a child, please don't ever raise one like this, especially someone with Yuta's attitude," Yuta's grandfather said.
"Why are you angry with your grandfather?" Kushina asked.
"You see, this old man always says that Yuta reminds him of that person, and Yuta always gets angry when he's compared to that person," Mikoto replied.
"Who is that person?" Kushina asked.
"I asked Yuta, and he said the person scares him so much he can't tell me."
Orochimaru laughed. He was sure that person was Madara Uchiha, and for Yuta to be compared to Madara meant he might have inherited that talent.
Grandma Mito turned to where Hakeru stood and asked, "Can you tell me how strong your nephew is?"
Hakeru now understood why his father was afraid of this woman. It became clear that she was the Nine-Tails jinchūriki and the wife of the First Hokage.
Hakeru bowed. "Yuta is strong enough to take on a squad of genin or a chunin-ranked shinobi, and he can go toe to toe with a jonin. But his problem is that he doesn't have the motivation to fight."
"Why does he need motivation? As a shinobi, that could cost him in the future," Jiraiya said.
"By motivation, I mean an excuse, a tangible reason. For example, on a normal day, he'll bow his head and apologize even if he's not guilty. But in this scenario, where his mother has been disrespected, Yuta might actually kill him," Hakeru explained.