42 Root

Since they went on foot, team Jiraiya reached Konoha in a mere three days. Once they got back, news quickly got out that they had successfully completed an A-rank mission, startling the masses.

Suddenly, they had become the ones to beat... Every single genin team in the village had heard of their exploits, and couldn't wait to measure up against them.

Even some higher-ups had taken notice…

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Early in the morning, near the lake that rested in front of Jun and Aito's cabin, three figures could be seen training.

Both brothers were going through their daily routines, accompanied by Akane, who was also following a regime that Jun had written out for her. In the past week, her physical abilities had improved by miles.

Jun was making sure to not slow down in his training and had his Sharingan activated at all times... The more he got used to it, the better it would get and the faster it would evolve.

Once they were done, all three of them walked into the cold lake.

On the first day, Akane found out that she couldn't just get in with her underwear like them, so from the second day on, she always wore a swimsuit under her clothes.

As their muscles recovered underwater, Aito furrowed his brows.

"Aniki… When are you going to teach me the new jutsu you promised?"

Aito was running out of patience. He hadn't mentioned it since his brother arrived, to not sound like a needy person, but he couldn't hold himself anymore.

"Oh! I forgot about that, sorry... I'll teach it to you immediately."

"Can... Can you teach me too?"

Hearing Akane's shy words, Jun smiled brightly.

"Of course, we're all family here, no need to be so reserved."

Hearing the word 'family', Akane felt something inside of her... Looking at Jun, she got angry and looked away, pouting.

'What a dummy! Wait… Why am I even mad?'

"..."

After they were done bathing, Jun stood in front of them. Sitting on their knees, they listened attentively as he spoke.

Placing a hand on his chin, Jun thought for a while. He hadn't really decided on a suitable technique to teach them.

'Oh! How could I forget!'

"Alright. The technique I'll teach you today is called the…"

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Sipping on his cup of tea, Danzo quietly watched his bamboo fountain from the outer corridor of his residence. Hearing the sound it made, he calmed down and thought about the most recent turn of events.

"Uchiha Jun… Namikaze Minato… Both would be perfect for root."

He had been developing an underground force of Shinobi, that would carry out the dirty work for the leaf. Although it was only in its beginning stages, it was already showing signs of success.

Placing his tea on the corridor floor, he picked up two documents and carefully read over them. They were detailed records of both Uchiha Jun's and Namikaze Minato's accomplishments, as well as their academic grades so far.

Looking at Minato's grades, Danzo bit his lips in frustration. This was the best student the academy had ever seen, yet he couldn't obtain him. Apparently Hiruzen had other plans, and if they were under Jiraiya's protection, there was nothing he could do.

As for Jun, when he saw his grades, he felt that something was amiss. They didn't match up with his recent performance.

"Interesting… I'll keep an eye on both of them… Especially this Jun. If he starts showing signs of rebellion…"

Gripping the page tightly, Danzo thought of his sensei, the second Hokage,

"I shall get rid of the Uchiha clan one day…"

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