8 Peace by Power (3)

"Why is that Hyuga that mad at you?"

While Sarutobi was a little more cautious with his confusion regarding the newfound issue I was going to handle for years to come, Kagami had decided to already flaunt his friendship by outright asking about this situation.

And the boy didn't seem to mind that the lazy tone he used to address the matter only fueled Hirotada's glare aimed at me.

Truly impressive how it was so easy for my newfound training dummy had decided to extend his privileges around me. People lesser than me would've found this attitude worthy of scorn and annoyance, but I was more than fine to concede him this much.

After all, I wasn't in the mood to have a redo of what had happened in the last few weeks. I really didn't want to sign another friendship peace treaty with Kagami that would see me offer the boy a weekly allowance in the form of two licorices.

I scratched my chin, missing my short beard since it would give me extra satisfaction to the scratching.

"I believe he might hate me," I flatly confessed, keeping my attention aimed at the teacher as both the Uchiha and I were still giving a higher priority to today's lesson.

No need to get to lose any of the lectures about the grand education of Konoha's first period of existence-

Okay, I guess I'm going a little too far with the acting.

Like, while it was true that some 'history' and 'math' were still there, it was nothing that I wasn't already aware of.

Maybe there was a Sage of the Six Paths that created Chakra.

Maybe there was a pantheon of Gods that were mostly formed by Japanese Deities.

Maybe if Tom had seven antiques and Harry destroyed three of those in a fit of righteous justice, then there would be four troublesome soul anchors to deal with.

I could go through an endless list of things that rendered this school system obsolete for someone like me. I didn't blame this society, I just blamed the fact that divine lottery had me take this role, and handle a mixture of known canon and untold lore.

…

I think three hours of sleep don't work well for me…

"Uh… Danzou-kun, what is the result of this one?" Yoshiko asked, sitting on the chair beside mine, right on the side that wasn't occupied by the Uchiha.

The redhead proved to be quick with Ninja-related stuff, but she found a worthy opponent in the form of Math. Despite her noble upbringing, there wasn't a real reason for her to be 'bothered' by this subject just yet.

And that was until she joined the Academy, right in the place where her father's clout couldn't protect her from the heinous monstrosities that were symbols and numbers.

Sparing a quick glance on her paper, I merely hummed at first. Then I spoke with the calmest of voice.

"How did four become nine in the third line?"

The comment drew a frown from the girl, with the young Uzumaki looking back on her paper and… tensing up.

"Oh."

'Oh' indeed.

I really forgot how troublesome it was being the 'smartest' kid and being glorified by many… while also hated by a good vocal group.

Bullies weren't much of a thing at this stage of the academy, but I knew well enough that children needed just a little to snap into the most horrible beings possible.

I was sure I was safe for now, but considering I had already someone with a hate boner fixed on me, I knew that the process was just going to get quickened by this variable.

Much to my relief, the lecture ended and so the school day too was concluded.

Spearheading a quick retreat from the classroom and out of the building to avoid 'giving reason' to the Hyuga heir of my 'maliciousness', I ended up sharing a curious conversation with Hiruzen while Yoshiko and Kagami trailed closely behind.

"Did your Sensei tell you about what is going to happen for next week?" The brunet inquired, looking interested by the fact I was blissfully unaware of what was going to happen rather soon.

Something big- no huge. It was so massive that I almost broke in a brief tense pose as I realized how fate was already kicking my shin with her iron-tipped boot.

"More training?" I asked unconsciously, knowing nothing of what the fellow boy was speaking of and… Hiruzen sighed, looking rather serious.

"The Hokage will be leaving for the Land of the Fields. He mentioned a summit, but he didn't say who was invited to it."

…

Goddammit myself.

Of course my decision to bring Kurama as an ally of the Leaf would've made diplomacy a complicated mess.

It was my fault that people were getting upset over the fact one of the players got a scary-looking kitsune that could rip apart an entire country with a single slam from one of his tails, and now something will have to be decided about the matter.

Something that not necessarily will be any of the scenarios I favored for such a diplomatic endeavor.

The First Kage Summit. I was the main cause that led to its early convocation.

"It has… to be about strong people. Isn't the Land of the Fields a crossroad between the four major lands?"

"It could be a major border redistribution," Yoshiko quipped quietly. "It's… I think dad once mentioned something like this."

"Not to this extent," I shot down her suggestion with a distracted tone, my mind having yet to grasp at the magnitude of this issue. "It will be bigger. Probably bigger than any events that have unfolded before the villages were formed."

The trio of children regarded me with a confused look, and they slowly grew nervous at my unhappy mood about it.

"It couldn't be that bad… right?" Kagami asked. "Surely both the Hokage and Madara-sama will make people see that we don't mean any harm."

Hashirama? Yes. I will never believe otherwise.

Madara? Asking for peace through diplomatic means?

Maybe I should start being less brutal with the use of some vicious technique I would bestow to the poor boy. His head was losing some gears already!

"We shall see as soon as more news are given about it and then-"

"D-Danzou-san!"

I tensed up again, this time my worry being directed away from the trouble brewing away from the village… to the one that was currently boiling within Konoha.

Left hand raised up and waving, Himeko Hyuga looked ready to die by embarrassment for breaking off from her usual shy shell. The young teen stood out to the few adults that were waiting outside to pick their kids because of her height, but my attention was soon taken by the familiar rectangular box that the girl was grasping with her right hand.

Yoshiko groaned and almost wanted to scowl at her 'acquaintance', while the two boys in my group were more than sympathetic over the horrible situation I had been pitted against.

While at first I was legitimately worried about the older girl becoming a permanent issue for me to have to deal with, I was caught by surprise (at least partially) when the red-haired Uzumaki took the new addition to my daily life with a forced smile and the promise of murder.

I wasn't sure if I was expected to dread the day the true conflict would happen, or feel morbidly proud of the fact I was the one that got Yoshiko to develop her murderous instincts so precociously.

I wasn't even joking at this point. The redhead had a moment while we were sitting at lunch back at home where mom would bring Himeko up in the conversation. I never saw such a young child stab so furiously at her food that wasn't Brussels Sprouts or other kind of veggies.

But even though one side of the brewing war had already made a display of intentions, the other faction was seemingly unaware that there was trouble in paradise. Hirotada's sister didn't seem interested in pursuing any serious analysis of the situation, keeping her mind focused on issues her clumsiness might have been responsible about in recent times.

The chart of her clumsiness took a sharp turn upward ever since I became a factor in her life. While she was usually an innocent troublemaker, the moment I found myself tied to her was the moment the world casted a curse on myself.

The young woman wasn't at fault most of the time, with some awkward tripping ending up with me being smothered for no apparent reason.

I was a kid, but my adult mind found it difficult to suppress any awkward thought of those instances.

There were some funny nightmares of me hearing some cars' sirens blaring around and dignifying the intrusion of a transdimensional FBI.

Age wasn't just a number, and a prison cell wasn't just a room.

The real horrible aspect of this whole ordeal was that to add some salt to the wounds and rub it in the most unconscious way possible, Himeko found something that could be used to apologize instead of awkwardly doing so through words.

The box she was holding close to herself was a bento box. A gift to appease my 'outraged' self for her silly mannerism.

She was adorable all-around, something that made me quite surprised that no teens her age had sought her hand already.

I was quick to attribute that bizarre phenomenon to her father's unwillingness to let his daughter be wed this early on. All guys that were as old as Himeko were carefully studied, bribed, and forced to not keep a strong friendship bond with the young woman.

It sounded a little excessive, but there was a surprising number of noble girls that were taken advantage of by those that wanted to have reasons to blackmail the clan said girls were part of.

On the one hand, I could understand the logic, but on the other hand I couldn't help but find the whole thing excessive and… in need of a permanent solution. Some law that prevented this kind of accident from happening.

"Why is she here?" Yoshiko finally asked, glancing at me intensely and demanding an answer.

"I believe she is… apologizing for what happened two days ago," I calmly replied, surprisingly unable to hold a proper glance aimed at the annoyed girl's face. "Just like she did the last five times."

"I think she is doing it on purpose."

…

"I don't think so," I rebuked quietly, her glance turning in a glare.

"Why?"

…

"She has plenty of opportunities to do… more. She didn't," I answered cryptically. "Plus, I can tell that she isn't lying about her uneasiness after these accidents."

It wasn't Himeko's fault that she was clumsy as fuck. I blamed genetics being somehow involved in this bizarre family's trait.

Eventually I approached her, the Hyuga girl smiled and offered me the bento as an 'apology'. I accepted it, but I politely declined spending some private time at the park so that she could apologize through her stuttering ways.

While I would've normally accepted it, the truth was that I now had another reason to be at home for today.

At first I was only concerned by the fact that Madara had decided to spend lunch at my house, but now I wanted to know some more about the Kage Summit.

There was no way in hell that I was going to allow this matter to remain untouched.

And there was no way about everything that I was going to leave my Sensei to clumsily romance my poor dense mother. No chance at all!

When I was served the usual bow filled with carrot soup and ramen, I found my mind quickly turning at the chances of 'unconsciously discovering' how to make pasta.

It would be difficult to explain why the dish would be more acceptable considering the surprisingly strong hold Ramen had through the entire Elemental Nations, but I knew that some classic 'Pasta al Pomodoro' was going to be enough to warm people's mind and hearts to accept the Pasta God in their heart.

I really miss home. And I really miss pizza.

Ignoring the pangs given by the sudden nostalgia attack, I proceeded to keep my focus on the real problem within the small scene I was part of.

My mother was happily enjoying her share of the meal, while Madara was stealing some not-so subtle glances at the distracted woman.

For once, I was glad that someone of my family was so clueless about this kind of stuff. And also confused as to how she got to 'see' romantic feelings from girls aimed at me when she wasn't able to do the same for herself.

I guess being a widow turned her more reluctant to believe in a second chance. A pity, but not one big enough that would've gotten me to bless any attempt from my sensei.

The situation was quiet. It was far from becoming worthy of any intervention from my part since Madara had yet to leave the early stage of 'studying or admiring his prey'.

Like a hunter preparing a plan to hunt down a delicate dove, the man was taking notes of what he could use to win that challenge… only for his inexperience about romance to rule out any impressive topics he could bring to score some successful victory out of it.

Instead of allowing this to happen, I decided to directly disrupt his preparatory phase with a calm question.

"So… Land of the Fields."

Dark eyes shifted away from my mother's frame and right to my face.

"Hm?" The woman asked as she too took notice of my words. "Did you say something, dear?"

I blinked. "Just thinking about what I've heard just recently. Madara-sensei will leave for the Land of the Fields with Hokage-sama."

The widow looked surprised, turning to stare at our guest. "Is that so, Madara-san?"

Just a flinch, that was how complicated for the Uchiha Clan Leader was to keep this secret without compromising his chances with a good candidate for Mrs. Uchiha.

I continued to keep my poker face as I enjoyed my ramen, knowing that any attempt to show smugness was going to disrupt my chances of getting some straight answers out of it.

"Indeed," The man blankly muttered. "It's some serious business that shouldn't concern people within the village… especially young students."

Ah, that's funny. Like, I'm dying by the fat laughs that are forcibly leaving my throat.

"I suppose nobody should care if five ninjas play a game of chess once in a while," I calmly rebuffed, getting Madara to narrow his eyes at me for being a cheeky brat with that remark. "But then again, you're not a chess player yourself. You are more the person that likes punch problems, Sensei."

"If something works, there is no reason to go for another approach," The powerful shinobi quietly shot back. "And I recall you having your own secrets, Danzou-kun."

...What?

"Danzou-kun, what is your sensei talking about?"

I don't know, mother. It's not like I too was surprised by that strange comeback.

"It's nothing to worry about. Rather, it's an interesting detail that I don't understand why you would keep it away from the public eye."

Madara's words seemed to ease mom's worries a little bit. The woman was still concerned, but looking quite unwilling to press too much on the matter.

"How about we make a trade of sorts?" The Uchiha Clan Leader proposed. "You show me the result of your little endeavor with Sarutobi, and I will offer some insight on the event."

In a normal circumstance, I would've been annoyed by such a demand. I knew that many would've outright refused this attempt of stealing a unique technique… but I wasn't worried about his pretty eyes being able to understand my jutsu.

In fact, I had two strong reasons to doubt he would be able to accomplish it.

First, the technique itself was far from being 'completed'. Without the proper size of chakra reserves to help me with the taxing upkeep, I couldn't even keep its early form for long.

But the more important bit was that this jutsu didn't have a hand sign.

I shrugged, standing up from my seat and looking at him with a serious look. Mother looked confused, then worried that whatever I was planning to do would cause problems within the room.

She seemed to stop in her effort to protest my demonstration when I held both of my hands in front of me, arching both palms as if I was grasping at a silent orb.

At first nothing happened. Then a small blue light could be seen growing from the middle of that nothingness. A vortex that grew a little more… until stopping to a disappointing size.

Heck, it was even worse than what Boruto could accomplish with that jutsu… but it was there. It existed and… it was a step in the funny direction.

Madara's sharingan was now frowning over the mesmerizing sight, a mixed reaction made by disappointment of discovering that he couldn't copy it since it didn't require any hand sign and surprise that I could accomplish this.

In part, I was feeling rather smug that I was having a reincarnation of Indra to almost salivate over the basis of Ashura's main Ninshu.

The Rasengan looked pretty, but right now it was more harmless than a modest-powered slap in the face.

It didn't even last that long as I was forced to drop it, drops of sweat forming all over my body as I found myself straining over such a complicated technique.

One could easily frown over the 'simple theory' behind such a powerful Jutsu, but I was given confirmation that such claim was absolutely Bullshit.

When I first tried it, I almost butchered my palm because of my stupidity having me lower the tiny semi-harmless sphere of pure chakra onto my skin.

The result was a frightened jump and a small cut in the middle of my hand.

Hiruzen was interested too, but he quickly noticed why I was cautious about practicing with him alone and away from others.

The Rasengan was as deadly useful in good hands, as it was horribly self-destructive if left in the hold of a moron like me.

Three weeks of bashing my head against the wall of logic yielded this much.

It was 'too' little? I was five, I didn't have access to any of the balloons Naruto used to learn it, and I had little time to practice about it since it was my first secret project.

Not much of a secret now that Madara had to blurt it out to someone else.

I sat down back on my seat, trying to ignore my mother's awed look at such a 'pretty thing' while also covering for the signs of the strain I was fighting against.

"It was a taxing process. While I couldn't get a full glimpse of it, I could see the chakra flowing as you molded that sphere," The Uchiha commented blankly, settling for a fascinated look as he regarded this. "From what I understand, you're not using it too frequently."

"I need to build up more chakra-" I tried to explain, only for the man to sigh.

"Your body can't process that much chakra just yet. Don't overexert yourself because you want to rush to that kind of power."

Says the one that literally rushed for the cheatsy Rinnegan strat.

"And I guess I should go through my promise," Madara continued with a solemn tone. "You may ask me three questions."

I nodded, giving out a thoughtful look before asking the first question.

"What is the general topic of the meeting?"

He sighed. "Hashirama mentioned that the other Kages want to 'preserve peace' after the deal we formed with the Kyuubi. Of course, it means that they will either demand their 'own' tailed beasts delivered in silver plates, or to have draining concessions imposed to the village to balance our newest advantage."

"I guess Hokage-sama has a plan to counter both circumstances, right?" I quickly inquired about it.

"He will not bow to any concessions, but he seemed rather tempted by the first possibility."

Which would mean a return to something of a canon event. It wouldn't be the same since Hashirama could force the villages to accept only defensive pacts with their Tailed Beasts, at least preventing for a while the creation of the concept that was the Jinchuuriki.

I doubted some greedy bastard wouldn't jump at the opportunity to get raw ultimate power by sacrificing some malleable individual to attain this kind of might.

Nodding, I decided to ponder a little more about the question I was supposed to ask next.

There was just a lot that could be asked, and just a single chance to do so without failing to bring up the most important of queries.

But as I was lost in that little brainstorming, Madara decided to be a prick and try to get this minor advantage I had over him foiled with a simple trick.

"Aren't you going to ask me if I will accept diplomacy over violence at this event?" The ninja asked quietly, almost baiting me to speak up about this. "Or maybe if I will accept any unfair treaty?"

…

I sighed, knowing that speaking up wrongly about this matter was just going to annoy me at best.

Knowing Madara, there were just a couple of words that would disrupt this very attempt. While he was slowly growing to understand how I handled this kind of opportunity, he was far from having a serious control over my mostly insane mind.

"I believe you will not mess things… too much," I admitted with a nod. "But I have a real question that I wanted to ask you."

He blinked, looking interested by the careful diversion. But I knew that he couldn't just reach the mysterious subject I wanted to address with that inquiry.

"If you're leaving for the Land of the Fields… who is going to train me in your absence?"

…

…

"I..." The man spoke quietly, his eyes lowering to the table as his mind quickly caught up with what I had just asked.

"You don't know. You didn't think about it, sensei." I wasn't asking, but it was easy to see the clueless and despaired look that was now riddling Madara's usually stoic face.

Once again, I managed to mess the man's mind a little bit. Not in the negative way, or at least not in the way that shoved him towards Zetsu. In fact, I knew that this banter would only tie him closer to the village since he wouldn't just be Madara, Head of the Uchiha Clan and Co-founder of Konohagakure no Sato.

But he would also be remembered as the teacher of the maddest shinobi Konoha could've ever produced. A young boy with bits of adult-like personality clashing with dumb and childish moments.

Not a flattery description for myself, but I knew people weren't going to laugh at it the moment I reached S-Rank in the Bingo Book.

...Still, Madara would take a while to find me a substitute. And boy, I was surprised when his pick proved to be one Hashirama himself wanted for me to have as teacher for a while...