63 Chapter 63

Everything I owned was sealed away and packed away in my Kunai pouch.

It was decided that we'd stop at Konoha, where Aomi would go see whatever family or friends she had and I'd unpack my stuff and see my friends and family.

We'd stay for two days and make our way to Suna, where I'd meet up with Tsunade and receive further orders.

...

I gave my lab one last look before turning and starting towards Konoha.

Orochimaru gave me a goodbye present and ruffled my hair while laughing creepily.

After checking myself for seals I took a quick look through the books.

All of them were about Fuinjutsu and DNA modification.

The books on DNA modification were nearly useless as most of the information was about DNA modification involving animals.

I wasn't interested in mashing human and animal DNA together, but perhaps it would be useful in the future.

Most of the books about Fuinjutsu were barrier oriented and not immediately useful, but apricated none the less.

"Sigh..." I felt a bit guilty about not having presents to give.

I made a hand-sign and a Shadow clone appeared.

"Here." I handed him a scroll and ignored Aomi's questioning look.

The Uchiha body wasn't useful currently and keeping it around increased the chances that I'd get caught.

Orochimaru could make better use of it and could take the fall should it be discovered.

"Let's stop by Hot Springs, I haven't had any greasy food in a long while..."

Aomi nodded.

I had some Uchiha cells hidden away...

I could make more if the need arises.

...

We arrived at Konoha, with minimal trouble.

Konoha was the same as I remembered it, the looks of fear and awe were annoying but not new.

"Make sure to pack for Suna, I'll come to get you when we're leaving." I gave Aomi a nod and started towards the house.

I needed to get my stuff unpacked, the lab properly equipped, and my notes hidden.

I'd also need to hunt for Gai, Kushina, and Mikoto while I was here...

Friendships needed effort to maintain, and I hadn't been putting much effort into them lately.

It was better late than never.

...

"How was your time off?" I eyed a hickey that had been poorly covered by makeup.

Mom shrugged with a tight-lipped smile.

"I had fun."

I could see that...

I eyed the open window, and boot print left on the dusty window sill.

It seems I interrupted something...

"Hmmm..."

I'll come back later...

"I'm going to go see Kushina, I just stopped by to let you know I was around."

The small size of the boot print was worrying, but I didn't want to have that conversation.

I didn't see any small footprints...

I nodded to myself and made my way out of the house.

I'd make sure she knew when I was going to be around, and hopefully, she'd return the favor in the future.

And maybe I could avoid some awkwardness in the future.

...

"Shirooo, you're not cute and little anymore!" I smirked.

Puberty was an awful hellish experience, but now I was too old to be smothered without it being weird.

"I've shed my cuteness and become handsome." Kushina was more likable when she didn't pick you up and shake you.

"Aww, Shiro." Kushina pinched my cheeks.

I would have frowned if my face wasn't being manhandled.

"Let me go please..." Kushina pouted and obliged.

I ignored the slowly receding pain and yawned.

Yawn*

"Sorry, it's been a long trip." I held back a second yawn. "Anything new in Konoha?"

I let my eyes wander and they were drawn to a wall covered in pictures containing the current Team Minato and a few pictures featuring myself and Kakashi.

"No, nothing new. It's been SOOO boring!" She flailed her limbs.

"Hmmm" I nodded absently.

Seeing my picture on their wall warmed my heart.

I felt myself tear up slightly and blinked my eyes before looking away.

"How about little Itachi? How's he been?" I released a heavy breath from my nose.

I was getting oddly emotional.

"The little cutie's goona turn five soon! I can't believe he's already five!" Kushina bounced on her toes.

I smiled. "I'll have to go see him." Kushina nodded excitedly.

"We can both go! Mikoto has probably been lonely, she'll appreciate the company!"

Kushina continued talking about our upcoming trip and I let myself go into autopilot.

I needed a shower and some sleep...

...

Gai was nowhere to be found.

Which sucked as I was looking forward to catching up.

Team Minato wasn't here either, so I couldn't torture anyone with exercise...

Mom was off doing her own thing, and I had already bothered Kushina and Mikoto yesterday.

So, I guess I was going to go through those deposit boxes I stole at Shimogakure.

It's one way to kill some time I guess...?

...

Knock* Knock* Knock*

I opened the door and blinked at Isami who had somehow gotten past the gate without being electrocuted.

"Hi." I blinked at her.

She blinked back.

"What brings you here?" I blinked again.

She shuffled nervously.

"Just came by to say hello." I eyed her wondering if mom had keyed her into the barriers.

I was pretty sure she didn't like me all that much, so she probably wanted something.

"Come inside, I'll show you what murder and assassination can buy you." I stepped aside and waved her in.

She stepped inside and kicked her sandals off while I made my way to the kitchen to make some tea.

...

The tea had been served, and I got back to what I had been doing while Isami sipped on her tea.

I'd been looking at apartment buildings, and narrowed it down to the final three I wanted to buy.

I could probably get two of them if I got a large loan, or I could get one and fix it up without any loans.

One renovated apartment building or two shitty apartment buildings with some debt attached.

I also had to consider that If I continued acquiring assets it'd be hard to leave Konoha should it be necessary.

"So..." Isami licked her lips nervously and stopped speaking.

I raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"Ummm..." I kept my eyebrow raised. "Can I continue learning under you, if not, can I work for you?"

"Hmmm..." Isami slumped at my hum.

It didn't matter if she was around, even if she wasn't useful now and wouldn't be useful for a while.

She was a time sink.

But a time sink was what I needed.

"Yes." A smile covered her face.

I was going to have a lot of free time soon, it's best I occupy that time too try to keep myself sane.

"I'll figure out something for you to do..." Even if she wasn't useful now, she could be in the future.

Boredom was my enemy and maybe I could defeat it by adopting strays.

"Have you been promoted yet?" The Hokage should have gotten around to it by now.

Isami shook her head. "No, not yet."

"Hmmm..." I'll have to go cause a fuss before I leave then.

Promoting ninja was decided by others but the ceremony was held by the Hokage.

Mainly to foster feelings of gratitude between ninja and the Kage.

Being 'awarded' a promotion was an important part of Ninja-hood.

I'd like Isami to experience it.

"Alright, go spend time with your mom, I'll come to collect you tomorrow morning." Super Isami might be a go.

I was going to let her go as it seemed she didn't like me.

Catch and release...

Snort* Isami raised an eyebrow but I waved her off.

If she wanted to hang around that was fine too.

I'd figure out what to do with her...

"Cya!" I nodded and sent her a wave but didn't respond as she let herself out.

I might have to remake the team.

Dragging mom and Duy along was probably going to get them killed.

I'll drop Aomi into Team Irregular and maybe create a new team with Isami.

I nodded to myself.

I'd see if things worked out first.

Isami wasn't all that strong anyways...

I'd have to improve her base strength before I made the team.

...

I was humming a quiet tune while Aomi wrote on her notepad.

We were having a question and answer session about Medical Ninjutsu and chakra.

It was time-consuming but I didn't have anything to do and needed a distraction of some sort.

'How do genetics determine your future?' I vaguely remembered saying that to her...

But it wasn't about Medical Ninjutsu, and I wasn't sure it was worth getting into.

I stopped humming and the dining room had descended into silence.

"It's a bit difficult to explain." Mainly because I was bad at explaining things.

I wasn't sure how to explain it concisely.

"Your genes aren't your destiny or future but they do manifest and determine how far you can go." Nature... "Genetics determines your maximum talent for any particular area."

"But in the end, it depends on how you nurture them." And nurture... "Even if one had the genetics that enabled them to have Kage-level reserves they might never reach that level if they don't spend time nurturing their talents and expanding their reserves."

Genetics played a big role in development, but if those genetic traits weren't nurtured...

"Did I answer your question or did I just ramble at you?"

I thought of it as assigning stat points.

You have a maximum of what you could achieve, but it depended on how and if you used it.

If you had a nine in strength but never used any melee weapons then you were wasting your high strength.

I sadly didn't know how to understandably translate that in a way Aomi would understand. What made sense to me was foreign to most people.

'You rambled, but I kind of got it.' Aomi slid her notebook over to me.

"Hmmm..." I hummed and nodded.

"You are born with potential, a maximum of what you can achieve, but what you achieve depends on how your talents are nurtured." I summed it up before continuing.

"However, there are some traits where that doesn't hold true."

Aomi nodded and started writing in her notebook.

'Chakra density?' She slid her book over and I nodded before continuing.

"You have a base chakra density determined by your genetics, and then you have the addition of spiritual energy and physical energy."

"The stronger your body, the more physical energy you can produce at a given time." For Physical Energy you had what you started with genetically plus what you achieved with training.

"Spiritual energy can also increase your chakra density, but it's not something I really want to get into." Spiritual energy was tricky, it came from consciousness and was increased by study, meditation, and experience.

It all boiled down to experience though.

The more you experienced the more spiritual energy you could produce.

"Anyway, chakra density isn't limited by genetics and can be increased throughout your life." Despite what Orochimary said Chakra Density wasn't truly limited by genetics.

Someone without naturally dense chakra could train and meditate until their chakra was as dense as mine.

But as they were already behind, they likely wouldn't be able to catch up as my chakra would have increased with training and mediation as well.

If one was trying to catch up to someone born with dense chakra I'd advise against it.

Their time would be better spent elsewhere.

"Was that helpful?" Translating what I know into digestible information wasn't my strong suit.

Kakashi was the only person I've met who has the same problem translating information that I do.

'Yes.' Aomi nodded and circled the word. 'What about Yin and Yang Chakra?'

"What about it?" I raised an eyebrow as she continued writing.

'How do you make Yang Chakra?' I shrugged.

The awakening of the Shikotsumyaku caused my chakra to lean more towards Yang, it wasn't something I did with conscious thought, it was natural to me.

"Yin and Yang Chakra are just different mixes of Spiritual and Physical Energy, it's still made of both Spiritual and Physical it just depends on the mixture of each." I shrugged again as that was as much as I could explain it.

"I'm not that knowledgeable about either of them, so you might want to find some books about it if you're interested." The Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka were the villages foremost authorities on Yin and Yang release.

So, it was possible to find something if she perused through the archives.

Having lots of information from lots of different clans was probably why Konoha was so innovative in terms of Jutsu.

Iwa was the only other village that was innovative, which was probably because of their clans as well.

"One last question, I've got to visit some people before we leave." The clones would do that.

I'd hide in my bed and think about things to do while in Wind Country.

"Should I continue studying medicines? They don't seem useful." I blinked as that was said aloud and it caught me off guard.

"I didn't spend a lot of time on different medicines, Medical Ninjutsu can do most of the stuff medicine can." The basics were all I learned, anything esoteric was left on the wayside.

"I'd say not to worry about it, it's only useful for people with small reserves." Which was most Med-nin, they were on average a useless bunch.

"If your good at the Mystical Palm you probably will never need knowledge on medicine." Other people can waste their time on pills and ointments.

I wasn't going to waste my time concocting medical salves, I'd rather buy them.

"It might be useful in the future but I've never used anything I've learned about medicine." Stupid nutrition pills were the only example that came to mind.

I've dismissed medicine and nothing I've seen has changed my mind.

"It's up to you." She probably shouldn't waste her time, but having someone knowledgeable might come in handy one day.

"Alright, go see your family, we leave tomorrow." I waved Aomi off and started towards my room.

I was eager to spend the rest of the day in my bed.

...

Isami and I stood at the gate waiting for the mature members of our little group.

As annoying as it was to wait for people, I'd be more annoyed if I had to hunt them down.

So, I got to wait...

I eyed Isami who had changed her outfit before she had worn the standard Konoha green Genin jacket with a blue shirt and pants underneath the jacket.

Now she sported a red top with black pants and had wrappings on her fists and legs.

It was more distinct than her cannon fodder look.

And I quite liked it.

"Nice outfit, looks cute." More people might target her now that she didn't look like cannon fodder.

That was the law of anime universes.

"Thanks, it took a long time to find something I liked." I nodded and we lapsed into silence.

Sadly, the silence brought thoughts with it.

Does complementing her count as grooming an eleven-year-old?

I blinked at the thought.

It might count...

Though it wasn't deliberate...

I blinked again and side-eyed Isami.

Complements were dangerous...

I nodded to myself earning a look from Isami.

No romancing until their eighteen, no manipulating girls into developing crushes, and no lewding loli's.

I added that to my short mental list of rules.

It was right below no experimenting on anyone under twelve.

Which I forgot about until now...

I broke that one...

Perhaps the rules need to be written down...

I'll have a plaque made...

...

Mom was the last of the group to arrive trailing after Aomi at a sedate pace.

She brought food so that was fine.

"Here." She pulled a vial of blood out of her pocket and lazily tossed it at me.

I caught it and cradled it like one would cradle a baby.

"My precious..." I hissed and skillfully ignored mom's look of disapproval.

Asking Kushina for her blood was a long shot and not something I expected to work.

She was the closest source of Uzumaki blood and I wouldn't lose anything if I asked.

"I didn't expect to get this..." I had left the vial with her in hopes that she would think about it, I didn't expect anything to come of it.

"Did she want anything for it?" I told her that for the blood I'd do her a favor should she ever need it.

If she asked for something now it would be a load off my shoulders.

Mom shrugged. "No, she just said that she'd hold you to your word."

I nodded and ignored the probing look mom sent me.

"You sharing?" I pointed to the yakitori.

"No." Her reply was immediate.

I blinked and pointed over her shoulder.

She turned and looked, but turned back when she saw nothing.

Sadly, she was now bereft of grilled chicken.

I licked my fingers obnoxiously while dodging a series of thrown kunai.

"Where'd you get that, it was good!" She stopped throwing stuff and rolled her eyes.

"I'll be back..." She disappeared in Shunshin, but not before throwing me a mean look.

I rolled my eyes and looked over at Duy who had ignored my lack of youth.

He was running through an exercise and had seemingly tuned out the world around him.

"Hmm..." I dragged my eyes from Duy and started pondering on presents Kushina might want.

Sadly, she wasn't as easy to please as Orochimaru.

She probably wouldn't like an Uchiha corpse...

...

Mom arrived and handed out yakitori while pointedly ignoring me.

I rolled my eyes and started walking.

There were things to ponder, and minions to bother.

Hopefully, that was enough to keep me entertained during our trip.

...