23 Chapter 23: Two lessons

17 April- year 13 AK

...I tried to mindfuck him: "I spied on Tsunade in an onsen and she punched me into the Summons Plane."

Jiraya spluttered while the Sandaime let out an appreciative snort.

The white-haired sannin looked at me more closely, before glancing at the roof: "You're a kage bunshin, aren't you?"

I nodded: "Your sensei had deemed wise keeping the real me on the lookout. I'm using kage bunshin to get stuff done while 'real me' sits still since I scuffled with your teammate. The creepier one." I explained, knowingly avoiding any direct reference to the Sandaime, I couldn't be bothered to use -sama.

The Hokage helpfully pointed out: "It's his punishment for being a smartass during debriefs."

That sent Jiraya almost rolling on the floor in laughter and made me sigh. "Ahahahh... using a Sage like a sensor... Bwahaha!"

It was somewhat...a task beneath my station, but I deserved it. My body and mind could last several days in the trance, since I didn't need either food or water, and a single kage bunshin could attend to my other tasks.

"And since you chose to visit the onsen before reporting, you'll work in turns with Daiki-kun." The Sandaime cut him.

The laugh died immediately, and before Jiraya dragged us into his looney speech patterns declaring the holiness of being a super pervert, I spoke: "He can't."

Jiraya's eyes narrowed in my direction while the Sandaime raised his eyebrows silently asking to elaborate.

"It's hardly a discussion the Anbu need to listen." Jiraya surprisingly came in my rescue. We both looked expectantly at the hidden forms in the ceiling, who left by the window at a twitch of Sarutobi's fingers.

After that Sarutobi watched at me expectantly, not bothering hiding my smugness I gestured toward Jiraya like I was making introductions: "Mockery of senjutsu." Then I pointed towards myself: "Actual Sage."

Sarutobi was unimpressed, and Jiraya was watching me with a wary attitude. Ah, so there was an actual shinobi somewhere under the idiocy. I realized.

"You do realize that I am in Sage Mode right now, yes? I can feel your chakra as well as your life force. Whatever stuff you do that turns you into a Sage stresses your body, not enough to turn into stone, but it does strain your body." I rolled my eyes while I was explaining it.

I was milking my knowledge of the manga for all it was worth, but that close to him, I could feel lingering traces of senchakra not evenly distributed on his body. Turning my golden eyes towards Sarutobi, I elaborated: "He can't keep cycling through Sage-not Sage without actually hurting himself."

Even if I could likely help him. I reasoned. Jiraya wasn't a bad guy on my books, having him stronger was only going to help. Maybe, or maybe it was going to blow in my face like most of the changes I had pushed into the storyline. Besides, I really felt better with being the only Sage around. As I said, very few things could stop a Sage: besides another Sage, cheaters with totally broken doujutsu, biju, and gods... well, nothing else.

The expression on Jiraya's face lost the edge of hostility it gained and showed a hint of... respect? Uh, what kind of thought process does he have?

"Do not despair, I'll find another way to punish you, Jiraya." the ancient shinobi merrily explained. "If you haven't discovered already..."

"The kid scuffled with my teammate until he got away, yes." Jiraya picked up "But escaping a sage, or even his senses, it's not something easily done, much less in the way the Anbu report stated."

He managed to drop by the onsens and read a confidential report before coming here. I confirm that maybe he is an actual shinobi, but what do I know. I thought, masking my surprise.

"A Sage can feel life itself, among the heightened senses." I reminded to The Professor "The only idea I have is that Orochimaru tinkered with a soul-projection of some kind. Basically possessing a tsuchi bunshin, I had no idea it was possible and since Hokage-sama got all defensive when I mentioned it during the debriefing I believed it was something classified." I recounted to the sannin.

That got him to nod thoughtfully before smoothly changing topic: "He targeted the Uchiha, didn't he?"

He turned towards me: "How long can you keep watch in sage mode?"

I raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question: "Another 3 days would be stretching it."

"Very well, you can dispel, the rest of this chat will be above your paygrade." The sannin summarily dismissed me.

I looked at him blankly before turning my head towards the Sandaime, who nodded gravely in my direction. I shrugged and dispelled myself.

In the Hokage's Office

The sannin watched intently at the smoke left behind by the vanishing kage bunshin and closed his eyes, feeling his surroundings.

When he was sure the scary Sage was effectively gone, he resumed talking: "Removing the Uchiha kid from the village would allow us to focus on the rest of the security until the end of the exams. Let Kakashi-kun take his team away, on a false two days long C-rank, he will conveniently get them lost until after the tournament, with his ninkens he shouldn't have difficulties. And a training trip would only do them some good."

The Sandaime considered the proposal while puffing on his pipe. "I would curse the cameras for having recorded our standstill in the Forest of Death, forcing me to disqualify Team 7, but perhaps it's for the best..."

"Still, can Kakashi-kun stay hidden from Orochimaru with his three genins behind him?" the Sandaime pointed out. "The Haruno girl needed a wake-up call before the exams, and Naruto-kun is hardly subtle."

Jiraya sighed. "And that is without considering the Akatsuki... Just Kakashi and the Uchiha then. Toss the other two kids to the 'Actual Sage', keep him busy and out of my hair."

The Sandaime nodded thoughtfully: "I'm only glad that nobody from Kumo managed to pass the second stage, having the Kazekage, the Raikage and the Tsuchikage in Konoha would have been..." He exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, not completing his thought.

"When your message said you found another Sage I thought it was a joke." Jiraya mumbled "I knew the kid was talented, his original ninjutsu was scary, even if very rough, he was basically a combat specialized Tokubetsu during his chunin exams, but a Sage..."

He shook his head, the white mane following suit: "What is exactly his skillset?"

The Sandaime puffed on his pipe: "I had him go a trial in Anbu as soon as he came back from the Capital, he passed the training program bull heading it with sheer taijutsu, his mastery over the first five gates is something Guy-kun had never thought possible. Somehow, likely thanks to his extreme chakra control, he keeps them open without incurring in any kind of strain. In close combat is dangerous, he uses mostly an Iron Fist heavily influenced by his knowledge of the human body, less overwhelming force and more lethal one-hits."

The Hokage rose from his seat and walked over the window, distractedly watching over the village. "I signed him up in the jonin tournament and asked Kakashi-kun to evaluate him. Daiki-kun used a kage bunshin to throw genjutsus on his opponent to gain an edge in close combat, manipulated water almost with the same effortless grace of my own sensei, and pulled off a combination technique on his own, futon and katon. He kept up with Kakashi-kun without opening his gates until his opponent started using the Sharingan. I gave him a genin team because his skill is undeniable, and frankly I hoped the parents would be able to glean something from the children' recounts of their training."

Jiraya rose an eyebrow, say what you want, but Kakashi was no pushover.

"He crossed path with Naruto, in this office in fact." The Hokage continued. "He picked up on Naruto's father after only a glance. But I got the feeling he wanted me to know that he knew, the why, however, it's beyond me."

There is one skill every good ninja manages to learn: rolling with whatever shit happens.

After a deep breath, Jiraya answered: "Well Naruto does resemble Minato... but to notice it as you said, it points towards an awareness of his surroundings not common."

"I joined him while he was fighting Orochimaru. During the debrief, he explained that he was in the sage mode to keep an eye on his students." The Sandaime added.

"You don't believe him?" Jiraya questioned: "I read his file, the stuff he put his genins through doesn't make me think of a mother hen... Do you think he knew of the attack?"

"It's awfully convenient." Hiruzen replied "But not enough to make me see a mountain where there is only a pebble, that's more up Danzō's alley."

"The Akatsuki is made by a careful bunch of people, I don't know who is in it, not really, but I don't think they contacted our mysterious jonin." Jiraya reassured his old sensei "They can't have told him about Naruto, that he only noticed his parenthood and not his status as a jinchuriki mostly confirms it."

"I won't lie, he could be one of Konoha's greatest assets but..." the Sandaime gestured vaguely with his pipe.

"He doesn't have a reason to protect the village, he doesn't have bonds. His old teammate went on a bender and is an overqualified chunin who runs D-rank no stop. Daiki-kun is protective of his team, he keeps an eye on Sasuke Uchiha, but that's mostly because he lives in a yurt on his compound, and he got strongarmed to join Guy-kun in one of his training sprees, but that's it. He doesn't search for the company of his peers, and his superiority complex, while carefully kept in check, is still there." The old shinobi trailed into silence.

"What do you ask of me Saru-sensei?" Jiraya asked after a few seconds.

"Get to know him." The Hokage ordered.

One day later

DAIKI

I loved training ground eleven, there was just so much water...

The Hokage's sudden orders had come as a surprise. At the crack of dawn he excused me from my task of being an over-glorified sensor, spouting some bullshit about 'the saplings of the next generation needing a solid ground'.

I was thankful for the end of my embarrassing punishment, but the fact that he added to my team Naruto and Sakura, spoke for itself. Basing myself on the manga,I suspected that Kakashi had dragged Sasuke away on a training trip.

And it also fits with the two of them meeting during the night after Kakashi visited the Hokage's office. I added the not-insignificant information to my reasoning. Sage Mode was one of the three things totally overpowered, along with the sharingan and the mokuton. And fuinjutsu, but the last was not something one could become a master of without either several decades of study or being a genius.

I had donned all of my weights, and I went through push-ups, sit-ups and all their siblings for hours, pushing my body like I hadn't been able to do during the last few days.

I was performing a single hand-stand on my fingertips above water, slowly lowering myself until my nose touched the water before extending again my arm.

In the meantime, most of my focus was geared toward making my chakra change its nature. The difficulty was that I couldn't use said change in nature to keep myself above water, so I had to carefully mold the chakra leaving my hand from my fingertips, stabilizing the water.

The hand not busy keeping me from dunking into the large river that crossed the training ground (a side effect of my Suiton: Dai Bakusui Shōha, months before) had the palm turned upwards. My pinky lightly touched my thumb before distancing itself. zap

A flicker of sparks ran between my two fingers, an uncomfortable tingle running down my arm. I scrunched my face in concentration, trying to reduce the tingling: if electricity wasn't focused only in my hand it meant that I couldn't control it.

"Raiton is such bullshit." I mumbled.

Along with Doton, it was the last element I still had to become comfortable with. Oh I could rise a earth wall, or even throw a little bolt, but the transition wasn't smooth, not yet.

Earth was a powerful element. I mostly understood earth. Unmovable, patient, stubborn, passive and yet unrelenting, strong beyond measure, uncaring of anything else.

I lowered my hand, hovering the palm less than an inch from the surface of the water. My neutral chakra was flowing, naturally mimicking water, but I fell in myself, imagining the unbelievable titanic power unleashed by earthquakes, the density of the ground, the solid foundation upon which life grew outside of the seas. In the same way it flowed into water natured, it freed itself into wind natured, and it burned its way into fire natured, my chakra pushed itself into earth natured.

With a decisive effort, I willed it to reach through the water until it made contact with the muddy bottom of the river. I pushed my chakra into it, forcing it into the ground, shaping it to match my intent.

I yanked my hand upwards, and the ground under the river followed suit.

A column made of jagged rock and barely hold together damp dirt rose from beneath the river, crossing the few meters that separated us and almost nailing me into the chin, it breached the surface of the water and kept rising for another couple of meters before the chakra I fed to it was spent. I took a deep breath and pushed myself off the water, landing on the top of the earth construct I had just created. Perched like a strange vulture,

I rose, easily balancing myself on a single foot. I took a deep breath, spinning my chakra tightly along my pathways, feeling the pressure against the tenketsus through which I didn't allow it to escape.

I relished in the familiar and thrilling sensation, I exhaled, feeling for all the water around me. The small river collected placidly the waters from the surrounding training grounds. The marsh had risen of another meter, thanks to the waterproof wall surrounding the entirety of the training ground.

Since the beginning of the second stage, I hadn't bothered closing my gates, I had let my chakra blaze brightly, and I was sure that if I walked among my peers I would have arched more than a few eyebrows. For the space of a split second, I stilled, feeling the life and the energy all around me. I recognized five kids crossing the wall of the training ground and an... observant? presence on the outskirts of the marsh, a hundred meters or so following the current of the small river, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The fact that he reminded me of a small amphibian, however, spoke loads.

I let go, my heart beating his steady rhythm and the air once again entering and leaving my lungs. I called forth my chakra freeing it into his wind nature, shaping it with Boar, Monkey and Dragon. I folded it, letting the tension I was used to settle in the tenketsu at the base of my throat, then I twisted my chakra into a hungry, raging fire and went through Boar, Horse, Tiger.

I blew my katon technique while letting go of my fūton one, molding them together, whispering: "Ninpō: Shiroi honō!" (White blaze) and I let the wall of white-hot fire sweep over the surface of the river.

I kept feeding chakra to the technique, I chanted: "Hinokami no mai." (Dance of the fire god) clapping my hands together in a Bird seal, shaping the wall of white-hot fire into a bird of prey, its wingspan easily covering ten meters.

Directing the vast phoenix to fly in an upward spiral, faster and faster, the technique naturally evolved into a fire twister, copious amounts of vapor generating on the surface of the river sucked in by the vacuum generated by the air consuming justu.

The white flame however, was so hot to burn the hydrogen and oxygen that composed the vapor, growing upwards with a song made of howling wind and crackling fire.

I wrestled with the technique, forcing it to develop only upwards, and held it for twenty seconds, each one of them felt as long as an hour, and when I felt my tenketsus were about to got damaged by the effort I was subjecting them to, I cut off the technique.

A breath later, I clapped my hands in a snake seal and, with a heavy grunt, I yanked upwards the river around me with a wordless suiton manipulation. The water rose sharply in a twisting cocoon around my previous technique, too much and to heavy to be burnt by the Hinokami No Mai once that I stopped feeding chakra to it.

I kept the water up, shaping it in a sphere and burning loads of chakra to make it spin as slow as I could. Water flowed, and stilling it was something that turned every suiton technique into something with an unbelievable chakra cost. But the whole point of what I was doing was exercising my chakra pathways, so I didn't mind.

I slowly picked up the spinning speed of the ball of water before suddenly letting it fall into the river. When the rippling wave hit the rock perch I had made for myself I let my chakra flow into water natured and coaxed the water sprout to land into my cupped hands. I drank, because futon and katon combinations made me fucking thirsty, and the hassle began.

"Woah! That was so cool! But I bet Kakashi-sensei can still beat him!" An unmistakable overexcited voiced rang in my ears.

"Naruto, nobody bet on a fight between our senseis..." a drawl tried to reign in the blond menace.

I turned on my perch, recognizing the five lives I had felt before. Frankly, I had been so absorbed by the training that they had left my mind completely. The Hinokami No Mai was a bullshittingly complex shit to contain. I made it thinking of wide-scale destruction after all, even if training my control over it was still a great idea.

My three genins, along with Naruto and Sakura, had reached the center of the training ground, and from the wet clothes dirtied with mud, I could tell that both Naruto and Sakura had tried to water walk over the marsh, likely eager to show off that even if they had been disqualified due to external influence, they were just as strong as the members of team ten. Which was bullshit. Sure, short of killing Naruto, he just wouldn't stay down, both due to his Uzumaki blood and terrifying chakra reserves.

I flickered in front of them, causing Sakura to give a surprised yelp. My team was used to it and Naruto was keeping his eyes closed, pouting with a strange expression on his face for the missed opportunity of picking a fight upon who had the stronger sensei.

"Hello, ducklings." I smiled, receiving scattered answers from the genins.

I turned my head towards the two members of team 7: "First thing first, I'm Daiki, calling me sensei is fine, shutting up and listening is better."

My no-nonsense attitude caused Sakura to straighten her back and Naruto to put up a... suspicious attitude? I can't be bothered to actually care. I realized.

"Team 10, on the water, warm up and sparring, no jutsus." I dictated, and my team obeyed, picking up on my need to organize the other two.

"You don't know how to walk on water." I stated, "It's simple enough, you only need..."

"No way! Teach us that awesome white-fire-twister jutsu!" Naruto interrupted me.

I blinked, more surprised by the dumbness of the act than offended by the lack of any form of respect.

"Naruto! You need to listen to Daiki-sensei!" Sakura punched him on the back of his skull almost faceplanting him on the mud. Which was impressive, by the way. But at least we had reched a point in the timeline in which Sakura no longer used the -baka suffix. I choose patience over bitchslapping him into submission.

"Thank you Sakura." I smiled. "All and every jutsu are better executed with a higher chakra control, Naruto you get away with spamming kage bunshin randomly because of your vast reserves, but what will happen if you have to fight on water? And trying to perform the Himokami No Mai with a chakra control lower than the one of a med nin would likely shred your head away from your neck, with shards if your spine flying around and kill your teammates." my tone was cheerful and deliciously mocking of his positive attitude.

Sakura turned a bit green, and Naruto took a step back, paling. I nodded appreciatively.

Orochimaru didn't have the time to mess up with his seal, so his chakra flow shouldn't be impaired.

"I'm guessing you already know how to tree-walk." I started again, enjoying the silence brought by Sakura's punch. And more or less quickly, I explained how to perform the exercise before going back to my team.

I watched them spar with a critical eye for a couple of minutes before jumping in, throwing a kunai towards Shikamaru's head, swiping away Ino's supporting leg when she was about to lunge and bumping my hip against Choji. The first noticed something coming at him from one side and bent forward, turning his step into a leg-sweep, Ino slammed her palms on the water and used those to propel herself, while Choji simply rolled with my push, retreating and keeping up his defense. "If you are out of balance you may as well kill yourself. Good answers, Ino, Choji. Shikamaru, always retaliate with a flurry of something unless you are benefiting from a stranger throwing kunai at your head." I lectured.

Half an hour later, I noticed that Sakura had managed to walk in the middle of the river, albeit unsteadily, and was looking around, clearly too shy to call me over and not enough interested in Naruto to try and coach him. I reached her and gave her a series of drills, runs, jumps, push-ups. Basically, I forced her to use chakra from several tenketsus on her body. "Try to use the least amount necessary." I coached.

"Walking on water is used to gain better chakra control. To do this, the user has to be emitting a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of their feet and using the repellent force to walk across the water's surface. This technique is more difficult to master than Tree Climbing Practice, because of the amount of chakra that needs to be emitted changes constantly. If you mold it skillfully enough, like I am doing now, you'll skate, basically moving faster." I reached the other side of the river and started skating towards her.

"However you can 'explode' a certain amount of chakra to suddenly change direction." When I was less than fifty centimeters from Sakura, I turned sharply on my right, dousing her with a small waterfall. "If you get tired, go on the edge of the water and stretch, after 15 minutes go at it again, ok?"

"Understood, Daiki-sensei." Sakura answered, not daring to tell me off for dousing her.

"Hey," I added "cheer up! It is a very important skill to master, and you need to learn to do it without thinking about it."

I left her and skated towards Naruto, who was managing his first step but failing on the second. "Try to gather your chakra with a ram seal. Then focus, do not think about Sakura, nor about your team, nor about mine. Focus. The only way to learn this is with practice." I used a kind but decisive tone, and I was rewarded with two big blue orbs widening in surprise, before a determined expression fixed itself on Naruto's face. I nodded encouragingly and went back to my team.

"Ok, sit around ducklings, lesson time." I called them.

"By now you'll have understood that my training method is based on a casual dismissal of human limitations. That is because with chakra... well said limitations do not actually exist, so I want you to work smarter and harder in your training." I started my lesson once we were all seated.

"What is chakra?" I asked, eagerly waiting for an answer.

"A form of life energy that all individuals produce to some degree." Ino correctly answered without missing a beat.

"True, but it's more than that. Not only individuals but also plants and beasts, even bacteria, have an infinitesimal amount of chakra." I omitted the senchakra because not only it was a blurry topic and I didn't want to deal with the headache of explaining what actual life force felt like.

"It's an energy, shaped by shinobi through intent and hand seals in order to do something." I gestured vaguely my hand.

"We already went over the various natural affinities, think of them as a... colored version of said energy, each with its own perks, flaws, and whatnot. And I already spoke to you about Yin and Yang."

I waited to see if there was a hole in their memories, but I was lucky: "A warrior should balance mind and body. Too much of the latter, and you become nothing more than a tool for others, too much of the first, and you become detached from reality. Now, training either mind or body does not change the ratio of yin and yang in your chakra. It's not about the ratio of Yin and Yang, it's about their quality. Before you were put into my care, your Yang oriented chakra was paper, now, it's a very sturdy wood."

"It's a common misconception to pick up and an easy mistake to make, but training the body does not mean increasing the ratio of yang in your chakra, and even then, how to train yin? How do you train the mind?" I continued slowly, seeing them frown to keep up with the highly theoretical discussion.

I looked expectantly at Shikamaru who, after a few seconds of intense concentration, answered: "Shogi?"

"Shogi is a way to do it, albeit an unimaginative and not very effective one. Like every table game, it teaches how to recognize and develop patterns. Which is great, and useful. It is something that forces you to focus. But I assure you, that your yin chakra grew more defined after I told you the story of the two brothers. Why?" I asked, looking at Choji, who had paled at the reminder.

"... it... it made us think... about who we are? Since you told us that Yin Release or Inton, is based on the imagination and spiritual energy of a shinobi?" The Akimichi slowly answered.

I beamed. Philosophy it's something that human can actually start thinking about once they reach 14 or 15 years of age, since their brains actually develop a way to properly process purely abstract idea. But in the narutoverse chakra was the great game-changer, so that when forced to, it allowed for things otherwise impossible. After all I could remember my life since I was two, and even then I knew about my previous one. Thought patterns and memories are respectively formed and stored with the formation of different neural connections. No way a two years old brain would be capable of holding my highly complex thoughts and extreme self-awareness otherwise.

"Exactly, Choji. It forced you to think, to move your thoughts in a way you would have never followed before. Your identity is the sum of your experiences, your experiences shaped your thought patterns, and as such your ideas and beliefs. Much like surviving hunger, pain and light poisoning increased the strength of your yang chakra when I tossed you in training ground 44." I continued.

"Do you know the Yin and Yang symbol?" I asked, when the three of them nodded quietly, still very focused on my speech, I went on.

"It's made in black and white, and people who don't live their lives, but let the time pass by them, are more gray than black and white. Let's say, the Daimyō likely has a very white Yin, and a dull dark grey Yang. That's because of whatever challenge he encountered he more than likely faced with planning and political might. He never suffered hunger, or burning muscles." I elaborated.

"A warrior should train both mind and body to the best of their ability, but when you must choose, train your mind. Learn how to think, understand how your thoughts impact your choices, see how those dictate your actions and predict how what you do affects the world. Like killing a missing-nin, or helping a fellow leaf nin who has difficulties. Like stealing from someone rich enough to not notice or helping someone you don't know." I lectured them, my eyes directing them towards still struggling Naruto and an almost exhausted Sakura.

"Why your face to face lessons are always a headache, Daiki-sensei?" Ino complained, gently rubbing her temples.

I smirked at her and chose to carry on: "History Time."

When they had recovered enough, I spoke: "There was a shinobi, a powerful one, Hatake Sakumo, also known as Konoha's White Fang. He was sent on an extremely delicate mission."

I saw them widen their eyes, clearly, having heard of the infamous shinobi.

"Long story short, he had to choose between saving his teammates or completing the mission. Knowing that failure would throw Konoha in the Third Shinobi War, and that all of his teammates would die if he completed the mission, he chose to save them." I paused, taking notice of their conflicted feelings on the topic.

"He was despised, marked as a disgrace, hated, likely even by the teammates he saved. After all every shinobi would proudly give up their own life for the sake of a mission. But I bet that the families of Sakumo's teammates were happy that he chose his team over the mission." I concluded, before gesturing them to pick up their three-way spar once again.

"Sometimes," I added when they were standing "there is not right or wrong, lives are not something that has weight, the impact of our actions can't be measured with numbers." I shoot them a serious glance. "Food for thought."

I left my place and reached a nearby mangrovia tree, settling among its half-submerged roots and lighting up a cigarette. I already went through nature change, It was time to push my control with shape manipulation.

19 April- year 13 AK

I was sitting among the branches of a tall poplar, distractedly watching over the Inuzuka compound. In their courtyard, which was approximatively 500x300 meters large, Tsume Inuzuka was hammering into Kiba the proper way to use their clan techniques.

I sighed. I hadn't spoken to Tsume since Hana's death, there was really nothing to say, and that was without thinking of the sheer human disgrace that I thought she was for feeling better after I had killed Yugito.

With a tired sigh, I flickered over the wall that separated the street from the Inuzuka compound, immediately being noticed by both Kuromaru and Tsume. I waved at them and crouched, I was perched like some kind of vulture, but it hardly mattered. I only had to deliver a message.

Less than a minute later, I watched as the head of the Inuzuka clan left Kiba and Akamaru painting on the ground, trying to recover, and tilted my head as she walked towards me. What if she has actually become a decent human being? I wondered.

"Tsume-san, Kuromaru-san, hello." I started with a bland tone, I wasn't good at interacting on a personal level with other people. Especially non-civilian ones.

"Daiki-kun, it's been years, I heard you were back but I never saw you around. And look at you! You have a team now, don't you?" She greeted me with a surprising jovial attitude, which indicated her having already come to terms with Hana's death. Disgusting.

"Do you remember Yugito Nii?" I asked, likely with more bite than strictly needed. I could be subtle and shinobi-ish, but I really couldn't be bothered.

Her eyes narrowed and her expression closed off, a low growl leaving her canine companion.

"Sabaku no Gaara is the same as her." I added before she could attack me for bringing up painful memories. "Only more bat-shit crazy. Make sure that your son understands."

Tsume showed me her teeth in what I assumed was a threatening motion, I blinked, the gulf between our respective abilities was so vast it wasn't even funny, so I was hardly cowered. "My son is a proud shinobi of the leaf, he will not disgrace the village by giving up."

"Did Hana honor Komohagakure by being slaughtered in Iwa?" I cut her off, the little patience I had evaporating fast.

"Did her meaningless death strengthen us? Because the only effect I see is the destruction of my former team, and our pain, Tsume-san." I retorted, forcing my voice to remain calm.

"Kiba doesn't have to die, and neither has to avoid participating, simply make clear in his eyes that a chunin recognizes when a battle is lost and retreats to attack another day." I pleaded her, forbidding myself from punching those canines out of her mouth.

She took a step back, her lips once more covering her teeth and the raised fur of Kuromaru returned down. "I'll think about it." She conceded.

I nodded and flickered away, my message sent. I only had to replicate the same with Kurenai and maybe bribe the proctor. Who was he again? Genma Shiranui or Hayate Gekkō? I couldn't remember. For the first time I cursed at my lacking social interactions with the shinobi community.

I went back to the training ground 11, a killer headache almost making it impossible for me to take notice of the orange mass of kids punching each other on the river, and of a pink-haired kunoichi skating on the water with sudden turns while reading the thick anatomy-tome I had provided.

I had left my genins to the care of their clan for today, so I was surprised when the Jiraya himself settled down among the branches of the big mangrove tree I was spying team 7' genins from.

"I'm guessing you are the annoying presence that has been spying on my training the other day?" I greeted him with a blank tone.

"Ah! Congratulations, I wasn't sure I had been spotted, but it's obvious, since you are an 'Actual Sage'!" He bantered as an answer.

I shrugged. "Is Sandaime-sama satisfied by my and my team' skills?" I distractedly asked, keeping an eye on Sakura, who had sat down on the mud and kept studying her textbook. Naruto had spammed a new batch of clones against which he was sparring.

"You have curious training methods." Jiraya diplomatically answered.

"I'm a curious person. Did you also happen to overhear my Yin and Yang theory lesson?" I asked, if the Hokage had sent him to either befriend or keep an eye on me I couldn't tell. But the reason behind his presence was obvious, and we both knew it.

"I've never been one for theory, and it was so difficult you almost killed your genins' brains, even if I admit that you managed to make it less dry than sensei did."

That was interesting. "Sandaime-sama actually sat down and explained this shit to your team?"

The toad sage barked a laugh: "Ah! Dear Kami, no! The Professor" and I could hear the love beneath the kind mocking of his title, "wrote a book on it, I never managed to read it until its end."

I blinked. "Uh, what's the title?" It would be nice to see if his understanding checked out with mine.

Jiraya gave me a strange look: "I honestly don't remember kid."

I arched an eyebrow: "Sure."

The conversation pretty much died then. An hour later, Naruto was still going at it, while Sakura was laid down on the water and kept reading, somehow engrossed by the dry tome.

"Did you gave her one of your books? Hey, what do you say if I give you one of mine? I'll even sign it!" Jiraya pathetically tried to rekindle our chat.

Wait. One of my books? I faltered for a moment, before realizing that Konoha's spymaster was more than likely to find out. That meant that the higher-ups knew, and Danzō along with them. My headache increased its hammering, talking with Tsume before, and dealing with big ass secrets immediately after was a killer cocktail.

I sighed, while the most difficult part in achieving my dream of living in a world that didn't send 5 years old prodigies to war had already been set up, Jiraya suddenly reminded me that I was far from being the top dog, and that I needed to find a way to kick Nagato Six Steps into the next week before considering how to face Kaguya's third son. Fucking zetsu.

"I read Tale of the utterly gutsy ninja." I informed him, skirting the topic of my books for the moment.

"Oh? My first work, not many know it." Jiraya beamed.

"I learned something from you." I went on, "When the Hokage ordered you to let Yugito kill Hana, and you obediently stopped me." My tone turned frosty.

"You had almost fifty years to build your dreamland. Because you believe it possible. Well, good for you, but in case you haven't noticed, faith do not change the world. Your actions, maybe, can. Your actions at my chunin exams clearly stated how much your nindo of peace is worth."

I turned my head toward the sannin, staring him in the eyes: "Everyone is quick in having faith in the next generation, I can understand teaching them your ideas, but betting on them? Why don't you do something instead of twiddling your thumbs? And what have you tried to change the world? Teaching other shinobi the stuff you've been taught. Great job it did, didn't it?" I kept my tone even, albeit a bit sarcastic.

Jiraya eyes had turned steely, his expression was unreadable. I sighed again, letting both my rage and headache simmer down: "I don't hate you, how could I? You've been given and shown hammers your whole life, how could you see any problem in any shape that does not resemble a nail?"

I shook my head. "Have you read The Matrix?" I asked him.

He frowned briefly, considering the non-sequitur. "The one in which everyone in the world is under a shared genjutsu?" He asked.

I nodded an assent. "What would you do if you were the only one awake? would you act like Cypher and ask to the Genjutsu Masters to be put under, or would you try to awaken everyone? Mind that people don't wish to awaken, the genjutsu is their life after all."

I looked at him tilting my head, not expecting him to understand what I had just told, but fucking hell I was tired of the Sandaime going all paranoid on me.

"As I said to my students, food for thought." I concluded.