28: Child Of Prophecy
Three people were inside the cabin when it happened. Jiraiya, who was doing the laundry. Konan, who was showing Seija her origami. And Seija, who was being shown origami by Konan and simultaneously observing the girl's chakra network from behind her mask.
[Byakugan]
'So she really does have a bloodline... it'll be much more visible once she properly awakens her chakra, but every time she touches that paper I can see the tiny pulses of energy within her core.'
It had been about a week now since they'd all started living together in the cabin. Seija and Konan quickly figured out that they could just give Konan a spare pillow to hug at night so she wouldn't latch onto Seija, which made sleeping much less awkward for her. Seija didn't particularly care either way really, but it was nice that Konan wouldn't wake up embarrassed any more.
And now was the time. Nagato and Yahiko had gone out fishing together, and should have been on their way back by now.
A distant *Boom* could be heard even within the cabin, and all three of them tensed up.
"Jiraiya-sensei." Seija alerted him.
"I know. I really hope that wasn't at Nagato or Yahiko's position. Konan, come with us." And he rushed outside without even putting on his cloak.
Following him out, Seija and Konan arrived at the scene a few moments after him.
Yahiko was on the ground, with a red mark on his face that appeared to be from a punch.
Nagato was kneeling a short distance ahead, his hair parted and his eyes fully visible for the first time. Staring straight ahead at the third figure.
One very, very dead Iwagakure Chunin. Lying in a shallow crater full of his own blood, like an unseen force had slammed him straight into the earth.
"Yahiko! Nagato! Are you two alright?" Jiraiya spoke as he lifted Yahiko's head off the ground.
"Owww... Yeah. My head hurts, but I'm fine" Yahiko answered. Nagato remained staring at the body.
Jiraiya froze when he saw Nagato's eyes, and Seija could practically see the cogs turning inside his mind. She left him to his fantasies and walked up to Nagato.
"Hey. Nagato."
No response.
She placed her hands over his eyes.
"Wh- Oh. H-Hey Seija." He turned around to face her once his line of sight to the body was broken.
"Are you ok? What happened to that shinobi?" She calmly asked him.
"That's..." He started staring off into space again.
Sighing to herself, she promptly picked him up by the belt and hoisted him over her shoulder.
"H-Hey! Put me down!"
"No. You're acting weird so we're going home."
Nodding to Jiraiya, who was supporting a still-dizzy Yahiko, she ran back to the cabin with a quietly complaining Nagato slung over her back.
- - -
Jiraiya was the first to speak after they sat down and ate a meal to calm everyone down a bit first.
"So, you two. What happened?"
Yahiko chose to explain since Nagato was still being quiet.
"That jerk attacked us out of nowhere! Said he was 'bored of scouting' and 'wanted to kill something' and then he hit me! When I was on the ground I heard the sound of him drawing his sword, but then boom! Nagato must've done something with his cool purple eyes, because the next thing I know the dude's been slammed into the ground! Totally dead instantly, and Nagato didn't even move, just held out one of his hands!" He animatedly described.
Jiraiya blinked. "Huh... Nagato, is that true?"
Nagato looked up slightly, not meeting Jiraiya's eyes, and nodded.
"Right... Well kids, these plates aren't gonna clean themselves! Seija, Yahiko, you do that. Konan, you clean the table. Nagato, do whatever you want." He declared.
While everyone else got to work on their chores, Nagato quietly slipped outside. Jiraiya, who had predicted something like that, followed him out after a few moments.
Seija witnessed this and knew what would happen.
'So this is it, Jiraiya is going to reassure Nagato tonight, and then tomorrow he'll decide to teach them Ninjutsu. This is the true start of the orphans' lives, and I get to come along for the ride. Maybe... maybe I can build up enough trust with them to practice my Kekkei Genkai around them. Jiraiya never described his three students here to anyone else in Konoha. Perhaps he would keep my secret safe as well?' Seija wondered hopefully.
- - - - -
Meanwhile in Konohagakure...
"Hiruzen, this is ridiculous! She's only been here for a month and in that time she has killed her own father, resisted the Seal no matter how many times we try to activate it, and now she's starting to leave the compound of her own volition to visit her damnable husband at the T&I department!!!" The furious Hyuga elder ranted. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sighed and looked up from his desk.
"Hisho, you are to address me as either 'Lord Hokage', 'Lord Third', or 'Hokage-sama' when we're in my office. Moreover, her punishment has already been dealt to her. Your clan decided that the Seal would be her punishment, and it backfiring on you has nothing to do with me. What do you even want me to do about it?" He questioned.
"I want her executed! Dead! Erased! She cannot be allowed to live in this world any-"
"HISHO!!!" Hiruzen boomed. The Hyuga elder froze.
'Haaaaah... She was right even back then... I've let the Hyuga clan get ahead of themselves for too long.' He muttered under his breath - too quietly for Hisho to hear - before speaking out loud.
"Fine, you want her out of your hair? I'll move her back into regular Jonin duty then. There's no point in keeping such a skilled shinobi locked away, so I'll put her to good use. We've got a talented Genin team whose Jonin-sensei was injured in a recent mock battle. I'll have her take over that role. Once she's out of your sight you'll forget about her eventually." He decided.
The elder grumbled and fumed for a minute before ultimately accepting that result and leaving. Perhaps Hiruzen would be proven right. Out of sight, out of mind.
The door closed behind the elder and Hiruzen glanced to his stack of paperwork that would now grow ever so slightly higher after this decision.
*Sigh*
- - -
Senku, better known to the wider world as reincarnator number #2, sat on a log with his hands on his chin waiting for his new sensei to show up. His teammates, a civilian-born girl called Kei, and a boy whose name he actually recognised from his memories called Aoba Yamashiro were sat nearby discussing the recent change.
Their young, somewhat inexperienced Jonin-sensei had very embarrassingly been caught up in Senku's own Wind Style attack during a mock battle against another Genin team. He'd be in the hospital for at least a few weeks, so they needed a new sensei for at least that long in the meantime.
Fortunately, the Third Hokage called them into his office just yesterday to inform them that their new sensei would be far more experienced, if a little eccentric. She would apparently be showing up here at Training Ground 5, in exactly one minute. Aoba twitched and glanced around slightly, but said nothing about why.
'I wonder what she'll be like. Ol' Hiruzen Sarutobi called her 'eccentric' but how eccentric are we talking? Might Guy? Orochimaru? Jiraiya? Guess I'll just have to wait and see. She should be here by now-'
"Wow. Aren't you three a sorry bunch? Can't even sense me approaching from a few meters away? Only Aoba seemed to twitch when I was near, but it seems he didn't think to inform the rest of his team..." A feminine voice spoke right next to his ear.
"Bwuh-! W-What the hell?!" Senku was caught totally off-guard as he leapt off the log and wheeled round to look at his ambusher. The other two Genin also shot to their feet and stepped back into a loose triangular formation.
"Oh? Terrible sensory skills, but good reactions at least! You remind me of myself when I was your age." The woman before them laughed.
'Who the heck is this lady?' He took a good look at her...
'A Hyuga?! She's definitely got the eyes and even the branch-family seal on her forehead... but she's so...'
"'Why is she so different from other Hyuga?'" She practically read his mind and spoke his thoughts to the world, "I know, the rest of my clan hates me for it. I'll tell you why later if you can impress me, for now..."
She straightened up and placed one hand in her pocket, waving with her other hand.
"Hello there, Senku, Aoba, and Kei. I'm Himiko Hyuga, and I'll be your new Jonin-sensei for the next while. And I do mean a while. I went to visit your previous sensei and he said I can have you for good." She shrugged as she explained, "'They're too strong for me', is what he told me."
Senku and the others relaxed as they considered the woman before him.
'So she really is a Hyuga, then! This could be interesting. She seems much more confident than our previous teacher. Asmodeus?' He queried his half-awoken system. He still couldn't use any of its actual abilities yet, but he could view a person's profile.
"[Oh? Damn, she's pretty hot for her age. Waaaayyyy out of your league though, check it out:]"
[Name: Himiko Hyuga]
[Sex: Female]
[Age: 32]
[Relationship status: Happily married with one child]
[Lust resistance: Significant]
[Approximate power level: High Jonin]
[Conclusion: Effectively impossible to romance]
'A MILF?! Damn shame she's already happy with her relationship.'
"[I know, right? Anyways, look alive, big guy. She's waiting for you to properly introduce yourself.]"
"Now, how about you all introduce yourselves to me? I've already read your files but I'd rather hear it straight from your own mouths. I'll start first: My specialty is Taijutsu, as you might expect, but I've diversified my skills over the years to greatly improve my power and survivability. I just recently learned of several interesting uses for multiple certain Jutsu that greatly improve learning speed, so I'll teach those to you once you're ready. Now, Senku, you start." She insisted.
Senku cleared his throat and did so.
"Alright, I'm Senku, and I specialise in Wind Style Ninjutsu, and Kenjutsu. I'm planning to get good at Genjutsu too, but I kinda suck at Taijutsu and Bukijutsu. Never really got the hang of exercising, ya know?" He carefully lied about the Genjutsu part.
He would need an explanation for why he could hypnotise people with his system later on, so he figured he should tell his peers now that he 'planned' to get good at Genjutsu before then, when in reality his system would be doing all the work when the time came.
She grinned at him in a way that made a chill go down his spine. "Oh don't you worry Senku, you'll learn to love exercising by the time I'm done with you. Next, you, little Kei."
Kei shook herself out of her awe-struck daze that she felt from meeting such a powerful kunoichi and answered, "Um, yes! My name's Kei and I... don't really have a specialty. I'm trying to get good at Medical Ninjutsu like Lady Tsunade but there's a bunch of really hard subjects I have to study and it's taking time away from my other training... so I'm only kind of average at everything else..." She explained, embarrassed.
Himiko smiled far more kindly at her and responded. "Ah don't worry about it kid, the fact that you've managed to keep your other skills average while also studying medicine already puts you higher than 99% of Genin healers in my eyes. I also happen to be pretty good at Medical Ninjutsu, I'll have you set on the right path in no time. Though, you should really aim for a better role model than her. I hear she's got a real problem with gambling, heh. Now, Aoba?"
Aoba saluted and spoke. "Yes ma'am! As you know, my name is Aoba Yamashiro. I have no specialty but I rather chose to diversify my skillset. I'm told I have good intuition, which could be why I felt like something was off earlier before you appeared, sensei. I can also use Fire Style ninjutsu." He answered.
Himiko seemed satisfied with their responses and asked another question.
"Good. Aoba was a little stiff, but that's fine! That matches everything I already know about you... Now, I'm told that you guys can all perform the Tree Climbing exercise?"
They nodded.
"Then in that case, I'm going to begin our first little bonding exercise as a team..."
*Poof*
A clone appeared next to her. Senku was initially perplexed, but then he noticed that there was a shadow beneath its feet revealing that it must be a genuine Shadow Clone, not an intangiable academy clone.
'A real shadow clone! Man, I really hope she teaches me that... I bet my training would go so much faster with the memory-sharing ability...'
"You just have to destroy this shadow clone. It will only take a single hit, and it will not attack you directly. But there's a catch." She hopped up into the tree above her, sitting on one of the lower branches.
"You can't attack it while on the ground. I will only accept a hit if it was launched from within the trees. You're not going home until it's over. Your time starts now, better get started!"
And with that the clone casually walked up one of the trees and stood there waiting for them to chase it.
"Wait, right now?" Senku asked.
"Right now. Clock's ticking, kid."
"Uh, right! Come on, guys! Let's get that clone!"
Kei paused and raised her hand slightly. "Um... Senku-kun?"
"...Yeah, Kei?"
"I've never practiced actively running on the trees before..." She quietly admitted. Aoba also spoke up.
"Neither have I. Or you for that matter, Senku. All of our active combat training has taken place on the ground before now." He reminded him.
""...""
'Shit... this might be harder than I thought... there's no way I can cast a Jutsu while balancing on a branch!'
Senku was in for a long, long training session.