11: Opportunity
"So, you've been spying on me this whole time!?" At the almost shrill scream, Hinata shrank into herself, trying to make herself as small as possible, while her gaze dropped to the floor, tears threatening to fall from her eyes and shame beginning to consume her.
"That's incredible! I didn't even notice," though also a bit creepy... Naruko managed to keep that last part to herself as she noticed how the black-haired girl seemed almost on the verge of bursting into tears.
Such words made the Hyuga raise her head in surprise.
"You shouldn't be happy about that!" Sukuna sighed. "Though, to be fair, it's not entirely your fault—she's very good at hiding." He didn't say it as a hollow compliment to make Hinata feel better; the truth was, Naruko had quite good perception, something Sukuna had noticed from the first moment they met, and the fact that Hinata could bypass that was her own little achievement.
Not being reprimanded or scolded and instead receiving some praise, Hinata didn't know how to handle it properly. Of course, she felt happy, while at the same time somewhat guilty for going behind their backs.
"I-I'm sorry."
Huh? Hearing the girl's whisper, Naruko raised an eyebrow. Then she approached her and gave her a pat on the back with a smile, catching her off guard.
"Don't worry, maybe you've got something good in you after all," and that comment was like another critical hit that almost made her stumble.
"I told you to be nice," with a swift flick of his finger, Sukuna tapped Naruko on the forehead, making her wince. Then she noticed the devastated look on Hinata's face and quickly, though reluctantly, apologized.
"Sorry..."
"Anyway, getting back to the point, I had no intention of intervening in this espionage matter, but something has recently come up that will keep me a bit busy, and I thought I might as well have you two meet so you can train together."
'Something came up?' Naruko narrowed her eyes with clear curiosity, but Sukuna didn't explain further, and she knew he wouldn't tell her even if she begged him to, especially not with someone else around. So, she'd probably have to wait until they were alone again. With that in mind, she temporarily shifted her attention to Hinata.
'Train with this girl?' Feeling Naruko's sharp gaze, the Hyuga shuddered slightly.
"And well, what do you say? Surely you've learned some things from all this time watching us, so you know this will be very useful for you as well. I know Naruko can be a bit rough, but I know you'll learn a lot from each other if you give it a try."
"I-I..." Hinata bit her lip. He was right. Even if indirectly, she had learned many things by watching them train together. But... was that really enough? Did she even deserve more? Was she truly worthy of being a training partner for Naruko? The blonde girl was clearly stronger and more skilled. Could she really be of any use?
Seeing the doubt and indecision in her, Sukuna sighed and decided he needed to be more direct, or this would drag on all day.
"Hey, lift your head." The hard voice made the girl flinch, pulling her out of the spiral of depressing thoughts she had been sinking into, and without being able to help it, she obeyed, only to meet a pair of green eyes staring at her seriously.
"I've heard some of the things the Hyuga clan members say about you. Honestly, I don't care much, but... do you really want to remain so weak?" The blunt question made her eyes widen and her fists clench.
Without being able to stop it, memories and images from the past flooded her mind—every failed training, every disappointed look from her father, from the members of her clan...
She didn't want to be weak.
Seeing that "fire" of will ignite in her eyes, Sukuna smiled. It would have been a complete waste of time if she didn't have even a hint of courage inside her. However, it seemed that even someone as shy and withdrawn still harbored a spark of determination, even if it was hard to bring to light.
For now.
"An opportunity like this doesn't come around often, and not everyone will offer it to you. So, I want you to answer me directly: do you want to be strong?"
An opportunity... Hinata clenched her teeth. The doubt and fear were still there, of course, but at the same time, there was a greater desire as well—a desire to change. And for the first time in a long while, she was able to speak without her voice trembling.
"Yes!"
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Later, almost at dusk, at the same training camp.
'That should keep her occupied for now,' Sukuna, sitting cross-legged on a massive rock, gazed at the empty training field, reflecting on what had transpired during the day.
He hadn't left the two girls alone right away. Instead, he stayed until Hinata had to return to her clan, guiding them on how they could train together when he wasn't around. If he had left them alone from the start, he feared they would waste time and fail to make the expected progress. That would be a harsh blow for the Hyuga girl and a hit to his own reputation. After all, he had made her the offer, and in a sense, it was his responsibility to turn her into someone strong.
It was annoying, but he always kept his promises, no matter what they were, and this time wouldn't be an exception.
'I can take two or three hours a day to check their progress and correct them if they're doing something wrong.' Teaching Izumi shouldn't take too long—she was a genius, after all. The only thing she needed was for him to properly teach her how to use the Simple Domain.
And he already had a more solid idea of how to do that; he'd been thinking about it all day, after all. Now, he just needed to refine it and get a guinea pig to help him test it. Of course, that guinea pig would be Izumi.
Thinking about her brought his thoughts to that strange phenomenon that occurred while they were fighting. Under normal circumstances, he could assume it happened because of his ability to absorb negative emotions, but if he took Izumi's words as truth, this phenomenon had already happened to other ninjas.
Therefore, he could only assume it had something to do with chakra itself. Additionally, there were some vague memories in his mind that made all of this feel somewhat familiar. It was frustrating not being able to recall everything, but it couldn't be helped—he had only watched Naruto once in his life, and it was natural that over time, many details had faded from his memory.
Maybe he could try to recover it all. One thing he remembered was that the Yamanaka clan had a mind-reading jutsu or something like that. He needed to gather more information on it, though getting it would, of course, be a challenge in itself. And letting someone else delve into his memories without any restrictions wasn't something he was willing to allow, which was another problem to deal with.
'For now, it's not that important. I'll investigate it later.' He still had plenty of time to consider it.
While he continued meditating, the sound of the air being sliced made his ears twitch.
'Finally came out, huh?'
With a swift movement of his hand, a shuriken flew through the air, intercepting the kunai headed his way. The clash of metal on metal sent sparks flying, briefly illuminating the area.
"Tch! Always on guard, huh?"
Sukuna raised an eyebrow, glancing toward a tall tree not too far away, where Anko stood perched on one of the branches.
Her usual ninja attire was absent, replaced by more casual clothing: a light brown padded jacket, dark blue shorts, and a black shirt. Her ninja headband hung loosely around her neck in a casual manner.
It seemed like she had mostly recovered from their fight, though there was still a bandage on her left cheek.
He remembered landing a solid hit there.
Huh? His nose twitched as an unfamiliar yet strangely familiar scent reached his nostrils, making his stomach churn slightly.
His eyes focused on Anko's right hand, where a half-eaten skewer of dango rested. For some reason, he couldn't help but want some, despite never having tried them before.
Noticing his gaze and hearing a low rumble from his stomach, Anko raised an eyebrow and glanced at her right hand. With a playful grin, she began waving the skewer back and forth mockingly.
"What's the matter? Want some? Well, too bad for you because this is the last one—the shop's already closed!" And as if to annoy him even further, she took another small bite from one of the dango balls.
Sukuna stayed silent for a moment before smirking.
"Idiot, when I want something, I just take it!" As soon as his words fell, his figure exploded into a cloud of smoke.
"What?!" Anko's eyes widened in alarm, but before she could react, she felt the sole of a foot collide with her rear, sending her flying straight to the ground.
"¡Uff!"
Sukuna snorted and sat on her, now holding the dango skewer in his hand.
"Hey! That's mine!" Anko complained when she felt her hand now empty and tried to struggle to get up, without any success. She could only turn her head to see how Sukuna looked at the skewer with curiosity.
"You should thank me, eating something like this will only make your weight keep going up, I'm just protecting your health." With that said, Sukuna didn't care whether she agreed or not and immediately started eating the remaining dango.
It tasted pretty good.
"Y-y-y-you!"
"Huh?" Sukuna looked in confusion as Anko's face suddenly turned red. Then, a wicked smile appeared on his face, and he continued chewing the dango mockingly.
"It seems you're still an innocent lady if something like this makes you so nervous. It's amusing, but you're still too young for me. Come back when you have some curves to show; otherwise, I'm not interested at all."
"You b-bastard, what do you mean by that?!" Anko felt very offended without knowing why.
"I won't repeat myself. Now then, tell me, what are you doing here?"
Anko struggled a bit more but finally gave in and spoke, though with some reluctance.
"Ugh! I just passed by and thought about bothering you. After all, it's your fault I'm on medical leave and have nothing to do!"
Sukuna was about to ask if she didn't have family or friends to hang out with or annoy, but he quickly remembered who he was talking to and wisely kept his mouth shut.
"Whatever, get yourself a hobby or something. I'm a bit busy right now." In any other circumstance, he wouldn't have minded "playing" with her a little, that is, using her as a punching bag, but at the moment, he couldn't.
"Seriously? It seemed to me like you were just wasting time sitting there. Besides! You took my dango, so now you owe me!"
"The law of the strongest dictates that the winner keeps everything the loser has. Since I'm clearly stronger than you, I can take whatever I want from you. If you have a problem with that, then get stronger and take it back." Of course, even though he followed this philosophy to a lesser extent, Sukuna wasn't a tyrannical barbarian like the real Sukuna. Otherwise, he wouldn't be playing the "genius" in Konoha.
He believed that real strength didn't always lie in brutality but in the intelligent manipulation of situations. In his own way, he enjoyed the power he had, but he used it as a game, a strategic dance where his opponents barely noticed how they were falling into his trap until it was too late.
It wasn't just about taking what he wanted; it was about making others offer it to him willingly and with a smile on their faces… or at least that's how it was in his life as Itadori. After all, when you lacked strength, you had to compensate for it with cunning, strategy, and manipulation, all with the aim of achieving your objectives at any cost.
In this life, he already had strength—maybe not the greatest, but certainly enough that he didn't have to exhaust his mind the way he used to, which in a way made things more relaxing for him, yet also frustrating.
His plans were all over the place. He had so many possible paths to take that he truly didn't know which one to choose. He could change everything, destroy everything, or... save it? That last thought made him frown.
It seemed that strange phenomenon with chakra had affected him more than he thought if something like that was actually crossing his mind.
Playing the savior never ended well, and he knew that firsthand.
"Law of the strongest? Alright, just wait, Brat! I'll beat you up and make you buy me dango for the rest of your life!" Anko finally managed to gather the strength to pull the distracted Sukuna off her back and stood up, pointing a threatening finger at him.
"For the rest of my life, you say?..." Sukuna brought a hand to his chin, pretending to be thoughtful. "I didn't know you were so desperate to secure me forever. Girls sure are forward these days, huh?"
"Ugh!" Anko's face turned beet red. She wanted to deny it, but seeing the mockery and malice in his eyes, she knew he was just playing with her to get under her skin.
With a huff, she stormed out of the clearing, muttering under her breath.
"Just wait goddamn gum head, I'll make you pay for this!"
Sukuna snorted as he watched her figure disappear. It was so easy to get rid of her. Shaking his head, he looked up at the starry sky before a serious expression appeared on his face.
"How much longer are you going to stay there? If you want to say something, then say it."
In response to his words, a figure stepped out of the shadows with slow steps.
"An extraordinary perception, as expected from a genius of your caliber."
Sukuna narrowed his eyes. He knew this man.
"You are..."
"You can call me Shimura Danzo, I am one of the main advisors to the Hokage. He has told me a lot about you, young Haruno. I apologize if I'm interrupting your leisure time, but I really wanted to have a conversation with you."
Sukuna mocked internally at his "polite" introduction, but outwardly, he played along.
"Well, I have some free time before I have to head back home, so I'm all ears."
Danzo smiled.
"Perfect, in that case, I would like to discuss your future... I have an offer that might interest you."
That piqued Sukuna's interest slightly. Danzo—this man—although he didn't remember everything about him, Sukuna knew that many of the village's problems had to do with him. At the very least, the Uchiha clan massacre was something that happened thanks to his influence.
Having him around was bad news, but Sukuna wasn't afraid. He didn't know exactly how strong the bandaged man was, but he felt that if it came down to a life-or-death situation, he would still prevail.
After all, if worst came to worst, he could perform an incomplete Domain Expansion. The consequences would be harsh on his body, but he should still be able to endure it by using his reverse cursed technique to the extreme. He was no longer a newborn, and while his current body still left much to be desired, it was still good enough to withstand any potential side effects this might bring him.
Thus, two people with fake smiles had their first encounter.
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"So, the rumors are true?" Izumi closed the book in her hands and lifted her head to look at the figure standing on the fence that separated her house's yard from the rest of the Uchiha compound.
"Rumors?" The older boy nodded, jumping down into the yard and walking toward her.
"They say you overdid it with your training and ended up hurting yourself. Well, there were some harsher words than that, but you get the idea."
Of course, when she returned, even though she had treated her injuries, it was still obvious to anyone who looked at her that something had happened. Given the tensions she had generated with some clan members the previous day, it was normal that some rumors spread—rumors that didn't exactly paint her in the best light.
But she really didn't care what they said about her, so she didn't clarify anything. Even her father couldn't get a real answer about her condition, her refusal to speak making it clear that she had no intention of explaining anything.
"So? Is it true?" Seeing her silence, Shisui Uchiha couldn't help but ask with curiosity.
Seeing his intrigue, she considered it for a moment before responding.
"Do you really think I'm that careless?"
"Of course not, I just wanted to make sure. Tell me, did someone bother you? Come on, your older cousin will give them a lesson for you." To emphasize his point, Shisui raised his arm, flexing his nonexistent muscle.
Izumi smiled and shook her head. Despite returning from a mission, Shisui still seemed as energetic as ever.
"It's not that. Something has happened, but I can't say much about it yet." She wanted to keep her future training with Sukuna a secret for now. She didn't know exactly how much trust there was between them, but if she had learned anything from their fight, it was that the pink-haired boy liked to stay under the radar if possible. Shisui was trustworthy to her, but he and Sukuna didn't know each other, so it was best to handle this carefully for the moment.
"Huh?" Shisui blinked. This time, his curiosity was truly piqued, but he didn't dig too deeply. If she said it wasn't anything bad, then it was fine. As long as she didn't get into trouble, he didn't mind.
"Well, anyway, I came to congratulate you on your promotion. Becoming a chunin at such a young age is quite the achievement, you know?" With that said, Shisui took out a package wrapped in napkins and extended it to her.
"A girl with purple hair bought almost all the stock, but I managed to get some before the store closed. Enjoy them."
Izumi's eyes lit up when Shisui revealed the contents of the package.
"Thanks," she sincerely thanked him, and without hesitation, took the skewers with three balls of different colors on them and began to eat them quickly. After all, dango was her favorite food.
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Note:
And another chapter! What might have happened between Sukuna and Danzo? What are the man's intentions? What changes will this bring? I guess we'll find out in the following chapters, hahaha. Remember to leave your comments and suggestions, as well as critiques—everything is welcome.
In other news, the Ranma remake is out! If you're a fan like me, I recommend it. It's not exactly the same as the old anime, but it has some interesting things going on. One day, I hope to create a story set in that universe—it will surely be fun.
On the other hand, I've also been watching all the hype around Sparking Zero. Unfortunately, I don't have a console to play it, and my PC can't run it, so I can only watch from the sidelines while everyone else enjoys it. I hope to fix that soon, although I'm still debating it—I don't want to get addicted like I did with Budokai Tenkaichi 3 back in the day.
Anyway, now that Daima exists and there's much more lore about Dragon Ball, the desire to create a story in that universe has also grown. I don't think it will happen soon, but it's good to know that there's a lot more to explore when the time comes. I hope Daima brings more interesting things. By the way, Dr. Arinsu, 100% waifu.
I don't have much else to say besides that, so feel free to comment on your thoughts, suggestions, or criticisms—everything is welcome. Thank you so much for the support,.
remember that You can already find the next chapter of this story on Patreon (patreon.com/EmmaCruzader )All the support received is appreciated ;D