Chapter Four

The debate had gone on for some time before it reached a conclusion.

Lee, who it had already been decided the Clan would be treating as 'one more ordinary member' would be attending school in an ordinary way, the same as many other clan children that were used to establish and maintain connections and keep up with the common topical trends and habits of the world outside of the clan's hideaways.

This was an important matter, and needed to be done. Without these members the clan would become ever more isolated from modern society and further and further out of touch. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a member to appear in public wearing clothes decades out of date and talking in antiquated ways, without that... 'It's cosplay' was an explanation that could be used, but only so often and it would still draw far more attention to the individual members than the clan preferred.

... Lee more or less understood that much, but he wasn't really sure why it had turned out this way. After all, he'd gone to the effort of showing off his cultivation ability to Grandmother, hadn't he? After that... there had been a deliberation on the matter, but he was ultimately just being sent off to school like normal anyway?

Lee couldn't help but wonder just what kind of ridiculous standards the clan had, if a casual display of cultivation at his age wasn't worth more than a shrug and a pat on the head... Or was it just that the reincarnated historical figure character was that much more of a priority over anything else?

Tsk.

If that was the case, though, Lee couldn't even really get mad at the favoritism. The cultivation method he'd displayed was in theory something that anyone could do, if they had the right instructions, or better yet, a tutor. It was annoying, but while it was probably remarkable that Lee could do it at his age, it wasn't impossible that the ability itself really was only something that was considered unusual... It didn't seem like that should be the case, given that he'd still been told to keep it a secret to the best of his ability, but this was a ninja clan after all. Even an ordinary knife that someone didn't expect you to have was important, right? Still...

That wasn't good news. The whole point of the plan had been to slip into the role of protagonist early on, but it seemed like it was going to be a little harder to manage than he'd expected. In hindsight, Lee shouldn't have thought it would be so easy to turn over a mysterious modern-day reincarnation of a ninja that had reincarnated into their very own ninja clan, despite the odds against it what with literally billions of other possible results. And it couldn't be helped if the clan was excited at the re-emergence of an ancestor in a new incarnation. It was the difference between a brand new title that seemed like it might be interesting, and the sequel to a beloved classic from your youth being released at the same time, right? No matter how good the new series looked like it had the potential to be, nostalgia was going to tip the scales to have you look into the sequel first, probably.

Had it been a mistake to show off cultivation instead of going with a more traditionally ninja-like technique? No, Lee didn't think so. To begin with, there was the time it would take for his mental library to invent such a thing, compounded by the time to learn how to do it from the instructions, compared to the convenience of demonstrating something he was already doing. A protagonist's early feats were impressive because they happened early, after all. Knowing quadratic equations at five, for example, was a whole lot more impressive than knowing them at fifteen, and once you were over twenty you could pretty much do whatever and be reasonably sure you would only get shrugs in response. By that point you weren't a cute kid showing off any more, you were an adult that had to earn your keep, right? That aside, while it was probably to be expected in hindsight that more ninja-like things would hit harder, there was also the issue of what might happen if Lee accidentally backed into something that resembled a traditional technique of another clan, or a forbidden sealed skill locked up in a safe somewhere.

The complication was probably not worth it. Well, even if it seemed like he was being sidelined and moved away from things, Lee could also turn it around and consider the possibility that this was all something like backstory. As long as there was no development along the lines of 'The colluding foreign agents began their work by cutting away the more distant clan members in plausible actions before closing in to tighten the noose on the Kato', it was probably fine. There were a lot of school-centric settings too, so it was entirely possible that there was nothing to worry about if he was in something closer to a comic slice of life thing. There were at least one or two of those out there where a main or side character had abnormal backstories such as this, right?

Actually, that was really plausible. Taken in that light, maybe Lee had made the correct call after all? It was hard to say for sure... probably all but impossible, really, until Lee could look back and review with the benefit of hindsight.

All in all, after thinking about it for a bit Lee had decided to reserve judgement. Think first and then act later, that was the right way to live. There were times where you might have to respond to a situation immediately and not have time to think your actions through, but it was no good to get in the habit of relying on your gut to have the correct response every time, Lee reflected. As long as you did have time, you should consider things carefully.

... It would have been fine if Lee was the only one affected by that decision, at least.

There was a thunk, and the blade of a knife shivered from where it had lodged into a beam in front of Lee. His head turned in time to see a hand raise and another blade shine through the air before thunking into position an equal distance behind him.

It was a little rude, and the damage to the woodwork accumulated over time so it wasn't unusual for punishments for misbehavior to include replacing paneling or beams that had gotten too carved up and mangled from the abuse to tolerate any longer, but from context Lee had picked up that it wasn't entirely out of the ordinary for clan members to get each others' attention by way of thrown knives, the way unruly children might lob bits of wadded up cloth or paper at each other. With more experience on both side's parts, or if it was a slapstick scene where someone had walked into the wrong bath, the blades might trim a hair or three to make a point. In this case, though? It seemed that his cousin was just trying to get his attention and had erred on the side of caution with distances. The knives were attention grabbing enough on their own, anyway, even though Lee had missed the first one being tossed. Going by unspoken language of knife throwing, one in front could mean either stop or to turn around and go somewhere else, while just one behind was almost always a prompt to pick up the pace and scram. Both together was when it became 'Hold it right there, I have something to say, so clean your ears out and listen' without a shadow of a doubt.

Danzo... Lee's cousin was the very picture of a shinobi in miniature. Pale skin that seemed to seldom see the sun, long black hair tied back and out of the way, the outfit like a 'ninja here' uniform that nobody who had ever watched a cartoon or read a comic with ninjas in it could miss... it wasn't that Danzo couldn't wear other clothes, but that it was apparently comfortable and it didn't matter if it was broadcasting the job if they were in a clan retreat with no outsiders to see it. There were times where Lee felt like his casual wear was out of place by comparison, even though it was still in the same thematic style. Not like he was wandering around in shorts and a T-shirt with gratuitous engrish plastered on it or anything...

His thoughts wandered a little as Danzo stepped closer in to pull the knife in front out of the wall. It wasn't like Lee hadn't been startled at the first knife, anyone having a knife thrown in their direction would be, but after a heartbeat or two he'd calmed down. There was too much space in between him and the impact points for instinctive fear of death to take control of his mind, which was probably the point, and aside from that this was a clan hide-away to begin with. What kind of person would attack not just their allies but their kin, in a place that should be safe? ... Well, Lee had thought of something like that, but only for a fleeting moment or two, really.

"So, you're the one that the debate was started over." Danzo said, voice light, while putting the knife away again. "Isn't that strange?"

"... How so?" Lee asked.

"Well, the outcome wasn't in doubt, if it was a choice between who to give focused training to." Danzo continued, in a tone of voice that implied they were just stating something that should be obvious to anyone with the eyes to see it. "After all... I'm the one and only Kato Danzo, and I've been born into the Kato clan, so it would be a lot stranger if it had been decided in the end that I shouldn't receive focused training in a secluded retreat, right?"

It was what Lee had been thinking himself, that if it was really a matter of one or the other then the favoritism couldn't be avoided in choosing a priority... but somehow it annoyed him to hear someone else saying it out loud instead of thinking it in his own head.

"But." Danzo said, raising a finger up to gesture a little demonstratively. "... Even though the result should have been obvious and not need to be discussed at all, they had to talk it out for hours before reaching the decision. Meaning, for some reason, there was something that cast the issue in doubt... wasn't there? So, cousin... just what could that be?"

... Huh, Lee hadn't thought about it that way, but if you started with the assumption that of course the incarnation of the clan's most infamous ancestor was going to get the bulk of everyone's focus, then that was unusual enough to turn heads when people heard about it, wasn't it? In that case, he could safely say that yes, his cultivation really was something important, important enough to match up to that incarnated ancestor... just not quite enough to exceed it in the system of priorities.

... But, Lee couldn't say that. Actually, this might be a little dangerous. Grandmother hadn't precisely said that he shouldn't tell anyone, only that he should keep it a secret, right? But when it came to Danzo... It wasn't like Lee was particularly close to his cousin? This could be a good opportunity to come closer with the reveal, but on the other hand was there really much benefit in letting Danzo know about Lee's own ability when they were going to be getting focused training from the clan's best?

Lee couldn't rule out the possibility that this was something that Grandmother had arranged by subtly pulling strings, either. After all, this was a ninja clan. Didn't it just make sense that some kind of test might be arranged to take Lee's measure and get a feel for which way he would jump in situations like this, while it was still being contained entirely within the scope of clan members only?

In that case, which answer was the right one... trust in a family member or keep his mouth shut...

For now, Lee chose to deflect. If he wanted to reveal a secret later then he could always do so, and if anything it might even bring more trust if he made it obvious first that he didn't really want to spill the beans before taking someone into his confidence at a later time. On the other hand, trying to prevent a secret from spreading after it had been revealed... that could get messy. There was a saying about the only way to keep a secret after multiple people already knew it, and Lee had already decided that he didn't want to resort to that kind of extreme.

Instead, he raised a finger and pointed to Danzo's hand, as innocent of an expression on his face as he could manage.

"Your little finger wasn't in the same position as the teacher demonstrated for throwing." Lee said, lackadaisically. "Why was that?"

It wasn't an easy thing to notice in passing, from just a glance. Lee got around that by way of not having noticed any such thing at all. Instead, he was going from the memory of overhearing a complaint about Danzo fumbling throws in practice before working out a form that wasn't quite correct. That was also corrected, but apparently slipped now and again.

It didn't need to have actually happened. Danzo's thoughts were clearly elsewhere and not on perfect finger position for throwing, so all that Lee needed to do was claim that it had and second thoughts would do the rest. The brain filling in the blanks and letting doubt slip in. 'Did I do it right or didn't I'? That kind of a bluff could only be defended against by the sort of perfect self-confidence that actual people their age typically didn't have.

Whether Danzo had thrown correctly or not, the claim worked as Danzo's cheeks slowly pinked before going red.

"You... are you picking a fight, Lee?" Danzo snapped, huffily, the initial question about what made Lee so interesting forgotten in indignation.

"Do you know something better than the instructor? It's to be expected from the clan's one and only reincarnation of the ancestor, I suppose." Lee said breezily. "Give me a tip or two when you have the time, cousin."

"I'll give you this." Danzo said, raising a clenched fist in implication.

"Your hand? Sorry cousin, I don't dislike you, but I don't think we're that close either." Lee replied with a shrug.

... It would be hard for an outside observer to tell if the two of them got along very well or very poorly.