Arrival

A year or so passed by in a blink of an eye. Mito continued to train Araki for an entire year. Araki was 8-years-old now. He was quite proficient in controlling his chakra and could easily accomplish the Leaf Concentration and Tree Walking exercise. He hadn't tried out Water Surface Walking exercise to control his chakra yet.

Mito could sense his chakra, and after finding his control to be adequate, she finally decided to teach him the Wood Clone Jutsu left behind in the scroll by Hashirama for the shinobi who could use Mokuton after him.

After having taught him the Wood Clone Jutsu, Araki had grown even more mischievous. Most of the times, he would send his Wood Clone to train while slacking off in some other place.

If not for her massive chakra and sensing skill limited in a small area, even Mito would have been fooled by the Wood Clone Jutsu.

Well, he wouldn't have a good end-result after being caught by Mito.

Currently, Araki was ordered by Mito to go to the Konoha Entrance Gate and bring a young girl to the Senju Clan Manor.

He wasn't even told how the girl looked like. Just that he must bring her back to the Mansion.

As he reached the Konoha Entrance Gate, he found no one there. He felt that his granny had made a mistake. However, just when he was about to turn around, he sensed someone approaching the village from some distance.

This chakra which was coming towards them was really massive. It reminded Araki how his grandma's chakra was. Moreover, there was an intense amount of vitality in the people coming here.

Although the group of shinobi who were coming to the village were much more potent than him. Araki found out that the one with the least chakra had as much chakra as himself. It hurt his pride a little as he trained a lot to have so much chakra. But, he was also curious to meet these people.

The Chunins noticed Araki coming here. They immediately turned aside to give way to him. It has been one year since that incident, but they remembered it as if it happened yesterday! This young child was the member of the Senju Clan. Moreover, he was under the protection of Uzumaki Mito.

It was quite well-known how much Uzumaki Mito was spoiling her grandson. None dared to cross her path…

Araki stood near them and was waiting for these people to arrive. The Chunins approached him and asked worriedly, "Is something the matter, Araki-sama?"

Thinking for some time, Araki then shook his head, "No. I am just waiting for someone. You can continue to guard the entrance."

A little helpless at what this child wanted, the Chunin left him alone, waiting near the gates of Konoha's entrance.

Fortunately, Araki didn't need to wait long. Soon enough, he saw multiple redheads appearing in his vision. His eyes widened a little when he saw a round-faced young girl with hairs of the colour of a tomato. She looked really charming to him.

"Is she the one I have to bring to grandma's side?" He did hear his grandma speaking that the girl would be about his own age.

She was the only one in this group who was of his own age. Araki frowned a little as he sensed that her chakra was as much as himself.

'Waaah! That's cheating! You didn't even undergo the training under grandma, and you already have so much chakra! Cheat! Cheat!' He continued to curse at this unfairness.

However, if someone were to hear him speak his thoughts. They would immediately bonk his head so hard he would fall flat-faced on the ground. He had so many advantages that ordinary people could only dream of.

Whether it was his identity as one of the only surviving members of the Senju Clan or if it was Mokuton. These were advantages that other people couldn't match even if they trained for their whole life.

It was just ridiculous how Araki could curse at unfairness when he was a cheat himself! Moreover, he was even thinking of it with a clear conscience like his words were absolutely correct.

If Mito did know about his words, she would definitely ask him to go through twice the training just to beat the shamelessness out of him.

After these redheads arrived at the Entrance Gate. Most of the older men and women went to the Chunin guards to inform documents listing their travel. Only a single old lady remained beside the young girl's side.

Araki sneaked out of the Konoha's Gate and walked towards the young girl.

"Hey. Who are you?" He asked her, curiously gazing at her.

"Me? I am Uzumaki Kushina, dattebane!" Although flustered when she was asked the question, Kushina tried to hide her nervousness and reply to the question. However, Kushina's verbal tic seemed to have revealed everything and her face flushed with the same colour as of her hairs.

"I am Senju Araki. Nice to meet you, Kushina." He extended his hand for a handshake with Kushina. The old lady who was standing near Kushina narrowed her eyes at him.

Kushina didn't think much of it and shook his hand. She felt strangely comfortable when she came into contact with his skin.

"You are Senju Araki? The next Clan Head of the Senju Clan? Are you living with Mito-sama?" The old lady asked these three questions in the series, and Araki was a little confused which one he should answer first.

He answered in the series he felt like, "Yup! I am Senju Araki, the next clan head of the Senju Clan. Mito-sama? Wait… You know my grandma?! You are an old granny yourself. I guess grandma does have some friends. I always felt that she was bored in the Mansion. So this was what she was doing, she called out some friends for herself." As if he found the hypothesis to be entirely believable, he even nodded his head at the end.

Meanwhile, the old lady standing near Kushina stumbled as she heard Araki's words. She, a friend of Mito-sama? That was just a preposterous thought! There was no way she could even begin to think like this.

However, Araki's words did startle her, and she was forced to think of another possibility. Or maybe Mito-sama really thought of her as a friend. She couldn't help but grow touched as she thought that Mito-sama considered her as her friend.

Araki didn't give her any more attention. He turned towards Kushina and says, "Grandma can play with her friends from her age. You can play with me, right? I don't have a single friend in the whole Mansion." He even made a sad expression at the end.

At his words, Kushina grinned mischievously as she asked him, "Do you like pranks?"

Araki returned the grin before saying, "Hehehe… You have no idea." Suddenly then, he remembered the consequences of the pranks and dropped his grin, "No wait… Let's not prank grandma. She always finds out that it's me and then punishes you. I don't want her to punish you too."

"Ohkay…. How about the teachers of the Academy? Dattebane!" Kushina asked with a hopeful and excited look in her eyes.

Araki had a confused look on his face as he asked her, "You are going to join the Academy? Grandma said there is no point of joining the Academy for me. She said that I am already more powerful as compared to the students in the Academy. Ne, tell me, is the Academy fun?" This was the question he was most curious about.

Kushina shook her head, not knowing if the Academy would be fun or not, but she decisively said, "But I am still going to join it! I want to become the first female Hokage, dattebane." This time, she wasn't embarrassed by her verbal tic.

"You want to be a Hokage? What is good about that job? Even grandma asked me if I wanted to become a Hokage or not. Every time I meet the Third Hokage, he is buried with paperwork. Writing is definitely not a fun thing to do."

Kushina paled at the idea of doing paperwork after becoming Hokage. She really disliked the paperwork. But she still wouldn't give up because of this issue and once again said, "I will still become the Hokage. You can help me with my paperwork, won't you?" She said with a puppy-dog Jutsu. This was a Jutsu that Kushina found worked on everyone in the Uzumaki Village.

Unfortunately for her, she was using it in front of someone who regularly used it on his grandma and would feel the brunt of using this Jutsu. He definitely wouldn't be moved by her puppy-dog Jutsu.

Just as he was about to speak, the older redheads returned after having submitted their documents.

"Oii! What are you doing? Get away from Kushina-chan!" The brash one out of these people shouted at Araki.

Araki was confused about why this man was shouting at him. At that moment, the old lady who was standing beside Kushina since some time ago gave him a death stare, "Stay quiet, Morita. He is the grandson of Mito-sama."

"Okay, mother." He lowered his head a little as he didn't expect to speak rudely to Mito-sama's grandson.

With that, the Uzumaki Clan's members had arrived Konoha!