Omake 3: Salamander of the Leaf (C)

Konoha was… an interesting place.

When Hanzo had first heard of the place, he thought that some of the elements mentioned by the one that saved him from the scary men were all sugarcoated for the sake of having him hauled in the village without any fuss. It wasn't like he didn't trust Danzou's words about it, but he definitely wasn't expecting him to actually be… minimalist about it.

If his creativity had pictured a small settlement that best represented his idea of village, the boy was shocked when he realized that the proper term for the place that was going to be his new home was 'Major Village' and, size-wise, it was as big if not bigger than many settlements he had seen a year before being tricked into becoming a freak.

A pleasant place, one that unexpectedly pulled him in a warm embrace as soon as he arrived. Of course he was given a group of specialized ninjas that were meant to help him reach the home of the expert that was meant to help fix his problem. What he hadn't predicted was that the expert in question was none other than the pregnant wife of the Hokage. The kind lady had lovely red hair that had him mesmerized for a while as he was soon told to approach her by the woman herself.

A Seal Expert, she quickly studied his situation and carefully planted a couple of seals both on his body and on his mask to better solve his issue. The first seal, the one applied to his body, was one that was meant to prevent any unplanned leak of the poison and to prevent it from damaging his body with the passing of time. The second seal was meant to give Hanzo the chance to use his chakra to forcefully seal the mask in case it was malfunctioning.

A third and a fourth seal were then applied, the first one by his throat and the next one by his forehead. The writing on the throat had the main purpose of acting as a valve to give him the chance to 'shut down' the poison being released into his mouth, while the last seal gave him an understanding, an alarm of sorts, that gave him perception of when the poison was being stopped or not.

After this lengthy four-hours long process was over, he was told to remove his mask. He was worried, and not without good reasons. What if he ended up hurting the kind lady? That concern was met with a kind giggle as the woman patted his head and ruffled at his hair as she coaxed him to comply with that request.

He did and… the seals worked. He could tell that no poison was leaving out of its sack in his chest and that he could finally walk around without any worry while maskless. It was a nice change for sure, one that left him joyous enough to accept the hug offer from the redhead. In that moment, he felt freezing as he heard something… unusual. A soft kick, one that didn't hurt but that he still perceived as it came from her belly.

The child had reacted and he had 'said hi' to him as Lady Mito mirthfully explained. She gave him the chance to check her stomach and… and it was surreal. It just felt odd to imagine how little the life within her was. How fragile it truly was.

After that visit, Hanzo was calmly escorted to his newest home, the one building where he was supposed to live in from now on. At least until he was old enough to live on his own. The clan compound was relatively modest compared to those he looked from afar during the stroll to reach his destination, but the size was heightened by the fact there wasn't a large number of people living in there.

Mineko Shimura, Danzou's mother, was the sole owner and currently the single inhabitant of the place. The woman greeted him politely inside and mentioned how she had told her about him through letters. He wasn't shown the letters in questions, but he could tell his savior had been genuinely positive with his description from the way he was treated.

It all felt so sudden… and yet he couldn't help but slowly fall in love with the family-like warmth he was immediately blessed with. If before his heart fluttered at Mito's care, now he felt absolutely submitted to the rule of things that was coerced into him through love. Mineko wasn't Shimura-san, but mother. The woman quickly took him in as a second soon and… and he didn't mind. In fact, he felt even more relieved when she mentioned that Danzou had been more than happy about this decision.

To be taken in by the family of the one that saved him? Did that count as being saved twice? One time from his torturers and the other from orphanhood?

Regardless of that thought, Hanzo slowly got accustomed to the surprisingly calm and pleasant lifestyle of his new family and the village itself. The settlement was as lively as it could be… if it had been peacetime. Despite the fact many of its usual inhabitants had left the place to be part of the army, civilians and a couple of ninjas were still left behind to keep life going within Konoha. Shops were still blooming, especially through the fact that the farmlands all around the Land of Fire were left untouched by the war. People enjoyed the serenity of being left away from the harassment of any siege and thus the economy wasn't suffering by it.

Of course, part of the shops had invested more on the military-side of the merchandise, with many preparing numerous crates filled with equipment like kunais, shurikens, and standardized uniforms that were meant to be taken by Konoha troops assigned to logistics and have those carried through carriages right to the frontline.

Things were going so smooth from both sides and… and Hanzo was actually surprised when he discovered that the Ninja Academy was still working despite the wartime situation. It had been an ordinance forwarded by Tobirama Senju to keep the flow of troops and reserve soldiers always filled in case of emergencies or of sudden backstab attack from any of the allies. It was an absurd circumstance but… it's better to be safe than sorry as mother told him.

Hanzo didn't really mind this as he was more than happy to enroll at the Academy. He was given a simple test to show his capacity in using a basic jutsu, the Bunshin, and then he was taken in to join one of the classrooms that had started the school year by just two months. It was there where the young boy learned one important lesson.

Classrooms were noisy and theoretical classes were boring. Practice for Ninja arts was fun, but it left him feel like he was being coddled into the subjects. With teachers keeping watch and 'cheerfully' telling the students to take their time, it just felt so odd to be brought to this sluggish progress rate.

It was annoying but… not enough to bore him away from school. A letter from Danzou himself confirmed how it was normal for someone that had been part of the war scenario to be bored of the pace for other children, mentioning that the system was meant to help growing accustomed those that were more numerous, in this case those that never experienced the war situation.

It helped understand a couple of things but… it was still boring.

At least candy was a childish treat he could get behind with ease. That was definitely something that helped stave off the need to pick up the pace somehow and get done with the school.