Practice

On the next day at the Hokage office, Minato and Kushina were talking with Hiruzen.

"Hokage-sama, I would like to have Hiroki from the orphanage enrolled in the ninja academy."

"Minato, the orphanage has not allowed Hiroki to enroll until he becomes 8 years old. I can't overrule that unless someone becomes responsible for him when in the ninja academy."

"That's exactly why we are here old man. Minato and I will become responsible for his enrollment. And you better not come up with any excuses." Kushina said as he hair danced in the air.

Hiruzen had a cold sweat running down his face and could only look at Minato for help, but Minato only smiled at him.

"Ahem. That can be done. When do you want him to start?" Hiruzen said while trying to smile.

"Tomorrow and not one day more." Kushina said with a tone of a threat on her voice.

"Ah. Sure. We'll sign the papers and register him into the academy by evening."

After signing the papers, Kushina and Minato left the Hokage office with a smile. While leaving they saw Sakumo outside the office.

"Sakumo-san, good morning. How are you?" Minato asked.

"Minato, Kushina. I'm fine. Thank you for asking. It's good seeing you two well." Sakumo said before entering the office.

Hiruzen saw Sakumo coming in and had a smile on his face.

"Sakumo, what brings you here?"

"Sandaime, please ask your anbu to leave for a moment." Sakumo said as Hiruzen's smile vanished and now had a serious face. Hiruzen signaled and his anbu left.

"Sandaime-sama, yesterday when I arrived at the village I was ostracized by many villagers and shinobi alike. I believe that the mission I failed was of utmost secrecy and no one was to hear about it other than yourself. How was it leaked?"

"Sakumo, I haven't said anything. Not even commented with the elders. Could it have been from an enemy shinobi that spread about the mission?"

Sakumo shook his head.

"That is impossible. I killed every single one of the enemy shinobi that trapped my teammates. It was impossible for that to happen."

Sakumo walked in circles at the office and then took out a scroll from his kunai pouch and handed it to Hiruzen.

"What is this?"

"Please open it." Sakumo said in a firm tone.

Hiruzen then got up from his chair and opened the scroll and the unsealed the contents inside only to find a body wearing a cloak and a white porcelain mask.

"What is this Sakumo?"

"Yesterday, after being ostracized by the whole village, I came home ready to take my own life, but one small child with the same age as my son Kakashi, came up to me and gave me a few words of encouragement. I then disregarded that thought instantly. I did nothing wrong and I would not take my life for it. But when I arrived home, someone thought differently. That person tried ambushing me and went for the kill. After that, you know what happened. Now, I want to ask you. Why was an anbu from root in my house trying to kill me?" Sakumo asked while gritting his teeth in anger.

Hiruzen had no way to explain this so he could only ask Sakumo to forgive him and he promised that something like this would not happen again.

After the anbu returned to the office, Hiruzen ordered them to get Danzo. A few minutes later, Danzo arrived.

"Hiruzen, what is the urgency?" Danzo asked.

Hiruzen threw the scroll that Sakumo handed to him, towards Danzo. When Danzo unsealed the scroll he saw a root anbu dead from a blade to the heart.

"Care to explain why was one of your root anbu in Sakumo's house? And explain why he tried to kill Sakumo as well?" Hiruzen had an angry look at his face while looking at Danzo.

"Hiruzen, I don't know. I never told my anbu to go to Sakumo's house or even kill him. He might have been under the effect of a genjutsu."

"Stop with the nonsense. Anbu are trained to counter genjutsu instantly when the foreign chakra invaded their system."

"It could have been an Uchiha."

"STOP! You are accusing a prestigious clan of a crime without any proof. If word of your accusation was heard, do you think they would let you off?" Hiruzen asked.

He then thought for a while.

"I want you to get rid of 50% of your anbu force. This matter is not questionable."

"But they are a great help for Konoha. They work in the shadows to maintain peace."

"Not questionable Danzo! Now leave. I expect this done today."

Danzo left Hiruzen's office after that.

——

On the other side of Konoha, Minato and Kushina went to the orphanage to give Hiroki the news.

"Ni-san, ne-san. What are you doing here?"

"We came to give you some good news. You are going to the ninja academy starting tomorrow." Kushina said.

Hiroki jumped at them and hugged them tightly.

"Thank you."

"Hehe. No need to thank us. We want to help you and this was something easy to solve." Kushina said.

"Since you will start tomorrow, do you want us to help you practice for today?" Minato asked.

"Really? I sure do want to." Hiroki said with happiness, but then he had a sad face.

"Why the sad face?" Kushina asked.

"I don't have any money to buy gears and materials needed to attend the academy." Hiroki said while looking at the ground.

"Oh. If it's just that, then there's no need for you to worry. The academy will take care of all that Hiroki."

"Since that is solved, are we ready to go?" Minato asked.

"Yes. Let's go."

Minato then took Hiroki and Kushina's hand and in a flash they were in the training ground. Hiroki finding himself in a different place in less than a second was totally thrilled.

"Whoa. How did you do that? Was it you ni-san?"

Minato smiled and said yes.

"Remember the kunai I gave you? It is a guide for me to teleport to where they are. This jutsu is originally owned by the Nidaime. I studied how he created it and developed my using his as an example."

"So cool ni-san. I want to have a cool jutsu like yours. Do you think I'll be able to learn it as well?"

"If you put in the effort, I'm sure you will. Now then, for us to teach you things you first need to learn how to use chakra. Chakra is the physical power and the mental power mixed together. Close your eyes and try feeling a warm energy in your belly." Minato said as he instructed Hiroki on what chakra is.

After a few minutes of trying, Hiroki felt the warm energy.

"I feel it ni-san. What now?"

"Focus on that energy and try spreading it all around your body."

Hiroki focused once more and after three minutes he was able to circulate that energy around his body.

"I got it."

"Good. Now you have opened your chakra coils and it should be easier to circulate it around your body. Sit down and keep doing that until you feel that energy circulate through your body without you having to think about it."

"I'll try." Hiroki said.

As Hiroki sat down and focused on circulating his chakra, Minato felt the space-time fluctuations around Hiroki grow more. It was a faint growth, but it was growing none the less. Hiroki kept circulating his chakra for thirty more minutes until he didn't have to force it through his coils and chakra flowed in his coils by itself. After that was done, Kushina and Minato were a little startled.

"He has a so much chakra for his age and he unlocked his chakra channel just now. It reminds me of my clan, but he's no Uzumaki." Kushina said.

"True, he has abnormal chakra for his age. And as his chakra flowed I felt the space-time fluctuations in him growing with it. I guess I was right to be teaching him myself."

"What now ni-san?" Hiroki asked with eagerness in his voice.

"Come here. Now that your have unlocked your chakra, I want to test your affinities." Minato said and then pulled out a piece of paper.

"This here is a chakra paper. It is meant to see what affinities your chakra has. All you need to do is infuse some chakra to the paper and the it will let us know."

Hiroki then grabbed the paper and infused chakra in it. The paper then crumbled, got wet and then turned into ash. Hiroki was happily surprised as he saw this happening. He knew that he had three affinities. He already expected to have water and earth as it combines to make wood release. He was a little surprised with fire element, but then remembered he had Uchiha blood as well.

Kushina and Minato both had an extreme surprised look on their face. This was due to the fact that a 6 years old child that just unlocked his chakra already had affinity with three elements. This was something that took years for a shinobi to achieve. Hiroki seeing their surprised face played his part.

"Ni-san, is this good or bad?"

"This is extremely good Hiroki. You have three affinities out of the normal five. You can be considered a genius, but don't let that go to your head as many genius don't put enough effort into things and then become just mediocre."

"I'll do my best ni-san, ne-san."

"Good then. You have the affinities with water, earth and fire. This will help us in teaching you in the future. For now, we'll practice chakra control." Minato said as he took a leaf from the tree that they were under. He then put the leaf on his head and the leaf was stuck in place.

He then took another one and handed it to Hiroki.

"Hiroki, now I want you to do the same and get the leaf to stick on your forehead."

Hiroki then took the leaf and put it on his forehead while activating his chakra to keep it in place. The leaf stayed on his forehead and he got excited.

"I did it..." the leaf then fell.

"Never lose your concentration. This exercise is to help you keep your self concentrated on the task. When you practice enough, you will do it as if a second nature because your body will get used to it. Try again and this time keep focus." Minato said, correcting Hiroki's mistake.

Hiroki then nodded his head, closed his eyes and tried once more. After ten minutes he opened his eyes and got up. The leaf was still stuck to his forehead with chakra.

"Hiroki, you just keep surprising us each time. You did much faster than the kids your age. Not to say that you just unlocked your chakra not many hours ago."

"It's all due to your help ni-san." Hiroki said with a smile. Kushina seeing the mood the two were in, got a little jealous.

"Hiroki, when you have more control of your chakra, ne-san will teach you as well." Kushina said.

"Thank you ne-san." Hiroki said with a smile while he thought to himself.

'Minato and Kushina have helped a lot. It hasn't even been two days since we met and they already have done a lot for me. I have to reattribute them in the future and keep their family together.'

Hiroki then looked at Minato.

"What's next?"

Minato took another leaf and then gave it to Hiroki.

"Now you have to place another leaf on your arm and do the same as before while keeping the first one in place. After you have both leaves in place without the need to concentrate, you keep putting more on your body. Repeat this exercise until you have your whole body covered. But for now, let's get some food. It's already noon and Kushina gets angry when she's hungry haha."

After eating, Minato told Hiroki to keep practicing with the leaves and not to forget to rest for tomorrow. It would be the day he would start in the ninja academy. They left him back at the training ground after that.