Pre-Chapter A/N:Hey everyone, I am so sorry about the sudden hiatus. I realise now that I never did post on here about why I was going on hiatus. So I had my final exams last week and since you can see this, you can tell that I survived. Happy to be back and hopefully better than ever. If you haven't already, I recommend turning on notifications for my stuff so you can see when new stuff drops right as it drops. More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio
"So, what do you think?" I asked her as we stared down at the body. It had been a week since Uzume had defeated Hanzo and put the man out of his misery shortly after. In that time, I'd left clones behind to scour Amegakure for a certain red haired boy with purple eyes, but so far, the chances success seemed slim at best— nonexistent if I was being honest with myself. They had searched the length and breadth of the country twice already, and no dice.
It was almost like Nagato Uzumaki had never been born in this world, and if that was the case, what could I have done to prevent his birth? Maybe it came with saving Uzushio and having the Uzumaki move to Konoha. But then again, none of the children in the clan bore the name Nagato, and even the appearances weren't much use in finding anyone like that.
"I think that your Granduncle gave better gifts. He might have been a selfish arsehole on his best day, but he knew how to give presents whenever he left the village at least. You? You just come back with more bodies for me to examine," she said with a sniff.
"Well, that's one way of seeing it. A better way of seeing it is that I recognize curiosity to be your greatest value, so I come back with opportunities for you to exercise that curiosity. If you look at it my way, then I get you the best gifts possible," I said with a smirk.
She scoffed in response before turning back to the body.
"As for him, there's no kekkei genkai. I don't know what you say you saw, but he has none of the traditional markers. And as you know, there is no one without the markers with a kekkei genkai," she said.
"While there are people with the gene who have no kekkei genkai, there aren't any without it who do," she continued before continuing her examination of his body.
"And the water release affinity?" I prompted.
"I was unable to find any bloodline components for it, but I did isolate a few genetic markers that look promising."
"Prepare for replication and transplantation. Low priority. Hospital visitors only. Of course, keep records of who gets the implantation and when, but don't inform them. This has little chance of working out, so no real need to have them spooked and looking out for no reason."
"Or because you do not want to give them the chance to refuse, hmm?" she asked. I hated that she could see through me so easily.
"For their own good in the end. The civilians have to be useful for something more than making food and trade." I scoffed back at her.
"Indeed."
"And how proceeds the first batch?" I asked, not keen on continuing the conversation about medical ethics or whatever.
"Growing just fine. In two months or so, we could be ready to transplant them into the incubators," she said next.
"Splendid."
"I don't say this nearly often enough but good work, Kagame. Really," I said, laying it thick with the compliment.
"Congratulate me when the brats are born with the kekkei genkai, not before. Any idiot can get a woman pregnant. I'm sure if you put your mind to it, you and the Uchiha could even figure it out," she said with a smirk that pulled at the wrinkles on her face.
"Never mind. I remember why I don't compliment your work as often. Have a good day, Kagame," I said, turning to leave.
"Oh don't go Shori-kun. I understand if you need some guidance from Aunt Kagame. You see there are two holes there, and you know you're in the right one when she's moaning and not cursing your head off, but knowing your Uchiha sugar momma, there is every chance—"
I used flying raijin to return to my office, not even wanting to imagine the rest of that sentence, to say the least of hearing it from the lips of a woman old enough to be my grandmother. Not like my actual grandmother was far off from going that far these days, I thought with a sigh.
— — XXXX
"Oh Hokage-sama, you're back," Retsu said on swinging the door open. I nodded.
"Well, we have someone unscheduled to see you. If you want, I can turn him around but you don't have any appointments till 3 o'clock and you did say you wanted the shinobi to have regular access and—"
"It's enough, Retsu. Send him in," I said, interrupting what was sure to be another long series of statements. She did admirable work as a secretary, and was better than basically everyone else I'd considered for the role, but she was... well, verbose was an understatement.
She perked up, closing the door and then I realized she hadn't actually mentioned the name of the person who was here to see me. Well, that was easily solved, I thought activating my byakugan.
Orochimaru, huh? Hadn't seen him in a while. His name had crossed my desk twice in the last three months so I knew a visit was inevitable, but part of me had expected that Daddy would be the one to come visiting in his stead, considering it was Daddy's connections that had placed his name on my desk twice.
"Hokage-sama," he said in greeting. I nodded at him from behind my desk. His knees did not bend easily, but bend they did all the same. I nodded, taking a second to enjoy the sight of the Snake Sannin before me as a supplicant before I nodded and asked him to rise.
"Orochimaru-san. It is good to see you hale and hearty," I said, pointedly not staring at the burns that covered half his face. His pale skin bore the burns on half of his body as the only reminder of the fight that had cost him both his teammates.
"Indeed. Hale and hearty as you say. And yet you refuse to place me back on active duty and permit me to take missions."
"So that is what brings you here," I said.
"Surely you did not think I came to admire the new architecture or the view of the sniveling civilians," he hissed, taking after the animals he could summon.
"I would advise that you watch that tone," I said, not raising my voice, but keeping it firm.
"I am fully recovered and I remain one of the strongest in this village. My wounds might be disfiguring but all the damage is cosmetic, I assure you," he said.
"I've seen enough reports to that effect. But you are more than a body, and wounds go beyond the physical. You have so far attended none of the mental health sessions I scheduled for you," I said.
"You? You scheduled those?"
"Of course. They are compulsory for any shinobi who loses a teammate in the line of duty. While for most, only a single session is mandatory, the number of sessions you have refused means I won't let you leave until you have gone through at least three."
"So this is your plan for removing me as a competitor," he said.
"Sorry, what?"
"I know that hat could have been mine if a few votes went differently," he said.
"More than a few, I can assure you. It wasn't close." I corrected.
"And yet I frighten you enough that you are willing to go the lengths to make sure that I never get the chance to show the village what they are clearly missing out on," he said.
While I had kept my gaze on the undamaged part of his face most of the time, this time I stared directly at the burns to make him as uncomfortable as possible while I spoke to drive home my point.
"There are a lot of things I could tell you Orochimaru-san. The truth is you will never be Hokage. I am younger than you are. By the time I want to retire, you'd be too old to even consider it." I said, receiving a scoff.
"Clear me for missions and see."
"Hokage-sama," I added.
"What?"
"You meant clear me for missions and see, Hokage-sama. And the truth is that I don't care how ready you think you are. I am the Hokage. You are my shinobi. You are subject to me. I have decreed that you will not be sent on any missions until you attend the required sessions. If I were you I would attend the sessions, keep my head down, and abandon any dreams of this hat one day pardoning your head." The words had done the exact opposite of what I wanted, started a fire in his heart for proving me wrong. Much in the same way Hiruzen's insults had motivated me to want the seat even more, my words were probably doing the same. And that was when the idea struck.
"You know what, what do you feel about a wager?"
"A wager?"
"You think you deserve to be Hokage more than I do. While I won't wager the position, I can wager putting you back in active duty. Beat me in a spar, prove that you deserve it more, and I'll sign you up to active duty with my own two hands," I said. He scoffed.
"Like a fight with the nine tails doesn't have only one outcome," he said.
"Is that all you think I am? A jinchuriki?" I asked, feeling amusement creep up within me. Did he really think that the difference between us was Kurama? Him. Him who had lost his whole team to Chiyo of all people. The audacity. The arrogance. The sheer…
"Is that not it? I fought you before you became one, remember? I know your level. You're talented, for sure. But not when compared to someone like myself. Especially not with how much stronger I have gotten," he said, clenching his fist shut. Of course. My anbu reported that he had spent what was practically every moment since waking up and being declared physically fit under Hiruzen's watchful gaze. The old man would never be a shinobi again, but he was still one hell of a teacher for sure. And now he didn't have two other students, a village, or missions to draw his attention away from it, things were going well for the duo.
Maybe I should just let him back on the roster. Get him away from Hiruzen and keep him too busy to be a future thorn in my side. And then I looked at that smug expression again and scoffed.
"I won't use the nine tails' chakra and if you manage to land a clean hit on me then I'll put you back on the active duty list," I said.
"Are you being serious now?" he asked, seemingly snapping out of his thinking as he looked at me to confirm.
"Do I look anything but serious? Not one drop. And I can swear to you that you won't manage to land a single hit."
"Deal. No taking this back," he said.
"Let's go," I said, and then blurred forward.
He barely managed to lift his hand in a guard. I grabbed hold of the hand and used flying raijin to take us to the special Hokage training ground within the mountain.
He stepped back, nearly stumbling.
"Are you ready to begin or do you need a second to get your wits about you?" I asked with a smirk. I enjoyed the way his eyes narrowed as he took a step back. Any second thoughts he might have had about things fled his mind as he took a look at my mocking smirk. He took his stance before jumping back a fair distance.
"When this kunai hits the ground, we begin," I said, unsealing one and tossing it in the air. His eyes followed it like a hawk watched its prey. I watched him, not it.
He brought his hands together the second the kunai hit the ground with a thunk. His bird seal indicated that he had been about to execute some wind release jutsu. A jutsu that fell apart as I appeared in his space and snapped the chakra point in his throat closed before staring him down as he stumbled backwards. He brought a kunai forward, trying to stab me even as he fell.
I weaved around it, grabbing a hold of the hand, snapping a kick to the back of his knee as I moved and forcing him to the ground. His struggles ceased as my kunai was at his throat.
"That's my win, hmm?" I asked. He remained silent. I returned the kunai to my seal and took a step back. He rushed to his feet and as he turned to me, I shot out my fingers, unblocking the chakra point on his neck before he could react.
"Okay, that was using my flying raijin," I said, watching him scramble to look at the arm I had grabbed on to to bring him here in the first place. And there was my flying raijin seal sitting pretty.
"We can go again. I won't use it this time, don't worry. Just try to land a hit the best you can," I said and then turned to begin walking to my end of the grounds. Of course I only made it five steps after literally turning my back on him before he attacked. I applied the lightweight boulder jutsu on myself, becoming light as a feather before I pushed off my feet. His fireball missed me by some margin as I flipped as I flew through the air, looking down at Orochimaru even as I kept going higher and higher.
The seal he formed flipped. The ground around him rumbled as several spears rose and fired straight at me. I watched their course. Dodging was possible, but I wasn't here to be efficient. My goal was to send a message.
And so I controlled my chakra precisely as I wound up a telegraphed punch. I hit the first spear that reached me with so much force that it turned to dust instantly and the spears around it were instantly knocked out of the way from the shockwave the impact had caused. I returned my mass to that of a feather as I used wind release to guide myself to the ground. All the while Orochimaru watched with his mouth agape.
"I never did feel the need to use my cousin's strength in combat, did you feel it was a skill of which I was incapable?" I asked as I reached the ground. His mouth snapped shut and became set in a thin line. Fingers twisted again. Several wind bullets, each one of the vacuum variety so using fire style to just overwhelm them would not work. Smart, but against me? Useless.
I didn't need a handseal to command the earth to rise in a wall so thick that his bullets died before they could penetrate.
I felt at the wall with my chakra, not needing a seal for something so basic as I turned my thick wall into mud and then sent that mud flying straight at Orochimaru in the form of a series of bullets. His defense was enough to make my blood boil. He weaved the signs for a summoning jutsu and summoned one of the Rashomon gates. A Senju jutsu. One that Hiruzen had undoubtedly been taught by my Granduncle, but not one that I felt he had any rights to share. Not to his students. Not without the approval of the clan.
I weaved around the gate, shooting out and forward in his direction. He opened his mouth, from it came a snake whose mouth opened in turn to unleash his sword of kusanagi. The blade shot out, aiming straight for me. I dodged to the side, avoiding the attack only for his head to twist and the sword to come towards my new position. I unsealed my own weapon, my bow and blocked the arc of the blade.
Both weapons stood in a standstill. The sword of kusanagi and its power to cut through anything held at bay by a bow made of Hashirama wood and strengthened with my chakra flowing through it.
I twisted, abandoning the contest and firing at him with my bow. Once. Twice. He dodged both as the arrows of pure chakra dug large gouges in the earth. He jumped to the other end of the arena to avoid my next shot. He stretched his hands out at me, hundreds of snakes spreading from his sleeves and coming right at me.
They didn't manage to make it all that far, my bow making short work of them. Orochimaru was breathing heavily now, clearly struggling to deal with the pace of the fight. I didn't give him a spare second to think as I would have done with my students. This was not about seeing what he was capable of. This was about showing him the gap between us. Two arrows forced him from his previous position as I sealed my bow. I stomped on the ground, activating the chakra I'd been seeding the ground with since I had returned to it.
The entire training ground turned to mud near instantly. Credit to him, he managed to jump in the air quickly enough to avoid being caught immediately. But that only bought him a second as several tendrils shot from the main pool. He cut through five, as a dozen more grabbed a hold of him and dragged him right into the mud. I formed a single seal, applying the heavyweight boulder jutsu to the mud that surrounded him, making it impossible for him to move, and probably extremely uncomfortable to so much as breathe.
I unsealed my bow again, drawing it menacingly.
"I will have your yield now," I said.
A/N: Orochimaru, huh? When it comes to power scaling, this version of 'Maru, is about the level that Sakumo was at the point he died. Of course, he has a fundamentally different skillset, so the fight works out a bit differently. Shori, on the other hand, when it comes to pure power and destructive potential is not far above what he was before the time skip. His precision and control though, are off the charts now. He'd beat his old self, but it wouldn't be a route. Because of how strong he already is, more training leads to diminishing returns. He's still growing, but no longer as quickly or easily. Next six up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.