With Izumi helping Sasuke, I didn't have to worry about him becoming an unstable edgelord, hopefully. Izumi may not be the ideal role model, but she is definitely better than what Sasuke had in the original timeline.
Unfortunately, my free time has suffered greatly. This is mostly due to Hiruzen's insistence on giving me more solo missions. When I performed to his liking, he just tossed me an Anbu mask and congratulated me on my new position among the village's elite.
Sometimes, I'm not sure whether to laugh at his antics or consider crystallizing his ass. At this point, I was seriously contemplating the latter option.
Did he learn nothing from Kakashi, Itachi, and Shisui? Inducting kids into the most grimdark job in the village likely has unpleasant side effects on their mental health. Clearly, he either didn't care or chose to ignore it.
Given how weakened our village was from the decimation of Root and the Uchiha clan losing almost all of its active ninjas, I honestly wasn't surprised that I was inducted into the Anbu before turning nine.
However, he didn't promote me to Jonin. I guess he's waiting for my time in Anbu to finish before making it a public affair.
As a result, my training time was drastically cut short, and I was mostly working as a training partner for Hinata, barely managing to start developing more jutsu.
During the limited time I had to train with some other Anbu members, I found one who told me about the training process to master water nature transformation. I already knew the first step, but achieving the second step would finally enable me to use the Dustless Bewildering Cover, an excellent tool for infiltration or escape, as even sensory types have trouble pinpointing the exact location of the user.
Funnily enough, the Anbu who helped me turned out to be Tenzo, or Yamato, as he would later be known among regular forces.
It wasn't until months later that I realized another reason Hiruzen sent me to the Anbu: Kumogakure was interrogating any Konoha ninja they captured about my identity. Apparently, I posed a future threat to them, or perhaps the Raikage was still salty about my insinuation that he likes kids a bit too much.
For once, I was actually grateful to that old man. Keeping me hidden allowed me to grow stronger without worrying about assassins being sent to my home.
However, the Anbu lifestyle sucked a needlesly large dick. Thankfully, I can return to the regular forces after two years of Anbu service.
It was mission after mission, sometimes spiced up by a little training. But I decided it wasn't for me, mostly because of the frankly ridiculous number of assassination missions I was ordered to complete.
I was never a fan of killing random people. Tracking down a bandit or hunting another ninja? Sure, I can do that without issue. But killing a random civilian in the Land of Grass just because a rich bastard wanted him gone didn't sit right with me.
I made sure to send a message to Itachi, explaining that Izumi had awakened her Mangekyo and asking for any insights he might have, aside from the obvious advice of not letting her use it, of course.
I sent it via a cat summon, hoping he would receive the message soon.
Was my message a few weeks delayed? Yes, but to be fair, his last reply came only after several months of no contact.
I tried to keep tabs on the academy class mainly to see how well my cute little sister was doing. Despite her reluctance to participate in any form of physical training, she was actually performing quite well.
She quickly became the best in her class when it came to the theory and history sections. It was nice to see something from the anime come to life before my eyes.
Choji was still the same, meek and good-hearted. And he continued to pull food out of thin air.
If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that the Akimichi clan trait was some form of inventory or pocket space.
Ino was becoming increasingly interested in boys and fashion, dragging many of the other girls along with her, including Sakura, much to my eternal dismay. Those two specifically needed a good kick in the ass if they really wanted to become ninjas.
Shikamaru was both fun and annoying to deal with. I lost count of how many times I had to drag him back to the academy after he decided to skip class to watch clouds.
As a good role model and older brother, I sometimes listened in on their lessons, only to find Shikamaru missing from class.
My haki quickly told me that he was lying in a meadow just outside the village, watching clouds. This could not stand, especially since someone else was with him.
I quickly made my way toward them, already planning to have Zangetsu herd him back to class at full speed.
I sat on a tree branch overlooking the meadow and spotted Shikamaru lying in the grass, with another boy playing with a dog nearby.
"Found a new friend, Shikamaru?" I called out humorously.
That simple question jolted Shikamaru out of his blissful cloud-watching. He looked my way and mumbled something about troublesome people.
"Oi! Who do you think you are?!" the other boy shouted, accompanied by a bark from the little dog.
I looked him over; his appearance was so similar to Hana's that I could easily guess his identity.
"And you must be Kiba… I guess it's nice to meet you," I said slowly, already predicting he wouldn't go back to the academy without a fight.
I quickly summoned Zangetsu and pointed him at Shikamaru. Just the sight of the little cat made Shikamaru get up and bolt away at full speed.
I sighed silently.
"Could you please deliver him to the academy?" I asked the kitten. Zangetsu immediately grew larger and chased after Shikamaru.
I guessed that chasing down someone felt like a fun game to him… or perhaps an analogy for hunting, either one.
I turned back to Kiba, who, instead of running, decided to fight. How he thought he could take down someone in an Anbu uniform is beyond me. But to be fair, I'm not that much taller than him, so he probably thought I was just playing.
"You won't get me back there today!" Kiba yelled as he charged. At least he had courage; I had to give him that.
A quick sidestep and a throw later, Kiba found himself on his ass, looking around in confusion. I grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie and started dragging him towards the academy, kicking and screaming.
The sight of a tiny Anbu operator dragging an equally tiny kid to the academy must've been quite the show. Much like a panther-sized cat hauling an exhausted Nara heir by his shirt.
I met Zangetsu near the academy entrance and decided to hand Shikamaru over myself. Kiba seemed to realize along the way that yelling vague threats wouldn't save him from being dragged, so he stopped.
Thank the Sage.
I quickly found their class and knocked on the door. A mildly annoyed teacher opened it, doing a double-take at the sight of the two missing students being carried by me. I shrugged and decided to finish this as quickly as possible.
"I found two of yours; please don't let them skip class so easily," I said in a completely deadpan voice, before dropping the two troublemakers in front of him. They were his problem now.
Unfortunately, it didn't end there. I had to wrangle both Kiba and Shikamaru back to the academy like that on several occasions before I had "An IdeaTM".
Since I knew that informing Shikaku clearly wouldn't work, I went directly to Shikamaru's mom. She was quite angry about the whole situation, and since then, Shikamaru has only skipped class once or twice a month.
I'll take that as an absolute win.
Kiba, on the other hand, tried to fight his way out of being dragged back to class every single time, with predictable results. He only gave up after I had truly had enough of his antics and started delivering him to his seat encased up to his chest in crystal.
Hana found that way too funny for my liking, so I showed her Kiba's usual hiding spots and let her deal with him. He's her little brother, not mine, and I was done babysitting for her.
She's a big girl and a chunin now, so a little responsibility won't kill her.
I have also barely escaped having to lead another boot camp for the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Though that was mostly because Shikamaru and Ino were adamantly against trying it again... for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.
I'm starting to feel like teaching Shadow Clones to Hinata was either a mistake or the best decision ever, depending on how you look at it.
As I expected, her learning rate skyrocketed; she began to devour any medical text she found. By the time her first year in the academy was over, she was already a better medic than I am… and it's not even close.
From what little I observed of her in the academy, it seems she decided to stay and learn as much as possible before graduating. If you ask me, she made a good choice.
I'm not entirely sure if she has made any friends so far, mostly due to her crippling social anxiety. She's at least gotten used to being around me, but the class had too many people for her to feel comfortable speaking aloud.
I did see her talk to Sakura and a few other girls a couple of times, though, so she is making progress in that area.
Still, we need to work on getting her more comfortable in group settings. Due to her quiet and timid nature, her talent has gone completely unnoticed. The instructors actually thought she would never make it as a ninja, at least not as part of the regular forces.
The joke's on them, though, because that girl mastered lightning manipulation in just a month. Yes, a single, fucking, month. It's hard to put into words how absolutely insane that is.
She just observed my chakra with her Byakugan and worked from there. Apparently, it's just that easy, and it almost makes me want to bang my head against the wall.
Just imagine how terrifying the Hyuga clan would be if they decided to use their special eyes for more than just poking people with their fingers.
At least she had the presence of mind not to use her new version of Gentle Fist in spars against her classmates. I don't think the instructors would be happy with a bunch of electrocuted kids who can't move their limbs.
I've also noticed that the academy is slowly lowering its standards for graduation, likely to replenish losses from the war… at least, that's my guess. Just last year, we sparred at least twice a week dueing classes; now, they only spar once.
For some strange reason, they also started separating boys and girls. This means I miss the chance to see how this version of Hinata fights anyone actually decent at taijutsu. As it is, she just sweeps through the other girls and barely learns anything important in those classes.
Honestly, separating them like this doesn't benefit anyone. There isn't any physical reason to do so, not yet, anyway.
And even when boys start to grow physically stronger due to our biology, it could serve as a lesson on how integral chakra reinforcement is to fighting.
Someone who is roughly average in strength can easily break through a wall with a single punch when using chakra. So a girl who can perform even the most basic version of reinforcement will never lose to a boy who can't do it.
However, chakra reinforcement simply isn't part of the academy curriculum at all, I checked... twice. It was supposed to be taught by a Jonin-sensei after the kids graduated.
I will have to reevaluate my stance on running another little boot camp. There's no way I'm letting these kids leave the village without knowing how to defend themselves.
But to be honest, I want them to ask me for help first. Forcing them to learn won't help anyone, and the more stubborn ones will likely stop using whatever I teach them to prove a point.
At least Hinata is gradually warming up to the idea of learning ninjutsu.
During my recent observations, I checked in on my old class. It was still primarily a Neji solo show.
I have no doubt that Neji could graduate at least two years early if it weren't for Hiruzen's decree that there will be no early graduations, barring extreme circumstances.
I suspect that lowering the standards of the curriculum had something to do with it. Hiruzen didn't want early graduates who are barely genin level. Regardless of the age, he would still get his soldiers. Maybe weaker, but there would be more of them.
I made sure to check on Lee as well. He has actually been improving and is climbing the ranks in the taijutsu department. He has finally moved up from last place.
I could sense that his spirit has significantly strengthened since the last time I saw him. The silent and invisible wisps of Haki were clearly present during his solo training, and those poor trees never stood a chance.
Surprisingly, he didn't seem to use it at all during sparring sessions. This might be his way of trying to surpass others with pure taijutsu rather than relying on all of his tools.
Regardless, it's a good thing he holds back; I'm quite sure he could accidentally kill someone if he delivered a Haki-infused punch to an academy student.
My ninth birthday arrived quicker than I expected, but I suppose time flies when you're busy. It also marked the end of Sakura's first year at the academy. Well, almost, she still has a month to go.
Nevertheless, she was finally enjoying the theoretical classes that had been added to fill time left by the removal of some of the practical classes. Most of the physically demanding classes that were meant to weed out those unwilling to train had been removed; only the basic sparring class and basic weapon throwing classes remained.
I wonder how Hiruzen thinks this will be beneficial. While yes, he will have more graduates, they will all likely be borderline useless, even as reserves. Sending someone who can only perform the Illusionary Clone and a Transformation Jutsu into any battle is essentially a suicide mission.
If only they had kept chakra reinforcement as a core part of the training... Now, the clan kids will be the only ones even slightly prepared to venture outside the village.
But I guess that sounds more like a Jonin-sensei problem than mine, aside from the sick feeling in my stomach whenever I think about these kids being sent on any mission above D-rank.
My thoughts were interrupted by a crow tapping its beak against my window. It seems that Itachi's tried-and-true method of waiting for a few months before responding is becoming the norm.
Still, I won't complain since I'm finally getting something. I opened the letter inside, and the contents almost made me drop it from shock.
Sorry for the long wait, but I finally got a confirmation about the man tailing me. Your jutsu made it much easier for me to dodge his attempts to catch me.
I wish I could share more details, but I really shouldn't. The organization I've joined has sent me on a mission, and I had a rather unpleasant encounter with the Mizukage. I'm okay now, but I want to keep a low profile for a while.
Please give Izumi a hint about the stone tablet I mentioned. It can be accessed using the Sharingan at the Naka Shrine; I hope she finds what she needs there.
Also, please take care of her and Sasuke. I may have angered my pursuer quite a bit.
The note didn't hold the secrets of the universe, but it really seems like some events are just supposed to happen.
Itachi briefly fighting Yagura was an anime filler, if I remember correctly, but in that timeline, Itachi had just barely gotten used to activating his Mangekyo. This version of Itachi already mastered both basic abilities and even awakened Susano.
I somehow doubt this encounter went well for Yagura. Even in the filler, he was almost burned to a crisp by Amaterasu.
As for the man who keeps chasing after him, that could be Obito, Orochimaru, or really anyone. I even remember another filler character named Hiruko that wanted the Sharingan for himself.
I better not think about it, or it will hurt my brain.
I will have to send another message to Itachi when something interesting happens. But for now, I could only talk to Izumi and hope for the best. What Itachi thought she might find on the stone tablet, I could not tell, or even guess.
But as it was my birthday, I needed all of my friends present, if only spiritually. So I sent out a Shadow Clone to sneak out again and go meet Kurama. It was long overdue for another talk. Hopefully, he will have some ideas on what to do with all of that chakra sealed inside Noriaki. It belongs to him, after all.