Gimme your powerstones, muhehehehe.
...
Mikoto Uchiha could feel a sense of purpose rushing into her very being as she stared into Hidetada's eyes, the passionate flames within them reduced to a low ember yet still just as potent. The evening air was beginning to cool, carrying the scent of damp earth and the distant, melodic rustle of the Forest of Death.
He had a way with his words.
The way he had framed those thoughts, the exact, measured tone he had used,it had been perfect for every sentence, it made her want to stand beside him against the world to make it a better place. Mikoto could not help but pause and think about the things he had said, from conquering the world to bringing it to his heel, if anyone could do it, it would have to be the grandson of the First Hokage.
She shook her head to clear the lingering spell of his voice and looked at him admiringly. "No wonder. You're definitely going to be the next Hokage."
Hidetada was drawn out of his contemplative silence by her words. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, the shadows of the canopy dancing across his features. "What do you mean? How can you be so sure that I am going to be the next Hokage?"
Shrugging her shoulders, she explained to him with an amused smirk. "All the previous Hokages have said the same thing, that the position is not hereditary, and it merely depends on the skill of a shinobi, not their connections." Mikoto paused, a mirthful glint appearing in her dark eyes. "But all the previous and current Hokages are connected to each other. Tobirama was the brother of Hashirama, and Lord Third was their student."
Hidetada furrowed his brows in thought. Hiruzen Sarutobi was followed by Minato Namikaze, who was succeeded by Tsunade—if you did not count Hiruzen's second term—then Kakashi, and finally Naruto.
'Oh shit, she's right,' he thought, wondering how that obvious connection had escaped him for so long. Minato was the student of Jiraiya, who was taught by the Third Hokage himself, and Hiruzen was the sensei of Tsunade as well. Then Kakashi was the student of Minato, and Naruto was the student of Kakashi. Huh, he had never considered that linear path before.
Still, he was not wholly against the idea. It made sense that the Hokages would know their own students the best and choose accordingly based on observed character. But it was still surprising that he had not noticed the pattern until now.
So every Hokage after Hashirama was essentially a nepotism baby?
At least they were decent enough at their jobs.
That sort of reminded him of how Hiruzen had let Hizashi, the brother of Hiashi, die just because he did not want to go to war against Kumogakure.
It was, honestly, a decently well-thought-out decision.
Konoha was at its weakest at that point, with their strongest shinobi, Minato, being dead and their Jinchuriki being just a child, while the Village Hidden in the Clouds possessed two fully trained Jinchurikis and a Raikage in his prime. Out of all of Hiruzen's students, only Jiraiya was left; Orochimaru had deserted the village and Tsunade was busy gambling off the Senju Clan's savings in random gambling houses across the continent. The only Kage-Level shinobi left in the village at that time was Hiruzen himself. And that was not even considering the fact that their military force had been significantly decimated by the Nine-Tails attack.
While he had played weakly and bent over backwards for the Raikage's demands, Konoha was in a better place for the next few years, allowing them to regain their strength.
All in all, if a war had broken out then, the Village Hidden in the Leaves would have been completely destroyed.
Hidetada hummed deeply in his throat as he nodded. "You are right. It's kind of weird that I never noticed it before." He glanced up at the sky and felt the wind on his skin, blowing through his hair. The afternoon heat had finally given way to the soft, golden light of the evening sun. As he stood up he was reminded that it time to return home now.
Mikoto gazed at his tall figure, the light catching the sharp angles of his face, before replying with a smile. "It's weird how many things you can notice just by having an outsider's perspective."
The wind blew past them again, fluttering her hair until it got in her eyes. She brought her arms up to push the strands behind her ear as she stood up as well.
Lazily raising his arms for a stretch, Hidetada hesitated for a second before speaking, his eyes having a hidden glint, "You said you wanted to be strong enough to protect your family, right?" He waited as Mikoto nodded unsurely, wondering why he was bringing this up now. "How about I train you?"
Her mouth gaped open before she shut it with a sharp click. While it was difficult to say just how strong he was—she had never seen him fight—judging by his chakra, which she could sense even without being a specialist, his Ninjutsu had to be incredibly powerful. Mikoto's eyes scanned their surroundings, taking note of the environment. The trees were damaged and bent, and there were deep grooves in the dirt, suggesting that a serious fight had taken place here. It definitely included Hidetada, but considering how relaxed he looked, with no damage visible even on his clothes, he had clearly won.
It did make her wonder who his sparring partner had been.
And that was considering the fact that he was the Heir of the Senju Clan. No one from their respective clans had been close since the time of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.
Her response came out in a more excited tone than she had intended. "Yes!" Mikoto paused, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks as she coughed into her fist. "I mean, I would be greatly honored to be taught by someone like you, Hidetada-san."
The Senju Heir stepped toward her with a few long strides. In a second, he had crossed the distance between them and was standing barely a foot away. She could feel the heat of his body radiating off him in the cooling air. Her pink tongue darted out to moisten her lips as she wondered what he was going to do, her hands wrung together behind her back.
A deep blush overcame her cheeks as she breathed out when he bent down with a smirk on his face to... pull her cheeks?
"Man, you're so cute when you're flustered like that." Hidetada squished and abused her pale cheeks while she was too shocked to do anything, her dark eyes staring wide into the distance. "Also, drop all those honorifics, Mikoto. That shit is for boring people."
He squeezed her cheeks one last time before standing straight and taking a step back. She remained frozen, staring off into the trees, strands of black hair falling over her face cutely.
"I'll pick you up from the Academy tomorrow. Do not be worried about finding me."
With that, and a wave accompanied by a gentle smile, he was gone in a sudden burst of wind and swirling leaves.
There was only one thought ringing inside of Mikoto's head.
'Am I going to be pregnant now?'
Squeezing her cheeks... how lewd.
...
Hidetada hummed a tune from his previous life as he jumped across the rooftops leisurely. The feeling of the cool evening wind hitting his body was addicting. His clothes and long brown hair fluttered in the air as he darted from one ceramic tile roof to another. This world really lacked good music. The only music that seemed to exist here was in the form of lullabies or folk songs passed down through generations as he thought, 'I guess when you're focused intently on inventing new ways to kill your enemies, there probably wouldn't be much time left for entertainment.'
Actually, that reminded him, there were no movies, no popular songs, and very few paintings in this world. This planet was just a beautiful rock with very little form of art. What did these people even watch on the TV over here? Hidetada had one in his house but had never actually used it. Maybe it was time to finally do so.
As he reached the gates of the Senju Compound, he came across something surprising. His eyebrows shot up as he sensed the chakra signatures of the two people standing just inside the walls.
Making one final jump, Hidetada landed inside the compound, staring incredulously at the sight before him.
One of the chakra signatures was that of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, and standing in front of the man was Mito Uzumaki, his grandmother.
But the second chakra signature that he had sensed belonged to a girl standing a few feet away from them, looking at him with distrusting purple eyes. Her bright red hair shone like molten lava as the setting sunlight reflected off it.
Judging by her appearance and age, Hidetada was fairly certain who the girl was.
It was none other than Kushina Uzumaki.
Taking a few steps, he stood right in front of her. As she shot him a suspicious glance, Hidetada raised his arms with a creepy grin wiggling his fingers in the air, "Say kiddo, do you want to eat some ice cream?
Kushina scoffed scornfully as she replied with an animated shake of her head that sent her red hair flying. "Kiddo? Who are you calling kiddo, you..." She thought for a few seconds, wondering which insult would be the best before deciding. "Suspicious looking man! I am already thirteen years old! Actually, how old even are you?"
Hidetada lowered his arms with a snort as he flashed her his grin again. "I have just turned fifteen."
Her mouth gaped open as she took in his appearance. He was so tall, but his face looked fairly young; still, it was hard to believe that this boy was only a few years older than her.
Before Kushina could say anything more, she was interrupted by Hiruzen butting in with his own smile and kind voice. "Ah! I see you already met her, Hidetada-kun." He paused for a moment, thinking before continuing. "How about you give her a tour of the village while I talk to your grandmother?"
He was basically telling them both to politely fuck off.
Hidetada shrugged, shooting Mito a glance that said they needed to speak later, before looking back at Kushina and motioning for her to follow him. He led her out the gates of the compound as she continued to burn a hole in his back with her gaze. Once they were a comfortable distance away from the compound, he started speaking again.
"So, I never caught your name." He paused, waiting for her to catch up until she was standing beside him, still staring suspiciously. "I'll go first by saying, I am Hidetada Senju."
The red-haired girl gazed at him for a few seconds before giving her reply curtly. "Name's Kushina Uzumaki, dattebane!" He raised his eyebrow at whatever she said at the end of her sentence; it sounded similar to Naruto's 'dattebayo', but considering that she was his mother, it made sense. Nodding, he continued on his way, ignoring the verbal tic.
"Hmm, tell me, do you want to eat ramen?" Hidetada said as he eyed her from the corner of his eyes. Kushina perked up immediately at the mention of ramen, just as he had expected.
What was it with the Uzumaki people and their love for ramen? Mito, Kushina, and Naruto, basically all the known Uzumakis loved ramen.
Maybe it was embedded in their genetics to like noodles for some reason.
"Yeah! I'd love to!" Kushina said, her excitement increasing. Once she realized that she came off as too eager, she added snidely with a cough, "I doubt any shop over here is going to be as good as the ramen back in my village."
Sniffing the air haughtily, she could still not hide her excitement as she hurried her pace. Ramen was the only thing that reminded her of Uzushiogakure, a sort of connecting link. She felt a pang go through her heart as she realized that it would be a long time before she returned home. The thought of everyone forgetting her while she was gone was terrifying. Kushina could not hide the frown that appeared on her face at the thought.
"Nah, this ramen is going to be better than anything you have eaten until now," Hidetada taunted her playfully with a smirk once he saw how her mood had shifted. A judgmental look glinted in her eyes as she stared at him before replying with just two words. "Nuh-uh. I really doubt it."
"Yuh-uh. All your doubts will be removed once you actually eat it."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yuh-uh."
They continued to argue playfully on their way to the shop. The thoughts of her troubles vanished from Kushina's mind as she tried to hide her smile during their argument. Maybe it wasn't so bad over here.
Finally, after a few more minutes of walking, they had reached their destination just as the sun began its final descent, painting the sky in hues of orange and purple.
"How are you, Teuchi?"
...
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Word Count: 2269.