Children of a similar age to myself were funneled into my lab little by little over the week. I averaged about three children per day, mostly because I was reading their minds before I gave them the potential to reach Kage-level.

I only caught one 'spy' who was under Danzo's employ, so things were looking fine. I notified Minato and it was not my problem any longer.

Minato and Danzo would wonder how I figured it out, but I wouldn't talk. I was allowed to have some secrets.

With twenty-one kid's done, I refused to do anymore. A week straight of Overwrites ate into my stored chakra and was exhausting.

So now I had a month or so off to refill my seal and bumble around.

...

Rin hadn't been turned into a Jinjuriki, but neither had Obito appeared. Madara might have been able to turn Obito, though not in the same way he had in canon.

With baby, Naruto baking in Kushina's oven things were coming to ahead. Soon Naruto would be born and things would kick-off.

I had a few different plans for different situations that may occur but it wasn't enough. I wanted to be surer of my chances of survival and possibly the survival of Kushina.

I'd need to spend a lot of time on Fuinjutsu this year and prepare for the eventual attack on Konoha in whatever form it took.

"Preparation would be key. Unless I decide to let everyone die." I frowned at the thought, not finding it too appealing. "Not appealing, but it is the easiest solution."

All I can do is try...

I wish I didn't get attached. My life would be much easier if I didn't care about Kushina and by extension Minato.

More so Kushina then Minato. But still, I wanted Kushina alive at the least.

I was the protagonist in my story, but everyone else also has a story where they are the protagonist.

Aomi looked at me with a raised eyebrow and a frown. I smiled at her and winked, non-verbally telling her not to mind my mental rambling.

"Gross inadequacy of opportunities is the norm in life and biology." Aomi blinked and I rolled my eyes. "Some people are born smart, charming, and strong..." I teasingly gestured to myself. "...while most aren't."

I picked up a folder containing the before and after reports of the few kids that had been genetically modified and handed it to Aomi.

"I've chosen those who were smart and given them the ability to be charming and strong." I was making life fair for a select group of children. They would have everything, equal opportunities. It would depend on them how far they went through.

"They will be Konoha's next generation, they will have everything they need to be great." Aomi's eyes met mine. "But it will ultimately depend on them and their own will to succeed."

Giving every promising child the potential to reach low-Kage level might bite me in the ass.

You can't eliminate poverty by giving people money. And giving people the optimal genetics would probably be the same in principle.

"Do you understand what I'm trying to do or I have I just rambled?" I turned to Aomi with tired eyes.

No matter what I did it would never be enough. It wasn't just how I felt, it was also objectively true.

"It doesn't matter how smart you are, if you're born weak and ugly the odds are stacked against you." I nodded approvingly already seeing where this was heading. "You're trying to elevate the smart, and move them upwards in the hierarchy."

I nodded buy kept my face neutral. It wasn't exactly what I was after, it was more of a happy side effect.

"I want to elevate the talented, smart, and stable above all." Hopefully, those traits would carry on into the future.

But I doubted it.

It was far more likely that I was creating my undoing.

"Fuck." I rubbed my forehead and Aomi raised an eyebrow at me. "Anyway, I'm trying to make a better Konoha, whether it works or not is up to chance."

I covered my eyes with my hand and enjoyed the brief darkness and absence of light.

"There's a reason I'm trying to explain this to you." I uncovered my eyes and met Aomi's. "I want you to continue what I'm doing should I die."

'Or be ousted from Konoha.' I said mentally to myself.

Aomi's eyes widened and she nodded seriously.

"Anyways, let's go get some ramen." I needed to get out of the basement, and out of my own head. I was thinking myself into a depression. "Let's go."

Aomi nodded and placed the folder on the table. We both made our way up the stairs and out of the house.

...

After becoming able to read the thoughts of everyone around me I couldn't help but take a peek now and then. Thus I lost the will to go outside. I was turning into a recluse because I lost what little faith I had in my fellow human beings.

It was a sad state of affairs. I was falling into a minor depression despite my best efforts to stay busy and happy.

Power was easy to acquire, but happiness was hard to maintain.

"What do I need to cross off my mental list?" I turned to my Clone, one of my few companions as of late.

My Clone rolled his eyes at me.

"DNA mutation and Fuinjutsu are the most pressing." The Clone gestured to his head. "Though all you have to do is have a dive into Kushina's or Minato's mind to finish up with Fuinjutsu."

I nodded absently, at the Clone's words.

"I should probably continue developing my understanding of Fuinjutsu before I go and try to use someone else's." My clone shrugged and turned away from me.

I stared at it for a moment, while trying to think of something to do.

Isami and Gai were out with Rin, and Mom was busy training with Asano. My lightsaber was done, if not particularly pleasant to look at.

My body was whole and healthy, most of my work on the bloodlines I possessed was done, baring the Uchiha and Uzumaki whose bloodlines were all-kinds of mysterious.

"Do I mess around with Ninjutsu or do I take a mission?" I threw the question out and into the room but received no response from the Clone. "Or maybe I can go bother the Hyuga?"

Baby Neji was supposed to burst out of his mother sometime soon. I could bother the Hyuga for a while...

"Why don't you go bother Kakashi, he just joined the Anbu last I heard." I raised an eyebrow at the unexpected information.

Kakashi wasn't completely friendless and alone, so why did he join the Anbu?

"That doesn't sound interesting." Kakashi would just ignore me. "Nothing sounds interesting..."

I trailed off and stared at the ceiling.

I was probably going to need to fend off another wave of boredom within the next little while.

"I guess I'll take a mission." I scratched my nose. "A mission by myself."

I rose from my seat and headed towards the stairs in search of a mission to keep the boredom at bay.

Hopefully, I'd have something to do by the time I returned.

...

I made a consorted effort to evade everyone as I made my way through the Hokage tower. I was a well-known face in Konoha now, and people wanted to spend time with me and suck the joy out of my life.

I could be nice and chat with them. But that usually went nowhere and drained me of what little will to live that I could muster on any particular day.

The much safer and mentally healthy option was to avoid everyone and talk to no-one. Being a recluse was a sure-fire way to become feared or despised, but I honestly couldn't bring myself to care.

With a bit of a flourish, I made my way into Minato's office, ignoring the three Genin that were waiting by the door.

"What brings you here?" Minato had a warm smile on his face.

I ignored the urge to smack it off him and got to the point.

"I'm bored, do you have an interesting mission?" Short and straight to the point, just how I liked things.

Minato tilted his head and drifted into thought, while the Genin shifted uneasily in the hallway.

"How far do you feel like traveling?"

I shrugged, not feeling particularly picky. Minato nodded and drifted into thought again. I ignored the whispers of the Genin occupying the hallway and focused on Minato who looked pretty stumped.

"I'm afraid that there's nothing you would enjoy at the moment." He half-smiled at me. "The Fuinjutsu in the shelters does need to be maintained."

"Hmmm...?" I hummed. It sounded like a Kushina job, not a job for someone who wanted to stab things with his spine. "Which ones? And Where?"

Minato smiled widely and grabbed a blank paper from his drawer.

"Here, I'll write it down." He motioned me to come closer. "Memorize it and burn it."

I nodded seriously and watched as he quickly noted down the locations of the shelters and what needed to be done with them.

"Do I have to be sneaky about theses one's?" I tapped two shelters that were located particularly close to the clans, and one that was close to the school.

Minato nodded.

"Those protect the future of Konoha." I ignored Minato and quickly memorized the paper, before scrunching it into a ball and pocketing it so I could burn it later.

The shelters by the clans and the school were the most secret ones, as they held Konoha's 'future'. So, I had to keep shenanigans to a minimum and make sure no-one knew about them.

"I'll get it done." Though I wasn't sure I was even getting paid for this. It didn't matter too much, but money was always nice.

"Good." Minato nodded and waved me out.

I bowed and headed straight for the door, eyeing a somewhat familiar Genin as I passed. We met eyes and I lightly skimmed his thoughts before turning away and making my way out of the tower.

Ibiki Morino...

"Hmmm..." I hummed to myself as I left, feeling weird about seeing 'canon' characters. Each sighting was a reminder that my time was limited and always decreasing.

Time always felt both slow and fast, it was agonizing.

I shook my head, dispelling my thoughts as I left the tower completely.

I had stuff to do today...

...

The genes that most of the enhanced kids got wouldn't get them past low Kage-level. The abnormally dense chakra and slight healing factor made up for their 'limited' chakra.

Improved senses and the actual ability to sense chakra would also put them above the rest. Most of their looks would stay, the only change being the blue eyes they all sported.

The kids were giving a huge head start in ninja-hood and most of them would probably die because of it. It was a sad truth, sometimes no matter how talented one was death was inescapable.

Even I wouldn't be able to escape death...

I shook my head, trying to shake the thought from my mind. Negative thinking never got me anywhere anyways...

"Can we just take everything down?" One of my Shadow Clones spoke, pulling me from my thoughts.

I scratched my nose with the back of my thumb giving myself time to think.

"That's not what Minato wants, but it might be better if we just tear everything down." I stared at the many clones wandering throughout the shelter. "This mess should probably just be redone."

The Fuinjutsu in the shelters were patched many times by many different people, each with a different understanding and proficiency in Fuinjutsu.

It made the entire structure a patchwork of different Fuinjutsu systems and barriers. Many overlapped making them useless and inefficient, some even canceled each other out, weakening the entire structure.

Many people added to the patchwork monstrosity over the years, and not all additions were good. It made the whole thing headache-inducing to look at, let alone figure out.

"Strip everything down and redo the seals." The clone nodded. "Make sure everything is organized and easy to understand." The clone rolled its eyes and nodded, going off to do its tasks.

Hopefully, it would be easier for future Fuinjutsu users to fix these, getting rid of the mess that it was would hopefully help...

"Alrighty..." I nearly sighed but stopped myself. There wasn't anything to sigh about, just work to do.

I nodded to myself and activated my Byakugan, looking for something to start on.

...

"What's got you so angry?" I pushed some broken glass away with my foot while making my way over to the desk Orochimaru was leaning over.

A trashed lab was pretty unusual for Orochimaru, the last time this happened was when Minato became the Hokage over him.

"One of my acquaintances fled the village, becoming a Missing-nin." His words were neutral, dull and his face expressionless. But I could tell he cared from the slight tightening of his jaw. "Though it would be more accurate to say that he was forced to flee the village."

"Hiruko?" I tossed the name out there as it was the only other person I'd seen Orochimaru with baring Jiraiya.

Orochimaru scowled, proving my guess right.

"Indeed." His scowl was still prominent. "He was pushed out of the village due to Hiruzen's fear of the Clans response should they discover what he was working on."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Bloodline theft then?" I said, guessing what the creepy guy was after.

Orochimaru nodded immediately.

"He was looking for ways to incorporate multiple bloodlines into himself without using transplants."

I nodded.

"Ah, he was getting into DNA stuff..." The Hokage couldn't allow someone to blatantly research bloodline theft in a village of bloodline users.

I understood why he was giving him the boot, but also worried. It was likely I would receive the boot should the Clans pressure the Third.

"Why does the Third have the power to give missions still?" If that was even what happened. The Hokage should be retired and minding his own business.

This should be Minato's problem, the Third shouldn't be involved.

"He doesn't, the mission wasn't official."

I blinked.

"Hmmm..." I hummed. The Third stepped in and forced one of Orochimaru's friends to flee the village, or that's what I was getting from the conversation.

Orochimaru seemed upset, but It could also be an act of some kind. I wasn't sure what the purpose of that would be though.

"I'll have to be careful then." I rubbed one of my eyes. "Minato and I are getting into some stuff of a similar nature. The Third might take offense to what we are doing."

Though I might just be paranoid. The Third didn't have a problem with my modified crops, and he might see the benefit of genetically enhancing our next generation.

"Thanks for letting me know." I nodded gratefully.

I'd tread carefully from now on. I didn't need to be kicked out of the village after spending so much time trying to improve it.

"Hm." Orochimaru nodded and made a hand-sign.

Four clones appeared around him and quickly went about cleaning the lab. I shrugged and made some clones of my own to help out.

"Thanks." Orochimaru inclined his head.

I shrugged and joined the clones in cleaning. The lab soon descended into silence as we quietly went about cleaning.

...

"Found you..." I grinned as Chōza's big stupid head entered my line of sight.

With what was probably a slightly insane grin, I made my way over to the dumb oaf ready to plunder his memories.

We locked eyes from across the market, though I wasn't quite close enough to read his mind. I continued, slowly getting closer to him.

Chōza looked mildly concerned by my presence, but that was likely due to the chakra I was unintentionally leaking.

"Hey friend, how's it going?" I gave him my best cheery smile and sent my chakra through my eyes and into his.

His memories came to me slowly, his lack of spiritual energy helping him delay my snooping.

"Hello?" Chōza looked completely confused but nonetheless stuck his hand out for a handshake.

I took said hand and continued digging, looking for the information about his clans Hidens.

"How have you been? Staying healthy?" I released his hand and stepped to the side to maintain eye contact when he tried to look away.

He looked uncomfortable but smiled politely at me.

"Yes, I've been enjoying the peace and spending time with my wife."

He tried to look away again, but I stepped into his field of view and maintained eye contact.

"Ah, that's good. I've just been relaxing, there's not much for me to do nowadays..."

Chōza nodded but took a step back breaking the mental connection I had with him.

"It's been good to see you, but I have errands to run. My wife will kill me if I don't bring back some beef tongue."

I smiled and nodded, as I had everything I needed.

"Well, say hello to Chiharu." I smiled and began to take my leave.

I saw Chōza's eyes widen as I left, probably because he realized he hadn't told me his wife's name.

I sent Chōza one last toothy grin before I disappeared in a Shunshin.

...