The next day, my personal nightmare came to me. As they say, speak of the devil and he doth appear. Did you remember Nawaki yesterday? Hold on, don't choke…
The morning began with a delicate awakening:
"Chi-chan" a gentle touch on my shoulder and a gentle voice brought me out of the dream. "Chi-chan, wake up."
"Ma? What happened?" somehow I come to myself.
Usually Reiko doesn't bother with an alarm clock. I'm not small anymore, I'll have to wake up myself.
"Nawaki happened" I feel a smile in her voice.
"What does he want?" I ask, rubbing my face with my hands in displeasure.
"He wants to train, of course!" Mom chuckled.
I looked around blearily. Yeah, I see. I fell asleep in the lab again.
"Thanks for waking me up."
"Good morning," Mom smiled.
"Good morning," I tried to cheer up. "Aren't you at work yet? What time is it?"
"It's almost six."
"Damn Senju" I growled softly. "How annoying he is!"
"One of our neighbors girls came with him. A competitor?" Reiko asked slyly, watching me stagger up the stairs.
"Hyuga? Oh, yes, a six-year-old competitor" I broke into a smile.
"You were already an enviable bride at the age of seven," Mom suddenly remembered. "Such a volume of chakra, such potential. And now you're also a recognized genius, by the way."
"Mom, I love you so much," I said earnestly, "I adore you so much. Otherwise, how can I explain the fact that I have not yet escaped from your malice?"
"love you too, Chi-chan," the mother jumped up and kissed me on the cheek and rushed off, apparently, to the kitchen.
I trudged to the front door. Mom didn't let Nawaki into the house. It may not be culturally appropriate, but Senju treat such things normally. My family consists of only two member, and this is too little to look after one energetic tomboy - he will definitely stick his nose everywhere and break something valuable along the way.
"Hello!" seeing my evil face, this filth exclaimed.
"Hello, young people, what are you about?" I squinted at the bright sunlight. Damn, it seems to be December already, and the sun rises like in summer — an abnormal world! In general, with such a photo mode, there should be a warmer climate in winter, but now it has become cool. Sometimes it even snowed in Konoha. I saw it myself!
"Orochimaru-sama, you are the best teacher!" the little girl bent ninety degrees.
"Oh, thank you, Nami-chan," I automatically broke into a smile. "Learn, Nawaki, how to greet me in the morning! Just, Nami-chan, remind me why I'm the best teacher?"
The girl straightened up and, complacently pouting and putting her hands on her hips, said:
"I defeated Hizashi-san in a sword fight! All thanks to you, Orochimaru-sama!"
"Well done, Nami-chan!" I admired.
In fact, it was probably a funny sight - the fight of a six-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy, considering that Hyuga, in general, swordsmen are so-so.
With a slight pity, looking into white eyes beaming with admiration, I already imagined what was waiting for me in the next couple of hours.
"Orochimaru-sama, Nawaki-san told me that you are going to have a lesson with him today. Will I be allowed to join?" once again, the little one bent respectfully in a bow.
All I had to do was to put my hand to my face and feel sorry for this little miracle. And now she's six years old? Is this how you need to mock a child so that he speaks like that? Next to her, this stupid Senjusovskaya looks like a schoolboy walking under the table. Although we are from a side branch. That explains a lot.
"Nami-chan, tell me, why do you need kenjutsu? You're from the Hyuga clan," I asked her in an insinuating tone.
"Hizashi-san says that my arms are too short to defeat him. With bokken, my hands are just right to show him the depth of his delusion, Orochimaru-sama!" Tin. She wrapped this up. Maybe someone's reincarnation too?
"How long will I wait for you, Orochi-kun?" saggy, apparently, also admired the grandiloquence of Hyuga, Nawaki, for which he immediately received a whiplash from me.
"I'll be out in five minutes, someone has to teach you politeness, Senju-san" I hissed bitterly, returning the elongated hand to its usual shape and slamming the door right in front of the kids' noses. However, after a second he came to his senses and, opening the door again, sternly asked Nawaki: "Did you bring it?"
"Y-yes," looking furtively around, this little one carefully handed me a small flat bag.
Looking into it, I grinned happily - Senju still fulfilled our agreement and brought a bunch of crumpled, apparently pulled out of the comb, hair. Scarlet hair.
"Well done!" I patted him on the head. "Today I will teach you something that will definitely come in handy and save your life more than once!" and slammed the door again before the little ones decided to sneak into the house.
Quickly throwing the onigiri into himself and pulling on the clothes in which he trained with his former teammates yesterday, he rushed out into the street. Mito-sama's hair has been thrown into the solution so that later, in the evening, DNA can be quickly extracted from them. Mm-hmm! And life is beautiful!
It took about twenty minutes to get to the nearest landfill. It would be faster, but Nami-chan is not yet very confident in controlling the chakra, jumping on roofs and tree branches is not recommended for her. Nawaki, of course, was not very happy about such a delay, so he managed to thoroughly gnaw my brain like that. How annoying this child is! As I imagine that I will soon have to teach three such blockheads, it becomes bad. It's good that I'm only a field commander of such a team so far! God, may my students be like Nami-chan! In general, it will be wonderful if Hyuga herself gets into my team — I have not met a more diligent and intelligent child besides myself, of course!
By the way, while I continue to ignore the flow of words poured out by Senju, I can talk to the girl.
"Nami-chan, you do understand that my fencing technique is not suitable for everyone?"
"Yes, Dad told me later that the technique I used to defeat Hizashi-san would only be suitable for fighting with training wooden swords" the girl nodded.
"But you still want to continue studying with me?" I chuckled, suspecting that in this quiet pool, under the guise of an obedient and respectful young lady, there is still a devil who likes to go against the accepted rules.
"I hope to combine your kenjutsu with the taijutsu of my clan, Orochimaru-sama," Nami said confidently. "It seems to me that this makes sense."
"Yes, destreza is similar in essence to your hand-to-hand combat technique," I couldn't resist and yawned - I didn't sleep half the night! "but your father is right. In real combat, with real combat weapons, you will have problems. Even if you imbue the blade with chakra, when parrying it will quickly deteriorate."
It's true, in this world, as in medieval Japan, there are big problems with normal steel. The only major supplier of iron is, oddly enough, the Country of Iron. Of course, I'm still a physicist and metallurgist, but I have elementary knowledge. In general, all the steels that I have met with local gunsmiths are too expensive, hard and, accordingly, fragile. The cheap material that goes into forging such consumable inventory as kunai or shurikens, in general, is not far from cast iron in quality due to the peculiarities of heat treatment. And considering that there is not much weapon metal here at all, then armor is not common. I've only seen armor from samurai who live, guess where? That's right, in the Land of Iron.
In short, fencing here is the same as in Japan — a minimum of parries. And then the sword is expensive, it's easier to spoil it when hitting another piece of iron. And if the blade is made of steels of different hardness, then, as a rule, it is not even removed from the rack. They just shake off the dust and that's it. Because it costs more than gold.
At one time, back in that world, when the craze for the "way of the sword" began among self-respecting wealthy people, I also decided to join the high. They say that you keep your body in shape, and strengthen your spirit with wise teaching. It was only when everyone rushed to the proliferating dojo that my feet led me to the school of destreza, Spanish fencing. There, of course, they also showed a little Italian technology, after all, these two directions developed in conjunction. But the fact is that, unlike Japan, there have never been any problems with metal in Europe. And, accordingly, the differences in fencing are striking. This can be seen even by the design of the swords.
Nami's problem, if she wants to continue studying destrese, is that a normal — straight, elastic, light, with a wide guard - she has nowhere to get a sword. I don't have such a problem, my mom gave me a great blade from an unknown dad. He says he definitely won't need it anymore, and he smiles ominously like that. In general, Kusanagi suits me completely. I wouldn't be satisfied if it can change for the user. After all, even in that, my, world, he looked different everywhere, in manga, in anime, in Orochimaru, in Sasuke - everywhere is different.
For my little student, I also need something the same, artifact. My own hands are growing out of the wrong place in this regard, so I can't help her in any way. I was lucky enough to just have a normal weapon, suitable for my skills.
I wonder where the Mist swordsmen were stashed?
"And we are not the first here" I remarked, inspecting the landfill, to which we managed to get to during my abstract reflections. "Well, someone can't sleep either," I drawled dejectedly.
Although if you remember me at my age of six, I was no different from this little thing. Every day I got up at four and plowed like a wind-up until I fell. This is now, when part of my time is occupied by scientific research, I have relaxed — now I have training only three days a week.
"Uchiha, hello!" and here's Nawaki, I forgot about him, I ignored him so well.
Why just yell like that? The training ground is not so big, I can already see perfectly well that in front of us is indeed Uchiha. A girl, about the same age as Nami. Black hair, huge dark eyes, a childishly plump face. From unusual in her, except that, a surprisingly calm expression on her face at the sight of Senju, even friendly. For Uchiha, this is simply a unique phenomenon.
"Hello, Orochimaru-san, Nawaki-san, Nami," what a well-mannered child! You can immediately see the clan upbringing.
"Hello, Mikoto. Orochimaru-sama, let me introduce you - Mikoto Uchiha, my friend and assistant in comprehending the thorny path of kenjutsu," oh, yes, girls, one is better than the other!
"Hello, Mikoto-chan" I grinned. "You train so early. Not at the clan training ground. Do your parents praise your older sister or brother more, do not pay attention to you, pay little attention to your training, so you try, repeat and develop skills on your own here to get well-deserved praise from adults?"
Watching the black-eyed girl's face stretch, I almost burst out laughing out loud. It can't be! I didn't guess right, did I?
"You are very perceptive, Orochimaru-san," hiding the blush that appeared on her cheeks, Uchiha bowed her head.
Yes. It seems to be in her family. Or does everyone in her clan have such a common trait, a feature of kekkei genkai? Funny, Mikoto, funny.
After examining her carefully once again and coming to the conclusion that there is hardly another Mikoto in Konoha, I took it for granted that Sasuke's possible future mother is standing in front of me. For some reason, it used to seem to me that she became an Uchiha after marriage.
"Well, I have no doubt that with such zeal in the future you will become a great Jounin" I tried to say as seriously as possible. "Oh, Nawaki, and where do you hide in yourself the same courteous representative of the founder clan? And most importantly, why?"
"And where do you hide your powerful techniques? And why?" frowning, the little one parodied me.
"Heh-heh-heh," I laughed nastily, squinting, deftly slapping Senj another slap. "If that's what you want… See this obstacle course?" I nodded in the direction of the zone imitating a windfall. "If you pass it, then I will teach you one of the most useful Shinobi techniques."
"Ha! - Nawaki didn't buy it. — What's the catch?
"I set traps there yesterday" I hissed, stretching my lips in a snake smile. "Nothing fatal. If you completely screw up, then you will be discharged from the hospital in a month at most. Well, are you ready to take a chance?"
"Easy!" the guy confirmed and rushed forward.
He fell down already on the fourth step. I just stumbled out of the blue and slammed my face into the grass. After lying down for a couple of seconds, Senju slowly got up and continued passing the obstacle course much more carefully.
"Orochimaru-san," Mikoto called me softly, "there are no traps there, right?"
I reluctantly looked away from the constantly falling guy to the girl.
"Of course there is," I smiled ominously, "but only for Nawaki. I copied this genjutsu from real traps that were used in the First World War. Maybe he'll learn discretion at least this way. Okay, I'm sorry, Mikoto-chan, but now it's time to take care of Nami-chan," immediately folding the necessary sequence of seals, whispered: "Kaburi Tsurugi Bunshin no Jutsu!"
With a soft pop, two blades appeared in the air in front of me, exact copies of my version of Kusanagi, my pride. Yes, I spent a lot of time trying to get something more or less acceptable out of what I inherited. And then I got carried away, and it turned out. A hilt with a handle on one hand, a full guard, created in the form of an intricate tangle of two snakes that protected the hand. The blade is white, wavy - wounds after this for iryenin are a continuous headache. It resembles Reitar swords in size, the blade is long and looks massive, only in Kusanagi it weighs no more than a kilogram — with such cutting ability and the absence of traditional armor among the local population, it does not need to be heavy. A good blade, but I couldn't make it less noticeable, the metal glitters, and with some techniques it also glows like a Christmas tree! It's not Shinobi-like.
In general, if it weren't for my updated brains, a few shadow clones and a couple of liters of energy drinks, I wouldn't be able to use this wunderwafle myself. Fortunately for me, after reincarnation, I can now boast of an almost perfect memory and free entry into my inner world. Thanks to this, I was able to create my own style based on everything I had previously seen and studied and work it out with shadow clones. It's also good that the technique of multiple shadow cloning became forbidden only five years ago, when the war was coming to an end, and I managed to learn it without any problems, otherwise I don't want to bend in front of Danzo and Hiruzen once again for the sake of access to closed archives. One problem: my shadow clones were even more fragile than usual - there was not enough strength for their full materialization.
In any case, my kenjutsu turned out to be quite worthy of this world. Having tried it out during the war, I was satisfied. I was only outraged that some Shinobi from the noble art of the sword created some obscenity with explosions, lightning and other tricks, and I have to match them.
"Since you, Nami-chan, didn't bring bokken with you, we will train on this weapon," I handed the cloned sword to Hyuga. "It's not material: just an ordinary copy and a little genjutsu. When hitting each other, they will behave like ordinary swords, but when touching real objects, they will pass through them, slightly chilling the skin. A special training option" I lied without a twinge of conscience, traditionally passing off a bug as a feature: initially, the swords caused by the technique were supposed to cause real and unbearable pain without causing wounds. "Well, let's go. Let's remember what we learned last time."
To be honest, I'm not much of a teacher. And if Nami had been an ordinary child, my attempts to teach her something would have failed miserably. But lately I'm starting to doubt that clan Shinobi are people at all, because their upbringing is simply inhumane. Otherwise, I don't understand how this little girl absorbs everything I'm trying to convey to her. Crazy world, that's not what I wanted.
I spent about two hours on small ones until it was time to remember my duties as a Root member. By this time, I managed to drive the white-eyed baby and load Mikoto, who, instead of training, seemed to do nothing but watch me drive Hyuga. Oh, yes, Nawaki still managed to pass the obstacle course, with which I had to congratulate him, otherwise he was very limp:
"Not bad, Nawaki-chan. Now you have learned the most important jutsu, "Look where you're going," condescendingly patting the shoulder of a guy breathing heavily and sprawled on the grass, I smiled nastily. "Now we need to bring it to automatism. Your task is to race through the obstacle course as if there are no traps on it. Is that clear?"
"Orochi-san!" Senju began to whine." What kind of training is this? Even Nami-chan, you're teaching something worthwhile, and you're just mocking me!"
"I'm preparing you for the harsh life of Shinobi the way I want. If I don't like it, I'll be only glad, I'll be able to sleep longer," shaking my head in frustration, I complained: "Oh, I didn't think you'd give up so quickly. In vain, I only asked for access to closed archives in order to get equipment for you."
"Which one?" a small one jumped up from the ground instantly.
"What difference does it make now" I waved it off. "If you can't even cope with the first task, then the technique is useless for you."
"How can I not?" the kid raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I can do anything!"
"Is that all?" folding his arms on his chest, he looked condescendingly at the little one. "Come on, show me the Mokuton."
Looking at the instantly frowning Senju, I just smiled even wider. I can imagine how he has already been harassed with similar requirements. Being the grandson of Hashirama and Mito is not so easy. Everyone who is not lazy will definitely poke their nose into the fact that it's time to surprise everyone and master the Element of Wood.
"Don't twist my words," Nawaki muttered, blushing with anger. "I can pass an obstacle course with traps as if they don't exist!"
"S-s-s—" I just hissed back, not even listening to the guy.
I suddenly wondered why, in fact, none of the Senju could no longer release the Element of Wood? At the same time, a simple, judging by the manga, transplantation of cells of the First gives an improved genome and immediately the ability to use it. I couldn't check it yet, all the prisoners who had been implanted with Hashirama's DNA died in agony, and Danzo hadn't had time to think of experiments with children yet. But if my sources aren't lying, then it's all kind of weird.
Nawaki and Tsunade are exactly the children of their father, the genetic similarity is visible on their faces. And I had no doubt that their folder was Mito's son, since I saw him, the red-haired one. It is foolish to doubt the loyalty of the first jinchuriki, which means that her grandchildren definitely have the genes of Hashirama. But, it turns out, they don't have kekkei genkai? And the rest of the Senju, I wonder why they don't own Mokuton? Or is it not a feature of their improved genome? My blonde friend's clan is famous for its vitality, chakra volumes and versatility, they are just good at everything, in fact, hence the name of the thousand skills clan. Maybe then the Element of the Tree is a gene mutation that only the First One had, but was not passed on to descendants? It's a pity he didn't think of more kids to scold from different females, otherwise the sample is too small for analysis…
"Orochimaru-sama?"
"Nami-chan?" not very satisfied, I replied, distracting myself from my thoughts.
"You're frightening."
"Yeah?" what happened?
"Nawaki has escaped" Hyuga informed me. "You looked at him like that…"
"How?"
"As if on tamago-yaki," oh, omelet! Why did you remind me of him, Nami-chan?! I only had one rice ball in the morning!
"I have to go, Nami-chan! Bye!" without hesitating a second, I disappear into shunshin.
I'm going to work soon, and I haven't eaten! Again, the test subjects will start drooling, and I don't eat rats, I'm not that much of a snake!
