Chapter 2 : The thingy in my tummy.
With the three stooges' death and the shutdown of the ROOT organization in the aftermath of the Uchiha's culling, things in the Leaf started to move, and move fast, in the following months.
Contrary to what I could loosely remember from canon, Konoha's police force didn't miraculously land in the hands of the washed up Fuma clan, famous in the OG timeline for… existing, and having a particularly unwieldy shuriken after their name, I guess?
Obviously, Mikoto wanted absolutely nothing to do with it, the Leaf most famous widow having left the compound behind with absolutely zero remorse, Sasuke held by one hand and a very confused, but happy, Naruto by the other, to relocate in the village proper, a very impressive resting bitch face look carved on her features, daring everyone to just pip a fucking word against her decision.
I was there for the whole thing, and it honestly made my day.
And so, Konoha's police force became what it should've been from the first place: a village-wide initiative, backed by all the clans' heads.
In the span of three months, the old, archaic, and frankly retarded, institution got completely overhauled, principally under the aegis of the Yamanaka, Nara and, surprisingly, Inuzuka clans, but now every low-rank ninjas who weren't able to eke a proper living with the trade -which amounted to a surprising amount of people, actually- were allowed to transfer in as long as they strictly adhered to the rules and behaved adequately.
Turns out, since the police force was principally used as an early warning system and mediation force, washed up eternal genin and chunin past their primes were plenty happy to pick up the trade instead of going outside the walls and risks their lives, and were extremely motivated at doing a good job so as to not get the boot, who would have thought?
I was also half convinced that those new MPs had gotten a quiet word about the Kyuubi's host situation, because Naruto's persecution started to peter out really quickly once they got installed.
Could also be due to the fact that, from the little I've seen from afar, Mikoto Uchiha was doing a pretty good impression of a mama bear defending her cubs with both of her sons, adopted or not.
And antagonizing an Uchiha with the 'Scary Eyeballs' -somehow, it leaked through the grapevine- sounded suspiciously like a bad idea, even to the common folks, so they eventually dropped it.
I wasn't aware of what exactly was being done with the vestiges of ROOT, but my budding chakra-sensor-thingy -that I had neglected so far in profit of other aspects of my powerset, but that I had inevitably picked up after years of exposure solely due to [Soul Talent]- had started to pick up more 'unseen' figures moving around those days, so I was willing to bet that some agents had been sorta folded into the ANBU, at least the least mind-whamied of them.
Man, Inoichi must have had a few wild months, both as the head of T - T and because he was the most skilled mindwalker around.
Honestly, if the government had done a good job going over ROOT's assets with a fine-tooth comb, Danzo's wide arrays of informants and shadow dealings should have given them a mighty fine leg up against the competition, I can at least credit him -post-mortem, kek- for being good at his job, even if he had acted like a total moron with what he learned.
Those days, the village as a whole had more in common with a kicked anthill than anything else, but not necessarily in a bad way, which made me hopeful for the future.
Wouldn't stop me from stacking the deck in favor of my continued survival, but at least I could look forward to slightly easier times than the OG timeline.
Now, what did I do in the last six-ish months while all of that was happening, exactly?
Well, the answer can be easily boiled down to one sentence, really: I stepped up my game.
Not having to watch over my shoulder and fear for my continued freedom allowed me to gradually pull back on my abuse of my sweet, sweet Stranger power while simultaneously getting better grades and starting to distinguish myself from my peers more and more at the academy.
In short, I 'reinserted' myself into the minds of the Leaf's denizens as a budging prodigy instead of the wallflower I had previously behaved as, a process copiously helped by my [Covert Talent] -the very same which had gotten pretty swole after a seven years workout session- to smooth the whole thing out.
I had also started to 'discreetly' practise with my 'budding' Mokuton Kekkei Genkai, playing the part of a child discovering -if cautiously- that they are built different, while simultaneously giving my [Artistic-, as well as [Scientific-] and [Soul Talent] a good exercise as I frantically delved into seals with dogged determination in a more public manner.
I had needs for the all-encompassing bullshit that Naruto-patented Sealing was, after all, chiefs among them the fact that I cruelly lacked the advanced technology needed to both 'raise my parameters' in true Clade Venenum fashion and because I was feeling naked without my Capsule Gun for long-range take-downs.
Yes, I technically had the Mokuton for those, but it also was the absolute opposite of stealthy, and that offended the Ordo Assassinorum agent in me to the nth degree.
I wasn't a punch-wizard aping as a ninja, no siree, I was a fully fledged, unseen, silent, assassin, and I fully intended to fight like one.
The fact that it was really good for my long-term health prospects was only the cherry on the cake, honestly.
Which landed us here and now, with me sitting cross-legged, my naked toes -my shoes discarded next to me- digging into the soil of the Academy grounds after eating my lunch, my hands settled on my knees, each of those doing a half-hand Snake sign, the weeds and field flowers surrounding me slightly swaying to the rhythm of an unheard song.
Now, if my feet didn't really look like human ones and the green surrounding me moved despite a very conspicuous absence of wind, well, that was kind of on purpose.
I was trying to get 'noticed', after all.
Had been at it for a few weeks by now, dialing up the show a little further each day.
Obviously, I could have kept acting in the shadows, keeping all of my aces in my sleeves until graduation, pretending to just be a very good stealth specialist.
Except, loneliness, now that the three stooges were out of the picture, was starting to drive me fucking spare. Mind you, I'd probably be fucking worse if I hadn't the benefits of roughly twenty-ish years of conditioning and training as a Clade Venenum agent in my mind, but even they weren't supposed to go in infiltration for nearly a fucking decade.
A part of me wanted to belong in the village, after having behaved like an acausal observer for nearly eight years while living in it.
Human beings weren't wired to be lonely for this long.
And so, I was taking a calculated gamble, the best one I could come up with, or so my [Covert Talent] and [Venenum Assassin] 'memories' were telling me.
And, as someone softly lands next to me, it looks like that gamble paid off.
"That's a really interesting little trick you have there, ojou-chan." an aged, weary, smoker voice casually comments as they -rather smoothly- sit next to me.
I slowly 'blink awake', turning myself slightly to the side.
My eyes lands onto a casually clothed Sarutobi Hiruzen, the old man idly stuffing something inside his smoking pipe, all the while scrutinizing me.
I 'blink' once more, before relaxing the effects of my Jugo's Clan Kekkei Genkai, making my legs return back to normal.
I give the Hokage a little formal bow, something made slightly awkward due to my cross-legged position, before answering as politely as a near nine years old is expected to be when raised inside a military dictatorship -if arguably a rather benevolent one-.
"Hokage-sama." I answer, making him raise one of his eyebrows minutely.
Hmm, did he actually not expect me to recognize him, I wonder?
The two of us lock eyes, silence stretching between us despite the low roar of the other children's chatter washing over us.
"Tell me, ojou-chan," the Professor finally says after a beat, "Do you know what it is that you do?"
I tilt my head in a childish fashion.
"I'm not sure, Hokage-sama?" I answer, before shrugging, "I just noticed one day that the thingy in my tummy danced when the flowers did too, so, I started to close my eyes to better watch it."
The old man chuffs a laugh, before darting a hand to poke me above the belly-button, making me yelp in surprise.
"The 'thingy in your tummy', is called chakra, ojou-chan." he amusingly informs me as I pout back at him, "You'll learn more about it next year. And you said it 'dances when the flowers do'?"
I look at him sullenly for a while longer, before huffing.
"Yes, that's what I said." I answer, visibly 'upset'.
"Won't you show me?" he curiously asks.
"Fine." I tell him, but not before giving him the stink-eye, which apparently amuses him even more, "But I'm not sure if they'll dance for a meanie."
Tuning him out, I make a show of 'focusing' as I bring my hands together to form the Snake sign as I start to mix my chakra while turning my lower legs into their altered form.
Now why would I conjointly manifest both of my bloodline cheats at once? Well, because it is way less suspicious if those two are mistaken as one in the minds of others instead of me somehow manifesting two mind-bogglingly rare mutations at the same time, hence me settling on plan 'Mokuton-subset' for a while already.
It takes not even a second before the flowers and weeds surrounding us start to sway in rhythm to an unheard song, not a drop of my magical juice being wasted as it permeates them, and only them, a natural consequences of my years of very discreet practices, all to be able to manifest alien flora into being for my benefits.
It's going to sound kind of obvious, but, man, feeling chakra move in tune with your will sure is a weird as fuck feeling for someone coming from a magic-less universe, but, weird in a good-feel kind of way, if that makes sense?
In short, the feeling of being in tune with your physicality and spirituality as such a tangible level is kind of intoxicating after a while, no wonder ninjas can become egocentric, killing-happy asshats.
I 'shake myself awake' from my meditation after a handful of minutes, blinking my eyes open as my legs shift back to normal flesh, and look back at Hiruzen.
The Hokage is looking at me with such a complicated expression that I have some difficulties not bursting out laughing.
"Tell me, Torika-chan," he starts, dropping the pretense that he doesn't know exactly who I am in passing, "Do you know how rare of a gift you have?"
I tilt my head, feigning childish curiosity.
"No?" I answer 'confusedly'.
"Do you know who that figure carved upon the mountain-" he begins while pointing at Hashirama's mug, "-was exactly?"
"Easy, that's the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama." I answer matter of factly.
"Indeed, Torika-chan, I'm pleased to see that you learned something during your time at the Academy." he answers with a grandfatherly smile, "But do you know for what reasons he was also famous?"
I squint my eyes, 'deep in thoughts'.
"Well," I slowly start, "He founded the village with the Uchihas and captured the meanie beasties that were wreaking havoc in the elemental nations to tame them and broker peace with the other villages, so that everyone stops fighting?"
Totally harebrained idea by the way, considering how that whole mess turned out.
Hiruzen blinks, apparently a bit taken aback by my completely out-of-left-field segue, to my greatest amusement.
"I read a lot." I answer the unasked question before he even formulates it, shrugging a little.
"Yes, you apparently do," he comments, before shaking his head, "But how did he do it, exactly?"
"Oh, that's easy: it's because he used the Moku- Oh." I 'realize'.
The Professor huffs another laugh, before proceeding to light his smoking pipe with a gesture as he keeps watching me while I 'work over my revelation'.
"So…" I start, trailing off a little to show my 'hesitation' and 'lack of knowledge', "I'm like the first?"
"In a way, Torika-chan." he nods, his eyes almost imperceptibly darting to my legs, which means I probably succeeded in gaslighting him like I wanted to, "Tell me, how do you like the orphanage?"
I scrunch my face in distaste, one that isn't totally faked for once.
"I don't. It's cramped, and noisy, and I don't have enough space to train." I grumble, crossing my arms on my torso as I pout, "People keep messing with my stuff: I can't even work on my seals in peace. Frankly, I'd just wish I'd be left alone."
He hums under his breath consideringly as he takes a puff on his pipe.
"Are you a bit of a loner, Torika-chan?" he asks mildly.
I sigh, dropping my arms back on my legs.
"Not really?" I answer, a hand coming to scratch at the back of my head, "I don't dislike people, but I'd rather be able to work in peace when I want to instead of being pestered every waking moment, if that makes sense?"
"What about adoption?" he asks leadingly.
"I'd be grateful, sure." I answer with a shrug, "But why burden someone when I can handle myself just fine?"
The Professor's eyes dart to my brand new black silk kimono for a blink, taking the unsaid message as it is.
Because I sure as shit didn't pay for it, yet nobody can prove it.
After all, I'm quite good at sneaking around.
"What do you think about the village, Torika-chan?" he asks the almost expected question at this point.
"I like it." I answer decisively, not having to force myself now that the biggest turd living in it got his life expectancy reduced to nil by yours truly, "I don't know how the other hidden villages handle things," -a bold faced lie if I ever told one-, "But I don't think I'll ever fit in, at least just as much, in those than I do here."
"You're really well spoken for your age, Torika-chan." he keeps interrogating me.
"I read a lot, and the library is free as long as you're enrolled in the Academy, I just made use of it?" I answer 'confusedly'.
Which isn't as far-fetched as it sounds, considering we live in a world where child soldiers outsmarting seasoned chunin/jonin was a thing until recently.
And I do read a lot. Principally all I could find about the Elemental Nations' flora before, and now about sealing.
Hiruzen keeps looking at me, silently pondering as he exhales another cloud of smoke.
How the guys' lungs aren't a badly shaped lump of coal by this point if he does this on the regular -considering he's shit-old- is anyone's guess.
My bet is on chakra-bullshitry.
"Say, Torika-chan, if the village was to provide you with a home for yourself, how would you react?" the Professor ends up asking after a beat.
"I'd first ask what it'd cost, obviously." I answer easily.
The old man chuffs another laugh.
"Well, as long as you maintain your current grades at the Academy and keep working hard, nothing." he explains, before pointedly gesturing at my outfit, "Though, since you'll have an allowance, you'll have to lose some of your habits."
"Wouldn't have them if I had the means in the first place." I shamelessly shrug, "But having my own place means being able to sell some explosive tags, so you won't hear me complaining."
The Hokage looks at me for a while longer, before nodding to himself and rising to his feets.
"Very well, come with me, Torika-chan." he orders as he starts to walk away.
"Wait!" I answer as I start to scramble behind him, "What about the afternoon's classes?"
"You'll be excused." he dismissively waves, "We have more important things to do now."
"Such as?"
"Finding you a home, of course."
[AN: I lied, I'm going to need another chapter before writing the idea I had and that keeps hopping in my brain excitedly.
I first needed to develop the appropriate environment for it, hence Hiruzen strolling in -not so far-fetched since a report about a possible Mokuton user would definitely lands on his desk and I can't imagine the guy, who was alive during Hashirama's time, not checking it out himself-.
So, why no adoption? Easy: it'd stifle her growth, compared to her being left to her own devices, and they even have the very convenient excuse of grooming her as a future prodigy in the making since she's somehow managed to carve a place at the top of the girls' ranking in six months after 'finding her marks'.
She'll have to keep the Mokuton on the down-low in the meantime, though.
Her lack of knowledge about chakra is explained by the fact that the academy don't start teaching about it until their charges are ten-ish, so in their fourth year, and she isn't a clan kid so technically doesn't have the knowledge.
Still no fren on the horizon, but I'll correct the situation in the two next chapters, I have a plan and reasons for that.
We also got an idea about how the situation evolved in the last six months, a few plot holes magically disappearing with the elders now that they aren't maneuvering behind the scenes, who would have thought?
Hope you enjoy, xoxo]