22 Chapter: 22

Kaori's eyes twitched in annoyance,

'That's not what I meant!'

She just wanted to ask what would happen if she bought another bowl!

***

In the end, she decided not to get another bowl, not like Teuchi was in any condition to cook any more of his 'special' dish.

So, Kaori waited for Kushina to finish before escorting her back home,

"If you need me for anything, just holler, I should be on the roof."

Kushina stared at her in bewilderment but before she could protest, Kaori vanished in a puff of smoke, flickering over to the rooftop. 

Once she was sure no one was looking, she undid the transformation and weaved another hand sign,

'Meisaigakure no Jutsu!' (Hiding with Camouflage Jutsu)

It was a simple enough jutsu, to control the reflection of light around her body with chakra. It was the perfect technique to blend in with the surroundings, and Kaori decided to lie down on the roof while using the technique. 

If she couldn't move without giving herself away, she might as well get comfortable enough so she wouldn't have to move at all.

"Talk about stuffy."

[Data suggests that the awakening bloodline might have caused a slight alteration in your energy intake and burnout.]

'How much are we talking about?'

It was important to know how much food intake was necessary to maintain optimal physical conditioning, especially on extended guard duties when the target was to be watched at all moments... except for some private bits maybe?

[Roughly a 55% increase in nutrition intake and the System suggests you avoid using Food Pills for the near future, they are harmful to your chakra network and might stunt its growth.]

'Do they now?'

The Military Ration Pills, also called Food Pills, were a crucial factor in the Martial prowess of the Hidden Villages. It's also one of the factors that has helped Konoha keep its top spot as the strongest of them all because the Nara and Akimichi Clans have researched and perfected the pills to cause minimum damage to the user's body.

'Still, it's pain being bedridden for a couple of days after a three-day burst of strength.'

It wasn't exactly a 'burst' per se, but more of a stimulant that makes chakra networks go under overdrive mode. Long-term consumption might cause blockage in the networks and rapid cell degradation as well. 

'Maybe Itachi was ill because of overusing that stuff.'

[Negative, symptoms suggest an enhanced form of Microscopic Polyangiitis.]

Kaori chuckled, she didn't know shit about medical ninjutsu and the word made less sense to her than the fact that Sasuke Uchiha wasn't declared a rogue ninja over the years he trained under Orochimaru. 

Tsunade wasn't cut out to be the Hokage, nor was Jiraya, they are fools easily affected by emotions and meaningless words. And how the hell did Naruto not get his Ninja license after failing almost every single mission just before his training arc?

Minato's not like them, nor are Sarutobi and Tobirama, they were powerful shinobi that detached their personal lives from their role as the Hokage. Somehow, the quality of Hokage kept on degrading down the line. Heck, that yellow-haired moron disbanded the ANBU Black Ops!

[The system detects that's the only point you truly dislike about them.]

'Shut it.'

Now that she had a topic to pass the time with, she decided to keep badmouthing the future Hokages until her shift ended.

'Minato won't disband the ANBU no matter what!'

She thought to herself,

'He understands the importance of having a covert force that can handle sensitive missions.'

The Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, would be an idealistic scatterbrain, who will overlook the village's real needs and would focus on superficial things like peace. His own strength and that of Sasuke Uchiha would keep the peace but what then? What will happen once they pass? The former's son thought he should kill all shinobi and the latter's daughter wondered if her father had the Clan's Kekkei Genkai.

But that was too far ahead, what about a couple of decades back?

'Tsunade...'

She groaned,

A talented medic and powerful shinobi but that's about all, she hadn't the nerves to do what a real Hokage would have done. 

Sasuke leaves the village, declaring he will join Orochimaru. What does she do?

'It will make us look weak if we declare him as a rogue ninja'

She says,

'So let's just send Naruto after him again and again.'

She does!

Danzo sells the information of all the ANBU members to Orochimaru so Sai can get a chance to assassinate Sasuke. What does she do?

'Keep an eye on Danzo.'

Leaf gets the chance to capture three tails for themselves. What does she do?

'Let's seal it and send it to another dimension.'

She won't deny that Tsunade was a strong ninja in her own right, with her powerful Iryō-ninjutsu and monstrous strength but she wasn't Hokage material, not by a long shot she wasn't... and just like that, a whole day passed in the blink of an eye.

The conclusion she came to was that even though Jiraya, Tsunade, Kakashi, and Naruto would all be honorable ninjas in their own right, they all lacked several things that the previous Hokages had. 

What did the Hokages of old inherit from the warring state period? Powers, resourcefulness, ruthlessness, cunning, and power play. The first two experienced it firsthand while the third witnessed it as a child and was raised accordingly. 

Maybe the first Hokage didn't deserve all that much credit after the stunt he pulled off with the distribution of Tailed Beasts. But then again, those were only her thoughts from the series she had seen... and half of that had the blond brat running off his mouth and turning enemies into friends. 

Her eyes twitched in annoyance, it was fine having to watch it through the screen, then it would look like some sort of entertainment strategy. But first hand, it was utter... *Bullshit.*

But still, those were her opinions on the matter and that's about all they were worth, a mob's word.

Kaori continued to stew in her thoughts, all the while maintaining both the camouflage ninjutsu and the Mind's eye of Kagura. The latter came to her in a brief moment of inspiration. The thought that perhaps she could train her abilities and keep an eye on Kushina at the same time. 

The first she saw of Kushina through her ability was a horror, a bewildering construct of malice surrounded by a thin film of bright chakra that kept it carefully contained like an air-tight container. If she concentrated really hard, she could smell even Kushina's chakra... she wished she hadn't tried that.

[The unpleasant smell might be the scent of the tailed beast's chakra.]

'Maybe,'

Still doesn't help the fact that it smelt like someone tried to hide a pile of smelly socks in their closet and sprayed it with with perfume to mask the rotting smell. Kaori had no choice but to momentarily cripple her sense of smell while using the sensory ability around Kushina.

[It would appear you are trying to scan the whole village with your sensory ability.]

'Yes, what of it?'

[Would you like the system to prepare a statistic panel for the village?]

'You can do stuff like that?'

[It is not the system's primary function, but for the user's convenience, the system might adapt. After all, you are not using any of the system's real functions.]

'Well, don't let me keep you.'

[Generating...

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