Chapter 9
"Thish ish sho gooood!!!"
Kenji was having the time of his life. He always had a sweet tooth, and the cake was worth it. He deserved the cake because he had been a good kid by returning his mama uninjured.
It was times like that when Kenji forgot that he was a grown man at heart and soul. He was not going to deny the sugar high.
"So? Tell us about the mission!"
Kenji paused eating for a moment before continuing. 'How the fuck am I supposed to tell tham that I personally killed nearly 40 men on my very first C-rank mission? My mom's a civilian!'
"W-Well, it was awesome! I got to eat a lot of different things. There was this lady who fried some delicious karaage. And, there was a ramen vendor who added fermented cabbage as one of the toppings. It was interesting, but not as good as Ichiraku's ramen. Oh! There was this lake at Hacho village. The entire village was built around it!"
Kenji explained everything about the mission to his parents, except the part where he had to kill people. From the look of understanding on his father's face, he could tell that Hattori knew.
But, his mother was none the wiser.
The father and son shared a look, both making it final that Aoi would never learn of what Kenji does on missions. A shinobi's life was filled with danger, and they didn't want Aoi to live fearing her son's life. With the war over, she had no qualms of her son becoming a shinobi as to her, it was times of peace.
Kenji went to his forge that night and had a chat with Hattori.
"So? Are you alright?"
Kenji nodded and replied, "I'm fine. I've had time to process it. Hayama-sensei's presence helped as well."
Hattori hummed and asked, "Need me to ask Hamaki for any help? He really liked the batch of kunai you made for him, and the tanto you gave him for his birthday. He'd be happy to advise you."
*Scoff* "That old man has too many problems of his own. I'm telling you, the war didn't do anything good to him. Have you seen his appartment? It's a dump!"
Hattori sighed and ruffled his son's hair. Kenji was very strong, not just physically, but emotionally as well. Sometimes, he wondered how could a 10 year old kid possibly be so mature, yet be so childish at the same time.
"So, yeah. I'm fine. Everyone in my team is fine. There's nothing to worry about, alright?"
"Hattori finally resigned and said, "Fine, I'll drop this matter. Come on, your mom must be getting worried. Let's go back to the house. Tomorrow a new day."
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The team accepted a few more C-rank missions and even 3 B-rank missions. Minato placed his trust in them and wasn't disappointed.
Kenji's growth skyrocketed after the mastered the state of 'Constant'. It took him a month to achieve it, and it was worth everything.
His interaction with Minato also increased. They had many discussions about seals. The Hokage even got him to meet Uzumaki Kushina and the three discussed seals for hours everyday.
Kenji failed to teach anyone the breathing styles. Neither was he a good enough teacher, and nor were his chosen people capable enough to practice 'Total concentration breathing'.
'Status.'
[Name: Mimura Kenji
Age: 10
HP: 14400
CP: 11350
C-CTRL: 97%
STR: 650
DEX: 700
VIT: 720
INT: 750
WIS: 800
LUC: 40/40
Ninjutsu:
• Suiton- Grandaster (84%)
• Futon- Grandaster (53%)
• Raiton- Master (76%)
• Doton- Master (24%)
• Katon- Intermediate (83%)
• Neutral jutsu- Grandmaster (88%)
• Iryo ninjutsu- Expert (68%)
Bukijutsu: Legendary (34%)
Taijutsu: Legendary (26%)
Fuinjutsu: Grandaster (28%)
Genjutsu: Expert (83%)
Smithing: Legendary (55%)
Cooking: Expert (75%)
Sculpting: Master (70%)
Tracking: Master (25%)
Skinning: Master (32%)
Crafting: Master (16%)
Teaching: Intermediate (96%)]
'Even with 5000% boost, I suck at teaching.'
"Kenji-kun, what do you think is the will of fire?"
Minato had been very philosophical with his talks whenever he and Kenji were in his office, discussing various jutsu shiki. Itcwas strange for the genin. He knew that his sealing ability wasn't the reason behind Minato's vested interest in him.
It was an interesting back and forth between the two as they tried to gauge the other's motivations and thought process. Like a duel between two samurai trying to get a read of their opponent's style and rhythm.
"The 'Will of fire'... It a pretty vague saying as the person who came up with it is no longer with us. So, we can only speculate what he wanted to say. We can listen to the Sandaime, or the elders as they were brought up in Lord Hashirama's era. But, over time, one's own ideals tend to influence what they were taught, and give birth to a new meaning to the 'Will of fire'."
"Indeed. Very astute of you, Kenji-kun. We should always be skeptical of what others say to us and try to teach us. Especially when they have a high political standing. Now, I'm not saying that about the Sandaime. This stands true with every single person in position of leadership. And, it's understandable that a leader would have their own agendas and will make theirsubordinates do their will. A leader on a mission has a different agenda than the shinobi in his team. The leader of a pack of wolves has different duties, thoughts, and goals than the pack members. So, one should always listen to whatthey are told, and then process it according to their own ideals."
He looked at the jutsu shiki that was just created by Kenji and said, "Ah, counter rotation of chakra for better assimilation. If you use a different kanji for it, you'll notice an increase in this effect. So, what is the 'Will of fire' for you?"
Kenji looked at the revision done by Minato and said, "I see, because of different natures of chakra, the kanji needs to be more generalised so that absorption doesn't result in internal damage if in case the chakra absorbed has a special property."
"Indeed."
"My 'Will of fire'? According to me, Lord Hashirama wanted to bring together like minded people for collective survival and prosperity. Like a settlement, all working together towards a common goal, that is continuous survival and progress. But, the wars have shown a completely different side of this. All the wars were fought for land and resources."
" I'm not saying that Konoha was the one to start those wars, but in all three of them, we played a huge role. And in the wake of it, we destroyed the land of rain. We lost our biggest allies in the Uzumaki. And we lost so many shinobi. The first war was as a result of Lord Tobirama's assassination. The second was due to the fall of Uzu. And the third was due to the growing animosity between Iwa and us."
Minato raised a brow and asked, "And your point is?"
"The will of fire of the leaders of this village put a lot more emphasis on our military might, and the might of other villages. Meanwhile, they allowed problems inside the village to fester. One doesn't endanger the people they are meant to protect. For me, their will of fire is the enemy of this village."
Kenji looked directly into Minato's eyes and said, "My will of fire is simple. Clean your own house, than trying to see how dirty the neighbor's house is and making it worse than yours. Being not as bad as the other doesn't mean our situation is good. There's a reason why the other villages attack us, and it's not jealousy of our so called 'prosperity' and 'progress'."
Minato kept staring, and there was an uncomfortable silence before he broke it with a laugh.
"Interesting! Very interesting! You didn't even hesitate! Hah! Now, what may be the reason for it? The things you just said, if you don't have the power and conviction to back those words, they don't matter at all. So..."
Minato's demeanor changed to that of a man with unshakable power as he asked, "Tell me, Mimura Kenji, do you have the power?"
Kenji felt a pressure on his shoulders that could not be described. The murderous aura emanating from Minato was suffocating. But, the young genin was not a push over.
"Yes."
The chilling smile on Minato's face was enough to make Kenji's throat to go dry.
"Perfect. Let's test it."
Kenji couldn't even react and him and Minato vanished from the office with a yellow flash.