20 Questions pt.2

"One of Orochimaru's goals is to harness the First Hokage's abilities, a man who was praised as the "God of Shinobi" due to the overwhelming might he possessed when he was alive, might that even today, has not been surpassed" I explained, Aoki was listening intently. 

"There are two abilities above all that Orochimaru covets, one being the incredible physique that the First Hokage possessed, they say that he was able to recover from wounds in seconds naturally without the use of Jutsu; his physiology also allowed for high physical strength and housed an incredible amount of potential that some say were never pushed to their limits," I explained to Aoki.

"And the other?" Aoki asked impatiently.

"His wood release. A unique ability that only he has awakened in the history of all ninjas, its destructive capabilities were unparalleled, combined with his strong physique and massive chakra pool makes him a deadly foe" I explained to the eager boy.

Aoki nodded, I thought he would spend some time digesting this information or ask me more about wood release, but to my surprise, he moved on pretty quickly, "Alright alright, so this might be cheating but what was implanted? It's blanked out, I mean you don't have to say anything in detail but just… if there's something in my body that's not mine… I should know right?" he asked, the boy spoke quickly and was slightly tripping over his words, it seemed that this was the part he was most excited about. 

"Sadly Aoki, as I said, that information is restr-"

"Gramps, if this has something to do with a body part of mine or someth-"

"Aoki." I spoke sternly, using a voice reserved for important meetings and business negotiations, it may be crude way to stop this line of questioning but I can't have him exploring the issue any further.

It wasn't as if I had restricted this information fully, however. My goal was to feed him the information bit by bit, I was the one who restricted certain phrases from the Log he had read and I had purposefully left the word "implantation" unrestricted in the hopes that one day, it would help him. 

Aoki doesn't know about the process of implanting eyes, an action that is rife within the history of ninjas, but if one day, on a mission or some other adventure, he awakens the eye naturally, I hope that this little breadcrumb I fed him will help. I knew it was an unlikely situation but this was all I could do for him for now.

"..." The boy stared at me silently for a while before relenting, it seemed he knew that it was a line to not cross.

"Aoki, this goes without saying but not a word of this can be said to anyone, not Sasuke, not even Tomo or any other friends you may pick up in the future," I said, I planned on going into further detail to warn him but the boy beat me to it.

"Gramps you have my word, I won't tell a soul," he said, from the resolute expression on his face I believed him.

"Good." I gave a smile. I almost voiced out 'Good boy' but I felt that Aoki wouldn't appreciate it, I found that he disliked being treated like a child, so it was in my best interest to not tease him at all today.

"I mean implantation can only mean a few things…" Aoki said bringing up the taboo topic once again.

"Aoki, I'm serious. Simply talking about this can have serious repercussions, I promise to one day tell you but as of now, please stop this line of questioning." the boy was persistent, that much was clear.

This time, instead of looking like he was upset, he grinned and nodded his head, "as long as you promise!" he said with a smile.

I was forced to promise him it in the future since I shut it down so hard today, it seems that was all he was hoping for… good move Aoki.

"Ok ok… my next question is this teacher that you promised me, who is he? And what is he going to teach?" he asked.

"Your teacher's identity is not one I can give outright, if he decides to share it with you of his own accord then there is no issue, but I cannot be the one to do so." I continued to say, "As for what you'll be taught, since your body is unusual, he will ensure that as you walk down the path of one day becoming a ninja, you do so in a safe environment where any anomalies with your body can be sorted out."

"Aoki, if there is anything that seems out of place or strange, you must inform him. One of the main reasons I am telling you all of this information is due to the fact that your body has changed from the norm by a large degree, you may encounter problems or dangers that others wouldn't." I explained.

He nodded once again, understanding what it is that I was worried about. 

"And it also said that I have Tobirama's Cells injected into me, how has that affected me?" He asked.

"Tobirama Senju, also known as the Second Hokage was my teacher when I was much younger," I said with a smile, "He was a genius who pioneered the ninja academy, chunin exams and much more, he also has an incredible amount of Jutsus to his name," I said, "the reason that he injected those cells isn't explicitly said, only that it was done in unison with the First Hokage's, most probably to help your body assimilate to the cells" I said to the impatiently sitting boy.

He hummed and listened intently, the way he scratched a non-existent beard was amusing to watch.

"With all the changes you mention… which of those could possibly be harmful to me?" he said after a moment.

I shook my head, "That's the thing, Aoki, we know so little about the augmentations that we don't know which, if any, are harmful." I said.

To give him some confidence I added, "If it makes you feel any better, there's another who suffered the same fate as you but beyond memory loss much like your own, no harmful side effects have occurred", when I explained this Aoki's eyes lit up when I talked about Kinoe but quickly shut down, I thought he would ask me more about the man who went through the same things he did but he moved onto another line of questioning.

"Gramps, with the information I'm given I have a lot more questions, too many to ask you right now, and I know that you're doing your best but lots of what I ask isn't being answered. Instead, can you tell me some things that you think would be of benefit to me? I don't want to waste the little time we have."

Again, quite a good choice from Aoki.

I smiled and agreed with a nod, not taking his complaint to heart "The main thing you must always keep in mind is that since your body has been augmented, it cannot be treated the same as your friends. When playing with others, be careful as to not hurt them, when teachers direct others to treat their bodies and Chakra in one way, disregard it unless I or your teacher that I assign to you directly says so. We know so little that we must be careful" I said with a serious face so Aoki would understand the severity of my words.

It was true that Kinoe and Aoki have similarities, but they also have stark differences which mean that I cannot treat their situation as the same. Not only did Orochimaru's lackey have higher hopes for Aoki, as evident by the logs, the eye implantation also changed how foreign cells of the Senju were introduced.

Aoki nodded. I was glad to see that his mood had cleared up, no longer frowning or in pain; only contemplation adorned his face.

"Oh Gramps! I know this isn't what we're talking about but please tell me how to awaken Chakra!" he said, almost bursting out of his seat as he did so. I never expected him to ask me this question right now, it seems he is quite hungry for power.

"Chakra eh? The teacher I assigned to you will have the responsibility of teaching you to harness Chakra safely in a method that works for you" I said, in fact, experimenting with Aoki's Chakra was one of the main reasons I had asked "him" to work with the boy.

It seemed that Aoki wanted to ask more questions but his gaze jumped from me to the stairs once he heard thumping sounds come running down, not long after, little Sasuke came running up to me with a smile.

"Hey Gramps I'm back!" said the boy with a toothy smile, I almost immediately moved to ruffle his hair but stopped once I saw the shiny surface in its place, for some reason massaging the boy's bald head wouldn't give the same effect so I instead just patted his shoulders.

Sasuke jumped next to Aoki and started mouthing off a couple more questions much to Aoki's chagrin, the younger boy was giving Sasuke the stink eye as we started talking.

As I heard Tomo coming down the stairs, I knew it was time to go. While the woman never expressed her dislike of me personally, she had done so with the Village rules and its elders, I didn't want to overstay my welcome as antagonising someone as important as her to the clan was never a good idea.

I stood up, waving goodbye to Sasuke and Aoki, both boys looking upset as I did so for two very different reasons. I nodded to Tomo and she gave me one back, with a smile, I exited the house, hoping to one day talk with Aoki properly. 

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[A/N: Hello all! From now on the story will be ramping up in speed, I decided to start slow but this won't be the pace of the whole fic as it'll be about 1000+ chaps if it is haha!

Reviews and power stones are especially appreciated and help motivate me to write more, if we manage to hit 400 power stones I'll do a double-release

1 chapter every weekday, extra on Saturday if the power stone goal is reached :)

p.s. I am using this story as a way of improving my writing, any and all criticism is appreciated, I want to improve myself and write better stories, as well as improve the future of this one :D]