153 Return To Monke - 5

Sarutobi chuckled lightly at Daiki's insult, "Now now Daiki-kun, your Tobirama-sensei is showing, what would Sasuke-kun think?" he wagged his finger at him, "Besides once you get to a certain point, it becomes rather easy to copy jutsu even without the Sharingan."

"…Wait, what?" Daiki blinked, his slight shock over seeing his own seal being used by somebody else dissipating. Like, he had copied jutsu before, but it was different for him, while he didn't have the Sharingan, he could full on look into peoples memories if needed, and of course, see their chakra and watch how they moulded it. But, it wasn't something that let him copy jutsu instantly or anything.

"It took long years of training and effort on my part, but for many jutsu, I can recreate them just from sight alone these days," the old man grinned lightly, "For instance." the old man brought up both hands, with one, he just held up his palm, while the other he made..one handed seals!?

Daiki's eyes about bugged out of his head at the sheer casualness of it, and he was lucky they didn't pop right out of his skull by what happened next.

First, there was a whirring noise as blue energy formed in the old mans palm, forming into a violently rotating sphere of chakra, while in the other, lightning shrieked into existence like a thousand shrieking birds, coating his entire arm.

"This in my left hand is the Rasengan, the signature technique and original jutsu of the Yondaime Hokage, while in my right, is the Chidori, a technique created by your good friend Kakashi-kun in his youth." Sarutobi explained nonchalantly.

…What the fuck.

Hax, Daiki called hax!

"You're trying to say you recreated those jutsu just from seeing them?" Daiki asked, disbelievingly.

"Indeed I am, I had no need to be taught them, it is simply that I have so much experience and know so much jutsu and ways of manipulating my chakra, that it becomes childs play to recreate jutsu such as these, genjutsu are harder for instance, but possible," the old man continued on, "Though I'm of course, not unique in this aspect, and in fact, I dare say I know of at least one other that has much greater talent than even myself when it comes to this kind of thing."

"You're kidding right, who the fuck is this monster then?" Daiki asked, because, he'd love to have them at his back when things got hairy later down the road.

"Oh, I think you know of him quite well," Sarutobi's smile turned sobering, it was a slight change, but Daiki's enhanced perception from his eyes allowed him to notice it. It was a smile that wasn't happy at all, but rather, almost sorrowful, "After all, your dear friend Sasuke-kun has made it no secret what his goal in life is."

Daiki froze, "….Itachi Uchiha?"

"Correct," the Hokage nodded, "He was capable of such feats from a young age, without his Sharingan or even much training. The first time he was shown the Grand Fireball Jutsu when he was five years old, he copied it instantly and made an even more powerful one than his father, an Elite Jonin and one of the stronger ninja within our village at the time had."

Wait, that sounded familiar.

That was…in Itachi's filler backstory right? Which was supposed to be getting a novel or something.

"Such a shame how things turned out," Hiruzen sighed, "He was perhaps, the greatest prodigy that originated from this village, or at least close to it and could have rivalled the Yondaime given time, perhaps even surpassed him and all the Hokage that came before."

"Surpass the Hokage that came before…" Daiki mulled over those words, filing the prodigy crap about Itachi in the back of his mind, he already knew the dude was an utter monster, "Was…Itachi a Hokage candidate?" he wondered.

Hiruzen sighed, "Perhaps I should explain," he mused and gave Daiki a slight smile, "There is much blame to be held over young Itachi's actions, some I lay at my own feet even, and wish that I had not allowed others to dictate his path, you could say my prompt action with snatching you up myself, comes from my mistakes with Itachi."

"…What?" Daiki would admit it, he was lost.

"To be frank, yes, Itachi was a Hokage candidate," Hiruzen revealed, dropping quite the bomb, "Itachi was the perfect shinobi, he was diligent, intelligent, could suppress his emotions for the mission and the good of the village, a genius among geniuses and of course incredibly powerful even at such a young age, I thought to allow him more experience and allowed others such as Danzo to foster his growth in the Anbu, that was a mistake."

'I mean…Danzo himself is pretty much a mistake.' Daiki snorted mentally, but didn't interrupt the old man.

"And above all else, Itachi knew what it meant to be Hokage," Hiruzen sighed and shook his head, "If only I had taken him as an apprentice myself instead of allowing Danzo to oversee things, I may have been able to prevent the tragedy of the Uchiha."

For a moment, Hiruzen truly did look his age, a tired old man. But, it only lasted a split moment before he controlled his emotions once more. He was a pinnacle shinobi after all. He could probably shed a tear and wipe it away before Daiki even noticed.

"Though, perhaps not," he frowned, "Thanks to you and the information you brought back upon becoming a Jinchuuriki, things are beginning to fall into place and holes in mysteries I never found the answers to, have suddenly been filled."

…Did he mean the whole thing about Obito pretending to be Madara and hypnotizing Yagura? Well, actually now that he thought about it, one of the biggest things about the Uchiha Massacre, was what led to them attempting their coup. Being ostracized by the village because it was suspected an Uchiha was behind the Kyuubi attack.

Which was correct, everyone was just looking at it from the wrong angle. It was an Uchiha, just one that had a massive grudge against his clan. The Uchiha Massacre might have been ordered by the Hokage and elders, but the true blame lay at Obito and Madara's feet, they instigated it all.

Granted, Danzo was a fucking idiot about it as well, so he should get a lot of the blame as well. Even if Shisui's idea to brainwash the entire clan was kind of a stupid idea as well now that Daiki thought about it. It was only a stop gap after all.

'Madara's hatred of his own clan is etched into history itself these days, even I have heard of it,' Isobu mused, 'Assuming the Hokage believes it to be Madara, or Madara's successor which would be an obvious thought, then that would answer the mysteries of that night and what led to the Uchiha being ostracized.'

That did make sense. And was very convenient for Daiki.

The old man had fallen silent, and didn't say anything else for a few moments.

"And so being in anbu from a young age made him snap, right?" Daiki asked, offering him an olive branch. The old man clearly didn't want to reveal the truth behind the Uchiha massacre right now.

If ever.

To be honest, Daiki thought the truth of it was better off buried right now. It really was just a whole crap shot that made the entire clan look pretty pathetic from every angle, the only ones who came out of it looking good were Shisui and Itachi.

"…That is the the top theory, yes," Hiruzen nodded and gave a sigh, before sobering up, "Which is why I thought it best to take a more hands on approach with you myself."

"Not like I planned on being Anbu anyway," Daiki snorted with a shrug, "The armour and gear is pretty sweet, but the whole silent secretive stuff isn't my thing, I like to brag about my exploits. Loudly, for everyone to hear and praise me for the amazing badass I am."

"Quite," Hiruzen chortled, "It's much better to have a Hokage candidate in the spotlight for the most part anyway. Your image and exploits gather awe and intrigue from the village, and reinforces their faith in you when you ascend to the position."

That made sense, "I should probably let everyone know what I've been up to then." Daiki nodded. He would have to brag more he supposed, in public. It sure was hard being him.

"No need, I have already circulated your exploits through the village," Hiruzen gave him a knowing grin, "I sent some trusted jonin out to gossip about your exploits from defeating a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, to foiling a plot using a Bijuu and even fighting off my former student, an S-rank shinobi. I dare say your legend has already began."

Huh.

How sneaky. Daiki wasn't expecting that at all, but it showed how on the ball the old man was with his decision here, he was already laying the ground work for the village as a whole to look at him in awe.

'Just what you need, a whole village of hype men.' Isobu groaned.

"The Epic of Daiki," the teen genin mused, a smirk forming on his face, "That has a nice ring to it."

'Gilgamesh is going to sue you, with lots and lots of swords.'

'He wishes, I could totally kick his ass!' Daiki refuted. He'd see how Gilgamesh liked getting sword barraged right back! He couldn't even beat a ginger with a hero/martyr complex. He'd Bijuudama his ass out of existence before he ever got the chance to pull out his trump card.

"Perhaps you should write a book, you may even be successful enough not to need to write pornography like a certain other student of mine," Hiruzen mused with another light chortle before clenching his fists, and allowing the jutsu in his hands that Daiki had almost forgot about to be quashed out of existence and stretched his arms, "Though for now Daiki-kun, I believe it is time to as you kids say, get down to business."

Daiki's smirk transitioned into a wide eager grin, "Finally old man, as much as the information is good to know, this is what I'm here for!" he cheered, cracking his knuckles, and then his neck for good measure.

He only had eight days to train with the old man right now. So he needed to make every second count. For these eight days, he would have to transcend the grind itself and enter the legendary Hyper-Grind.

'Where do you come up with this stuff?' Isobu asked, deadpan.

'I had a lot of time to think while screwing Anko,' Daiki responded, they'd fucked for over twelve hours after all, 'Come on, you can't think I'd waste all that time with just sex right? Amazing as it is, my mind wandered.'

He could feel Isobu rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"Good to see you're ready then," Hiruzen smiled back and after stretching out, stood normally, unguarded and out of any stance, "I believe we'll start simple, I wish to see your current limit without boosting over your base abilities."

"No seal, no augment jutsu like my lightning armour, no bijuu cloaks, alright, simple enough I gotcha." Daiki nodded in understand, slipping into the opening stance for the Feather Fist style, Both arms up, fists clenched, one at the side of his head while the other was slightly ahead of his face, and one leg pulled slightly back.

"The Feather Fist style, truly a fitting Taijutsu for you, fast with explosive concentrated strikes, I applaud your choice in it," the old man nodded approvingly, "Now, let us begin. Come at me with the intent to kill Daiki-kun, only then will I see your true abilities."

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Daiki laughed, not even at all bothered about the older man not entering his fighting stance.