The day had arrived.The sun had risen a bit earlier and the Shinobi Academy where Shiki would become a genin today was about to open.
As for worries about him failing, there were absolute none, neither from him or from Mito, his passing was already determined, the only thing left to see was how high he was going to set the Academy's graduation score record.
Shiki, who was still keeping up his routine morning training in the mansion grounds until it was time to go, returned to the main building for a quick shower and suited up in his new shinobi drip.
It was a present from Mito but not a surprise one as the Uzumaki matriarch felt it was best to take the boy's preference into account since he would be wearing it into potential life-death battles.
Mito, not as the matriarch of the Uzumaki branch in Konoha, nor as the wife of the First Hokage, but as the Princess of Uzu, possessed a massive amount of wealth and she had no issues in spoiling her hardworking and talented ward.
After all, whether she spoiled Shiki or not, the boy was inherently unlikely to become someone overconfident to a deadly point.
In fact, Mito noticed Shiki did not even bother to compare himself to others by age or rank, he approached the matter of comparisons by pitting himself against the strongest shinobi and kunoichi he knew and if he was still weaker than he kept going.
What the Uzumaki matriarch did not know was that everytime he felt himself become overly proud of his achievements, Shiki reminded himself there was a whole clan of godly aliens out there in the void that would be paying his world a visit.
Not to mention the ones already there.
But moving onto the equipment itself, a skin tight sleeveless bodysuit with seals for temperature regulation and hygiene with loose kimono style black pants tucked into black steel toe boots because Shiki saw absolutely no advantage in wearing sandals.
His torso was further covered by a black, kimono style sleeveless jacket with purple detailing and chainmail lining made with chakra metal links. It was worth more than the rest of the whole fit combined.
He also had fingerless gloved bracers that covered both of his arms half way into the upper arm and tied his medium length black hair back with a purple hairband.
The only thing left was a chakra metal wakizashi with a purple silk wrapped handle and lacquered black wooden scabbard that was secured to his belt at the back of his waist.
Looking over at himself in the mirror, Shiki nodded to himself in satisfaction. In the modern world, he would have looked like an edgy cosplayer but in the shinobi world, he was cool.
Though considering his young appearance, "cool" might not be the first word coming to people's mind when they see him, especially those of the female variety.
Unbothered by it though, the boy went to find his mistress in the mansion living room where a guest was already waiting for him.
"Took your sweet time brat!" A brash blonde exclaimed with a grin.
She appreciatively looked up and down his body, successfully making Shiki feel like a young girl being ravaged by an old pervert's gaze.
'How cute!' Tsunade thought.
But looking at his seemingly constipated expression in response to her gaze . . .
'Maybe not so cute.' The Senju princess revised her thoughts.
As for Shiki, he was swearing to himself he would never look at another person with such a disgusting gaze.
"So the person taking me to the Academy for the exam is this perv-Tsunade-sama." Shiki commented.
"Oi brat, what exactly were you about to call me huh!? Come on! Say to my face!" Tsunade threateningly said with a clenched fist in the air.
"Oh? I wished to spare Tsunade-sama but if you insist . . ." The boy replied before unceremoniously revising his earlier words.
"So the person taking me to the Academy for the exam is this pervert with child predator eyes." Shiki commented.
"Pfft-" Mito let out, failing to contain her laugh at her granddaughter's stunned expression.
"Yes Shiki, and try not to antagonize her too much." The redhead responded.
Looking agonized as if he did not want to follow the directive not to mess with the Senju princess, the boy finally gave his response.
"Okay Mito-sama. If Tsunade-sama refrains from further questionable behaviour, I will do my best to be amiable." Shiki declared.
Tsunade's blood pressure kept rising at the exchange between her grandmother and the white haired boy.
'Yes. Not cute at ALL!' The Senju princess thought.
Saying their goodbyes to Mito, Tsunade and Shiki left the mansion, heading towards the Shinobi Academy at a regular walking pace.
Still, miffed by the boy's earlier comments, the blonde went silent and not being that social a creature either, Shiki quietly reviewed the previous day's conversation he had with Mito.
"The graduation exam is tomorrow as I've already told you but I have squeezed some more information out of related parties so you know what you're going into." The Uzumaki matriarch started.
"We also need to come to a final decision in regards to how we'll handle this exam and your shinobi career. We've already grabbed control by taking the initiative instead of letting those irritating fools figure out a way to drag you into the life." The redhead continued.
"But we still need to determine how exactly we want to play things. Low profile, high profile, all out. If we don't set things up from the start, others will realize something is not right."
Shiki nodded in agreement. The boy too, had been thinking about how exactly he wanted to play his hand but first . . .
"Since Mito-sama has more information, I'd like to hear it first before I make my proposal." The boy declared.
"That is indeed for the better." The redhead replied before proceeding to reveal her newly gathered intel.
"The information regards your future teammates. They are all girls which is suspicious enough but their origins are quite questionable as well, two of the three are."
"Honey traps for a four year old? What kind of deviants are running this village?" Shiki questioned with disbelief.
At his age, while he could evaluate and appreciate beauty based on his grown mind's standards, he could not physiologically be attracted to anyone.
"Well they are all older than you so your jonin squad leader should be aiming for a more motherly role while the girls should be more like close friends, establishing a rapport that leads to more when you grow up. Their clans are playing the long game." Mito theorized.
"Then again, one of the girls is from the Aburame clan whose members are notoriously hard to socialize with so it's anyone's guess."
"On the matter of your jonin teacher however, I'm quite sure of my deduction, she is a jonin from the Yamanaka clan and when it comes to psychology, physiology and manipulation, they are some of the best."
"Your Aburame teammate is highly suspicious. That rotten brat Danzo has a penchant for "recruiting" children from that clan to supplement his Root Anbu so keep a close eye on her."
Shiki nodded, silently accepting the advice as per usual.
"The final member of your squad is from the Uchiha clan on the insistence of the clan head. She will likely be trustworthy, once you earn their approval, Uchiha tend to be fiercely loyal and even if she does not like you, it is more likely she'll stab you from the front and not the back."
Mito shared her experience with the Uchiha clan's habits.
"Uchiha Fukutsu took a risk by further antagonizing the Hokage faction and potentially alarming the Neutral faction in order to force one of his clan's members into your team, more as proof of their sincerity for aligning themselves with us than anything else."
"That is the only additional information with some educated guesses of mine added in so how do you think we should play this?" The Uzumaki matriarch put the ball in Shiki's court.
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Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -