We were just about to finish our meal when the first of my clones popped, triggering a very amusing memory. A grin threatened to split my face for just a moment, but it didn't go unnoticed. I chuckled, my shoulders shaking with light laughter.
"Deidara just finished his fight," I said, clearing up Han's confusion almost immediately.
"Just tell me he didn't kill the unfortunate examiner…" he replied, already resigned to the fate of cleaning up Deidara's mess.
"The chunin is fine," I reassured him, easing some of his worries. "His house, on the other hand…" I couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Han's face, stuck in a mix of disbelief and resignation. The pain in his eyes was real, and unlike Izumi's eyes, it was eternal.
Speaking of eyes, I turned to her.
"How's your vision, Izumi?" I asked. Itachi's sight diminished very quickly while using Susano, so I was quite concerned for her.
"I think it's fine, but far-away objects... they're not as defined as before," she replied, slightly shaken as she realized her sight had noticeably worsened.
I nodded; it was just as I had expected. It was exactly what I told her would happen, but I suppose there's no better teacher than experience.
"And your foot? Can you fight if needed?" I inquired again. I didn't doubt Hana's healing abilities, she was a much better medic than I was, but Izumi's foot still looked slightly blistered and red.
"I think I can. Hana did a pretty good job. It's still uncomfortable, but at least the pain is mostly gone," she said, though I could clearly see her favoring her healthy leg as she attempted to stand up.
Ultimately, it was her decision to continue, and I wouldn't try to stop her; I would do the same in her place.
"One word of advice, young Uchiha," Han's voice came, though it sounded as if he and Kokuo were speaking at the same time.
"Listen to Bloody Blossom on this one. The last Uchiha I fought died due to going blind mid-combat. And his teammate was roasted through that skeletal shield by the heat from Roshi's Lava Release." He continued, this time only Han's deep voice speaking. It seemed he just wanted to get Izumi's attention.
"Those eyes are powerful, but every jutsu I've encountered so far had a weakness. The one I fought could mess with time. He could slow it down, speed it up, and he even stopped time a few times. Hitting him was almost impossible. But he had nothing besides that, and it cost him his life." His tone was serious, lacking any remorse or hatred; it was merely a statement of fact and a word of advice, nothing more. Finally, it seemed like it got to her.
"As for you," he turned toward Hana, "you need something else besides your clan jutsu. Variety keeps you alive against an opponent with an unknown arsenal," he advised, and he was correct.
One could reach a point where they only focused on their own special technique, but that was still far from reality for both Izumi and Hana. I was far from it, too, but to be fair, I had many different techniques to concentrate on.
"Why are you even helping us? Aren't we supposed to be enemies?" Hana asked, while Izumi appeared deep in thought.
"Enemies…" Han murmured. "I have learned many things from my enemies. If you take wisdom from only one source, it becomes rigid and stale." Listening to him speak like this triggered a memory of a different tea-obsessed old man.
As much as I hated to interrupt the moment, time was running out for my team.
"You should go deliver the scroll," I said, snapping Izumi out of her thoughts. They still had plenty of time, but there was no reason to take unnecessary risks. The sooner they finished, the sooner they could rest. They seemed to agree with me, hurrying off.
"So, you have Shadow Clones spying on every team," Han stated, not posing it as a question; he clearly had experience with that jutsu before.
"And ensuring I can sabotage the Taki teams if necessary. It's only fair," I added with a sinister smile.
Those clones would start popping soon enough, and, with some luck, they had indirectly managed to eliminate at least a few teams.
"Evening the odds… It should also mean the preliminary round won't be necessary," Han mused quietly, gratitude evident in his voice.
"Well, I said I want to get home soon," I replied, humor filling my voice.
But it was time for me to head back to the hotel room. I couldn't be seen running around the village while my clones might be causing chaos in the exams.
Fortunately, I managed to enter the hotel room shortly after my clone, who had been assigned to test the genin, popped out of existence.
As expected, they did not pass the test, primarily due to the type of challenge my clone chose. Or was it my choice? If I hold the memories, and the clone is a perfect copy, is it just my consciousness splitting? This line of thought felt too philosophical, and my head would hurt if I continued pondering how this jutsu actually works.
I had already experienced enough headaches from trying to figure out the physics of this world. Anime logic still applies, though thankfully, only in some places.
See?, I'm getting sidetracked again. It was time to review the memories I had just recieved.
The clone hadn't bothered to hide; instead, it headed to one of the nearest training grounds to get it over with. To my great disappointment, the genin team took far too long to locate it. That was strike one.
Despite the clone not even attempting to conceal itself, the genin took over three hours to find it in their own village. This was borderline unacceptable for any chunin. Though, I might have let it slide if they hadn't acted so high and mighty once they finally discovered the clone.
They stood in the open with victorious smirks and charged at it. Slowly.
At that point, I was convinced they were attempting to bait my clone by pretending to be weak. Unfortunately, they weren't.
The clone effortlessly dodged to the left, pushing the first genin into the path of another, resulting in an unfortunate collision, fist against face. The third genin, seeing his teammates in trouble, decided to launch a large fireball directly at someone standing in front of his teammates.
The clone made a single hand seal and stomped hard, causing a wall of dirt to rise and block the fire attack while keeping an eye on the two tangled genin behind itself. As the fire subsided, the clone dodged to the side again, kicking the third team member toward his now-disentangled teammates, putting all three of them on the ground again.
"My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined," the clone mumbled, and I could only agree.
For someone so confident, their performance was quite pathetic. Having no patience for such bullshit, the clone decided to simplify the situation.
"Now that the circus act is over, stop for a moment and listen to the test parameters," it said, clearly bummed out by the necessity of existing.
"There are three of you and only one scroll, so whoever gets it advances. Those who don't…" it trailed off, leaving the genin to draw the obvious conclusion.
They, however, clearly hadn't been paying attention during their earlier scuffle with the clone and charged again, one by one. Only this time, they interfered with each other even more than before.
Seeing them fight like this made me think Hinata would likely perform better than any of them.
I wanted to delve deeper into the memories, but even a cursory glance showed the absolute boredom my clone felt throughout the encounter. Well, 'fought' wasn't even the right word.
At some point, the three of them began to fight each other instead of my clone to 'eliminate competition.' I suddenly understood why Kakashi never took on a team until the original Team Seven in the timeline. This was beyond pathetic.
In the end, my clone easily trapped all three of them by burying them up to their necks in the ground before they could injure or kill each other.
"You fail. To be honest, you failed the moment you chose to attack each other," the clone remarked to the struggling genin, gaining their attention.
"You were supposed to work together to get the scroll. Why do you think you were put on a team?" it asked, receiving no response. They seemed to have figured it out, but it was too little, too late.
"Better luck next time..." the clone said, leaving the training ground behind, with the genin still stuck in the ground. Someone would probably find them there in the morning… Hopefully.
I glanced at the little scroll on my nightstand. Thankfully, my clone had entered the hotel discreetly, so I didn't have to sneak around this time.
I stayed in the hotel room until the first of the Shadow Clones popped. Then, in quick succession, all but one popped as well. The remaining Taki teams gathered in one place. The headache wasn't too bad this time, as most of the memories I received were basically identical.
From my cursory scan of the memories, it seemed they decided to advance only the two best teams. This was good news for me, no sabotage was needed. It also showed they were more than ready to rig the exams as much as possible. They concluded that if any team managed to get past a jinchuriki, there would be no way to deny them entry ot the last exam.
Deidara, on the other hand, made such a scene that it would be impossible to ambush him for the scroll discreetly, at least according to the Taki ninjas.
All in all, the finals should be entertaining, and I looked forward to seeing the fights. At least it seemed there wouldn't be any weird stuff happening during the finals.
Usually, kage and daimyo attend the finals, so trying to pull something under their noses would be incredibly risky or outright stupid. This also meant we would have some time to train and prepare for the finals, but that would most likely be explained tomorrow by the examiners. I didn't have to wait long for the last clone to pop, confirming my thoughts. Well, at least I can rest for the night.
As expected, the next morning my team was briefed on the time and place of the last task. Apparently, the third exam always included a one-on-one fight between the participants, taking place in a purpose-built arena.
It made sense; you wouldn't want the daimyo to stand in a random training ground. You must partake in asskissing and provide them with luxurious viewing boxes.
From what Hana and Izumi told me, we would have two weeks to prepare for the finals. Less time than I expected, but we could make it work. We would just review their skill sets and improve where we could.
Hana needed help with her defense, while Izumi needed to limit her use of the Mangekyō and possibly improve her ability to cast genjutsu with her Sharingan. Other than that, we would primarily focus on physical training to help them get a bit faster.
There wasn't much time for anything else, especially since I also needed to teach Hana a whole ninjutsu.
Luckily, we discovered she was earth-aligned, meaning I could teach her the Mud Wall technique and call it done. It should come easily to her as an earth-style user, and it didn't even require her to start learning nature transformation.
Izumi was also becoming quite adept at casting genjutsu discreetly. While she wasn't near Itachi's level, she was performing better than I would expect from any genin or even chunin. It's a shame I could only cast one genjutsu the same way a Uchiha could cast literally all of them.
My help was quite limited, but she managed to perfect the Sensory Input Confusion jutsu; I'd say she was as good as I was with that jutsu already. The Sharingan truly is a terrifying tool.
The first week flew by quickly, which also marked the arrival of both Onoki and Hiruzen. Hiruzen, for some reason, arrived with only Kakashi as his bodyguard. I could feel it in my bones. I was probably about to be roped into being the second bodyguard. Well, I suppose there could be worse jobs.
At least I would get to watch the finals from a good spectator box. With a little luck, I might even avoid pissing off Onoki. If there's one thing I didn't need, it was another bounty on my head.
I sighed, already expecting Hiruzen to approach me with that innocent smile and tell me he needed me as a bodyguard.
However, given that Onoki only brought Kitsuchi, his second bodyguard would undoubtedly be Han. And there's no way anyone but the two elderly kage could even dream of surviving a fight with that guy.
Then again, I doubted Han would throw hands over a joke I might make. But better safe than sorry. Paranoia had served me well... in some cases.
I was still deep in thought when Hiruzen actually came to the training grounds, most likely to observe us.
"It's very nice to see that the will of fire prevails in these exams," he said, joy evident in his voice. I didn't bother arguing his point; it would only bring trouble, and he looked genuinely proud of my team's performance.
"It's nice to see you join us, Hokage-sama," I replied, with Izumi and Hana quickly following my lead.
"I see you've progressed quite well, you two," he commented, looking at the girls. "I honestly didn't expect you to be such an efficient teacher, Ryuu-kun. Have you considered becoming a jonin sensei in the future?"
His question sent a shiver down my spine.
"Not anytime soon. Teaching isn't really something I enjoy that much," I responded, trying to sound like I might reconsider.
While I didn't hate teaching, I was quite selective about whom I taught, and I doubted Hiruzen would allow me to take Hinata as an apprentice.
This conversation about teaching reminded me that I completely forgot to ask Kurama about helping Noriaki. I suppose I should do that first thing when I get back home.
"That's a shame. We're always low on good instructors," Hiruzen murmured, making me believe he wasn't lying at all.
People trained to follow orders and kill aren't exactly the best at teaching kids… how shocking.
Thankfully, Hiruzen didn't probe too much into my future aspirations; instead, he chose to help me train the girls, offering small pieces of advice. There was still much to learn from him, even just from the advice.
However, the conversation I had been dreading for the past few months finally came right after one of the training sessions.
"Ryuuzaki-kun, now that we have some time on our hands, I'd like to ask you about something," he said, his voice serious but devoid of malice.
I nodded, showing that I was listening.
"I want you to show me what you did to knock out all those Root Anbu," he commanded. This wasn't a request; but there was genuine curiosity in his voice.
I stood firm and let my Conqueror's Haki roll off me, releasing a small burst around me. It was still quite powerful, though limited in area, as I didn't want to affect a larger space this time.
The shockwave washed over him, applying pressure onto his spirit to give in, to kneel, and to fall. But he didn't flinch; he stood tall. However, there was a reaction I didn't expect.
He appeared surprised at first, but soon his expression morphed into one of recognition. He quickly shook his head, as if deep in thought for a moment.
"Can you perhaps maintain it instead of sending it out like a wave?" he asked, piecing something together. I nodded and took a deep breath.
Another wave of haki exploded outward, but this time, the pressure remained; the ground beneath me cracked from the burst, and small fractures appeared on the ground beneath my feet.
I released it after a few seconds, curious about what he could deduce from this small showcase. Seeing that smile on his face made me certain I wouldn't like the answer.
"It's almost like standing before Lord First again..." he whispered. "Though you seem to be able to use it consciously, unlike him. Hashirama-sensei would let this power out sometimes when he was angry, never like this…" He continued muttering to himself, but that was not my biggest concern.
What did he mean Hashirama had access to Haki? Wasn't he already istupidly strong without it? Could it be due to Ashura's spirit?
Having another spirit inside your body could theoretically overcharge your own spirit, resulting in awakening Haki. But there was no way to prove it. Honestly, I should have expected something like that, considering Itachi and Lee could learn it.
Now we could only hope Madara didn't possess it; that would make future battles unreasonably difficult.
Just what kind of strange world had Marzanna sent me to? What other things could I encounter here? So many questions, yet no answers came to mind.
"Lord First could use it too? I guess I'm glad I'm not the only one," I said, still distracted by all those querstions racing through my mind.
Thankfully, Haki was still invisible to those who were not Haki users themselves, so it shouldn't be impossible to mask that Lee could do it too, or that I could teach it to others. If that information got out, I would spend the rest of my days training people in its use.
And considering Hiruzen's statement about Hashirama's inability to control it, it's unlikely he had Armament or Observation either, or at least that he couldn't use them consciously.
"I believe it is the same power, but you seem to control it quite well... How long could you do it?" he asked, unsure of what to make of this. Honestly, so was I.
"Almost as long as I can remember. But only recently did I figure out how to properly control it," I answered. It may have been a half-truth, but it wasn't an outright lie.
"I see," he said, his expression thoughtful but with genuine concern written all over his face.
"Don't push yourself too hard, Ryuu-kun. I'd hate for you to think you now have to measure up to my old sensei." His worry was evident, and even though he didn't have to tell me that, I appreciated it.
"I'm not delusional enough to try that. Maybe one day in the far future..." I chuckled, already knowing I still had a long way to go before I could even try to compare myself to a monster like Hashirama.
That seemed to relieve some of Hiruzen's fears, at least for now.
"I'm glad you see it that way. Jiraiya-kun was right, don't rush too fast. You have your whole life ahead of you," he said, offering the same advice the toad sage had given.
While I answered affirmatively, I couldn't stop pushing myself.
I knew of a potential future for this world, and some events seemed fixed in time. These events might happen no matter what I do. Or maybe I was wrong and wasting my second life away. But no matter what happens, or how familiar it feels, I'll be prepared.