"I know what you're thinking of," Yoichi said, breaking the heavy silence that followed his words.
He looked at the talisman in Nawaki's hand. "But it seems that I truly have a connection with them. And it's deeper than everyone thinks."
Yoichi didn't hold back. He explained his past and the recent discoveries he had made regarding the Murakami Clan.
He detailed his own experiences, laying out the pieces of a puzzle that had been hidden for far too long. Jiraiya and Orochimaru stood in stunned silence, their minds racing as they tried to reconcile this new information with the man they thought they knew.
Nawaki just scratched his head, looking back and forth between the legendary trio.
The gravity of the conversation was mostly lost on him, leaving him unsure of how to react.
"Keep it. That's for your protection," Yoichi said, his voice firm.
Internally, Yoichi felt a weight lift. He knew now that the Murakami Clan was aware of the future. The threat of Nawaki's death, a disaster that had always loomed over Yoichi's mind, felt resolved. The clan had moved to protect the boy when he couldn't.
Yoichi cupped his chin, his mind shifting back to his larger goals. "Jiraiya, can you tell this to the old man? I have a plan regarding a Martial Arts demonstration and a breakthrough. Tell him the details."
"I got this!" Jiraiya replied, his serious mask flickering back into a confident grin. He vanished in a blur of speed, carrying Yoichi's proposal to the Hokage.
"Are you really sure about this?" Orochimaru asked, his voice low and skeptical. He watched the space where Jiraiya had been.
"Revealing a breakthrough in such a public exhibition could be... dangerous. You are showing your hand to everyone."
"It's totally fine," Yoichi replied calmly. "This exhibition is a stimulus. It will force their motivations to come forth. The world needs to see what is possible."
Yoichi began to calculate his next steps.
The Heavenly Herbs were too precious to waste. To ensure his mother's cure, he would need a period of trials and errors.
He decided to place the herbs and his newly acquired Alchemy Book into the hands of Tsunade and Orochimaru.
Yoichi trusted their intellect.
Between Tsunade's medical mastery and Orochimaru's scientific brilliance, they were the only ones capable of unlocking the book's secrets. Together, they might find the cure for his mother's daily misfortune.
"Now, I need someone... A form of insurance," Yoichi thought.
The weight of the adult world and the looming responsibility of the village began to churn in his mind. He looked at the horizon, sensing the approaching storm of war. His personal strength was a foundation, but even a mountain could be eroded by a flood if it stood alone.
...
"What do you want from me?" a voice rasped from the gloom.
The bustling sounds of Konoha's streets echoed down the narrow alley, but the air here felt stagnant and heavy. Yoichi stood still, staring into the darkness where a masked figure shifted.
"I need you to protect my mother," Yoichi said. "Or simply kill anyone who looks at her with ill intent. Either way works, Kakuzu."
After a moment of cold calculation, Yoichi had reached out through the black market's hidden channels.
Kakuzu was a man of profit and longevity, making him the most reliable tool for a job that required zero sentimentality.
Even with Konoha's security tightened to the point where a fly couldn't breach the walls, Kakuzu had slipped through.
This man was an expert at survival.
"You know I don't do 'protection' for cheap. It's a waste of my time," Kakuzu grumbled. He stepped forward, his heavy cloak rustling. "What is your real purpose? There are easier ways to throw away your money."
As Kakuzu shed his disguise and revealed his true, stitched form, a flicker of nostalgia crossed his mind. It was quickly replaced by a cold, prickling sensation in his chest.
He looked at Yoichi and felt his heart, all of them, clench.
When he had first been contracted to assassinate this boy, Yoichi was just a talented whelp.
Now, the person standing before him was a monster. This untamed pressure Yoichi exuded was enough in Kakuzu's mind to compare him to Hashirama Senju, the man who stood at the pinnacle of the Shinobi World.
"The price is high," Kakuzu added, his eyes narrowing. "And I don't work for promises."
"I have a lot of money now. Five hundred million Ryō, upfront."
Yoichi didn't blink at the sum. With a casual flick of his wrist, a heavy iron-bound chest materialized in the middle of the alley.
The lid popped open, revealing thick wads of high-denomination Ryō, neatly stacked.
Kakuzu's green eyes widened, the pupils contracting as he stared at the mountain of currency. Even for a man who had lived through a century of greed, this was a staggering amount of liquid capital.
A bead of sweat roll down his neck.
"How can you trust me?" Kakuzu gulped, his voice sounding uncharacteristically strained. "I could take this and be across the border before the sun sets."
"I know you work with integrity when the price is right," Yoichi replied.
"This matter seems easy to you, doesn't it? But if you tried to run away..."
Yoichi didn't finish his sentence.
He didn't have to.
"...Alright. Deal," Kakuzu agreed, his gloved hands clenching at his sides.
He knew the value of money, but he knew the value of his life even more.
"Good. Welcome to the pack. Call me if you need something."
Without another word, Yoichi vanished like a ghostly presence.
Kakuzu remained in the shadows for a long time, staring at the chest of money.
But he was far from calm. His heart, the primary one, was pounding against his ribs.
This job looked like easy profit on the surface, but his instincts, honed by a hundred years of bloodshed, screamed that he was now tethered to something far more dangerous than a simple protection detail.
"Ahh... Might as well do it," he muttered, reaching for the first stack of bills.
He had survived Hashirama, sure.
But he wasn't sure he could survive a second encounter with Yoichi if he broke this contract.
...
The village plaza was packed with people, the air thick with an anticipation that bordered on restless. Yoichi's Martial Arts were the talk of every street corner.
Everyone had felt the immediate changes—the deeper chakra reserves and the sudden burst of physical vitality that came from his drills.
Yet, despite those gains, the true potential of the Martial Arts remained a mystery to the public.
"I can hold my techniques twice as long now... But is that the end of it? Just bigger reserves? It feels like we're holding a weapon we don't know how to swing."
"That's exactly why he's here! We've all seen the physical benefits, but Yoichi-sama is about to show us what this power actually looks like in practice."
"Everyone thinks it's just a foundation for Ninjutsu, but I have a feeling he's about to prove it's a path all on its own."
"If it can do more than just make my body sturdier, I want to see it. He promised a breakthrough. If this is what Martial Arts can really do, the old ways of fighting are about to be left in the dust."
In the quiet, cold halls of the administration building, Danzo Shimura stood by the window, his gaze fixed on the gathering crowd. Beside him, Koharu and Homura looked on with deepening suspicion.
"This is an orchestrated propaganda, Hiruzen!" Danzo remarked, his voice like grinding stone. "He is using this demonstration to elevate his reputation to a dangerous level. He appears as a benevolent teacher, but he is truly gathering the loyalty of the masses for himself."
"It creates a shift in the order," Koharu added, her brow furrowed. "By showing the ordinary shinobi a power they thought was reserved for elite clans, he is subverting the hierarchy we have maintained since the village's inception."
Homura nodded in agreement. "A public display of this magnitude is a security risk!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat calmly at his desk, the scent of pipe tobacco filling the room.
He didn't share their anxiety.
Instead, he saw the spark of life returning to the village.
"You see a threat to the hierarchy, but I see the realization of a dream," Hiruzen replied.
"This is what the founders wanted. A village moving in unison, driven by a single motivation. Yoichi isn't just giving them chakra; he is giving them a future they can grasp with their own hands."
He looked at Danzo, his eyes steady and firm. "If his Martial Arts can unite the hearts of our people, then he has done more for this village than any secret order ever could. I will let him show them what lies beyond the limit."
In the beginning, he had viewed Yoichi and the Uchiha with a cold, antagonistic suspicion. He had seen them as a flame that needed to be contained. But the birth of his own family had changed his perspective.
He finally understood that Yoichi wasn't fighting for power, but for the safety of those he loved.
He realized, perhaps just in time, that acting as a villain toward his own people only served to drive them away. To be a true Kage, he needed to lead through inspiration, not through the shadows of the council's fear.
This Martial Arts was a world-breaking force.
It defied everything the Academy taught.
Yoichi had reached a level of strength that bypassed traditional Ninjutsu entirely.
It was impossible to ignore the truth standing right in front of them.
If this were just typical Taijutsu, the boy would have reached a plateau years ago.
Rather, Yoichi was still growing stronger, his power fueled by a raw vitality that seemed to regenerate his very spirit.
The sheer life force this Martial Arts brought to the table gave Hiruzen a vision of the future. He saw a village where no child was born without the chance to become a legend.
As an exceptional Kage, he knew his role wasn't to suppress this change, but to champion it.
________
Sorry if you think that Hiruzen will be bad.
I made this change since it was always Hiruzen and Danzo being potrayed as neglectful leaders. But now, I made sure that Hiruzen will support him but neglect Danzo's treacherous heart.
I mean, he saw and noticed what Martial Arts brings, so why would he stick to his antagonistic behavior when the village was united according to what the founders wanted in the first place?
It was a butterfly effect! XDD.
Of course, the villains here is Danzo and his motley crew.
Thanks for reading and commenting, XDD!