Danzo departed alone, leaving Shimura Yuta to emerge from the forest's edge, a storm of frustration brewing within him.
He'd brushed off the worst of the dirt, but a distinct air of humiliation clung to him like a stubborn stain. His teammate, Sarutobi Osamu, who had lingered behind, hurried over.
"Yuta... are you okay?" Osamu asked, peering over Yuta's shoulder to confirm their teacher was truly gone. "Where's Danzo-sensei?"
Kurama Meyuri drifted closer, her amber eyes alight with quiet curiosity.
"I'm fine," Yuta grumbled. "That ol—" He bit his tongue, barely stopping the epithet 'that old bastard' from escaping.
"Danzo-sensei went ahead. But, since it's the first day of our new team we should celebrate... my treat. What do you say?"
Osamu's face lit up. "Barbeque!"
Knowing Yuta's family wasn't short on funds, Osamu didn't hesitate to aim high.
Meyuri, however, shifted her weight, a delicate blush coloring her cheeks. "Is that... really appropriate?"
"Don't worry about it. Barbeque it is," Yuta declared, leading the way to the most popular yakiniku restaurant in Konoha.
Danzo might have written off Osamu and Meyuri, but Yuta couldn't afford to. As genin, they'd be drowning in D-rank missions—collecting litter, weeding gardens, babysitting. He needed them. Keeping the team functional was a matter of survival.
Besides, he was intrigued by the fabled genjutsu of the Kurama clan.
Building rapport now would make it easier to… observe their techniques later. Even if their bloodline limit, the Five Senses Manipulation, was out of reach, he could still learn something useful.
Bolstering his own defenses against genjutsu illusions was crucial; the last thing he wanted was to be laid out by a single genjutsu, particularly from an Uchiha.
'...Wait. Why am I thinking about fighting the Uchiha? They are part of the village.'
'Damn that old bastard Danzo. He's corrupting my thoughts without me even realizing it!'
—
To Yuta's astonishment, the quiet and refined Meyuri possessed a bottomless stomach. He and Osamu had long since surrendered, patting their full bellies, but Meyuri continued to steadily consume slice after slice of sizzling grilled meat.
The most baffling part was her complete lack of a bloated stomach.
'That amount of food is enough to fill her stomach three time over'
Sensing his stare, Meyuri paused, her cheeks flushing a shade of red. "My apologies. I have a rather robust appetite. Perhaps I should cover the bill?"
"Relax, I've got it," Yuta said. "I'm just impressed, that's all."
A sudden commotion at the entrance drew their attention.
"It's the Third Hokage!"
"Welcome, Lord Hokage!"
Yuta's head turned. Sarutobi Hiruzen, in this era, was far from the old man he would later become, but the strains of leadership were already showing in the flecks of grey at his temples.
'That hat weighs heavily,' Yuta mused.
It had aged Hiruzen prematurely, just as it would bury Tsunade and Kakashi in paperwork, and leave Naruto with no time for his family. Probably only the Yellow Flash could manage the workload and still make it home for dinner.
As for the rumors that Hiruzen had sidelined the Fourth? Yuta found them hard to believe.
Minato was his hand-picked successor, a prodigy. If not for a tragic twist of fate, Konoha's destiny would have been far brighter.
Yuta's gaze slid past the Hokage to the three children following him.
The boy gawking at everything with comical wonder, Jiraiya; the one with an unnervingly serene and polite demeanor, Orochimaru; and the girl with brilliant golden hair, already exasperated at her teammate, Tsunade Senju.
The future Legendary Sannin, Konoha's soon-to-be-infamous "Trio of Vice," had arrived.
'Huh. Tsunade's actually kind of cute as a kid,' Yuta noted. 'No wonder Jiraiya set his sights on her from day one. The perv had a type, even then.'
"Yuta! It's Lord Third! The Hokage!" Osamu, whose entire life's ambition was crystallized in the man before them, was practically vibrating out of his seat.
He grabbed Yuta's arm, shaking it with unrestrained excitement. "Aren't you excited?"
Meyuri seemed unaffected. Seizing the distraction, she stealthily devoured three more pieces of meat, puffing her cheeks out like a well-fed squirrel.
"I'm sooo thrilled. Ecstatic, even," Yuta deadpanned, extracting his arm from Osamu's grip.
Even from across the room, he could feel the dense, potent chakra radiating from the Hokage's body. The "Professor," in his prime, was arguably the strongest kage of his generation.
This wasn't even his peak, Yuta knew. That would come during the fires of the Second Great Shinobi War.
'At his best, I'd bet on him against Ōnoki or the Third Raikage any day,' he speculated. 'Didn't he once use that adamantine staff of his to lever the Nine-Tails out of the village?'
"I'm finished. Shall we take our leave?" Meyuri had neatly polished off the last morsel, dabbing her lips with a napkin, instantly transforming back into a picture of serene elegance.
Osamu, who had been urging her to hurry before, was now rooted to the spot, his gaze locked onto the Hokage with a devotion that bordered on fanatical.
Yuta suppressed a sigh.
'Buddy, with that look on your face, you're basically the president of his fan club. I'd give it up if I were you.'
After all, as every good shinobi knows: the Third Hokage belongs to Danzo.
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