"Guess I should get back to train," Orochimaru said, his voice thoughtful. As much as he enjoyed hanging out with their little group, those ninjutsu scrolls back in his house were calling his name.
Besides, he'd been thinking lately - if Yuta could create an original technique like the Rasengan when he was just six, why couldn't he come up with something himself? It wasn't about competing, he was just genuinely curious. Wouldn't it be cool to develop a technique that was completely his own?
"Alright, we should probably head out too," Jiraiya announced, jumping to his feet and brushing off his pants. He nudged Osamu with his elbow. "Hey, I just got my hands on this really... interesting limited edition magazine. Wanna come check it out at my place?"
"Wait, you had money for that? I thought you spent everything on that barbecue last week!"
"Would you keep it down! So, are you coming or what?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course! You know I always trust your taste. If you say it's interesting, I'm definitely in!"
Osamu's grin was downright sleazy. The two of them linked arms and started whispering to each other, occasionally breaking into these weird chuckles... Yuta watched Osamu with mixed feelings.
'Jiraiya was already a lost cause, and now Osamu was starting to show signs of going down the same path.'
'Seriously, of all people to copy, why did it have to be Jiraiya?'
'Look at you now, corrupted.'
But then Yuta's expression froze as he realized something.
'Wait, when you look at our whole group... are any of us actually good influences?'
On second thought, getting corrupted by Jiraiya's particular brand of nonsense was probably better than picking up Orochimaru's creepy habits or Tsunade's gambling addiction.
As long as Osamu and Jiraiya didn't start finishing each other's sentences, Yuta figured he could live with it.
"Yuta, what are you up to later?" Meyuri asked, drifting a bit closer to him. Though she was talking to Yuta, her eyes kept flicking over toward Tsunade.
"I—"
Before Yuta could answer, Tsunade stepped right up beside him.
"Yuta, you're coming with me," she said, her tone making it clear this wasn't a request. "My grandmother wants to see you."
'Grandmother?'
'The legendary figure from the Warring States period? The First Hokage's wife? The first Nine-Tails jinchuriki? Uzumaki Mito herself?'
Why would she want to see him?
Yuta frowned for a second before quickly smoothing out his expression. Well, it couldn't hurt to meet someone like that. She probably doesn't mean him any harm.
"Okay," he agreed with a nod.
Seeing Yuta agree so easily, Meyuri felt a pang of regret.
'Tsunade, that's just unfair!'
Using the "my elder wants to see you" move! If she'd known, she would've had her dad invite Yuta over too!
Even though she was annoyed inside, Meyuri kept a polite smile on her face. "Well, I guess I'll head home and keep working on my Kekkei Genkai training then."
"See you later."
She gave Yuta a wave before turning to leave partly to be polite, but mostly because she didn't want to see the triumphant look she was sure would be on Tsunade's face.
Hearing about Meyuri's training plans, Yuta gave a small nod of approval. When he'd first heard she'd awakened the Kurama clan's bloodline limit, Five Senses Control, he'd been pretty surprised. Nobody in their clan had managed to awaken that bloodline limit in ages.
The only other person he knew who had this power was Kurama Yakumo, who wouldn't even be born for decades.
Naturally, after hearing the news, he'd checked Meyuri over carefully. From the Medical Ninjutsu he got from the simulation, he'd given her a thorough examination from head to toe.
Maybe it was because she'd trained in taijutsu since she was a kid, building up a strong body. Or maybe it was because she'd only recently awakened the ability and hadn't reached the problematic stage yet. Whatever the reason, he hadn't found anything wrong with her.
The last thing he wanted was for someone close to him to have their life cut short because of their Bloodline Limit.
"Come on, Yuta, let's head back to the Senju Compound," Tsunade said.
Hearing this, Yuta instinctively turned to look at her. That whole thing about girls developing faster seemed to be true in the shinobi world too.
Tsunade was almost as tall as him now.
'She looked pretty serious.'
But why did the way she said it feel kind of... suggestive?
—
The Senju Clan Compound wasn't in a fancy central location like the Shimura clan's, but was tucked away next to a dense forest. The area felt kind of remote, almost isolated.
Of course, in Konoha, nobody would dare look down on the Senju name, let alone actually isolate them.
So that meant the compound's location was a choice made by either Senju Hashirama or Senju Tobirama.
Hard to say which one was responsible.
It was possible that Senju Tobirama had done it as a subtle way to sideline the Uchiha.
I mean, if even the great Senju clan lived out on the edges, who could complain when the Uchiha got placed in a remote spot too? Any complaints about being isolated could be brushed off as the Uchiha's own fault for being standoffish.
'Hey, we Senju are out here too. Why aren't we isolated? Maybe look at your own attitude problems?'
Yuta could practically hear the thought process.
'Wait, that might be giving him too much credit.'
Senju Tobirama probably wouldn't be that subtle about dealing with the Uchiha. That same basic idea, but about ten or twenty times more blunt, was probably more his style.
The other possibility was that Senju Hashirama, when Konoha was first being built, had given up the central spots in the village to other clans to be nice.
While Yuta was lost in these thoughts, Tsunade led him through the gates of the Senju Compound.
Rows of houses came into view. Most of them were pretty plain, without much decoration, and some of the door handles were even getting rusty.
As they walked, Yuta barely saw anyone around.
The whole Senju Compound had this lonely, quiet feeling to it that was hard to describe.
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