Mito was now walking down the road toward the estate with Hiruko, and Sakumo watched as Hiruko awkwardly tried to make conversation.
"Sakumo Aren't you in a squad?" Hiruko asked, trying his best to make conversation.
Sakumo was now completely different than Hiruko's first interaction with him; he was all smiles.
"Yeah, I'm in a squad with kids from the Hyuga and Uchiha; however, our squad only meets Tuesdays through Thursdays. The rest I'll spend watching over you." Sakumo said with conviction,
Hiruko, ignoring the other half of what Sakumo said, focused on the first half.
'Hyuga and Uchiha, huh? Must be tough.' Hiruko thought
Eventually all three reached the estate as the gate opened.
Suddenly a shadow came into view; it was Chigiri.
"Lady Mito, am I to assume I am to set up a room for our guest?" Chigiri said, eyeing Sakumo and his bags.
Mito, hearing this, simply smiled and said, "Yes, prepare his room and make sure it is close to Hiruko's." Mito said simply,
Chigiri, hearing her orders, simply bowed, but before leaving, she turned and looked at Hiruko.
"Young Master Hiruko, it's... nice to see you safe." Chigiri said in her usual cold voice though it held a hint of something… warm before she disappeared.
"Oh, nice to see you too, Chigiri," Hiruko said quietly to the wind.
Hiruko, then entering the estate, was met by several tight hugs.
"Nice to see you guys too." Hiruko said, barely able to breathe.
Piled on him were the figures of Yuri, Arata, and Tsunade.
"Where were you, dummy?" Tsunade said, her voice almost inaudible, but Hiruko heard.
"Sorry, sorry, I'm back now." Hiruko said, stroking her head.
Arata backing up from the hug ruffled Hiruko's hair.
"Try not disappearing on us again, okay, lil bro?"
Hiruko, smiling simply, said, "Of course."
"Umm, who's that?" Yuri said, pointing to a figure behind Hiruko.
Seeing he was addressed, Sakumo immediately knelt.
"My name is Sakumo Hatake. I am the sword of Hiruko," Sakumo said simply but with the utmost seriousness.
"Hatake? Like Ken Hatake?" Arata asked he remembered his father mentioning someone by that name. And how he was one of his closest friends.
Sakumo, hearing this, still kneeling, responded, "Yes, he is my grandfather."
Arata, a bit surprised hearing this, asked,
"How's he doing?"
Arata asked politely with slight concern , though he never once interacted with Ken since, after the establishment of the village, all was mostly peaceful; unless called upon by his father, the man mostly kept to himself, trying to raise his son in the way of the Hatake swordsmanship.
Then later, when Ken came out of seclusion to help his father to fight Madara Uchiha, Arata never saw him since he was kept away from the battlefield.
And as far as he knows, ever since then, the guy's been in his family's old home, keeping his movements to a minimum due to some injury he got in the battle.
Sakumo hearing Arata Concern lifted his head for the first time, and with a soft smile,
"My grandfather is in good health thanks to Master Hiruko."
Arata hearing this was noticeably confused. How could Hiruko help a dying old man? Arata thought, looking over to Hiruko, who simply said
"I'll explain later."
Arata, hearing this, simply shrugged.
Suddenly Arata remembered something as he eyed Hiruko's body.
"Hiruko, by the way, tomorrow I'm going to teach you the basics of the Senju Taijutsu. It seems like your body has reached the much-needed step to begin practicing." Arata said with a smile.
Hearing this, Hirruko was ecstatic; he has been wanting to practice the Senju taijutsu for a while now, but Mito and Arata always stopped him, saying that he first needed a strong body.
Mito, seeing this, was reminded of something.
"Oh, Hiruko, that reminds me, here." Mito said, reaching mysteriously into the darkness of her sleeve and pulling out a brownish scroll and handing it to Hiruko.
"What is this?" Hiruko asked, taking the brown scroll.
'And more importantly, where did it come from?' He thought to himself,
"Those are all Tobirama's notes on water release," Mito said with a smile.
"All…his…notes?" Hiruko asked, at a loss for words, 'Tobirama is one of, if not the, smartest minds when it comes to ninjutsu and creation and a water-style master. These are his notes' Hiruko thought in awe.
Mito, seeing this look, smiled and said, "They're yours; use them well."
Hiruko stood there unsure of what to say, so he responded in the best way he knew how; he gave Mito a hug. "Thanks, Mom."
Mito reciprocating his hug simply said, "You're welcome," with a smile on her face.
After embracing for a couple moments, they heard a grunt. Looking around them, they noticed everyone was still there watching.
Both Mito and Hiruko, realizing this, got red in the face as everyone laughed.
—
Now walking back to his room with Tsunade and Sakumo next to him, Hiruko couldn't help but embarrassedly remember the hour of teasing he was subjected to.
"Hey Hiruko, by the way, how's the jutsu coming?" Tsunade asked, curiosity evident in her eyes.
"Oh, I can cast and use it pretty easily, but the control aspect is elusive, though I plan to train my reaction speed to help." Hiruko said he had forgotten about that jutsu, but now that he had Tobirama's notes on water release, he had some hope.
Tsunade, hearing this, stopped right in her tracks.
"You've got to be kidding me." She said, her tone taking on an angry and defeated tone.
Hiruko, turning around confused at her reaction, said, "No, why?"
"Why, why, you ask? It's because I've just barely got the principle of my technique down, and Orochimaru, in all his genius, has only passed the first step of his technique, yet you're telling me you, with one day of practice, can already use the jutsu," Tsunade said, pulling her hair in frustration.
Huruko, hearing this, was quite surprised; he'd expected he'd be one of the last ones done since by the time he finished practicing, everyone was long gone.
'Could it be their technique relies on harder principles?' Hiruko asked himself, but soon he just shrugged; he didn't care too much anyways.
Tsunade, seeing his disregard, was reminded of a certain day and exploded.
"You, how are you so good at everything—ninjutsu, sealing, taijutsu, and kenjutsu? What's next, you plan on adding genjutsu too?" Tsunade said in frustration.
But Hiruko, hearing this, simply slightly turned back and smirked before he continued walking.
"Yo—you actually plan on trying out Genjutsu, don't you?" Tsunade asked, bewildered.
While Sakumo, on the other hand, asked in surprise, "You use Kenjutsu, Master?
Hiruko just slightly nodded at that question.
"Yeah, but I haven't had many chances to test it, so I can't say how good I am." Hiruko said, speaking honestly, he hadn't once tried out his swordsmanship since he got it, even though he has a beautiful sword waiting to be used.
"I can spar with you; helping you increase your strength is one of my many duties as your sword." Sakumo said honestly, and he really wanted to fight a swordsman around his age too.
Hiruko, hearing this, simply nodded. "Sure, I don't mind; we can do it tomorrow after my training with Arata." Hiruko said, though he didn't show it, he was also eager to battle against someone his own age in swordsmanship.