(June 25th, year 54 AK)
Yuta and Hikari left the Hokage Tower. As they left, Hikari stopped in front of him and turned around and said, "It's good that you didn't join Danzo's ANBU, it would be better this way."
"Hey, do you know something about that guy?" Yuta asked curiously, while he thought, 'She definitely knows something. Does she have some sort of a connection with him? I can't figure out what is her deal...'
...
'She is a character that is either not exists in the original story, or just a background character that doesn't get any screen time, otherwise I would've remembered her. I mean, slicing Chunin-level opponents with a sword like it was nothing, at the age of eight no less, I would've remembered someone like that...'
...
'Well, my existence in this world is already changing a lot of things, Shisui was never have been a Jonin-instructor in the original story after all, other things happened as well, butterfly effect and all that, so, it isn't entirely impossible that some unknown new characters will surface.'
"... No, I'm just feeling something off about him, that's all. See you tomorrow." Hikari said and left.
'Maybe she doesn't know anything, maybe she just doesn't want our squad to break up.' Yuta thought.
As Yuta thought about Hikari and all the things about her that felt off, he started walking slowly and aimlessly through the park beside the Hokage Tower.
Although meeting Danzo, who tried to recruit him into Root so suddenly, had startled him a little, now that it was over, Yuta finally started to relax.
Up until now Yuta was still quite tense after his mission and all the fighting, but then a bit stressful experience with Danzo had helped him somehow to finally shook that lingering tension and now Yuta found himself wondering aimlessly through the park in a rare, peaceful moment, fully relaxed.
...
Hiruzen, still deep in thoughts about the issue with the Uchiha clan, stood up and walked to the window. He absentmindedly observed the village below while his thoughts were wondering, but then he noticed Yuta, who was wondering through the park nearby.
Hiruzen remembered the details from the report, the way Yuta dealt with his opponents, the cold-blooded ruthlessness he had displayed in that fight.
His brows furrowed.
...
At some point Yuta found himself on a park terrace, leaning on the handrails at the edge of the terrace. The good chunk of the village was clearly visible from this point down below. Yuta found himself idly observing the houses, the ninjas that were jumping through the roofs here and there and the civilians that were walking the streets.
"What a peaceful view..." Yuta mumbled quietly.
"Indeed." Yuta suddenly heard a voice of an old man just beside him.
Being caught like that with his guard down, when someone managed to sneak so close to him without him noticing, Yuta had almost initiated the time-travel on reflex, but in the last moment he recognized the voice and stopped.
'Hiruzen? What does he want from me?' Yuta thought surprised. Although Yuta was startled for a moment, he kept his calm and acted natural, as if it was completely normal that Hiruzen decided to approach him like that, Yuta stood quietly, appreciating the view and didn't say anything else.
After a couple seconds of silence, Hiruzen finally said in a grandfatherly tone, "Yuta, are you feeling well? What you had to go through during the last mission, that was quite a lot for someone your age..."
'I knew it.' Yuta thought, 'From the moment I recovered after canceling the Calm State after battle and after learning that I was observed during the battle, I knew, that display of gory tactics will get me in some kind of trouble. But what was I supposed to do during the battle? I didn't have time to calculate and predict this far into the future, I was fighting for my life and nothing else mattered in that moment... Besides, not that I had any choice in the matter, I acted in the most efficient way, and even then, it wasn't enough in the end...'
...
'What I suppose to answer to that? Now that I think about it, staying so calm and efficient, ruthless even, it isn't something a kid like me should display in battle. I bet everyone thinks now that I'm some kind of lunatic or something... "Shinobi of darkness" as Danzo said it, this isn't good for my reputation.'
'If I were to have such a reputation, everyone will think of me as some cold, calculating and ruthless individual, this is not good in the village where the Will of Fire are cultivated so thoroughly, not if I stay in the regular ranks that is, in the ANBU such qualities are welcomed, but not in the regular ranks. I bet Hiruzen will think of me as I'm just another Orochimaru in the making or something.'
'Should I go back and re-do the battle? Now that I know that I was being observed by Shisui and others, I could just fight those Mist goons, maybe beat the first three, and then let Shisui and others to save me and don't go all the way with paper bombs on corpses and stuff like that. This will also reduce Danzo's interest in recruiting me as well.'
'Well, I have to do something about it, and this is a good solution as far as I can see. But I might be forced in the future to go all out again at some point, so this solution fights the symptoms, not the root of the problem. If I were to fight all-out with my Calm State active again, who knows what I might do, it might be even more gruesome next time...'
As Yuta was thinking hard to find the way to mitigate the consequences for his reputation after what he did during his fight, Hiruzen stayed silent for a few seconds, giving Yuta time to gather his thoughts.
'But what else I can do?' Yuta thought, 'I can't just openly say something along the lines - "It wasn't me, I just used the Calm State, so my feelings and emotions were cut off during the fight, that's all, I'm not actually that cold-blooded and ruthless as you think!"'
...
'Hm...'
...
...
...
'And why not, exactly?'
...
'Now that I think about it, there are only pros and not many cons if I do reveal it, huh. Well, of course I won't say that it is one of the applications of my Time Control ability, that would be stupid. I would say that I suspect that I had awakened some minor Bloodline ability. It keeps emotions away and keeps my mind clear, nothing extraordinary, no one will covet it, it's nothing compared to the Sharingan and other cool Bloodlines.'
'And even more so, the Calm State works exactly like a Bloodline ability would work, it comes from within me, I activate it instinctually and naturally, and it costs chakra to maintain.'
'This will allow me to prevent my reputation from becoming of the cold-blooded and ruthless individual, and it shouldn't rise many questions, after all, there is tons of all sorts of Bloodlines in the world, what is one more, a weak and unassuming one at that? Well, if something goes wrong, I always have plan B, right?'
"To be honest..." Yuta finally said to Hiruzen, "I wasn't entirely myself during that fight, I didn't feel anything."
"Hm? That is unusual. Could you elaborate more on that statement?" Hiruzen asked calmly.
"When I found myself outnumbered and overpowered, it's like something awakened inside of me, and the next instant all my feelings and emotions were gone completely and my mind attained unusual clarity. From that point I was just fighting in the most efficient way possible, no fear, no panic, nothing, I felt nothing at all. Only the constant drain of my chakra while I was maintaining that Calm State of mine."
'I wouldn't dare to lie directly to someone as experienced as Hiruzen, he might catch me on a lie, so everything I said is almost completely true, only that it was not the whole truth, but that is just details, right?' Yuta thought, 'After hanging out with Shisui so much and experiencing firsthand how sharp Shisui is, eventually I picked up this skill of always telling the truth, at least when I'm speaking with someone this experienced and sharp, but maybe just not the whole truth, I found that this approach works best when I have to conceal something...'
'Of course, when I'm speaking with Shisui I'm trying to tell him openly when the conversation touches something I don't want to talk about. Shisui is the closest person to someone I could call a friend after all, and I don't want to lie to him, but I can't tell him the whole truth either, so sometimes I'm still forced to conceal some things this way.'
"Interesting... Calm State..." Hiruzen said as he fell deep in thoughts and analyzed what Yuta said, then after a few seconds he said, "It drained your chakra and it isn't some jutsu that you learned beforehand, so there is only one explanation left. It must be a Kekkei Genkai, a Bloodline that has awakened in a stressful situation."
Then after a few more seconds of contemplation, Hiruzen said apologetically, "Yuta, I know it must be painful, but still, I must ask, do you remember your family? Do you remember anyone in your family having anything like the Calm State of yours or anything unusual?"
"No, I don't think so, or rather, I don't remember much of what was before the orphanage. I remember my father was a Chunin, he taught me some training routine, some basic exercises, that is about all that I remember about anything shinobi-related, I'm sorry. If my father or my mother had the same ability, I wasn't aware of that, I'm afraid."
Yuta didn't forget to cover his bases and said that his father taught him a little, so it wouldn't be suspicious that he started training like he knew what he was doing back in the orphanage.
"I see, that is unfortunate, I'm sorry I asked." Hiruzen said softly, "Did you figured out how your Bloodline ability works? Are you able to activate it at will?"
"Yes. Lord Hokage, I can demonstrate it to you if you'd like." Yuta replied enthusiastically, while he thought, 'Yea, as I thought, such a minor Bloodline won't cause much of a stir anywhere. After a brief demonstration, Hiruzen will likely lose interest in it and write it off as something insignificant.'
"Yes, I would like to see it. Let's go to the nearby training grounds so we won't disturb other people." Hiruzen said with a satisfied smile and led Yuta somewhere.
--- AN ---
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