Sensing Minato's hesitation, Katsuro continued.
"And Minato, it is clear that your civilian upbringing is limiting you," Katsuro said bluntly. "While Jiraiya is helping to cover for this weakness, there is a lack of Jutsu in your repertoire, holding back your genius, firepower and versatility. You can't just invent every Jutsu you use, or wait for the Hokage to reward you. Kushina told me that you want to become Hokage, is that right?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good, I'm sure you'll be perfect. But that means you need to be strong - come to the Senju compound. I think you'll find that our system is perfectly suited to your needs."
Minato hesitated before saying, "Lord Katsuro… this… it's too much. I can't possibly accept this."
"Nonsense, Minato, it is something you deserve. I am impressed with you, and besides, didn't I say I owed you one?"
"Yes, but this is far more than one favour."
"Meh - you'll be part of the clan soon enough anyway, as long as you look after Kushina in the future, I'll be happy."
Minato once again paused for a moment before blushing heavily.
Despite his words just moments earlier, seeing Minato looking down at his feet, Katsuro got the urge to leave a massive bruise on his head.
"Damn brat, don't look so obvious about it."
______________________
Kushina, who learned about Katsuro's offer as they walked home, immediately became excited, jumping on the spot and hugging her brother. Katsuro flicked her forehead and told her it wasn't because of her, it was for Minato and he was impressed by the smiling and radiant boy. But Kushina wasn't fooled.
Soon, under her insistence, Minato finally arrived at the Senju Compound and underwent a test to see if he would be compatible with space and the Flying Raijin that Tobriama had developed. As Katsuro expected, the test was successful, and soon Minato became a regular visitor of the Senju compound. Katsuro would teach him and Kushina Fuinjutsu from time to time, but largely let the older Uzumaki clan members handle their lessons, at least until the Master level. There was only one Grandmaster level Fuinjutsu expert within the Uzumaki clan at present, and they were old, but there were still numerous Master level experts. And these Master level experts, who, under Uzumaki tutelage and countless hours, were a step above any Fuinjutsu user that Konoha would assign the rank of Master. Katsuro would help the older lady in tutoring some of the more promising masters from time to time, but even he had to admit she was better than him - age did have its benefits.
When Minato was not learning Fuinjutsu, he was taught Ninjutsu by Katsuro, privy to the large collection the Senju clan had amassed. Contrary to his expectations, the Clansmen did not mind at all, and instead all welcomed him with open arms due to his relationship with Katsuro. Minato's own good natured disposition helped immensely and often reminded them of a younger Katsuro. But when they found out the 'special' relationship that seemed to be forming with Kushina, they became all the more happy. Of course for Kushina and Minato, they were met with relentless teases and no matter how often it happened would be left blushing messes. Another pair of recipients of the same treatment were Souta and Minari who also seemed to be developing in a similar direction finally.
That blockhead Souta, finally. Katsuro thought offhandedly seeing them in one of his training sessions.
For a short while, there was peace (well, as much as you could have in a ninja village), and Katsuro was grateful for a routine that didn't require bloodshed. His days mostly consisted of training the kids, helping some clansmen with Jutsus, spending some time with Tsunade at the hospital (amongst doing other things with her too), and the occasional clan meeting about internal and external affairs.
"Katsuro, teach me another Jutsu!"
Katsuro fake groaned. Kakashi in particular had been relentless - the boy was driven as he was prodigious, and he had been bugging the Senju Patriarch for a long time to teach him a new Jutsu. Even as a Genin with his own Sensei, it seemed Katsuro was still his primary source of knowledge.
"Why didn't you learn more from the Academy?" Katsuro retorted snidely, fully aware of the coming answer.
"The Academy was useless - I learnt more from here, so teach me!"
"Well then," Katsuro responded. "If you were as smart and as much of a prodigy as people say you are, why did you decide to graduate at 5 years old?" He wagged his finger at the boy, in a manner that he knew would annoy him, and continued.
"When I was your age, I sent a shadow clone to the Academy, and I trained in secret all that time at home - you should have taken your time and these years to grow stronger!"
"I want to fight for the village! It's my duty! To do that I had to graduate as soon as possible!"
Katsuro shook his head with a small smile. Like father, like son, huh? Before he could respond, Kakashi continued.
"That's why I want to become a Chunin as soon as possible - I don't want to waste time doing D Rank missions, I want to fight!"
Katsuro smiled at Kakashi's words and resolve. Well, he is Sensei's son.
"Fine then. I'll teach you a Jutsu - a strong one too, but it's very risky if you misuse it in battle. Training to learn it though, will greatly improve your Lightning Chakra Nature Transformations. You ready for that?"
"Yeah, I am - but why's it risky?"
Katsuro smiled. "You'll see."
As the pair made their way into the nearby woods, Katsuro spoke to the younger boy.
"It's my understanding that you've already learnt Shunpo from your dad, right?"
"Yes."
"Hm. And your Chakra Nature is Lightning, right?"
"Yes."
"I see. Tell me, Kakashi, what's the most difficult thing about using Lightning Style techniques?" Katsuro asked after stopping at a random clearing in the woods.
Kakashi was silent for a moment, thinking.
"It's controlling it." Smart kid.
"Exactly - lightning doesn't want to be controlled, and chakra is inherently hard to control. But when you can control both…"
Katsuro made rapid hand signs, almost faster than Kakashi could keep up with, and the sound of a thousand chirping birds echoed loudly through the forest, as blue lightning flashed and spread around his arm.
"This is Chidori."
The Senju Patriarch dashed at an incredible pace to the nearest tree at a speed Kakashi couldn't follow, and suddenly the tree had been felled.
The boy gaped. That tree… it had to be at least 5 metres wide… and it fell like it was made out of a sheet of paper?
"Don't get too excited, kid. This is the risky part - did you see how fast I had to move to use Chidori?" Kakashi nodded. "What's the drawback of that?"
Kakashi thought again, this time furrowing his brows in deep thought, before lighting up.
"You won't be able to see anything else, will you? Peripheral vision - actually, probably more or less everything apart from the target - becomes a blur when you use it, so enemy attacks are more likely to go unnoticed by the user, and land."
"Correct," Katsuro said begrudgingly, his lips curling upwards, but unsurprised - after all, he was the son of the White Fang of the Leaf.
"The main reason I'm teaching you this Jutsu is because it'll help you to control your Lightning Chakra Nature Transformations better, and that'll definitely come in handy for you, both directly in battle to just be faster, and indirectly to create new Jutsus. After you master the Chidori, we'll try to move onto Raikiri - that's basically an improved version, but of course, harder. Got it?"
Kakashi nodded again, but this time unable to hide his smile even behind the mask.
"Don't look too happy, I'll be testing your Shunpo and Kenjutsu first. You can't be the son of your father or my own little disciple if you can't even use these. What an embarrassment it will be if you can't even use the techniques that makes Suna fear the very colour of your father's hair!"
Kakashi was somewhat downcast hearing this. He would much rather learn the flashy Chidori than an 'ordinary' looking movement technique like Shunpo or Kenjutsu. But, under Katsuro's forced tutelage he was quickly becoming proficient.
This damn brat, his genius is comparable to Minato but all he wants to do is learn the flashy stuff.
"Tch- Kakashi come to me, I'm gonna teach you the importance of the basics today!"
Suddenly Kakashi wanted to run back home, but unfortunately for him that option had long faded.
-
A couple of months later…
Hiruzen felt like he had given all his money from his own clan and Danzo's to the Senju. And seeing Minato going to the Senju compound at least once every other day when he wasn't on missions made him feel like his whole world was crashing down. All his plans unravelled. And he couldn't even stop it from happening or say anything! Everything was unofficial and in his own head! He couldn't just admit his plans to groom Minato as a successor and use him to tie Kushina to the village could he?! Whenever he would mention it subtly to Katsuro, saying perhaps Minato should be left to Jiraiya as Katsuro has 2 whole clams to take care of, Katsuro would just brush it off and ignore it pretending he didn't even understand the underlying implications!
He felt physically and emotionally wrung, and when momentum aiming to put Sakumo in the Hokage's seat once again began to gain traction, he once again felt the pressure. This was something that united Danzo and Hiruzen fully, albeit for different reasons. Danzo wanted to put himself on the seat, but that would only be possible if the weak Hiruzen who couldn't deny him was there instead of Sakumo, who would definitely restrict his power. His brainchild was a nefarious plan, one Hiruzen tactfully agreed to without taking the blame or admitting his involvement. They summoned Sakumo, and handed him an S rank mission, stressing its importance to the village. Like the honorable man he was, Sakumo took the leadership with good faith, promising to complete it. But as he left, both Danzo and Hiruzen had similar thoughts.
Soon, his reputation will be in shatters.
—
A few days later…
Katsuro was having a typical day at the Senju Compound, after Tsunade had left for the hospital taking Shizune with her, he handled his affairs as normal. But then he got a report from several clansmen about a rumour - a nasty rumour.
AN: If you would like to view up to 20 chapters ahead, and would also like to support me, please visit my P@TR30N, at pa tr eon.com / GhidorahWriter (remove the spaces). Thanks for reading and make sure ADD to your COLLECTION and VOTE with POWER STONES! The next target is 100 POWER STONES for the next BONUSCHAPTER!