After Kitazawa and Yakushi Kabuto picked up their jōnin vests, they left the Hokage Building.
Becoming a jōnin isn't as simple as receiving a vest, of course, but the rest—updating their shinobi files and announcing to the village that new jōnin have been appointed—would be handled by Konoha. Nothing for them to worry about.
"Kabuto, are you planning to stay with our squad, or do you want to lead your own team?" Kitazawa stopped and asked.
At the jōnin level you don't really need a supervising sensei—jōnin are supervising sensei. Keeping two jōnin on the same squad is a bit of a waste. Konoha doesn't strictly force a split, though. Kakashi, for instance, stayed under Minato even after becoming a jōnin.
"I'll stay," Kabuto answered without a second thought. "I want to learn more ninjutsu from you, Kitazawa-sensei."
"Alright," Kitazawa nodded. "You're still young; no need to rush into leading a team."
"Mm." Kabuto let out a small breath of relief. He'd briefly worried Kitazawa was nudging him to leave the squad.
"Then go train," Kitazawa waved him off. "When a suitable high-difficulty mission pops up, I'll take you all along."
"Got it." Kabuto didn't pry. He turned and headed toward the Academy.
Watching him go made Kitazawa think of Shinnō.
As the movie villain, Shinnō wasn't weak. In his normal state he was around special-jōnin level. With the Zero-Tails' chakra and his medical forbidden techniques, he could reach elite jōnin class.
If Kabuto's trio teamed up with Kurenai against him, the winner would be a toss-up.
Add Kitazawa to the mix, though, and there shouldn't be a problem—especially since Shinnō's medical forbidden arts have side effects and can't be sustained long.
Finding him is the annoying part. Still, you can always "catch the monk at the temple": locate the Land of the Sky first and lie in wait.
Kitazawa rubbed his chin. He could drop by Anbu later and ask Uchiha Itachi for help.
For now, he couldn't wait to test his Senju Chakra Mode.
He headed north to the village's northernmost training ground. After making sure no one was around, he activated Senju Chakra Mode.
In an instant, he felt the chakra inside him surge to life.
He thought for a beat, then flashed through hand seals.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!
He threw his head back and spat a massive fireball. It arced into the sky and vanished.
A glint of excitement flashed in his eyes.
From the first seal to launching the fireball, he'd shaved a full third off his usual time.
So this is what higher chakra-flow efficiency does?
Mulling it over, he raised his hand.
Rasengan!
In a blink, a tightly compressed chakra sphere bloomed in his palm.
"As expected." He counted the seconds—also one-third faster.
But Rasengan is a seal-less technique to begin with; cut another third and it's basically instant-cast.
Kitazawa exhaled slowly.
If every jutsu is one-third faster, that's a huge edge in a fight. With the sheer number of techniques he knows, anyone who doesn't have intel on him could get one-shot on first contact—the classic "first-encounter kill."
He tamped down his excitement and kept testing. Senju Chakra Mode has three key effects, after all.
Glancing left and right, he walked up to a tree, clenched his fist, and threw a straight punch—no form, no taijutsu, just raw strength.
Boom!
The trunk shuddered, split in the middle, and toppled backward.
Kitazawa looked genuinely startled.
A casual punch…halfway to Monster Strength?
Leaf Whirlwind!
He snapped a kick into the fallen trunk. The half-length log exploded into four or five chunks under the force.
He clicked his tongue. Clearly, the boost to output wasn't limited to his hands.
Thinking of that, he plopped down on the ground. Power rippled out, leaving a seat-shaped imprint in the dirt.
He stood back up, grinning. It meant every part of his body could deliver terrifying force.
Monster Strength!
He hammered a fist into the ground. In an instant, a crater yawned open with him at the center.
His eyes lit up. His Monster Strength was nearly at Tsunade's level already.
"Next up: recovery and regeneration."
He hesitated, then slid a kunai across the back of his hand. Blood beaded, but the wound knit shut before his eyes; three seconds later his skin was back to normal.
He nodded, satisfied.
This recovery and self-healing felt a bit like Hashirama Senju's famed sealless healing—healing that triggers without hand seals, just the body mending itself. Besides Hashirama, Karin and her mother have similar abilities.
Even so, his Senju Chakra Mode's regen was still a good step below Hashirama's. But in battle it would be more than enough—especially in evenly matched slugfests. Better regen means you win the attrition.
"Lastly, the duration."
He stood there, feeling chakra drain rapidly. The stronger the technique, the higher the cost; Senju Chakra Mode reminded him of the Eight Gates—only safer.
Seconds ticked by. Three minutes later, his body trembled and the mode dropped. He shook his head on reflex; the world spun, and about ninety percent of his chakra was gone.
"Three minutes is still decent."
After a few deep breaths, the discomfort faded. Three minutes may be short, but in that window his power rose to roughly Tsunade's level. How many people in the shinobi world can withstand three minutes of Tsunade going all-out?
All told, this was a huge win. The mode more than justified the grind of collecting 70% Senju bloodline.
He wondered if hitting 100% would unlock anything new.
Tidying up the scene, he headed for the Hokage Building. As for the tree—well, it had reached the end of its life anyway. Konoha's never short on trees.
At the Anbu office, Itachi wasn't in. But Kitazawa's name carried weight now; most Anbu recognized him and went to fetch Uchiha Itachi.
"Itachi, I need a favor," Kitazawa said straight out. "Help me locate the old site of the Land of the Sky."
Itachi agreed without hesitation. It wasn't the first time he'd helped Kitazawa; he'd tracked down the Land of Neck for him last time.
"Thanks," Kitazawa smiled.
"Think nothing of it," Itachi said. "Finding places isn't hard." Places are easier than people.
"How are things with the Uchiha lately?" Kitazawa asked, suddenly remembering.
"Good." Itachi's face actually relaxed a little. "With Root disbanded, the external pressure's gone."
What Kitazawa really wanted to ask about was Uchiha Obito. But Itachi's answer told him enough—Obito hadn't shown up or contacted Itachi.
"When there's no pressure from outside, watch for problems inside," Kitazawa cautioned.
"With me here, I won't let them go off the rails," Itachi said, turning serious. Naturally, he assumed the warning came via Tsunade; she wasn't fond of the Uchiha hardliners and didn't want trouble.
Kitazawa nodded. He believed it. In the original timeline, Itachi had prevented a coup by…killing the whole clan. Dead people can't rebel.
In this version, with Root no longer stoking the fire, the Uchiha hardliners should be far fewer than in canon. If Danzō kept his hands off, the Night of the Massacre simply wouldn't happen.
The only lingering risk was Obito.
"I'll get going then, Itachi," Kitazawa said when they were done.
"One more thing," Itachi stopped him. "We just got notice: there's a jōnin meeting at 2 p.m. this Friday."
"Oh? Something big again?" Kitazawa raised a brow.
"It concerns you," Itachi replied. "Kirigakure's shinobi delegation arrives in Konoha next Monday."
"I see." So the Mist was only moving now? It almost felt like they didn't care about Kurosuki Raiga or the Kiba blades.
Raiga being dead might not matter, but the Kiba swords—symbols of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—have to be taken back.
Could this be related to Obito? Kitazawa frowned, then shook his head. Unlikely. Why would Obito care about Raiga?
He couldn't pin down a reason yet, so he filed it away. If Obito tried to slip into Konoha with the Mist envoys, he wanted to be ready.
Kitazawa said goodbye to Itachi and returned to the Academy. It wasn't noon yet; the Advance Class was still training.
After a quick scan, his gaze settled on Yamanaka Ino. Her Ninja Art: Ten Thousand Flowers Profusion looked nearly mastered. Not surprising—Ten Thousand Flowers Profusions is essentially an advanced throwing technique using flower-shuriken.
He thought for a moment. What should he teach her next?
Then he realized he'd boxed himself in. If Ino could learn Profusion of Flowers and Moonlight Beauty, she clearly had some genjutsu affinity. He could just teach illusion arts—which also fit her role in the Ino–Shika–Cho trio as crowd control.
"Ino," Kitazawa called.
"Kitazawa-sensei!" Ino jogged over, beaming.
"Why so happy?" he asked, eyeing her bright smile.
"Because if you're calling me, it must mean a new jutsu," she said confidently, sweeping aside a golden forelock.
"What if I said no? Would you be disappointed?"
"What's there to be disappointed about?" she shook her head. "So what did you need me for, Sensei?"
"To teach you a new jutsu," he said, flicking her lightly on the forehead. "It's called Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique."
"Genjutsu?" Ino blinked. She'd expected another custom technique like before.
"Mm." He stepped back. "I'll demonstrate once."
Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!
An invisible wave rippled out. Ino froze, pupils quivering, fear washing over her face—then Kitazawa dispelled it after a second, just enough for her to feel it. Even so, it gave her a fright.
She patted her chest. "I saw Sakura telling me we're done being friends."
"The technique shows the target the thing they fear most," Kitazawa explained.
"Is that so?" Ino sniffed and lifted her chin. "Losing Sakura isn't what I'm most afraid of!"
"Then what are you afraid of?" he teased.
"I'm afraid… you'll leave our class!" she said impishly.
"Depends on your performance," he smiled.
"I'll do my best!" she promised.
After half an hour of coaching her on Hell Viewing, Kitazawa headed to the Academy's man-made lake. He was about to practice Earth Style: Earth Substitution when a low rumble of thunder rolled across the grounds.
He looked up. Dark clouds were piling up not far away, lightning flickering within. He thought for a moment and walked over.
In a quiet corner of the Academy, Hatake Kakashi stood under the louring sky, studying the thunderclouds. Kitazawa's eyes flicked to the exposed three-tomoe Sharingan—Kakashi usually kept it masked, but not today.
"How's it going?" Kitazawa asked, watching the clouds.
"Lightning Style: Kirin is at the lightning-drawing stage," Kakashi said mildly. "Pulling lightning down isn't the hard part; the hard part is bringing it all down at once."
Kitazawa suddenly thought of Raiga's Kiba blades. With those to call lightning, Kakashi could focus more on shaping the strike.
"You know the Kiba swords?" he asked.
"One of the Seven Swords of the Mist," Kakashi paused. "Aren't they with you?"
"I reforged them into two standard ninja blades," Kitazawa said, getting to his point. "I want to give the spare to you or Sasuke."
"I don't need it," Kakashi blurted, then reflexively refused.
"The Seven Swords each have a unique function," Kitazawa smiled. "Kiba's function is lightning-calling."
That gave Kakashi pause. Perfect synergy for Kirin.
"Didn't you say you'd give it to Sasuke?" he asked with his trademark droopy stare. "It'd be wrong for me to take his sword."
"It's not 'taking' it," Kitazawa shook his head. "Sasuke can't use it yet. You can use it first."
Right now Sasuke didn't even know a single lightning jutsu, much less an S-rank like Kirin; that'd take years. And it's not as if Kiba is the only famous blade in the world—there are multiple Kusanagi variants, for example. He could always snag one of those for Sasuke later—canon Sasuke used a Kusanagi anyway.
Konoha also had a sword tailor-made for lightning-style users: the Sword of the Thunder God, said to be Tobirama's blade. The only question was whether it was still in the village. In the original story, a missing-nin named Rokusho Aoi stole it.
"Thank you," Kakashi said after two seconds of silence.
"Don't thank me yet—the Kiba blade's still being reforged," Kitazawa said, palms up. "For now you'll have to keep pushing Kirin the hard way."
"Then why'd you come over?" Kakashi asked.
"To check on you," Kitazawa clapped his shoulder. "Keep at it. I'm off to study; holler if you need me."
"…" Kakashi could only give a wry, helpless smile. All in all, though, Kitazawa was a good guy—kind of like Might Guy.
Friday rolled around.
"Kakashi, let's go—jōnin meeting," Kitazawa called.
"You all keep training; we'll be back within two hours," Kakashi told the students in his Lightning and Earth study groups before turning to Kitazawa.
"Kosuke-senpai, are you coming?" Kitazawa asked after a moment's thought.
Maruboshi Kosuke might hold the rank of genin, but anyone who knew him understood he had jōnin-class strength.
"You two go. An old man like me won't crowd the room," Kosuke said with a chuckle. "Training with the kids is more fun anyway."
After a month of classes, he'd fallen in love with teaching at the Academy—especially since he'd found worthy successors in Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura.
"Alright then," Kitazawa said, and he and Kakashi headed to the conference room in the Hokage Building.
They weren't exactly early. Plenty of jōnin were already there—Tsunade, Hyūga Hiashi, Uchiha Fugaku, Nara Shikaku, and others. Tsunade was present because she'd been designated Konoha's chief judge for the event; skipping would look bad.
"Kakashi! Kitazawa!" Might Guy jumped up and waved.
"Kitazawa." Tsunade's voice cut in just as Kitazawa was about to walk over.
"I'll go to Guy," Kakashi said, peeling off toward his rival.
Kitazawa took the seat to Tsunade's left—an action that drew plenty of looks, especially from the clan heads. Seating in the front rows followed unspoken rules. As a brand-new jōnin—even as the Academy's vice-principal—he didn't have the seniority for the first row.
But if Tsunade arranged it, no one would complain. They just adjusted their understanding of Kitazawa and Tsunade's rapport.
~~~
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