I kept my mouth shut as Danzo walked away, watching his retreating back suspiciously until he was long gone. Finally, when I could breathe again, I turned to look up at Aiko. "I'm going to live with you?"
She smiled at me and ruffled my hair. "It would be more accurate to say I'm going to live with you. I'm going to move into your house and take care of you if that's alright with you."
I smiled at her. "I'd like that."
Aiko slowly knelt down in front of me, wincing in pain as she descended and holding her back. "Don't you worry, Kagen. You're going to be alright. I'll take good care of you." She put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly.
I laid a hand atop her hand and frowned. "Aiko-san?"
"Yes, Kagen?"
"How soon can I graduate from the Academy? I… My parents were chunin. I want to be a chunin too." I said, using the first excuse that came to mind.
In truth, I wanted out of the Academy because it was doing nothing for me. My sparring with Misa was teaching me more taijutsu than the upper years were teaching, and I already knew all the theory and chakra usage we were going to cover.
And I also needed some experience. Learning at home would not give me fighting experience. If I fought against trained shinobi that have experience of decades of killing their enemies, I would easily be outskilled by them.
I needed a jonin instructor fast along with missions. I'd thought myself safe because I knew the timeline, but the supposed death of my parents showed me otherwise.
The anime didn't show 'insignificant' events like this because they weren't relevant to the main cast, but I wasn't one of the main cast.
I was an irrelevant nobody. I needed to buckle down and work my ass off so I could get out of the Academy. The faster I got stronger, the less likely I would be to die. And the sooner I would be able to search for my parents.
Yes, I know that I said that it was more wise to not graduate early and train for years until I am strong enough that the missions would not give me any danger. But I needed that danger to grow stronger. Circumstances have changed for me.
Aiko was frowning at me. She looked me in the eyes, her gaze searching. At length, she said, "There is no minimum age to graduate from the Academy. As far as rules go, you have to be at the Academy for one year in order to graduate. But as your guardian, I won't allow you that."
"But I will let you graduate early than others. You will be able to graduate when you are ten, but only if that's what you want."
I nodded along with her words, my mind elsewhere. Ten years old, that meant I had two years to get to the point where I wouldn't die as a genin.
"Will you help me train, Aiko-san? Will you teach me the Mystic Palm technique and help me overcome my problems with ninjutsu?"
Aiko nodded, a serious expression on her face. "Of course I will, Kagen. Now come on. It was time we were headed home."
Aiko winced again, holding her back as she rose to her feet. She took my hand and walked me away from the funeral. No one approached us as we left, but then I didn't know any of the people my parents worked with, and Aiko was only here for me.
The guards at the gate to the Nara Compound offered me condolences as we passed, a somber air over hanging over the typically slacking duo. Again, I felt guilt for not feeling worse about my parents' passing. Maybe the emotions would hit later? Or was I just a sociopath?
Aiko led the way up to my house. I was surprised to see there was someone waiting for us on the porch.
"Kagen," Shikaku greeted as he stood up. "I'm sorry about your parents. They were good ninja, good people. I will miss them."
"Shikaku-sama," I greeted, bowing my head. "Thank you for your condolences. They were proud to serve the Nara Clan and Konoha. Can I help you with anything?"
Aiko was glaring at Shikaku from where she stood at my side, but Shikaku weathered her ire with ease.
"This isn't the time, Shika." Aiko hissed.
"We've waited too long already, Aiko." Shikaku turned to face me and motioned towards the door to my house with his head. "Would you mind inviting me inside?"
I nodded. "Of course, Shikaku-sama." I let go of Aiko's hand and walked up to the door, opening it and holding it open so they could both enter.
Shikaku sat down at the dining room table. Aiko followed him, slower, but radiating a displeased aura.
"What is this about?" I asked hesitantly as I sat across from them. It should be something important. Even I knew that talking to a kid whose parents just died was not normal but the shinobi world might be just like that. People die often here after all.
Shikaku pursed his lips and reached into his coat. He pulled out a sheet of blank paper and slid it across the table to me. "Channel your chakra into that."
I picked up the paper and recognized it easily. It was chakra paper. I was confused since I had already checked by Chakra nature.
I shot a questioning glance towards Aiko, but she was still glaring at Shikaku and didn't pay me any mind.
I frowned and channeled my chakra into the paper, not sure what it was supposed to accomplish. Just like when I'd used chakra paper before, one third of the sheet went up in flames, another one third became soaked in water and drooped in my hand and the remaining crumbled into dirt.
Shikaku sighed loudly as he looked at the remaining chakra paper in my hand, leaning his elbows against the table as he rubbed his forehead.
"Shikaku-sama?" I asked hesitantly, starting to feel a little concerned. What was this about?
Shikaku met my eyes and said, "People are born with a chakra affinity for one element. Ninja can learn to use multiple elements as they grow older and more experienced, but people are very rarely born with more than one chakra affinity. More often than not, these births are a result of an elemental kekkei genkai."
---------Author Notes--------
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