~Soutarou POV, current timeline back in his house~
Gritting his teeth and praying, Soutarou sensed another two presences along with an additional four muted ones.
'Danzo's guards and I'm guessing the ones I felt earlier were Hiruzen's guards.'
A slow knock resounded from the entrance and Soutarou quickly made his way over, before deciding to get out several pairs of house slips.
'Hopefully that's fine I hope the ANBU and ROOT members won't come in too…'
Opening the door Soutarou looked around and didn't see anyone other than Nono and just bluntly asked, "We weren't expecting anymore guests today Nono Sensei?"
Nono raised her eyebrows before saying, "Your passive chakra field is that big now?"
Soutarou tilted his head and then realized, 'Don't most people need a hand sign to sense? Then this is just passive sensing?'
Soutarou sheepishly smiled before four figures walked up behind her slowly, Nono quietly said, "Be sure to be on your best behavior. I was going to say hide your talent, but you went ahead and did the opposite, just be polite. Be extra cautious of elder Danzo."
'The whole Konoha Four showed up? What is this a parade? Am I getting the premium Danzo send off to the shadow realm? Or are they here to brainwash me into slaughtering the Senju remnants? In all seriousness it seems I underestimated my connection to the Konoha Four…I'm guessing I really am a confirmed Grandson of Tobirama and I'm guessing my maternal side isn't too shabby either for these four to show up all together. Combined with the fact I awakened the Senju bloodline, they should see me as a prime candidate for Hokage and nurturing.'
As the four approached and finally passed the house gate and neared the front door, Soutarou finally went forward and greeted in a short bow, "Lord Hokage, Hokage Advisors, please come in."
The four kind of awkwardly stared at each other before nodding and following Soutarou in. Nono had already made her way in and the four noticed the slippers already set out for them. Not saying much they followed Soutarou in and Soutarou promptly invited them to sit down. The two elders were visibly uncomfortable while Danzo remained stoic and Hiruzen appeared nostalgic. What really drew their attention was the senju armband that hung on the TV.
All four of them thought at the same time,
Danzo's eyes narrowed a bit before remaining stoic and Hiruzen nodded as he came to a realization.
Soutarou quickly served tea that Nono had whipped up out of nowhere before Nono confusingly stepped out of the living space. Hiruzen then cleared his throat and said, "Please have a seat with us Soutarou-kun."
Soutarou nodded before settling down on the floor rather than on the couches with the four of them and set his tea down on the coffee table in front of him. He tucked his legs under him in a seiza posture and tried to assume the most formal posture possible, again he didn't really know what he was doing since no one really taught him real Japanese culture. Soutarou then said, "Please make yourselves at home. I'm not truly sure what would require not only the Hokage, but the Advisory team as well."
Hiruzen chuckled and said, "You're quite well informed about the Advisors it seems."
Soutarou nodded before it turned awkward again, though Soutarou intentionally made it seem as if his eyes were sparkling in awe of them. Soutarou, to reinforce this image of childlike wonder, asked as innocently as he could, "Lord Hokage, just how big is your chakra? I feel you're currently surpassing it. Even then it's twenty times bigger than Nono-sensei's!"
'Everyone knows team Hiruzen is easy… just butter him up and glaze him a bit and call it the will of fire and act like you're his grandson.'
Soutarou's eyes glinted for a split second without his expression changing at all.
Hiruzen's eyes lit up and he said, "Your senses are quite sharp aren't they Soutarou-kun? I couldn't even feel your chakra field and guessing by the slippers you left out for us I'm guessing you felt us old folk a while ago didn't you?"
Soutarou sheepishly nodded to which Hiruzen added, "That's impressive Soutarou-kun, which sensory technique did Nono teach you?"
Soutarou tilted his head slightly and said, "Lord Hokage, that's just my passive sensory field, I haven't learned any techniques."
Hiruzen's eyes widened for a split second as did the other elders before they all quickly regained control of their expressions, not before Danzo and Hiruzen looked at each other in a communicative gaze. Hiruzen then said, "That's extraordinarily impressive. Soutarou-kun if you don't mind, could you run your chakra through this paper?"
Soutarou's eyes lit up at the sight of the chakra paper and he quickly nodded.
'This damn paper I thought you could just buy anywhere, turns out it's extremely rare and actually needs chakra sensitive wood to make. Meaning Wood release Wood is needed or in other words the Land of Fire is its only "producer"… Not only that even in Konoha where it's the cheapest thanks to the Forest of the Death it requires not ryo, but legitimate Konoha military merit points. Albiet, not that much, but even a chunin would have to complete about three C-rank missions from the village to earn enough merit points for that. Technically I still have the authority over my parent's merit points, but I have to wait until I'm at least a genin to utilize them so I thought that I'd really have to wait until I became a ninja to get my hands on one of these!'
With a greedy look in his eyes Soutarou happily ran his chakra through immediately causing the paper to split into two down the middle while one half of the paper immediately became soaked while the other crinkled in one corner and crumbled in the other.
'Four innate chakra attributes? Not bad, not bad at all!'
Hiruzen smiled deeply and Danzo simply nodded as the two elders simply watched before Hiruzen said, "It seems you're quite talented too seeing how quickly the paper split in two and how quickly that one half turned wet. I'd even go so far as to say your water and wind nature are extremely potent. Lightning and earth are present as well, but their speed tells us that while they're impressive by even most jonin's standards they're not your strongest elements. Which is normal as even I who possess all five attributes gravitate towards earth and fire. Now Soutarou the reason we four came isn't just to test your chakra nature or even to intrude upon your tutoring with Nono, but rather to apologize to you-"
Soutarou smiled and interjected, "Forgive my interruption Lord Hokage, but I've already gathered that just like that headband over there I am likely a senju or rather a senju descendent. And based on that along with my natural chakra sensing, red eyes, and now my strong water affinity already came to the conclusion I bore some relation to lord second hokage. Nono-sensei basically confirmed it when she told me Souta Morita, my grandmother, Toka Senju's, husband died nearly fourteen years before my father Haruto Morita was born. As for my maternal side I'm unsure… though I suspected that I was related to the senju clan there as well, as someone of Nono-sensei's strength wouldn't be assigned or rather even my request for a tutor during wartime, even if the conflict is settling, isn't one that would be approved. By process of elimination I came to the conclusion it was either Elder Danzo or you, Lord Hokage who sent the tutor. Though I also believe there's another relation that prevented one of you from taking an interest in me earlier as the other would then have a conflict of interest."
Hiruzen's eyes actually widened and the three elders audibly, "Oh."
Hiruzen coughed a bit and said, "I can neither confirm nor deny Soutarou-kun. Though preferably you can just treat us all as your grandpas and grandma."
Hiruzen nodded towards Koharu, who revealed a small smile and waved.
Hiruzen continued, "As for the topic regarding Sensei… please keep that to yourself as even that suspicion is highly classified and I don't doubt that Kumogakure would nearly instantly respond with an extreme level of bounty on you. For extensive purposes you are just Soutarou Morita."
Soutarou nodded and said, "Pragmatic, but protective. Is this truly why the four of you came today? Not that any of you need any reason to come, you're most welcome to come and go as you please. I'm just personally curious."
'I have an inkling as to how my relations go, since it has to be hidden. Tobirama is undoubtedly my grandfather. Otherwise someone as dark and shady as him would suddenly have this massive weakness that the other three elders could exploit, afterall, everyone knows how much of a Tobirama simp Danzo is. Same applies for Hiruzen though I'm fairly sure he's more interested in my talent and intelligence. Nono said even though it's hidden, old files still had mentions about how Tobirama dragged these four into marriages with Senju clan members. The ages match up and the motive does too, Tobirama probably pulled Danzo and Hiruzen into the Senju remnant lines so the Sarutobi Clan and Shimura Clan in essence became the Senju… Biwako Sarutobi… Biwako might be a Senju remnant if my guesses are right… still no need to speculate too much.'
The group chatted politely before the four left with Soutarou escorting them out, not before Soutarou tried his luck and turned to Danzo and Hiruzen saying with as polite of a face as possible, " See you soon Grandpa Hiruzen. Lord Homura and Lady Koharu come again soon. Elder Danzo, have a safe journey back."
~POV Shift, Konoha Four POV~
The door shut behind the group four as they exited with Danzo's face being slightly flustered and Hiruzen's smile being extra large. While Koharu and Homura chuckled before Homura said, "He's very, very smart Hiruzen. He fooled all four of us at the start. He knew damn well why we came and who we were-"
Danzo interjected, "Nono didn't tell him she only gave him clues and he already put it together. That's why he needs to be in the-"
Hiruzen cut Danzo off and said, "Truly a child of will of fire he not only understood who we were he didn't blame us either he knew why we couldn't reveal who we were to him. Not only that, the boy definitely left that Senju headband in the open on purpose. Everything was staged. Too smart. Danzo leave Nono by his side longer even during the academy."
Danzo huffed and said, "I would've done it even if you didn't say anything."
Hiruzen and Danzo glanced at each other once more before both headed off towards their respective command centers…
~Soutarou POV~
Soutarou's eyes seemed to alight with Ryo symbols as he looked at the used up chakra paper. He then turned his eyes towards the massive storage closet that kept all the training and jutsu resources in greed.
'Hehe. Finally! Once this damn session with Nono-sensei is over I'm learning a thousand jutsu that'll put Hiruzen and Kakashi to shame!'