~Soutarou POV~
At that moment Soutarou who had his arms crossed simply lifted one finger and his chakra coating instantly became active across his entire body. A subtle pressure flowed across the entire field as Soutarou's chakra bore down on his classmate, who all suddenly began to struggle, and his sky blue chakra was visible across his entire being. Several gasps rang out and some of the parents on the sidelines gaped at him in awe.
Reacting quickly, the Jonin Lead, Ikkaku Umino stepped in and said, "Morita-san you can stop releasing your chakra. You've passed this examination."
Soutarou paused and then realized he might've overdone it and nodded his head before his finger fell back down and he uncrossed his arms. Before walking to the side and watching all the remaining students flare their chakra in mostly their hands, though a few tried to copy Soutarou only to fail spectacularly.
'Hmm… The only ones who are worth paying attention to are Itachi, Izumi, Hana, Naori, and Hikaru. Everyone else is soso…'
Soutarou flickered away and then back carrying yet another steaming bun, causing Ikkaku's eyebrow to twitch, still he didn't dare say anything to a student who had more chakra than him.
As the test finished Soutarou and again at some point left to grab another steamed bun, causing some of his fellow students to wonder just how much he could eat.
Looking like a squirrel with how puffed up his face was, Soutarou looked up before swallowing it all down and saying, "Finally done?"
Fujimoto-sensei looked at Soutarou nodding his head, all the while everyone all thought that Soutarou was truly terrifying.
Fujimoto then asked all the students in his group to follow him inside to a pre-set testing site with name tags on each desk. Soutarou found his name and quickly sat down.
As people slowly trickled into the room and the seats filled up, Soutarou began committing the chakra signatures to memory.
'As expected. Three of these signatures are partially hidden, no academy student, including Itachi at this stage should be able to do that. So they really do reuse concepts from here to the chunin exams… Interesting.'
Slowly sliding a smoke bomb into his hand. Soutarou waited until the exam began and he confirmed that those specific presences were not only writing faster, but all their answers were correct. Then he confirmed once those three stopped despite being finished.
'Heh.'
Filling his arm with hidden chakra he chucked the smoke bomb causing the entire classroom to descend into chaos and he immediately switched his exam paper with the fake examinee next to him. Before a proctor used a wind release jutsu to send the smoke out of the classroom, all while Soutarou had erased the fake examinee's name and replaced it with his own before adding a few lines on the bottom of the test.
'A good test of intelligence gathering. I suggest that fake examinee's hide their chakra level better and that they slow down in writing their answers or it becomes too obvious. As for staying even after they're finished? I think that's fine, only if they pretend to check their answers.'
Soutarou then confidently stood up and submitted his test first while flashing the fake examinee a bright smile. The protector at this point had realized what had happened, but only shook his head warily.
'Well that was easy. Who'd have thought I barely have to write anything? Then again I sort of came into the test knowing or rather expecting that.'
'Have I really become a main character type? I suppose I am fairly overpowered for my age, but in the grand scheme of things I'm still far too weak, not to mention growing at higher levels is extremely slow. I now fully believe that some of those fanfictions from back in the day truly didn't understand who growth progression worked and used Naruto and Sasuke as examples. Both had their cheats. Sasuke for example had the sharingan and later Itachi to bail him out. While Naruto just had the Sage's Body along with the Nine Tails. Both lead them to just need time and then boom they have power. As for me I have no sudden path to power. The only saving grace is that I have massive chakra reserves that haven't even begun to fully grow yet. Once it does, I'll reach the basis for my development.'
'*Sigh* Sometimes I really just want a tailed beast… But doing so puts me into just about everyone who's dangerous' crosshairs… though… I'm probably all over Kakuzu's radar… The moment I step out of Konoha I'm sure that old foggy will come running.'
'Still Kakuzu is honestly a terrifying opponent now that I think about it… Unlike most shinobi he isn't completely weak defensively, he has multiple hearts and thus multiple lives, he essentially has a mastery of all five styles, not to mention that old man is by far the oldest shinobi alive which means his experience is even greater than someone like Onoki. Hell, that old coot, Kakuzu, was a shinobi during the Warring States era and is still one to this day. Despite the jokes that Kakuzu just threw a kunai from 800 meters away at Hashirama, there isn't any doubt about the fact that he did in fact manage to return alive after facing Hashirama fucking Senju. Whether that was mercy or not is up for debate, because when it came to enemies of the Leaf, Hashirama most definitely did not play, or why else would he literally try to kill Madara.'
'I wonder if I pay him more than my bounty if he'll just walk away? No, I bet he'd just take my money and then kill me.'
Walking out of the academy, Soutarou decided to head back home and wait until the academy opened for classes. Knowing damn well that he passed.
Shaking his head, Soutarou continued his Water Style Chakra Nature Training…
~Tsunade POV~
Covered in green sludge and guts she stared at the pink, almost fetus-like creature.
She turned and faced a panting red haired girl.
'That red hair… she really looks like Kushina…'
Tsunade's heels clacked against the stone ground before she stood right in front of the girl as she said, "I'm Tsunade. Tsunade Senju… I have a feeling if I hadn't helped you, you'd be dead soon. I won't ask you to explain what the creature was, or what's going on here. I only have one question. Are you an Uzumaki?"
The girl hesitated before replying, "Yes… though it's more correct to say I was an Uzumaki. I've given up that name, Tsuande-san."
Tsunade shook her head and said, "Come with me. My grandmother was Mito Uzumaki, the Princess of the Land of Whirlpools. I won't take you back to Konoha, but rather to save the remnants of our clan members."
Holding her hand out, Tsunade stood there covered in guts and blood, but a familiar smile, the kind only family shows to one another, and with that Honoka, who had long desired that family connection, once again, gave in…
~ANBU, Codename: Inu POV~
A silver haired man stalked a brown haired, red eyed boy from a distance, and continuously sighed,
The man's eyes glanced backwards to his teammate who was zoned out and saying, "You've been dealing with this for how long now?"
The hawk masked ANBU just sighed and said, "It's almost half a year, I have to say I've gotten faster at flickering. Oh my chakra control got better too… You should be really careful that brat randomly starts expanding his chakra field. Anyways I guess my shift is over if you're here?"
The dog masked ANBU shook his head and said, "We're both guarding him now, as for night times, Lord Hokage said as long as he's not on a mission for now he's safe at home thanks to Elite Jonin Nono Yakushi. Still if our job is so difficult because of the kid's own skills shouldn't we just go up to him and you know tell him we're guarding him? It's not like the Nine Tails Jinchuriki or other guarding targets… In fact I think it's better if he knows."
The hawk masked ANBU looked at the dog masked ANBU and said, "You're the higher up here, I'm just a normal ANBU Squad Captain, it's your call, Inu."
Without any more discussion the dog masked anbu just nodded and flickered in front of Soutarou who was moving towards his house and Soutarou immediately paused.
The silver haired ANBU said, "We're here on order of Lord Hokage, to act as your guards-"
Soutarou instead said, "I was wondering when you two would show up, I've known for almost half a year I've had a guard, but it turns out I have two guards? Though in all seriousness, you two should invest in some disguises. Your hair is too distinct, Kakashi Hatake-san and Tekuno Kanden-san, your build is the exact same as described in the Bingo Books. Not to mention I could feel you trying to hide your chakra from within my passive sensory field. I'm not berating either of you, just take note of it. Plus there's no reason to hide so far from me, I'd prefer if you were closer in case of an attack. I'm a high priority target right now."
The pair just paused and Tekuno just scratched his head while Kakashi facepalmed and stared at Tekuno. The two nodded before the silver haired man, Kakashi said, "You shouldn't reveal ANBU identities so easily-"
Soutarou waved his hand dismissively, "I understand, but I was trying to get my point across. A famous Shinobi is not a good one, the good one is the one who's entire skillset has never been seen because all his enemies are already dead, or he retreated before any solid information was taken back. Hide your identities for future missions and you'll see your battle effectiveness go up significantly. As for diplomatic missions only then does it make sense to reveal distinguishing factors. Tell Grandpa I said that for next time. ANBU are secret operatives not public figures."
Kakashi nodded as he realized the point Soutarou was trying to make.
He then created a shadow clone to send off a report, before the two ANBU meld back into the shadows. Kakashi then deadpanned at Tekuno and said, "Really? Six months? He knew you were there too…"
Tekuno scratched his cheek or rather where his cheek should be, but ended up being his mask. He shrugged and said, "He's a very capable person… I don't think I could deal with him myself that easily…"
Kakashi nodded and said, "It's easy to see why Lord Hokage's putting so much effort into protecting him… He's more impressive than I was at his age. By a long shot."
Tekuno paused and said, "I'd argue that's debatable."
Kakashi shook his head and said, "He might look older than he is, but you should know he's only six years old, and he's already by my estimate at special jonin level strength… I didn't have that sort of power until I was nearly twice his age. The differentiating factors are massive as well… I grew up in war time, he didn't, which should mean that he has less motivation to grow, instead the opposite happened… He's more motivated than I am… Spending as much time as he can training… The only concern I have is how much real combat experience he has."
Tekuno chuckled and said, "I doubt it'll be an issue, you saw his instincts and his skill-"
Kakashi interrupted, "Those born in times of peace often struggle with what we would consider normal. Sure he's got good instincts, but it just shows that he's had good teachers so far. Based on the fact that he's close to Tsunade-sama, that's self explanatory… what he's lacking… it's the desire and will to kill."
Tekuno paused before narrowing his eyes through the mask and saying, "Should we…"
Kakashi's eyes narrowed and he said, "Let's ask Lord Hokage before making any decisions."
The silver haired man and the larger brown haired man both disappeared fully back into the shadows...