Naruto: Kage of Kages

Tsunade became contemplative and the pair walked the rest of the way to the Shinobi Academy in silence once more.

It was only as they approached the gate, just before they mixed into the crowd of arrivals, that the Senju princess finally spoke again.

“Thanks, brat. You made some good points for me to think about.” She said in a low voice and the boy simply acknowledged her words with a smile.

Seeing the pleasant curve on his childish face, giving her a whole different impression of Shiki than usual, Tsunade’s mood that had become heavier was suddenly lifted a bit.

‘When this brat is being nice it suddenly becomes a lot easier to understand why grandmother seems to like him so much.’ The blonde thought to herself.

“Wow! It’s Tsunade-sama!” Suddenly, exclamations of surprise started sounding out, breaking the moment of reconciliation between the pair.

It was mostly from young prospective kunoichi that were about to enroll or just returning to the Academy for another year of study.

Shiki was mildly surprised.

‘Tsunade-sama’s fame truly started to blow up worldwide in the Second Great Shinobi War but it seems her reputation in the village is already very high at this stage.’ He internally commented.

Then again, it was not that shocking. The blonde was the Princess of the Senju, the honored granddaughter of the First Hokage, the distinguished disciple of the Third Hokage, one the youngest jonin of Konoha at sixteen and already the best medical ninja in the village.

Far from her peak she still was but even now, Tsunade was no slouch. Her combat strength should not be that far from Elite Jonin either, just a little more honing of her skills along with an accumulation of both experience as well as prestige and promotion would be certain.

The blonde turned to her short white haired companion.

“What? Surprised by my fame, brat?” She bragged.

“Not really. Since none of them know Tsunade-sama well enough to be disillusioned, this sort of reaction is to be expected.” Shiki casually responded.

The Senju princess immediately moved to pinch his cute cheeks in retaliation but rather than resisting, the boy just let do it, his expression said it all.

‘I’ve already won the verbal exchange, nothing you do can change that.’

‘So un-cutely cute.’ Tsunade grit her teeth, only letting go of Shiki’s cheeks after they turned completely red from her pinching.

The boy rubbed his face with discomfort and, amidst curious glances from parents and siblings as well as adoring gazes from Tsunade’s young fans, the pair entered the Shinobi Academy grounds and proceeded into the main building.

Moving at an unhurried pace, Tsunade led Shiki to the graduating class’ classroom which was the same every year, all the way since her own turn in the academy and even before.

One of the Academy’s chunin teachers awaited the pair outside the closed classroom.

He looked . . . Average.

A Konoha shinobi . . . Shiki didn’t really find any characteristics that pooped out.

Even his attitude was utterly normal. The most unremarkable shinobi the boy had ever seen. Though he kept those thoughts to himself.

“Tsunade-sama.” The teacher greeted.

His gaze then turned towards the white haired boy.

“And this must be Shiki-kun.”

“That’s right. I’ll leave him in your capable hands sensei.” The Senju princess replied.

Shiki gave a short but polite bow.

“Will Tsunade-sama be joining the event?” The teacher inquired.

“That’s right.” The blondie responded.

“Don’t disappoint, brat!” And with that parting phrase, she made herself scarce.

‘Event?’ Shiki mused.

“Ready to enter Shiki-kun?” The teacher asked.

“Yes sensei.” The boy politely replied and for very short a moment, the teacher fell into a trance.

‘Why is this child, younger than all the graduating students and rumored to be an amazing prodigy, actually more polite and respectful to me than my own students?’

The teacher could not help but wonder if the problem was with him. Maybe children became rowdier and more unreasonable with him for some reason.

After all, a young super genius . . . Is that not exactly the kind of person one would expect to be prideful, aloof, maybe even arrogant?

What the teacher did not know however, was that Shiki only acted that way out of habit. Whether interacting with a genius or a failure, unless it affected him in some special way or aroused his interest, the boy would generally be dismissive.

That was even if he did not outwardly show it.

If the teacher could hear Shiki’s internal analysis upon first seeing him, then he might appreciate his bond with the students he taught along with their lively attitudes, a whole lot more.

Swiftly exiting his thoughts, the older man led the young boy into the classroom where a whole bunch of curious children began staring intently.

Some of the clan kids had more peculiar gazes, having clearly been told to pay close attention to Shiki, possibly even to try and make friends. Others, though, seemed to have no idea who he was and why a little kid was suddenly being brought into their classroom.

‘Judging by some of the unsatisfied expressions filled with unwillingness however, their innocent childish pride is getting in  the way of their assigned task.’ Shiki evaluated.

He internally sighed heavily.

‘Dealing with one good natured Nawaki-sama was already draining . . .’ The white haired boy complained.

‘But now, not only do I have to deal with a bunch of clan children approaching out of curiosity, duty, or a misguided attempt to prove their superiority through some sort of contest I would rather avoid.’

“Well then. Go ahead and introduce yourself.” The teacher encouraged Shiki with a smile, blissfully unaware of the boy’s dread of enduring the company of children who were technically older than him.

Despite this, he still did his introduction honestly.

“My name is Ryumon Shiki. I am here to take the graduation exam with you all. I like training and the feeling of a job well done. I dislike wasting my time on things I find meaningless.”

His rather unorthodox and un-childlike response left the teacher and most of classmates rather bewildered and some were quite shocked that the obviously very young looking Shiki would be taking the graduation exam as well but a few had different reactions.

“What an . . . interesting introduction.” The teacher declared before forcefully clapping his hands.

“Hmph! Acting mysterious . . .” A low snort and mocking phrase quietly sounded out but only those with sharper senses, Shiki included, seemed to hear it.

The white haired boy traced the source to a rather good looking kid with medium length dark black hair, black eyes and glossy white skin, wearing dark blue shinobi gear.

‘I can already tell that his back will show a rather conspicuous fan shaped clan emblem.’ Shiki thought.

A young Hyuga with a white hakama shirt and grey hakama pants also seemed to be staring intently as if judging. Though no words were spoken, the boy’s opinion of Shiki did not seem very high.

A droopy eyed Nara with medium black hair tied in a ponytail seemed to be internally debating whether it would be more bothersome to do something in regards to Shiki or ignore him and be subjected to scolding at home.

There was also a spiky brown haired Inuzuka with a red fang marking on each cheek that seemed to be raring to test the white haired boy in a fight.

But more interestingly, there were those who Shiki was sure were going to be his future teammates.

The only Aburame in the room and a short haired but quite pretty looking girl that felt like an Uchiha . . . But with glasses?

“Go ahead and find an open seat.” The chunin said and Shiki did so with a nod.

+++++

Hey, Author here!

Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.

I’m trying to become a full time Author now and I’m not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.

Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -