Naruto: Kage of Kages

Noting that his silent companion had finished eating, the white haired boy decided to reinitiate the conversation.

“So how did your exams go?” Shiki inquired.

“As usual.” Mei responded, looking nonchalant.

The boy smiles in amusement.

“And what is your usual?” He questioned with a smirk.

The girl’s facade cracked.

‘He is not a student. Of course he doesn’t know my “usual”. Idiot! Idiot!’ Mei internally scolded herself before coughing in a poor attempt to mask embarrassment.

“I think I did pretty good.” She revised her earlier response.

Mei then adjusted her glasses and tried her best to put on a casual expression.

“How about you?” She inquired.

‘Ugh! Why do I always sound cold and standoffish when I try to act casual!?’ The girl internally questioned.

Still trying to figure Mei out however, Shiki did not let that kind of attitude deter him.

“I was aiming for perfect scores on everything but we’ll see.”

The girl dropped her face for a moment, looking at Shiki with her small mouth in an “O” shape.

“A fly might get in there you know.” The boy teased and Mei embarrassedly closed her mouth.

The girl hurried closed her mouth, fake coughing again and re-adjusting her already adjusted glasses, a clear mannerism of hers.

“You most certainly don’t lack for confidence.” She said with a slightly dismissive tone, though Shiki could not be certain of her intention since the way she acted and the way she felt seemed to be dissociated most of the time.

‘She also speaks in a verbose way  to sound smarter . . . Though I’m not one to speak on that.’ Shiki thought.

“How old are you anyway?” Mei asked, she was clearly older than him, or at least she thought so.

‘But maybe he is just unnaturally short?’ The girl whimsically thought. Clearly she had not been fully informed, perhaps because her clan wanted to make the meeting feel more natural and so decided not to give her too many details on the boy.

“I get the feeling you’re thinking something rude.” Shiki spoke with narrowed eyes.

Mei felt a child up her back but her expression remained blank, as if she had no idea what the boy was going on about.

“Avoiding the question?” She pressed.

“I’m four.” Shiki dismissively waved his hand at her attempt to instigate him while he answered.

Mei froze again and the boy transitioned his dismissive hand wave into a series of short waves in front of her face to make sure she was still functional.

But the girl quickly recovered and swatted his hand away with a stinkface.

Her thoughts were still on the boy’s words however.

‘So much for being the clan head’s daughter, a true heir of the Uchiha name. I only met the clan’s standards to let me graduate at 12 years old and now I’m going to be teamed up with someone aiming for perfect scores at 4.’ Mei self deprecatingly thought.

‘Mikoto-chan already graduated at 8 last year and Fugaku-niisama is already a special jonin at 13, otou-sama even says he would already be a jonin if there was not very vocal opposition in the village and then there is me . . .’

But the girl was taken out of her dark thoughts once again by the need to swat an annoying hand being waved in her face.

“What the matter!?” She angrily questioned.

“Shouldn’t I be the one upset by you blanking out in the middle of a conversation? Twice in quick succession?” Shiki questioned back, surprised by what he believed was an overly aggressive reaction.

Hearing him, Mei suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

Shiki was right but as a proper girl, she did not want to acknowledge that truth. So she ignored that fact and moved on like nothing happened.

Reading the cue and not wanting to argue with a literal child that was, physically speaking, triple his age, the white haired boy moved the conversation along as well.

“So how old are you then?” He inquired in turn.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to ask a girl her age?” Mei countered somewhat defensively since only graduating at twelve, years later than most her clan peers, was a point of insecurity for her.

Even Obito graduated at 9 though the Third Great Shinobi War that was either ongoing or about to be set off, might have had something to do with that early graduation.

“It is rude to ask a lady her age. Not a girl.” Shiki responded.

Mei growled in response but gave in.

“I’m twelve.” She said in a low voice while carefully eyeing the boy’s reaction.

Shiki did not respond in any particular way, just acknowledging the number.

Noticing Mei sneakily staring at him as if waiting for some kind of reaction, the boy spoke up again.

“Should I be saying something?” He inquired.

“U-Uh well I . . .” Mei seemed to be caught off guard but quickly recomposed herself.

“Just wondering what you thought about my uh, late graduation.” The girl figured a non self insulting way to pose her question.

“Isn’t the standard graduation age 13?” Shiki confusedly questioned.

“Nobody talented graduates at that age though.” Mei responded, confused at his confusion.

“Poor decision on their part. I’m only going through graduation this early for special reasons, I would much rather have kept training until 13 otherwise.” The boy revealed.

Now, even beyond her insecurities, the girl was interested.

“Why do you think so? Isn’t being able to graduate younger a proof of talent? Besides, once you reach a certain level the Academy classes are not really that useful.” Mei shared her view which was common to most shinobi as well.

‘I mean. Otou-sama kept me from graduating because I did not meet the clan’s standards, the Academy classes have been useless to me for a while now. So couldn’t I just learn in the clan then?’ The girl thought to herself.

Unknowingly, she was tantalizingly close to the reasoning of Shiki which her father, to a small degree, also shared.

“Graduating means you are a genin, a shinobi required to obey the military orders of the village. Spending more time before graduating, even if the Academy classes are useless, gives you more time to train, especially when you have a clan behind you.” Shiki said in response.

“I’m sure the grand majority of clan kids, you included, could have graduated much earlier based on the Academy’s standards but your families don’t want you performing dangerous military duties until you are ready by their own standards.” The boy added.

It was as if light spread in the girl’s mind.

Suddenly, Mei found herself able to understand many of her father’s words that flew right by her before.

Words that previously seemed to emphasize clan pride and were demeaning to her efforts and abilities, now sounded more personal and said out of concern for her personal safety.

It might not have done wonders to her insecurity issues but at the very least . . .

‘It turns out otou-sama is just worried about me.’ Mei thought with warmth.

‘He is so clumsy in how he shows it though, just like okaa-sama said.’ She hid a mischievous smile.

But soon, the girl’s thoughts turned back to Shiki.

‘And how does a damn four year old seem to have such a great grasp of things?’ Mei’s curiosity about her future teammate only kept getting higher and higher . . .

+++++

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 -