9 Chapter 9: Hiruzen

Hiruzen smiled and took the three to the ramen stall after taking off his robes to avoid standing out so much.

When they arrived, Teuchi's parents were surprised to see the Hokage come to their shop. In an effort to impress him, everything was on the house. Hiruzen watched the three brothers eat and laugh together, which made him smile and think about Tobirama.

"If nurtured properly; even if these kids are part of the Uchiha, they can still inherit the will of fire. I have high hopes for them."

These soon-to-be ninjas would be a huge asset in the future. With Jin being well on his way to becoming one of the strongest ninja in the village, along with Fugaku who was a great leader and Hideki that inherited the good nature of his father.

Jin felt weird while having the Hokage stare at him for so long, so he attempted to initiate a conversation.

"Hokage-sama, I have a question that I have been mulling over for quite some time. Can I ask it?"

Seeing how respectful Jin was being for a five-year-old boy, Hiruzen's opinion of him went up by a lot.

"Ask away, as long as its not confidential information"

Jin wasn't sure if this was confidential or not, but he decided to at least try since he wasn't losing anything really.

"How is the relationship between Konoha and Kumogakure at the moment? Is it shaky like they said in the academy, or are we still protected by the peace treaty that was formed during the first war?"

This boy didn't seem to stop surprising him, Hiruzen marveled at the insight and curiosity showcased by the youth. To think about the village's situation at that age? This was true genius.

"Alas, I can't delve too deep into this topic, but the academy has basically said the truth. Technically there is a peace treaty, but Kumogakure is unpredictable at this moment. They might try to break the agreement sooner or later, I'm afraid."

Jin seemed satisfied with this answer as he thanked the Hokage and resumed eating his delicious bowl of naruto ramen.

"Hokage-sama, is there a way to quickly become stronger?"

Hiruzen looked at Fugaku with interest, why would he want to get strong quickly? most kids his age just focus on lazing around.

"May I ask the reason behind this question, Fugaku-kun?"

"I want to surpass a certain someone as soon as possible..."

Fugaku had a look of determination in his eyes as he looked at Jin discretely, without the former noticing.

Jin's earlier display in fire style had acted as a wake-up call for Fugaku, realizing he was becoming soft and left behind. This frustrated him so much he felt an urge to gain power.

Jin was too focused on his Ramen to even listen in on the conversation, it really was that good.

Hiruzen looked at Fugaku. The determination glistening in his eyes making him notice the potential of this kid. With such a strong will to accomplish his goals, the sky was the limit for him if he was willing to put in the hard work.

"There is a way, and that is to graduate from the academy and become a Genin! Genins can go on missions and get stronger as they gain experience."

While Fugaku took the advice to heart, Jin, who had finished his delicious bowl of ramen noticed how shrewd the third Hokage was. With just one sentence, he took all of Fugaku's determination and focused it on being part of the task force for the village. What a way to dictate the flow of a conversation.

Making a mental note to train in conversating skills, Jin ordered another bowl. He wasn't going to let this free ramen opportunity go to waste.

"Young Hideki, do you have any questions for this old man?"

Hideki, who was used to just listen to his cousins do the talking, almost spat out his noodles when he realized the Hokage was talking to him.

"M.. Me?"

Hideki's problem with self-confidence wasn't yet completely fixed by the looks of it.

"Is there another Hideki around? I don't see any."

The Hokage teased the boy as Jin grimaced, this man's sense of humor was almost worse than Fugaku's. Were they supposed to laugh?

"I do have a question... Umm... Hokage-sama, Is it true that my father was your friend? if so, how was he like? my mother never goes into much detail when it comes to dad."

Thinking for a while, Hiruzen answered Hideki by telling him about Kagami's strong will of fire, and his desire to protect everyone in the village. He told him about how his father wasn't very extroverted but was someone you could always rely on.

Seemingly having understood all that was said, Hideki smiled and silently changed his morals, becoming more mature in the process.

"Everyone in the village is family... I like the sound of that..."

A look of resolve appeared on the young Uchiha's face.

Hiruzen watched as the young Uchiha inherited his father's strong will of fire and burst out laughing, eating his ramen afterward. So much talking had made him hungry.

The trio didn't know why he was laughing, they just started thinking that their Hokage was a weird man. Especially Jin, who made a mental note to interact the least possible with this weirdo in the future.

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A couple days later...

Jin was in his room, sitting down cross-legged. He was accompanied by two shadow clones on both of his sides, mimicking his actions. After training for so long, his chakra reserves had increased, allowing for two of them at a time.

In front of him, was a little sparrow in a cage. It looked as if though it was bored since couldn't fly away due to its enclosure.

Jin was going to test out his yin chakra infused genjutsu on the bird. After all this time practicing it, he had finally reached a breakthrough. Realizing that this was easier because genjutsu itself is already based on yin energy, and that he was just fueling something that was already there. Instead of applying a completely different nature to it.

An ominous aura was swirling around Jin, as he accumulated the yin energy in the surroundings and meticulously applied it to his genjutsu as he the red pair wheels in his eyes seemed to reach deep into the sparrow's soul.

Jin wasn't really a fan of torturing little animals, but it was for his research. He watched silently as the bird had become completely unaware of what was real anymore, and started grabbing it's head with its wings. Jin was satisfied.

The only problem was that his chakra reserves were now only at seventy percent, after using it on a mere sparrow.

The genjutsu he had developed, was a stronger version of the normal genjutsu: Sharingan. It messed up the chakra flow of the opponent so badly that he probably could take out a strong chuunin with it at his current level if he used all of his chakra.

While he was still going to use the Sharingan's minor genjutsu as his main form of attack, this was going to be his trump card. As it wasn't as chakra consuming as the dragon fireball.

Today was a good day. Envigorated by his newly found success, Jin made his way to the entrance of the Uchiha clan where he departed to the academy along with his cousins that were already waiting for him.