My New Life is Harder Than Expected(Naruto SI-Waifu Catalog) (Patreon)

Chapter 3

(6 Months Later, Third POV)

Working diligently in his office, Sarutobi Hiruzen found himself once again wishing that he had a worthy successor that could take up the title of Kage from him. At this stage in his life all he wanted to do was enjoy his last days looking over the next generation and spending time with his grandson.

Alas, life in the world of shinobi was harsh and he had many reasons as to why he couldn’t just pass the title yet.

His first choice would be his student Jiraiya but Jiraiya’s vast information network was too important for the village for him to take the title. Tsunade, his second student would be a good choice if not for her all but abandoning the village to grieve after losing her brother and lover.

‘Though perhaps knowing that she still has family left in Konoha might change her mind? Too early to tell.’ Hiruzen said with a shake of his head.

The last of his students and his favorite in the past, much to his shame now, had turned into a traitor and he had been forced to banish him from the village after finding out about the horrible experiments he was conducting on others.

Finally, Kakashi was still too young and was still grieving after all the tragedies that happened in his life. As things currently stood, there was no clear choice for the title.

Stopping for a moment to take a break, Hiruzen looked at the portraits of the last Hokages with his gaze lingering on the fourth for a minute before turning towards the first and second pictures.

‘I wonder how you would feel at knowing you have another descendant that actually managed to inherit your bloodline Sensei?’ Hiruzen thought fondly with his mind conjuring up the image of a young boy with silver-blue hair and golden eyes.

“It seems he inherited more of Tobirama-sama’s looks though.” He thought in amusement looking at the second picture before his face took on a more serious look.

‘To think the Mokuton would awaken after all these years in someone who has just as much Uchiha blood as he does Senju. And such powerful manifestations of both bloodlines.’

Hiruzen thought on how the boy seemed to heal at an accelerated rate that surpassed even young Naruto’s who on top of being an Uzumaki also had the Nine Tails sealed inside him that offered him a potent regeneration. That along with his ability to sense one of his best Anbu already spoke volumes of his abilities.

Then on the other hand he recalled seeing the boy’s fully matured Sharingan through his crystal ball when he had been sparring with Izumi. The boy had shown an impressive mastery of his eyes at such a young age from what he had seem that it reminded him of Itachi and Shisui when they were young. Both of whom were considered prodigies by their clan and the village.

Curious about his progress and overall abilities, Hiruzen had instructed the teachers at the Academy to keep him informed of his performance and what he heard only confirmed his suspicions. That young Akari had the ability to surpass all of his ancestors.

What else can you say about a young boy of 8 mastering anything in all shinobi arts either instantly or in a couple of days at most? Someone who had triple the amount of chakra as a Jinchuuriki like Naruto who was also an Uzumaki? A boy who was wise beyond his years and had a mature yet compassionate outlook on life even after everything he had been through?

At the rate he was going, Hiruzen had no doubt that he will be graduating from the Academy at the end of the year along with Izumi and Kushina.

Now there was another pair of people who caused him to pause in thought.

Hiruzen was still scratching his beard at how Izumi had been able to escape alive after Itachi had decided to kill his clan to prevent war. While he was glad that the girl had lived as no child deserved to suffer for the sins of others, it still left him puzzled at how a meticulous person like Itachi would have allowed Izumi to escape even after hearing Akari’s story.

Luckily though the girl had not known anything about the secret plans of the Uchiha to stage a coup and that was what had saved her life. While he wouldn’t order the death of the girl, Hiruzen had no doubt that his old friend would go behind his back and eliminate her.

Then there was Kushina.

When Jiraiya had arrived at the village along with Uzumaki Kushina he had been at a loss for words. While he knew that there were a few Uzumaki scattered throughout the world, Hiruzen never thought that he would be welcoming one of them after all this time.

From what Jiraiya had explained to him, Kushina and her mother had been living in Tea Country where Kushina’s mother had fled to after Uzushio’s destruction. There she met a local and Kushina was born not long after before tragedy struck again a week before Jiraiya had found the girl.

Some rogue ninja of Kumo had found them and instantly recognizing the female’s unique hair color, they had struck in an attempt to kidnap them and bring them back to Kumo hoping to receive a pardon for their past sins. In the first attack the unknown father had died and shortly after the mother followed after sacrificing herself so Kushina could escape.

The mother had told Kushina stories about how their villages had strong ties in the past and if there ever came a time when something happened to her, then Kushina should seek refuge in Konoha.

That was when Kushina had met Jiraiya by chance and had asked for help after escaping her pursuers for what seemed like days. Learning what had happened from the kidnapper’s own mouths and later confirmed by Kushina, Jiraiya had decided to bring her to the village and left her in his hands.

Hiruzen glad to have a full blooded Uzumaki in the village again and relieved that she was not a spy, as otherwise Jiraiya would have never brought her here, had signed her up at the Academy placing her in the same class as Akari after finding out they were the same age.

An amused chuckle escaped his mouth recalling Kushina and Akari’s first meeting with the boy seemingly becoming immediately smitten with her after their first meeting. He wondered if history would repeat itself with the Uzumaki and Senju joining once more just as Hashirama-sama and Mito-sama once did.

In fact, every time he would check in on young Akari, he was always accompanied by either Kushina, Izumi or both. It was getting to the point where they were becoming almost inseparable. And that’s not even mentioning the good it did on both girls as they both seemed to push themselves every day in order to not be left behind by the boy.

Hiruzen had already caught the girls practicing on their own multiple times and showing an astounding improvement each time.

It always brought a smile to his face that Hashirama-sama’s descendant took more after his side of the family than the Uchiha. It gave Hiruzen hope that if Akari ever became aware of what really happened to his other side of the family, that he would not come to hate Konoha and take up after his other ancestor instead.

A knock on his door interrupted him from his inner thoughts and looking up he saw his old friend enter. And there stood another reason as to why he could not hand his hat to just anybody.

“When were you going to inform me that one of the Uchiha survivors was in fact also Hashirama-sama’s descendant who ended up inheriting the Mokuton?” Danzo asked as he wabbled to the front of the Hokage’s desk.

“I didn’t see any reason to inform you.” Hiruzen answered back calmly while pulling out his pipe.

“I have a right to know. He could become a danger to the village in the future if he ever finds certain secrets that were kept from him.” Danzo said in argument.

“He is only a child. Not to mention Hashirama-sama and Tobirama-sama’s last male descendant.” Hiruzen said with his voice taking in a hard edge.

“A child can grow.” Danzo said in return with a shake of his head. “However, if you’re insisting in letting him live, then hand him over to me for training. I will make sure that he becomes a loyal shinobi of this village and with his power Konoha can become the undisputed most powerful village in the world again.”

Narrowing his eyes Hiruzen released a portion of his chakra cracking the wooden floor beneath him by a bit from the potency of it.

“He will not join Root! I will not let the last legacy of Shodaime-sama become nothing more than an emotionless tool for this village!” Hiruzen said with a tone of finality.

“Hmph, foolish. Then do you intend for him to stay in the Academy and waste his immense potential? Don’t forget. He also has Uchiha blood coursing through his veins. Who knows how that could affect him in the future? He needs to be monitored!” Danzo said not quite backing down yet.

Taking a puff from his pipe, Hiruzen slowly released it before speaking again. “Don’t worry about that. When I feel he is ready I will personally train him.”

Narrowing his eye in thought Danzo paused for a moment before frowning in realization. “Don’t tell me you are planning to make him Hokage?”

“Exactly that. Akari-kun reminds me of a combination of Lord First and Lord Second. Having Hashirama-sama’s compassionate heart and Tobirama-sama’s pragmatic and analytical mind.” Hiruzen spoke in a sure tone.

After getting to talk and study the boy for months now, Hiruzen was positive that Akari had inherited his ancestors Will of Fire instead of the Curse of Hatred from the Uchiha Clan. One only had to look at how he treated both Izumi and Kushina as if they were the most precious people in the world to him.

Hiruzen tried to bury the sudden dark though that sprung to his mind at what might happen to Akari if Kushina or Izumi were ever harmed or worse killed. He knew all too well of the dark power that slept in every Uchiha due to personal experience and stories from his senseis. Combine that with the monstrous strength of the Mokuton and he could not even begin to imagine the utter devastation Akari-kun could cause if something ever happened to them.

“You will not change your mind then?” Danzo asked and receiving silence as his answer turned around and slowly walked away. “Then let’s hope for all of our sakes that the boy never comes to learn of what really happened to one side of his family.”

With that last warning Danzo finally departed from the room leaving Hiruzen alone to his thoughts again.

“Indeed.” Hiruzen whispered to himself once again feeling the weight of his age again.

=====

(Normal POV)

“Wow~ This place keeps getting bigger and bigger ttebane!” Kushina shouted in joy as she ran around our newly upgraded Demiplane before jumping into the roof of our Sweet Home and checking out our island paradise thanks to the Life’s A Beach perk.

“I like it. It’s very peaceful and more importantly completely safe. Like our very own island paradise.” Izumi said with a big smile on her face looking just as happy as Kushina just more reserved.

“It will only get bigger.” I said in response with my own smile just feeling content at being here with the two girls.

It had been a little more than half a year since I first arrived in this world and meeting the two girls that would go on to become an irreplaceable part of my new life. Even as young as I technically was and felt again, I could already tell that my life would literally have no meaning without the two.

Kushina’s boundless energy and naïve yet positive outlook on life never failed to bring a smile to my face no matter what mood I was in before. It honestly astounded me that after everything she had gone through with the attempted kidnapping and murder of her parents, she still had the purest smile I had ever seen in my life. Both lives.

Izumi on the other hand was almost the opposite of Kushina with her mature yet still positive outlook on life. Her smiles while not as bright were just as special to me as they were reserved only for those close to her which was just me and Kushina at present.

I honestly felt like a fraud sometimes just standing next to them as compared to them, the hardest event I had gone through was being stabbed in the stomach. I didn’t count getting shot in the head as I barely felt that and didn’t even remember it clearly anymore.

Then there was the whole deal with The Company and the forced slavery thing that ate away at me every time I saw their Stamp tattoo. To make it less obvious I had changed the position and placed it in their lower back just above their butt but of course that didn’t diminish the guilt I felt.

By spending all that time with them I came to the obvious realization that these girls were no longer just characters in a novel or anime and were actually real with their own thoughts and feelings. Getting to know them I learned things from the two that were never mentioned anywhere and that’s when the guilt set in.

In my guilt I had bought the Toggle perk and lowered the forced loyalty, friendship, and romantic and sexual interest in me or my other Companions to the lowest setting. The romantic and sexual settings wouldn’t kick in until they turned 13 anyway but I had lowered it nonetheless.

To my surprise nothing had really changed in their behavior towards me. Izumi still saw me as the only friend she could trust and confide in and Kushina still saw me as the only person who had offered her a helping hand.

It was not long after that, that I had taken a risk and come clean with Kushina about The Company and about me being a Contractor.

Kushina had been mad at first of course but she had surprised me yet again that instead of beating me up like I had expected her to do, rightfully so, she had asked me to explain it more clearly to her.

With her permission, I had taken Kushina to my then Pocket Apartment and explained everything from the beginning to her. How I had already died once and something had offered me a second chance and how I ended up in this world.

I then explained to her about my future plans to acquire the Rinnegan and revive all the fallen Uchiha and my plans to stop the war from happening in the future and finally my plan to kill the Otsutsuki. How when all was said and done, I would leave this cursed world behind and head to another never to return again.

By the time I had finished with my story I had to console a crying Kushina who had asked me through her sniffles if I was going to leave her behind.

Something inside me broke that day that I would only later discover at seeing her teary face. Taking Kushina into my arms I had reassured her that if she wanted to come with me, she was more than welcome to. That I desperately wanted her to come with me.

Being the sweet and innocent girl that she was, Kushina had forgiven me to my immense relief.

That marked the day that Kushina, just as Izumi before her, became a staple in my life. That was also the day that I secretly swore to myself that no matter what may come in the future, I would protect those two’s smiles with everything I had.

Since that day me, Izumi and Kushina became almost inseparable with us spending every moment of our free time with each other. I had even invited Kushina to move in with us with the Senju Compound being big enough to accommodate all three of us comfortably.

It was not long after, that I confirmed that Kushina was not a Jinchuuriki in this world and wanting to make up for her theoretical loss of power even if it was not my fault, I bought her a Naruko TS. Basically, just a female version of Naruto with all of his powers and abilities minus Kurama.

When Kushina had found out about it she had been pleased beyond belief at first before finding out that I had used 40 credits of the precious few I had managed to scrounge up so far as I had no plan to just Stamp everyone like crazy.

My goal in this new life of mine was quality over quantity after all.

Continuing on, at the insistence of Kushina we had a discussion at how to go about using the Stamp in the future.

To my surprise Kushina was not at all against the idea of just Stamping as many targets as we could even the ones in Konoha. She just suggested to only sell the evil ones in Konoha as a preemptive measure to make sure we were not discovered if we sold too many. As to everyone else, she couldn’t care less.

I guess with Kushina being rather new to the village and seeing how everyone treated her, it didn’t endear her much to the citizens here.

Izumi on the other hand, who knew the truth about the Uchiha massacre, didn’t care at all who we Stamped and sold even those in Konoha which didn’t surprise at all. I mean what can you expect after learning that your village leaders conspired to kill your whole clan?

With their encouragement, I had sent out multiple wood clones to find and Stamp all the major targets from the filler episodes that I remembered from the show which I found existed here. Then with Izumi and Kushina’s help I had then Stamped the future Konoha 11 with the exception of Naruto and Sasuke and other targets around our age like Yakumo Kurama and Hanabi who was Hinata’s twin sister in this world.

Before long even some of the teachers at the Academy had been Stamped with the most notable being Suzune, Iruka and Mizuki who had been immediately sold.

Thanks to all those credits coming in I had bought most Lures and Talents. With all the captures I had also been able to buy most Defenses thanks to Rebates and finally an upgrade to my Personal Demiplane which is where we currently found ourselves.

With the exception of Kushina and Izumi, the Captures I didn’t sell were marked as Familiars with all their settings lowered to zero. Meaning that they didn’t benefit from any of my Talents, Defenses or any other perk that provided my Companions an advantage. This also meant that their opinions or feelings about me never changed and they just went about their lives as normal.

“Akari! Izumi! Hurry up, you slowpokes! I want to see the beach.” Kushina yelled pulling me from my thoughts.

Looking for the small redhead, I spotted her waving at us already on her way down the hill about 50m from us.

“Coming.” I yelled in return before turning to Izumi offering her a smile. “Let’s go, Izumi.”

“Hihihi right~”