Chapter Twenty-Seven: Full Disclosure
Playing with his sword wasn't the only thing that Tobio was intending on getting up to over the course of the month. In fact, a couple of days after the preliminaries were wrapped up, he had a very different mission in mind. He'd gone and brought someone new and unfamiliar with Konohagakure into the village, and by the Kami, he'd make Karin feel welcome as fuck by the end of it.
It was his responsibility for practically honeypotting, er, recruiting Karin into their ranks. And he'd be damned if he didn't do his best to make her feel welcome after she'd been confirmed as an Uzumaki. Which was why once he'd gotten the all clear from Tekuno-sensei, Tobio extended an invitation out to the redhead for a bit of a tour across the village.
One of the things he missed was cellphones, though. This was an era before easy communication had proliferated across the world, and it showed. With the rest of the Sworn Brotherhood, Tobio always had a sense of which direction they were in and how close he was to the rest of them. For everyone else, he had to figure it out the old-fashioned way.
Scheduling meetups was a pain in the ass, to say the least, but Tekuno-sensei somehow navigated some sort of communication between the Genin. It was why they'd chosen today to meet up in front of the Academy, so he could take her on a proper tour of the village. Konoha may have been imperfect, yet compared to the alternatives in the rest of the Elemental Nations, it was probably the best Hidden village by a country mile.
Then again, he might be wildly biased.
Whatever musings he'd been diving into mentally were abruptly derailed when Tobio noticed Karin coming down the road. Altogether, it'd been days since he'd last laid eyes on the girl, but if he had to make a value judgement on how she'd been doing? The redhead looked better than she had the last time he'd seen her.
Some of that certainly came from no longer sleeping in the woods, worrying for her life. Yet even so, while there was a nervous air around here, she seemed more at ease. Her posture was straight and no longer hunched, her eyes clear, and the smile that she sent his way was an earnest one.
If nothing else, no matter what inevitable problems and headaches came from taking her away from Kusagakure, that smile made it worth the effort. As cool as it was to have superhuman powers and the overarching threat of space alien demonic cultivators, the thing about being a shinobi Tobio liked the most was the instances where he could genuinely help people. Those moments made everything else worth the hassle.
"Tobio!" She greeted, bounding up to me, beaming all the while.
"Karin," he greeted back, nodding her way. "Did you have trouble finding the Academy?" It was one of the bigger buildings in Konoha, which was why he'd chosen it as the meetup point.
With a roll of her eyes, she shook her head. "No, it was pretty easy. Your sensei also gave me super detailed instructions, as if I was gonna get lost."
"For someone new to the village, the inside can be a little mazelike," Tobio admitted, as the two of them started walking off.
He suspected the truly winding alleyways and street pattern of the village was by design. If someone, like another village or infiltrators, got into the depths of Konoha, it would be best if navigating it wasn't easy. As it was now, natives tended to have the easiest time moving through Konoha's roads, seeing as they knew where everything was.
How that worked with facilitating trade, he didn't know. But he also didn't need to know.
"It's also so much bigger than Kusa," Karin commented as she glanced around. "I had to give your ANBU tons of details about the layout of the village, but I'm pretty sure it didn't even reach a third of the size of Konohagakure by itself."
Well, most Minor villages were to be succinct, small. It was how they survived, being in the shadow of much larger Hidden Villages. Takigakure had a massive, fuck-off tree at the center of it's settlement, but the actual population and number of buildings were surprisingly low in number. Nor was it a particularly modernized place, with only a scant few locations possessing electricity and modern electronics.
"It's the first and arguably largest Hidden Village, so that makes sense," he nodded. "Have you gotten to see much of it?"
She shook her head, dark red hair swaying with the motion. "Not really. This is the first day I've been out on my own, and we're probably still being followed."
Karin was right about that much. Even with a cursory flex of his sensory abilities, Tobio could note a distinct suppressed energy signature following along from the shadows. Despite her vaunted lineage, she was still a defector, and the powers that be would have to be insane to trust her motives off the rip.
"Give it some time. When they're sure you're not going to sell us out for a dango stick, they'll probably pull back on all the restrictions."
"You're likely right," she huffed. "Just feeling a little aimless and wound up. By this point back home, someone would have been badgering me about my…"
Trailing off, she reached out to squeeze her arm, where he knew there was a line of bite marks littering her flesh. "Anyway, they would have been looking for healing. Here though, it kind of feels as if I'm spinning my wheels. Waiting for the other shoe to drop."
"I won't say the village is perfect. It isn't," Tobio bluntly prefaced. "But it's the people make it worth staying. And working together, I think everyone can make it better."
She stared at him with those crimson eyes of hers before breaking out into a laugh. "Do you know how cheesy you just sounded?"
He flushed. "I was just saying what I thought!"
"It was almost like one of those over-the-top, corny movies Fujikaze is always in," she pointed out, taking in a breath and affecting a deeper voice to try and emulate his own. "And by working together, I think everyone can make the village better!"
"Screw off!" Tobio barked, half-laughing at her impression and half flustered by the ribbing. It was easier to talk to Karin than he was afraid of. "I do not sound like that!"
They went back and forth for a while like that, and for a time, it was easy to let all of his concerns that he had for the future go. Preparing to fight Gaara, the Konoha Crush, all those little and large worries that had been building up felt like they faded, at least for a brief time. For once, he got to be a kid again, fooling around with a friend.
It was something Tobio didn't realize he'd needed.
All good things had to come to an end though, mostly because they were reaching the destination he'd had in mind for this outing. Every Uzumaki on the continent functionally had to make a pilgrimage here eventually, just by the dint of their heritage. If they hadn't, could they truly call themselves inheritors to the clan?
They'd arrived at Ichiraku's, with the scent of ramen in the air. Karin's nose wrinkled as she glanced toward it. "What's that?"
"Probably the best ramen stand in the Elemental Nations." That might be an exaggeration, but Tobio was willing to make a reasonable guess that it wasn't. If multiple generations of Uzumaki were obsessed with the stand, they had to be doing something right.
…Likely adding too much msg to their broth, if Beniemiya's reaction was worth staking a guess on.
He'd never met Teuchi before, but it was hard to mistake the smiling, congenial man for anyone else as the two of them came up to the stand. Shooting a smile their way, he had the aura of someone who was entirely and utterly at peace with their station in life. That was more than could be said about the vast majority of people Tobio had met over the last few months.
"Hello there," he greeted, as Tobio and Karin took their seats at the ramen stand. "I don't think I've seen the two of you around before. First-timers to the stand?"
"Yep," Tobio confirmed, before gesturing to Karin. "She's new to the village, and I've heard good things about you from Naruto. Figured I'd come and see what the fuss was about."
That was enough to take him briefly aback, before a more genuine smile lit up his face. "You're friends with Naruto?"
Tobio shrugged. "I'd say so." The barrier to entry to being friends with Naruto was so low as to be easy for people who should have been the boy's enemies to qualify.
"Then I'll have to make sure we live up to whatever lofty expectations he's undoubtedly put upon our shoulders," Teuchi confirmed. "Now, do the two of you have a good idea of what you had in mind for your meals?"
They spent some time perusing the menu, but in the end, both of them settled on the tonkotsu miso ramen. Just judging by the simmering scent of the broth in the air, whatever recipe they'd been working on was one honed to perfection. And, admittedly, Tobio was excited to see what was so good about this ramen bowl that had Naruto coming back for more.
It didn't take long before he and Karin had bowls situated in front of them, steaming, topped with narutomaki, ajitama, filled with noodles and choice cutlets of pork. His stomach was grumbling, though not as loud as the redhead's next to him. Glancing over at her with a smirk, she blushed, bashfully staring down into her meal.
"...I didn't eat breakfast. Shut up."
Tobio chuckled. "I didn't say anything."
"Well, I could hear you thinking something stupid."
"Oh? Is that a special ninja technique?" Snapping the chopsticks they were given apart, Tobio turned back to his meal, beginning to dig in. And for the first time in this new life of his, something truly lived up to the hype.
Teuchi was just a straight-up civilian dude, with no real special powers or abilities. Just decades of hard work and dedication to his culinary skills, with the same pride as any other craftsman at the height of their game. It showed in every bite, slurp, and portion of the bowl that they ate.
Once the two of them had started, it was impossible to stop. Each chomp of the chewy, tender pork sent new waves of savory relish radiating across his taste buds, with the addition of the fish-cake toppings providing a new flavor profile. If nothing else, Tobio planned on readily stealing about as much of this for his own cooking in the future.
Considering that he had actually supernatural skill and capability to make his food flavorful, that was more of a glowing recommendation on Teuchi's skills than anything else. If he was getting it bad, though, Karin was undergoing a downright religious experience. Judging by how readily she was eating, and himself included, Tobio wasn't going to rag on her about it.
When she was finished, she looked at the bowl mournfully before shooting him a puppy-dog glance. It went without saying that he tried to stay determined in the face of it, before his resolve collapsed and he bought her another bowl. Then a third, and a fourth.
By the time she was finished, Karin looked as if she was going to collapse into a food coma. Or, maybe just dying from all of the MSG in her veins. Either one seemed like it could have been a totally real possibility.
"I don't think I've ever eaten that well in ages. Not since my mom passed, anyway," She sighed happily, patting her stomach.
Teuchi gave her a warm smile, looking pleased. "I'm happy to have met such lofty standards."
"It was the best ramen I've ever had," Tobio admitted, wondering how many other things Naruto had hyped up that actually lived up in the end. Maybe he should take the loudmouth's other restaurant suggestions. "Expect to see me bringing my team by in the future."
"I'll look forward to it," the older man readily agreed.
Paying for both of them, Tobio and Karin ambled off, even if the redhead was now a little more sluggish than before. "Do we have to keep walking?"
"If you want to see the rest of the village, we do."
She gave a big, exaggerated sigh, shoulders slumping. "I'd rather pass out right now, but I'll survive."
"If you want to be a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, you'll need to survive more than a tummyache."
The rest of the day was spent in idle banter and conversation, as Tobio led Karin around the village. But if nothing else, it was a good experience to have with a new friend. What he hadn't expected was running into someone else while they wandered around the village.
"Tobio, is that you?"
Glancing over his shoulder, he was met with the rapidly approaching and beaming smile of Fū, as she jogged over. "Hey!"
"Hey yourself, stranger," she pouted, if playfully, eyes glittering with mischief. "I'm still waiting on that second cooking lessons, y'know."
That got a grimace out of him, as he did leave the poor minty-haired girl hanging. "Sorry, Fū. Between the Chūnin Exams prep and getting into the finals, my schedule just became a little too packed. Forgive me?"
"Of course," she nodded, not looking that put out about it, which was a good thing. Of course, that was just when she seemed to realize that she might have been interrupting something, glancing between himself and Karin. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Fū, Tobio's friend. Did I, uh, kind of badger my way into something...?"
Looking more amused than anything else, Karin gently shook her head. "It's fine. I've already met a few of Tobio's friends, but you're from...Takigakure?"
"Born and raised!" Fū nodded, crossing her arms pridefully. "I'm here on a long-term mission from my village." Ah. Tobio didn't know if it was better to let her keep believing this, or just sit her down and tell her the truth ofthe political realities that had brought her here. Not something appropriate to bring up at the moment, though.
"Mmm. Your chakra is cool and soothing, like the wind on a hot summer's day."
Fū blinked at the non-sequitur, looking a little poleaxed by those words. "T-Thank you...?" Actually, was this just Karin's sensor bullshit at play? Reaching out, Tobio did in fact find that to his own abilities, Fū's chakra had the tinge of cooling winds to it. Then again, Chōmei was considerably more tractable than Kurama. It made sense that her Jinchūriki's chakra would be influenced by that, somehow, compared to the caustic hate that he could sometimes feel radiating from inside Naruto.
Sensors really were such bullshit...
Tobio chose that point to interject into the conversation. "Karin's new to the village too, so I've been showing her around. Also, some of the best places to get food."
Karin nodded, smiling happily as she patted her stomach. "Ichiraku has some good ramen."
Shooting him a dark, betrayed look, Fū's lips puckered. "You went out for food? Without me?"
Understandably, Tobio would be a little peeved if some of his friends went out to yummy places to eat without him. It didn't matter that he was capable of effectively making Michelin-star meals in the comfort of his home. It was the principle of the thing. Rubbing the back of his head, he gave her a sheepish smile. "Eh-heh...oops?"
"I'll expect a delicious meal sometime in the future as recompense."
"Yeah, yeah..."
The redhead among them couldn't help but laugh at the back and forth, rolling her eyes at their antics. "Would you like to join us for the rest of the tour? Short as it might be?"
Fū paused, before breaking out into a broad grin. "I'd love to! You can tell me how you know Tobio and stuff!"
"Deal."
...Hmm. Surely, nothing bad could come of two traumatized girls with dark legacies becoming friends. Even if something did spring from it, as the two of them started to break into a conversation, the consequences would be future-Tobio's problem. Fuck that guy. He had it good, benefiting from all of his hard work. The least that idiot could do was manage two emotionally reactive young girls in the future, and make sure they didn't join the Akatsuki, or something dumb like that.
For now, he just smiled as they walked off, letting the casual conversation wash over him, and interjecting here and there as they continued their sojourn through the rest of the village.
In the abstract, Tobio logically understood that he was good at kenjutsu. But it wasn't until he was clashing blades with his sensei in truth that the full level of his skill was brought out on display. His sensei had a blade in each hand, and while the older man wasn't coming at Tobio at his full speed, he wasn't that far off.
And somehow, Tobio was managing to keep up. Much as he loathed to admit it, considering the genin had never so much as touched a sword before a few months prior, he'd have to concede that he may in fact be what the Hidden Leaf could happily call a prodigy. The realization scarcely brought him comfort.
After seeing what happened to most of Konoha's prodigies, the Mixed Blood didn't have much desire to join their ranks.
Bringing both of his swords down in a cross clash, it was at a blinding speed that he doubted Ami or Hibachi could have matched alone. Only twitch instinct and reflex were what saved him from receiving a doughty strike, as he brought up his massive sword to block it. A grating grinding of steel resounded forth in the clearing, Tobio pushing back against his sensei's force with his own superior strength.
"It's unfair, I'm being overpowered by a Genin," Tekuno-sensei huffed, eyes slitted as he looked down at Tobio.
For his part, the boy smirked and flexed his muscles to force the Jōnin back a step, going on the attack with a blistering series of slashes. "The future is now, old man!"
Well, it would have been, if he could have hit his sensei. He was making the older man sweat and work for the victory in the sparring match, to be sure, but Tobio couldn't land a proper strike. While the boy might have been faster and stronger, skill did still count for something when it came to their spars.
This time next year, though? If he kept growing and learning at this rate, he was fairly sure that he'd have beaten his sensei. That was presuming nothing changed from the System, either, and it didn't hand him some greater skill comprehension as a reward.
By the end of it, they were both tired, sweaty, and without much in the way for further swings. The ache was good, though. It meant that the lessons were sticking, or so Tobio liked to believe, as they stopped for lunch and ate one of the bento boxes he'd gone and prepared in advance.
"For a Genin or Chūnin, you're likely around one of the best swordsmen in the village," Tekuno-sensei commented, looking at Tobio as if he were a puzzle to sort out. "If this were Kirigakure, the standards might be a little higher, but they're also the sort to fellate themselves over their 'Seven Swordsmen' tradition. Kumo's at least better in a straight-up fight, but Konoha has produced plenty of competent and skilled fighters. You're up there."
"Really?" He knew he was good, but good enough to beat out so many people who were older and had more experience? That was a different beast altogether.
"Really," Tekuno vigorously nodded. "If you've got a flaw, it's that you're really reliant on your little rage to carry you through a lot of fights. But most of your issues are the types of things that come with age, when you have more missions under your belt and people you've fought to refine your style."
Tobio thought about it for a moment. "Like taijutsu styles."
His sensei smiled. "Just like taijutsu styles. Everyone develops their own style, techniques, whatever, over time. You're…a long way ahead most people with all of the special tricks you've developed."
Without Revival of X, he wouldn't have been. The perk had been pushing him into advanced development over and over again, with each hard-won encounter that he had to deal with. That wasn't to say he couldn't develop techniques without it, just that they were accelerated when he was put in a bind.
"Where do you think I should go from here then?"
"Tough to say. Cleaning up your fundamentals is always good, and that's just us sparring with swords for the next few weeks. Against your opponent, though, I'm unsure if anything but advanced chakra flow techniques will make a difference."
Tobio hummed softly, sticking his sword into the ground and crossing his arms. "Is his defense really that good?"
Tekuno scoffed. "There's no such thing as a perfect defense. But…I'll concede that Gaara's defensive capabilities would give me pause in a fight. Unless I'd have the time to properly prepare the environment before fighting him, esoteric jutsu capable of cutting past his sand is the best bet."
By and large, Tobio agreed. Gaara's sand was about as challenging as any defense he'd run into so far, but there was only so much it'd be able to do in the face of overwhelming firepower. He hadn't experienced the boost from Embers yet, though Tobio ultimately suspected it'd give him the edge he'd need to prevail in most truly dire situations.
The tradeoff was naturally that he'd need to get himself into a life-or-death scenario before anything went amiss. Knowing his dumbass, Tobio doubted he'd ever be far from one for the next few years.
"Personally, I think that I should polish my fundamentals even more." Getting his actual skill with the blade up even further wasn't going to hurt anything, and his proficiency with the fancy tricks like chakra flow was more than enough for anything he'd face for...probably the next couple of years.
Between the various routes all shinobi traipsed down, Tobio knew he'd pick up a little bit of everything eventually. Just having Barbarian meant by the dint of it alone, he'd manage to eventually become a master of all weapons. But that didn't mean he couldn't specialize in one tool of war above all others.
Swordsmanship, at least for now, was the road he wanted to go down. Perhaps something in the future would change his mind, like losing an arm to injury, or something else like that. For now, though, he figured he might as well see where this led him.
His sensei paused, thinking over the statement, before shrugging. "If you think that's where you need to be polished up on, that's good enough for me."
Tobio gave his sensei an incredulous look. "That easily?"
"Your chakra flow is already well beyond what your age group is usually capable of," the man admitted. "If you can't get through Gaara's sand just with that alone, I think. It might be a little bit of a crapshoot, since you're using a neutral element…but if you're also turning flames blue, it should burn past his sand."
Getting up off the ground, Tekuno proceeded to crack his neck, going into a few stretches. "Besides, what about the training we're going to do strikes you as easy? When it comes to improving skill, the only real way to do it is with lots of practice."
True enough to what the older man said, the rest of the day was taken up by Tekuno meticulously breaking down every weakness in Tobio's style. He fought like a Barbarian, and that was fine, but resting on his laurels without making the implanted instincts and skills his was a fool's errand. To make his own style meant incorporating all of his abilities and powers in a holistic way.
By the end of the training session, he was beyond dead tired and a little afraid of what this presaged for the rest of the month. Though it had also given him time to think on other, somewhat related matters to fighting Gaara.
"…Sensei, let's say theoretically, I had important, critical information for the village," Tobio spoke, phrasing this hypothetical as he sealed away his sword. "The type of thing that, like, I should report, but I don't have a good excuse for why I should know this information."
His poor, wonderful sensei only looked like someone was creeping over his grave with each passing second. "Let's say, in this totally hypothetical reality you're posing here, that you did in fact have info. I would do my best to try and protect you, provided you're not outright traitorous. An idea I would find doubtful."
"That I could be a traitor?"
"You don't have a traitorous bone in your body," Tekuno snorted, smiling nervously down at Tobio. "Which means the only way you learned this was by doing something you probably weren't supposed to be doing. Theoretically, that is."
Tobio swallowed thickly, chuckling nervously. "Ah, haha, yeah. Um. About that."
The Genin talked, and his Jōnin listened. By the time he was speaking, the two of them were hastily heading toward the Hokage's office. After all…
No good deed goes unpunished. Hopefully it'd be enough time for Tobio to think up an excuse for all of his bullshit foreknowledge, otherwise the next month was probably going to be spent in a T&I cell.
"-and that's what we heard from the Sound-nin, before we killed them. Honestly, kind of wished we kept them alive, but that's on me."
Tobio stood in the middle of the Hokage's office, underneath the man's heavy regard. His sensei was nearby, face buried in his hands. Maybe he'd pushed the older man a little too far this time.
Hiruzen, meanwhile, took a thick rip from his pipe. "…And you failed to mention this before?"
"When we got to the tower, I had to deal with the consequences of bringing in Karin as a defector," which was true. "And I kind of forgot about it between now and then. Also, I didn't know if they were just lying or trying to get into Sakura's head."
That was a lie, but they didn't need to know that. It helped to sell a lie when you could deaden the muscles in your face at will, or otherwise mold them to not give away any tells.
"Do you know what the plan is for sure…?" Hiruzen asked, trailing off. "Since while I am not distrusting you, and Orochimaru is evidently moving in some respect, I cannot entirely trust merely an overheard description. Though, I can place heavier security on the exams as a whole."
Tobio worked his jaw back and forth, trying to think of a way to further convince Hiruzen. "Would it help if I think I had some extra facts?"
In the end, Tobio figured revealing one of his most inoffensive, useless secrets wouldn't hurt anyone. How much trouble could come from revealing that he could effectively sense for miles around, track individual signatures, or speak with animals?
It'd be fine.
"A bird told me."
There was nothing but silence in the office for a few seconds, as both Tekuno and Hiruzen just stared at him. It was starting to make him feel a little self-conscious for how long it went on. The Hokage was the first to recover, coughing and looking at Tobio curiously. "Could you repeat that?"
"So, I figured out a little bit ago how to talk to animals, for about a day. It's kind of like a jutsu, but not quite." Actually, now that Tobio thought about it, was he just slowly developing ninshu? The sensing, the companionship ability, the capacity to speak and empathize with animals…
Hmm. Something to look into later.
"I then just, uh…bribed some pigeons, crows, and other small animals to follow around the people I was suspicious of, and report back to me what they said. And then I used my sensing ability-"
"You're a SENSOR!?" Tekuno shouted, practically about to pull his hair out.
"-and then I tracked their signatures, once I properly recognized who I was tracking. So, uh, apparently, some of the Suna-nin like Baki have been colluding with some Oto-nin on an attack during the Chunin exams."
He'd like to keep some of these skills and abilities private, but honestly, Tobio wasn't too worried about them getting out. At most, it'd just mean people would become incredibly paranoid about him spying on them. Which he wouldn't be doing in the first place, since if he really wished them ill he'd just barge in and kill them.
That was more his style.
"They've been radiating hostile intent toward us for a while, but it's really hard to properly explain that without sounding nuts. I've had Jōnin send me less hostile intent than Gaara of the sand, so it's been…distracting."
"Are you willing to demonstrate this capacity to speak with animals? Or your sensory ability?" Hiruzen asked, looking positively interested in the concept.
Tobio shrugged. "It's pretty easy, so yeah." The spell wasn't a jutsu, so, he wasn't tremendously worried about anyone making headway on copying it. Or even understanding it, on a conceptual level.
The next few hours weren't very fun, though, as the Hokage took time out of his day to test Tobio's capabilities and claims specifically. It wasn't hard to figure out why the man had earned the name of The Professor, considering how exacting and curious he was toward the capacity to talk to animals. But when it was proven that it worked, and that it wasn't a jutsu, his curiosity only intensified.
Even more when Tobio's sensory skills allowed him to accurately point out the positions of every ANBU hiding around the office, and when they were directing hostile intent at him or not.
"Fascinating. This actually quite reminds of a defunct Clan I heard tell about when I was a child," Hiruzen admitted, eyes gleaming with interest. "Extinct supposedly, even if I now have questions on the veracity of that statement. They held, in stories I've heard, the capacity to read the intent of others, and change their bodies in unusual ways."
Was there genuinely a Clan like that? Honestly, Tobio didn't know if that was true or not, but it sounded as insane as anything else in Naruto. "So…what now?"
"Now?" Hiruzen gave a smile, where the mirth did not entirely reach his eyes. "Now, we prepare with the forewarning that you've given us. I'll be asking for a more formal report, but it's late, and the young need their rest. Dismissed."
It left him and Tekuno-sensei leaving the tower, with a mildly shellshocked older man walking alongside him. The pair were silent for long enough that Tobio felt as if he needed to check in with his sensei.
"You okay there?"
"…Mhmm," Tekuno confirmed, nodding with a hum.
Silence returned as Tobio felt a little awkward, working his jaw back and forth. He didn't mind a bit of quiet, but in the wake of being grilled for(mostly false) answers by the Hokage, the boy would have thought his sensei would have more questions for him. Him lapsing into silence felt alien, compared to the man's typically jovial personality.
"Can I ask what you're thinking?"
Walking along for another minute or so, he got the feeling Tekuno was formulating a response before he spoke aloud. Measuring his words so that they were meaningful. "I'm worried I'm not going to be strong enough to protect you, or help you, when you really need it."
It was enough to make Tobio stop in his tracks. "What?"
Turning around to face the boy, all of the worn lines on his face making his sensei seem a thousand years older. "You're going to be a monster, Tobio, in the best of ways. And when they realize, when every village figures out what you are, they're going to try and kill you."
"And by my heart, I'm going to have to drown this world in an ocean of blood to protect you. Is it wrong if I'm questioning if I'm up for it?"
Tobio wanted to refute that, that the other villages wouldn't go that far…but he knew the kind of world they lived in. Someone with his potential was something to be snuffed out, well before he grew into a threat to them. If Iwagakure was told they could prevent another Yellow Flash from rising before he ever darkened their doorstep again, they'd do it in a heartbeat.
It wasn't even a question.
There was only one thing to do. It was what Tobio was already going to do in the first place. "Then I'll have to get strong enough so that you don't have to worry about me anymore."
More than anything else, it put a sad smile on Tekuno's face. "I'm your sensei, kiddo. It's my job to worry. Even if you become the next Shinobi no Kami, and I'm old and gray, I'll still be wondering if you're eating enough, or resting enough, or in danger."
Reaching out, he ruffled Tobio's hair, ignoring the protests that came out of the boy's mouth. "Let's get something to eat. My treat. It's been a long day, eh?"
That was an understatement, but Tobio would never say no to free food. After the day they'd had…he deserved it.