"Hey!" A shout sounded just in front of him
Akashi looked up to find himself face to face with a sweaty Nawaki.
'Too close.'
He quickly pushed him away before greeting him
"Oh, hello, Nawaki. Are you done with your training?"
"Yeah, over," Nawaki replied with a bright smile
Akashi gazed, then turned toward Orochimaru, who was standing behind Nawaki as he greeted him too.
"Orochimaru-san, good morning to you too."
"Good morning to you, Akashi. How are you today?"
Orochimaru's voice wasn't yet as raspy as it would become in the future.
He noticed as he heard the voice of the snake sannin, 'In fact, his voice sounded nearly kind'.
"I'm well, thanks."
He then turned back to Nawaki. "Grandma is talking with Aunt Mito inside. I was bored, so I came to observe your training." Akashi explain
"Observed! You looked very distracted for someone who came to observe my training. You would fail the spy test in the academy." Nawaki laughed at Akashi's behavior
His laugh was bright and unrestrained,
Akashi looked at Nawaki with a small smile; even Orochimaru, standing behind, also showed a smile. The atmosphere around was warm, like it often was around extroverted people.
"Do you want to join our training? You are four years old now, cousin. You must have already started. Did you start refining chakra? It took me, I think, a month to be able to use chakra. My sister said I was talented. If you don't have one, Orochimaru sensei can be your sensei too. What do you think?"
Nawaki fired up a series of questions as he moved his face closer to Akashi.
'Too close,' Akashi thought as he pushed Nawaki's face a little further from him
"Yes, I have already started, and I can mold chakra. It took me three weeks, so I am better than you," a small smile appeared on Akashi's face as he threw that little jab at Nawaki
"Grandma said that I am a genius, but it was obvious my chakra is already at genin. She said even for Uzumaki and Senju standards it's impressive, and no, I won't join your training. I am already trained by Grandma and some people of the Uchiha sent by my grandfather, so, no, I won't add more work to myself, thank you."
"Oh, that's unfortunate," Nawaki shrugged at the rejection,
Akashi knew that Orochimaru would reveal his information to his teacher soon, but it didn't really matter; he was still too weak to matter.
Akashi then turned to Orochimaru, who was still standing a little behind
"By the way, Orochimaru-san, how is the war going? I heard what happened to Uzushiogakure. Are they going to attack Konoha next?" Akashi asked with no visible change of expression on his face
Orochimaru looked at the child in front of him with surprise; he expected to see hatred in Akashi's tone when he spoke about Uzushiogakure, but he saw nothing.
Unaccustomed to comforting someone, he and Nawaki had purposefully avoided all mention of Uzushiogakure's destruction to avoid triggering pain in him, so yes, he really was taken by surprise.
And as if to respond to his question, the honest Nawaki jumped on the words
"Akashi." He stopped for an instant. "Are you alright? About Uzushio? I didn't want to hurt you, so we avoided the topic."
"That's fine. I don't see why you are so careful about that. I barely remember anything about Uzushio other than the stories grandma told me. She was the one who was really affected; I imagine it's the same for Aunt Mito."
"Ah, I see," Nawaki nodded. He was relieved to hear that it was true he too was related to Uzushiogakure, but he was not as hurt as his grandmother or even his elder sister
"Well, I get it. Still sorry for your loss."
"Hum,"
Orochimaru understood why Akashi was so unaffected; he himself had no real attachment to Uzushiogakure. He was sad for what happened because his grandmother was sad.
'The old man might like to hear that,' Orochimaru thought before talking
"Yes, as you heard, Uzushio was destroyed, but the alliance of the other nations quickly fell apart; they are as much at war with each other as they are at war with us, so we get to breathe a little. But we will soon be deployed to the battlefield," he explained
"I see, good luck to you then."
"Are you going too, Nawaki?"
At his question, Nawaki's expression turned sour.
"I wanted to, but Orochimaru sensei and my sister refused. That I am too young."
"You are just too young."
"Oh, thank you, cousin. I knew you would understand me," Nawaki brightened as he started to pat Akashi's head. But his next phrase made his nerves twitch
"You are just too weak."
"What!" Nawaki shouted abruptly as he grabbed the smaller Akashi by the shoulders. "How dare you say that I am weak? Do you want me to show you how strong I am?" He said, vigorously shaking his cousin
All that mixed with the sounds of Orochimaru quietly chuckling behind
"I pass. I have had enough of being beaten by older people,"
"Hum, you better restrain that mouth of yours if you really don't want to be beaten," Nawaki advised
"Anyway, let's move somewhere else. Goodbye, sensei," Nawaki said
"See you next time, Orochimaru-san,"
The two kids moved through the compound as they spoke about everything that happened in their lives lately.
Akashi talked about his training while Nawaki talked more about his numerous friends.
Akashi couldn't help but be amazed by the ability of Senju Nawaki to make friends.
It appeared that he had friends everywhere, among civilians, and he also had multiple friends in the difficult-to-get-along-with Uchiha clan, and they were more numerous than the ones Akashi, who lived there, knew,
'I need to go out more often.' Akashi realized, 'I have been cooped up at home too long; if I want to achieve my plans, I need to have people following me.'
"Akashi!" The voice of his grandmother Mikado sounded behind them
Turning around, he saw the two old women standing behind them.
"Good morning, Aunty," Nawaki greeted Mikado
The stern face of Mikado barely softened as she responded to the young Senju before turning her gaze back to her grandson.
"We are leaving."
With just those words, she turned left without saying anything else
Akashi immediately realized that his grandma was in a bad mood.
"Well, see you around, Nawaki, Aunt Mito."
After that, he ran to the side of his grandmother as they left the Senju compound
....
Later in the third elder's place
"You look angry, Grandma," Akashi said as he looked at his grandmother. Akashi said as he practiced his seals on a paper tag.
"Then you need more training on how to read people. I am not angry; I am annoyed." Mikado corrected her grandson
"I hoped to use the guilt she felt for the destruction of Uzushiogakure to get a few things from her."
"I guess it didn't work, then," Akashi said
"No, it did not," She replied with a nod
"Why don't you tell me what you wanted? Maybe I can use my child charm to get it for you," Akashi said, half serious, half joking
For a brief second, Mikado considered it before throwing the idea away.
"You are too young to be able to manipulate a ninja, even less a Uzumaki that possesses the mind eye. If she doesn't find your attempt funny, you might lose the goodwill she has toward you."
Mikado explained seriously as she shook her head
"I was joking anyway." He shrugged, continuing his sealwork.
"But can I know what you hoped to get from Aunt Mito?" he asked
"Stop calling her Aunt Mito. Hearing that angers me. I wanted everything I could get. Resources, influences, techniques. Unfortunately, she wasn't disposed to share the important ones with someone who might have resentment toward Konoha, fucking bitch."
A small smile appeared on Akashi's cute face as he heard his grandmother curse
'And she said she isn't angry,' he thought in his head, 'But knowing the temper of most Uzumaki, might she really not be?'
"Finished!" Akashi said, putting down the brush on the table next to the seals
"How was it?" Akashi asked, presenting the seals to his grandmother,
" I didn't make any mistakes this time. Right!"
Even though she was a little distracted, he knew she was still keeping an eye on his work.
She took the paper and looked at it for a second
"Excellent. No mistake, every stroke perfect, the ratio of chakra is also excellent... for a beginner."
The last sentence wiped out the smile that had appeared on Akashi's face.
"Do a few exercises like that, and you can start working on making real seals."
Akashi had always been very interested and fascinated by seals; even in his past life, the use of seals fascinated him.
Chakra suppressing seals, paralysis seals, curse seals, chakra absorbing seals, and more a great number of seals and their usage appeared in his mind.
"I am going to become the greatest seals master in the shinobi world hahaha..."
Bam
Ouch
"Why did you do that?"
Having been violently brought out of his revelry by his punch, Akashi complained loudly.
"Before dreaming, start by finishing your work," she said, slamming a thick and towering stack of books on the table before Akashi.
"You need to finish all those books to be considered a barely qualified seals master. Hup hup, come on, mister greatest seal master. I am leaving you to it."
"Damn it. How am I supposed to finish all that?"
Akashi cursed, looking at all the books in front of him.