Dopinder, surprised by this, gives a small smile and starts the car to leave.
"It's time to meet you, Professor." Putting the card in my right pocket, I climb the stairs in search of the man who will help me.
[At Tengu University (Main Office) (Service Number: 002) - 12:13 PM]
- TUUUDUMMM...
"Password 221, please proceed to chair number six." A slightly grumpy employee sitting at the main desk, whose job was to give passwords to students, called another student to come to a chair.
The funny thing was that my ticket number was different from the others. On my piece of paper, there were two zeros with a two at the end... but the service was there to answer questions, and since I didn't know anything around here, I needed information on how to get to the place I wanted to go.
With the pleasant cool air in the office, I felt fulfilled... it had been a long time since I had felt such calm; everything had been extremely cautious in my past life.
Now, today, I can enjoy looking for information without arousing anyone's suspicion, as it has always been at Akatsuki... but for now, no one will suspect me.
"Password 002, please go to chair three." The employee calls the person again, and I get up to go to the chair where I will sit.
As I walked to the chair, I began to remember a little of my old team in Konoha, Team Two. Formed by Tenma Izumo and Shinko Inari... this little piece of paper with the number two on it gave me a brief memory of when I was a child who, in the eyes of others, was a prodigy.
Times were tough, Shinko retired as a Shinobi after witnessing the death of our partner Tenma. He was completely torn apart and killed on an escort mission against a masked man.
Our mission at first was to perform an honorary task of escorting the Daimyō of the Land of Fire on a routine trip... but after that, everything went wrong.
Some time later, Yōji Aburame and Himuka Suzukaze took their place, and I ended up staying on the team a little longer, but then I got promoted and became a Chunnin of the Leaf Village... completely severing my ties with Team 2.
"Good afternoon, how can I help you?" The attendant, with a pen in her hand, begins to write down our report.
"I want to enroll in this university. Are there any openings for a cooking course?" With a small smile and genuine interest, the attendant is surprised by my question.
"Well, we have plenty... the prices are here!" She turns her monitor screen toward me, and I end up choosing the two-year culinary technology course.
"Thank you for joining our institution, Itachi Uchiha."
The attendant kindly thanks me for joining and I end up sending the payment slip for the first installment by phone while walking through the corridors... Hatsune recommended that if I wanted to fulfill my mission here at the university, the goal was not to study for a long time, but to fulfill my duties.
And since gastronomy is something I enjoy, even though I initially hated cooking because I tried to achieve perfection... and in the end I achieved it by making such a beautiful and delicious omelet for Sasuke, I learned to love it after seeing his smile for the last time.
- Crrrrrrr...
A classroom door began to open slowly, and the creaking was so loud and unbearable that it sounded like a sound emitted by a quartet that had died years ago.
"Shhhh... come to this room." A whispering voice called me to go inside that room, and very cautiously... I took the kitchen knife that was inside my suit, since I couldn't get my Kunai back in Gacha, and walked to the door.
- Knock... Knock... Knock... Knock...
My steps were calm but firm, ready to launch a strong attack against whoever was inside trying to sabotage me.
And with a touch of my hand on the door, looking carefully through the crack... I raised the sharp knife against whoever was in front of me, and by a small detail, the blade almost pierced the neck of the man standing in front of me.
"Wow wow wow... calm down, I didn't come to sabotage you, kid, I just want to talk to you."
"Talk about what? I've never seen you in my life... what made you interested in me?"
The man who was supposed to be the teacher of this classroom sits down on his desk and closes his eyes to sigh a little.
"The way you walk and observe the world around you is unusual... it's a very specific approach for someone living in the modern age."
As the teacher explained to me what he had observed about my behavior, he took something out of his drawer to show me... while my hand remained steady and ready to draw again.
When he finally placed the object that identified me on the table, I was surprised to see it.
"An... Anbu mask?" My voice betrayed my surprise at seeing that mask, as if somehow he knew something.
"The Anbu Ninjas always had an extra eye on their own lives, every step they took was a consequence of a subsequent action for the contribution of the Leaf Village." He suddenly got up from his chair and walked to the window on the other side of the room.
"Only the most qualified could perform a role as exceptional as that of these ninjas... and you, you behaved like one until you arrived in this room." His eyes turned to mine, like blades sharpening themselves to my last secret.
This teacher was not just anyone... having knowledge of the existence of the Anbu and their behavior did not make him an ordinary man.
"And who are you?" I asked as my fist tightened its grip on the knife that was still in my possession.
The teacher's hands slowly rose to his head, removing the elastic band that was holding his hair back, revealing an image completely familiar to those I had seen in my past life.
"Finally, I can take this elastic band out of my hair when I'm with you... for I am the one who founded the Anbu organization and the village where you were born." With a voice of determination and confidence, he smoothed his hair and revealed himself with a powerful aura.