[ HIRUZEN SARUTOBI ]
I took a slow, measured drag from my pipe, letting the rich, earthy smoke fill my lungs as I stared across my cluttered desk. The afternoon sun cast long, golden shadows across the Hokage office, illuminating the lazy, slouching posture of Shohei Nara.
"So, they passed," I mused, exhaling a thick plume of smoke that drifted toward the ceiling. "I expected as much. Despite their conflicting personalities, I had faith they would pull through, But you look troubled, Shohei."
Shohei scratched the back of his neck, his half-lidded eyes looking unusually alert.
"They passed, Lord Third. But there is a massive complication regarding Jinichi Wataru. The boy possesses a Kekkei Genkai. Metal Release, to be specific."
My hand froze midway to my mouth. The quiet ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner suddenly sounded incredibly loud.
"Metal Release?" I repeated, my voice dropping an octave.
"Are you absolutely certain, Shohei? There is no record of any such bloodline in his ancestry."
"I'm certain," Shohei replied grimly, crossing his arms.
"He pulled iron dust straight out of the topsoil, used it to blind my chakra sensing, fashioned a high-density metal scimitar, and bound my legs in iron shackles. It was undeniably a bloodline limit."
I set my pipe down on the crystal ashtray, the weight of the village's politics instantly settling heavily on my old shoulders. I shifted my gaze to the dark corner of the ceiling. "Boar."
With a faint rustle of clothing, an ANBU operative wearing a porcelain boar mask dropped silently onto the floorboards, kneeling respectfully before my desk. I had assigned him to keep a close eye on the boy's progression after the academy exams.
"You observed the test. Is Shohei's report accurate?"
"It is, Lord Hokage," Boar reported, his voice flat and professional behind the mask.
"The boy manipulated the iron dust with terrifying fluidity. It was completely unexpected and highly effective."
"Dismissed," I sighed, waving a hand. Boar vanished in a blur of motion.
I sank back into my leather chair, pinching the bridge of my nose as a massive headache began to bloom behind my eyes. I felt as though I had aged another five years in the span of thirty seconds.
I had already spent the last two days meticulously planning how to protect Jinichi from the village's internal hawks.
His 'Spinjutsu' was far too similar to the Hyuga clan's sacred Kaiten. It's only a matter of time before the Hyuga elders would demand his execution for theft, or worse, force him into a lifetime of servitude because of the similarities between the two techniques. And then there was my old friend, Danzo. A taijutsu prodigy with no clan backing was exactly the kind of prize the ROOT would snatch up in the middle of the night.
But a Kekkei Genkai? That escalated the threat level entirely. Now, I didn't just have to worry about assassins and kidnappers; I had to worry about the clan heads. The moment word spread that a completely unaffiliated orphan possessed a powerful, manifested bloodline, the political vultures would swoop in, trying to arrange marriages to absorb his genetics into their own clans.
"I am getting far too old for this," I muttered under my breath, reaching for my pipe again.
Shohei shifted his weight, coughing awkwardly into his fist. "With respect, Lord Third... it gets worse."
I paused, dread pooling in my stomach. "Explain."
[ FLASHBACK - TRAINING GROUNDS]
The dense smoke had finally cleared from the training ground, and the lingering scent of Aoi's teriyaki chicken was fading into the afternoon breeze. Shohei knelt beside the wooden training post, lazily untying the thick ropes that bound Jinichi.
"So," Shohei drawled, his tone casual but his eyes sharp as he looked down at the panting Genin.
"When exactly were you going to mention you had a Kekkei Genkai?"
Aoi, who was still wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, suddenly froze. Kisuke's polite, amused smile completely vanished. Both of them slowly turned their heads to stare at Jinichi.
"Metal Release?" Aoi blurted out, her green eyes wide with shock.
"You have a bloodline limit?!"
"Of course he did, how else do you think he conjured up that plume of metallic smoke from the ground?" Shohei retorted.
Jinichi rubbed his raw wrists, wincing slightly as he stood up. He looked away, thoroughly embarrassed by the sudden attention.
"I... I didn't know how to bring it up. I only awakened it about two weeks before the promotion exams."
"Two weeks?!" Kisuke repeated, his usual calm completely shattering.
"You held off a Jonin's shadow-summon with a technique you've only known about for fourteen days?"
"I've only really had about a week's worth of actual practice with it," Jinichi admitted, shrugging his shoulders as if he were discussing the weather.
"It's still really hard to control."
A heavy, stunned silence fell over the clearing. Aoi's jaw practically hit the dirt, and Kisuke looked like his brain was rapidly trying to reboot itself. To possess a Kekkei Genkai was rare enough, but to wield it in combat after only a week of training was monstrous.
But Jinichi wasn't finished. He looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers with a look of mild frustration. "Honestly... it feels incomplete."
Shohei's lazy demeanour vanished. He straightened up, his brow furrowing deeply. "Incomplete? What do you mean?"
"I don't know how to explain it," Jinichi muttered, kicking a stone across the dirt. "It just feels like this metal manipulation is only a fraction of it. Like it's just one of the possible releases I've unlocked, and the rest is locked behind a door I can't open yet. It's just the tip of the iceberg."
[ PRESENT - HOKAGE'S OFFICE ]
COUGH! ACK—COUGH!
I violently choked on the inhalation of pipe smoke, my lungs burning as I doubled over my desk. I pounded my fist against my chest, waving away the thick cloud of smoke as Shohei took a concerned step forward.
"Lord Third, are you alright?"
"I am fine!" I wheezed, wiping a tear from my eye as I finally caught my breath. I stared at Shohei, my mind racing a mile a minute. Incomplete? Just one of the possible releases?
If the boy wasn't lying—and an orphan who had just survived a gruelling bell test had little reason to bluff about something so specific—then we were looking at an anomaly that defied basic chakra theory. A mutable, evolving bloodline limit.
I leaned back heavily in my chair, staring up at the ceiling as a profound sense of caution washed over me. I was naturally skeptical of the boy's dramatic claim; Genin often overestimated their own potential. But as Hokage, I could not afford to gamble on a 'maybe' when the stakes were this high. If Danzo heard even a whisper of a multi-faceted Kekkei Genkai, Jinichi would disappear before the sun set.
"You are to keep this strictly between us, Shohei," I ordered, my voice hardening with absolute authority.
"Tell Aoi and Kisuke that if they breathe a word of his Metal Release to anyone outside their squad, they will answer directly to me under the penalty of treason."
Shohei nodded solemnly, the lazy Jonin completely replaced by the seasoned veteran. "Understood, Lord Hokage."
"Thank you for this information, Shohei. Keep a very close eye on him," I said, waving my hand to dismiss him.
As the oak door clicked shut behind the Nara, I turned my chair to face the massive window overlooking the village. The peaceful sunset bathed the Hokage monument in a warm, orange glow. I took a deep, steadying breath, resigning myself to the sleepless nights ahead. Jinichi Wataru was a storm waiting to break, and it was my job to make sure the Hidden Leaf wasn't caught in the flood.
A/N : also it would be nice if you guys reviewed the story so i know what to improve on.