Upon leaving the Hokage Mansion, Satoru Senju shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and walked through the streets of Konoha.
Satoru decided to head straight to the Senju Complex, the place that had been his home his entire life.
The Senju Complex was nothing special after the near extinction of the Senju Clan. Three rundown houses and a few ninja tool shops.
Most of the earnings from those shops ended up in the hands of his mother, Tsunade.
His aunt Shizune would visit Konoha frequently to collect the money, leaving just enough for him to live comfortably.
His mother had never visited him, not once. In fact, he had never met her in person.
But Satoru didn't care. "I need nothing more than this," he thought, with a slight smile.
He didn't care about the history of the Senju Clan or the ancient glory they once had. He was much more focused on what he represented.
He hated the way Hiruzen tried to impose the Will of Fire on him over and over again.
His step briefly halted when he saw a candy store. Without a second thought, he entered and bought dango. "If I'm going to enjoy something, it's going to be this. Why waste time at the Ninja Academy when I can wander around, lounging and eating sweets?"
There weren't many people who had the luxury of enjoying these small pleasures like he did.
Minutes later, Satoru was walking down the street, enjoying his dango, showing no interest in the people around him. At that moment, the only thing that mattered was himself and the little treat he had in his hands.
However, suddenly, something interrupted his moment. He felt a presence lurking behind him.
His face twisted into a grimace of displeasure. "Really?" he thought, clearly annoyed.
Hiruzen had sent ANBU to secretly watch him. "Do they really think I'm that naïve?" The mere fact that someone dared to follow him like that repulsed him.
Satoru took a step back, unable to hide his irritation. "How ridiculous. Sending a rat as if I wouldn't notice," he thought, his cold eyes narrowing at the ANBU figure with disdain.
He took a deep breath, trying not to lose his composure, but the disgust for that "rat" made him uncomfortable. "I don't want to know what kind of trash they send to watch me."
He stopped in the middle of the street, observing how people passed by him, unaware of what was happening. Without haste, he slowly turned his head and locked his gaze on the ANBU watching him from a distance.
There was no surprise in his eyes, only a faint smile, almost imperceptible, as if he were enjoying the fact that the ANBU could no longer hide. "Did they think I wouldn't notice?" he thought, making it clear with his gaze that he didn't need anyone trying to be stealthy around him.
After a few seconds, his expression turned bored, as if the mere fact that he was being watched didn't matter to him at all.
"Pathetic," he thought mentally, with the same indifference he would have had while watching a fly buzzing nearby.
Then, as if nothing had happened, Satoru resumed his walk, unhurried and undisturbed. "I don't have time for this," he thought with disdain. "Hiruzen's insecurities aren't my problem."
...
The ANBU Ninja, Weasel, better known as Itachi Uchiha, moved between the shadows, following Satoru Senju's steps.
From the moment Hokage-sama had ordered him to monitor the young Satoru, Itachi had remained alert.
Itachi was curious about Satoru, who many in the village called the Prince of the Senju Clan or the Son of the Slug Princess. However, upon seeing him enjoy sweets with complete carefreeness, he realized something. "In the end, he's just a kid," he thought, watching him in silence.
Itachi, as a member of the ANBU, was used to infiltration, surveillance, and information gathering missions.
He moved unseen, watching others without being detected. However, something happened that confused him for a second.
Satoru stopped in the middle of the street, so carefree and confident that he seemed oblivious to everything around him. "What...?" thought Itachi, perplexed.
And then, slowly, Satoru's eyes locked directly onto his.
Itachi froze and felt a chill run down his spine, though only for a moment. The child stared at him with an expression of indifference and a clarity in his gaze that was unsettling. Those eyes... that look... "It's like he's seeing through me..."
At first, Itachi thought it was just a coincidence. But it wasn't. Satoru held the gaze, firm and without hesitation, with a calmness so serene that even someone like him felt exposed. There was something in those eyes that threw him off: a blue as intense as a clear sky, and so deep that they seemed to hide more than they showed.
"How...?" he thought, astonished. A six-year-old shouldn't be able to detect the presence of an ANBU so easily.
Was it just instinct, or was there more to his detection ability?
"This kid... is different."
Itachi watched as Satoru, unbothered, continued on his path with indifference.
For him, being watched by an ANBU didn't seem to matter in the slightest.
"The talent of this kid... is impressive," thought Itachi, with a mix of astonishment and curiosity. "How powerful is he, really?"
Itachi had no doubt that Satoru was already stronger than he had been at his age.
Still, he remained firm in his position, moving with calm and control. "I'm not allowed to intervene, only to observe," he reminded himself.
Although surprised by the child's sharp perception and his peculiar behavior, Itachi didn't allow it to affect his focus.
"He's still just a kid," Itachi thought again, as his gaze followed the little Satoru from a distance.
...
When Satoru reached the door of his house, he paused for a moment and turned, casting one last glance in the direction where the ANBU still hid in the shadows.
Finally, he sighed and entered.
No one greeted him as he crossed the threshold. He silently took off his shoes and walked directly to his room, just as he did every day.
Once there, he collapsed onto his bed with no enthusiasm and picked up the comic resting on his nightstand.
He held it in his hands, but barely looked at it. His eyes skimmed the pages with disinterest.
Satoru's focus shifted elsewhere.
[SYSTEM STATUS]
Host: Satoru Senju
World: Naruto
Chakra Level: Jōnin
Chakra Control: Kage Level
Cursed Energy Level: Special Grade
Dōjutsu: Rokugan (Six Eyes)
Kekkei Genkai: Wood Release, Sage Body.
Cursed Technique: Limitless Curse Technique, Reverse Cursed Technique.
Skills: Infinite, Forward Rotation: Blue, Inverse Rotation: Red Glow, Maximum Forward Rotation: Blue Glow, Imaginary: Purple, Territorial Expansion: Incommensurable Void, Screen, Dark Flash, Simple Domain, Fallen Petal Emotion.
Ninja Techniques: Three Basic Techniques (Replica, Transformation, and Replacement), Shadow Clone, Wood Style: Wood Clone, Wood Style: Impale with Roots, Wood Style: Tree Bind, Wood Style: Stake Technique, Wood Style: Underground Roots, Wood Style: Great Forest, Wood Style: Manual Tool Manipulation, Wood Style: Four Pillar House Technique, Wood Style: Four Pillar Prison Technique.
A satisfied smile appeared on Satoru's face as he finished reading his status.
He had worked hard to secretly develop his Kekkei Genkai, the legendary Wood Element.
As for his Cursed Technique, the Unlimited Curse, he had never trained it.
This power first manifested when he opened his eyes as a newborn, in the arms of Tsunade Senju, six years ago.
Before that... well, before that, he had been someone completely different.
Just a simple video game developer. Another cog in an exploitative company that squeezed him until the very last second. Endless workdays, weekends that disappeared, and nights where he slept in a swivel chair under a blanket.
Fast food, chronic anxiety, and that constant feeling that his life didn't belong to him.
He died like that. Exhausted. On an ordinary morning, alone, in front of a screen lit by lines of code and a cold coffee. His body simply gave out.
"Incredible, isn't it?" he thought, with a muffled laugh as he remembered his past.
In comparison, his current life was the closest thing to paradise. Especially when you have the power to protect yourself in such a dangerous world.
There was only one thing that constantly bothered him... his mother, Tsunade Senju, whom he had not seen since he first opened his eyes in this world.
Seriously... What the hell is wrong with her? Why leave her adorable son in a wolf's den like Konoha?
She, who had once lost faith in Hiruzen, should have been the first to know that you can't trust him.
And still... she left him under his care.
Satoru had considered many possible reasons why Tsunade might have done such a thing, but so far, none of them seemed valid. None justified the abandonment.