Chapter 17: Being Tailed
Next, it was Yamamoto Ryusei's turn. "Hello everyone, my name is Yamamoto Ryusei. My favorite thing is training. The thing I hate most is being unable to train. My dream is to become the strongest person in the ninja world."
Oh... what an arrogant dream. The gazes of the other students suddenly sharpened.
After Ryusei sat down, it was Yamashita So's turn. "Hello everyone, I'm Yamashita So. My favorite person is Sun Wukong. The thing I hate most is my mom's 'Five Elements Mountain.' My dream is to become the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven."
Komiya Yuki slowly walked to the front. "Hello everyone, my name is Komiya Yuki. My favorite things are pretty clothes. The thing I hate most are perverts," she said, glancing at Yamashita So. "My dream is to become a kunoichi like Lady Mito Uzumaki."
The last person to take the stage was a black-haired boy whose good looks were on par with Uchiha Kagami's. "Hello everyone, my name is Shimura Danzo. My favorite food is ramen. The thing I hate most is fish. My dream is to become the Hokage."
He's here, Ryusei thought. Sarutobi Hiruzen's best bro, Konoha's Scapegoat-kage, Shimura Danzo. If something bad happens and no one knows who did it, it was definitely Danzo.
But I never thought the Danzo who was so ugly as an old man would be this handsome as a kid. He knew just by looking at the shining eyes of the little girls nearby.
"Alright," Nara Shikagen said, walking back to the front. "Now that the introductions are finished, let's begin the lesson."
"Teacher," Ryusei said, raising his hand. "I need to use the restroom."
Nara Shikagen pointed to the door. "Go ahead."
Ryusei ran out of the classroom, immediately created a shadow clone to attend class in his place, and then used the Transformation Jutsu to assume the appearance of Miyamoto Musashi before walking right out of the school.
Across from the bookstore, Konoha's three great leaders were squatting on a rooftop, keeping a close watch on the shop's every move.
Just then, a middle-aged man of about thirty approached the store. He looked fierce, with a scar on his right cheek, and wore a ninja forehead protector—exactly as the bookstore owner had described. That must be him.
"He's here, Big Brother," Tobirama said to Hashirama, who was actually sleeping.
Hashirama was instantly excited. "So, are we going to meet Mr. Miyamoto now?" he asked, looking eager to jump down.
Tobirama stopped him. "Don't be hasty. Let's follow him first. We'll talk after we find out where he lives."
Hashirama said with some dissatisfaction, "We're not thieves. Why are we being so sneaky?"
"It's so we don't scare him off. Just wait until he goes home," Madara said, his eyes closed as if resting.
As expected of his best bro, Madara's words immediately calmed Hashirama down.
Inside the bookstore, Yagyu Kuraaki let out a huge sigh of relief when he saw Ryusei. "Mr. Miyamoto, you're finally here! If you had come a day later, we wouldn't have been able to release the next issue on time."
Ryusei handed this volume of Journey to the West to him. "No need to rush. I'm a man of my word. By the way, I can get my share of the profits today, right?"
"Yes. A total of four volumes this month sold forty-five thousand copies. Your share is eight hundred and ten thousand ryo. I'll get it for you now." Yagyu Kuraaki took an envelope from under the counter and handed it to Ryusei.
Ryusei put the envelope directly into his coat. "Then I'll be heading off."
Seeing how much Ryusei trusted him, Yagyu Kuraaki couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. "Mr. Miyamoto, be careful on your way out."
Ryusei was a bit confused. Is someone targeting me? But this was Konoha's golden age. Ninjas from other villages wouldn't dare cause trouble in Konoha, and the village's own ninjas wouldn't dare to rob people by force. He didn't think much of it and headed to the forest to practice his taijutsu, completely unaware that he was being followed.
Konoha's three leaders followed Ryusei out of the village. When they arrived at the forest where he used to train, Ryusei dispelled his transformation, returning to his original appearance.
"How can it be Ryusei?" Hashirama said, surprised. He then realized Madara had already disappeared.
Ryusei stared dumbfounded at the suddenly appearing Madara. He thought for a moment, then said with excitement, "Lord Madara, are you going to teach me ninjutsu?"
Madara looked at the overjoyed Ryusei, held out a book, and asked, "Let's put ninjutsu aside for a moment. Did you write this book?"
Ryusei's expression froze instantly. His lips twitched as he tried to struggle with a veneer of innocence. "No, I've never seen this book before."
"Stop pretending, Ryusei," Hashirama said, walking up from behind. "We just followed you all the way from the bookstore. Besides, your expression has already given you away."
Followed me from the bookstore... That Yagyu Kuraaki must have sold me out! I'll make him pay the next time I turn in a manuscript.
Since he had been caught, Ryusei could only admit it with a pained expression. "I wrote it. I didn't have enough allowance, so I thought I'd write a book to sell."
"You really wrote it? How did you think of all this?" Tobirama asked.
Ryusei scratched his head, embarrassed. "I just made it all up by combining various ninja legends."
Madara said grimly, "So there are no souls after people die? And no underworld or reincarnation?"
"No! Souls, reincarnation, and the underworld are all real!" Ryusei didn't dare speak for other things, but these three things definitely existed in the ninja world. The underworld was just called something different here—the Yellow Springs (Yomi).
"Mm..." Madara nodded with satisfaction. 'Izuna, you must wait for me in the underworld. After I use your eyes to create peace, I will come to see you.' He then got lost in memories of Uchiha Izuna.
Tobirama fell into deep thought. 'If there is an underworld, then is it possible to summon souls back from it?'
Hashirama crouched in front of Ryusei with a grin and slapped him on the shoulder. "Ryusei, I believe it's class time right now, isn't it? Did you skip on the first day, or did you not even enroll?"
Ryusei felt a sharp pain from where Hashirama was squeezing his shoulder, and he grimaced. "I went to class! The teacher's lecture was too boring, so I used a shadow clone to attend."
Tobirama was surprised that a shadow clone could be used this way; most ninjutsu were for combat. "You're quite clever. But what are you doing here?"
"I'm developing a new taijutsu!" Ryusei took the opportunity to escape Hashirama's demonic claw and struck a bodybuilder's pose. "This taijutsu is called Tekkai! It's a technique that uses control over blood, muscles, and chakra at the moment of impact to make the body as hard as iron."
"So you need to be hit to practice it. I'll help you with the hitting," Madara said coldly.
"One person might not be enough. Count me in," Hashirama said with a broad smile, but the desire to beat someone up was impossible to hide.
This little brat! He made us think Miyamoto Musashi was some great scholar, but it was you all along! See if we don't teach you a lesson!
"Then you two can help him practice. I'll be heading back to the Hokage's office." Now that Tobirama knew Miyamoto Musashi was just Ryusei, he had no more questions. He left directly with the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Ryusei backed away fearfully as Hashirama and Madara approached. "My lords, you have to go easy on me!"
"How can you achieve your dream without experiencing hardship? I will now teach you the ultimate principle of the ninja: a shinobi is one who endures!"
"Ahhhhhhh!" Ryusea's miserable screams echoed endlessly throughout the forest.
Two hours later, a bruised and swollen Ryusei was lying on the grass next to a refreshed-looking Hashirama and Madara.
Madara took out a piece of paper and handed it to him. "Infuse your chakra into this and see what happens."
Ryusei knew instantly it was chakra paper. He channeled his chakra into it. One-third of the paper split in two, one-third crumbled into pieces, and one-third caught on fire.
"Fire, Earth, and Wind. Your aptitude is decent. Three innate affinities. It won't take much time to train the other two," Madara said. He took two scrolls from his pouch and tossed them to Ryusei. "One is on the five chakra nature transformations, and the other contains C-rank ninjutsu for your three affinities. You practice these first. If you don't understand something, come to the Uchiha compound and ask me."
Hashirama followed up, "I didn't prepare any scrolls for you, but you can also come and ask me if you have any questions."
Ryusei bowed deeply to them. "Thank you so much, Lord Madara and Lord Hashirama! I will work hard!"
Madara nodded and said to Hashirama, "Let's go back, Hashirama."
After they left, Ryusei created two shadow clones, having each one study a scroll. His main body, meanwhile, continued to practice Soru and Tekkai.