As the turmoil caused by the Summons gradually came to an end, the atmosphere at the Konoha Ninja Academy returned to the days before the Combat Assessment.
Whether the trainees who acquired powerful Summons–Naruto, Sasuke, or Neji–or the trainees who have yet to acquire any powerful summons–Shikamaru, Lee, Sai, and the others–all of them suppressed their desires and focused on training themselves and increasing their personal strength.
Except for a few children with very poor talent, almost all the trainees have mastered the basics of Shinobi Arts. An average student of Ninja Academy has mastery of three basic Ninjutsu, knows the basics of Chakra control, and has a basic understanding of combat arts. The exceptional ones have even begun to learn skills like tracking, stealth, assassination, and other advanced techniques that are generally taught to them by the captains of the squads they are assigned to.
Compared to Cannon, where the trainees were required to master only the three basic ninjutsu in order to graduate, the trainees of this timeline have come a long way. In Kuroto's expectations, the average graduate of the academy will be several times stronger and more skilled compared to their cannon counterparts.
This remarkable progress made by the Konoha Ninja Academy has been observed by the higher-ups of the village, and they are very happy to see this progress, especially in troubled times like these. And this is also the very reason why despite causing trouble from time to time, no one tries to bother Kuroto. After all, children of all backgrounds are enrolled in the academy, and no one wants to create trouble for Kuroto and affect the future of their children.
But of course, there are a few exceptional ones… these exceptional ones can also be called the foolish ones for they don't understand what they are getting themselves into, as we will see now.
…
Knock! Knock!
A brief knock came from the other side of the door of Kuroto's office.
Well aware of the identity of the person who knocked, Kuroto didn't even bother to raise his head, and simply said, "Come in."
With Kuroto's permission, the door was opened, and it was none other than Shisui who came in. Noting that Kuroto doesn't seem to be too busy–by busy Shisui means that the one present in the office was not a Shadow Clan of Kuroto–Shisui walked closer and reported, "Kuroto-san, Mizuki is not accepting the transfer."
Hearing Shisui's report, Kuroto raised his head with a frowned expression, and asked, "He refused to follow the order?"
Shisui nodded, "Well…"
That's correct, Mizuki is being transferred from the Ninja Academy to some other department. Which department to be exact? Kuroto neither knows nor cares because Mizuki's transfer had nothing to do with him. It was Hokage-sama's order and he just passed the document to Shisui and left the matter on the young Uchiha's capable shoulders.
As for the reason behind Mizuki's unexpected transfer? Well, that's something Kuroto knows. Mizuki's actions in the combat assessment were witnessed by everyone. As soon as he encountered the members of 'Akatsuki' he ran away, leaving behind children in danger. Sandaime felt that such a person who would abandon their fellow villagers in times of danger was not suitable to teach at the academy and chose to transfer him. Therefore, after the matter of assessment and related issues came to an end, he sent Mizuki's transfer order.
Kuroto had no opinion on this, and simply signed the transfer as he left the matter in Shisui's hands, but who would have thought that Mizuki had the courage to defy Hokage-sama's order and refuse to leave the Ninja Academy?
Kuroto couldn't help but mutter, "I wonder what brought him such courage?"
At Kuroto's question, Shisui took a step forward and said in a low voice, "I received a message from one of the members of the police force… Recently, Mizuki had a secret meeting with Elder Aoyama of the Hyuga Clan."
"That's an odd combination." Muttered Kuroto with a frown.
Shisui nodded, "Exactly. They met up in a private room at the old tea house, and discussed something for about fifteen minutes!"
"Hmm. Do you know what they discussed?" asked Kuroto with a thoughtful expression.
Shisui shook his head, "No, it was risky for that guy to spy on a Hyuga, especially on an elder, so he didn't do that."
Kuroto nodded, "Fair enough." Then said, "No matter… instruct Itachi to keep a watch on the two of them, Mizuki and Elder Aoyama couldn't have met up for no reason, whatever they are planning, I don't want to deal with it. If it has nothing to do with me, then I will leave them alone, and if it has anything to do with me, I would prefer to nib the bud before it takes root."
Shisui nodded, "I will pass the message to Itachi."
Since the last clan meeting, the situation within the Hyuga Clan has become quite delicate. Although the Hyuga Clan is still the very same Hyuga Clan on the surface, internally the situation is different altogether. The recent incident with Aoki is direct proof.
Moreover, how can those arrogant elders swallow the humiliation? Hizashi has informed him that those elders are planning something in order to deal with him, perhaps this meeting with Mizuki is part of their plan, as Mizuki might play some role.
To be honest, Kuroto doesn't care too much about their small movements. They can't really do any harm to him. He is free of the 'Caged Bird', the only person they might think they can use to harm him is Yui, but they won't be able to do anything to her either, Kuroto has taken sufficient measures. So, whatever they are planning is going to be useless.
In fact, if Kuroto wants, he can easily put an end to this fiasco. But that would attract attention which is something Kuroto doesn't want. Unless he is compelled, Kuroto doesn't want to do anything to the Hyuga Clan.
Of course, this doesn't mean that he will completely ignore them. if they really dared to do something to him or to Yui, then he would purge them and take control of the Clan.
With that decided, Kuroto left the matter to Shisui and continued with his work.
…
Night, Kuroto's home.
Back home, Kuroto continued the study of the Yin-Seal.
After research and development, Kuroto has finally completed the development of the Yin-Seal.
Now that the development is completed, it's time to jump to the next phase, that is… using it.
But the thing is, Yin-Seal not only revolves around all the chakra meridians of the body, but it also affects the most sensitive, and fragile part of the human body, that is the brain. No matter how confident Kuroto is in his Fuinjutsu skills, he wouldn't dare to directly use Yin-Seal on his main body, that's too risky, if something goes wrong, then his main body would be damaged irreparably.
For others, this is a serious problem and they might be willing to take the risk of using Yin-seal on themselves, however, for Kuroto, this is not a major trouble. After all, he has a lot of clones hanging around in his laboratory. Apart from the Chakra clones that have been developed and cultivated, there are other clones as well that are just floating in Capsules. They can be used for testing the Yin-Seal.
"I guess I will put those clones to some use." Muttered Kuroto as he left a Shadow Clone in the village and came to Ancor Vantian.
…
Ancor Vantian.
Arriving at the floating fortress, Kuroto didn't directly go to his laboratory, rather, he went to the area where Karin and Gaara live and checked up on Karin's state. She had a pair of Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan transplanted to her and wanted to see its state.
"Kuroto-sama?" muttered Karin in confusion as she looked at Kuroto looking at her.
Kuroto patter the young Uzumaki's head, and asked, "How have you been? I am sorry I haven't been able to visit more often."
"I… I think I am doing fine. With these eyes, I don't need to rely on my spectacles anymore." Replied Karin.
Kuroto nodded, and asked, "Did you notice anything unusual about these eyes?"
Karin pondered for a while, and then replied, "Well… I don't know how to explain it. Sometimes I feel that these eyes have their own thoughts, which is strange..."
"Own thoughts, huh?" muttered Kuroto and then asked, "It's as if these eyes are alive, right?"
Karin nodded, "Yes, exactly!"
"Hmm, let's see." Said Kuroto and explained, "There are two main reasons why you feel as such. First, you are not the biological owner of these eyes, so they are a bit repulsive towards you. Second, the visual prowess of these eyes is very strong, therefore, they have indeed gained certain alive characteristics."
"I see." Mutter Karin.
Kuroto nodded and took a step closer to observe the pair of Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. But this time, he was checking using his Byakugan.
.
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