A masked man watched the genin team as they walked away from Ichiraku after finishing their food. Kannin bid farewell to his genins before sending them home. He took a moment to himself in the dark night to watch them walking back, before turning back himself, heading for his apartment. The Masked Man followed.
'Uzumaki Kannin...' a raspy voice whispered through the strange spiral mask, 'A friend to Minato and Kushina. Madara said to eliminate any potential jinchuuriki for the 9 tails. Plus, I've heard he likes to meddle. He basically started the 3rd War, they say. I should watch him for the time being. He shouldn't be underestimated...'
And with an invisible sneer, he vanished from the world in a ripple in the fabric of space-time.
Kannin, who by this time had become somewhat accustomed to space-time with his study of Flying Raijin, looked over his shoulder as he felt a slight perturbation in reality behind him. Seeing nothing, he shook it off as coincidence for the moment. A mistake he might grow to regret.
-
For the next week, Kannin mostly kept to himself, working diligently on Flying Raijin and Sage Mode, while cooking up new ideas for training his team. The last of the three was going best of all; he had begun drawing up formations, combination jutsus, cool attack names--you know, the essentials. Flying Raijin was also progressing, just in a linear fashion. Each day his maximum range increased a few feet, as well as the maximum number of formulas he could keep active. He could tell that Flying Raijin would be a short to medium range mobility option for now. He wouldn't be teleporting across the continent any time soon, but in the close skirmish, he was confident to have it up and running. He hoped he could do what Minato did with him for his students and put a seal on them so he could jump to them if they were ever in danger, but that would have to wait to be feasible for now.
Sage Mode was a whole different beast. Ever since his sealing and release, he had realized that in the absence of the special oil the toads had at Mount Myoboku, his best chance at grasping Natural Energy was continually sealing himself and releasing himself over and over again--so he had two shadow clones working on it day and night. At the end of the day, he would dispel them to check their progress, and each day it seemed like he was trying to dig through a stone wall with a paintbrush. Sure, every swipe at it might take off an atom or two, but it would take millions of years to really get anything done. For now he would have to hope for a lucky break like he got with the first time. Only time would tell.
While he was brushing his teeth, he summoned Kiyo since she hadn't been let out in a while; she was just took large to let roam around. Even if she didn't intend to, she tended to knock things and people over. After changing into pajamas, which fit him now thankfully, he let Kiyo curl up with him in bed. She was rather soft and furry--honestly she could work as a bed herself, and Kannin had been accustomed to making her into one during the war--but either way, this sort of thing had become Kannin's night time routine for the last month or so. Kiyo was still restless, but it appeased her enough to stretch her legs like this. They both took it as a good sign that they weren't needed for anything serious; things tended to get bloody when they were.
-
From the outside, the Masked Man, Obito, watched all this, and took note of everything he could about Kannin's routine. He noted the large fox, the brainstorming, everything.
'He's rather boring isn't he?' Obito laughed to himself, 'I could kill him right now if I really wanted, couldn't I? Well, that isn't necessary right now. He could even be a good help if I play him right...' Obito sighed as he turned away from the window through which he had been spying on Kannin, and continued his thought, 'I have to visit my dear friend Kakashi now anyways...'
Obito again vanished into the night as Kamui transported him to the Konoha graveyard. Kannin again turned his head as a familiar sensation tickled his brain, but as he glanced out of his bedroom window, all he saw was the deep blue night sky, and a strange wind on the rooftop opposite his building.
Appearing behind a tree in the Konoha graveyard, the hooded figure with a grotesque and swirling mask began eavesdropping on the laconic Hatake Kakashi, who was almost silently speaking to the grave of Rin. Focusing his ears, Obito overheard the tail end of Kakashi's speech.
"...bu is tough work, at least when I'm actually working. The rest of the time it's just spying on people or doing paperwork. Minato seems to be doing well as Hokage so far. He's been making everything more efficient, he's kept the other villages at bay. He's pretty good at the whole Hokage thing, all things considered. Kushina is even pregnant now. She's due in October so they're gonna have a big party or something, I don't know if I'll go..."
He just kept going on and on about his daily life. Most of it was rather boring to Obito, but the bit about Kushina was interesting. If he could figure out exactly when it was happening, it posed a good opportunity to unleash the Nine Tails, but that would have to be planned out fully before really considering it. Again, Obito would have to be patient for now; he was used to it, but he could sense his revenge on the horizon, and by the day he was becoming a little feral in anticipation. But he could hold on for now, so long as remained in the shadows, he had all the time in the world.
Once Kakashi ended his one sided conversation with Rin, he halfheartedly walked back to his home, moping a little. Obito observed the pathetic sight with a twisted glee, which no one could actually see, but nonetheless he chuckled at the sight.
'It'll only get worse, Kakashi...' the former teammate snarled as he vanished into the night, 'It'll only get worse...'
-
Both Kannin and Kakashi were, of course, unaware of Obito's surveillance, and went about their daily lives as usual afterward. Kannin met up with his team again, and this time he checked their progress on the jutsus he showed them last time.
Araki showed significant progress on Great Breakthrough. He could create a roughly 60 foot cone of wind, though its power was a tad lacking on average.
"Keep working on it," Kannin instructed the genin, "I intend on training you three more often so you can get my help on it. You'll master it in no time."
Ozu was similarly proficient in Wild Bubble Wave, but the range wasn't very good, and the bubbles were only an inch or so thick. Kannin stood there for a moment in thought before asking her, "What do you think of when you're making this jutsu, Ozu?"
She scratched her head a little before responding, "I'm not sure, I guess, probably like dishwater? Hand soap lather?"
"Ah," Kannin said in understanding, "that's where you're going wrong. If you make it too watery, it'll seep into the ground. Try to think of something more robust, like shaving cream; that way it'll rest on the ground better and won't lose any of its potency. Remember the more bubbles, the better. Go on, try it again."
Ozu sat there for a second working through how to manifest 'shaving cream' into her jutsu like it was that easy before attempting it again. She really went at it with her chakra to try and lather the water beyond just soapy and into a meringue and unleashed it. As it poured out of her mouth, the sensation was almost disgusting, but mostly just strange, as the texture of the fluid was something she had never experienced in her mouth before.
Kannin watched a much better fountain of bubbles erupt from his student's mouth. This time the color was more whitish, and it settled almost half a foot on top of the grass.
"See?" Kannin said with a smile, "Shaving cream, it works. And because so much of it hasn't seeped into the ground, its overall area even increased as well. Keep it up and you'll have this mastered in a flash."
After letting those two resume the practice with their jutsus, Kannin turned to Miura, who was wielding their dadao with both hands, waiting for their turn.
The first thing Kannin did was say, "One handed, Miura,"
"Why?" the genin asked, "It's more powerful with two hands, I read that myself at the library."
"Miura," Kannin said with a somewhat disappointed expression, "we're shinobi; we can increase our physical power in about 400 different ways using jutsu. When you hold the blade with both hands, you make it impossible to use ninjutsu along with your kenjutsu since you can't make hand signs."
After he finished speaking, Kannin slowly drew Koseki.
"Few people realize what Kenjutsu means if you want to marry it to Ninjutsu," Kannin continued, "You must be perfectly proficient with your non-dominant hand in making hand seals, you have to be able to split your mind between the two disciplines at all times. It is not to be taken lightly. Even I didn't understand it at first. Now please attack me."
Miura solemnly nodded and after a moment taken to gather their bearings, rushed forward, their blade in their left hand, leaving their right open for making hand seals. Kannin stood there in a battle stance, silently weaving hand seals with his left hand, which made Miura anxious, but they had to show him what they were made of, so they went any way. When Miura had finally closed the gap, they slashed up at him.
But just as they went to reach with their blade, a jet of water spewed from Kannin's mouth and struck Miura's left hand, making them drop their blade, and in the same moment, Koseki appeared at Miura's neck.
"Always keep a vice-grip on your blade, Miura," Kannin lectured down with authority, "Even the most skilled swordmaster gets flustered when disarmed, which is a perfect opportunity to strike. Furthermore, you knew I was summoning a jutsu yet prepared no counter-jutsu. Whenever you attack with your sword, you should always have a jutsu to accompany it, and vice versa; that way, if one fails, the other might not--and at the very least you can escape with your life." Kannin lowered Koseki and took a few steps back before calling out, "Now attack me again, this time with more spirit, okay?"