Tachibana looked at the man in front of him.
'This is a dream?'
"Excuse me, young man, could you answer a few of my questions?" Inoichi asked politely while holding a clipboard of papers with questions.
'How…?'
'Is there a Beyonder from the Darkness pathway in this world?'
'No, this is a Yamanaka?'
Tachibana's thoughts froze when there was a system notification in front of him.
[ System has detected that the host's body of heart and mind is being interfered with. The host can choose what to do. ]
[ Option one, use the system to block the Yamanaka from reviewing your memories. ]
[ Option two, play along. ]
'Can you modify the memories that the Yamanaka sees, system?'
[ No that is not possible. However, the System recommends using Option Two for the best results. ]
'Won't that reveal my abilities as a Beyonder?'
[ No, people who are not Beyonders cannot understand how Beyonder abilities work. They will develop a reasoning for the way they work out of their own knowledge. ]
'I see. Thank you.'
Focusing back on the Yamanaka in front of him, Tachibana with unfocused eyes spoke kindly as if he was being lulled into a sweet dream.
"Yes?"
"Could you tell me your name?"
"Tachibana. Tachibana Rei."
Inoichi looked at his clipboard for a few minutes before nodding and then asking a different question.
"Are you a boy?"
"No!-"
Inoichi frowned but then Tachibana continued.
"-I'm a man! A true man!"
Inochi smiled and nodded while looking at the kid who didn't fully reach his chest in height. But soon his face turned serious as he asked a new question.
"Do you know how your ability to divine about things works?"
Tachibana nodded animatedly as he spoke with a loud voice, "The almighty Fool gives me the appropriate divination result. He knows all the mysteries of the world. Nothing can be hidden from his gaze."
Inoichi frowned but he nodded and asked, "Could you show me how you do it?"
"Yes! Do you want me to perform the divination for you Uncle!?"
'Uncle!? My boy I'm only in my early forties!'
"No, if you think about it a little I should be able to see your memories."
Tachibana frowned and said, "Bad Uncle. It is not good to look at other people's memories."
Inoichi became a little shocked but then shook his head and with a soft smile explained, "I promise to keep this a secret between the two of us. After all, don't you want to show me how great the almighty Fool is?"
Tachibana pretended to think deeply before speaking childishly, "Ok uncle."
And then he thought about the time he used divination to detect the footsteps of the bandits were in fact the footsteps of samurai.
Inoichi observed the memory very carefully, trying to discern anything irregular in the memory. But soon he frowned.
'There doesn't seem to be anything different happening. It's not a jutsu for sure because he doesn't even use chakra.'
'Perhaps he's using nature chakra? Something like the fourth and Jiraya-sama? Like they did in the war?'
'But even the fourth had markings around his eyes when he used the Sage mode…'
'Could he have a way of controlling nature chakra? A Kekkei Genkai perhaps?'
'I have to get a closer look.'
Inoichi looked at Tachibana who was looking at the memory still and sneakily performed a jutsu.
'Memory Immersion Jutsu!'
Inoichi vanished from his spot and suddenly found himself in Tachibana's place when he performed the divination to learn about the Samurai's footprints.
'Hmm…I can't feel any chakra being used. Not even nature chakra.'
'But how does this work then?'
Inoichi scanned around Tachibana's body to learn more about the situation. He saw Tachibana using cogitation to put himself to sleep while his mind stayed awake and then waking up to see the result of the divination.
After some thought, he soon concluded with a theory.
'I see.'
'When he uses the pendulum to divine things he forces his brain to cut off all sensory contact with the rest of the world.'
'Once this happens his brain works at a large speed to study the question he's asking and spits out a solution.'
'To give him this response his body subconsciously manipulates the pendulum.'
'It's not a supernatural happening at all. It's just a trick. And the almighty fool probably is a figment of his imagination that he clings onto to explain his abilities to himself.'
'I can't understand how he cuts off his brain's contact with the rest of the world, but it can be regarded as a talent.'
'I should look at other 'divinations' of his to check my theory just in case.'
Ending the memory immersion jutsu, Inoichi asked Tachibana to show him various other divinations and Tachibana did exactly that. Inoichi used the memory immersion techniques in those memories too and found his theory to be suitable.
'Well, this explains it.'
"Thank you for answering my questions Tachibana-kun."
"No problem uncle. Thank you for spending time with me."
'Such a nice child. Why isn't my daughter like this? Why does she keep thinking about that Uchiha kid?'
'*sigh* I should leave, Hokage-sama is probably waiting for me.'
Ending his mind-reading jutsu, Inoichi exited Tachibana's body and woke up in the office where Tachiabna and he were.
"Any results Inoichi?" Hiruzen asked while holding his smoking pipe and blowing out a ring cloud.
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Inoichi nodded and continued to explain, "The divination technique that Tachibana-kun uses cannot be considered a jutsu, it can be considered as a talent."
"Talent?"
"Yes Hokage-sama. Tachibana-kun unconsciously cuts off his brain's connection to the outside world so that he can use more of his brain to think about the problem and arrive at a solution faster. It is all his own genius."
"...is that so?" Hiruzen said but then asked another question. "But then why does he use the pendulum? And the Fool?"
"Ah, because it's a tool that keeps him focused. For example, the Nara clan members often adopt a particular posture to think deeply even though the posture does not hold any significance for moulding chakra, it helps them think. The almighty fool is probably a similar thing."
"So it is a crutch?"
"Precisely. If Tachibana-kun can tap into this 'state' of fast thinking without his pendulum he can improve his 'skill'."
"I see.", Hiruzen said and finally relaxed a little.
Tachibana who was listening to all this on the side pretended he was asleep. Of course, since he couldn't fool the Hokage and the jonin around that he was asleep, he took the help of cogitation to remain 'half' asleep, even though he'd woken up when Inoichi entered his mind.
'What a nice explanation…'
'But I'll still keep up my act as the fool because I still need believers to make my anchors in the future.'
That was when Tachibana heard Hiruzen say something else.
"If he's such a genius, what would be a way to train him so that he becomes free of his crutches and flowers as a genius?"
Inoichi paused to think for a few seconds before coming up with a reasonable plan-
"It might be best if he's forced into situations where he has to constantly think about solving a problem. Perhaps even using divination repeatedly to get used to that state. Researching jutsus and other such complex problems would help too."
"I see." Hiruzen nodded to think about a few things before nodding to Inoichi, "Thank you for protecting the village Inoichi. I will offer you a bonus for this month."
"Thank you Hokage-sama." Inoichi politely bowed.
"You may take Tachibana-kun back to his home. Leave him as he was found." Hiruzen ordered the ANBU who were kneeling.
They nodded and within a blink vanished from the room with Tachibana.
'Phew…that was hard work.'
'Will I be involved in researching more from now on?'
'Hopefully, Hiruzen doesn't put me in dangerous combat situations to turn me into a sharper weapon.'
'That won't happen right?'
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A/N : Any suggestions on whether Tachibana should join Team 7 on their mission to the land of waves? I want him to join them. If anyone convinces me otherwise, I'll skip it. Thank you for reading!