The Road Ahead

"Seiji, Yagura, what plans do you have for the future?" Chino asked as she ate heartily.

"Mm... I... mmm mmm..." With his mouth stuffed full of food, Yagura let out a string of meaningless, muffled whimpers.

"Swallow your food before you talk!" Chino was utterly speechless at Yagura's incoherent response and could not help shooting him a glare.

Yagura shrank his neck and chewed faster. Though he and Hozuki Chino were not siblings by blood, he always felt naturally suppressed around her, like a younger brother facing his older sister.

"As for me, for now, I'll focus on completing Anbu missions properly and working hard to improve my strength. I want to become a Jonin as soon as possible. After that, I want to become a member of the Shadow Guard like my father and help the Kushina Clan grow stronger. Of course, it would be even better if I could become Mizukage in the end. But with Brother Seiji around, I probably have no chance at becoming Fourth. I can compete for Fifth instead." Yagura spoke with longing in his eyes.

"The Shadow Guard!" Seiji's heart jolted when he heard that. He had not expected Yagura's father to have been a member of the Shadow Guard as well. He just did not know whether it had been the Third Mizukage's or the Second Mizukage's Shadow Guard.

"Whose Shadow Guard was he part of?" Seiji could not help asking. He wanted to confirm whether Yagura's father had known his own father.

"Second Mizukage Gengetsu's. During the First Shinobi World War, my father followed Lord Gengetsu to the Land of Earth. Unfortunately, they fell into an ambush, and he died on the spot. I heard that in the end, only the captain from the Kaguya Clan returned to the village, badly wounded. A few years after my father passed away, my mother missed him too deeply and followed him to the Pure Land." Mentioning his deceased parents left Yagura looking somewhat downcast.

As expected, Yagura's father was my father's companion in the Shadow Guard, Seiji thought to himself.

"It's all in the past, Yagura. Look forward. You have us now—Seiji and I are your family." Chino looked at the despondent Yagura and comforted him. Seiji nodded as well, indicating that Chino was right.

Yagura nodded, then shook his head firmly, casting off the gloomy, negative feelings stirred up by memories of his departed family. He then turned his gaze toward Hozuki Chino, who had just comforted him.

"Then I'll talk about myself. My parents also met with misfortune during the last Great Shinobi War. In an encounter with the Iwagakure Blast Corps, they were severely wounded by the Kekkei Genkai, Explosion Release. Though they managed to return to the village while badly injured, the village's medical capabilities at the time were not enough to save them. In the end, their injuries flared up, and they died. I was already four years old then. I never want to experience that feeling of watching my loved ones die before my eyes again. So from then on, I decided to study medical ninjutsu. I want to become Kirigakure's greatest Medical Ninja!" Chino grew a little emotional as she spoke.

"Fortunately, I have a strong talent for learning medical ninjutsu. And the Hozuki Clan's inherited Water Transformation Technique is a tremendous aid when using Water Release medical techniques. So from now on, I'll work hard to develop medical ninjutsu. As your big sister, I'll protect you both properly." Chino made her promise to Seiji and Yagura.

"As for the Hozuki Clan, although the clan hopes another genius like Grandpa Gengetsu will emerge and become Mizukage, no one in our clan seems to have that talent at the moment." Chino smiled helplessly.

"All right, we've both finished. Now it's your turn." Chino looked toward Seiji, signaling him with her eyes.

His thoughts churned. Facing the two companions who had already opened their hearts to one another, Seiji decided after careful consideration to tell them about his circumstances. Family should not hide such things from each other.

"My father knew your father," Seiji said to Yagura, opening with a bombshell.

Yagura's mouth fell open in shock. But then he became confused. If their fathers had known each other, his mother should have mentioned Seiji's existence to him since they were the same age. Yet from childhood until now, he had known absolutely nothing about Seiji. He had not even heard Seiji's name before. Yagura looked at Seiji and waited for his explanation.

"My father was Kaguya Genji, the captain of Second Mizukage Hozuki Gengetsu's Shadow Guard, and the only member of the Shadow Guard you just mentioned who returned to the village." Another devastating revelation landed.

"No wonder you have the Shikotsumyaku!" Chino and Yagura suddenly understood, but almost immediately felt that something was wrong. After all, they knew Seiji's full name was Seiji Otsutsuki.

"But why don't you have the surname Kaguya? And it seems the surname Otsutsuki has never appeared in the village before," Yagura continued.

"Because our family was driven out of the Kaguya Clan by that treacherous bastard Kaguya Musashi. The Kaguya Clan does not even have our names anymore!" Seiji's face darkened, and killing intent unconsciously spilled from him. Though it was not directed at Yagura, it still raised goosebumps all over his body.

"Sorry. I got too worked up." Seiji came back to himself and apologized to the two of them.

An orphan in his previous life, he had finally gained parents in this life who loved and cared for him. Yet that hard-won happiness had been destroyed by Kaguya Musashi. Whenever he thought of it, Seiji could not suppress his emotions or his killing intent toward Kaguya Musashi.

"It was merely a power struggle within a great clan. My father was simply the loser. Openly, they did not dare violate the rules and strike at us directly, but in secret, they wanted to wipe out our whole family!" Seiji steadied his emotions and explained to the two of them in as calm a tone as possible.

"Since the Kaguya Clan refuses to acknowledge our family, I won't beg them to let me return to the Kaguya Clan. With you two and Grandpa Genji, I'm doing very well now. Besides, my bloodline is no longer the same as the Kaguya Clan's. My bloodline has evolved!" Seiji revealed his secret to them.

"Next, I'll gradually train in ninjutsu of other attributes. Relying solely on the Shikotsumyaku and Water Release in battle is still too limited, in my opinion. I possess Chakra of every attribute, so naturally I should have a wider range of methods." Seiji casually showed off again.

"Grandpa Genji hopes that I'll become Mizukage in the future. It was also my father's dream while he was alive. I carry their expectations. Becoming Mizukage and making Kirigakure stronger has become my dream as well. As for my strength, because of my bloodline, I probably won't see much improvement over the next three to five years. Aside from continuing to develop the Shikotsumyaku and mastering other ninjutsu, I want to further improve the quality of my Chakra. I know a secret technique for compressing Chakra. I'll sort it out later and teach it to you both." Seiji finished.