When Bing San woke up that morning, he saw Asuma sitting silently on the edge of the bed beside his, lost in thought. Bing San walked over and patted him on the shoulder.
Asuma turned his head and stared blankly at Bing San. Bing San sighed. "Asuma, this isn't like you. What's wrong? We're good friends, right? Why don't you tell me?"
Asuma looked at Bing San, his eyes slowly reddening. Choking back a sob, he said, "Big Brother Xinye is dead. Big Brother Xinye is dead... Waaaah..."
As Asuma recounted the story in fits and starts, Bing San finally understood what had happened.
Sarutobi Xinye was the Third Hokage's distant cousin. The Third Hokage was very busy and had no time to look after his family, so he had Sarutobi Xinye protect them—that is, take care of Asuma and his mother, Sarutobi Biwako. Asuma should technically have called him uncle, but they were close, like father and son as well as friends, so he let Asuma call him whatever he liked.
As Asuma put it, "Sarutobi Hiruzen only cares about the village. He's never cared whether his family lives or dies. Even when Mother fell ill, it was Big Brother Xinye who carried her to the hospital. He wouldn't even send a Shadow Clone."
Bing San could only pat Asuma on the shoulder to comfort him. In truth, the effects Bing San had on the Shinobi World were already beginning to show.
First, in the original timeline, the fighting on the Sand Shinobi front had never let up, causing tensions to rise steadily. As a result, Orochimaru and Danzo had been stuck on that front for several years.
But now, because Orochimaru had used Bing San's I Love A Shiba Inu on Ebizo, Orochimaru had severed one of Ebizo's arms. The defeat of the Sand Shinobi commander had hurt their morale, bringing a measure of calm. Many injured Ninja, along with Orochimaru and Danzo, had returned to the village to recuperate.
Second, in the original timeline, Tachibana Muneshige had come to Konoha without being discovered, which meant he hadn't died there. When the Sand Shinobi used the disappearance of the Third Kazekage as an excuse to launch a surprise attack on Konoha, the village had been completely unprepared.
But now, because Tachibana Muneshige had died in battle, Konoha had been forced to send reinforcements to the Sand Shinobi front. By sheer coincidence, the village was now prepared in advance.
Third, Danzo had grown increasingly gloomy in the original timeline. Thanks to Bing San, that strange attachment of his, Danzo was still turning to darkness, but the process had slowed considerably.
Fourth, in the original timeline, after his Hashirama Cells experiments failed, Orochimaru had started abducting children and conducting experiments on them, completely losing his mind. But here, because Bing San had miraculously survived—actually, the system was keeping him alive—Orochimaru hadn't started a new round of experiments. In other words, who knew whether the future House Escape Ninja would ever appear?
Fifth, Asuma, who had been a very rebellious child in the original timeline, had changed greatly because of Bing San's devious schemes. Not only had he given up pursuing Yūhi Kurenai, but his personality had changed too. It seemed Mirai Sarutobi might never be born, and the future Twelve Guardian Ninja would be even less likely to come to pass. And because of Tachibana Muneshige, who hadn't originally been connected to Asuma, Asuma had lost a relative who had doted on him. His life had grown in a different direction.
Sixth, Jiraiya had originally been on the front lines all the time. He had probably encountered the Akatsuki Organization's trio sometime in the next few years, though it was hard to say exactly when. After all, based on their ages, Nagato should have been a little older than Kakashi and Bing San.
But now Jiraiya was always thinking about Bing San's kidney tonic, so he hardly went out. On top of that, the fighting hadn't escalated as it had in the original timeline; instead, it had eased considerably. Jiraiya was content to stay in Konoha.
In short, Bing San's arrival had affected countless people—adults, children, and even the unborn.
As the saying went, the butterfly effect. A storm was already brewing, and as Bing San grew older, it would only grow stronger.
Bing San stood by the window, looking at the sky beyond the Hokage Building. It was overcast, and rain was on the way. He clenched his fists and said, "Asuma, stand up like a man. Let's train hard and avenge your big brother."
Asuma cried until he seemed to have nothing left, then gradually calmed down. He slowly climbed out of bed, his gaze growing more resolute. "Bing San, you're right. I'll train hard and slaughter every last Sand Shinobi to avenge Big Brother Xinye!"
Before long, rain began to fall outside. The drizzle washed the earth clean, but it could never wash the blood from the hearts of the two children.
"Knock, knock, knock."
"I'm coming in." At the voice from outside, a girl walked in. It was Tomoko Shimura.
The Jonin meeting had gone on for a long time the day before. After it ended, the two boys had been confined in the Hokage Building by the Anbu because they weren't high enough in rank. The village claimed they were recovering from their injuries. Because of Danzo's insistence, Tomoko Shimura had been assigned to look after them.
Tomoko bowed and said, "Young Master Bing San, Young Master Sarutobi, it's time to eat." As she spoke, she began taking food out of the meal box tucked in the crook of her arm.
After they finished eating, Asuma insisted on seeing the Third Hokage. Since he was the Third Hokage's son, the many Anbu couldn't very well stop him. Amid the commotion, they were brought before the Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage looked exhausted. "You two brats stole my Crystal Ball just now, and I haven't even settled the score with you yet. What are you making all this fuss about now?"
Seeing that the Third Hokage had family matters to deal with, Zixiao bowed and left, closing the door behind him.
Asuma's eyes were red as he said, "Old man, I want to get stronger. I want to learn powerful Ninja techniques."
The Third Hokage felt a pang in his heart at the sight of his youngest son. He was just extremely busy, not because he didn't love the boy. When he had taken over as Hokage, he had truly been walking on eggshells, with the various clans finding every possible way to make things difficult for him.
Even now, many people would follow orders when it suited them, but wouldn't answer his summons. That included the Hyuga family, Konoha's largest Ninja clan, and the Uchiha, Konoha's strongest Ninja clan.
There was no contradiction in saying so, really. The Hyuga family had over three thousand branch-family members alone, not to mention countless affiliated clans and commoners.
The Uchiha had only a little over a thousand members in total, but more than a hundred of them were Jonin. The entire village had fewer than two thousand Jonin altogether—and that figure included Elite Chunin and Special Jonin whose abilities were Jonin-level but whose service records weren't sufficient for promotion.
The Third Hokage took a long drag on his pipe. "Asuma, have you learned the scroll I gave you last time?"
Asuma jutted out his chin. "They were only two C-rank Ninja techniques. I learned them ages ago. Big Brother Xinye taught me one B-rank technique and two C-rank techniques, and I learned those too. I want to learn even more powerful techniques, ones that can make me stronger fast."
The Third Hokage was at a loss. His youngest son had talent—Asuma had been born with four chakra natures. He had previously been somewhat unmotivated, but now that he finally had the drive to improve, he was being too ambitious.
After dealing with a pile of documents, the Third Hokage's head was throbbing. He didn't want to argue with the children, so he thought it over and came up with an idea he would regret for half his life. He handed the Sealing Scroll to Asuma and Bing San, promising they could look through it as they pleased as long as they stayed quiet and didn't leave the Hokage's office.
He assumed the two children wouldn't understand it or remember anything. But he didn't know that Bing San had a skill called One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones.
His prized student Orochimaru and trusted partner Shimura Danzo had copied the entire Sealing Scroll from cover to cover. And there he was, thinking he'd found a way to pacify the two children. What a naive Third Hokage.
(The End)
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