The Nameless

"Yuzuru, can you sense a kind of energy from the outside world? It surrounds you, and when you use it, you feel much stronger than usual?" Jiraiya asked Yuzuru.

How strange. The way Ryūchi Cave used Natural Energy really was different from Mount Myōboku's. Yuzuru had so much Natural Energy around him, yet showed no signs of turning to stone.

"I think... so, but I don't really understand what's going on."

Although Yuzuru knew nearly as much as Jiraiya did at this point about the theory behind Natural Energy, he still had to play along.

"Then that's it. You should make good use of this power... I mean, someone will probably teach you how to use it someday."

Jiraiya couldn't help feeling that it was a shame. A shinobi with such a strong natural sense for and affinity with Natural Energy, someone who could use it so well, had no connection to Mount Myōboku.

Since Ryūchi Cave had gotten to Yuzuru first, Jiraiya, as a successor of Mount Myōboku, couldn't just interfere now... He didn't really have any basis for that judgment. It just seemed like the sort of unspoken understanding that should exist between the sacred lands.

"Someone?"

Yuzuru nodded thoughtfully, pretending to consider it.

"Jiraiya, explain Natural Energy and Senjutsu to me in detail later." Orochimaru stared at Jiraiya and spoke the longest sentence he had uttered since the mission began.

He hadn't expected Jiraiya to be hiding such a secret. If Jiraiya could talk about it like that, it meant this dead-last had already started training in Senjutsu... So Ryūchi Cave was more than just a nest of snakes.

Teaching Senjutsu? There were sages? Besides ordinary snakes, Ryūchi Cave had special ones, too?

Well, Orochimaru was still too green at this point.

"Enough about your connections to Ryūchi Cave for now. Let's go back to the fundamental question... Why would an ordinary shinobi suddenly be able to control Natural Energy?" For some reason, Tsunade began probing the matter from the beginning.

Yuzuru didn't understand the deeper meaning behind Tsunade's words yet. He just wondered if this was really the right time to dig into a question like that.

They could discuss it all they wanted, but it wouldn't lead anywhere. Yuzuru would just keep saying he didn't know, and at most insist he'd suddenly "mutated."

But now that Jiraiya's imagination had run its course, it was finally Tsunade's turn to let hers run wild.

"You have to understand, a sage's power is extremely special. Anyone who can use it is no ordinary person... and he even figured it out without a teacher."

"Uh, Tsunade, he's only using Natural Energy. He's still a long way from wielding the power of a true sage," Jiraiya corrected her.

"But you can't deny that even reaching this basic level is probably beyond most shinobi, no matter how long they train."

"..."

Well, Jiraiya had no answer to that.

Based on Yuzuru's own description of how his strength had grown, it wasn't the result of training. So the only explanation was some kind of talent—or perhaps something more direct... bloodline.

At least for shinobi, that was a more reasonable explanation than something like a "dungeon."

Tsunade turned to Yuzuru. "We've looked over your basic information. If I remember correctly, you grew up in the Orphanage... Some shinobi from similar backgrounds choose to take the surname Yakushi or Yakushiji, but you're actually a nameless person, aren't you?"

Tsunade was stating a fact, but the way she put it was a little rude. Still, Yuzuru nodded. That was indeed his original background. And since he had taken over someone else's body, he didn't really feel anything about being described that way.

"Sorry to ask something so personal... Do you remember your parents?"

"Tsunade..." Jiraiya felt that this went beyond ordinary rudeness.

Yuzuru fell silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "No, I don't remember them at all."

Tsunade's expression finally changed. Her eyes lit up at first, but then her whole face took on a slightly dejected look.

"I see. So we're the same... nameless people."

Yuzuru thought, How could we be the same? You may only go by Tsunade, but everyone knows you're actually Tsunade of the Senju Clan. What about me?

Wait...

Yuzuru finally understood what Tsunade meant. Did she think he came from the Senju Clan? That couldn't be right.

Because of the Second Hokage's policies, over the past twenty-odd years, most members of the Senju Clan had given up their surname and become the bedrock of Konoha. Some had taken other surnames, while others, like Tsunade, simply went by their given names.

But Yuzuru knew the truth about himself. He had no talent as a shinobi to begin with, and his strength had grown in a completely unconventional way. It had nothing whatsoever to do with bloodline... If his original self really had come from the Senju Clan, how could he still have been a Genin at sixteen?

A sixteen-year-old Genin was either cannon fodder or the Child of Prophecy, a savior. Yuzuru could only be the former.

Still, being mistaken for one of them didn't seem like a bad thing. Yuzuru thought it over and felt he might be able to make use of the misunderstanding.

For shinobi, power meant status, but power needed a reasonable explanation. There was no better endorsement than the Senju Clan.

Jiraiya's wild theory, combined with Tsunade's, seemed to have accomplished something big.

"Tsunade, are you saying...?"

The implication behind Tsunade's final words was so strong it was practically explicit. Jiraiya and Orochimaru understood perfectly well.

"I'm only saying it's possible. At this point, it'd be far too difficult to investigate the relevant information from fifteen or sixteen years ago... But there's no need to insist on certainty about something like this. You have to understand, the Senju are Konoha, and Konoha is the Senju."

That made Yuzuru's preconceived notions grow stronger. The Second Hokage really was a rather devious man... Yuzuru wasn't interested in studying the Senju Clan's history for now, but Tsunade's few words seemed to offer a simple conclusion: as long as Konoha existed, so did the Senju Clan.

Abandoning the name but preserving the substance. Very much the Second Hokage's style.

It had only been an escort mission, yet the conversations along the way seemed to have given all four of them something to take away.

Several hours later, the team returned safely to the Konoha camp, where Yuzuru saw Mitokado Homura and Shimura Danzō again.

Based on what he had witnessed that night, he described the battle to the two of them without exaggeration or falsehood.

"By the sound of it, Hanzō really was behind it... Yuzuru, well done."

"It was just a lucky coincidence. Any Konoha Ninja who saw what happened would have done their best to bring the information back."

"No need to say more. Those who do well should be rewarded."

Uh, rewarding those who did well was right, but the problem was that Danzō was the one saying it.