No. 44: Making Trouble

"Boom!"

The massive explosion sent sand flying. A black figure shot out from the blast and landed on a distant dune. He adjusted his stance slightly, then vanished without a trace the next second.

"So fast with the Body Flicker Technique. For a moment, I thought the 'Yellow Flash' had returned." Maki, clad in a white robe common in the desert and with sharp features, toyed with the broken mask in his hand. A thoughtful look flickered in his eyes.

He had originally been ordered by the Fourth Kazekage to meet with the Daimyo of the Land of Wind and discuss cuts to military funding. He had also planned to inspect the border while he was at it. He hadn't expected to run into Konoha's Anbu—and such a young boy, at that.

When they surrounded him, the boy had revealed his Sharingan. Unfortunately, they hadn't managed to take his life. Otherwise, they could have claimed those rare, wild Sharingan for themselves.

"Did you record his face?" Maki crushed the crow mask in his hand and looked toward the Sand Ninja beside him, who was writing and sketching on a scroll.

When the other man nodded, Maki turned and left. Their figures disappeared into the swirling yellow sand. They would return, uncover the boy's identity, then make a big show of how his talent rivaled Minato Namikaze's.

According to Maki's intelligence, the Uchiha Clan was in a poor position in Konoha. He didn't mind making things worse for them. At the very least, the other villages would surely want to kill such a talented young ninja.

Now that Konoha was showing signs of decline, even its ally, the Sand Ninja, had begun to entertain other ideas. No one was born wanting to live in a place where all they did was eat sand.

Not long after Maki and his men left, several masked ninjas dressed as Sand Ninja stopped briefly at the scene. After a careful examination, they pursued the direction Uchiha Shisui had gone.

Senba and Genma Shiranui knew nothing about what had happened. They were at the rendezvous point, preparing to provide support.

"Senba, unless you're as powerful as the Hokages of the past, you have to make use of whatever you can. Explosive Tags, Ninja Tools, and the like all give us a better chance of staying alive."

"Once this mission is over and we're back in Konoha, you'll be taking the Chunin exam. You may end up leading a team on missions before long."

"You've grown beyond my expectations. All I can do is pass on my experience as quickly as possible. The rest comes down to practice."

"Take a look at this terrain. If you put an Explosive Tag here..."

Genma Shiranui patiently shared his combat experience with Senba. It was clear that there was more to the thorough preparation of the rendezvous point than the fact that the person they were meeting was an Anbu member.

After some work, the two had set up all the necessary precautions. If Uchiha Shisui returned alone, there would be no trouble.

But if he had a tail, they'd have something to deal with.

"Senba, why did you become a ninja? Was it to restore your clan?" Genma Shiranui put a rice ball in his mouth and handed two to Senba as well.

"To restore my clan? That's a side benefit, I guess." Asked the familiar question once again, Senba answered without hiding anything. "I just want to live a good life. I have to be alive before I can do anything else."

Senba's answer clearly took Genma Shiranui by surprise. He fell silent for a moment. Perhaps he'd thought that a ninja of this age should have aspired to the Will of Fire.

"Then, Senba, if all you want is to live a good life, you don't have to work this hard, do you?" Genma Shiranui thought of all the tricks his student had up his sleeve. Even he, a Special Jonin, felt ashamed by comparison.

"Of course I have to work hard! Sensei, do you think staying alive is easy?" Senba tossed the last bite of his rice ball into his mouth and waved his arms emphatically, his excitement plain to see.

"If I don't want bad people to bully me, I have to have Chakra and become a ninja."

"Once I'm a ninja, I have to go on missions. And if war breaks out, I'll have to go to the front lines. As a Genin, there's a good chance I'll end up with no bones left to bury."

"So I have to train hard and become a stronger ninja. But that takes resources. My clan supports me—but do you think they do it for free?"

"I can't just eat my fill, wipe my mouth, and run off. So I have to shoulder the responsibility of making sure the Senju name doesn't disappear from Konoha."

"To do that, I have to become at least an Elite Jonin. But at the same time, I'll face even more dangerous S-rank missions, which will only put my life at greater risk."

"And if I'm lucky enough to reach Kage Level one day, some disaster or misfortune could still take my life. Kage-level ninja have fallen in the Cloud, Stone, Mist, and Sand Villages—and even here in Konoha."

At that, Senba noticed the somber look on Sensei Genma's face. He realized his words had brought the Fourth Hokage to mind, so he quickly fell silent.

But Genma Shiranui wasn't the sort of person to dwell on the past forever. Otherwise, by now he would have been like a certain someone, losing himself on the road of life every single day.

Genma Shiranui quickly perked up again and eyed Senba with curiosity. "Senba, you've got some serious ambitions. You want to become someone like the First."

"Hahaha, Sensei Genma, you're joking." A hint of embarrassment appeared on Senba's face, as if the words had made him bashful. "I'd be incredibly lucky if I could become someone like the Fourth Hokage."

Genma Shiranui clearly looked pleased when he heard that. The Fourth Hokage obviously meant a great deal to him.

Still, if someone else had asked Senba today, he wouldn't have minded saying he wanted to become someone like the Third Hokage. It all depended on what the situation called for.

After that, teacher and student returned to their warm, easy rapport. Most of their conversation centered on the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

"Sensei Genma, I heard that on the night the Fourth Hokage died, his wife was pregnant."

Senba laid several enormous Wind Demon Shuriken in front of him, took out some Explosive Tags, and began enchanting them. "The Fourth Hokage's unborn child really was unfortunate."

Genma Shiranui wasn't surprised at all that Senba knew Kushina Uzumaki had been pregnant. It wasn't a secret among the ninja clans.

If Senba had known that the Night of the Nine-Tails was when the Fourth Hokage's child was born, he would have been shocked.

Genma Shiranui couldn't explain the truth behind the Third Hokage's claim that the Fourth Hokage's child had already been killed. All he could do was nod silently, agreeing with Senba's guess.

With the conversation brought to an end once more, Senba could only lower his head and continue enchanting the tags. But in his heart, he couldn't help feeling baffled by the Third Hokage's strange maneuvers.

Why not reveal that Naruto Uzumaki was the Fourth Hokage's son, take him in, and teach him day and night? Then they could invent some other Jinchuriki and keep that person locked away with the Anbu.

They could focus everyone's anger on a nonexistent person. And as for Danzo pulling tricks, Sarutobi could hardly call that much trouble.

Maybe there were things Senba didn't know about.

Still, if Senba remembered correctly, Minato Namikaze in Tenten's Tsukuyomi World had turned out just fine.

Then there was Naruto Uzumaki's life a few years later. It was strange that he hadn't become Uzumaki Menma in the future.