Family

Ogata still lived in the same place as before. Nothing had changed, and Qi found it with ease.

"It's Qi, isn't it? Come in."

Before Qi could even knock, Ogata's voice came from inside.

Qi pushed open the door and went in. It was a single room, and Ogata was sitting on the bed.

That's right, a bed. Compared to Orochimaru's Japanese-style mansion, an ordinary home was undoubtedly more to Qi's taste. He really wasn't used to sitting and sleeping on the floor...

"There's a chair over there. Sit down."

Ogata was as straightforward as ever. He looked at Qi and nodded.

"Not bad. Going to the battlefield really makes a difference. You look like a proper person now."

"Master, are you saying I didn't even count as a person before...?"

Qi didn't know whether to laugh or cry...

"Only someone with dignity counts as a person. Without strength, you have no dignity, so of course you don't count as one."

Ogata replied flatly.

"If you've got nothing to your name, others can treat you like a dumpling and gobble you up. Actually, you can't even count as livestock. At best, you're a plate of meat."

"Then what do you think makes someone a person, Master? Being an official? Ninjas serve the powerful. If I became an official, I wouldn't have to fight and kill people anymore. I could just say the word and have someone executed. Wouldn't that be even better?"

Qi rolled his eyes. What exactly were Ogata's standards?

Over the years, he'd heard plenty of the ridiculous things that came out of Ogata's mouth. Who would've thought the old man even ranked people by whether they counted as human? That was absurd...

Still, even if Ogata was just making conversation, he had the experience to back it up. After all, he'd survived a fight with the White Fang of the Leaf. Unless he was a first-rate fighter, how else would he have gotten involved with the head of the Mist Ninja's Anbu?

If Ogata only knew Taijutsu, Qi wouldn't have needed to find other masters...

"In this world, not many people can live in peace as ordinary people."

Hearing Qi's question, Ogata grunted.

"You're a ninja. What the hell would you do with an official's post? You need to become an elite jonin! If you can't, sooner or later you'll be someone else's stepping stone, nothing but a lump of rotting meat!"

He glanced at Qi.

"The Yuki Clan wanted to become officials, and look where they ended up: buried in the ground as fertilizer! Even as a joke, don't say things like that. Don't you know that loose lips sink ships?"

Qi had no intention of becoming an official. He wasn't cut out for it, to begin with. Besides, being a ninja was a one-way road. Ninjas were tools of the state. Any ninja who tried to enter the country's power structure tended to die fast, and the Yuki Clan was the clearest example.

The profession of ninja had been a form of mercenary work from the start. The powerful paid, and the ninjas fought. Almost all ninja income came from the powerful. And now this bunch wanted to become officials and support themselves? As if that could ever be allowed.

To Qi, that was a failure to understand one's place. Their heads were full of weeds, and they deserved to die. If he didn't have Yuki blood himself, and if those people weren't his elders, he'd have spoken even more harshly of them.

Ogata's words were also a roundabout warning to Qi. With the Yuki Clan's history as an example, he really couldn't be sure Qi wouldn't turn out just as "clueless"...

"Don't worry, Master. I'm not going to become an official. I'm not even interested in being a ninja leader. That kind of work isn't fit for a person."

Qi gave an awkward chuckle. He just couldn't stand up straight in front of Ogata. He was used to it...

Though he didn't know why, when he was with Ogata, he always had so much to say. The two of them seemed to enjoy passing the time this way.

"All right, enough nonsense. You disappeared after that Orochimaru took you away. Tell me what you've been up to."

Ogata's expression turned serious.

"Don't leave out a thing!"

"It went like this..."

Qi became serious as well. He told Ogata everything that had happened from the moment Orochimaru took him away to the moment he returned to Ogata's home.

There was an old saying that those involved couldn't see things clearly, while an outsider could. The reverse was true as well. Qi's knowledge of a major ninja village like Konoha came only from anime. The limitations of his perspective as an "outsider" had been proven countless times during the more than ten years he'd spent in this world.

When it came to real understanding, someone like Ogata—the so-called "insider"—had a much clearer view. Ogata had dealt with the Mist Ninja plenty, and the Five Great Shinobi Villages were much alike in every respect. They were the same thing in different packaging.

"You made a mistake..."

After Qi finished telling him everything, Ogata frowned.

"When someone from the Uchiha Clan wanted to give you something, you should've accepted it without hesitation. Besides, he was your comrade."

"But..."

Qi wanted to tell Ogata that the Uchiha Clan would be wiped out before long.

"I'm not telling you to suck up to the Uchiha Clan, but the way you acted offended them. Luckily, there's still some goodwill between you and that person. If it had been someone you didn't know, you'd have slapped him in the face. He'd have made an enemy of you for life."

Ogata said irritably.

"You only called him 'grandmaster.' Did you think that made you a direct subordinate of the Hokage? You've got a long road ahead. Without strength, calling him 'grandmaster' means nothing. But..."

He suddenly changed tack.

"You did well to call him that... Whatever else, you're part of the Senju Clan now..."

"Huh?"

Qi was stunned.

"I'm not named Senju... And I'm not planning to change my surname, either..."

"What do you think the Senju Clan is, some family like the Uchiha or Hyuga?"

Ogata was furious. If they hadn't been sitting so far apart, he might have punched Qi in the head.

"The Uchiha Clan is held together by blood ties, but the Senju Clan isn't a bloodline clan. It was originally made up of different families. The direct Senju line is just the strongest family among them!"

He had no choice but to properly educate his ignorant fool of a disciple...

"What holds the Senju Clan together is the bond between master and student, not blood. Do you understand?"

He counted off the examples on his fingers.

"Take the current Third Hokage and Danzo. Neither of them comes from the direct Senju line, but they were disciples of the Second Hokage, so they're part of the Senju Clan too. The Sannin and the current Yellow Flash are also part of the Senju Clan."

"How does a mess like that hold together? Can a bond like that really keep a clan intact? The Senju Clan has a long history, doesn't it?"

Qi was at a loss. He couldn't imagine a group of people forming a clan stronger than the Uchiha Clan through master-and-student ties. What's more, he knew that the founders of the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan were descendants of the Sage of Six Paths.

"Why wouldn't it hold together? The bond between master and student is actually stronger than blood ties. Blood ties grow weaker over time, but the bond between a master and student doesn't. Besides, the Senju Clan also strengthens the connections between its various families through marriage."

Ogata said scornfully.

"Among the Uchiha, unless you're direct family, you don't feel close to anyone else. By comparison, there's much more infighting within the Senju Clan."

"Is that so? But Danzo doesn't seem to get along with the Hokage at all."

Qi was skeptical. He remembered that in the anime, Danzo seemed to be at odds with the Third Hokage, and he'd been even more dismissive of Tsunade.

"How could he not? Danzo and the Third Hokage play the bad cop and the good cop. Everyone in the Shinobi World knows that. It's normal for disciples to compete with each other. They're not the only two in the line."

Ogata sneered.

"Do you know what kind of woman the Yellow Flash's wife is?"

"No..."

Even if Qi knew, he wouldn't dare say.

"His wife's surname is Uzumaki. The First's wife was also an Uzumaki. Can't you figure out what that means?"

Ogata gave a sinister grin.

"Ninjas don't get to choose whom they marry. When you become strong, the Senju Clan's higher-ups will definitely arrange a 'suitable' wife for you. But don't worry. The stronger you are, the prettier your wife will be. You won't lose out."

"..."

Qi was speechless...

After mulling it over for a long while, he decided he had to interrupt Ogata's suggestive grin, or he was going to throw up...

"Um... Master... Aren't we getting off topic?"

"Off topic? Are we...? It's your fault, you brat, going off on tangents. What were we talking about again?"

"...You said I shouldn't have offended the Uchiha Clan..."

Qi's face twitched uncontrollably...

"Right, that's it..."

Ogata slapped his thigh.

"Kid, I'm telling you, all this political maneuvering has nothing to do with you right now. You're making a fuss over nothing. The people at the top don't have the time to bother with a nobody like you."

At last, he put away his earlier lecherous expression and grew serious.

"No one knows what'll happen in the future. You're young, so take the time to experience sincere feelings while you can. Otherwise, you might not get the chance later. The stronger you become, the more cold-hearted you'll be. That's just how ninjas are."

Even so, Ogata added,

"But you don't seem like the steady sort. You could spend more time building a bond with the Hyuga. At any rate, they're firm supporters of the Hokage's faction. They're on the same side as you, now and in the future, unlike the Uchiha..."

But, just as Ogata had said, no one knew what the future held. Ogata could never have imagined what kind of relationship Qi would one day have with the Hyuga Clan—and that it would have something to do with him...

In any case, master and disciple hadn't seen each other in a long time, so they kept chatting. Qi talked about his experiences on the battlefield, while Ogata laughed heartily and pointed out where he'd gone wrong.

As they chatted, time flew by, but Qi didn't find it dull at all. He was actually happy.

To Qi, Ogata was someone very important. Ogata wasn't a very responsible master, but he made Qi feel like he had family. That wasn't just a figure of speech. Ogata truly felt like family.

That mattered a lot to Qi, because he was a transmigrator, and that meant he was destined to be alone in this world...

He'd even developed a habit: whenever he accomplished something, his first thought was to tell Ogata. It was much like how he'd felt toward his parents in his previous life.

Perhaps without realizing it, Ogata had become the "father" figure in his life in this world.

Though he was an extremely short-tempered "father" who beat him at the drop of a hat, in every other respect, Ogata was hard to fault.

"Knock, knock..."

Just as Qi was immersed in that feeling, there was a knock at the door...

"Huh?"

Qi was the first to speak, and his displeasure was plain to see.

"Enough. You think I'm here in Konoha doing nothing but eating for free?"

Ogata waved a hand to signal Qi to stay quiet, then called toward the door.

"Come in. The door's unlocked."

"Sorry to bother you."

The door opened, and a Konoha Ninja came in.

"This is the mission the Lord Hokage asked me to deliver to you."

Ogata was a jonin, and a very capable one at that. Jonin missions were assigned directly by the Kage, and it was the same in all Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Now that Ogata had joined Konoha, his missions were naturally assigned directly by the Hokage.

"And this is...?"

The Konoha Ninja who'd brought the mission scroll glanced at Qi but still didn't take out the scroll containing the mission details.

Clearly, he didn't know Qi. That was only natural. He'd never even met Ogata before, so how could he know Qi? Qi wasn't famous or anything.

He only knew that a mission for a jonin could be read only by the jonin himself.

"He's fine. He's my disciple. Give it to me."

Ogata pursed his lips.

"So he's your disciple. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend."

The ninja was startled. Even if the disciple of a jonin was weak, he still wasn't someone the ninja could afford to offend.

He swiftly pulled out a scroll and handed it to Ogata.

"Lord Hokage has given you three days to prepare."

"Understood."

Ogata nodded and accepted the scroll.

"I'll leave in three days, on time."

Seeing that Ogata had accepted the scroll, the ninja didn't say much more. After a few perfunctory words, he left the room.

"Master, you take missions too?"

Qi teased as he came over.

"Tsk, that's what you call being a jonin. They even send someone to deliver your missions."

"Thump!"

This time, Qi was close enough that Ogata unceremoniously rapped him on the head.

"Get out of the way. If they delivered it to me, that means it's a high-ranking mission. You think you can look at that sort of thing? Ninja villages have plenty of rules. You'd better watch yourself. That's called knowing how to protect yourself. Being a ninja isn't just about fighting. You have to know the rules, too."

He seemed a little regretful as he said,

"In my whole life, I've never seen a second White Fang. What a shame..."

"Oh, right... You fought the White Fang, Master."

Hearing the words "White Fang," Qi became interested too. He rubbed his head, then sat down properly to one side.

"Was the White Fang of the Leaf really good with a sword? Was it called the White Fang Sword Style?"

He blurted out all the things he'd seen online in his previous life to describe the White Fang.

"White Fang Sword Style? What are you talking about?"

Ogata looked baffled. Where had this foolish disciple heard all that nonsense?

"He was an all-rounder. His Taijutsu was formidable, and he was a master of Lightning Release and Earth Release. I've seen the current Yellow Flash of Konoha once during my time here, and I even went on a mission with him."

He clicked his tongue in admiration.

"That guy's Space-Time Ninjutsu is impressive. No wonder he's the most famous person in Konoha right now. But he still can't compare to the White Fang back in his day."

"Why not? Surely his strength isn't inferior to the White Fang of the Leaf's?"

Qi didn't understand. The Fourth Hokage hadn't done much in the original story, but there was no doubt about his strength.

If the Fourth Hokage hadn't died so young, Orochimaru definitely wouldn't have carried out the Konoha Crush alongside the Sunagakure Ninja.

"It's not about strength,"

Ogata explained.

"It's about ruthlessness. The Yellow Flash isn't soft-hearted, but when it comes to sheer ruthlessness, the White Fang was far ahead of him. I fought the White Fang, so I know."

At that, his expression suddenly turned angry.

"But I met the White Fang's son. The kid's almost a jonin, and you're still dragging your feet. He's the same age as you! I'm telling you, if he outdoes you, I'll beat you black and blue!"

"..."

Only then did Qi remember that Kakashi was a disciple of the Fourth Hokage...

The old man couldn't beat the White Fang himself, so he was making his own disciple compete with the White Fang's son. That was a bit much...