"Great!" Senju Hashirama replied without hesitation, his voice full of trust. "Then I'll leave this important task to you, Kiyono. Give it everything you've got, and build me a top-notch intelligence department!"
"Yes, Lord Hokage! I'll complete the mission!" Yamanaka Kiyono straightened at once and answered loudly.
At last, Lord Tobirama turned to Akimichi Kira. After a moment's thought, he said, "Kira, this Hokage Building still needs a group of reliable guards. Your Akimichi Clan's secret Taijutsu is formidable, and you have plenty of capable people in your clan.
"So I'd like to ask you to send some of your best people over to guard Lord Hokage and keep any troublemakers from causing a disturbance."
He paused, then added, "Also, I think that kid Torifu has a lot of promise. How about sending him over to serve as one of Lord Hokage's personal guards?"
Akimichi Kira understood perfectly. His Akimichi Clan didn't have the brains of the Nara Clan, nor were they suited to the Yamanaka Clan's delicate work.
But with their strength, they could still get close to the centers of power, and that was already a fine path forward. Besides, with the Nara and Yamanaka Clans looking out for each other, the Akimichi Clan wouldn't come off badly as long as they didn't do anything foolish.
So he agreed without hesitation, his voice booming. "Borrow some people? There's no need to put it that way! It's a great honor for that kid to be of use to Lord Hokage.
"Don't worry. I'll have Torifu report first thing tomorrow morning! If you need someone to lend a hand or run errands, just put him to work!"
"Excellent! That's the spirit!" Senju Tobirama laughed heartily.
And so, Konoha's first round of "dividing up the pie" came to a satisfying close.
A new power structure had taken shape, led by the Senju Clan, with the Sarutobi Clan assisting and the Ino-Shika-Cho clans serving as its main pillars.
As the village continued to grow, new people and clans would naturally emerge and want a share of the pie. But that was for the future.
With the meeting over, it was time for everyone to leave. Just as they were getting up, Senju Tobirama suddenly called out to Yamanaka Kiyono. "Kiyono, wait a moment."
Yamanaka Kiyono stopped and turned around, looking puzzled. "Lord Tobirama, is there something else?"
"It's a personal matter. I'd like to ask for your advice," Tobirama said.
"Please, there's no need to put it that way," Yamanaka Kiyono said, waving a hand. "Just tell me what you need. I'll do my best to help."
Tobirama smiled and got straight to the point. "I do need your help.
"I've been working on a Sealing Jutsu that deals with the mind and soul. I've got the basic framework down, but I'm stuck on a few key parts. Something's still missing.
"Your Yamanaka Clan specializes in mental techniques, so you're the expert in this area. I'd like you to take a look with me. Perhaps you can offer a different perspective."
Far from finding it troublesome, Yamanaka Kiyono's eyes lit up. "A chance to take part in developing one of your techniques doesn't come along every day. All right, let's study it together!"
Seeing Yamanaka Kiyono leave with Lord Tobirama, Nara Lvxun and Akimichi Kira didn't ask any questions. They left the Hokage Building and went off to handle their own affairs.
The Ninja Academy enrollment had been settled, and the major clans had all calmed down. Over the next two days, the registration area was lively, with plenty of parents bringing their children to sign up.
But Konoha's population was still limited, and there weren't all that many children of the right age. So the school wasn't nearly as bustling as it would be later on.
Hibari's younger sister Tsunade was happy to go to school on her own. As for Hibari, he sent his Shadow Clone "Moji" to school in his place and stayed home for some peace and quiet, where he could study more advanced subjects.
Once enough students had enrolled, the Ninja Academy officially opened. Word had it that Lord Hashirama, the Hokage, had personally visited the school to give a speech about how the "Will of Fire" had to be passed down from generation to generation.
Hibari hadn't even gone to the ceremony. As usual, Moji had taken his place.
Senju Tobirama had been so busy these past few days that he was nowhere to be seen. He didn't seem to have much time to keep an eye on Hibari, as if something else had caught his attention.
Early that morning, Hibari sent Moji to walk Tsunade to school as usual, then wandered over to Tobirama's room.
Seeing that Lord Tobirama wasn't there, he wasn't surprised. He simply picked up a scroll about Space-Time theory and started reading.
Of all the various ninjutsu in Lord Tobirama's arsenal, the kind Hibari coveted most was Space-Time Ninjutsu. He dreamed of learning the Flying Thunder God Technique.
But the technique had a sky-high barrier to entry. Without a solid foundation in theory, he couldn't even get started. Considering that over the next few decades, not even the Third, Sarutobi Hiruzen, would master it—only Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, would manage to do so—the difficulty was obvious.
But the harder it seemed, the more fired up Hibari became. For the past few days, he'd been poring over Space-Time theory almost every day.
"Jumping from one space to another, folding it, leaping across it... What does any of this even mean? Can't they explain it more clearly?" Hibari stared at the scroll's abstruse descriptions, his head starting to spin.
Space-Time Ninjutsu came in several forms. The Substitution Technique he used to fool people counted as the simplest kind: knowing what it did, but not how it worked.
Summoning Jutsu counted too, but it relied on a contract. A blood pact created a fixed passage through which a summoned creature could be "pulled" from the other side. If the summoned creature knew the technique as well, it could use the Reverse Summoning Jutsu to summon the ninja back to its location.
In short, Summoning Jutsu was fixed, point-to-point transportation. It couldn't compare to the Flying Thunder God's freedom of movement—or its ability to make attacks vanish and reappear somewhere else.
So even though Hibari was quite skilled with Summoning Jutsu, it had done nothing to help him understand the Flying Thunder God Technique.
He scratched his head, grumbling to himself. What had Lord Tobirama been up to these past few days? The Ninja Academy business was all taken care of. Had something else come up?
Still, he knew that Lord Tobirama was in charge of every matter in the village. He couldn't spend all his time hovering around Hibari. With that thought, his slight irritation faded. He'd only been muttering to himself, anyway.
Since the scroll made no sense to him, Hibari shut it and tossed it onto the table. But that simple movement suddenly made him freeze. He stared straight at the book, motionless for a long moment.
After a while, he snapped out of it and snatched up the book, opening and closing it several times in quick succession.
Then he pulled a sheet of paper from the table and folded it several times. He drew a Kunai from his waist and, with a sharp thunk, plunged it through the stack of paper—right beside Lord Tobirama's beloved book.
Hibari didn't care if he'd get scolded. Staring at the stack, he suddenly burst out laughing, louder and louder.
"Hahahaha! So that's it! Space-Time... so that's how it works!" He slapped the table, laughing.
When he'd finished laughing, he pulled out the Kunai and put it away, then picked up the pierced stack of paper and unfolded the sheets one by one. Each sheet had a neat hole in exactly the same spot.
"Space is like this stack of paper, and the Flying Thunder God is like this Kunai," Hibari said, holding the sheets and staring at them, eyes shining. "Stab into space like this, and you can make countless points... How many points you make depends on how many times space is folded.
"Then, if you want to land at a certain point, all you have to do is mark it in advance with the Flying Thunder God's formula..."
The more he spoke, the more excited he became. His grin stretched almost to his ears. "Then you can just zip over there! That's probably the basic principle! But I'll have to wait until Lord Tobirama gets back and ask him to check the details."
As Hibari saw it, the key to learning the Flying Thunder God was understanding what "Space-Time" meant. Now that he'd finally begun to grasp it, didn't that mean he'd got his foot in the door?
Of course, this was still just a guess. He'd have to wait for Lord Tobirama to come back and confirm it.
As luck would have it, just as Hibari was thinking about this, the door creaked open. Lord Tobirama strode in, and Hibari was so delighted that he sprang right out of his chair.
"Lord Tobirama! You're just in time. Hurry up and teach me the Flying Thunder God!" He dashed up to Tobirama, eyes shining.
Tobirama stared at him in surprise, then waved a hand. "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think you can learn the Flying Thunder God already? Understand that scroll first. You've barely even started."
He didn't give Hibari a chance to reply, changing the subject at once. "Since you're here, that saves me a trip to find you. We have a visitor today. Come over and say hello."
The interruption forced Hibari to tamp down his excitement for the moment. With a guest here, it wouldn't do to keep discussing secret techniques. But he was curious: what kind of big shot would make Lord Tobirama so formal?
Just then, Yamanaka Kiyono walked in with a cheerful smile and greeted Hibari. "Young master, it's been a while."
"Lord Kiyono!" Hibari replied with a smile. "What brings you here?"
As Tobirama organized the scrolls on the table, he answered without looking up. "I invited him to treat your condition. If all goes well, we can seal away your problem today."
At this, Hibari and Yamanaka Kiyono both froze.
Yamanaka Kiyono was the first to react. "Tobirama, the patient you mentioned... is young master Hibari?"
"Lord Kiyono, just call me Hibari," Hibari said quickly, waving a hand. "There's no need for 'young master.' It sounds so formal."
Only then did Tobirama nod, his expression turning serious. "That's right. It's him. He may be built like a little bull, but he's had a hidden condition for a long time. We've kept it quiet until now. Apart from our family, only the Sarutobi father and son know. So..."
"Don't worry, Tobirama," Yamanaka Kiyono said at once, understanding. "I'd never tell anyone. Hibari's safety is at stake."
He paused, unable to hide his amazement. "But I never would've guessed... Senju Hibari, the village's famed genius, can't attune to Water Release chakra. He can't extract it or use Water Release Ninjutsu..."
Yamanaka Kiyono shook his head. "What a shame, Tobirama, with all your skill in Sea Release. No wonder you care so much. On the one hand, Hibari is your own family, your grandson; on the other, you want your beloved grandson to inherit your signature skills, don't you?"
Now that he understood, Tobirama didn't waste words. He beckoned Hibari over. "Come lie down here and let Kiyono examine you carefully. If nothing's wrong, we can put a 'lock' on your condition today."
At that, Hibari forgot all about the Flying Thunder God. Of course—getting treated was more important!
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