Chương 25

Rei witnessed all of this from a box office seat, all he needed was some popcorn and enjoy the show. But he knew that he couldn't hide for a longer time. He landed right after Naruto took care of Mizuki.

"Naruto..." Rei wanted to say something but Iruka stopped him.

"Naruto.. You are incredible.. Close your eyes.." Iruka said. Rei tilted his head. He had forgotten. The headband ceremony. At the end, Naruto finally gave him the headband and Naruto replaced his oversized goggles with the headband, making him graduate, in kind of a non-conventional way. But nonetheless Naruto was beyond happy to graduate. And Iruka even promised him to take to Ichiraku Ramen after he feels better. Meanwhile Rei had asked for the Scroll to be returned.

"Naruto.. I will pick you up later for the graduation celebration tomorrow. To ramen." Rei said.

"Really? You would do that?" Naruto had stars in his eyes listening to Rei.

"Hey Naruto, you always need to invite your friends for a celebration. You also graduated." Iruka reminded him as they both started walking back to the village.

"Yes.. Yes.. I will." Naruto promised.

Later that night, after making sure Naruto safely returned toward the village alongside Iruka, Rei quietly made his own way toward the Hokage Tower with the fake Scroll resting across his back. Carrying around one of the most "dangerous forbidden artifacts" in the village while casually walking through Konoha streets felt oddly hilarious. At least now he understood why thieves in movies always developed confidence issues after successful robberies.

Still, the moment Rei entered the Hokage office later that night, Hiruzen was already waiting for him with that same knowing smile again. Honestly, Rei was beginning to dislike that smile. It felt like the old man always knew slightly more than he should.

"You handled it well." Hiruzen spoke calmly the moment Rei entered. Rei quietly placed the fake Scroll back onto the table afterward.

"…You were watching the entire time." Hiruzen chuckled softly afterward while smoke lazily drifted upward from his pipe.

"It would have been irresponsible not to." Rei was bit surprised that he didn't hide away from the accusation. Better that way.

"I expected you to stop Mizuki much earlier," Hiruzen admitted afterward.

"But instead you allowed Naruto to reach the conclusion himself." Rei shrugged lightly.

"He needed that moment." Hiruzen's eyes softened slightly hearing that answer.

"Yes," the old man agreed quietly.

"He did." And honestly… hearing the Hokage openly acknowledge that made Rei slightly more tolerant toward him again. Then unexpectedly, Hiruzen reached below the desk afterward before pulling out several scrolls and placing them calmly onto the table. Rei blinked once.

"…What's that?"

"Your compensation." Now that immediately got Rei's full attention. The first few scrolls themselves already looked complex. Dense sealing formulas covered the surfaces in ways that immediately made Rei's brain itch with curiosity.

"Basic and intermediate sealing arts," Hiruzen explained calmly.

"Storage seals. Reinforcement seals. Barrier foundations. Chakra formula structures." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Rei quietly stared at them afterward. This alone already would've been an absurd reward by Academy standards. Fuinjutsu wasn't something casually handed out to genin-level children. The subject itself was notoriously difficult and required ridiculous levels of control, precision and intellect. Still…

then Hiruzen pulled out one final scroll afterward. And the moment Rei saw the symbol on it, his brain stopped functioning briefly.

"…No way." Hiruzen looked amused immediately afterward.

"Yes way." Rei genuinely stared at the scroll blankly now. Flying Thunder God (Hiraishin no Jutsu) The actual formula foundations and keys toward one of the most broken mobility techniques in Naruto history casually sitting on the Hokage's desk like some library book return assignment.

"…You're giving me a forbidden jutsu?" Rei finally asked slowly.

"Not the complete jutsu." Hiruzen corrected calmly.

"Only the keys and formula principles. There is never a complete jutsu to it. When the Second Hokage created this jutsu, he did so with speed in mind, and then Mina... the Fourth Hokage, took it a level further. Just like the 4th Hokage, you are a highly intelligent and I hope you can achieve great things in life like he once did."

"I hope with your intellect you can master this jutsu and since the seals required for this jutsu differ from person to person, I am sure you will figure it out and create your own style of seal." Rei gulped down his throat.

"Aren't you afraid I will do some horrifying things with it or something horrifying happening to me?" Rei couldn't help but ask.

"After all they are named Forbidden for a reason."

"The reasons some of the jutsus are named forbidden aren't because they are dangerous. It is because most individuals won't be able to finish learning it in their lifetime. And thus waste away their precious time obsessing over something they won't ever reach. You are different. Your chakra is huge and I can feel it is growing everyday. Your chakra control is superb and you have enough intellect and dedication to sit and learn. Most young ones can't even sit for a moment on a chair."

Hiruzen said and then added with a smirk on his face.

"In my years of experience, no one has ever backstabbed me after saying, what if I backstab you. So I have no reason not to trust you." Rei was amused by this but he could also understand why Hiruzen might have given this jutsu to him. Rei saw Naruto get a forbidden jutsu and the old man didn't want to show favoritism in front of someone whom he thought was a civilian genius. Hearing the Hokage openly acknowledge his intellect and chakra like this felt strangely dangerous and validating at the same time.

"Though it may take you some time," the old man admitted calmly afterward, "I would like to someday see another shinobi who moves faster than fear itself."

"I will try my best not to embarrass you." Rei could only say that at the end after a slight pause.

"Hahaha.. As long as your heart is with Konoha, and help keeping the Will of Fire alive, I am more than happy and glad." Hiruzen said. Rei nodded.

"Oh, and regarding team assignments." Rei immediately looked up.

"You will be assigned to Team 7." Hiruzen said.

"…With Naruto and Sasuke?" This came as a bit of a jolt for Rei. But he accepted it. No more Sakura then. That's a shame, but learning from Kakashi and getting that signature from Sasuke just became easier.

"And Sakura Haruno."

"Huh?" Rei was taken aback. Wasn't there supposed to be a three individual team. What happened? Just because there wasn't a woman in the team.

"Wasn't it supposed to be three men team?" Rei had to ask.

"Yes, but there is one extra surplus now among the new genins and the other teachers have refused, and only Kakashi didn't protest. Oh, Kakashi would be your new sensei." Hiruzen said.

"I assume you have read about him." Rei just looked at Hiruzen for sometime with piercing eyes. This old man just dropped everything on the person who loved reading perverted stories, made by another pervert. What a hands off Hokage this man is.

"Yes.. Thank you for assigning me to such a huge team." Rei couldn't help but mock. Why did he have the feeling that he would be caretaker of the team? Emotionally at least.

"And I will do my best to stand true to your expectations." With those words he left, keeping behind a lonely Hiruzen who just closed his eyes. Giving him Flying Thunder God was after much deliberation. That jutsu demanded proper dedication and a calm mind. Because one couldn't perform sealing if the chakra was out of control and Rei was someone who could endure mediocrity just because he didn't want to show for some absurd reason, which he still didn't understand but one had to admire his dedication to it.

Giving him Sasuke and Naruto as team mates would ensure that Naruto would never be lonely and maybe help Sasuke along the way with his obsession, for which he felt immense guilt. Rei didn't immediately start learning about seals and their uses. This was a long term project and thus he would slowly absorb. The next few months would be manual labour, and thus would be enough for him to learn the sealing jutsus. For today he was tired.

It was eventful day and decided to just finish it with his parents, sitting for a dinner together. The day after was the last class in the Academy. And after that would be meeting the legendary man. Probably one of the most broken man. If he wasn't broken now, he would be in the future, but still this man held his head high and even became the 6th Hokage. He was a legend in comparison to other big hitters. At least in the mental strength, nobody could match him.

Maybe Jiraya with his unrequited love, but Kakashi saw everything. Friendship, betrayal, fear, sadness and extremes of all emotions, and still said...

"Nah, I'd win." He did better than you, Gojo.