Konoha: Gu Master

Early morning.

Hearing a knock on his door, Shinho groggily opened his eyes. After a few seconds, he got out of bed and put on his clothes.

"Good morning, Shizune-nee," he greeted as he opened the door.

Since the incident last time, Shizune had learned to knock instead of just barging straight in.

"Good morning." Shizune nodded with a smile. "Could you wake up Lady Tsunade for me? I have noodles boiling on the stove."

With that, she turned and headed back to the kitchen.

Yawning, Shinho walked over to Tsunade's door and knocked firmly, without pause, and eventually, the sound of knocking grew louder.

"Ugh, enough already!"

Soon, the door opened to reveal Tsunade, dressed in her sleepwear, her golden hair a tangled mess like an irritated, ruffled cat.

"What?" she muttered, leaning her head against the doorframe, still half-asleep.

"It's time for breakfast," Shinho said.

But she didn't answer. To his surprise, she'd already dozed off again. Shinho sighed, reaching out to pinch her nose.

"Mmmph," she grumbled, forced awake as her eyes fluttered open. When she realized what had happened, she grabbed his wrist.

"I see you're overdue for a lesson in respecting your teacher," Tsunade said, glaring at him.

"It's time to eat, Sensei," Shinho replied, unfazed.

Tsunade glared at him for a second, and then grumbled as she said; "Urgh, Fine, wait there!"

Tsunade turned around, swaying slightly, and shut the door behind her with a bang. She soon reappeared in her usual sleeveless top and pants.

"Remember, you're coming with me to the Hokage's office today," she said before heading to the bathroom.

Shizune walked out of the kitchen carrying breakfast—a tray of ramen bowls: char siu, tonkotsu, and egg.

Shinho chose the char siu.

"I'll be helping out at Konoha Hospital later," Shizune said, pressing her hands together with a warm smile. "I'm counting on you to cover for me!"

Shinho nodded. 

Work was work, whether it was one person or two.

After breakfast, Shinho and Tsunade arrived at the Hokage's office. Without waiting for instruction, Shinho settled into the Hokage's chair. 

Mimicking Shizune's process, he divided the documents on the desk into two stacks.

Tsunade stood nearby, watching quietly, only speaking up when needed.

"Not bad," she said approvingly once he'd finished.

With the documents in hand, Shinho headed to the Hokage Guard's office next door. 

Since Yamato, Kakashi, and Asuma were busy leading their squads, only Mikoto Uchiha and Shikaku Nara were present.

"Shinho? Why are you here?" Mikoto rose to her feet and took the documents.

"Shizune-nee is a bit busy today, so I'm filling in for her," Shinho explained casually.

Mikoto was surprised but quickly understood. Normally, someone Shinho's age wouldn't take on the role of Hokage's assistant. But as Tsunade's student, he was an exception.

"Congratulations on advancing to the finals, Shinho," Mikoto said warmly.

"It was a team effort from all of Team 7," Shinho replied, shaking his head.

"It's a pity Sasuke was matched with Naruto," Mikoto sighed.

"The stronger the opponent, the better and more valuable the challenge is for Sasuke, he'll pull through," Shinho said with a smile.

That was true enough. In the original story, Sasuke's choice of opponents was usually ambitious—often resulting in him falling short. 

Now that Naruto had learned the Eight Gates, Shinho could already foresee the outcome of Sasuke and Naruto's match.

Then again, if he lost badly, would Sasuke run off to seek Orochimaru's kiss?

But looking at Mikoto before him, Shinho felt this was unlikely. 

In the original, Sasuke was alone, with only a faint connection to Team 7 tethering him to Konoha. Now, with the Uchiha clan still around, he had little reason to leave.

"You really understand Sasuke," Mikoto said with a gentle smile.

"I'll head back, Aunt Mikoto," Shinho said, sighing. "There's a mountain of documents waiting for me."

"You're processing them?" Mikoto asked, surprised.

"Teacher's orders," Shinho said with a resigned shrug, "What can a humble student like me do to object."

Mikoto nodded with a smile, understanding that Tsunade was likely preparing Shinho for future responsibilities. 

It was clear to her that Shinho would most likely be the next Hokage—a fortunate outcome for the Uchiha clan, considering their good relationship.

"If it's an order from Lady Hokage, then keep up the good work, Shinho," Mikoto encouraged him with a smile, raising her fist in a playful show of support.

Shinho, already familiar with her motherly style of encouragement, nodded with a smile and returned to the Hokage's office.

"Sensei, please try to maintain a little decorum," Shinho said, spotting Tsunade barefoot on the couch.

"Just focus on your duties," Tsunade replied, waving her hand dismissively, clearly uninterested.

Shinho grabbed a few documents from the desk. After sorting them, he set aside five that would need Tsunade's personal attention. For now, that meant they were his responsibility.

By afternoon, he'd finished processing the documents and handed them to Shikaku Nara for implementation.

Back in the Hokage's office, Tsunade sat up from the couch, standing barefoot on the floor. "I'll be teaching you the Shadow Clone Jutsu, now."

"Understood," Shinho nodded.

Though shadow clones couldn't summon Gu insects, learning the jutsu would still be useful in the future.

After explaining the theory and basics of the technique, Tsunade moved on to demonstrations.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu is a simple technique—it's a one-seal jutsu, only requiring the Snake seal," Tsunade said, crossing her hands in a single motion with her index and middle fingers.

With a puff of smoke, two identical Tsunades appeared before him.

"Got it?" she asked after dispelling the clones.

Instead of replying, Shinho formed the seal himself, and two clones appeared beside him a moment later.

"As expected," Tsunade said, nodding. "With your level of chakra control, most jutsu are easy for you."

Among basic jutsu, medical ninjutsu required the highest precision in chakra control, one reason medical ninjas were rare.

Shinho dispelled his clones. As he'd anticipated, shadow clones were unable to produce Gu insects.

To become a true Gu Master, one needed an "empty aperture." And to create that aperture, he would need a Hope Gu.

Without his Gu techniques, Shinho's Shadow Clone abilities were practically reduced by ninety percent, making him no more than an average medical ninja in combat.

"Alright, lesson's over—get back to work." Tsunade stretched her arms, her relaxed posture emphasizing her figure.

"The documents are already done," Shinho reminded her.

"Then it's time for reading." Tsunade walked over to the door and called out, "Yūgao!"

Yūgao Uzuki immediately appeared before her.

"Bring over the files Shizune organized yesterday," Tsunade instructed.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade," Yūgao replied, disappearing and quickly returning with a stack of papers.

Tsunade took the files and placed them on the Hokage's desk.

"The Will of Fire?" Shinho glanced at the top document, raising an eyebrow.

"To be Hokage, you must embody the Will of Fire," Tsunade said, patting the document.

"And have you?" Shinho asked, looking at her pointedly.

"Cough, cough." Tsunade avoided his gaze, muttering, "I'm the Hokage; naturally, I represent the Will of Fire."

"So, you haven't read it yet?" Shinho said slyly.

"Enough with the questions!" Tsunade glared at him, caught out, and then quickly retreated to the couch. "Just read it already. Why do you have so many questions?"

Once she'd settled on the couch, Tsunade waved him off, saying, "If you have any questions, ask me."

Shinho skimmed through the Will of Fire, then moved on to the next file: a document detailing Konoha's organizational structure and policies. He gave it an extra minute of attention.

His previous knowledge hinted that there were numerous issues within the setup. But making judgments on theoretical knowledge alone was tricky—managing shinobi wasn't like managing civilians.

For the next week, Shinho was absorbed in reading, covering all aspects of Konoha's inner workings until he felt he could practically guide the Akatsuki straight to the most vulnerable spots.

Once he'd finished, Tsunade produced another stack of files—this time, mission reports. But these weren't ordinary missions; each report held critical Konoha secrets.

For instance, there was a report on the Nine-Tails attack, revealing that during the incident, Danzo Shimura had ordered the Root Division to surround the Uchiha clan, forcing them to stay put.

One report, however, caught Shinho's eye—it was from a young Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage. 

In it, he, Choza Akimichi, and Shibi Aburame had undertaken a mission to seal the Ryūmyaku, or Dragon Vein, in Rōran.

Shinho's curiosity piqued.

The mission, based on an old film storyline, involved the Dragon Vein, a source of near-infinite chakra linked to the Earth's lifeforce and capable of manipulating time and space.

In the original timeline, Naruto, Sakura, and Sai, led by Yamato, traveled to Rōran to complete this mission. There, they encountered Mukade, a rogue ninja from Sunagakure, who sought to unseal the Dragon Vein and harness its power.

Upon breaking the seal, the Dragon Vein spiraled out of control, catapulting Mukade—and eventually Naruto and his team—back in time. Mukade assumed a new identity as Rōran's minister, ruling under the name "Anrokuzan." 

There, Naruto met a young Minato, Choza, and Shibi, and together, they defeated Mukade, sealing the Dragon Vein once more.

Judging from Team 7's lineup, this event had taken place after Sasuke's defection. In other words, sometime during the three-year timeskip.

The Dragon Vein's properties interested Shinho greatly. He'd read theories about its ability to manipulate time, speculating it might relate to the Flying Thunder God Technique. With an unlimited chakra source and time-space ninjutsu, reversing time could indeed be possible.

Moreover, the timeline shown in the film was not a parallel world but part of the same reality.

Shinho drifted into thought. According to the original storyline, the Chūnin Exams were followed by a long period of relative calm until three years later, when the Akatsuki activated the Eye of the Moon plan.

This would bring forth Pain, Madara, and Kaguya. 

Under normal circumstances, three years of training would likely allow him to reach a fourth-rank Gu Master level, though that might not be enough to tip the balance.

Perhaps… he could use the Dragon Vein to train in secret. It would be the perfect hideout for steady growth.

After all, there was also the matter of an achievement triggering for mastering the Dragon Vein. 

Shinho could already guess what the rewards might be.

In the blink of an eye, the month had slipped by. Tsunade had granted Shinho a single day off before the finals of the Chūnin Exams.

Of course, the main reason for his reprieve was that the month had passed without incident. Konoha remained surprisingly quiet, as though Orochimaru had vanished without a trace.

Tsunade was beginning to wonder if he'd given up on both Shinho and Sasuke. But knowing her former teammate, if he hadn't fled, he was likely scheming something significant.

At Training Ground Seven, a wooden training dummy was taking a serious beating as Hinata unleashed her Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms in one fluid attack.

In the original timeline, she would have mastered this move three years later. 

But with her new determination and Shinho's training, she'd reached the technique's advanced form ahead of schedule, though still unable to match Neji in prowess.

After all, Neji had already mastered Rotation. If he hadn't faced Naruto, he would have been the shock of the Chūnin Exams.

This also highlighted the limitations of the Byakugan and Gentle Fist, which had trouble elevating a user to the ranks of elite shinobi.

"Man, that's brutal!" Kiba muttered, his jaw clenched. "Akamaru, what do you say we directly surrender the day after tomorrow?"

"Woof! Woof!" Akamaru barked, baring his teeth.

"Fine, fine!" Kiba relented. "Victory or defeat, we're going down with dignity."

Akamaru suddenly turned his head, ears perked.

"Shinho?"

Hearing his name, Hinata stopped her training, and as she turned, her pale eyes lit up in surprise.

"Alright, take a ten-minute break," Yamato announced sympathetically.

"Hinata, I think Shinho's here for you," Shino Aburame whispered to Hinata, adjusting his sunglasses, and subtly nudging her forward.

Kiba also caught on, giving Shinho a casual wave from a distance as a greeting.

Hinata blushed, feeling both self-conscious and excited.

"Sh-Shinho-kun," she murmured shyly as she approached him, her hands clasped nervously in front of her.

"You've gotten strong, Hinata," Shinho said with a smile, having arrived early enough to watch her training.

"It's thanks to you, Shinho-kun," Hinata replied, sneaking a quick glance at him before lowering her gaze again.

"My doing?" Shinho shook his head. "It's the result of your own hard work."

Hinata's lips curved into a soft smile, feeling a gentle warmth at his compliment.

She felt proud, her efforts were acknowledged after all.

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