Chapter 47: Thoughts on Kekkei Genkai
"The situation in Kirigakure has more or less been investigated by Danzo. As we suspected, it's a mess over there..."
Inside the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke with a troubled expression, relaying the intel Danzo had sent back.
Though he had anticipated as much, actually reading about the chaos engulfing Kirigakure—one of the villages considered equal to Konoha—still gave him a sense of unease.
"And according to Jiraiya's intel, that mysterious organization is being employed by the Mizukage. Which means you two..."
Despite his uneasiness, Hiruzen remained patient as he explained the situation. But midway through, he couldn't help feeling a vein on his forehead twitching.
Because standing before him—Jiraiya and Kakashi—were both completely spacing out, clearly not listening to a word he said.
Seriously? This is a top-level intelligence meeting.
Weren't you both insisting on going to Kirigakure to investigate?
Then why are you two looking so lost right now?
"Ahem..."
Hiruzen gave a light cough, trying to nudge the two back to reality.
But even that didn't seem to work. Watching them still lost in thought, he felt a tic form on his forehead.
"Hey! You two, pull yourselves together! What are you doing?! Do you even realize how ridiculous you look right now?"
"Uh..."
Finally, Jiraiya and Kakashi snapped out of it, both looking a bit embarrassed.
They had to admit—they hadn't been paying attention at all.
"What's going on with you two?"
Seeing them finally respond, Hiruzen sighed and asked, genuinely confused.
"What's with you both acting like this?"
"Lord Hokage, it's... well..."
Kakashi glanced at Jiraiya, but ultimately decided he should be the one to explain.
"It's Gen. He..."
"Gen?"
The moment that name was mentioned, Hiruzen perked up.
He had always been fond of Kitagawa Gen. Despite being rather unlucky—running into Jūzō Biwa and Uchiha Itachi during a mission, then possibly Tobi upon returning, and later even encountering someone with the Shikotsumyaku bloodline while assisting Jiraiya in tracking Orochimaru—Gen had managed to overcome all of it.
That alone was proof of his extraordinary potential and ability.
But still—this kid had a serious talent for stirring up trouble.
There was that one time he cooked an entire pot of poisonous mushroom soup and, in the process, taught Naruto a heartfelt lesson about respecting elders. That part was good.
But then what?
Then he just walked away and left it?
Even now, Hiruzen couldn't shake the image of those multicolored mushrooms bubbling ominously in the pot...
"What did that kid do this time?"
"He..."
Kakashi paused for a moment, then said seriously,
"It seems... he's learned the Flying Thunder God Technique."
"Hmm... Hm?!"
As if trying to calm himself, Hiruzen nodded slowly and reached for his smoking pipe.
But just as he struck a match to light it, his hand froze mid-air, his eyes widening in shock.
"The Flying Thunder God? He learned it?"
"That's right, old man. That kid seems to have mastered it."
Seeing Hiruzen's stunned expression, Jiraiya added his own astonishment.
"Just now, right in front of us, the kid not only formed the seal for the Flying Thunder God—he used it.
That kind of technique, that kind of teleportation... even if it was rough around the edges, I couldn't be mistaken. It was definitely the Flying Thunder God."
He stopped there, the moment still fresh in his mind—a shock he hadn't expected.
"Exactly, Lord Hokage," Kakashi nodded, falling into silence again, replaying the scene in his mind.
"He's really... learned the Flying Thunder God?"
---
Hiruzen Sarutobi's body had gone rigid, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Even though he heard Jiraiya's comment that Kitagawa Gen's Flying Thunder God technique was still unrefined, the real question was—how long had this kid even had access to it?
And just how difficult was the Flying Thunder God?
At that moment, Hiruzen finally understood how Jiraiya and Kakashi felt. If it were him in their shoes, he probably wouldn't be able to focus on any intel reports either.
"This kid…"
He slowly stood up, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
Walking over to the window, he looked out at the massive Hokage Rock towering over the village. After a long pause, he murmured to himself,
"Konoha is going to be in good hands…"
A gentle breeze swept through the trees, leaves rustling softly in the wind. But Hiruzen's expression grew slightly troubled as he pursed his lips.
"If only his personality were more like Minato's…"
Surprisingly, Jiraiya and Kakashi both nodded in agreement at that sentiment.
---
After Jiraiya and Kakashi hurried off, Kitagawa Gen simply decided to head home as well.
Their sudden departure, combined with the mission Gen had recently been briefed on, made it pretty clear—Kirigakure was about to make a move.
In fact, the reason he revealed his Flying Thunder God ability was precisely because of that—if he wanted to deal a serious blow to Obito, he needed to prove he had the power to do so.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have accepted such a mission. There's no point in fighting if he couldn't even protect himself.
"The only problem now," Gen muttered, "is that Hiruzen might not let me go. Looks like I'll need to work on persuading him…"
He understood that if he hadn't shown off his mastery of the Flying Thunder God, he probably wouldn't have even qualified for the mission. But ironically, because he showed it, Hiruzen might now see him as too valuable to risk.
Protecting valuable talent—yeah, it happened all the time. Gen sighed at the thought.
"Guess I'll focus on finishing Kakashi's personal mission first."
As he walked home, the streets of Konoha were quiet. Probably because it was a workday—he hadn't even run into Naruto.
But that was fine. It gave him some peace to think over his next steps, especially his power development plans.
"The bone structure absorbs chakra pretty slowly, and progress is crawling. But my eyes…"
Gen could feel it—his eyes were reaching their limit.
Lately, they'd been absorbing and nurturing chakra at an increasing pace, like a final sprint before some kind of transformation. Once that peak passed, things would likely slow again.
And when that happened… his new eyes would finally awaken.
He was fairly certain what they'd become—Byakugan. After all, that was practically the signature of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
"Besides, no matter what kind of energy I absorb, it always seems to distill into the purest form and strengthen the Ōtsutsuki bloodline."
He mumbled to himself, half-suspecting that his bloodline was actually regressing—returning to a more primitive form of the Ōtsutsuki.
Maybe even a stage before they evolved the Byakugan.
But of course, that was all just speculation. No one really knew what the original Ōtsutsuki even looked like.
"Once the eyes are done, it'll be my body. But even then, I won't be able to advance much further without gathering more power. Like…"
Kekkei Genkai.
The tailed beasts.
Indra and Asura's powers.
Gen wasn't aiming to become some mediocre version of an Ōtsutsuki—he wanted to wield god-tier strength, like the kind granted by the chakra fruit.
So naturally, he wouldn't let any of those sources of power slip by.
The tailed beasts were out of reach for now. Naruto might be right there in the village, but... it wasn't like Gen had the guts to go after him.
Maybe that guy "Sora" was a safer test subject?
"But even then, that's just one beast—not nearly enough. And I'm still just a genin, I can't take on missions alone."
So, he figured it'd be smarter to shift focus—for now—toward Kekkei Genkai.
In the shinobi world, aside from fixed bloodlines like Uchiha, Senju, Hyūga, and Kaguya, most Kekkei Genkai were born from chakra fusion.
And Gen's chakra control? It was practically second nature by now.
With that kind of advantage, he had a real shot.
Of course, chakra fusion was notoriously risky. That's why there were so few Kekkei Genkai users in the entire ninja world.
But if he could fight them—engage directly—he might be able to feel the ratio of chakra fusion and use that to replicate it.
"Even if I don't gain anything from the missions themselves, just analyzing their chakra in battle might be enough."
After all, they didn't call him the new generation Copy Ninja for nothing.
And conveniently enough, while Kirigakure may have a long history of persecuting Kekkei Genkai users, they sure seemed to have a lot of them.
"Looks like…"
Gen glanced up toward the Hokage's office, his eyes narrowing with a small grin.
"…I've got yet another reason to go."
---