Chapter 73

Time passed as it inevitably does and Minato was granted the position of Hokage by the Third. Most of Konoha was happy with Minato for a Kage baring the Uchiha who had wanted Fugaku to be the Hokage and of-course Orochimaru who had wanted to be the Hokage.

Orochimaru felt betrayed when the Third chose Minato over him and made quite the scene by trashing his lab and scaring his assistants.

After Orochimaru's rage was quelled he fired all his assistants and had holed himself up in his lab. I tried to accompany him but he wasn't interested and I was promptly shooed out of his lab.

All in all, life was boring.

Safe but boring...

...

I had used my mother's 'sensor genes' as a base and adjusted them until I had a slightly different gene more suited to myself.

And after months of training, I now could sense chakra...

Sensing wasn't passive like I thought it was, or at least it wasn't for most people.

Sensing required concentration to use, sometimes even needing hand-seals for those who were unskilled.

Sensors could also sense other sensors who were sensing. Making sensing even more worthless than it already was for someone who had a Byakugan.

It was a welcome addition to my arsenal even if I probably wouldn't be using it all that often. I had my Byakugan which provided a far clearer picture of what was happening, my sensing was limited to a single kilometer so it probably wouldn't see much use.

It was a bit of a bummer.

But I could easily change the gene or genes and swap it out if I found a more useful one...

Like Karin's Mind's Eye of the Kagura

"Hmmm..." I hummed at the thought.

Even if I gained her weird sensing genes, I probably wouldn't be able to use them effectively. It would take countless hours of training to make use of it and countless more to become truly proficient.

And even then, my Byakugan would likely increase in range making it useless.

I might be better off focusing on passive close-range sensing...

It would prevent people from sneaking up on me...

And that's all I wanted from sensing in the first place...

...

I found myself in a tree and staring at our mission targets. It was how most missions that had killing ended up.

Every-time someone needed to die, I ended up in a tree one way or another. It was almost predictable at this point.

"I don't feel like slaughtering some helpless bandits today." Isami gestured to said bandits, who were gathered around a fire after a long day of pillaging and raping.

"Sorry, my most youthful friend! But neither am I!" Gai added from the base of the tree while doing handstand push-ups.

I remained silent and alternated my gaze between the both of them. I didn't want to kill the bandits either, I had just gotten new clothes and wasn't in a hurry to damage them.

"I took this mission because you guys wanted to do one." I pursed my lips and stared at Isami as she was the one in my line of sight. I didn't want to do all the work on a mission that I didn't want to go on in the first place.

"Will you do it, please?" Isami blinked in what she thought was a cute and innocent manner.

But it was hard to find anything she did cute when the picture of her burning ten men alive was vividly printed in my brain.

"Sure." I turned away from her and stared down at the bandits.

They were mostly normal humans but they were led by a Jonin and his two Chunin henchmen. Which was why this mission was A-Ranked.

"Well..." I said while dropping from the tree. "You know what they say." I started running through hand-seals. "If you want something dead, drown it in flames." I finished my seventh hand seal and inhaled.

And exhaled a literal sea of flames.

The bandit camp was drowned in flame, the surroundings weren't spared by the flames and added to the super-hot fire.

I stared at the destruction I had birthed. It was beautiful and horrifying. The poor bandits hadn't even had time to scream.

Fire Ninjutsu was only for destroying, it had no other purpose in the Naruto-verse.

"What Jutsu was that?" Isami tugged at my sleeve, pulling me from my thoughts. "Can you teach me?"

I ignored her and turned my eyes to Gai who had stopped his workout and was looking solemnly into the fire.

"It's called Great Fire Destruction." Which was an apt name. "And if you can book training ground zero hen sure."

The Anbu hogged the training grounds where big Jutsu were practiced. So, training ground zero was the only one I could use to practice big Fire Jutsu as it was eighty-percent lake.

Apparently, it became a lake because of the second Hokage. But that wasn't a story I knew.

"Weren't we supposed to capture the leader?" Gai pointed at the still-burning sea of flames.

I stared blankly ahead and stayed silent. I hadn't paid attention to the briefing and had missed the part about capturing the leader.

"Ah." I nodded slowly. "Oops..." Isami exhaled heavily while Gai continued staring into the flames.

This was going to be one of those missions that I'd look back on with fondness.

But right now, I felt incredibly stupid...

...

Slap*

"How's life?" I slapped Keiji on the back causing him to fumble with the flask he was trying to sneakily sip from.

"It was good until you started fucking bothering me." He grunted while slipping the flash into a pocket. "My kid's mom has been giving me hell but it's been fine otherwise."

I nodded languidly. That was how my past father talked, it brought back memories I'd rather not dwell on.

"Ah, that's how it is." I shrugged. "Just don't fight with her, it will make everything easier."

Keiji rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Whatever you say, kid."

I shrugged again, not bothered that he ignored my advice. I wouldn't listen to a twelve-year-old either. So, I couldn't fault him for dismissing my advice.

"Still working in the hospital?" I changed the subject, as neither of us was interested in continuing.

Keiji nodded with gritted teeth.

"Yea, can't fucking leave the place."

Keiji was a little too unstable to do anything other than hospital work. He couldn't be trusted on missions as he would probably run straight into the enemy, ignoring any orders.

"Want to go on a mission then?"

I threw the offer out there. I could make sure Keiji stayed alive and had some fun. It would probably be entertaining, and it would eat up some of my time.

"As much as I like the sound of that, it's probably not a good idea." Keiji grimaced.

"Hmmm..." I just hummed and shook my head. I liked the idea in my head but it wouldn't be as fun as I imagined it being anyways.

"If you say so." I tilted my neck and it released a satisfying crack. "Alright, I'll see you around."

I sent Keiji a wave and he sent one back.

"Cya kid."

I nodded and left the Kage tower. It was good to see Keiji, it had been a while and I had been wondering what came of him.

...

"So, you want to make 'super orphans' and seed the orphanages with them" Minato summed up my plan with a mere thirteen words. It wasn't quite how I would have worded it...

But he also wasn't wrong, I wanted to seed Konoha with 'superhuman' orphans. They would be made from a multitude of different genes, making what was essentially artificial bloodlines.

"Yep." I popped the 'p' and blinked at the look Minato was giving me. It wasn't unfriendly or negative in any way. It seemed like he was deep in thought and not dismissing my idea right off the bat.

Minato drummed his fingers on the desk and stared at me. I shifted uneasily. A word from Minato could have me killed. I was taking a pretty big risk in revealing some cards here, but I was willing to do so.

"Why?" Minato spoke, making me slightly more nervous.

I blinked stupidly at him.

"Can you be more specific?" Vague questions like that were meant to make people nervously stammer and reveal more than they originally planned to.

It was best I let him be specific, I didn't want to bumble my way into a verbal trap.

"Why are you trying to strengthen Konoha?" Minato stared into my eyes and I shifted uneasily again.

Minato was doing a good job at pressuring me. Asking unexpected questions was a good way to throw someone off.

"I plan on staying here for the rest of my life." Which was true. Originally, I planned to jump ship and join the Akatsuki. But now I had people I liked and people I didn't feel comfortable abandoning. "Increasing Konoha's strength is in my best interest." I paused and tore my eyes away from Minato's.

Strengthening the village was in my best interest if I wanted a better future...

"Having strong allies will ensure the safety of my friends and family should they fight side by side." I wanted to slowly strengthen Konoha's gene pool. Little by little every generation would be better than the last. "It's not a selfless desire to strengthen Konoha that drives me, but the desire for safety for my friends and family."

Eventually, we'd bulldoze the other countries in terms of base strength and talent. It would just take a few generations.

"Think of it like the clans selective breeding." I tapped my chin trying to figure out how to better sell my idea. "Over the next few generations, our ninja's will be stronger and better, while passing on those traits to the next generations."

There was silence in the office and I started feeling nervous again.

"Don't wear that hat, it makes you look silly." I killed the silence with a poorly thought-out comment.

Insulting the Hokage was probably a bad idea.

"How many children would you 'make' and what would you need?" Minato slumped slightly, and the serious atmosphere disappeared from the office.

I blinked in surprise. My idea was being considered.

It was more then I expected.

"I just need lots of women willing to carry a child. They can keep them or they can put them in the orphanage." I rubbed my face, feeling slightly stressed at the thought of purposefully creating orphans. "The more willing women we have the more super children we can make."

"Hmmm..." Minato hummed. "I'll look into it. Do you need anything else?"

I shook my head and Minato waved me out. I made my way out and stood in the hallway for a moment.

That was so much more successful then I thought it would be. I had expected my idea to be shot down, and to be put under watch.

But my plan to make super children was a go. Hopefully soon though.

The sooner I started, the sooner I could produce results.

...

My clone had taken over most of my day to day activities, so while he was out training Isami, I got to hide in my lair like a goblin and work on whatever caught my interest.

My current interest is making a Fuinjutsu lightsaber. The making of the hilt wasn't the problem, I already had ten of those commissioned.

The problem was containing the Lightning without stopping me from hitting things with my lightsaber.

I had to contain the lightning and allow things to pass through the containment while containing the lightning.

It was lots of fun and had breathed life into my inner weeb.

Making semi-useless props using Fuinjutsu was now my hobby. Sadly, Overwriting farm animals was taking up a lot of my time, so I couldn't hide in the basement and make cool things all day.

"Shiro." I blinked and turned to Minato who had invaded my lab.

He was the one who did all the Fuinjutsu on the house, so I had expected him to intrude at some point.

"No, I'm busy." I shooed him away with my hand and turned back to my lightsaber.

This was my free time, and I didn't like Minato enough to spend any of said time with him.

"Your plants have been harvested and I've heard the results were extremely good."

I stopped fiddling with my lightsaber and glanced back at Minato who was now leaning against the doorframe, silly hat, and all.

"The flames are cool." I gestured to his new attire. "Good choice."

Minato nodded amicably and stayed silent.

"So, what did you want?" The crops were out of my hands and a non-issue. They could be replanted and harvested without my input. "I'm not needed now that you've got the seeds."

Minato stared off into space for a moment before gathering himself.

"If I let you make 'super orphans' as you called them." Minato paused again and drummed his fingers on his arms. "We need to make sure that no-one knows of the children and that they aren't treated any differently."

"The process also has to be sufficiently safe so neither the child nor mother are put at risk." Minato stopped drumming his fingers and stared at me deeply. "You wanted them to be marked or have distinct traits so they can be easily tracked and monitored?"

I nodded. That was the plan. All genetically modified children would have a distinct eye color, making them easily recognizable

"What traits are you changing about the 'super orphans'?"

I blinked as Minato hadn't continued talking about the distinct traits, I wanted them to have. I had thought we'd talk about that...

"Chakra reserves, chakra density, blood type, bone density, muscle composition, pain tolerance, love of physical activity, personality traits, hair and eye color, and possibly intelligence." I quickly ran through the things I wanted to change or add to them without being too specific. "I'd also like to make them taller, more attractive, and fertile." I quickly added before Minato spoke.

Minato frowned at me and shook his head.

"I want a complete list of intended changes. I will approve or deny them."

I frowned back at him. I had hoped I'd get the go-ahead, but it seems Minato was putting more thought into genetic engineering than the Third did.

He gave me the go-ahead without even thinking about it...

"No problem." I shrugged. "Is that all?"

Minato nodded.

"For now." He nodded at me and disappeared in a yellow flash.

"Sigh..." I sighed heavily, both in relief and annoyance.

With Minato's oversite I probably wouldn't be allowed to mess around with personality traits. Intelligence and fertility might also get nixed...

Which was probably for the better...

I shouldn't be messing around with personality traits...

That was bound to be a disaster.

"At least there's thought put into it..." I spoke to myself and stared at my palms.

Was it right for me to manipulate life?

It was a question that I was a little too late to answer. I had already made different modified animals. There was no point considering it now.

I was already too far in...

...

"A lot of genetic manipulation is swapping one gene for another." I made a hand-sign and projected a mental DNA model to Aomi via Genjutsu. "It's easy to swap a crappy gene for a better gene, it's much harder to make a crappy gene into a better gene."

The amount of knowledge and skill you needed to make a gene better was stupid. I would rather just swap a fully working better gene from someone else and not risk making a mistake.

"DNA and genes are just instructions on how to make your body. Swapping out genes is just swapping out instructions for other better instructions." The problem was, sometimes all the instructions didn't mesh. "You can disable genes by mutating the gene or taking the gene away entirely." Aomi raised an eyebrow and I shrugged.

"Mutating the gene sometimes makes it inert or useless, and removing the gene removes the 'instructions' from the equation." I ended the Genjutsu and rubbed my eyes. "DNA that has been edited is officially called recombinant-DNA."

Which pretty much meant non-natural-DNA.

"There's also Gene Cloning." Aomi stared at me dully. "Gene Cloning is self-explanatory. You need more then one gene so that if you mess up you still have the gene."

I returned Aomi's stare causing her to look away.

"There is of course Gene Splicing, DNA Indexing, DNA Analysis, and DNA Overwrite. Most of which you've seen me use or have used yourself." Aomi was already getting into splicing, analysis, and indexing so I didn't need to explain them. "Overwriting is just using Fuinjutsu to do most of the work on an already grown person, it does lots of splicing and cloning."

Aomi looked bored.

"It's pretty much just copying edited DNA inserted into the Fuinjutsu and applying it onto a body." I summed it up as best as I could. "That's what we'll be using, write it down and stare at it until you memorize it. Then we'll get into the fun stuff."

The fun stuff was learning what genes did what...

"We'll get into using the techniques after you learn how to make the indexing and analysis seals." Some mediocre seal work and amazing chakra control were all you needed to manipulate life. "After you can consistently make the seals we'll start on splicing and Overwrites."

Aomi smiled and nodded, I shook my head and rubbed my face.

I didn't like teaching...

...