Naruto: Reborn with the Tenseigan

Sarutobi Santou glanced at the snowflakes mixed in with the rain as he stepped into the wooden hut, closing the door behind him.

Takashi took out two bottles of fruit wine from the village, inviting Sarutobi Santou to take a seat.

"Everywhere else has already turned into a blanket of snow. Only the Land of Rain's unique geography has spared it from being covered. Still, sleet like this will make the temperature even colder."

"I didn't expect you to have something nice like this on hand. Pity it's not sake."

Santou took the opened bottle and downed a couple of gulps. The only downside was that the fruit wine was rather light, more like a drink than an actual alcoholic beverage.

Takashi took a sip of the fruit wine, joking to himself, "I'm still young, not quite old enough for drinking yet."

Sarutobi Santou was taken aback, but after a few seconds, he burst out laughing.

"If you hadn't said so, I'd have almost forgotten you're not even fourteen yet. Quite impressive. When I was fourteen, I was just a Chunin, tagging along behind my sensei on missions, getting scolded constantly."

Hearing this, Takashi smiled as well and then delivered a straightforward question.

"Captain Santou, would you care to explain why you've been circling around me this whole time? Are you secretly protecting me, or monitoring me?"

The laughter abruptly ceased. Sarutobi Santou, who had just been drinking fruit wine and munching on roasted meat, froze with the bottle still in mid-air. He looked at Takashi with a startled expression, hesitated for a moment, then forced a bitter smile.

"I didn't expect you'd notice."

"Then, Captain Santou, could you enlighten me a bit?" Takashi didn't bother explaining how he had figured it out.

Setting the bottle on the table, Sarutobi Santou sighed helplessly.

"Before I came here, the Hokage specifically asked me to protect you in secret. Originally, I wasn't even on the rotation list for this mission."

"Captain Kobayashi also knows about my secret mission, so most of the camp patrol duties are personally led by him, while my role is primarily to stay stationed at the camp and prevent any accidents."

This also explained why Captain Kobayashi, as the commander, had to personally lead patrols while Vice Captain Sarutobi Santou could stay back at the camp.

Protecting?

Sarutobi Santou didn't seem to be lying. But why would the Third Hokage pick someone from his clan, a Jonin no less, and insert him into the rotation just to protect him?

Did the Third Hokage foresee that he would be assassinated?

Linking the limited clues together, Takashi realized that his inclusion in the camp's rotation list was likely not a stroke of bad luck but a deliberate choice.

However, the decision to select personnel for the rotation ultimately rested with the Third Hokage. So, why did the Third Hokage choose to send him here and also assign someone to protect him?

Wouldn't it have been simpler not to let him leave the village if they wanted to protect him?

So perhaps it wasn't the Third Hokage who insisted on his inclusion in the list; it was someone else who wanted him here. And the Third Hokage, not wanting anything to happen to him, arranged for protection.

Who could be targeting him?

The Elders?

Unlikely. The Elders shared the same stance as the Third Hokage, and he hadn't done anything to offend them.

That left Danzo Shimura!!

Being stripped of his position as the Hokage's Advisor—that would leave anyone feeling resentful, let alone someone like Danzo Shimura, who was both petty and ambitious.

Given the previous warning, Danzo wouldn't dare act against him in the village. Under such circumstances, if Danzo still wanted revenge, the only way would be to get him out of the village.

Hence, Takashi's name ended up on the rotation list.

How would Danzo make his move?

Takashi was the camp's only medical-nin, and he wouldn't leave the camp easily. Plus, there were dozens of other ninjas in the camp—trying to kill him under the watch of so many would be no easy task.

"Looks like I'll be relying on you quite a bit from now on, Vice Captain."

"It's my duty, as long as there are no misunderstandings." Santou looked awkward. Being tasked with secret protection, only to be found out within days—that was embarrassing.

A failure. A complete failure.

Assigned to secretly protect a medical ninja, only to be immediately discovered—if word got out, Sarutobi Santou's reputation would be ruined.

After a hearty meal, filled with frustration, Sarutobi Santou slinked out of the medical tent, feeling defeated.

Takashi walked to the fire, staring through the crack in the door at the dark night outside. After a long while, he returned to the table, took out a sealing scroll, and retrieved some materials and a dead crow.

It was a bird he'd caught on the way to the camp, and he planned to turn it into a puppet for sending messages.

Takashi had originally intended to create puppets during the New Year, to send greetings to Tsunade, Kushina, and the others. But now it seemed they'd have to be put to use ahead of schedule.

With materials prepared, Takashi took out his tools and skillfully began working on the crow's corpse.

Once the bird's body was ready, he inserted various components and a puppet core, then infused it with the unique chakra of the Tenseigan.

"Caw!!"

The once lifeless crow suddenly blinked its eyes, jumped up from the table, and began hopping back and forth.

Takashi took out a pen and a special message scroll, wrote down the recent happenings at the camp, set up an encrypted code, then attached the small scroll to the crow's leg, instructing it to fly to Konoha.

The puppet crow, with the scroll in tow, took off into the pitch-black sky, flying through the rain towards Konoha.

Takashi controlled the crow's direction and route, ensuring there would be no mistakes in delivering the message to the right place, to the right person.

The crow flew swiftly, crossing the border of the Land of Rain in a matter of hours, finally landing at the Senju ancestral home, hopping toward Tsunade's location.

Once in position, the crow pecked twice at the glass.

Tsunade woke from her sleep, flipping up and opening the window, grabbing the puppet crow on the sill.

"Whose summoned beast brought a scroll to me?"

Thankfully, she didn't use too much force; otherwise, she would have realized the crow wasn't a summoned beast at all but a puppet.

She untied the hairband on the crow's head, bound its wings, and tossed it aside, switching on the light to examine the scroll.

The scroll needed a password to open.

Tsunade was instantly annoyed. She didn't even know who had sent the scroll—without a password, how was she supposed to open it?

"T?"

Turning the scroll over, Tsunade noticed a single character written on it: T.

Could it be a message from Takashi?

Then the password must be…

Suddenly, Tsunade had a thought. Her delicate face instantly darkened, and she cursed under her breath, "Hyuga Takashi, you'd better watch out when you get back!"

Two-five-zero!

The password worked.

"Damn it!"

Tsunade cursed aloud.

The other day at the casino, she had lost all her money, down to just a couple of coins, which, when counted, totaled two hundred and fifty. Takashi had laughed at her several times because of it.

And now he'd used that number as the password—wasn't this just rubbing salt in her wounds?

Hyuga Takashi!

Even when sending a message, he found a way to poke fun at her?

When he gets back, he's dead meat!!

Suppressing her fury, Tsunade opened the scroll, and after reading a few lines, her anger towards Takashi vanished. Or rather, it was redirected—straight at Danzo.

"Danzo, you've really outdone yourself."

Cursing quietly, Tsunade took the scroll and went to find Uzumaki Mito.

Awoken in the middle of the night, Uzumaki Mito wasn't in the best spirits. But after reading the scroll her granddaughter handed her, she knew Tsunade wouldn't stand by and do nothing.

"Little Tsunade, what do you want to do? Do you need Grandma's help?"

"Granny, I need a letter sent to the Daimyo's residence. I plan to visit the Daimyo myself."

"Of course, it makes sense to visit, especially with the New Year approaching," Uzumaki Mito agreed, fully supportive of her granddaughter's decision.