Naruto: The Kage of Kages

"Shiki, pay attention and listen closely." Mito spoke with seriousness in her mature and still gentle tone.

The boy shook himself out of his excited rambling, realizing he was talking way too much and revealing things he shouldn't be revealing.

'Then again, chakra seems to promote early physical and mental development with the Third Hokage even claiming in the series that a five year old Itachi had the mindset of a Hokage.' He thought to himself.

Shiki truly doubted Itachi had the necessary judgment that early, even if he was smart enough, especially considering future events but the key point is that even if abnormal, his maturity would not be unheard of.

'Not like I'm that mature anyway.' He internally shrugged.

"Shiki!" Mito called out to him again, louder this time.

"Yes Mito-sama." The boy finally fully focused on his mistress and her words.

"This jutsu you have created, it breaks several conventions of the shinobi world. Should its details become known, countless individuals and organizations will try anything to get it and its creator."

Mito solemnly warned.

"Prodigies being targeted is nothing new and I have no doubt you realize this as well but the potential of your jutsu as well as your jutsu development talent as its creator would make you into a hot potato everyone wants but would have trouble holding onto." The redhead explained.

"And since they know holding onto me is too hard, they will just make sure no one else can." Shiki completed the reasoning.

The Uzumaki matriarch gravely nodded.

'I did not think the benefits of the technique would trigger such a catastrophic level of attention and I was right but . . . The lack of any demerit whatsoever along with said benefits which are enough to justify bearing heavy costs . . .' The boy pondered.

Truly, thinking about it more carefully , he realized just how outrageous that jutsu would seem to other shinobi, especially since the Otsutsuki nonsense was still far away.

Not only that, Shiki's jutsu was something most shinobi could learn, the effectiveness of the jutsu would vary greatly but it could enhance a village's power as a whole which made it infinitely more valuable.

After all, since Hashirama and Madara were dead and extremely weakened at this time, until Naruto's era came around, the time where a single powerful shinobi can unilaterally decide the outcome of a war was over.

"Well, when I master this jutsu it will be permanently active so others will just think that is my actual baseline since there are no real indications of the jutsu's use." Shiki said after some thought.

Closing her eyes while pondering on the matter as well, Mito swiftly reached a similar conclusion.

"True, without a baseline to compare, your body and chakra will just be unusually active which is more likely to be seen as an inherent trait just like my Uzumaki clan has a strong lifeforce." The redhead declared.

"Great, so other than Mito-sama, I'll not be revealing this jutsu to anyone for the time being." Shiki swiftly concluded the matter with a bright expression, showing his trust in her..

"Alright, we will do it like so then." Mito shook her head in exasperation at his antics though happy with his trust.

The fact that Shiki had no issues with keeping his jutsu secret further confirming the redhead's suspicion that the boy liked developing jutsu for its sake but even when using them himself, he had no problem hiding his discoveries because he did not care for unneeded fame.

"So what about that new trick you pulled today?" The Uzumaki matriarch arrived at the final topic of the conversation.

She thought herself shocked enough that anything further would no longer rattle her but Shiki seemed intent on unwittingly proving her wrong.

The sun had completely set while dinnertime came and went. Neither Mito nor Shiki seemed to feel the hunger though and the servants had been previously told by the Uzumaki matriarch not to bother the two of them until called.

As such, their conversation continued unhindered deep into the night.

"The jutsu I used today was actually the one that led to my first meeting with Mito-sama." Shiki said, now looking at the event with some endearment.

Mito shared that feeling though the boy working on that dangerous jutsu again so soon after the incident made her wonder if a little punishment for recklessness was in order.

The redhead's look made a shiver run up Shiki's spine but realizing the cause, the boy deftly moved the conversation along to move his mistress' focus to matters more to his liking.

"I had previously said it was a kind of self hypnosis and that's basically it. It removes unnecessary thoughts and deadens emotion, increasing focus and thought processing speed while preventing emotion from hampering action." Shiki explained.

"The extreme focus and thought speed make minute control of one's body and chakra quite simple and because of the muted emotions, things like fear or anger, while still present to a degree, cannot compromise the ability to act." The boy revealed.

"And that's why your fear and natural self preservation instinct no longer made you act out in the face of my attacks. The deadened emotion also made reading your intent much harder until you actually started moving . . ." Mito muttered.

The significance of Shiki's jutsu began sinking in.

'If this jutsu can be mastered, a large part of shinobi mental training becomes superfluous. The kind of steel mind that can only be forged in countless live battles can be emulated by talented but inexperienced shinobi.' She began thinking.

'Most shinobi casualties occur in the first few battles of one's career due to mental problems induced by the stresses of combat but with this, the first few battles could be cleared with the recruits processing the experience after combat was over and the jutsu deactivated.'

The Uzumaki matriarch was already seeing the tremendous impact the Shiki's new jutsu could have, it could even become a basis for the development of mental conditioning jutsu.

'Can't this boy make anything normal!?' She thought with exasperation.

Thankfully, this time there were caveats.

"There are still two major issues with the jutsu though." Shiki claimed.

"Oh?" Mito was intrigued.

'Perhaps this one, while still great, will have drawbacks that make it less dangerous a creation than the previous one.

"First, there is the massive consumption of mental energy. I still haven't figured out how to stop myself from subconsciously resisting my own jutsu, this conflict results in rapid mental exhaustion but I'm confident I can solve it soon." The boy explained.

'This is not even an issue!' Mito inwardly exclaimed, trying to stop her face from twitching.

She had taken the consumption of mental strength as a given but it seemed that was just a side effect from the jutsu being incomplete.

Mito's worries were returning but this time they were unfounded.

"The real issue is that I have no idea how to teach this jutsu." Shiki said.

The redhead was shocked yet relieved by the statement.

"Why?" She inquired.

"It's like trying to explain the feeling of hearing to a person born deaf. I felt my way around into creating this jutsu rather than actually developing it. Although I'll perfect it the usual way with training, I don't think I can ever teach the foundational part." The boy shared his disappointment.

Mito however was relieved.

"That is fine. For a shinobi prodigy like you, having a jutsu no one else can do is most fitting." The redhead declared.

"Well . . . When Mito-sama puts it that way . . ." Shiki found the Uzumaki matriarch's way of looking at it much more pleasing than his so he promptly decided to adopt it.

Mito then suddenly clapped her hands.

"The technical discussion is now over so let us move on to your punishment for recklessness."

The redhead's smile was bright and calm as usual but Shiki felt its diabolic undertones.

Alas! There was no escape.

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