"I hope that you realize that I am not happy with your decision, Genma." Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage, said with a disapproving look directed towards the jōnin standing before him.
"I know sir, but I won't budge on my decision." The former bodyguard of the late fourth Hokage said with a shake of his head.
"If I am going to train a team, it has to be the team that I will teach the Hiraishin. Those three weren't that team." Genma said while chewing on the senbon in his mouth.
The Hokage could only sigh at the attitude the jōnin before him had and shared with the other jōnins that he had made instructors this year. They were all so demanding when it came to their teams. Kakashi wanted his team to have the Uchiha heiress and the daughter of his late sensei, Asuma wanted this generation's Ino Shika Cho and Kurenai wanted her team to have the Hyuuga heiress.
In his age the jōnin were happy to just have teams, there were no such ridiculous demands. Hiruzen himself had not cared when he had to teach a team with the spoiled granddaughter of the first Hokage, a pervert with no practical abilities and the single most antisocial boy he had ever met. He had even made each of them into Shinobis feared in all nations, even if he had somewhat dropped the ball with Orochimaru what with him becoming arguably the most wanted criminal in the world. Meh, two out of three wasn't that bad.
"You are expecting too much from a team that had just came together and were fresh out of the academy." He said with a disapproving look that was answered with a shrug.
He was starting to think that Genma was just spouting bullshit because he didn't want to teach.
"Did any of them had any talent at least?" He asked with a sigh, accepting that there were no chances of changing the man's mind. He might be the Hokage, but he couldn't actually order jōnin who had spent their lives honing their techniques to teach when they didn't want to; there would be riots.
"Yanagi Shingetsu, he wielded a katana and seemed quite a bit talented with it for a genin." Genma said with a shrug, just because he wouldn't accept the team didn't mean he would not acknowledge their talent.
"And now he is in the genin corps." Hokage deadpanned with a sigh. He would talk to some of the jōnin so that they would see exactly how talented he was, he didn't want to lose talent in genin corps. Hopefully, Hayate or Yugao would be more amenable than Genma. Konoha having some more sword masters would be nice.
He hoped that young Shingetsu would do okay until then.
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This was not okay. This was not okay at all!
How on earth did I actually failed to think about connection with moon may have ended up with me getting the attention of the maniac woman sealed in the moon! Oh yeah, the information defense I had. So how did this?
"Answer my question." Oh yeah, the rabbit goddess was waiting for an answer.
"I am Yanagi Shingetsu ma'am. I believe you are Otsutsuki Kaguya-sama, is that right?" I asked with a respectful bow, I didn't know if Kaguya could actually do anything at the moment, but I did not want to risk it.
"Hmm, I'm surprised. I had thought that my stupid sons would have done their best to erase my name from the canals of history." Kaguya said with an unreadable expression. Do not fail me; Covert, Performance and Communication talents!
"The wider world no longer knows about you, but my family made sure to remember the truth of the past." I said.
"To think that only one family would remember me. Tell me, how many centuries has passed since the betrayal of my sons?" The rabbit goddess asked.
"Kaguya-sama, it is sad to admit but… it has been at least a thousand years since your sealing." I said with a respectful tone and for the first time, an actual look of surprise appeared on Kaguya's face. Which was then replaced with something akin to despair.
"Over a thousand… I knew a long time had passed but…" she whispered out and even though I knew that she was technically behind every disaster that had happened in the world of Shinobi, I somewhat felt bad for her.
"Tell me, what state is the world in?" And then I told her.
"It is… not well. The world has been in a state of cold war for over a decade but there had been three world wide wars in the last century. That was after a time period of no ending conflict between clans." I said.
"Humph, so I was right about Hagoromo's idea of sharing chakra. I shall make things right after taking my chakra back." Oh boy, she did want that didn't she? That wouldn't do.
"I am… sorry to say this, Kaguya-sama. But it is no longer possible for us to live without chakra." I said, getting a blank look from Kaguya.
"What?"
"Throughout years, humanity has evolved with chakra; becoming more and more proficient in wielding it. In exchange, our bodies also became dependent on chakra, it is no longer possible for life to sustain itself without chakra." I said with a bow and then, I got a great idea. So I bowed my head.
"Please forgive us, after your sealing our people could not save your grandson from the shadow!"
"Shadow?" I did my best to not smirk at her confusion.
"Yes, some sort of dark monster that can possess people. The legends say that it was this shadow who corrupted your eldest grandson and created conflict between him and his brother, destroying Hagoromo's work towards peace." And, oh there it was. Anger, anger like no other appeared on Kaguya's face.
"Hagoromo's way to peace?" But it seemed that she was still not where I wanted her.
"Yes, after your sealing Otsutsuki Hagoromo shared chakra with the rest of humanity and allowed them to connect with each other. Creating a period of peace much like you had, my lady."
"And this… 'shadow', it destroyed the peace?"
"Yes. He created friction between the sons of Hagoromo, Indra and Ashura. If it was not for the shadow then humanity would still be in peace." I lied as easily as I breathed. People would have started going at each other's throats the moment Hagoromo kicked the bucket anyway.
"Tell me, who is this… 'shadow'?" Kaguya asked and I could feel ice cold wrath in her voice. Guess the rabbit goddess still cared for her family and being told that they were hurt by some 'monster' was not something she liked.
"I… am not sure if we ever knew the shadow's true name, Kaguya-sama. But we know of the name it used to approach your grandson." And then, I dropped the bomb.
"Zetsu." And dear lord in heaven, her look of shock was just delicious.