"Yes." Gato wiped the sweat from his brow and hurriedly accepted the order before leaving. Indeed, as one of the Five Kage, Uchiha Seiryu had the power to shape the very structure of the continent.
In the days that followed, the newcomer mother-daughter pair of Karin and her mother gradually settled into their new lives after meeting their current clan head. Uzumaki Anri's health was personally attended to by Tsunade, while Karin was arranged by Seiryu to join Naruto's class.
As a result, Naruto's nightly lessons in sealing techniques gained a new classmate.
But as Karin studied alongside them, she soon became somewhat dissatisfied with her clan head.
"Are you really the head of the Uzumaki clan?" she asked Naruto, who was scratching his head over a dual-polarity sealing technique.
"Don't talk! I'm almost done!" Naruto was clearly too preoccupied to answer, pouring all his focus into maintaining the technique on his sealing scroll.
"You put it in the wrong place!" Karin said, facepalming as she watched Naruto fumble with the scroll.
Sure enough, the next instant, Naruto's chakra tore the scroll apart. By now, a small mountain of ruined scrolls had piled up beside him.
Naruto dejectedly pushed the failed scrolls aside and pulled out a fresh one.
"Why did Teacher Seiryu assign me the task of teaching you the dual-polarity seal?" Karin said, nearly at her wits' end. "And it's clearly so simple! Why can't you learn it?"
"I really want to learn!" Naruto replied, cheeks puffed out in frustration. "But every time I'm just a little bit off, what can I do?"
"Sigh, if not for your freakish healing ability, I'd really doubt you were one of us," Karin remarked. "Not only is your hair color different from mine and my mom's, but your sealing technique is terrible."
"Never mind, let's try again," Karin said. "You are my clan head, after all."
"Please!" Naruto perked up, pulling out another blank scroll. "If you help me, after class I'll treat you to ramen."
In school, Karin had actually gotten along pretty well with Naruto, Sasuke, and the others.
When Karin first arrived, her hair color drew mockery—just like Kushina back in the day. But soon enough, those who mocked her were met with the iron fist of the Seven Star Cub. Naruto seemed genuinely intent on being a good clan head, protecting his people. Usually cheerful with everyone, he never hesitated to throw hands at those who mocked Karin. Sasuke and the rest didn't stand idly by either, so within two days, no one at the Academy dared to tease her hair color anymore.
Karin, who'd never really experienced friendship, cherished these bonds she'd made thanks to Naruto. So even though teaching him sealing techniques was torture, she never complained too much.
Meanwhile, with someone else to suffer alongside, Uchiha Seiryu was free to relax in the Hokage's office, brewing tea.
But it wasn't long before Uchiha Yashiro knocked at the door.
"Come in," Seiryu called casually.
Yashiro entered, saluted, and reported, "Lord Hokage, Iwagakure has sent a letter."
"A letter from Iwagakure?" Seiryu raised an eyebrow. "Bring it here."
"Yes, sir!" Yashiro handed over an envelope sealed with Iwa's red wax.
Seiryu took it, chuckling. "Old Ōnoki's being awfully formal about this."
He opened the envelope and began reading Ōnoki's letter.
At first, Ōnoki congratulated Seiryu on becoming the Fifth Hokage, filling half a page with pleasantries before finally getting to the point.
Iwagakure was inviting Konoha to participate in their joint Chūnin Exams.
"Joint Chūnin Exams?" Seiryu mused, his interest piqued. "The old man's finally making his move?"
"Yashiro," Seiryu called out.
"Here, sir."
"Who's the current head instructor of the Police Force?" Seiryu asked. Since becoming Hokage, he'd only visited the Police Force every couple of weeks and otherwise paid it little mind.
"The head instructor? That would be Shisui," Yashiro replied.
"So it's Shisui?" Seiryu nodded.
After the coup, Seiryu had planned to appoint Shisui as a division commander in the ANBU, but after Itachi's death, Shisui had been consumed by guilt.
The Uchiha Fugaku family had gradually recovered from Itachi's passing, but only Shisui still blamed himself, convinced that if he'd just talked to Itachi more, things wouldn't have ended as they did.
After that day, Shisui declined Seiryu's promotion, instead taking a quiet position in the Police Force. Kakashi, understanding the pain of losing a friend and being powerless to help, had arranged for Shisui to serve as head instructor—his only duties being to train the members after their patrols.
"Have him come see me," Seiryu said.
"Yes, sir." Yashiro departed.
…
Soon after, Shisui arrived at the Hokage's office, saluted, and asked, "Lord Hokage, what can I do for you?"
"This isn't really work hours, no need to be so formal," Seiryu said, pouring Shisui a cup of tea. "Come to think of it, this is the first time you've been here since I became Hokage, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Shisui glanced around, noting how the office's furnishings were completely different from the Third Hokage's era. He couldn't help but feel nostalgic; after all, his own path had gone astray starting from this very office.
"Seiryu, go on, what did you want me for?" After a moment, Shisui looked at Seiryu and asked.
"You're training the Police Force, right? Of the new recruits, are there any with enough talent to qualify as chūnin?" Seiryu asked.
"If we use the village's usual chūnin standards, there are a few promising ones," Shisui said. "But why do you ask?"
Seiryu handed Shisui Ōnoki's letter. After reading, Shisui frowned. "Joint Chūnin Exams? By those standards, none of the genin in the Police Force make the cut."
Usually, joint Chūnin Exams were showcases of a village's strength. The genin sent had to meet even stricter requirements than usual, as they represented the face of their village. Each participating village would send its top prodigies. Some of the smaller villages would even suppress the rank of some talented but not-quite-ready ninja, resulting in older-than-average genin.
Among the Five Great Nations, only the Land of Wind did that sort of thing; the others wouldn't stoop so low.
"If we waited a few years, Sasuke and the others would be ready. This would be the perfect stage for them to make their names known across the ninja world. But for now, much as I hate to admit it, we don't have any real prodigies to send."
"If only Itachi had graduated normally, he'd be the perfect age now," Shisui sighed.
"Let's not dwell on that. Given the village's current situation, I'm planning to use this joint exam as a chance for the Police Force's genin to broaden their horizons. I'm not concerned with the final results," Seiryu said.
"Not concerned about the results?" Shisui frowned. "But if our genin perform poorly, it will reflect badly on you as Hokage."
"What's to lose?" Seiryu laughed. "Trust me, even if our ninja do terribly, Iwagakure, as hosts, will find a way to save my face."
Shisui looked at Seiryu, puzzled.
"This is the confidence our ancestors gave us," Seiryu said.
"Still, I'll have to trouble you for the next few days. Select a few talented genin from the Police Force and teach them some B-rank jutsu. As long as they don't embarrass themselves, that's enough," Seiryu instructed.
"Understood." Shisui nodded.
After Shisui left, Seiryu soon finished work and left the Hokage building.
At home, Seiryu went to his study, where he found Naruto still struggling in a sea of sealing scrolls. Seiryu approached with a smile.
"How's it going?" Seiryu asked.
"Teacher Seiryu."
"Teacher."
The two quickly looked up and greeted him.
"Still no clue!" Naruto's face was on the verge of tears. "Do I really have to learn this? Teacher, you can't do it either…"
"Shut up, you little brat!" Seiryu smacked Naruto on the back of the head. "I'm not like you! I understand the principles—I just can't control the power! You haven't even grasped the basics!"
Naruto covered his head and looked pitifully at Seiryu. After a while, Seiryu sighed.
"Forget it. You're a genius. I shouldn't force you to waste your talent on this," Seiryu said helplessly. "I'll teach you other ninjutsu soon."
"I don't have to learn this?" Naruto immediately perked up.
"I wanted you to learn sealing techniques so the Uzumaki clan's legacy wouldn't die with your generation," Seiryu explained. "But if you really have no talent for it, there's nothing I can do."