Dawn crept across the village, pale light spilling over rooftops and painting the Hokage Monument in soft gold. Long after Minato and Indra had been dismissed from training, Jiraiya found himself once more standing before Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The sannin scratched his head lazily, stifling a yawn.
"Really, sensei? You're making me work while the others are already relaxing?" His brow arched as he smothered another yawn behind his palm.
"It's important, Jiraiya," Hiruzen replied, voice calm but firm. He took a slow drag from his pipe, smoke curling upward like coiling snakes. "And I can only trust you with this matter."
The air thickened.
"Then," Hiruzen said, leaning forward slightly, "report to me the information about Indra Uchiha."
The moment the name was spoken, Jiraiya's playful tone faded. His shoulders straightened, his eyes sharpened, and his voice lost its drowsiness.
"His power is really good. Not that of an academy student." He hesitated, recalling the clash. "He performed Fireball Jutsu in front of me. I can confirm he has a high affinity to fire."
"Explain," Hiruzen demanded.
Jiraiya nodded once. "When he cast it, the air itself turned hot—so hot my skin itched. Then, a blaze erupted from his mouth with a force far beyond the standard version."
Hiruzen's fingers tightened slightly around the stem of his pipe. His gaze grew calculating.
"Hmm… his fire affinity might be the strongest in the Uchiha."
Silence lingered. Jiraiya didn't continue, waiting for Hiruzen's direction.
"What do you think about him?" the Hokage asked at last.
"Him? He has a lot of potential and—"
"No," Hiruzen interrupted, cutting through Jiraiya's words like a kunai through paper. "Not that kind of evaluation. I'm asking whether he's dangerous to Konoha."
"Dangerous?" Jiraiya repeated. His easy expression stiffened, emotions shifting beneath the surface. A heavy silence stretched between master and student.
"He might be dangerous when he grows up," Jiraiya admitted slowly, "but right now… not yet."
Hiruzen's eyes gleamed through the haze of smoke. "Any way to make him follow Konoha wholeheartedly?"
Jiraiya paused, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought. "Maybe… I could arrange for him to see you often. He's lost his elder brother and is in need of love. If he sees the Hokage himself showing care, he might…"
Hiruzen leaned forward slightly. "If I show my 'love,' would he come to the side of Konoha?"
"Presumably," Jiraiya said, though doubt lined his voice. "If he isn't too sharp, then yes. But… if his intelligence matches the Nara clan, even half…" He trailed off, shaking his head. "It'll all be useless. Worse, it might even speed up his hatred toward Konoha."
"So it's a fifty-fifty chance," Hiruzen muttered, brows furrowed.
"Pretty much," Jiraiya admitted.
"Any other way we can exploit him?" Hiruzen pressed.
"Can't think of any," Jiraiya replied truthfully.
Hiruzen exhaled, dismissing him with a wave. "You're dismissed—"
But before the words finished, Jiraiya vanished in a puff of smoke.
Hiruzen blinked in surprise, then sighed deeply as he leaned back in his chair.
"Oh, Indra… how can we teach you the Will of Fire?" He muttered as the smoke from his pipe drifted upward, veiling his face in shifting shadows. Thoughts coiled and twisted in his mind, dark and uncertain.
---
The following morning.
Jiraiya returned, this time with his two new students. Together they stood in the Hokage's office, sunlight streaming through the tall windows.
Hiruzen's gaze swept across the pair. One boy—Minato Namikaze. An orphan. Simple, eager, and by all appearances, easy to control.
The other—Indra Uchiha. Younger brother of a prodigious jonin, heir to a clan of fierce pride. A boy with eyes too sharp for his age, with fire affinity that could shape battlefields. Potential overflowing, yet uncertain if he could be bound by loyalty.
"Kids," Jiraiya announced, his voice filled with an uncharacteristic gravity, "he is our Third Hokage, Hiruzen-sama. And he is my teacher."
"Greetings, Hokage-sama," Minato and Indra said together, bowing slightly.
Hiruzen's smile warmed, practiced, flawless. "Hello, Indra. Hello, Minato."
Minato straightened and smiled back with honest admiration. Indra, however, remained silent, his face unreadable.
Jiraiya noticed. His eyes narrowed, flicking from Indra to his old master. The Uchiha boy's gaze was sharp, weighing pros and cons. Not the look of a child meeting a leader—but of a shinobi meeting an opponent.
"Then," Hiruzen said lightly, breaking the silence, "what brings you lads here?"
He turned toward Jiraiya expectantly.
The sannin nodded
"I wanna receive a small mission for my team," Jiraiya said, his tone casual but steady.
Hiruzen raised a brow, then nodded. "Approved. You can go take a mission downstairs."
"I'll go get the mission, kids. You wait here." With a grin, Jiraiya turned and left the office.
Indra's eyes followed his back until the door shut. His brow furrowed.
'Hm? Don't they usually take their students with them? Something is being brewed…'
He turned his gaze toward Hiruzen, who sat smiling warmly behind his desk.
The Hokage's eyes softened, voice slipping into the fatherly tone he had perfected over decades. "Indra, I've heard a lot about you from Jiraiya. I heard your Fireball Jutsu is very great!"
Indra bowed slightly, keeping his expression measured. "It's my honour."
Hiruzen chuckled, puffing his pipe lightly, smoke curling between them. Then he leaned forward.
"Would you like to become a ninja under me?"
The words landed like a shuriken thrown into silence.
Minato's eyes widened, heart pounding as he glanced at his friend. Indra, 'you have to accept!' he thought desperately. To him, this was an opportunity beyond measure—the Hokage himself offering to take you under his wing.
But Indra's gaze was steady, sharp, cutting through the façade. The man before him was no benevolent Hokage. No—Indra could feel it. Sinister, calculating, even more dangerous than Orochimaru.
"I'll think about it," Indra replied coolly. "Thanks for the offer, Hokage-sama."
Just as he finished, his senses prickled. A presence outside.
"Then, I'll wait for you," Hiruzen said smoothly, masking his disappointment with another smile. He turned to Minato. "Would you like to join?"
"Yes!" Minato nodded hurriedly, his face lighting up.
Indra's eyes narrowed. Cheap tricks.
Three knocks broke the tension. Both boys turned toward the door.
"Come inside," Hiruzen said.
The door slid open, revealing Jiraiya with a smile stretching across his face. "Do you kids like your Hokage?"
Minato nodded eagerly. Indra gave a curt nod, nothing more.
"Good," Jiraiya said, satisfied. Together, they left the Hokage's office, stepping back into the daylight.
—
"What's the mission, Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato asked as they walked.
"We have to paint a wall," Jiraiya replied cheerfully.
"Paint a wall?" Minato frowned. "I thought we would go outside the village."
Jiraiya laughed. "It's only a D-rank mission. To get outside the village, you need at least a C-rank mission."
Minato nodded, shoulders relaxing. Indra, however, remained stone-faced. He hated this. He hated Danzo, jiraiya, and he hated Hiruzen. The three of them. Deeply.
A dark thought clawed at him. I could go home, take my brother's Mangekyō, and end those three bastards in an instant.
But he dismissed it almost immediately. The Mangekyō wasn't his—it was his brother's legacy. Worse, using it recklessly would only burn it out. Only one path could give him what he truly wanted: the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
The thought alone sent a thrill through his body. Amaterasu dancing wildly, consuming everything in black flames… an entire battlefield reduced to ash. His lips twitched upward. That would be awesome.
He turned sharply to Jiraiya. "I would like to train, Jiraiya-sensei. Painting the wall would waste time."
"No," Jiraiya said firmly. "It's a mission to hone discipline. But also, you'll earn 5,000 ryō!"
Indra shot him a dubious glare. "Am I in need of serious money?"
Minato scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Yeah, to be honest, I'm the one in need here. You have your brother's inheritance."
"Yeah… and it's a lot," Indra admitted with a shrug.
Jiraiya nodded slowly. He knew the truth: Renji, Indra's brother, had taken countless A-rank and B-rank missions. And the time he had spent raising Indra? That hadn't even been the real Renji. Just a clone.
Jiraiya's eyes lingered on Indra, then he asked suddenly, "Indra, what do you think about Hokage-sama?"
The question caught him off guard. Indra's expression tightened, his tone flat and sharp. "Hm? He's just Hokage."
Jiraiya studied him for a long moment, then shook his head, sighing.
——
Currently I am in a position where I don't have many ideas, that'll I believe you'll like.
Timeskips might be helpful but if we do it now, the third war would start at chapter 30 or so.
We still have three years before the third war and I was thinking many different things, adding the academy ark again showing his progress against the civilians in Taijutsu.
As well as an ark where danzo needs to capture Indra to make him into a machine.
And of course to these ideas, I don't have a hefty amount of plot I could do after that. I'm open to suggestions
Please comment so I can write more chapters.
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