It was noon at Akimichi Barbecue, and for once the place was fairly quiet.
"Sensei, did everything go smoothly today?"
Kenichi Amemiya asked, dropping a slice of beef onto the hot iron plate. It hissed and crackled, the grease popping.
"More or less," Orochimaru replied with a mild smile. "My relationship with Sensei is still… tense. But you could say there's been a bit of progress."
Kenichi nodded thoughtfully.
Sounded like things hadn't gone perfectly, but something had been accomplished.
"I'm sure the Third Hokage will understand your intentions, Sensei," Kenichi said, face full of "innocent" sincerity.
They were in public, after all.
Even though the Third had stepped down, his influence was still there. Walls had ears, especially in Konoha. It was best to speak ambiguously.
"'Intentions,' huh…" Orochimaru sighed softly.
Then, teacher and student both smiled.
This particular "token of affection" was… heavy.
Who knew if the Third would be able to shoulder it in the future.
Kenichi hurriedly picked the beef slice up before it burned.
But as he held it with his chopsticks, he suddenly lost his appetite.
"…Sensei, you didn't invite Anko?"
Kenichi felt a sudden chill down his spine, like a wave of resentment had crawled up behind him.
"…I thought you were going to invite her, Kenichi," Orochimaru answered calmly, as if he hadn't noticed the small head poking around the door frame, peeking in with big eyes.
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
Fine.
He turned toward the entrance with an awkward cough and waved Mitarashi Anko inside.
He'd already felt that intense stare while grilling. When he glanced back, he'd seen Anko clinging to the door like a starving cat outside a fish shop.
Now that he thought about it, Orochimaru really had only ever invited him to Akimichi Barbecue. Anko basically never got to come along.
"Amemiya-shishou…"
Anko looked at him, eyes brimming with hurt.
She was starting to doubt whether she was really this man's disciple.
They were both Orochimaru's students, but Sensei was so good to Kenichi and so strict with her. It was hard not to feel unbalanced.
"Ahem… I was just about to go to your place and call you," Kenichi lied smoothly, a little embarrassed.
Luckily, Anko wasn't that hard to coax.
After a bit of consolation from both Orochimaru and Kenichi, her mood brightened and she happily joined in the feast.
For a while, the atmosphere at the barbecue table turned warm and relaxed.
"Sensei! Can we take a picture together?"
Anko suddenly looked up, eyes shining with expectation. She glanced at Orochimaru, then at Kenichi.
Kenichi scratched his cheek. "A group photo, huh…" He didn't really mind.
"Of course," Orochimaru replied with a gentle smile. He seemed in an unusually good mood today.
So when Kenichi finally headed home, he had a new photo in his hand—
One of himself, his teacher, and a grinning Anko, all together.
"Come to think of it, Konoha really does have this tradition," Kenichi murmured, looking at the picture.
Team photos.
The Minato squad had one. He and Orochimaru had one. In the future, Kakashi and Naruto would have one too.
Speaking of Kakashi…
Kenichi rubbed his head.
He hadn't seen Kakashi around recently. The man was probably off doing ANBU missions again.
That meant his plan to ask about Chidori would have to wait.
On the way home, Kenichi stopped by a bento shop to buy dinner.
As soon as he stepped through the door, he ran into two familiar faces.
Strictly speaking, not "friends."
Just two people he'd met once.
Two little Uchiha brats—Shisui and Itachi.
They clearly recognized him as well. Before Kenichi could decide whether to nod or pretend not to see them, Shisui walked over.
"Hello, and thank you for helping Itachi last time."
Shisui bowed slightly, tone very polite.
He'd been suspicious at first—someone feeding Itachi out of nowhere? That sounded shady.
But after checking and confirming the dango was safe, his conscience wouldn't let him skip the thank you.
"It was nothing. The kid's pretty cute," Kenichi said with a casual grin.
He preferred to keep a respectful distance from the Uchiha.
The Third might be off the Hokage seat, but Danzō was still around.
For now, Minato's attitude toward the clan was basically neutral.
Not especially fond, but not hostile either. Compared to Hiruzen and Danzō's long-term suppression, that was a huge improvement.
Unfortunately, Minato wasn't going to live long.
Once the Fourth died, the Third came back, and life for the Uchiha went downhill fast. The end was already written.
Watching Shisui leave the shop with Itachi in tow, Kenichi scratched his head.
Should he… back up their DNA data first?
Clone them later for research?
He knew Orochimaru had a cloning project running.
The current technology wasn't mature, but storing genetic information in advance was easy enough.
He could just freeze it for future use.
"The problem is how to get it. I can't exactly walk up and yank their hair," Kenichi muttered.
Shisui and Itachi were sharp. They weren't some random civilians.
"And they're not girls either… otherwise there'd be simpler ways…"
When he'd been collecting Uzumaki Kushina's DNA, he'd briefly considered rummaging through the Namikaze trash for… certain monthly items.
Kushina was a jinchūriki, yes.
But she was also a woman, and women of a certain age had… a biological schedule.
Konoha's shops did sell sanitary products, after all.
Blood was a very convenient DNA source.
He'd seriously considered it—then decided that was a bit too perverted and used other methods instead.
But from that angle… if Kenichi really wanted to, he could probably gather genetic samples from most of Konoha.
He bought his bento and went home, continuing to refine his jutsu.
These days he'd been buying a lot of cigarettes.
So many that the shop owner had started to worry about him, pulling him aside to lecture him about bad habits.
Kenichi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
And nicotine itself had serious limitations, which forced him to bump "collecting radioactive materials" further up his to-do list.
Of course, those weren't exactly easy to find in the ninja world.
But he had time.
Plenty of time.
After all—
Naruto hadn't even been born yet.
(End of Chapter 29)