Wartime Measures
Silver, a nickname that seemed to be sticking, had been in the village for nearly two months. His grasp of the practical aspects of the Shinobi arts was advancing quickly, Tobirama’s assessment that the boy was destined to become an assassin seemed true as apparently even the Chunin instructor for his class couldn’t tell he had been in the room until he asked to be excused for the bathroom. Unfortunately a problem had quickly made itself known when the child attempted to perform a simple Substitution Jutsu, the moment the child began to mold his chakra he was wracked by a severe coughing fit.
Tsunade examined him with assistance from Biwako Sarutobi, my wife, together they surmised that the boy had an abnormally large amount of chakra for someone his age and his untrained body was incapable of properly processing it. They decided the most effective treatment would be to have him undergo more intensive physical training than the standard Gennin, Tsunade had gladly offered to take the boy under her wing and from the updates she gave him, Shirubā was doing well. As his body had began to grow in strength his ninjutsu capabilities saw marked improvement, he could perform consecutive Substitutions and Body Flickers, and seemed to have a knack for Transformation Jutsu. Hiruzen suspects it means the boy will have great skill in genjutsu.
Blowing a plume of smoke out into the early summer air before inhaling more from his pipe, the Jonin wondered if perhaps the boy would need to be placed into the class that would be graduating later that coming september. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, the boy was developing quickly and keeping him contained to simple academy life and training might stifle his potential. Thoughts like these had brought him to the Hokage’s office that night, Hiruzen hadn’t even knocked when Tobirama opened the door. “What do you need so late in the evening?” the man looked weary, the other villages had been getting increasingly more aggressive and Hiruzen could tell that soon a war would start.
“Your assessment of the boy is proving corect, I feel it might be best to move him into a graduating class and supply him with a specialized teacher.” Tobirama steeped to the side to let Hiruzen in, offering him a seat as he poured some sake. “That would be placing him into the same year as the next Nine Tails host, the Uzumaki girl, as well as the promising Namikaze boy. He would not lack for formidable peers, the only issue is his actual preparedness for the difficult life style of a shinobi, would he fall behind on the battlefield.”
Battlefield, part of Hiruzen recoiled at the insinuation, that war was so close the horizon that Gennin might see the front. “If he is not so already, the academy will do little to prepare him further, he needs to be placed in the blazing forge if he is to reach his potential.” Hiruzen could tell that this truth was a comfort to neither of them, it was condemning the child to a life of conflict, but Tobirama relented then though it’d seemed to put even more weight on his burdened shoulders. The second Hokage nods his consent, the leaf will have another warrior before long.
The order went out just after dawn, the boys new teacher Kagami Uchiha was informed just before the official order. Jiraiya was sent tell Shirubā as they had found that the eccentric man had the best talent for telling the young boy possibly distressful information. That said it was decided Orochimaru would be the one who brought the boy to his first day as Hiruzen though it would help foster the twos relationship and bring the snake summoner further out of his shell. Perhaps selfish of Hiruzen to do, but not without benefit to Shirubā who was on good terms with all of Hiruzen’s former students. He wondered how it would go for the boy as he sat himself down for another smoke.