Kagaku went in with the other children while talking to some kids he was pretending to play with earlier and they had become 'fast friends' forming an adorable little group of 4,3 year olds.

There is a boy with dirty blond hair and turquoise coloured eyes who is the 'ray of sunshine' of the group and likes to play very much, he seems to be able make friends with anybody instantly, he was the one who approached Kagaku to play with his group. In fact, it could even be said that he has a very diluted form of the legendary Talk no jutsu. His name is Kato Nakamura.

Then there is the meek but smart girl called Yuka Tachibana, she has dull purple-violet hair, grey eyes and isn't too keen on having conversations, but when someone messes with her friends she gets how to put this... riled up.... one kid who tried to pick on Kagaku for being new found that out first hand.

And lastly, there is another boy who was the relatively calm and intelligent one, he was the de facto leader of their little group. His name is Sora Takahashi and he has black hair and hazel eyes, he is quite confident and mature for his age and tries to give off the protector vibe. It was honestly a bit funny to Kagaku to see a 3 year old acting like this.

"Hey! Kagaku whatsh you think we get for eat?", Kato asked in a manner of speech that would be considered normal for a kid barely 3.

"Hmm..... I don't know really, I'm new here after all, I guess we'll see." Kagaku replied not so normally.... in a way that would be impressive if even if a 4 year old were to manage it. He was trying his best to sound like a formidable genius considering that anbu or other ninjas were likely watching him.

While chatting, the door of the diner arrived as of course kids who could barely speak wouldn't be allowed too far away, the diner's gate looked quite big, easily twice as big as Akane although upon closer inspection, it was really just a big hall in which they kept makeshift chairs and tables.

There were many caretakers running around after misbehaving kids and trying to usher everybody into their respective seats. A caretaker suddenly stepped up and announced, "Alright everybody! Let's quiet down now, no talking while eating ok? And today, we'll be having your guys' favorite, curry rice!"

Hearing what they would be eating, a chorus of "Yay!!" echoed through the dining hall. The caretakers rushed to quiet them down and after a while, everybody finally settled down as the food arrived.

'I see..... curry rice, it's a favorite among children, is cheap to make and has good nutritional value too, it seems Konoha at least has at least one good orphana....ge...???

Why are some of the caretakers specifically looking at me? Are they just their for surveillance? But, that doesn't make any sense, if they wanted to do that, they could just get a half-decent ninja to do it, after all, it doesn't matter how much of a genius a 2 year old is, he wouldn't be able to detect a ninja if they didn't want to be detected, no matter what.

So, the only logical explanation here is.... they want me to know.... they want me to know that they are keeping an eye on me.... but why do that? It's not like they would gain anything, they don't get money, personal pleasure or information.... wait! That's it!

This must be a test! They want to see how good my self awareness is and if I can detect people if they try to secretly observe me.

And, judging by the amount of people I can sense, I think that they might even have taken the liberty of having people who are progressively better at handing their intentions and themselves, observing me.

So.... should I intentionally reveal that I know what they are upto, or should I try to hide it? .... No, if I try to intentionally reveal it, it would be obvious that I'm doing so..... these are ninjas we are talking about!

Even if I try to secretly look at the people I can detect, the ninjas will be able to tell that I'm doing so. And doing it this way also drives home the fact that I'm a once in a generation genius.

I can currently sense a total of 9 caretakers looking at me, just based on pure instincts as I haven't yet unlocked the supernatural abilities of chakra yet. If my theory is correct, there should be more who are hiding but I just can't sense them... well what do I do now? Should I just reveal that I can sense those 9 people or..... try to look at them secretly?

No, that would be extremely stupid to do, ninja should easily be able to tell that I have noticed them... but.... isn't that a better plan regardless? I can let them think I tried to conceal the fact I noticed those caretakers.'

Then, deciding on his plan of action, Kagaku looked at each of the nine caretakers as covertly as he could. Paused before starting to eat, and decided, 'I think this is the one which is really gonna drive it home...'

"Hey, Kato! Do you want some of mine too? I don't think I can eat this much." Kagaku said in jovial tone.

"Really? You sure?" Kato asked to get confirmation.

While chuckling, Kagaku replied, "Yes yes, of course you can! Go on, I insist."

Kato's face brightened up as he said, "Kagaku you the best! Thank you!" Just as he was saying this, he took some food from Kagaku's plate.

While he was 'secretly' observing if the food had any adverse effects on Kato, he chatted with Yuka, Sora and Kato about how much they liked the food and what was their favorite dishes.

'While I can say with a near 100% certainty that the food isn't poisoned, considering the higher-ups likely find me to be a useful asset in the future, making them think that I am careful enough to not eat something from a place I haven't known for half a day.

This will be something that is in either case useful to me, I want the resources of the root but without it's restrictions, the only way I can accomplish that is if I appeal to both Danzo and Hiruzen and I need to be willing to follow out Danzo's commissions but still need to honor Hiruzen as the top of the command chain.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

This allows me to get resources from both the root, the anbu and the normal shinobi forces. While I can use Hiruzen as a shield against Danzo to keep his Curse Seals away from me. Of course, to accomplish thus, I need to appeal to both parties a lot.

The fact that I didn't trust the orphanage and gave my food to another kid before eating it myself shows that I'm cautious and ruthless enough even at this age that I'll give my food to a friend just to check if it's poisoned, this would be quite appealing to Danzo.

Whereas Hiruzen would think this to be a good quality of the genius kid and hold some favor to him in his heart. He would likely not let such a talented and kind hearted kid fall into the darkness of the root.

Of course, even though I haven't known them for long, I come from the modern world and as such the idea of killing just puts me off slightly, although in this world, it truly is 'Kill or be killed.' So I'll have to kill eventually and I'd like to get it out of the way soon.... because freezing up in the battlefield is equivalent to dying.

Not to mention, killing a 3 year old orphan kid just to protect myself from poisoning..... it just doesn't sit right with me. If I knew or thought that the food had a realistic chance of being poisoned, I would have just found out a way to not let anyone eat it.'

In one of the corners of the ceiling, a chunin was sitting there, he let out a sigh while thinking, 'Man, why did Hokage sama appoint me to watch a kid as a test, he's not even 3! No matter how much of a genius, someone who's not even 3 couldn't possibly detect ninjas if they didn't want to be discovered.'

But then, as he was looking at the boy, he was surprised, the kid looked over at all nine of their non-ninja missionaries, i.e. the nine caretakers each, one by one out of the corner of his eye for a good two seconds each.

Then he was even more surprised as the kid gave some part of his curry rice to another kid for seemingly no other reason than the other kid looking like he was expecting more food. After all, kids this age shouldn't know how to judge what the other person is thinking about from just their facial expressions and body language.

'No wonder Hogake sama was so interested in him, he even gave me this mission personally, calling him just a genius is a grave understatement and he is also very kind and seems to become fast friends with people. His talent and intellect is just off the charts, he could easily be compared with the likes of Minato, who got the highest score ever in the academy even though he graduated at the age of 10!'

Whereas a root chunin in the corner of the same floor was thinking somewhat similarly to the previous ninja except with Danzo instead of Hiruzen. But when he saw the stunt Kagaku pulled later, he was astonished to say the least.

Exasperated, the root ninja thought, 'N-No way right? Did that kid just give food to his friend to check if it was poisoned or not?

That's.... I can't even put it into words! This kid..... Danzo sama mentioned he had quite a dark past, but to be like this at his age..... he's perfect for the darkness! Root would be the perfect place for such an extraordinary child!'

Both chunins immediately called over a genin of their respective allegiance to report back to Danzo and Hiruzen respectively. Both stating that Kagaku was a genius surpassing most if not everyone of the past by a margin that could by no means be considered small and that Kagaku was perfect for their respective organization, reporting the things they had seen and what they interpreted it as.

The common point was of course that Kagaku's talent and intellect was off the charts and even if he didn't have much talent as a Shinobi, he could still become one of the greatest threats to enemies just based off of his intellect. This is by no means a small feat, being like this at the mental age of 1! It..... seems impossible yet the chunins saw it with their own eyes.

The rest of the meal passed without incident as Kagaku tried but failed to locate any other people observing him while chatting with his friend group.

After the meal, the kids were apparently allowed to go do what they wanted under supervision of course. At this time, Kagaku went to visit Akane, the matron as she had told him to come back to her after having dinner. 'Well, this is sure to be interesting..... I wonder what she wanted to see me for' Kagaku thought as he asked a caretaker for directions after mentioning Akane's name.

Once he arrived, he realized it was some sort of office for the matron on a separate building than the living quarters and the dining hall. After knocking on the door twice, he heard a muffled voice saying, "Come in Kagaku, I've been expecting you."

After hearing the confirmation, Kagaku went in although, he had a few difficulties considering that the handle was taller than he was but nothing a bit of jumping couldn't fix.

But then, Akane said something that was really a bit unexpected.....

"So, Kagaku, I'll get straight to the point ok? How would you like to start your ninja training starting tomorrow?"

'Huh??? Starting tomorrow? That's crazy, I haven't even unlocked chakra yet in fact, I'm not even supposed to know what chakra is.

What do I even do .... it would be nice to test out my theories but that would require me awakening the ability to use chakra myself and will be quite inefficient. On the other end, it provides secrecy and allows me to more easily stockpile trump cards for the future.

On the flip side, if I choose to follow through, I'll get training by either Danzo or/and Hiruzen although of course, not personally for a while but from their respective subordinates. If I choose this, my strength would improve faster but I'll have less confidentiality.

Hmm.....' After thinking about it for a while, while the matron gave him some space to sort out his thoughts, he finally replied,

"I would like to....."