Later in the night.

Minato and Yuji return to their dorm.

"I am full! This is the first time I ate so much in my entire life." Minato rubs his slightly bulging belly.

"Mm… the food was pretty good!" Yuji nods his head.

They arrange the room and prepare their bed for sleep. Yuji locks the bag of scrolls into the cabinet. His gaze momentarily shifts over the diary.

Hmm…

He picks up the diary and applies some force to open it again.

'I can't open it, after all.' He sighs and decides to put it back.

"Why don't you drip a drop of blood on it?" Minato suggests.

"Huh? Why?" Yuji turns to Minato for an answer.

"Mm… that's what Miina did with the scroll! I am not sure if it will work on not."

"Since you saw Miina do it, then it's worth a shot."

Yuji pokes his finger with a needle and drips a drop of blood in the center of the seal.

Shoom…

The seal on the diary lights up. The black sealing formation on the diary disappears, and the diary opens up.

"It worked!"

Minato and Yuji curiously glance at the contents of the diary.

"It's empty!" Minato gives up after taking a glance at the diary.

Hmm…

Yuji ponders as he skims through every page of the diary.

'And here I thought it might be a clue to decipher those scrolls. But this is just another puzzle.'

He shakes his head and closes the empty diary.

'I will think about it later. For now, I will sleep. There will be an early class tomorrow. I never got a chance to visit a school as a student, so this will be a novel experience for me.'

Yuji recalls a previous incident in his life. In his early days, the organization once tasked him to assassinate the son of a foreign bureaucrat.

The son was a special student in a highly reputed institution and was heavily guarded. He made his preparation for months and infiltrated the school as a teacher. Promoted to the teacher of the special class and finally assassinated the kid when he was given a window of opportunity.

That was one of the most time-consuming tasks he ever did. It took him eight months to complete the assignment.

"Hey Yuji, earlier you asked me to not trust anyone but ourselves, but then why did you trust that woman?" Minato's question interrupts Yuji's reminiscing. He turns to Minato and answers.

"Minato, there are seven elements to trust which are boundaries, reliability, accountability, confidentiality, integrity, non-judgment, and generosity. You can put basic trust in someone when he fulfills any four of these criteria.

Now for your answer, the reason I trusted Tsunade was first due to her generosity. Back then, she was generous enough to lend us assistance in time of need. The second reason is her non-judgmental gaze. Minato, you might have already felt it, but most of the villagers treat us orphans with a scornful gaze in their hearts. In their eyes, we orphan don't have anyone to rely on so they can vent all of their anger and frustration on us. But I didn't sense such a judgmental gaze in Tsunade's eyes. Next was her accountability, which was proved by the armlet on her arm. She was judged to be a suitable candidate for the task by the Hokage Office and academy. So, there should be enough credibility to her identity. And the final criteria of boundaries were also satisfied by her.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I tested her by deliberately raising my voice to explain the part about ulterior motives to you while secretly observing the changes in her facial expression.

Other than a tint of surprise and curiosity, there was no other expression in her eyes. Eyes are the windows of a person's heart. They reflect the deep darkness within a person's mind.

I tested her again by mentioning Nono and Hana. If she had an ulterior motive against the two of us, then she might feel a minor inconvenience at the addition of a variable. But she seemed perfectly fine with it.

The inconvenience might also be due to the addition of an extra person and expenditure and thus I was ready to suggest footing the bill myself, but she clearly didn't show much of a change."

Yuji explains everything in detail to Minato.

"Wow, Yuji! Did you suddenly grow smart after hitting your head and staying in the hospital for a month?"

"I just like to read books, that's all!"

Yuji shrugs it off by linking it to his habit of reading books.

"There is lots of knowledge in books."

'I still don't trust her. In my book, there are not seven but nine criteria to gain a semblance of my trust. The only person I can trust completely is myself. Still, this cruel world functions with the principle of survival of the fittest. A backer in the early growth stage can help me avoid many unwanted disasters.'

Yuji closes his eyes and falls asleep.

----------------------------------

Later in night at the Hokage's residence.

"What's the matter, Tsunade? Why are visiting me at this hour?" Hiruzen Sarutobi, the current third Hokage, frowns. Currently, he is donning formal robes while sitting in the office in his house. There is a smoke piping laying on his table.

He stares at the young woman kneeling in front of him.

"Sensei, I have something to ask from you?"

Hmm…

Hiruzen takes a whiff of the smoke from his pipe.

"Go ahead! I will answer your question as long as it's not something confidential."

"Sensei, today I visited the academy to complete the task you assigned to me. While completing the task, I came across a pair of orphans."

Tsunade narrates the entire incident to Hiruzen, who patiently listens to her.

"There was not much to it. But later, when I visited their dorm; I sensed the presence of sentries. I thought they were part of the Anbu and paid no heed to it. However-"

Tsunade pauses and turns her gaze to Hiruzen.

"Sensei, you must be aware that Nawaki and Kushina are about to start the class in the academy and what position the two of them hold."

"I do!" Hiruzen recalls an earlier conversation he had with the wife of the First Hokage.

"So, to ensure their safety, I did a background check on the two orphan kids. And I even investigated the orphanage they grew up in. This investigation led to a shocking revelation, the truth of the Konoha's orphanage."

Tsunade takes out a scroll from her pocket. Hiruzen's expression turns grim as he notices the scroll.

"Sensei, I just have a single question for you!" Fury appears in Tsunade's eyes.

"Did you consent to this?"

Sigh…

Hiruzen takes a deep breath and places down his cigar.

"Tsunade, this was a collective decision from the elder council. It has been fifteen years since the First Shinobi war ended. Konoha lost a lot at that time, it was during this war that Konoha lost two of its most important pillars; the first and the second Hokage. Their death dealt a major blow to the morale and strength of Konoha's shinobi. With the loss of Sensei's Wood Release, Konoha lost its edge over the other villages.

The ambitions of other villages have ballooned to the point that they began encroaching on the territory of Land of Fire. Skirmishes and life-death battles at borders have become a common occurrence. I am afraid the second shinobi war is on the horizon."

Hiruzen rubs his forehead and sighs again.

"They left us with no choice!"

"Did Grandma know about it?" Tsunade questions him.

"No!" He shakes his head.

"Very well! I got my answers." Tsunade storms out of the Hokage's house in fury.

Sigh…

"It has been seven years with no successful result. Looks like it's time to end the project. Several lives have been lost in this unfruitful venture."

He picks up multiple scrolls from the nearby desk and scribbles on them.

"Deliver these to the village elders!"

Swoosh…

A figure leaps out of the shadows. The figure picks up the scrolls and disappears from Hiruzen's vision.

"Sensei, was it the right decision on my part?" He glances at the figure of the First and Second Hokage engraved in the Hokage Monument.