Oddity by KKephemeral

Chapter 29 - Blast From The Past

"So, where are we in the timeline?" Kenpachi asked sipping his drink.

Kenpachi was in his seventies. He resided in a village that is a couple of hours away from Konoha. It was neither too near to any borders nor too near to Konoha. When questioned, he admitted he shifted to this village pretty much for that reason. He didn't want to be too near to Konoha because he preferred to stay away from the veritable shit storm of canon events that he knew would happen. Likewise, he preferred to be in Fire Country as Konoha is comparatively better than other villages. So, he found an ideal place and set up shop.

The moment we both understood the similarity between us, he walked out and closed his shop. If he was bothered by the customers he had to send away, he didn't show it at all. Once done, he had brought out his best sake and we both occupied a table as we began talking. Well, it was more like me venting to him. Gotta say the man was a good listener.

"If you didn't notice," I raised my eyebrows to express my skepticism, "there was a fucking war going on."

"I did notice," he said amicably, "but what I wanted to ask was in which stage it is actually in."

"Third Shinobi War will end in two weeks. The official declaration should be out by then," I answered taking a sip myself.

"Ah, I did hear some rumors. You know, it is hard to come by these kinds of information as a civilian. And these rumors were running around for over two months now. Not sure what to believe," he said nodding his head.

"I understand."

"So, Minato has been made Yondaime yet?"

"He will be, by the end of this week. The election is coming up. I need to be there by day after tomorrow for that," I said.

"That would mean, Kyubi attack next," he said somberly.

"I wish," I snorted causing him to look up, "the canon is dead now."

"What do you mean?"

"I returned yesterday from Kiri border to find Obito standing in the village. Neither he or Rin is dead. Oh, and also, Kakashi doesn't have the Sharingan."

"What!?"

"Tell me, I think you are the only one who understands what is running through my mind now," I grumbled taking another sip of the drink.

"Kakashi without Sharingan, hard to imagine."

We stayed in silence for a long time.

"So," he began after a while, "what do you think happened?"

"Don't know," I grumbled. "And that's bothering me more than I want to admit."

"You mean, you didn't change anything."

"I tried to stay away from canon as much as possible. But, it is hard considering how I am related to two previous Hokages. I am also the ward of current Hokage and Danzo is my mentor. Kushina is my fuinjutsu teacher to boot."

"Oh, my, that's a lot of connections to canon for someone who wanted to stay away. You should have taken my route. Find a nearby village, open a bar and settle down. It is better to stay as a civilian than to be included in all the clusterfuck."

"Didn't have the option. Remember my last name, Senju! Not many options. To boot it I am the grandson of Tobirama,"

"Tobirama actually married?"

"Hard to believe, right? But, I am the living proof of it."

"So, what's this about being mentored by Danzo. You didn't get into Root, did you? I thought you would have been safe, considering...."