Chapter 5

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Ken shifted uncomfortably in his bed as a pair of disapproving eyes and another pair of worried but angry eyes gazed upon him. "So… great weather we're having, huh?" He said with a smile. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Nii-san!" he shouted, obviously angry for what had happened to Ken. "Do you know how scared I was!?" By now, Naruto's eyes were shimmering, and Ken again felt bad seeing him that way. "One moment I'm looking at you, doing something cool and what not and the next you're just on the floor screaming and your hand was so bloody, and you fainted and I… I thought you… you…"

"That I died?" Ken finished, followed by a chuckle. "Don't worry, Naruto. I won't die until I see you become Hokage!" Ken finished with a bright smile, trying to uplift Naruto's mood.

"That's… That's not…" Naruto sputtered, trying to put his thoughts into words. "Argh!" he groaned loudly. "I don't want you to die! EVER!" Naruto said, subconsciously squeezing Ken's hand.

"Hahaha, death is still a long way away for both of us. Let's worry about that later, okay?" Ken asked again with a smile to which Naruto nodded and averted his gaze with a small pout but still didn't let go of his hand. Someone clearing their throat quickly brought both the brothers out of their stupor.

"Oh, Jiji!" Ken exclaimed. "What're you doing here?"

"Well…" Hiruzen started. "Imagine my surprise when I heard that someone tried to create a new weapon and test it." He said with a small smile.

"Ehehehe…" Ken chuckled nervously.

"And then imagine when I heard that said weapon backfired and blew up in your hand." The Hokage gained a serious look in his eyes. "You don't want me to ban you from using seals, do you, Ken-kun?"

All the blood from Ken's face drained and he looked as if he had just seen a ghost. "No… Please, please no! You can't do that Jiji!"

"I can, and I will," Hiruzen said seriously before continuing, "if you do something like this ever again. Do you understand?"

"But… but Jiji…" He tried to continue.

"No buts. What you did was extremely dangerous and if you didn't have the unnaturally strong vitality of the Uzumaki clan, you'd be close to death with how much blood you've lost." Hokage finished.

Ken realized he had no other choice. If he wanted to stop the Hokage from banning him from seals and experimentation, this was his only hope. "Jiji, if I can make this weapon a reality, we won't even need kunai and shuriken any more!" Ken exclaimed. He wanted to keep this a secret but with everything that happened… ah fuck, whatever.

The Hokage's eyebrows rose slightly at Ken's proclamation. Not need kunai and shuriken? The most basic tools of a shinobi? Just what kind of weapon could this be? Granted, he'd seen the damage caused by it, but he hadn't exactly seen what it did. But then again, this so-called 'new weapon' better be cheaper than kunai and shuriken if Ken really wanted to make something like this. The Hokage sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking again, "I'll allow you to continue if, and only if, you explain every detail about this new weapon to me and if I approve."

Ken face lit up much like Naruto's usually did. "Hai, Jiji!" he said happily.

"But until then, I don't want you experimenting with seals at all. The doctors said that you will be released from the hospital tomorrow so rest up for now," the Hokage spoke with authority.

"Hai, Jiji…" Ken replied downtrodden.

The Hokage left the room after a few more goodbyes and left the Uzumaki duo alone.

"So… how long was I out?" asked Ken. Naruto didn't answer.

Ken sighed. "Naruto… I'm sorry, okay?" No answer.

"Am I getting the silent treatment now?" No answer.

"What can I do to make it up to you?" No answer, but Naruto looked to the side and pouted even more.

"Do you… hate me?" And that did it.

"No!" Naruto practically shouted. "But you scared me! What would I do without you?" Naruto asked, his eyes shimmering with tears. That was when Ken realized that Naruto depended on him a lot.

This won't do… I need to teach him to be more independent. I need to show him that one day I won't be here, and he'll need to learn to survive on his own, but that was in the future. For now, Ken had one angry little brother to make peace with.

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12 Years Old

It had been about ten months since that last incident. Ken had explained in incredible detail, the concept of the gun to the Hokage. Hiruzen had agreed, albeit reluctantly, to let Ken keep experimenting with seals and his 'new' weapon idea. In these ten months, not only had Ken made full use of his Kage Bushins to gain as much knowledge as possible, but also help Naruto with his studies, and invent a number of new things.

He had started working on making a car. A small one, but a chakra powered car nonetheless. He had also finished writing a whole textbook on advanced mathematics, in case he ever needed a bargaining chip against his Jiji. Ken taught Naruto Krav Maga on regular basis and also spared with him. Thankfully, form that, he had learned what a fucking stamina monster his little brother was.

The gun was finally finished. Sadly, the revolver design just hadn't worked out in the end, so Ken had decided to try making a modern type pistol. The design was based off of the widely loved Glock 19. The design with the seals and everything was very similar this time too but making the parts had been a pain in the ass. The blacksmiths had damn near started hating Ken for asking for such precise measurements. It had cost a shit ton too, but the Hokage had helped him on that front on the promise of providing just as good results.

Had the results been as expected? No. They were much, much better. The firepower was incredible. One shot could easily penetrate a tree trunk with a diameter of one foot, even when shot from a distance of more than 150 meters. The only flaw that it had was the recoil. Even though the pistol was only a 9 mm, the recoil was comparable to a Desert Eagle. That was the main thing that Ken was working on at the moment.

The second main thing was the speed of the bullet. Not that it wasn't fast. Oh, it was fast alright, but Ken wanted more. At the moment, the bullet would be invisible to the normal eye while moving, but the Byakugan and the Sharingan could see it. The Byakugan, just barely only at the start, and the Sharingan – courtesy of Kakashi Hatake – could see it only as a blurry dot. Ken had decided to name the gun 'Uzu 19'. Uzu, for Uzumaki, acknowledging the inventor, and 19, from Glock 19, acknowledging the inspiration.

But even with these flaws, the Uzu 19 was leagues above the normal traditional kunai and shuriken. It was faster, more powerful, more accurate, and all around just better. Needless to say, the Hokage was thoroughly impressed when Ken had finally decided to unveil it.

Flashback

The Hokage, Kakashi, Shikaku, and two other ANBU – one Hyuga medic, and the other was probably the ANBU Commander – stood off to the side, watching Ken with anticipation.

"Alright, Kakashi-san. Please uncover your Sharingan," Ken asked politely from his place in the middle of the clearing. Kakashi nodded silently and uncovered his eye. "Thank you. At your command, Hokage-sama," said Ken smiling, prompting Hiruzen.

The Hokage nodded once. "Go ahead, Ken-kun." Ken nodded, acknowledging the command.

The redhead unholstered his Uzu 19 and pointed it to the target while aiming down the sights. Ken was slightly out of practice, so he had to hold it in a two-handed grip rather than his usual one-handed grip. He flicked the safety off and called out, "Hundred meters. Firing in 3… 2… 1…"

BANG!

A loud explosion rang out and not even a hundredth of a second later, the back of the target, which was the trunk of a tree, exploded. There was only a small hole visible in the front, but the whole back was completely missing. A hole, five to six inches in diameter was gouged out of the back.

Ken moved 50 more meters back and aimed at another tree right beside the first one. "One hundred fifty meters. Firing in 3… 2… 1…"

Another 'BANG!' rang out as Ken squeezed the trigger. Again, the same results were visible to the audience. Ken again aimed at another tree beside the two previous targets, "Consecutive shots in 3… 2… 1…" 'BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!' rang out five consecutive bangs just as fast as Ken pulled the trigger. The poor tree that was made to endure the consecutive test torture creaked and fell on the ground, creating a loud crash. "End of test," he called out and flicked the safety on. He took the magazine out and made sure it was empty. He put it away and pulled the slide back and forth a few times. "Clear." He said, making sure there was nothing in the chamber. Ken put the slide in place, then put the magazine back in, and holstered the gun again. Finally, he turned back to his audience with a bright smile. "So… What did you think?"

Nobody said anything, and Ken was met with three disbelieving stares and gaping mouths (god knows what the ANBU were thinking). After a few seconds of awkward silence, the Hokage was the first to recover. "I've gotta say, Ken-kun. This was very impressive."

Kakashi was next, "Unbelievable…" he breathed out, temporarily forgetting about his usually composed and nonchalant aura. The medic ANBU and the Jonin commander only nodded while the ANBU Commander just stood there as if appraising the weapon.

"This is truly an amazing invention. You've done a very good job, Ken." The Hokage praised.

Ken looked down and shifted uncomfortably. "Jiji…" he started quietly, "please don't praise me… It makes me feel very uncomfortable. I… don't really like it." He finished with a pleading look which got him a raised eyebrow from both Kakashi, who had by now covered his Sharingan back up, and Shikaku.

"Very well then," the Hokage said worriedly. "But this weapon truly is nothing like what we've seen here. Come, let's go back to my office and we can discuss the rest there." Ken nodded and Shunshined out right behind his audience.

In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen sat behind his desk while five other chairs were occupied by the rest of the crew. Hiruzen immediately ordered his guard ANBUs out and activated the numerous privacy seals all around. "The workings of this weapon will be classified an S-rank secret until it is in use all throughout our ranks. Is that understood?" Hiruzen spoke with full authority. All the others nodded. "Good. We'll start with Kakashi. What did you think?"

Kakashi sighed once to get his nerves under control and spoke, "Hokage-sama, with my Sharingan, all I saw was a blurry dot and even lost sight of it for a fraction of a second when it was mid-flight. From what I saw of the destructive power, I'd say it has as much power if not more than that of a kunai coated with wind chakra would have. Overall, if this weapon… the… uh…"

"Uzu 19," Ken helped him.

"Right. If the Uzu 19 was to become standard issue, it would make it very easy for our shinobi to fight." Kakashi concluded.

The Hokage nodded with his eyes closed, considering the scarecrow's words and after a few seconds moved his gaze to the Nara clan head. "Shikaku, what do you think?"

"Troublesome…" the Nara also sighed, "for functionality and results, I wholly agree with Kakashi, but overall… well. If this weapon was to become standard issue for our forces, with the correct training, we'd have total battle supremacy on the world for at least a decade. Not to mention how we'd lower the cost of battle too. Sure, the Uzu 19 costs a lot to make but that's only a one-time charge. After that, all we'd need to pay for are the projectiles that are launched."

"I call them bullets," Ken interrupted quickly to clarify.

"Right. Bullets. Other than that, well… if it falls into the hands of our enemy…" Shikaku left the rest unsaid.

The Hokage nodded again, carefully considering the Jonin Commander's words for a few seconds with closed eyes. He moved onto the Hyuga. "Hyo, what about your analysis with your Byakugan?"

"I could just barely see the bullet when it exited the weapon but lost sight immediately afterward. Sorry, Hokage-sama," Hyo finished.

Hiruzen quickly waved off the apology. "Nonsense. It's nothing to apologize about. It just goes to show how much of a masterpiece this weapon is." Ken looked down again, uncomfortable at the praise received. Hiruzen, sensing this discomfort, moved onto the ANBU Commander. "Ryu, your analysis please?"

"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san and Shikaku-san have already said everything that I would have so I do not have any significant input except that this weapon would need to be regulated very carefully. Other than that, I only have a request."

"And what might that be, Ryu?" The Hokage asked while smirking as if he already knew.

"That I could recruit Uzumaki-san into ANBU," Ryu replied with an emotionless voice.

"Huh!?" Ken said while his brain struggled to process what the ANBU Commander just said. Me? ANBU? Already? Damn… He looked around the room and saw all the visible faces smirking. Oh… the bastards knew this was coming, thought Ken. His pride was hurt.

"How about it, Ken-kun? Of course, this would be after you graduate the Academy," the Hokage asked. Ken didn't know what to do. He knew how hard the Spec Ops life was. Did he really want to join? What about Naruto?

"Can I… have some time to think about it?" Ken asked.

The Hokage hummed thoughtfully and scratched his chin. "You have until your graduation. If you don't decide by then or decline the offer, you'll have to apply like a regular shinobi after you reach the rank of Chunin. Is that enough time?"

"Hai, Jiji! Thank you!" Ken said with a bright smile on his face.

The Hokage, Kakashi, and Shikaku all chuckled at the redhead's enthusiasm. "Well, it's your turn, Ken-kun. Would you like to explain the weapon to us?"

Ken nodded and started. "This weapon is called a 'gun'. You can also call it a 'firearm', 'handgun', or 'pistol'."

"I thought it was called 'Uzu 19'," Shikaku said with a raised eyebrow.

"You're right. 'Uzu 19' is the model. The weapon in general is called a 'gun'. There will be more model. Some more dangerous, some less. The way it works is that there is a seal at the base of the grip," Ken pointed at the seal, "that collects oxygen from the air and stores it into another dimension. There is another smaller seal inside the base of the barrel that releases a set amount of compressed oxygen from the same dimension and simultaneously makes a spark. An explosion happens inside the barrel which creates an immense amount of pressure, which in turn propels the bullets at mind-boggling speed. The inside of the barrel is rifled which rotates the bullet on its way out and adds a spin. The spin increases the speed and the damage it does. When the explosion happens, the slide is also pushed back allowing another bullet to load itself. The magazine," Ken took it out to show everyone, "packs 15 rounds and there is one chamber in the gun itself, bringing the total number of shots up to 16." Ken took a deep breath and let it out again. He looked around the room to find all eyes wide. "Uh… I guess that's it."

This time it was Shikaku who recovered first. "I have… several questions." He said, raising a finger.

"Ask away!" Ken beamed the Jonin Commander.

"What exactly is… oxygen?"

It was at that moment Ken knew… he fucked up.

"Ah… Uh… Hmm… what's the best way to explain this?" that was what Ken showed on the outside. On the inside, however, SHITFUCKSONUVABITCHHELLGODDAMMITFUCKSHITAKSFLASDLJSHDBKJHBSDJFSBDJ, "it's a component in the air that burns perfectly."

"…" Five blank stares.

"For example," Ken held his left hand out and released some of his chakra and collected some air, "can someone please touch fire to the air above my hand?"

Hiruzen lit a small flame on his finger using his fire affinity and brought it near Ken's hand. When the flame touched the invisible ball of air, the air lit up with a yellow flame and died down with black smoke going up. Ken immediately pointed at the smoke that had lasted for about second, drawing everyone's attention to it. "You see that smoke? That was because a bunch of random components other than oxygen were also mixed in. It's called incomplete combustion. Now," Ken again held out his hand and gathered pure oxygen.

"Woah…" the Hyuga ANBU whispered. He had his Byakugan activated and Kakashi had uncovered his Sharingan sometime during the process. Both of them could easily see how pure the air above Ken's hand was.

"Can you do it again, Jiji?" Ken asked. Hiruzen repeated the process and this time, the air lit up with a purely blue flame. It almost looked like it was pure chakra. "See that? That's complete combustion. No smoke." Ken wanted to explain more about carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, but he was on extremely thin ice as it was.

"Ken-kun… how have you learned all this?" the Hokage asked.

"Research, Jiji!" Ken answered immediately, using all his experience as the CANSOFCOM Commander and operative to keep a straight face. Even a hint of lie and he'd be down in T&I forever. The Hokage stared at his face for the longest time, then finally let out a sigh.

"Do you think you could possibly write all this down? You too, Hyo, Kakashi. I want a detailed report on what you both saw with your respective Dojutsus." Hiruzen said curiously.

So, this is why he's called 'The Professor', thought Ken with realization dawning.

"Moving onto other issues, what do you think about the regulations of the gun, Ken-kun?" the Hokage asked again.

Ken rubbed his chin for a few seconds, deep in thought, and then finally spoke up. "All ANBUs should have it on their person at all times. No one but Jonin should be allowed to actually use the gun on duty. Only a select few elite Jonin that you can trust with the security with the village should be allowed to carry it off duty.

"All the guns must be registered. If a Jonin wants to carry one out on duty, they should check it out. When checking it out, they must write down their name, date of checkout and the mission number that they are going to check it out for. All guns must be returned to the armoury no later than two hours after the end of the mission… WITH the holster for it. One of your most trustworthy ANBU or Jonin must review the check-out and check-in roster at the end of each week.

"The Hokage must carry one at all times. No guns allowed in the Hokage's residence or the Hokage's office except for the ANBU guard. Or day, whichever one you feel appropriate. And uh… OH! Everyone who wants to use a gun must undergo a psych eval first. That's all for now. If I think of more, I'll let you know Jiji." Ken beamed at the Hokage who was tired of the number of surprises today. His surrogate grandson was practically an administrative genius. Maybe he could delegate some of his paperwork to… No! Bad Hokage! Hiruzen berated himself in his mind.

"Thank you very much, Ken-kun. I will implement all of that as soon as we can make this standard issue." Hiruzen smiled lovingly at the child prodigy. "Until then, please keep me updated on your other projects as well."

"Hai, Jiji!"

After Ken left, the four adults – Hyo had also been dismissed – sat in silence for a while before Kakashi finally broke the peace. "Can I take on an apprentice, Hokage-sama?"

Before the Hokage could say anything, the ANBU Commander cut in with a sharp voice, "I'm recruiting him into ANBU, Kakashi-san."

"Hokage-sama, Ken would make a genius strategist. If you let me-,"

"It's too early for strategy. You can do that after I apprentice him-,"

"ANBU needs him more than you two-,"

Three of the most elite shinobi in the world… bickering like children… over a child. A genius prodigy, with even greater potential than Itachi or even the Fourth himself… but a child, nonetheless. It almost brought a wry smile to Hiruzen's face. Almost. "Enough!" thundered the God of Shinobi. "I will not have three of my most elite shinobi behaving like brats. Now, this is what will happen. Ken-kun will graduate from the Academy, and from there he will choose whether or not he wants to join ANBU. If yes, we'll see what happens after that. If not, he will be asked whether he wants to study war strategy, go into Research and Development, or be a normal genin.

"As for you, Kakashi, you will be taking a genin team this year. Most likely comprised of Sasuke Uchiha and two others. Is that understood?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" came three shouts of absolute obedience.

Flashback End

After that, Ken had written down the bare minimum that he could get away with and handed it in to the Hokage. The fact that he had also tried the thing with the oxygen gave way to another idea in his brain. What if he spread his chakra around his opponent, and slowly – or abruptly if needed – drained away the oxygen from around them. It took almost Jonin level control to do it, but it was possible. Then again, that gave way to yet another idea what if concentrated oxygen around his opponents and connected it to himself with a stream through the air (like a chakra thread, but with oxygen instead) and lit it up.

Ken and Naruto had already been training with all the affinities, so in about five years time, with the help of shadow clones, they both should be able to use all five affinities like they were their main ones. The main ones for Ken were Earth and Water, with Wind being a close second while Naruto's were Wind, with Water and Lightning being close seconds. And with that, Ken had instantly sent even more shadow clones outside the village walls to train for said moves. The mental backlash that came with all that training was a bitch, but he'd deal with it.

By now, Ken had improved the gun as much as possible and created six of them. The Hokage, Shikaku, Kakashi, and the ANBU Commander each had gotten one, and Ken had kept one for himself. They all kept it hidden with them at all times and the last one was in a vault where all the village secrets above SS-rank were stored.