《The Random Reincarnation of An Average Guy》


 1 The Beginning

    ''Damn, it is hot out here'' - thought Amit Kumar as he was walking down the street. It was a regular hot summer day. Amit was going to nearest grocery store to stock up some necessities. Due to the worldwide pandemic of corona virus many countries were forced to lockdown, causing many problems to regular citizens. Most of the people were lucky, staying indoors, in their homes with their families. Amit was one of those unlucky ones who were stranded outside of their home regions due various reasons. In his case it was work. Though the situation was concerning, Amit did not think of it much. His family was safe and sound un their home. His older brother made sure to take all precautions and safety measures. His mother, though old was a fit woman in her late fifties. They were concerned about him as he lived alone, but he ensured them enough to not worry too much. He procured enough supplies for 1.5 to 2 months barring some necessities and could survive easily. Amit was an average guy. He was from a middle-class family. His father died when he was one year old, from then on his mother brought up his elder brother and him. He grew up with all the ups and downs of a regular family. He was above average academically but sucked at sports. From childhood he was a quiet one. He did not like socializing much. He was as his teacher called him once an introvert. He did not mind though. Although he had friends they were few in number but all of them were close. So social-distancing did not bother him. He just missed his family and the few friends of his. So he spent his days chatting with friends and family, binge watching TV shows, movies, anime and just lazing around. All in all Amit was happy with his life. Although he fantasized about going to fantasy worlds of movies, tv shows, manga, anime like every other guy, he never really wanted it at the cost of his current life. He was not some prince charming or invincible hero saving the world but he had his own place, his own piece of life in this convoluted and complex world. This day the sun was blazing down on earth and all Amit wanted to do was to finish up his trip to the market fast and go home. ''Maybe I will just re-watch Breaking Bad today'' - thought Amit.


    He was about 20 minutes from the market when suddenly he started feeling uncomfortable and nauseated. ''Is there something wrong with me or it just the heat?'' - he thought. When suddenly his head started to spin and he started to hyperventilate. All he could do was to sit down and trying to make himself comfortable. But no matter what he did the situation only worsened. Soon he had to lie down on the street as he slowly started loosing sensation in his legs. There was no one on the street. He went to take out his cellphone to call emergency number but he couldn''t even control his hands, his hands just spasmed. He wanted to scream in the hope that someone might hear him and come to help, but all that escaped from his mouth was a pitiful groan. ''Will I die here like random dog with no one to save me?'' - he thought with desperation amd anxiety. He knew he was losing his senses slowly but could not do anything about it. Amit was slowly felling faint. His thoughts were slowly being incoherent and he could not think straight. All of his 25 years of life started flashing in front of his eyes. The memories of his childhood, his days in school, the happy memories of his family, the joy and fun he had when was among his friends, his college days and his pitiful short romantic life. It was like a movie playing on fastest playback speed. He could see all his life and emotions, joy, sorrow, love, happiness, anger, satisfaction, regret, everything. Soon he started feeling weightless and after a few moments he lost his consciousness.


    After an unknown amount of time he started to regain his consciousness. ''Huh?! Where am I?''- thought Amit, ''Wait, what''s happened to me?!''. All Amit could see was darkness if you can call it seeing at all and he could not even move or worse he had nothing to move. It''s like he did not have a body. All he could sense that he was floating in dark void. He was slowly becoming more and more uncertain of his situation.. Amit did not know where he came to. He first thought he was in coma. Maybe somebody saw him and took him to the hospital. And now he was on hospital bed in an unsponsive vegetative state. But he soon had to crush that thought. He somehow knew that he died and was not in a coma. He did not know why he had died or what was the cause of his death. He realised that it was not that all he can see was darkness but It was that he could not even see much less hear, smell, taste or touch anything. ''Is this afterlife? Yes, that is more appropriate and fitting'' - he thought. The sheer sensory deprivation and lack of anything made him think. Amit knew that his death would hit his family hard. His mother and brother would be devastated, so will be his relatives. His friends would mourn for him. He knew he could not do anything about it but these thoughts made him wallow in despair. ''Atleast mother has elder brother and their relatives to support her. But what do I do now? Will I just stay here for eternity floating around or is there an escape?'' - he thought. Time passed and Amit was slowly coming to terms with his situation. Instead of doing nothing he was reviewing his memories of his life. His decisions, good or bad, how it affected those around him, his life choices, all that he learned in his life, he was reviewing them all. He saw that there were holes, slowly forming in his memories. He wanted to stop it but whatever he did, nothing made it stop. He was forgetting things, subjective things actually, like faces of people, their names, their relation to him and the interactions. He however did not forget his experiences. He retained those memories. It started with the childhood interactions with his family, then it progressed. After an uncountable amount of time at last he forgot his name.


    The spirit/soul/entity floated in the dark void unknowingly for a long time devoid of purpose. Suddenly the soul sensed a flickering dot of what it thought was light, but it was far from it. So It wanted to move towards it but could not. The soul wished to escape this dark void of nothingness, and it knew its only chance was to go towards the light, so it willed itself to move closer towards that dot of light. And after trying for some time it moved slowly but surely to its only path of escape. After much time the soul moved much closer to the speck of light. The soul felt it was moving through a tunnel with the light at the end of it. And at last when the soul finally reached the light, the light embraced it.


    The soul suddenly started feeling things, Its senses returning. It could feel warmth, It could feel that it was submerged in a viscous liquid, It could feel there was a membrane type thing enveloping It. It did not know what happened to it now but after much deliberation and thinking it suddenly clicked. It now had a body of his own. But how? And soon it made sense. The soul was in Its mother womb. That means sometimes later it would be born. But suddenly the soul became anxious. The soul knew that It was not a very religious person in his past life but It still believed in reincarnation and with reincarnation it brought a plethora of problems. The soul never wanted his reincarnation to be like this. It wanted a natural death of old age. It wanted a fulfilling life. A life It could enjoy living to Its satisfaction. The soul was an avid reader of fan-fictions and web-novels in Its past life, so using that knowledge It theorised that It had some serious concerns. It did not know what world the soul had reincarnating into. It could be a safe, modern world like the previous one where society was progressive and safe for living but it could also be a primitive one where strength rules and society was in name only with dog eat dog mentality. But what could be much worse if the world he came to, turned out to be a fictional one. Now the soul knew that according to multiverse theory fictional worlds were not impossible. Just thinking about living in one of those dangerous, death filled worlds made the soul or more appropriately the fetus curse vehemently at Its poor luck. The fetus knew that It did not meet any god, some random omnipotent being or more importantly the almighty truck-kun or its relatives. It did not even know whether or not it had any golden fingers like those protagonists of those novels. Hell, It did not even if It would be a he or a she or maybe It would born a heshe. The fetus was pretty sure it was born male in Its previous life and identified as a straight male but iI did not knew if It was going to be the same in this life also. After much deliberation It came to a decision that whatever comes It will face it with all of its being and It was going to survive no matter what. And with burning fire of determination the fetus promptly went to sleep.


    Life as a fetus was boring and It made no sense just how can a fetus think and maintain such level consciousness with an undeveloped brain. Maybe it was because It had the soul of an adult making Its soul and mind stronger than the norm. It knew that It''s birth was approaching. It could make movements now. Not much, just waving it''s hands a little or kicking a bit. But It could hear noises coming from outside. Indistinct noises, incoherent speech and laughter. So the fetus thought that instead of just sleeping It might just do something. But what exactly could a fetus do? So using Its limited knowledge It decided to meditate for a start. The fetus learned how to meditate in Its past life so It tried to first calm Itself down then focus on something. It started to focus on the surrounding environment. Slowly It started to feel its surroundings or more accurately sense it. The sense started to slowly spread around in a spherical manner, its center being the fetus itself. The fetus made out a woman who It was certain of was Its mother in this world. It sensed Its mother was lying on a bed rubbing her belly and talking to someone. Spreading out It senses even more the fetus sensed a man sitting at the foot of the bed talking with Its mother in a language that seemed familiar, kind of like Japanese. It knew what Japanese sounded like from Its memories of past life of watching anime. The fetus thought maybe this time It will be born as a Japanese. The man and the woman oozed happiness and the fetus could feel it somehow. It could also sense the surrounding objects, the bed, the table on the left side, a chair, the walls of the room, the floor, ceiling, some things hanging on the wall in an astoundingly accurate detail. It could also make out that the objects and furniture were all wooden and like came from an old age. But soon the fetus became tired and sleepy. The sensing around taking its toll, and soon the fetus fell asleep. In about what seemed like a few months the fetus became aware of Its surroundings once again. It could feel shaking and rumbling, people talking, shouting and screaming of Its mother, the voice of the man who the fetus thought was Its father and a new voice of an old woman shouting encouragement to the mother. The enveloping membrane around the fetus was broken and It could feel that It was about to be born. The fetus used Its limited mobility to shift Its head properly. After all this shit It sure did not want any complications to happen on Its birth. The surrounding pressure was pushing him ahead and the soon to be newborn pushed along with it and popped Its head out of Its mother''s womb to the new world. A pair of hands of what It could make of was a female nurse grabbed the newborn and pulled him out amidst the screams of the mother. The nurse examined the newborn, cleaned It, which the newborn was very grateful for. But soon the gratefulness vanished and pure unadulterated rage took its place when the nurse gave a vicious slap to the newborn. The reincarnator cried out, cursing all the generations of the nurse but all came out was cries of a newborn baby.


    "How is the baby aunt Miyako?" - the man asked.


    "Congratulations, Toru-kun It''s a boy! The baby is healthy and good." - answered the nurse.


    "Thank kami-sama! Akane, are you alright?."


    "I''m okay, just let see my son" - answered the mother.


    "Here. He is awake now, Akane-chan. Toru-kun, I will clean this place and pack up. You should let the mother and the child rest now".


    "Thank you aunt Miyako for your help. It was all so sudden, without your help we.."


    "It''s alright Toru-kun, I''ve known you two since you were children. It''s nothing".


    "Still, thank you for helping us aunt Miyako".


    "Oh, Don''t think about it. Now did you two have a name for your child?"


    "Yes, we did. He is a boy, so it will be Takeru, Takeru Yamamoto." - answered Akane.


    "Takeru, a good name. I hope he will grow up healthy and safe" - Miyako said with a smile and left the house with Toru seeing her out.


    At this moment the newly named Takeru was wrapped in bundle of cloth. He was lying in his mother''s embrace seeing, hearing and more importantly sensing everything around him. After getting his ass slapped and cursing the nurse to the nine heavens, Takeru thought it would of greater importance to gather information about his new family. Although he could not fully understand the whole conversation, he could understand some words and names. He understood that his name from now is Takeru Yamamoto. His father''s name was Toru and his mother''s name was Akane. The old nurse''s name was Miyako. Surveying his surroundings he surmised that he was in the past or some alternate world. He was somewhere in Japan sometime in the 14th or 15th century. From the state of his new parents clothes he assumed that his new family were common people, probably farmers or workers. From his already spread senses which seemed to have increased he found out that the new house he would be spending his upcoming days in was a simple one storey house with 4 rooms. One room which they were currently at, one drawing room, a store room of sorts and a storefront. Akane saw her son looking around inquisitively and smiled. Her son brought joy in her and Toru''s life and she cuddled and embraced her son. She was lovingly looking at him and engraving this piece of memory in her mind for all her life. Takeru suddenly saw his mother''s face up close and looked at her. Akane was in her mid-twenties with milky complexion, black hair, black eyes, oval shaped face with certain eastern beauty in it. Toru entered ther room after seeing aunt Miyako out. Takeru saw his new father for the first time. Toru was a tall brawny man in his thirties with tanned complexion, black hair, chiseled jaw, a little beard and sharp brown eyes. As he was looking at his new parents, Toru and Akane was also looking at Takeru. To them Takeru was a healthy baby with tufts of black hair on his head, brown eyes, an oval shaped face looking at them. Akane said, "Toru, look at little Takeru, he is looking at you". Toru took Takeru in his arms, looking at his newborn son. "You will become a great man someday my son Takeru". He kissed Takeru''s forehead and carefully gave him back to his mother. Toru lovingly eyeing his son and his wife said, " Akane, I will go prepare the food. You take care of little Takeru". Akane smiled at him prepared to breastfeed Takeru. Takeru was stunned seeing his new mother sliding her yukata a little taking out her boob. Now Takeru knew that as a baby he needs to feed on breast milk as in this time period there were no other baby food but still as a self-respecting fully grown-ass adult from 21st century he was leery at the idea of sucking his mother''s breast. Still hunger overcame the shame and Takeru took the breast in his mouth sucking milk silently, drifting of to sleep. Akane saw her son, the cute little bundle of happiness slowly falling asleep. She too drifted asleep slowly caressing her son.


    The next time Takeru woke up in his new mother''s embrace, he slowly came to the realisation that yesterday was not a dream. He truly reincarnated in the past. This hit him hard. He was going with the flow yesterday but now it was bothering him heavily. He thought of his past life, his mother, brother, friends, his aspirations, his dreams, his job, his life. He could not remember his mother face, her voice or even his brother''s for that matter but he knew he had them. He could still feel their love, care, concern, worry for him. Maybe the memories were gone but he knew that they did exist. It saddened him greatly to know that he could never go back. He never wanted to reincarnate at the cost of his life. He did not know how he came to be here. He never wanted to be here. But after thinking a bit he came to a conclusion that he can never go back, so why fret over it so much. He, who gained a new life, a new start, can make it great in this new life. He was given a chance, a second chance, many would literally give their life up to get. So since he got it however unwilling he was to get it, he might as well make the best out of it. He knew that maybe he would always see his new parents as ''new'' parents. But maybe he could love them as much they loved him. As Takeru could somehow sense emotions he knew that Toru and Akane truly loved him from the bottom of their hearts. He sensed it. As he looked at his new mother sleeping beside him, his mother Akane also woke up and saw Takeru looking at her. She smiled, caressing his cheek. Seeing her smile, Takeru also smiled sensing her love. ''Maybe reincarnation is not all that bad as I thought'' - thought Takeru Yamamoto.

 2 Baby Steps

    Takeru did not remember much of his previous childhood. Only snippets of images and flashes of hazy memories. And he was thankful for not remembering those shameful memories because getting your diaper changed, getting your ass cleaned, staining bedsheets and getting breastfed by a woman around your mental age is not for a healthy mind. Takeru was experiencing hell everyday. Although he somewhat accepted his fate but still hearing your subconscious shouting ''What the fuck?!'' everytime Akane fliped him over to change his diaper and cleaned his ass was mentally scarring. It had been three months since the protagonist of this story The ''Almighty Bedwetter'' Takeru Yamamoto had been living in this brave new world. It had given him some time to think, to think about what had happened and to saving what was left of his broken self-esteem. Takeru knew that his sensing ability was not normal, atleast his parents did not have them. He could sense his father Toru going out in the fields every morning, his mother Akane taking care of the shop in front of the house whilst looking after him. He could sense his mother''s movements, the gestures of her hands, the shifts of her feet, the expressions visible on her face, to every tiny detail. He could sense his father going out to the fields, his return, the dust and dirt on his clothes, the wrinkles of his mothers dress. He could sense everything around him. He estimated that the radius of his sensing sphere was about 10 meters and it was growing with each and every use. And after three months of continuous usage he could passively sense 1 meter around him all the time. Even asleep he could sense who were around him. He also upped the time limit of his maximum time of active sensing to around 20 minutes. He knew that this ability of sensing might be the golden finger he got from reincarnation. He thought maybe it is a mutation that gave him this ability or maybe it is given to him by whatever omnipotent being that took pity on his untimely death and rebirth. Takeru did not spend 3 months of his life staying idle. He actively moved his arms and legs, turned his head and body around everyday to get them working fast. Although as an infant lifting his head was easier said than done. He persevered and after 3 months could control his little body with great dexterity and he could crawl smoothly. This achievement shocked Toru and Akane as regular babies take atleast twice or more time to start crawling. Nevertheless they were happy that little Takeru could do this and they were sure that their son was a genius. Takeru could sense people''s emotions, be it joy, happiness, love, hope or sorrow, grief, hate, anger he could feel it. It gave him an edge over his parents. He knew when to laugh, when to cry, when to not cry and he timed it with precision. Toru and Akane were surprised by their son''s behaviour. They heard from their neighbours and aunt Miyako that newborns were very easily irritated, and would cry, shout, to demand their parents attention at every moment possible. But Takeru was different, he never woke them up from their sleep at night. He only cried when he was hungry or was crapping his diapers off. He always smiled at their presence, making weird baby noises, interacting with them at every possible chance. They felt like Takeru knew when they entering the room, he knew that they were near him even while asleep. Takeru always smiled while sleeping when Toru or Akane was beside him. This made their hearts full with love. They loved watching him smile. Akane noticed this first and later Toru noticed it too that Takeru was very considerate. He never irritated them or demand their presence at random. He always had a weird twinkle in his eyes that screamed intelligence and awareness. His inquisitiveness and activities made them feel that Takeru will grow up an energetic youth. Even though their lifestyle was very common, the Yamamoto household was filled with happiness.


    It took Takeru another three months to further glean information about his mother and father. Takeru''s father Toru Yamamoto was a farmer owning a good piece of land where he grew rice and other vegetables along with a small herb garden. He also owned some chickens and pigs which he sold as a whole in their shop along with rice and vegetables. Takeru''s mother Akane Ito was a doctor/medic/nurse of some sort. Many people around his neighbourhood would come with ailments of different kind like fever, cough, cuts, bruises to the shop. She would either give them some medicinal paste made by crushed herbs or go to their home to treat them in serious cases. Toru and Akane was well respected and loved by all the people of the neighborhood and some beyond that. Takeru continued his training and after 3 months of crawl training and leg excercises he could finally walk the first steps of his new life. His parents were amazed at this and it further cemented the image of Takeru''s genius in their eyes. Aunt Miyako or granny Miyako for little Takeru, who visited their household every now and then was also shocked to see a 6 months old baby walking around effortlessly. She did a full-body examination of Takeru and saw that Takeru''s fitness was around 2-3 year old kids. After his little achievement Takeru further enhanced his training by running around the house, jumping, squatting, climbing, doing various excercises with the pretense of playing. Takeru''s reasoning for doing this was that as a reincarnated person he had a major headstart among the other children in his generation. And he is going to maintain that and even further enhance his growth. His control of his body was exceptional to the point he became unsure if he was given some massive dexterity boost with his sensing ability, because he was sure that no normal child of his age can do the things he can do. He also did not stop practicing hia sensing ability and it was growing continuously everyday. As for communication he listened to conversations of his parents and other people with rapt attention to learn the new language at a faster rate. And like this life continued for Takeru.


    At 7 months old Takeru could finally fully comprehend his mother language in this world, and it was pretty identical to the Japanese language of his previous world. His pronunciation though was not good enough. He practiced speaking secretly when his parents were in other room or when he could sense and was sure that they could not listen to what he was saying. He first started practicing using simple words like ''mama'' or ''dada'' then went for his name, then his parents name, names of random objects he heard from his parents conversations, after that he started doing simple sentences and ended up doing random tounge-twisters. Slowly he worked on his pronunciations, wording and sentence structures. He did all these in secret. because he became afraid of his progress. He heard from his parents that he was growing twice as fast than other kids his age. And in this era, when superstitions ran rampant, he had to make sure that he was not seen as a demon child or devil spawn. He could not just go to his mother and say ''Bonjour Mother'', can he? He might get burned at a stake or worse some weird demon worshipping cultists might kidnap and sacrifice him to their unholy saviour. No, he had to do things slowly and at a steady pace. He would keep practicing sensing ability and various physical excercises but he would do them secretly so that no one could know about it. At 9 months old, Takeru could lift his bodyweight and was ridiculously fast and swift for a child, and noticed that the more he excercises he did the more his physical capabilities began to rise. He noticed that his thinking capacity is increased. He first noticed it when he started doings simple mental calculations to keep his mind sharp. Now in his past life Takeru could solve simple middle school level mathematical problems in his mind but here Takeru went from middle school to college level calculations. He was not a mathematical genius, he was average at it. But now he was not so sure. Complex problems became easy for him. Rapid calculations including multiple digit numbers became the norm for him. This made him think that maybe his sensing ability was not everything he got from his reincarnation.


    It had been nearly one year since Takeru was born in this world and he learned and experienced many things. One of the main things he learned of were his powers or gifts or golden finger or cheat or whatever you call them. Takeru had 4 of them. His first ability was his sensing ability, with it he could sense bypassing any and all physical barriers be it walls, earth, metals and even biological ones. His sensing span was a sphere, and he was the center of this sphere. He could sense underground, be it bugs or insects crawling around or even slight quakes of the very earth that randomly happened for some reason at an extremely accurate detail. This sensing ability had two modes - the active mode and the passive mode. This ability increased with practice and focus. And his continuous practice with it bore fruit. Takeru could now actively use his sense at the range of 20 meters for the maximum of 1 hour, any more and he would lose his consciousness from sheer exhaustion. His passive sensing ability worked all the time and it did not tire him out and his passive sensing range was now 5 meters around him. Although this ability was amazing, it did come with some drawbacks, mainly sensory overload from all the things he could sense giving him a massive headache and severe disorientation due having multiple sensing perspectives. The first time he tried to focus and double his sensing range he nearly threw up from all the incoming sensations. Though his active sensing range doubled from 10 meter to 20 meter, Takeru suffered a brain churning headache for a full day. He could not even fall asleep due to sensory overload. From then on he vowed to never do again, and only increased his sensing range slowly through continuous practice. The other time he focused at a certain point in his sensing range to look at himself. It was like an out of body experience for him, as he could see see from two perspectives, first from his own eyes and second from the focus point of sensing range. This feeling really made his head spin until stopped the active sensing. He also found that this focus point vision could not be used in passive sensing. Though he later adjusted to this new facet of his sensing ability and could now consciously use the focus point vision at a relative ease. His second ability was extreme body or physical control. He found out that if he wanted to, he could consciously control his body to a ridiculous degree. Although he just tried normal bodily movement and some streches yoga and gymnastic stances, he could do them with 100% accuracy. This helped shorten and even negate almost any and all unnecessary movements form his body, making him unnaturally agile, swift. This ability also made him ambidextrous. Takeru also could control his emotions. He could as he experimented in his short life, control how much emotions could control his behaviour. It did not dampen his emotions or lower his emotional quotient, in fact it heightened it. It just that he could feel emotions but they do not affect his behaviour any more than he would want them to. This ability made his self-regulation heighten to an extreme degree so he could be calm at extreme situations and increased his motivation, which gave him more drive to improve himself, made him more socially-aware reducing his social awkwardness from his past life and making him more sociable person, turned him more self-aware so that he knew where his strengths and weaknesses lay and finally in conjunction with the emotion sensing aspect of his sensing ability it made him highly empathetic that made it easier for Takeru to emotionally connect with others. Takeru''s third ability made his body adaptive but the effect was moderate. This ability made his body grow stronger, become more durable and efficient the more he experiences strains, damages, trauma. This ability gave him mild regeneration, increased pain tolerance and impeccable muscle memory. So theoretically the more he would train the stronger he would become or so Takeru mused. His final ability was bit weird. This ability made him more intelligent. It increased the speed of his thought processes, increased his computing capability, heightened his learning capacity and enhanced his memories. The memory enhancement had a very nice effect on him as he remembered and retained nearly every single memory he had left from his past life and he could remember, retain and store memories more easily now.


    Now these abilities made Takeru''s life interesting but also challenging. First was his sensing ability, with which he found out that physical barriers held no meaning to it. So with all his wisdom Takeru decided that he will try to see if he could see through a person''s body. And this experiment was done when Toru and Akane were out of the house with only granny Miyako staying there to take care of young Takeru. And boy oh boy Takeru wished he had an ability to remove memories so he could remove the cursed image of granny Miyako sitting without her clothes on. The worse thing was that the damned image became etched in his enhanced memory. He vowed from then on to practice his sensing ability for precision to never be in such a horrendous situation ever again. Another complication rose when Takeru wanted to minimise his unnecessary bodily movements. He began to move like robot. His movements were cranky and rigid. His steps became ridiculous to the degree that sometimes he literally had to hop around just to save himself from embarrassment. People gave him weird looks whenever they saw him. Only his parents were nonchalant about it as they thought it was game Takeru was playing. When Takeru found out the adaptive ability of his body he had only one thought on his mind ''ZENKAI FUCKING BOOST!''. But soon he became disappointed because the adaptive ability was mild at best. He wanted to test his limits so with his world shattering wisdom he decided to borrow a knife from the kitchen out in back of his house. Wanting to test his body Takeru sliced his left forearm with the knife, immediately crying out in pain and dropping the knife with a string of blood shooting out of his arm. Now, Takeru was prepared for pain, he thought maybe this would nick his skin a bit letting a little bit of blood out but he did not consider the sharpness of the knife. Hearing his cries, Akane burst into the room and seeing the amount of blood on her son she paled in fright. She immediately took a long strip of cloth and a healing paste, cleaned the wound, applied the paste on the wound and wrapped it with bandages. Takeru on that moment just felt less pain than he had felt before and feeling his wound regenerate his smiled in pure joy only to face his mother with stormy look on her face. This incident was promptly followed by Akane giving him the spanking of his life, Toru rebuking him harshly, getting banned from going to the kitchen for indefinite amount of time and finally stopping his favourite ''riceball nibbling time''. Thus proving that even with having enhanced mental capabilities, some people could not be stopped from committing pure acts of idiocy. Though these misadventures finally gave Takeru some assurance for his capabilities and gave him insurance about the future, filling him with hope that whatever challenges may come in his life. He could surely face them hard and overcome them.


    Next major thing Takeru learned was about the place around him. The Yamamoto household was on a good piece of land. On the frontside of the land facing the road was the one storey house Takeru and his family lived in. In their backyard on left side was the partially covered outdoor kitchen, on the far right was the washing-bathing-toilet room. The center of the backyard had a small clearing covered with grass. Further in the distance to the left a small outdoor artificial pond was situated. Beside it, there was a small garden with various medicinal herbs growing within it. From then on weee the farming fields belonging to the Yamamoto family. Takeru used the ''I''m a cute baby and you are going to do as I say'' technique to make his father showing him all around the property. He also learned that his father knows swordsmanship. He saw him swinging a katana around the backyard practicing his sword techniques. This made his eyes burn as after just glancing at the sword he knew it was the real deal and Takeru''s inner weeb was awakened. All he wanted to do was to hug the katana fiercely to satisfy his inner weebness. Toru had to snatch the katana away from him fearing he might cut himself again. From then on Takeru rarely saw his father practicing sword techniques. And he could not even find the damned katana anywhere in the house. Takeru, searching for the magnificent katana also found a fully loaded and decorated samurai armor in the store room. He thought maybe his father was a samurai in the not so distant past, or maybe one of his ancestors was. He respected his father very much. The man was kind, quiet, loving and fiercely protective of his family. Toru was a responsible man who knew the harshness of life and had seen many of life''s ups and downs. Toru wanted Takeru to be a just and honorable samurai whose vows were as strong as refined steel. He knew his son was going to be physically superior than any other men when he grew up. So he wanted to teach Takeru the way of the sword as early as possible to create a strong foundation. To motivate and encourage him he told Takeru various stories ranging from mysterious adventures to downright hilarious ones. Toru did not know if Takeru understood any of it but still told him stories of samurai protecting people from monsters, demons and most importantly villainous shinobis. Takeru knew that shinobis or more commonly known as ninjas existed in this time period but also knew that they were mainly commoners turned trained covert forces working to disassemble the system of feudalism. And ninjas surely were not as powerful as his father described going toe to toe against the samurai. Maybe it was just another exaggerated story a father made up to tell his son. Takeru did not think much about it. Still Takeru loved his father very much, maybe because of the lack of a father figure in his previous life or maybe because Toru was just a good father. Akane doted her son very much. She took him out to visit her neighbours and friends. She sat him near her when she was making food so little Takeru could watch her and know that his mother was with him. Akane loved how playful and active her son was and how intelligent he was. She could somehow feel that Takeru understood her and Toru, but could not tell how. When Toru told her that he would teach little Takeru swordsmanship. She agreed because in these trying times having physical might was strongly needed if you wanted to make something out of your life. Though she made Toru promise that he would do to make sure that little Takeru would not join any wars, battles or any campaign of the various daimyos and warlords. The swordsmanship would only be for self-defence. Her son would never fight and bleed for another man''s agenda.

 3 Revelation and Determination

    Today Takeru Yamamoto became 1 year old. It was a nice chilly day with little winds blowing. The atmosphere was pleasant. Takeru noticed that the climate here in this region was always warm throughout the year, like no matter what season comes there was always a tinge of summer present. Only in winter the weather got cold and snow fell. Takeru was born on the eve of winter thus he saw snowfall for the first time in both of his lives when he was about 1 months old. The warm climate made Takeru feel safe somehow. He did not know what he wanted to be when he grew up. Maybe he would become a samurai like his father wishes him to be or a healer like his mother or maybe he would just be a farmer, managing the shop, taking care of his parents, spending his days in peace and quiet. He was happy with the prospect of living a simple life to the ripe old age. Takeru mused as he saw his parents were decorating the house with some flowers and few strips of colourful cloth. The house was soon filled with laughter and joy. His father invited a couple of his close friends. His mother invited granny Miyako''s family and few of her friends. Granny Miyako came with her son and daughter-in-law, and their her twin grandsons , Renji and Genji, both 5 year olds. They came early to help Akane and Toru. The Yamamoto shop was closed today with the promise of giving some discount on the shop''s products tomorrow. Takeru was happy and his parents saw it. They wanted to make this day to be a memorable one. Although the shop sold a few chickens and pigs but they had little meat on their plate to eat. They mainly ate rice, vegetables and some fruits with very few meat dishes made only on some special occasions. And today was a special ocassion so Toru took a whole pig to slaughter to celebrate his son''s first birthday. Takeru wanted to speak his first words today to show his appreciation for everything his parents had done for him. Nothing special just simple ''mama'' and ''dada'' for now. He could already speak fully coherent sentences fluently but did not show it to anyone. Takeru played with Renji and Genji but they soon became tired and Takeru became bored. Akane, her few friends in the neighborhood, granny Miyako and her daughter-in-law were in the kitchen preparing food and gossiping. Renji and Genji were laying down on the tatami mats exhausted after running around for so long. Toru, granny Miyako''s son and Toru''s friends chatted among themselves. Takeru without anything else to do listened to conversations the adults were having.


    "The yield this year will be good" - spoke Toru.


    "Yes, I saw that too, hopefully this year there will not be any incidents like previous ones" - agreed granny Miyako''s son Atsuno, the village merchant.


    "Well situations look pretty stable right now but there is no way to be sure that it will always be nice"


    "Yeah, I heard those water bastards were seen near the port. I would like to think that they came here to trade but I think I am being too naive."


    "Yes, trade. Trade lives surely. Bunch of murderers." - spat the village blacksmith Tenshi.


    "Now, now, no need to be so agitated, Tenshi. We know your hatred for them but not all of them are despicable. There are a few good ones too." - Hikaru, the resident woodworker placated the irate blacksmith.


    "You met just one of them, and he was nice to you because you saved his life."


    "Maybe that was the reason but you can not argue that they are also humans like us. It is their profession that makes them unable to be kind." - argued Hikaru.


    "Well, that is true, I have never met any ''kind'' shinobi in my life" - agreed Toru.


    "I think their lives are pitiful actually. Can you believe they send children to fight their battles. I saw a corpse of a child coming from Otafuku city. Some people I think the child''s clan members took the corpse away. I saw a glimpse of their faces I tell you, it was like they have no emotions at all". - said Atsuno.


    "They are cowards. Have you seen any shinobi fight? They fight from the shadows. They just know how to kill and destroy. Honour, kindness, compassion mean nothing to them." - hate was visible on Tenshi''s face.


    "Hey, Toru, do you think those shinobi from the port will come here?" - asked Atsuno fearfully.


    "I do not think they will come here. Although our village is prosperous, It does not hold a candle to cities like Otafuku or Tanzaku much less Keishi." - answered Toru.


    "Yes, that is true. But I think they came for another reason." - said Hikaru.


    "What do you mean? What reason?" - asked Tenshi.


    Toru and Atsuno were also looking at Hikaru for explanation.


    "Have you heard the Senju and the Uchiha are making a truce?"


    "What? How is that possible? Are you sure? Were they not bitter enemies?" - asked a shocked Toru.


    "Yes, I heard from my father that they were fighting each other for generations." - said Tenshi.


    "Yes, they were fighting each other for many years but the new clan heads of Senju and Uchiha agreed to make a pact to stop the fight between them." - answered Hikaru.


    "Are you sure? It can be a trap for all we know. Maybe they are staging this whole thing to kill each other at one fell swoop." - asked Tenshi.


    "Yes, I am sure of it. My cousin lives in Keishi. He saw the two clan heads visiting the daimyo."


    "If this happens it will change how shinobis operate. They were all fighting for their clan only. But if big clans like Senju and Uchiha join a pact, then other clans are sure to follow and join them." - Toru was amazed at the situation.


    "Yes, at least finally the wars can stop. Too many innocents have died in these needless wars".


    "Maybe the next generation can live a life free of violence" - mused Atsuno.


    "All we can do is hope for that to happen". - said Toru with a little hope in his eyes.


    The four men then talked about other various topics unaware of the frozen statue of the child named Takeru. He hoped to learn about this wonderful new world he was living in so that he could properly create a future path for himself. Takeru always thought that he traveled to the past, he was sure of it until now. He made himself believe that his parents were regular people, so were the neighbours and the people he had seen. He blatantly tried to dismiss the fact there were something strange with his parents and a few people he met. Even after seeing the green glow coming from his mother''s hands whenever she healed someone or the visible ripples forming in the air when his father practiced his sword techniques, he acted like he did not see those things. And whenever he saw those things, he desperately wanted to believe that those things did not happen. His dreams of having a nice and easy life shattered into pieces in just a few minutes. He after hearing this conversation was sure that he was not on earth anymore. No matter how much he wanted to, he could not deny the fact that there were no shinobi clans named Senju or Uchiha in the Japan of his past life. He had heard the tales of shinobi his father told him often and if he combined the new knowledge he gained from this conversation with the knowledge of his past life. There comes only one conclusion. He was in the world of Naruto. The village they were living in was in some place in the Land of Fire. And he was beyond fucked. The sudden bitch-slap he got from fate made him realise that his future was not so bright anymore. The 4 Great Shinobi Wars, various skirmishes and wanton slaughter throughout the whole Elemental Nations, Danzo Shimura, Orochimaru, Obito Uchiha, Pain, Akatsuki, Madara Uchiha, Kaguya Otsutsuki, Zetsu, and other members of the Otsutsuki clan. Takeru remembered all of them. He knew the world of Naruto was not as kid friendly as he thought in his previous life. The PG rated show severely downplayed the vicious, cruel, unforgiving and harsh life people of this world had to live. He shuddered at the thought of child soldiers, clan killers, reavers, bandits, rapists, monsters and the inhumane beasts in human skin that roam around this world. Even with his cheats and powers he was not sure if he could protect his family and survive in this world. He did not want come home one day just to see his family and friends murdered in cold blood. He did not want to be a random assassination target of some random jounin. He did not want to be killed by some edgy snot-nosed wannabe teen ninja with anger management issues. Takeru was in denial and he knew it. But now he had no choice. The Uchiha and Senju were forming pact, which means the Hidden Leaf Village would form soon. This would make other shinobi clans desperate and they too would form other shinobi villages. And things would slowly spiral out of control because of Zetsu''s machinations and Madara Uchiha''s betrayal. Takeru''s thoughts were spinning and he was becoming more and more anxious thinking about the future. Akane, Miyako and other women in kitchen came out with piping hot food when Toru, who was chatting with Atsuno, Tenshi and Hikaru, suddenly noticed that his son was standing still as a statue. He shook him and asked, - "Takeru, are you alright"? Takeru, who stood frozen thinking about his awful luck and predicament was suddenly shaken out of his musings and blurted out his first word in this life that aptly described his situation, "FUCK!".


    The day ended with all the food and chatter. The invited guests saw themselves out after congratulating Takeru and giving him hugs, kisses, cuddles and gifts. Akane blamed Toru for always cursing at home letting little Takeru learn bad words. Toru, grumbling, took out a bottle of sake to spend the evening at leisure. Akane began reorganizing and cleaning the house. Takeru, meanwhile was lying on the bed thinking about what he should do. To protect himself and his loved ones he had to become as powerful as he can. For this he needs proper guidance. Sure, he remembers some jutsus and training methods from his memories but they did not have much description and information on how to do it and Takeru would not do something half-assed. He had to gather information about how to start using chakra. He remembers the main twelve hand-seals used in various ninjutsus, the main three chakra control excercises - leaf concentration excercise, tree walking excercise and water walking excercise, he also remembered some jutsus mainly Shadow Clone Jutsu, Transformation Jutsu, Body Replacement Jutsu or Substitution Jutsu, Body Flicker Jutsu, Fireball Jutsu and Rasengan. This world had the miraculous energy, chakra and everyone had it. He knew that Toru and Akane could use chakra as he saw them use it often. He could ask his parents to teach him how to feel and mould chakra. But before that he had to increase his training intensity. Takeru did not know the capacity of his inborn chakra reserve. So he formulated a plan, that no matter the size of his chakra reserve he would focus on mainly three things, speed, efficiency and accuracy. Due to his sensing ability, adaptive body, physical control, enhanced comprehension and impeccable muscle memory he could become a taijutsu beast. His sensing ability would make him an excellent scout and tracker. With his physical control he could learn and master shurikenjutsu and bukijutsu faster than any regular shinobi. If his chakra capacity turned out to be big enough he could use shadow clones to further heighten his learning curve, if not then he would focus on making his chakra control as precise as possible. Medical ninjutsu was a must learn for him. He had a healing factor but it was not strong enough, and having medical knowledge could make his physical recovery even stronger. Plus in a tight pinch medical ninjutsu could become a valuable skill. Shape transformation and nature transformation of chakra was also a must learn. Afterall who would not want to spit fire from his mouth? And lastly nature chakra or senjutsu chakra, for this he would have to get a animal summoning contract. Takeru, thinking of the path he would likely have to take in order to survive and protect his family, slowly fell asleep.


    From the next day Takeru upped his training intensity as much as he could. Being a mere one year old did not give him much freedom but he persevered and trained hard. He also made his training more efficient. He did mental calculations and problem solving at a constant rate while running around the house jumping, skipping, moving, stretching. He did all sorts of movements bringing his flexibility to new heights. He also continuously practiced to make his movements more and more fluid and swift. Slowly a distinct rhythm forming in his steps which he matched with every piece of musical beats he remembered. He did it so he can change his rhythm in an instant during a fight. He also started doing laps in the house to build his endurance. His adaptive body doing its job slowly increased his durability, strength and endurance. He refined his emotional control so he became less flustered from either experiencing sudden spikes of emotions or sensing others emotions, making him more composed. Takeru did not strech his sensing ability like last time but kept practicing nonetheless. His control over this ability was growing stronger. Akane taught Takeru how to speak properly and started teaching him how to read and write. Takeru although learned at a much faster speed than his mother taught him, did not show it to her. He took it easy and went with the flow and from Akane''s perspective learned only a bit faster than children of his age were supposed to.


    Another year passed in Takeru''s life and in this year he made much progress. Takeru could now control his body with increased fluidity and precision. His movements were not rigid or robotic anymore. His emotional control also increased with increasing social interactions he continued to have with people. His sensing ability was also progressing nicely. His physical strength, durability and endurance increased causing him to be more active. His mental faculties also increased and he had already mastered the new language. He finally was confident enough to slowly reveal his achievements to his parents. He showed his parents that he could read albeit with some difficulty and write simple things. He also openly conversed with them using simple sentences. Words flowed fluently from his mouth although he sometimes intentionally stuttered and made jumbled the words. Toru and Akane were proud of their son and often gave him little gifts and trinkets. They found that Takeru loved books and was very eager to read so Toru with help of the village merchant Atsuno gathered a few old books for Takeru to read. Takeru read and memorized every valuable information he could find. Be it geographical details or economic situations, any information he deemed valuable was pushed into his brain. Takeru understood that no knowledge was useless so he studied everything he found. Takeru spent the little free time he made sitting at the shop front, engaging in conversations with different people. Akane saw that Takeru enjoyed watching the people coming and going and sometimes even talked with them. Toru saw it so he asked Hikaru to make a little wooden chair for Takeru to sit on. Takeru trained regularly but not at the cost of his own enjoyment. He wanted to spend his childhood happily. He had fun talking with people and the people loved him. Anyone who visited Yamamoto shop would see a cute little child sitting on a little chair. This activity was relaxing for Takeru as he could practice his social skills leisurely. Takeru''s presence in the shop also increased the traffic of customers on the shop helping his parents. Days passed and after a few months with his training was going strong and every book at his disposal was read and memorized. Takeru finally asked his mother about the green glow on her hand when she heals people.


    "Oh, this? This is called chakra Takeru". - Akane replied.


    "Can you teach me how to do it mom? It looks fun."


    "Well, I can teach you how to use chakra but I have to discuss it with your father first, okay?"


    "Can dad also use chakra?"


    "Yes, he can. But he can use it a bit differently than me."


    "Different? How? Can he do the green thingy you do?"


    "No, he can not. And it is not called green thingy. I will teach you about it but first you have to do your studies."


    "It''s not fair mom! It''s boring."


    "Well, I will only teach you about chakra if you complete your studies everyday."


    "Hmpf, okay. I will do it."


    "That''s a good boy!"


    Akane and Toru had a discussion that night about how to teach their son about chakra. They came at an agreement that Akane would teach Takeru the basic knowledge about chakra and it''s manipulation first. Then she would teach him about how to mould and control the chakra. When Takeru would become 3 year old next winter Toru would start teaching his son basic physical conditioning and basic taijutsu katas and kenjutsu techniques for a solid foundation.


    From the next day Takeru was taught about chakra and the basics of Its manipulation. He listened to his mother with rapt attention and focus not missing a single bit of her lectures and memorized every bit of it. Although Akane was not a master of the subject. She was proficient in the basics and some more. Takeru learned many things that was not shown in the manga or anime in his past life. And this new knowledge along with the knowledge he already had made him understand the true nature of chakra. Chakra was inherent in all living beings in this world. Some could use access it, some could not. It differed from individual to individual. Everyone''s chakra was different and unique. People with chakra sensing ability could use it to distinguish between people, easily tracking, locating and identifying their target. Though it was mainly dependent on the capability of the said sensor. Chakra was made of two main components, spiritual energy and physical energy. These two energies which were collectively known as ''stamina'', when mixed with perfect balance created chakra. Physical energy could be increased with physical training, excercise and stimulants. Spiritual energy could be increased with meditation, mental excercises, studying and experiences. Thus increasing the quality of a person''s chakra. The chakra reserve of an individual could also be increased with enough practice. Chakra was the life energy of an individual. If an individual used up all the chakra in the body then that person would die. Chakra was produced within the chakra coils that mainly surround and connect to each chakra-producing organ, the energy circulated throughout the body in a network called the ''Chakra Pathway System'', which was similar to the cardiovascular system but instead of blood, chakra ran within it throughout the body. Certain people could produce chakra naturally or could learn to generate chakra and release it outside their bodies through pressure points called tenketsu in order to perform various jutsus. Tenketsu were extremely tiny nodes that lied along the chakra pathways, there were 361 tenketsu in a human body that controlled the flow of chakra like circuit breakers, and within those tenketsu were eight gates which controlled body function and strain levels. Chakra was released through the tenketsu points mainly hands and feet in order to perform jutsus. Chakra normally could not be seen with naked eyes and though highly concentrated chakra was visible few people had strong enough chakra to do that. Jutsus were performed mainly by manipulating chakra with different hand-seals or by simply controlling the chakra in the body.


    Akane taught Takeru all the knowledge she had about chakra and Takeru in her absence tried to feel out chakra within him. But he could not feel it no matter how much he tried. When he told Akane his problem she told him that not many people can feel chakra inherently. Most people had to get someone to infuse some of their chakra in their chakra pathway to jumpstart their chakra coils. Akane and Toru discussed among themselves whether to teach Takeru chakra moulding. As most children only develop their chakra coils enough to start moulding chakra at age the age of 3 at minimum. They even asked granny Miyako about it. And she told the husband and wife that Takeru''s body and chakra coils were developed enough for him to start moulding chakra. So the next day Akane told Takeru to sit down correctly and close his eyes and concentrate and slowly infused her chakra in his body''s chakra pathaways. All of a sudden Takeru could feel it, two distinct energies converging inside his navel region. He could sense a blue fire inside his mother''s belly too. He was stunned. Akane thought Takeru was trying to feel the chakra in him. So, she left him to concentrate and went on to open the shop. Takeru was sitting in a meditative pose trying to make sense of what just happened. He first brought his focus into his body. Takeru discovered that he could sense his spiritual and physical energies separately. He saw that some of his spiritual energy was slowly trickling inside his brain and fusing with it and his physical energy was doing the same with his whole body. But majority of his spiritual and physical energy were merging in the chakra coil in his belly and was creating a new form of energy which he sensed was like a blue fire. Takeru thought about this new discovery. He came to a conclusion that the increment of his mental capabilities and the adaptive ability of his body was not something he gained through reincarnation. It was the two energies, spiritual and physical slowly enriching his mind and body from the time of his birth. He spread his senses and saw a similar blue fire in his mother''s body. Takeru was inwardly shouting with joy. His sensing ability somehow evolved and now he could sense chakra too. This made him an all-round sensor as he could now sense objects, living beings, their chakra and their emotions disregarding any barriers or obstructions. This sense of his, this absolute sense made him hyper cognizant of his surroundings making sure that he would never be caught off-guard. Takeru tried to increase the amount of spiritual and physical energies to be infused into his mind and body but failed to do so no matter how much he tried. He thought maybe the amount of spiritual and physical energies he could infuse in his body and mind was fixed. Still the amount slowly infusing into his mind and body ensured him that his mental and physical capabilities although much slower than before would automatically increase the more time passes. Now Takeru brought all of his attention and focus to mould his chakra and he could do it with surprising ease. He then tried to control the flow of chakra around his chakra pathways. He thought he would fail to do so like before with his physical and spiritual energies but no, he could do it easily. He could control chakra inside his body. He tried different things like slowing down, fastening and even temporarily halt the flow of chakra in his body and he could do it all. This made him ecstatic as he knew that no one in this world, maybe barring the Sage of Six Paths, Hamura and Kaguya, could do what he could, atleast not at his age. This revelation filled him with hope, he could almost see himself getting stronger, strong enough to survive, strong enough to protect those he loved, strong enough to overcome the upcoming challenges. He became determined. His will became strong. The fire of determination was dancing in his eyes. So what if he was not the chosen one, the child of the prophecy, the incarnation of Indra or Asura. He would become strong. He would not give up. He would survive. And like this the nearly 3 year old Takeru Yamamoto found his nindo in the world of shinobis.

 4 Growing Up and Training

    In the Elemental Nations, near the northern side of the Land of Fire, there was a small village. This unnamed village was situated near the border of Land of Iron. The village was home to farmers, workers, small merchants and various other people. Going along the small village''s main road you could spot a normal shop selling different food products. This was the Yamamoto household, home to our protagonist. In the backyard of the said house, in a small clearing stood a man in his thirties and a little boy facing each other. The man was Toru Yamamoto and the little boy was his son Takeru. Takeru was 3 years old now but he looked like a 5 year old kid, due to the constant nourishment of physical energies Takeru''s body matured and grew faster. Today, Takeru was holding a small wooden stick in his hands and was listening to his father''s instructions.


    "Now, Takeru, look closely and try to follow my movements." - said Toru.


    "Yes, dad."


    "The first thing you have to know is that the strength of your strike comes from your feet. Always remember to plant your feet on the ground firmly, lower your center of gravity. Start the movement from your feet, then travelling to your waist then from your upper body to your hands. Feel the strength travelling upwards in your body and..''Whoosh'', strike down in one single motion." - Toru demonstrated the strike using a wooden katana. Takeru could see his father''s moves clearly, even without his absolute sense, his normal 5 senses, visual, auditory, olfactory, somatosensory and gustatory were all enhanced. His vestibular sense particularly was enhanced the most, increasing his sense of balance, equilibrium and spatial orientation, making his movements very much coordinated and balanced. He could see the little movements his father was making and started to copy them to the best of his ability. Toru could see Takeru from the corner of his eye and became amazed at the accuracy of the moves he was displaying. It did not look like a mere attempt of imitation of a child. Toru wanted to test Takeru''s fitness and tried to find his shortcomings to create a fitness regime for his son to increase Takeru''s physical abilities. So yesterday he told Takeru to do laps around the Yamamoto property. Takeru ran at full speed for 3 hours top, shocking Toru. He thought that Takeru could run for at most half an hour but Takeru''s stamina blew his mind. Toru immediately ordered his son to run laps around the property every single morning. Toru was satisfied with his son''s fitness so from today he started training Takeru in basic taijutsu and kenjutsu. Takeru once again amazed his father with his abilities. He fully understood the basics after Toru explained them once and started doing the various katas with no signs of an amateur. If anyone saw him, they would think that he started practicing from the time of his birth. His enhanced abilities facilitating him to learn at a tremendous rate. A smile graced Toru''s lips at the confirmation that his son was a martial prodigy. Toru instructed him in footwork, body postures and fundamental knowledge. He gave Takeru crucial tips to make him more and more efficient. Takeru believed that hard-work beat talent and smart-work beat hard-work. So he trained zealously with focus on accuracy and efficiency. He wanted to engrave the moves permanently into his muscle memory so that it would become like a second nature to him. After a full day of training Takeru stopped. He bathed, washing off all the accumulated sweat and grime. Then he had lunch with his family. After lunch he started moulding chakra using hand-signs. From the time Takeru awakened his chakra, he regularly practiced controlling it within his body. Akane taught Takeru all the different hand-seals for manipulating chakra and he continuously practiced doing hand-seals increasing his speed and accuracy doing hand-signs. Now most people would not even be able to see his hands when he started doing hand-seals. He observed the changes in his chakra while doing hand-seals, taking precautions and keeping in mind to use only little enough chakra to sense and memorize the changes his chakra was having. He did not want to accidently use a random jutsu only to exhaust his reserves and die. He was slowly coming to an understanding in how the various jutsus he remembered worked in real-life. His absolute sense and control was making his job easier. He also constantly tried to circulate his chakra through the pathways and chakra coils to increase the width of his chakra pathways and to enlarge his chakra coils to increase his chakra reserve. And he was getting results. The width of his chakra pathways slowly increased and his pathways became more flexible and durable day by day. His chakra coils was also getting bigger by the day increasing his chakra moulding rate and the capacity of his chakra reserves slowly. Takeru could feel the 361 tenketsus and the eight gates on his chakra pathway system. He theorized that if he could consciously control the opening and closing of all the tenketsus in his body then he could manipulate and release chakra from all over his body. So far he could only consciously open and close only a few tenketsus on both of his hands with full control. But his continued in his endeavour and made a target to fully control all of the tenketsus one day. As Takeru could control the chakra in his body to a great degree and with his absolute sense made him almost immune to any low-level genjutsus. If he trained like this, then maybe in the future he could theoretically be completely immune to any genjutsu, albeit barring the overpowered ones like the Infinite Tsukuyomi. So he trained and trained, increasing and refining his ability to employ hand-seals faster and more properly; controlling the chakra in his body, oscillating, vibrating, controlling the flow; increasing the number of tenketsus he could fully control; learning kenjutsu and taijutsu from his father. He also continued his previous training of meditation, mental calculations, sensing and physical conditioning. Toru and Akane saw that Takeru was a prodigy. He could learn things in a fraction of time others took to learn. He could control chakra with superior control and efficiency from the start. They knew their son had tremendous potential, and to unearth his full potential, they helped him by increasing the intensity of his training. Nothing too extreme, just enough to hasten his growth.


    Takeru wanted to try some jutsus himself. But he knew better. Although he sensed that his chakra reserve was nearly 10 times bigger than an regular adult, he still wanted to first master the chakra control excercises. So he asked his mother for anything that would help him control his chakra better. Although he knew the excercises himself, getting proper instructions and an alibi to practice was good. Akane taught him the leaf concentration excercise first. So, the next day Takeru grabbed a leaf from a tree beside his house and put it on his forehead and tried to stick it. He could feel chakra coming through the pathway and exit through an uncontrolled tenketsu to the leaf. He could do it with surprising ease. He discovered that as he was exercising, the tenketsu from which a steady stream of chakra came slowly became more and more controllable. This new discovery made his head spin. If he did the excercise using all the tenketsus on his body then he could control them much faster. But first he focused on his current task. He slowly minimised the chakra expended from a stream to a string then to a trickling amount and finally to sending small tiny drops of chakra with some intervals, enough to stick the leaf on his forehead effectively. He trained like this for a few days with a single leaf and he soon mastered the leaf concentration excercise with one leaf and could control that particular tenketsu fully. He soon upped the number of leaves stuck on his body one by one, focusing on minimising his chakra expenditure and controlling the tenketsus consciously. The customers coming to the Yamamoto shop would see a kid with multiple leaves on his body sitting in front of the counter. Takeru got some weird looks from some ignorant passersby but he ignored it. Akane was happy seeing her son''s dedication and saw that with his rate of progress he would master the excercise in few weeks. So she instructed him on the next two chakra excercises, which are the tree climbing and water walking excercise. Within 3 weeks and with constant practice, Takeru finally managed to fully master the leaf concentration excercise. He could fully control all 361 tenketsus in his body. He could stick 361 leaves on his tenketsus, one leaf per tenketsu for total 12 hours until he became exhausted. He could release chakra from all his tenketsus with full mastery. So, he went to practice tree climbing excercise next. He started doing it by putting one leg on the tree trunk first. He tried to gauge the exact amount of chakra necessary to stick his foot but not much as that would crush the bark. His physical excercises increased his core strength and leg strength making his next steps easier. He took step after step slowly, minimising his chakra expenditure and after a few moments he walked all the way to the crown of the tree. He practiced this for a few weeks, making tree walking a subconscious action for him. He even used leaf concentration excercise whilst tree climbing to further increase his chakra control. He tried sticking his body from different angles using different parts of his body, not just hands and feet. Head, shoulders, knees, toes, back, arms, legs. He used all parts of his body to train all the while having leaves stuck all over his body. Though he fell numerous times, he persevered and continued practicing. He used chakra to stick different objects on his body and used just enough chakra to repel them hard. Takeru found that he could use this method to throw and grab objects quickly and efficiently with any and all parts of his body. He named this technique Chakra Grab and Chakra Throw. He practiced these two new techniques with fervor, aiming to master them first before anything else. He used everyday objects, rocks, leaves, broken tree branches to practice these two abilities in conjunction. He found that these two techniques worked on living beings too and implemented it into his taijutsu practice. The intensity of these techniques was directly proportional to the amount of chakra he used. If low amount of chakra was used then the grab or throw would be weak, and as he increased the amount of chakra, things, objects stuck more solidly and the velocity of the throws increased. Takeru practiced with rocks using multiple tenketsu to release chakra so he could throw objects in any desired direction with pinpoint accuracy. Takeru next started doing the water walking excercise on the small pond in the backyard. He worked on minimising chakra consumption, increasing his control and used different parts of his body to do the same thing. He even stuck a few leaves, rocks and other objects to train simultaneously. He sometimes intentionally created small waves, disturbed the surface of water in the pond and trained on it. He even asked Toru to continuously stir the water while he practiced. Toru and Akane were amazed at the different chakra control training Takeru was doing. They just knew the three basic ones. When asked about them, Takeru simply said that he created them, not wanting to explain much. Toru and Akane saw this chance and sometimes practiced chakra control with him. And after more than 3 months Takeru finally mastered all thre chakra control excercises.


    Years passed and Takeru grew up. Tomorrow he would celebrate his 10th birthday with his family. Takeru was tall for his age, his height was about 5 feet 4 inches. His muscles were ripped, defined and visible. He looked like a 13-14 year old teenager. He always had a confident but easygoing air about him and his face always had a serene smile. Takeru had short, a little spiky black hair. His eyes were gleaming brown. His face was sharp, oval shaped with chiseled jaws and little to no baby fat. In the past of couple of years Takeru progressed leaps and bounds. This happened because of his rigorous training. He trained daily and the results spoke for themselves. His absolute sense had increased. He could now always passively sense 10 meter around himself and actively he could sense as far as 300 meters around himself continuously for 6 hours straight. His control over sensing beings, objects, emotions and chakra was much more refined and regulated. His ability of focus point vision has increased to two points which he can control with ease. Takeru''s physical conditioning also increased tremendously. Due to regular excercises, his physical strength, speed, agility, flexibility, reflexes, durability and endurance had increased many folds in this short time. Takeru''s reaction time was incredible to say the least. His base physical conditioning had reached peak human capabilities and was bordering on superhuman. Due to daily meditation and mental calculations, his mental capabilities also increased, further enhancing his already superior brain. Takeru could now control his physical body, emotions and especially chakra to a ridiculous degree. After mastering the three chakra control excercises he went on to create and master different ways to control chakra. He first trained his water walking on a little whirlpool his father would create in the pond. He then procured different coloured sands and mixed them, then he would try seperating them from one another only using his chakra. He mastered that excercise too. From then he started doing daily tasks only using chakra, from paper folding, to using chopsticks, to creating chakra strings and using them for various tasks. He could now lift heavy weights using them, could move objects easily, he could now literally float in the air using chakra strings. Takeru had now effectively mastered the use of chakra strings and could employ them from any of his tenketsus. He could already make his chakra strings invisible, which he taught himself with the help of his parents. He wanted to incorporate chakra strings into his fighting style, and he was doing it and was nearing completion. Takeru had already learned all the martial skills he could learn from his father and went on further and improved them. He could now use two swords in both of his hands with perfection. He was now a kenjutsu expert on the path to become a master. His kenjutsu style incorporated standard samurai sword techniques fused with kendo and iaido. His taijutsu was far better than his father now. His fighting style included boxing, karate, judo, jujitsu and aikido infused with chakra grab and throw and some use of chakra strings in between them. Toru taught him chakra enhancement which he mastered completely, enhancing his already superior physical prowess. Akane taught him some basic medical ninjutsus which included Chakra Scalpel and Mystical Palm Jutsu. Takeru''s ridiculous chakra control facilitated his training and he even outdid his mother with his skill in the two techniques in record time. But the most important thing he achieved from his perspective was his instincts from regularly sparring with his father. Although Takeru was inexperienced in a sense, his father, Toru once commented about how good his instincts were.


    Takeru a few years back had finally started his personal jutsu training. He first started with the Transformation Jutsu. He trained it regularly out of his parents'' watchful eyes. He reduced his chakra expenditure to the minimum and reduced the amount of hand-seals required for the jutsu from 3 to none. He could now use it without any hand-seals. He also made no smoke while transforming or dropping the transformation. Next he went for Body Replacement Jutsu and Body Flicker Jutsu respectively. Like the Transformation Jutsu, he did the same thing with both these new jutsus. Reduction of chakra usage and hand-seals. He could now use both of these jutsus in any given moment in an instant. Body Replacement Jutsu came easer to him than Body Flicker Jutsu though. He practiced Body Flicker Jutsu with all his effort for nearly 6 years for him to completely master it. He could now use body flicker jutsu with unparalleled skill and efficiency. His enhanced equilibrium, sense of balance, spatial orientation and visual prowess completely negated the negative points of this technique, mainly disorientation and tunnel vision. Though it was just extreme speed movement, his mastery of this technique was such that in the eye of any other person it would seem like he was teleporting. Takeru did not try to use or practice any elemental jutsu however. As even with the knowledge of some elemental jutsus, he did not know how to do them. He did not know how to use nature transformation. He did not know how to turn chakra into the five elements. Toru and Akane were also not knowledgeable in this aspect so he had no help from them. He did however mastered shape transformation of chakra. On his 7th birthday, Takeru made a weird request to his parents. He asked for balloons, regular air balloons, water balloons and rubber balls, a lot of them. When asked he said that he had an idea about a new jutsu and he wanted to test it. Toru with the help of Atsuno bought them in bulk. And in these 3 years the Rasengan became the most offensive and destructive technique in Takeru''s arsenal. Takeru had no idea how to use genjutsu. He knew that genjutsus were Yin release techniques and you had to use spiritual energy to form them but he did not know how as he lack knowledge about them and more importantly guidance. Toru and Akane were also ignorant about the use of genjutsus. Although they knew how to identify and dispel them, which they taught Takeru. Takeru managed to perfect the process on how to identify genjutsus with the help of his absolute sense and could now dispel high level genjutsus easily by always constantly vibrating and oscillating the chakra in his body in a controlled manner. Now Some might wonder how he accomplished so much in this short time. Well, at the age of 5 Takeru took up the courage to finally use one of the biggest cheat of this world, the Shadow Clone Jutsu. The 5 year old Takeru could use this technique to form at most 2 clones. But it did what it promised. His learning speed increased exponentially. After 5 years Takeru''s chakra capacity increased many folds and he mastered the usage of the clone hack jutsu fully. He could now employ more than 20 shadow clones without breaking a sweat. He used his clones to scout a nice training area outside of his parents knowledge and in the jungle behind the village he found a training area suitable enough. It was just a small clearing with a small lake beside it but it was enough for him. Whilst he stayed in the house for his daily training, his clones trained in the jungle. He also started using weights to facilitate his physical training a few years back. Nothing too extreme, and he increased the weights continuously throughout accordingly.


    Takeru also made some free time to enjoy his life, helping his father in the fields, his mother in manning the shop. He was a sociable person now and his jovial smile and good behaviour made him popular in the community. His parents loved him dearly. The neighbours and people of the village adored him, specifically the bitter blacksmith Tenshi Higurashi, who saw him as his grandson. Takeru would often go and watch Tenshi making tools, different products and sometimes even weapons of different kind. Takeru loved the time he spent in these 10 years. But there were some things that always nagged him and made him concerned about the future. He knew that these concerning thoughts he was having were justified and he had to do something about them. So with determination he returned to his home after buying some necessities from the market to have a serious talk with his family.

 5 Decision and The Gif

    In the past 10 years, Takeru had heard of many things that were happening around the world. The founding of the Hidden Leaf Village created shockwaves throughout the Elemental Nations.  Everyone was talking about it. At first nobody believed the news as the two mortal enemies, the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan making a peace treaty was really unbelievable. But after getting the confirmation people became ecstatic as the long going war was finally stopped. Afterall with the two most powerful shinobi clans joining hands, few others would have the courage to even challenge them. Slowly many other shinobi clans joined them and signed the treaty. The first ones among them were the Sarutobi clan, the Shimura clan, Hyuga clan, Nara clan, Yamanaka clan and the Akimichi clan. Along with many other major and minor clans, the first shinobi village, Hidden Leaf was founded, ending the vicious warring states period. The clan head of the Senju clan, Hashirama Senju became the first leader of the village. His title being the Hokage. The Fire Daimyo of the Land of Fire authorised the post and ruled the nation with the Hokage together. Fire Daimyo being the supreme authority in administration and civilian aspects while the Hokage became the dictator of the military forces. This incident sent ripples in different nations as the shinobi clans of each respective nation started making treaties and pacts. And 4 other shinobi villages were founded. The Hidden Stone Village in the Land of Earth, the Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water, the Hidden Cloud Village in the Land of Lightning and finally the Hidden Sand Village in the Land of Wind. The leaders of the said villages were titled Tsuchikage, Mizukage, Raikage and Kazekage respectively. The next major incident was the sudden change of clan heads of the Uchiha clan as Madara Uchiha, the then leader of the Uchiha clan went rogue and died after some years in a fight with the Hokage Hashirama Senju. After hearing this bit of news Takeru grew anxious as he knew the 1st Great Shinobi War was approaching so talked with his family about relocating to the Hidden Leaf Village. This resulted in a quarrel between Takeru and his father. Toru did not want to go much less live with his family in a village filled with hired killers. Takeru reasoned with him. He told him that with the formation of the five shinobi villages, the next wars would not just stay between shinobi clans. The upcoming wars would happen between nations. And they, the regular citizens would suffer the most from the crossfire. Toru and Akane were sceptical at first and did not believe it. But a few months ago a caravan coming from the Land of Grass was attacked by some unknown shinobis. The whole caravan was looted and burned and every single person was killed. Same things started happening often. And people could tell that the animosity between the villages were increasing and a war greater than any other in the past was approaching. Toru and Akane were finally convinced by Takeru that leaving the village was the best course of action. Toru and Akane wanted to move to Keishi but Takeru thought that Hidden Leaf Village would be the better option as the shinobi village would have the most protection form other shinobis.


    Today, Takeru had turned 10 years old. The Yamamoto family was in joyous mood. The day ended with much celebration. The guests all gave Takeru some gifts and little presents except Tenshi. He rather asked Takeru to come to his house tomorrow. It was evening and most of the guests had already left. Takeru and his friends Renji and Genji along with Hikaru''s daughter Tsukino were chatting in the backyard. They were sitting beside the pond and relaxing. Renji and Genji, the two brothers were 15 years old now. They helped their father in his business and one day hoped to become the richest duo in the Land of Fire. And to achieve that they already opened a shop in Keishi which was currently being manned by their father, Atsuno. Tsukino on the other hand was the 9 year old. She was an excellent woodcarver and sculptor. She could make lifelike wooden sculptures and her sculptures sold like hot cakes. Hikaru sometimes even joked that she did the most income in his family. Tsukino gifted Takeru a small sculpture of him and his family. Takeru skipped training today as he just wanted to relax and enjoy this day. Toru and Akane already discussed with the other families that they might move out of the village. They shared their concerns and the points provided by Takeru. Granny Miyako''s family was willing to move out albeit in the upcoming year, so were Hikaru and his family. Only Tenshi wanted to remain in this village, refusing the leave. Even when all of them tried to convince him, Tanshi remained stubborn. Soon, it became dark and the Ji brothers and Tsukino also left. Takeru now sat with his parents and asked them about their plans of departure from the village. Toru told him about the happenings. Apparantly, Toru was contacted a few weeks ago by a guy from Tanzaku city who usually deals with real estate and housing in across the Land of Fire. He knew about their lands and the shop and was very eager to buy it. So, the moment Toru showed his intention of selling the property, he jumped right in. Toru haggled with him for a bit and came to an satisfactory agreement. The guy had the ownership of a medium sized house near the centre of the Hidden Leaf Village. The previous owner moved away 2 years ago and sold him the house. Somehow, he coud not sell the house without taking a loss. For two years he showed the house to many of his customers but all of them opted to buy apartments or flats instead. According to the verbal agreement, Toru would got the house at a discounted price and 500,000 ryo in cash. Takeru immediately rushed his father as the deal was very good. Akane also agreed as they would profit from it. Seeing his wife and son agree, Toru decided to visit the Leaf Village to check out the house. Toru found a few days ago that a small caravan from the Land of Iron would pass their village tomorrow, heading towards the capital Keishi whilst making a stop at the Leaf Village. So, he told his plan to visit the Leaf Village to Takeru and Akane, which they readily accepted.


    The next day in the morning, Takeru and Toru went out, Toru went to buy some supplies for his journey and Takeru went to visit Tenshi. Tenshi Higurashi was an old man in his sixties. He came to this village nearly 40 years ago and became the resident go-to blacksmith of this village ever since. The man never married or had any reltives. Although Atsuno once mentioned that he knew one blacksmith surnamed Higurashi in Otafuku city. Tenshi, for some unknown reason had an intense hatred for shinobis. What was the reason? No one really knew that. Though the man loved Takeru very much. Tenshi was always nice to him and perhaps the only few times the old man smiled was in Takeru''s presence. Takeru entered the Higurashi Shop and was greeted with the sounds of hammer meeting iron. Takeru did not disturb Tenshi, instead he sat on a chair nearby and watched Tenshi''s work. After sometime Tenshi was done. He closed all the doors and windows and locked them making sure that no one could come from outside. He scanned the room twice making sure that they were alone and then finally greeted Takeru with a smile.


    "You came early."


    "Well, I wanted my birthday present." - replied Takeru, looking at Tenshi with a weird and questioning look.


    "Yes, your birthday present. Tell me Takeru, how are you with a sword?" - asked Tenshi after freshening up..


    "I would not say I am bad at it but I am no master."


    "Has you father taught you the samurai sword style?" - asked Tenshi as he went behind the forge and crouched, staring at something.


    "Yeah, he did." - answered Takeru as he sensed Tenshi doing a few hand-seals and then ''puff'', some smoke came out. On Tenshi''s hands appeared a sword, a ninjato to be exact wrapped in cloth.


    "Show me then." - Tenshi said with a grave voice and seriousness as he unwrapped the cloth and handed the weapon to Takeru. Takeru gently took it, marvelling at the craftsmanship. The ninjato was a bit longer than normal. It''s single edged blade was matte black in colour. The handle was wrapped with cloth and raisin, making the standard handle design with black and white colours. Takeru saw Tenshi looking at him, so he quickly stood up, got steady, took the opening stance and demonstrated the full sword style. After demonstration he went back to his place, sheathed the blade and with a lingering stare at the sword, handed it back to Tenshi.


    "Excellent! Now, come with me." - Tenshi took the sword and went further inside his house. Takeru followed him getting more and more confused by his actions. Takeru could not tell why Tenshi was so happy right now. After coming inside Tenshi asked Takeru to sit while he took a piece of paper from a drawer and handed the paper to him.


    "This piece of paper is called a chakra induction paper. It can show you what your chakra affinity is. Now I want you to send a tiny bit of chakra to the paper and we will know what your chakra affinity is. If it is fire then the paper will catch fire and turn into ash. If it is wind then the paper will split in half. For lighting, earth and water the paper will either wrinkle or turn to dirt and crumble away or will become damp." - said Tenshi. Takeru was stunned. He did not know what to say. So, he simply did what Tenshi asked. He too wanted to know about his chalra nature. Takeru slowly sent a silver of chakra to the paper and ''whoosh'' the paper burst into violent flames and literally got vaporised in an instant.


    "Hmm, you have the fire affinity and to a high degree it seems. This is very good." - said Tenshi as he went to the storeroom in the back. Takeru was a bit disappointed. Takeru did not wish for a kekkei genkai as he knew there was little to no chance of him possessing one. But he did wish for a least two chakra natures. Instead he got the most common affinity people of his nation had. But still, it was better than having earth or water affinity. Takeru wanted to know what Tenshi was planning. He knew Tenshi would never do any harm to him. But Tenshi''s random actions and the suspense was killing him. After a few moments, Tenshi returned and asked him to come inside the storeroom. Takeru entered and saw words and weird symbols written on the floor, which he recognised as some kind of fuinjutsu sealing array. The ninjato was placed within the array. Tenshi took a cup and asked him to pour some blood in the cup. Takeru believed him but his actions were weirding him out. Nonetheless he did as Tenshi instructed. Tenshi poured Takeru''s blood evenly all over the ninjato and finally asked him pour some of his chakra on a specific place on the array. Takeru took a deep breath and went along. He started pouring chakra on the specified area. After some time Tenshi asked him to get away from the array. Takeru stood beside Tenshi and watched him perform a long series of hand-seals. Tenshi suddenly slapped his hands on the ground and the sealing array lit up for moment and then vanished leaving only the sword on the ground. Tenshi took the sword care fully, checked it and sheathed it into the scabbard. He then asked Takeru to follow him. They went back to frontroom of the house and sat together. Takeru now seriously wanted some explanation.


    "I know you have some questions. But first let me explain." - Tenshu spoke first.


    "Okay. Go on."


    "I was born in clan which specialised in shinobi weaponry and blacksmithing. My father was a master blacksmith. He always wanted to forge a legendary sword like the Kusanagi sword or the Totsuka blade. As I grew up, his dream slowly started to become my dream. So, my father and I went on a journey one day to find the best metal to forge the blade. Along our journey we collected different types of chakra metal but our journey ended the day when we found an unique metal on the mountains of the Land of Lightning. This metal came from a meteorite that crashed there. We returned and started forging the sword together. We finished the main body of the sword. But before we could finish the sword some shinobi somehow came to know about the sword and attacked us. My parents died that day protecting me. My father gave me this sword and made me swore an oath to finish what he started. From then I kept traveling around the world, never staying at the same place twice avoiding my pursuers until finally I came to this village. This sword is essence of me and  my father''s lifetime of work. This is our legacy, Takeru and I want you to have it." - finished Tenshi handing the sword to him. To say Takeru was shocked would have been an understatement. He never knew old man Tenshi had such a history. The sword felt heavy on his hands. It was far too valuable.


    "But why me? What about the rest of your family? What about your clan?" - asked Takeru.


    "I gave it to you because I want to, nothing more and nothing less. As for family and clan I do not have any. My family died that day and I never got married or took an apprentice. The clan did not matter to me anymore when I came to know that they banished me and parents to save themselves form trouble. So here''s your explanation. And by the way it is your sword right now so you can do whatever you want with it. You can use the sword or you can throw it or sell it or give it to someone else for all I care. It is your choice." - grinned the old man.


    "I,I do not know what to say. I mean, are you serious? This is your legacy, your dream and you just gave it to me."


    "Well, my dream was fulfilled the day I finished the making the sword. So, yeah, I just gave it to you and you should give this sword a name by the way. It is a powerful sword and it deserves a name. Oh, wait. I have some more things to give you."


    "I am not taking anything else from you old man!"


    "Oh, shut up. You are going to need these." - Tenshi said as he hurriedly went to the storeroom and soon came back with 3 books.


    "Consider these parting gifts from me. I know you are going to move out of this village soon and I wish to give these to you." - said Tenshi as he handed the 3 books to Takeru. Takeru saw the first book and he was stunned when he spotted the familiar whirlpool symbol.


    "This book was given to me by an old friend. Everything I know about fuinjutsu came from this book. She was an Uzumaki, she wrote this book and you do not doubt an Uzumaki when it comes to fuinjutsu. The second one is actually my ancestors''s notes about the fire nature transformation, it''s manipulation and how to control the fire. The last one is my clan''s kenjutsu technique, the Higurashi Kenjutsu Style."


    "I can not take these old man. These are personal and clan secrets we are talking about."


    "Oh, so you already accepted the sword I gave you."


    "W-What?"


    Immediately Tenshi shoved the 3 books and a paper to Takeru and literally pushed him out of his house and locked the door, leaving Takeru standing in the street with a sword in one hand and the 3 books and the paper in the other one. Takeru sighed. The visit took a dramatic turn and he got far more than he could ever wish for. Just as Takeru was planning on going home, Tenshi suddenly opened a window and shouted at him - "Oi brat, read that piece of paper first before you do anything." and closed the window with a slam. Takeru was amused at the ridiculousness of this situation. Soon, he got home and saw his father packing some things for his journey. The caravan would start going about half an hour later from now and Toru already made arrangements for his transportation. The caravan was guarded by both samurai and shinobi and was relatively safe from any attacks and Takeru knew that if push came to shove Toru could handle the situation. Takeru went to the room hurriedly, eager to inspect the things he got from Tenshi. The first thing he did was to read the paper. The paper had old man Tenshi''s writing on it. It had details about the sword and some instructions. Old man Tenshi and his father made the sword with various chakra metals and the unknown metal they found. They apparently wanted to create a legendary sword and form the things he read on the paper, it seemed they succeeded. The unique metal, fuinjutsu and special forging techniques gave the sword some special properties. The sword was sharp, ridiculously sharp, probably sharper than any sword in the world. The sword was could absorb both kinetic energy and vibrations and was virtually indestructible. The sword was extremely chakra conductive and could absorb chakra and supply it to the user. The sword was permanently keyed to his chakra and blood and due to the fuinjutsu sealing array on the sword, Takeru could summon the sword from anywhere to himself. Takeru tried summoning the sword a few times to test this. He willed the sword to come him and everytime the sword would appear on one of his hands. Takeru practiced for a few moments and could now directly summon the sword from the scabbard to either of his hands or anywhere near his body anytime he wished. Takeru surmised that maybe the sword was more powerful than any of the 7 swords of Mist Village. Satisfied, Takeru checked the books. He glossed over the contents of them quickly. The fuinjutsu book included step by step guidance from the very basics of fuinjutsu to simple space-time seals. The book was written by someone named Fumiko Uzumaki, a grandmaster sealer. The next book was old man Tenshi''s ancestor''s instructions about fire nature chakra transformation, manipulation and control. It was a tremendous asset to Takeru as he did not have anyone to teach him about fire nature chakra. The final one was the Higurashi clan''s kenjutsu style. A very balanced style with emphasis on battlefield control. The book also had instructions on chakra flow and how to master it. Takeru was very grateful to old man Tenshi as the sword and the books would help him tremendously in the future and would increase his power very much. As Takeru finished checking the gifts out, Toru called him to say that he was going out. Takeru carefuly kept the things hidden under a floorboard and accompanied Toru to see the caravan. The caravan was mainly consisted of travellers and businessmen carrying goods. It would take Toru at most 3 weeks for the whole roundtrip. The guards of the caravan included 20 samurai and some leaf shinobi. As far as Takeru could tell, there were 1 jounin, 2 chuunin and 6 genin level shinobi. Takeru was satisfied with the lineup. Soon the caravan started moving and Takeru wished his father on having a safe journey. Toru waved his hands and promised to bring some goodies from the Leaf Village. Soon, the caravan went out of the village and out of sight. Takeru returned to his home wanting to make the most of his time. He was very eager to train. He knew that having fuinjutsu, fire release and chakra flow would greatly increase his powers. The sword and the new sword techniques would bring his kenjutsu prowess closer to mastery. He was very happy that his family agreed to move to the Leaf Village as this would give much security to his family. Takeru let out a sigh of relief and went on his way for further training.

 6 The Departure

    Fire is the visible effect of the process of combustion. The process gives off excess energy as heat and light. Takeru knew this much. He knew how to make fire by mundane means. But to make fire using chakra was a whole different thing altogether. Takeru read the notes about fire nature chakra fully and completely memorised them first. Then he sat down in meditative pose out in the backyard , made the tiger hand-seal and focused internally. Any kind of fire needs some fuel. It could be chemical, biological, physical and in this case an individual''s own chakra and the oxygen in the atmosphere. To make fire an individual first needed to mould his/her chakra, knead it to create friction. The friction would create a spark. Then the individual would use that spark as a firestarter and use the chakra as the fuel to create fire. Fire is very difficult to control so any fire release jutsu is generally expelled from the mouth. Takeru following the given instructions, started moulding and kneading his chakra. He could do it quite easily due to his freightingly high chakra control. He created a small spark and used his chakra as fuel to create fire. Finally he expelled a little ball of fire from his mouth. Takeru used too much chakra to create such weak fire. He knew he had to practice his nature transformation. His mastered shape transformation would help him tremendously to use any jutsu. But he had to master fire nature transformation first before he did any fire elemental jutsu. So, another training spree started and within a week he was proficient in using fire nature transformation enough to start learning fire release jutsus. Takeru remembered the hand-seals of some fire nature jutsus from his previous life, 3 jutsus to be exact, the Fireball Jutsu, the Phoenix Fire Jutsu and the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet or Dragon Flame Bomb Jutsu. The Fireball Jutsu and the Phoenix Fire Jutsu were both C-rank jutsus but the other one was a B-rank jutsu. He wanted to try the Fireball Jutsu first. Takeru made two shadow clones and told one of theim to stay at home and the other one to start reading the other two books. Then he went to his personal training area in the jungle. Takeru stood beside the small lake and made the necessary hand-seals, snake ¡ú ram ¡ú monkey ¡ú boar ¡ú horse ¡ú tiger, while moulding chakra and finally "Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!", ''Whoosh'', an orange coloured big spherical ball of fire about 10 meters in diameter came out of his mouth in the the air above the lake, vaporising the water and giving out intense heat. Takeru''s lips formed a smile.


    It had been nearly 3 weeks and today, Toru came back to the village at the evening. His journey towards the Hidden Leaf Village was safe and secure but while returning there were two attacks by bandits. Toru had issued a regular C-rank escort mission and he had 1 chuunin and 3 genin level shinobis escorting him to the village. Toru was safe but one genin from the 4 man squad of leaf shinobi that were escorting him got hurt. So, they requested for a night of rest as there were no inn or motels in the village and Toru fulfilled the request by inviting them to stay in his house for the night. Takeru was practicing kenjutsu in the backyard when Toru and the guests came in. Takeru sensing his father''s presence wanted to call his mother but stopped when sensing 4 unknown people, who he sensed were shinobis with him. Takeru sheathed the sword, wrapped it with a cloth and hung it on his back. He then freshened up a bit and went inside the house. Takeru made a few shadow clones and told them to be ready for anything. He did not know why these shinobi came here. They did not emanate any negative emotions but he did not want to take any chances with his parents present. He entered the house to see his father talking with 3 of them while his mother made a simple bed and layed down an injured shinobi on it and started healing him.


    "Ah, there he is. This is my son Takeru." - Toru intoduced Takeru to the guests.


    "Nice to meet you, Takeru-san. My name is Shinji Uchiha and these are my teammates, Akahiro Senju, Mei Shimura and the guy on the bed is Sora Sarutobi. Sora got injured while travelling and he needs to rest so we can return to the village tomorrow. I apologise for imposing on you all like this." -  bowed the black haired, black pupil-less eyed shinobi who was likely the team leader of the other three.


    "Nice to meet you too, My name is Takeru Yamamoto. And do not mind it, you guys protected my father and he got injured doing it. It is the least we could do.


    "Stop apologizing Shinji-san. We would love to host you all. I already healed him mostly, he just needs some rest. Here, let me prepare some tea." - said Akane while bringing a tea making set and started making tea. Shinji and Toru conversed while Takeru observed these people silently. Shinji was an average looking middle aged man. He wore a grey shinobi battle armor with a mark on his back signifying his chuunin rank with the leaf headband on his left arm. The other three, two boys and a girl, about 18-19 years old, all of them genin from the looks of it. Takeru was finally assured that these shinobis meant no harm to his family, so he dismissed the clones. While Takeru was observing, one of the genin with light brown hair, blue eyes, wearing white long-sleeved shirt and blue pants and leaf headband on his head asked him.


    "Hello, there, I am Akahiro, nice to meet you. Can I ask you something?"


    "Nice to meet you too, and sure. Go ahead."


    "Can you teach me the basics of kenjutsu, please?"


    "Huh?! What? Why?"


    "I want to learn kenjutsu but Shinji sensei said he would only teach me after my taijutsu became acceptable in his eyes. Which I think will never be. I saw you carrying a sword so I thought you would know kenjutsu. I just want to know the basics, that is all. I want to decide if I should learn it or not." - sighed the genin ruefully.


    "Shut your blabbing Akahiro. Hello, please do not mind him. I apologise for this idiot''s behaviour." - said the girl with green eyes, black hair wearing a grey combat outfit.


    "No, no. It is alright. I could show you some basics Senju-san but it would not be much." - said Takeru amused by this guy.


    "You shut up, Mei. See that, he agreed. Please call me Akahiro, Yamamoto-san."


    "Then you have too call me Takeru, you too Mei-san."


    "Just Mei, I am not good with honorifics"


    "Then you can call me Akahiro too!"


    "Alright, let us go to the backyard." - said Takeru as he went towards the backyard with the two genin following him. ''So, an Uchiha, a Senju, a Sarutobi and a Shimura in a team. Who would have thought?'' - Takeru was thinking as they reached the clearing. Takeru took off his sword and placed it aside. He took two wooden practice swords, handed Akahiro one and took one for himself. Mei was watching them from the side. Takeru slowly and carefully described Akahiro about kenjutsu and its advantages and disadvantages. Then he demonstrated the basic stances and moves of kenjutsu. Akahiro tried to imitate Takeru and tried to understand and emulate the moves but he sorely failed. Kenjutsu was difficult for Akahiro to learn, as he really did not have any talent for it. Akahiro sighed at the unfairness of it.


    "Do not worry, Akahiro. If not kenjutsu then learn a different weapon." - said Takeru as he sat beside Akahiro and Mei.


    "Yeah, that is what I am thinking right now." - sighed Akahiro once again.


    "Can you guys tell me about the Leaf Village? - asked Takeru


    "It is called ''Hidden'' Leaf Village for a reason, you know." - Mei eyed Takeru and replied.


    "Well, we are definitely going to move into the village, so I just wanted to know something about it."


    "I am just joking, it called ''Hidden'' because without any of us leaf shinobis accompanying, one would never find a way to the village."


    "Our village mainly consists of shinobi clans and some freelance shinobis who started living there. Although the number of civilians moving in has increased since a few years ago. The shinobi populace is a majority there. Nearly all of the civilian populace are either merchants or professionals of some sort." - explained Akahiro.


    "Do not worry, Takeru. The Hidden Leaf is a really good village and you will love it there." - assured Mei.


    The sky had already darkened. So Takeru, Mei and Akahiro went inside the house. Akane prepared a small feast for the guests. Takeru and Akahiro freshened up a bit and joined the table. Toru, Akane, Shinji and the already healed genin Sora was already there. Sora was a lanky young man with black hair, black eyes wearing a yukata. He greeted everyone and Toru introduced his family to him. Soon, they started eating.


    "So, how much time will the inspection take?" - asked Toru.


    "It differs. In your case, it will take a week at most. You have to understand, Toru-san, the inspection is a necessity. Otherwise any enemy shinobi could easily infiltrate the village." - answered Shinji.


    "I understand it. I am not against it but during the inspection do we have to stay outside the village?"


    "Actually no. It is a standard procedure but you can ask Lord Hokage about it. Personally I do not think it is necessary. You can stay in your home safely. You just have to give us contact information of some people who know you and your family and some time for us to validate the identities."


    "I will ask for an appointment to Lord Hokage."


    "Did you get the house dad?" - asked Takeru.


    "Yes. I did. The house is in good condition and the position of the house is excellent. I confirmed the deal. We will be moving to the Hidden Leaf Village in next month."


    "Yes, the house''s position is very good actually. It is one block away from the Hokage''s Office and the training center and just a walk away from the hospital." - explained Shinji.


    "Training center? What is that?" - asked Takeru confused.


    "Shinobi Training Institution is the name of the building, although it it not confirmed yet. Lord Hokage created it some years back. So, that children of the shinobi clans and the regular civilians both can learn the way of shinobi together. There are many students already learning there." - answered Shinji.


    "So, all they teach there is only shinobi related?" - asked Akane.


    "No. Children are taught the basics first, reading, writing, language, mathematics, science, history, geography, everything from basic to intermediate level education. Shinobi skills are taught when they get older and only with the permission from the parents." - explained Shinji.


    "Shinji-san, are there any future job opportunities for the non-shinobi students learning there?"


    "There are some opportunities. One can join the medical corps and work at the hospital if they know medical ninjutsus or one can join the sealing corps if they know fuinjutsu. There is also the archives management but it requires seriously high level of clearance. Many usually go to Keishi for higher education as the infrastructure and facilities are better there. One can even find a job there, working for the state. Please do not mind me saying this but Akane-san, I think you should work at the hospital. Your healing capabilities are very standard and your knowledge of herbology would save many lives. It is just a suggestion. Shinobis take missions which sometimes becomes life-threatening. In some cases they live to tell the tale and in some cases they do not. I have had many friends who had to end their shinobi career because of an injury or wound. You would be saving not just lives but also their and their families'' livelyhoods. Please do not take any offense for my words. But every person whi knows medical ninjutsu matters" - said Shinji earnestly.


    "I did not take any offense at all. What you just said is right. I have been one of the healers of this village for over a decade and I know my responsibilities. Toru and I already talked about this and he also suggested that I do continue my work in the Leaf Village and knowing that there is a hospital in the village, I would like to join it very much." - assured Akane.


    "That is excellent then, please take care of us in future." - Shinji said with a smile.


    "Do not worry about it, now let us continue our dinner. The food is getting cold."


    Soon, the dinner eneded and all of them went to sleep. The day tomorrow, the leaf shinobi squad left after saying their goodbyes with the mission completion statement from Toru. Takeru thought about these people he had met. He did not think one could have such jovial conversation with an Uchiha out of all the people. Maybe it was something else. Takeru looked underneath the underneath and sumised that maybe Shinji was tasked to show a good image of the village in front of their eyes. The village was in its infancy and there were very few people who knew medical ninjutsus. The Hidden Leaf, or to be exact any village for that matter could never have enough healers. It was a recruitment strategy all along. His family brought potential in their village and the leaders of the Leaf Village saw it. If they were regular civilians with no special skills then Shinji would not have spoken so much. His father was an accomplished swordsman with above average skillset and was probably a samurai in the past. His mother on the other hand was a good healer and knew medical ninjutsu well enough. He also did no think that Shinji, an Uchiha did not notice his huge amount of chakra reserves. They probably marked him as a probable shinobi candidate. Takeru came to a conclusion that this visit was no coincidence. It was a planned encounter. ''Damn, scheming ninjas!'' - thought Takeru as spent his days and soon he fell into a routine of work, training and some leisure and his life went on.


    It had been nearly a month since Toru came back from the Hidden Leaf Village and today Takeru and his family were packing their things hurriedly as the caravan they would be traveling with would leave in just an hour. Takeru trained like a madman in these few days. His execution of Shadow Clone Jutsu was unparalleled now. He could create clones in an instant without any hand-seals or any smoke. His clones were also more durable than regular shadow clones as they could take 4-5 hits before they dispel. He did this by infusing some of the physical energies in his clones. He also mastered the Higurashi sword style and fused it into his kenjutsu arsenal. He finally fully incorporated chakra strings into his taijutsu movesets. Takeru had fully mastered the 3 fire release jutsus. He could now do them without any hand-seals and lowered the chakra consumption to a miniscule amount. His control over the fire also increased. He could now change the shape and form the fire according to his wishes skillfully. Takeru did not try his hands on fuinjutsu but he did practice calligraphy rigorously, wanting to perfect his writing skills. Takeru''s chakra reserve and chakra moulding speed increased a huge amount. He surmised that he probably had more than elite jounin level chakra reserves already. He sensed that he had more chakra than Shinji, Akahiro, Mei and Sora combined. All in all Takeru''s power increased a fold in this past month. He was sure that he could protect himself and his family if something untoward happens during the journey. Akane hurried Takeru to finish his packing as she checked if they forgot anything. Toru and Takeru took the heavy luggages with Akane carrying a small bundle herself. They exited the house and saw their home for the past decade or so for the last time. Toru and Akane looked at each other and smiled. Maybe this bit sacrifice was needed for them to have a new chapter in their life and a fresh new start. Takeru saw the house probably for the last time reminiscing the time he spent. His birth, his growing up, all the joy and happiness he had, all the love he got. The memories he made in this house would stay with him all his life. After staying there for sometime, the Yamamoto family started going towards the caravan. Nearly the whole village came to see them off. Granny Miyako and her whole family, Hikaru and his family, Old man Tenshi and all of their neighbours came. The Yamamotos were loved by the village. Toru was a upright and responsible good man. Akane was gentle and always had a motherly aura around her. Takeru was their favourite. They all saw the child growing up to be healthy and fine boy. He was a genius, be it academics or swordsmanship, Takeru was a prodigy. But he did not have the arrogance of a genius, pride yes, but no arrogance. His good behaviour and amiable nature made him the favourite Yamamoto of the village. Takeru said his goodbyes to his friends, Renji, Genji and Tsukino. The Ji brothers promised to visit him next year and so did Tsukino as they too would be moving out of the village. The Yamamoto family bid their farewells and boarded the caravan. The caravan was a merchant caravan carrying goods throughout the Land of Fire. Toru opted to act as a guardian of the caravan with 13 other people. They were mainly freelancers hitching for a ride. Toru''s expertise in kenjutsu and martial prowess granted him the position. As he would often spar with his son, his fighting prowess increased much in this decade. Toru was stationed at the back of the caravan, where Akane and Takeru were. Akane was sitting on a carriage while Takeru walked alongside his father chatting about different things casually. They were one of the only two families in this caravan. The other one being the leading merchant family who was in charge of the caravan. Their journey started well and only had two pit stops in every day for lunch and dinner and some refreshments. Takeru had already made two shadow clones for scouting ahead. He also periodically used active sensing to sense for anything suspicious. He knew his father was attacked while travelling on this road and he was ever vigilant because of it. He did not want any accident to happen because of his carelessness. Like this 4 days passed while they were travelling. Takeru came to know that the leading merchant was some big shot in the capital. This guy owned probably every entertainment and gambling venues in the capital. From sensing, Takeru also found out that there were two shinobis disguised as caretakers of his family. One of them had around the same chakra level as Shinji, probably an average jounin. And the other one was a genin level shinobi, Takeru surmised from what he sensed. Takeru used his focus point vision ability and used his two points on both sides of the caravan. Takeru used his sensing ability sparingly so it would not tire him out. He wanted this journey to be safe and without any unexpected incidents but man proposes but god disposes. He did not foolishly think that they would complete their journey without any troubles.

 7 First Blood

    In the Land of Fire, on the road towards the capital, there was a merchant caravan, going towards its destination. It was noon currently, and the sun was hanging on the sky. It had been 6 days since the Yamamoto family started their journey. Takeru and his father were walking behind the caravan talking with each other.


    "So you are telling me that you knew I wanted your sword and you kept it sealed inside a scroll?" - asked Takeru incredulously.


    "Well, I had to, you know. You were a very active child and ran around the house pretty much all the time. You do not know this but you once cut your hand with a kitchen knife when you were just a year old. I did not want any of such accident to happen again" - replied Toru.


    "That is not important. Why did you not tell me that you know fuinjutsu?"


    "You want to learn fuinjutsu?"


    "Why would not I ''sigh''¡­Yes, I want to learn fuinjutsu, dad."


    "Well you could have just asked me. You asked me about my sword practices and chakra. I thought you would ask me about it but you did not. So, I thought you had no interest about learning fuinjutsu."


    "I asked you about those because I saw you doing them. I never saw you doing fuinjutsu."


    "You do not ''do'' fuinjutsu, son. You either create fuinjutsu seals or use already created seals. It is an art form of sorts."


    "So, can you teach me?" - Takeru asked hopefully.


    "Sure, I can do that. But know this, I only know the basics of it. A couple of seals only to be exact. So, if you want to learn more about the subject, you have find a good fuinjutsu teacher."


    "Do not worry about it, dad. I will find one for sure."


    Takeru and Toru chatted along the way. Akane was sleeping inside the carriage. They were at most 2 days away from arriving to the Leaf Village. Their journey was uneventful. Toru made the acquaintance of some guards. They were all simple men struggling to amke a living. He got along pretty well with them. Takeru was behind his father, with his sword hung on his back, keeping a look out. Takeru was practicing his chakra strings and was trying to imbue fire nature in them. It was hard. When he first tried to do so, the whole string glowed up like a burning filament. He hurriedly stopped the flow of chakra, fearing someone might see it. The glowing string completely negated the invisibility of the chakra strings that he worked so hard to achieve. Whenever he tried to minimise the glow by decreasing the chakra output, the strings lost their firepower. Takeru surmised that either it could not be done or he lacked something or did it the wrong way. He thought about it much on the way but could not find a way to make it happen.


    The sun was setting on the horizon. The caravan soon stopped beside a small clearing for dinner and rest for the night. Everyone set up their tents, Toru helped unloading the food and utensils. Takeru set up their tent. Soon, the food was being prepared, Akane helped the others preparing the food. Toru and the guards chatted among themselves. Takeru meanwhile maintained his guard. He dispelled the active clones, receiving all the memories. He was going to make 2 clones for lookout when he suddenly stopped. Just before the moment he dispelled his clones, one of them saw a group of forty or so people. Takeru immediately made 4 shadow clones. He ordered 2 of them to stay around the camp and to keep a lookout and sent the other 2 away on the direction of those people his clone spotted. Takeru meanwhile got up and went to his father and sat beside him. He too joined the chat. Soon, the food was ready and all of them started eating. After dinner they went to their tents to sleep. The guards along with Toru took shifts to keep a watch out. Toru was on the second shift. Takeru meanwhile did not sleep. He waited for his clones to send him some information about those people.


    "What? Are you not going to sleep?" - asked Toru entering the tent and seeing his son awake.


    "No. I think we are going to face problems soon." - Takeru said seriously.


    "What problems?"


    "I do not know. I just get this feeling that something is about to..." - Takeru was speaking when suddenly he received memories from his clones back. There were 37 men in the group. Most of them were regular bandits but 5 of them were shinobis, rogue ones most probably. 1 elite jounin, 2 chuunin and 2 genin levels. This complicated things. If they were just regular bandits then Takeru could fight alongside his father and the guards. But with shinobis with them, Takeru had to thin out the numbers or with just him, his father , the 13 guards would never be able to face them. Takeru did not know whether the two hidden shinobis would help them or not. But he could not count on their help. They might just protect the head merchant and their family and escape with them. Takeru hurriedly went out of the tent. Toru seeing his son''s sudden change of behaviour also went out.


    "Hey, what happened?" - asked Toru in confusion.


    "Dad, would you believe me if I told you that I think bandits are going to attack us tonight?"


    "Are you sure about this? It could be just because we are out in the woods for such a long time. And it is your first time out of the village."


    "No, I am sure of it."


    "How are you so sure about it?" - Toru asked with a piercing look.


    "I do not know how. It is just a feeling. I do not know how to describe it."


    "It is alright. I believe you. I will go warn the other guards about it. You stay with your mother."


    "Huh? You believed me?"


    "What is there not to believe? Trust your instincts Takeru. Instincts are one of the greatest asset a warrior can have. My instincts saved me from dying and difficult situations many times. I trust you son and if your guts are telling you that danger is ahead then I am willing to put my trust on that too." - Toru rubbed Takeru''s head a little and went on to warn the other guards. Takeru was stunned. He thought maybe his father would dismiss his warnings as they were completely unfounded. He was happy to know that his father trusted him so much. Takeru swore that he would protect his family no matter what. Takeru dismissed his shadow clones and made 3 other shadow clones. Then ordered 2 of them to keep a look at the camp and pumped the other one full of physical energy and increased its durability, he ordered it to stay beside his mother in his place and to protect her. Takeru went into the forest to the direction of those bandits. He quickly used Transformation Jutsu to transform his appearance into a plain middle aged man with golden blonde hair and a face full of facial hair wearing black ANBU combat gear and a plain white featureless mask. Takeru used his ability to control emotions to dampen his emotions and severely lowered his capacity to feel any intense emotions as he knew that tonight things could get very dirty and he might have to take extreme measures. He then sped towards the bandit group''s location, jumping along the trees.


    Kakuzu was a shinobi of the Village Hidden in Waterfalls. The Hidden Waterfalls Village was situated on the north-western side of the Land of Fire. Kakuzu was born in a poor family. To secure the livelihood of his family he trained to be a shinobi by a shinobi clan in the Land of Waterfalls. Although he was very greedy and materialistic and always wanted more money, Kakuzu was a good shinobi. He served his clan faithfully and had an astonishing mission completion rate. Unfortunately his family died during a scuffle between clans. After the Warring States Period ended his clan and a few other shinobi clans came together and founded the Hidden Waterfall Village. He devoted his whole life to the betterment of the village. His reputation was ever increasing among his village and among his peers, though he was most notoriously known as a money grubber, he always put the interests of village first. But his success made other people jealous and insecure. Perhaps that is why he was now given an nearly impossible but simple mission: '' Assassinate the Hokage''. Kakuzu knew his chances were slim, but he had to try first. His livelihood depended on it, his village depended on him. So, he made himself look like an average bandit and joined this bandit group with a fake name and identity, easily infiltrating the Land of Fire. There were 4 other rogue shinobis in the group and he recognised them from their bingo book entries. Kakuzu''s hands were itching to kill them and take their bounties but he kept reminding himself that this mission was a priority. He could kill them anytime after his mission is completed. A few days ago the bandit group somehow got some news about a caravan carrying some big shot merchant who was going to the capital. So, they went to intercept the caravan and loot it. They would hold the merchant hostage and ask for ransom or they could just use him to get more money. Maybe they would even get some women form the caravan for them to enjoy. They were all rushing towards the place where the caravan must have set up camp for the night. They were practically seeing the money they would get in this raid. Kakuzu was also rushing with them when suddenly he noticed something. He heard a soft squelchy sound and saw some shadows flashing in the corner of his eyes. He looked around and saw that 10 of them were missing. There were 37 bandits in the group but now there were only 27 of them. It was like 10 of them had suddenly vanished in thin air. Kakuzu spotted fallen weapons and bags of the probably dead bandits on the ground. He felt danger and instantly searched around with vigilance. He thought that warning these guys would be better.


    "Hey, guys. I think some of us just went missing." - warned Kakuzu. Immediately the other 4 shinobi noticed the sudden loss of numbers too.


    "Gather around! Somebody is killing our guys." - the chuunin bandit leader shouted to rest of the group.


    "Gouken? Touma? Where are those guys?" - panicked a bandit.


    "Somebody has taken them out, you idiot. Keep watching the surroundings. I think they are leaf shinobis." - spoke another bandit.


    Kakuzu saw the panicking bandits and knew he could not stay here any moment longer. His mission was a priority and if leaf shinobi found him out, the mission would end up a failure. He was slowly slipping out of the group when the bandit leader saw him.


    "Where are you going Kazu? Are you leaving us?" - the bandit leader asked him with a withering look.


    "You are deserting us?! You fucking traitor!" - suddenly one panicking bandit attacked Kakuzu with a sword. Kakuzu deftly parried the blow, disarmed the bandit, caught the him in a headlock and stabbed him on the shoulder with a kunai.


    "I am no traitor you bastard. There are shinobis attacking us and we do not even know their numbers or capabilities. We are sitting ducks out here. I say we split up and divert them. We could escape for now. We will try to intercept the caravan tomorrow. If we stay here any longer we will all die." - spoke Kakuzu.


    "That is a good plan Kazu, but know this, you injured a brother and when we escape safely, you will pay for your actions." - warned the bandit leader.


    Kakuzu took out the kunai from the bandit''s shoulder and released him. Tha bandit glared at him gripping his bloody shoulder but Kakuzu did not heed it. Kakuzu was meanwhile thinking, ''Heh, threaten me all you want but you guys will not survive to act upon it. Tomorrow the caravan would have already passed through the Leaf Village shinobi outposts. Even if these guys survive tonight somehow, they will not be able to attack the caravan. They will get killed by leaf shinobis the instant they show themselves. Now, I just have to escape this nuisance. The bastards attacking us are pretty stealthy. I have to escape or I will be found out for sure. Fuck, if only I had enough money then I would not be in this shitty situation''. The bandit leader ordered them to spread out and the bandits dispersed in all directions, with two or three bandits in a group, each of them hoping that their attackers will attack the other group.


    When Takeru arrived near the group''s location he sensed the 37 bandits. He wanted to thin out the numbers first so he can face the shinobis without any interference. He sensed the bandits and identified the regular ones. He then made 9 shadow clones and used the Body Flicker Jutsu to take out the regular guys first. He and his clones flickered behind the bandits, shut their mouths, sliced their throats with chakra scalpel, grabbed them with chakra grab and used body flicker to return to their previous position on the trees. He dropped the corpses and used a simple fire release to burn their bodies. He took the belongings some were carrying and set them aside. He did all of this in matter of a few seconds with dead-cold accuracy and precision without any hesitation. He could feel that his emotions were whirling inside him but he crushed them. He knew if he let his emotions control him now or if he even hesitated a little, he would be putting his and his family''s lives at stake. After taking out 10 of those bandits at once. He was just going for the second round when he stopped. Takeru sensed that the elite jounin level shinobi of the group, who for some reason was using a Transformation Jutsu, had noticed the sudden lack of men. He and the clones stayed still and observed the interactions of the bandits, though from this distance he could only hear some incomprehensible sounds. What Takeru could make out from the interactions was that either the jounin was a coward which would be just plain nonsense or the jounin was never part of this group and he had some other agenda. Soon, the bandits were leaving in groups of two or three. He surmised that they maybe overestimated the number and affiliation of the imaginary shinobis that killed their memebers. He created 5 more shadow clones and ordered all the clones to follow one group each to make sure that the bandits were truly escaping. If they were truly escaping then his clones would leave them and if they did not, he ordered his clones to go for the kill. He then followed the group of bandits that were escaping in the direction of the camp personally. This group consisted of 1 chuunin who was the bandit leader, 1 genin and a regular bandit. He went ahead bypassing them and set a trap with chakra strings weaved among the trees like a spider''s web. The group ran inside the forest unaware of the trap Takeru set up in their path. They had just entered the trap when Takeru used his chakra strings to completely close the trap. It was the genin who was first caught in the chakra strings. Takeru immediately bound him up and channelled fire nature chakra along the strings. the strings glowed red hot and instantly seared the genin all over, nearly burning all of his body.


    "Look out, its a tra¡­Ahhhhh!" - was all the genin could shout before he went unconscious due to the massive injuries and pain.


    "Fuck! Be careful of the traps. The bastard is here somewhere" - the chuunin leader warned the other bandit. He started looking everywhere but he could not see anyone. He kept the location of the chakra strings on his mind and weaved some hand-seals and made an earth clone of himself. Then he weaved another set of hand-seals and went down the earth, hiding like a mole while his clone kept shouting and cursing Takeru in order to bait him out. Takeru sensed everything. He made a shadow clone and stayed hidden behind a tree. The clone flickered down the tree to the ground and stood facing the bandits.


    "I assume you are one of those shinobis who attacked my group." - stated the clone of the bandit leader.


    "So, what if I am?" - the clone Takeru asked changing his voice to an emotionless cold one with his near perfect physical control.


    "Are you a leaf shinobi?" - asked the bandit clone.


    "Does it matter? You guys wanted to raid the caravan. You would have killed and looted everyone. Consider it me returning the favor in advance. Leave and I will not attack you any further. You can take your injured accomplice away too." - replied clone while he and the original sensed the original bandit leader slowly creeping underneath the ground towards him.


    "So, you are one of the guardians of the caravan then. I see, so you can just die then!" - the bandit clone suddenly charged towards Takeru''s clone with a kunai. Clone Takeru ducked beneath the stab, spun, took out his sword and stabbed the bandit clone in his left armpit using his sword. The clone bandit swerved to the right, narrowly dodged the blow and grabbed clone takeru with his free right arm. Clone Takeru wanted to jump back away from the clone bandit but suddenly, two hands came out of the earth and grabbed clone Takeru''s legs and dragged him into the earth leaving only his head outside. The original bandit leader came out of the ground and faced clone Takeru with a smug smile.


    "You are pretty calm for a guy who is about to die"


    "You know, you are a really bad leader. Infact I think you got the position because no one else wanted it."


    "What are you saying you bas.." - the original bandit leader could not finish speaking as he heard a small whimper behind him. He and his clone turned around to see the same man they trapped inside the earth standing behind the regular bandit. A black sword was jutting out of the regular bandit''s body where his heart was. The original Takeru slowly pulled the sword out of the now dead bandit''s body, letting the body fall on the ground.


    "A clone!" - both the bandit leader and his clone were stunned. He did not even sense him coming. He was raging at the fact that two of his most trusted underlings were now dead in front of him.


    "So, you are an equally bad shinobi as well. Did no one ever teach you to never turn your back against your enemies?" - Takeru said casually as he flinged off the blood on the sword and suddenly flickered away.


    "Wha..!" - as soon as the bandit and his clone turned they saw a huge fireball coming towards them, nearly touching their nose. He could feel the intense heat coming off of it and it was too close. The bandit leader could not dodge the fireball or weave any hand-seals for that matter in this short time. The clone bandit hurriedly tried to push the original out of the way but before he could do it completely, the fireball exploded, ''BOOM!''. A huge explosion occurred devastating the place and creating a small crater on the ground. Takeru, standing on a tree branch sensed the still alive bandit leader leaning against a tree trunk. The bandit''s body was half-burned. He was bleeding profusely and could not even move. Takeru landed in front of him and stood a few feet away.


    "Ninjutsu without any hand-seals. I did not think anyone could do that. You are not a regular shinobi. Just who the fuck are you?" - asked the bandit gasping, nearly in his last breath.


    "Just an average guy protecting his own." - Takeru slashed the bandit''s throat in one swift strike with his sword, looted the corpses and burned them to ashes. He then cleared out any evidence he could find of the fight here as much he could and sped up towards the camp. Along the way Takeru received the memories of the clones he sent after the escaping bandits and one of the clones on lookout duty at the camp one by one. Most of the remaining bandits escaped after the fiasco in the forest barring 4 of the regular bandits. They ran into his father and the guards of the camp and were swiftly dispatched. The elite jounin shinobi of the bandit group however did something interesting. After running for a bit, he immediately killed the other bandit who was with him. He then disposed of his body, used transformation jutsu to change his appearance and escaped hurriedly. Takeru could make out the features of this shinobi. He was a tall man with tanned skin and long dark brown hair. He was wearing a sleeveless body armor and black pants and had a black mask over his face covering his mouth and up to the nose leaving only his eyes which had an unusual coloring: green pupils and red eyes. Immediately a certain person came to his mind but Takeru dismissed it. It would be too much of a coincidence for this man to be that person. Takeru, before arriving at the camp undid the transformation jutsu on him. He, after arriving at the camp and sensed his clone sleeping inside the tent. He packed the spoils he got from the bandits directly into his bag without even checking them. He went inside the tent and saw his mother was also sleeping. He dispelled the clone and promptly went to bed. Takeru slowly released his control over his emotions and he broke down crying. Takeru weeped silently. He knew this world was cruel. He knew he would have to bathe in blood just to survive and protect his loved ones. He knew that if he did not do what he did today, and if they attacked them in night he could not have kept an accident from happening. A stray shuriken or kunai or even a missguided strike of an sword could prove life-threatening. Even with his senses, speed and other abilities he could never be sure his parents'' safety. He was not omnipotent. He could not revive people back from the dead. So, he had to dirty his hands. He knew what he did would haunt him. He killed not one, not two but 13 people in cold blood. His hands were soaked in blood. He could have just knocked them unconscious and bound them. Alas! Takeru miscalculated. He did not count the fact that by dampening his emotions he also made himself more logical, more cold and far less a human. Takeru simply did what he thought was the best course of action and at that moment, the best course of action was to eliminate his enemies permanently. Takeru also did not factor that while his dampened emotions made him ignore the immediate effects of intense emotions. It did not shut off his ability to sense emotions from other people. He sensed all the desperation, rage, regret, remorse, hate, resentment and most importantly the loss of hope his victims felt. And when he relinquished his control over his emotions, all those emotions he felt or sensed cam back crashing on him all at once. Takeru knew he killed for a cause but it did not justify his actions. He killed someone''s father today, someone''s brother or someone''s son. He deprived their families from happiness to keep his own. He could still see the hopeless eyes of his victims as he snuffed the light out of them mercilessly. He was a murderer. There was no sugar-coating it. But he also knew that he would have to do awful things over and over again in the future if he wanted to keep himself and his loved ones out of harm''s way. Takeru knew he would have to confront the moral conflict he was feeling or it would eat him from the inside but for now all he wanted was to sleep. And so he slowly fell into the grasp of the sandman.

 8 A Leaf Holding Dreams

    It was night with dark, stormy and depressing clouds on the sky. The clouds parted a little and the light of the full moon sifted through them illuminating the earth. The moonlight had a red, bloody sheen on it. The earth was bathed in blood of the corpses that were lying on the ground. There were weapons, tools, various other objects scattered across the ground. The earth was razed with devastation with signs of battles and wars everywhere as far as one could see. On the center of the battlefield, on a small mountain of dead bodies of shinobis, samurais and various other people, sat a lone man holding a black sword in his hand, dripping blood. Suddenly, thunder started booming in sky and lightning struck a tree nearby, scorching it up and lighting the surroundings a bit and in this sudden light one could see the features of this man. He was a tall man with muscular but lean build. His clothes were in disarray, cut, shredded and stained with blood. The man''s oval face was sharp with chiseled jaws. He had black hair, brown eyes and had a stoic look on his face. The man was staring at the horizon when he suddenly sensed something and turned to face the observer with a sadistic and cruel smirk on his face.


    Takeru gasped as he woke up from the nightmare. His clothes and the bed were soaked with sweat. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down and when finally he was coherent enough, he got up. Takeru got out of the tent to see the people of the caravan packing things up. His father, Toru and mother, Akane were helping them. Takeru used a little of his fire chakra to dry up his clothes. He then washed up a bit with some water and went to dismantle and pack the bed and the tent. His parents were soon done with the packing and saw him carrying their luggages as he put them up on the carriage.


    "You had a good sleep?" - asked Toru.


    "Yeah, somewhat." - replied Takeru as he suddenly spotted 4 graves beside the clearing.


    "Let us have a talk, son." - Toru followed Takeru''s line of vision and saw what Takeru was seeing. Akane had a concerned look on her face. Soon the carriages were all loaded and packed and the caravan continued his journey. Akane went inside the carriage and left the father and son to talk among themselves.


    "Have you killed someone before, dad?" - asked Takeru while walking with his father.


    "Yes, I did. I did it many a times."


    "How did you feel after that?"


    "Let me tell you my story first. When I was a kid, I lost my parents to bandits. They were simple farmers with a small land. It was just a regular day when I got home after playing with my friends and found out that I had lost everything. I did not have any purpose for living from that day. The life of an orphan in the Land of Iron was better than any other nation but it was still a cruel and worthless one. But I survived struggling, scraping for food, searching for shelter until one day a few samurais found me and some other orphans and street urchins. All of us were trained in the traditional arts of a samurai. We were given a purpose, to serve our lord faithfully. We were given the tools for survival, power to keep on living. When I found that I could move faster than any normal person, and do things they could not do. I found a new sense of purpose. I thought that I could maybe stop all the suffering in this world, all those needless wars and conflicts. If I could do that then maybe I would be saving other children from having the same fate as mine. But, soon I had found that though it was a noble cause, it was a fruitless one. I wanted to be a hero, you know, saving the world and all that. But I got my reality check when I first killed a man. I was just a 16 year old teenager then, a samurai greenhorn. I had no experience of life or death battles. He wanted to kill me. I had to kill him in order to save my life. He was a wanted criminal, more a monster than a human but he was a human nonetheless. Heroes do not kill people, they save them and I was no hero. I was disgusted of myself. I thought I too would turn into the very monsters I had hoped too defeat. Soon, I understood something. I found that this world is not so black and white. There are no heroes or villains. We are all normal humans, products of our own circumstances. Everyone is a hero to some and a villain to others. It is relative. I had killed people many times after that day but I never enjoyed doing it.


    I know, I am not a good man but I am not a monster. I did what I had to do to survive. Otherwise I would not be here talking with you. It is a very thin line, Takeru, that seperates humans from monsters. Humans feel remorse, guilt and responsibility. Monsters do not. They do not feel any guilt or remorse. Monsters kill for the sake of killing, not for some cause. They just enjoy killing. We live in a world full of them. So, all we can do is to endure and keep fighting the battle. Both the battle against the world and the battle against yourself so we do not turn into a monster. Find yourself a worthy cause that you can devote your life to. You have to endure and keep fighting. Do not ever give up the fight and never stop hoping that one day it will all be good. Taking a life is never easy and it can never be justified by anything but what you can do is to kill only for a worthy cause you believe in. You have to have faith, son, that one day we all might be able to live in harmony, the world will be in peace. Till that day you just have to keep enduring." - explained Toru. Takeru listened to every word his father said and sighed. Takeru was slowly starting to feel somewhat relieved. It was like a huge weight fell off his shoulders. Takeru knew what his father said was true. He would have to do much more horrible things in the future and he could not keep breaking down like this. Yes, he killed those bandits last night but not because he wanted to kill them. He did it to protect his family. Takeru looked at his father and his mother with a smile, Toru smiled back. Akane was watching them from the carriage. She too smilled at him. Takeru, at that moment had set a firm goal in his mind. He would do whatever it is, kill whoever it is, just to keep those smiles.


    Soon, another day passed. The caravan stopped at an intersection in the forest. The lead merchant told them that Toru and his family would have to stop here and wait. The shinobis from the Hidden Leaf Village would come and take them to the village. Takeru and Toru unloaded their luggages from the carriage. The caravan started going again, leaving them in the forest. Toru, Akane and Takeru stood at the side of the road with their luggage and waited for leaf shinobis to show up. A few moments later Takeru sensed 4 people watching them from inside the forest. All of them were leaf shinobis wearing the headband. Two shinobi showed up walking in front of them from the forest.


    "Who are you? What are you doing here?" - one of them with a stoic face asked as the other one, an Uchiha activated his sharingan and silently observed Takeru and his family.


    "Hello, I am Toru Yamamoto. This is my wife Akane and our son, Takeru. We recently bought a house in the Hidden Leaf Village and are going to move in. I came here last month to buy it."


    "Do you have your identification papers and the documents of the house?"


    "Ah, yes. Here it is." - Toru took out the papers and gave them to the leading shinobi. The shinobi took them, closely examined them. After verification the shinobi nodded and Takeru sensed the 2 shinobis hiding in the forest left. The Uchiha shinobi''s face relaxed, after deactivated his sharingan he also left.


    "Everything seems to be in order. Please follow me closely." - the lead shinobi smiled for the first time and led them into the forest. The Yamamoto family followed him silently. Takeru was observing and sensing his surroundings. The leaf shinobi started a conversation with them.


    "So, what do you do for a living, Yamamoto-san?"


    "I was a samurai in the Land of Iron serving under commander Musashi for a time. Then, due to certain circumstances I left my post and settled down in a village in the north. I did farming for a living after that, taking care of my family. What about you..uh mister?"


    "Call me Mitsuki please. I was raised by my clan as a shinobi and served them until our village was established. Now, I am a proud shinobi of the Leaf Village."


    "Yes, this village is surely a miracle. I never thought a day would come when I coud see this with my own eyes."


    "It was Lord Hokage''s dream for shinobi clans to live in harmony and it has surely bore fruit. This village holds all of our dreams. All we have to do now is to keep the leaf safe to keep our dreams alive."


    "I agree. Mitsuki-san, I would like to ask you something."


    "Please ask."


    "You see, I asked one leaf shinobi about anything we should now about moving in the village. He said about a standard procedure that we have to stay outside the village until our identities are cleared off. He told me that we can avoid this by having Lord Hokage''s permission and could stay inside the village. Can I ask you to refer me to Lord Hokage? We are completely new to the village and do not have anyone who can help us. I know you are a busy man but if you could help us, me and my family would be very thankful to you." - Toru asked politely.


    "Can I have the name of the shinobi that told you about this?"


    "His name is Shinji Uchiha."


    "Oh, Shinji-san. I understand. I know him and you do not have to worry about that Yamamoto-san. I will escort you to Lord Hokage''s office personally."


    "Thank you very much for your kindness, Mitsuki-san." - Toru said gratefully.


    "Do not mention it, Yamamoto-san. You and your family are citizens of the Hidden Leaf as am I. It is only right that I help you as it is my duty." - Mitsuki assured Toru with a smile. After many sudden turns, going in circles and a few times outright going backwards, Takeru could finally notice the vegetation slowly lessening. He tried to map out the path they took to reach the Hidden Leaf Village but even with his senses he could not make heads or tails about which path they traveled. All he could sense was forest, endless forests. And to think that all of this endless forest was made by Hashirama alone. '' Damn you Hashirama and your overpowered jutsu hacks'', Takeru was grumbling inside. After 3 hours of journey, they finally went out of the forest. Toru although somewhat composed was marveled at the beauty. Akane was astonished at the scenery. Takeru''s eyes widened. Mitsuki smiled, seeing their reactions and said, "Welcome to the Hidden Leaf Village!". The village was huge with rows and rows of wooden houses, buildings, towers, shops, markets, people walking, talking, laughing among themselves, children running around the streets joyfully. Shinobis of different clans, lineages, families running along the rooftops, walking around the roads, chatting and laughing among themselves and with civilians. There was always some activity going on in this village. It was a sight probably no one could have even thought of just a decade ago. The Yamamoto family instantly fell in love with the village. Mitsuki guided them inside the village. Takeru could see the village was not so developed as it was shown in the manga or anime in his previous life. There was the giant wall surrounding the village though. He could see the face of the first Hokage being constructed on the mountain that stood behind the village covering its back. They soon passed through the main gate of the village after a brief inspection from the guards stationed at the gate and entered the village. The Yamamoto family along with their acting guide went to their new house first. Akane and Takeru saw their new home for the first time. It was a medium-sized wooden one-and-a-half storied house with tiles on the roof and a front lawn guarded by a small wooden fence. The Yamamoto family entered the house with their luggage and invited Mitsuki but he declined saying that he will wait for Toru outside. They quickly unloaded their things in the front . Toru asked Takeru to help his mother set things up. Then he went outside to the still waiting Mitsuki to meet Lord Hokage to ask for permission for them to stay in their house during the period of inspection. Takeru helped Akane in unpacking things and setting up the house enough for them to live for now. Takeru sesnsed around the house while working. The house had a corridor at the front with a stair going up the first floor beside it. It had a drawing room at the front, a dining cum kitchen room, 1 bathroom, 2 bedrooms and a small store room on the ground floor. On the first floor was a medium-sized room with an attached bathroom. The house had a small backyard in the back surrounded by a 7 feet high wooden wall. The rooms were spacious and had good natural air conditioning and lighting. The house was moderately furnished. They did not need to buy much furnitures and only needed some decorations and small knick-knacks of their choice. Overall the Yamamoto family were satisfied with their new home. Akane and Takeru finished unpacking and setting up things. Toru came back a few hours later bearing good news. The Hokage had accepted his proposal and they can live in their house. Akane and Takeru were overjoyed as they did not want to live outside the village. They soon went out to shop for necessities. Takeru was walking down the street with his parents looking and sensing around. The village had a very lively atmosphere. They already felt that they were at home. They soon found the market and bought their supplies. They searched for a good restaurant to have lunch and soon found a good one. The Akimichi Restaurant was a well furnished and well decorated restaurant situated in the central part of the Hidden Leaf Village. They offered mainly barbecue and regular cuisines but every item served there tasted and looked heavenly. The Yamamoto family had never eaten such good food before. After having luch and some more shopping they returned to their new home.


    The wind was blowing that night with the crescent moon hanging on the sky, the weather was fine. The Yamamoto family sat in the dining room of their new home having a heated discussion.


    "Are you sure you want to join the Shinobi Training Institution?" - Toru asked his son with a grave countenance.


    "Yes, I am sure of it dad. I want to be a good shinobi and serve this village."


    "It is too dangerous son. The life of a shinobi is never easy. There is always the risk. In a mission anything could go wrong. Why can not you become a merchant like Atsuno-san''s sons. You could open a store and run a business. I am not refusing to let you join the Training Institution but why do you have to be a shinobi? You could become a non-shinobi personnel and either join the sealing corps or the medical corps in the hospital like me." - Akane said anxiously to her son.


    "Dad, you said to me that I should find a worthy cause and devote myself to it. I guess I found one. I want to protect you and mom, this home, this village that we are living in and will continue to live in the future. Mom, I could easily join the medical corps in the hospital like you or can join the sealing corps. But doing so I would only be limiting myself. I am and will always be better in combat than in medical ninjutsu or fuinjutsu. I can defeat dad in a fight and had done so for 2 years." - Taleru reasoned with his parents.


    "What we did was just sparring, son. It can never compare to real-life situations that happens in an actual fight. In a life or death battle even a single mistake can cost lives. You are not trained for that." - Toru replied critically.


    "I know that and that is why I want to join the Institution. They can train me to be better. They can teach me necessary survival skills and tactics. It could save me from dangerous situations. Dad, you were attacked two times you were travelling. Can you be certain that I would not face any situations like that in the future? If those bandits last night had more numbers we would not be here talking like this. Listen please, I just want to do my part. Every shinobi of this village is working for its betterment and I want to do that too. For that I need training and this Institution can give me that."


    "Alright. I understand your point." - Toru replied sighing.


    "What?! You can not be serious Toru. We will not be sending our son into a battlefield!" - Akane exclaimed angrily.


    "Akane, it is not like the past. It is not about which clan gains more profit or land. It is about protecting our home. I know what you are thinking. I am not happy that I am sending my son to be a shinobi of all things. But It is far better for him to be a shinobi than stay a regular civilian. Takeru can decide his own future. I will support him no matter what. I know that you know about shinobi life far more than I do but please trust me on this." - Toru argued.


    "I am not happy about it, not even a bit. ''sigh'' I am willing to trust your decision but with only two conditions. You will decide if Takeru is ready or not and only with my permission can he go and take missions. Otherwise I will not agree." - Akane said with a tone of finality.


    "I accept the conditions. I will supervise Takeru''s progress and will only let him take missions with your permission. What do you say son?" - Toru asked Takeru, who was sitting silently, listening to his parents'' conversation.


    "I also accept the conditions." - Takeru answered.


    "Alright. I will talk with the people in charge of the Shinobi Training Institution tomorrow and ask them to take you in. But I will only do that if you can accept one condition of mine." - Toru eyed Takeru with unparalleled seriousness.


    "What condition?" - Takeru asked pensively.


    "I am asking..no, I am ordering you to do your best. I want you to give your all when you are training. I want you to learn every craft and tactics, every method of survival, learn everything you could learn from the Training Institution. I want you to promise me, Takeru, I want you to promise me that you will become good shinobi". Takeru, after staying silent for a bit looked at his parents in the eye and said - "I promise".

 9 Opportunity

    It had been a month since the Yamamoto family had moved into the Hidden Leaf Village. The inspection period ended a week after they started living in the house. The Yamamoto family lived a peaceful life in their new home. The village had homely atmosphere and they enjoyed it very much. Akane had joined the Leaf Hospital as a healer shortly after that. She would go work at the hospital every day from morning to evening. Sometimes in the emergency she would have to stay at the hospital overnight but her safety was guaranteed and the pay was good. Toru on the other hand was asked to teach kenjutsu at the Shinobi Training Institution. Toru, as he said, did go to the authorities to ask them about if they would take Takeru in the for training. He found that the Hokage was the sole authority governing the Institution. Lord Hokage said to him that as the current session was ending, he could not take Takeru in for now but after the Rinne Festival at the end of the year the Institution would start taking in new students. Takeru could register as a new student in the upcoming session. He gave Toru the application form for the registration of new students which would be starting after the Rinne Festival and asked Toru personally if he could fill the position of the kenjutsu instructor at the Institution. Toru readily accepted the position and the duties that was with the position. Toru went to work at the Institution, monday to saturday, 6 days a week from morning to evening. Sometimes he had to take a few classes on sunday for those who specialised in kenjutsu. Overall, Toru and Akane were very busy with their new jobs and only had free time after the evening. Toru taught Takeru fuinjutsu basics regularly and sometimes sparred with him. Takeru had already read and completely memorised the fuinjutsu book. He found that this book contained much detailed knowledge about fuinjutsu. It contained from the absolute basics of fuinjutsu to simple space-time seals. Akane also sometimes taught him medical ninjutsu and about human body. As his parents were busy, Takeru devoted his whole time into training. Every morning Takeru would get up early and run laps around the village. He bought a few training weights from a nearby weapons store and attached them to his body. Takeru was now carrying a total of 100 Kilograms of weight on his body. 20 kgs on each of his hands and legs and 20 kg on his torso. After that he would return home and practice kenjutsu and taijutsu rigorously. Takeru found that his sword did not make any sound. It was like it faced zero air resistance. The sword absorbed any and all vibrations and was ridiculously swift. Takeru perfected the summoning ability of his sword but could not test its chakra absorption ability. Takeru used this time to perfect the fire nature chakra flow on his sword and could now use it effectively. It made anything his sword touched combust with flames instantly. This made his firepower increase. Takeru could not use his shadow clones in the village. It was after all Tobirama Senju''s own invented jutsu and he did not have any valid alibi to use on the account of him knowing the jutsu. He could not just say that he invented it as he did not really know about the actual mechanics and theory about the jutsu. Though he sensed that after the inspection period the shinobis observing them from the shadows had left, he did not really want to take any chances. A Hyuga could be watching them from afar or Tobirama could be observing them with his crystal ball. So, his learning speed was lower than before. Takeru also visited the Leaf Village Public Library to read the books and learned anything he could find. Be it history, geography, basic knowledge about chakra theory, human anatomy, human physiology, botany, zoology. Any knowledge he found, he devoured them all. Takeru finally made some time to check out the spoils he got from the bandits. From the regular bandit he got about 300 ryos and a combat knife. From the genin he got an instruction manual about practicing earth release chakra nature and a pouch containing a set of kunais and shurikens. But he hit the jackpot when he looked at the loot he got from the chuunin bandit leader. He found a scroll containing five earth release jutsus. Takeru was overjoyed after seeing the jutsus on the scroll. The scroll contained Earth Release: Mud Wall Jutsu, Earth Release: Hidden Mole Jutsu, Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu, Earth Release: Earth Clone Jutsu and finally Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Jutsu. Takeru thought that maybe the bandit leader did not learn the last jutsu at that point, otherwise the battle would have gone differently. Takeru surmised that the bandit leader was from the Land of Earth and escaped into the Land of Fire. Takeru immediately started learning earth release chakra nature from the manual. He found it far more difficult than practicing fire nature chakra due to him not having the affinity for earth nature chakra. Takeru struggled a little but kept training. He bought a few training logs from a shinobi tools shop and put them in the backyard. He practiced shurikenjutsu and kunai handling daily with them. He included these new projects into his daily training regimen. He also after a month finally perfected chanelling fire nature chakra into his chakra strings. Although he could not make them invisible, he managed to maximize the speed of the technique. He could now turn his chakra strings blazing red hot in an instant. His chakra strings still glowed but he minimised the light emitting from them. He named this new jutsu of his Fire Release: Searing Strings Jutsu. Whenever he used the jutsu it looked like numerous dull red coloured strings were floating around him, completely surrounding him. Takeru was thinking for a time and he finally decided to show his parents all the gifts he received from old man Tenshi and the spoils he got from the bandits. His parents were astonished at the value of things Tenshi had gifted their son. Toru thought the sword Tenshi had gifted his son was an ordinary one. He did not know about its abilities. Toru realised the true value of the sword that it was invaluable. He ordered Takeru to never show this sword to anyone. He kept the sword sealed in a scroll and hid it somewhere safe. Toru and Akane had a discussion among themselves and decided that they should contribute the jutsus to the village. Takeru also showed them his 3 fire nature jutsus, the Rasengan and his own creation the Searing Strings Jutsu. Toru and Akane seeing their son''s achievements were nearly bursting with pride. Toru made a copy of all the jutsus and their instructions. Takeru copied the whole Uzumaki fuinjutsu book that old man Tenshi gave him and gave the original to his father. They decided that they would give them to the Hokage after the new year.


    It was mid-winter, nearly the end of the current year and today the whole Hidden Leaf Village was celebrating the Rinne Festival. The festival was celebrated as a winter holiday in all of Land of Fire. The festival was mainly for praying for the deceased. But since ancient times, this day is celebrated as the day when Sage of Six Paths bestowed humans chakra and maintained peace throughout the world. Takeru and his family were walking down the streets of the village. The whole village was in a celebratory mood. Various people gathered around and chatted happily. Children ran around playing, laughing, holding balloons and toys. Music was being played by artists in the streets. Ribbons, colourful lights and various things decorated the whole village. Confetti were flying in the air. Various food stalls and game stalls were put everywhere in the village. Entertainment venues were open throughout the night. The Yamamoto family walked around the village, buying some goodies, eating at a few stalls, enjoying the day at a leisurely pace. The returned home when night came. They had a sumptuous dinner and watched the fireworks in the sky. Takeru was slowly coming to love this place more and more. He wished that he could live like this forever.


    Soon, the new year day came and went. Today Toru and Takeru went to visit the Hokage to give the jutsus. Takeru already filled up the application form for the Shinobi Training Institution and was going to submit it after their visit to the Hokage Tower. Toru and Takeru went up the road and walked to the tower. Takeru noticed the tower from afar. It was easily the most noticeable building in the whole village containing multiple floors. It was a red and white coloured building that towered over all the other buildings in the village. There was the word ''Fire'' written in kanji on its roof. Toru came in front of the building and asked the front door guard if they can enter the building. The guard let them enter. Toru went in and Takeru followed. Toru asked the female receptionist on the ground floor for an appointment with the Hokage. The receptionist told them that Lord Hokage was in a meeting and will be available after half-an-hour. She told the to wait in the lounge. Takeru was meanwhile sensing around the tower and he was shocked. The tower had innumerable traps, false walls, hidden rooms, multiple contraptions. There were atleast 30 shinobis hiding in the shadows and various other hidden places all over the tower. Every shinobi had at least jounin level chakra and all of them were vigilant. Takeru sensed the Hokage was talking with another person. The unknown shinobi had huge chakra levels, definitely a kage tier shinobi. And Takeru could not even describe what he was feeling when he tried to sense the Hokage. Hashirama Senju was like a living human tailed beast. The man was practically glowing with golden chakra. He literally radiated power in waves. Takeru was sure that if he wanted, Hashirama could kill him with just a finger. Takeru was lost in his thoughts when his father jerked him awake. The receptionist told them that Lord Hokage was available now and they could visit him. Toru and Takeru went up the stairs and came in front of the door. Takeru could spot a middle-aged man with a slightly familiar face caming out of the room. They could hear a person talking to the man that came out of the room.


    "Do not worry Lord Sarutobi, even if I can not, my brother will take your son under his tutelage. You can rest assured that he will train young Hiruzen to the best of his abilities."


    "I am satisfied with the decision. I will increase my son''s training so he can be worthy of Lord Tobirama''s tutelage." - the man said.


    "Bwahahaha. Do not worry about it." - the peeson in the room laughed. The man in front smiled and suddenly noticed Toru and his son.


    "It seems you have other appointments, Lord Hokage. I will take my leave for now." - the man bowed and left.


    "Please come in" - the person in the room asked the Toru and Takeru. Toru entered th room and Takeru followed.


    "Ah, so it was you Yamamoto-san. I take it that you brought the application form all filled up?" - the Hokage asked. Hashirama was a tall man with tanned skin and dark eyes. He had waist-length black hair styled in a centre-parted fringe that framed his face. He wore the traditional Kage attire consisting of the customary maroon and white hat and haori over a full-length maroon and white gown, along with a simple red headband.


    "Please, Lord Hokage, just call me Toru." - Toru bowed as he replied.


    "Alright, alright. I will stop the honorifics. But you have to tell me your story someday. I have rarely seen a samurai in my life. I would love to know about your traditions and culture." - the Hokage said jovially.


    "Absolutely Lord Hokage. I surely will. Uh..this is Takeru, my son. He already filled the application form. Here it is." - Toru introduced his son and gave the application form to the Hokage.


    "Everything seems to be in order. I will inform the Institution about young Takeru''s application and will have him registered in the coming session. But you could have just given it directly to the institution. It is not that I do not like meeting you. I like having your company very much. But you did not have to come here all the way to give me this." - Hashirama taking a quick glance at the application asked Toru.


    "Well, I came here because of something else. Takeru knows how to use chakra. So, a family friend of ours from our past village gave him some ninjutsus. We would like to contribute these to the village." - Toru took out a scroll containing all the fire and earth nature jutsus and gave it to the Hokage. Hashirama opened the scroll and saw the jutsus and smiled happily.


    "This is good. 3 fire nature jutsus and 5 earth nature jutsus, and they are all either C-rank or even B-rank jutsus. Hahaha, Toru, your contribution is huge." - Hashirama was happy getting these jutsus. Toru took out a scroll and the fuinjutsu book and said - "Lord Hokage, I have something else. This scroll contains two original jutsus Takeru invented personally and this book contains Uzumaki fuinjutsu, Takeru was given the book by the same man."


    "Bwahahahaha, this is marvelous. Please, wait a second. I will just go call someone." - Hashirama produced a wood clone and the clone flickered away. Toru and Takeru waited a few seconds when suddenly the door opened and a fair-skinned man with silver, shaggy hair and red coloured eyes with three red markings on his face, one under each of his eyes and one on his chin came in.


    "What is it, brother?" - the man asked.


    "Tobirama, look at this." - Hashirama gave the scrolls and the book to his brother. Tobirama took them and looked at the scrolls and the book.


    "This?! Where did you find these?" - Tobirama asked.


    "Oh, I did not find them. These good citizens of our village just contributed these jutsus and that fuinjutsu book to the village." - Hashirama replied. Tobirama looked at Toru and asked.


    "Can you demonstrate these techniques?"


    "I can." - Takeru spoke for the first since the start of the conversation. Tobirama was gobsmacked. He asked Toru, " Is he your son?".


    "Yes, Senju-sama. This is my son, Takeru. He got those fire and earth nature jutsus and the fuinjutsu book from a family friend of ours. And the scroll containing the two jutsus are the original creations of my son." - Toru answered proudly.


    "I gues I know why you called me suddenly." - Tobirama stated to his brother as he and Hashirama looked at each other for a bit and told Toru and Takeru to hold onto them. Toru and Takeru did as they asked. Soon, the two Senju brothers took them to the Hokage''s personal training ground via body flickering. Takeru was alright as he could move faster using Body Flicker Jutsu but Toru was disoriented and gasped for air. Both the brothers saw Takeru''s lack of reaction and nodded to each other. After Toru was feeling somewhat alright, Tobirama asked Takeru to demonstrate the jutsus he knew. Takeru stood a little farther than them. He faced a small body of water and started making the necessary hand-seals. Soon, Takeru displayed some of his jutsus. He started with the 3 fire release jutsus and after doing them he finally demonstrated the Rasengan and the Searing Strings Jutsu.


    "I do not have enough expertise of earth nature transformation to use any earth release jutsus. This is all I know." - Takeru said after demonstration.


    "This is enough. This is far more than enough. I have never seen such expertise of fire nature chakra in someone apart from the geniuses from the Uchiha or the Sarutobi clan." - the Hokage laughed gleefully as he watched Takeru with stars in his eyes.


    "Stop overreacting brother. You are the Hokage, please try to behave yourself. Yes, your expertise in fire nature chakra is impressive as are the two jutsus you created. What are their names? - Tobirama asked Takeru.


    "I call the first one Rasengan and the other Searing Strings Jutsu." - Takeru replied.


    "Very good names. As far as I can tell, the two jutsus you invented are both A-rank jutsus. The Rasengan is for its power and difficulty and the Searing Strings Jutsu for its attacking potential, versatility and maneuverablility. These two jutsus are not finished, I can tell. The Rasengan can be infused with an elemental nature chakra and the Searing Strings Jutsu can be more refined and its firepower can be increased. On the other hand of the 8 elemental jutsus you contributed, the village already possesses of 4 of them. The rest of them are 3 C-rank and 1 B-rank jutsus. Still they count as a contribution. The Uzumaki fuinjutsu book on the other hand is a priceless addition to the village. You should know that the Hidden Leaf Village and the Hidden Whirlpool Village are very good allies. Though many seal masters of the Uzumaki clan come and teach us fuinjutsu. The truly secret knowledge is very hard to come by. I count your contribution of this book an equivalent of giving an S-rank jutsu. I will add the contributions to you file in the institution. You will be properly rewarded for them. You can get any jutsu from A-rank and below after your graduation." - Tobirama stated.


    "I do not attend the Institution Senju-sama. I will join it in a few days though." - Takeru informed Tobirama. Tobirama looked incredulously at him and asked, "Wait, how old are you kid?"


    "I just turned 10 year old this winter."


    "You are 10 years old?!" - Both the Senju brothers exclaimed at the same time.


    "Well, you see Takeru has always been a very healthy boy." - Toru interjected.


    "This is amazing. Tobirama, you can take young Takeru in yo.." - Hashirama was gushing out loud but Tobirama stopped him from saying anything more.


    "Stop talking brother. Let me think for a moment... Alright, listen Takeru, I have a proposal for you. I will give you a jutsu I created myself. You have more than enough chakra to use it safely. This jutsu will help you speed up your learning process to be much faster. But in return I want you to complete your training at the Institution in a year and graduate successfully in this year''s year-end graduation examination. Can you do it?" - Tobirama eyed Takeru with a piercing gaze.


    "I will try my best Senju-sama." - Takeru replied after thinking for a moment.


    "Great, I will have your word for it then. Now look closely, I am going to show some hand-seals for this particular jutsu. This is a B-rank jutsu called the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Now, look and memorize the hand-seals¡­".


    Toru and Takeru were walking down the streets of the Leaf Village towards their home. They did not talk. They were contemplating on the things that happened today. Toru did not imagine that his son had mastered such high level ninjutsus and even invented two of them. He was proud of his son before but now he was ecstatic as he could see the opportunities his son was given by Lord Hokage and his brother. He looked at his son walking with him drowned in his own musings and smiled in satisfaction. Toru was happy that his son could achieve so much in such a short time without any proper guidance. But he was also worried deep down. He knew that it was his and his wife''s open disdain toward shinobis that made his son hide his achievements from them for so long. He feared that if they continued their behaviour, there would be a high chance of distance appearing in the relationship between them and Takeru. He had to do something about it and he had to do it quickly. Toru vowed that he and Akane would have a talk about this and would definitely rectify their behaviour as quickly as possible. Takeru was meanwhile screaming inside with ecstasy. He thought that he would have to bargain with the Hokage and his brother for him to get the Shadow Clone Jutsu. He thought that they would not easily give him the technique so easily. That is why he brought the fuinjutsu book along with him as a last resort. He never thought that Tobirama fucking Senju would teach him the jutsu himself. Although Tobirama gave him a very difficult task. Completing the whole curriculum of the Institution in a year would not be impossible. With his superhuman mental prowess and liberal use of shadow clones he could graduate in a year with flying colours. Takeru was overjoyed at having such a grand opportunity. Now, he would just have to make sure that he gave his all in this year and he might surprise them. Takeru vowed that he would definitely exceed all of their expectations.

 10 Shinobi Training Institution

    Fuinjutsu was a really difficult subject for Takeru. Even with the continuous usage of shadow clones he was progressing much slower than to his liking. Toru had already taught all he knew about fuinjutsu to him and now he was learning from the fuinjutsu book in his possession. Takeru had already learned a few seals. From Toru he learned how to make storage seals and exploding tags and how to use them efficiently. From the book he leaned to make, use and bypass restriction seal and silencing seal with high proficiency. Takeru was now learning the gravity seal which he found very difficult. Although he predicted that he could learn it in a couple of weeks. Takeru had already mastered calligraphy. He now used his calligraphy skills to the fullest when using fuinjutsu. Although he could currently only use brush and ink to write seals, his target was to make seals using only chakra strings.


    After Tobirama had taught Takeru the Shadow Clone Jutsu, he strictly prohibited him from using it too much and told him about the drawbacks of this technique which ranged from mild headache to death due to chakra exhaustion. Tobirama did not know about Takeru''s mastery over this technique and that is why he gave Takeru the challenge of graduating the Institution within a year. If Tobirama knew that Takeru was far more skilled in shadow clones than even him. He would not have given Takeru that challenge. Takeru used shadow clones to their full potential and after 1 week, he had completely read and memorized everything he could from the Leaf Village Public Library. Toru and Akane discussed among themselves and they realised how much distance had appeared between Takeru and them. They were sad and they did their utmost to change their behaviour and views towards shinobis. Takeru was shocked, when his mother Akane told him that she would teach him shurikenjutsu and kunai handling. Although he was gradually learning those with the process of trial and error. Having someone to teach him, would really cut down the time he needed to master the techniques . He would not have to correct his moves every single time to perfect his throws. So, Akane started teaching him daily, how to properly throw a shuriken, how to use it as a diversion or misdirection, how to alter a shuriken''s path by hitting it with another shuriken, how to handle a kunai properly, best ways to use kunai in a fight. She even brought some senbon needles and taught him how to properly use and handle senbons. Takeru''s talent amazed her. He learned things in a hour what others would take at least a week to learn. Akane finally realised how much their son had hidden it from them, and she was distraught about it. She vowed that she would never let her prejudice towards shinobi to come between her family ever again.


    It had been a week since Toru submitted the application form to the Hokage. Two days ago a courier-nin delivered a letter to them. The letter wrote that Takeru had formerly been accepted into the Institution and the new classes would begin two days after. So, today the Yamamoto family were walking towards the Institution in the morning. The building was situated behind the Hokage Tower and was one of the newer buildings in that area. It was quite near their house, so it did not take much time. Soon, they reached the building and saw many families there. Parents, fathers, mothers, other family and clan members standing in front of the gate of the building with their children and kids. The gate opened after sometime and the Yamamotos went in with the crowd. They were all asked to stand in the small training area in front of the building. A small podium was erected there. A few seconds later Hashirama Senju, the Hokage appeared on the podium and everyone cheered. The Hokage was extremely popular with the citizens of the village. The God of Shinobi was the not only the most powerful shinobi of this village but also the most charismatic one. The man oozed power and prestige and his mere presence demanded respect from others. The Hokage was the face of the Hidden Leaf Village and he was like father and protector to each and every single one of the villagers. The Hokage went to the front of the podium and said to all the listeners, "Hello, everyone. My name is Hashirama Senju. I would like to say a few words to you all. All of you came here to learn and grow, to make yourself better, to be the best you could be, but have you wondered why? Many of you have different goals, to either make your parents proud of you or to have people acknowledge you. Some might even want to be a hero, to protect your family and friends. I commend on your goals. But I want you to have another goal. It is to protect the village. Our village was established with only one goal in mind, to bring peace in our world of violence, to let children and kids your age laugh, play, enjoy their childhood without the fear of wars or conflicts. It is the reason we all can have hope. It is the reason we are all here. It is the reason why we must fight to protect the peace. It is the reason why we must protect our village, our home. Every single person in this village, be it your parents, your clan members, your friends, the people of the neighborhood, the citizens, everyone in this village is what we must protect. The Hidden Leaf is not the land it occupies, it is not the clans or families that live here, it is not me. It is the people. Without the people there is no Hidden Leaf. Do not see it as a mere village. See it as a one big family, your family. You, your parents, your friends, everyone you know is in this family. And we must always do our very best to fight for our family, to protect our family. I wish everyone who is starting their first step to greatness today in this Institution the best of luck. May the hope always stay with you. May the eternal fire that burns in all of our hearts lighten up the fire within you. You are the legacy of this village. You are the fire that will kindle the leaves and protect them. You are branches of the tree that is Hidden Leaf. With that said I will take my leave and wish all of you success in your future endeavours. Thank you". The Hokage left after giving a small and passionate speech. The crowd was cheering and applauding. A man came out of the building and asked all of the children who wish to join, to form a line. All of them followed and formed a line. Takeru also joined them in the line. The parents and clan members of the children saw them off. Toru entered the building and went to the teacher''s lounge in the Institution. Akane left for the hospital. The line was slowly shortening and kids went into the building in droves. Soon, it was his turn. The man took out his file and checked for any discrepancies. Then he handed Takeru a small booklet containing the curriculum of the Institution and told him his class number. The curriculum spanned for 5 years in total. It included teaching how to read, write, language, basic mathematics, science, history, geography and physical activities in the first year. In the second year chakra theory and shinobi rules and code of conduct were added and were given more focus. Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu and shinobi tools training began from the third year onwards. There were three types of classes in the Institution throughout the 5 years of curriculum. The A-rank class was for clan heirs, children of prestigious backgrounds and seeded, talented children with the sure prospect of becoming shinobis. The B-rank class was for regular civilians and normal citizens. Lastly the C-rank class was for children applying for non-shinobi courses. Takeru was placed in class 1-B. Takeru found the classroom following map given in the booklet. He entered the room only to find other childrem shouting, running and playing around. The room was large with a high ceiling. The blackboard in the front of the room was also huge. In front of the blackboard was a podium, situated far from the students'' desks and put in a position where the teacher could view everyone at once. Takeru calmly went to find himself a seat. He found one at the back of the room on the left side beside a window. Takeru sat in his seat and read the booklet in the cacophony of sounds. Soon, a man came into the classroom and the children stopped the ruckus. The man wore a grey high collared combat vest with black pants. He had black, spiky hair and had black sunglasses that covered his eyes. The man stood on the podium and addressed the class.


    "Welcome, everyone. My name is Shin Aburame. You can call me Shin-sensei, Aburame-sensei or Instructor Shin. I will be your class teacher for this year. We will be learning how to read, write and some basic subjects. I hope you all brought notebooks and writing tools. Before I start the class, I would like all of you to introduce yourself to the class. We will start from the front. You first, introduce yourself." - the instructor asked.


    "Hello, my name is¡­", each and every student started introducing themselves. Soon, it was Takeru''s turn. The instructor asked him for his introduction. Takeru stood up coolly, "Hello, my name is Takeru Yamamoto. My dream is to be strong to protect my family, friends and the village. I hope we all can get along". After the introductions were over, the class started. The instructor taught them all how to read and write very slowly, diligently and with care. Every student was having fun due to Aburame-sensei''s antics, all but Takeru. Takeru was bored. He could write and read far better than an adult now. He knew he could have just gone to the instructor to ask about him skipping a year or so. But it would be disrespectful to do so on the first day. Takeru would have to wait a few days to completely master the first and second year courses and then ask for his promotion to higher classes. The day soon ended with the class ending for today. Takeru with all other kids went out of the institution. Toru was still teaching other classes. Akane came to bring Takeru to the house. She asked him about how his days went. Takeru replied casually that it was fun but boring. Akane understood that Takeru was much more mature than kids his age and was much further than them in studies. He asked for some money from his mother and went out to find a bookstore. He bought all the necessary books for his studies and came home. Takeru came home to see his shadow clones working on fuinjutsu. He nearly figured out the gravity seal. Takeru read and memorized each every book using his shadow clones.


    It was a new week. Today Takeru was going to ask his instructor if he could skip a year or two. The class started as usual with Takeru being bored out of his mind. After the class ended Takeru waited until all kids went out of the room leaving only the instructor and him. He went to the instructor and asked, " Aburame-sensei, can I ask you something?".


    "Oh, it is you, Takeru. Yes, ask away." - the instructor replied.


    "Can I skip classes please?"


    "Oh, and why would you want to do that?"


    "You see, I do not mean to sound rude but I already know all about the first and the second year classes. I learned those from my parents and the books. I already know how to read, write and all about the basic subjects. I also know about chakra theory, shinobi rules and code of conduct fully. I can also use chakra and know a few jutsus. That is why I would like if you could grant me permission to move up a year or two. Please forgive me if I said anything out of bounds."


    "Well, it has happened before but not from this section of yours. How about this, I will talk to the other teachers about your problem today and let you know our decision tomorrow. But know this, for you to move up years you would have to take an exam first before anything else. Do you understand?"


    "Yes, I understand, sensei. I would do my very best in the exams."


    "Do not worry, some children have the same problem you have. You are not the first. Now go home and study well. The exam will likely be held tomorrow."


    "I will do that. Thank you sensei."


    "It is alright. Now go."


    Takeru went out happily as he could finally be free from the torture he received for a week. He went home to review the study materials. Toru and Akane came home that evening and after hearing their son they just smiled as they knew that Takeru was well ahead of his peers. Toru, as an instructor in the institution also knew about his son''s request to skip years. He as his father fully agreed to his son''s request and told the other teachers that Takeru would take the test tomorrow. The next day came and Takeru went to the institution. As he was entering the building, Aburame-sensei called him out and said to him that his proposal to move up classes was accepted but he would have to take the test for that to happen. Takeru agreed and Aburame-sensei took him to an empty classroom. There were two other instructors in that room. After a giving a short introduction of Takeru to the instructors, Aburame-sensei soon went out of the room leaving the three. One instructor asked him why he wanted to move up classes. Takeru answered that he already completed all the courses of the first and second year and he wished to learn more. The other instructor gave him a question paper and some answer sheets and told him to finish the test within the time limit of 3 hours. The exam started and ended far too soon as Takeru completed the test in a record time. He blazed through the questions which were far too easy for him and finished the test in just 10 minutes. Then he gave his answer sheets to the instructor. The two instructors'' eyes widened as they checked the sheets. All of the questions were answered correctly even the few complicated moral questions, which should be practically impossible for a kid of Takeru''s age. They could not even negate 1 mark without being unreasonable. They sighed and marked his answer sheets. Takeru scored a full marks on the written exam. The two instructors calmed down in a few moment and told him to follow them. The three soon came to the training area in front of the building. There was an obstacle course in the side of the area. The instructor told Takeru that this will be the final test, an obstacle course test. He would have to finish the obstacle course while one of the instructors would throw wooden, blunted training kunai and shuriken at him. The time limit was 5 minutes. Takeru got ready in a sprinting pose. The instructor whistled and the test started and ended in a few moments. In just 30 seconds Takeru nearly flew through the obstacle course like there were not any obstacles. The instructor throwing kunais and shurikens tried his hardest to hit Takeru but could not do so no matter how hard he tried. The instructor was dumbstruck at this situation, it was like this kid had eyes everywhere around his body. He surely was not a Hyuga but this kids movements and instincts were even sharper than a well made katana. Takeru reached the finish line and waited for the judgement of these two instructors. The two men looked at each other''s eyes for a few moments with only one thought in their mind, ''This kid is a freaking monster''. The lead instructor gave Takeru marks according to his performance which was the maximum he could possibly give. As Takeru was not hit by any of the kunais or shurikens a single time during his run and completed the obstacle course in a record time of 30 seconds, he was given full marks in the practical exam too. One of the instructors went into the building with Takeru''s scoresheets and the other one came to Takeru, congratulated him for passing with such good results and told him to that from tomorrow onwards he will be attending the class 3-A. He also gave Takeru a list of books and the complete course of the third year classes. Takeru went home that day skipping in joy. After his parents returned, he told them about him passing the tests with flying colours. Toru and Akane showered him with love. Akane made a small feast for her son and specially made Takeru''s favourite riceballs. Toru was also proud of him and promised him that he would increase the intensity of his training so he could catch up to the older kids in senior classes. That night Takeru finally figured out the gravity seal completely. The seal worked on anything physical, be it humans, animals, plants, rocks or sand. It worked on any living being or objects. The seal had a definite sphere of influence which could be increased or decreased by the user. The seal would also work on specific beings or objects, altering the gravity of the said thing or lifeform only without influencing the environment. Takeru used his shadow clones to master the seal that night using it on various objects first, then he used the seal on his clones and found that it worked fine. He found a altering and limiting seal in the book which was easy enough to learn and made a project to combine the three seals, the restriction seal, the gravity seal and the alter and limit seal into one seal. He found that although these three seals were seperately only low-to-mid level seals. The combination of these three could become a high level one. Takeru theorised that he could even apply the seal to himself for training purposes. He now just needed a seal that disrupts the chakra flow, a seal that prevents someone from accessing their chakra and a tracking seal to combine with the previous three seals and he could theoretically create a single seal that would entrap, bound and completely neutralize any enemy he would apply the seal to. Takeru was happy with his progress but he knew that he could not slack off. The world would slowly descend into a new phase of wars soon and only by growing strong enough he would be able to face the challenges that would show up in the future.

 11 School Life

    ''...296, 297, 298, 299, 300!'' - Takeru collapsed on the ground heaving and gasping for breath. It was early morning in the Hidden Leaf Village and in the forest beyond the newly named Hokage Mountain, Takeru just completed his daily physical training. He doubled the training weights he was carrying from 100 kgs to 200 kgs as he was accustomed to the previous weight. Takeru did the whole One-Punch-Man regimen thrice today and he was overjoyed that his physical capabilities were incresing day by day. The effect was visible. His shadow clones were also training nearby; training kenjutsu and taijutsu rigorously by fighting among themselves; practicing shurikenjutsu in a nearby tree; practicing chakra control; practicing fire and earth nature chakra and learning more fuinjutsu. Takeru after calming down a bit, got up and and took his backpack he had thrown earlier under a tree. He took a water bottle out of it and freshened up. Takeru then sat under the tree and meditated whilst doing high level mental calculations. Sometimes later a shadow clone jerked him awake and Takeru saw that it was nearly 8 in the morning. The classes were going to start in a few minutes. Takeru hurriedly packed his backpack, ordered his clones to continue training and ran towards the institution. Takeru could not use shadow clones to attend classes as Tobirama strictly forbid him from doing so and he did not think that it would be beneath the man to test if he really was sending a clone or not. And if his clone somehow popped during the class due to some unfortunate circumstances, he would be royally fucked. So, Takeru ran as fast as he could, which was ridiculously fast to say the least, and came in front of the classroom 3-A just in time. Takeru just entered the classroom only to hear the bells ring, signifying the start of the class. Takeru took a empty seat in the middle of the room and sat down while other students were watching him inquisitively. Takeru sensed a man approaching the room who would be the teacher of this class. The man came in, glancing at the students and saw him sitting. He went to the podium and addressed the class, "Hello class, today we have new student among us who will be studying with us from now on. His name is Takeru. Takeru, introduce yourself to the class".


    "Hello, my name is Takeru Yamamoto. My dream is to be strong to protect my family, friends and the village. I hope we all can get along".


    "Alright then, as Takeru joined our class a bit late, today we are going to take revisions on what we learned the past week. Takeru, you should open your notebook and note things down. So, the first thing we learned this year is Shinobi Tactics and Strategies. The things a shinobi must always remember in a fight is¡­". The class continued and Takeru learned far more things in a few minutes than he learned in the past week. Takeru knew that stealth and secrecy were a shinobi''s bread and butter. Approaching your target discreetly and finishing a mission without anyone noticing was paramount in a shinobi life. But in this world where chakra monsters, alien goddess and people who could summon giant animals or could create massive ethereal armor and buddha statue lived, stealth sometimes would lose its meaning. Still, it was one of, if not greatest defining characteristic of a shinobi. Strategy and Tactics were another thing altogether. Takeru learned various tactics and strategies in just a day that would help him his whole life. Diversion, misdirection and subterfuge, he found meaning in those words. Takeru absorbed everything he was taught. Soon, after daily physical activities, the day ended and Takeru went home. Takeru after coming home continued his studies with gusto. He practiced daily to increase his stealth. He sneaked around the house, making his footsteps lighter and leaving less and less signs of his passage. He even had his parents play hide and seek with him. He continuously used his senses and control to make his movements more and more covert. He even trained to mask his chakra signature. Although his near perfect chakra control made it so that he leaked only a tiny bit of chakra involuntarily, his would deliberately shut off all his tenketsus completely, masking his chakra signature even more. He discussed with his father about strategy and tactics. Toru, to help his son, bought a shogi set and played with Takeru every single day. Takeru was slowly coming to enjoy shogi more and more, not just as a method to train but also as a sport and a means to pass his time in leisure. Takeru studied vigorously and trained rigorously, and like this 4 months passed.


    Takeru had grown a lot during these months. He finally mastered shurikenjutsu completely, able to hit targets within little more than 300 meters with perfect precision and unparalleled accuracy. He can hit targets farther than that but his accuracy lessens the more distance appears between him and the targets. He found that his senses and control had more to do with it than it normally seemed. Takeru mastered two more fuinjutsu seals, the chakra disruption seal and the almost cheat like alter-limit seal. The chakra disruption seal did what its name implied. It would disrupt the chakra of anyone with some kind of chakra circulatory system. The alter-limit seal on the other is a simple but marvelous seal. This seal could be applied to any already existing seal formula or any pre-existing seal. It granted the user of the seal complete control over the said seal with only being dependent on how great the person''s chakra control was. If applied, the seal would protect the seal formula or seal matrix forever and could only be stopped or broken by people with higher chakra control than the user. And with Takeru''s chakra control being so close to perfection, if he applied this seal to any other seal then it would be completely unbreakable by all barring a few individuals. Takeru had also increased the training weights he carried every single moment to 500 kgs spread all over his body. And he was slowly getting accustomed to the strain. Takeru had already mastered three earth release jutsus, the Earth Wall Jutsu, Earth Clone Jutsu and the Hidden Mole Jutsu. He was also close to mastering the Headhunter Jutsu. In using earth release jutsus Takeru used relatively less chakra than before but still he could not spam them like he could with fire release jutsus and he knew that he could never do so. Takeru continued his fire nature transformation practice and was close to mastering fire release completely. His kenjutsu and taijutsu expertise had increased. His mastery of fire nature jutsus also increased.


    Today, after studying for 4 months continuously Takeru decided that he would move up classes once more. He ingrained shinobi tactics and strategies into his very soul. Though he did not agree to a few of them as he would always put his friends'' and comrades'' lives ahead of the mission. He nonetheless adhered to the main guidelines of how a shinobi should operate as much as he could. Takeru only after reincarnating into this world and living again understood the value of life. The Hokage''s speech made him truly comprehend the words of Obito Uchiha - ''In the world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum'', and Takeru followed this motto with all of his heart. Takeru, as he completed the third and fourth year courses of the institution, thought that it would be better for him to move up to the final fifth year and the current graduation class. So, today as usual he went to the institution, attended all the classes but when the final bell rang he did not leave with the other students. He stayed to have a talk with his class teacher. He went up to the teacher and asked him if he could move up classes. This event went just like the previous time and it was decided that Takeru would have to take a test tomorrow, and only by passing the test he could skip years. And as Takeru had already skipped two years previously he would not be allowed to graduate early independently. He would have to take classes with the current graduation class until the they all graduate. Takeru did not worry about it as he knew the conditions for one to graduate from the curriculum booklet and he could literally do so without using a single hand-seal. As all he would have to do was to perform the three basic ninjutsus, Transformation Jutsu, Body Replacement Jutsu, Clone Jutsu and pass the mandatory tests that included taijutsu test, shurikenjutsu test, written test and the obstacle course test. Takeru''s mastery of these justus and techniques was already jounin level and he could literally do them with his eyes closed. Takeru went to the institution the next day to take the class promotion tests. Takeru was guided by his current class teacher to the examination hall. Takeru entered the classroom and saw the same two instructors when he took the last test. The two instructors'' faces looked constipated. They were cursing their luck inwardly as they were sure that this kid would break another set of records today and would make them do even more paperwork. Takeru was amused seeing their reactions. Soon, the written test started and finished with Takeru acing the exams with full marks in a record time. After the written test, the viva voce started. Takeru was asked questions about how he would approach a supposedly dangerous target for elimination, his plan of action in a high value information delivery mission, how he would safely escort a VIP through a potential warzone etc. Takeru answered all of them truthfully and in an answer to a tricky hidden question stated that if he was in a situation where he would have act as a bait in order to save his comrades and ensure the completion of the mission, he would do so gladly. When asked why, Takeru first stated multiple contingency plans for if such a situation like that happens, which would effectively defuse such situation or outright negate anything which could be the cause of such situation. And if everything fails, Takeru would willingly act as bait or distraction as he was confident that with his abilities he although could not escape unhurt, he could escape with his life intact. To say that the instructors were impressed would be an understatement. They found that Takeru was not arrogant, he clearly understood his strengths and limitations. They became curious as to how a 10 year old kid could be so sure of himself. They evaluated his answers and came to a conclusion that Takeru had a flawed personality. His mission priorities were straight and he showed considerable amount of caution, tactical prowess and leadership qualities. They knew that Takeru would grow up to be a formidable shinobi. But just out of caution they marked his file with his personality flaws and gave him a priority recommendation for solo missions. After the viva voce the physical obstacle course test started and Takeru broke his own previously set records. In the shurikenjutsu test after, Takeru hit all the 10 targets with kunai and shuriken with 100% accuracy every single time. The instructors were used to it by now so they did not show much expressions. Soon, Takeru was congratulated again and was given permission to attend class 5-A from tomorrow.


    Takeru was happy that the day went without any hitches. He knew that his answers would leave a mark on his file but he did not mind it. Takeru went home and told his parents about his class promotion. Toru already knew about it as the other teachers would not stop talking about it. Akane was very happy for her son. Takeru spent that day training a little and playing shogi with his father. The next day Takeru, woke up at 4 before dawn, trained until 8 in the morning and ran like hell to the Institution. Takeru entered the institution and after a few minutes found the class 5-A. He did not enter the room among the chattering students. He stood outside the room patiently, waiting for the instructor to come. The instructor came down the hallway, saw him standing outside the room and said - " You must be Takeru Yamamoto, I presume. Come with me". They entered the classroom together and the chattering of the students stopped. The instructor stood above the podium and addressed the students.


    "Alright, students listen up, we have a new student with us who will be joining this class for the rest of the year. Takeru, please introduce yourself to the class."


    "Hello, my name is Takeru Yamamoto. My dream is to be strong to protect my family, friends and the village. I hope we all can get along", - Takeru introduced himself calmly. The students in this class all reacted differently from his previous classes. In the previous classes, Takeru was barely given a glance because first of all he really did not talk much with the other children and the time he stayed in those classes was far too little for him to have any meaningful conversation with his fellow classmates. In this class however, all the students looked at him as if he was some sort of animal in a zoo. Takeru kept a calm a demeanor and with the instructor''s permission found himself a seat in the back of the class. Takeru sat on the bench with two other students, a boy and a girl. Both were around the age of 15. The girl had shoulder-length brown hair which she kept in a high ponytail, dark eyes. She wore a green kimono, light-brown long sleeves shirt with a loquat on the back, red pants and sandals. The boy had dark hair tied up into a spiky ponytail, dark eyes, he wore a blue long-sleeved shirt and black pants. The boy was currently sleeping on the desk and had a perpetual aura of boredom on him. Takeru observed his deskmates for a moment and focused his attention on the lecture the teacher was giving currently. Takeru soon found out that he knew about the topic the teacher was teaching. It was about how to properly use the Body Replacement Jutsu. Takeru listened for sometime but soon found nothing interesting. The girl who was sitting beside him saw it and started a conversation with him.


    "Hey, are you the boy who was promoted 4 years after starting of the Institution?"


    "Why are you asking this?"


    "Well, I think you noticed how the other students look at you. You might not know this but you are very popular in the institution."


    "I am? But why?" - Takeru asked incredulously.


    "I have not heard another student who has done something like you did. Passing 4 years in a single year is a great feat no matter how you see it. Oh, I am very sorry I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Biwako." - the girl said with a smile.


    "I am Takeru. I see, so that is why all of them were looking at me so weirdly."


    "I am Shikatsu by the way, nice to meet you." - the seemingly sleeping boy introduced himself.


    "Dude, why are sleeping in the class?" - Takeru asked.


    "Do not mind him. He is from the Nara clan and all of them are lazy like this." - Biwako explained.


    "Oh, I see." - Takeru nodded in understanding.


    "Yeah, yeah, I am better of watching clouds instead, you know. The white fluffy ones in a windy day, laying on the grass, just relaxin.." - Shikatsu seemingly fell asleep again.


    "Okay, I think I understand this guy." - Takeru was amused.


    "Yeah, he is just lazy. He is very good in studies though."


    "So, Biwako, can you tell me about the rumours about me?" - asked Takeru.


    "Yeah, sure. So, the first one is that you are the hidden son of some clan head, the second one is that you have been taught by Lord Hokage personally, the third one is¡­". Takeru and Biwako chatted the whole day with Shikatsu joining the conversation sometimes. Other times he just slept through the classes. Even in the physical education class he just layed down on the ground and lazed of and in taijutsu practice he either just surrendered to his opponent or outright refused to participate. Biwako wanted to be a medical-nin and focused mainly on that subject so she performed only a bit above average in the other subjects. Takeru smashed through the shurikenjutsu practice and physical activities. In taijutsu practice he defeated all the other students easily barring two. The first one was an Uchiha clan member, Kagami Uchiha and the second one being the ever energetic Hiruzen Sarutobi. Takeru was carrying the training weights all the time so he could only move much, much slower, Kagami had already awakened 1-tomoe sharingan giving him an advantage and Hiruzen was simply a genius. Though Takeru defeated the two, he had to give considerable effort in doing so. The only other student who came close to the three in taijutsu was a hot-headed boy with black, shaggy hair, dark eyes, he wore a short dark-green kimono tied with a sash. The boy''s name was Danzo Shimura. Takeru did not notice him at first but after Hiruzen defeated him, Danzo began to emit waves of emotions, mainly jealousy and envy. Takeru just could not think that this boy would become one of, if not the most evil and hated person in this whole world. Takeru after watching Danzo''s interactions understood where his hatred and animosity came from. Danzo was ambitious, he wanted to be the best in everything. But time and again he could not as he was overshadowed by Hiruzen''s genius, Kagami''s talent and now Takeru''s capabilities. This envy was eating Danzo from the inside and his pride as a memeber of a prestigious shinobi clan made it even worse. Takeru made friends with all of them except for Danzo as he did not consider the word ''friend'' meaningful so he became his comrade instead. Kagami was a good-looking, clam and composed guy with shaggy black hair and standard Uchiha characteristics wearing a half sleeved blue shirt and black shorts. Hiruzen was an energetic and exuberant guy with below-average stature, he was tan-skinned and had dark brown, spiked hair. He also had a single line running vertically under the outer corners of each eye. He wore a dark blue kimono with a yellow sash. The day ended and Takeru went to his home. Takeru was happy that he finally made some friends in the Institution. He knew how his new friends'' futures would be without any interference. Takeru thought that as with his mere presence canon was already fucked. He could save his friends from their futures. The future was not set and he could, with his effort make changes so it would be less dark than it should have been. Takeru after completing his evening training routine slept peacefully on his bed.

 12 Graduation

    The sun was rising on the east horizon and a new day was just beginning. In the woods behind the Hokage Mountain noises of fighting, weapons clanging could be heard. A young boy dressed in a medium-collared long-sleeved button-less blue shirt with a hoodie and black pants suddenly appeared on the ground in the middle of a clearing with a regular ninjato in his hand. He was wearing fingerless black gloves with metal plates on the backhand, standard shinobi sandals and had 2 shinobi tools pouches on him, a kunai holster on his right upper leg wrapped with bandages and the other pouch on the back of his waist attached to a belt. The boy looked around when suddenly sensing something in the ground he jumped, just before two hands came out of the ground. As he was in mid-air a hail of red hot earthen bullets mixed with fire came shooting at him from the woods. The boy created a shadow clone of himself in mid-air in an instant without any hand-seals and used the shadow clone to propel him out of the incoming attack''s path. As he was landing on the side of the clearing he was attacked by a hail of shurikens and kunais, he just landed on the ground and put his two hands on the ground. An earthen wall rose up from the ground and protected him from the weapons flying towards him. He did not have a moment of respite as a boy looking just like him, attacked him with a sword. They fought with swords a few moments when the boy managed to disarm his enemy, grabbed him with a chakra grab and spat a fireball on his face. The enemy dodged the attack by a hair''s breadth by shifting his head and engaged the boy in a taijutsu fight. They fought for a few moments and finally the boy managed to kill his enemy by stabbing him in the eye with a kunai only to see that the enemy disappeared in a puff of smoke signifying that the enemy was a clone. The boy left the place and flickered away as he landed safely on a tree branch but just as he and his shadow clone were going to attack their attackers, dull red coloured strings appeared all around him, enveloping him from every side. Just as the strings were starting to bind him up, he disappeared in flash and in his place a wooden log got seared by the strings. The boy appeared on top of another tree and saw his clone fighting a boy who also looked the same as him. The boy body flickered to the enemy his clone was fighting with a swirling sphere of compressed chakra in his hand and just as he was about to strike the enemy down, a single red string managed to slash his throat, making the boy disappear in a puff of smoke signifying that the boy was also a clone all along. "STOP!" - Takeru shouted as he finished his meditation session and stood up. All his clones stopped fighting among themselves and gathered around him.


    "So, today the red team wins and the blue team loses. This makes the score 73-72 with red team on the lead." - Takeru said as groans and shouts could be heard from the clones.


    "It is not fair boss, the blue team already knew all of our strategies and they even had the time to set traps around the area" - a clone protested indignantly.


    "Well it was your fault as you guys did not map the traps correctly. I prohibited you from using the sensing ability as I want to hone the battlefield instincts more. It is you loss no matter what" - Takeru answered.


    "It is your fault to be exact as all of us are your clones and our mistakes are your mistakes so.." - a clone droned.


    "Just shut up." - Takeru sighed as he dismissed his shadow clones taking all the memories and experiences they had. He freshened up a bit and checked the time, it was nearly 8 in the morning. Takeru packed his things up and went towards the Institution.


    In the past 7 months, Takeru spent his days doing all sorts of things, he trained and practicced, he learned and grew, he made friends and spent his free time with them, chatting, playing, studying, helping them with their studies, helping them prank the teachers, visiting all the various spots around the village. Takeru, Hiruzen and Kagami became friends instantly. Biwako joined them and literally dragged Shikatsu into the group. Hiruzen''s childhood friend Homura and Biwako''s friend Koharu also joined the group. Danzo at first thought that this behaviour was childish and minded his own buisness which was to supass the three genius but soon noticed that he was being left out, so he also grudgingly joined the group. They soon became friends and Takeru enjoyed their company very much. Takeru was happy with his life. He improved his kenjutsu, taijutsu and earth release chakra manipulation, He mastered the last jutsu in his possession, the Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet completely. He made a new fuinjutsu seal. He made for himself and named it the Training Seal. He created it by merging and combining the restraining seal, the gravity seal, the chakra disruption seal and the alter-limit seal. He created the seal matrix by using the alter-limit seal as a base of the seal and placed it at the core with the other three seals forming an equilateral triangle. The four seals worked in a synchronised way in conjunction with one another. He tested it on his shadow clones and confirmed that it worked perfectly as it should. The only problem was that he was the only one who could use the seal as the alter-limit seal only recognised him. He placed the seal on the center of his chest and it looked like a small black equilateral triangle with a black dot in its center. Takeru set up the seal with a meter so he could control the intensity of the seal. The seal worked in levels so level 0 was the neutral setting where the seal did not have any effect, level 1 was where the gravity gets doubled, restriction seal restricts his any and all movements and the chakra disruption seal made it so that he would have trouble controlling his chakra. Level 2 doubles the intensity of the seals it had in level 1 and it goes all the way to level 10 with every next level doubling the intensity of the seals more than the previous one. Takeru was currently in level 3 of his training seal. The seal operated by taking his chakra and Takeru observed that everytime he turned the setting down to level 0, a chakra pulse was emitted from him and it increased with every level. Now in level 3 setting if he turned the setting down to leve 0 directly, chakra would burst around him in a spehere like shape. Takeru stopped using training weights as they were not as effective as the training seal, and they were getting increasingly bulky and cumbersome. He set the training seal on level 3 and kept it on every single moment for a month now causing his physical capabilities to increase tremendously and his chakra control became more and more perfect continuosly. Takeru became 11 years old this year and he and his family celebrated that day with fun and enjoyments. Toru gave him a new ninjato for his birthday and Akane taught him about stealth, sneaking and how to use camouflage techniques properly. Takeru had a guess that his mother perhaps was a kunoichi in the past but he did not ask her about it. It was a very sensitive matter and he hoped that she might someday open up and tell him about her past.


    Today was the final day of the class and the final day of the 3 day long graduation test. In the first day the written test was held, Takeru finished the exam under 10 minutes and set another record. That same day shurikenjutsu test was held where Takeru and Kagami both scored full marks. The next day the obstacle course test was held and Takeru again smashed his own records. That same day the taijutsu test was held. Takeru was matched with Kagami and Hiruzen was matched with Danzo. Takeru and Kagami''s match was a long one as both were not really fighting. They were sparring. Kagami could see each and every flaw of Takeru''s moves with his sharingan and he reacted accordingly. Kagami never had such a good sparring partner as Takeru''s moves were flowing in a specific beat \u0026 rhythm and every time Kagami was close to figuring out the rhythm, Takeru changed it into another one. Takeru also used Kagami as a sparring partner as Kagami''s reactions were flawless and with his much lower physical capabilities due to the training seal, he slowly perfected his moves as he practiced with Kagami. Soon, the fight stopped when Takeru used chakra grab to grapple Kagami with an armlock and Kagami surrendered. They both nodded at each other with tactit understanding and left the stage. Hiruzen''s and Danzo''s fight began shortly after but their fight was different from the match betweem Takeru and Kagami. Danzo fought with all he had just to defeat Hiruzen and Hiruzen replied accordingly. The fight soon escalated when Danzo used a kunai in the fight which was strictly prohibited by the instructor. The instructor wanting to stop the fight came forward but before he could do anything an accident happened. Hiruzen, on one hand wanted to defuse the situation but he also on the other hand wanted to win the match, so he threw couple of shurikens towards Danzo. Danzo managed to deflect two of them but he coud not deflect the last shuriken and the shuriken that came bouncing off of a tree that he deflected earlier. Suddenly a splatter of blood came out of Danzo''s face. The instructor hurriedly came to check on Danzo, who was lying on the ground. Danzo shrugged off the instructor''s hands and left for the infirmary with a bloody ''x'' shaped wound on his chin and a downcast look with only saying two words, "I lost". The final fight between Hiruzen and Takeru happened after that but Takeru did not try his best and Hiruzen was too distracted by the incident that he could not put his focus on the fight. Takeru won that match but he knew anybody could have won a match like this when your opponent was so distracted. That day ended with the whole group visiting Danzo at the infirmary, who now sported an ''x'' shaped scar on his chin. Hiruzen apologized profusely to him, Kagami said that the scar would make it easier for him to pick up ladies which got him a beating from Biwako and Koharu. Takeru said the scar looked badass on him. Danzo smiled at their comments and his friends antics. Friends, such a foreign word for him, Danzo knew that they would be supporting him and they will fight side by side with him but he just could not stop those dark, gloomy feelings from surfacing deep within his heart. Danzo asked himself, would he be able to sacrifice his life for them. He could not find an answer.


    Soon, the next day came. It was nearly 8 in the morning when Takeru entered the classroom in the Institution and saw Biwako waving her hand at him. Takeru went up and sat at his usual seat beside Biwako and Shikatsu. Biwako asked, - "Takeru, did you practice the jutsus"?


    "Do not bother asking him, he is probably going to top the exams for sure." - said Shikatsu, bored as usual.


    "I do not know about that, but yes, I practiced the jutsus" - replied Takeru.


    "Hey guys, how do you feel about the exams?" - Kagami asked from the bench in their front.


    "I practiced a lot but I do not feel confident about it" - Biwako said nervously.


    "Hey, calm down Biwako, you would do great in it. You have really good chakra control and you practiced a lot. Just be confident in yourself." - Takeru tried to calm her down.


    "Yeah, what he said" - came Shikatsu''s muffled voice as he used the desk as a pillow and dozed off.


    "What about you Takeru? - Kagami asked.


    "I will pass. What about you?"


    "I practiced with my father, and he said my proficiency is acceptable in his eyes. So, I think I am good. I do not think I have to ask about Shikatsu."


    "No you do not. He will probably go to sleep in a dangerous mission and the enemy will not even kill him, thinking he is already dead." - joked Takeru.


    "What about Hiruzen and Danzo?"


    "Oh, Hiruzen is there talking with Homura and there is the ''I am so serious'' Danzo." - Takeru and Kagami joked along, Biwako was chatting with Koharu and Shikatsu slept as usual. Soon, the instructor came into the classroom. All the students went back to their seats. The instructor told them to form a line, which they did. Then they were all told to demonstrate the three basic jutsus one by one. Some of them passed, some of them did not, but all of Takeru''s friends and acquaintances passed the test. Hiruzen, Kagami, Danzo and surprisingly Shikatsu performed the jutsus flawlessly. Biwako, Homura and Koharu passed them too. At last it was Takeru''s turn. His friends chhered for him. Takeru got in front of the instructor and performed hand-seals in blinding speeds. Takeru first made an earth clones of himself, then the clone Takeru transformed himself perfectly to look like the instructor and lastly Takeru replaced positions with his transformed clone via Body Replacement Jutsu. The instructor was stunned for a few seconds. He recovered in a bit, marked Takeru''s file and said just one word to Takeru, "Pass".


    After the exams ended, Takeru like all other students who passed went to get his leaf headband. He went to the instructor who told him to come to the institution at the starting time tomorrow and gave him a shiny new headband with the leaf symbol. Takeru immediately asked the instructor for another headband. The instructor asked him what type of headband he would want. Takeru told him that he would want the cloth and the metal plate to be coloured non-reflective black. The instructor smiled at his request, took out his file from the file cabinet, gave a tick mark somewhere and gave him a new headband made accurately to his requirements. He then asked all the graduated students to go to the next room where their shinobi ID will be made. Takeru wrapped the headband on his forehead and waited until it was his turn to enter the room. His friends were all done, leaving only him. Takeru entered the room to face the same two instructors he met previously on his class promotion tests. The instructors saw him and sighed. One of them told him sit on the chair nearby and took his picture with a camera. He was told to wait a moment for the photo to develop and for them to make the ID. After sometime they gave him the ID. Takeru''s shinobi ID number was ''000300''. Takeru went out of the room to meet his friends. All of them were wearing leaf headbands. They were all now proud shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. The instructor soon came and reminded all of them again to come tomorrow morning to the institution at the same time in the morning. Takeru and his friends all went outside and saw their parents waiting for them. They said goodbyes to each other and went to their parents. Akane hugged Takeru as soon as he approached her and Toru ruffled his hair lovingly. They were happy that their son finally became a shinobi. The Yamamoto family celebrated with a sumptuous lunch that day in the Akimichi Restaurant. They then went out for shopping. Toru and Akane bought a couple of few things and Takeru meanwhile bought a huge amount of paper for his fuinjutsu practice and a steel mesh body armor for wearing underneath his clothes. They soon returned home. Takeru told them tomorrow he would probably get selected in a team and depending on his and his teammates performance they would get the rank of genin. He also stated that as a genin of the village he would have to complete some mandatory missions. Akane became a little anxious after hearing the last bit of news. She asked Toru if he Takeru was ready for missions. To which Toru replied that Takeru was more than ready and the first few missions would only be in the village so they did not have anything to worry about. Akane after hearing this calmed down somewhat. Takeru spent the rest of the day with his family.


    The next day, all the students who passed sat in the classroom 5-A. There were 37 graduates in this batch including Takeru. But Takeru noticed that there were 2 more genins in this room. All the students were wearing their headbands today. Takeru met up with his friends and chatted a bit. They were all waiting for the instructor to come. After a few moments the instructor came and with him came 13 leaf shinobis including the Hokage''s brother Tobirama Senju.The instructor brought the students'' attention to him and announced the team selections. The instructor announced the teams one by one serially. All of the students listened attentively.


    "Alright, I will now announce the team members, Team 1:..., Team 7: Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, your jounin sensei will be Tobirama Senju; Team 8: Kagami Uchiha, Danzo Shimura and Torifu Akimichi, your jounin sensei will be Hyokai Hyuga; Team 9: Takeru Yamamoto, Shikatsu Nara, Biwako Kurosaki, your jounin sensei will be Shunsui Uchiha; Team 10:...". One by one the teams were announced and the students left with their teammates following their respective team leaders. Shunsui Uchiha, Team 9 leader called out, "Team 9, pack your things and follow me". Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu got up and followed their jounin sensei. They followed their sensei silently as he did not speak a word. Soon, the group of 4 walked out of the institution and through the village all the way to an empty training ground. Their sensei spoke for the first time, - " Introduce yourselves".


    "Why do not you introduce yourself first sensei so we all can have an idea about how to?" - asked Takeru.


    "Alright, my name is Shunsui Uchiha. I come from the Uchiha clan. I am a jounin of the Hidden Leaf Village. Now you first brown eyes."


    "My name is Takeru Yamamoto. I graduated from the Shinobi Training Institution yesterday. I want to be strong to protect my family, friends and the village."


    "You next, brown hair."


    "My name is Biwako Kurosaki. I want to protect my family, friends and the village. I want to be a shinobi specialising in medical ninjutsu."


    "Alright, yo..is he sleeping?" - Shunsui asked incredulously as he did not even noticed the last guy was sleeping till now. Takeru and Biwako sighed and jerked Shikatsu awake.


    "Huh?! What? Oh, my name is Shikatsu Nara. My dream is to relax under a blue sky in a slightly windy day, watching the clouds and thinking about the meaning of life."


    "Alright, I got it. I want you all to meet me fully prepared at 6 in the morning tomorrow at this place. This is the 9th Training Ground. Remember it. Now go." - Shunsui told them to go home and left in a swirl of leaves. Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu discussed among themselves and came to a decision that they would come an hour early at 5 in the morning tomorrow. Then the three of them went to their homes.

 13 Tes

    Today, Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu came to the 9th Training Ground at 5 in the morning. Takeru wore the steel mesh armor underneath his shirt today. He had already prepared enough supplies and also told his two teammates to prepare them if a situation comes where they would have to fight their sensei. Of the three of them only Takeru had any sort of sensory prowess so after discussing a bit with Biwako and Shikatsu, he mapped the whole training ground. After mapping, the three friends set various traps around the training ground. After that they just waited for their sensei to arrive. In the meantime, Takeru was reading the fuinjutsu book, Biwako was practicing chakra control and Shikatsu just laid on the ground.


    At exactly 6 in the morning, Shunsui arrived in front of them. Seeing their sensei arrive Takeru closed the book and stood up, Biwako stopped practicing and paid attention. Shunsui looked at them and sighed, "What about him?". Takeru and Biwako face-palmed and woke Shikatsu up. Shunsui looked at them and said, - "Alright, before we do anything else. I have a test for you three. To pass this test all you have to do is to defeat me. Understood? Now you sleepy head, you are up first". Takeru and Biwako wished him good luck. Shikatsu went in front of Shunsui and took a stance. "Remember, you have to come at me with the intent to kill. Now come for me then" - Shunsui also took a stance. Shikatsu threw a few shurikens at him and started making hand-seals. Shunsui dodged the projectiles easily and ran at Shikatsu. He just approached Shikatsu, when Shikatsu jumped away from him and threw a kunai attached with a wire. Shunsui deflected the kunai with his own. They engaged in a taijutsu fight for a brief moment. Shikatsu''s fighting style was to use precise strikes to disrupt his opponents concentration. Shunsui fought him with exemplary reaction speeds. Shikatsu suddenly disengaged from the the fight and backed away. Shunsui wanted to engage in a confrontation once more but he found that he could not move. He looked around to see the shurikens and kunais thrown earlier by Shikatsu were all around him and shadows came out of them and bound his own shadow. He looked at Shikatsu and praised, - "Good use of kunai and wire. You distracted me with the fight and captured me using the Shadow Possession Jutsu. Impressive". Shunsui simply overpowered the jutsu and broke free. "Alright, you can go rest. You brown hair, your turn", - Shunsui spoke to Biwako. Takeru and Shikatsu wished her luck as they sat on the ground and watched the fight. Biwako came in front of Shunsui and took a stance. Soon, the fight started. Biwako threw a hail of shurikens at Shunsui while she rushed at him doing some hand-seals. Shunsui dodged or deflected the projectiles and engaged Biwako in a taijutsu fight. Biwako suddenly seperated into two and attacked Shunsui from both sides. Shunsui recognised that one of the two Biwako was an illusory clone. But Biwako executed her clone and taijutsu with such expertise that it would disorient other regular shinobis. Shunsui was not a regular shinobi. He grasped the her timing of using the clone as a distraction perfectly and in a couple of moves subjugated her. "Using the simple clone jutsu with such a skill to disorient you opponent, a simple but clever move. You can go now. You, brown eyes, it is your turn now". Shunsui released her and Biwako went away and sat on the ground beside Shikatsu.


    At last it was Takeru''s turn. Shikatsu and Biwako wished him luck. Takeru stood in front of their sensei and said, - "Sensei, I will go all out with you, please do not take offense on my words but you should also go all out too". Shunsui smirked after hearing Takeru, - "Alright kid, I will go all out". Takeru turned the setting of his training seal all the way to level 0 and ''BOOM'', a mini shockwave of chakra came out of him. Shunsui was stunned seeing this. He read all of their files and Takeru although was a genius did not exhibit such chakra before, ''This kid was holding back his power all along. He chakra is far too dense'', Shunsui thought and finally became serious and activated his fully matured 3-tomoe sharingan. Takeru rushed at Shunsui in blinding speeds and engaged in a taijutsu fight. ''He is fast'', thought Shunsui as he dodged and weaved through Takeru''s attacks. They were fighting each other with full concentration when Takeru kicked Shunsui''s right leg, flipped upside down, caught Shunsui''s neck by locking his legs, put his hands on the ground and used chakra grab from both his hands and feet to grab hold of Shunsui and the ground. Shunsui had just started to weave hand-seals when sensing something he jumped a bit putting his legs up in the air. A pair of hands came out of the ground to catch his feet, ''A clone? But when did he do it?'', thought Shunsui as he completed weaving hand-seals and fire came out of his mouth towards Takeru. Takeru let go of Shunsui and flickered to the side a bit to avoid the fireball, he took a big gulp of air and a stream of flames came shooting out of his mouth towards Shunsui. Shunsui in that moment took out a kunai and stabbed the clone in the ground which disappeared in a puff of smoke. ''A shadow clone? How does he know Tobirama''s jutsu?'', Shunsui thought as he formed another set of hand-seals and a wall of earth came out of the ground when the stream of fire came crashing on the earthen wall and nearly destroyed it. Shunsui thought grimly, ''A mere graduate can never perform such jutsus. This kid is as powerful, no, he is more powerful than even a jounin''. The place was filled with dust and smoke. Takeru could not see anything but he could sense. Takeru sensed that Shunsui made 2 clones of himself, an earth clone which went underground and a lightning clone which came out of the smoke to engage Takeru while the real Shunsui stayed inside the smoke. Takeru took out a kunai attached to a steel wire and used it in the fight with the lightning clone of Shunsui. Takeru used his chakra strings to bind the clone with steel strings during the fight and pretended to lose the kunai''s grip in such a way that it stabbed the ground. The bound clone suddenly turned into lightning but it failed to shock Takeru as he used chakra throw to get out of the clone''s grasp and the lightning was fully channelled through the steel wire to the ground. Takeru did not even had time to breath as the real Shunsui was already attacking him. Shunsui and Takeru again had an intense taijutsu fight in which Shunsui beat the shit out of Takeru and kicked him in the guts. Takeru flew away and crashed on the ground only to make the ram hand-seal. Shunsui suddenly found an explosive tag stuck on the ground under him. He hurriedly flickered away from there as an explosion covered the area. Shunsui just landed on the ground when Takeru came near him and He and Takeru once again got locked in combat. Shunsui thought as continued the fight, ''This kid is a fucking genius, no even geniuses have their limits. This kid is a monster''. Shunsui tried to use sharingan genjutsu on Takeru but screamed inwardly when he saw that it somehow did not work. As they were fighting the earth clone of Shunsui suddenly came out of the ground to catch Takeru but Takeru sensed it and used his searing strings to cut and burn the clone the instant it came out. Suddenly, Shunsui told Takeru that it was enough so, he and Takeru seperated at the same time and the fight stopped. Shunsui was amazed at this kid''s prowess. He smiled and thought, ''This kid is just 11 years old now and he has already fought on par with me. In a few years he will definitely surpass me and maybe all other elite jounins of this village. Truly the new generation will always surpass the old. Now I just have to nurture him to further his growth and I am sure that he will shine only brighter in the future. The leaves of the tree will burn brighter with the eternal fire''.


    Shunsui told Takeru to sit with his teammates who were watching Takeru with widened eyes and slack-jawed expressions. Biwako was dumbstruck seeing the spectacle, even Shikatsu was awake. Takeru sat down beside them and turned the training seal up to level 3. Biwako was the first one who spoke, - "What the hell Takeru! How did you do those things?". Takeru replied, - "Well, I trained since when I was a child and a family friend taught me those jutsus". Shikatsu suddenly spoke, - "I knew you were powerful and were hiding your powers but I did not think it was to this extent. Why did you join the Institution then? Do not tell me that you could not do those things before joining the Institution". Takeru replied honestly, - "I could perform the jutsus and the techniques before but I could not do it like this in the past. Before joining the Institution, I would have just used jutsus continuously hoping that I would win the fight. I seriously did not have any idea about how to use strategies and tactics. The Institution taught me many things, you know, things about fighting and the way of the shinobi". "Still it does not explain how the hell are you so powerful" - Biwako huffed and pouted as she had the most underwhelming result in their team.


    Shunsui came in front of them and sat down on the ground. He watched all three of them and said, - "Alright, I have all your strengths and weaknesses now. Shikatsu, your planning and tactics are superb and effective as is your mastery with your clan jutsu. Your speed and precision is good but you lack strength. You need to practice on your taijutsu and clan jutsus more, and I will add a few strength training and a new weapon training in those too. Overall, I would put your prowess in between a high-genin to a low-chuunin. Biwako, your chakra control is high-chuunin level but you need to expand your jutsu repertoire. I know you are focusing on becoming a medical-nin but sometimes medical-nin would have to fight too. I would also add a weapon in you training. Overall, I would put you as a high-genin. Now, Takeru, you have ridiculous levels of chakra and extremely powerful chakra control. Your strategies and tactics are very good. Your ninjutsu prowess is something I have never seen before. Your taijutsu needs some work and so does your genjutsu. I would add a few more different jutsus in your jutsus repertoire. Overall, I would place your prowess firmly on the level of a jounin. Now, I have some questions for you, Takeru. First, in the whole fight why did not you use any genjutsu on me?". Takeru sighed and replied, - "I can use genjutsu but whenever I try to place someone in a genjutsu, the genjutsu becomes too real to be true. I experimented with my shadow clones. I found that in the genjutsu I could easily spot the mistakes as it was too perfect and I could then just as easily break free from it". Shunsui thought about it a bit and said, - "Okay, then you could focus on the extreme ones like those sensory deprivation genjutsus. I could teach you maybe one or two of them as they are very rare. Next question, do you have any sensory capabilities because I have one and it is not inherent". Takeru answered, - "Yes, I do have some kind of sensory ability and as far as I know it is inherent. I can sense objects and chakra from at most 50 meters away bypassing anything". "So, it is like the byakugan but sensory. Alright, I have technique you can practice to increase your sensory range and precision. Next question, I saw you perform jutsus without any hand-seals and even saw you not get affected by my sharingan genjutsu. Can you explain that?". " Well, I have really good chakra control, so I practiced a lot and brought the hand-seals required to perform a jutsu down to zero. And I constantly vibrate the chakra in my body so I do not get caught in a genjutsu", - replied Takeru. Shunsui thought and said, "Excellent! Now I will not ask you the final question as to how you got the hold of Shadow Clone Jutsu as I can somewhat guess the reason". Shunsui stood up and smiled at them, - "Alright listen you three, I will be training you guys today and from tomorrow we will start taking missions. But from now at this moment you are all proud genins of this village. Team 9 of the Hidden Leaf Village is formed. Let us go and celebrate". Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu all cheered happily and laughed in joy. Shunsui smiled seeing their reactions. He thought that he would get an average team of whiny kids who could not do anything. But instead he got a guy who can think and react perfectly on the move with frightening intelligence, a girl who is smart and clever, who someday will surely become an excellent medical-nin and finally a jounin in the form of an 11 year old boy. Shunsui could not be happier. ''Hah! Now Tobirama has got nothing on me.'', Shunsui thought as he took his three new students to the Hokage Office to register as the Team 9. Soon, the registrations were done and they all went to take a group photo. The cameraman told them to stay still and they did. After a click and flash the photo was taken. Shunsui was in the back smiling as he put his hands on both of Takeru''s and Shikatsu''s shoulders. Takeru was on the right and Shikatsu was on the left while Biwako was in the middle. They were all smiling. The cameraman gave each of them a copy of the photo. Takeru saw the photo and smiled. It would be one of the most memorable day in his life. The newly formed Team 9 then went out to the Akimichi Restaurant to celebrate with a table full of barbecue. After much celebration and fun they all returned to the training ground.


    Shunsui created 2 earth clones of himself and trained Takeru , Shikatsu and Biwako for the rest of the day. He trained Shikatsu and Biwako in taijutsu and chakra control. He trained Takeru taijutsu only as his taijutsu skills needed polishing. Shunsui got to know that Takeru did physical training daily so he created a daily training routine for Shikatsu and Biwako focusing on physical training, chakra control and ninjutsu. He tested their chakra nature affinities and found that Shikatsu had wind affinity and Biwako had water affinity. Shunsui checked and found that Takeru had extremely high fire nature affinity. Shunsui taught them three new jutsus for now. He taught Shikatsu Wind Release: Breakthrough, he taught Biwako the Water Release: Water Bullet Jutsu and he taught Takeru the Fire Release: Searing Migraine. He told them that he would only teach them more jutsus if they master this jutsu first. Shunsui taught Takeru the his sensing technique but could not teach him any sensory deprivation type genjutsu as he neither did know them nor he had them. But he promised that he would ask Lord Hokage to give him a technique so he could teach Takeru. Shunsui then talked with them a couple of things, their hobbies, dreams, things they like. Takeru found that their sensei was a pretty chill guy. He was strong and he did not have a stick up his ass, and for an Uchiha this was rare. Takeru told his sensei that he practiced kenjutsu and he learned it from his father. Shunsui told him that he should spar with Shikatsu and Biwako as they need some kind of weapon training to which all of them agreed. He told that he also knew kenjutsu and he could teach them. They then discussed about team formations and how they should operate so all of them could operate perfectly together.


    It was nearly night when Takeru returned home after training with his team for the first time. It was a novel experience for him. He knew that today in the fight between him and Shunsui-sensei he could have kept going but he knew that he could never show all of his cards. Information was priceless and only in the case of an emergency he would tell them about his full capabilities. Takeru greeted his parents and told them that he and his team were formed. Toru and Akane were happy but worried. They congratulated their son for this achievement. Takeru had a nice dinner that night and went to his room on the first floor. Takeru freshened up and changed his clothes. He then studied the sensing technique his sensei had given him today. The sensing technique worked by infusing your chakra in the atmosphere to feel other chakra signatures. The technique could be used in two ways. Either one could remember chakra signatures and track them using this technique from really far away as user could have ridiculously large range depending on his chakra reserve and chakra control, or, one could release chakra from his body in a pulse like wave to trace individuals by their chakra signatures in close range. Both the efficiency and expertise of these two types of sensing is dependent on the user. Takeru practiced that night and found out that his inherent sensing ability had increased. The active sensing range of his ability was 300 meters last year and he could use it for 6 hours at most. He practiced his ability daily and today morning he checked that he could at most sense 345 meters actively. But now the range had increased to over 500 meters. He came to a conclusion that it must be because of the sensing technique he learned today. Although his passive sensing ability had not increased as its range was still 10 meters. Takeru could feel that his active sensing range would only increase faster from now on. Happy with the pleasant discovery, Takeru slept soundly on his bed.

 14 Legacy

    It had been nearly two months since Team 9 of the Hidden Leaf Village was formed. Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu followed their team leader Shunsui to perform various D-rank missions all throughout the village. It ranged from watering plants to babysitting someone''s child to escorting old grandma to her favourite place to sit and back. They were mentally exhausted but Shunsui was having the time of his life. It could not get any better for him. He got to laze around all day ordering young impressionable kids, saying that it was all for building teamwork and patience. He was even having serious thoughts about whether he should take D-rank missions for another month or not. Alas, his musings about how to mentally torture his young students were stopped as Biwako finally snapped and threw whatever she could find near her to their evil sensei and shouted at the top of her lungs, - "WAKE UP YOU EVIL MAN, WE ARE WORKING OUR ASSES OFF HERE AND YOU ARE SLEEPING!!!". Shunsui had just enough time to avoid a flowerpot which was dangerously close to hitting his family jewels. "Hey, hey, stop, STOP! You will hit someone if you throw things like this". "That was the plan sensei", - Takeru sighed as he continued to mow the lawn. Shikatsu was dead asleep and could not be woken up no matter what. Takeru tried many methods but all of them failed. Biwako was shouting, crying and saying things like she would make the world a better place by killing their sensei and how he was the root of all evil. It was evening and Takeru finally finished the mission. He was dead tired, not physically but mentally. He just wanted to go home and sleep. Shunsui took the mission completion slip signed by the owner of the property and left with his team. Shunsui, the heartless, seeing his cute students in such a state finally decided that they would take a C-rank mission next week. He also saved his students from any further work by saying that he would submit the mission report in the Hokage Tower himself and gave them 2 days of rest at home. The three genins were literally crying in happiness. Shunsui saw them off and the three broken genins went home.


    Takeru did not just do missions all the time in these two months. He learned and improved many things. Takeru finally managed to combine and merge Body Replacement Jutsu and Shadoe Clone Jutsu perfectly. He named the technique Shadow Body Replacement Jutsu, with this he could now seamlessly use Body Replacement Jutsu with any of his shadow clones nearby making it almost impossible for anyone to successfully hit him during combat unless the enemy could attack him and his shadow clones all at once. He mastered the Fire Release: Searing Migraine really fast due to his fire nature mastery and then learned Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears from his sensei and became proficient in it. He wanted to learn jutsus of other chakra nature''s but Shunsui told him not to. He told him that he first needed to master his own style first and only then move onto new jutsus. Takeru understood that learning some jutsus and mastering them fully was far better than learning many jutsus but mastering none of them. So, Takeru practiced his jutsus with maximum effort. Takeru entered the level 4 of his training seal after being fully accustomed to level 3 and Takeru nearly collapsed due to the sheer strain his body was going through in the level 4 training mode. Nonetheless Takeru persevered and was now able to move normally. His taijutsu skills improved leaps and bounds in these days. He taijutsu prowess was now firmly in the level of a jounin. He regularly fought with Shunsui and their fights were really violent. Sometimes Biwako and Shikatsu had to stop them from going overboard. To be exact Shunsui was a battle junky and he found a true partner in Takeru. Takeru''s fight with Shunsui improved his taijutsu skills so much because of the abundant usage of shadow clones, Takeru''s superhuman physical conditioning and Shunsui''s sharingan. Shunsui would spot and mark each and every flaw of Takeru''s fighting style and would show it to him. Takeru corrected them and fought again and like this with each fight Takeru''s taijutsu skills increased and the flaws of his fighting style lessened more and more. Shunsui assessed Takeru''s kenjutsu prowess and gave the verdict that his kenjutsu skill was on par with a tokubetsu jounin. Shunsui taught all three of them basic kenjutsu katas and told Takeru to focus on the basics again. He told Takeru that in order to be a master of kenjutsu, Takeru would have to first create his own move and to do that he would have remaster the basics as Takeru''s basic moves were too convoluted. He tasked Takeru to make his kenjutsu moves more simple. Takeru practiced daily, either with Shunsui or with Toru and was slowly making his moves simpler, faster and more powerful. Takeru found out that his sensing ability had increased again. He could now actively sense at least 1km in every direction for 8 hours straight. Takeru was also learning new seals and was now trying to master a different kind of seal, an Advanced Storage Seal. Unlike basic storage seal where only one item could be stored in each seal. Advanced storage seal grants the user the ability to store multiple things in a single seal. The number of objects depends on the size of the objects being sealed and most importantly the seal could be placed permanently on a human body. Although this seal could only be used to store non-living objects, it was enough for Takeru. He was halfway through figuring out the seal and was sure that he could completely learn it in just a month or two. Takeru had finally learned a genjutsu. Shunsui informed Lord Hokage of Takeru''s condition and requested for any genjutsu that Takeru could learn and use correctly. Lord Hokage joyfully gave him a genjutsu that was developed by his brother Tobirama to teach Takeru. Shunsui taught Takeru the Genjutsu: Bringer of Darkness. Takeru tested the technique on his team and it turned out that unlike the original technique his usage of this not only made the target not see anything but black, the target could not even hear, smell or taste anything. Only the sense of touch was active and even with that the target would probably be unable to move as Biwako and Shikatsu experienced and told him afterwards. Takeru was confused why it happened so the madman Shunsui told him to use the technique on him with full power. Takeru did it with glee. After just 30 seconds when he deactivated the genjutsu, Shunsui immediately vomited all over the ground. Shunsui later explained that in the genjutsu it feeled like he was falling into a deep dark abyss continuously for an uncountable amount of time. Although Shunsui could use sharingan genjutsu emulating the effects of this technique, he could not distort the time perception of his target. Thus cementing the fact that in this genjutsu, the target''s perception of time would be greatly distorted. Takeru used the jutsu on a shadow clone of himself and found that his sensing ability did not get lowered or hampered while in the illusion. So, as this jutsu was too different from the original in Takeru''s case, Shunsui named the technique Genjutsu: Infinite Darkness. Although this genjutsu offered ridiculous effects, the duration it could be used for was very low. Although 30 second was a very long time in a battle between shinobis, it was truly short compared to other genjutsus. Takeru was thinking how to increase the duration when Shikatsu suggested him that he could use his chakra strings to employ the genjutsu. As his chakra strings were invisible to the naked eye and only those with some kind of dojutsu or sensory skills could see or sense it, the idea of using chakra strings to employ genjutsu was excellent. And with the use of chakra strings, the target would be permanently locked in the genjutsu unless he detached the chakra strings off of the target, making this technique really stupid powerful. But this technique was not unbreakable as Shunsui broke out of this technique with his sharingan and so did Biwako with her incredible chakra control. He of course did not use chakra strings to employ the genjutsu on them as he really did not have such proficiency with it. But still a technique like this in his arsenal, Takeru was confident enough that he was finally on par with an elite shinobi.


    Today, after Shunsui told them to go home, Takeru dragged his body straight to his home. He entered his room without even greeting or saying anything to his parents. He just flopped down on the bed and promptly went to sleep. After sleeping for a whole night, Takeru woke up at 4 before dawn habitually. He completed his daily training routine in the woods behind the Hokage Mountain and returned home at 10 in the morning. His parents were off to work. Takeru spent the day just lazing around the house. He went to lunch at Akimichi Restaurant when he found Kagami and his team with their jounin sensei sitting there. Kagami and Danzo saw him and invited him. "Long time no see, Takeru. What are you doing here? Where is Biwako and Shikatsu?", - asked Kagami. "We got 2 days rest from Shunsui-sensei. We were all completely fed up from doing all those D-rank missions and sensei finally got enough amusement from our suffering. So, here I am celebrating my freedom", - Takeru replied with mirth. "Ah, I totally forgot it. These are my teammates, this is Danzo a very cheerful guy who is friends with everyone", - Kagami said with a smirk. "Haha, very funny",- Danzo deadpanned. Takeru let out a chortle of laughter at that. "This is Torifu Akimichi, Torifu meet Takeru, Takeru meet Torifu" - Kagami introduced. Takeru and Torifu greeted each other. Although they had seen each other in the class, they never really talked much. "And this gentleman here is our sensei, Hyokai Hyuga" - Kagami introduced their team leader. "Hello, Hyuga-san, my name is Takeru Yamamoto" - Takeru bowed. "Ah, you can just call me Hyokai-sensei. I have heard many good things about you from my students and Shunsui. You show much promise. I hope you will become a great shinobi of the leaf in the future" - Hyokai smiled at him. "It is my honor, Hyokai-sensei" - Takeru bowed respectfully again. "It is nothing, come sit with us. I do not think the restaurant will allow you to stand there like this" - Hyokai invited Takeru. Takeru joined them at the table and had a good lunch with his friends and new acquaintances. Takeru and Team 8 seperated after that as they went to complete another D-rank mission. Takeru shuddered at the thought of doing missions like those again. He wished them all the luck and returned home.


    It was evening when Toru and Akane returned from their work and saw Takeru reading a book in the dining room. They greeted each other. Toru and Akane got freshened up and changed to casual clothes. Toru and Takeru began chatting and Akane began preparing dinner. Takeru told them that they got 2 day leave from the missions but they would take a C-rank mission after this. Toru nodded in understanding but Akane did not say anything. Her head was filled with various thoughts. Soon, the dinner was done and Takeru went back to his room. Takeru was anxious as it would be a major problem if his mother would not permit him from going outside the village to perform missions. Any C-rank mission would always be outside the village. It could be either an escort mission, an information delivery mission or an extermination mission. He knew that his parents were very concerned about him and although his father believed in him. Akane, his mother was filled with hesitation as no mother would ever willingly send her son into a dangerous situation. Takeru, to distract himself from these thoughts started practicing fire nature chakra control. A few moments later he sensed Akane was standing outside his room. He stopped practicing, stood up and went to the door to open it. He opened the door and saw his mother was standing there silently. Akane entered the room and sat on the bed. She took out a small wooden box and placed it on the bed. Takeru stood there silently. After a few moments of silence Akane started speaking, - "You must be wondering why I did not give you permission to perform missions outside, right?". Takeru nodded slightly. Akane spoke in a soft tone, - "Do you know why I have so much disdain and distaste towards shinobi? Because shinobis risk their life for money without even thinking that money could not bring back the dead. I was a little girl back in Land of Grass before I met your father. Our clan, our family was a small clan that lived in those lands like numerous others. We had very few strong fighters and shinobis but no other clan attacked us. It was not because that we were nothing in their eyes but because they were afraid of us. Our clan, the Ito clan was famous for being a clan of assassins. We rose to fame because of our stealth techniques and it was also the cause of our downfall. Many people coveted out techniques and many had died for it. My father protected and took care of the clan fiercely. He fought many people and won many battles but in doing so he made many enemies. My father Aizu Ito was the head of our clan and I was his only child making me the clan heiress. My mother died while giving birth to me. I was alone but father loved me and my maidservant, my friend Miku was the best person I could have asked for in my life. I was very happy with my life. I was never good with my clan techniques, so father suggested that I learn medical ninjutsu instead. I knew that father killed people for money so I asked him all the time to stop doing it. We could live like normal people. Maybe we would have less comfort and less food on our table but we would have lived peacefully. Father was a shinobi and he told me that it was his job and without it not only us but everyone depending on our family would suffer. So, I relented. It was a beautiful day, like today. I woke up in the morning, Miku greeted me and brought me breakfast. The day was peaceful, I took care of my little herb garden, played with my father a bit. I spent the day without a care of world and then it happened. I did not know how it happened or why it happened. I was in my room combing my hair when the door was crashed open and Miku came rushing to me. I asked her what happened but she did not answer me. She took my hand and hurriedly took me to my father''s room. I could hear the sounds of battle, cries of mercy and my father''s shouts of anger. I grew anxious and I asked her about the whereabouts of father, but she did not say a word. She opened a hidden compartment in the room and told me to stay there. She told me to not come out regardless of whatever happens, she told me that no matter whoever tells me to come out be it her, father or anyone else, I should not come out or answer anyone before atleast a day passes. Then she handed me a box and locked me in the room and left. I waited in that room holding that box for I do not know how long with only darkness as my companion. I could hear father''s voice telling me to come out, I could hear Miku''s voice telling me that it was all a joke and the playtime was over but I did not listen to them. I stayed silent and did not come out. It was more than a day when I came out of that small dark room as I could not stop resisting the hunger anymore. I, I wish I did not come out. Miku''s naked, defiled, bloody corpse was laying there in front of me. I could not think of anything else after seeing that. I cried and ran, searching for my father, shouting his name but all I could hear was silence. Father''s favourite color was blue and he often wore his blue yukata when he was home. I recognised the dress in an instant. H..he was lying down there on the floor but I could not see his face. His head was not there with his body. I do not know how I escaped from there but I remember that I ran, I ran like a coward. I ran with everything I had, thinking it was all a dream, that after sometime I would wake up and all of them would be alive and well. I could not wake up from that dream no matter what I did. I ran until I was unconscious. A group of samurai going back to the Land of Iron found me someday after that. I woke up holding this box. The is the only thing that I have left of my family".


    Takeru did not know how to respond to this. He knew his mother had a history with shinobis but he did not know this. He thought maybe she was a kunoichi in the past but after hearing everything he did not know what to do. Her mother was the last surviving memeber of a fallen clan. Her whole family was massacred. At that moment Takeru did not see his always gentle and loving mother. He saw a young frightened girl trying to escape the horrors she experienced and failing miserably. Akane was crying, whimpering silently. Tears were rolling down her face. Takeru stayed standing there silently and after a few moments he spoke softly, - "I am sorry, mom. I, I did not know. I will tell sensei tomorrow that I would be leaving the team. I promise I will apply for the fuinjutsu corps. If you want I will join medical corps. You just say it and I will do it". "No, you will not do that. I will not allow you to. You are a shinobi of this village. You train all the time and work hard to achieve your dream. I will not allow my selfishness to rule over your future" - Akane said with a tear-stained face. "But what if I want to? What if I want to quit being a shinobi?" - asked Takeru. "You will not do that, I know you will do something like that but it is your dream, Takeru and I will support you with all my heart. So, I forbid you from doing stupid things like that. You will go to missions and you will come back to me alive. Promise me, Takeru that no matter what you will come back home, promise me" - asked Akane raising her voice perhaps for the first time ever. "I promise, mom, I will come back home safely no matter what" - Takeru hugged his mother tightly and stayed there. After a few minutes Akane calmed down. Then she took the box and handed it to Takeru, - "This box contains everything about Ito clan, our legacy, our history, our ancestors names, our techniques and everything. This stayed with me for almost two decades but I had no use for this. This belongs to you now. Although my clan ended with my father but I was and am still the heiress of the clan. And I appoint you as the clan head of the Ito clan from now on. Maybe you can put these into good use". Akane smiled slightly. Takeru also gave a small smile and asked, - "So, about the mission, should I¡­". Akane interrupted him, - "You have my full permission, and do not talk about this ever again". "Alright, I will do that. Thanks mom" - Takeru nodded. "Alright, now I will go. You go to sleep, Takeru" - Akane got up, smiled at her son and left the room. Takeru stood in the middle of the room holding the wooden box, a storm of thoughts in his head. He sighed lightly, put the box inside his locker and went to bed. Too many things happened today and he needed a fresh mind to sort out everything. The history of his mother, the massacre of a whole clan, the true reason she was against the decision of him becoming a shinobi. The implications of today''s events made him think. And with these various thoughts in his head Takeru fell asleep.

 15 The Talk and The Mission

    It was nearly noon in the Hidden Leaf Village. The sky was a bit cloudy with some sunlight sifting through them. In the 9th training ground, Takeru had just completed his daily physical training today with 1 set of One-Punch-Man regimen in level 4 training mode. He huffed in exhaustion and sat down under the tree for a bit of rest. He wore a casual white training gi which was soaked in sweat. ''Damn, that hurts. It hurts everywhere'', grimaced Takeru as managed to take out the water bottle out of his backpack with shaking hands. He gulped down all the water and just laid down on the grass there watching the sky. After the talk yesterday night Takeru did not know how to approach his mother. He was in a serious dilemma. His dream was to become a strong shinobi, not because he wanted to rule the world or something like that, no, it was much simpler. He just wanted to survive and protect those he cared about. And in the list of those he cared about his parents ranked first. He wanted to protect them from the wars and conflicts that would come surely in this land. Now that he was thinking about it, he found that he was quite selfish in his requests to his parents. They could have moved to Keishi. He could have been a paper pusher or an official in the Fire Daimyo''s court. He knew he could have done that. With his intelligence and knowledge about advanced politics and policies he knew or heard in his past life, he would have surely become someone successful. They could have lived a normal life. But to him, who was a reincarnated person from another dimension, normality was a burden and was seriously overrated. It was his choice to move to this village and it was also his choice to become a shinobi. He did not have to do that. He could have been another civilian living normally in this peaceful village. No, Takeru was selfish. He could not resist the allure of becoming powerful. He could not resist the temptations of having the ability to do miraculous things, breathing fire out of your mouth, sticking on walls and ceilings like a certain comicbook hero, walking on water like Jesus, performing superhuman feats like its nothing, he wanted to do all those things. He was thinking for himself all this time. He wanted to protect his parents because he could not think about losing them again. The hole that was formed in his heart when he lost the memories of the family of his past life was never truly mended. He just filled that hole with the memories he made with his parents in this life. He always thought that what he was doing was for all of them. No, he found that he was not. He did not think how his parents must have felt when he expressed his desire to become a shinobi. They were not some undying immortal beings that had the knowledge of everything. They were just regular normal people living in this wretched world. They did not know about the future like he did. They did not have any advantages like he had. They were just normal parents who were concerned about their son''s life as they knew and experienced the true horrors of this world. He could not just go and tell them that he knew about the future and he was a dimensional reincarnator that had probably killed their true son and hijacked his body. He could not do that. He would not do that. He loved his family very much and he wanted them to be happy just as they wanted him to be happy. But in his selfish quest to fulfill his wishes he neglected their happiness. Takeru was in an impasse now. In one hand he truly wanted to become a badass shinobi, on the other hand he wanted to assure his parents about his safety somehow and make them worry less about him. But he knew it would be hard, very hard to do such things. Takeru sighed and rubbed his forehead a little. He would have to do something about it soon. He could not ignore it like he did all this time. Takeru finally understood something today. Everybody wanted to reincarnate, to have a new start, a second chance in life but few saw the consequences of it. People always looked at things they wanted in a good way, never considering the bad aspects of it. Reincarnation was also such a thing. To the hopeless reincarnation was a boon but to the hopefuls it was nothing but a curse.


    Takeru was laying down and thinking about his course of action when he sensed someone approaching towards him. He opened his eyelids and saw Biwako standing there. "Hey, there" - Takeru greeted. "Hello, Takeru. Do you always train here at this hour?" - Biwako asked. "No, I used to train at the back of the Hokage Mountain in the morning but this exclusive training ground is much better. Where is Shikatsu by the way?" - Takeru asked. "He is still sleeping, his mother dumped a bucket of water on his head and even threw him away from the bed but he slept through all of that" - Biwako sighed as she was really hopeless about her lazy teammate. "Do not worry about him, he is probably oversleeping because he knows that he would not be able to for sometime" - Takeru smirked at amusement. "Yeah, probably something like that. Are you ready for the mission tomorrow?" - Biwako asked as she started training her water nature affinity and jutsu. "Kind of, you know, I prepared all my tools and utilities. I think I am ready for it. What about you?" - Takeru asked as he got up and started to pack his backpack. "Me? Oh, I am so excited! We would finally be able to go outside the village. I seriously could not have tolerated another one of those D-rank missions. What am I saying? They were not missions at all. They were errands. We were running errands for money for two whole months. It is finally over. I wish it could have ended sooner though" - Biwako said excitedly. "Hey, Biwako, can I ask you something?," - Takeru asked as he was preparing to leave. "Yeah, what is it?" - Biwako replied. "How did your parents react when you told them about you having to go outside the village for a mission?" - Takeru asked. "I told my parents about it, they were a bit worried at first, you know because it will my first mission outside the village. But I told them that we would take just a regular C-rank mission and assured them that with sensei and you in the team, they did not have to worry. You guys are powerful and we will fight and overcome any problems we might face. And I know that if I fell into a dangerous situation, sensei, you and Shikatsu will save me for sure as will any of us if someone of our team gets in danger. Afterall we are a team right? and that is what comrades do" - Biwako smiled at Takeru and replied. Takeru looked at her and smiled, - "Yeah, you are right, We are a team. Alright then, I will be going home now. bye now Biwako, see you next day". "Yeah, see you tomorrow" - Biwako replied as Takeru left the training ground and went to his home.


    Takeru went home and found it empty. He freshened up and had the prepared lunch made by his mother. Takeru went to his room after that. He sat on his bed and thought about how to approach his parents. After sometime his eyes went to his locker. Takeru went up and took out the wooden box his mother gave him yesterday. He looked at the box. It was a simply normal looking wooden box with nothing special about it. The box was not locked. He opened it and saw 2 scrolls in it. He took out the first scroll and inspected it. It was a really worn out old scroll with signs of time on it. He carefully opened it and read what was inside. The scroll had the complete history of of Ito clan written in it. The Ito clan was one of the smaller clans residing in the Land of Grass about 200 years ago. The first patriarch of the then family Meizu Ito was a lone freelance shinobi with no affiliations. He survived the wars and conflicts with the help of a self created technique that could hide his presence and made him invisible. He got the ownership of a small patch of land in the Land of Grass and lived with his family. Slowly the family grew larger and they started to train in shinobi arts. The family turned clan engaged in mainly espionage and assassinations. Although no exceptionally strong shinobi came out of the clan, due to their clan techniques, they gained fame and became notorious. The clan had 8 patriarchs so far with Takeru''s grandfather from his mother''s side, Aizu Ito being the 8th one. Takeru read all of the Ito clan''s history noting all of their successes and all of their mistakes. He saw that the most serious mistake the clan did was to publicize their involvement in certain assassinations of some major people belonging to rich and influential families. They thought that it would increase their fame and would make more people willing to hire them. This was a mistake caused by pure arrogance and stupidity. They were too sure of themselves and believed that their technique would make them able to survive any assault from their enemies. The clan thought that it was a good move. They were completely unaware of the scheming enemies behind their back planning their destruction. And all the enemies struck at once nearly 20 years ago and wiped out the Ito clan off the face of the earth. Takeru found that his mother, Akane, survived only due to sheer luck and her mental strength. Otherwise there were really no chances of her survival as the Ito clan made numerous dangerous enemies in their time. Takeru sighed, carefully closing the scroll, he put it inside the box. Takeru wanted to open the other scroll but he was hesitant about it. After contemplating for some time he closed the box. Takeru wanted to talk with his parents first. He could ask his mother to train him in this technique later.


    It was past evening when Toru and Akane came home. It was raining heavily outside. They came inside all soaking wet with water. They hurriedly changed clothes and washed up. They came inside the dining room and saw Takeru sitting there silently. "Takeru, what happened?" - Akane asked as she sensed something was wrong. Takeru stood up from the chair and knelt on the floor, - "Mom, Dad, I am sorry for what I did. Please forgive me". Toru asked confusedly, - "What are you talking about? Why are you apologizing?". Akane went and held Takeru up, - "Is it because what I told you last night?". Akane asked pensively. "No, mom. I understood something today. I have always pushed my dream of becoming shinobi on both of you. I never cared about what you must have felt knowing that I would have to go to various situations where my life could have been endangered. I was only thinking about myself. I am truly sorry for everything" - Takeru apologized profusely. Toru and Akane looked at each other and smiled knowingly. Toru spoke first, - "It is our duty, Takeru. You would not understand it today. But when you grow up and become a father yourself, you would get it. It is in a parent''s nature to worry about their child. We would be worried about you even if you were to become someone like Lord Hokage someday". "I neither blame you nor dislike you for your choice of becoming a shinobi, Takeru. Yes, I have had my reservations about the profession but that is all in the past. If you think that you are somehow hurting us, then you are wrong. Me and your father just wish that you would be safe. We support you with all our hearts, Takeru. It is not only your dream to see yourself become a strong shinobi, it is ours too. We also want to see you become someone great in your life. So, do not apologise to us for what you did, son" - Akane said patiently. Takeru hugged his parents. He was very grateful to have parents like them. Toru and Akane smiled at each other and hugged Takeru. The Yamamoto family stayed like that for sometime and left eachother''s embrace with smiles on their faces. Toru and Akane told him how proud they were to have him as their son. Takeru blushed at the compliment. They knew Takeru would be going out tomorrow so Toru decided that he would buy Takeru some light armor for protection. Akane asked Takeru if he had read the contents of the box. Takeru told her that he read the history of the Ito clan but did not read the scroll of techniques. Akane told him that she would give him an overview of the technique today and she would be personally training him after he returned from the mission. While having dinner Takeru told his parents about what kind of mission he and his team would probably have to do. He explained that though he did not have live combat experience, he trained, practiced and sparred enough to reach the level of a jounin. Toru confirmed that Takeru was already a powerful shinobi and he would grow more and more powerful in time. Takeru also explained that he would have his teammates and Shunsui-sensei to protect or save him if something went wrong. Toru and Akane knew that Shunsui Uchiha was an elite jounin level shinobi. He was probably one of the few strongest shinobis in the village besides Lord Hokage. They were sure of Takeru''s safety.


    After dinner Akane briefly told Takeru about the Ito clan''s technique. The technique was called Extreme Concealment Technique. It allowed the user of this technique to completely conceal his presence by merging with the nature. The user, after learning this technique, would have the ability to conceal his scent, sound, chakra signature completely. It also allowed the user to become completely invisible. After achieving full mastery of this technique the user could even meld or merge with any solid surfaces and travel through the surface without any decrease in speed. The technique was the pinnacle of stealth and concealment techniques. The only drawback of this technique was that it took too much time to learn. Even after decades of learning a person would at most have only beginner proficiency with it, much less mastery. Akane told him that the only person who had mastered this technique was the founder of the Ito clan. After that nobody had achieved that level ever again. Takeru thought about it and understood that for such an overpowered technique, such a drawback was normal. It was night and Takeru was now sitting on his bed thinking about what just happened today. He thought about it and found that yes he had been selfish. He was only thinking about himself. He thought that he was hurting his parents but it was not. They accepted the worry, hurt everything for his sake. Takeru knew the only way to assure them was not through talking. He had to comeback home safely every time. He had to survive. Takeru promised himself that even if not for himself, he could not die for his parents sake. The talk really cleared his mind. The self-doubt and lack of confidence he was having, all vanished in thin air. Takeru went to sleep that night with a peaceful smile on his lips.


    The next day in the early morning Takeru finished packing all the supplies and tools for this mission. He made many storage scrolls and stored various things inside. Takeru packed way too much things in the storage scrolls and in his backpack. He took extras for everything as a precaution. Toru returned Takeru his sword. Takeru smiled seeing the black sword again after a long time. This sword increased his power once again. Soon, after the preparations were over Toru went out with Takeru to the market. They found a good shinobi tools shop. Toru and Takeru searched the shop for a bit and found what they were looking for. It was a set of light armor, a metal breastplate made of multiple plates conjoined to one another and two forearm guards. Toru and Takeru inspected it and found that the quality was good. So, they bought it. Takeru equipped the armor and armguards quickly and thanked his father. Toru smiled at him and told him to always be cautious and be aware of his surroundings. Toru wished Takeru luck and reminded him to always trust his instincts. Takeru said his goodbyes to his father and hurriedly went to the 9th training ground as it was nearly the meeting time of his team. Takeru reached the training ground only to see the rest of his team was already present there with backpacks on their back. Shunsui asked them if they had prepared their supplies. They all confirmed that they had. The Team 9 then went to the Hokage Tower to take a new mission. Shunsui went to the shinobi mission administration counter and asked for a C-rank mission. He got one and returned to his team after a few minutes. "We got the mission. We will be escorting the client to the Land of Whirlpools. The client has just issued it. The client will be coming here in a few moments and he is a very important person. You guys check the mission details in the meantime." - Shunsui gave the mission details to his team and left to find the client. Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu read the scroll and found out that it will be a very long mission. They would have to escort the client through the Land of Fire, the Land of Noodles, Nagi Island and then finally to the Hidden Whirlpool Village. Shikatsu let out a painful groan when he realised how much time he would have to stay away from home amd his beautiful sleep. Takeru and Biwako were excited as they would finally be able to get to see the outside. Shunsui came a few moments later with a middle-aged man with vibrant read hair, purple eyes, wearing a blue kimono with grey shades. The man had a huge backpack on his back and wore a simple straw hat. "So, these kids will be my escorts and guard my life, eh?" - the man asked. "Do not worry, Shibuya-san, they might be young but they are good and capable shinobis. Plus you are not so defenseless yourself, are you?" - Shunsui asked with a smirk. "Hahaha, that is true. Alright then, let us start our journey." - Shibuya let out a laugh. "Sure, Team 9, let us go." - Shunsui ordered. The group of 5 left the building and went towards the main gate of the village. After a round of questions by the gatekeepers and signing some paperwork they went out of the gate and left the village. The Team 9 of Hidden Leaf Village went out of the village for the very first time to complete their first C-rank mission.

 16 Journey

    It had been more than a week since Team 9 started their C-rank escort mission to the Land of Whirlpools. They traveled at genin speeds. They took two mandatory breaks per day for lunch and dinner and sometimes an emergency break if someone got too tired. Takeru learned many things about their client in these days. Their client Shibuya Uzumaki was an elder of the Hidden Whirlpool Village. He visited the Hidden Leaf to meet his sister, Mito Uzumaki, the wife of Lord Hokage Hashirama Senju. Shibuya was powerful, as much as powerful as a jounin rank shinobi. But his true power lied in his fuinjutsu skills. Shibuya was a seal grandmaster. He was one of the few seal grandmasters in the Uzumaki clan. Shibuya could have easily made the journey himself. But just out of courtesy and to make Lord Hokage and his sister less worried about him, he issued a normal C-rank escort mission. Team 9 escorting him was just a show of appreciation.


    The group just entered Land of Noodles yesterday and hoped to reach Mitarashi Port today to board a ship towards Nagi Island. The three genin chatted among themselves along the way with Shunsui giving them pointers about some jutsus and shinobi arts. Shibuya also sometimes gave them some advice. Biwako and Shikatsu had grown much stronger in the two months of training. They both reached chuunin rank respectively. Shikatsu fully learned three wind release jutsus, Wind Release: Breakthrough, Wind Release: Wind Blade Jutsu and Wind Release: Vacuum Bullet. He also improved his taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, genjutsu and clan jutsus. Shikatsu also learned some kenjutsu from Shunsui. His strength had firmly reached mid-chuunin level. Biwako on the other hand fully learned two water release jutsus Water Release: Water Bullet Jutsu and Water Release: Water Wall Jutsu. She lacked talent in kenjutsu so she focused on making her taijutsu, genjutsu and shurikenjutsu better. She increased her chakra control to jounin levels but medical ninjutsu was in what she improved the most. Biwako was probably one of the best medical-nin in the village. Takeru, also learned a new fire release jutsu from Shunsui. Fire Release: Hiding in Ash Jutsu. It was a supplementary jutsu with which the user could spit ash and smoke to create smokescreen around themselves, hiding from enemies. The jutsu was simple but very useful as it did not require any hand-seals. It just needed the user to convert chakra into ash and smoke. Takeru learned it and mastered it in a few days. Takeru knew that he would be traveling to Land of Whirlpools, the paradise of fuinjutsu. So, he focused more on fuinjutsu these days.


    Shibuya learned about Takeru''s knowledge in fuinjutsu when Takeru applied silencing seal to his and his teammates'' shinobi sandals. Shibuya was shocked to see a shinobi of Hidden Leaf perform fuinjutsu using Uzumaki seals. He immediately inquired Takeru about where he learned it. Takeru told him about the fuinjutsu book he had and about its writer. Shibuya immediately recognised the name ''Fumiko Uzumaki''. He told Takeru that Fumiko Uzumaki was an elder of the Uzumaki clan and an ancestor of his. She died about 50 years ago and her journal was never found. Shibuya told him that since he was given the book by a friend then it is in his fate to have it. Shibuya was astonished to know that Takeru was completely self-taught in the matters of fuinjutsu. He did not have any teacher. Takeru slowly experimented and learned things the hard way by doing constant trial and error. Takeru and Shibuya chatted along the way discussing fuinjutsu, different seals and their mechanisms. Takeru learned many things from Shibuya. The holes in his knowledge was slowly getting filled. The confusions and doubts he had about some seals slowly went away during the conversations. Shibuya noticed Takeru''s eagerness to learn about fuinjutsu and he was happy to see such a young boy take an interest in the subject. So, he clarified different fuinjutsu mechanisms and matrices to Takeru. Shibuya thought of teaching the boy some fuinjutsu. So, he taught him many small seals. But the most important seals he taught Takeru was the Advanced Storage Seal, Five Elements Seal and finally the illusive Yin Seal. Although Takeru had the knowledge and process to create and use those seals in the book. He truly did not understand them. He desperately needed a teacher. Shibuya''s teachings came to him like a gift from god. Takeru was even tempted to ask Shibuya to teach him some more but he knew it would be breaching personal and clan secrets. Shibuya taught him out of kindness. Takeru already had those seals written inside the book. Shibuya just taught Takeru so he would waste less time learning those seals. Overall, Takeru had huge gains in the past week.


    Shunsui, Takeru, Biwako, Shikatsu and their client Shibuya were standing in front of Mitarashi Port in the Land of Noodles today. "The ship leaves in 4 hours. You guys should restock your supplies while roaming around the town for a bit. But remember, do not venture alone and make sure that you are not being followed" - Shunsui warned the three genins. "Understood, sensei." - the three genins replied in unison. Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu went away and roamed the port town. The Land of Noodles was a neighbour and ally of Land of Fire. So, the relation between them were good. Takeru saw the bustling port town and saw people from various lands, businessmen, sailors and some shinobi too. The shinobi were mainly from Hidden Mist, Hidden Whirlpool and some non-affiliated ones. The three genins stayed together and visited the market. Land of Noodles was famous for its noodles. Practically every food item available here was either different types of noodles or food made out of noodles. Takeru tried different noodles with his teammates and surprisingly he enjoyed them. Although his favourite food was riceballs, he liked the texture and smoothness of these noodles. Biwako probably ate the most. She could not stop herself from tasting every single dish available here. Shikatsu was also enjoying despite the lack of sleep in his case. After eating food pills for more than a week. They really appreciated the taste and feel of real food.


    After completely filling themselves up, the trio went to visit some other shops in the market. Takeru wanted to find some jutsus to buy. He had enough money from doing all those D-rank missions. Now, Takeru could cash in the contributions he made from Lord Hokage or Tobirama but he was waiting for the right moment to cash some really invaluable jutsus from them. Mainly three jutsus, the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, Tandem Paper Bombs Jutsu and finally Sage Mode from Hashirama Senju. The Flying Thunder God Jutsu needed no description as it was one of the most overpowered jutsu in this world. Tandem Paper Bombs was another cheat like jutsu that was an auxiliary jutsu of the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu. The user of this jutsu could summon special explosive tags and attach them to the intended target but just as they explode, additional tags were created as the previous ones explode. This process was continuously repeated, leading to a near infinite chain reaction of consecutive explosions. The drawbacks to this jutsu were that it could be effortlessly used only by a person who had been reincarnated and for a living person, he had to sacrifice his life to employ this jutsu. Takeru wanted to find a middle ground between those two. He wanted to make it usable by the living, not requiring the sacrifice. It was a pretty hard challenge but he wanted this jutsu badly as it could be a game-changer in certain situations. The last one was Lord Hokage Hashirama Senju''s Sage Mode. Takeru did not know how Hashirama learned it or where he learned it. Takeru was sure that Hashirama had no animal summonings, so that cancels the theory of him learning the Sage Mode from Mount Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave or Shikkotsu Forest. The only theory Takeru had that Hashirama learned senjutsu by himself, which to be honest was pretty badass of him. Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu were roaming around the streets restocking their supplies. They were looking at the various shops and asking their owners if they sold any ninjutsu scroll with his teammates. They were asking every other shopowner the same but all they got in return was negative. They knew that ninjutsus were secret properties of shinobis and it would be highly unlikely for them to be sold at shops. They were just trying their luck. Finally it was nearly the time for them to board the ship. The three genin went back to the port. Shibuya and Shunsui were waiting for them. Shunsui already bought tickets for all of them so, they all boarded the ship sailing to Nagi Island.


    It had been 5 days since the ship sailed away from Mitarashi Port. Takeru stood at the bow of the ship looking at the horizon. He was wearing a regular grey yukata with a black sash. The wind was blowing fluttering his clothes and hair. Takeru was enjoying this mission very much. He got to see different lands. He got to travel to various places. He experienced different cultures and lifestyles of people from various places. He enjoyed the change of taste. After they boarded the ship and ship started sailing, they found that Shikatsu had a serious case of sea-sickness. He practically vomited every piece of food he ate. He had been in bedrest since the first day. But he was a lot better now. Takeru was enjoying the moment when Shunsui called him to have lunch. Takeru went back to their cabin. They had a simple meal with rice and vegetables. After lunch they started conversing about various things. Shunsui began teaching Biwako and Shikatsu some principles of chakra manipulation. Takeru started listening to Shibuya, who was giving him a lecture about fuinjutsu. Takeru after practicing for some days under Shibuya''s guidance and teaching was finally able to master the Advanced Storage Seal. He mixed its seal matrix with the alter-limit seal and applied it to himself. Takeru stored all of his things including his sword into his storage. The seal worked like a charm. Takeru managed to change the security mechanism of seal by including his blood, chakra, physical and spiritual energies in a certain ratio into the matrix. So, even someone who could copy his chakra signature would never be able to access his storage seal. The seal could store any non-living objects which could be covered by his chakra. And the size of the storage depends on his chakra capacity. Takeru applied it onto his body in such a way that it would not get blocked by the training seal. So, there would be not be a moment when he would have been unable to access the storage seal due to the interference of training seal. Takeru named this Inventory Seal. He offered it to his teammates but Shibuya warned that unless they had ridiculous levels of chakra control like him or had fuinjutsu knowledge, they should not use it. Takeru thought for a bit and nodded. The Five Elements Seal was a seal that disrupted other seals, generally any even numbered seals. It either nullifies the seal or stops it from working. Takeru. Takeru incorporated the five elements seal''s unsealing version five elements unseal into his training seal and inventory seal, just in case. The final seal Takeru learned was the Yin Seal. The yin seal was an ancient seal from the era of Sage of Six Paths. It was the pinnacle of chakra control. It helped the user store any excess chakra into it. The user could store chakra for future use or for some other things. The yin seal generally manifested on the user''s forehead like a diamond shaped mark. Takeru deliberately mixed the alter-limit seal and five elements unseal into the yin seal. He made 3 compartments into his yin seal. One part to store his normal chakra, one part to store medical chakra and the last part he made was to store senjutsu chakra. Shibuya forbid him from storing chakra in it now as he would suffer from chakra depletion continuously until he filled it completely. Takeru surmised that it would take him atleast 1 year to completely fill up the yin seal to its full capacity.


    It took another two days until they reached Nagi Island. The group of 5 left the ship. Shunsui and Shibuya went to talk with a boatman who would offer them a passage to the Land of Whirlpools. Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu waited at the port. Takeru offered to teach Biwako the yin seal but she refused for now. As she wanted to improve her abilities some more before learning the yin seal. Shikatsu knew that to be able to use the inventory seal like Takeru, he and Biwako would need to have extreme levels of chakra control and fuinjutsu knowledge. To bypass that he gave Takeru an idea. He said that he could use specialised wristbands made of chakra metal and apply the inventory seal on them. That way anyone could use them freely. Takeru liked the idea very much. Although there were some security concerns and concerns about production cost of such wristbands. The idea was good nonetheless. They chatted for a few moments. Sometimes later Shunsui and Shibuya came and told them the boat will leaving in a few minutes. The boat was manned by another redhead Uzumaki who recognised Shibuya and refused to take money from them no matter what. The group of 5 thus began their travel to the Land of Whirlpools in a small boat.


    During the travel Takeru asked Shibuya a question that had been bugging him for a long time, - "Shibuya-san, why did not the Uzumaki clan join the Hidden Leaf Village?". "Well, it is not that we did not want to join. You see, the Land of Whirlpools has been the ancestral home of ours for generations. So, there is hesitation among the clan members about leaving the island. And the other reason is that we were being hunted down by the enemies of the Senju clan because of our close relations with them. No offense, Shunsui-san but many members of our clan were killed on sight by the Uchiha clan if they were to be seen in the Land of Fire" - Shibuya replied. "None taken, I have heard from my father and grandfather that we were tasked with killing any Uzumaki clan members on sight. In fact before the village was created and the treaty was made, I too had been ordered to do the same" - Shunsui told. "But now that there is no enmity among the clans, why do not you guys join the Hidden Leaf Village?" - asked Biwako. "To tell the truth, we have been procrastinating. We sometimes think that we should join the village but sometimes we think that having already a village of our own. We should not join another." - Shibuya stated. "But it is dangerous to live her so far away from your allies, do not you think?" - Takeru asked. "How is that dangerous?" - Shibuya asked not understanding. "I think I understand what Takeru is saying. The Uzumaki clan and the Hidden Whirlpool Village is way too far away from their allies, the Hidden Leaf Village. So, if an enemy or enemies attack the Uzumaki clan. Any help from the Leaf Village would take too much time to come here to help. In other words during any attack on the Hidden Whirlpool Village, you guys would be alone and without any help for atleast a week." - clarified Shikatsu. "But that would make no sense. We, the Uzumaki clan are although allies of the Leaf Village. We stay completely neutral from everything. There is no enmity between us and any other people." - Shibuya stated a bit confused. "But the enemies would not count on your neutrality, would they? Fuinjutsu, the Uzumaki clan''s speciality is way too versatile and outright dangerous in the wrong hands. And as far as I have seen, it can do pretty amazing things. The enemies will not see the Uzumaki clan for their neutrality. They would try even harder to remove and destroy the Uzumaki clan for the threat they possess." - Shikatsu explained. "Threats? What threats? We have not been in a war since god knows what. What threats could we possibly possess." - Shibuya asked incredulously. Shunsui thought a bit and finally said, - "I get the point they are trying to say. Shibuya-san you do remember that we, the members of the Uchiha clan were ordered to kill members of your Uzumaki clan. I ask you what reason did we need to attack the Uzumaki clan so relentlessly? Just one reason. The reason being that the Uzumaki clan was an ally with the Senju clan. It is that simple. The friend of my enemy is my enemy too. As far as I know, there were no enmity between our clans. But just to hurt and lessen the power of the Senju clan, we attacked. Think of it like this, what if a war occurs between the shinobi villages? And what could an enemy shinobi village do to lessen the power of Hidden Leaf? The most obvious answer would be to attack and destroy its allies, that is the Uzumaki clan. Plain and simple". Realisation struck Shibuya and his face paled. He did not think about it like this. Nobody from his clan or village thought of it like this. If a war occurs the first ones to suffer would be them. No matter how he thought he could not deny this fact. Takeru spoke again, - "What makes me more worried that the Land of Whirlpools is situated directly under the Land of Water. It is also closer to the Land of Lightning than Land of Fire. If a war occurs, the Uzumaki clan would get attacked by atleast two shinobi villages, the Hidden Mist and the Hidden Cloud. Shibuya-san, please think about it." Shibuya was now seriously frightened. He thought about the implications and came to a conclusion that they were sitting ducks out here. Beads of sweat were rolling down his temple as he could see his village''s destruction. He replied with a shaking voice, - "I, I will speak of this matter to Lord Uzukage. Please do not speak of this matter to anyone else. Baku, the same goes for you too. Never speak of this matter to anyone. Understand?". The boatman Baku replied in a fearful voice, - "Y-yes Lord Shibuya. I promise I will not say anything". The boat floated towards the Land of Whirlpools whilst the passengers on the boat kept silent. Each of them thinking their own things.

 17 Discovery

    Redheads, redheads everywhere. No matter where Takeru looked all he could see was redheads. It had been 5 days since Team 9 and their escort Shibuya started travelling to the Land of Whirlpools by boat. They reached their destination safely and without any hitch. The Land of Whirlpools was surrounded by dangerous whirlpools everywhere. Some of those whirlpools were natural but the rest of those were made artificially by the Uzumaki clan using fuinjutsu. Only selected members of the clan could disable some of these whirlpools and create a path to their land. Shibuya was one of those selected important peoples. Takeru could see why the Uzumaki clan was so sure of their safety. The whirlpools made any naval invasion towards their land a moot point. And with their knowledge of fuinjutsu they thought nobody could breach their security and the protective bubble provided by their island. Shibuya offered them a place to stay in the guesthouse of the Hidden Whirlpool Village. That had been in yesterday. After a night of good food and warm bed, the three genins slept soundly after journeying for so long. Shibuya and Shunsui went to see the Uzukage promptly just as they reached the village. Shunsui went to take the mission completion statement and Shibuya went to tell Lord Uzukage about the concerns Takeru and his teammates had. Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu did not know about any of the happenings. They woke up today with fresh mind and bodies. Shunsui told them that he had already gotten the mission completion statement from the Uzukage who was apparently also the Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools. They would be starting their return journey towards the Hidden Leaf tomorrow. He told his students that they could go and see the village today freely. But he also warned that they should take caution as he did not want any troubles to happen.


    After having breakfast the trio went to visit the village. They roamed around the village, seeing some of its important places, the Uzukage building, the Seal-master''s Association, the great river and the various bridges. The village was composed of several high-rise buildings. The great river ran through the village and was gapped by large bridges. The surrounding countryside was dominated by steep hills, which could be seen from inside the village. Takeru was very interested in visiting the Seal-master''s Association so he and his teammates went in the building. The whole building was covered in various seals and symbols. Takeru asked the receptionist about what the association offered. The receptionist replied that they provided basic fuinjutsu books and manuals for everybody. They also conducted a test every year to examine fuinjutsu practitioners to see if they were qualified to become a seal-master. Takeru asked for basic books and manuals of fuinjutsu and he also took a booklet containing detailed description of the association. The trio left the building and went to market. There were various stalls and shops in the market. Many of them sold fuinjutsu materials, Uzumaki style clothes, various gadgets and knick-knacks and most importantly ramen. Everyone in the Uzumaki clan had a fetish for ramen. You could find various types of ramen, different foods made of ramen, ramen stalls, ramen restaurants, ramen plaza, ramen house, ramen shop, they had a ramen for everything. The three genins tried and sampled different types of ramen. Takeru liked the miso-pork ramen better. Biwako liked the seaweed ramen better. Shikatsu on the other hand liked naruto ramen better.


    After having their lunch, they all went on a spending spree. Biwako bought clothes, lots of clothes and apparels. Shikatsu did not have any interest in those. He bought some nifty gadgets and knick-knacks. Takeru on the hand searched for fuinjutsu knowledge. He bought various books like basic fuinjutsu guidelines, the things you should do and do not in fuinjutsu, he even found an old dictionary of fuinjutsu symbols in a thrift shop. Takeru also bought some good apparels for his parents. Takeru was satisfied with his purchases. It was near evening when the trio returned to the guesthouse. Takeru after returning immediately went to his own room and locked the door. Takeru, for a very long time wanted to study his sword. He found out that only he could see the fuinjutsu seals and symbols on his sword. His parents could not see them no matter what. He wanted to know what the seals were. After 3 hours of study and continuous usage 50 shadow clones, Takeru finally managed to figure out the seals and symbols on the sword. The only fuinjutsu seal on the sword was also a permanent one. It was a gigantically complex space-time seal. The seal was completely unmodifiable. Takeru found out that it could not be altered no matter how. The seal was permanently keyed to him and him only. The seal gave Takeru the ability to summon the sword to him and him only. A shadow clone tried to summon the sword from him but it failed. Takeru knew that it was a dead-end as nobody could change or alter the seal without destroying the sword Itself. So, he focused his attention to another thing instead. Takeru wanted to test the chakra absorption powers of the sword. He knew his sword had the ability but he never tested or used it. Takeru remembered the instructions given by old man Tenshi. He followed those instructions and sent a small pulse of chakra to the sword and wished to absorb chakra. Suddenly, ''woop'' a silent shockwave came out of Takeru''s room as the ambient chakra of the whole Land of Whirlpools and beyond converged onto his room and was immediately absorbed by the sword. The absorption power of the sword was so extreme that it instantly flooded Takeru''s body with all of the pure raw chakra it absorbed. Takeru was horrified. He almost lost control of his chakra completely. He with his rapidly diminishing control somehow stopped the sword from absorbing chakra anymore. When the sword stopped its suction power, Takeru fell back on the floor writhing in pain. Takeru''s whole body was screaming with agony. His chakra control went haywire. His chakra pathways and chakra coils were tearing itself apart from the sheer volume of pure raw chakra that it contained. Takeru with his almost non-existent chakra control transferred all the absorbed chakra into the yin seal on his forehead. Immediately the yin seal started storing all the absorbed chakra in his body. After 1 hour of agonizing pain and suffering Takeru succeeded in storing all the excess chakra into the yin seal from his system. Takeru did not even had the strength to get up. His whole body was severely damaged by onslaught of the sudden influx of chakra. He was falling unconscious. Just through sheer will he used his slowly returning control over his chakra to summon a few chakra strings and stored all the books, scrolls and his sword into his inventory before he fell unconscious.


    The sunlight was coming through the crack of the windows of his room. It was late morning already. Shunsui, Biwako and even Shikatsu tried to wake him up by banging on the door. But Takeru was far too exhausted by the last night''s ordeal to wake up. He woke up after sometime and immediately felt hungry. Takeru checked his whole body and saw that he was okay. In fact he was more than okay. His chakra reserves had increased tremendously. He now had at least 4 times the chakra he had last night. His chakra became far more pure and denser. His chakra pathways became stronger and more flexible. His chakra coils were far more faster and efficient in creating chakra. He checked that all the injuries he suffered were healed. Although he knew that he had a regenerative healing factor, it was mild at best. He under no normal circumstances could heal from such injuries overnight. Takeru stood up slowly and checked himself again. He found no abnormalities. He went to the washroom to brush up his teeth and freshen up. In the mirror Takeru noticed a faint outline of a black diamond shaped mark on his forehead. ''Impossible! The yin seal could not have matured so fast!'' ¨C Takeru shouted inwardly in pure amazement. Takeru checked his yin seal and found that the seal was at 50% capacity in normal chakra zone. He had just done freshening up when he noticed something. In the level 4 training mode Takeru''s body was put in constant strain. All of his physical and chakra related abilities were dampened. But now Takeru could feel no strain at all. He checked his training seal three times to confirm that he was indeed in level 4 training mode. Takeru came to a conclusion. The chakra he absorbed last night through his sword had totally increased all of his bodily and chakra related capabilities. His chakra reserves, chakra quality, chakra circulation speed, chakra creation speed, chakra pathways improved tremendously. His physical capabilities improved to such a level that he felt zero strain in level 4 training mode. And all of this happened just because of his sword. Takeru realized the importance of his sword. This sword could increase his strength dramatically and he could theoretically increase his strength with no limits. His adaptive body would adapt to more and more strain and damage over time and increase his overall capabilities. Takeru was ecstatic at the possibilities. But he reigned himself and curbed his enthusiasm at once. Takeru thought to himself that just after absorbing chakra for a second or two he collapsed due to the massive strain. He did not even know the full capabilities of his sword. He decided that he would first study the sword and identify its abilities fully. Then and only then he would start training with his sword. Takeru upped the setting of the training seal to level 5 and the instant he did so, Takeru kneeled on the floor gasping for breath due to the massive amounts of gravity and restriction. He with enormous effort stood up and walked slowly towards the door. Takeru found that the stored pure chakra from the yin seal was slowly infusing to his body. After leaning against the door for some minutes, stabilizing himself, Takeru opened the door and walked slowly towards the hall of the guesthouse.


    Shunsui was the first who saw Takeru come into the hall. His steps a little wobbly and his body rigid as if he was being pressured from all around. He asked, - "Are you alright, Takeru? You do not seem so well". Takeru slumped on a chair beside Shunsui and spoke, - "No, I am not feeling so good. I do not know if it is the food or the weather. Sensei, where is Biwako and Shikatsu? And when are we going to start our return journey?". Shunsui laid back and answered, - "They have gone out. They called you the whole morning but you were asleep. So, they went out without you. As for your second question I do no know. There was some sort of attack on the village last night. I do not know much about the details but Shibuya-san told me that the sensing and protection barrier surrounding the village collapsed suddenly. The whole village is under lockdown until the perpetrators are apprehended". Takeru panicked inwardly as he guessed the reason why the barriers collapsed. He asked calmly, - "So, we have to stay here until the investigation is over, eh? Have the perpetrators been found? Are there any clue about who they are?". "No, at least I do not know. All they found is that there was a sudden congregation of vast amounts of chakra in the village. They found nothing more than that. Frankly, I do not know how much time we have to stay here, but I do not think they will keep us here forcibly" - Shunsui answered. Takeru sighed inside. He did not know what he would have done if the Uzumaki clan came to him demanding answers. Takeru, after a bit of rest and satiating his hunger with some food, went back inside his room. He told Shunsui that he was feeling not so good and he would sleep the day over.


    Takeru entered the room and sat down to meditate. He found that he could forcibly increase the amount of pure chakra that was being slowly infused into his body. So, he started doing just that. He slowly started to increase the rate of pure chakra infusion. His whole body, mind and chakra was slowly going through changes. His body got more and more stronger. His mind increasingly got sharper. His chakra system, be it quality, quantity, rare of chakra creation, his pathways, all of them improved more and more. Takeru fell into a trance while meditating. He woke up to the sound of the door knocking. He slowly stood up and opened the door. Shikatsu was standing outside. "Are you feeling alright now? Shunsui-sensei said you were not feeling well." - Shikatsu asked. "Yeah, I am feeling a lot better now" - Takeru replied. "Well, then you should come over. Dinner is getting served" - Shikatsu invited. "Yea¡­ wait, did you just say dinner?" - Takeru asked confusedly. "Yeah, why? It is already past 9 in the night. Come over, dude". - Shikatsu looked at Takeru weirdly. "Yeah, yes, sure. I will come over in a minute." - Takeru replied hurriedly and went back inside the room. Takeru could not believe that he meditated for 10 hours straight. He checked himself and found that he was not feeling too much strain in the level 5 training mode like he did just in the morning. He also found that all of the pure chakra stored inside the yin seal was completely gone. The yin seal was completely empty. He checked inside his body and sensed that his physical capabilities increased once again and his chakra capacity increased twofold. He now had 8 times more chakra than yesterday. The quality and density of his chakra also increased by a huge amount. Takeru laughed with joy. Now he had a sure way to increase his chakra to monstrous levels. He quickly washed his face and went to the hall in the guest house.


    After dinner Takeru asked Shunsui about if he should learn another chakra nature or not. Shunsui told him to focus on his two already learnt chakra nature before he started learning another. Takeru notified him that he had already mastered fire nature chakra transformation completely and his earth nature chakra transformation was already at its highest level. He could not, no matter how hard he tried, increase his efficiency in earth nature chakra anymore. Shunsui asked him for a demonstration. Takeru effortlessly produced a little fire in one hand and some rocks on his hand without any hand-seals in an instant. Shunsui, Biwako and Shikatsu were amazed at the display. It was further confirmed in their mind that Takeru was indeed an unparalleled genius in ninjutsu. Shunsui told Takeru that learning the wind nature chakra transformation next would be most beneficial for him. As Takeru had extremely high level fire nature affinity, learning wind nature would not only increase his jutsu repertoire but also support and increase the potency of his fire nature jutsus. Shikatsu offered Takeru to teach him wind nature chakra transformation. Takeru readily agreed. Thus began another training session with Shikatsu teaching Takeru about wind nature with Biwako listening to Shikatsu''s teachings from the side. After sometime, Takeru had already learnt the basics of wind nature chakra. It was already late night, so they all went to their room and had a good sleep.


    The next day Team 9 woke up early. They were having breakfast when Shibuya came in to tell them that they were in clear and they had permission to leave the village now. Shunsui asked him about whether they had caught the perpetrators or not. Shibuya replied that although they could not find anyone suspicious, they were still searching. They at first thought that it was an accident caused by a seal malfunctioning but discarded that idea quickly as only the seals that ran on ambient chakra were either damaged or broken down. They suspected that it was a nefarious plot by some to test their defences. Shunsui assured him that he and his team would help them in anyway they could. Shibuya waved the offer off and instead gave Shunsui a letter personally written by the Uzukage and told him to deliver it to Lord Hokage as soon as possible. Shibuya soon left after some pleasantries but not before he gave all of them some gifts from the Uzukage himself. Shibuya also gave a small booklet to Takeru personally. He told Takeru that it would help him learn fuinjutsu faster and would give him a nifty skill. Team 9 checked the gifts and found that they were given a letter of approval personally written by the Uzukage. It stated that as a sign of goodwill towards Team 9, they could come and go freely to and from the Hidden Whirlpool Village. They would just have to show this letter to any Uzumaki clan member and they would be given a safe passage to the village. The group of 4 were astonished to say the least. It was a huge and generous gesture from someone of such high status like the Uzukage. Shunsui told the three genins strictly that it was a huge honour to receive such a favor from the Uzukage himself. He ordered them to keep the letter with them safely and securely. As even if they did not use it in the future, their clan or their next generation could use it and they would benefit from it. The three nodded, understanding the seriousness of the matter. Shunsui told them to pack up as they would leaving in an hour. He told them that it was an urgent mission of utmost importance to take the personal letter of the Uzukage to the Hidden Leaf Village, to give it to Lord Hokage as soon as possible. Shunsui told them that there was a faster route towards the Land of Fire but it was also dangerous. They would have to be prepared for anything. The three genins all went to their room to pack things up. After an hour Team 9, with the permission of the Uzumaki clan shinobis, left the village. They went straight to the harbour to board a ship sailing towards the Degarashi Port in the Land of Tea. After that they would journey towards the Land of Fire by foot. Shunsui already warned that this journey could be dangerous as the Kanashii Ocean, they would be passing through, often had pirates and illegal traffickers roaming around. They soon came to the harbour and saw their ship was just a few minutes away from starting its journey. Team 9 boarded the ship and sailed to the mainland with hope that there would not be any mishaps on the way.

 18 Encounter

    The sun was getting low on the west horizon. Its red rays illuminating the waves as if petals of roses were floating on them. Takeru was sitting near the bow of the ship seeing the calm waves crashing on the hull. It had been 3 days since Team 9 left the Land of Whirlpools. The ship they were in was a merchant ship. There were many passengers on the large ship. Most of them were merchants, returning from the Land of Whirlpools. There were some were families, three families, as far as Takeru could tell. There were some guards too, average joes, all of them except two. The two people, who Takeru sensed, had substantial amounts of chakra, unaffiliated shinobis most probably. Shikatsu had been training Takeru about the fundamentals of wind release. Takeru practiced regularly and with the help of his shadow clones he was making progress. Biwako had been practicing medical ninjutsu on fishes, she caught during their travel. She had even surpassed Takeru''s mother, Akane with her medical skills. Shikatsu was somewhat stable in this journey. He was feeling a little ill but nothing serious as the last time. He practiced wind release sometimes with Takeru and sometimes by himself. Shunsui taught all three of them shinobi skills like deception, espionage, counter espionage, tracking, counter tracking, etc. He told them his experiences about unclassified missions and various adventures. He also told them about his younger days, about his clan history and such. The three genins listened to all of Shunsui''s lectures with rapt attention. They memorized the key points and learned from those. They realised that a job of a shinobi was not so bright and beautiful. Shunsui had seen various things in his career. Some were good but most of them were bad. Shunsui described those disgusting and revolting events to his three students. He made them realise that they too, would have to experience them in the future. They would have to make hard decisions on the spot. Sometimes in dire situations they would need to shed their morality and do dirty things to survive or to complete a mission. The moral dilemmas Shunsui faced in his career made them realise that it would be hard, very very hard to face those situations. But if they wanted to survive and overcome the difficulties, they would need to have courage to face those difficulties head on, to laugh in the face of danger. They would need to believe in themselves, believe in their comrades and most importantly believe in their nindo.


    Takeru had been sitting near the bow of the ship for quite some time. Soon, the sun went down the horizon and slowly darkness shrouded the sky. Takeru stood up and left for their cabin on the ship. He entered the cabin to see Shikatsu sleeping on his bed, Biwako practicing medical ninjutsu and Shunsui reading something from a small book. "I thought you would stay outside the whole night. Not that I am complaining, the weather is actually quite good." - Shunsui spoke. "Yeah, the weather is nice. What are you reading sensei?" - Takeru asked as he sat down on the ground. "Oh, this? This is my notebook of sorts. I note down important things in it. And no more questions about the notebook, Takeru. Shinobis had to have their secrets, you know" - Shunsui smirked as he closed the book. "Alright, I will not ask about that. Sensei, can I ask you something?" - Takeru asked. "Sure, ask away." - Shunsui put the book inside his backpack and relaxed as he waited for his student''s question. Takeru asked, - "How does your sharingan work? In fact how do the dojutsus work? I mean I know that it is a kekkei-genkai of the Uchiha clan just like the Hyuga clan has byakugan. But I do not understand how both functions". Shunsui sat upright a little and explained, - "Well, dojutsus are like elemental kekkei-genkai, in the way that it manifests in the people who belong to the same lineage, family, clan or bloodline as the progenitor of the said kekkei-genkai. Say, let us consider Lord Hokage for an example. His kekkei-genkai is wood release. It is a mixture of earth and water release, which he had inherently. His kekkei-genkai will be passed through his progeny. So, it is possible for another member of the Senju clan to awaken the same kekkei-genkai as Lord Hokage in the future. It is the same with ours too. I had my sharingan awakened when I was 10 years old. Many people from our clan awakened it earlier or later. Some could not awaken it for their entire life. But that does not mean that they do not have the potential to awaken it. They either did not have sufficient stimuli to awaken it or they did not have minimum talent required. It is a bit different for byakugan of the Hyuga clan as they all awaken their byakugan at their birth. They just need to practice enough to make it work. Now, my sharingan works the same way like byakugan as chakra is sent to my eyes directly. It gives me enhanced vision, impeccable memory, it lets me use genjutsu through my eyes.." - Shunsui was explaining as he activated his sharingan, "..it also lets me see the chakra of another person. I can see your cha...Oh my God! What happened to you Takeru? Why do you have so much chakra?" - Shunsui exclaimed. Takeru tried to be as nonchalant as possible. He asked confusedly, - "What about my chakra, sensei?". "You mean, you do not know? You chakra increased at least 10 times more than you had previously. You have 4 times the chakra I have. Are you sure you are not from some offshoot branch of the Senju clan?" - Shunsui asked incredulously. "I know my chakra is increasing but I did not know to what extent. And no, I do not think that I am related to the Senju clan. My father was a samurai in the Land of Iron and my mother is from the Land of Grass." - Takeru answered fully controlling his body language to look as truthful as possible. "This, this is amazing, Takeru. You have not even reached puberty yet. That means your chakra will grow even more in the coming years!" - Shunsui laughed out loud. He was ecstatic at this find. He knew Takeru was genius. But for a clanless kid to have so much chakra in such age is nothing but incredible. ''Hahahaha! See that Tobirama. My students will stomp on yours in the chuunin exams. Then we will see who is the better teacher. Hehehe, fuck that white haired creep, Takeru is far better than that Sarutobi brat'' - Shunsui thought gleefully as he imagined Tobirama''s disappointed face making sad noises. "Uh, sensei? Sensei, what happened?" - Takeru asked as he saw Shunsui getting lost in his daydreams with a nasty smirk on his face. "Huh?! Oh, nothing. It is nothing. Takeru, listen to me closely. You have a bigger chakra reserve than anyone your age. Even members of prominent clans have less chakra than yours. Now, you have to perfect your chakra control, so you can use ninjutsu with perfection. I will increase your ninjutsu training when we get back to the village. You understand?" - Shunsui said seriously. "Yes, sensei. I understand." - Takeru agreed readily. "Alright, now you practice your wind nature transformation." - Shunsui ordered as he closed his eyes and started napping, while letting out creepy laughter sometimes.


    It was dead in the night. Team 9 had their dinner and they went to sleep except for Takeru. He stayed awake to practice wind nature chakra. Shunsui, Biwako and Shikatsu were asleep. It was in midnight that Takeru was done practicing wind nature chakra transformation. He made some progress but it was as slow as practicing earth nature chakra transformation. He, instead took out the book Shibuya had gifted him before their departure from the Hidden Whirlpool Village. He opened the book and read the contents. The book focused on barrier fuinjutsu, its ninjutsu counterparts and creation of seals using chakra only. Takeru was grateful to get such a valuable gift from him. Takeru knew shit about barrier fuinjutsu much less barrier ninjutsu. And he desperately needed instructions on how to use chakra to make seals as using ink and brush was not efficient and totally ineffective in any battle situations. He read the book from the start taking in every piece of knowledge from it. He meticulous in his reading as he did not want to miss anything. Takeru was reading silently when suddenly he felt uncomfortable inside. He looked around to see his teammates asleep. He activated his senses and suddenly noticed three large ships sailing directly towards them. ''Pirates!'' - thought Takeru as he put the book inside his inventory, equipped his armor and weapons and hurriedly readied himself. He had just finished readying himself up when Shunsui tapped his shoulder lightly. "Good, you are prepared. Wake your teammates up and tell them to be ready. We are going to have visitors soon. I will go and inform the captain and the guards." - Shunsui whispered as he flickered away. Takeru woke Biwako and Shikatsu up and told them about the situation. They prepared themselves and started a small discussion. They knew that this would be their first live combat experience. Takeru told Shikatsu about the details he could sense about the pirates. There were 283 pirates in total in those 3 three ships. Most of them were average people but 12 of them had chakra. Takeru sensed one pirate, who had nearly jounin level chakra reserves. Shikatsu thought a bit and told his teammates that fighting in their ship would be dangerous as there were regular civilians and families staying inside. He told Takeru to make 4 clones and transform them into their physical appearance. Shunsui came inside the cabin just then and Shikatsu described the rest of his plan to the whole team. Shunsui agreed to the plan as it was good. Shunsui ordered Biwako and Shikatsu to stay in their ship transformed like random civilians. He ordered them to lookout for any pirates who would board their ship and ordered them to neutralize those pirates. He told them to follow his orders strictly. Shunsui would take Takeru to the pirate ships to attack those pirates from behind stealthily. The transformed clones of Takeru would stay inside the cabin as a decoy. They all went out of the cabin and to their own objectives. Shunsui, before he left, made an earth clone to look after Biwako and Shikatsu as a precaution.


    Shunsui and Takeru were running across the water towards the pirate ships. Takeru asked, - "Sensei, do we have to...". "We will try to knockout as much pirates as we can. But if things go south, we will have to do things the hard way. Remember Takeru, this is what you signed up for, this is the life of a shinobi. You can not hesitate. Any bit of hesitation could cost not just your life but also mine and your teammates lives too. Focus on the task at hand. We have to quick at it" - Shunsui interrupted Takeru and calmly stated. Takeru stayed silent and as a precaution controlled his emotions. He entered a state, what he named the Battle Mode. His emotions were controlled to an inhuman degree. This was not like the past when he faced those bandits. Takeru had practiced his emotional control ability after that battle and now it had reached an unprecedented level. Takeru became calmer and more composed. His whole focus was on the task. Shunsui and Takeru soon reached the pirate ships and boarded the one of the left by climbing from the back side. The two traversed stealthily and sneaked to the nearest pirate. Shunsui, with his sharingan flaring in the dark, knocked the pirate out by hitting him hard on the back of his head. Takeru quickly placed a pre-made restriction tag on the pirate. Takeru made the tag in such a way that only some other person can remove the tag and the tag would work by sucking the tagged person''s chakra. The more the person struggled, the more the restriction would become stronger, sucking even more chakra from the person until he became unconscious. Shunsui saw it and asked Takeru to give him some tags using hand signs. Takeru gave him a bunch of tags. They conversed using hand signs a bit and decided that they would seperate and attack the pirates from two fronts. Takeru was going to leave when Shunsui held him back for a moment to say one last thing to him. He told Takeru incapacitate the pirates and kill only when necessary. Takeru nodded and they both flickered away in the darkness.


    Takeru flickered from shadow to shadow as he incapacitated each and every pirate he could find. He put a restriction tag on each of them. Takeru would make clones and transform them into the incapacitated pirates and masquerade around to give the rest of the pirates the sense of normalcy. He could sense Shunsui doing the same thing in the other part of the ship. Takeru had just knocked and tagged another pirate when he sensed a pirate with genin level chakra reserves coming into the hallway. Takeru immediately used his chakra strings to put the pirate into his genjutsu and knocked him out. After he tagged the pirate down, Takeru sensed that Shunsui was also done. The whole pirate ship was cleared. He convened with Shunsui and both of them left one clone each to man the ship. Shunsui and Takeru made 2 earth clones each and sent them to the smaller pirate ship on the right side. Takeru could sense that the main ship was getting close to the merchant ship. And the most powerful pirates were in the main ship. Shunsui and Takeru, both of them went to the largest ship in the middle. They sneaked into the ship and saw that the ship was clamoring with pirates shouting, cursing and laughing around. The ship was just minutes away from reaching the merchant ship. Both of them were just heading off to take out the pirates, when a loud gong sounded off. Immediately all the pirates started rushing towards the main deck. Shunsui and Takeru nodded at each other. They both quickly took out and tagged the pirates nearest to them. They then transformed into the downed pirates and went with the other pirates to the main deck. As the pirates were going towards the deck, Shunsui and Takeru knocked out at least 10 other pirates. They made clones and the clones transformed into the pirates. Shunsui, Takeru and their transformed clones all went to main deck.


    All the pirates of the main ship gathered at the main deck. The two shinobi of the leaf and their clones also did the same and stood at the back. The pirate captain or leader was standing in front of the gathered pirates. Takeru and Shunsui conversed with hand signs and simple hand gestures. Soon, the pirate leader started his speech. Takeru sensed the main ship when he found some people, chained and locked at the bottom of the ship. He told Shunsui that there were prisoners in the bottom of the ship. Shunsui also told him that they would have to keep the battle here. Takeru nodded and silently created a shadow clone, behind his back. Shunsui also did the same. Shunsui''s clone went down inside the ship to free the prisoners. Takeru''s clone on the hand flickered away in the darkness stealthily. Clone Takeru waited at the side of the ship waiting for a signal. The pirate leader was done with his speech and was ordering and shouting at his subordinates. Shunsui, Takeru and their transformed clones followed the orders and took the weapons and readied themselves when Takeru and his clones felt a rush of memories. The smaller pirate ship on the right side was also cleared. All the pirates in that ship were incapacitated and tagged with restriction tags. Takeru nodded at Shunsui as he nodded back. Takeru made a simple hand gesture when clone Takeru sprung into action.


    The merchant ship, Team 9 were travelling with on the other hand was clamoring with guards. The captain was shouting at everyone to ready themselves. All the women and children went inside their rooms and stayed there while every able-bodied men stood outside with weapons. The clones of Takeru were also present there. They stood with the other guards and the two unaffiliated shinobis, who were the captain''s guards. The transformed Biwako and Shikatsu also stood with other guards to defend the ship. The people of the merchant ship were frightened. The pirate ship was almost near them and they could hear the pirates loud and clear. Suddenly, the shouts of pirates stopped as sounds of fighting, weapons clanging could be heard from that ship. The captain and the guards were confused. Takeru''s clones nodded at Biwako and Shikatsu as they understood what was happening.


    The moment clone Takeru emerged from the side of the ship, the pirate captain noticed him and attacked immediately by throwing shurikens. Clone Takeru dodged them with ease and flickered to the nearest pirate with substantial chakra and swiftly disabled him by severing his tendons and ligaments with a swipe of chakra scalpel. The hidden transformed clones of Shunsui and Takeru attacked the other nearby pirates at the same time, incapacitating each of them with efficiency and swiftness. With the sudden attacks coming out of nowhere, the panicking pirates were running around like headless chickens. The pirate leaders were trying to calm their subordinates down but they noticed that their own subordinates were fighting each other, so they also joined the fray. Soon, a big fight erupted as the Shunsui, Takeru and their clones fought with the pirates in a confusing and random battle. The pirate captain confronted clone Takeru. Clone Takeru dodged the pirate captain''s attacks as he flickered around disabling as many pirate leader as he could. Finally when the surrounding pirates were down, clone Takeru rushed at the pirate captain. The captain was well versed in taijutsu as he could keep up with clone Takeru with relative ease. They suddenly seperated as the pirate captain weaved some hand-seals and a big gust of wind rushed towards clone Takeru. Just as the wind came near clone Takeru, he spat a fireball towards the pirate captain. The fireball with the help of the wind became even bigger and flew towards the pirate captain. The pirate captain dodged the sudden fireball barely as it smashed the ship''s port side away. Clone Takeru once again was going to engage the pirate captain when Shunsui came in and told him to dismiss himself. Shunsui faced the pirate captain. Takeru after checking on the rest of the pirates, safely transported the prisoners to the merchant ship with the help of his and Shunsui''s clones. He and his clones incapacitated each and every pirate swiftly. Those who could be knocked out were knocked out nicely and those who could not be knocked out were swiftly disabled as their muscles, tendons and ligaments were severed. Takeru for the very thorough in his work as he and the clones tagged each and every pirate, not missing anyone of them. When the last of the prisoners were safely escorted away. Takeru scanned the surroundings with his senses.


    Shunsui was standing at the main deck as the pirate captain whose both hands were chopped of, had fallen unconscious. All the pirates were either moaning or groaning in pain and agony. All the still living prisoners were being treated by Biwako and his clones. Shikatsu was searching the ships for anything else. Takeru sighed as the sky was getting brighter and brighter. All the passengers were cheering as the sudden misfortune had passed. Shunsui came near him and patted on his back, - "Good job, Takeru. You kept your calm all the time". "I was doing my job, I had to. What are we going to do with these pirates and those prisoners for that matter?" - asked Takeru. "Do you know how to sail a ship? No, I suppose you do not. We are going to take the pirates, the rescued people and the ships with us. The pirates, well they are mostly illegal traffickers to be exact. And the prisoners were their merchandise. So, now those pirates will get a taste of their own medicine. After we get to the mainland, we will contact the local authorities and they will decide what to do with the pirates and the rescued people" - told Shunsui. "Alright, but what now?" - asked Takeru. "Now, you just sit here and enjoy the sunrise" - Shunsui smiled as he went away. Takeru looked at the east horizon and saw the sun slowly rising above as the darkness slowly dissipated.