The first time he had gone to the Konoha Ninja Academy, he had just turned six, and the parents of the other children were all whispering excitedly to their children and pointing fingers at him. He had turned away in embarrassment, but his mother held him in place.
"Kazuki Uzumaki, you are the son of the Hokage, and from the Hyuga Clan. Do not let us down," Hinata Hyuga said. She had then marched him despite his protests towards the entrance to the Academy.
He had gotten used to people pointing fingers at his parents. Even in other Villages, there always seemed to be people pointing and whispering to each other about them. But in his uncle Gaara's Village, the people only stood and stared, stopping their activities for the moment as they saw the Hokage and his contingent. The Sand people were nice though, as long as you got to know them well.
But what he couldn't fathom was why the people were now pointing their fingers at him. His mother was the head of the Hyuga clan, it was true, and people said that her proficiency in the Gentle Fist technique could even rival that of his blood uncle Neji's. His father was the Hokage, the saviour of the Village. Supposedly his father had been essential in the Akatsuki War just ten years ago. He agreed that there was reason for people to be pointing fingers at them, but why, why were they gawking at him now?
His mother stopped him right at the entrance and gave him a wide smile. "Well now, Uki, remember to do your father and I proud."
"Yes, mama-san," He said.
She looked scandalized. She drew herself up to her full height and put her hands on her hips. "Uki! How many times have I told you not to call me that! Address me properly, if not I'll not cook your favourite ramen today!" She added with a snicker.
"Okay, mama," He sighed.
Adults were all like that. When you misbehaved, all they did was to exercise their power over you. So utterly boring. Though his mother tried to have fun with him most of the time, there were times when she conformed to the stereotype of the stern know-all-there-is-to-be adult.
She gave him a last goodbye kiss on the cheek, and he ran into the academy, feeling happy that he could officially learn to be a ninja at last.
Hinata Hyuga felt her tears running down her cheeks as she watched her son's retreating back. He is so much like his father.
--
At the age of five, Kazuki watched his mother wake up before dawn every day to exercise in the yard. She would slowly move from one position to the next, each little movement precise and graceful. He had not thought much of it though, and he expressed his feelings one day to his father.
"Dad, why does Mum wake up so early everyday just to move like a tortoise?"
The Hokage looked at him and smiled mysteriously.
"Aaah, but she is training her Gentle Fist, and it is considered one of the most advanced taijutsu in the world, you know. Your mother just goes through the forms of the Gentle Fist… you haven't seen real training yet," His father said.
With that, he suddenly leaped to her side and jabbed at her face. He had not expected the events that followed.
She twisted in between forms, dodged and counterattacked. And then the real dance began.
They were like twin dragonflies, darting in and out, left and right, and soon he could only see their movements when he strained his eyes.
Kazuki watched, astounded, and gasped aloud as he saw his mother perform a move lightning-quick from her many variations of exercises. Finally, as his mother wrestled his father to the ground and they moved on to their daily rituals of kissing and tumbling about, he fell backwards to the ground, thinking hard.
So that's what they meant when they said that my Mum was dangerous. He mused. From that day onwards, he never underestimated his mother again.
--
When he entered his first class most of the seats had already been filled in, and he quickly hurried to the back row, which only had a few free seats. He found himself sitting next to a boy with disheveled black hair.
"Takumi Nara." The boy grinned widely as he introduced himself. "Do you want to see something?"
Kazuki nodded mutely.
Takumi reached into his pocket and retrieved a spider-like toy. "Know what it is? It's my puppet that my Uncle Kankuro made for my birthday! See what it does…"
Kazuki peered closely as he saw five blue chakra strings connect with the puppet. It jumped into life, and scuttled about the table. Takumi gave him a mischievous grin as he maneuvered the spider puppet to the edge of the table. But as he made to spring it onto the girl in front of them, a dark flash streaked through the air, plunging into the puppet. They jumped.
A sleek black kunai stuck out of the broken piece of machinery that once was Takumi's puppet.
"First day at school, and already creating trouble eh, Takumi?" The sensei was an older version of Takumi, just that his hair was tied back in a ponytail. He wore a netted shirt inside of his jacket, with twin earrings, and his laidback posture completed the picture.
"Why don't you and your friend… Kazuki Uzumaki, isn't it… stay back after class for detention, eh?" He gave them a lazy smile.
Takumi groaned as the rest of the class laughed. "How troublesome…"
Kazuki leaned towards Takumi and asked, even though he already knew the answer. "Who's that?"
Takumi whispered back, "That's my dad. Shikamaru Nara. Don't be fooled by him. Even though he looks cool now, he gets scolded daily at home by my mum."
"She's a Sand ninja, you know." He confided in Kazuki.
"OH! So you're Aunt Temari's son!" Kazuki exclaimed.
A shadow crept slowly across their table as Shikamaru leaned over them. With a sadistic smile on his face he said, "Well now, making so much noise in class… let's have you two young gentlemen have another session with me tomorrow, how about that?"
--
Well. He was now thirteen years of age, and labeled as the class joker along with his best friend Takumi. Every time he was Takumi they both got into trouble. The fact was, they never actually tried to get into trouble, but adults kept on singling them out and punishing them for harmless acts like trying to see how powerful their original explosive amulets were. The problem was, they had never expected Takumi's amulet to be so powerful as to blow a hole through the wall of the classroom. But they had not meant to do it at all!
Just goes to show how scientific research is dangerous, really. Kazuki thought.
Both of them were now playing Go with Takumi's dad. Their detentions were always like this, playing Shogi and Go with Takumi's dad. Or when Temari-sensei was in charge, they would go off carrying mountains of books for the academy's other teachers. Sometimes she would even have sparring sessions with them.
But the point was, Kazuki enjoyed his detention sessions much more than all the boring lectures and basic training exercises the sensei put them through in class. Right now, they had already lost ten consecutive games to Shikamaru-sensei, but they were in the lead at the moment for the current game.
As he eagerly anticipated Shikamaru-sensei's next move, the door burst open as Konohamaru-sensei rushed into the room.
"Shikamaru-senpai, the Hokage wants to see you and Temari-senpai immediately!"
Shikamaru jumped up and was out of the room before the boys could even react. As Konohamaru turned to leave as well, Takumi asked, "Professor Sarutobi, why does Hokage-sama want to see Dad?"
Konohamaru turned around. "A squad of Sand ninja novices who were scheduled to reach the village today has been kidnapped. The Hokage wants Temari-san, as the Sand ambassador to Konoha, to participate in the rescue mission. Your father would of course be included in it as well."
"Well, I'd better get going. We'll be moving out in twenty minutes."
He smiled at them as he left, but Kazuki noted the slight frown on his forehead. Konohamaru-sensei did not frown. Ever.
That surely meant something was wrong.
The boys looked at each other, and nodded once in agreement.
They were going to follow their sensei on the rescue mission.
--
Takumi raced down the corridor of his mansion. He could feel the adrenaline pumping in his veins. Why had his parents been selected? A squad of ANBU would have been sufficient, if not more capable than Mom and Dad!
He threw open the door to his room, and the item he was looking for was just right on his table. He grabbed it, and sprinted out of his house towards the rendezvous point.
Kazuki was already there, arms folded and whistling in boredom. He immediately perked up as he saw Takumi arrive.
"Found what you were looking for?"
Takumi held up the scroll. "Yeah."
It contained his secret weapon. He took a last look at it, before he stowed it away into his backpack.
"Okay, let's go!!"
And they were off towards the Forest of Death. The gargantuan trees loomed high over their heads even as they traveled through the forest understorey layer. The sounds of battle could be heard in the deceptively quiet forest. They dropped quickly to the branches near the undergrowth.
He could see that many of the enemy ninja were down, and yet a significant number of them were still fighting the Konoha ninja. Fortunately Mom was still up and fighting, albeit with a slight scratch on her forehead, but where was Dad?
Kazuki started to rise, but Takumi quickly held him down.
"We might get in the way. And besides, we would never be able to match up with the enemy Jounin," Takumi explained. "Better to isolate one guy and then attack him together."
Suddenly one of the enemy Jounin flashed to the brach above them. He was holding his left arm, which had a huge gash from his shoulder to his elbow.
Speak of the devil. He saw Kazuki activate his Byakugan. The emerald veins popped to the surface around his eyes, giving him a rather owlish appearance.
The enemy ninja had already discovered their presence. He looked down at them.
His headband symbol consisted of two boulders. An Iwa ninja, then.
What a nuisance… his mother would never forgive him if he died.
Takumi pointed to his scroll, and Kazuki nodded.
As Kazuki started exchanging blows with the enemy ninja, Takumi unrolled the scroll.
It contained ten columns, but only two were filled in. The first contained a symbol of a balancing scale, while the second was of a flying bird.
"Justitia, Libertas!" He called.
The first puppet was female: she carried a massive sword and a morning star, a set of weapons very much like a Kusarigama, albeit with the scythe replaced by the sword. The sword had a guard shaped like a balancing scale, and even though it was large, puppets could handle almost any weight after all, so he saw no need to scale down. Justice.
Liberty. It had a head of a bird – an eagle in fact – and apart from that it had an otherwise normal human torso. It was less than half the height of the first, and its limbs were long and thin.
Chakra strings flew from his outstretched fingers, attaching themselves to the puppets. They jerked to life and he flung Libertas into the path of the Iwa ninja. While Kazuki hit him from the front, the puppet flashed next to him and smashed a paw into his back.
Takumi heard the sound of breaking… wood. It was a substitution!
Suddenly the enemy flashed into existence over his head, and a long knife in his uninjured hand streaked down to impale him. But Takumi twitched his fingers, and Justitia managed to block him from harm with the sword. Barely.
Jounins are troublesome to fight… and what's more, we're not even Genin! Sweated beaded on his forehead. He had to think of a plan.
He made Justitia swing the morning star at the ninja, but he somehow managed to scamper onto the chain and jump off to hit Kazuki in the chest. Shit.
He was bloody agile, that stupid Iwa ninja. Libertas flew in to hit him as he dropped to the ground holding his wounded arm. It hit! The explosion of soil from his body blinded Takumi.
It's a clone! Then where is he –
An arm burst out of the ground, and grabbed Takumi's leg. An Earth ninjutsu – Inner Decapitation Technique! He was going down! He bunched his fingers and pulled them towards him. Justitia dropped to the ground, severing the hand cleanly at the wrist. This time though, blood sprayed out to splatter Takumi in the face. He had gotten the real one.
Justitia wrapped the chain of the morning star around the stump of the arm, and heaved the ninja out of the ground.
As he flew into the air, Takumi had the puppets glide around him at incredible speed, pulling him into a tree with their connected chakra strings, and Takumi heard a satisfying crack as the head of the ninja smacked hard against the tree trunk.
"Now, don't you try anything funny," Takumi warned.
He quickly checked Kazuki for injuries. He was mostly fine, but he had received a really great strike to the chest, and was unconscious from shock.
All of a sudden, the ground rose up to cover the Iwa ninja in a mud ball. Takumi panicked and frantically pulled hard at the chakra strings. A loud splattering sound could be heard as the ninja was cut into ribbons by the chakra string.
The puppets had reacted strongly to his fluctuating chakra. Blood and entrails streamed out from holes in the mud ball.
Congratulations, Takumi Nara. You've killed your first man.
Our hero promptly turned around to vomit in the bushes.
A/N: Thanks for telling me Takumi's name varied three times!! Gosh, I really get confused between both their names. Please feel free to tell me about any more name variations, thanks! On a side note: Kazuki means "shining one" or "first of a new generation" while Takumi means "artisan".