Chapter Two: Graduation Day! Meet the new Teams!
Shibuki walked into the current ninja academy and all the students stood to greet him. He walked into the front of a large assembly room with a large amount of students from all ages watching him. "You all are probably wondering why I have called you all here for assembly. I have some great news students. You will all be moving to a new academy with an almost all new teaching staff." Shibuki continued his speech as some of the students in the back of the room began talking among themselves.
"Hey Akinari, what do you get from all this?" asked a tall boy with short red spiky hair.
"Well Takamori, I'm thinking they might be moving us to a new academy." replied Akinari, a kid with long brown hair down to his shoulders.
"No really? I'm being serious for once, what do you think Shibuki Sensei is up..." before Takamori could finish his sentence Sukejuro appeared in front of him holding his hand over his mouth.
"You know boy, it's rude to be talking when someone older and far more wise is talking." muttered Sukejuro.
All the kids around Takamori were frozen in amazement by the fact that Sukejuro just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Sukejuro!" screamed Shibuki. "You're disrupting my speech, now take your seat on the stage."
Sukejuro was about to say something to Shibuki when Takamori stopped him and said, "You know that it's rude to be talking when someone older and far more wise is talking." Sukejuro went red with anger while Takamori just sat there with a wide grin on his face.
"Sukejuro! I'm waiting." said Shibuki from the front of the room. Sukejuro calmed himself down and vanished in the blink of an eye only to reappear sitting in a seat at the front of the room.
"Thank you Sukejuro. As I was saying, there will be a few students sent to a final class for graduation tests. I have handpicked fifteen students to be sent to this class. When I call your name, please come to the front of the room and stand on the stage." Shibuki then started listing off names, and just as Takamori put his head down to start sleeping, his name, as well as Akinari's, were called.
The two students, as well as thirteen others, stood up and began walking up to the room. They all lined up in a line facing the rest of the student body and Shibuki began speaking again. "These are your future ninja! All who pass will be given the lowest rank, Genin, and will begin training immediately after. Everyone congratulate them and classes will resume tomorrow at the new academy!" after Shibuki finished his speech the students went wild with excitement. all you could hear was loud cheering filling the room.
The room emptied quickly with happy students running home to tell their parents about the new academy and everything that had happened, everyone except Takamori and Akinari. "Kunai for your thoughts." joked Takamori. Akinari lifted his head and looked at Takamori with a worried look on his face.
"I don't know if I'm ready for this. We have only been in the academy for a few years, were still not even teenagers. Our village doesn't have many ninjas... Why do you think that is?" Takamori looked puzzled at what Akinari was saying. "I know why... Its because ninjas have a short life span. I'm not ready to die Takamori... Not when I have something to live for again..."
Takamori put his hand on Akinari's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll be there to protect you. Don't forget, we're brothers and family always looks out for family." Takamori had a big smile on his face but on the inside was also scared out of his mind. The two boys finally left the building and started on a path home.
"So those are the two boys you were talking about Shibuki?" asked Sukejuro looking out of Shibuki's office window. Shibiuki walked over to the window and confirmed that those were the two boys he mentioned earlier to Sukejuro. Shibuki turned around and picked up their files and handed them to Sukejuro who began reading them over.
"Interesting... The Waterfall Village hasn't seen a bloodline in almost fifty years. The Asano clan, huh? Interesting... Takamori Asano... And what about the orphan Akinari Horigome?"
Sukejuro continues to read as Shibuki explains to him. "Those are the two boys I believe will help bring in a new era to the Waterfall Village. They are both very special in their own ways. Takamori has the Ryuuchougan bloodline ability, if you haven't noticed his peculiar eyes already. He is able to release chakra into water but not like any other ninja I have ever seen. With his Ryuuchougan he can see the precise flow of the water, not only that but he can speed up the flow, make it change directions, he can even make it take different shapes." Sukejuro looked intrigued and asked why Takamori hasn't been promoted to Genin already. "That's simple Sukejuro. I haven't had the ninja able to train his skills or lead a squad of ninja. All the Jounin I have, until the lot of you arrived, have been doing different missions so the Waterfall Village doesn't become forgotten. Besides, without Jounin to give the boy proper training, his skills aren't that far along. But still, he shows such great potential."
"What about the other boy?" Sukejuro asked, as he flipped open Akinari's case file.
"He's harder to explain... I'm not sure even where to begin." Shibuki paused for a minute to think about the day they found Akinari. "The boy was found in an abandoned lab near the outskirts of the forest. By the looks of it there was some very serious experiments going on with DNA and chakra fusion. Not much is known about the boy but from what I can tell you he doesn't remember a thing about his past and I want to keep it that way. We think that he might somehow related to the experiments done by the legendary missing Sannin Orichimaru. If you ever take a good look at him, you will see that he has several circular metal plates on his body. They found the boy with several tubes of different fluids being pumped both in and out of him. He has a bad history... When he arrived at the village it was decided that he would be adopted by the Asano clan because the boy got along great with Takamori, the two of them consider each other brothers."
Shibuki stopped talking and a few minutes later after Sukejuro put down the case files he asked, "So what makes him so promising?"
"The boy isn't great, nor is he even good, at many of our water based techniques, however, he has his own special ability that sets him aside from anyone in this village. For some reason the boy is somehow able to have basic control over plant life using chakra but for some reason I have not been able to find enough Jounin to train such promising boys. I do wonder though, with the proper training, what exactly are these two boys capable of?" Sukejuro had a look of shock on his face.
"I didn't know our village had such children." stated Sukejuro.
"It's a shame they weren't trained earlier, but now that you and the other Jounin are here, we can fix that mistake. And don't think any less of the other students, you will be surprised at some of the things the other students have come up with. This is a great crop we have here Sukejuro, a great crop indeed."
The next morning came and the two boys woke up at their usual time, thirty minutes later than they should have, and got dressed in what they always wear. Takamori wore his usual black tank top with his clan's symbol on the back. The Asano clan symbol is a white circle with the bottom half showing multiple waves of the ocean and the top half is just filled in black. His hair is still naturally spiky and for pants he is wearing some simple navy blue pants with a holster for ninja tools on his waist. Takamori is a little tall for his age and his eyes are almost completely filled in a light shade of blue which is his bloodline trait, the Ryuuchougan. He is also generally the motivational one of the group, he tries to keep everyones spirits up and he puts everyone else before himself.
Akinari wore his usual as well. He's wearing a black undershirt that is barely visible because he wears a tan long sleeve hooded sweat shirt over it, although he almost never puts the hood up. The sweatshirt has a zipper in the front but Akinari usually leaves it open although its a very light sweatshirt and not very baggy. He wears the sweat shirt to cover up all the plates on his body from his past. There are seventeen plates in all spread over his body. One on his chest, four going down his spinal cord, three down the side of each arm, and three down the side of each leg. Although his clothes generally hide them, you can still vaguely see the general shape of them through his clothes. He wears tan pants and black gloves that only cover the palm of his hands because holes for his fingers have been cut out. He has his ninja tool bag strapped to his right thigh because he is a little shorter than Takamori and has a little bit longer arm span so it is easier to reach for him to have it strapped there. Akinari has green eyes and no other distinct characteristics of his face. He generally worries a lot and normally keeps to himself except for the exception of Takamori who he has become very close with, and considers to be his brother.
The two boys, soon after getting dressed, wave goodbye to their family and head out the door in the direction of the new ninja academy. When they arrive there is a check in desk where a few Jounin point them in the right direction. Takamori swings open the door to the classroom which inherently gets everyones attention. He screams, "Takamori Asano and Akinari Horigome ready for action SIR!" What Takamori failed to notice is that the room was only full of a few other students and the teacher hadn't arrived yet.
"Hey Takamori, wanna shut up? It's too early to hear your loudmouth." the boy in the back of the room says as he yawns.
"Can't help it if I'm a little excited, can I Danjuro?" replied Takamori.
"No, but you could at least keep the volume down, ok?" Danjuro soon replied.
He seemed a little grumpy, so Takamori and Akinari went and sat with Ayano, another boy the two of them knew, and Rissa, one of the few girls chosen for early graduation and the only one currently present.
"Where is she!?!" Takamori said as he frantically looked around for someone. The door soon opened again and in came another girl who had been selected. "Chika!" shouted Takamori as he ran to the front of the class to greet her.
"Back off Takamori, I already said that it's not going to happen. You and I are just too different, ok?" she immediately said as Takamori approached. He backed off and walked back to the back of the room where he sat in his chair saddened.
The rest of the students came in slowly until all fifteen were there and a few moments later a Jounin appeared in front of them. "Morning class." the man said loudly, making sure everyone in the room could hear him.
All the children replied together, "Good Morning Hatori Sensei."
"So this is the lot that Shibuki choose for early graduation..." Hatori looked over the bunch of students whom he knew fairly well because he taught most of them in his class at the previous academy.
"Before we begin, I would like to say that everyone I see here is a great student and it was an honor teaching you. That being said, the test isn't too complicated, or for that matter difficult. The lot of you have been chosen because Shibuki feels all of you are ready for graduation, and with my approval, here we are. I will call your names one by one and you will enter the next room down the hall where a few of the new Jounin will ask you for your name and also ask you to perform the water replacement technique. As you all know, this is where you make a water version of yourself so when you are hit in combat you can escape free of harm by replacing yourself with the water version of you. It's not too hard and I know all of you know the proper hand signs." All of the class looked at one another with confidence because they all know they could easily pass this test. This is the most recent technique that was taught to them so it is still fresh in their heads.
Hatori lifted his sheet of paper and called the first name, "Rissa Hagiwara. You have been selected to go first. Please proceed to the next room." A girl from the back of the room stood up and started walking to the front. She is about the same height as Akinari, which is average for their age, she has hair that is blacker than the night and it goes to a little above her shoulders. Shes wearing a hakama, which is a long one piece shirt that is cut to also form a dress, her hakama is a dark shade of pink almost red. She is also wearing a pair of shorts underneath that are the same color and a black sash keeps the waist tight.
Rissa makes it out the door and heads to the next room while the other students are left to wonder. "It shouldn't take long for anyone to take the test so they told me to keep sending you in one after another. Next on the list is..." Hatori runs his finger down the sheet of paper attached to the clipboard until he finds the next name. "Takamori Asano. Please come forward and head to the next room."
Takamori stands up and walks to the front but before he leaves the room he turns around and says, "This shouldn't take long, but none of you better fail or I'll be forced to kick your ass." He then leaves and knocks on the door to the next room.
"Come in." answered a voice from the other side so Takamori enters. He immediately sees a table that a few Jounin are sitting at because the table has the ninja graduation forehead protectors covering it. These are the same forehead protectors that all the higher rank ninja wear and it shows that you are a certified ninja of the country displayed on it. 'There is one missing? Does that mean... Rissa passed?' he wondered to himself. One of the Jounin in the back of the room soon spoke, "Takamori Asano please perform the water replacement technique."
Takamori easily performed the technique and one of the Jounin in the back of the room threw him a forehead protector. "Congratulations kid, you're now a Genin of the Waterfall Village." Takamori leapt into the air with excitement, and then ran out of the school to wait for the others and show his parents his new forehead protector that he now proudly displays on his head.
One by one, the other students came out of the academy and it seemed that all of them had passed the exam.
Akinari was one of the last to come out of the building and he looked really happy. "I know I said I was a little scared yesterday, but the feeling of pride I have wearing this makes all my fear just go away." he said as he met up with Takamori.
Before the students had enough time to finish their congratulations to one another, four Jounin ninjas appeared in-front of them. "Hello students." announced Sukejuro, who continued to speak, "Congratulations on becoming Genins, but know that the easy stuff is over and the babying is done with. We will now split you up into three man squads and begin combat training." The students, as well as the parents, looked extremely shocked.
"What's the meaning of this?" asked the crowd of people.
Endoh, the only female Jounin replied, "Upon graduation of the academy three man squads are formed with a Jounin leader in order to perform two tasks. One task is to not only improve your own skills as a ninja, but to promote teamwork and help your fellow teammates improve, and the other task is to complete missions for the village to promote our village's happy little existence. Personally, I would like to get this over with soon! I don't want to be out all night. Can we please just read off the list of brats and get on with this?"
The parents then became very angry, and it looked like they might have a small riot to take care of. Sukejuro then took charge again, "Sorry for my fellow Jounin's actions. I assure you she isn't always like this." The kids whispered among one another all hoping not to get her as a squad leader.
Endoh grabbed the paper from Sukejuro's hands and quickly read out her student's names, "I need Chika Iitaka, Danjuro Ayabito, and Ayano Abukara. Lets go!" The three students went forward and then started walking off with Endoh. Takamori was giggling at Danjuro being stuck with Endoh until Sukejuro grabbed the paper and read off his name along with Akinari and Rissa.
"I'm going to need the three of you to come with me please." Sukejuro then looked at the parents and said, "Don't worry so much, most of my students come back alive, and some have even come back with all their limbs!" He was joking, of course, because he has never done this before, but neither the parents or the students knew this.
"Shall we be off then?" Sukejuro passed the click-board along to the other Jounin and walked off with his three new Genins.
Message from the Author:
Any Comments/Feedback/Suggestions are greatly appreciated. Hopefully some of you are enjoying this story and I will have another chapter up soon so stayed tuned for Chapter Three: The New Team and Combat Training!