Chapter 2 Training

And here's Chapter 2. I thought I cranked out this chapter this week because the next two weeks I'll be busy with exams so enjoy.

"….." Speech

'…' Thought

3rd Person POV

It is a nice sunny day in the hidden leaf village with clear blue skies, not a single cloud to be seen for miles. In the background metallic clangs are heard. At this point and time Hiei with the aide of his mother is training to learn how to wield a katana blade with much difficulty.

Hiei's POV

'It has only been a full day since I started training and yet my mother is already having me fight her one on one with just the katana she bought for me. I don't know what she expects, I can barely defend myself against her. She has been using a katana all her life as a ninja and expects me to be perfect at it.' Little did I know my mom noticed my moment of weakness. I barely parried the strike towards my head. She had grazed my left cheek with the end of her sword. In a blink of an eye she disarms me by kneeing the hilt of my sword out of my hand which sends it across our backyard. Then she holds the tip of her sword near my neck.

She sighs, "You need a lot more training if you are going to survive your first day as a ninja," as she lowers the sword away from my neck.

"But we won't be expected to be going on dangerous high ranked missions until we have proven ourselves. Iruka sensei told me we will most likely be catching cats." I argued back.

I quickly covered my head as I knew she would hit me for arguing with her but no blow came. I look up and see my mother just giving me a stern look. She sighs again.

"Alright we will take a break." She said as she walks into the house.

I sat down on the porch and placed my katana next to me. My muscles are sore from the countless stances, and attacks, I can barely move. It is the price I get, I am the one who wanted to learn how to use the katana. I hear the sliding door open and close again. I look up and see my mother holding two glasses of lemonade. She hands me one and sits down next to me. It was silent until she spoke.

"Hiei?"

"Hm?" I said as I drank my lemonade.

"What do you think it means to be a shinobi?"

I think for a few seconds and say, "Isn't it to become powerful, by learning powerful jutsu like the First Hokage?"
She looks at me with her disappointed look. "I guess I didn't teach you correctly did I?"

I look at her confused.

"Then what does it mean to be a shinobi?" I asked.

"Shinobi are those who work hard to protect their village. They stand up against fear itself, to protect those who are important to them. Their friends, family, and in the Hokage's case the entire village. They strive every day to protect these people which leads to the process of unlocking one's true power."

"One's true power?" I ask highly curious.

"Love." She replies.

"Love?" I ask still trying to understand.

"I'll explain, when your friends or family is endangered and about to die. What would you do?"

I ponder on the question. "I would defend them with my life."

She smiles, "You are catching on. Good. You know the First Hokage's goal was to protect children from ever going into war and losing their lives."

"Yeah I remember reading that in one of our clans books."

"Well it was Hashirama's will and determination to achieve that goal that he in the end with the help of the Uchiha Clan formed this village we live in today. Whenever someone threatened the village. It threatened everyone in the village and they were his family and he was going to protect them to the end. Which lead to him to fighting Madara Uchiha who planned to destroy the village with the nine tailed fox."

"I think I understand now. Protecting one's family and loved ones is the true way of the shinobi."

She smiled, "I'm glad you are understanding this because when you are in your three man squad. They will be your new family and you will protect each other with your lives. Now let's continue training."

"Alright." I said.

'Wow I never thought that was the true reason behind being a shinobi. All my years up till now I always thought being a shinobi meant learning new jutsu and become the best. I guess it's more important than I realize.'

Four days later

Tomorrow is the big day when I join my three man squad, so after the long week of training with my katana blade my mother and I go to Ichiraku Ramen to celebrate. They have the best Ramen in the whole leaf village. It is run by a nice old man, alittle on the plump side, gray hair by the name of Teuchi and his daughter Ayame who has long brown hair, and brown eyes. As we eat our Pork Miso Ramen, something occurrs to me. The whole talk with my mother about Hashirama makes me wonder. Why are there are so few Senju in the village.

"Mom, if the Senju were one of the two main clans that founded the leaf village then why are there so few of us?"

I look at her, she seems to be biting her lip. She responds after a minute,

"Well back in the day we had a vast amount of members. However over time our clan as grown thin as you can probably guess. Our numbers dwindled greatly during the Third Great Shinobi War. The Senju were one of the leading factions on the battle field gaining victory for the leaf wherever they went. The village leaders decided to have all the Senju members come together and assault a fortress. According to Intel from the Anbu, was that there was a secret fortress that was used as the main communication hive to all ninja of the Hidden Stone Village. If that was taken over we could have given out false information to the Hidden Stone ninja and in a sense win the war. However that wasn't so, little did we know was that the Hidden Stone found out about the Leaf's plans to send the Senju Clan. When the Senju breached the fortress and took out all the guards, it seemed too easy. But before it was too late Hidden Stone Ninja surrounded them and used the fortress to keep them in, it was a blood bath. Only a few ninja were able to escape the ordeal." When she finishes talking to take a drink of water I realized she was on the verge of crying. In realization of this I said,

"Mom were you one of those people who escaped?"

"Yes, during the onslaught a hole blew open in the wall, your grandfather at the time told me and some others to run back to the leaf. I didn't want to leave him but I had to make sure that the Leaf was informed. As I escaped I thought I would see him again but sadly he was wiped out along with the rest of them." She kept her composure but had a sad face on. I put my arm around her and said,

"I'm so sorry for asking I didn't know."

"It's fine don't worry about it. You need to know what happened to clan, I got over this so many years ago."

I look up and noticed Ayame was in tears, Teuchi looks sad but runs into the back of the restaurant and comes back with two more bowls of ramen.

"Here are two bowls of ramen on the house, I remember the Senju always coming and buying ramen from my shop in the past."

We both thanked Teuchi, ate our bowls of Ramen and left.

As we walked home, we didn't talk much on the way, mom is probably thinking about her past. I felt bad for her, the thought of me being in mom's place made me sad.

When we got home, mom wished me luck tomorrow and went to bed. I walk into my room, on the left is a wooden drawer which is next to my closet. On the right is night stand with my bed beside it. I lie down in the bed and stare at the ceiling for a while recalling the events of the week. 'I guess I learned something new out of all this. Being a ninja means protecting one's friends and family, but it also means enduring the loss of those love ones. Tomorrow I will give it my all, I wonder who my teammates will be. Aw well can't think of it right now or else I will be up all night. Time for bed.'

So ends Chapter 2. I tried to incorporate some background into Hiei's mother's side of the family. If you guys have any suggestions please PM me or review me your thoughts both positive and negative.