CHAPTER TWO
A young, fair-haired boy sat at a wooden desk listening to a special ops captain talk about various techniques. In the deep, midday sun his forehead glistened with sweat as he languidly stared out the window daydreaming.
"When a kunai hits the skull it mushrooms, and when it mushrooms it shards out..."
The man made various lazy hand gestures and although some of the men at the front of the classroom scribbled furiously in a desperate attempt not to miss any word, most of the men in the class were half asleep. When Ren had entered the lecture there was an air of general shock about the room. At the age of 14, he was one of the youngest to ever join the anbu unit.
"You may have 8, 9, 10 little particles of the kunai that are like razor blades tearing their internal organs..."
Ren had finished the chuunin exams a year earlier, a child prodigy of the Kichiro clan. Unfortunately his father Hiroshi Kichiro, a first class Jonin, was killed a few years earlier on an A-rank mission leaving him an only child in the care of his mother Mizuki Kichiro.
"Yes it tears their lungs, their tissue, blood, brain matter. That's called a blowback"
The man was tall and muscular, he might have even been handsome if half of his face wasn't covered by a black mask. His luscious silver hair shone in the light and his leisurely stance suggested he was a man with all the time in the world on his hands.
Whoosh!
Ren jolted upwards in his seat, startled at the quick object that had so closely missed his cheek and turned just in time to see it splinter the wooden wall behind him. No one in the class looked lazy now.
"Yes! You are all very lucky to be here..." the man carried on, walking forward with his hands behind his back.
"Cat-like reflexes, precision, agility...I hope you have been listening as this information will be vital in your exams. Dismissed!"
The day of the anbu exam approached with haste. The hall was silent apart from the scribbling of pencils on paper. The time crawled to begin with then towards the end of the second hour, galloped like an antelope. Tired and mentally exhausted, the anbu candidates were relieved when the bell rang thrice ding ding ding to signify the end of the exams.
"So...what do you think?" Tamaki Nakamura excitedly nudged the dark haired boy next to him he recognised as one of the prestigious Uchiha clan. Despite the fact that he didn't reply, the young man continued as they walked.
"To be honest I don't know what I expected, but of course some one like you could easily achieve a near perfect score, the strategy section was the worst in my opinion..."
Just as soon as the written and physical exams were over graduation day rolled around and the summer air was alive with the general buzz and excitement of the days events. Each and every man and woman in the large group of graduates were handsomely uniformed. The anbu squad especially in a grey flak jacket, metal arm guards and gloves, ninja sandals with spikes for travelling into mountainous regions and three ninja pouches on their back-waist. The hokage made a long speech about the honours of fighting for your village although deviating along the way with anecdotes that weren't particularly relevant (though no-one dared mention it).
The various Chuunin and Jounin who had also graduated received the praises and tokens until finally the anbu squad were given each a porcelain animal mask as was the trademark of the anbu. Turning to the look at the street, Ren noticed a beckoning hand and followed. Turning the corner he saw the familiar flame hair of his mentor. With a proud pat on the shoulder the man began to speak.
"School is out, no more pens, no more books. You earned this kiddo." The man's smile made Ren feel prouder than anything the hokage had said during his speech and, walking together, they lamented on the days activities and begun to talk of the future.
The next day Ren awoke with a new sense of accomplishment, a sense of identity. Yesterday he was a boy. Today he awoke a member of the anbu special black ops squad. The elite. One of the best.
Getting out of the shower, he admired his reflection. His body had by no means aged over night but there was a new light in his eyes. Dressing in his uniform, he drank a cool glass of juice before locking the door and heading in the direction of the academy to visit the Hokage's office. The mid-summer heat had blessed everyone's skin with a healthy glow and when Ren entered the office of Hiruzen Sarutobi the third Hokage he turned to face him in his chair. The sunlight streamed through the floor-length windows and illuminated the various parchments and books scattered around the huge desk. The man he who had nearly impaled him with a kunai was here to congratulate him also, the man he now recognized as Kakashi Hatake. The copy-cat ninja.
Thanks for reading! Please review