The Curse of Despair

Chapter: 1

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Tsubasa Kuroyuri, age 7, breathed out a ball of flame at his father, Shirou Kuroyuri dodged it with ease and smiled. The Jutsu flew into the forest next to the clan's private training grounds and hit a tree, charring the surface. Shirou rushed in an engaged his son in hand to hand.

"Good, you've gotten better. That was considerably bigger than the last one and you've even dropped a sign." He spoke with naked pride in his deep, gravelly voice. Tsubasa panted lightly as he nodded, they had been at it for a while.

"Now then, how's the family Jutsu going?"

"Well, I think I've got it down."

"Hm. Why don't you give me a taste of it then?"

"Huh?"

"Show me your Jutsu, Tsubasa."

"Alright…"

They separated and Tsubasa quickly gained some distance. He stood tall and gathered his Chakra, moulding it into shape. His hands formed the seals for the Jutsu, Snake, Bird, Horse, Tiger, and then clapped his hands together, feeling the chakra shift as its very nature was altered. His hands separated, and a ball of energy formed between them; it was small and wobbly, not quite perfected, yet, the raw, untamed power rolling off of it was undeniable. It hovered in between Tsubasa's hands causing them to quake and redden from the energy rolling off the technique.

Shirou nodded.

"Fission Style: Atomic Blast!"

He threw the ball out towards his father, who was already moving. The ball bulged slightly and then moved. It flew through the air, ever expanding, a blur to the untrained eye.

The blast flew into a nearby tree. Tsubasa winced as it was burned and charred into oblivion. Splinters rained over the area as the remains of what was once a mighty tree smouldered, scattered across their training field.

There was a moment of silence before Shirou spoke. "Well, I guess you are learning pretty quick then. When I was your age I could barely get the Jutsu to form, let alone do that kind of damage. Good job kid." Shirou appeared in front of Tsubasa with little more than the movement of some leaves and ruffled his hair.

"Now that you're done destroying private property, it's time for lunch!" The two turned at the call of Tsubasa's mother, Koyomi, who stood on the porch of their house looking slightly annoyed at the destroyed tree.

"You heard your mother." Shirou pushed Tsubasa forward as he spoke.

"Right…" Tsubasa said, walking over to the house.

Training was rough today… But at least it means I'll be strong. That means I can bring glory to our clan again!

The Kuroyuri clan had once been strong and respected, however, much like the Senju they dwindled. The strength that made them such an asset became overused until they were a mere shadow of their former selves. Thankfully, they hadn't lost their Clan Head like the Senju had when Lord Tobirama died. Instead, he had stuck around and eventually passed the torch to Tsubasa's father, Shirou.

However, with most of their members dead from the War, it left them with the main family and a couple of distant relatives scattered about. A total of around 30 people, most not even Shinobi, either civilians or retired. The name Kuroyuri had lost much of the respect and glory it once held, overshadowed by clans like the Hyuga or Akimichi or the Uchiha.

Tsubasa washed his hands and dug into the food, he was lost in his dream to bring his clan back to glory. While Tsubasa ate his parents spoke of topics that only adults could find interesting.

"I heard that the Uchiha are putting another child up a year in the Academy." Shirou spoke after a few moments.

"Again? How many kids do they need on the front lines?" Koyomi replied, annoyance slipping into her words.

"I think it has something to do with the Sharingan, they don't exactly tell people how it activates, now do they? I think that they're pushing kids through the academy to make them Ninja faster, just to unlock it faster."

"I understand wanting your members to unlock the family's Kekkei Genkai, but so many children are going to be scarred at this rate."

"Well, there are rumours of more war on the horizon."

"Really? We just got done fighting Grass."

"Yeah and Stone isn't pleased, they've accused Lord Third of trying to upset the balance by taking over a country."

"But they've done the same thing!"

"Since when have they cared about being hypocritical?"

Koyomi was silent for a moment. "True… So, what's going to happen then?"

"I imagine that Stone is going to use our recent wars to justify warring with us."

"I see."

"We will just have to be ready."

"Then maybe we should up his training?"

"That might be for the best." Shirou sighed and looked at Tsubasa, still busy finishing his lunch.

"I will have to teach him some of the other basic techniques. Tsubasa, finish up."

Shirou stood from the table and walked to the door back outside, Tsubasa hurried to follow.

"It's time I taught you another form of the Atomic Blast Jutsu. Now, first, we start with the hand seals, no Chakra, just the seals. This one starts with the Dragon Seal..."

Shobu Uchiha was bored. It was pretty common for her really; even after having been put up a year in the academy most of the other students were loud and obnoxious and only seemed to be even more childish than her previous class.

Thankfully she wasn't the only one annoyed by it. The Namikaze kid didn't seem to care about the noise, but he didn't hang out with any of them either and the Kuroyuri boy was always busy with some kind of Chakra Control technique during his free time.

And of course, there was Hozoin Suisen. Unlike Shobu, the Namikaze and Kuroyuri, he was in the noisy crowd. In fact, Hozoin was easily the worst of the lot. Rumour had it that he had been sent down a year because he was too busy getting into trouble to focus.

Their Sensei was vicious towards those that interrupted the class in any way. If it wasn't standing in the hall doing something weird (usually holding a bucket on your head) then it was running around the academy until he said stop.

Today was just another normal day. Hozoin was being noisy, Tsubasa was practising his Chakra control, Minato was socializing and Shobu watched the world go by.

Pretty standard stuff really.

However, that changed when some of the girls in class walked up to Shobu's desk.

"Hey, you're an Uchiha right?" The lead girl asked. It wasn't hard to distinguish her from the rest due to her obvious confidence and a more colourful outfit.

"Yes." Shobu replied in a quiet voice. If I don't give them what they want, they should go away. That's what mother says at least.

"I heard that the Uchiha clan are a bunch of arrogant weirdos, and you don't exactly seem to be that different. You always sit at the back watching us, like you're better than us."

Wait… what?

The lead girl, I still don't know her name, slammed her hands on the desk. "You acting all high and mighty pisses me off!" The girl was angry now, that much was obvious. "You get put ahead a year and act like you're better than us. Well, guess what? You aren't!"

"Yeah!" The other girls chanted. They had already brought attention to them all. Then the lead girl smiled. It wasn't a pleasant one.

"How about we have a spar today, see who's really the best." Shobu blinked in confusion. Since when did I act like I was better? I just sit here because everyone else is annoying and loud…

It didn't matter much now though. The girl thought that Shobu had been arrogant, and now she had challenged Shobu to a spar.

"I don't spar with anyone outside the Uchiha Clan." It was the wrong thing to say apparently, no matter how true the statement was. The girl fumed with rage.

"I guess they were right about you then, nothing but a bunch of stuck up cowards!" The girl was red now, her anger showing. Shobu took a deep breath and drew a hair tie from her pocket, she used it to bring her long black hair into a ponytail.

"Fine. You want to fight? Let's do it then." The girls were surprised, but the lead girl just smirked. The girl pulled back and drew a hair tie from her own pocket, using it on her bright blonde hair.

Wait… blonde? So, she's either a Namikaze or a Yamanaka… and there's only one Namikaze. Things were making more sense now. While the Yamanaka weren't usually so abrasive, they were very social and likely didn't understand not being as social.

The Yamanaka and her gang returned to their seats as their Sensei entered the room.

It was only a few hours later, during Taijutsu class, that they began their spar. The Yamanaka spoke to the Sensei and convinced them to allow their spar.

This is going to be a pain…

Hozoin Suisen wasn't exactly a fan of either Shobu Uchiha or Mio Yamanaka, but he had decided to root for Mio. Unlike the Uchiha, Mio at least talked to people.

I can't understand how people can think their so much better than others It just doesn't make sense.

The fight was starting so Hozoin put his thoughts aside and, like most of the class, cheered for Mio. Only Tsubasa Kuroyuri and Minato Namikaze stayed out of it. Oh, and that other Uchiha kid, Shinta, was cheering for Shobu. Made sense, he was an Uchiha. Clan pride and all that.

Anyway, the fight started with Mio charging and throwing out a few punches at Shobu. The Uchiha weaved around them with practised ease, she didn't seem to be taking Mio seriously, in fact, she looked disappointed. Hozoin actually agreed with her for once, Mio's technique was all wrong, she overextended herself, left far too many openings and was too slow.

Shobu capitalised on it. She saw an opening and exploited it.

It wasn't a particularly powerful or fast strike, at least not by the standards of anyone proficient in Taijutsu. But it was trained and perfected. The blow landed in Mio's gut, winding her. Shobu followed it by spinning around, using the momentum to land a fierce kick to Mio's stomach, sending the poor blonde to the ground gasping.

Shobu followed up. Mio, who had barely stood up took a hard kick to her thigh, causing her leg to collapse out from under her only to barely look up in time to so a fist impact her in the jaw.

Mio collapsed dazed and confused. Shobu bowed and walked off the stage, where she then moved to a corner, attempting to avoid notice.

That was damn good. Poor Mio though. Oh well, my turn!

Hozoin himself went up against Minato Namikaze…

Hozoin lost.

Minato was fast. Faster than any of the other kids. Faster than Hozoin, who had been training his Taijutsu since he had been walking. It was a little embarrassing, but, Hozoin had lasted longer than any of the other kids had so he counted it as a win.

Eh, I'll get him next time.

AN: