Nightshade studied practically every night and was rarely seen around the village. He was doing very well in the ninja academy, and his training has so far consisted of some pretty basic techniques, Transformation which he nailed instantly, and Shadow Clone Jutsu in which his almost seemed to far surpass the other students. Even his brother Naruto's. Compared to his incredible speed they were almost as if an actual shadow had come to life. But best of all, his substitution jutsu was the most incredible. It added to his incredible illusion of speed. He began to get so well at all of the techniques that he was among a secret list of ninja that are now being carefully watched at the academy. About three months into his time at the academy he was essentially a master at the basics and felt he was ready to learn more advanced arts. One day during class he was called away to the Hokage.
"You wanted to see me Lord Hokage?" Nightshade said, a slight nervousness in his voice.
"Yes," an elderly man with a gray goatee spoke to him with a certain calmness to his voice. "You are well aware that you are excelling in the academy I am sure." Nightshade stood stiffly in place, arms at his side, merely giving a nod. "This being said, there have been a few Shinobi keeping their eyes on you, these ninja are very powerful and are looking for a team to complete very dangerous tasks. The tasks at hand would be far too deadly for any average student in the academy, but you are a very promising student. If you would like to, a potential teacher shall be ready to test you to make sure that you are capable of handling these missions."
"But... are you sure I'm good enough, I mean it sounds great and I feel like I'm ready to start advancing in my training. I would gladly accept but..."
"You'll be fine Nightshade, in fact you're the highest ranked ninja on the list."
"Me, the highest rank?" He thought to himself. After a minute of pondering Nightshade decided. "I'll do it!"
"Alright, in that case you'll get the rest of the day off to prepare for your test tomorrow."
"Tomorrow!?" Nightshade exclaimed louder than anticipated.
"Will that be a problem Nightshade?" Hiruzen questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"N-no sir, it just feels like it's such a short notice."
"We can choose one of the other candidates if you don't wish to-"
"No no, it's fine. I accept. I'll be ready tomorrow!"
"Very well, this test is secret by the way, so tell no one about this."
"Yes sir!" Nightmare said. "Like I have any friends to tell anyway, and Naruto isn't around because he's on an important mission." He thought to himself.
"Just remember. This test will be brutal if you are unprepared in even the slightest bit."
"I understand, I'll do my best!" Nightshade then bowed and left the Hokage's presence.
"Good luck Nightshade Uzumaki," The Hokage began, eyes closed in thought, "This test is going to be harder than even Kakashi Hatake's training tests."
Nightshade made sure he had everything he needed ready for his exam later that day.
"... kunai knives, some shuriken... yep, that seems to be everything!" He said to himself assuringly.
He paused when he looked over at the nightstand and saw his brother's goggles. "Naruto told me these were what he wore before he became a ninja" He said looking over at them.
"Hmm..." He pondered for a moment, "I know, I'll honor Naruto by wearing these during my exam!" With that being settled he set out onward towards his destiny.
Nighshade arrived at the training ground, ready to begin his exam that could potentially start his life as a ninja... but also mark the beginning of the end.
"Good morning, Nightshade Uzumaki is it?" a man with dark brown hair that spiked up near the back spoke. He wore a black coat that seemed to stick outward at his calves over a green flak jacket. He had a small black goatee and was quite tall. "I will be your judge and opponent for this training session."
"Opponent?" Nightshade thought to himself. "This guy looks way too powerful for me... but I have to prove myself." "Okay, let's go!" Nightshade exclaimed.
"Calm down, we aren't fighting just yet. You first need to finish a few training courses I've set up. First, the tree climbing exam."
"Trees? I though this was supposed to be difficult. I already know how to climb trees." Nightshade said with disappointment.
"Hmph, just climb that tree over there and you'll first be judged on how you perform in this task." this new mentor pointed towards the tallest tree near them.
"Fine," Nighshade sighed. He walked over to the tree, and using his chakra, began to run up the tree. At first he had absolutely no problems when suddenly, "WHOA!" Nightshade quickly jumped to the left on the trunk as a massive spiked ball came down at him.
"Difficult enough for you yet?" the man called to him.
"One spiked ball is hardly anything to get worked up about!" Nightshade shouted back as he continued up the tree.
"Have it your way," the man said to himself. Suddenly a whole barrage of spiked balls came barreling down from all 3 sides.
"Ah!" Nightshade jumped as he began dodging them all back and forth jumping from side to side to stay out of their path. The flurry seemed unrelenting, though eventually through swift dodging, Nightshade managed to get through all of them until he was only a few paces away from the top. "Almost!" Nightshade exclaimed.
"Not quite" the man said to himself from a distance as he watched from afar.
Nightshade was running for the top when poof, a spiked ball bigger than the others flew down at him. It would be impossible to dodge at that rate. He leaped for it, thinking he'd be able to jump over the massive obstacle. "Just a little bit more," Nightshade said to himself reassuringly as he attempted to clear the jump. As if by luck, he landed on the other side, just barely clearing the obstacle in front of him. However, he couldn't regain his footing upon landing and fell to the ground.
"I- I had that..." Nightshade said sitting on the ground looking up at the tree he just fell from.
"You let your nerves get to you. Do you now see how difficult this will be?"
Nightshade merely nodded before letting his head fall in disappointment.
"You can give up now if you wish."
There was a brief moment of silence before Nightshade slowly picked his head up and said, "No... I won't give up." He jumped to his feet. "Go ahead and do your worst!"
"This kid, he's got spirit," The man thought, "He could be quite promising."
Nightshade's trials continued, each one tougher than the last. He was so close to victory in most and just barely passing in others until eventually, as the sun was setting, it was time for his final exam: Fight his potential sensei.
"Now, it's time for your final exam. You will be facing me! I hope you're ready, because I won't be going easy on you." he said
"Based on these tests so far I don't doubt that, but I'm going to give it my all!" Nightshade exclaimed as he put the goggles he brought with him around his neck."
"Hmph strange, but whatever, let's begin!" the man charged at Nightshade with a heavy punch and Nightshade quickly jumped out of the way. "Impossible!" He thought, I know the kid's fast but-"
Nightshade went for a kick from behind but the man caught his leg. Nightshade managed to break his grasp and flipped backwards to get some distance.
"I bet you're wondering how I'm able to still have this much energy after all of those trials, huh?" Nightshade said with a grin on his face. It was as if he was reading the man's mind. "I shouldn't really. And I know it may be cheating but after that first test I realized that if all of them would be as challenging then there would be no way I could do it... So I had my clones do the rest while I reserved my chakra for this match!"
"Hmph, clever Nightshade, but that isn't going to help you any more than it already has." he began throwing a storm of kunai knives at Nightshade. With not much time to react, he pulled out a single kunai and began blocking them with lightning fast reflexes, only two or three making it past. One however, hit him in the leg.
"Agh!" Nightshade let out a scream in pain.
"You'll have to get used to that kind of pain Nightshade. If you're going to be taking on this task!"
"Heh, I know that. It's not the worst pain I've ever experienced. It just caught me off guard." the young boy pulled the knife out of his like slowly and tossed it aside. He then charged full speed at him.
"Foolish," the man exclaimed. Nightshade hadn't noticed the trap wire set in front of him. Nightshade tripped the wire, but to the man's surprise it was just a clone. "You really are proficient in Shadow clones," the man complimented, but that won't help you this time.
Nightshade attempted to catch the man off guard by jumping out at him with a surprise attack. Not quite, the man himself was also a clone and Nightshade had triggered yet another trap. Nightshade gulped. A bunch of giant spiked balls like the ones he had been bombarded with earlier in the day.
"Not again," Nightshade said to himself. He started to dodge them just as he did previously, but as if a repeat of earlier events there was one at the end bigger than the others. This time however, was different, there was no way around it and no way over it. It was bigger than the others. "Th- there's no way out of this," he thought, "this is the end." The ball rolled over the place that he stood and the field grew silent.
"The worst injury anyone ever sustains in my training. No one can ever escape the path of the Deadly Boulder technique." He walked over to where Nightshade was in order to get him medical attention but when he got there there was nothing but a wooden log. "What the!?"
"You didn't think I'd let that hit me did you?" a voice came from behind him.
"Nightshade!? Hmph, I should have expected this, you are the number one ranked at the academy."
"Thanks!" said a voice from behind him.
"What!? Another one?"
Before him now stood a Nightshade badly scratched up and bleeding.
"Which one is-" before he could finish his sentence, he found himself surrounded by Nightshades. As he prepared for a jutsu he found himself being hit with a flurry of shuriken. "So you managed to stay conscious even after some of the most brutal techniques."
"Heheheh, I told you I wouldn't give up." His clones disappeared, leaving only the scratched up Nightshade standing before him.
"Very well, you passed the final exam. Congratulations on becoming a ninja!"
"What? Really!?" Nightshade was filled with glee. "B-but... I cheated..."
"Actually Nightshade, it wasn't cheating. It was an intelligent strategy to use your clones while you kept up your chakra. Most students don't think before doing in these activities." He handed him a Leaf Village headband.
"Th-thank you sir." Nightshade said as he removed the goggles and put on his headband.
"Please, call me Jakuten. Actually sensei will do nicely. And Nightshade if you don't mind my asking, what was with the goggles you had on?"
"Oh, heheh, you see mister- Um... sensei, they were my brother Naruto's before he became a ninja recently."
"Naruto you say?"
"Yes," Nightshade nodded, "He only graduated recently from the academy, he used to wear them before he got his headband."
"So, the 9-tailed fox and a 10-tails as family... he seems to have no idea though." Jakuten thought. "Oh, Nightshade, are you alright? You're severely injured from that last attack."
"Oh, hehehe I didn't even notice."
"What was that you were saying about not being in the worst pain you've experienced, is that the case now?"
"I suppose so, heh, the worst pain is not having anyone there for you. I never really had any friends until Naruto noticed me."
"I see, well. You should go home and get some rest, tomorrow you start your training as a full time ninja. You'll be meeting your new squadmates here tomorrow as part of your first task."
"Squadmates..." Nightshade began pondering over the possibility of making friends, "Ok! I'll be here!" Nightshade exclaimed excitedly. He ran home as fast as he could with excitement for the day ahead of him.
"Something tells me training this one is going to be an adventure."
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to upload the second episode. I had no idea what to do for it for the longest time. I apologize if the writing gets a little repetitive or bland, I kind of rushed this so I didn't forget my ideas. I'll try to start making these periodically when I can get mote planned out and plan on making some illustrations to help you all visualize. Also just addressing something I may have not mentioned and in case you couldn't tell but yes, this does currently take place during the original Naruto storyline.