Life alone was little different from living in the Hyuuga compound for young Zakuro. His mother had grown distant as of late anyway, so Zakuro was no stranger to solitude and the necessities of caring for himself. Salads became his daily lunch, with usually nothing but a glass of juice and a boiled egg for breakfast. There was a cafeteria for public usage provided by the village, and the Hokage had granted him open access to it, with the understanding that he would pay back for all his consumption. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and Zakuro knew better than to see his current condition as a free ride. His morning routine continued almost unchanged, his morning exercise regimen simply moved from the Hyuuga's branch house courtyard to one of the many public training grounds on the outskirts of the village. His lessons at the academy progressed well, but he remained a loner. He really had not desire to be around the other students, and they avoided him like the plague as rumors spread about how he was an outcast from one of the most powerful families in Konaha. Word had already gotten out about the attempt on his life, and none of the other academy students seemed interested in getting involved.
One evening a few days after moving into his new place, a knock came on the door. Zakuro opened the door with his left hand, while channeling as much chakra into his right palm. He intended to educate that annoying blond-haired, loudmouthed brat on the imprudence of continually bothering him. His hand never traveled more than three inches. A Jonin with a scarred, but friendly, face stood in front of him. "Hi, I'm Iruka, I've been assigned to keep watch over Naruto, and the Hokage thought I should look in on you too.
"Hnn, ok." was all the reply Iruka received. Zakuro left the door open and walked in to kitchen and poured two glasses of water straight from the faucet. He placed the glasses at the table in the dining room and sat down at the chair. Gesturing at the other chair, he waited for Iruka to seat himself.
"You are a child of few words. That's not a problem. I'll just talk enough for the both of us!" Iruka exclaimed with a nervous laugh.
Zakuro stared at him, raised one eyebrow with a quizzical look, and set his glass down. The staring continued. The silence became so think and tense than one could walk on it.
"Heh, you really are a quite one! Do you have any questions or requests? Or are all your needs currently met?" Iruka asked tentatively.
The silence continued, but Zakuro slow shifted in his seat from leaning back lazily, to leaning forward to a hunched over posture, his face nearly touching the glass on the table in front of him. Placing one finger on the rim of the glass and slowly running it around in circles, he began to speak. Iruka himself had to lean forward to hear his words.
"Well, now that you mention it, there is one thing." The silence returned, as Zakuro raised his eyes and searched Iruka's face for any sign of recognition. Iruka returned Zakuro's gaze with his own rendition of the single raised eyebrow. Zakuro took his cue to continue.
"You're right, I am quite. I like it like that. That kid next door isn't. The Hokage says I'm not allowed to kill him, so I need someplace to go when I'm not training where it is quite."
Iruka tried in vain to keep a straight face at the thought of Zakuro killing Naruto simply because he was loud. "Well, there's always the village library. You could read there I suppose, Not only is it quite, it's also the last place I'd expect Naruto to ever go."
"Really now? That sounds great, thank you Iruka." Zakuro stood up and walked into his bedroom and began to put some spiral notebooks in his backpack. Donning the backpack, he walked to the door and paused. Turning to the still seated Iruka, he stared and leaned back against the door facing. After a few minutes Iruka took the hint and said his goodbyes and left. Zakuro followed him out and closed and locked the door in one smooth motion.
Zakuro would come to spend the majority of his free time in the Konaha library for the following years. He started out by reading the history scrolls of Konaha and the major clans. A surprising amount of information about the unique skills and bloodline abilities was available for reading in the library, but what Zakuro really found interesting were the numerous scrolls on combat techniques. Every non-bloodline taijustu style and all A-ranked and below ninjutsus and genjustus were easily accessible. As Zakuro felt that the Hyuuga taijustu was superior to all others, he paid little attention to the taijustu scrolls, and instead focused on trying to learn as much as he could about the ninjustu and genjustus techniques. He started by grouping techniques by their purpose: offensive, defensive, and capture. He personally detested the thought of capturing an enemy when you could kill him, and felt that the best defense was a good offense, so he decided to focus on offensive type jutsus. In addition, he felt that his skills as a hand to hand and melee short sword fighter would serve him well in close quarters combat, so he began to search for information on jutsus that would increase his effectiveness at longer ranges and involving larger areas.
Over the course of time, Zakuro refined many attacks and became quite adapt at using both basic fire and water jutsu, and even came up with ways to combine them together to create very nasty attacks. On day, while relaxing at the local hot springs bath after a long day of training, he noticed how the steam worked just as well as a mist or fog to obstruct one's view, and contained a great deal of heat energy as well. From this realization of a very simple and obvious phenomenon, he created a incredibly painful justsu. By combining a water-mist justu and then sending a fire blast into it, he could create an instant steam attack that would cover a very large territory and be fairly painful in the process. He refined this attack to the point that by the time he graduated the genin exams, he could cast the jutsu as one attack, a steaming water mist that was almost impossible to escape, and that was capable of delivering third degree burns on unprotected skin in an amazingly short amount of time. By using one hand to form water-based seals, and the other to form fire seals, he had created a new technique which he called the "steam fog of terror." This jutsu, which would probably be classified as a B ranked jutsu, was not the totality of his new skills however. Zakuro remembered from his early training among the Hyuugas that the best attacks involved layers upon layers, thus, he also learned a simple jutsu that coated his body with cool water, and would temporarily protect him from fire attacks, and the burning effects of his own steam fog. Using his Byukagan, despite it's reduced range, he was now able to see any opponent trapped in such a fog and not have to worry as much about being taken off guard from behind. His taijutsu speed also became less of an issue when employing such a device, as he would be able to attack while remaining basically unseen. The demonstration of this chain of techniques (which he had kept a secret from the other academy students) at the graduation ceremony resulted in instant promotion to genin, as well as sending several nearby students to the Konaha hospital for several days. After a stern warning from the academy instructors, he was sent home for the day and told that he would be summoned by his new team captain the next morning. "Get a good night's sleep Zakuro! You're gonna need it, you poor bastard." The instructor told him as they parted ways for the last time.
Coming up next time (which will probably be a while) Zakuro meets his new team mates… And his new team captain! Find out why the academy instructor felt sorry for him!