Shattered Dreams

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me

Notes: Yay, Done. Have the outline for Chapters 13-17 written; now I just need to write them. Anyways enjoy Izur's Day Off.

Chapter 12: Monkey See, Monkey Do

This was becoming a bad habit, or better said it was a habit that needed breaking. The youngest genin in Kumogakure found himself waking at three o'clock in the morning again. After only six hours of sleep.

Slipping out of his bed, and grumbling about the stupidity if waking so early he proceeded to get dressed and head down for breakfast. No point in trying to fight the wakefulness it would just waste time.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

At five in the morning sharp Izur was standing outside Hachiro and Leiko's home glaring at the houses. He knew that the two of them have been annoyed with him yesterday about coming so early but they hadn't told him not to do it again. This, however, did not mean that he wasn't completely sure that he should.

He also had to factor in that he didn't want to mess with Hachiro's crazy family either, anyone who three their son out of a window at five in the morning was someone to avoid in his book. That or they belonged in a Bingo Book.

He headed over towards Leiko's remembering what she had said to him about getting her first. If she could calm Hachiro down then maybe they could get more training in then yesterday. Pausing at her door, he shrugged and jumped landing on the roof he slipped in to her home through a window.

He wasn't taking any chances that her family would be like Hachiro's.

So he snuck through the house quietly opening doors and looking into them. It wasn't until he was on the last three doors that he found himself face to face with a short man. A short and angry man, "An assassination attempt?"

Izur blinked in surprise at his words, wondering how he came to such a conclusion when there was nothing even remotely suggesting it. He was child size still and had his headband on, what even remotely suggested that he was an assassin?

It didn't seem to matter that the genin couldn't follow the logic for the short man attacked him without questions. Izur tried to defend himself but finding out that you're fighting someone about thirty times your skill with no warning and in an enclosed space generally goes against the weaker one.

The mans left fist came around to attempt a gut hit but Izur jumped using the mans arm as leverage and hurled himself over his head and attempting a back kick, but he'd already used Shunshin no Jutsu to avoid it. "Damn it! I'm not an assassin."

He tried to dodge a hit to his head by rolling to the left but found the confines of the hallway would not allow him to do so. Instead he hit the wall, hard and as it dented the man grabbed the back of his shirt kicking him.

Harshly and letting go of his shirt about the same time so that he was hurled down the hallway. About that time a door opened and Izur took it clean off the hinges landing and sliding through the back window at the end of the hall.

As he hit the ground he jumped up ignoring the pieces of glass in his body, and the pain in his ribs. Just as he was moving to jump up into the house again, two heads appeared looking down on her. To his relief one of them was Leiko, the other his aggressor.

It wasn't but a moment later that another head popped out looking down at him and this one while not too much taller then his opponent was much older looking. He blinked at the humor he saw in the older mans eyes and came to the realization that he at least knew Izur wasn't an assassin.

Staying put he waited for Leiko to get dressed and he started grumbling about idiots who jump to conclusions. Despite the fact that he knew he would have done the exact same thing had someone entered his house that way.

It took about five minuets but Leiko met him on her front lawn with a glare, "Next times just knock, and for god's sakes do you even know what time it is?"

He nodded, not really paying attention as he picked pieces of glass out of his clothing, "Yes, its five oh eight." At his completely disinterested tone she turned to look at her young teammate and watch him. Her thoughts told her she really shouldn't be so mean to the boy; he was only trying to help.

Her other side wanted to know why he had to help out so god damned early. "Urgh… look its good and all that you want to help but maybe you can come later… let us sleep some more?"

He nodded in understanding but didn't bother to reply, she hadn't said how much later so he could be the judge at that. Five minuets sounded like a good amount of extra time to get them. "So how do we get Hachiro-San?"

She looked down on him and grinned, at least he was willing to consider a different policy other then knocking on the door and having him thrown out a window. Maybe he wasn't such a hard ass after all, or maybe he was and was just attempting to be nice.

"Are you going to tell me that the great Himiloh doesn't have a plan?" He glared at her for a moment before shrugging, "Well I do but I just used it to get you. Will his family react the same way?" She thought for a moment, before shrugging herself. "If we get caught, luckily though only one of his siblings that is a shinobi is at home right now so it should be okay."

He nodded, she obviously knew more about their teammate then he, for other then the fact that he had assumed that Hachiro had siblings simply because he had the name of 'eighth son' he didn't know how many. "All right, I'll follow your lead then. Since you probably know his home better."

She nodded, grumbling about idiots who just had to add in qualifiers. Looking around the house for the moment she climbed to the roof finding the window that was repeatedly broken and opening it. It was time to play sneaky and see if they couldn't get their hands on a large red headed boy.

They did, but it took a little bit more then either was expecting.

The two genin had snuck into the house and moving through it had found Hachiro's room, far to the back of a hallway and up one flight of stairs. It had all been peachy and easy, and Hachiro who was pleased with being woken in a somewhat civilized manner (even if it was early) was in a tolerable mood.

However it went downhill from their for about the time that they had started to sneak back out Hachiro's father was stepping out of his room. Izur faintly heard a squeak from Leiko before the man's state of undress managed to make it through his brain.

In an attempt to block out the image of a grown man with nothing on Izur shut his eyes, only to learn that even a civilian can be dangerous to a shinobi, if they let their guard down. Hachiro took the first hit from his father's brawny arms, and Leiko was hurled down the hallway, Izur however managed to realize that despite the nightmares it was better then being hurt.

Still those nightmares were going to suck. He opened his eyes with no time to react he took a fist strait to the forehead, but his Hitae-ate protected him. It produced a slight ringing sensation but he held his ground reaching up he grabbed the mans wrist pulling him forwards and kneeing him in the gut.

A moment later he was running down the hall grabbing his teammate's arms and bodily dragging them to their exit.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That had happened over an hour ago and now as Izur sat with said teammates in the same predicament as yesterday it caused him to sigh. It seemed that he was forever doomed to teammates who would be mad in the morning.

The three looked up upon hearing their sensei speak; none of them had even realized his approach. "Early as usual I see, maybe I'll just make us have training from five in the morning onwards. Seems like you three are eager enough for it."

The sudden shaking of heads that came from two of his Genins required a chuckle to come from him, and he didn't fail to produce. "Anyways we won't fight today like we did yesterday. The three of you have already proved your abilities in that department enough for me to move on to the next step."

The sudden amount of attention coming at him from his genin would have been surprising in anyone slightly older then them. "We'll be training in Kinobori no Waza (Act of Tree Walking). I'll give each of you a clone of me and this clone will be there to help teach you until lunch. As well as give you a demonstration."

Izur remained impassive as he followed his sensei to the area the man had designated for him, and turned to watch the demonstration. "You need to concentrate your chakra into your feet. Too much and you'll be forced away from the tree, too little and you'll just slip off."

Izur nodded, it made sense after all, kind of like the whole 'gravity' think. Enough gravity and you can suck things in towards you and too much you would force them away from you. Or maybe that wasn't quite how it went but oh well.

As Masaru stepped onto the tree he continued to walk up it, as though it were just ground he was walking on. Stopping about halfway up he turned his head to look at the Genin below him. "You'll probably want to get a running start. Use your chakra to mark the height of each step every time."

Izur nodded in understanding, while it would be easier to use a kunai to mark where he was before he fell each time, using his chakra would require him to control it more and it would mark where his feet had been not his hands. It would give a more accurate description of his abilities.

"Out of curiosity, Masaru-Sempai, what will this training help with?" nodding as though he had expected the question the Jounin leaned back against the air in thought. "Simple it develops better chakra control. The feet are one of the areas that is hardest to direct chakra to, when you learn to do that and do it without thought then you have become a true shinobi."

Izur nodded and thinking this to be the end prepared to try and move his way up the tree. "That's not all thought." Izur looked up in surprise, then why had he stopped talking. "In battle you will need to mold your chakra quickly without taking the amount of time you do now."

Izur paused, having not considered this bit of the training. "When you can do this to perfection then your jutsus will also become more efficient. Now you can begin." Izur looked at Masaru with as much annoyance as he could project without seeming disrespectful.

It wasn't much.

And so the training started, initially Izur found himself trying to use too much chakra and it hadn't taken long for the tree to become riddled with holes. After just under an hour of attempting it with massive amounts of chakra the genin finally began to find a better rhythm.

One that was starting to benefit him more and more by allowing him to get higher by a couple feet every time. At eleven o'clock Izur had made it over half way up the tree, four hours of continuous work had allowed this. But it also meant that his chakra was incredibly low now.

And he probably would not be able to continue on for much longer, despite the fact that he still had an hour left before lunch. Jumping down from the tree he glowered up at it wondering how he might make his body go further up the tree without such a waste of energy.

Instead of hitting on the 'right' idea of using a kunai to mark progress and maybe even taking a short break he instead decided to stop running at the tree. Now he would just walk up it from a stand still. In the first few tries he lost over half the amount of tree that he had covered.

However as his body adjusted to the new technique he began to quickly gain on where he had been previously. Come lunchtime he had increased the amount he could walk up the tree very little but he could now do it from a standstill with few problems.

His problem seemed to be holding onto the technique for a longer period of time. As he trudged off towards his sensei his mind whirled about how he might be able to fix his short comings.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"All right it's back to stealth, ambushing, and tracking training. Same thing as yesterday." Masaru spoke from his position in the tree where he had started from in the morning. He was not prepared for the sudden objection from Leiko.

"But sir we need to master Kinobori no Waza." A grin spread across the Jounins face as he looked down at the female in his team. "Yes you do, but I have given you five hours of training now you need to practice on your own time."

A groan emitted from Izur, but it seemed that Hachiro was taking the entire thing too well. Maybe he had already tried talking to his Masaru clone about this? Or maybe he just seriously didn't care. "You are Kumogakure Shinobi you must learn to focus and master many things at once or you will fail. Now to continue, I want you to track…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The team wasn't released until eight o'clock that night having had to track varying animals or items by small scents or clues. Plus having had to sneak up on Masaru and ambush him after they had tried that. The trio was tired but they had one silver lining to this day, tomorrow wouldn't be as busy.

For it was considered to be their day off, for as much as that mattered to Genin who had many things to master still. "All right you three need to be at the gates at four in the morning on Thursday. Don't be late we leave for a mission."

With that their sensei disappeared to do whatever a Jounin did when he didn't need to be with his charges. Sighing Izur headed off towards his home, already planning on what he should do tomorrow. "Hey Izur?" The voice of Hachiro caused him to turn and look at the two with raised eyebrows.

"Would you mind grabbing us both at three on Thursday so that we aren't late?" nodding Izur headed off, wondering why he felt so much better. Shrugging it off his mind he went back to regimenting his day as precisely as possible. Starting off with wake at three in the morning.

And so he did, right at three the boy hopped out of bed heading off to wash and get ready to head down to the training grounds. Once he was dressed he went down stairs surprised to see his father already at the table with two meals set out. "Thought you'd be up boy."

Izur nodded in response sliding into his seat and starting to dig in, he hadn't even been aware that his father had come back from his mission yet. His father stood at an above average height of six foot four, and from what the genin had been told his mother had been almost as tall as well.

So the reason for his shortness was unknown and a certain amount of disappointment to the boy. His father had the same thick black hair that he had only it was longer, and poofy. It stuck out like he had been electrocuted (looking similar to the Niidaime Hokage's hair only black). However despite the amount of muscle such a large frame could carry, it didn't.

His father was a lean man, wearing a well toned amount of muscle built for speed and stealth. Something that could sneak into somewhere and back out without ever having been notice. It was the typical build of a Himiloh and one Izur figured he would fallow in.

"You listening boy?" his father's gruff tenor pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked over swallowing his food before responding, "Yes Sir." A sharp nod told him his father was pleased and for the first time ever Izur saw his father look unsure.

"Well to put it simply boy… the Raikage is having me remarry." Izur blinked suddenly, it wasn't unheard of especially for a clan like the Himiloh's. The Raikage could tell any person to marry another as long as both were shinobi. To force a shinobi-civilian marriage he would have to get the approval of the council.

But there was always a good reason, mainly because the clan needed an heir. But this clan had and heir.

"But… why?" shrugging the man held up one finger and started to list the points. "Apparently there is trouble brewing and they have need of our… technique. Also with only one child and me left he's worried that an unfortunate accident could wipe the blood line out completely. Finally he believes it will strengthen ties between us and Kirigakure if we have this marriage."

Izur nodded, looking skeptically at his father who had just admitted that it was not a marriage to someone within the village. "So, to whom then?" Debating with himself on whether or not to reply, his father finally spoke again. "To a widowed woman from Kirigakure, she has one son. Her name is Sukizo Anzu and she'll be bringing her only son with her. Erm I think they said his name was Ureshii."

Izur thought silently on what he had been told, this would mean that he would be have a sibling. As odd as that was to him it paled in comparison to having a person he would have to call 'mother'. A word so foreign on his tongue he had maybe uttered it three times in his life.

"So will they keep their name or carry ours, Father?" His father grinned at the question it was something to be considered. "She will change hers and become Himiloh Anzu, the boy however will continue on his fathers name here as a Sukizo clan here. Apparently their clan is well placed in Kirigakure, enough to gain attention for this such as ours."

Izur nodded standing up as he did so he took the dishes out to wash them. "When?" He missed the frown on his fathers face as he asked this. "Six months." Nodding again the boy turned to leave but hesitated at the door. "This Ureshii, is he a shinobi?" Now he saw the full force of his fathers grin and could not possibly mistake it.

"He was in the Kirigakure Academy, that's why we have to wait six months. To find out if he will pass or not, if he does we will put him on a genin squad here if not he will continue his schooling at our academy. He's twelve."

Izur nodded leaving his father to go back to bed; it had been obvious that the man had been awake only for him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Over six hours later, at nine o'clock in the morning Izur was working diligently on his chakra control by attempting to walk up the same tree he had been at yesterday. It had not been going well initially but finally around six o'clock in the morning he had finally found a breakthrough and exploited it.

Having walked completely up the tree he'd had yesterday he'd moved onto a much larger one working on refining his new found control to a much better point. It was about this time that he was interrupted. By a familiar and yet still irritating voice.

"So you can't even walk up trees yet. How pathetic!" Kobayashi Arai's voice grated through Izur's ears until it finally made contact with his ear drums allowing him to hear his new rival's words.

Turning, while maintaining his position on the tree he looked down at the slightly older boy with a raised eyebrow. "And you can?" A sneer was his only answer, but even Arai would not enter into a competition with his tree walking skills just yet. Not until after his father had finished with him later that day that was.

"Rather petty of you, isn't it Izur-Baka? No worries though my sensei has already begun to teach us new techniques and even just one of them would scorch you alive. Literally." Izur rose an eyebrow wondering if he should point out that learning a bunch of techniques was pointless if you couldn't use them right.

Deciding not to stretch the tension any farther however, he chose a better course of action. "Really? Well why don't you just show me how scorching it can be then." Arai clenched his teeth but his hands flashed through a series of seals that ended with the tiger seal and Izur realizing his danger pushed off from the tree immediately.

It wasn't, however, soon enough fro the Housenka technique allowed the user to spread the flames and one nicked Izur's armor leaving a large scorch mark and lighting the attached material on fire briefly.

Landing with a slight thud, he growled under his breath inspecting the damage and ignoring the sneer from his rival. "Well that wasn't really very hot at all. Thought you said I'd be scorched?" The sudden flash of anger through Arai's face told Izur he may have pushed too much.

"I'll show you, you…" The genin never finished his threat for around that time another one appeared glaring at his younger teammate. "We've been summoned Arai-San, so if your done playing around?" A flash of annoyance went across the young boys face but he turned to Izur before following his teammate.

"You'd better watch it, I won't forget your insult." shrugging Izur waved him off focusing back on his tree, to at least try and get back to work.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

He left the training grounds at noon, feeling like he'd actually accomplished something. Maybe he had not perfected the technique but two more days with about the same amount of training time and he felt confident that he would have it down.

Now deciding that he should regard himself for his hard work over the last few days, he headed off towards one of the cheaper restaurants to spend his well earned mission money.

As he was sitting down to order he turned as a baritone called his name out, catching sight of his two teammates walking down the road together he lifted his arm in acknowledgment. It took several minuets before they sat down to join them and both wrinkled their noses at him.

"You stink." Was Hachiro's simple response to the smell, Leiko simply had to be more emphatic about it. "What in hells name have you been doing? Crawling through a sewer?" Shaking his head he prepared to answer her only to be interrupted by the waitress.

Ordering his food and drink he turned back to her, "No, I've been working on the technique Masaru-Sempai showed us since four o'clock this morning. Or thereabouts." The look of incredulity on his female teammates face threatened to have him break out into laughter, but he hid it convincingly enough by coughing.

"Is that all you do? Live to be a shinobi? Sheesh, we need to get you out more." Blinking as though he didn't understand but, deciding not to push the issue he decided to change the subject. "So why are you two always together?" The way he said it showed that he was not insinuating anything and for that the two pre-teens were thankful.

Though they never got a chance to respond because apparently, today was interrupt Izur day.

Kobayashi Arai and his team had been making their way towards Izur when they had recognized him and now Izur held up a halting hand to his teammates as he stood to face them. Unsure of weather they were a threat or not he prepared himself.

"So what's this? The great Izur-Baka is out eating, and with people. I was under the impression that your lack of manners would prevent something this civilized." Arai did not miss the stiffening of the other two genin but he did miss the sudden wary glances that the customers in the restaurant were throwing him.

"Do we have a problem Kobayashi-San?" The sudden cold politeness of Izur's tenor warned his teammates that there was a problem but that he was at least trying to prevent something from happening on anywhere but the training grounds. This was smart of him, considering the punishment for fighting in the village.

"Oh you bet you we do Himiloh-Baka." Izur stiffened at the sudden insult to his family's name, to attack it to his given name was to call him, personally, stupid. But it attack it to his families name was to call his family stupid. "If you don't wish to duel, on the training grounds then I suggest you take your insult back Kobayashi."

Grinning Arai jammed his hands into his pockets and spoke, with a confident swagger unbecoming of a Genin. "Why not here, or are you too much of a coward to do so? Or no maybe you won't fight here because your entire family is made of cowards and you know it to be true."

The tenuous strings holding Izur's temper in place to his thoughts snapped at the insult and he moved at the same time. The only thing that saved the other boy, as was said later, was that he had Kunai in his pockets and had been prepared for the attack. Just not quite for its feriousity or strength.

Izur's fist connected with Arai's mouth, then his knee came up making contact with his chin, about then Arai had gotten his hands out of his pockets slashing at Izur with them wildly. One managed to hit and drag through his upper arm cutting through flesh and muscle even going down to nick to bone.

But in his bone deep fury he failed to notice the potentially fatal wound. Grabbing Arai's neck he spun him hurling him through the buildings wall and out into the street, and he started after him. But made it no more then three steps before Arai's teammates finally reacted.

He hit several times from the other two genin before his attention refocused on them and he started in on them. A fist to the mouth, a leg in the gut, a knee in the private parts and finally a solid grip on one of their necks. And as he squeezed intending to drop the other boy dead by suffocating him he was pulled back by strong arms.

He fought for a moment against the restraining arms until the scent registered as Masaru's and he stopped glaring at the three other Genin. He started to notice the slight throb in his arm and various other placed, but he took pleasure in watching the blonde haired Jounin restrain his still fighting apprentice.

The entire fight had lasted less then thirty seconds and caused several thousand dollars in damage.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Himiloh Izur, Oonishi Hachiro, Fukazawa Leiko, Kobayashi Arai, and his two teammates (whose names he hadn't learned) stood in the Raikages eyes. Izur wondered why his teammates were there and tried to ignore the burning feeling of his still throbbing wound.

"You six are a disgrace to the Kumogakure Village. A fight over a petty squabble such as that, ri-fucking-diculous. I should take all of your tittles away and give them to more honorable children."

Arai scoffed, and the Raikage whirled no him but before he could say anything Izur spoke up, suddenly fearing that his actions may have cost Hachiro and Leiko dearly. "Raikage-Sama, I beg forgiveness. Not for myself, for I have acted wrong but for dishonoring my teammates who have done nothing wrong. For they did not enter this petty brawl."

The emphasis on his last sentence was not lost on the Raikage and he turned on the youngest Genin glaring at him for a full minute before speaking again. "But neither did they attempt to restrain you when you attacked, either. And you had damned well better hope that this doesn't ruin the Marriage Proposal with Kirigakure either or I will have your head. Do you understand me?"

Izur froze momentarily, but nodded to the man. Not trusting his voice for fear that it may quaver in his sudden fear. "Good. Now onto business, you will all receive the customary fifty lashes for this. However you Izur and you two will get twenty five extra for the fight. And you Arai will get an extra fifty for provoking it."

The ending sentence had washed the smirk off of Arai's face; he'd seemed to think that he would get off without any extra. But no, the Raikage had gotten the entire conversation from the witnesses. And all were agreed that while Izur had thrown the first punch he had been provoked beyond all reasonable standards.

It wasn't until much later that Izur realized how lucky he was to have gotten away with so few.

Next Chapter: Of Removing Things
Chapter Overview: The team goes on their next set of missions, this time to a farm far away from the village. They'll have to do plenty of fun and intersting things. So stick in for the latest update in Shattered Dreams.