Life and death.
Two entirely different concepts, yet the two sides of the same coin. Neither can exist without the other – like Yin and Yang. One always has to balance the other. If there is no life, the world would be deserted. If there is no death, the world would be suffering from overpopulation. Once you are born, you march your fateful path, guiding you towards the inevitable – your death.
At least, that's how it's supposed to work.
For me, well, it didn't work out like this. I died, so that part at least worked, I guess? However, I didn't stay dead, obviously. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here on the top of the Yondaime's stone head, drawing down the words of my story.
Instead of dying, I had been reincarnated.
When I died, I didn't expect it at all. I didn't die per suicide or was on a ship that sunk. No, I died walking across the street. I still remember the day as clear as glass. It was a cold winter shortly before my seventeenth birthday, so I died at a very young age for the average of my old world. Dirty snow was covering the streets, white snow the houses and greenery and the sun was shining, blessing everyone with its icy rays. I was on my way to school, donning my favourite black coat. My death was quick and sudden, for both me and my… well, killer. It wasn't a very busy road, so I crossed it without looking like I did every day. A severe mistake, as it turned out afterwards.
That's where my memories became foggy. I remember feeling the pain of a hundred broken bones, I heard screaming and I saw the rippled silhouette of my best friend who was waiting for me as always. Then, everything became black.
Oddly enough, I have been reincarnated on a cold day as well, although it was during fall. I was reborn as Hyakutake Izanagi in Konoha General Hospital on the 29th November two years before the Kyuubi attacked Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. However, as trouble always does, I didn't come alone. Ten minutes later, my sister Izanami saw the light of life for the first time.
Not that I knew it back then – or even realised what had happened – but I had been reborn during the peak of the Third Great Shinobi War, shortly before its conclusion. Most of my barley existing memories of consisted of my kind, but often exhausted mother, sweet, but sometimes clingy twin sister and my caring, but often absent four-years-older brother Fūjin.
Father, being the clan head of our clan and a high ranking soldier in this military establishment, was absent during the war times, fighting in the frontlines. He made a name for himself during these days – Atsushi of the Body Switch. A name he would live up to for the rest of his life.
Mother never talked much back then, always busy doing chores, taking care of us or handling clan business in father's stead. There were times when she would be overwhelmed with paperwork, but she never once forgot about us. In retrospect, I think she struggled with balancing the responsibilities of a mother of three and being the clan matriarch – especially at such a young age. Which she handled beautifully, though.
As I already said before, I didn't remember much of my days as an infant. My brain was the same as that of any other child my age, regardless of my seventeen-year-old mind. It was blank, weak and too untrained to grasp complex thoughts or concepts. Mind and brain were not the same, after all, and most of what I knew, I was told by mother or Fūjin.
I bet this is some interesting information to you, isn't it, Yamanaka-san?
However, as time passed and I turned one, I slowly became more and more aware of my surroundings. Soon, I was able to see and hear properly again – not that I noticed that I couldn't before. Logically, I did what (hopefully) anyone would do after finding themselves in a somewhat familiar, yet unknown house. Explore. I crawled through our ridiculously large house, waddled in our back yard and fell into the pond at least thrice. Without mother's help, I undoubtedly would have died again – thrice.
I didn't know, didn't understand, yet what happened to me before. I felt that something strange was going on, that something wasn't quite right. But I couldn't figure out what. My hands were tiny, my height lacking and my motor skills bad – heck, I couldn't even do something as fundamental as speaking. However, all of that didn't stop me from relearning. Even when it was taxing, even when I threw a lot of temper tantrums because of that.
I have to admit, I was a horrible baby.
I began studying mother's and Fūjin's movements, how they were walking, speaking or doing other things I wasn't capable of yet. I observed Izanami as she began attempting to stand, using the walls as support. Then, I began intimidating them.
And soon, I learned. I started speaking my first, albeit mumbled words. To mother's delight, I said "haha-ue", and to Fūjin's amusement, I added "hungry" right after. I was able to stand, and a few hours later, I began walking. After finally relearning how to run, without falling, I often chased Izanami and Fūjin through the garden, giggling as the wind gently tickled my face.
It was a good time, at least until father unexpectedly came home.
His return was the first time, I realised that something was terribly wrong. That I wasn't in my safe, cosy home from Before anymore. Father's state when he returned was something that engraved itself into my memories and would stay for a very long while – the image haunts me at night, even today. After all, it was the first time I came into contact with the horrors of war.
Unfortunately, it also wouldn't be the last time.
Father was wearing his customised jōnin uniform, a standard dark-green vest, a black turtle neck with the Uchiha crest stitched in the right sleeve as a sign of friendship, a black three-quarter pants kept in place by bandages and black standard shinobi sandals. The ugly open-toed ones that kept killing my toes during winter – or in colder lands with snow. Metaphorically speaking, of course. (I do have to admit that the wide soles and stead halt of the shoes were practical… I just wasn't particularly fond of them.)
All this would've been fine, though. It would've looked like father came back from a typical high ranked mission if it wasn't for the gaping wound running from his right shoulder to his left waist. If it wasn't for the distressing amount of blood smeared all over his uniform and brown hair. If it wasn't for his tired, haunted green eyes and the relief on his face after he stormed inside. If it wasn't for the fact that he collapsed right after he found us all well and alive – or at least mother and Fūjin, I doubt he saw Izanami and me hidden underneath the low table.
It was a huge drama sorting out what just happened. Mother was shocked, standing around dumbly before finally being able to think clearly again, Fūjin was crying – it was the only time I ever saw him cry – and Izanami, bless her soul, was clinging onto me, oblivious like the innocent toddler she was.
Fortunately, it didn't take long to take father to the hospital. Aid had always been around, whether by our clansman or the Uchiha didn't matter – especially in times of war. However, even though our help reacted almost instantly, Fūjin's crying drew attention to our situation, the doctors said that it was almost too late. Had it taken us only a few minutes longer, he would've died from extreme blood loss. Fugaku and Uncle Kenta were livid – I'm sure even the Raikage heard them.
Father's return was also the trigger for my memories from Before to slowly return. Mostly, they came in the forms of dreams or déjà vu. Sometimes, I just knew them. I would wonder about something, a particular topic, and the answer would pop up in my head like it had always been present, waiting to be called upon. It was scary, but also really fascinating.
I also began remembering my life from before. My life as a normal student, having a normal family and normal friends, attending a normal college and driving a normal car. I remembered my simple but peaceful life, my kind but strict teachers.
But I didn't miss them.
They were mere ghostly strangers, not a physical memory haunting me at night. I lived in a new world with new surroundings. Surroundings I didn't connect to Before. I had no reason to truly miss them. Besides, I had a new family now, and they had already wormed their way into my heart – even father.
I didn't even look like my old self.
It was during one of the times I fell into the pond, that I was looking for a reflection that wasn't there. I hadn't known for what exactly I was looking for back then, but then, when the memory returned, I knew I was looking for the dull and ordinary, slender teenager with high cheekbones, brown eyes and brown hair. All I found, was the image of a small child with chubby cheeks, white, chin-length hair and piercing yellow eyes that were partly hidden behind bangs. The child had fair skin, paler than that of the Uchiha.
Later, I was told that Izanami and I inherited our mother's albinism and looks, although I had more of these genes than Izanami. It wasn't a hindrance per se, it only meant, that our bodies were weaker than average and that we had to wrap a thin layer of chakra around them to protect our skin from the sun while we were outside – task mother took care of until we were old enough to do it ourselves. Due to a lack of melanin – colour pigments – our skin was very sensitive to the sun, and exposing it could cause severe burns, skin cancer or even blindness.
It wasn't bad, medically at least, but I know that it bothered father a lot. Not because he was particularly worried about our health, but more because he was concerned about our clan's name and honour. Honour had always been something father valued above everything else. Maybe it was because of the way he was raised. I never had the chance to meet my grandparents, as both died during the war. Losing a fight, was in father's eyes the same as losing your face and therefore your honour. It was worse than death.
After all, dying for Konoha was honourable.
Looking back, I think it only worried father because he was the clan head of a clan that, back then, wasn't really respected or well-know. Also, he was very young, around twenty, when he had to take over the responsibilities of a leader. The only thing that made us a tiny bit dangerous was the fact that we were closely allied with the Uchiha clan. Not really a reason to be respected for, isn't it? Other than our alliance with the Uchiha, we had our dōjutsu. But even that was similar to the Yamanaka's mind jutsu that were, honestly, more terrifying.
Yet, there was a time when the Hyakutake were strongly feared – even among larger clans like the Uchiha and Senju themselves.
It all, though, was far in the past, long before Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama lived. We were in our prime, the clan counting at least a hundred savage members, frightening the clans in the Land of Fire. Elder Akifumi once told me that there was a reason we were feared, something that was connected to our kekkei genkai. However, even Elder Akifumi didn't know why, and he was older than Konoha herself.
I would later, much later, find out why, though. But, with every star, there comes a scar along.
Other legends told stories about Hyakutake Daiichi and his godly strength. Strength that allowed us to ally with the Uchiha. A friendship that lasted up to this day and was celebrated annually on the 1st January – our new year's eve so to say.
The first time I witnessed this celebration was later when I would be six years old. Four was the minimum age required to participate since it was the age we started our clan training – both the Uchiha and Hyakutake children. Some started later, some started earlier, but that was a rarity. Itachi and Fūjin were two of those who began earlier.
They also were close friends, thanks to our parent's close relationship. Mother was always visited by the Uchiha matriarch Mikoto (or visited her). Mikoto was a lovely woman, with fair skin, black eyes and midnight hair. Whenever she was around, Itachi was too. He was a cute child with black eyes and raven hair. However, he and Fūjin were always busy, so I hardly ever had the chance to talk to him.
But that was okay. I had my lovely twin sister, after all.
Soon, my second year in Konoha was about to come to an end, and the dreaded 10th October stood around the corner.
It was another vivid memory burned in my brain. Another one to haunt me in my dreams, causing me to wake up soaked in sweat every other night.
We were home alone, Fūjin, Itachi, Izanami, three-month-old Sasuke and I, mother and Mikoto were out in the market buying vegetables, fruits, sticky rice flour and meat for our joint dinner, when a deafening, deep roar resounded.
It was dark outside. But when the first signs of the malicious nine-tailed fox showed up, the world was burning. Orange lights were pouring through the window, and the air was thick, so thick I choked on it several times. Everyone was panicking, screaming and yelling. No one knew what was going on. And neither did we. Yet, Fūjin and Itachi picked us up. Sasuke was strapped into a sling, and Izanami and I were carried, sitting on our brother's hip.
Despite their young age, they were more reliable than adults.
Itachi navigated us successfully through the masses of panicky civilians, all the way towards the shelters hidden in the mountains. Sasuke and Izanami were wailing loudly enough to cover my sobs. I was shaking like aspen leaves, strangling my older brother as he tried his best to save us from the calamity surrounding us.
Then I made the mistake of looking behind us and what I saw momentarily silenced the world around me. Time seemed to have stopped as I regarded the giant beast of at least two hundred metres towering above the wall that was supposed to keep us safe.
Konoha was supposed to be safe.
The Kyuubi was terrifying, malicious, evil. Despite all the 170,000 words that exist, I can't string enough words together to describe the terror I felt back then.
I remember that I stopped crying when I saw the glowing red eyes, bright as the fire surrounding the Kyuubi, the giant white fangs being exposed as he snarled and when I felt his chakra filled with nothing but hatred.
I didn't even notice that we had arrived at the shelter, too captivated by fear and the beast destroying our home. Only the humming of my brother broke me out of my trance. "… snow melts into a stream," he sang silently, audible to only the five of us. "and turns green in the beech forest…"
I closed my eyes, focusing on my brother's calming voice and trying to shut off everything else. Surprisingly it worked. I could feel my rapid heartbeat slowly but steadily calm down, I could feel my uneven, flat breaths turn into deeper and regular breathing and I could feel my eyelids become more and more heavy with each passing second until I finally fell asleep.
When I woke up in the middle of the next day, the terror was gone. All that reminded us of the disaster was the sheer destruction the fox demon left behind and the lack of the Yondaime.
We were fortunate to make it out of the misery without losing anyone from our immediate families.
The Kyuubi's attack was also the final push I needed to take my situation seriously and to finally, finally open my eyes. It was a very nasty eye-opening, though.
I began pestering mother and occasionally father, who would say no and return to his work, to train me or to teach me how to read. After all, this was a completely new language with a whole new writing system. Japanese – it wasn't called Japanese per se, it actually had no name at all, but it was easier to have a name to refer it to – consisted of three alphabets. Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. Katakana were used to write foreign words, mostly from Chinese, Korean or English. Hiragana was the alphabet introduced and created by monks, so every civilian in Japan could write and read. Kanji were mainly used by royalty, as they were the only ones privileged enough to write and read them. At least, that's how it was in Before.
Here? Here I had no idea how the writing system was established. It just existed, and everyone knew how to use it correctly. There were no records or notes whatsoever that explained how they discovered or created this language so very similar to Japanese. It just appeared someday, and nobody questioned it.
Most of the time, I would end up asking mother to read one of my many child books to me, and I would run over the words, following her with my finger as I tried to connect the correct Kanji to the sounds. It was a challenging task, but I very much wanted to be able to read again, and I wanted to achieve something.
However, just when I managed to read and was ready to tell father, I was once again shown how much I was behind – especially in terms of combat skill which I really needed.
Fūjin graduated from the academy, at the age of six.
Of course, it was celebrated grandly. Father invited dozens of people, everyone he knew, ranging from our clansman to the Uchiha and to even the Sandaime. But father also had to invite the other clan heads as well, just for the purpose of boasting.
While it would've discouraged and frustrated Before-me, After-me wasn't. On the contrary, it only motivated me to work even harder. After all, my goal of being able to survive and to achieve exceptional strength as soon as possible wasn't impossible – Fūjin was the living proof. Time was something I was desperate for this time around, as I seemed to lack lots of it. The years until 'canon' would start weren't enough.
But what did I had to prepare for?
Throughout 'canon', Konoha had been invaded at least twice, with the first invasion taking place only half a year after 'canon' started. Then, there were all the ridiculously strong antagonists like Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Obito, Orochimaru, and so forth – all S-Rank and higher. Of course, there was also the Akatsuki, the main antagonistic force that the Konoha Twelve faced, Kabuto and dozens of people whose names I forgot. However, as I went through these facts in my head, I only had one thought. I have to become S-rank.
So, I finally began my research.
I urged mother to take me to the library, where I would spend hours upon hours every day, reading, learning and understanding. I stumbled over the words at first, having to ask the librarian to help me countless of times, but as I fought my way through all the books, it became easier after every new one. I read books about history, which was incredibly short, as records didn't go past the age of the Sage of the Six Paths. But it wasn't the only topic I researched.
I needed a plan, and for that, I needed to know what possibilities I had.
For me, there were three paths I could follow, one more dangerous than the other.
For one, and that was the path everyone around me expected me to take, to want to take, I could become a shinobi. Easy and simple and probably the safest route too, paradoxically.
Then, there was the possibility of me acting incapable of using chakra and therefore being unable to become a shinobi. If I were to take this path, I could either become a politician and work my way up to become the Fire Daimyo or become a normal civilian with normal everyday problems and a normal occupation, just like in Before.
However, the path as a civilian also brought two significant problems along. First of all, father would immediately take me to the hospital and have me checked up. Spare heir or not, albinism or not, father did not tolerate lies. His second son acting like he couldn't use chakra despite being in a shinobi clan – treason. It would also end up with me living in the streets or in an orphanage.
For the path of me becoming the Daimyo, well, I wasn't interested in politics and with the number of Daimyo's that died in the past… no, thank you very much. I could do without.
So, attending the academy, it was. However, even as a shinobi, there were several dozen options of fields I could specialise in.
I could become an academy teacher, I could guard the archive library, I could work in the aviary, I could become a medic-nin, I could work in the T , I could become part of the police force, I could work at the mission assignment desk, or I could work in Konoha's prison. But, I could also become a field ninja and specialise in either becoming a jōnin, field-medic, seal master, poison specialist, a sensor, a genjutsu specialist, a weapons master or a front line bowler, using nin- and taijutsu.
However, I didn't want to decide that just now, after all, there was no way to already know where my strengths and weaknesses lay. But, I did know that specialising on taijutsu would be very, very difficult. Even mother said so when she found me reading a book about different taijutsu styles.
Another crucial fact for my survival was not only strength but also information. However, seeing that I was living in a world with no internet and google, where shinobi were not willing to share information (the secret, crucial and dangerous kind), I had to establish my own system to gather intelligence.
I had to set up my own spy system.
Having a spy system was probably the safest bet to obtaining the right information when I needed it, because, while I had my 'foreknowledge' I was not foolish enough to blindly trust it. After all, in canon, my clan and I had not existed, yet here we were, living and breathing.
And while Konoha had her spy system, Jiraiya made sure of that, I wouldn't get any information from him unless I was Hokage. Something I definitely didn't want to try to do. For one, the ridiculous amount of paperwork and second, who would want to be responsible for every single life in a large village like this? Not me.
So while I was preparing for the first step of my plan, to become a genin, and polishing the details, it was a few months before my fourth birthday, that I realised I missed one crucial aspect.
Chakra.
Despite my amounts of research based on chakra, I completely forgot to train my chakra control. Something easy to achieve, even without instructors.
I was such an idiot.
It was something I immediately had to change, so I toddled outside and sat down underneath the not-blooming Sakura tree. I grabbed the nearest leaf and put in on my forehead. Naturally, it immediately fell down.
I deadpanned, glaring at the leaf before changing into the lotus from, crossing my legs.
Time to find my chakra.
I closed my eyes, the sun pouring through my eyelids, turning my vision orange. I focused on… well, it was hard to describe.
My chakra was just there, waiting to be used. Controlling it was natural. It wasn't like driving a car that sagged at every second traffic light, it wasn't like catching a crazed horse, and it wasn't like ignoring a cat chasing a mouse in the middle of the night. No. It was like floating in the water on a hot summer day, it was like riding a skateboard on a free highway, and it was like attacking a fire Pokémon with a water attack. It was a part of me and willing to do what I want it to do. When I reached for it, it responded. Wherever I ordered it to go, it moved there. Whether it was my forehead, arms, feet or random places like my elbows. It was willing to move, ready to do what I wanted it to. Which made sense as it was a part of me, so why would it reject me?
Chakra itself was hard to explain too.
It was a form of life energy and the combination of Yin and Yang – spiritual and physical energy. But what else was chakra? For me, it was always there. It was constantly present. Chakra was like a second blood system; only it wasn't pumping blood through your veins but pure caffeine. It was warm and comforting, but also awakening and energising. And sometimes, although only very rarely, chakra was bleak and repulsing.
Now that I finally had a good grasp of chakra control within my body, I started to stick myself to everything and everything to myself. I used not only leaves, though, but everything that I could reach. What, as a toddler, wasn't much. I used my clothes, paper, pens and even books. Each texture had different fabrics and patterns, so I had to adjust the amount of chakra each time. But I quickly worked myself through each, and it was working well. So good even, that little ignorant me though it was a good idea to start walking up walls. It sounded like an excellent idea at the time.
Needless to say, I suffered from chakra exhaustion the first time.
Mother arrived in time, again. I think she had a sixth sense for us – especially me – always in time to save the day.
As a result, from my stupidity, she forbade me from trying to walk up walls again until I had my own sensei to supervise me.
While I was stuck in the hospitals for a few days, the doctors wanted to make sure I was recovering well, I overheard two shinobi talking about the use of chakra strings. So, the first thing that came to my mind was to try creating them. They were quite useful, actually. Not only to use them in combat but also to reach for things farther away.
They weren't hard to create, just hard to manipulate. Especially when I used more than one. At first, I always confused which chakra string from what finger was attached to what, leading me to destroy several furniture items in the room. Fortunately, father covered the costs.
I was, as the Nara would say, a troublesome child.
After being released from the hospital, mother made it her first priority to drop me off in the library every morning, in hopes of me finding a new topic that interested me. Which I did… but not right after. Instead, I used the different books to train my chakra string coordination. I attached them, by flinging the string at the goal object, to all kinds of books, thin and light ones or thick and heavy ones, and pulled them towards myself. Something I immediately noticed, was the fact that some books needed more force to move and others needed less… much less. The first time I yanked a book to me, it kissed my head.
Soon, I also learned that I could pull me towards something. For example, if I stood on the ground and attached the chakra strings to the wall, I could shorten the length and pull myself up. However, swinging from house to house proved to be difficult, as they were too small. In the woods, it didn't work because there were too many trees and on a mission, it would be a hindrance to my future teammates. However, I was satisfied enough with being able to have my own swing.
A few days after my fourth birthday, I finally, finally started the clan training Fūjin, and Izanami babbled about all those years. Although Fūjin talked about it only to tease us, and Izanami because of excitement.
It was also the day, I met Kenta-oji for the first time. Before, I had heard about him only in tales and gossip from mother and her friends. They talked greatly about Kenta-oji, my father's younger brother, and praised his skills. Superficially, I always assumed that he was just like father; arrogant, cold and dismissive. But he wasn't. Kenta-oji was the exact opposite of my father.
He was a blessing.
"So, what do you wanna learn first?" Kenta-oji asked on Izanami's and my first training session. Our answers were completely different.
"Seals," Izanami said excitedly.
"Ninjutsu," I replied at the same time, clapping enthusiastically.
"How 'bout we start with the basics first?" Kenta-oji interfered, staring at us unamused. I could swear, I saw his eyebrow twitching.
Our excitement, though, was gone as quickly as it appeared.
Now that my days were also filled with hours of clan training, time seemed to pass even faster, and suddenly, Fūjin's first Chūnin Exams were around the corner. Since they took place in Konoha, we attended the third round.
We were sitting in the first row in the stand next to the Kage's stand. Around us were the other clan heads and partly their families. I sat between Izanami and the now two-year-old Sasuke. Just like the rest of my family, I was dressed in a formal Yukata.
In front of us, were the four last participants of the Exams, an unusual number. (Still surprising for the first exam after a full-out war like this.) Most of the times, there were still eight participants left. This year, however, it were only my brother, a shinobi from Sunagakure no Sato, a Kirigakure no Sato kunoichi and an Uchiha.
"It's Tenmaku-itoko," Sasuke exclaimed excitedly. Then his expression faltered, and he quietly asked about the whereabouts of Itachi.
"Academy," I whispered, feeling a bit guilty. Sasuke adored his older brother a lot… adored may be a bit weak, though, he was idolising him. It was unhealthy and bound with a rude awakening. But I did nothing about it. Mainly because I was selfish. If I were to be able to somehow sabotage his relationship with Itachi, I would always be the reason why. And that was something I didn't want. So I decided to rather live with guilt for now, instead of Sasuke's hatred for the rest of my life.
We all know what happens when Sasuke hates someone.
"Everyone but the fighters, please retreat to your waiting area," the Konoha-nin said, winking the girl from Kiri and Fūjin forwards.
Automatically, I stood up and walked to the railing, hoping to be as close to the fighting as possible. When I couldn't see past the metal bar in front of my face, I decided that it was finally time for my new skill to shine. I created three chakra strings, attaching them to the bars before I hopped onto them. Now I could finally see properly. The best thing about chakra strings? They hardly used any chakra.
"Are you ready?" he asked again. "Begin!"
As I was watching the participants first moves, Fūjin was watching the Kiri-girl who was jumping back, someone was tugging on my Yukata. "Wanna watch too," Izanami said, pointing at my little construct. I moved a bit to the side and helped her up. Smiling, she held my hand while leaning onto me. "Fūjin-niisama is the best," she then added.
"He is," I agreed absently, focusing on the match. It was a good chance to learn.
The Kiri-girl ran through a few hand seals and started exhaling mist from her mouth. It became thicker and thicker until I couldn't see anything anymore.
Hiding in Mist Technique, I thought amazed. It took a lot of chakra to create a thick mist like this, especially without a water source to generate the mist from.
Every now and then, I could hear metal clashing. Then, the air became static, and a bit later, the mist was blown away.
It was in that moment in that the Kiri-girl and a clone both equipped with a sword, attacked Fūjin, who was standing in the middle of the arena, wielding two kunai. I scoffed. Of course, she also knows how to use a katana.
"Is he okay?" Izanami asked, clenching my hand tighter as she stared at me with wide eyes. "I don't like her," she then said, glaring daggers at the older girl.
"He will," said I, tugging her closer to me. Trying to reassure her, I added, "It's not a real battle."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Izanami cuddled closer to me, burying her face in the crook of my neck. I was sure that she was still watching, though. She was curious like that.
Down in the arena, Fūjin deflected both of his opponent's attacks, and as much as I'd like to say with ease, it was clear that he struggled quite a lot. For one, he was at least five years younger, so he lacked strength, and despite all his genius, he had only been a genin for a year, so he also lacked experience.
However, he seemed to have a plan, as he started throwing kunai in various random corners of the battlefield. Some, he even threw against the walls. The girl didn't seem to have noticed that something was going on, as she kept attacking frontally. I squeezed my eyes, trying to figure out what he was doing, but I couldn't find anything.
"He is using wire strings," Fugaku said in the same moment, almost as if he was able to read my thoughts.
"Wire strings?" I asked, confused.
"He uses them to corner his enemy," Fugaku explained briefly.
"Are they difficult to learn?" I inquired, turning to him.
"No."
I thanked him quickly, Fugaku was a bit scary – tall and intimidating – back then, before turning my attention back onto the fight. Just as Fugaku predicted, the Kiri-girl couldn't attack as freely as before. Instead, she was now trying to work her way around the wire strings scattered around the field. However, Fūjin didn't stop there. He was now attacking her, while at the same time continuing to spread kunai.
Just when she seemed to have found a way out of his maze, she completely stopped moving.
Fūjin then ran through a set of hand seals. He enveloped himself with bright lightning chakra, before emanating powerful bolts of electricity from the palms of his hands. The bolts hit the Kiri-girl, but instead of just one clone dispelling, two did.
In the same moment, the Kiri-girl appeared behind him and trapped him in a water sphere.
Nasty.
However, Fūjin too dispelled, leaving behind an open, confused opponent. Just as she was about to disappear, a lightning hound rushed through the arena, its tail connected to the tree on the other side of the arena, where Fūjin was seemingly hidden. The hound hit the girl, hurling her through the air. When she landed again, Fūjin was waiting for her, her katana in his hands.
"Winner," the Konoha-nin announced, "Hyakutake Fūjin."
The arena burst into a loud, cheering applause.
Fūjin turned towards the Kage stands, before politely bowing and returning to the participant's area. On his way out, he looked up to us and waved. Izanami enthusiastically waved back, before hugging me tightly. "Fūjin-niisama is the best!" she repeated.
I just nodded, smiling proudly. That he is.
The fight between Tenmaku and the Suna-boy was over quickly, as Tenmaku trapped him in a strong genjutsu and then knocked him out. There was approbation too, but not as loud as the one for Fūjin. Probably because it wasn't as flashy.
Then it was the final round, Fūjin vs Tenmaku.
As in the rounds before, they stood in the middle of the arena, opposing each other. However, unlike before, they both formed a half-tiger seal and held their hands at eye-height. I would later recognise it as the seal of confrontation, the traditional way of starting a friendly spar.
Tenmaku opened the battle with the Uchiha trademark jutsu, the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. However, instead of a solid spherical shape, the fire resembled an uncontrolled wildfire, hot and furious.
"He lacks focus," Fugaku said matter-of-factly.
"Hn," father said, I wasn't sure whether he was agreeing to or just acknowledging Fugaku's words.
Fūjin countered Tenmaku's fire with a lightning jutsu and rushed forwards, Bō in his hands. He struck after Tenmaku several times, forcing the Uchiha to retreat. Fūjin instantly threw kunai after him, but Tenmaku reflected them.
Tenmaku then jumped back again, before casting another fire jutsu. This time, he spat a volley of small fireballs into the air, this time he seemed to have his jutsu under control.
Fūjin instantly escaped by jumping back, however, while the fireballs were fading, he ran through a set of hand seals, summoning the lightning hound from his first battle again. The hound zick-zacked across the arena at an incredible pace. Tenmaku instantly jumped in the air, escaping the hound by the skin of his teeth.
Just as he stood on solid ground again, Fūjin was already in front of him, engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Tenmaku didn't seem to have any problems, dodging Fūjin's attacks effortlessly.
"He recently activated his Sharingan," Fugaku stated with a boasting lilt to his otherwise monotonous voice.
"Congratulations," father said, his voice equally flat.
Tenmaku now switched from defence to offence, and just as he was about to take over, two kunai appeared from both sides. He was forced to defence once again, as two shadow clones appeared, assisting the original Fūjin. The Uchiha stood no chance against three Fūjin, and the battle was soon decided.
"Winner," the Konoha-nin announced once again. "Hyakutake Fūjin."
Right after the announcement, Fūjin collapsed due to chakra exhaustion.
"Tsk," Fugaku said, before congratulating father on Fūjin's close win.
After the Chūnin Exams and Fūjin promotion to chūnin, nothing exciting happened.
At least not until father announced that Izanami and I would be attending the academy at age five and not at four as Fūjin did. Mother instantly agreed, wanting us to enjoy our childhood more.
I protested, of course, why shouldn't I start as soon as possible too? Father objected, though.
"No," he stated firmly. "I decided that you will not."
"Why?" I yelled, shocking everyone at the table. I never showed my distaste before, always doing what my parents wanted me to, even when I didn't like it.
"Because you're weak," father said coldly. "Now go to bed. You're an eyesore."
"Fine," I spat, spinning around and stalking back to my room where I threw the door shut.
To say that I was angry, was an understatement. I was outright livid – and hurt, but that didn't matter at that moment. All I wanted then, was to let my anger out, but before I could destroy anything within my reach, someone wrapped his arms around me and embraced me in a tight hug.
"… young maidens, lovelier than the flowers," he sang quietly. It was the same song he sang on the day the Kyuubi attacked. "pledge their love in the beech forest…"
Once again, I could slowly feel myself calm down.
"Young one, soak your feet in the green water," I started to sing along, ignoring the single tear pouring down my cheek. "Run like the deer, and kiss the maiden's hair before the flowers wilt…"
.
The song is called "Buna no Mori de", and it's sung by Nezumi from the anime No.6. Maybe someone recognised it? xD
Anyways, thanks for reading and please leave some reviews. They would help me improve! C: