Struggles
Iruka's class ended there first year rather well if he said so himself. All of the clan heirs stood out of course but a lot of the civilian children were showing very promising potential. As well as the village scapegoat becoming a budding fuinjutsu master. They learned the basics of the world and how to survive in the wilderness. Mizuki was saying that all the students in the class were more physically fit than previous years. All the clan heir males except Shikamaru Nara had leg and arm weights as well as some civilian children. The ones who had the most weight were Naruto, Kiba, Sasuke and Choji, they were by far the most physically fit in the whole class. Naruto being the fastest by far but not too far behind Sasuke and Choji in the strength department. While the girls had Hinata as the clear front runner, Ino was right behind her. The class had one month off before they had to return for the start of year two. As Iruka walked in the class he could hear the low drawl of everyone's mixed conversations.
"The old man made me run up trees the whole month! But hey, I can walk on trees now and.."
"Me and my dad made this new barbeque recipe and it was soo…."
"My favorite flower plant died over the month so daddy bought me a new pair of shoes."
"A blonde lady wanted to see my brother. I think it could have been a date but I am not sure."
"Alright class, settle down." Iruke said in a slightly loud voice to get everyone's attention. He counted the seconds until it got quiet. It never did. "I said SETTLE DOWN." He had to yell out with his famous Ōkina atama no Jutsu. This time everyone shut up in their seats. "This year we will focus on ken and taijutsu. If you hail from a clan that already has a taijutsu kata or just has a form already please raise your hand." He counted everyone who had a hand up. Sasuke, Kiba, Chouji, Hinata, Dachi and surprising Emiko also raised her hand. "Ok then, everyone else who didn't raise their hand will have a one on one discussion with Mizuki to discuss a taijutsu style for them. The rest of us will study chakra theory and hand seals with Sekko-sensei." There was a little groaning but everyone paid rapt attention to the discussion at hand. First one called up was Shino.
In a separate room
"Okay Shino I have a very good idea for you, as for your stance we will stick with the basic Academy stance that could be advanced later if needed. The important part is the grappling, I believe if you focus on locking techniques and holds it will be easier and quicker to attach your bugs to your opponent. Incorporating your main strength as well as forcing your opponent into submission." Mizuki read off his paper since he made a plan for everyone including students he thought probably were taught taijutsu. Just in case. Shino was slightly shocked and it showed. Even his parents told him straight up that their clan was not suited for close range, they were mid range fighters that excelled in tracking and espionage. Shino has always wanted to beat that stigma and this man would help him do it. "Thank you Mizuki-sensei, this will help a lot."
"Your very welcome Shino-kun, will you please send Shikamru in next." Shino nodded and left the adjacent room. A few minutes later the pineapple haired boy walked in.
"Can I just sleep for a minute and you can tell Iruka-sensei you gave me a taijutsu scroll or whatever." Lazily drawing out while sitting down in front of Mizuki's desk. "Unfortunately I can not do that because I will be in trouble and so will you in the future. Lucky for you the style I fit for you is incredibly defensive. Since you hail from a family of tactical genesis and displayed that last year in the Hide and Hunt game this style will give you time to think while leaving little to no openings. When they do get close you will utilize deflecting and blocking as well as minimal dodging. This will supplement your offense by landing devastating counters while keeping your stamina high, making you very hard to defeat." Finished with a smile seeing Shikamaru slowly put the pieces of a puzzle Mizuki put in front of him. Then it hit Shikamaru like a ton of bricks.
"I see you figured it out, this will also let you be physically 'lazily' in battle. I figured it fit you" Mizuki finished with a cheeky smile. The black haired boy nodded thankful to his sensei for doing this. Then sent the next person into the room.
A few students later Naruto Uzumaki's name was called, luckily this time he wasn't last. He walked into the room and sat in front of the blue haired man's desk. They locked eyes for a second and the young boy saw them, those eyes he saw so much but as fast as they appeared they disappeared. Locked away behind those professional brown eyes. Kid be damned, he wasn't going to let his 'dislike' for the boy ruin this paycheck for teaching. It was quite a sum.
"Alright Naruto, physically you're a monster. Being the fastest and one of the strongest in the class is an incredible feat in itself. Having such good reflexes will bolster your physical attributes. So you will be taking on one of the most physically demanding styles." He finished while shuffling through his papers to make sure everything was right.
"This is called boxing." While showing several forms to Naruto. Amazed that there was no kicking involved in this style. "The first thing you probably saw was that there was no use of knee or leg strikes but that doesn't mean you don't use your legs. You will use your feet as anchors to launch deveasting haymakers and uppercuts. I will personally add some leg kicks that aim at your opponents legs, this will slow them down and give you ample opportunity to pick them apart while they get slower. The main use of your feet will be moving swiftly and shuffling around opponents strikes to land quick and precise jabs. Dodging and deflecting blows while moving in to shatter any semblance of form. This relies heavily on precision to make sure you land your hits since if you miss you will almost for sure overextend, because you're putting so much power into your blows but with your incredible reaction time as well as your speed you can utilize this style's full potential with minimal drawbacks. Only if you keep training your speed and reactions. 'Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee' is what the greatest boxer of all time used to say, and it described boxing quite well." Mizuki could still see the scepticism in the child's eyes and allowed a smirk to rest on his face. Kicks and knee strikes had their own benefits but in reality if it came down to a fight it didn't matter how it got done, as long as it got done. As soon as you start swinging everything changes, you forget everything except the simplest things that you drilled into your head. Boxing was easy compared to Karate or Jiu Jitsu, it was almost purely instinctual. Sure you could train to increase your reaction time or the power of your blows but that would just increase your natural ability. When you're up shit creek you at least want a paddle, in this case Naruto's paddle would be his fists as unfortunate as that would be for him. Then a story he heard came into his mind, this would convince the child.
"Since boxing is a civilian sport no chakra is used to enhance the blows, naturally this would make them weaker than even Genin but the same person who I just quoted beat a fully fledged Chunin in a taijutsu battle. That is the power of boxing." Naruto's eyes wided immediately, to hear someone without chakra beat a CHUNIN was insane. The difference between chakra users and someone who doesnt is night and day. It made six year olds strong enough to overpower grown men, and someone beat an experienced chakra user without any making this style instantly the best to Naruto. "Thank you Mizuki-sensei, I will be the greatest boxer of all time dattebayo!" He almost yelled out and for a second, he caught a glimpse of Mizuki's eyes and they weren't full of disdain but full of amusement and almost affection, almost. They instantly turned back into those hard professional eyes but Naruto saw it. This deepend the little ball of sunshines own beliefs, and while leaving with scroll in hand he heard Mizuki-sensei call out to bring in Sakura next.
Naruto walked back into the classroom tapped on the pink haired girl's shoulder and whispered to her that she was next. He sat next to Sasuke and started to unravel his scroll. He was looking at the different pictures of what looked like different ways to dodge and move around. First thing to learn was how to make sure you didn't get punched. Sasuke peeked over for a quick second to see what his friend was looking at. He recognized that it was boxing but why did Naruto have a scroll about boxing. "Hey dobe, why do you have a scroll about boxing? That's for civilians." A little arrogance crept into his voice, there was no need for him to learn how a civilian fought. He was a ninja.
"Well the best boxer ever beat a fully fledged Chunin with boxing so imagine what I could do with it. I'm gonna be totally awesome." Naruto whispered back to Sasuke since they were in the middle of a lecture with Sekko-sensei at the helm. Sasuke's eyes opened to an impossible degree, that was mind boggling. "No way!" he shot back instantly. "Mhm, Mizuki-sensei told me so." Naruto replied smugly.
"He was saying that to make you feel better by having a lame taijutsu style." Sasuke whispered fiercely, chakra is what made a ninja and for one to lose to someone without it felt... Wrong.
"Believe what you want, teme. But I'll kick your ass to the moon and back to prove it to you." Naruto whispered just as fiercely.
"Naruto and Sasuke, in the back, do you have anything to say for the class?" Sekko-sensei said with an annoyed tone and look. Ohh they messed up getting his attention.
"No Sekko-sensei!" They both said at the same time, nobody wanted to get on his bad side.
"Good then sit down and pay attention to the lesson. This might be useful." He returned to the board to explain chakra circulation and how it empowers the body. Thankfully his lesson was up and it was Iruka-sensei's turn to teach. "Alright class, everyone here has a style of taijutsu that we will practice but that in all honesty you should almost never use strait taijutsu in fight." Everyone had their head perked up and was paying attention. They never heard of something like this. "Whenever you enter a fight, willing or unwilling, you should always use a weapon. A weapon can make up the gap between skill level and add something that fist and kicks cannot not. It adds fear, no man is immune to fear and everyone fears death. Your mind can conquer this fear but your body will never truly be able to. They will be slightly more cautious, a hair slower. Giving you that fraction of a second to react. Only time you will not use a weapon is if it hinders you in a tight space, you can't retrieve it safely. If it's knocked out of your hand or if it's broken. Then you will use taijutsu. With that said you will now pick a weapon to study and learn, do not worry you can change later and you will have the rest of this week to feel out the weapons. So no need to feel rushed, when it comes to learning kenjutsu and taijutsu we will alternate every week. It will be up to you to keep pace and study on your own on whichever we are not coving in school. Now lets go pick some weapons." Iruka finished with a smile. Every child wants to use a weapon, not matter the circumstance. The children either cheered or smiled and followed the instructor out of the room.
They wound up in a large gymnasium with several of each type of weapon layed out. A Lot of the children went instantly to the katanas and tantos, they were most famous after all. Naurto of course was one of the first at the table but when he held it in hands it didn't feel as cool. "Can't hold it or something?" Kiba barked at him. "Nah I just want something cooler than a regular old sword." Naruto said back while leaving the station to look at other weapon selections. Kiba thought about it and decided to also be unique. What nine year old didn't want to be cool and unique, eh? Sasuke seemed to take to the tanto like a fish to water. Almost as if he used one before and with a firm nod he put the tanto back into its holster. He held onto it and told Iruka that he wanted to use it. Iruka proceeded to write it down and Sasuke sat down on the bleachers and waited for all the other kids to pick something. The Hyuga heir was far too gentle to use a weapon that looked lethal, she shied away from the swords, sickles and even the axes that Kiba was eyeing. She looked at a weapon called a Yawara, it was a small metal stick that had grooves for each of the fingers. When held, about two or three inches stuck out. Some had sharpened ends but she chose one that was blunted. She told Iruka that she found her weapon and went to sit on the bleachers as well. Daichi went with a heavy bo-staff, Ayumi stuck with a traditional katana and Emiko went with a kama, which was a sickle. Kiba came to Iruka with his unique feral smile, hiding behind his back the weapon he chose. "Kiba, may I ask what weapon you chose?"
He pulled out a Ono, a simple hatchet but for some reason it just seemed to fit the feral boy too well. "Tadaa! How bout this for unique, eh!" He all but shouted. Who honestly thought this was a good idea? Iruka just smiled and wrote it down while directing Kiba to the bleachers with the other students. He just gave a wolfish smile and started talking to Hinata about what she got.
"Why did you get sucha boring one?" Kiba questioned the young heir.
"Ano-o it fits my fam-m-ily's taijut-t-su style." She managed to stutter out. Kiba just kept asking questions without getting the hint that Hinata maybe didn't want to talk. Shikamaru and Choji choose their weapons at the same time. Choji weant with a wooden Kanabo that had iron studs at the end of it. Shikamaru went with a simple tanto since anything more would be too, "troublesome". Ino didn't like any of these 'manly' weapons but she saw in the corner of the gym a quiet 'lady like' weapon. "Ino, what type of wea-" and before he could even finish his sentence Ino flicked her wrist and started to fan herself with a Gunsen in each hand. They were war fans made out of lighter steel that had an razors edge along the top of each fan. "The only weapon a lady should have of course." She stated in a less than ladylike fashion while she started walking toward the bleachers. Iruka just hoped she would kind of grow out of it but they are kids, so for now let them be. Shino might not show it but he was the biggest fan boy of the third Hokage. From having the longest reign as a kage to the nickname of The Professor, he could only aspire to be as legendary as the third. So his first step was his choice of weapon.
"Ah Shino, I see you picked a very sensible weapon in the bo-staff." Iruka complimented him on his pick. "It gives me longer reach as well as having a different way to release my beetles." Shino deducted without revealing his 'secret'. Sakura a few moments later went with a more uncommon choice in a katana. Its longer reach, heavier weight made it less appealing for ninja, especially a kunoichi. A weird benefit that was also a negative was its longer reach like a bo-staff but with more of a dangerous edge to it. She told Iruka what the weapon was and sat next to her best friend Ino who was fanning herself . "Ino-pig what lame weapon did you pick?" She all but demanded. "Well forehead I picked the only weapon that a lady should have." While fanning herself a little harder to show what she got. "I didn't want to have such a brutishe weapon like some people." Eyeing Sakura and Chouji who she thought just had a big stick with metal at the end.
"Keep it down annoying women, some people are trying to sleep." The boy with pineapple shaped hair magend to drawl out.
"The only person who wants to sleep is you, besides it would be faster if SOMEONE would hurry up." Emphasizing someone to make sure he heard. The boy in question was a fellow blond who just ignored her. This was the biggest decision of his short lived life, everyone else be damned. Then it caught his eye, the sickle was the first thing that seemed cool to him but that wasn't enough to convince him until he saw a chain connected to the end. There were different widths of chains, he didn't want a thick, slow and clunky chain. The thinner one that had more flexibility as well as being lighter so it went faster. Naruto was all about speed so with his choice he went to Iruka and showed him the weapon he chose. "A interesting choice Naruto, the Kusarigama is unique even amongst weapons. Very few ninjas use weapons with chains or strings attached, most notable were Madara Uchiha with his Gunbai as well as the Nuibari wielded by one of the Seven Swordsmen of the mist." That was all Naruto had to hear about his new weapon to confirm his choice. He sat next to Sasuke to gloat about his new weapon, since his was a two for one. Before Sasuke could retaliate Iruka cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"Surprisingly everyone picked a weapon today so tomorrow you will all receive a scroll on how to use your weapon. We do not have style for you but we can teach you how to keep you and your teammates safe when using your preferred weapon. When you grow older you will develop your own style of use for your weapon and if you find out it doesn't suit you, it's always ok to change. After we hand you your scrolls tomorrow its up to you to study them for the first week since we will practice taijutsu to get everyone's 'feet wet' in the physical part of the school year. Just be safe when using these weapons outside of our or an experienced shinobis supervision. That's all for today you all can go home." He disappeared in a Shunshin no jutsu that left some of the kids star struck. Sasuke had something else on his mind, "Hey dobe, you willing to practice tai and kenjutsu after school some days?" Sasuke asked while scratching the back of his head. He was a proud Uchiha asking this no name to spar and practice with him.
"Be able to kick your ass in AND out of school?! Hell yeah!" Naruto responded immediately. Shikamaru caught the conversation. "Let's test that theory later today then, follow me back to the compound. We have a training ground back there." So with that the duo left hyping up the epic battle that was sure to ensue.
"Hey Shika wanna go get lunch?" A… big boned boy asked Shikamaru.
"Troublesome, yea lets go. School makes me hungry and sleepy." The secret genesis told his friend.
"Sakura, my mom got some new flowers in. Let's go check them out before they sell out." Ino told her pink haired friend who just nodded and started chatting on the way to the store.
"Hey Shino, Hinata! Since tomorrow we start practicing taijutsu I finally got my dog, ya wanna come see?" They could tell the excitement was hardly being restrained since he got a weapon and was going to get a new dog so they agreed. They had to run to keep up with the feral boy.
Withe Choji and Shikamaru
"Choji, what do you think of Naruto?" Shikamaru asked while cooking his beef. They were at a Akamachi owned restaurant. "Naruto? He's fast,very fast. Kinda loud but he is cool for the most part. Why ya askin?" He finished by filling up on BBQ. "Just curious, ya know. I've seen him walking with Hokage-sama around the village. Didn't know if you knew anything about him." Choji just nodded his head, he's seen the peculiar sight before but just haven't put much thought into it.
"Troublesome blonds."
With Ino and Sakura
"Soooo Sakura, any cute boys catch your eye?" Ino asked while wiggling her eyebrows. She was the gossip queen after all. She needs some tea to spill. Ino's mom was shaking her head at her daughter's antics but decided to be a little nosey, it was her job as a mom after all. "Hmmm Sasuke is cute for sure, Shino and Choji just arent my type. Kiba has a kinda wild personality and feral look to him." Sakura finished with a light blush on her face.
"Ooooh so Kiba is the lucky guy, he is kinda cute. If you're into that forehead-chan." Singing the affection nickname at the end. Flustered, Sakura decided to give a little bit of her own thoughts. "Don't act like I haven't seen you side eyeing Naruto, it's quite obvious if you ask me." Ino caught off guard became a red, sputtering mess. Ino's mom caught all of it and gave a slight smile, 'they hold no ill from the generation's before. They also don't remember, that's good.'
"W-Well, he's mysterious, by far the most athletic. Plus he has golden blond hair, which matches his blue eyes." She finished with her own blush. The girls started throwing barbs at each other that held nothing but friendliness.
With Naruto and Sasuke
Sasuke and Naruto made it to the Uchiha compound and went to the clan head's private training ground. Naruto was in shock at how big the compound itself was, well this was one of the Founding clans of Konohagakure so it makes sense to have a huge portion of the village. "The rules are taijutsu only, face and body shots are allowed but no groin shots" Sasuke spoke up while stretching out. "Sounds good to me!" Naruto shouted bouncing on his toes while shadow boxing.
"Ready?"
"To kick your ass."
"Hajime!"
With that Naruto rocketed off, not his fastest since they both still had their weights on but still enough to catch Sasuke off guard. He got in close and started off with a heavy jab to the face which Sasuke deflected and tried to retaliate with uppercut. Unfortunately Naruto had the reflexes of raw chunin, he moved his head back and while still in his guard decided to go quick and fast. Throwing the quickest jabs Sasuke has everseen, since his style relied on countering he could block and deflect most of them but he was overwhelmed by the sheer speed of Naruto. He hit in him in the face only once but managed to land multiple body shots. He actually managed to hit Sasuke right in the diaphragm that had him stumbling, so he got out of his gaurd hit Sasuke with a hard leg kick to the lower calf to slow him down further. Naruto got cocky quick so he decided to try and finish it with a heavy haymaker but since the punches were so fast they didn't pack as much of a weight behind them. Sasuke recovered grabbed his arm and flipped him on his back, shocking Naruto. Ahold of Naruto's arm he managed to get a clean kick to the solar plexus, Naruto did not want to be on the ground any longer after that. He yanked his arm out of Sasuke's grip but Sasuke kicked him again. Luckily Naruto put up a hastily guard and his forearms took the blow. He skid back a few feet, before he got up on his feet.
"Draw?" Naruto called out, they still had school tomorrow.
"Hmp, I'll agree to it." Sasuke called back, and they sat under a huge oak tree with the Uchiha clan symbol carved into it.
"You're not fast enough to react to my punches, you took a beating from the first barrage then I had time to kick your leg." Naruto started analysing the fight that just occurred.
"You're damn fast, but this style is most effective with the Sharingan. I can read someone's movements before they even make them but you got cocky. That slow haymaker gave me time to grab and throw you. You had no counter to that." Sasuke said back while messaging his ribs, how can he punch so hard yet so fast. Naruto agreed to that while massaging his forearms. After a minute of doing that Sasuke spoke up again, "How's your fuinjutsu going?" Curious on what the blond was up to. Naruto lit up like the sun, he pulled out a big-ish scroll and unsealed the contents. Countless sheets of blank sealing paper and a couple of bottles of ink, with his new book that he got at the beginning of this year. "The first thing you learn in sealing is the explosive tag but it's not the easiest one. The most simple is a variation of the Shisheinjin. While the jutsu needs four people to form a square and run through certain hand symbols. Instead of four people I can use fuinjutsu to make tags that can imitate the same thing. A perk of this is that I don't need four tags, I can just use two and make a wall or go all the way and make a cage." Naruto stated while he started making two scrolls to demonstrate.
Sasuke knew the jutsu, it was a wall of purple flames that would burn anyone or anything that touched it, "If it's so simple why don't we make them readily available?" Sasuke was genuinely confused on why these were not so readily available. "Problem is that if you used regular density chakra, the scroll would be too big to carry around. Plus the amount of chakra needed for these are equal to A or even S-rank jutsu." This got Sasuke's attention, S-rank jutsu?! That was plain ridiculous, that could drain a Jonin after one use but Naruto was over here making two of them. "Then how can you make them?"
Nartuo grinned from ear to ear. "I'm just awesome… The real reason is my chakra is hyper dense, if your chakra is water, mine is wet concrete. I used to have to concentrate to move chakra around my body but the payoff is I can make huge seals into regular size. Another thing is I have way to much chakra for my age, only person comparable to my chakra size is the Hokage." Now if Sasuke was shocked before, his socks were clean off. What made him so different, first his reflexes, speed and endurance. Now his chakra, Sasuke needed to figure it out but tha could be saved for a later time.
Naruto finished writing both scrolls. He set them about ten feet apart, he made the Snake hand symbol and yelled "Kai!" In front of the two boys a translucent purple barrier formed. A leaf fell down from the tree and burnt instantly when it touched the barrier. Naruto made the ram symbol, "Fuin!" With that, the barrier retracted into the scrolls. "Now that was cool, dobe." Sasuke said while giving Naruto a fist bump. Naruto returned it and started talking, "I want to make them the size of explosive tags, so I don't have to carry around these bigger scrolls."
"Are you gonna attach them to kunai and throw them? That seems useful." Sasuke thought about it for a second, a barrier that could be thrown in the blink of an eye could come in handy.
"Well not exactly.." Naruto had a foxy grin on his face, he took out an explosive tag. "You see how this performs just like regular paper." Naruto wiggled it a few times, then in one hand he held the tag and the other hand performed the snake symbol. Instantly the paper stiffened. Sasuke put the two and two together. "You wanna be able to throw two tags and make a barrier without wasting two kunai." Naruto just nodded and threw the note at a tree, it missed but to be fair he just found out about this neat trick a week ago. "Eventually I will be good enough to hit targets plus I don't have to waste time wrapping a kunai. All you have to do is add a little symbol into the circuit of fuinjutsu that creates the explosive tag." He showed Sasuke what he was talking about, it was a small square in the right corner of the tag.
"That is quite a valuable tool Naruto-san." A soft voice spoke out right behind the duo. They had opposite reactions. Naruto launched forward a few feet and turned around ready to fight only to see it was someone that looked all too familiar.
"Itachi-nisan! What are you doing out here?" Sasuke asked, completely oblivious to the stunt Naruto just pulled. Naruto visibly relaxed in the presence of this man, he had straight black hair pulled into a low ponytail with two long bangs framing his face. The older man had pale skin and was dressed in all black shinobi pants and a regular t-shirt. He tapped Sasuke on the forehead and threw a gentle smile to Naruto who at this point walked up next to Sasuke. "I came out here to grab you for dinner, Ka-san asked me too. I won't be there for dinner. I have important work for the Hokage tonight." To finish off his statement he tapped Sasuke on the forehead again.
"Naruto-san I was told to extend the offer to you as well, if you wish to join our household for dinner." Itachi asked him, surprising Naruto but he shook his head and gave the pair a goofy, genuine smile. "I would love to but I got some beef at home that goes bad today if I don't cook it. I bought it, I should probably eat it." With that Naruto packed his stuff and waved goodbye to the pair.
"Sasuke, you have found a good rival but an even better friend. He will you help you grow strong and you will help him." Itachi told his little brother without looking at him. "When I get back I'll show you a new jutsu I learned." At this Sasuke beamed, he loved jutsu but he loved his brother even more. Sasuke took off back home, he hadn't eaten since this morning.
Itachi used Shunishin no jutsu to flicker away from the clearing.
"Weasel, Crow Report." A commanding tone ordered. The man wearing the Crow mask stepped forward and started to talk.
"It's the elders and the clan head that are pushing for a coup, most of the younger men and women choose to believe in you but will follow Fugaku if fighting erupts." He finished speaking and stepped back inline with Weasel. The man sitting behind desk took a long drag out of his pipe. "Weasel your report." The age of the man seemed to creep into that command.
"If Fugaku were to step down from the clan head, the ones who don't want coup would follow me." The gentle voice resounded in the silent room.
"Can you give a list of names that are with you and those against you?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama." The weasel anbu set down a sheet of paper with names that had checks and X's. "You know what I have to do with this list, both of you. Operation Horizon, mission Cloud will be committed within the month. You two will not be involved in this any further. Dismissed." Hiruzen Sarutobi growled out, pissed that he had to commit to this. "We both know Hokage-sama. We are with you and we serve to protect Konoha, if a branch must be cut to save the tree then we will be the one with the axe." Crow spoke up, confirming his commitment to the leaf. The Sandaime Hokage gave them a sad smile, "I have involved you enough, thank you for your service." With that, the two anbu vanished leaving the most powerful man alone with that most difficult decision he has ever had to make. With a sigh and puff of smoke he made up his mind. "Boar! Go get him, Mission Cloud." A few minutes later a man wrapped head to toe in a thick white jacket walked in. "Hokage-sama how may I be of service?"
Hiruzen swiveled in his chair to look at the man many called Shinobi no Yami. Hiruzen was prepared to make a deal with the devil to protect his village.
Super long chapter with a good ol cliff hanger. Next chapter it will show everyone beginning to learn how to use their weapons and new friendships that start to emerge. I decided to kinda keep the brawling style of Naruto true, just more refined. If you have any thoughts or ideas for the story message me and Ill respond back. Thank ya for reading.