It was a sad day in Konoha, gray clouds filled the sky as they were accompanied by Rain. Our favorite red head sat at the Hokage mountain more specifically Hiruzen's Head as the it rained.

He held a leaf headband on his bruised and bandaged hands. Itachi had gave it to him, shisui's last present to him.

As for his bruised hands, he had been training since he heard of shisui's death a month ago, He visited the hospital a couple of times found unconscious due to chakra exhaustion. it was his way of coping, he didn't want to burden anyone, and besides he had to be the Pilar of strength for his blonde brother.

But today was a funeral for the now near extinct Uchiha clan. The massacre was unexpected, hell he had ramen with Itachi that evening and the next day he hears that Itachi went haywire and slaughtered the whole clan but his lil brother.

He and Naruto visited Sasuke at the hospital but the Uchiha kicked them out. and since then they have rarely spoken with the Uchiha.

Tightening his grip on the headband he looked to the dark clouds. 'what now Shisui-nii.'

"hey. Ayato-nii." Ayato turned to look back at his brother. like him, Naruto was wearing all black and soaked from head to toe.

"how did you find me?"

" you are sitting on top of a giant stone face on a mountain teme! how could I not find you?!..(sigh) for someone who is considered a genius that was a stupid question to ask."

"whoa.. who died and made you a sarcastic smart-ass " Ayato retorted sarcastically, with a smirk on his face. Naruto was growing up fast, and he was proud and afraid of this.

Naruto simply growled at his response. "I just came to check up on you. you left the ceremony without telling anyone."

"I'm alright Naruto. I just needed some space." he said as he stood up. "let's go get us Ichiraku ramen." he added as he walked to Naruto.

"dattebayo!!" Naruto said as he jumped in excitement.

"how is Sasuke?" Ayato asked as their walked away from the mountain.

"still being an ass, he is not talking to anyone."

Ayato sighed at the statement before turning to Naruto. "why didn't you bring an umbrella?? you know your going to catch a cold right?"

"pshh.. please. I've never been sick in my life!! you on the other hand..mr always sick"

ayato laughed at that statement."I guess you're right"

two year later.

the sun had sat leaving the sky dark and filled with twinkling stars that dawfed in size and brightness compared to the luminous moon. Beneath the stars and moon a battle was in progress.

through the shadows a figure maneuvered himself through the air before throwing a kunai with a paper bomb on it to a group that was after him. it exploded, pain filled screams echoed through the forest as bodies flew into different directions.

the figure landed on a branch, his vibrant red hair shined in the moon light, his violet eyes calm, he had grown a few inches taller, he was wearing a black long sleeved shirt underneath a dark gray short sleeve hoodie with the Uzumaki crest on the b

ack, black pants with black sandals. His hair was longer, holding most of it into a slight spiky high pony tail as strands sat at the sides of his face held in place by the forehead protectors on his forehead.

he quickly deflected a slash from a ninja. he countered with a kick under the jaw, sending the man flying in to the air. making a familiar hand seal. "(kage bunshin no jutsu) shadow clone jutsu." he said as one clone poofed into existence before throwing him towards the ninja.

reaching the ninja he punched him in the stomach causing him bend over as he followed up with knee to the nose and finishing him off with a roundhouse kick to the face, sending him flying into the ground. with that done he looked at his partner beneath him.

An elderly man with a short pony tail. He wore a mesh armour shirt under a short, brown, sleeveless kimono with a pair of grey pants with a wok on his back that he used for his cooking on missions and a supplementary weapon in battle. the elderly man wove hand seals before slamming his hands on the ground. "(Doton: Doryū Taiga)Earth Release: Earth Flow River." transforming the surface underneath their opponent into a muddy river that sweeps them off their feet and carries them down stream, he went through a second set of hand seals. "(Doton: Doryūdan)Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet. " he said as a dragon like head rose from the mud created by the previous jutsu to shoot mud balls at an opponent. Ayato went through his own set of hand seals. "(Katon: Karyūdan)Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet." as he blew out flame breath igniting the mud balls from the old man's mud dragon mud balls, burning through their enemies and igniting others.

landing next to his partner Ayato attered. "so much trouble for a god danm scroll, don't you think Kosuke-jiji." the Oldman simply chucked at his statement.

"let's go Ayato-kun before they come with reinforcements."

"hai" he said before making two clones, "diversion" he said as the clones nodded before they all split up in two groups.

The duo finally crossed the border into the land of fire after a few hours of traveling.

"it seems that Genma-sensei hasn't arrived." Ayato said as he landed in the small opening in the forest. the old man nodded as he joined him.

"let's set camp as we wait for him." Kosuke said as he unpacked his wok from his back.

"Oi Kosuke-jiji can I cook this time!? " The boy asked excitedly.

"sure." the elderly man said with a warm smile as Ayato grind at the answer.

It had been two years since Shisui's death, while it was hard for Ayato and Naruto they had found a way forward. Naruto had been continuing his studies in the academy while he was still dumber than most his classmates he was superior to them in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu only coming second to Sasuke.

Ayato had been continuing his training all these years mastering Suiton Ninjutsu in the progress, besides sparing with Naruto and not so often Sasuke he had been going on missions with Kosuke and one Jōnin through these years. He has learned a lot from the oldest genin in the leaf, from new Ninjutsu to strategies and even cooking and above all this he had begun training Bōjutsu from Hiruzen himself after signing the monkey summoning contract offered by Monkey King Enma after taking a particular liking to the red headed boy while spying on him training with Hiruzen.

Sasuke was even more broody and serious and emo after the Uchiha massacre and that hasn't changed even a little bit these past years. he had grown quite stronger quite faster than Naruto, although he didn't hang out with the Uzumaki brothers nor like them he did like to test his strength with Ayato, someone named with the likes of his brother. although he never won the spars.

Ayato had finished making the stew as he waited for Kosuke to rate his cooking.

"it is really delicious, Ayato-kun." The old man said with a smile.

"yes!!." Ayato said with a fist pump.

"although.." the elderly man said gaining his attention he tossed him a small bag. "it will make your cooking even better... it is my secret recipe." he added.

"oi. thanks, dattebane!" he said with a grin his cheeks turned pink.

A figure landed before them, he had brown, shoulder-length hair which hangs about his face and brown eyes. He wore his forehead protector like a bandanna, and the standard jōnin outfit and always has his trademark senbon in his mouth.

"Took you long enough, I thought we had to go rescue you butt again Genma-sensei." Ayato said with smirk.

"don't get over yourself gaki." the man said with a smirk of his own. "you got the scroll??"

"mission accomplished." ayato said as he threw him the scroll. Genma sat down around the fire as he opened the scroll.

"man, this Hyakki yakō is really trouble, neh.." Genma said to himself.

"what is it anyways?" Ayato asked as he passed him a bowl of stew.

"It is a group of really powerful shinobi with all sorts of kekkei genkai at its disposal. it first rose after the second great shinobi war taking over demilitarized villages and recruiting kekkei genkai clans, it was dismissed by Sandaime-sama and now it has returned." Kosuke said.

"and now it has allied with lock village in the land of keys." Genma added.

"and I assume they are after the hidden leaf, right?" Ayato asked.

"they're plans are still unknown."Genma said.

" well we should all get some rest." Kosuke said as he placed his bowl down.

I'll keep watch Ayato said as he made five clones as he sent them out. before taking out a scroll written yang release.

he had taken it from the Hyakki yakō Hideout they just raided.

'yang release uses chakra to control vitality, granting life to forms that have none.

Yin Release uses spiritual energy to control imagination, creating form out of nothingness.

Physical energy is collected from each of the body's cells and can be increased through training, stimulants, and exercise.

Spiritual energy is derived from the mind's consciousness and can be increased through studying, meditation, and experience.

These two energies becoming more powerful will in turn make the created chakra more powerful...'

Ayato smiled as he remembered a conversation he had with the third hokage a year ago.

The trio arrived at the gates of Konoha after a two hour walk back, they had cleared their camp at the crack of dawn.

They all were greeted by kotetsu and Izumo, the gate duo and like how the spend their days they were playing a card game to pass the time since gate duty was the most boring of duties.

it didn't take long for them to reach the Hokage tower.

"come in." Sarutobi Hiruzen said. the trio walked into the office as they bowed in respect of their elderly Kage.

"The mission was a success, we found this in the Hideout." Genma announced as he pulled out the scroll and placed it on the desk. "unfortunately there were no signs of the missing kids from the land of river." he added.

Hiruzen blew out a cloud of smoke as he read through the scroll. "they are allied with the lock village, huh?? this is troublesome." with a sign he placed the scroll on the desk.

"you are all dismissed."

"hai." they all said simultaneously.

Genma and Kosuke left leaving Ayato alone with the old kage.

"Something the matter Ayato-kun??" Hiruzen asked.

"no... it depends." he said as he took out his scroll. "do you know any clan in the village that utilizes yin and yang chakra release??"

"why the sudden interest?"

"because I believe The first Hokage could utilize both of them." Ayato said as hiruzen read through the scroll.

"to create form from nothing and to grant life to forms that had none." Hiruzen summarized as he turned to Ayato.

"Remember when I said mokuton(wood release) was not a kekkei genkai because it lacks one crucial step to be considered as a Kekkei genkai, it had to passed down generically??" ayato asked. getting a nod from the sandaime to continue.

"mokuton (wood release) did not pass down genetically this being a skill the first could only use and I think yin and yang played a huge part in it."

"how so??" hiruzen asked as he stared at the boy with interest.

" I believe he used yin release to create seeds with in the ground, used doton and suiton to create the perfect environment to for the seeds to flourish the use yang release to give it life and encourage it to grow. although I don't think doton and suiton are that necessary or he could simply be using only yin and yang release. and I believe anyone ho can utilize both yin and yang to a certain degree can use mokuton."

"that could be true but how are you going to test out that theory of yours" hiruzen asked.

"learn from the clans that utilize yin and yang."

"well the Nara use yin release to a degree and the Akimichi use yang release."

"of course!!! the Nara use their shadows to fight and shadows are simply the absence of light thus they give form to nothing and the Akimichi grow their limbs they give vertility to their limbs.!! why didn't I think of this!!? kami I'm so dumb!!" he said as he facepalmed..

"thanks. Sandaime-jiji." he said as he ran out. Sarutobi left alone in his office he smiled. 'you boy is smart minato he is far brighter than you were at his age.' he thought looking at the forth face on the mountain.

~end~