Chapter 2:
Takanome was woken by the early morning sunlight streaming through the window. He quickly pulled on his white jacket and pants, then headed to the kitchen to quickly prepare breakfast. He ate alone, everyone else had already left.
A few minutes later he was out the door, bow and quiver slung over his shoulder. As he exited the clan compound gate, he leaped up onto the nearby buildings and began to run towards the academy's location at the foot of the Hokage monument. It worked well as a way to get him fully awake and warmed up for the morning. As he bounded across the rooftops, he noticed someone else doing the same thing.
She was about his age, with short white hair and bright amber eyes. Her golden tunic flapped in the wind as the two exchanged glances, as they made their way towards the academy. He knew who she was of course, Heiko Haiiro, one of the top students in the other class at the academy. He had only spoken with her during the occasional interclass events, but during that time they had struck up a minor rivalry. After a moment, she leaped over the street that separated them and began to run alongside him.
"Morning white-eyes," she chirped as they raced along the tiled roofs of the village. This was met with an eye roll and accompanying sign from Takanome, who quickly composed himself in response to Heiko's arched eyebrow.
"Good Morning to you Miss Haiiro," he replied formally, as was befitting to addressing a clan heir.
"You reckon you're good for the exam today?" she asked, voice level despite their exertion.
"Yes, I'm very confident in my ability to pass; what of yourself?" he replied; his speech just as composed.
"It'll be a breeze; will I finally get to see that bow of yours in action?"
"I do plan to demonstrate my archery during the extra skills section, do you have anything specific you wish to exhibit?"
"I've finally nailed a couple of clan techniques, hopefully some stuff that can really wow the teachers."
"I look forward to seeing them," he replied as they landed in front of the academy building.
"See yah later," Heiko called as she waltzed into her classroom across the hall from his.
Takanome entered his own classroom to be greeted by relative silence, the kids already present chatting in small groups. Takanome took his usual seat by the window near the front, giving a short greeting to Sanon, the class teacher, and settled down to wait.
After another 15 minutes or so, the rest of the class trickled in. When Sanon had seen everyone had arrived, he began to explain exactly what the exam entailed.
"I know you have heard this before, but a refresher never hurt. First, you will complete a 2-hour long exam, containing short and long answer questions concerning both general academic and ninja-based topics. Following that will be the ninjutsu evaluation, then taijutsu followed by throwing weapons. Finally, if you have any extra skills that you have learnt outside of the Academy, you may demonstrate them for additional credit. I wish you all good luck."
4 hours later, the throwing weapon evaluation was wrapping up. Takanome had aced taijutsu and throwing weapons as he had expected, but had struggled a bit on his ninjutsu, due to his neglecting to spend the full time required to master the assigned techniques. The same was true for the written test, math and history were no problem, but everything else felt slightly shaky. No matter, I'll make up for it on the extra skills section, he thought as mostly of the classes trickled out of the training field, leaving only a dozen or so children, most of them hailing from a clan.
"Alright everyone, I'll call you up one by one. If you need any resources, please don't hesitate to ask." Sanon declared, having taken responsibility for the extra skills section. There was a chorus of affirmatives, before the Chunin instructor called the first name.
"Takanome Hyuga, what is it you wish to demonstrate?" he called out.
"Archery and Byakugan sir," the boy said as he stood up and unslung his bow.
"Thank you for informing us of your requirements early, the targets you asked for are positioned somewhere within the forest. You will be awarded points based on accuracy, speed and the distance to target. The floor is yours." Sanon stepped behind Takanome, as did the rest of the children.
Deep breath in. And out.
His Byakugan flared, veins bulging out across his face, vision sweeping out across the small forest that bordered the academy. Target 1, 50m, 70 degrees true. Nock arrow, chakra coat, pull, aim.
Deep breath in. And out.
Fire!
The arrow slicing through the air, flying between the massive trunks of ancient trees, chakra coating allowing it to rip straight through the thick foliage, before landing directly on the bullseye of the hidden target. Not giving himself a moment to celebrate, Takanome continued his search for the rest of the targets.
Target 2, 120m, 30 degrees true.
Deep breath in. And out.
Bullseye.
Target 3, 150m, 85 degrees true.
Deep breath in. And out.
Bullseye.
He blasted through the targets, striking all 10 in under a minute, 6 being perfect shots. Takanome finally let himself relax and turned back to face the class, a rare smile breaking across his face.
"Very impressive Takanome, I will go and count up your points when everyone else is finished."
The Hyuga nodded in acknowledgement, before sitting back down and zoning out. That was until the only name he was really interested in was called.
"Heiko Haiiro, what is it you wish to demonstrate?"
"A Hiden ninjutsu sir," the clan heir replied as she stood and made her way to the centre of the field. As she began to make hand signs, Takanome activated his Byakugan, observing how her chakra flowed through her system. It was heavily biased towards the physical aspect, generating almost pure Yang chakra. This was typical of Haiiro techniques, as the clan's members were born heavily attuned to either Yin or Yang natures.
He watched as the glowing white yang chakra coalesced into her fist, surrounding it in a corona of pure light.
"Yang style: Brilliant Strike" she yelled, thrusting her fist into the training dummy. A flash of white light accompanied the impact, which faded to reveal an annihilated dummy and a grinning Heiko, who took an over-dramatic bow. She received a light round of applause and a commendation from Sanon, who then called up the next and final student.
"Shodo Maekawa, what is it that you wish to demonstrate?" he asked, as an auburn-haired girl that Takanome didn't recognise stood up.
"A new seal I have developed sir. I will ah… need a volunteer." Her voice was quiet but firm.
"I'll do it!" Heiko's hand shot up and at Shodo's acknowledgement, she skipped over to the shorter girl, who was retrieving what looked to be a calligraphy brush and a pot of ink from her bag. After a whispered conversation, the two sat down and Shodo painted a small seal onto her right palm, followed by an identical one on Heiko's. Takanome examined the seal with his Byakugan. He knew the very basics of fuinjutsu, which meant he recognised the spiral in the centre as a chakra storage seal but couldn't make heads or tails of what the outer ring of script did.
"Effectively," Shodo stated as she and Heiko stood up, "this seal acts as a chakra "bridge" between two people, allowing for a transference of chakra as long as the two are in direct contact." She continued to explain about exactly how the seal "filtered" chakra in order to make it compatible with the recipient's network and stored the extra inside the seal.
"Very impressive Ms Maekawa, please proceed." Sanon took a step back after inspecting the design.
Shodo nodded, before linking hands with her volunteer in what appeared to be a snake seal. As a soft glow began to emanate from their hands, Takanome zoomed in on the connection. He could see Heiko's glowing white yang-affinity chakra move up her arm and into the seal. There it seemed to twist in a way he didn't quite understand, before emerging into Shodo's system as mercurial water chakra. As he continued to observe the process, Takanome noticed something quite strange. A closer examination of Shodo's chakra system revealed a set of chakra coils significantly smaller than the norm. But that wasn't the strangest part. He watched as the coils began to stretch as they reached capacity, before suddenly emptying extremely quickly, the chakra vanishing from his vision. This process continued a number of times, before Shodo broke the connection. Takanome deactivated his Byakugan, noticing that Heiko was panting slightly, but still grinning widely as she sat down. Sanon congratulated Shodo, who bowed before retaking her seat.
"Thank you for the demonstration Ms Maekawa, this seal definitely has serious applications in real world scenarios. Now that will conclude the testing for today, you are all free to go. I will see you back her tomorrow at normal time for results distribution and team assignment." Sanon said, before shooing the children home.
The next morning began exactly as the previous one had, until Takanome arrived at the Academy. A sign on the classroom door indicated that all students proceed to the main auditorium. When he got there, he was surprised to see the Hokage himself. The elderly man gave Takanome a knowing wink, before indicating that he take a seat in the mostly empty auditorium and continuing his conversation with Sanon and a number of the other teachers.
Takanome didn't have to wait long after finding a seat, as the large room quickly filled with the rest of his cohort. A few moments later, the Hokage stepped up to the lectern, his presence silencing the chattering students.
"Good morning to you students. It is my great pleasure to inform you that every single one of you passed." This information was met with uproarious cheering from the new Genin, even the more stoic among them cracking at least a smile. The Hokage smiled, giving the children a moment to celebrate before once again indicating for quiet. He had it instantly; the first lesson you learned as a prospective ninja was obedience to your commanding officer, especially the Hokage.
"There is some bad news. As many of you know, we are currently in the middle of a war. Unfortunately, this means the village cannot afford to spare the manpower to assign each team to the normal tutelage under a Jonin." This was met by a number of gasps and complaints, which ceased as the Hokage explained to the Genin what Hizashi had told Takanome. Following that the Hokage gave his usual speech about the Will of Fire, before wishing them all the best in the future and taking his leave. Sanon replaced him at the lectern, giving a rundown of exactly what would be expected of them. Most teams would either be assigned to deliver messages or run supplies within some of the larger camps on the front. A select few of the teams would be sent to some of the low risk outposts as reinforcements.
Sanon then began to read off the team assignments and Takanome didn't have to wait long to get his.
"Team Three: Takanome Hyuga, Heiko Haiiro and Shodo Maekawa. Maekawa is the team leader. Please come collect your instructions." The three teenagers glanced at each other on the way down to the lectern. When they arrived, Sanon passed Shodo a piece of paper and then a headband to each of them, which the trio donned eagerly.
"Those are your instructions, you three are one of the teams that are being sent out to an outpost, you are expected there within the week. Stay safe, but I have high expectations for the three of you." The older man smiled, before indicating the doorway.
As the trio spilled outside, Heiko began chatting incessantly, much to the chagrin of her teammates.
"I'm so happy I'm with you two! I was worried that I was going to be assigned to boring supply runs, but no, we're going to be in on the action, on the front lines!" A radiant smile split her face.
"From what I understand of these instructions, I hope that we don't see any live combat. We have been assigned to outpost W1, which is near the border of Waterfall country. If a force from the Hidden Stone is coming through there, they could completely flank our main forces or go straight for the village," Shodo face was marred with a frown as she read the piece of paper.
"We need to report to the village quartermaster at the armoury in order to requisition supplies," she continued as the three made their way towards their new destination, a large grey building a short distance from Hokage tower.
"Approximately how far is it to W1?" Takanome asked a moment later, somewhat nervous to interact with his new team.
"If my memory serves me correctly, the Waterfall border is about 2 and a half days run at standard travel speed, plus about half a day to get to the outpost."
"I believe it would make a positive impression by arriving ahead of schedule. Would you two be agreeable to leaving straight away after we get our gear?"
Takanome received two affirmative nods as the newly minted Team 3 entered the quartermaster's office. They were met with a normal enough looking lobby, with a civilian woman sitting behind a receptionist's desk. She gave the three a practiced smile.
"What can I do for you three today?" she asked, glancing at the shiny new headbands.
"We are here to requisition gear in addition to supplies for outpost W1," replied the team leader.
"Ah yes, please go through those doors, and continue straight until you reach the back of the warehouse. The quartermaster is expecting you," she said, indicating a set of double doors to the left of the desk.
Team 3 thanked the receptionist and emerged from the double doors into an enormous warehouse, filled with 15-meter-high shelves covered in a honeycomb pattern. Each hexagon was stamped with a serial number and a handle. A short Byakugan pulse revealed that inside most cells was a standard sized storage scroll. At the far end of the building was what appeared to be a smith's workshop and a wall of unsealed weapons, some of which were emitting faint chakra signatures, in addition to a signature belonging to a Jonin-level ninja.
Takanome explained what he saw to his slightly puzzled teammates.
"Honestly it makes sense," mused Heiko, "why waste space when you can use scrolls to store a 100 times more materials. In any case, let's not keep this quartermaster guy waiting."
As the three approached the man, he set down his tools and turned to face them, revealing a pair of crimson eyes.
"Let's see, a Hyuga, a Heiko and a girl with tiny chakra reserves. Team 3 here to get equipped and pick up the supplies for W1." Team 3 was shocked that the elderly man had identified them so easily, but then again, the Sharingan was legendary for exactly that. Takanome was the first to recover.
"Yes sir, that is correct."
"Well then here it is." The quartermaster indicated three packs and an extra-large storage scroll laid against the workbench.
"Standard equipment includes the following: temperature regulating cloak/blanket, 4 dozen shuriken, dozen kunai, 6 self-arming explosive tags, 3 weeks rations, bingo book and first aid kit. Do the three of you need any extras?" he glanced towards the bow and quiver slung over Takanome's back.
"An archer eh? Let me see if I can hook up with something more advanced than that old wooden thing."
"That would be much appreciated sir," Takanome bowed to the man, who waved off his gratitude.
"No problem, lack of archers these days means I have a bunch of bows just lying around collecting dust. Any other requests?"
"Could I bother you to retrieve some advanced sealing supplies?" Shodo asked hesitantly.
"Understood, nothing for you Miss Haiiro?"
"No thanks, I've got everything I need." The response was accompanied by Heiko cracking her knuckles and a facepalm from Takanome.
"Well I'll grab your teammates gear. In the meantime, stay here and don't touch anything." The elderly Uchiha made his way down one of the aisles, leaving Team 3 on their own.
"Hey, do you guys want to get lunch together before we go? You know some team bonding!" Heiko said in a slightly too loud voice, her words echoing through the cavernous edifice.
"That sounds like a lovely idea, what do you say Takanome?"
"I would be honoured,"
"Oh, don't be so stiff white-eyes, we're a team now, you can pull the stick out of your arse as long as you're around us." Heiko's teasing resulted in a giggle from Shodo and a very red-faced Takanome. Luckily, he was saved from further torment by the return of the quartermaster, who returned bearing a pair of scrolls.
"Alright, first, advanced sealing supplies for Miss Maekawa." The Uchiha placed the scrolls on the workbench and unrolled the first. With a puff of smoke, the tools appeared, mostly brushes of different thicknesses and a stack of square blank sealing tags. Shodo smiled appreciatively and began to place the items into the satchel she wore.
"And for Master Hyuga…" the second scroll opened revealing a gleaming black bow and a matching quiver filled with wicked looking barbed arrows. Takanome's eyes widened as he picked up the pristine weapon, as the quartermaster began to list off its specifications.
"This is a Binary Cam carbon fibre compound bow. It has an adjustable draw weight, which you can increase as you become more proficient in chakra reinforcement. The arrows' shafts are made from trees grown by Lord First and the heads and spines are Land of Iron chakra conductive steel. Each one has a small chakra storage seal near the nock, which you can fill up while drawing to then be released either during flight or upon impact. I assume you already have all the appropriate maintenance supplies?" Takanome's rapture allowed him to only give quick nod.
"Good, the operation manual for the extra features is sealed in the bottom limb. I don't get to hand out many bows anymore. Most don't see the necessary training as worth it when you can achieve a similar effect with a kunai. Show them why the bow has been feared for thousands of years."
"Thank you, sir, I will do my absolute best." This time, he managed a full bow, with his teammates quickly joining him.
"Now you three get moving, you're not the only team I'm going to be helping today."
Team 3 gave their last goodbyes, before departing the way they came, gear in hand. The quartermaster returned to his task, red eyes studying the glowing metal.
"Alright! How does barbeque sound to you two?" Heiko's voice filled the air outside the armoury. Her significantly quieter teammates both gave a nod.
"Great! Follow me and try to keep up!" The Haiiro clan heiress suddenly shot off in a dead sprint up the side of a nearby building, leaving Shodo and Takanome standing alone on the street, stunned by her sudden departure. The former was the first to recover, a pair of seals on her bare calves flashing into life. Takanome followed shortly after, trying to stay steady as to avoid dislodging the new bow slung across his back. The two quickly caught up to their over-eager comrade, who flashed them a wild grin.
As the trio raced across the rooftops, Takanome once again noticed something strange with his Byakugan. Shodo's chakra system was doing the opposite of what it had done the day before, rapidly draining, before suddenly filling up again. He continued to observe for a few seconds, examining the anomaly, before Shodo glanced back at him. He instantly deactivated his be Byakugan, red with embarrassment even if she couldn't have actually known. They continued in silence for another minute or two, before arriving at the barbeque restaurant. Heiko gave the waitress a little wave as they walked in, getting a wide smile in return, and proceeded to make a beeline for a booth in the back corner. The restaurant was mostly empty, as if Takanome was being honest with himself, it was a little early for lunch.
The group sat down and after giving their order to the waitress, Heiko lay back into the soft red padding of the booth, hands crossed behind her head.
"So, now that we're teammates, wouldn't it be just grand for the three of us to get to know each other?"
"That would definitely be a positive course of action. My name is Shodo Maekawa. I specialise in sealing techniques, my primary nature type is water…" Shodo was promptly cut off by Heiko, madly waving her hands in mock annoyance.
"No, I mean talk about yourself, your family, your hobbies, that sort of stuff. Ninja skills can come later."
Her teammates were somewhat taken aback by this statement. Sharing intel with your allies had been drilled into them as a vital step when first forming a team.
"Look I know that we were taught in the academy that battle intel is far more important than personal details, but for the foreseeable future it's just going to be the three of us against the world." For a moment Heiko's sunny exterior dropped, only to instantly reignite as she gestured for Shodo to start again.
"Well I guess you're right. I come from a civilian family, my father is an ore merchant and my mother works at the Konoha Library. My main hobbies would be sealing and reading, primarily non-fiction concerning ninja subjects, but I dabble in a bit of fiction when I feel like it. I also do a fair bit of gardening."
Maybe when we get back from our assignment, I could show you two my garden?"
"I would be honoured,"
"Sounds great! Do you have a favourite seal you've made?"
"Yes, I actually do, give me a second," Shodo rustled around in her messenger bag, which Takanome now saw contained an area for holding various brushes and pots of ink; a stack of blank squares of sealing paper and a sort of portfolio of dozens of seals, which she was currently flipping through.
"Here it is. My attraction seals!" With a great deal more flourish than Takanome had seen her act with before, Shodo produced a pair of seals from the bag.
"These were the first seals I made from scratch, completely my own work. Basically, they come in a set of two, a parent seal and a child seal. You can place the parent onto a surface or object and the child onto a different object. Then when you send a chakra signal to the parent, it will attach the child to it and stick the two together. The force is dependent on how much chakra you give it. Here let me show you. "
She stuck the parent seal onto the edge of the table and the child onto a salt shaker, which was positioned on the other side of the grill from its parent. She then tapped the edge of the table, the ink design lighting up blue for a moment, proceeded by the salt shaker flying across the table, neatly sticking in place. This earned a round of applause from Heiko and a nod of approval from Takanome. Shodo gave a small blush as she removed the seals and replaced them in her bag.
It was at that moment that the meat arrived, and the conversation paused while the trio began cooking their food. After all was placed on the grill, Heiko gestured that Takanome give his introduction.
"My name is Takanome Hyuga. I live with my uncle Himura, who is the head of the Hyuga clan. My parents died in the second great war, but I don't remember them very much. My Hobbies would be archery, practicing the gentle fist and hiking, although I haven't got much opportunity to do the latter since the war started." Which really was a shame, he had always felt most at home out in the wilderness, surrounded by the beauty of nature.
Heiko rounded out the trio when Takanome indicated he was finished. "My name is Heiko Haiiro, heiress to the Haiiro clan. I'm an only child and both my parents are active duty ninja. My main hobby would be training, but I also really enjoy tasting new foods. Nothing beats BBQ though. Speaking of which, let's eat!" the white-haired girl began to aggressively attack the spread of beef and pork as though it was a squad of Stone ninja, forcing her teammates to scramble to get their share.
Light conversation continued over the rest of lunch, the sort of mundane chatter that they would soon lose the ability to engage in. When the bill arrived, Shodo immediately pulled out a thick wallet and paid, ignoring her teammates' polite protests. The trio agreed to meet at the main gate in an hour's time, needing to return home to pick up extra clothes and to inform their parents what was happening.
When Takanome arrived back at the Hyuga compound, Himura was still out. A carefully written note informing him about the current situation was handed off to one of the guards. He then packed enough clothes and such for an extended stay and set off for the beginning of his journey as a ninja.