Chapter 8
Takanome and Shodo arrived at the Uchiha district at 5:55 that evening, and unlike the Hyuga compound, there were no guards. They walked past the rows of houses, stopping for a moment to ask for directions to the clad head's house.
When they arrived at the building, they were greeted at the door by Mikoto Uchiha, head of Konoha's most powerful clan.
"Hey there, you're Takanome and Shodo right? My husband has spoken a lot about you two, most of it good." Mikoto smiled at them, and in that moment Takanome could almost forget that this woman was one of the greatest fire style users the village had ever produced. Both of the guests bowed deeply, Shodo speaking for both of them.
"Thank you for inviting us into your home Lady Uchiha, we are eternally thankful for your kindness."
"Oh drop the lady, just Mikoto is fine. Now come on in, everyone else is already here." With that they followed their host inside, to a brightly lit dining room. Their assembled friends all waved and gave happy greetings, but Takanome and Shodo were far too busy staring at the small child sitting at one end of the table.
"He's like a mini sensei…" Shodo whispered in shock, while Takanome could only stare.
"Crazy right? I feel you guys, I had the same reaction when I got here." Heiko mused, as the object of their awe walked down the table to bow in front of them.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Takanome and Shodo. I am Itachi Uchiha, son of Mikoto and Fugaku. Please enjoy the meal."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Itachi, thank you for your hospitality," Shodo replied, bowing to the clan heir.
After that they all took their seats and Takanome and Shodo were quickly introduced to Kushina, Minato's wife, and then dinner began. A collaboration between all of the Jonin had produced an incredible spread, featuring almost every cuisine native to fire country, and some that weren't.
Later that evening, Fugaku stood up, and got everyone's attention, the table quieting down.
"As you all know, Minato and I were asked to discuss some important matters with the Hokage yesterday. Because of the commotion we couldn't inform you, but I can now tell you that Minato and I have been selected as Lord Hokage's guards for an upcoming 5 kage peace summit in the land of iron." The table erupted into whoops of congratulation, Kushina crushing Minato in a tight hug. Mikoto simply opted to give her husband a quick peck on the cheek, seeing that he had something else to say.
"As a gesture of good faith, the villages have also agreed to participate in a joint Chunin exams proceeding the summit, and I have chosen to recommend Team 3 to participate." This caused an even louder uproar, shouts of celebration and excitement filling the air, even the more stoic members of the group cracking smiles.
Fugaku let everyone get it out of their system, before continuing.
"I will give you three more details at training tomorrow, but for now, let's celebrate." The cries of happiness erupted once more.
Takanome slept incredibly well that night, nestled in a luxurious bed in one of the Maekawa's guest rooms. He and Shodo rose early the next morning, the rest of the manor still asleep when they slipped out to head to training ground 25.
When they arrived, they found Heiko already waiting, the white-haired girl practicing her kunai throwing. As the last of her volley sunk into the middle of a target, she turned to face them, dark bags under her eyes.
"Heiko? What happened?" Shodo rushed over to her friend, the taller of the two hunched over in front of the targets.
"I was too excited about the Chunin exams and couldn't sleep," she moaned, seemingly barely able to keep her eyes open.
"How long have you been here for exactly?" Takanome asked, somewhat scared to hear the answer.
"3am…"
"Heiko, you should know better than to stay up too late like that. Sleep is a resource to be treasured." Fugaku chose that moment to arrive at the clearing. The team stood at attention for a moment before relaxing, as he approached. Heiko had perked up, most of the sleepiness leaving her system as excitement took over.
"So Sensei, what's going on with these Chunin exams, and how are we preparing for them?"
"I can understand your excitement Heiko, but I'd just want to make one thing clear before I explain. You do not have to enter these exams. You will be fighting against the best genin from other villages, and that means you could die."
The aura of enthusiasm Team 3 held came crashing down, as the reality of the situation was brought to light. This wasn't a local event held here in Konoha, where they would be competing against allies. No, their opponents would be shinobi that they could be facing on the battlefield if the peace talks failed, ninja from other villages who wanted nothing more than to watch the life drain from their bodies. This was serious business.
But Team 3 wasn't going to back down.
"We understand that Sensei, but there is no way we aren't going to take the challenge. Plus, we're total badasses, and I'm sure whatever awesome training regime you've cooked up will do us wonders. " Heiko grinned, her previous tiredness completely gone, replaced once more by boundless enthusiasm. Takanome and Shodo nodded in agreement, swept up by Heiko's charisma.
"Well I'm glad you guys are up for the task, otherwise all the prep I did will have gone to waste. Since these exams are so important, Lord Third has allowed me to delegate some of my teaching duties. The three of you will each be getting a specialist teacher." He turned to Heiko first.
"Heiko, you're going to be working with your father. Riku has agreed that it's time to start teaching you some of the more advanced clan techniques, so good luck with that. He's said to do your warmup drills back home and he'll meet you there once he's done with the clan head meeting." Heiko whooped for joy, and with a wave, rushed off in the direction of her house. Fugaku focused on Shodo next.
"Shodo, Kushina has agreed to tutor you on some more practical combat seals, and to teach you how to auto-tag." Shodo flashed the biggest grin Fugaku had ever seen on her, and he could understand why. Auto-tagging was the practice of being able to directly imprint a seal onto a surface with just your chakra, no ink required. It was only possible with seals a user was intimately familiar with, but it was still a necessary tool in any true sealer's arsenal.
"Plus if Minato's around, I'm sure he can give you a hand with the FTG." Shodo's smile somehow got even wider, and she skipped off once Fugaku gave her a small piece of paper with the pair's address.
Finally he turned to Takanome, his own smile feeding Takanome's apprehension.
Who is my special teacher going to be? Will it be Sensei?
Fugaku seemed to be able to read Takanome's mind, as a smile covered his face
"You'll be studying with me, Takanome. But hopefully I won't be your only teacher." Takanome's eyes grew wide as Fugaku flashed through a sequence of seals that his recent study had burnt into his mind.
Boar
Dog
Bird
Monkey
Ram.
"Summoning Jutsu," Fugaku slammed his hand into the ground, the technique generating a knee high cloud of white smoke. It quickly cleared to reveal the hawk he had met the day before, her white feathers shining in the morning sun.
"So you decided to recommend him after all, Fugaku," she said, yellow eyes focusing on Takanome.
"Indeed. Takanome, this is Yukihane, a member of the Hawk contract and one of my familiars. Although I believe you've already met." Fugaku smiled at Takanome's shocked expression, the gears in his head clicking into place.
"Does this mean… you're letting me sign the Hawk contract?!" Takanome exclaimed, his hope crystallizing into reality.
"Not quite yet Takanome. The Hawk clan doesn't allow just anyone to be their Summoner. Fugaku has recommended you, and I have seconded that recommendation. Now you will be taken to our domain, Cloudroost, to be evaluated by our leader. If he approves of you, you will be allowed to sign the contract," Yukihane explained, Takanome reining in his excitement. This was possibly one of the most important points in his life, he couldn't mess this up. Engage, but lightly, no heavy questions right now.
"How do we reach Cloudroost?" Takanome queried, his voice somewhat subdued.
"It's reasonably simple, I'll go back there, and then I'll reverse summon Fugaku to me. If you're holding onto him at the time, I will be able to bring you along."
"Understood. Are we going now?"
"Indeed, I will see you two in a moment." With that, Yukihane disappeared in the same puff of smoke she had arrived in.
Fugaku offered his hand to Takanome, who took it in his own. A moment later the world flashed white, then black, then white again. When the chakra smoke surrounding them cleared, Takanome's jaw dropped.
Spread out in front of him was the most breathtaking vista he had ever seen. They stood on a small floating island, which was connected via a wooden bridge to a significantly larger landmass.
The larger island was dominated by a snow capped mountain, the peak shrouded by fluffy white clouds. The foothills were covered in a lush forest, the emerald leaves glittering in the morning sun. Tiny specks could be seen in the air all around, diving and spiralling around each other in a never ending aerial dance.
"Welcome to Cloudroost Takanome, hopefully you'll be spending lots of time here in the future. Now come, we must not be late for our meeting with Taiyohane." Yukihane took flight, heading towards a stone structure about a third of the way up the mountain. Fugaku gestured to Takanome to follow him, the two taking off through the forest, tailing Yukihane at a distance.
They traveled at a pace slightly faster than standard, the two shinobi on the ground weaving through the canopy, tracking the white speck that was their guide. Takanome decided to take the opportunity to ask a question that had been on his mind since he began to suspect Fugaku held the Hawk Contract.
"Sensei, do you have any ability to use senjutsu?" Fugaku sighed, which gave Takanome his answer, but the older man chose to elaborate.
"I've never had any aptitude for the sage arts. It seems as though my chakra is just incompatible with natural energy. It seems to be an Uchiha problem, as there have never been any records of an Uchiha sage, despite us holding multiple summoning contracts over the years, and excelling in every other area of shinobi arts."
"Peculiar, perhaps it has something to do with the Sharingan?"
"That's my personal theory." Takanome was quiet for a moment, then brought up another topic that had been on his mind.
"And Minato-sensei? Who did he learn senjutsu from?"
"Both Minato and Jiraiya-sensei learnt senjutsu from the Toads, although the latter can't utilise the ability to its fullest."
"Do you know who the other recorded sages are?" Fugaku pondered the question for a moment before answering.
"The only other one I know of was Hashirama Senju."
"Who did he learn it from? I've never heard of him having a summon…"
"He taught himself how to do it. Evidently his Wood Style gave him an extreme natural affinity for it."
"Makes sense," Takanome mused as they emerged past the treeline and onto the slopes of the mountain, their progress slowed by the incline. Yukihane remained a constant distance ahead of them as they climbed, the mountain becoming steeper and steeper until they needed to use chakra to stop from sliding down.
A few minutes later, Yukihane dropped down from the sky to rest on Fugaku's shoulder, her talons sinking ever so slightly into his flak jacket. As they crested the next ridge, they stood on a platform of sorts which jutted out from the side of the mountain. Ahead of them stood the structure Takanome had noticed from their arrival point.
It was a massive, intricately carved stone archway, inlaid with friezes of various scenes. They depicted many scenes of birds in flight or hunting, as well as the images of a small number of humans. The keystone of the arch showed an image of two colossal birds standing behind a pair of men meditating half a meter off the ground, each holding a monk's staff.
Takanome was distracted from his art appreciation by the beating of wings. A grey hawk, large enough to carry multiple people on its back, landed a few metres away from them, the gusts of wind from it's wings blowing back his hair. Fugaku smiled, and stepped forward to give the bird a beak rub. After a moment he turned to face his pupil.
"Takanome, this is Tetsuhane, my other familiar. Tetsuhane, this is Takanome, one of my students." Takanome bowed, receiving a head dip in return.
"I would say I've heard a lot about you Takanome, but I haven't seen Fugaku since he was injured." The hawk gave his summoner an easily interpreted glance, before turning his gaze towards the arch.
"Come now, we mustn't keep Taiyohane waiting." With that, the party made their way into the darkness of the tunnel. They walked in the pitch black for about a minute, before light slowly began to encroach on Takanome's vision once more.
It was at this point that he realised that the mountain was hollow. The entire inside of the edifice was covered in glittering crystal, a single beam of light shining down from far above reflecting over and over until it lit up the entire cavern.
A crystal pavilion was suspended in the middle of the area, the prism at its peak the origin of the reflections that lit the cavern. There was no bridge connecting it to the platform they were on, so Takanome stopped at the edge.
"How do we get across? Can you fly us over?" He asked, looking at Tetsuhane. However, it was Yukihane who answered, still perched on Fugaku's shoulder.
"No, part of seeking an audience with Taiyohane is making it to his roost unaided. If you cannot make it, you have no right to be a Summoner of the Hawk Contract," she explained.
"And if I do fall?"
"The bottom of this pit connects to open air, and it's an approximately 5 kilometre fall to the ground." And with that terrifying statement, Yukihane took flight, easily crossing the huge gap that separated them from their destination. Tetsuhane quickly followed her, leaving only the humans to contemplate how to make the jump. Well, at least Takanome was contemplating.
Fugaku smiled, and backed up about a hundred meters from the edge, dropping into a sprinter's stance. After a moment of focus, lightning flickered across his body, blue electricity arcing along the ground around him.
And then he ran.
With speed Takanome could barely follow, even with his Byakugan, Fugaku bounded forward, taking a dozen meters with each huge stride. On the last step before the edge, he jumped up and slammed both feet into the ground. A column of stone erupted beneath his feet, launching him into the air at blinding velocity. The Uchiha flew through the air sailing in a perfect arc to land on the platform. A moment before impact, he blew out a gust of flame, slowing his descent to allow for a calm landing. He turned, and with a grin, beckoned to Takanome.
The teen looked up, focusing his Byakugan on the inclined ceiling far above. He jumped up onto the wall above the entrance, following it up higher and higher until he was confident he could make the distance. Then he crouched…. and leaped.
Simultaneously, he altered the attractive chakra coat on his feet into a burst of wind, boosting him forward. He rocketed towards the pavilion, at which point he did a flip midair, and pulled the same maneuver except in the opposite direction. This slowed his momentum enough to not break bones upon landing, but still too fast to be comfortable.
He tumbled as he hit the ground, rolling over until he was stopped by one of the crystal pillars that held up the roof of the pavilion. Fugaku ran over to him, helping his student up.
"You okay? You might have gone a little too fast there."
"Indeed, but I made it, and that's what counts, doesn't it?" He smiled, but it quickly turned into a wince.
"No matter, you should be fine. Come, we are almost there." Yukihane led the way through another archway, bringing them before a great curtain that circled the center of the structure. Within, Takanome saw he could see a bright light glowing, almost like a covered lamp.
"Lord Taiyohane, we have come to seek an audience with you," called Fugaku, after which he quickly dropped to one knee, head bowed. Takanome followed his actions, and the pair of hawks both dropped their heads to the ground. Within the curtain, Takanome could hear the rhythmic clacking of great talons striking crystal. As the sound drew closer and the light grew brighter, Fugaku nudged Takanome.
"Whatever you do, do not look directly at Taiyohane unless he tells you to," he whispered, hand holding his student's head down.
"Why?"
"There is a reason he is called Sunwing."
A moment later, a deep voice spoke not far from them, Takanome feeling it shake his body from the ground up.
"Welcome to Cloudroost young Takanome. I understand you wish to sign our contract?" For a moment Takanome struggled to find his voice, especially with the tip of a glowing wing in the corner of his vision. But for once his clan training proved useful, conditioning taking over.
"Yes Lord Taiyohane, nothing would please me more."
"And why is it that you desire a summoning contract so greatly?"
"My primary reason is that I wish to train in the sage arts. Although having access to a set of summons is invaluable to any shinobi." He saw the glow grow brighter, an aura of heat beginning to wash over him.
"Study the sage arts? Well my sister has not had a student in a long time… Fugaku, does he show any aptitude for senjutsu?"
"Yes my lord, in the extreme."
"I see… Takanome, look into my eyes for a moment." The light grew slightly darker as the great hawk spoke, but the Genin was stunned as a single enormous talon entered his field of view. Takanome forced himself to look up, and gazed into the face of pure majesty.
Taiyohane stood as tall as a building, even with his wings pulled in. His body was covered in incandescent white feathers, each glowing with an inner light that washed the area in a warm glow. His beak was pure gold, as opposed to the dull yellow of all the other hawks he had seen.
But his most mesmerising characteristic was his eyes, miniature stars glinting at the center of pools of molten gold. Takanome felt as though he could stare into those eyes for the rest of eternity, their endless depths pulling him in. He felt as though Taiyohane could gaze into his very soul, and see the path of his life laid out before him.
All the while, Takanome felt his eyes start to sting, looking at something so bright for more than a few seconds bringing the beginning of an intense pain.
"That is enough Takanome, look away before you hurt yourself," Taiyohane commanded, and Takanome dropped his head once again.
"This one has passed my inspection. Takanome is welcome to sign the Hawk Contract. However, I sense he is not quite ready for sage training from Tsukihane. Once he has increased his chakra reserves, he may return to receive instruction." Takanome's elation dropped off slightly at the latter half of the news, but he was still overjoyed that he had passed his new boss's inspection. Taiyohane turned to Tetsuhane, the other bird looking up in response.
"Tetsu, please fetch the contract so Takanome may sign it." The grey hawk nodded and flew off into the depths of the roost, returning a moment later with a scroll as tall as Fugaku clutched in his talons. He placed it on the ground in front of Takanome and opened the clasp with his beak, before stepping back to his original position.
"Come closer Takanome. I must warn you though, the blood that you use to sign the contract must be drawn by me. An additional security measure if you will. Now please, present me with your hand." Takanome did as instructed, keeping his eyes averted as he felt Taiyohane's heat draw closer. A moment later, he felt a prick of burning pain as Taiyohane's beak pierced his skin, but it was gone as soon as it started. Takanome quickly knelt down and signed his name in the indicated space, purposefully omitting the "Hyuga" portion he was so used to writing, hand heavy despite his excitement.
"Excellent, you are now bound to the Summoning contract of the Hawks. I will leave your education in our ways to Fugaku. I will also assign a familiar to you when you first perform the summoning technique. Now I must go, I bid you all farewell." With that, the Hawk Chief walked off, the clacking of his talons and the glow of his feathers receding until Fugaku indicated that Takanome could look up again.
Once they left the pavilion, Yukihane disappeared in a puff of smoke. The humans were pulled along after a quick goodbye to Tetsuhane, reappearing at the training ground they had left, Yukihane standing in front of them. Fugaku turned to Takanome, a smile on his face.
"Well, now I guess I should teach you the summoning jutsu. In its most basic form it's pretty simple, you know the hand signs right?" Takanome nodded. "Excellent, well give it a shot, don't use too much chakra, Taiyohane has probably assigned you a messenger bird as a familiar."
Takanome quickly ran through the seals, slamming his hand into the ground. The standard sealing formula spread out from his palm and was then obscured by a wave of white smoke.
It parted a moment later to reveal a normal sized hawk, it's feathers the same colour as Fugaku's flak jacket. It looked up to gaze at Takanome, it's head tilting slightly. Takanome bowed to his new familiar.
"Greetings, my name is Takanome, what is yours?"
"Kazehane is the name given to me by my elders. It is a pleasure to meet you Takanome, I hope our partnership can be long and fruitful."
"Indeed."
"Alright Takanome, I want to work with you on your nature transformation and do a bit of sparring, you can get to know your new friend better later. Yuki, could you give Kazehane a tour of the village? Just important spots that he might need to know, introduce him to important people too."
"Got it, I'll see you later Takanome. Come Kaze, fly with me." The two hawks took off, leaving the humans to square off.
"Come Takanome, show me what you're got," Fugaku said, eyes focusing on his student, although they remained black rather than red as he settled into a taijutsu stance
"With pleasure," Takanome replied, his own eyes activating, as he raised his hands
The first attack of the match was Takanome's, a wave of wind made of a multitude of miniature blades slicing the grass of the training ground as they closed in on their target. Fugaku dodged over the attack with a backflip, easily evading the basic attack, a trio of orange fireballs careening towards his student mid air as a response.
Takanome dodged the first one by going low, sliding along the ground as the orb of fire passed harmlessly over his head. The next two were aimed to strike him as he rose from the ground, one on either side. He dodged left, using a blast of wind from his palms to maneuver around the oncoming attack.
As he rolled on the landing, Takanome pulled out his bow and launched a volley of arrows at Fugaku. With a stomp of his foot, the Uchiha erected an earthen wall to catch the projectiles. After impact, he slammed his palm into the structure, sending the whole structure flying through the air towards his opponent.
Takanome, who had used the wall as a cover to move in, was forced to react quickly to a quarter ton of rock he was currently on a collision course with. He leapt up and vaulted over the wall, pushing off the back of it to close the distance to his opponent.
As he moved in however, he suddenly felt an extreme bout of motion sickness. Rather than hitting Fugaku with a flying kick as he intended, Takanome instead fell face first to the ground just short of his target. He barely dispelled the genjutsu in time to avoid being hit by a kunai aimed for his back.
Takanome extended his arms downwards, pushing his legs up into a spin, forming a miniature wind vortex to force Fugaku back. He was countered by a small bolt of lightning that sent him flying back, barely managing to flip over and land on his feet despite the pain.
He didn't have any time to recover however, as Fugaku body flickered forward, fist already pulled back for a punch. Takanome weaved past the attack, aiming for a gentle fist strike to the throat, there was no way he could keep up with Fugaku, even when he was holding back, without killing intent.
The blow was unsurprisingly parried, and countered with a left roundhouse kick. Takanome blocked the attack with his forearm, wincing in pain at the intense impact. He tried to counter by blowing a gust of wind at his opponent's face, but his aim was disrupted by another motion sickness genjutsu, Fugaku ducking down as the attack went high. The Byakugan may have rendered Takanome mostly immune to visual genjutsu, but he was still very much vulnerable to other forms of illusion.
I need to surprise Sensei somehow, improvise a bit…. Think Takanome... you're not bound by clan laws anymore, so why not do something you never would have before.
Takanome jumped into Fugaku, disrupting his opponent's attempt to charge another fireball. As he did so, his hands began to glow with the telltale chakra of the gentle fist.
Except now it wasn't just any chakra, but wind chakra.
Takanome unleashed a flurry of strikes at Fugaku, the Uchiha forced to dodge each of them, not wanting to find out exactly what this new technique would do to his chakra system. Each swipe of Takanome's hands was accompanied by a faint buzzing noise, and the usually sky blue chakra on his hands had turned a light green as it swirled around his fingers and palms. Fugaku eventually created some space between himself and his student by spitting out a stream of water. However, just before the stream hit Takanome, the Genin disappeared, having performed a replacement, his new position nowhere to be seen.
"You're within range of my divination sensei," Takanome called from behind, and Fugaku turned around just in time to see his student leap forward, hands held high. The first hit of the combo landed, and Fugaku was unable to move as the rest were launched.
"Two hits, four hits, eight hits, sixteen hits… Eight Trigrams Wind Style: Thirty-Two palms!" Takanome yelled as he landed the final strikes of the most advanced gentle fist technique he knew. To his dismay however, his target exploded into a blast of lightning, knocking him to the ground. Before he could get up, he saw something coming at him from below.
Takanome rolled over as Fugaku's hands emerged from the ground, bringing a kunai from his pouch to stab one of the offending appendages. However, before he could, he felt a blade at his neck.
"Got you," Fugaku said from behind Takanome, the genjutsu around him dispelling as the shadow clone in the ground popped.
Takanome sighed as he stood up and dusted himself off. Sure he never expected to win against Fugaku, but it was still disappointing.
"Don't be so down on yourself Takanome, that new wind style gentle fist is a truly terrifying technique. Come, let's try to develop that a bit more." A smile returned to Takanome's face at his teacher's kind words, and he settled into his fighting stance once more.
A/N: Hey all, I hope you enjoyed the longest chapter yet, and a bit of a glance into the future for Takanome and Team 3. Also, you may or may not have noticed that I have gone back and fixed many of the errors in the previous chapters. This is both the work of myself and my wonderful Beta TheMasterDoughnut, who has been an immense help in both editing and brainstorming. Also thanks to the r/NarutoFanfiction discord for helping out with ideas and feedback. Thanks for reading, and please review!