Legacy of the will

Prologue - : Ryouichi

A/N: This is my first story, I hope you enjoy.

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The cold wind whistled through the sky, and the ninja monitoring the road were quite tired of it. It was late, they wanted to go home. And the perveying mood was of anticipation.

"Where is our relief?"

"Don't look at me. It's been three hours and they still aren't here."

"I don't like this."

"You never like this."

The wind continued until the sharp ears of the ninja picked up a small noise from the woods. A small, weak voice crying for help.

The ninja immediately leaped out to look for the source. They Body Flickered around the trees and soon tracked it down.

Emerging from the forest was a small, emaciated child. Dirt covered clothes, torn to shreds. Cuts all across his body as he weakly limped out. "H-Help...please…"

A shinobi burst forward to catch the fainting child and tried to soothe him.

"Hey...where are you from?"

"I...I don't know...it was so cold but then it was really warm...and it hurt…" scanning his body revealed to the horrified ninja, burns all across his body. The boy had black hair that was shaggy and very long. His body was pale and very dirty.

"We need to get him to a medical-nin!" He quickly disappears in a gust of wind alongside his companions, and into Konohagakure.

Soon, after a few hours, a medical-nin exited the child's hospital room. The very concerned ninja stand up only to be eased with the medical-nin's hand. "Relax, he's stable. You're lucky you found him when you did. We managed to treat his hypothermia before it got serious."

"Do you know who he is? Did he say anything?"

"He barely remembers anything. If I had to guess he can't be any older than three."

"Geez...did he know his name?"

She went silent, before shaking her head.

The ninja sat down feeling fairly crushed by this revelation.

She nods sadly. "We'll have to wait until tomorrow. See how he's feeling then."

The next morning news had broken out about the new visitor to Konoha. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, assigned a team of Chunin to investigate the boy's history and past. By then he had managed to make a near full recovery, and could remember his name: Ryouichi.

A red haired Chunin sat down with him later that afternoon, and questioned him.

"Do you know where you're from, Ryouichi?"

"I...I don't know. My mommy called it the river land."

"The Land of Rivers?"

"Y-Yeah!" He smiled. "That's what she called it!"

"Okay...that's an awfully long ways away from here. What happened?"

"I...our home was attacked. My mommy and daddy tried to hide me but...they breathed fire onto our house...I managed to crawl away," his tears began to well up, "I didn't know what to do! S-So I ran! And kept running! Eventually I couldn't take it anymore so I called for help and then...I remember feeling sleepy. And then I woke up here."

"Hm...could be bandits. Maybe a group failed Genin or rogue ninja. Can you tell me anything else about them?"

"Well this one guy was scary big...he had a mask like a bird. With a looong beak and goggles. And this other one had a giant scar over his eye...and he had this huge sword...he was scary too but in a different way."

"In what way?" She leaned in closer.

"He smiled...and it felt scary. Like I could feel him wanting to hurt us."

She nods and gently tousles his hair. "Rest up, okay sweetie? We'll take care of this. I promise."

He nodded and laid back down curling up under the blankets. As she went to leave she heard soft crying coming from Ryouichi. She frowned and hesitated before walking back over to the bed and hugged him, gently assuring him as his tears stained her flak jacket.

Over the course of a few days Ryouichi slowly recovered. Many of the villagers were understandably weary of this stranger, but a few did come to visit. Mostly the ninja who found him that dreadfully cold night. However the wife of the head of the Yamanaka clan dropped flowers, supposedly they were representative of a speedy recovery. Ryouichi also was subject to multiple questionings and interrogations to ensure he was not a secret mole or a spy from an enemy village. That was, unfortunately, until the scouts Hiruzen sent to the Land of Rivers found Ryouichi's home village. Exactly as he described it.

The news disturbed Hiruzen but also begged an important question. See, if he had no family, where was he supposed to go? Of course the elders advocated returning him to the Land of Rivers, the ninja who found him wanted him to stay, as they couldn't simply throw away a child out. Ultimately though, it was Hiruzen's decision as Hokage. And Hiruzen did not want to abandon a child without speaking to him at least once.

He entered Ryouichi's hospital room and sat down with his pipe, taking a small puff. "Hello, son."

"Hello." Ryouichi waved lightly.

"My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, and I am the Hokage."

"What's a Hogane?"

"A Hokage is the leader of this village. I am responsible for the safety and wellbeing of everyone in it."

"That sounds hard."

"Sometimes it is. But I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"Do you get to spend a lot of time with your family?"

"Well, not as much as I would like to, no."

"Well then why is it worth it?"

Hiruzen chuckles. "Because to me, this village is my entire family. And it means the world to me. As such, I find it my responsibility to keep my family safe. To hold in my heart their hopes and dreams. To blaze a path for them to follow."

The more Hiruzen spoke, the more impassioned he became. And soon enough, Ryouichi was hanging on his every word. "Now that you've explained it, that does sound really cool. How do you become a Hokage?"

"Well first you must be very strong. Then you must be trusted by the people, and selected by them. It's very important that the villagers be willing to put their faith in you. Why do you ask? Do you want to be a Hokage?"

"It sounds really hard. I don't think I could do it. But if it's that hard to become one, then it must mean I can believe in the Hokage right?"

He chuckles as he smokes his pipe. "I suppose so, child. Tell me, what matters to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what is something very important to you? Something you could never ever let go of?"

Ryouichi frowned, before looking at Hiruzen with an uncharacteristic seriousness in his tone. "My memories."

"Your memories?"

"My mommy and daddy are dead. That won't change. But...I still have their memories. And if I can just hold on to that, then I'll be okay. You said family was really important to you. But remembering my family is important to me. And maybe if I keep them with me, I'll know to work hard to not lose any new family I get!"

Hiruzen smiled and nodded. "In that case...how would you like to stay here then? As a full fledged citizen of the Village Hidden in the Leaves?"

Ryouichi nodded and faintly smiled. "Yes please. I like it here."

The older man leaned over ruffing the boy's hair and earning a closed eye smile in return.

-

Three years later…

Ryouichi ran around the market attempting to barter his way into a nice treat. After all he passed his studies, he deserved a treat. Unfortunately for him, six year olds tend not to make much money. And since he was given just enough to live, he didn't have much for a sweet. As he sat there eyeing a particularly tasty kibidango, a little blonde girl spotted him looking at them before tapping her mother's shoulder.

"Mama can I get that to share with that boy?"

"Hm? That boy?"

"Yes. He doesn't look like he has any money for it."

"Hm." Her mother, knowing the truth she didn't, nodded and handed her some Ryo for the kibidango.

She smiled and hurried over to buy some, before running over to him, offering one. "Here you go!"

Ryouichi looked at her confused. "For me?"

"Well yeah silly! Who else is around here?"

"U-Um...thanks I guess. You didn't have to." He takes it, despite his casual attempts to deflect his desire for the treat, the color that entered his face when he tasted it said otherwise.

"Well you looked so lonely that I couldn't just leave it like that. Besides, I like sweets too." She smiles and eats a kibidango.

"I'm Ryouichi."

"I'm Ino Yamanaka. What clan are you from?"

"My...clan?"

"Yeah like your family name."

"Oh. I um...don't remember it."

She giggled like he was joking. "You don't know your family name? How come? Is it super long?"

"I don't know. I never memorized it before…"

"Hm? Before what?" She sat down and looked at him curiously.

"Before my parents died." He responded bluntly and sullenly.

Ino's eyes widened before she awkwardly looked down. "Oh...I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You didn't know."

After an awkward silence and treat consuming, Ino's energy exploded out as she regained her confident self. "Well maybe you don't need a clan, then! Maybe you'll do great as yourself."

"Huh? You really think so?"

"Absolutely! I'm like a sunflower, I can tune myself to these things after all." She proudly announced. "In fact maybe you should join the academy and become a ninja. You could do all kinds of things!"

Ryouichi thought about it, looking at Ino and the Hokage faces.

'If I want to protect something, I have to be strong. Like how the Hokage has to be strong to protect the village…'

He nodded and smiled.

"Okay then, I'll become a ninja!"

Ino smiled. "Yeah!" After consuming the last of the treats, Ino was called by her mother. "I gotta go. But maybe we'll see each other at the academy."

"That would be cool. You seem really nice Ino."

Ino hurried off as Ryouichi looked at the Hokage faces again. "You'll see. I'll be a great ninja. I'll be such a great ninja that nobody I care about gets hurt...ever again."

Two years later…

With one swift roundhouse kick Ryouichi was sent flying into the ground.

Ino Yamanaka and her friend Sakura Haruno winced at the impact.

Meanwhile the other students were enjoying the show. Ryouichi got up and attempted to sweep his opponents legs, but the brown haired boy deftly jumped over it and used momentum to punch Ryouichi in the face.

"You can do it Ryou!" Ino cried out.

"Yeah! Get him in the face!" Sakura responded.

Meanwhile multiple other students cheered on Ryouichi. His laid back and rather friendly personality began to blossom during the years. And while not necessarily an extrovert, he was nice enough that the kids weren't against him. Plus, he hadn't won a match yet so at this point most of the cheering was out of pity.

Ryouichi attempted a jab and gut punch only to get grabbed by the wrist and thrown over his opponents shoulder and onto the ground. The impact knocked the wind out of him, and the instructor called it. "That's enough! The winner is Haru Akiyama."

Ryouichi regained his breath and pitifully stood up as Ino walked over. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Just sore."

"Haru is just really good at taijutsu. Don't beat yourself up over it."

"What about Naruto...he lost to basically everyone and still managed to beat me up pretty bad."

"Well...okay maybe you are terrible at taijutsu. But you're great at other stuff!"

"Like what?"

"Well...you aced the history test. And most of the shinobi code."

"Hooray," Ryouichi spoke deadpan, "When I'm in a life or death situation I can defeat my enemy by citing the six ways the hidden village system aided in economic growth…"

"Hey...you never know…" Ino sheepishly responded.

"It's okay Ino. I appreciate you trying to help. I just need to figure out where I'm going wrong with this. I should go train, have a good day you two." Ryouichi left for the training grounds, where he trained for hours on end.

By the end he had completely exhausted himself, and came home in a sweat covered cloud of fatigue. He barely managed to get ready for bed when he collapsed onto said bed and passed out.

By the morning, Ryouichi had a fairly large breakfast and then set back out towards class. When he arrived it was the usual.

By the time sparring practice came, he was paired with a wild card. Ino Yamanaka. Ryouichi was apprehensive, as she was the closest thing to a best friend he had, and he didn't want to hurt her. However, on the other hand, Ino Yamanaka was not a girl known for asking for pulled punches.

The moment they started their battle was when Ino came in at full force, and Ryouichi was staring down death or the moral dilemma of punching his best friend in the face.

She made this decision easy by decking him on the nose the first chance she got, and all gloves came off.

Through various maneuvers, reactions, and quick attacks, the fight seemed pretty close if only because Ino had sparred once already. Ryouichi managed to get a solid hit to her chest and kicked her back, but Ino got up and rushed him. Her ferocity spooked him, and next thing he knew, he was on the ground feeling pain everywhere.

"The winner is Ino Yamanaka! Ryouichi are you going to keep letting your fellow students win?"

Ryouichi's wounded pride and general lack of confidence was not helped here, and he stood up before hurrying off to the training grounds.

There, he trained day in, day out. Over the weekend he put every second of time he could into improving. Even attempting to get veteran shinobi to help him out. Although to no avail.

Another day, another series of beatings. Ryouichi had to swallow his pride. He weakly walked over to Iruka-sensei.

"Ah Ryouichi. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm used to bruises by now Iruka-sensei. I wanted to ask you something."

"Hm? What is it?" Iruka looked at him curiously.

"Can…" he paused and sighed "...can you help me with my taijutsu?"

Iruka smiled and nodded. "Of course. Meet me before class tomorrow."

"Yes sensei." Ryouichi bowed and walked away.

The next morning Ryouichi got up earlier than usual. He ate a short breakfast, grabbed his tools, and hurried as fast as he could to the training grounds.

There stood Iruka, crossed arms and stern expression. Iruka did try to be strict when he was teaching.

"We'll do a short spar and then I'll see where you need to improve."

Ryouichi nodded, and formed the Seal of Confrontation. Iruka obliged in kind.

Ryouichi ran forward to attack, Iruka quite easily side stepped or blocked.

Ryouichi went to punch his leg, only to get a fist to his stomach, sending him flying back.

Iruka then ran forward, noticeably slower than before and telegraphed his attack. Ryouichi barely responded in time and tried to find an opening, only to get sweeped to the ground.

"Hm. It's harder to tell when you're just viewing. In actual combat I can tell your problem."

Ryouichi groaned and looked up at him. "What is it?"

"You're sloppy and hesitate. Telegraph too much and when you're on the defensive, you hesitate with how to regain the offense."

"Okay, how do I improve?"

'Hm…" Iruka thought to himself as he looked up. "Here." Iruka sat down and crossed his legs. "Sit with me."

Ryouichi obliged and sat down.

"Close your eyes and focus on your breath."

He nodded and did so, breathing deeply.

"Chakra consists of physical energy and spiritual energy. Your physical and mental prowess balanced into power."

"I know sensei...you taught us already."

"I did. And while you can look at it as a rule for chakra, it can also apply to people."

Ryouichi's eyes opened and he looked at Iruka. "What do you mean?"

"Sure, physical strength is great. But for a ninja, they need to be quick thinking and possess strong wills too. And a strong mind and will is fine, but without the physical means to bring about that thought or will, they won't be able to realize it."

Ryouichi thinks to himself. "What does this have to do with my taijutsu?"

"If you don't learn to exert a little force behind your fighting, and tighten up your form, you won't improve. This should help you focus. When you're finished, I'll teach you some stances and you'll work on telegraphing less. But you have to be willing to fight with your will on the line Ryouichi."

Ryouichi thought for a moment. "Okay. I understand."

After a few moments, Ryouichi finished his meditation. And Iruka began to walk him through various forms and stances, teaching him how to better utilize the moves he already knew.

Ryouichi was up to spar with Haru again. And Ryouichi was ready. Ino and Sakura meanwhile were standing in the crowd of students, Sakura looking quite concerned about his chances. Ino meanwhile looked at him curiously.

"What is it, Ino?"

"He seems different."

"What do you mean?"

"His presence. It feels less anxious."

Haru grinned and made the Seal of Confrontation.

Ryouichi deadpanned a glare and returned it. Unnerving Haru who immediately blitzed him to attack.

Ryouichi tightened his form and started defending with a firmer block, before pushing back as Haru had to regain his balance.

He immediately started aiming at Haru's kidneys and joints, hitting one in Haru's arm made the boy yelp.

He attempted to kick Ryouichi's chest, as Ryouichi hopped back and used his arms to ensure the kick couldn't connect.

Haru ran back at him with a growl as he had to use his nondominant arm in a punch, which was a little more telegraphed than usual. Ryouichi took the hard haymaker into his shoulder and grunted painfully, but managed to get a hard right hook into Haru's ribs.

Haru yelled out and held his side. He charged Ryouichi wildly as Ryouichi barely had time to react, and immediately swung his leg into a roundhouse, straight into Haru's exposed chest.

Flying into the ground, Haru groaned as Iruka smiled and waved. "Enough! The winner is Ryouichi! Glad you learned to fight back."

Ryouichi smiled as his attempt to fist bump the air caused him to wince very painfully due to his shoulder.

Ino ran over with a beaming smile. "You did it Ryou!"

Ryouichi blushed lightly in embarrassment, unused to the praise for victory. "It wasn't that impressive. He still got hits in."

"Well yeah, but at least it was your arms this time."

He nodded with a smile. "I suppose so."

"How did you improve so fast Ryouichi?" Sakura tilted her head. "You were awful at sparring yesterday."

"Well...I got a few pointers from Iruka-sensei."

"Clearly it worked. Maybe I should ask him too." Sakura pondered for a second.

"I doubt he'd mind Sakura. He seemed willing to help me."

Ino looked at the clock. "Crap! We're gonna be late Sakura!" She grabbed Sakura's hand and tugged her away as Ino waved. "Sorry Ryou! Talk to you later!"

Ryouichi waved and smiled lightly as he saw her run off. 'Maybe I should try meditating again. It was relaxing when I was in the training grounds.' With that, the class dispersed and he walked around Konoha.

Ryouichi wandered quite aimlessly, and amongst the chatter of the villagers and the busywork he saw along the way, Ryouichi was soon looking for anywhere quiet.

To his surprise, the only quiet place was the Konoha cemetery. Aside from him, only a silver haired young man looking at a monument was currently in the cemetery. And the silver haired man was very quiet. Ryouichi smiled lighty. This was perfect.

He looked for a place to sit down, where he found a monument. With the word "Hokage" emblazoned, and a wooden carving of a red flame. This was the Will of Fire, what the Hokage held so dearly. And here was where the previous Hokage were resting.

Ryouichi saw no other lovely spot in the cemetery, so he smiled and softly whispered to the monument. "Sorry Lord Hokage. Is it okay if I meditate here?" Ryouichi politely stood, as if dead men could respond.

However, wind blew throughout the cemetery, as three leaves fell in front of the monument, and Ryouichi.

Ryouichi smiled a bit wider and bowed. "Thank you." And sat down to meditate alongside the leaves.

In the Land of Fire there was a village hidden by leaves. In that village was a boy not born in it. But he was no less a Konoha villager than anyone else in their eyes.

He dreamt of becoming a ninja with no equal, one who could protect all he held dear.

When the Hokage spoke to him all those years ago, he lit a spark in the boy's heart. The Will of Fire that gave him warmth that cold evening.

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