Legacy of the Will

Chapter 3: Memories of a Time Long Past

A/N: Apologies for the late post. I'm going to try for earlier next week. Anyways, enjoy the chapter as the plot progression begins to ramp up.

XX

Nine years ago…

Ryouichi was tucked into bed by his mother, who gently tousled his hair and smiled.

"Haha, can you tell me a story?"

She nods, sitting next to him as he held a small toy wolf.

"There was a boy who went out hunting in the woods. But when he was done, he realized he didn't know where he had come from. He was lost."

Ryouichi looked rather upset. "He found his way back, right?"

She lamentingly looked at him. "Well, no. He didn't. He wandered around for a very long time, before a girl found him. And she asked him, "where do you come from?"

She made sure he was tucked in properly, "-And he couldn't answer. "I don't know," he said. And she looked at him, and smiling, she took his hand. "Maybe we'll find out together," and she began to walk with him."

Hanging onto her words he cried out. "Then what happened?!"

She grinned and kissed his forehead. "Go to sleep and I'll tell you in the morning."

He pouted and hugged his wolf. "No fair using cliffhangers!"

She chuckled and blew out the candle in his room. "The ending will be worth it. I promise Ryouichi, sweetie."

The smoke didn't bother him then. Soon, it would.

Present Day

Ryouichi opened his eyes and shook his head from his nightmare. A black cat hissing at a boar and a hare. Smoke surrounding them. During the nightmare, he felt a stinging, burning feeling in his side and leg. Where his burn scars were. As he began to panic, he woke up.

'Again…and again…how many times am I going to have this dream…?' He climbed out of bed as he went through the motions of waking up.

'Four years I've been in the Academy. Four years leading to this moment. I'd be happier…'

He looked at himself in the mirror. Wiser eyes stared back, retaining some softness in their teal irises. But no less focused. He smiled as he saw his older self, and it got wider and wider. The time had come.

'Okay, maybe I'm just happy for once. This is what I've been working for so long. And finally, I'll be a shinobi.'

He slipped into his clothes. His black pants, matching tabi boots, his light gray gloves with hand protectors, long sleeve midnight blue shirt, now a v-neck. His chainmail armor undershirt slipping in beforehand. Bandages were wrapped around to support his knees and ankles, and then he fixed his sash over his waist snugly. As he finished changing, he went over to the kitchen checking all his ingredients. He hummed to himself as he prepared a rather large breakfast, using most of the groceries in his kitchen.

Steaming some rice, he diced up some potatoes, boiled and then shredded some chicken, before mixing it in the rice and dropping some chopped up green onions and radish. With some final spices added for flavor, he sat down and took his chopsticks.

"Thank you for the food!"

He dug in, and enjoyed every bowlful, of which he had three.

While taking a morning stroll through Konoha, Ryouichi spotted the vandalized faces of the Hokage, shocking and horrifying him.

"Who on earth would do tha-"

"NARUTO!!!"

Ryouichi sighed lightly. "Of course it's Naruto-san."

Ryouichi resumed his walk, as a captured Naruto was forced to wash them before getting to the Academy. As his walk continued, he passed a few villagers and kids living their lives. From market stalls, to shops, to simple chores. The bustling of Konoha made him smile. His walk finally ended at the Academy, the tall, structured building exuded formality sometimes. And today was no exception. It was time for Ryouichi to take his graduation exam.

To graduate, he had to pass a written exam and successfully perform the Clone Jutsu to demonstrate his understanding of shinobi technique. Joining him were his fellow classmates. Including Sakura and Ino who were walking in rather friendly, as Sakura talked to Ino about all the things she had heard about Sasuke. Ino, wasn't quite paying attention. When she saw Ryouichi, she waved with a smile, which he returned.

"Good luck Ino-chan."

She smiled wider and nodded. "Thank you, you too Ryou-kun."

Upon a few students bumping into her and Sakura, her sweet demeanor quickly fled as she and Sakura were wringing the poor students' necks. When they sat down, Iruka reminded them of the exam. Naruto, upon hearing it was the Clone Technique, looked visibly perturbed. Ryouichi however, smiled as they went through the written exam. Ino and Sakura looked rather calm about the test, Shikamaru looked lazy and bored as ever, and Ryouichi felt confident. After Iruka collected the papers, which were named with their takers, he then organized the students alphabetically by last name to take their final test, the Clone Jutsu.

Ryouichi was set to go with those that had an "r" for their last name, since he had no clan name. When it came to his turn, he executed the hand seals, channeled his chakra, and produced a perfect clone of himself. Iruka nodded with a smile and returned to his seat, to a pleased and happy looking Ino looking at him from above.

Naruto Uzumaki managed to nearly incapacitate Iruka with his "Sexy Jutsu" and when he tried to perform the Clone Jutsu, he failed rather handily. A rather disheartened Naruto left class that day.

Afterwards, Ryouichi celebrated his graduation with his friends, and then reported his success to the Hokage that had patiently let him rest for all those years.

"I graduated Lord Hokage, I actually graduated!"

Ryouichi spun while sitting and looked at the sky. The stars shone out in full majesty, the dark blue sky positively dancing with them.

"I can start working to help people."

He looked down, his mood slightly souring. "Since that's…all I know I definitely want to do."

He soon regains his cheerful smile. "I'm sure it'll work out just fine! After all, I can always come here for advice!"

The next morning, Ryouichi practically leaped out of his bed. It had been one night that he got to sleep, without a single nightmare. He quickly dressed himself, clipping a ninja tool pouch to the back pocket of his pants, and a kunai holster over the bandages now newly added to his right thigh. And then he smiled brightly at the Leaf forehead protector he had been given as a sign he had become a Genin. He nearly hugged it but recognized that may be taking it too far. So instead, he tied it neatly around his forehead. His onyx hair lifting to look even more messy, and the locks of hair that usually framed his face stopping at his eyes and not his cheekbones.

He had so much boundless energy from such a great rest, that rather than walk to the Academy, he ran with full force. Arriving earlier than any other student, who by now were just leaving their homes. As the students slowly poured in one by one, Ryouichi was surprised to see Naruto Uzumaki enter with a bright smile.

'Naruto-san? Didn't he fail graduation?'

As Naruto tried to sit next to Sakura, he was denied and forced to sit near Choji and Shikamaru. Kaori entered in at that moment. Her hair had grown over the past two years to reach her waist, and her Hyuuga clan eyes were tinted with mischief and a fiery determination. Her headband was wrapped around her right thigh tightly, just below her kunai holster. She wore a pale forest green elbow length sleeve shirt, that was long enough so that the brown belt around her waist made the excess length seem like a skirt. She had a pair of light chestnut pants and dark brown boots, and covering her hands and knuckles were neatly tied bandages.

As she walked over, she brushed the bangs out of her eyes from her hair, which was mostly tied in a long ponytail, with only a few loose locks which came down to her jaw and framed each side of her face.

"Morning Ryouichi!"

"Morning Kaori-san."

"I'm glad to see you graduated," she looked at him with a subtle glare, "But didn't we establish you don't have to be so formal with me?"

Ryouichi put his hands up in surrender. "S-Sorry. I meant Kaori."

She relaxed her tensed fist and gave a content sigh.

Haru joined soon after. His black hair and dark brown eyes had become more mature. Though still cocky, and still of the opinion he should be the best of the best regardless of his standing, the couple years spent in fear of Ino, and later Kaori, had long since kept any possible maliciousness in check. He wore a red cloak over a black shirt, with his kunai holster on his left leg. He had two ninja tool pouches on his backside, and a pair of ankle length cargo pants that were dark gray in color. Rounding out his outfit was his forehead protector, which was right around his head. He sat down by Ryouichi and Haru.

"Morning Kaori, Ryouichi."

Kaori waved with a smile. "Morning Haru."

Ryouichi nodded to him politely.

Kaori sighed and stretched her arms up. "I wonder how teams are gonna work."

Ryouichi shrugged, uncertain. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Sakura meanwhile was in Sakura Land, hoping to end up on the same team as Sasuke. While Ino knew the team she would end up on. Though she did secretly want Ryouichi to be on her team. Ryouichi had no preference. He simply knew one thing. He didn't want to be on a team with either Haru, or Kaori.

Iruka finished listing out names, resulting in a very annoyed Naruto looking at Sasuke. "Alright and finally Team 3, Kaori Hyuuga, Haru Akiyama, and Ryouichi."

Kaori shot her fist up in the air. "Yeah!"

Haru lightly whimpered looking at Kaori. Ryouichi looked at the table deadpan, but internally dead inside.

'Okay. A misery fueled existence it is.'

"You're all going to have jonin instructors for each team. Team 3 meet in Classroom 7."

He goes through the rest of the assignments to the teams, before dismissing them.

Ryouichi sighed lightly in his unfortunate circumstances and left quietly, before Kaori nabbed him and Haru by the arms to drag them off.

The next day was a tough day for Ryouichi. Stuck in Classroom 7 with the two people that he both spent the most time with and were also the most annoying. Luckily for him, his agony ceased with the arrival of their mentor.

Stepping in was a fair skinned woman with white hair and pale blue eyes. She wore a set of chainmail fishnet pants and shirt, and a light gray v-neck long sleeve shirt. With a darker gray pair of heeled boots and pair of black slightly baggy cargo pants. She had dual black kunai holsters and two ninja tool pouches, and the Konoha flak jacket.

"Hello you three. I am Tsukiko Shimizu, I will be your instructor."

Ryouichi bows, Kaori waves, and Haru gives a nod.

"I see I have a unique set of students, with each different…temperaments."

"You know it!" Kaori grinned.

Ryouichi looked at her. "So, what is your plan for training us?"

"Well, firstly I want to know what all I am working with. So how about we go to the training grounds and get a handle on everyone's fighting styles and potential?"

In their unique ways, her students acknowledge her in unison. "Yes sensei."

At the field, Ryouichi was paired to spar with Haru. The two battled for a couple minutes of intense fighting, before Ryouichi managed to knock Haru to the ground with a sharp kick to the shoulder.

"Interesting. Okay Kaori, you and Ryouichi."

She giggled excitedly before entering her fighting stance, and when Tsukiko gave the signal, she went to blitz Ryouichi. He quickly deflected and narrowly avoided getting a firm palm into his chest but was unable to block an attack in his shoulder. Holding said shoulder, he began falling onto using kicks and managed to get a solid kick on Kaori's side. She groaned and went to let loose a few barrages of palmed hands, which he barely managed to deflect, getting grazed in a few places on his sides.

He grunted in pain but was able to pull out a kunai and slashed at her. She dodged and weaved around the slashes, disarming him and slamming a palm into his stomach and landing him on the ground.

"Very good Kaori. Your family's reputation is confirmed it seems."

"Was that in question?"

"I suppose a little. As ninjas we must constantly evaluate." She looked to Ryouichi, "As for you, you did rather well."

He barely stood up and nodded. "Thank you, Tsukiko-sensei."

She gave a relieved sigh as the evaluation was over and looked at her students.

"If I had to make assumptions now, I'd say that Kaori is the best taijutsu user of the group, no surprise there. Haru appears to be more especially skilled at ninjutsu but not at actually fighting. And Ryouichi, you appear to be somewhere in the middle. Good at both ninjutsu and taijutsu, but not as specialized as they are."

He nods. "Yes sensei."

"Now while the other jonin may be interested in starting slow, I have a personal schedule to keep. So, I will start you off with a few D rank missions for payment, but you will be primarily training hard. And to start, I will first determine your chakra nature and chakra control."

She pulls out a few pieces of paper and hands them to the genin. "Focus your chakra through that."

They nod and do so. Ryouichi's paper burst into flames, Haru's became damp, and Kaori's sliced in half. Tsukiko smiled at each of the results. "Fire, water, and wind. An interesting combination."

"So, what does that mean? Ryouichi looks at her.

"It means that you can use and learn fire nature transformation easier, and she can do the same for wind, and him, water. Which means I know what techniques will be easier to teach you three in and what will be harder."

"Okay…?" Haru tilted his head.

"I will be teaching you all the opposite of your elements. Ryouichi you will be learning Water Release, Kaori you will be learning Fire Release, and Haru you will be learning Lightning Release."

"Can genin even learn those?"

"Genin does not mean you are limited, it means you are inexperienced. And the best way to gain experience is to practice."

They nod, "Yes sensei."

"Now, to train your chakra control, I will have you learn and develop your skills with movement. Firstly," she walks up to the top of a nearby tree, "Using chakra to walk along surfaces. I presume you know how to do this?"

They reluctantly shake their heads.

"Hm. Seems I have more work than I thought."

With hours and hours of training, they managed to make good progress. With Ryouichi being the second closest, Haru easily grasping chakra control, and Kaori finding it harder to pull off. Though they nearly had it, she still sent them home to rest.

Returning the next day, they resumed their trials. Soon enough, they all could stand sideways along the trees. Kaori had managed to figure out the proper amount of chakra, and Ryouichi was able to concentrate to focus all their chakra. When they had finished their tree climbing training, she set them to work walking along water.

This particular form of terrain crossing was very difficult, and despite how quickly they learned the tree climbing, this took days to learn. But after nearly four days of hard training, they managed to master it. Tsukiko was rather impressed.

"Well done you three. You will do nicely as students. Tomorrow we will take on some D rank missions to get you some money."

"Aren't we supposed to do D ranks as a start?" Haru speaks up.

"No, you do it because of careful teachers who want to get you accustomed to how missions work. I just want to make sure you can start to take care of yourselves in between missions. The moment I think you're skilled enough, it's off to C ranks we go."

"Are those dangerous?" Ryouichi nervously asked.

"No. Maybe. Depends on the mission."

He nods, "Okay."

"Get enough rest, we start work tomorrow."

"Yes sensei!" They dispersed.

The next morning, they were hauled up to the Hokage's Office, who eagerly smiled at the three students and their jonin.

"Good to see you." He smiles wider and looks at Ryouichi. "How are you adjusting to shinobi training, now that you have graduated?"

"Well, Lord Hokage." Ryouichi smiles as Haru and Kaori nod in agreement.

"Well then good. I do not need to remind you all that as shinobi, you bring in revenue for the village that is essential for our prosperity. And that to be a shinobi is to serve your home first and foremost, but also to forge your own path."

They nod and bow.

"Have you selected your mission, Tsukiko?"

She walks forward and gives him a scroll, "Yes Lord Third. A simple farming labor mission."

"I see, the payment is forty-thousand Ryo, divvied up amongst you."

"Ten thousand Ryo each sounds good enough to me." She nods with a calm smile.

"Then I wish you all good luck and remember to bring honor to the village of Konoha."

Ryouichi baked under the hot sun as he planted various crops of radishes and potatoes, while Kaori groaned.

"Ahh this sucks! I didn't become a ninja to be a farmer!"

Haru glares. "Less complaining and maybe help me with my planting?"

Ryouichi meanwhile hummed while planting. Causing his team to look at him curiously.

He looked back and tilted his head. "What?"

Kaori looked at him. "You're not burning up?"

"Well, yeah. You aren't?"

She exploded out with annoyance. "Yes! How come you aren't complaining?"

"Because I'm maintaining discipline."

"Yeah but this is hard." Haru groaned.

"We're Leaf shinobi. We have a reputation to uphold! Are you simply going to let hard and simple work get in the way of showing that we Leaf ninja are dedicated and reliable hires?! This is for the honor of Konoha!"

Tsukiko smiles and starts chuckling, which evolves into laughter. She crouches down and starts working herself. "He has a point."

They look at each other, before dedicating themselves to the work, stifling any complaints that came to mind.

A few days went by of intense D rank missions, mostly manual labor. By the time they had finished, Kaori and Haru had learned to keep the reputation of their village in mind. And Ryouichi was enjoying the peaceful moments, which he knew wouldn't last forever.

Ryouichi was doing tai chi in the training grounds, warming up for training that day. While Kaori was stretching, and Haru was sitting in the grass. As Ryouichi finished his regiment, Tsukiko appeared.

"Well good to see some of us are eager." She glares at Haru who stands up and starts jogging around immediately.

"Good. Now, after this last round of missions I took a keen interest in your personalities. And I have decided to teach you each an elemental jutsu."

The three light up and are very excited, with Kaori vibrating.

"What kind of jutsu?!" She lets out.

Tsukiko smirks before weaving hand signs blisteringly fast. "Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!" She inhales deeply and exhales an impressively strong fireball into the sky.

Looking very stunned, they look at her again.

Weaving once again, she channels lightning in her hands.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Net Jutsu!" She flings her arms forward and it flares out in front of her into a mid-ranged attack.

Ryouichi smiles. "We're all learning those?"

She shakes her head and grins. "No. Haru is learning the lightning jutsu, Kaori is learning the fire jutsu. Because they are their opposite affinities. Because of your strong devotion to work ethic, however, I will teach you the Fireball jutsu as well, as it is within your affinity."

Ryouichi smiles wide and nods, bowing politely. "Thank you, sensei."

She nods, before starting the process of teaching them the jutsu.

It took a while, and while Ryouichi grasped the jutsu easily due to his affinity, Haru and Kaori obviously had a much harder time developing their abilities with jutsu they were naturally unable to properly use. As the hours dragged by with barely any success, finally the three presented their jutsu.

Ryouichi weaved the hand signs quickly and efficiently, before inhaling deeply.

"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!" Fire erupted from his mouth and blasted out powerfully and slowly dissipated.

Kaori followed suit. "Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!" A smaller plume of fire launched out, but no less powerful.

Haru stepped forward and started weaving quicker than the other two. "Lightning Release: Lightning Net Jutsu!" He threw his hands forward and easily blasted out an impressive web of lightning. Tsukiko claps in a congratulatory way.

"Very impressive you three, in fact, I'd say you're ready for a C rank mission."

Kaori was excited, Haru was smiling, and Ryouichi sighed a little disappointedly. The peace and serenity wasn't lasting as long as he had hoped it would. But, at least he could gain more experience. Still, he knocked on Ino's door late that night, and he heard her opening it looking at him with a small yawn.

"Too late to knock?" He asked, looking a bit concerned. She was in purple pajamas with a pair of floral pattern white socks and her hair tied back.

"No," she yawned again, which Ryouichi thought looked cute. "Just unexpected."

"I wanted to let you know I'm going on a mission tomorrow."

"Another D rank? Seems a bit unnecessary to tell me about that."

"No, a C rank."

Any sleep that may have been creeping in went away. "A-Already?!"

"Yeah…" he nervously chuckles. "Sorry if that's a little too early. But I wanted to make sure you knew."

She nods, a little worriedly. "Of course. How long will you be gone?"

"Should only be a week or two. It's a simple investigation into some disappearances. That's all."

"Okay. My team will be working outside Konoha for a bit. Doing a babysitting job. Just…promise me something, ok?"

He smiled. "Of course, name it."

"Be careful. We only just graduated. Don't get too ambitious."

"I won't, I wasn't the one who picked it. If our jonin sensei thinks we can do it, then we can do it."

She hesitated on something, causing Ryouichi's eyebrow to raise.

"Ino-chan?"

She walked forward and hugged him, causing him to make a noise of surprise.

"If you die on this 'simple mission' I will kill you."

He nervously laughed before hugging her with some comfort behind his voice. "It'll be fine Ino-chan. I promise."

Ryouichi yawned early in the morning as Kaori and Haru approached the entrance gates to the village.

"Hey! Good morning Ryouichi!" Kaori cried out, looking as if she had slept an entire week last night.

"Hey…" Ryouichi sleepily groaned out.

"Get any sleep?" Haru looked at him concerned.

"A little. I spent a little too much time preparing my tools and backpack."

"And who's fault is that?" He gave a chuckle. "Someone was worried, wasn't he?"

"I wasn't exactly planning on a C rank mission so soon, Haru."

"A ninja must always be prepared. And that is why I am Tsukiko-sensei's best student. At least if we count mentality over everything else…"

Kaori grimaced. "Except ninjutsu and chakra control. You do have us beat there."

"Well at least I'm better than you two at something. That's all that matters."

"Is being better than everyone really that important to you?" Ryouichi fired at him, annoyed.

"Not really anymore. Just better at you two when it comes to something. To distinguish myself on the team."

"Since when did your arrogant bravado become so…reasonable?" Kaori looks at him with an exaggerated shock.

"Since his girlfriend showed up in my nightmares." Haru's bent arm pointed a thumb at Ryouichi.

Ryouichi glared. "She is not my girlfriend."

"Coulda fooled me…" Kaori giggles a little condescendingly.

Tsukiko arrives with a flash of smoke and presence. The smoke made Ryouichi turn away, until he could tell it dissipated.

"You okay Ryouichi?" She looks at him.

"I…don't exactly like smoke. Bring stuff back."

She nods apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"Anyways, shall we?"

"Yes sensei."

Tsukiko nods pleased. "Okay. We're going through the forest to get to our destination, a couple hundred miles outside of Konoha and in the forest."

"Right." Ryouichi nods.

"Okay. Let's go. Disperse!"

With a body flicker, they zoomed out. Jumping along the way they headed out to their destination.

While they went along, Ryouichi felt a sudden sense and he stopped. The team fell back and checked on him.

"Are you okay Ryouichi?" Tsukiko asked.

"Yeah just…could have sworn I saw something familiar." He hopped down from the tree and examined the ground.

Among the rocks, leaves, and grass, he found a nearly deflated, muddy, and poor condition wolf toy, stained with the color of smoke and burned cloth. Whose presence pained him deeply. "Okami-kun…" he walked over and picked it up.

"Huh?" Kaori looked. "Aww, it's so cute!"

"Ryouichi, is this yours?" Tsukiko looked at him.

"He was…a long time ago…he was my best friend. My mother said as long as I had him, I'd be safe."

"I take it you dropped him…" Tsukiko walked over, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah…I couldn't stop to look…" he hugs the wolf tightly.

"I understand. C'mon. We need to keep going."

As Ryouichi looked at the wolf, he couldn't help but hear screaming and the stench of smoke. He barely hid the watering of his eyes as he stuffed the bear into his bag.

'You once called me a wolf cub haha…that I would become as strong as Okami-kun. But in the end…I was nothing but harmless prey…did you know that was my fate? Or was it something cruel that took this wolf's claws away?' He looked at the sky before shaking his head.

'Focus Ryouichi. This is no time to get sentimental.'

He body flickers away to join his comrades.

In the treeline stood a man, with a cat mask, cloaked and covered in almost every possible way. He placed two fingers on his covered ear.

"Yes, they sent a team. Three genin, one jonin."

A voice returned from the hidden intercom. "Need I remind you, if you fail like you failed to assassinate Hiruzen Sarutobi, that you will not escape the consequences again?"

"No. Those kids will not make it past the perimeter. My team and I will make sure of that…"

XX