IMPORTANT A/N: The names and places mentioned in this chapter and for the rest of the story are from a map created by an artist call "Fire-Daimyo", who has kindly given me permission to use their work. I have made a couple very minor edits based only on the borders to show how the borders will change over time. There will be a link in my profile page which I highly suggest checking out to both support their work, and understand the locations the the places characters talk about in both this chapter and in the future.

I dodged the punch aimed at my head by ducking, before dashing forward and landing two strikes on my opponent. They didn't seem to have much effect, forcing me to pivot away and make distance before he could take advantage of my closeness to utilise his preferred style of martial arts. Taking a few seconds to catch my breath and size up my opponent I couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction.

He was slowly being worn down by the dozens of clean, if not very powerful, hits while I had only taken a handful of glancing blows. Sure he only needed one clean hit to end the match, but the chakra flowing through me gave me enough speed to avoid the worst of it.

He was favouring his left after taking a particularly nasty blow to his right knee, so I waited for him to lead with it as we circled each other. Seeing the was my opening present itself I surged forward to finish the fight. Sliding to his right with the idea of targeting his leg to finally bring him down I was taken by surprise when he dropped almost to his knees, before he launched himself in towards me with the last of his strength.

The move caught me flatfooted, forcing me to improvise. Blocking was out of the question, he would crush me under his far greater bulk without even trying. His spread arms meant that dodging to the left or right would result in me being grappled and dragged down with him. The only option was up and over.

Waiting until the last possible moment I slapped my hands down on the back of his shoulders and shoved, pushing him down at the same time as I attempted to vault over his flying tackle. Just as I thought I had cleared him I felt something grab a hold of my left foot, before the world spun as my opponent twisted a full one-eighty degrees in mid-air while holding on to me. Our positions now reversed, with him above and I below, I had barely enough time to brace for the impact before I crashed into the ground followed shortly by my opponent landing on top of me.

Once on the floor the battle was practically over. Once we were on the ground my personal style of dodging in and out with relatively weak but fast strikes was at a severe disadvantage against the Akimichi's family style, which focused on using their overwhelming size and strength to force opponents into submission. The spar was called a few seconds later, Noburu calling the match once I was obviously unable to break out of the chokehold.

Releasing me, my opponent rolled off to the side sucking in giant lungfuls of air as I struggled to sit up. Getting landed on by an Akimichi was never a fun experience, and I was sure to have a single large bruise all over my chest by the time I met up with Uncle Riki and Shuun. Getting to my feet as the next two combatants were called to the ring I offered my hand to my fellow student.

Teinei Akimichi was huge compared to many of our classmates. Easily a head and a half taller and at least three time heavier than myself, the kid was built like a brick shithouse. This combined with the fact that he and I were ranked 11th and 12th respectively while both of us attempted to break into the top ten meant that Noburu constantly put us up against each other. The loss stung, but it was hard to take it too personally.

"I wasn't expecting that last move at all. It looked more like something one of the Inuzuka's would pull off, not at all like your usual style," I said as we limped off the field together to make way for said brothers to enter the ring. The older one, clearly hearing my comment, grinned and clapped Teinei on the shoulder as they passed.

"Well you had me on the ropes there for most of the fight. Desperate times calling for desperate measures and all that," he answered with a rueful smile.

"Hard not to pick up on some of what they do, especially when it works so well."

He had a point. The top ten spots were currently dominated by our Uchiha, Hyuuga, and Inuzuka classmates, their families' focus on close combat giving them an undeniable advantage in the ring. It was also a testament to the Academy's subtle manipulation of making the clans work together that my classmates were beginning to pick up and copy each other's distinct styles to supplement their own personal arsenal. Something I couldn't actually talk badly about without being a massive hypocrite seeing as I had more or less copied the foundations of my own fast-moving style from our sole Hyuuga classmate.

Sure it was an underhanded manipulation of schoolchildren, but it was a genuinely good system to help us all improve in this case.

"Hey Akihiro-san, are you going to come to Makkuro's party tomorrow? I know you haven't been to the Nara's compound before so let me know if you need me to help show you the way," Teinei offered once we had taken our seats.

Pretending to think about it, I turned to Teinei.

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm sure I will be able to find my way. There is also the fact that I wouldn't want to keep you waiting while I did my after-school training with Riki-oji. Makkuro already knows I'll be showing up a bit later than the rest."

Hearing his name twice now, the subject of our conversation, Makkuro Nara looked at us from where he was seated a few places down the line before shrugging at our nods of acknowledgement and going back to fiddling with his traditional Nara ponytail.

My plan of introducing myself to the clans had been slow going at first, with me trying to avoid too much notice from either Minato or Riki. It may have been embarrassing that it took a couple of months before I realised that my classmates provided an excellent excuse to visit their families, but being able to have a legitimate reason for introducing myself to the clans was worth it and sped up the process substantially.

All I had to do was obtain an invite from a classmate for a party or event of some sort, and I had a perfectly reasonable excuse to drop by. Having to put up with inane children's parties was a small sacrifice to make, especially since I could use the excuse of Riki's training to skip the majority of while making people think I was just that dedicated and hard-working.

Feeding into the idea that I was much more determined than I actually was, while being able to skip chunks of mind-numbing children's parties? That was a solid win-win in my book, and by now I had steadily worked my way through most of the major clans, leaving the minor ones for later.

Now if only I could actually get an invitation to the Hyuuga clan, that would be perfect. Was probably never going to happen though, them being the bunch of isolationist pricks that they were.

-VI-

Historians would one day say that the Second Great Shinobi War began as early as the year 1045 after a number of long-term spies were finally caught and executed in Mizu, resulting in a series of escalating moves from all nations.

For me the war began during the summer of 1046, starting with confusion and panic.

It had been a bit over fifteen months since I had joined the Academy, with just under half of those spent with the clan children in the fourth tier, during which news about tensions at the border and encounters with foreign shinobi had become so common place that it had become the new normal. So when the first news came through that large amounts of smoke was seen coming from our close allies' village of Uzushiogakure everyone had assumed some sort of tragic accident had occurred.

The Lord Second sent an emergency response team along with numerous medical supplies, while also sending word to our coastal outposts to be on high alert as a precaution. Rumours abounded about what had happened, ranging from a catastrophic sealing accident to a simple house fire that had quickly grown out of control.

The relief team arrived back at the gates of Konoha three days later, exhausted and demanding to see the Lord Second. In the hour it took for them to be debriefed the rumours spread like wildfire. Why had they returned? It took a day and a half for the average chunin to reach the island country, why had they not stayed?

Shuun and I were busy training with Riki when the news broke, the first clue that something had gone wrong coming when Riki snapped his gaze into the air at a hawk's cry. Seconds later he told us the day's training was being cut short before vanishing in front of us, the ringing of chakra his shunshin produced far less controlled than normal.

By the time we had finished our cool-down exercises and were making our way to my home the entire village was swarming like a disturbed ants nest. Chunin and Jonin dashed across rooftops at full speed, with the occasional team ignoring the gates and just jumping right over the walls, heading out of the village without a single glance behind them. Genin teams ran between the major department buildings delivering scroll after scroll to frantic administrative shinobi.

But most concerning were the ANBU. There was a black-cloaked, pale masked operative standing on a roof at every juncture. Our most lethal agents outside of the village, and the villages secret police when inside. Everyone knew that they had always been there, watching and waiting from the shadows, but seeing them out in the open clearly displaying themselves in a show of force set alarm bells ringing through every citizen.

I don't know when, but at some point Shuun and I had begun to run. The clamour of thousands of chakra signatures flaring into action was overwhelming, swallowing any other sound. Dozens of porcelain masks emblazoned with images of twisted animals stared down at us on every street, watching us and the civilians scramble. Waiting. At some point I remember Shuun turning towards me and trying to say something, but her words faded into the deafening ringing of chakra.

Even when we finally reached my home the sounds didn't leave. Chakra saturated the very air around us, not caring about shut doors or windows. It continued to grow as the moments ticked by as shinobi launched themselves off our roof and the villages many invisible defences were activated one by one. I hunched over, hands clasped over my ears in a futile attempt to stop the torrential roar. I tried screaming and failed to hear my own voice. I felt a warm liquid seep through my fingers, but felt no pain. Impossibly the noise continued to grow louder, and louder, and louder, until I was convulsing on the floor, the only thought still left in my head was the desire for it to stop.

And then the feeling of a cool hand touching the back of my neck, and then darkness.

I woke up an unknown amount of time later in an unfamiliar place, but after scanning the room it didn't take long to figure out what had happened. The stark white sheets and smell of antiseptic were the main giveaways. Sitting up, I noticed Mom was watching me from a bedside chair as she put away the book she had been reading. Her small smile and generally relaxed posture indicated that my hospitalisation probably wasn't due to a major problem, but I couldn't help the nagging feeling that something felt... off.

"Hey there Aki, how are you feeling?" She asked, the sound of her voice being dulled by what I assumed were bandages which wrapped around my head, covering my ears.

"Alright I think? I have a bit of a headache, and everything sounds muffled. What happened?"

Taking a look around the ward, I noticed that the only other patients were other kids, some younger some older, and all in similar situations as myself. The least-injured ones were an Inuzkua boy, a girl who I could place and an Aburame of unknown gender. The first two had cotton stuffing plugged up their nose, and the third had no discernible injuries whatsoever.

I and another boy who was still sleeping had bandages around our ears, while a poor kid who I guessed was a Yamanaka due to the colour of his and his father's hair had a thick bandage covering both his eyes. At the end of the ward was some unfortunate soul who was covered head to toe in bandages which had turned an off-yellow colour due to the pungent cream being applied to them by a med-nin.

It was only at this point that I noticed why everything sounded weird. The constant drone of chakra had disappeared. I wasn't given much time to think about it when a voice interrupted us.

"For what is going on outside, I can't say too much. But I can tell you why you ended up in here," said the med-nin who had been applying the ointment to the unfortunate soul as he made his way over.

"It's a common problem those who have chakra-hypersensitivity and who are also in training to become shinobi encounter. The first time they encounter a large amount of chakra being released in a continuous stream the person's related sensing organ becomes overwhelmed by the sudden extreme stimulation. The body then does what it does best and instinctively tries to reinforce said organ with chakra to withstand the perceived assault.

Unfortunately this just makes things worse due to the victim's chakra-hypersensitivity, which causes the body to send more chakra, which makes things worse, so it sends even more chakra, and so on. On it's own it is fairly harmless, as the sensory stimulation alone cant cause any lasting damage. The real problem comes when the person suffering doesn't know what is going on, and tries to lessen the discomfort"

'Discomfort' my ass, I remembered my head feeling like it was going to either cave in or burst, whichever one was more painful.

"You're lucky you didn't try to jam something in your ear canal to try and make it stop. Your normal hearing will return in a day or two, but a ruptured ear drum is much harder to heal."

Taking another quick look around with his words in mind, I had to stop myself from cringing when I noticed the Yamanaka had what looked to be small amounts of dried blood staining his bandages. If his case was anything like mine, the kid probably came close to gouging his own eyes out.

"The bandages are coated in a chakra-suppressant on them to prevent a secondary occurrence, but you should be able to take them off once you are home without any issue. However you should find someone or something that can help you train your sensing as soon as possible. A shinobi who becomes crippled the moment they sense a few high ranking techniques isn't a shinobi with a bright future."

With that the medic finished and turned to another child who had just woken up, launching into the same lecture I had just received, and I turned back to Mom.

"So how did I end up back here? I remember getting home, and then not much else," I asked.

"You gave Shuun-chan and I quite a fright. I heard you collapse from the living room, but then you didn't respond to anything we tried.

Thankfully Riki was already on his way. He put you to sleep with some sort of technique, before explaining what was probably happening and rushing you here. We followed him, but both he and Shuun-chan had to leave as they didn't want too many people in the room."

"How long was I asleep for? And what was going on outside?"

Mom's smile fell as she stared out a nearby window.

"Only a few hours, the sun hasn't set yet, and I'm not sure. I've been here, and none of us were really in the mood to gossip, for obvious reasons," she replied motioning to the rest of the adults in the ward.

"Riki would know more I'm sure. If you are feeling up to it we can get you discharged and hunt him down?"

Looking around the ward I stopped my automatic agreement. The many family members by the bedsides were clearly distressed, and while Mom was putting on a brave face seeing your child thrashing and screaming in pain while you could do nothing but watch would shake any parent.

"Actually could just chat a little more? I've been training with Riki and Shuun so much we haven't spent much family time. I've missed our reading sessions together."

Mom visibly brightened up at my comment, cracking open her book from the beginning again.

"Of course we can! Now then, 'In a certain reign there was a lady not of the first rank whom the emperor loved more than any of the others..."

Sachio might be the second mother I've had but I had come to care for her and dad just as much as my first family, and I didn't want her to wear herself out worrying about me. Not to mention that I had been telling the truth about our reading sessions.

Riki could wait a day or two.

-VI-

True to the medic's words, my hearing went back to normal the next day, and although I really didn't want to I decided to meet Shuun and Uncle Riki at our usual time. The Academy had sent word it would be closed for a couple days as personnel were shifted around, so I honestly had nothing better to do.

Surprisingly both Shuun and Riki were on the ground instead of training, looking at a map of the Land of fire with a handful of shogi pieces by their sides.

"...-ut in that case the forces would become overextended here and here, leaving the option open for the enemy to break away from here to-"

I took a seat between them, startling Shuun who had been too absorbed in Riki's explanation to notice my approach. Riki on the other hand just welcomed me with a solemn nod.

"-then push through the Majime bog unopposed due to the previous withdrawal from Jofuku to complete the encirclement of the outpost here."

With a few deft movements Riki manoeuvred his own shogi pieces to surround a large group of Shuun's own, causing her to groan in frustration.

"Man I've never been good at these strategy things Riki-sensei, let the Kages worry about that!"

"And that is why you are still only in the third tier Shuun! taijutsu will only ever get you so far you know. But seeing as Aki has joined us after all, we'll finish this later. How are you feeling Aki?"

"Yea you gave us me and Sachio-san a scare there, I knew you were weird but I didn't realise the voices in your head were that loud!"

Normally I would try to give Shuun a smack for her implying I was crazy, but her weak attempt at levity showed honest concern. I was quick to reassure them that, yes, I was fine and that no, there would probably be no after effects, before turning to Riki.

"So how bad is it? I must have heard a hundred rumours, but not a single credible one."

Riki turned back to the map, expression grim.

"...Uzushiogakure is gone, along with most of the Land of Whirlpools. The entire island was cracked open, there are no known survivors." he said, placing an upside-down shogi piece on the map to totally obscure the island. It wasn't too shocking for me, I had assumed this was the thing that had destroyed the village since I first heard the rumours, but it was still a sobering announcement.

Shuun, who didn't have the benefit of roughly knowing the future, audibly gasped.

"Wait what? All of it? What about their shinobi? Their seals? The entire island was cracked open?!"

Riki ignored her outburst and continued.

"Even worse, the emergency relief team found two things that prove this was a deliberate attack. A handful of Kirigakure-style kunai scattered around, as well as a large amount of the unique coral only the Three-Tailed Beast is able to create.

The current theory we are working off of, is that Kiri managed to smuggle either a Jinchūriki or some other container with the Three-tails sealed inside, which was then released in the centre of the village. Then during the chaos and destruction Kiri attacked in force to prevent anyone from escaping as well as to re-seal the Beast once it's job had been completed."

The clearing was silent, Shuun openly gaping at Riki while I stared at the map in silence. I hadn't thought of them using a Tailed Beast like that before which in retrospect was stupid. To the best of my knowledge none of the existing Jinchūriki had seals or bonds sophisticated enough to allow them to freely transform into their beasts yet, so the only other way to properly manifest them to their fullest were to use them as living bombs.

Actually hadn't they tried to do the same thing with Kakashi's teammate? The details were fuzzy, as I only remembered the general plot of the story clearly, but I remembered a Tailed Beast being involved in why Kakashi had to kill her.

"It gets worse," Riki continued, re-catching our attention. How could it get worse than having a rival village essentially nuke our closest ally?

"During the debriefing of the relief team we got a number of messages from our border outposts that they were under attack, but not just from the sea."

At this Riki began lining up shogi pieces on our border with the Land of Lightning to the north east.

"While the general alert the Lord Second sent out to our eastern outposts gave them enough warning that they were able to fortify their position and are holding for now, no one expected the attack from Kumo.

They overran our furthest outposts yesterday, the surviving shinobi retreating to our standing defences located above Majime Bog and along the highlands east of it. The Lord Second has deployed almost all of our standing forces to hold the line there, which would also have included me had I not still have two more months to train you two."

Riki moved the line of shogi pieces forwards until they were were stopped by the river above Majime Bog and following the symbols denoting elevation which curved northwards to the coast. Then he added more pieces in the waters to the east, signifying Kiri forces.

"The attacks were timed too well for it to be a coincidence. The only option is to believe that Kumo and Kiri have entered into some sort of an alliance, with us as the target. I had hoped for more time, but looks like we aren't getting it. The Lord Second is going to be making an announcement this evening confirming it.

We're at war."

-VI-

To my surprise little changed after the announcement. I had thought that the outbreak of war would radically shift my day to day life, but the reality was that things didn't change all that much. I still went to the Academy everyday and trained with Shuun and Riki after, I still tried to find ways to introduce myself to many of the clan leaders without being too obvious about it, and I still had the occasional encounter with Minato where he would share news that he had obviously overheard by eavesdropping on people he wasn't supposed to.

That's not to say that nothing changed of course. The constant buzz of chakra had intensified into a low roar as if I was hearing a far away waterfall, which was most likely because of the dozens of 'secret' defences that were activated during war time. The number of active shinobi patrolling the village seemed to fall off significantly, being replaced by the new Uchiha Police force and the ANBU operatives who continued their rooftop vigil, and Minato's news had shifted from political manouvering to news from the front-lines that wasn't controlled by the village-owned newspaper, which meant it was probably a lot more accurate.

The biggest change was actually only tangentially related to the war, which was when I was approached by the boy who also had had bandages around his ears that day in the hospital. It turned out that he was a member of the Taketori clan, which was a small clan who were satellites of the Hyuuga clan before the founding of Konoha, who had a history of having hearing-based sensors.

The Taketori had offered to help me gain proper control of my sensing ability, seeing as the village needed as many skilled sensors they could get their hands on. The subtext was obvious, a favour now for one in return later, but it was good to know that my long term plans were already bearing fruit.

The fact that they were still very close to the Hyuuga clan was an added bonus, as it allowed me to 'coincidentally' be around when a guest from the notoriously isolationist clan came for a visit. This of course lead to me being introduced as 'the promising young student' who they had 'graciously offered their assistance' for the 'betterment of Konoha and her peoples'. For my own part I extolled the 'great virtues' of the 'generous and noble Taketori' while presenting a respectably humble view of myself.

My efforts were rewarded with a formal letter from Koushou Hyuuga himself, the father of Hiashi and Hizashi, mentioning that he was glad that their old subjects were proving themselves so gracious and loyal to the village, and that they hoped I would continue to reflect positively on the smaller clan, and by extention, they Hyuuga. Kiku Taketori was obviously pleased with my comments as well, as I was gifted a number of scrolls to help me practise at home the few days later.

Playing at politics may have been both dull and tedious, but I couldn't deny that it was rewarding.

Between the Academy, my lessons at the Taketori compound and training with Riki and Shuun I ended up with barely any time of my own. Collapsing on my bead in exhaustion, only to wake up the next day at the crack of dawn for the next day's activities became worryingly routine, and I hadn't even noticed the weeks slip by. It was only when Riki announced that we had come to the end of our year of training together that I realised two months had passed since the start of the war.

Sitting in front of him, Shuun and I glanced at each other before looking back at him.

"Wait, you serious Riki-sensei?" Shuun asked.

"Unfortunately so. With the start of the war the Lord Second wants everyone on duty and in the field. The enemy isn't giving us the luxury of sitting around at home, and we all need to do our part. My year's leave expires today, and I already have my orders. I cant say where I am going, but I'll be gone for at least a few months."

The training ground was silent. Not knowing what else to say, I stood up and gave Riki a deep bow.

"Thank you for your teachings Oji-san. I would never have gotten this far without you, and I promise to use what you've taught me to make you proud."

out of the corner of my eye I saw Shuun scramble up and do the same, her statement interrupted by Riki's laugh.

"Don't be so serious Aki. You too Shuun-chan, it doesn't suit you. I'm not being assigned to the front-lines or anything, so its not like you are never gonna see me again."

He wrapped his arms around our shoulders to pull us towards his side and then ruffled our hair, ignoring Shuun's yelp of protest.

"I'm already proud of you guys. You're both more than prepared for when you step outside of these walls, and there is no doubt in my mind that you both are going to become fine shinobi. Now, instead of moping around this dreary old field why don't we get a nice breakfast instead hmm?"

"Hell yea!"

"I could go for something."

Riki laughed as he lead us away, listening to Shuun's usual chatter, but I couldn't help but think about what he said. Were we prepared? Could one ever be truly ready for war?

Either way the choice was out of our hands. One month later, after only a year and a half at the academy and three months away from my sixth birthday, we became a genin of Konohagakure.

-VI-

The graduation was a sudden affair, blind-siding everyone except probably Minato. We were told to meet in the main hall where there were a large number of seats neatly ordered in rows. Taking a look around I noticed that I was the youngest person around, as was usual by this point, but the majority of kids seemed to be on the older side. I only saw a few younger faces, with Shuun sitting with a couple of kids I recognised from my time in the bottom three tiers as well as most of my clan-related classmates.

Once the hall had been filled the head of the Academy, Oshieru, took the podium at the front.

"Good morning everyone. We have much to do and not much time to do it in, so I will not waste words. As all of you know, we are at war. Because of this, the vast majority of our shinobi forces are now in the field, and are no longer available to keep the village running as smoothly as is necessary.

It has therefore been decided that this years graduation is to come early so that we can bolster our genin forces.

Each one of you sitting here today has displayed enough skill that you were going to be recommended for final testing by the end of the year, but due to the expedited timeline we are not going to be able to run as many tests as we would like to determine if you are truly ready. That doesn't mean there will be no tests, but it does mean that we will end up with students who may not have had the opportunity to prove the extent of their abilities.

Therefore over the coming few hours each one of you will be tested individually. Your scores and any notes made by your teachers or others will be evaluated, and then you will be assigned a classroom. Once all testing is complete a teacher will inform you if you passed or not, as well as what the future holds in store for you.

I wish you all the best of luck, and am sure all of you will do your best to make the Konoha proud!"

With that he stepped down from the podium as a dozen teachers, Noburu and Itsuki among them, began calling out names and leading students to side rooms. Thankfully I didn't have to wait long before my own name was called and I made my way to the testing room.

The two examiners were unfamiliar, probably to avoid bias, and seated behind a desk in the middle of the room. Gesturing for me to stand in front of the black board they began rattling off a series of questions that I was to answer on the board, as well as demonstrate a number of basic techniques and exercises.

In my humble opinion the test was pathetically easy, and ten minutes after entering I was given my forehead protector and sent to classroom 8-C. Unsurprisingly it was filled with the rest of my 4th-tier classmates, considering the system was designed to keep them together as long as possible after all. What was surprising however was that there were a number of totally unfamiliar faces scattered in the crowd. Dismissing them I took a seat and stared at the piece of metal and fabric in my hands.

Becoming a genin was something I had both dreaded as the start of my career as a child soldier and looked forward to as the first true stepping stone to fulfilling my ultimate goal. Now that I had done it, it seemed stupid that I had actually lost sleep over something this trivial. The whole thing was really a bit anti-climactic.

I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't notice a familiar chakra signature walk up and sit next to me, only snapping out of it as I felt an arm wrap around my neck and drag me over into them.

"Wh-What the hell? Shuun? What are you doing here?!"

My first and closest friend laughed at my confusion.

"You and Riki-sensei were wrong! 'You're never gonna get into 4th-tier without studying', 'taijutsu will only get you so far, 'blah blah blah I think I'm so smart because I'm 4th-tier even though my awesome Onee-san who is clearly way better than me is only in third'. Proved you all wrong, didn't I?" she mocked.

I just stared at her in confusion.

"No seriously, what are you doing here?"

Finally releasing me she leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on the desk in front of us.

"Well, according to the examiners, they were going to wait and see if I continued to get better at brain stuff, but because the graduation was sped up they decided to give me a last second promotion to 4th-tier so that my 'potential wouldn't go to waste'! So here I am! You didn't think you would get rid of me that easily, did ya?"

Pushing her feet off of the desk, I proceeded to cradle my head in my arms. I could practically feel the stares of my classmates drilling into my back at her behaviour. Considering how much of the Academy was built on manipulation and political games, there was zero doubt in my mind that this was as straightforward as she they had told her.

"I had hoped Shuun. I had hoped"

AN:

Honestly not all too happy with this chapter. I was super busy the week I wrote this one, and I think it shows, but sometimes you just need to say 'enough' or else you are going to spiral into a black pit of editing and re-editing for days and days.

Anyway, war has begun, graduation is here, and next chapter we meet the team and see what the future holds.

Dont forget to check out the map, seriously Fire-Daimyo does some great map-work (thanks again) and I'll be referring to it and maybe a couple of their other maps for the rest of the fic!

Fun Fact: The quote Sachio reads is the opening line from 'The Tale of Genji', which is considered possibly the first novel ever. Written sometime between 1000 and 1021 by Murasaki Shikibu, it follows the life of disowned prince Genji and focuses on his romantic pursuits and the customs of the nobility at the time. One of the more interesting parts about it is that it was considered rude to name people, so almost all the characters are referred to by either their rank/station if male, or the colour of their clothes if female.