Heh heh, this is fun! I like Naruto as a sandbox world, so writing something like this that's actually seperate from Naruto himself is a lit of fun. Hope you like this!
"Hey Shoji, wait up," a young girl called. Her name was Suzume Midori, and her family was a highly respected one in the Hidden Night. She and Shoji had become friends shortly after the Yurokage allowed him and his brother into the academy. The two were in the same classes mostly, so they were often close by. The examinations were coming up soon, and the two were together a lot of the time practicing various jutsus. Of course Shoji was able to get down the basic skills, Suzume was having problems with the hardest of the four required skills, the Earth Style: Mud Wall Jutsu. Of everything they had to do, this skill was the most difficult because it forced everyone from a young age to build up chakra reserves, as well as have the chakra control necessary to have a wall thick enough to withstand some form of attack.
"Hi Suzume, what are you up to?" Shoji asked politely.
"Nothing much. Just been working on the Mud Wall," she said with a smile.
Shoji who had only acknowledged her by greeting her didn't even turn to look when he asked, "Think you can get a strong enough wall up next week?"
"Can I? Just watch," she said, suddenly smirking as she made several seals with her hands, and said "Earth Style: Mud Wall Jutsu!" Her face puffed out, and suddenly she let out a torrent of mud from her mouth that slowly took the shape of a wall.
"Your control's gotten better," Shoji said almost indifferently. "You'll probably pass the exam, but don't be too confident."
Suzeme glared at Shoji in the dark of the eternal night, not realizing that he could see her angry look with his Sharingan. Ignoring the look, the Uchiha went on to say, "Have you noticed that we're basically the most advanced students in the class? We're only eight years old each, but we're better off than a lot of the other students," he said.
"You silly boy, it's because of our bloodline limits," she said, with a sudden giggle. Is he really so naive? she thought.
"Bloodline limit…" he said thoughtfully. "Oh, you mean like my eyes!" he said, suddenly upbeat. "I always knew that I could learn jutsus a lot faster than everyone else, and even memorize what the teachers want me to learn anyway," he said. "So it's a what kind of blood that does it?"
Suzeme probably would have had a very large sweat drop appear next to her head if she was in a more lighted area. "I said it was a bloodline limit. They're passed down from generation to generation. Mine lets me use my mind to do something called Gen-Jutsu without hand seals, but I really don't know what that means," she said, proud of what her family could do.
The two continued on to the academy, where they were about to have a Nin-Jutsu test on their Kage Bunshins. Just outside the city though, trouble was brewing.
"Yorimi, you take the left side. I'll go to the right!" Yorimi's 'special Sensai' called out.
Startled by the fit man darting past him, Yorimi barely had time to look up from a seal he was sketching on to a scroll to see two Shinobi running across the dark plain outside of the city. Making out both of them with his Sharingan, a flash of anger surged through him. Darting to catch up with his Sensai he yelled to him. "Hey you idiot why'd you give me the big one!"
"That oaf should be easy for you to deal with… this other guy on the other hand… oh shit!" he yelled as the two advancing Shinobi created several Kage Bunshins and attacked the two of them head on. "Like I said, stick to the one on the left. You'd be better off," his Sensai said.
"Right!" Yorimi called back. "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called as he threw a shuriken at the larger man. A moment later, the tool turned into several shurikens that all blew into other shadow clones.
"Hey, you finally got the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu down. Congrats!" his Sensai called as he drop kicked through one of the smaller man's Shadow Clones.
Yorimi barely noticed the compliment though, as the larger attacker tried making more Kage Bunshin. "Oh no you don't. Suiton: Hahonryu!" (Water Release: Rapid Crasher) Yorimi said as he made several hand seals. Raising his hand, a huge burst of water, easily created with the high humidity of the plain was formed, blasting the intruding Shinobi several yards back.
"Again, not bad," his Sensai said, now standing right behind the 16-year-old. "Here, let me finish him," he said. "Bunshin Daibakuba," he calmly said. A puff of smoke later, a clone ran from Yorimi and his Sensai to the other Shinobi. He barely had time to react as the clone made a running dive for the Shinobi, who was still trying to get back on his feet.
The shout of pain that coincided, and was quickly cut short by the ensuing explosion made the young Uchiha avert his eyes. Even though they were Sharingan, the extremely bright light from the explosion was enough to make them sting a little. Looking off to the right, Yorimi saw the body of the other Shinobi. He had apparently drowned in a swamp that Yorimi knew couldn't have been there before. What's more, the water was green, and it was frozen too.
After the explosion died away, Yorimi walked up to the frozen Shinobi. A wave of fear gripped him when he got in close enough to see the headband on the dead ninja.
Sound.
Alright, here's the next chapter. I still like to think of the first one as the Forward, like an intro for this chapter. I really like reviews, so please don't be afraid . Oh, and I'll mention right off that I don't know Japanese, and I have had a little help from at least a few people (and… Wikipedia shhhh).
New Jutsu:
Earth Release: Frozen Swamp
It's like Jiraiya's Swamp of the Underworld, but it freezes moments after creation. The water is green (rather indicative of a swamp), and only inhibits movement. But since it freezes in less than two seconds movement only needs inhibited a little so that the target trips and freezes.
Other: The Yurokage is the leader of the Hidden Night Village. Yuro, as a friend told me means Night, so Night Shadow sounds fine. Now, if anyone has any suggestions or gripes about how I'm writing, don't be afraid to say as much. I'm going to try and use a minimal amount of actual Naruto characters, and have the story take place a safe amount of time after the actual series ends… but considering I don't really know when/how it ends, I'm taking liberties. Finally, the setting is going to be original as well, except for maybe an adventure or two into Sound Country. The rest will come together soon though.