Chapter 3: Hokage and A New Home
In the morning after he was served breakfast and gathered his belongings and waited in front of the hotel for either Naruto or Neji to show up.
"Are you ready to go see the Hokage, Michael," asked an unfamiliar voice. Michael turned around to see a female shinobi of about 23 wearing black pants, a tan jacket with a green vest over it. She had black hair and white eyes like Neji.
"Uh… yeah, but… who are you?" Michael asked kind of surprised to see somebody other than Naruto or Neji who knew his name.
"Sorry, my names Hyuga Hinata, I'll be your guide to the Hokage," she said bowing in a very formal matter.
"Where are Naruto and Neji?" Michael asked looking around for the two nin.
"They are already waiting with the Hokage, they asked me to come and get you," she said smiling. Michael nodded and followed behind Hinata the short distance from the hotel entrance to a building in front of a rocky cliff with faces on them.
"What's that for," Michael said pointing to the massive cliff.
"Those are the previous Hokage of Konoha Village, the one on the far left is the First and it goes in order all the way to the last person who was Hokage," she explained as though she had prepared for the question. They continued into the building and stopped at a large door, Hinata knocked on it and announced there arrival. Naruto opened it and they walked in to see Naruto and Neji standing in front of a desk with a chair behind it facing the window and away from the entrance. Michael knew that someone was in that chair but he couldn't see who it was, but the person's presence felt awfully familiar. Michael was unbelievable nervous he had never been around someone of such authority as a Hokage, and he didn't know how to act.
"So… you must be Michael, the apprentice of the Shatokan master Ryu, it's nice to meet you, I've heard many good things about you," the Hokage said turning around in the large chair. The Hokage was a tall man of about 35 or 40, he wore white pants, and a white vest a lot like the green one's Naruto and the other ninja had on. He wore a red mask covering his moth and nose and his Konoha forehead protector covering his forehead and left eye and he had silvery grey hair. "I'm Hatake Kakashi, the Hokage of Konoha Village," Kakashi said reaching out for a handshake. Michael walked up and shook his hand and stepped back in his original position.
"I was attacked by a shadow clone in your image last night when I got to my room in the hotel, I beat it pretty easy, but I was clueless as to where it came from," Michael asked confidently.
"I'm sorry about that but I had to test you to see if you were really as good as these two say you are and to see if you were ready at such a young age," Kakashi said rubbing the back of his neck.
"Ready for what?" Michael asked looking at the other nin and seeing they all had smiles on their face.
"We have reason to suspect that the village will come under attack by Orochimaru, our village's mortal enemy, in about two years and we could use all the help that we can get," Naruto explained as best he could.
"So… what does that have to do with me, I'm just a traveler on my way to Midgar," Michael asked still confused.
"We would like to use your strength to protect the village," Kakashi said simply.
"Wait a minute, I don't nearly have the training…" Michael was cut off.
"That's the other reason we brought you here, we would like to train you in the art of ninjutsu, we saw the enormous potential that you wield and we would like to pull it out to maximize your skill," Neji claimed.
"So… let me get this straight, you want to train me for two years and help defend a village I am not even a part of," Michael asked quizzically.
"Basically… yeah, that's exactly what we want," Kakashi said with a smile underneath his mask. Michael closed his eyes and looked down toward the floor, but quickly raised his head and gave everyone a positive reaction.
"Well, why not, what do I have to loose, but on two conditions, 1. I need someone to go to the Midgar library and get any and all reading material on the monsters known as Weapons, and 2. I would like to become an official shinobi of Konoha Village," Michael said as he read off the list to the room of ninja.
"Conditions accepted and now I would like to officially accept you into the Konohagakaru Village," Kakashi said sitting back down in his chair. "Naruto, Neji, Hinata…," All three stood at attention and saluted Kakashi. "I want you three to be the ones to train Michael, I want him to start off at the Genin level, and I want him to be at least a Jounin by the time of the attack, am I understood," Kakashi stated showing his authority.
"Yes, sir," the three said in unison.
"Ok, you're dismissed," Kakashi finished turning around to face back toward the window.
"Ok Michael, come with me I'll get you ready for your training," Hinata said motioning toward the door. Michael followed her out and to a room a couple of feet from the Shadow Office. They went inside and Hinata went to a couple of shelves and pulled things from them. She handed Michael a blue jumpsuit, a grey jacket, a pair blue gloves, ninja sandals, body bandages, an item pouch, and a forehead protector. Inside the pouch there were numerous kunai, shuriken, smoke bombs, and a couple of scrolls.
"Now we need to find a place for you to live, ninja get to live in their own apartments, so you will be living alone, is that okay with you," asked Hinata.
"Sure, no problem, I know how to take care of myself," Michael said confidently. They then left and went to the eastern apartment complex in the village. Hinata pulled out a key and opened one of the doors and they walked in. Michael took in the sight and smiled, I'm going to be living here for the next two years, I going to be in this room quite a lot I guess.
"So do you like this one or do we have to keep looking?" Hinata asked seeing Michael's reaction.
"No, this will do just fine, thanks Hinata," Michael said flashing a big smile making Hinata blush slightly.
"Well, get everything ready and change for your first training session, because ninjutsu is completely different from normal martial arts, I'll wait for you outside," she said as she left the room. Even though he didn't know what to expect Michael was extremely excited to be learning a new style and new techniques. He took of the white karate uniform given to him by his master, and removed the hair tie that he had around his long silver hair. He really was a dead on match for his father, everyone told him this even his master Ryu had said that they bore an uncanny resemblance. Even though he took his fathers image he had his mother's personality, kind to people and things as long as they were not trying to kill him. He didn't like to kill anything that was not directly hostile to him, but out in the world he did have to capture his own food. He removed his old and now shredded white karate uniform, but kept on the white bandana he received upon completion of his first successful Hadouken. He pulled on the ninja based clothing and instead of putting the head protector on his head he tied it around his upper right bicep. He looked at himself in a mirror and smiled then walked outside. Hinata was standing patiently by the door and when Michael walked flashed him an approving smile.
"You look good as a ninja, are you ready for the training?" she asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be, let's go," Michael said walking ahead of Hinata. They took off toward the training ground.