Disclaimer: Naruto and every character of the Naruto universe belongs to Kishimoto Masashi and companies I don't know.
I want to thank the hard work of ScarsOfTime ( u/947576/), without him, I am lost.
Original Upload date: 19/11/2012
Last update: 21/01/2013
Chance for a Prophecy
Chapter 4. – Fight to Go Further
Toroku was in ecstasy. He grinned like an idiot while sitting on the bed, not bothering to pay attention to the still speaking Minato. He was getting out of here, and that was the only thing that mattered now. He hated this isolation. He wanted to go outside, he wanted to just roam the streets, and he wanted to start building his new life.
"Toroku, are you even listening to me?"
"Yes, sure."
"Then what was the last thing I said?"
"Something about extra conditions and supervision." Toroku had scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and Minato let out a sigh in his irritation. 'I can't believe he's doing this…'
"I told you, that besides the approval, there are conditions, and they are important, so I would really appreciate your attention."
"Sorry. I'm listening now." Toroku gave him an apologetic look.
"To become a shinobi, we first have to survey your skills in order to seat you in one of our ranks. We already saw some of your skills, but those don't even scratched the surface, I think. You will participate in a sparring match tomorrow. Do that, and in time you will be assigned to one of the teams."
"Will I fight with you?" Minato didn't answer, only smiled at him.
"You know, actually I don't think I really thought this through. I mean, the knowledge is inside me I know, but I don't know how to push it to the surface. I'll be beaten into the ground."
"This is why you'll do it tomorrow."
"Why? What about today?"
"We will be going to the training grounds, to test your basic knowledge a little and to gain some experience on how you can tap that knowledge during action. I want a proper assessment, and I'm afraid if you go there in this state tomorrow, you will be beaten into the ground for sure."
"Besides, Inoichi will also be making a check-up on the state of your memories today, and will be doing so every weekend until the Hokage deems necessary." Toroku's expression saddened and he looked down to start playing with a wrinkle in the sheet.
"He doesn't trust me, does he?"
"I think this is understandable. You appeared from nowhere under more than suspicious circumstances."
"And you?" Toroku looked up to face with the familiar blue eyes of Minato. "Do you trust me?"
"What I think isn't important…" Minato looked back at the blond without any expression on his face. However, Toroku was an awful actor. His face mirrored his emotions without hesitation. Disappointment and a small amount of betrayal flashed through his face, but in the background he also saw that he understood his own situation more than he let on.
"I see…"
"Come on. Inoichi is waiting."
Five minutes later they entered the familiar interrogation room with the pale white walls and find Inoichi leaning against the wall playing with the ring on his finger.
"Sorry for the late arrival."
"It's okay, I also just arrived."
"Hello Inoichi Ojisan!" Toroku waved a hand toward the man who just raised an eyebrow at the title.
"You seem more energetic than the last time we met…" The young boy answered only with a foxy wide grin. The Yamanaka waved his hand toward the chair in front of him and Toroku sat down without a word, closing his eyes."You can start anytime."
Inoichi nodded and placed his hand on the teenagers forehead who rolled his shoulders at the uneasy feeling as he entered into his mind.
The seasoned shinobi had went through the familiar passage stuffed with books and scrolls to enter the symbolic door to his memories, now more prepared for the blinding white scene. He tilted his head to the side as he looked over the calming white desert again. As he looked over his own shoulder to get a full look around himself, he spotted a long table, filled with files, sorted by date with some small leaflets and markers for the most important ones. These are the memories of this past week. Not too much, for a week, but it is understandable. Toroku had spent that period almost entirely in his room, mostly in isolation without any companion or entertainment.
As Inoichi stepped back to observe the files on the table, he noticed something from the corner of his eyes. Something seems different. He moved his head around once more on the pleasant landscape and he realized only minutes after his first step the obvious difference. The white sky become bluer, with thin clouds floating lazily within it, which made the boy's mindscape more peaceful and more natural, if that was possible. The tall blond shinobi shook his head in irritation. 'How the hell could I have missed something like that?' With slow steps in the fine sand he reached the table and the files, randomly choosing one and flipping through the pages for a quick check.
'I dreamed about the blond girl again… I really wish I know her name, at least then I would be able to finally tell a proper prayer for her soul.'
'Today I was allowed to visit the village for the first time. It was fantastic. The plethora and cavalcade of people, the crowd and the continuous bustle. I'm really missing it. But I was finally able to tell my decision to Minato…"
Inoichi had closed the file and placed it back to its origin, and let out a small sigh while he tried to luxuriate every moment in this place, before he had to leave. As he sniffed the air, he recognized again the familiar scent of lilies. He turned around slowly for one last time to memorize every little detail of this dreamland, and sniffed once more the calming scent in the hope that it would last until he headed home. The blond let out a final sigh and left the boy's mind to return to his own consciousness.
Toroku was sitting, breathing heavily, but it wasn't as bad as the first time. When he managed to catch his breath, he looked up to Inoichi with curious eyes, but only received a slow shake of his head.
"I found only the past week's memories. Nothing new appeared." Toroku just nodded, waiting patiently in front of the wondering eyes the shinobi until he finally spoke.
"You like lilies?" Inoichi asked curiously.
"Huh?" The young teenager answered back with the perfect mask of confusion when the odd and out of place question reached his ear. "You mean the flower?" He thought, tapping his cheek with a wondering face after the shock of the strange question wore off. "I don't know. They have a nice smell, so I guess so."
Inoichi just nodded and gave him a small smile before he left the room without any proper answer, waving a quick goodbye to Minato, who looked after him curiously. Toroku gave a confused look at the door where he last saw the swinging blond locks, but he only shrugged and turned to his companion.
"Hey, Minato."
"Yes?"
"Just wondering, if we're going to the training grounds, shouldn't you remove the remaining seals from me? The ones that hold back my chakra?"
"Yeah. But first we have to reach the field. I don't want any accidents." Toroku nodded in understanding and they left the room to head toward their destination.
They were passing by the seventh training ground when Toroku stopped on the path, staring at the destruction a few meters from him. The green and mellow grass in the clearing now looked like a battlefield. A long and thick line of soil crossed it, cutting a deep scar on the surface of the field, only to end in a huge and deep crater. He had sensed it for a while. The scent of his own blood. He gradually moved closer to the scene, walking slowly, step by step, like a robot, all while not avert his gaze from his destination, followed by Minato from a small distance. He was now standing next to the huge crater, eyes locked onto the abyss, where he could still spot some darker points in the soil. His blood... the scent assaulted his sensitive nose and his head started to spin in disgust.
"This is where…?"
"Yes. My team found you here. They were sparring when you suddenly impacted from nowhere." Toroku looked around to gather any crumbs of information, something that maybe he could spot, and also to avert his eyes from the dark spots of his own blood, but nothing grabbed his attention. Not that he really hoped for it, but at least his head stopped spinning for now.
"My team already complained to the Hokage that they can't use the field in this state. The reconstruction will take weeks." Minato shook his head slowly as he stared inside the hole. "Do you remember anything?"
Toroku shook his head, but he immediately regretted his action. His stomach now lurched like a drum, screaming, and he felt his head starting to spin again. "No… Can we go, please? My head is spinning from the scent of my blood. It's just disgusting."
Minato looked back at him in disbelief. It happened almost three weeks ago, the scene was cleared, and yet he could still smell it even with active chakra binding seals. He sniffed at the air stealthily, trying to spot the familiar scent of the crimson liquid, but success evaded him. Only the sweet scent of nature caught his nose. The plants, the animals, mixed with the calming sensation of the scent of the wet soil under his foot. He moved next to the blond, who was now looking down to the center of the pit, and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Come on, then. We have things to do." The boy just answered with a nod as they moved towards their real destination, not far away from the start of Toroku's new life in Konoha.
They arrived at the next available training ground. Minato moved next to Toroku, pointing to his hands, and he happily freed his wrists from his pockets to present them to the blond, who then placed his hand on a dark inked seal on his arms to deactivate them. A soft, warm golden light spread across the maze of symbols and it slowly faded away, leaving no mark on his smooth, scar-free skin, only a faint cooling sensation where it was a minute ago.
Toroku sighed in relief as he felt his chakra spread across his body, warming up every part, from his head to his toes. It felt pleasant and safe and he really didn't know how he could have lived without this sensation until now. As his chakra filled his system, he subconsciously started the regain his control over it, until it felt natural. He just knew how to do it, and he also knew that he was doing it well. Minato stared at the blond boy, slowly monitoring the process and nodded in satisfaction as he saw nothing alarming.
"What about the others?"
"Those will stay for a while. We'll go step by step. I don't want you to overexert your chakra coils, which doubtlessly would happen if I removed all of them at once. I don't want to risk a chakra overcharge on your system. You haven't used it for weeks. At the end I'll remove all of the seals, but for now, focus the amount you currently have access to." Toroku nodded in understanding and moved farther onto the field and started to stretch his limbs automatically.
"Let's start with a basic chakra control exercise." Minato pointed toward the nearest tree. "You are going to climb trees."
Toroku rolled his eyes and moved toward the tree confidently as the knowledge sprang up in his mind, and placed his left foot on it to walk up, then his right, only to fall onto his back with a loud thud and a surprised yelp as his head flung backward to meet with the hard soil under the tree. Minato let out a loud laugh, and moved next to the teen, tapping the boy's shoulder as he sat up stroking the back of his head, grunting between his teeth.
"You… You knew this was going to happen, don't you?" Minato just chuckled "This is because of your stupid seals. They messed up my chakra control!" he pointed a finger toward the older blond with an angry stare.
"My seals are perfect, and to answer your question, yes I expected something like this," Minato answered with a sullen voice and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Stand up and do it again." He moved to the nearest tree, sat down, and leaned back to watch the still muttering teen.
Toroku moved backwards and faced the tree again. A warm, nostalgic feeling flowed through his heart and he smiled unconsciously. "Give me a kunai."
"Why?"
"To mark my progress…"
Toroku had caught the flying weapon in midair, faced the tree, and charged without hesitation to run up it, parallel to the ground and then flipped back from its middle, after he marked the height.
"Hmm, not bad for a second try, brat" Minato muttered, while Toroku just frowned back to him, his eyes glaring daggers toward him.
"I heard that. Sissy." Minato just shook his hand and put his arms behind his head to watch the progress.
After fifteen minutes Toroku stood upside down on a branch before he jumped down, presenting a perfect black flip and landing fluently on the ground. Minato just pointed towards a small stream at the other side of the training ground and was rewarded with an angry muttering from the teenager.
"Slave driver… this is boring."
Another ten minutes later, Toroku headed back to Minato, who pointed to the ground beside him, hinting for the teenager to sit down. Minato was actually impressed. The kid shaped up his chakra control in record time. He thought he would only be able succeed in the tree climbing in the first hour.
"I'll remove one more set of seals. Do the exercises again and then we can move on to the next step."
"What will be the next step? Climbing waterfalls? Catching runaway cats?" Toroku nattered and looked away while Minato released two more seals on his ankles, sending another wave of warming sensation within the blond, washing away his frustration immediately.
"No. Sparring."
The teen's head flung back toward Minato and he gave an animalistic grin in response. "Now it's starting to get interesting."
Twenty minutes later the two blonds stood face to face in the middle of the training ground eying their respective opponent, waiting for the other's first move.
Minato struck first. He jumped in front of the blond, aiming a punch to his face, but Toroku naturally brushed his attack to the side and followed up with his other hand to return the favor. Minato crouched to the ground to evade the attack, and launched another one with his right hand toward the teenager's chest. Toroku stepped back to fling his leg toward Minato to avoid his hand.
Minato didn't want to hit the blond hard, he just wanted to see how the blond would react to their practice fight. And he was doing quite well. His movements became much smoother, much more aware of his surroundings and his own movement after the first ten minutes. When Minato thought he was ready for the next step, he gracefully jumped backward and smiled in satisfaction at the grinning teen. He tossed a kunai to the teenager who easily caught it in the air and grabbed another one for himself.
Then they charged. For fifteen minutes nothing could be heard on the training field, only the sharp clinks as metal met metal, the music of a shinobi fight with it's sometimes unpredictable, sometimes mystical, and sometimes rhythmic beat. Minato jumped back again, put down his kunai, and gave an appreciative smile to the blond, breaking the music and leaving the area in an uneasy silence.
"You know, this went better than I expected. Ready for the next level?"
"Hell yeah, dattebayo!"
Toroku grinned like an idiot. He enjoyed this so much. This was his element. He felt like fish in the water. Out of that small room and fighting. When he fought, everything fell in place, like when you finally find the missing piece of a puzzle. At first it was strange. His limbs moved without him, only pure reflexes handled his attacks and his defense, like he was switched to auto pilot. But after the first ten minutes he was starting be aware of his own movements, while his only instinct based movements and actions were fading away slowly during the kunai fight, replaced with direct plans and strategy of how to attack and deflect against his opponent.
Minato moved to his side and removed the last seal on his chest: the biggest one, which monitored most of his chakra during the past two weeks. As he felt the remaining chakra running through his system, his knees twitched under the sudden pressure, but in the end he managed to stand straight and not drop himself onto the soft grass. He closed his eyes and forced his chakra to calm down as he let out the air in his lungs, slowing his breaths and his heartbeats, to focus on his inner parts. The jumping spikes became smaller and smaller as the raging sea of his blue chakra settled down. The emptiness in his body, in his mind and soul finally filled and he was now whole... At least, almost a whole… He opened his eyes and immediately moved to the nearest tree to check his chakra control. It was perfect for the first try. It was even better than last time. It just felt more familiar, more natural than previously.
Two ANBU appeared behind the older blond, suspiciously eying his companion at the top of the tree. They felt those spikes, and their instincts were screaming 'Trouble!' when they felt the monstrous amount of chakra and Minato's tensed, ready to attack poise.
"Everything all right?"
Minato didn't even bother himself to look at them, he was still staring at the top of the tree, where Toroku stood parallel to the ground examining himself, opening and closing his hands several times. "Yeah, I think so."
"That boy is a chakra monster…" Minato just nodded without turning toward the speaker on his right, his own azure pools still focused on the top of the tree, watching carefully every small move and action of Toroku, ready to interfere and put down him if he tried something.
Toroku now felt his natural chakra flow, but it lacked any direct control and he could even feel his blue chakra pulsing from his pores invisibly, numbing his senses. It was disturbing. He closed his eyes again, while he was standing on the highest branch of the tree to suppress it to a more comfortable level, where his senses reached their full potential again not bothered by his own chakra. He felt the warm breeze waving his shirt which stroked his skin like a soft hand. He heard the animals around him and smelled their scent around the woods. He let out a deep breath as he opened his eyes and hopped down next to the small group.
"Hey, ANBU-sans, what's this? Free circus? Go back behind that pine."
The air between the ANBU members and Toroku tensed, almost to a touchable level, when Minato broke it with his low chuckle. "It's alright. I can handle him."
One of the ANBU nodded and left, while the other still stared at the blond, glaring daggers with his brown eyes behind his mask and his broken pride, but in the end he also left, murmuring about tiresome, cheeky brats behind his mask.
"You know Toroku, they'll have a nervous break-down because of you."
"Why?" the teenager asked with a surprised look.
"Because of your sensing skills. You're playing with their nerves the same way a guitarist plucks his strings."
The blond didn't answer, only shrugged. "Can we continue?"
They walked to the middle of the clearing, taking up the starting position, ready to attack. This time it was Toroku who launched his attack first. He threw several fast punches toward Minato, but he easily dodged them, only to fling his leg, sweeping the teen's legs out from under him, who was now rolling on the ground in order to gain a more manageable distance from Minato. Toroku jumped to the air towards the blond and slammed down his leg where Minato stood a blink ago, who was now pointing his kunai to the back of his neck with a smile on his face.
"I expected something more from you."
"Just watch."
Toroku disappeared with a puff of smoke, leaving nothing behind but a tree trunk and a wide eyed Minato. The surprised blond swung around to find where the blond moved with the Kawarimi, eying the training ground around him suspiciously, when he felt a kunai at the back of his head. His muscles tensed to teach the blond a new lesson about speed, when the two ANBU appeared again with one's kunai at the back of Toroku's head, the other with a katana millimeters in front of his neck. Minato cleared his throat and hissed to the ANBU.
"You know, we are sparing, and he is just a teenager, nothing I can't handle easily. You're really overdoing it."
"It's okay."
Toroku made a sad smile, shrugged and disappeared again with a puff of smoke. Minato frowned as he realized what happened seconds before his sparring partner first disappeared, and a smile appeared on his face as he imagined the open mouths behind the masks. The ground started to move in front of Minato and Toroku appeared slowly from the soil a safe distance away. He straightened himself and swept the soil and dust from his clothes.
"Do you know how difficult it was to dig in this damn hard soil, and then position myself to where I want? You just ruined everything," he pointed a finger toward the frozen guards frowning angrily.
"ANBU-sans. Dismiss please, and for Kami's sake, relax a little." The two ANBU disappeared without a trace, still eying Toroku suspiciously.
"That was a nice job. I thought you used Kawarimi to disappear and then reappear behind me at first."
"The Kage bunshin used a simple Henge and then he transformed back in your blind spot."
"I didn't hear anything."
Toroku just made a shrug at the comment. He knew the bunshins should make sound and smoke when it appeared, but he also knew how to make it without anything. That was the first technique that appeared inside his head. He made the bunshin into the ground without any movement, only by a pure instinct, and when he thought it would be a wise decision to hide, a new idea popped into his mind, to switch places with him with a kawarimi to move underground where the clone was hiding. The same method went through the clone's head as the knowledge of Henge popped up in his head underground.
"When did you make the Kage Bunshin?"
Toroku just grinned as he let out the cheeky answer, earning a high eyebrow from Minato. "Who knows?"
Minato frowned at that statement, and also he was angry, because he failed to notice a Henge centimeters from himself. 'An academy level jutsu…' He was aware that something was moving below himself, he could hear the digging under them and by this he was also aware of the boy's clone, but he suspected an earth clone. The tactic was priceless, simple, still effective, and Toroku's use of the Kage Bunshin technique was crushing. It was perfect, without any hand signs, noise of any kind, and was channeled directly into the ground. But still, the use of a Kinjutsu technique was a little worrying.
"So it seems I don't have to hold back as much against you as I first thought. That was a neat move." Toroku just grinned again like an idiot, evidently satisfied with his performance. "Once more. Continue with ninjutsu, to regain your knowledge." Toroku became serious and nodded when he heard Minato's simple orders.
Minato disappeared, and reappeared at the back of the teenager and with an inhuman speed he sent him flying toward the trees with a mere flick of his leg. Toroku rolled and jumped back to his feet instantly when he hit the ground, while his hands already formed seals as he rolled. He draw air in his lungs and blew it out to form small fire balls flying towards Minato.
"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu! (Fire Style - Art of the Phoenix Flower)"
Minato easily dodged the first round, and jumped back carelessly to wait for the fireballs to slam into the ground and disappear where he was a moment before, noting the boy's elemental affinity to himself. Fire was very common in this country. So it seems he is from somewhere nearby, not outside the borders. He sighed in relief within his mind, glad that he wasn't a foreign spy. He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a chakra spike, just in time to see the blond had finished the last hand sign of his next attack only moments after he breathed out the last waves of the burning air from his lungs.
"Futon: Kuuki hanmaa! (Wind Release, Air Hammer)"
Minato's eyes widened as the small fire balls began to grow to their multiple sizes, then started to whirl and glow like a tornado made of pure fire, flying towards him with increased speed. Minato disappeared from the upcoming impact and reappeared at a nearby tree, watching the deconstruction that the attack caused to the middle of the field. The fire ate large pieces of the field thanks to the wind technique, creating an oven with never calming hell. 'He created a collaborate attack to increase the speed and efficiency of his first one.. and that was a second affinity.'
Toroku also sensed his error as he jumped next to the inferno while he was running through a series of seals.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu! (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)"
A large wave of water spread across the clearing to extinguish the increasing amount of orange and red flames. When the attack died, most of the clearing was black and gray, smoke still twisting lazily in the warm breeze from the ashes of the once-green field.
Minato tilted his head, to examine the damage but only shrugged. After all, this is what these grounds were for. It may take a month for the grass to grow back, but nothing serious. However… 'That is a third element, if I don't count the digging, but I'm not sure that was an element use.' He looked back at the boy with a curious face. Most of the Jonins can handle only two elements, the seasoned ones rarely three. And this boy was only how old? Maybe eighteen? He shook his head and jumped down to Toroku.
"You've overdone it a little. This is the second training ground you've reduced to cinders in two weeks!" stated Minato cheekily.
Toroku straightened and scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry, it was mostly a reflex. And… I didn't do the first willingly!"
"Just how difficult was it for you to use those attacks?"
Toroku shrugged. "Not too much."
"Can you do a lightning or earth release?"
"I don't know. They just popped up in my head and then I used them. It was a reflex, nothing intentional."
Minato nodded and reached into his pocket to reveal a small piece of paper.
"Here. Channel some chakra to it."
"You are interested about my main elemental affinity?"
"Exactly!" Minato stated cheerfully.
"Why?" Toroku eyed him suspiciously from head to toe.
"No reason, I'm just curious."
"Could you just once give me a direct answer?" Minato just smiled calmly, but didn't answer.
The teenager let out a sigh and grabbed the small paper to channel his chakra into it and turned away from Minato, mumbling about secretive sissies while the blond moved in front of him to see the process. The paper was sliced into two equal parts, and Minato's thoughts wandered to Wind country. He really hoped it would burn in the end.
"So any further explanation why I must do that?" Toroku asked.
Minato just shrugged; his face wasn't mirroring the disappointment he felt. He wandered back to a tree, still thinking, absolutely lost in his thoughts for minutes. When he finally spoke, Toroku was disappointed. He thought he could stay a little more to polish his skills. "We are heading back. That's enough for today. Rest and sleep. Tomorrow's assessment will be a thorough one."
Toroku nodded and they headed back to the village, each of them buried within his own thoughts.
Minato entered to the Hokage's office to make his report about the assessment, and maybe complain about the ANBU after he escorted Toroku back to the I&T department. He hadn't decided yet to mention their previous action. 'I also have to report the damage to the training ground.' He let out a sigh as he sat down in the familiar chair in front of the desk.
"Hokage-sama."
"Minato-kun. Any news?"
"I would like to inform you about the details for tomorrow's assessment. I arranged everything. It will be held at two o'clock in the afternoon on the eleventh training ground." Sarutobi nodded at the information. "I removed all of the chakra binding seals today to prepare him for tomorrow's assessment."
"Was that a good idea?"
Minato shrugged. "I trust in my instincts. Furthermore, I wanted to have an idea of his capabilities." Sarutobi nodded, and Minato continued.
"He is quite good. During our little spar he used wind, water and fire releases." Sarutobi blinked in surprise and frowned at the information. 'That's quite a big elemental repertoire for a teenager.'
"I conducted an element test to see which one was his primary affinity, and the result was wind…It's quite rare in Konoha, so it seems he really was a foreigner…" Minato let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his blonde locks. "His taijutsu is still sloppy and his ninjutsu techniques were pure reflexes, but this is connected only to his memory loss. It will fade away with time. We were really just scratching the surface of his knowledge. He could be really strong if he regains perfect control. Also, he used quite an interesting tactic. Actually, he surprised me with it… Going only by our brief match, he should be in high Chuunin or low Jonin level, but I'm certain that he is capable of much more than that. Especially considering his chakra system…"
"Who will be his partner?"
"Hatake Kakashi." The Hokage gave him a knowing smile and nodded 'Kill two birds with one stone. No, actually not just two...'
"I think we will see a very interesting match tomorrow."
Minato smiled back. "This will be a good opportunity for the both of them to show what they are capable of."
If you say Toroku was troubled because of the assessment, you would be terribly wrong. He was jumpy and excited, and maybe, a very little bit deeply burrowed inside his mind, a little bit nervous. But only a little bit. He felt like a small child waiting to open the packed box in front of him, to know what's in there. This was his chance to show everyone that he was worthy of their trust, and he could become a useful shinobi. He couldn't hold on, he had to do something to ensure his sanity. He also had the surge to regain more control of his jutsus. He acted on reflexes and it could be dangerous if he involuntary released a destructive attack. 'That's it, I can't hold back anymore, I have to talk with Makoto-san.'
Toroku was now laying in the middle of the ANBU training field, waiting to catch his breath.
He got permission from Makoto-san to use the training ground, with ANBU surveillance of course, to continue his preparations. With the lack of a real sparing partner, he used his Kage Bunshins, and he realized he knew a lot more jutsus, and his taijutsu was also morphing from mediocre to a real style. During the approved two hours, he also gained control over his reflexes, to avoid another disaster, like with the fire jutsu. He really didn't want to blow up anything like before. A tall blond figure reached his eyesight. He was on his feet instantly and gave a confused look to the laughing Minato.
"I didn't sense you…"
"I was around for some time. You know, you aren't the only one with great sensing and chakra control."
"It isn't a trouble that I was training, was it?"
"No, I gave the permission, and I'm also pleased that you want to regain control over yourself. Anyway, I came to tell you that the assessment will be at two o'clock in the afternoon. I'll pick you up. But now you really should rest or your partner will mop the ground with blond locks tomorrow." Toroku nodded and smiled as they left the field together with the four ANBU.
Toroku was now marching up and down, from wall to wall in his small room. He already fell out with two different ANBU because he was frustrated. Yesterday's calm mood was now nowhere to be seen. 'Only five more minutes until two o'clock, and that damn Namikaze still isn't here… ' He was at the point of kicking the door open and marching onto to the training grounds alone. It wouldn't be so hard to find the Hokage. 'I'm sure he's surrounded by his ANBU, and these guys just suck.'
He let out a breath of frustration as he sensed a chakra signature appear behind him, and a hand fall to his shoulder, smelling the familiar scent of the blond. He breathed in a large amount of air to start yelling, but before he could, Minato smiled and grabbed his shoulder harder.
"Come on, or we'll be late."
Then he felt it. It was like someone grabbed his stomach, then twisted and squeezed it into different angles. It lasted only a second, before it was gone, but that second felt like an eternity when he appeared in a commodious green clearing. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, but he managed to lean on his hands and now he was panting heavily on all fours. His face was green, and his dinner was fighting to stay where it was, until he gathered himself, and stared angrily to the blond, who stood beside him with a stoic face. He straightened on his trembling legs and pointed a finger to the middle of Minato's face, almost touching his forehead, and gathered enough air into his lungs to yell for at least two minutes without the need to take a break.
"You!... You freak! How dare you… Never, ever use that thing on me again! I almost died… You're not human! You're a sadist! How the hell can you stand that thing!? ...And what the hell do you think you are even doing!? First you were late, I almost broke out to come here alone! If I missed my assessment because of you, I'll kill you…"
"Toroku…" Minato said softly but raised an eyebrow at the outburst, but the blond didn't bother himself and just continued detailing his future torture and his slow and painful death.
"…then slice you to tinier pieces than your flashy seals and then I'll throw you to the dogs and I'll laugh! And after that I'll…"
"Toroku…"
Someone cleared his throat in the background and Toroku's brain slowly began to work again after his shock and outburst. He froze and slowly turned toward a small group of people. He felt Minato's palm snap to the back of his head, not in a painful way, but in a I-told-you-to-listen-to-me-and-now-look-what-you-h ave-done way.
His brain fell apart and he had felt his blood moving to his face, burning it like all hell. His cheeks and forehead, even his ears were now brilliantly red in embarrassment as he faced an older man in a white and red robe, with a triangle shaped hat on his head, stoically puffing from his pipe while eying him from head to toe without showing any emotion as he watched the scene. On his left, a smaller boy stood, with spiky silver hair and only one visible wide eye. The other was hidden under his hitai-ate, as was his lower face with a mask. He tilted his head to the side as he admired the unusual scene. Toroku lifted his hand behind his head to scratch the back of his head in a familiar way.
"Eh… Sorry… for the scene… Can we… Can we pretend that the last five minutes never happened?" he smiled in embarrassment to the leader of the village, and when he received a smile in return, he gathered himself and bowed toward the man.
"Hokage-sama. It's pleasure to meet you in person." Sarutobi smiled at him, and he never, ever wanted to admit it loudly, but he understood his outburst. Minato played a nasty trick, and experiencing the Hiraishin for the first time really wasn't pleasant.
"Toroku-kun. Also my pleasure. However, we already met once before in the hospital under a different… situation.
"Also, very sorry about that…"
"Toroku-kun, let me introduce you to Jonin Hatake Kakashi. He is one of my students." Minato moved his hand toward the young boy, who just nodded in response. Toroku gave one last angry glance toward the other blond and nodded in response to Kakashi.
"Hatake-kun." He looked back to Minato with a questioning look.
"Who will I fight with?"
Minato pointed toward the silver haired child and Toroku raised one eyebrow at the gesture, but didn't make any comment. They were now eying each other suspiciously until Minato broke the silence.
"Now, if the introductions are done, we can start the assessment. The rules are the following. This is just a spar, no use of deadly force. Limit your fight to the clearing and hold back on the use of any destructive Jutsu."
During the last part he was meaningfully eying Toroku. The two boys nodded and moved to the center of the clearing to start the fight after the approval, while their two audience members moved to the side of the training ground.
"Begin!" Minato shouted.
The two boy instantly charged at each other, starting with mere taijutsu to survey each other's strength and speed and to warm up. Toroku launched his left hand toward Kakashi's left eye under his hitai-ate, while he deflected his attack with his other hand, sweeping it to the side from his face. The young Jonin jumped backward with a flip while moving his legs to perform a kick under the blond's chin successfully. The blond's head snapped backward, and he immediately jumped to the same direction to gain some space. Toroku shook his head to clear his thoughts and examined again his opponent with narrowed eyes.
Kakashi ran toward his opponent, sending punches, aiming for the blond's head, who was now forced again to deflect back continuously from the rain of punches. The Jonin jumped over him to aim a kick for his back, but Toroku crouched and rolled to the slide to avoid it.
Minato watched the battle with narrowed eyes. Toroku used a mix of several styles, different from his small spar yesterday and it had a lot of familiar components. Gentle fist, basic academy, gentle fist, something else, gentle fist again, advanced academy, tiger, hard fist, something else, tiger again, gentle fist… It was a big chaotic mess, with effective defense and unpredictability. However, he couldn't catch up with Kakashi, hadn't even used his Sharingan yet.
'Some moves were definitely based on the Hyuuga's gentle fist. Not the same, but very similar. How on earth did he manage to learn that? They guard their tradition like a pack of wild dogs. No way they would teach it to an outsider, doesn't matter if he's from Konoha, or from another country. I even doubt they would teach it to Sarutobi.'
Minato glanced toward his leader, who also narrowed his eyes in recognition.
Toroku rolled further from the young shinobi and he took up once more the starting position as Kakashi had done the same five meters from the blond. Toroku was now waiting for his attack, which wasn't long. A second later, Kakashi jumped into the air and sent three kunai flying toward him. He jumped to the side to avoid the attack, and grabbed one of them to deflect the second wave of flying shuriken with his newly gained weapon.
"Hey! I don't have any weapons!" Toroku yelped to Minato, who just shrugged and chuckled. If looks could kill, Minato would be dead in at least fifty various and painful ways.
The teen's head snapped back to the fight just in time to deflect another wave of kunai flying toward him. He muttered angrily, but he grabbed one of the kunai in the air, followed its movement as he spun himself gracefully, like a dancer, and sent it back to Kakashi with increased speed without a break in the flow. He jumped back and without any hand sign, he stated calmly the name of the next technique.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)"
A Bunshin appeared next to him without smoke or sound and immediately transformed into a fuuma shuriken after he nodded to the original blond. Toroku grabbed and sent it towards Kakashi in a flash, however he easily jumped away from its path. The blond narrowed his eyes and repeated his previous move.
"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)"
This time around fifty clones appeared and jumped toward the original to transform into several weapons, sticking into the soil, ready to be grabbed. The ground around the blond was now filled with shurikens, kunai, katanas, chains and everything that was able to cause damage in various forms from senbons to even a war axe. Toroku grabbed them one by one and threw them towards the young shinobi without hesitation, only to be deflected easily by Kakashi.
Sarutobi made a disappointed look and frowned at the scene, narrowing his eyes to a line. The taijutsu was something very unexpected, though not enough to counter Kakashi. The mix of styles, and the gentle fist. Not the exact copy, but certainly based on it, maybe he tried to copy it from a Hyuuga. The question is, where could he at all have had the opportunity to do that? When he first saw Toroku using Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, a kinjutsu, forbidden for the shinobi and very dangerous without using a hand sign, without smoke or sound, only to create weapons, he was impressed. But now, he saw that the boy was just throwing them without thinking, more and more desperately, and that disappointed him. Minato talked about him with pride as a skilled shinobi. He looked to his friend, who was still focused carefully to the fight. Hiruzen raised an eyebrow when Minato looked at him and gestured his head toward the boys, signaling to just watch the fight.
Toroku was out of weapons, panting and with sweat pouring from his forehead. The ground was filled with the weapons all across the field as Kakashi jumped all around to avoid them. His eyes were still fixed on Kakashi, while the young shinobi exploited the lack of weapon rain and jumped toward him to launch his final attack at the exhausted ninja. He jumped backward, playing a cat and mouse game with him, until Kakashi finally grabbed his wrist, twisted it painfully backwards and slammed his body to the ground, placing his foot inside the blond tufts. Kakashi snorted in victory when his captive disappeared in a puff of smoke, chuckling. Sarutobi raised an eyebrow, while Minato made a wide smirk. He already knew what would happen.
Toroku jumped out from the ground and aimed a kick toward Kakashi, who deflected it with wide eyes, jumped back and grabbed a kunai from the ground, which transformed and a new Toroku appeared beside him, aiming for his head with a punch. Kakashi was surprised that the blond was fast. Faster than before and he hadn't had time to react. When his fist connected with his head, he flew across the field, but at the last second he was able to twist in the air and land on his feet. Two more clones appeared on each side from a kunai and from a senbon, slamming a kick together from each side to his back, sending Kakashi flying again toward another group of sneering blond boys.
The scene reminded Sarutobi of a crazy flipper game, and his mouth curled into a smile. The boy was, in the end, really good. The tactic was so simple, but still great, and Kakashi underestimated his opponent.
After two more flying lessons he was finally able to twist in mid-air to land in a place without any blond head or suspicious weapons. He looked at Minato, who gave a nod as his approval. The army of blond shinobi was now waiting patiently after they fulfilled their duty.
Kakashi reached up to his Hitai-ate and revealed his left eye. A red glowing eye with two lazily whirling black tomoe. The Toroku clones froze, then tilted their head to examine the new danger with wide eyes in an almost complete synchronization. One of the blonds in front of Kakashi grabbed his head, and made a painful grimace while most of the mini army and weapons still in to the soil disappeared in a puff of smoke with a groan. Toroku was now kneeling on one leg while he tried to focus his eyes anywhere else beside the red eyes. He shook his head to see Kakashi was now glancing toward their audience with a confused face.
"Well, I think the sharingan theory is proven," Minato stated calmly, and Sarutobi nodded in agreement.
The older blond appeared next to the boys crouching form, examining him suspiciously, waiting for him to grab himself. He shook his head again and straightened.
"What happened?"
"I'm okay, I want to continue."
"You remembered something?" Minato's voice was now cold and professional.
"Nothing. Really. Just a feeling, like when we ate recently." He shook his head again to clear his thoughts.
"It was… rage…, but a very intensive one. But I'm okay now. Really. I want to continue." Minato nodded and appeared again next to the Sandaime.
"You know, you're pretty good," Kakashi stated with a little edge in his voice. The blond smiled.
"Thanks. You too."
Toroku's thoughts wandered back to a minute ago. Rage. He felt the kind of rage that could blow up a mountain. He knew that this feeling was toward a certain person. But... there were other emotions. Protection, caring… and a promise. Toroku narrowed his eyes and forced himself back to his task in front of him.
They started charging toward each other, running through hand signs.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)" They shouted out in unison, exactly the same time.
When the two infernos met, it spread burning hot flames around the ground, burning a great expanse of the ground to black and gray ashes. Toroku shouted out to Minato, while he pointed toward Kakashi.
"Please note, that this wasn't my fault. He was the one who copied my technique, so this mess doesn't belong to me!" Minato just shook his head briefly and nodded.
He turned toward his opponent and started running toward Kakashi, as a shadow clone appeared next to him, also running. The young boy didn't wait for him to use any attack, as he formed a hand sign to stop the blond.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)"
The clone grabbed Toroku's fist and sent him flying toward Kakashi with increased speed, avoiding the fire ball just in time to disappear in a puff of smoke inside the unstoppable inferno. Toroku landed in front of Kakashi and slammed his hands toward the boy, who immediately jumped backward to avoid the punch, which almost reached his chest. However, despite his active sharingan, he couldn't calculate what happened next.
Two blue mini chakra tornadoes appeared in the palms of the blond, and immediately stretched toward him, sending him flying to the trees and into the woods, to stop after he broke three trees with his small body. All of this in only the blink of an eye.
"Futon: Tatsumaki Odori (Wind release, Tornado dance)…" The blond murmured the name of the technique which was performed without any hand sign, or warning, just appeared in a blink of time.
Toroku waited for the young Jonin to appear stoically, but suddenly he swung around and smashed his fist into the ground to pull out a blinking Kakashi by his wrist and pointed a kunai toward his throat, expanded with sharp wind chakra.
"I guess this fight is mine."
"We will see."
Kakashi in his hands exploded into millions of electronic sparks, sending lightning toward his limbs, but before the lightning clone could finish his task, he vanished in a puff of smoke again.
Two forms exploded from the ground, sending dust and debris all over the field. Kakashi already started making hand signs. 'I have to finish this quick or he will be troublesome…' The blond pushed his hands toward him, but nothing happened. Kakashi froze in his movement, preparing the same attack as before, his muscles tensed ready to avoid the attack. He won't fail twice by the same mistake, he will be prepared. At least he thought, but he was pushed back with an enormous wind blast that appeared from nowhere and without any sign. He fell to the ground, but before he could react, and jump to his feet, another enormous wind blast reached him from the sky, nailing him onto the ground continuously, while Toroku stepped toward him stoically. Kakashi still struggled, but the wind was too strong. He couldn't even leave his eyes open as the enormous air pressure pinned him to the ground.
"Futon: Kuuki hanmaa (Wind Release, Air Hammer)" stated the blond calmly, glancing down at his still struggling captive.
"You won't be able to escape from this, so I suggest you forfeit." However, Kakashi ignored him, and he gave up only after two minutes of massive struggling against the wind pressure.
Toroku released the jutsu, and stepped next to Kakashi, giving a helping hand to him, to get up. Minato also appeared with the Hokage, smiling at the two boys with awe.
"You made quite a nice show, boys."
"Yeah, and gained quite a big audience also…" Toroku grunted, pointing towards the trees and toward a big cliff, where Inoichi and Makoto sat.
Minato chuckled, while he sensed the disappearance of ten chakra signals from the woods and one more approaching from Inoichi's direction. ANBU. They were really curious as to what the boy was capable of besides playing with their pride.
"You didn't use hand signs with the wind techniques or the bunshins," Kakashi pointed out the obvious.
"Well, no. I don't want any of my wind techniques to be copied by you. After you did that with my fire ball, I thought it would be safer for me like this." Kakashi narrowed his eyes, and suddenly one more Toroku appeared next to them.
"Okay guys, good job." The one who helped up Kakashi saluted toward them with two fingers, grinning, then disappeared with a puff of smoke and more could be heard all over the battle field as the last of the weapons and still lurking clones disappeared. 'I was beaten by a clone…' If Kakashi wasn't as composed as he was, he would have liked to grab his silver hair and tear it out. 'A mere clone… that's a shame…'
"You are lazy," Minato stated with a calm tone, but a small hint of awe was also in his voice.
"I just wanted to say 'hi' to Inoichi-san and Makoto-san. Mostly I was fighting." Toroku just shrugged and waved toward the two man group on the cliff.
"How many of those did you make, exactly?" asked Minato curiously.
"Enough to have fun for at least one more hour." Toroku grinned when he saw Kakashi's widening eyes.
Sarutobi puffed from his pipe and turned to them.
"I have to admit, that was a really interesting fight. Minato, we will meet in my office at six o'clock. I would like to have a word with the young man."
Minato nodded and waved a hand when he disappeared with a yellow flash of his blond locks. Toroku shivered from the sight as the memory flowed into his mind, almost feeling again when it was used on him, earning a small smile from the Hokage. Kakashi bowed to the leader and nodded to Toroku then teleported away, leaving whirling leaves and dust on the training ground. Sarutobi turned to Toroku, eying him with a wondering look on his wrinkled face.
"Let's take a walk, Toroku-kun." The blond nodded. He was now nervous as the adrenaline from the previous fight faded away, leaving him alone with the strongest man in the village. He knew that this talk would occur eventually. Actually, he thought it would be much sooner. They started to walk slowly back to the village on the small path without a word. The blond felt himself very uneasy, pressed by the awkward silence. 'What should I do? Should I ask something?' Before he could decide and act Sarutobi broke the silence between them.
"Why do you want to stay in Konoha?" Toroku left his gaze at the ground while they walked, kicking a small stone out of his way.
"Despite my first experience… I like it here." He looked back at Sarutobi and continued. "Most of the people are nice… except some of the ANBU… they are quite jumpy…"
His eyes wandered toward the woods, where the Hokage's private guards followed their movement until now without a noise. A groan left one of the trees with a familiar voice, mumbling with irritation. For his surprise, Sarutobi leaned back his head and laughed loudly. After he finished he waved a hand toward Toroku to continue.
"It's peaceful here. I know there is war outside the walls, but still, that's how I feel. Besides… I don't really know where else I could go… I don't know anybody." He smiled sadly toward the Hokage, who nodded in understanding.
"Why do you want to became a shinobi?"
"This is the only thing I know. And I'm aware that some of my skills could serve the village well. Besides… I thought a lot about my memories… about my only memory." He locked his eyes to the ground again.
"I thought a lot…. And…. I don't want to remember the rest of them... I don't want to feel that sorrow again, just like when I regained my first and only memory… I want to protect the people I know and care about, so I don't have to feel that again… even if that means only one person… I want to start it over." His sentence died to a low voice, almost whispering. He felt his cheeks start to warm up in his embarrassment. He hadn't shared these thoughts with anyone else besides Minato, who was actually the only one now who could be called his friend. Or something like that.
"It feels like, I belong here." He shrugged and looked down again to find another stone to channel his frustration into.
"I understand." The Hokage nodded but his eyes locked onto him curiously.
"What will be your goal here?" The blond stopped as he thought about the question, and answered with a wide smile.
"I want to build a better future."
For his amusement, the old leader of the village flung his head back and laughed again in a not-too-Hokage-like fashion. Now he didn't looked like the old, tempered leader of the village. He seemed to feel more rejuvenated than he had felt in decades, and his deep wrinkles smoothed out on his face as he laughed.
"Toroku-kun, you never set low standards for yourself, do you?" The blond responded with a small, embarrassed smile, scratching his cheek while he started waking again.
"I'll let you join our ranks, but be aware: Gaining our trust will be a long and difficult path." Toroku's head turned toward the Hokage, his eyes filled with gratefulness.
"Thank you Hokage-sama. I won't disappoint you."
The blond gave a deep bow, his chest parallel to the ground, smiling wide. He started straightening himself, but he suddenly froze during the movement, his face straightened and his eyes narrowed. He caught a small movement from the edge of his eyesight. Sarutobi tensed, as he also sensed an almost unsensible killing intent reaching them. It was so small, almost unnoticeable, but it was there. The blond jumped toward a tree where the nearest ANBU hid not even a meter from them, and to Sarutobi's surprise he wrenched as much kunai as he could with one hand from the ANBU's pouch and immediately sent them flying behind Sarutobi. All of that only in a blink of an eye.
In another blink of an eye Toroku was now laying on the ground on his stomach, three ANBU above him, his arms painfully twisted behind his back, one leg on his head, and one knee on his back, pinning him painfully to the ground while his head was pulled backward by his hair, with katana in front of his neck a millimeter from his throat. He grunted in pain, eying behind the Hokage.
Sarutobi, was now standing in a calm but still tensed fighting pose, with a black staff in his hand, pinning a shapeless, panting something to one of the trees meters from him with the weapon, surrounded by the rest of the ANBU team pointing various weapons to the still invisible intruder. As the veil faded away slowly with a waving movement, like seeing something under the water, a shape of a shinobi appeared in front of them.
Sarutobi eyed the ninja, resting his narrowed eyes on the five kunai, which was nailing the intruder's clothes to the tree millimeters from his body. 'A perfect hit… ' He waved his hand towards the group pinning Toroku down.
"Let the boy go." The ANBU shared a hesitating look, but then they moved away from the teen, eying him suspiciously while he moved to his feet, rubbing his aching wrist after their forced position.
The intruder's eyes locked onto the teen, watching him in rage, and didn't even bother to restrain his killing intent sent toward the blond. Sarutobi narrowed his eyes more, if that was even possible, surveying the attacker. His eyes moved to his hitai-ate with the symbol of Iwagakure.
"Bring him to the Interrogation and Torture department." The eye of the captive swept towards the Hokage for the first time, and a small hint of panic appeared on his face. The ANBU disappeared in the blink of an eye together with the Iwa ninja, leaving Sarutobi, Toroku and the rest of the guards without a sound. The old man now turned toward Toroku, studying him in wonder.
"One step closer Toroku-kun... One step closer…" The Hokage smiled at him and left the shocked teen on the path alone with his thoughts.
Authors Note:
Training, training, and fighting to earn trust.
Most of the attacks were from the manga, but you can find some own creations. I used a simple dictionary, so if you can develop them, please don't hesitate. At first I used the English names of the attacks, but it felt very awkward, so I changed everything to double language, like this you don't have to bother yourself with translation or with the foot-note and then jump back where you were in the story and I can still see the Japanese version for my own pleasure.