Chapter 2: The 3 ninjas

"You can take the room next to mine, its empty. You okay with that?"
"Yeah, thank you so much. I don't know how I could repay you."
"Ah, don't worry about it."

D guided the girl into a vacant room next to his own bedroom. The entire time she had been in his presence. Her head was down. There was definitely a hint of awkward in the air. As he guided her to her room, she began to tear up. "Well, I guess you can settle down here. I'll see ya tomorrow morning. I'll take you to Sarutobi sensei then." He said casually. Suddenly, and without warning, she began to cry. With little gasps, she began to whisper, "Thank you, thank you, thank you…" Startled and unsure of what to do, he put his arm around her and tried to calm her down. "Hey, hey, no need to cry. I'm just being helpful. You can stay here for as long as you need to." He soothed her until she calmed down, and then left her to get settled in her room. She, left alone in her room, sat down on the bed. Soon, she was sound asleep.

The next morning, Rin awoke, unaware of her surroundings. For a moment, the confused look on her face explained all; she had no clue where she was. Slowly, the memories of the events from the previous night flew into her mind. Slowly, a smile crept up to her face without her being aware. A warm feeling surrounded her, as if an aura of light had been twinkling around her. She was happy, a feeling she hadn't known for a long while. She got dressed and walked downstairs. As she walked downstairs, she heard a noise coming from the kitchen. Curious, she walked to the kitchen, and saw the ninja that helped her last night. D was in an apron, standing over the stove and tending to something that was cooking. The room smelled of omelets being cooked, and an audible grumble came from Rin's stomach. D turned around and gave her a warm smile, and asked, "You seem hungry. What do you want for breakfast?" Rin said, "Anything is fine, thanks." "Well, I guess an omelet can be okay, then." D replied. After a quick breakfast, they began to head out. Before leaving the house, Rin asked, "Where are we going?" "Don't you remember what I said last night?" replied D, "We're going to see the Hokage. He'll need to know why and how you're here." With that they rushed to the Hokage's office.

As they were going, Rin looked at everything that was different about Konoha since last she saw it. Everything seemed very similar, but more modernized. Everyone seemed happy and was going on with their lives with no complications. She was actually surprised at how little everything changed. D noticed her lost in thought, as she nearly tripped over a rock on the way. Yet, she was just curious about one thing. "Why are you called D?" She asked, puzzled. "My name is Dragon. D is just the easiest way to remember, but I would rather people call me by my real name." Dragon replied. Hmm… Dragon. I like that name. Sounds like a superhero. Rin thought. Her chain of thought was soon broken, however, as they arrived at the Hokage's office. "Is Sarutobi-sama still the Hokage?" Rin asked. "Yeah, but he came out of retirement after the fourth died." "There was a fourth?!" Rin asked, surprised. "How do you not… wait," he stopped walking. "What was the last ninja war?" "The second ninja world war, obviously. Everyone knows that. Why?" She asked with curiosity as she looked at his shocked expression, slowly changing to that of understanding. "Come with me. It seems like we have more to talk about to the Hokage than we thought."

"Sarutobi-sensei, based on all that happened, it has to be the effect of THAT jutsu." D had just finished explaining his theory, with Rin listening in confusion. "Yes, yes, I believe so. She cannot go back to her timeline, so she will have to live her life in this timeline." Sarutobi sighed. He had feared that there would be worse effects to the jutsu, but from what he was seeing, he could finally be relieved. She still preserved her physical characteristics, and best of all, she remembered her ninjutsu and all of her arts. D, or Dragon, as the nickname went, could train her to be a good kunoichi before the Ninja Academy began. They seemed to be good friends already, and it's only been a day, so why not?

-Several Years Later-

"Yo! Dragon! Get up, we're gonna be la-" Rin stopped mid sentence as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You're the late one, genius. Now let's go." Dragon said with a sigh. Even though 12, Dragon now stood at a towering 5 feet and 6 inches. Rin was quite up to par with Dragon, with a surprising height of 4 feet and 7 inches. They were both dressed in their own ninja wear. Rin wore her usual clothing, while Dragon sported a new look. He decided to wear a sleeveless coat with a black shirt and ninja pants that allowed him maximum mobility within his gear (Just imagine the uniform coat of a captain from Bleach, except without the sleeves as mentioned. Also instead of the Yukata-like traditional clothing of the soul reapers, imagine a tight black shirt, with combat pants. His shuriken holster is around his left thigh and his Zanpakuto is slung around his back). They both, hurriedly, rushed out of their home and raced towards the ninja academy.

Between these years, another one had been added to their group. An orange haired boy with the uncanny ability to his ghosts, Ichigo Kurosaki was a perfect fit to the crew. He was capable of holding his own against chunins incredibly easily. Unique to him, however, was a power that was recently awakened within him, thanks to a violent training session with Dragon and his inherited sword of flame, Ryuujin Jakka1. His larger-than-himself sized sword suddenly felt lighter, and he heard a voice. His blade, Zangetsu2, had awakened. Simultaneously, Rin had also awakened her newfound power as well. The Sorano Hanano Iyashi3, after her years of training with Dragon, had finally awakened as well. The three possessed this power that no one else possessed or even knew of. The only knowledge of this sort of power was found in legends and folklore.

Dragon and Rin, as they ran towards the academy, met Ichigo on the way, who was also hurrying. "Are we late?" He asked casually. "No, not really, not if we put on some speed," Dragon replied with a smile. Ichigo's face broke into a wide grin. Rin just sighed. Here we go again, she thought. She was the type of person to be calm and collected when going somewhere new, not brash and hotheaded like the pair. They burst ahead with lightning speed, which Rin, even after years of training with them, had difficulty catching up with. They made it to the academy within seconds, and they stood past the gates in the courtyard of the academy with looks of awe in their faces. He remembered the first time he attended the academy.

*Flashback*

There were several hundreds of parents with their children. There was a family with a dog, which Dragon thought was quite cool. There was a father with his son, who seemed to have quite a bit of bugs around them. Although uncomfortable, he continued to look around and observe. There was a boy standing away from the entire crowd, which peaked Dragon's interest. The boy had bright yellow hair and an orange jumpsuit. He was standing quietly away from the groups, and everyone seemed to be whispering about him. As Dragon walked towards the boy, he began to hear the whispers amongst the families. He kept hearing the word "demon" over and over as he walked towards the boy. He approached the boy and asked, "What's your name?" "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, the future hokage!" He replied with an unexpectedly bright smile. Dragon was taken aback, but he replied the smile. "Hey, my name's Dragon. These are my friends Rin and Ichigo." They had just appeared behind him. "You seemed lonely, so we just wanted to come over and talk to you." Rin spoke up. Naruto's grin widened. As Dragon offered his hand, he grabbed it and got to his feet. Together, they walked inside the academy together.

*Flashback end*

They walked up to the front of the academy. Suddenly, he heard someone that was calling out behind him. "Oi! Dragon! Rin! Ichigo!" It was Naruto, running towards them. "Hi!" Rin called back, waving. "Yo!" Dragon swiftly saluted. Ichigo simply waved with a smile. Together, just like the first day, they walked into the academy together. As genins, this was the day they would know their teams.

As they entered, they looked around and saw a massive variety of people. They scanned the room. They saw the boy with bugs, the one with the dog, the one with bugs, the tired one, the one who kept eating nonstop, the brooding one, the two girls fighting over the brooding one, the one who was looking straight at Naruto with a blush, wait wha-?! Dragon came to a halt, and then immediately broke into a grin. He leaned over and, without anyone noticing, whispered something to her. Rin's face turned into one of confusion, and then immediately she broke into a smile. The same thing happened to Ichigo as Rin told him. "Naruto, why don't we sit over there?" Pointing to the seats near, Hinata, she grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the seats, with Dragon and Ichigo following. Forcing down Naruto right next to Hinata, They all sat next to the two of them, with Dragon and Rin next to Hinata and Ichigo next to Naruto. Hinata's bright red cheeks told the whole story. However, her blush began to settle as she started to smile more and talk to Naruto, who was very enthusiastic to find another friend. They began to talk until Iruka called for silence. "Alright, congratulations to all that have graduated to genin and are here today. I will now tell you which teams you are assigned to." All noises suddenly stopped. Everyone was paying attention to Iruka. All eyes on him, he began to read out loud the team assignments. "Team 1…., Team 2…." Dragon, Naruto and Rin were impatiently waiting to hear their teams. "Team 7, Naruto Uzumaki, Rin Nohara, and Dragon!" Hinata was slightly disappointed but still kept the smile because she had the chance to sit next to Naruto. Meanwhile, Dragon was a bit surprised but casually sighed; appreciating that he wasn't put with the weird ones. Ichigo was getting more and more antsy; He wanted a good squad to whom he could show off his strength with. "Team 8, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Hinata Hyuga!" Hinata sighed and got up, stuttered out a good-bye to Naruto, and shyly walked towards Kiba and Shino. "Team 9, Ichigo Kurosaki, Orihime Inoue, and Sasuke Uchiha!" Ichigo groaned. He was placed with the brooding, arrogant idiot. Oh well, at least I have Orihime in my team. She's nice, cute, and powerful. A good combo for a girl, Ichigo thought, as he walked up to Orihime with Sasuke trailing close behind. Meanwhile, Iruka finished assigning the teams by assigning team 10. They all filed out of the room for lunch. Afterwards, all would get to meet their senseis.

Rin and Ichigo went to grab some lunch from the nearby restaurant, along with Orihime and Hinata. Dragon and Naruto decided to run to Ichiraku to grab some ramen. Within 5 minutes, they went through 3 bowls of ramen and quickly returned to the academy. Dragon had to hold back to allow Naruto to keep up. They quickly arrived at the academy, and had to wait around a bit for the others to show up. "Maybe we had enough time to get another bowl of Ramen," Naruto mumbled to himself, fiddling his headgear. "Nah, we didn't have enough. There's everyone else. I'll treat you tonight if you and I have the time," Dragon replied. Leaving a wide grin on Naruto's face, he walked to greet their friends, who were just coming back from lunch. Hinata, now once again blushing at the sight of Naruto, walked along with Rin and Ichigo. As usual, Ichigo pointedly looked away while Rin greeted Dragon with his usual manner, with a friendly hug. He was still a bit uncomfortable with the "two of them living together" thing; in reality, he had a slight crush on Rin but was too afraid to show it. Orihime was also with the group but, even though shy, she was more casual than the rest. They began to walk back to the academy. "Told you sushi was an amazing lunch, didn't I, Ichi?" Rin said casually. Ichigo blushed. "Y-yeah, I guess so." "Yeah, yeah, save your breaths. Ramen is clearly better!" Dragon scoffed. Rin's eyes became dishplates and her head expanded at that as she began yelling and lecturing to a shrunken chibi Dragon. Soon, they reached the academy, said their goodbyes and made plans to meet up that night, and left to meet their senseis. Rin and Naruto waited behind, talking to the group of friends, but Dragon, excited to meet their jounin and test his strength against one, rushed ahead to the meeting point. By the time Rin and Naruto made it to the meeting point, their sensei was there (for once, he was ON TIME! Well, I gave it away, you can guess who it is, readers!).

Kakashi lowered his book and turned a lazy eye towards the source of chakra coming towards him. He put away his book. Someone's coming, and it isn't a genin, he thought. No genin can have that much chakra. He was shocked to see a young boy arrive land in front of him, but his shock immediately cleared as soon as he saw who it was. So, the legendary genin on my squad, eh? Got to test this one's power out. I wanted to try that new test anyway. He thought with a smile. He sat back down. Dragon studied his sensei. "So, Kakashi Hatake, or should I say, Kakashi-sensei," he said, bowing with a smile in an excited voice. He had heard a long about this man. "Well, we'll save greeting for when your teammates show up. Better that way." Kakashi nodded in response. Dragon sat down on a seat-shaped stone across from Kakashi. They were sitting on the rooftop of a building directly across from the mountain with the heads of the Hokages engraved. He looked at the head of the 4th Hokage, and then the man directly next to him. His father, Raiden Hirayama, was the first man to be engraved into the mountain that wasn't a hokage. However, his deeds far surpassed a Hokage and he was honored as one of the greatest heroes of the village. Dragon was proud of his father, and aspired to catch up to him. So, he spent all of his childhood training. While Rin was out playing with the other kunoichi girls of the village, he was in the training grounds, perfecting ninjutsus and widening his arsenal. By the time he was enrolled in the academy, he was on par with many jounins. This was also on part thanks to Sarutobi's sparring sessions. Lost in thought, he did not even realize when Rin and Naruto had shown up until he felt Rin's hand on his shoulder. They sat down next to him in the remaining stone seats. Kakashi put away and looked at the genins. He let out a soft sigh, and began to speak. "Okay guys. Introduce yourselves, starting from the left. Tell me your name, age, likes, dislikes, and dreams if you have any." Dragon took a deep breath. "My name is Dragon. I am 12 years old. I like to train and get stronger. I extremely dislike arrogance," he said nonchalantly, and then his voice changed. His hidden, ambitious, hopeful side came out. In the new voice he began speaking. "My dream is to become the strongest ninja in the universe." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this; he was told of Dragon's training by the Hokage himself, and he was to keep an eye on him. Not bad, kid. You'll go places, I feel it. Kakashi thought. Next, you in the orange. Naruto stopped fiddling with his headband and began. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I am 12 years old. I like all types of ramen and I dislike the long time I have to wait for my ramen. And my dream…" Naruto stood up. "…IS TO BECOME THE GREATEST HOKAGE EVER! Then people will finally respect and acknowledge me!" Kakashi, once again, raised his eyebrow. You can do it kid, I believe you can. But there will be hardships on the way. "Okay, the last one. You?" "My name is Rin, and I'm also 12 years old." Rin spoke promptly. "I like to talk to people as well as to train to get stronger. I dislike people that think that they are better than people just because they are better off than others. My dream is to be friends with everyone I know, so that we can all be happy and never be hurt ever again." This time, Kakashi's eyes softened. Yeah, I get where you are coming from. "Alright guys. I am Kakashi Hatake. I don't really have likes or dislikes, and dreams I don't feel like sharing with you." Dragon's eyes twitched, while Rin's and Naruto's eyes became dishplates and their heads expanded as they screamed, "THAT WASN'T AN INTRODUCTION AT ALL!" "Yeah, yeah. Tomorrow, we meet at the training grounds," he said as Rin and Naruto settled down. "There will be a test to determine whether you guys are truly accepted as genins or not." "Then what's the merit of the actual gen- oh. I see where you are going with this," Dragon said as his confusion cleared into understanding and his mouth broke into a smile. Rin looked at him with a confused look, to which he replied with the 'I'll tell you later' look. Naruto, however, was just as excited as Dragon. This was an opportunity to let everyone see just how strong he was. "All right, meet me at 6 in the training grounds." With that, he disappeared. The 3 genins decided to head home. Naruto broke off from the group to grab some ramen with Ichigo, Orihime and Hinata, leaving Rin and Dragon alone to go home. As they walked, Rin finally asked her question. "So, what's this test about? You seemed to know something." "This test is a test of teamwork. This is to see how well we can cooperate to defeat him," Dragon replied casually. "Well, I guess we should get some rest and get some food to be ready for tomorrow, huh. Um…" Rin's voice faded. Dragon suddenly became curious at the slight coyness that he just noticed in Rin. "What's up? You look like you are hiding something. What is it?" "Well, I was thinking that, um… maybe we could grab some dinner at a restaurant?" Rin stuttered out. Dragon smiled. "All right, it's a date. Let's go quickly so that we can find a good one before we head off to the training grounds for a quick session before bed." He failed to notice the grin on Rin's face as they both rushed ahead to find a restaurant.

-Next Day-

"Where the hell is he?! He's AN HOUR LATE!" Rin and Naruto screamed simultaneously, annoyed. Kakashi was late for their first training session. Eventually, he showed up another half hour later to 2 very angry and 1 exasperated genin. "Oh I'm sorry. I got caught up helping an old lady." "HELPING AN OLD LADY DOES NOT TAKE 2 AND A HALF HOURS!" Rin and Naruto yelled at Kakashi with large heads and dishplate eyes. "Alright guys. This is your test." With that, Kakashi pulled out two bells. "All you have to do is simply come at me and take these two bells from me. Any questions?" "Why are there only two bells when there are three of us?" Rin asked. "Because this test is designed to select only the best genin. We can only pass two of the three genins in each team." "W-what?!" Naruto exclaimed. "Well, no time to waste. Come on!" Kakashi said. He reached into his ninja weapons pouch, and immediately Rin and Naruto were on guard. Only Dragon was casual, because he realized what he was taking out. His suspicions were confirmed when he brought out his book. "Well, come on, we haven't got all day," Kakashi said nonchalantly. Dragon sighed. Rin looked at him, asking for any commands. He nodded and flashed the number two with his fingers, and then showed his palm. She understood immediately. Okay, so THAT combo. He's giving Naruto the bell, huh. Rin thought. Risky move, but he's calling Kakashi sensei's bluff. Still, I'd like to see him go up against this combo. Meanwhile, Naruto, impatient as expected, rushed at Kakashi, kunai out. "Shadow Clone Jutsu! TAKE THIS!" All of his clones jumped, attacking Kakashi simultaneously. Suddenly, Kakashi pulled out a kunai. In one swift motion, Kakashi sliced through all 5 of the clones and immediately teleported behind Naruto, pinning his arm behind him and pointing a kunai to his back. "This is a team exercise. If you guys think you can take me on one-on-one, you are sorely mistaken." We'll find out if we truly are, won't we Kakashi sensei? Dragon thought with a smile. "Rin!" He shouted. Rin immediately rushed towards Kakashi while Dragon jumped and threw 6 shurikens towards Kakashi. He dodged, saying, "I told you to take me seriously!" Rin suddenly appeared behind Kakashi. "We are, sensei. Water Style: Water Prison!" Kakashi was trapped inside a giant ball of water, and suddenly he was replaced with a log. Rin swiftly turned around. "Water Style – Water Jet Cannon!" A spearlike jet of water blasted towards Kakashi. "Too slow!" He yelled. "Earth Style –Mud Wall!" The wall that appeared in front of Kakashi seemed to block the jet, but it was straining to break through and Kakashi continued to pour in chakra. Suddenly, Naruto appeared behind Kakashi and swung his fist, screaming, "Wind Style – Wind Assault!" With that, he hit Kakashi in the face with a punch that blasted him backwards towards his own mud wall. The wall collapsed, but that gave him the leverage to bounce to lock hands with Naruto. Kakashi, with his free leg, kicked him in the chest, and he exploded in a cloud of smoke. The small second of surprise was all Dragon needed; he immediately jumped again over Kakashi and screamed, "Lightning Style – Lightning Scatter!" Dragon slammed his palm into the ground. Several rays of lighting struck Kakashi, leaving him momentarily dazed and paralyzed. Seizing the opportunity, he delivered a kick to Kakashi's head, and as he was flying back, grabbed the 2 bells and threw one to Naruto and one to Rin. "Game Over, sensei. We win," he said, letting out a breath. Rin rushed to Kakashi and applied some basic medical ninjutsu to undo the paralysis. Kakashi stood, brushing the dirt from his shoulders. "I am shocked. You guys are not bad, holding your own against me," Kakashi said in surprise. "Congratulations! You all pass the test! Starting tomorrow, you will be going to missions with me!" Rin and Naruto was surprised, while Dragon just rolled his eyes and smiled. As Kakashi began to walk away, he finally asked the question he was waiting to ask. "Kakashi-sensei, I was hoping if you could spar against me. Just one quick match, please?" He pleaded. Rin and Naruto looked at each other, surprised at this new turn of events. Kakashi looked surprised as well. "Well, I guess so." He shrugged.

"Prepare yourself; I look to end this quick. I know you've been training with the Hokage, so this time, I won't hold back!" Kakashi exclaimed as he got into a battle stance. "Here I come, Kakashi sensei!" Dragon exclaimed back. Immediately, they rushed each other; Kakashi with a kunai in hand, Dragon with his sword drawn. They clashed with an explosion, to the surprise of the spectators (Rin and Naruto). Kakashi was thrown off balance. Dragon saw the opportunity to strike. But, thanks to Kakashi's experience as a jounin, he had the upper hand, and used substitution jutsu as soon as Dragon struck, and appeared behind him to deliver a very strong kick to his back. Dragon went tumbling. Seeing the opportunity, Kakashi rushed him, only to see an extended palm in his face. "Lighting Style – Lightning Shock Ball!" Kakashi was blasted backwards. As he fell, he seemed to melt into the ground. A mud clone! Dragon realized. Kakashi appeared right behind him, and dodged a roundhouse kick to deliver a double-legged kick right to the midsection of the Dragon. He flew backwards, but landed and got to his feet. Both were exhausted already. "Kakashi sensei, let's end this." Dragon huffed out. "Yeah you're right. This last jutsu will be the end of this fight." Kakashi huffed back. Dragon suddenly closed his eyes, and lowered his head. He slowly raised them, and opened his eyes. Staring directly at the confused Kakashi. he began to chant. "Seeping crest of turbidity; Arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!" Kakashi, ignoring his confusion, decided to strike. "I'll end this with one blow. Raikiri!" As he was charging, Dragon raised his hand and his pupils dilated as his focus fully turned on Kakashi. "Hado 90 – Kurohitsugi, Black Coffin!" Suddenly, Kakashi was surrounded by dark walls, forming a massive coffin. It dissipated within seconds, and when Kakashi was back into view, he collapsed. Dragon immediately collapsed from the lack of chakra remaining. Rin, while still in shock of seeing this new power of Dragon, rushed to his sensei's aid while Naruto helped Dragon up. Kakashi, with the help of Dragon and Rin, got to his feet. He was shocked. "H-how did you…" Kakashi stuttered out. "This was a new technique I wanted to try, and you seemed like the perfect opponent. I'm sorry Kakashi sensei," Dragon said in a weak voice. Kakashi was in awe. How… This boy is strong. FRIGHTENINGLY strong. If I let my guard down and didn't compact my chakra in time, I would have been dead in seconds. "Your technique is strong. VERY strong." Meanwhile, Naruto was watching all of this in surprise. I knew he was strong, but to hold his own against Kakashi sensei? That was amazing!

Dragon was lying in the living room in a tatami mat, while Rin tended to his wounds. "You gotta be more careful dammit! What if something bad happened to you?!" Rin scolded him as she treated him. "Oh well, at least I have you to help me. Thanks Rin." Dragon smiled at her. Rin blushed. "Um… yeah, I mean, we're friends, and I owe ya and… ugh damn it just stop," Rin scolded as she saw Dragon laughing.

1 "Dragon Fire of the Sky"

2 Slaying Moon

3 Romaji for "Healing Flower of the Sky"