The newly reinstated Sandaime Hokage presided over the council. It was two weeks after the Demons' attacks and it was the first time all of them could clear their schedules from rebuilding to meet.
"Greetings, council members. All of you know the reasons we have gathered. We are to decide the fate of our two new jinchuriki. Now then, I realize some of you are for the execution of these twins."
"I feel you are fools! Not only shall they grow into extremely powerful shinobi, the Yondaime wished them to be seen as heroes. You will be going against the wishes of the strongest of our shinobi, dead or alive, and taking out two possible S-class loyal Konoha ninja."
Many of the ninja clan heads nodded at the logic. They were looking underneath the underneath, and plainly saw the value of such powerful shinobi after loosing the most powerful Kage to ever exist. The civilian side however, was totally against it. They thought totally with their emotions, and were completely useless. Unfortunately, the Shodai Hokage had wanted the common people's opinion and had set it up so that 8 of the 20 votes on the Village Council were civilians. Not enough to make a majority, but enough to make a difference on controversial issues.
To compel them further he brought out Jiraiya, Konoha's Toad Sage, and Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang. They were two of the strongest four shinobi Konoha had, the other two being himself and Tsunade.
"I'm sure you all recognize the two shinobi in front of me. The two of them have promised to apprentice our two jinchuriki to ensure they are as strong as possible to combat the enemies of Konoha. They have also agreed to train the twins outside of the village so no one is injured if or when the seals slip."
The Sandaime grinned inwardly at the nodding heads all around. He hated acting like Danzo and treating his shinobi like weapons, but it was the only way to keep the council from executing Arashi's sons. He just had to play to the council's want of power and idolization of strong shinobi and they agreed immediately.
He immediately called for a vote before the council could think up any questions. Questions like when the twins would come home, or when they would take their Genin exams. His old teammates were trying to stonewall but the motion was in favor by majority and he passed the motion immediately.
Ryuuyi walked along the path back to Konoha. It would be the first time in just under 13 years. His sensei, Sakumo, had always kept far away for his home. He had wanted to give the civilians as long as possible to get over their hatred of the jinchuriki. Sakumo's thoughts were that if they didn't see them, they wouldn't remember and Ryuuyi hoped that was the case.
He knew that Naruto and Jiraiya-sensei were already in Konoha, had been for about a day. Naruto was amazingly optimistic about the civilians' feelings. Ryuuyi, on the other hand was nervous and feeling a bit more pessimistic, or realistic in his own expert opinion.
He pulled down on his inky black hair. There were flecks of blonde in there that Sakumo-sensei told him would've been his natural color if it weren't for the Nanabi. The curse did come with quite a few bonuses though, for him and for Naruto.
Both bijuu gave the boys incredible chakra capacity, with Ryuuyi's being even with Sakumo's, and Naruto's doubling Jiraiya's. Ryuuyi had good chakra control, with Naruto's only in the average range, although Naruto did have waaaay more chakra than Ryuuyi. Naruto had gained Kyuubi's regeneration and control over fire. Ryuuyi gained the Nanabi's ability complete control of the earth and metals and the ability to sense movement from the vibrations in the ground.
Ryuuyi thought it a pretty fair trade. The only real problem he had with being the prison for a demon was that it made him so damn short! While it was looked for in shinobi to be small and wiry, so they could sneak around with more ease, it didn't mean he wanted to be vertically challenged his whole life.
Jiraiya and Sakumo had been worried about their height and had even brought in Tsunade. It seemed that the amount of energy it took to keep the bijuu sealed up took up most of their food intake, even when they ate Akamichi sized portions. Tsunade had said that each tail of chakra took the average amount of calories a genin burned in a day to stay locked up.
Ryuuyi glanced over to his sensei. He knew how much he owned him. If Sakumo hadn't volunteered to apprentice him, he didn't know what would've happened. In all honesty, the angry civilians might've even killed him.
Ryuuyi shook his head to clear his thoughts. Ninja Rule # 34: Keep all thoughts besides those about your mission in the back of your mind until you are back in safe territory. He would have to think about all of this later. Right now he needed to focus on the Anbu flitting through the trees above him, and the Root operative using a Doton jutsu to stay underneath him.
Sakumo had definitely been right though, the Anbu definitely need a major overhaulin'. Ryuuyi was definitely skilled, especially with the Nanabi's vibration sense, but he was probably only at the average Chuunin's level and Anbu were supposed to be in the upper echelons of the Jounin pool.
Ryuuyi broke into a smile as he saw the large timber gates of Konoha. It would be his home for, hopefully, the rest of his life. But it wasn't the future he was smiling about. No, he would finally rejoin with his beloved twin. They hadn't seen each other for over a year, and hadn't lived together in over 5.
He was also looking forward to meeting Sakumo's son, Kakashi. Sakumo-sensei talked about him a lot. When it was just the two of them, talking about how proud of Kakashi he was, and how strong he was. Kakashi had a lot of living up to, but if he was anything like Sakumo, he'd be able to do it.
As they reached the north gate, two chuunin guards stopped them and did the basic village security inspection. They were basically the same along the hidden villages, and Ryuuyi had been to every one, even the hated Iwa.
And then, suddenly they were inside the large wooden walls of Konoha. Ryuuyi stepped aside from the flow of traffic and just watched. Watching the flow of civilians as they shot through stores. Watching shinobi jump from roof to roof. And hearing their entire sounds jumble together. While Ryuuyi had been in all of the major villages, none of them had the life and vitality of Konoha.
Sakumo grabbed his wayward open-mouthed apprentice and walked him over to the Hokage's tower. Ryuuyi rubbernecked the whole way, glancing at different sights. He chuckled at the sight of the Hokage Tower, which was painted in a way that screamed Naruto.
Sakumo must've noticed as well, for his chuckle didn't escape Ryuuyi, nor did his muttered, "Idiot gaki."
The secretary ushered them in, with nary a glance at Ryuuyi. Ryuuyi felt hope rise in his soul at that. He had only seen a few glares in the village, and he hoped as it came out that the jinchuriki had come back, it would stay at the awe-inspiring glances he was getting at the moment.
Jiraiya and Naruto were already seated in front of the giant Hokage desk, with Sarutobi presiding over them. It was obvious they were having small talk, as Naruto was bouncing in his seat. In shinobi activities, his brother was serious, in anything else he was the obvious class clown.
The Sandaime glanced up as the door to his office shut. He smiled broadly as he saw his guests and welcomed them into seats. Naruto immediately calmed down and stiffened his back. It was obvious from the aura the Sandaime was projecting that the following conversation would be quite serious.
"Now, I have called you here today to learn of the twin's skill level. Naruto, Ryuuyi, you may leave. I just had you brought here so I could give you the keys to your apartment, and to tell you your Genin exams are at nine a.m. at the Academy. Your instructors shall tell me of your skill level. I do not wish to hear Naruto's bragging."
Naruto whined for a bit, it was obvious the aura the Sandaime had been projecting was just for show to get Naruto to calm down quickly. Ryuuyi took the keys and directions to the Academy and their apartment. (Naruto wouldn't remember anyway.)
As the two young Jinchuriki left the Hokage Tower, Sarutobi turned to look at Jiraiya and Sakumo. The two senseis looked back at him, until they started chuckling as the Sandaime just raised an eyebrow at their behavior.
Jiraiya stepped up to talk about his gaki first. "Naruto is a high-chuunin to a low-jounin level nin. He followed in my footsteps and is a fuinjutsu apprentice. He has Kage-level chakra capacity and average chakra control."
"He can do tree-walking, water-walking, and snow-traces. Naruto is a Ninjutsu specialist. He is currently working on mastering his affinities for Raiton and Katon jutsu. He's fairly average at taijutsu. Naruto is just way too bouncy to do katas and too in love with destruction to really care."
"Naruto has the basic three down, though he uses Iwa Bunshin instead of regular Bunshin. Naruto has plenty of camping and packing experience. Naruto doesn't have the imagination required for genjutsu, but he knows some and he can get himself out of a majority of the genjutsu."
"Naruto can get to two tails of the Kyuubi's chakra before losing control. Naruto is currently working on the first stage of the Rasengan, can do the Raiton and Katon elemental dragons, three different Bunshin techniques, my Swamp of the Underworld technique, and about 10-15 other Ninjutsu."
The Sandaime nodded before looking at Sakumo, waiting for his report on Ryuuyi's skill set.
"Ryuuyi definitely isn't as strong as Naruto. That is mainly because I was busy training him in kenjutsu. As you know, it takes a long time to get good at kenjutsu, but after that, your skill can explode."
"Ryuuyi used a Hone jutsu to create his swords on the urging of the Nanabi. It's the basis of all the Kaguya clan techniques. Using the technique he created two permanent swords that he keeps sealed into the palms of his hands. He can't use the technique anymore, his tenant won't allow him. The jutsu basically uses all the calcium in the bones to create more extremely quickly. The Kaguya are able to use it because their Kekkei Genkai allows them to recreate calcium at an inhumane level."
"The Nanabi won't allow Ryuuyi to use the Hone jutsu because extended use of the jutsu would cause an extreme lack of calcium that the Nanabi could not fix."
"The Nanabi wanted Ryuuyi to use his own bones to create the swords so that Ryuuyi would be more able to channel the Nanabi's chakra. As you both know, the Nanabi had two extremely large tusks that he used to do most of his destruction. With Ryuuyi having two "tusks", he will concentrate the demon's chakra into the "tusks" and Ryuuyi is able to go longer using the Nanabi's chakra before succumbing to the bloodlust."
"Anyway, Ryuuyi is fairly efficient with his swords. Also, because the Nanabi's chakra was in Ryuuyi's bone, it's got some unique traits. I'm pretty sure that we haven't figured out all of them."
"Ryuuyi is a close-range fighter to Naruto's medium-range with the clones and Ninjutsu. Ryuuyi focuses on his kenjutsu in a fight, although he sometimes slips in some weak distracting genjutsu to get a hit on his opponent."
"Ryuuyi knows very few offensive Ninjutsu, considering his only elemental affinity is towards Doton. He has a lot of defensive ones though. Because of the Nanabi, Ryuuyi has an extreme affinity towards controlling everything in the earth. Specifically, he seems to have the ability to control gemstones. He calls it Gem Release, or Jemuton. It is quite similar in nature to the lost bloodline Crystal Release."
"He has only created about 4 or 5 jutsu using Jemuton. They include throwing shruiken made out of sapphires, throwing cubes of ruby that explode, and creating a gigantic worm made of lapis lazuli that can tunnel through the ground and eat an opponent. Jemuton jutsu do much more damage than a Doton jutsu of the same ranking for far less chakra."
"Ryuuyi has three sealing scrolls packed with different kinds of gems that he uses with his jutsus. He can of course create them with chakra but it is much more costly. Other than that, he's proficient in all ninja equipment and knows about 15 useful camping jutsu and how to pack with seals."
Sarutobi nodded gratefully, although his mind was racing with the possibilities. Naruto seemed to be infinitely stronger than Ryuuyi already, but Ryuuyi would quickly be catching up as soon as he got the Jemuton up to its true potential.
Ryuuyi woke up at 6:57 before getting up and getting ready for the day. He shimmied into his sand colored shorts. They hung down to the middle of his shins, before he taped them down. He slid on his wire mesh long sleeve t-shirt before putting on his black shirt. He had an archaic leaf design on it in bright green. He pushed all of his weapons into the built-in weapon holster on his shorts, before sliding his ninja wire and explosive notes into his padded back pocket. He stepped into his charcoal gray sandals and walked over to Naruto's room.
Then, Ryuuyi threw in a slip of paper that Jiraiya had created to wake Naruto. It seemed he had gotten sick of wasting an hour of training time every day waiting for him to roll out of bed.
Naruto appeared 10 minutes later at the kitchen table wearing his usual outfit of orange sandals, black Anbu style pants and a gray shirt with an orange jacket over it.
Naruto shoved his eggs into his mouth before managing to grumble out, "Thanks for the wake-up, bro."
"Anytime, figured you'd want to actually be on time for the exam. Sakumo-sensei said that the Jounin senseis usually watch the exam to get a feel for their students. I didn't want you to make a bad impression with them."
Naruto managed to make a nod of thanks before shoveled the rest of the food on the table into his gluttonous mouth. Ryuuyi had already had 7 eggs and a pound of bacon, with a quarter loaf of bread so he let Naruto have his fair share.
Ryuuyi and Naruto arrived at the academy quarter to nine. More than half of the class was already seating in their seats. It seemed that everyone was nervous and didn't want to be late.
4 hours later, Ryuuyi could honestly say that the test was nothing to be worried about. There was a multiple choice test, taijutsu exam, and an accuracy test. Then there was the genjutsu part, where you had to notice a genjutsu, you didn't even have to break it. And for the Ninjutsu portion, all that was required was three bunshin. Naruto had a note from the Hokage that told the instructors that he wasn't able to perform the regular bunshin and so he had to demonstrate an Iwa Bunshin, which he did. Out of the 50 students, only 21 graduated the academy. Most failed on the taijutsu exam. They were just too weak.
Naruto tied his hitae-ate over his forehead. Ryuuyi, who couldn't do anything the same as his twin, decided to pull the metal off of cloth and thread some metal wire through it so he could use it as a necklace. Afterall, ninja are allowed to place their hitae-ates wherever they wanted. One of the civilian graduates even wrapped their forehead protectors around their shoe.
The graduates were told to be back at the academy in three days at 11 o'clock for team placements. During that time, they were told to get their picture taken in the Hokage's tower for their ninja ID.
Naruto and Ryuuyi shuffled into the Academy doors five minutes before eleven. There was nothing to be worried about this time. Of course, Jiraiya had spilled about the "true" Genin Exam, but only after they blackmailed him. They had caught him peeping on the Fire Daimyo's twenty five year old daughter.
With the information on the exam, and the only true requirement already know for passing, they were set. Now they just had to get assigned to their teams, and hope they got a good sensei to further improve their skills.
Five minutes after they sat down in their desks, Umino Iruka walked into the classroom with six jounins. Iruka rapped on his desk and the 18 graduates calmed down immediately.
"Now, I shall now announce your teams. When you hear your name, stand up and leave with the jounin who raises their hand," explained Iruka. He cleared his throat before starting.
"Team 1-6 are all in active duty at the moment. Team 7 is Uchiha Sasuke, Yamanaka Ino, and Inuzuka Kiba. Their sensei is Hatake Kakashi."
Ryuuyi nodded in approval. It seemed that the Hokage hadn't wanted to rest on the Ino-Shika-Cho's laurels. And Kakashi was uniquely suited to teaching the last loyal Uchiha.
"Team 8 is Hyuuga Hinata, Nara Shikamaru, and Aburame Shino. Their sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai."
Ryuuyi chuckled. It seemed that the Hokage was on a roll when he was making these teams. So far all the people mentioned had been big clans, so everyone knew their abilities. But by mixing their abilities in new ways, Konoha would still be able to mystify the other villages.
Team 8 would be quite strong. Shikamaru could hold down opponents while Hinata or Shino took away the enemy ninja's ability to use chakra. Kurenai's genjutsu training would put them on a whole 'nother level.
'Team 9 is still being used as a genin team. Team 10 is Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Akamichi Chouji. The jounin for team 10 is Sarutobi Asuma."
This team wasn't as clear as the other two. Sakura was a skill less civilian, but Naruto was one of the most skilled graduates, if not the most skilled, not that any of the instructors would admit that their prized Uchiha had actually scored third on the test. Other than that, the Akamichis were usually quite powerful so with Asuma as their jounin, they could become a promising team.
Ryuuyi didn't pay much attention to the next team. They had a nameless jounin, and were all civilians. Not that some civilians didn't make amazing ninja. Jiraiya was one such example. However, a team of three civilians had never made it.
"Team Twelve is Uzumaki Ryuuyi, Naiya Seki, and Anaakeki Emi. Your sensei is Uzuki Yuugao."
Ryuuyi stood up and moved after a long haired blonde woman. She had a katana strapped crosswise across her back, and was extremely fit. A boy with the kanji for Water on his dark gray shirt and a girl with short green-black hair also stood up.
Uzuki Yuugao quickly stroke out of the room and the new team quickly followed her example. Yuugao-sensei, as Ryuuyi was already calling her in his mind, lead Team Twelve onto a Training Field. Upon reaching the field, Yuugao sat down next to a large oak tree, motioning for her team to do so.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Uzuki Yuugao, and I am a recently retired Anbu Captain. I am a kenjutsu master and a Raiton user. I am your sensei, and I hope to be able to help you along your path to become elite ninjas."
"Now, why don't you introduce yourselves? I'd like to know your name, likes, dislikes, dreams, goals, and your skills."
Yuugao-sensei pointed towards the boy in gray, indicting that he was to go first.
"Hi, my name's Naiya Seki. I like my family, mornings, rain, and training. I don't like people who don't pick up after themselves and pollution. I want to be able to beat my brother in a spar. I'm really good with long-range Suiton jutsu and kunai-throwing."
The girl volunteered to go next. "My name's Anaakeki Emi. I like my little sister, optical illusions, and tricking my parents with my genjutsu. I don't like alarm clocks and people who think genjutsu is the weakest of the main three ninja arts. I want to become known as a genjutsu master just like Yuuhi Kurenai. Unlike Kurenai-san, I'm a short-range genjutsu user. I use genjutsu to trick ninja into thinking that my hits are a foot to the left or things like that. That way they miss their blocks."
Ryuuyi knew that he was next and set about introducing himself. "I'm Uzumaki Ryuuyi. I like my brother, Naruto, and training with Sakumo-sensei. I also like learning new jutsu. I dislike bigots who can't look underneath the underneath and those who don't use teamwork. My goal is to help my brother become Hokage and become a Hunter-nin. I'm also a close range fighter, although I use some kenjutsu Sakumo-sensei taught me along with some defensive Doton techniques."
Yuugao nodded, pleased with her team. With two close-range fighters and one long-range supporter, they were pretty well set. Yuugao considered sending them home now, as she knew Kakashi, her old taichou, would, but decided against it. At least she wouldn't drag her new students' hopes through the mud by making them wait for their true test until tomorrow.
"Alright, guys, it's time for your true genin test. Before you start asking questions, I know you think that passing the Academy exam makes you a genin, but it doesn't. The Academy Exam tests you for your skills but the Genin text tests your mentality."
"I'll be honest. Usually about a third of the Academy graduates go back to the Academy for another year. However, don't be discouraged, and do your best."
"Your test is to steal a mask from one of the many Anbu around the village. I will be watching you."
With that, Yuugao disappeared with a Shunshin.