Graduation Day

"Can you believe we're graduating today, Hizashi? It's been a tough couple of years, but we're finally done!" Hiashi gushed as he finished getting dressed. He'd put his hair up and taken it down a multitude of times and had finally opted to leave it down. He inspected himself in the mirror again.

"Well we won't be graduating if we don't get there…" Hizashi quipped quietly. He'd finished dressing a while ago and was semi-patiently waiting for his brother. He'd also left his hair down, a detour from his usual loose ponytail. He was looking forward to a shiny new Leaf headband to replace the bandana he wore over his forehead to cover his curse mark. Hiashi chucked his brush at him before leading the way out of the door.

At the Academy, the buzz was even louder than usual. The younger students ran around, practicing some recently learned skills. Older students had moved into groups and were conversing or catching up on assignments. And the graduating class was excitedly filing in, ready to receive their headbands and their team assignments. Hizashi quickly found his seat between Ikasu and Chikara.

"Alright class," the teacher cleared his throat, "settle down." When the class didn't settle down, the teacher set off a small paper bomb, the noise effectively silencing the class.

"Okay, that was uncalled for!" Chikara blurted out. Hizashi sighed; Chikara had grown into quite a disrespectful adolescent, though as Hizashi had learned from the past couple of years with him, the entire Uragiri clan was that way.

The teacher ignored Chikara's outburst and continued with his speech. "Congratulations, class. As of today you are all genin. You have each successfully passed every exam and exercise and have earned the right be called ninja of the Leaf Village. Take these headbands as a symbol of your status and heritage."

The teacher called up each student to receive their headbands. Most of the students tied them around their foreheads while some opted for other places. Hizashi quickly switched his with the bandana; he didn't want anyone to see the curse mark.

"Now, as genin, you will each be assigned to teams of three with a jonin as a sensei. Here are your team assignments."

"Oh man, I wonder who my teammates will be. I hope they're strong!" Chikara exclaimed. Hizashi's smile kind of faltered; he wanted to be teamed with Chikara but was he strong enough?

"Team three will be Kokoro Uragiri, Tsume Inuzuka, and Bokon Akuryo." The three students looked pleased with their assignment, though Tsume spared a longing glance at Hiashi.

"Team four will be Mebuki Ito, Fugaku Uchiha, and Hiashi Hyuga." The teacher called several more teams before he got to Hizashi's team. "Team nine will be Chikara Uragiri, Ikasu Yorukobi, and Hizashi Hyuga."

Hizashi was stunned. He'd gotten teamed up with his best friends. Ikasu crushed him in a hug and Chikara gave him a triumphant smirk.

"Good afternoon. My name is Shoichi Tachibana. I'm going to be your sensei from now on. I suppose I should tell you a little about myself. I'm a descendent of the Senju Clan. My field of expertise is medical ninjutsu, though I am very adept at using it to fight. I was a member of the ANBU Black Ops, but I have always liked teaching so here I am." Shoichi had long, light grey hair that fell to his mid back with bangs that covered one of his blue eyes. He wore the standard Leaf jonin attire of a dark blue uniform and green flak jacket. He had a gentle, but firm voice. "I heard that you guys have been friends for a while. Why don't you tell me about yourselves? Your names, things you like and dislike? Dreams?"

Ikasu started. "My name's Ikasu Yorukobi. I like training, onigri, music, and turtles. I don't particularly care for sweets and my dream is to become the head of the Yorukobi Clan," she leaned close to Hizashi, "after I find a suitable husband of course."

"He doesn't like you, Ikasu." Chikara stated bluntly.

She punched him in the head. "I can always try! He might learn to like me one day!"

Shoichi caught Ikasu's hand before she could deliver another blow. "Now, now. Calm down." He looked over at Chikara, who was rubbing his head. "And you are?"

"Chikara Uragiri…ow…Things I like? I'm up for anything really; I'm adventurous. I don't like weak opponents, disappointing fights, or stupid people. A dream of mine is to master the Norogan and fix the split personality disorder it causes."

Shoichi nodded, putting his hand on Chikara's skull. His fingers glowed a familiar green color. He turned to Hizashi.

Hizashi averted his gaze and spoke. "Hi-Hizashi Hyuga. I like nature and meditation. I'm not really a fan of people or social situations. And my dream is…to become my twin brother's protector. That's all I want."

Shoichi finished up with Chikara and addressed his three students. "We're going to train a bit today and for the next couple of days, I will be testing you to determine your skills, not only in genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu, but also teamwork. Once I have made these determinations, we will officially start operating as team nine and take missions."

It had been a long week. Shoichi had put them through every test in the book. Despite his calm, gentle demeanor, he was a rough taskmaster and demanded nothing but the best. Hizashi had expected working with his sensei would be a challenge, given his natural shyness, but Shoichi seemed to understand and was considerably less….mean to him as he was to the hot-headed Chikara and Ikasu. Not to say he went easy on the Hyuga; his medical ninjutsu proved a tough opponent for the Gentle Fist.

At the end of the week, however, Shoichi was pleased to announce that they had done very well. They took their official team photo and headed over to the Hokage building to receive their first mission.

Hizashi's first mission.