Yes - Lee the green beast of the leaf
Hi Guys welcome back and sorry for the delay, I am trying a new writing style so please tell me what you think
Chapter 1:
As the sand covered my head my whole life flashed before my eyes.
I saw myself as a child again thinking back to my earliest memories.
I grew up in an orphanage in a village called "Konoha" The Village Hidden in the leaves. At the time, Konoha was arguably the most powerful and largest of the five great shinobi villages – each of which was ruled by a 'Kage'. The Kage was essentially the general of these military states and was more often then not the most powerful ninja in the village.
These villages were run and governed by ninja – a creed that valued secrecy, manipulation, and deception – a culture that trained their children in the most effective and efficient ways to commit murder, when other children were still learning to ride a bike.
Considering these values it was unsurprising that these five powerful villages were almost always at war.
In my orphanage I was told that I had been found as a baby in the forests outside the village by a team of ninja being lead by the legendary Fourth Hokage and that he personally saved my life and gave me my name - Lee.
I grew up watching as these ninja performed remarkable feats; wielding powers and abilities that looked like magic - I could hardly wait for my sixth birthday when I could finally be tested to join the ninja academy.
In Konoha, at six years old all the children of the village are tested for their chakra types and potential. Those who show the strongest potential are then enrolled into the ninja academy to begin their proper ninja training.
The villages open-door policy of including even civilian born children that showed the smallest signs of potential meant that Konoha had the largest roster of active shinobi of all the elemental countries. While in some of the other ninja villages it was left to the ninja clans to train their children in the secret techniques of their family. Konoha took a broader approach - quantity over quality some might say - they called it a land of opportunity where anyone can work hard and become something great, regardless of the family you were born into.
The other villages would often sneer and look down their noses at the 'quantity over quality' attitude that Konoha takes and the nearly blasphemous ideology of entrusting those outside the clans with knowledge of chakra and ninjutsu… But Konoha has won every war it has fought in so far because they have the numbers and they know how to use them right.
From a young age Konoha ninja are taught how to work together and through cunning and teamwork they are trained to take out ninja that are far stronger than them – something that most clan born ninja can't comprehend - that their superior breeding and skill could be overcome so easily.
Absentmindedly I notice that even in a split-second recap of my whole life my mind is still wandering … So where was I, right the tests.
These tests involved a fierce looking ninja coming into each classroom with a stack of papers and a needle.
Just imagine a room full of six year old children and a hulking giant of an assassin – with a needle. In any other world the kids would be screaming the parents would be terrified and the school would likely have been shut down… But in Konoha, this was normal.
Not a single child spoke out of turn, they each stood in silence lined up and waited for the masked ninja to address the class.
He then proceeded to explain that because they haven't had any training to call fourth their chakra he would need to 'guide' the chakra out of them – hence the needle. Apparently when a child is injured their chakra naturally gathers there to help heal it.
He then lifted up one of the little squares of papers he brought with him.
"This, is a special type of paper that can absorb even that little bit of chakra you release and indicate to us your elemental affinities and your overall chakra potential."
With that little explanation the ninja began with the first child in the room. Pricking the finger of Hyuuga Neji he held the static boys finger to the page – all the children watched as the slip of paper swelled, sagged and began to drip. The ninja announced that it was a sign of the water element – a norm for the Hyuuga clan.
As the ninja made his way around the room some of the children produced simular water effects or earth but most of the class had turned their pages to ash in a flash of flame indicative of the fire element.
There were a few who had less impressive results from the special chakra pages – only managing to get the page to smoke up a bit rather then burst into flames or others who only succeeded in getting a corner wet - These children were sadly told that they didn't have the necessary chakra potential to join the ninja academy.
When it was finally my turn I was practically jumping out of my skin in excitement.
Thinking back I was such a fool, I remember thinking a mile a minuet 'I cant decide what element I want to be – I read about wind element and how powerful it could be – no one in the class so far had wind, it would be really cool to be unique – lightning wouldn't be bad too – only one other guy had lightning, ooo but fire everyone has fire but fire is sooo powerful and we are in the land of fire…. What will it be what will it be…. Is it my turn yet. Finally my turn.'
Ready with his hand out waiting for the needle.
At this point there was less attention on the ninja as he made his way through the room – most of the children have already been tested and had broken off into groups to talk. Plan and compare their "awesomeness" and brag with each other about their future ninja careers.
But offcourse my test was different – the chakra sensory paper didn't swell with water or burn with fire – it didn't crumble or crinkle – it didn't split with the air element… It just glowed.
The instructor watched in silent surprise as my chakra didn't show any elemental affinity at all – but it showed that there was chakra there, and it seemed like there was a lot of it too. But if it couldn't be channelled into an element it couldn't be used in jutsu – and a ninja that cant do ninjutsu is a ninja with a serious handicap that could put himself and his team at serious risk.
This was the first time in Konoha's history of a completely un-elemental result – people have shown affinity for more than one element – there have even been rare cases where people show the affinity for all the elements – but never has there been a child with absolutely no elemental alignment… not even a bit of smoke or a browned corner of the page – it glowed but remained whole and fundamentally unchanged…. Yay me, isn't it great to be special!
"I am sorry lil guy – you have some good looking chakra but without any elemental alignment it will be mostly useless"
My eyes grew wide "But I have chakra – you can see it so what if I didn't make it spark or anything – I have more chakra in my blood then anyone else here."
My cries were starting to draw the attention of the other children forcing the ninja to elaborate.
"Look kid I am a ninja not a theorist but I will try to explain the best I can – think of chakra like a fire in a dark room, the fire keeps the room light and warm – but to use that light or warmth outside there needs to be a window." He pointed to some of the children who had some of the stronger effects. "These 'windows' are the elemental affinities that can direct your chakra from 'inside' the room/you to the outside." He pointed to the small group of kids that were huddled sadly off to one side of the room, "Otheres have a 'window' but their 'fire/chakra' is to small of a flame to shine through." The ninja turned back to me and said sadly "I am sorry, you are the first person I have ever met, to be honest the first one I ever heard of that has no such 'window' at all."
I was six years old, but I was smart enough to comprehend that this man was trying to deny me of my goals, that he was telling me I wouldn't be able to succeed in my dream of becoming a powerful shinobi.
Even at six I knew I couldn't let him make that decision for me.
"If my fire is locked in my room with no heat or light escaping out of the windows them my room will be the hottest and brightest room in the village! And no one will stop me from reaching my goal and becoming a powerful shinobi – no matter what!"
As I called out I felt a flood of power coursing through my veins, pumping from my heart and out to my arms and legs, the world seemed to slow as I leaped at this ninja.
In a blink I was in the air having jumped of the chair and bounced off the wall I found myself aiming a kick at the back of this ninja's head.
Again I was six and he was a seasoned killer… he blocked my attack without any conscious thought – then froze as he held me extended by the foot he caught.
He seemed to stare at me for a long time with blood red spinning eyes that felt like they were seeing straight through my soul.
Finally he released me "You make a good point little one, with that much power and energy in you, you might make a passable ninja, I'll give you a chance kid – go join your friends to sign up for the ninja academy."
As I rolled to my feet I saw Hikari trying to sneak up on the ninja, he must of thought that he could try and weasel his way into the academy too. I mean I get it, from his perspective I was rejected – attacked the guy and got allowed in, why shouldn't it be the same for him?
Even before the ninja turned around I knew that it was useless Hikari didn't have nearly enough chakra to become a ninja, an entirely different kind of weakness. But at least he cared enough to try… I think he ended up working in the Hokages administration team, writing up contracts and proposals, he was a clever guy and possibly had a greater impact to the safety and prosperity of the village than most average ninja could hope for.
It's kinda funny looking back at how everything kinda did work out in the end, well maybe not everything…
I remember only bits and pieces from the next few years of my life – I get more of an emotion and general feel then any specific memories.
I was ten years old now as I made my way to the academy. Over the last few years I had learnt a lot – not a lot of ninja techniques mind you, I learnt a lot about the ninja world, culture and the way things work here.
It seems that even Konoha guard their secret techniques and training to only be shared within a clan family. Even the basics for a foundation knowledge of chakra and jutsu was a secret buried beneath stories of history, politics and biographies.
As soon as I recognised that they were withholding and burying information I took it upon myself to discover why.
It didn't take me long to go through the graduated students records to identify that only about 35% or so of the students that graduate from the academy end up on the roster of active Gennin on a ninja team. Every year the number varied a little, on a good year it got close to 50% and on other years it could be as low as 20%. The number that didn't change though was the 50% of students who DIDN'T make a squad – even of the best years going back to the start of Konoha's recorded history there was always about 50% of the class that were shipped off to join the samurai ranks of the Damio's army.
What these record reviled (while not being explicitly written) was what fell through the cracks – how may of these students defected to enemy villages or bandit camps bringing their Konoha training with them?
Once I recognised this everything else fell into place. Only the top tier students became Konoha ninja so the academy was set up so that only the best students would learn anything.
The ninja academy's curriculum was deceptively hidden in plain sight only shifted to the left. The history lessons of one nation or another was read out in a boring monotonous generic story. Only the most focused (from a ninja's perspective) looked past that to learn and memorise the value of the lesson, the maps, the clan families, the various signature abilities along with trade routs and historical political alliances.
The examination structure required students to recall the least significant detail of a story. This frustrated most of the class, only the top tier recognised the memory challenge and the hidden objective beneath it, and they adapt their answers to elaborate how that insignificant detail could (in some abstract scenario) be a vital piece of life or death information.
A year in I was confident that I could tell who in the room saw through the teachers ruse and who was simply sitting here waiting to be shipped off to the Damio's army.
Some of the more clever students seemed like they were trying to hide their knowledge or skills, I didn't really see any point in doing this… Well in truth my case was a bit unique.
Because of my "special Chakra problem" I needed to be clearly ahead in every other area to justify my position in the class. I worked my ass off and it showed in every physical challenge I was in the top of the class. Obstacle courses, hand to hand combat, weapons training I worked myself bloody.
The only one who could beat me in any of these things was that damn Hyyuga Negi. I would work, sweat and bleed for every inch of progress but with one look that Hygga kid would analyse everything around him and with a calm and precise ease he would beat my every score.
He was a worthy rival, and the thing is – I know he was still holding back.
I knew if I could earn his respect, a natural born genius, then the rest of the village wouldn't be too hard to follow.
The only problem was that he seemed to hate me.
Everyone knew about my little chakra problem but most of the kids seemed to move past it. We were seven and eight year olds, no one knew any ninjutsu so my lack of ability didn't stick out so much.
But Neji was different, every time he saw me training or working hard on a particularly difficult mauver he would get this strange condescending look in his mono-white eyes and sometimes I think I caught him mumble something like "why bother."
At first he really pissed me off – he was some clan prince that was acting all high and mighty as if he was kami's gift to the ninja world – but over the years I started to watch him… there was something terribly wrong with that apathetically emotionless kid – I wasn't going to take anything he had to say personally.
I made it my goal – his condescension was my encouragement.
But even with my rivalries and my need to demonstrate my physical skill there were still some things that I needed to keep secret, things that weren't my secret to share that I kept only to myself.
When I turned nine I was approached by one of the older kids in the class – he was one of the guys who I thought was in on the secret training but was hiding his skills. He was a quiet kid, I don't think I had ever seen him say as much as a word to anyone – even the teachers don't call on him with questions, they seemed content to just leave him in the corner of the classroom to draw in his little pad.
But now this kid had approached me and invited me to follow him home after school. There was something about the way he said it that I knew it wasn't an invitation as much as a summon.
Reluctantly I followed him after the last class ended.
A/N
Okay I decided to stop here, not really the end of the chapter but wanted to post something to ease my way back into writing after way too long away from the keyboard.
So tell me what you think