Those waning days of summer, waxing days of autumn. The leaves on the tree are mostly still green, but here and there, a golden bit of color can be found. The winds bore the sweet smell of flowers in their last bloom, and the air echoed with the cries of children. Most of them about how school sucked and they didn't want to go back to classes, and sit in front of a boring teacher droning on and on about some daimyo who lived a millennium ago, and how his impact was still being felt today.
That was how it was in most civilian class rooms, even those in the Leaf. Those students who would be forced to learn facts and numbers. To know the names of all the important lords and ladies of history, lest they be forced to repeat the mistakes of the past. The Academy however, was mostly silent. Only the cries of the new class, Class A, could be heard, as the teacher sent them through paces, having them show off, and being both pleased that they were eager to learn, and somewhere, in the back of their minds, a bit miffed that it was class B that everyone was going to be talking about.
"Okay kids, I'd like to be the first to welcome you back to class," said Itachi as his students filed in. Of the twenty that had left his class at the beginning of summer, a short two months ago, now only eighteen came back. The two who weren't present had parents who had, after seeing their scores, had decided their prodigy would be safer in a lest deadly line of work, and after some shouts, threats, and slamming doors, the two had agreed, leaving only these students behind, who's families fully endorsed their chosen roles in the Leaf.
"Thank you, sensei," came a chorus of responses, and it made the young man behind his desk smile as he closed his eyes, and then opened them again, revealing his red eyes to class, and looking them over with vision that could pierce one's soul. Each child had improved over the months, as none of them would have slacked off in their training. He could see muscles where there had been none before on most of them, and some even seemed to hold themselves differently, more confident in themselves than before.
Some though, were different. These students, his brother included, had started to come into their own. Sasuke burned brightly, his chakra flowing through his body like a great river of blue fire. The same was, interestingly enough, the case for the Nara boy, who's chakra reserves had more than doubled over the summer. Ino and Sakura had almost quintupled though, beating out even Sasuke in raw amount, and both rapidly approaching Hinata in their control of their power.
Two shone brightly though, almost blindingly so. Naruto had always had a lot of chakra, of course, but his small coils had always made him look like a man who contained a star inside him, someone who would eventually burn himself out. Now that fire raged over his whole form, a sea of barely contained azure flame, with some potentially worrying flecks of red. Next to him was Heero, who showed the most improvement. Even compared to his previous chakra reserves, he had to have grown at least an order of magnitude stronger, if not more.
"Now, I'm sure all of you are excited to learn what it is will be doing on our first day back, so I won't keep you in suspense any longer. We're going to take a test," he said the last with that condescending tone a teacher used on their students to deliver bad news, and as expected, more than half the class groaned in frustration. He only smirked harder as he reached under his desk, and puled a stack of papers out to set it loudly down on top of it. As he did so, he hit a hidden switch under the lip of the desk, and part of the wall behind him swung open, revealing a hidden door to the gym that was behind the classroom.
"If you will all follow me," said Itachi as he rose, leaving the papers where they were, and very gratified to see the surprised looks on the faces of his students. Even the usual unflappable Shino, and his own brother, seemed curious about this turn of events. They walked through the door, into the sparing gym, where Hizashi and Mizuki were already waiting, smiling at them.
"A ninja, is a living weapon," began Itachi as he turned to face his class while standing between the others.
"But too many focus on the latter half of that statement, ignoring the former. We live first, and are weapons second. We must learn to harness the former, to sharper the latter against it. So it has been in the Leaf since it's founding," explained Mizuki.
"You have proven you can learn, and by coming back here, you have proven the desire to be sharpened. From now on, lessons of pen and paper will be the rarity, and fighting will instead be what we teach you," finished Hizashi.
"From now, until the end of the year we'll have sparring matches at least once a day. You will be ranked, and just in case you're curious, the prize is still up for grabs. The top ranked combatant, disregarding Mr's Yuy, Uzumaki, and Ms. Hyuga, will be taught a single technique by Kakashi. Is that understood?" asked Itachi, and was gratified with the light shining on a few faces. Kiba's spirit seemed to rise the most, though given he wouldn't have stood a chance in an academic challenge, this was to be expected.
"Excellent. So, since they're already out of the running, why don't we have Mr. Yuy and Ms. Hyuga to start?" as Itachi said this, he and the instructors did a single hand sign together. Smoke filled the area around them, and when it cleared, they were sitting at a table, papers in front of all of them. Itachi then motioned with one hand towards the mat, a prompt which made Heero and Hinata enter the ring eagerly.
"How was your summer?" asked Heero, as he proceeded to go through some warm up stretches, as Hinata did the same, working some kinks out of her muscles.
"Not bad. Father and Uncle taught me a lot over the summer. Do you know what your elemental affinity is?" she asked as she did a few flips onto the mat, loosening herself up.
"My what?" responded Heero.
"Elemental Affinity. A ninja's chakra tends to move best with a certain element. Fire, Earth, and the like. There' some special paper they make to test your affinity. Turns out, my affinity is water," she said this while taking a fighting stance finally, both hands held out in front of her. Heero, seeing her as ready, took a similar stance, his feet placed widely apart, while his fingers curled like animal claws on his hand, while Hinata's were perfectly straight.
"Oh, did that help with your training?" queried the boy, before he was forced to start dodging as Itachi rang a small bell, and Hinata charged forward, her hands flashing by so fast they were almost invisible to him, causing him to dodge first left, then right, and having to roll backwards to avoid a follow up.
"Heh, yeah. Turns out, Gentle Fist's main technique line is much more earth natured. A few of the users in the clan are water aspected though, and they began teaching me a new style," she told him this while leaping forward, trying to drive him before her, and straight off the map. Heero let her take him right to the edge, before leaping over her head, spinning in the air, and then coming down into another combat stance.
"I must admit, you've gotten more fluid with your strikes," said Heero, who, having sparred against the Hyuga girl the previous year, remembered her as being a direct fighter. Even without using the Gentle Fist, he strikes were direct, and usually powerful. Now she seemed to flow into each set of strikes instead, gently moving like a tide, and then striking like a tidal wave.
"Thanks. You've definitely gotten faster yourself," she admitted, diving forward, and then rolling on the mat, before sweeping her legs at his chest. Heero had to bring up his arm to block the kick, and even then, he was nearly thrown, his stance breaking as he gave ground, and his body landing on a hand, before he flipped back to his feet.
"Enough banter, just finish this one Hinata!" shouted Ino from the sidelines, and Sakura was soon taking up the cry with her best friend. Most of the class seemed to already know who was going to win this match, and were telling Hinata to get on with it.
"Seems, I'm the crowd favorite, despite your training. Would you like to give up now?" she asked the boy, and he grinned at her, before dropping into a meditative stance, his fingers doing a weird seal she hadn't seen before. Quickly she turned on her eyes, and saw the chakra in his body, more than her father she was surprised to see, was being filtered through that sign, turning black.
"You can't be serious," she told him, and then focused inside herself, drawing on her blood to focus her chakra into her hands. With a thought, the tips of her fingers began to glow a little. Not as much as Naruto when he super charged himself with chakra, but far more than her fingers had last year.
"I am always serious," he declared, and then punched his fists together. Out of that meeting of his fingers poured the black chakra, visibly spreading over his body, causing Hizashi and Mizuki to look on with surprise, while the class just seemed stunned. only Naruto and Itachi didn't seem shocked at this sight, and they wore grins on their faces as Heero's black chakra skin crawled over his whole body, from head to toe.
"Armor of the Tortoise!" he shouted at last, and Hinata just stared at him. Her eyes couldn't see him anymore. His chakra network, his body, nothing. Her byakugan saw only the black outline of Heero, as he stood there, making a gesture with his fingers telling her to bring it on. She didn't disappoint him, charging forward, figuring his defense was nothing compared to her offense, which had never failed to net her the win during the previous years sparing matches.
She struck like a cobra, her hands vanishing, and then reappearing only to jab fingers into the chakra flows of Heero's body. Of course, everyone in the class expected Heero to do that jerking dance they all did when struck with the power of the Gentle Fist. Instead, the silver haired boy, who was now outlined in roiling black chakra mist no matter how you looked at him, just stood there, taking very hit like it didn't even touch him, only blocking his face with his arms until Hinata finally had enough and leapt away.
Even she seemed surprised as she did so, just staring at Heero for several long seconds, like what she was looking at was impossible. Heero himself though didn't seem to bothered, coming out of his block just to grin casually at her. He then saw something that surprised him, and when the others followed his eyes, there were a few gasps of shock from the class.
"Are you okay, Hinata?" he asked, concern in his voice, and Hinata finally looked where he was to find her fingers, her delicate weapons, were damaged. Her finger tips were burned, her pointer finger on her right hand almost black, with a small column of smoke rising from it.
"Um, do you want to go see the medicnin?" asked Heero, and Hinata just stared at her hands for a few heartbeats longer, before she suddenly whipped her right hand out in a side punch that should have sent the silver haired boy sprawling. It did startle him, and he had no time to block as the fist impacted his head with a crack of bone and sinew. However, it was not his skull that cracked, it was her fist, and having his answer, Heero resumed the fight.
Well, to call it a fight was over stating it. The battle lasted only two more blows, as Heero did a side kick to Hinata's left, his movements slow, slow enough that had Hinata been thinking, she would have jumped away from them. She wasn't, however, and instead took the blow hard, so hard that it tore through her guard and sent her sprawling. Heero then followed that up with a single punch, straight at her midriff, once again slow, but with enough power behind it that Hinata went sailing, landing outside the sparing ring.
The rest of the class were so surprised that for a few seconds, no one said anything, as Hinata, with obvious effort, picked herself up from the ground. Her stance was steady as she got back to her feet though, not even the bitter taste of defeat keeping her from smiling. A challenge at last to her prowess as a ninja. That was the thought that crossed her mind as she bowed, a bit too carefully, to her opponent, who returned the gesture of respect, while banishing the outline of black chakra, returning to normal.
"Excellent fight, both of you," said Hizashi as he approached Hinata, his eyes going up and down her body, looking for any sign of injury. A few bruises came to his eye easily enough, and a rib that might have cracked had the fight gone on for another few seconds. As it was though, she seemed fine, just exhausted. Her fingers even looked okay to his byakugan. The coils at their tips seemed a bit out of shape, probably from having the chakra attack of the Gentle Fist rebounded back into them, but they would recover.
"Thank you, Uncle. Might I go to the medicnin now?" she asked, humility entering her voice. Hizashi was a bit surprised at that. His niece was usually one of the more confident members of the Main Family. Never flaunting her power and position, but never forgetting what it meant. He smiled at her accepting defeat so gracefully, and nodded.
"Indeed. I shall escort you there myself. Itachi?" he asked this, turning to the red eyed man who was staring at Heero.
"Go on," he said absent mindedly, and Hizashi looked where he was. Heero stood there, that black chakra still swirling about inside him, seemingly not at all drained from the barrier of it he had just used. Understanding Itachi's distraction, the Hyuga Branch Family member said nothing, and merely led his niece from the scene.
"How long can you maintain that barrier?" asked Itachi at last, and Heero just grinned at him.
"I'm not sure. We timed it a few weeks ago, and I got it up to about three minutes, but I think I can do it way longer now," he bragged to his sensei, who nodded gravely, adding several notes on his sheet, and marking the edge with a particular symbol, one that would be important later that night. He then waved his hand for Heero to walk to the other side of the room.
"Okay, after that surprise, Naruto, Sasuke, would you please approach the mat?" asked Itachi, and the pair did so, stepping into the ring. Neither needed to stretch, so they just took their positions on the opposite. Once both seemed comfortable, Itachi's bell let out a sharp tone, and the pair rocketed forward.
"What was that thing your brother used? Was that what you learned from Kakashi?!" demanded Sasuke as their fists met between them with a hard, almost bone cracking clack. Neither boy even seemed to notice that they should be rolling on the floor in pain though, as they instead each followed up with a rolling counter, Academy perfect stances carrying their feet together so they smacked together at the ankle, the momentum of the blows forcing the two apart.
"You didn't ask your brother what it was we learned?" countered Naruto, standing stock still, favoring his right foot a bit, while Saskue mirrored him, favoring his left.
"Of course I did, baka. I asked him over and over again, but he refused to tell me," Sasuke responded while gathering up all the force his could, and then kicking forward, his right foot swinging high, while his left came low, trying to force the Uzumaki boy off his feet. Naruto saw the blow coming a mile away, and did a flip into the kicks, getting between them before Sasuke could bring them together in a very powerful scissoring motion which would have probably knocked the breath from Naruto's lungs.
"Well then, I suppose I can enlighten you as to what I learned, if nothing else," said Naruto as he rolled back onto his feet, and then turned with a rather infuriating grin on his face.
"I learned how to make clones," he told the black haired boy, who just stopped for a second at the news. Clones were what they had finished on last year, though none of the students had perfected the technique yet. His brother had, after some wheedling, admitted that Bushin tended to be one of the graduation requirements of the Academy. But to learn just those from Kakashi, Copy Cat Ninja and Master of a Thousand Techniques. He was stunned just long enough for Naruto to squat into a focus stance, and make a single Ram Seal with his fingers.
"Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" he shouted, and with a bamf, disappeared behind a thick wall of chakra smoke. It cleared slowly, but before it was all the way gone, three Narutos burst from inside it, each coming at Sasuke from a different angle. That was the point of the technique of course, illusions to throw you off but...what was that word he'd said before...oh no.
"Kage?! Shadow clones!?" he cried out, and quickly dodged a set of three fists and feet as they came around him, forcing him into stances that his father would have called disgraceful for an Uchiha. His brother meanwhile, was impressed with Sasuke's dexterity and flexibility at such a young age. He threw himself into every dodge, bending almost in half to get away from the three Narutos. The instant he had an opening, he did a backflip through them, getting some distance between the two, until he could get into a fighting stance again, and then go on the offensive.
He jumped eagerly into the fray, his eyes shining with that sparkle of a young man finding himself challenged. Where before he'd been near the top of his class, with only Hinata really able to match him when he went all out, now, with the clones, Naruto was proving just as formidable. He knew something of the technique though, the clones would be weak. A single good hit would pop them, that meant he just had to find the real Naruto, and then dispel the clones quickly. Luckily for him, the Narutos seemed a bit slow to defend themselves, and the first one he struck took it right in the chin, with a loud enough bone meeting bone sound that some of the students winced at it.
Before that Naruto was done falling to the ground, Sasuke attacked his remaining two opponents. Briefly, he considered a Katon technique, but remembered the mess fire jutsus tended to make, and just went with punches. Each fist found its mark as he charged forward with his arms outstretched, his muscles screaming at him as he slammed his blows home, punching both Narutos hard in the gut, and sending them flying into the air, where they...rolled onto the mat, and then stood up, one of them obviously slowed by the attacks, holding his chest in pain. The other just seemed to grin at him, while he heard cracking knuckles, and looked behind him to find the first Naruto he'd hit standing up, his chin bruised, but seemingly not feeling it at all.
"Impossible," came a word from several mouths at once. Mizuki and Sasuke said it as one, while the rest of the class who knew the technique, either through parents or just stories, were stunned by what Naruto's clones had just done.
"Impossible is just a word people use when they don't have the will to go farther. I've been told it's impossible for some orphan boy to become Hokage, just like it's impossible to make a Shadow Clone that bleeds. I will show you all that I can make the impossible, possible," he said this while all three Narutos pulled kunai from their belt, and as one cut into their palms, a small trickle of blood running onto the mat, before they charged again. Sasuke tried to defend, but his mind told him what he was seeing just couldn't be. Worse, the three Narutos struck better this time, none of them holding anything back, so the Uchiha boy soon found himself pummeled by blow after blow, until finally he was tossed from the mat, Itachi ringing his bell, ending the match.