To my horror, the war had finally begun. I'd been dreading this war for a while but I always knew they would come. This conflict would result in Tobi's birth, which would cause the birth of the Akatsuki, and many more problems. The status quo that I'd lived in thus far would start falling apart - Gai would be sent to war soon, I would be forced to graduate early.
Little did I know, there was something elseI would have to worry about.
"What do you mean, tou-chan!?" I yelled at tou-san, clenching my fists. I honestly felt a little like crying after what he'd just said. "Calm down, Daisuke-chan!" kaa-san told me with urgency.
"I meant exactly what I said, kiddo. I'm being conscripted back into active service under the genin corps." he repeated to me. You've got to be kidding me. From what I remembered, this war was a bloodbath. The air was tense as I imagined a bloodied tou-san returning home.
Tou-san explained to me that since he and kaa-san had retired not from any sort of injury, but because they simply didn't want to remain shinobi, they were at risk of being called back to active service at any point. In the end, you had to obey the Hokage.
Our Hokage was concerned about Konoha's military strength and started pulling people out of our "reserves". There were plenty of ex-shinobi who would be pulled back into active forces. The only reason kaa-san was not conscripted as well was because tou-san and kaa-san fought to let her stay home to raise me and Izumi. Thankfully, Sarutobi Hiruzen was a generally kind man.
I ran up to tou-san and hugged him. He couldn't die. He absolutely couldn't die in this war. I cried in his shirt as he patted my back. I couldn't do anything about it, feelings of helplessness filled my head as I tugged harder at his clothes.
After a few minutes, I got off of tou-san and looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "Tou-chan, the promise you made to me… It goes both ways, okay?" I reminded him, voice shaking and weak because of my prior screaming.
Tou-san smiled gently at me. "Of course, Daisuke. I promise not to die."
—-
The second year of the academy was going to start soon. Gai and I had continued training, though Gai was slightly more tense than usual. Hayate wasn't with us today.
Gai was training harder, as well, so I tried to match his intensity (with great effort). He was worried about the war. His father, Maito Dai, was already in the genin corps. He'll be sent off to war, too.
After today's training ended, Gai finally faced me. He'd not said what was on his mind so it wouldn't interfere with training. "My class is to take the graduation exam at the start of this school year."
I stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate. Gai was unusually quiet. "I do not know how I should feel, Daisuke-kun-" he paused, hesitating once again. Seemingly swallowing the lump in his throat, he continued. "On one hand, I am excited!" he exclaimed with his usual eccentric tone. "I have the opportunity to become a shinobi and make tou-san proud. The springtime of my Youth is shining brightly!"
"...but, tou-san told me that years ago my mother who I've never met and yet still love with all my heart, died in the last war." he finished, voice being quieter and weakening with the final few words. It was strange to see Gai like this.
But I think I understood. What Gai loved was training alone or with his friends, making his father proud, and self improvement. He loved his self-rule. He was conflicted between what he loved.
"Are you scared of dying, Gai?" I asked him after a few seconds of tense silence. He looked offended. "O-Of course not, Daisuke-kun!"
"Well I am scared of dying." I returned. Gai looked at me like he was shocked that I would admit it. "If you aren't scared of dying, you're either crazy or suicidal. But you know what, Gai? My fear of death is nothing compared to my desire to protect everyone I love."
"What are you trying to say, Daisuke-kun?" Gai asked after a small pause. He was tense, waiting for my answer.
"I'm trying to say that it's up to you to decide whether your fear of death is stronger than your goals. Are you going to be a shinobi, Gai?". The air is tense as I look into Gai's eyes.
Gai takes a deep breath before nodding. "I'm going to make tou-san, but more importantly myself, proud. I want to protect Konoha."
"Besides, you could always just promise me that you won't die. I'm not friends with liars, after all." I reassured Gai using some humor, I held out my hand for a handshake. I was sure he wouldn't die, and it wasn't just because I watched Naruto, but because I'd been training with Gai for almost 3 years now. With his dedication, I was confident in my judgment and abilities.
Gai accepted my handshake with a smile. "Then I promise not to die, Daisuke-kun."
—-
Later that week, the academy started. The atmosphere was tense as Hayashi-sensei told us about the war and what it would mean for us. He told us that our education would be accelerated to get us prepared for the field faster. We would graduate after our 3rd or 4th year, depending on how the war went. A full two or three years before we would during peace.
It was great to see Hayate again, though.
As expected, most of Gai's year passed, including Gai himself. I wasn't in doubt about that. Gai told me about his team members: Shiranui Genma, the laidback senbon user, Ebisu, the stern all-rounder who was fairly proficient at Fire Release, and his sensei Akimichi Chouza.
He seemed excited about his team placement, but I could also hear some nervousness from his tone. At least the war was desperate enough for his team to be sent on out missions for at least a few months, so they had time to train and prepare for real combat.
Gai's schedule was filled with a lot of team training, so I had to train by myself on some days, even though Gai made special effort to train with me. Hayate still came along, though every time. He mostly came for the sparring experience, but from what I noticed in his increased stamina, he ramped up his independent training.
In today's class, where we started learning about the Academy 3 jutsu earlier than expected, which was fine. We didn't learn any practical information about those 3 jutsu, but we did learn the theory of how they worked.
Transformation jutsu used a connection with our mind and a light film of chakra to alter how we looked, but it didn't alter any features like weight. The clone jutsu was almost completely an illusion and took some chakra and attention to detail to produce. The substitution jutsu mostly just uses chakra to create smoke and to move at high speeds in order to substitute with a nearby object.
After school ended, Gai came to take me training again, or so I presumed.
Gai ran up to me in front of the academy for the nth time. "Daisuke-kun, today is the day you meet my eternal rival!" he announced, dragging me by the back of my shirt before I could respond. I tried to scramble out of his grip. "Gai, let me down! I'll just follow you!"
"Oh, I apologize, Daisuke-kun! I didn't realize I was still dragging you." Gai said with an apologetic smile.
This guy is too much sometimes…
"Why am I coming along, anyway?" I asked Gai as we were running to where Kakashi presumably was. Gai smiled and I could've sworn that I saw a twinkle in his teeth. "Isn't it obvious? I wish for you to witness my inevitable victory!" he said, giving me a thumbs up.
"Are you sure you're gonna win?" I asked upon deaf ears. He got too excited while running and upped his speed. Come on! "Wait up, Gai!" I yelled as I ran after him.
We arrived at a training ground I'd never been at before.
Gai ran up to a group of 4 people. A man with blond and long hair in a jounin uniform, and 3 distinct kids who were gathered around him. One of them had a mask and white hair that stuck in the air, another had purple markings on her cheek and brown hair, and the last one wore goggles. Team Minato!
Gai ran up to Kakashi, shouting at him. "I challenge you, my eternal rival! Let us decide who's Youth is stronger through a spar!" he announced, completely interrupting whatever they were talking about.
Kakashi sighed, "Again? When will you admit that I'm better than you?" he asked in exasperation. "I will never admit something that isn't true, my esteemed rival! Let us begin!" he shot back, stepping into a stance.
Minato tried to stop it but it was too late. Kakashi had already followed Gai a few meters to the side and got into his own stance. Kakashi may have thought that the challenges were pointless, but his own pride ensured he would never decline a challenge from Gai.
I ran up to Minato and Kakashi's two remaining teammates, Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin. "I'm sorry that he intruded on your team training. It's nice to meet you, I'm Uchiha Daisuke." I greeted them with a bow. Team Minato was surprised at my sudden entry.
This was a good opportunity to get to know them.
"Now, now, there's no need to bow, it isn't your fault, right? Nice to meet you, Daisuke. My name is Namikaze Minato." said the future 4th Hokage, introducing himself with a closed eye smile.
"Wouldn't be the first time he intruded on our training…" grumbled a certain Uchiha Obito. "He's already intruded on our training once! Doesn't he have his own team?!"
"Kakashi-kun told us already, right? That Maito-san has been challenging him to bouts for years. This must be important to him, so just leave them be, Obito." said his brunette teammate trying to calm him down.
"...If you say so, Rin…" Obito muttered. I caught a faint blush on his face.
Rin then turned to me looking curious. "Why are you here, umm, Daisuke?". From their point of view I was some random kid who came at the same time as Gai, huh?
"Oh, I'm just a friend of Gai's. We were supposed to be training but he took me here to witness a duel with his… 'eternal rival'," I looked back at their match, and it looked to me that Gai was actually doing very well against Kakashi. "... I thought it would be a good learning experience, so I came along, too."
Gai wasn't as skilled as Kakashi was. Kakashi was a prodigy, after all, but Gai made up for it with his superior strength. Kakashi didn't look like he was on the ropes, per say, but he was definitely sweating. Obito was looking on in jealousy, scowling.
"I have to say, Maito-san is amazing for pushing Kakashi-kun so far!" Rin told me while we were all watching their match. "You two train together… Are you any bit as good as he is?"
I smiled nervously at Rin. "Ah, no, not yet. I'm still a bit too young and I haven't been training for as long."
"Hold on, how old are you? You look pretty young to be training with that weirdo." Obito asked me, narrowing his eyes at me judgmentally. Obito was an obnoxious child, after all. "I'm 6 years old. I've been training with Gai since I was 4." Mild surprise flashed across the faces of Kakashi's team, including Minato.
"That's pretty young even for clan children," Minato hummed, "How much do you two train?" he asked.
"For at least 5 hours almost every day," I answered honestly, thinking about our schedule, "though most of our collaborative training is strength and endurance training. We do spar together, though, but he can't take it too seriously against me." I explained with a frown.
Obito looked like he wanted to say something before he opened his mouth to say it, "Say, you don't really look like an Uchiha."
"My kaa-chan's from the Uchiha clan but my tou-chan is civilian born. I'm only half Uchiha." I told Obito, clarifying the common misunderstanding. It felt like everyone asked me that question these days.
Obito smirked, "Heh, I bet my Fire Style's better than yours, then!" Oh wow, and now he's bragging to a little kid. Rin looked like she was gonna scold him but I responded first.
"I also bet your Fire Style is better than mine, Obito-san. I haven't been taught any ninjutsu yet." I deadpanned at Obito. "Why are you comparing your ninjutsu to a six year old's?"
Minato chuckled at Obito. His cheeks were flushed red before he screeched out in anger at me. "Oh, shut up!" he pointed at me, "The future Hokage can brag to anyone he wants!"
"You, the Hokage?" I asked innocently. I'd forgotten about it, but I guess it was true that Obito wanted to be the Hokage. Maybe it would be possible if I could save him from his fate.
Obito misunderstood my question as sarcasm and got really upset with me. "Yeah! You've got a problem with th-" he said before getting interrupted by me. "Our first Uchiha Hokage, that's an interesting goal!"
Obito got blindsided by my genuine compliment. Rin smiled brightly at Obito, "It's not just me rooting for you now, Obito!"
Gai and Kakashi's match just finished and Kakashi obviously won. Kakashi looked pretty tired out by the match. Gai got up shortly after losing with a smile on his face. "As expected of my hip and cool rival! That puts our score at 1-23."
I could've sworn that that score was much more equal in later years… Looks like Gai would have to catch up eventually. "What a waste of time…" Kakashi muttered. Everyone heard him except Gai.
After some stretches Gai looked ready to leave. "What a youthful competition! Let us go train, Daisuke-kun! I have much to reflect upon! Farewell, my Eternal Rival and his team members!" He announced, giving a deep bow before hauling me off again.
Everyone but Kakashi were laughing at me as my face held a pitiful expression while being hauled off. I should just learn to accept it for now. He won't be able to do this when we're older, right? Right?!
As we were heading back, I turned my head to Gai to ask him a question. "Could you take me to more of your competitions with Kakashi?" I paused, searching for some lame excuse. "Watching your bout was… inspiring!" I told him with fake stars in my eyes.
Gai looked ecstatic. "Of course, Daisuke-kun! Perhaps you can grow from watching our sacred duels!"
—-
Returning home, it was one of those times where tou-san wasn't home. If I was in denial I would tell myself that he was just at work as usual, but no. Tou-san had just gone on his first mission with the genin corps.
Tou-san was a genin specializing in Earth Style jutsu and close combat, which meant that he would be sent to the front lines, even as a genin. The thought of it made me tremble; the doorbell ringing, bringing excitement to the whole family, only for us to be met with a shinobi telling us about the death of tou-san.
Clenching my fists, I slapped myself to snap out of that mindset. 'Enough of that!', I told myself, finally opening the door. Kaa-san ran up to me and wrapped her arms around me in a bear hug. "Are you ready, Daisuke-chan?" she screeched as she shook me side to side. Ready for what?! I couldn't breathe!
"C-can't… br-eathe!" I choked out, before kaa-san hurriedly put me down. "Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetie! I was just so excited! Today's the day where you will learn Fire Release!" she told me, explaining herself.
'I'm learning a second nature release before even learning an Earth Style jutsu?' I thought after some desperate breathing to get some air back. Maybe it was because tou-san was away and couldn't teach me what he knew about Earth Release… Regardless, I was excited.
"Don't worry about food, I packed some in that basket. I'm gonna go get Izumi-chan and then we'll go to the civilian training ground and you'll make kaa-chan proud!" kaa-san announced, rushing around the kitchen and making supplies. She told me about her day while she was picking before she ran to the other room to grab Izumi.
The way she was running around while talking to me and packing stuff, it really reminded me of my mom from my Earth. I'd been missing my old family for a while, but didn't have enough time to give it much thought. I hope they weren't devastated from my sudden death/disappearance.
I took the time to get something to drink and go to the bathroom. Kaa-san came out with a big smile on her face, carrying a sleepy Izumi in her arms. She'd just been woken up during her nap. I sighed at kaa-san, who was still beaming. "You shouldn't wake Izumi up like that, kaa-chan! You can't just wake her up like that, you'll disrupt her sleep cycle." I heard it was really bad to deprive babies of sleep.
"Don't worry! She was gonna wake up soon anyway! Besides, she wouldn't want to miss their onii-chan using his first Fire Style jutsu?" she shook her finger side to side, brushing off the comment. Mother may know best, but I wasn't sure about mine knowing best…
I went closer to Izumi who was still groggy from waking up. "You can go back to sleep, you know?" I patted her head lightly, smiling gently at her. She looked like she understood, cause she closed her eyes right away. Kaa-san was surprised at how easy it was for me to "put her back to sleep".
"Let's let her nap some more, kaa-chan? We won't arrive for another 30 minutes, and I don't think I'll grasp Fire Release right away. She needs rest!" I told kaa-san, giving her a pointed look. She smiled guiltily. "If you say so," she huffed.
—-
Eventually, we arrived at the training ground. Kaa-san and I set up a small picnic-like area with a blanket on the ground, food waiting in a basket, and a pile of smaller blankets and laid down Izumi in those blankets before we went a small ways away from where we set up shop. Not far from Izumi, though, so we could watch her.
"Did you read the scroll, Daisuke-chan?" she asked with a knowing grin. I'd… sort of read it? Skimmed it? "A little bit…" I muttered, embarrassed. "Tell me what you know, then." she ordered.
"To use Fire Release, we convert our chakra into Fire Release chakra," I didn't know how to, though, "usually we breathe the fire from our mouths because it's easier to produce in the chest when combined with air."
"Let me guess, you don't know how to convert your chakra to Fire Release chakra?" she asked, giving me a fond smile. "Ah, well, I haven't tri-" I tried to explain myself before I felt a light chop on the head.
"Focus on the present, Daisuke-chan. This isn't a problem, fire isn't your primary affinity, after all." She reassured me. "Before you try to perform the Great Fireball jutsu, let's just make sure you can manage the nature transformation."
Normally, you could try jutsu using hand seals straight away if it were your primary affinity, but I'd read that you should be able to perform nature transformation before attempting a jutsu that isn't from your primary affinity.
I nodded seriously. I brought my hands in the tiger seal, ready to begin. I heard it was a typical hand seal used in Fire Style jutsu. Kaa-san nodded to signify that I was doing something right.
"Try to imagine your chakra as a fuel source for Fire Release chakra, focus on using that chakra to fuel your jutsu. The 'spark' that creates Fire Release, that's what you will have to figure out on your own." She explained to me while I was concentrating on my chakra.
I scrunched up my eyebrows in concentration, remembering when tou-san told me to really concentrate and not just look focused. I took a deep breath, visualizing my chakra. I tried to draw my chakra from my coils and concentrate it in my stomach, but that didn't do anything.
Visualizing my chakra was easy nowadays, especially since I practice chakra control on a daily basis. It was like peering into a warm pool of water and finding its flow. Once I managed to visualize everything, I started to brainstorm.
I took another deep breath. Fire needs three things to form and stay around: heat, oxygen and a fuel source. This was the reason why most Fire Style jutsu started with the user inhaling a large amount of air.
Kaa-san told me to use my chakra as a fuel source, and obviously I would have some oxygen in the air I breathed, but I was missing sufficient heat.
I took some chemistry and physics classes before, and even though I honestly was pretty bad at science, I still remembered some basics from then. Heat could be referred to as thermal energy for the more scientifically inclined. I also knew that thermal energy was a form of kinetic energy, and that anything hot has high kinetic energy in its molecules.
I needed to create high kinetic energy using my chakra, right? That would create enough heat. I remembered from some videos and TV shows that people used friction to create fires in the wild, for example. An image of Bear Grylls popped up in my head. Ah, focus!
I needed to build up kinetic energy in my chakra, and high kinetic energy is a fancy phrase for rapid movement on a molecular level. So, in layman's terms, to build up kinetic energy, I would have to shake my chakra around really fast.
I closed my eyes harder and took hold of my chakra. This nature transformation was possible for Sasuke to do before he had enough chakra control to do tree-walking, so it should also be possible for me in terms of chakra control.
I started violently shaking my chakra, it felt difficult to maintain, kind of like forcing yourself to vibrate but slightly more draining. I could feel heat gathering in my chest before I had to stop to take a breath.
My forehead was covered in sweat from the exertion. I looked up at kaa-san, who had her sharingan active. She seemed to be proud of what I'd done, she must've seen the buildup of chakra in my chest.
"You were so close, but you had the right idea! I think you could even try performing the jutsu today!" kaa-san embraced me and gave me a noogie, "Impressive, Daisuke-chan! My son is amazing!" she gushed.
After that, I kept practicing the conversion of my chakra to Fire Release chakra while kaa-san was watching me and giving me advice. It wasn't actually draining on my reserves, since all of the chakra that I used got reabsorbed into my coils each time I failed to produce fire.
I thought my progress seemed slow but kaa-san was adamant in the fact that I was progressing really fast. I was comparing myself to Sasuke and Itachi, so maybe that's why it felt that way to me.
I managed to finally create fire after about two hours of practice. Kaa-san told me that it was easier for her when she was younger to imagine something she associated with the release of fire.
This time I thought of a matchbox. I took hold of my chakra for the nth time, and quickly built up heat. A match created fire by using the energy from friction, so this time I brought my active and rapidly-moving chakra together and pushed it as close as I could. Suddenly, the heat ramped up to another level.
The 'spark' was finally created. I wasn't ready for success and I suddenly coughed some smoke and fire. Kaa-san was so excited about it that she missed my coughing fit. I got up and brushed some dust off of my clothes.
"So what's next, kaa-chan?" I asked kaa-san, trying to break her out of her initial excitement. She blinked before looking down at me and pulling at my cheek. "What else? It's time for you to perform the Fire Style: Great Fireball jutsu!" I was just hoping I wouldn't hurt myself.
"Watch closely, Daisuke-chan!" she said, showing me her hands. "These are the hand seals for the jutsu." she said as she slowly went through Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger. Then she moved a few meters away.
She made all of the hand seals again before breathing in as much as she could, then she exhaled out a huge fireball. She maintained it for a few seconds so I had more time to watch, then she stopped. Genin were capable of these kinds of feats in the Naruto world, even a jutsu like this was considered only C-ranked! It felt a bit unreal.
Kaa-san came up to me while I was still gazing at her in amazement. "Wasn't that cool, Daisuke-chan? Go on, you try it!"
"Sure!"
I was a bit nervous about what was essentially playing with fire, but kaa-san was convinced nothing bad would happen, so I wanted to give it my all. I walked forward, looking back at kaa-san nervously, who nodded at me, a small smile on her face.
I took a breath, preparing myself. I went through the hand seals: Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger. With each seal I felt my chakra naturally move towards my chest and build up heat. So this is why people used hand seals… It made the manipulation of chakra much easier.
I still needed to control my chakra, though. I took a deep breath, feeling the air feed into the growing fire. I exhaled as hard as I could, feeding chakra to the stream of flame as it escaped my mouth. Opening my eyes hesitantly, I saw a fireball in front of me that was nearly as big as kaa-san's fireball. I cut off the supply of chakra to the flame, stopping the jutsu.
I'd done it, I'd used my first jutsu! My lips and corners of my mouth stung a little, but I'd get used to it eventually.
I turned towards kaa-san, running up to her. "Did you see that, kaa-chan?! A fireball came out of my mouth! That was so cool!" I practically screamed at her, jumping around and waving my arms. "My chakra went like 'fuooowh' and the fire came out this big!"
"Yeah! That was amazing, sweetheart!" she pointed to where Izumi was laying down, now watching in wonder since she'd woken up in time to see me using the jutsu. "Let's eat and go home, okay? The sun's going down."
It was then that I realized that I'd been training for pretty much the whole day, with Gai and now with kaa-san. I was hungry enough to eat a cow. Kaa-san made a bunch of onigiri today, and they were amazing.
We went home after we ate, because I was really tired from how much I'd trained today. I was finally able to learn a jutsu, I was one step closer to preventing the future tragedies that would affect my family.
I went to bed with a smile on my face. Kaa-san decided to tuck me in and talk to me before bed. It was great.
That night, I had a dream where I found myself in a dark and mysterious place. I could hear the faint sound of a game being played, the clack of pieces echoing through the darkness. As I approached, a new piece was introduced. It was as if this piece held a power that could shape the entire board.
—-
Sorry for the EXTREMELY late update, but it's finally done.
I'm gonna be more busy in the next few weeks, and then I will be on vacation, so updates could be slow for the next few months… I'll still try my best to update as often as I can. Stay tuned, this arc is gonna be pretty short and it will make way for a (hopefully) much more entertaining arc. I have plenty of plans.
As always, if there is a question, concern or any advice/criticism you'd like to give, please feel free!
