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I'm back with the next chapter of Change in Winds. Hope you like the chapter and share your feedback with me.
"Normal speech" people talking.
'Normal thought' people thinking.
"Bijuu/Summons" Bijuu or Summons Speaking.
'Bijuu/Summons' Bijuu or Summons thinking.
"Jutsu" is being used.
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Change in Winds
Chapter11
Youth
"Yosh, fan your flames of youth!" Guy said to the sweating Team 7. They have been running for a while and the man who seemed unsatisfied gave them 20-kilo weights on each limb which were reduced to 15 for Sakura who lost her balance when 20 ones were applied.
Even Naruto is having some difficulty as he hasn't started weight training yet as the scroll said to wait till he had enough mastery in seals. The seal the bushy-haired man was using was simple enough and Naruto understood its mechanics.
It's just weight with kanji for 'perseverance' written on it. Though this gave the blonde an idea to work with. While Sasuke looked elated at this.
Till now, the only gap he saw between the blonde and himself is Taijutsu, a field in which the blonde's hyper stamina comes into play. But if he continued like this, the Uchiha knew he would beat the blonde soon and break that man when push came to shove.
"Yosh! Just like that." Guy cheered as he continued to walk on his left with feet up quite fastly compared to the struggling trio.
"How, long ar-are we gonna do this, Guy-sensei?" Sakura stuttered out with gulping breaths.
"Till the South gate," Guy said with a thumbs up, balancing on one hand as his teeth shined as if it's the best thing in the world.
"I can't," Sakura dropped to her knees and Guy immediately ran to her to check what was wrong.
"That's ok. You can rest and we can restart after you have had enough rest!" He said with excitement Team 7 didn't share.
"Can we switch to normal training for some time?" Sasuke, who wouldn't generally talk asked for the first time, fearful of the workouts the man will come up with if this continued.
"What a youthful spirit. Yes! For fanning your flames of youth, I'll teach you what Taijutsu is like." Guy said with a pose and a thumbs up with his teeth shining as usual.
"Taijutsu is the extreme form of pushing your youthful body into doing youthful things. Yout-" Team 7 stared at the man disinterestedly as he continued to explain all the youthful things Taijutsu can do.
"So to push your Youthful bodies, you are going to spar with me all at once and then one on one. I'll point out the flaws of your youthful style." Guy said, with a similar pose and a thumbs up with his teeth shining.
Team 7 sighed in relief as the man seemed to come to the point of the exercise. 'I would have left if he continued like that.' Naruto thought.
Though that won't be a wise choice as the man seems good at Taijutsu and he didn't trust him to accidentally not dispel his clone and spill his secret.
"To face a Sharingan user, you shouldn't see into their eyes but be an expert in observing their body language to predict their moves," Guy said and that caught Naruto's and Sasuke's attention.
Both teens started looking at the man in interest. 'Is it possible that this oaf/guy to develop a style to fight against Sharingan?' They thought simultaneously.
"My experience with my eternal rival came very handy for me in this. I'll teach you how to improve your Taijutsu style first and if you manage to impress me with your youthful determination, I'll teach you the secrets of fighting against a Sharingan user." He said with a thumbs up.
'How the hell did it come to this? He started talking about youth and ended up about explaining a fighting style against Sharingan. Is this intentional? Is he doing it on purpose?' Naruto thought.
'This will help me. Yes! I'll be able to fight against him without trouble. Show me what moves you got!' Sasuke smirked in his mind as Guy called them into a three-on-one spar.
"No Ninjutsu. Only use your Taijutsu and attack me." Guy said as all the members of Team 7, who surrounded Guy.
"And begin!" He said with a chop. Sasuke and Naruto lunged like predators and tried to kick and punch the bowl-haired man respectively. Guy dodged both of them with ease with a bend and jump.
Sakura attacked soon with a battle cry 'CHA' with her punch following her teammates. Though he was midair, Guy twisted to the side, dodging the punch easily.
"Yosh. Use your Taijutsu well." Guy encouraged and Naruto's body started to envelop in invisible winds as he moved towards Guy with his fist raised.
As he reached Guy, his fist shot towards Guy's gut with tremendous speed, trying to tear open Guy's gut. Seeing the speed and feeling something amiss, Guy applied chakra to his hand and swept Naruto's hand.
He felt a sharp cut on his hand even though he coated his hand in chakra and saw the small cuts that started to trickle drops of blood.
"Yosh! What a youthful style. It is marvellous. I didn't see such integration of an element with a Taijutsu style. It can only be one. Is it Fujinken?" Guy asked with stars in his eyes.
"Yes, Sensei," Naruto replied and Guy nodded in appreciation. Though he didn't know how the man knows about it.
"Alright, you three. Continue." He ordered and they continued again, this time Guy started taking them seriously.
Sasuke tried his best without his Sharingan to no avail.
Guy is moving too fast for him to keep up though he scolded himself for being slow, he needs a quick way to see the man's moments and intercept them or get a good hit like Naruto.
He knew his speed can keep up, but his eyes can't and so he channelled chakra to his eyes and activated his Sharingan.
The Onyx eyes turned to blood red with a single tomoe in them, giving Sasuke some much-needed clarity. He saw Guy's moments in slow motion now and can keep up.
Seeing the sharp change in dodging and stance of Sasuke, Guy increased his speed, keeping up with the three of them with ease. To test their reflexes, he used one of his signature moves.
"Konoha Senpū (Leaf Hurricane)," Guy said, giving a spinning low kick from making the three of them dodge or jump. As expected, the three dodged. He followed suit with his next attack.
"Konoha Reppū (Leaf Gale)," he said, sending a series of high and low kicks, each of which is fast enough that even Sasuke's Sharingan can't react to them.
He was caught off-guard and was thrown into the distance while Sakura was long gone, unable to dodge Guy's low kicks. Naruto is the only one standing, trying his best to keep track of kicks and dodge them.
It was proving hard as the man seemed to increase the speed of the attacks. 'Damn it, why can't I see them clearly!' The original screamed in his head.
He was tempted to activate his Sharingan and see all the attacks and dodge them, but Zabuza's challenge stopped him from doing that.
When Naruto asked him about his speed with his long sword, the answer Zabuza gave was interesting, to say the least.
Flashback Begin
"So you are curious about my speed now?' Zabuza asked Naruto with narrowed eyes.
"Yeah. You are good with that sword of yours. I tried to move it while holding it and it nearly threw me into the water. How come you were able to swing it effortlessly?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Heh. My sword is strong and hard to hold for sure. That weight tends to come as an advantage to me. Anyway, when I was given this sword, I wasn't as fast as I liked.
So I practised screwing some of the fastest shinobi in the village or challenging people who were rumoured to be faster. I trained with them repeatedly till I was able to cut them with this." Zabuza said, looking at his sword dearly.
"So training with fast people is enough to make you move fast, huh. Never heard of such an absurd exercise." Naruto said, which made the swordsman laugh.
Flashback End
Naruto applied it to his case and decided to not use Sharingan if it is something speed-related. That's when an idea struck him. Wind. His Wind.
He channelled wind to his hands and used the speed to dodge Guy's attacks and with some practice, he was able to easily dodge them.
Guy was surprised by the sudden increase in Naruto's speed. Though he doesn't have Sharingan, he can suspect Naruto using his wind in some way.
Guy was not even a fraction of how fast he can be, Naruto keeping up with him in Taijutsu at low-Jounin level speed is not easy.
'What a youthful kid. Youthful usage of wind I see.' He thought with a bright smile and decided to test Naruto.
While using his kicks, he targeted Naruto's face.
"Dynamic Entry," Guy said, sending a kick to Naruto's face and much to Naruto's surprise, he activated his Sharingan, which was still covered by his contacts that made the kick slower and he was able to dodge the attack at hair's breadth.
"Excellent. Such a youthful spirit. Well done students. Now relax. I'll come up with a training schedule for you three." Guy said with a thumbs up. Naruto walked to a shade and relaxed.
Sasuke on the other hand is cackling 'Yes. 3 Taijutsu moves. These will help me. What is that coating I saw on Naruto? And what's with those eyes? For a second I thought they were bright and then they dimmed down.' He thought in confusion.
Though he didn't care about it as copying 3 new Taijutsu moves was giving him joy. He didn't know these joint exercises are this beneficial. He had to give the old Hokage credit for introducing them.
With Team 9
"So he taught you Taijutsu," Kakashi said pointing to Lee who nodded excitedly.
"Taught you how to throw (cough)(cough) I mean use your ninja tools?" He asked the bun-haired girl, who nodded.
"And you? You improved your Taijutsu and-?" Kakashi didn't comment further.
"Ok. I'll help you with strategies and planning. Your team looks balanced." He confessed.
"But sensei, we beard you are Ninjutsu expert. You can teach us some Ninjutsu." Tenten asked and Kakashi went into a thinking pose.
"What did Asuma teach you?"
"Oh, Asuma-sensei taught us how to smoke-" Tenten chopped Lee at that.
"He means how to withstand smoke attacks and such." She corrected and Kakashi nodded with a sweat drop.
"I suppose we can use some strategic training. Also, why aren't we allowed to spar with other teams?" Neji asked in a neutral tone.
Neji knew why the man is avoiding Ninjutsu. Lee doesn't have the required chakra reserves for it and his clam won't allow him to learn any Ninjutsu. Only Tenten remains open.
'So to not upset the team balance, he might have decided to teach them and maybe others didn't either.' Neji thought.
"You have a year of experience and they are new. So the Hokage-sama decided against it as you have experience." Kakashi explained and Neji nodded in satisfaction.
"I can offer you survival training if you want something more interesting than strategy." Kakashi offered and Team 9 turned towards him with varied reactions.
"That will help me fan my flames of youth!" Lee yelled enthusiastically.
"Not again!" Tenten almost yelled.
"..." Neji didn't reply verbally but his uneasy expression was enough.
"Ah, guess strategy training it is," Kakashi said with a sheepish smile and Tenten and Neji sighed in relief.
Week Later
Hokage Tower
Though Konoha is a shinobi village and governed under the sole authority of the Hokage, there are 2 other functioning bodies other than the Hokage which look after different affairs of the village.
The Hokage's advisors and Council. Hokage's advisers or aids are hand-picked by the ruling Hokage according to their preferences and next, the Council.
The Council is again divided into 2 parts. The Shinobi Council and the Civilian Council.
Anyone who hasn't passed the Academy and other civilians of the village come under the Civilian Council while the Shinobi affairs are dealt with by the Shinobi council.
The Civilian council mostly consists of wealthy businessmen and elected representatives by the merchants and business owners of the village.
The Shinobi Council consists of all Major Clan Heads along with the Anbu and Jounin Commanders, though the former doesn't participate and are high-ranking shinobi.
The Council meetings are one of the worst nightmares of the Sandaime as he feels he is too old to deal with them. But he is pleased, excited even to discuss it as the Shinobi Council assembled.
The Council Chambers is a big room with the centre of the semi-circle covered by two tables on each end. With the Hokage chair in the middle. Beside him sat his advisors and elders of the village who were former teammates of the Sandaime. Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu and the last one is Sandaime's rival, in everything. Shimura Danzo.
Opposite them sat the Clan Heads of major clans of Konoha. The first seat was for the Senju clan. The founding clan of Konohagakure no Sato with the Uchiha clan. As there were no Senju clan members in the village the seat was currently vacant.
In the next seat was the Hyuuga Clan which is led by Hiashi Hyūga. He has long, black hair, pupil-less white eyes like all members of his clan and an unmarked forehead. He wore very traditionally, loose-fitting robes with a long-sleeved, brown haori that has the symbol of the Hyuuga clan on its back. Next to him was Nara Shikaku, the Nara clan head. Shikaku had two scars on the right side of his face which were probably his most noticeable feature. He had dark hair tied up into a spiky ponytail, dark eyes as well as a goatee. His ears were also pierced and he wore a meshed shirt underneath his flak jacket, a deerskin coat over that and handguards. He is the Jounin Commander of Konoha's shinobi forces and Shikamaru's father.
Next to him sat the head of the Yamanaka clan, Yamanaka Inoichi. He had long ash-blond hair reaching into his lower back, which was spiky on top and ending in a long ponytail with 2 long bangs covering either side of his face, light green eyes and strong facial features, which included a well-defined jawline.
He wore a standard jounin flak jacket over a black outfit, complete with hand-guards, Konoha forehead protector and a sleeveless red haori with the symbol of the Yamanaka clan on its back.
Inoichi is also head of Konoha's Interrogation and Torture department and is well respected among his peers for his prowess.
A large man followed him. This is Akimichi Chōza, head of the Akimichi clan. Chōza is a tall, plump man with naturally brown hair, but seems to wear a long, spiky red hair piece. He has purple markings on his cheeks, a common trait in the Akimichi clan.
He wore a samurai-like outfit which entails a black suit complete with armour that has the kanji for "food" (食, shoku) on it. He also wore a rope belt, hand-guards, and instead of a forehead protector a bandage tied around his forehead head with a long bang of cloth hanging to the right side of his face in addition to a pair of silver, hooped earrings.
These 3 clans are called Ino-Shika-Cho as they are allies for generations and prefer a collective action than an individual clan action. They have a lot of weight and respect in the Council.
The next seat was empty, which once belonged to the Uchiha clan, the other founding clan.
In the next seat sat the current alpha of the Inuzuka clan, Inuzuka Tsume. Tsume has an animalistic look with long, spiky, untamed brown hair, vertical slit-like pupils, elongated canine teeth and nails.
She also has the Inuzuka clan fang markings on her cheeks as well as markings over her eyes and a dark shade of purple lipstick. She wears the standard outfit of a Konoha shinobi consisting of a flak jacket and a black suit underneath with the sleeves rolled up and bandages around her legs. She is a tokubetsu jōnin of Konoha.
To her right sat the current head of the Aburame clan, Shibi Aburame. Shibi, like all members of his clan, has his eyes obscured by dark glasses which feature a single tassel hanging down from one side.
He has very spiky short black hair and a moustache. He typically wears a high collared outfit, while carrying a gourd on his back that is used for holding more kikaichū. He also tends to keep his hands in his pockets a lot. He has a stoic personality like all Aburame clan members.
"The council is in session," Sandaime said as everyone assembled.
"I've summoned you to discuss the new system of Mission Assignment." He said in a stern tone. No one objected and so he continued.
"The current system we are following based on the Jounin's decision is doing us more harm than good as most shinobi and our younger shinobi aren't getting enough experience." He said and many eyebrows rose on 2 sides but they didn't comment.
"So I have come up with a new system for mission assignments. If a Team completes 15 D-rank missions, they can go on a C-rank mission and with the completion of 5 C-ranks, they can go on a B-rank. 3 B-ranks completion will push them to go on an A-rank. These are the numbers." He explained.
Many eyes touched their hairlines at this.
"Number-based mission assignment? Preposterous." Danzo was ready to use his tongue. Though he got ignored.
"If I may know, why this system all of a sudden, Hokage-sama?" Shikaku asked. Though he has a good idea.
"Good question. I have tested a new way of training method called Joint Exercises among our new batch of Genin and it is successful.
They are not only taught in other areas where their Sensei lack, but also they showed improvement in their overall skills and performance.
Taking that as a base of change, I want to implement this new system to change the structure and functioning of our village. We are far too lax and I don't want this to be a sign of weakness to other villages." He explained and the council listened to his every word patiently.
"What is this sudden change, Hiruzen? What if the other nations take this as an act of war and attack the village. It's a careless move." Danzo argued.
Hiruzen turned to Danzo and for the first time in years, Danzo saw the real Sarutobi Hirizen. The man is called the second Shinobi no Kami. Worthy of that name.
"I have had enough of your blabbering. You are hereby suspended from all Shinobi Council meetings. Now get out of my sight." Hiruzen ordered, his eyes glowing with chakra. Danzo kicked his chair in rage and walked out with his cane.
His other teammates are looking at Hiruzen in surprise. He has become soft in the last few years after the passing of the Yondaime and they missed this Sandaime a lot.
"I had enough of useless excuses. I want Konoha to be safe and will take any measures needed to make that happen. Any objection to the new Mission Assignment system?" He asked and no one objected.
"The system hereby passes and comes into motion effective immediately." He said, stamping his approval seal and giving it to Shikaku with a look to implement it and Nara's head nodded.
Meanwhile
While Hokage and the council were deciding about the mission assignment system, Team 7 and Team 9 are completing the last part of the Joint exercises.
"Thank you for teaching us, Guy-sensei. We will make you proud." Team 7 bowed to Guy who had a slight blush on his cheeks in joy.
"Thank you for teaching us, Kakashi-sensei. We hope to make you proud." Team 9 said with a bow in unison and Kakashi gave them an eye smile, his book away for once.
As they all sighed thinking everything was going smoothly, the noble green beast of Konoha spoke.
"Yosh, you are very Youthful, my eternal rivals Team! You will continue to fan your flames of youth!" Guy exclaimed with a thumbs up and his teeth shined in a nice guy pose.
"Yes, Guy-sensei! Fanning the flames of youth is very youthful."
"You can do this, Lee!" Guy said in enthusiasm.
"Guy-sensei!" Lee said in amazement.
"Lee!" Guy replied with enthusiasm.
"Oh no," Tenten said in dread.
"Guy Sensei!"
"Lee!" Lee started moving closer to Guy and soon-
They hugged, crying out youth and the scenery behind them changed into a sandy beach and sunset scene with raging ocean waves.
Team 7 with Kakashi were stunned. Though the copy ninja somehow managed to go back to his book with a sigh, the rest of his team couldn't.
"What happened?" Naruto asked in confusion.
"It is their 'youthful' hug," Tenten said. They looked at her, unimpressed.
"Once you see it, you can't unsee it." Neji sighed and that explained that problem.
The sunset repeatedly comes back to memory. "Is this a new genjutsu or something? Why do I keep remembering it?" Sakura asked tentatively.
"That's one of its side effects." Tenten patted on the younger girl and dispersed as their Sensei and Lee won't come out of the youthful talk.
"Let's move to Hokage tower. We have a mission waiting for us." Kakashi said and Team 7 absentmindedly moved to meet the Hokage.
As they reached the Hokage Tower, they saw a crowd form and were confused. The Hokage Tower will be free of crowds.
The crowd cleared and they saw a notice being made in front of them and they moved closer through the crowd to see what it was.
"Ah Team 7, what a surprise. Come, follow me." Sandaime said and Team 7 followed, out of their shock. As they walked in, they saw a big line of teams waiting for missions.
"We have a change of policy and they are taking their new missions." Hiruzen clarified, leading them to the mission assignment room.
"Give me that scroll." He asked the assistant and she gave him a scroll.
"Here is a mission that will suit your team," Hiruzen said and gave Team 7 a scroll. Kakashi read through it and was surprised by the content.
"Hokage-sama, are you sure?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes, Kakashi. Deliver this scroll to the destination safely." Hiruzen said with a nod.
"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said with a salute.
"Team, meet me at North gate in 2 hrs," Kakashi said and Team 7 was dismissed.
And Cut.
That's it for this Chapter folks.
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