Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Testing, First Assignments
Three Years Later, Training Field Seven
He was exhausted. All of his teachers were there along with the members of the Shinobi Council, as well as the current ANBU Commander, and they were currently judging his abilities and whether he was worthy of the Leaf hitai-ate.
Thinking back over the last three years made him smile, as he recalled all the good times that they had shared and all that they had taught him as well as everything he had learned on his own. The first year had been brutal, as they had pushed him to the extreme, just in getting his body conditioned as well as getting his chakra control to where it needed to be.
*FLASHBACK BEGINS*
Gai-sensei was in a league of his own when it came to conditioning his body, especially when it came to learning taijutsu. He had spent most of that first year constantly adjusting his chakra weights, since having Miyuki sealed inside of him, as well as having a nearly inhuman healing rate to boot, meant that his muscles and bones were healing up overnight. Once the green-clad man had learned this he was ecstatic and gave him full-body workouts every other day. On the days they weren't working out, Ikari was learning the stances and moves of the Goken, or Strong Fist taijutsu style. The biggest reason behind him learning this was because Miyuki had insisted that the moves were quite similar to the Genso no ken, or Fist of the Elements Style.
His second year with Gai-sensei was quite similar to the first with two major differences. The first was that his chakra weights had had the limiters reduced, meaning he was working out with far more weight added than before. The other was that he was beginning to learn the differences between the two stances, and training in the Genso no ken. He wasn't allowed to add in any of his elemental natures, as both his sensei had wanted him to get the moves of his chosen style nearly flawless before adding anything to it. By the time he was finished with this year of training in taijutsu, he was wearing 500 lbs. of weights, which was absolutely stellar for a boy of his age.
By the time his third year began, Gai-sensei and Miyuki had determined that he was ready for the next step and had begun an extreme regimen as far as his taijutsu style was concerned. The first four months had been learning to add his water nature chakra to his body while sparring. They quickly learned that his natural grace and agility while fighting increased exponentially when utilizing this type of chakra. The other thing that they noticed is that his hits were as hard and unforgiving as a tsunami when he was attacking, or as gentle and deceptive as a stream when he was dodging or re-directing his opponent's strikes.
The next four months were devoted to learning how to channel the fire nature chakra, and they quickly realized that his form while using this part of his chakra that his moves were an all-out offense. Also was that his aggressive side became more focused and intense, just like a fire; in fact Gai-sensei mentioned in passing that 'this part of the style reflected the fires of his soul'.
The last four months were spent in learning the most difficult part of his style; learning how to harness the power of his wind nature chakra. They spent almost the entire first two months figuring out how to channel it, and once they did they rapidly figured out that he was going to be absolutely lethal once he had managed to mix his chakra natures in this taijutsu style. When he was channeling wind chakra through his body, his speed increased quite a bit, and depending on how he held his hands he could hit with the blunt force of a hurricane, or the gentle yet sharp force of a scalpel.
Then there was Yuugao-sensei who trained him in kenjutsu. They spent the first day alone trying to find him the right weapon or weapons, and finally decided on a pair of chakra-conducting kodachi. The first year was spent entirely on learning how to go through the katas of his stance, Kitsunetēru no odori or the Dance of the Fox Tails. Fortunately for Ikari, the purple haired kunoichi had a photographic memory, which was quite useful in learning the katas, stances and attacks of this sword style, seeing as how she had to enter his mindscape to learn it directly from Miyuki.
They then spent that first year learning the basics of his style, going over them over and over again, to ensure that he had them committed to his muscle memory. From there they moved onto sparring with weighted wooden rods, which was quite enjoyable for the both of them. By the time the first year had passed, she had judged him ready to move onto the next step.
The second year was all about ensuring that he was ready to start wielding his blades, and thus they moved on to weighted metal rods that were twice the weight of the wooden ones. After six months of this they had started teaching him the proper way to care for his blades as they started to incorporate them more and more into his training and even into sparring.
The third year was spent exclusively in training him how to channel his chakra into the blades. They followed a similar training schedule as Gai-sensei did, starting with water, then moving onto fire and ending with wind. By the time they were done with this third year of training, Yuugao-sensei had taught him everything she knew, and told him that he needed to continue to train and get experience, and to keep expanding on the training that he was already doing.
His Oji-san got in on the training as well, in that first year was teaching him manners, the clan laws of Konoha, as well as teaching him how to write more neatly as a precursor to teaching him the art of fuinjutsu. The old man was quite apt in his manner of teaching, and by the time he was finished with the first year of training with the Hokage, he was well on his way to becoming a fuinjutsu adept.
The second year continued on much like the first, only they added the other laws of Konoha, as well as getting into politics and diplomacy. It was at this point in time that they brought Hyuuga Hiashi and Nara Shikaku in on the secret and they began to share their experience with the young boy as well. It was at the end of this second year of training that Ikari was attested in his fuinjutsu skills, and was rated somewhere above the level of an adept in his ability to understand, create and even modify seals.
The third year was much tougher as they only added more material on top of what he was already being trained in. Against his better judgment, the Hokage had him involved in the Uchiha incident. The way he had thought of to resolve it was nothing short of remarkable, as he had managed to get rid of the problem and was able to keep one of his sensei from having to become a nuke-nin.
The way he had come up with was that since one of the clans was about rise up in an attempt to overthrow the Hokage, that they apply one of the older laws that was still applicable in this situation. Since they had an inside person to give them the details, they had the ANBU go in and crash one of the clan meetings. Once inside they were able to incapacitate all those who were guilty, and brought them to Moreno Ibiki and Yamanaka Inoichi to interrogate and prove their guilt without a shadow of a doubt. Once they had separated the innocent from the truly guilty, they then held their trials and executions in public.
Other than that whole mess, the third year moved along much like the previous two, with him becoming more like the clan head he would need to be. This was the year where they added the history of the clans as well as the history of Konoha on top of refining his abilities in fuinjutsu. When they tested him at the end of the year, they were amazed to see his abilities were somewhere around the level of a master. The seals and the way they just seemed to flow from his brush were almost on par with his abilities in genjutsu, just simply beyond belief. What they didn't know however, was that the reason why his abilities in fuinjutsu were growing so remarkably was due to his use of the Kage Bunshin no jutsu, or the Shadow Clone technique. Every night before he went to sleep he created as many clones as possible just to work on his chakra control and fuinjutsu abilities.
The first year he had been making 150 clones each night, putting fifty of them to work on various methods of chakra control, another fifty on practicing the strokes he would need to be able to actually write the seals, and the final fifty would read up on various seals and sealing methods. In the hours before he would wake up he would have them dispel in groups of twenty five in ten minute intervals so that he didn't end up getting hurt as he filed away what they had accomplished and learned from their experience.
The second year he had bumped it up to 300 clones, and divided them into four sections: a fourth of them would be reading up on the creation and usage of seal tags of all kinds. Another quarter of them would be taking the time to learn how to create and modify jutsu, with another fourth experimenting with different types of seal tags, and the final quarter working hard on chakra control as well as his abilities with his dojutsu.
The third year he had doubled the number of clones yet again, only this time he divided the work load differently. He sent 100 clones to work on his chakra control, another 100 to read up on the next level of seal creation and modification, the third group of 100 clones he had experimenting with the Hyouton bloodline, the fourth group was doing the same with his Shakuton bloodline, and the fifth group was busy learning how to master the jutsu he already knew. The sixth and final group was divided into two parts: fifty clones that were practicing the fuinjutsu that he already knew and the remaining fifty were working on refining his control of his abilities with his dojutsu.
It was only because of his massive chakra reserves that he was able to utilize this unique way of training. The training he was able to conduct in this manner gave him many years-worth of training in a very short amount of time.
The last two trainers he had worked together with him and the areas that they worked on with him were the arts of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and the use of his dojutsu. It went without saying that Itachi-sensei and Kakashi-sensei were the two most suited for these three areas of training and they consistently overlapped in their training in these arts.
The first year they mostly worked on the basics, with Itachi helping him to train his dojutsu so that he wasn't using so much chakra in activating it. They drilled over and over again in his usage of the Seigi no Namida, so that when he chose to activate it, it only took a fraction of a second to activate and use, and he used a very meager portion of his chakra to do so. Meanwhile Kakashi-sensei was training him in the use of hand seals, and often had Ikari doing speed drills with them so that he could maximize the number of jutsu he could use in any given situation as well as ensuring that he was confident enough with them to be able to focus on the amount of chakra he was molding instead of having to be concerned over whether he was able to make the hand seals correctly.
The second year was much the same, only Itachi had decided to focus solely on genjutsu and dojutsu training. This year was spent learning about the different types and ranks of genjutsu as well as casting them on him to ensure that he understood how they worked. The only down side to this method of teaching was the fact that there was apparently a defense mechanism built into his dojutsu that detected when a genjutsu had been cast on him and automatically allowed him to either spike or cycle his chakra to dispel it. They ended up having to have Ikari form the genjutsu over Itachi instead and once it had been dispelled he was graded on how well he had done.
On the other hand, Kakashi had been having a much easier time of training the boy in ninjutsu as he was a very quick learner when it came to hands on training. The academy's three jutsu were learned in a day, and he quickly set out to learn as much as he could in making the greatest use of the ninjutsu he learned. The first three elemental jutsu that he learned were all D-rank and they were: Suiton: Mizu-dan, Katon: Hinotama, and Fuuton: Kaze dangan. By the time the year was done he could honestly say that he had learned a lot from Kakashi-sensei as he had learned how to moderate the amount of chakra he poured through the seals and could charge the first three jutsu that he had learned with enough chakra to take them from D-rank to high C-rank in both range and damage.
Year three was by far the most interesting training for the boy, as he truly exploded in his capabilities with his dojutsu and genjutsu. Itachi was extremely grateful for what he had done for his clan as well as for the village, so grateful in fact, that he had spoken with the Hokage about arranging a betrothal between Ikari and one of the young girls in his clan. They debated it fiercely for a few months before deciding that they would allow the young clan head a choice in whether it went through or not.
By the end of the year, Ikari knew at least two genjutsu each of D-rank, C-rank, B-rank and A-rank. He could cast them quickly and was able to layer four genjutsu on a target as soon as he made eye contact. The best thing is that it always took two separate methods to break out of his genjutsu as long as they were cast with his dojutsu.
The time that he had spent with Kakashi-sensei had paid off dividends in his abilities in combat. The third year had been when he had learned about collaboration jutsu, like water and lightning or wind and fire. The fact that he was able to create a few B and C rank jutsu for his affinities as well as his two bloodline abilities was nothing short of spectacular.
*FLASHBACK ENDS*
Wincing as he stretched out his sore and aching muscles, the eight year old boy took a few more minutes to stretch his body out as it had been quite the rigorous workout. He had started at eight this morning with the spar from hell with Gai-sensei, then after a twenty minute break, he had matched swords with Yuugao-sensei. By that time it had already gotten close to lunchtime, and so they had stopped there and eaten before continuing on. Immediately following lunch had been Itachi who had had to make a couple of clones for him to test his dojutsu and genjutsu on. The one who had really put him through the ringer though had been his Aniki, Kakashi-sensei. That had been an hour long spar from the very lowest depths of hell, and the only reason he hadn't won had been because of his lack of experience.
Finally he shook his head and stood tall, as he had nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of at this point in time. Walking forward to where everyone was gathered around the Hokage, where he waited until they were done talking and he had their attention. Bowing low to the Hokage, he held it for a moment and then stood slowly. "I trust that my abilities are sufficient for me to wear the hitai-ate of the Leaf and bear it with pride, Hokage-sama?"
With a twinkle in his eye, he nodded and motioned for everyone there to take a seat. Smiling in gratitude to the old man, Ikari carefully sat en seiza across from the Shinobi Council. Directing his gaze to the Hokage, he waited patiently for the eldest ninja of the village to speak.
"Ikari-kun, it is indeed a pleasure to see how far you have come, and to get an idea for just how far you will go. I would like to take this time to get a feel for what your full capabilities are, and thus will turn the floor over for any questions from the Council to either you or your teachers."
Hiruzen then turned and looked to his left and then to his right and nodded. The first person to speak was Hyuuga Hiashi. "Sōjin-san, the dojutsu that you have what exactly are its capabilities?"
Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he quietly responded. "Hyuuga-sama, the Seigi no Namida enables me to layer multiple genjutsu on any target with just a glance, and they require two or more different methods or attempts to dispel dependent on the strength of the person they were cast on. Once activated they allow me to know almost instantly whether I have been subjected to genjutsu or if someone is currently attempting to attack me by using one against me, they also allow me to target someone by attaching an ultra-thin chakra string on mental command so that my jutsu will track them if they attempt to dodge or kawarimi out of the way."
Pausing for a moment, he cleared his throat and continued. "The ultimate ability of my dojutsu is the ability to sense if someone I am looking at has a Kekkei Genkai, and either unlock it, if they haven't already unlocked their ability, or to lock it away either temporarily or permanently. There is a weakness or two, but those shall remain as they are, known only to me. No disrespect intended Hyuuga-sama."
Nodding at his answer, Hiashi sat back and pondered on what he had been told. The next person to speak was Nara Shikaku. "Hatake-san, in your honest opinion based on what you and your fellow Nin have observed over the last three years, where would you rate his abilities?"
Taking a step forward and placing his hands directly on Ikari's shoulders, he carefully squeezed them briefly before responding. "In all honesty Shikaku I can only rate him on what I have seen, so there will need to be an answer on part of his training from the Hokage as well. I will give you a rundown on what we do know about his skills and abilities. Sōjin Ikari is a close to mid-range fighter, who excels at kenjutsu and genjutsu. I would rate his taijutsu at high Chunin, his kenjutsu at high Jonin, and his genjutsu at high Jonin to low ANBU level. His ninjutsu I would have to say is definitely at high Jonin especially since a number of his attacks that he used earlier today were created by him, since we have very few if any jutsu that have ever been used by either Hyouton or Shakuton bloodline bearers."
Here he paused and gathered his thoughts once more before continuing. "His capacity for stealth is definitely at ANBU level, his chakra control is also at ANBU level, and he currently has solid Jonin level reserves. I will defer to the Hokage's judgment in announcing the rest of his abilities."
All eyes turned to the Hokage who took a deep drag from his pipe before responding. "Due to the fact that our only fuinjutsu masters are currently away, I have been personally instructing young Ikari-kun in the art. A lot of where he has learned has been in self-study from scrolls and other writings and I would rate him somewhere above an adept in level. That is the best assessment I can offer at this time due to the fact that he has surpassed me in the creation and modification of seals a while ago."
Ikari remained calm on the outside but he was bouncing around like a little kid on the inside at his Oji-san and Aniki's answers to the question. Glancing around at the gathered clan heads as well as the ANBU Commander he sighed mentally as he waited for any more questions.
They all appeared to be discussing the answers for a minute or two before Yamanaka Inoichi cleared his throat. "In your own words what rank would you see him attaining today, and I would like for each of you to answer for yourselves."
Gai-sensei immediately leapt forward and bowed. "Honored Council members, I feel that our most youthful student is most deserving of the rank of Chunin, at least until he has more experience under his belt. I personally feel that it would be a grave mistake to just make him a Genin when he is fully capable of the most youthful teamwork I have seen in anyone in a long time." Here he bowed once more and stepped back.
The next person to step forward was Yuugao-sensei. "I would agree with Gai-san in his assessment. Ikari-kun not only has the drive to improve himself, but to help others around him to improve and grow as well. I have learned a great deal from him in the last three years, almost as much as I have taught him, and I feel that he should receive the rank of Chunin."
As she took a step back Itachi-sensei stepped forward. "I concur with my comrades previous statements. I feel that he not only has the ability but the mentality to handle the rank. I would ask that he be assigned to a team that is shy a person, so that way he can gain the experience he needs to grow and progress." Once he was done he took a step back and Kakashi cleared his throat.
"I would make the same recommendation but with the option to be picked up by the ANBU once he has been blooded." Here he paused as he felt Ikari's gulp through his hands and he squeezed his shoulders gently once more before continuing.
"His character is without reproach especially considering how ill-treated he was before we took over raising and training him three years ago. He is loyal, hard-working, and has a 'do-or-die' mentality that will see to having both the mission accomplished as well as his entire team returning with him one way or another." Kakashi stopped there and stepped back amongst his other comrades.
The ANBU Commander tilted his head in acknowledgement and acceptance of his statement, and then looked to the Hokage and nodded in response. Tilting his head forward for a moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen hid the tears of pride as he blinked them away. The fact that Ikari had come so far in such a short amount of time meant a lot to him. Looking back up at Ikari, he cleared his throat before speaking.
"Having heard the assessment today, I must say that I am very proud of you Ikari-kun. You have persevered when many others would have given up. You have struggled and fought your way through a training regimen that many your age or even a little older than you would consider insane, and you not only passed your final exam, you have completely obliterated any and all expectations that there could have been for you. Now if there are no objections," he paused here for a moment, and looked at each face there only to see approval. "It is my pleasure to congratulate you and say that you have earned this. Rise and accept your hitai-ate and vest, Chunin Sōjin."
Blinking back tears of gratitude, he bowed low to the ground before rising to his feet and shakily moving forward to pick up the items that the Hokage had set in front of him. Throwing the vest on, and then wrapping the headband around his right bicep and tying it off, he the returned to where he had been sitting and stood there, turning to face the Council once more.
Smiling broadly at the young boy before him, Sarutobi stood and looked around at everyone there before speaking up once more. "It has been more years than I can remember since we have seen the establishment of a new clan. I have received a request from Uchiha Itachi, the current head of the Uchiha clan for the creation of the Sōjin clan, with himself as a sponsor. According to the laws of Konoha, the only people who have any say in the creation or addition of a new clan are the Hokage as well as the other clan heads."
Turning to Ikari, he smiled once more. "Ikari-kun, if this request is accepted and passes, until you turn sixteen or become a Jonin you will need to have someone who will represent your clan in Council meetings. Do you have anyone in mind that would be able to do this for you?"
Getting a nod from the young man in question, Hiruzen turned his attention once more to the Council members in front of him. "Anyone have any reason why this request cannot be accepted? Aside from the fact that there is only the one member for now, that is."
Seeing that no one there seemed to have any objections, he smirked as he turned back to face Ikari. "Chunin Sōjin, upon unanimous decision of the Council, you and your family are now a clan of Konoha. Seeing as there is only yourself and no one else, we will need to initiate the Clan Restoration Act. You will need to find a minimum of three women and be married by your sixteenth birthday to at least one of them. Is that understood?"
Grumbling mentally about this, Ikari nodded. "Hai Hokage-sama, I do have one question though. It is acceptable that I have the final say in the matter of my marriages, and that they are not to be forced or coerced is that correct?"
Getting a nod and a soft smile in response, he sighed in relief. Taking a deep breath, he turned and faced his teachers. "Yuugao-sensei, Onēsan, would you do me the honor of accepting the role of being my clan's representative on the Council until I either come of age or achieve the desired rank?"
Stunned beyond belief, it took her a moment to respond. Smiling at her honorary Otōto, she nodded to him. "Hai, Otōto, it would be an honor to assist you. I appreciate your trust in me, and will never give you cause to doubt me."
Turning back to the council he smiled and bowed. "Thank you for supporting me in this, I am eternally grateful to my teachers as well as each of you for all that you have done for me. I await your orders Hokage-sama."
Looking through the papers in front of him, he shuffled through them looking for the right one. Finding it, he cleared his throat before reading from the sheet. "Chunin Sōjin, you are to report to your team's training ground, which is Training Field 18, in the morning at eight a.m. Your new team is Chunin Inuzuka Hitomi, Chunin Aburame Takehito and Jonin sensei Yasumasa Hibara. Any questions?"
Shaking his head, Ikari smiled internally. Things had been going great for him and he was finally starting to reach some of his goals. Blinking as he looked around at everyone standing there, he was a little surprised at seeing Itachi-sensei approach him. "Sōjin-san, it is an honor to have helped you to get here, having achieved two of your dreams this day. I have with me a request, which will help both you and a member of my clan. I would ask that you hear me out and think about it before responding if you would." A single nod of Ikari's head was his response.
Pulling out a scroll from one of his pouches, Itachi handed it to the boy. "In here is a betrothal agreement between the Uchiha and Sōjin clans. All it needs is both of our signatures as well as your designated clan representative. I know how you feel about arranged marriages Ikari-kun, but I ask that you give her a chance and see where things go. You will have until your fifteenth birthday to choose whether to finalize said contract once it has been signed, and the only requirement that there is that the both of you spend time together and get to know each other."
Deep in thought at the moment, Ikari gently weighed the scroll in his hand. Unlike his former family, Itachi was giving him a choice in the matter, which was a huge plus for him. Also there was the fact that he had absolutely no respect for the Namikaze or Uzumaki clan heads, but he had quite a bit for Itachi, which also weighed heavily in favor of him accepting the contract. Removing the binding around it, he quickly scanned the document to see if there was a name listed, and was stunned by the name he found there. Looking up at Itachi, he nodded at the man.
"I must admit to being a little stunned at name listed here to be perfectly honest. Setsuki-san was one of the only children I know that would play with me before my change. Is she aware of anything to do with me?"
Shaking his head at the youth's question Itachi mentally sighed with relief as it seemed that he was leaning towards accepting the contract which would be largely beneficial to her since her only remaining relative was an older brother who had been an eager participant in the attempted coup, and had been executed with the rest of the traitors. This would give her a fresh start, and would bring her out of the depression she had been in ever since.
By the same token, with the dowry that he and his mother had decided to put into the contract, which was a considerable sum along with a rather large house and property to help the young clan out, there was very little reason he could think of to deny the contract.
Deep in thought himself, Ikari had pretty much noted many of the same things that Itachi just had, and sighed aloud. Turning to Yuugao as he re-rolled the scroll, he bowed his head and spoke. "Onēsan, I'm inclined to agree, but I bow to your wisdom in the matter. Having given it some thought and glancing over the terms, they are being quite generous in helping our new clan in our humble beginnings." He then stood and smiled at her for a moment before becoming serious once more.
"However," here he looked to Itachi and the Hokage with determination in his eyes, "I must insist that IF we agree to the betrothal that she is informed of who I used to be, what I contain, and who my former family is. I also beg of you to consider her desires in this, and if she doesn't want to go through with this for good reason, that we let the matter end there. Is this acceptable?"
Taking a moment to look at Ikari, he nodded and smiled softly. "I don't think she'll have any problems with it. That and the house and property sit on land that is on the edge of the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan lands so you will have more than enough room to grow."
Tilting his head in thought for a moment Ikari smiled. "Perhaps we could discuss this over dinner tonight?"
Itachi looked to Yuugao who simply shrugged and nodded. Turning his gaze back to Ikari, he nodded as well. "That would be…acceptable, Ikari-kun, shall we say half past six this evening?"
Returning Itachi's gaze for the moment, Ikari smiled and nodded. "Arigatou and that is indeed an acceptable time." He then bowed to everyone present, turned to the Hokage and looked at him with a questioning gaze. Receiving a nod from the older man, he turned and approached Yuugao and walked away talking with her, leaving the council to chuckle at his departure.
Walking up to the two men standing together, Hiashi chuckled slightly as he nodded at the young boy who had just left. "Hiruzen, Itachi, something tells me that that youth is going to go places, yes?"
Nodding his head in agreement, the Hokage simply laughed as he watched the departing group of ninja. "Itachi, something tells me that it might be a wise idea for me to be available later on this evening, because I am almost positive that your two clans will become quite close in the coming years."
"I agree Hokage-sama, I totally agree."
A/N: Well another chapter down in a new series. I know that it probably took everyone by surprise having an OC for one of his wives, but I figured that what the heck! It's my fanfic so I can do what I want in it within reason.
Suiton: Mizu-dan – Water Style: Water Bullet
Katon: Hinotama – Fire Style: Fireball
Fuuton: Kaze dangan – Wind Style: Wind Bullet
Weekly Power Status
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