Chapter 3: Meeting With Hiashi and The Academy
A/N: I wrote a new high-quality Bleach Fanfiction, go check it from my profile page if you are interested!
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At last, Neji reached the exit gate of the Hyuga family compound under the watchful eyes of other Hyuga family members all along. He was the one who currently held the record for being the person who opened the Byakugan naturally earliest in the whole Hyuga clan's longstanding history, so everyone was keeping an eye on him. Branch family members admired him, while the main branch members secretly detested him and had those high-above looks in their eyes once they saw him. After all, how could a branch member be so much better than them and their noble children?
However, it was only on the inside. Outside the clan, they didn't forget to publicize his genius status, as to get more prestige, speaking rights, and benefits inside the village and further suppress their long-time rival, the Uchiha clan, who themselves had geniuses Itachi and Shisui Uchiha recently.
Knowing all that, Neji wasn't surprised when he saw Hiashi Hyuga waiting for him outside the clan's large gate, apparently wanting to send him off to school himself on the first day of the Academy.
"Lord Patriarch!", Once they met Neji formally bowed with a plain face, neither too hot nor cold.
Hiashi just nodded, already getting used to Neji treating him coldly. After all that took place back then, it would be really suspicious if Neji held any affection for him instead. He's assured that way.
"Neji, this is your first step toward becoming a shinobi. You should treasure this chance well, listen carefully at the academy and get the grades befitting of your talent and our Hyuga clan's genius. Remember you represent the whole Hyuga clan over there!", Hiashi spoke seriously while looking at the much shorter serious boy with a band wrapping his forehead and wearing a small blue kimono.
Hiashi looked like the mirror image of Neji's father, Hizashi Hyuga, his twin brother. He had long, black hair, and featureless white eyes. He wore very traditional, loose-fitting robes with long-sleeved, brown haori on top. Overall he was giving a very noble-like impression. His expression was also plain like Neji's, but with a bit of a complex touch hidden in his eyes while he looked at Neji.
Earlier on the day Neji's father perished in his place, he used Hyuga's juinjutsu to hurt his twin brother because he dared to show some dissatisfaction after seeing his daughter Hinata's poor fighting ability in contrast to Neji's superior one. Probably thinking that Neji should've gotten the next chance of being an heir instead of such a weak Hinata, he reacted truly impulsively that time.
Hiashi activated the curse mark on Hizashi's forehead once he subconsciously opened his Byakugan in indignation. Hiashi won't forget that moment in his whole life, later that same brother sacrificed himself because of his second stupid mistake of that day when he killed a Kumogakure ninja and nearly caused a war. Hiashi will never forget that day, and it was also the worst day of his entire life.
Later because of the guilt, and wanting for his nephew Neji to not stray onto the path of no return, he started personally teaching him various basic ninja knowledge alongside his daughter.
Neji was a natural genius who awakened their praised kekkei genkai ability Byakugan, all on his own, at only three years of age. He held the fastest record of their entire clan's history, of hundreds of years.
The man who previously held the record was one clan ancestor from the Warring States period, he awakened Byakugan at only four years of age. Later going on to become a peerless powerhouse and the legend of the whole Ninja World, the strongest person in their whole clan's long history.
His daughter Hinata wasn't that bad, in this regard, either, awakening the Byakugan at five years of age. Which was honestly not a bad achievement, but she was so soft-hearted and weak-willed to be a ninja, not to mention a clan heir. This was obvious already from a long time ago, it was useless.
'Hinata...', While looking at the calm-faced and graceful Neji in front of him, Hiashi thought painfully of his older daughter. Just a couple of days ago, he decided to give her a final chance at proving herself worthy to be the next clan leader, planning to even fight against the elders' decision if she proved herself over there. One day while she played outside, he paid some older ordinary civilian kids to try and intimidate her, and see if she would fight back against them. She already had her Byakugan awakened at that time, for a couple of months, therefore, she could solve those brats in a matter of lifting her hands, she trained in chakra control since three years old, also knowing their weak body points. But not only did she not fight, she even collapsed on the ground crying from their teasing words. Then that Nine-Tails beast brat came over to save her and got beaten himself.
So from then moment onwards, Hinata lost her chance to become the next clan head! It would be instead his second, recently born daughter Hanabi, and if not her, then he would make another child. Everything was for the well-being of their clan. As for Neji, he didn't even think about that.
Even though he was at least ten times more talented than Hinata, and probably every other child he could make, his fate didn't allow him to be anything more than a bird trapped in a cage, a servant of their main family. Main branch side elders would never allow him to be anything more than that, even if Hiashi agreed. Hiashi realized that destiny was an unavoidable thing from the moment his brother died on that day. He could help Neji here and there, but nothing more than that in the end.
He always questioned himself while comparing Hinata and Neji, even going as far as to get furious at Hinata. Like on that day when she came back and spoke about that Nine-Tails demon all the time.
Maybe Hizashi, should've been born first, and became the head, with such a good son? But fate said otherwise, and there is no use fighting it. Fate knew the best, and will always win in the end.
"I understand, Lord Patriarch! I won't embarrass the family and will be at the top of my class! I will be going on now, farewell Lord Patriarch!", Seeing Hiashi's silence, as he was lost in thought, Neji eventually said seriously, bowed politely, and headed towards the center of the village, after Hiashi nodded, which lead straight to the Ninja Academy on the other side of the Hokage Rock mountain.
Neji was just a branch member, so no guards accompanied him on his way, even though the Hyuga was the richest and strongest family currently in the Konoha.
The curse seal was the best guard for the branch family members in the eyes of the main family.
On his way, he first passed by the now deserted Uchiha clan's previous living compound. Not losing to the current Hyuga's one size a little bit, it was even larger by one class. However, now no one lived there anymore. A gloomy atmosphere accompanied it, and the place was looking very dusty.
After which he passed the famous Naka River, beside the old Uchiha clan residence, on some kind of a bridge. Naka was the largest river in the whole of the Konohagakure and surrounding villages.
Konohagakure was generally a much larger place than he expected from his previous life. It was a long walk from his residence to the Academy, even for him, who trained for a couple of years.
Eventually, he passed by the Hokage's illustrious building and came to the village's center. Some civilians started noticing him and pointing their fingers secretly, but it was out of pure respect, not like back at "home". After all, those civilians don't know how he was treated inside the Hyuga clan, they just view him as the number one genius of the number one wealthy family inside the Konoha. Which was already a much greater status than theirs. Other than civilians, in front of the Hokage building he passed by, he saw many official shinobi walking in and out. They also wore their standard attire consisting of blue or black shirts along with matching colored pants under those well-known green flak jackets which also had red swirls on their back, and pockets on the chests.
Those shinobi looked at him with even more admiration and curiosity in their eyes than those civilians. Shinobi of Konoha all knew very well of the illustrious Byakugan, and he awakened while being only three.
Konohagakure was the hidden village of the Land of Fire. As the village of one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Konohagakure has a Kage as its leader known as the Hokage. It was also generally considered the most powerful great ninja village but lost its great luster in recent years.
After a while, Neji finally arrived at his destination. It was a big building in the Konohagakure located directly at the base of Hokage Rock Mountain. It is where prospective ninjas are trained and where official ninjas receive their assignments. It was founded by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, out of military necessity. It was also the area where the Hokage's office is located, which is where missions are dispatched and the day-to-day running of the village currently takes place.
'No more than a hundred kids enrolling this time around, huh? I was right, this was only the location of the prestigious academy for the clans' kids and talented civilian kids, not for everyone.', Neji slowly walked towards the large, chattering crowd, in front of him, and thought seriously all of a sudden. It was always so weird to him, in his previous life, while watching Naruto, how could a village that had tens of thousands of shinobi, have only such a small ninja Academy building?
However, he now gradually understood. Academy, in front of him, the one shown in the original, was located in the pure center of the village and even shared the same building as the Hokage's main office. It was basically only for select few kids. There were more ninja Academy buildings elsewhere in the Konoha for other, ordinary canon fodder kids that were less important than them.
Most of the children here were accompanied by their parents, who after seeing him, quickly explained something, to their kids, while pointing in his direction. Children that came alone, like himself, were uncommon. No one from the crowd was very interesting to him outside his future teammates, he was currently trying to spot with his eyes. And he soon spotted them further away.
Alone like himself, but with eyes filled with unmeasurable determination and ambition, there stood a boy with quite a long black hair fastened in a braid. He wore a white, short-sleeved kimono shirt with a martial arts belt and dark pants, giving him a bit of a traditional Chinese-like impression.
That was Rock Lee, his future teammate, and rival. He couldn't do any ninjutsu or genjutsu, but he was a taijutsu master who even surprised him in the original universe. In his past life, the current Neji always admired him always for his determination, hard work, and attitude of never giving up.
Seeing that he was being looked at by the mysterious-looking boy with white eyes and black hair, wearing a noble-looking blue kimono, Lee just smiled and extended his thumbs up toward Neji.
Neji also found his other future teammate by that time. There stood a young girl, a little further away, with cute twin hair and black buns on top of her head, wearing a bright red traditional Chinese-like bright dress. She was accompanied by her parents who also dressed in a similar fashion, and overall looked pretty wealthy, 'So the theory that her parents owned a big weapons shop was true!', Neji suddenly thought with interest. Because of such a large array of weapons, she had in the original series, many fans speculated that her parents must've owned a weapons shop and that she was very rich, or else how did she get the funds for hundreds of different weapons like that?
Soon, their chunin teachers came outside of the building. It seemed that this group would be separated into a couple of different classes. Young children then said goodbye to their parents and emotionally got inside the building, following their respective teachers after their names got called.
As expected, Neji, Ten-Ten, and Rock Lee got sorted out in the same class afterward, alongside a dozen or more other kids, with not many clan ones being in this generation. Their chunin teacher was called Eiji, and today was only a day of introduction of kids, and then the presentation of the following curriculum during those next six years, at the academy, for them, alongside some basic shinobi history and fundamentals. But first, they were all brought to a large podium where the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, will give his opening speech. Mainly ideological indoctrination attempt. However, the other villages probably had something similar going on to instill loyalty into their youngins' bones. Konohagakure had the "Will of Fire", Iwakagure had the "Will of Stone", and other big villages did something along those lines probably as well.
Konoha's educational system was clearly recognized as the best in the world, that's why many foreign spies constantly tried to operate near this Academy and steal some of Konoha's secrets. While in scientific matters, Konoha was considered to be tied to first place with the Kumogakure.
Students are later at the Academy taught a core curriculum of reading, writing, mathematics, science, geography, etc. These lessons are typically framed in a ninja context, and in fact, are learned at all in order to facilitate later instruction in tactics and strategy. Students learn the Shinobi Rules, how to strengthen their minds and bodies, and receive special lectures from veteran shinobi.
They are taken through the handling of ninja weapons and tools, like shuriken and kunai, learning how to throw and wield them through target practice, as well as instructed on the basics of trap-setting and informing them about things like explosive tags, smoke bombs, and different kinds of poisons. They are taught stealth principles and battle formations. Academy students are also taught about chakra and how to use it, hand seals. Shinobi classes can be broken into the basic levels of,
Taijutsu classes serve as the Ninja Academy's equivalent of physical education. In taijutsu class, students are engaged in physical activities to help train their bodies and develop their stamina. Sparring was common and even included in the Academy's grading system alongside other things.
Ninjutsu classes provide the bulk of what potential ninja learn at the Academy. Students are taught about chakra, how to manipulate it and use hand seals, and ultimately how to use basic beginner techniques such as the Transformation Technique, Clone Technique, and Substitution Technique. Body Flicker is another basic technique, but they are only informed of it, and do not actually learn it until they graduate. They usually learn it from their shinobi teachers later as it is a high-level chakra enchantment technique, something that most of them don't even know exists until they graduate.
Genjutsu classes are focused less on how to create illusions and more on how they function. Students are taught how to determine if they are trapped within a genjutsu, and then how to release themselves from it.
It was what Neji already learned before, those civilian kids start to learn just then. That's why clan kids are usually much more privileged than other civilian kids. By the time those kids got to their jonin teachers (if they were lucky), to try and acquire some advanced skills, outside the three basic academy jutsu, those clan kids would've already learned their own clan techniques back at home.
Back in those chilling world-warring periods in the past, the academy admission age was only four years of age, and there was no limit on how early you could graduate and enter the ranks of the real Konoha's shinobi.
That's why Kakashi entered the Academy at the age of four, graduated by five, and became a full-fledged chunin at six. But, now it was a time of relative peace, so kids were given more time to develop and weren't sent to die on the battlefield that early out of necessity. The admission age presently was five to six years old, and graduation is allowed only when kids turn twelve in age.
Later, after Hiruzen finished his "Will of Fire" speech they came into a classroom, their teacher formally introduced himself and require them to do the same. Thereafter, he started teaching them their first lessons immediately. It was mostly about basic shinobi history and rules of conduct.
The shinobi world was full of war ever since that very term was first coined during the Warring States period of this world. The countries of the world were uniformly small, constantly battling each other for land, power, and opportunity.
To fight these battles, countries hired one or more clans of mercenaries, formally called shinobi to represent their interests, the shinobi's loyalties ultimately going to the highest bidder. The constant warfare, in turn, led to constant death, creating an average lifespan of only thirty years.
Children were the greatest victims of the era, forced to fight for their clan no differently than an adult would and, more often than not, being killed by older and more skilled opponents.
Only the strongest of those shinobi clans prevailed in the end. They joined each other to form something called hidden villages. And first was the Konohagakure, envisioned by their founders to be a safe place where children didn't need to go to war, however, after the other Hidden Villages got founded, there were fewer wars, but those that were, were on a very larger scale, almost of nation-ending proportions, and even more children got sent to war. Basically, from local skirmishes, Hashirama Senju single-handedly introduced wars of worldwide proportions. Though not many people saw it that day as Neji currently did after he listened to the explanations of that teacher.
Those were villages specialized in providing the finest shinobi services, and their whole economies were based upon that. Thus, they effectively formed monopolies for shinobi services in their vicinity. That was precisely when the, "one country and one shinobi village system" was first formed.
The political power of a whole country lay in the hands of the so-called Daimyo, the leader of that country. Nonetheless, the sole military power of that nation lay in the hands of a hidden village of that specific nation. Over time emerged five exceptional shinobi villages and great countries employing them. Relying on their strong geographical advantages and powerful shinobi forces under their hidden villages, they became the most powerful forces in the world.
They had group power never seen before. Other smaller countries had to bow in fear of offending them. They became the winners of the Warring States period and the true rulers of the Earth.
Neji looked quite bored as the chunin started passionately shouting to them, "The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, literally built this whole village from the ground up and gave it a breath of life with his exalted Wood Release ninjutsu release. Due to his enormous powers, he was nicknamed the "God of Shinobi", many people today still regard him as the strongest shinobi of all time!
The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, made the first shinobi village system we still use today! He also experimented and created many powerful jutsu for Konoha's future generations of shinobi to use. He gave this village a law and order to follow, igniting its life completely. And finally, due to his extensive knowledge and mastery of shinobi arts, he was nicknamed "The Technician" of Konoha!
The Third Hokage carried on the Will of Fire from his teacher The Second Hokage onto the next generation of Konoha's shinobi. His mastery over all of the five ninja elements, as well as knowledge of combining them together in a form of cohesive attacks, earned him the nickname of "Ninja Professor".",
"And the Fourth Hokage...", 'Well, isn't this going to be boring six years...?', Neji sighed while looking out of the window, not noticing a small girl with red clothes curiously glancing at him.
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