บท 3: The First Taste Of Fire (Pt-2)

As Ryu appeared in front of Kagami and aimed a punched at the clan head's left ribs, who quickly blocked the punch and kicked at Ryu's head forcing the young uchiha to duck and take a leg swipe at Kagami's legs who jumped backwards, seeing the opportunity Ryu quickly took out five kunais and hurled them towards Kagami with each kunai making a arch in the air.

Seeing the kunais Kagami took out his own kunai and calmly deflected all the kunais which bought a small smirk to Ryu's face and suddenly Ryu pulled his arms back and the deflected kunais again moved toward Kagami's back with speed due to the ninja wire Ryu had attached to them.

In the next second Kagami cut off the the ninja wires and deflected the kunai like it was the easiest thing in the world, without hesitation Ryu made a few signs and substituted himself with a piece of rock lying just behind Kagami who was a little suprised by such proficient kawarami jutsu execution.

As Ryu appeared behind Kagami and kicked the clan head in the chest who just turned around slighty and grabbed Ryu's kick and threw the young uchiha away. Ryu flipped in mid air and landed smoothly on the ground, and said softly,

"Kai!"

Kagami heard a sizzling noise and looked at his feet to see two kunai with explosion tag attached to them which Ryu had thrown just before Kagami threw him away.

In a second Kagami disappeared from the place where the explosion tags went off creating a large boom and appeared behind Ryu and kept a kunai to the younger uchihas jugular. Seeing that he had no ways to get out of his current situation he simple raised both of his hands and said,

"I surrender oji-san"

Hearing this Kagami smiled and lowered his kunai nodding at him and said with a hint of astonishment in his tone,

"You performed beyond my expectations Ryu, I can attest that you are currently low genin in strength"

While thinking in his head,

'To think that a child of 4 years of age could show so much progress in just 3 months of training, his talent is unreal'

Recieving a praise from his uncle like figure sure did made Ryu proud so he just nodded and said,

"Thank you oji-san but I'm nowhere the level I want to be at"

With a sigh Kagami replied,

"You shouldn't rush things to much Ryu just continue at your own pace"

"Hai, thank you for your advice oji-san"

As both Kagami and Ryu walked back towards the house where a amused Ria and a amazed mikoto stood, both of them were suprised by Ryu's talent in shinobi arts. Seeing a shadow of Naori in Ryu, Ria couldn't help but smile sadly and think,

'Naori, your son had grown so mature and hell only grow stronger from this point, you would've been so proud of him'

As she and mikoto went to Ryu and Kagami, she spoke giving the young uchiha a kind smile and said,

"Ryu kun you've grown so strong keep working hard"

"Thank you Ria oba chan"

Meanwhile mikoto just looked at Ryu with a gaze of admiration and thought to herself,

'Ryu had grown so so strong I can't wait to start my shinobi training from next year'

As Kagami looked at his daughter's gaze at Ryu he couldn't help but sigh and shake his head slightly before saying with a grin on his face,

" Ryu follow me, perhaps it's time you had perform the uchiha rite of power"

Ryu just blinked and nodded, while Ria asked a little worried for her deceased friend's son,

"Kagami are you sure this is the right step afterall all the uchiha children perform the rite of power at age of 6 and not even all could do it even after a couple of years"

To this Kagami just nodded and told his wife,

" Don't worry Ria I think Ryu wouldn't have any problems performing the rite of power perfectly in a year or so"

Then an excited Mikoto asked her father,

"Otou-san what is this uchiha rite of power, can I come to see it pleasee..?"

As Kagami just ruffled his daughter's hair affectionately and said with a wide smile on his face,

"Of course miko-hime"

"Thank you otou-san"

As the group of Kagami, Mikoto and Ryu started walking on the streets of the uchiha compound, Ryu saw many of the passing uchiha greet and now to the uchiha clan head to offer thier respect. Upon reaching the area Kagami had led them to, Ryu noticed it a was a large lake in front of him and the three uchiha were standing on the edge of a wooden bridge which ended on the edge of the lake. As they reached, Kagami looked at Mikoto and said to her,

"Miko could please stand behind me I don't want you to get hurt ok?"

"Hai! Tou-san"

As following her father's advice Mikoto went and stood behind Kagami and peeked from behind excited to see what was this uchiha rite of passage. Seeing his daughter behind him Kagami nodded and looke towards Ryu and told him seriously,

" Ryu today as the uchiha clan head I'm going to show you how to perform the uchiha rite of passage which means you'll be learning the Fire style: great fireball jutsu"

To this Ryu just nodded seriously understanding the severity and said,

"Hai, Kagami-sama please show me"

As Kagami nodded appreciating his mature nature and said,

"Carefully watch the hand seals I perform and try to get the measure of the chakra I use in this jutsu"

Without delay Kagami purposefully went through the hand signs slowly so that Ryu could see them perfectly and then breathed out a average sized (atleast from Kagami's viewpoint) fireball from his mouth which made Ryu narrow his already sharp eyes while Mikoto's widened in awe of the spectacle before her.

As Kagami cancelled the jutsu and looked towards Ryu saying,

"Go on Ryu try it for yourself"

As Ryu just nodded at Kagami's words and stepped forward with Kagami and Mikoto's curious gazes on him, he had already memorized the handsigns Kagami had performed beforehand so Ryu calmly went through the hand signs with speed exceeding Kagami's expectations and then puffed out his chest just like Kagami had done before spurting out a humongous fireball at the lake which even made much of the surface of the lake evaporate.

After cancelling his jutsu and nodding to himself for doing a good job and using his chakra control to its limit so he didn't waste his chakra, Ryu wiped a sweat from his forehead and turned around to see a amazed mikoto with her eyes wide and her pink lips in a 'o' shape, while Kagami eyes were also slightly widened althought only for a second before returning to normal and looking at Ryu the clan head said,

"Good job Ryu it usually takes years for the children even older than you to complete the uchiha rite of passage, you are truly an exceptional child"

While thinking to himself,

'Even the chunins would struggle to make such a hot and large fireball, just what kind of monster did you give birth to Naori!'

Just then before anyone could say anything a anbu with the bird mask flashed right by Kagami and two younger uchihas effectively startling mikoto and said,

"Kagami-sama, hokage sama requires your presence in his office right now"

As Kagami nodded and replied to the anbu calmy,

"Ok tell him I'll be there in a minute"

As the anbu also nodded and again vanished, Kagami turned towards the children and said with a smile,

"Alright you two head home, I have a meeting to attend to"

"Hai! Otou-san/Oji-san"

"Oh and Ryu don't forget to go to yukimaru's clothing shop and add the uchiha fan on your clothes since you're now a recognised adult of the uchiha clan and if you need help with your training you can find me or Ria"

As he just nodded and gave a respectful bow to the clan head and his uncle who was offering him more than he had to and said,

"Thank you oji-san I'll remember it"

As Kagami just nodded and ruffled Mikoto's hair before vanishing before the children's eyes.

After Kagami disappeared he looked at Mikoto and said to her with a small smile,

"Come on let's go I'll walk you to your house Mikoto-san"

Which made her blush slightly and duck her head for some reason even she herself couldn't understand and made a note to ask her mother about it on a later date and said softly looking at him,

"Hai, let's go Ryu-san"

As both the uchiha children walked through the streets of the uchiha clan compound talking to each other, getting to know each other while in his mind Ryu thought to himself,

'I need to up my training, after today's loss I think I can ask for help in my genjutsu and kenjutsu training from Ria oba-chan and Kagami oji-san'

And started formulate his training plans for the next couple of months in his mind while walking with mikoto who was surpringly quite interesting to talk to.