Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was shortly after Shinken had decided that he was going to spend the night at Michio’s house that Sayomi appeared. She was very irrate and after she and the Kaguya exchanged words the young Uchiha was forced to step in between them to avoid a fight.


“Both of you stop it! It was a mission that was assigned to us Sayomi. How would you feel if someone insisted on joining in? Wouldn’t that make you think that they doubted your abilities? Do you doubt our abilities?” Shinken asked before turning to Michio.


“And you! She was just trying to help us out. You don’t have to insult her.” The young gennin said with an exasperated sigh. With the fight averted Shinken and Sayomi headed over to Michio’s apartment to turn in for the night. Sayomi insisted that Shinken take the bed because he needed a good night’s rest more than she did. Little did she know his sleep was going to be anything but restful. It took the young ninja almost an hour of tossing and turning to finally get to sleep. He wasn’t sure if it was all of the excitement of the day, or if it was something else, but sleep eluded him. When he finally did get to sleep his dreams were anything but pleasant.


Shinken seemed to be floating in a lake of darkness, the more he struggled to stay afloat the harder the liquid shadows tried to pull him under. After a few minutes he couldn’t struggle any longer and he was pulled under the surface. He felt the breath leave his lungs and the cold slick darkness force it’s way down his throat. He wanted to scream but no sound left his lips. The world went dark and just when he thought it was all over for him he suddenly found himself in a new location. He was standing atop the Kazekage’s office. As he looked down at himself wondering how he was alive he saw that he was wearing Kage’s clothes.


The village below him seemed more peaceful than any day under the current Kazekage, but he couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. One second he had been about to drown in darkness and now he was dressed in the Kazekage’s robes. Down on the streets below someone saw him and waved happily. Shinken removed the traditional Kage’s hat and leaped down to the street. The people there were startled at first but then they all smiled at him and a child in the crowd shouted excitedly.


“Look Mom! It’s Kage Katsuna!” The boy yelled as he jumped up and down excitedly. Shinken was beyond confused. He wasn’t the Kazekage. Or was he? Suddenly everything seemed so right. Of course he was the Kazekage. He had been the ninja to defend the Viilage even from itself. He had brought about all the changes required to truly achieve peace. Everyone in the village was happy now. The Uchiha flashed a smile at the child who looked as if he were going to faint from glee.


As Shinken made his rounds as the Kage he greeted people on the street, and even stopped by the Academy to give a few pointers to the students there. All of the teachers bowed in reverence to him. He felt a beaming sense of pride. His name, and by proxy his family’s name was one that brought smiles to the faces of the villagers. His brother’s misdeeds had been long buried and forgotten, and his journey had brought him to his final destination.


The sky began to darken with black clouds and very suddenly something felt very, very wrong. It was as if a dark shadow had been cast over the whole village. The people went silent, turning almost a ghostly white. Shinken looked around confused, and worried for the fate of his village and its inhabitants. From the sky a black figure descended, and where his feet touched the ground the life seemed to seep out of the very air itself. The buildings around him crumbled to dust and the people seemed to just fade away into nothingness. Knowing that it was his duty as Kazekage to protect the village Shinken moved to intercept the dark figure. When he got closer he saw that the man was wearing a mask that hid his face.


“STOP! This is my village and I won’t let you destroy it!” Shinken said feeling his own inner darkness flare to life. His rage at the attack on his home filled him and he suddenly felt much like Michio. Where was his friend? Surely he would want to protect the village as well. Shaking off the errant thoughts the Uchiha activated his sharingan and put himself in the dark figure’s way.


“You’re not taking another step!” He shouted as he began to from the hand seals for the fireball jutsu he had learned so long ago. The flames roared to life as they exited his mouth and shot towards the masked intruder. The man wordlessly batted the jutsu aside as if he were some kind of god. Shinken didn’t stop there however. He began to form the seals for another jutsu. If this man was capable of deflecting his fire style then he would just have to try another element. The Uchiha had used his sharingan to copy many jutsu over the years and had several techniques of each element at his disposal. This time he tried a wind based technique. A powerful air bullet expelled from the mouth. As the wind chakra built up in his lungs Shinken also began to knead chakra in his mouth. When the bullet was finally expelled he shaped it into a razor sharp blade that would cut the intruder in two.


The masked man seemed completely unconcerned with the attack and for good reason. He seemed to simply walk through the attack. Shinken’s eyes were able to see that the man some how teleported through the attack at the last second. Whoever this man was his skills were impressive. The Uchiha was forced to jump back as the man advanced. He couldn’t let what was happening to the villagers happen to him. He had to save the village.


Thinking through all of his long range techniques Shinken decided that he would trap this man in a genjutsu. If he couldn’t move then he couldn’t hurt anyone. As he tried to lock eyes with the oncoming intruder the Uchiha felt something odd. Before he could realize what it was he was locked in his own genjutsu. The masked man had turned his own mind against him. It took everything the Uchiha had to break out of the illusion. He thanked his lucky stars that he had broken the jutsu when he did because the man less than a foot away from erasing Shinken from existence.


The Uchiha jumped back and cursed loudly. This guy was incredibly strong. Nothing Shinken try seemed to even phase him in the slightest. He couldn’t hold back, not even a little bit. With that knowledge in mind he began to rapidly form hand signs. As he did so he created wind chakra in his lungs and kneaded fire chakra in his mouth. He was going to use one of his stronger techniques, Wind Style: Dragon Flame Release. As he exhaled the wind chakra mixed with the fire chakra and ignited creating an incredibly hot and intense blue stream of flame that turned the sand in front of him to glass in an instant. The masked man began to make hand seals of his own and threw out a clay dragon surrounded by a spiral of water. The two jutsu clashed and in the end they canceled each other out.. At least Shinken knew that the masked man couldn’t withstand an attack like that.


“Who are you?! Why are you attacking my Village?!” The Uchiha demanded as he began to form hand seals for an earth style jutsu. He would trap this man in the earth itself and halt his advance in an instant. There was a dark and distorted laugh from behind the mask as the man began to make his own hand seals.


“You can’t stop me.” Was all the booming voice from behind the mask said as he finished his jutsu. The ground swelled beneath him becoming a living creature. It was a giant turtle made of stone. That threw Shinken’s plan out the window. His jutsu could hold a person but not a giant summon like that. He bit his thumb and began forming seals for a summoning jutsu of his own. As he slammed his hand into the ground there was a huge puff of smoke and Shinken was left sitting on the head of a great dragon almost twice the size of the turtle.


“I have a summon too.” The uchiha said darkly. The man in the mask laughed at the dragon as he made seals to create the same air bullet jutsu Shinken had used earlier. His Turtle opened it’s mouth and fired a blast of water large enough to flood several blocks of the sand village, and on queue the masked man launched his air bullet just behind it. Shinken knew he couldn’t counter the water jutsu with just his fire, so he did the only thing he could thing of. He gathered all of the wind chakra he could muster, and his dragon inhaled deeply. As the dragon breathed its flame out to intercept the water blast, Shinken unleashed the strongest gust of wind he could to fuel the flames. The result was an enormous version of the Wind Style: Dragon Flame Release Jutsu. The white hot flame vaporized the water bullet, and ate through the chakra of the air bullet.


The masked man teleported off of his turtle just in time as the stone giant was blown to pieces by the powerful fire jutsu. Shinken had been so focused on the fire based attack that he didn’t see man teleport behind him. The masked man touched down on the dragon who let out a cry of pain and began to wither and die. Shinken’s eyes went wide and he jumped to a nearby rooftop just in time to avoid being caught in whatever Jutsu allowed this man to cause decay and destruction on such a massive scale.


The Uchiha could feel the strain on his chakra network beginning to build up. He didn’t have much time left to end this fight. The masked man on the other hand seemed to have an unlimited amount of stamina. Just what kind of monster was this guy? No one was invincible but the masked man seemed to have an answer for everything Shinken threw at him. It was almost like he knew what the Uchiha was going to do before he did it, but that wasn’t possible… was it?


There was a loud crack followed by a deep rumbling as lightning struck between the two combatants. Rain began to fall from the sky, and Shinken cursed. That was only going to make any water style jutsu this guy had stronger. Meanwhile his fire style was going to be far less effective. It was a losing proposition.


“Why do you continue to fight for them?” The man in the mask asked, almost sounding sincere. Shinken found himself forced to answer the question. His mouth would not obey his mind.


“Because this is my home. These are my people. It is my responsibility to protect them!” He shouted. The Uchiha could almost feel the man behind the mask smile. Was that the answer he was looking for? Why did he even care? What grudge did he hold against the village.


“But is it really your home? Are they really your people?” The masked man asked. As he spoke the words it was as if Shinken had been thrown into a genjutsu. He was forced to relive all of the discrimination he and his family had been subject to. The crimes the village had committed against him. He shook his head trying to push the thoughts from his mind.


“No! I changed things! The village is different now!” He cried clutching his head. The masked man took another step forward and the world began to spin. Suddenly Shinken was only 10 years old and the entire village surrounded him. They pointed and accused him of being a traitor. They threw garbage and stones at him forcing the Uchiha to cover his head and his face. Finally he had enough and he lashed out with his chakra, severing the genjutsu.


“That’s ENOUGH!’ The Uchiha shouted as he began to form the hand seals for his most powerful Jutsu. This was it he was going to end this fight right here and right now. He would bring peace back to the village once again, and be hailed as the hero he knew he was. As the final seal was formed Shinken glared up at the masked man who was now standing over him. The Jutsu that had ruined the village and erased the villagers was no more, now there was only this figure towering over him. With all of the chakra he could muster Shinken cloaked himself in flame. The flames continued to eat at the air around him growing larger and more intense until both he and the masked man were consumed in the flames. They grew even further as the Uchiha started making hand signs for the second part of the Jutsu. By the time he had reached the required amount of fire, nearly half a block of the village had been consumed. Then he slammed together the final seal and unleashed the wind vacuum that turned the flames first into a bright blue as the condensed down and then to a white hot flame that vaporized the very stone of the buildings. When the flames faded and the Jutsu was over Shinken was almost completely out of Chakra and he looked up to where the Masked man had been standing . He was still there though his mask cracked and fell away. What Shinken saw stunned him into silence. The man behind the mask was his brother...well half of him was anyway. The other half looked like Shinken. When the man spoke it was both the Uchiha’s own voice, and the voice of his brother in perfect sync.


“You can’t beat me, because you are me. No matter what you do, we’ll always be the same. You can deny me all you want, but I’m still here. You can’t get rid of me, and no matter how much you lie to yourself you can’t change what you are.” The hybrid laughed. Shinken’s eyes went wide and he was about to deny the man’s claims when he was shaken awake.


The young Uchiha woke with a start yelling and throwing a punch which nearly clipped Michio in the knee cap. He was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. When he realized he was in the apartment and not in the terrifying dream he relaxed and his sharingan deactivated. He felt exhausted and he rubbed his eyes trying to wake up. He hadn’t had a nightmare that bad in a very very long time. When Michio informed the Uchiha that their Jounin was in the apartment he looked at the Kaguya confused. Their Jounin was supposed to meet them at the Kazekage’s office. Why was he here in the apartment?


Groggily Shinken got to his feet and stretched out. His heart was still racing from the nightmare, but he told himself it was just a dream, that t didn’t matter, it was just a nightmare, but deep down the Uchiha was highly disturbed. It took the gennin a few minutes to collect himself and slow his heart rate. By the time he had done this he could already smell Shisara’s cooking. He walked out into the main part of Michio’s apartment and took a seat at the table. He wished he had a change of clothes, he probably smelled of sweat and blood from yesterday’s mission. Shinken was oddly quiet as their Jounin introduced himself. When Miyamoto went over their capabilities the Uchiha looked at him confused. How did he know so much about them already? The young gennin was espeically confused as to how he knew about the sharingan. The Jounin explained that the Kazekage and Anbu already knew about Shinken’s ability to use the sharingan and that they were going to keep it a secret. Then he asked why Michio and Shinken wanted to be Shinobi. Considering the dream he had last night the question hit Shinken particularly hard. He had to take a moment to really think before he answered the question.


“I want to prove that my family aren’t traitors. That we are proud citizens of the hidden Sand, but more than that I’m sick of how this system bullies the little people. I want to be remembered as the ninja that changed the village. I want to be Kage someday, and bring peace to everyone in the village. I want to prove that you don’t have to be full of hate to be strong.” Shinken said. The last part of his statement contradicted some of the things he had done right after he got out of the academy, but his dream had shown him something. If you gave into things like hate then you would become a monster and destroy everything around you. You had to cling on to what you loved and the people that were important to you. You had to protect them no matter the cost.


As the conversation continued on Shinken simply listened. He was uncharacteristically silent as everyone eat breakfast. He pushed his food around his plate, he didn’t exactly have a big appetite as the image of the two faced man burned in his mind. It was just a dream why couldn’t he shake it off? Had there been some note of truth to it? Or was it that he as so deeply disturbed by the fact that his mind was capable of such an idea?


When their Jounin told them to move out Shinken did his best to shake himself from his dark mood and nodded with as much sincerity as he could muster. He would have to get this dream off of his chest by talking to someone about it. Maybe Michio wasn’t in the dream for a reason? He’d probably just make fun of the young Uchiha for letting a dream get to him, but he was his best friend, and if he couldn’t talk to his best friend who could he talk to?


As they stepped out into the courtyard Shinken listened to the instructions of his Jounin. Apparently they were going to be escorting someone from the hidden leaf to the Kazekage’s office. It sounded like a really easy mission, so why did he get the feeling that it was going to be complicated? He only had to wait a few seconds for his question to be answered. The VIP wasn’t a shinobi, but rather a courtier. Shinken had to agree that there seemed to be something that the Jounin wasn’t telling them, but he let it go. After a while they arrived at the location where they were supposed to meet the VIP. When Shinken saw the symbol for the Inuzuka clan on the old man’s robes he tensed up. His mind flashed back to how angry Michio had gotten when Shisara’s clone had transformed into an Inuzuka. Their Jounin put a hand on the Kaguya’s shoulder but he shook it off. Shinken took a moment to do the same thing but he whispered to his teammate.


“I know you don’t like the Inuzuka, but we have to do this mission if we want to change the way things work around here. Remember why you want to be a shinobi.” Shinken said as he squeezed his friend’s shoulder. He hoped that Michio could reign in his temper and get the job done.


“Greetings. We will be your protectors and your guides through the Sand village today.” Shinken said trying to sound as pleasant as possible to make up for Michio’s bad attitude. His words had reached his teammate, but he was still in a foul mood. The Inuzuka gave Shinken a polite nod and began to make his way down the street. The young Uchiha followed behind the old man and pointed out notable shops and locations giving tidbits of knowledge to the old man to try and keep him from noticing how angry Michio seemed to be.


The older Inuzuka smiled and took to Shinken’s guided tour with interest. So far keeping the two of them apart seemed to be working. Kuno noticed what the young Uchiha was doing and gave him a nod. It seemed he had figured out why Michio was in such a bad mood, or at least what had triggered it.


While Shinken was pointing things out he was also keeping an eye out for anyone that seemed suspicious. Anything that was out of place he studied until he felt that it was not a threat to the VIP. Eventually they passed by a food shop and the VIP suddenly stopped. Shinken took another three steps before he realized that the old man was no longer following him. As he backtracked he saw the VIP ordering some fried dumplings on a stick. He let out an exasperated sigh. This was not part of the plan. Every moment they lingered was a moment they were vulnerable to attack.

Shinken watched in horror as Michio lost his temper on the VIP. This was exactly was he was afraid was going to happen. Kuno stepped in and force the Kaguya to release the Inuzuka. When the ambassador spoke up the Uchiha thought it was because of what Michio was doing. He couldn’t have been more wrong. His eyes followed the line of the Inuzuka’s index finger to see two gangs approaching. This was bad. His teammate’s yelling must have given away their location. Shinken cursed internally as their Jounin called out for a defensive formation. The Uchiha nodded as he activated his sharingan and jumped between one of the gangs and the Inuzuka.

“Don’t worry. They aren’t getting through.” Shinken said as he turned to face the gang to his left. They brandished their weapons and smiled, obviously looking forward to the bloodshed. Shinken formed a one handed seal and locked eyes with their leader. The man went stiff and let out a scream. Then it was shinken that was smiling. The rest of the gang members looked at each other as their leader collapsed.

“Anyone else?” He asked with a smirk on his face. His response was several throwing daggers launched at the ambassador. The Uchiha made his move in the blink of an eye. He snatched the first dagger out of the air and used it to deflect the rest. As one of the thugs charged at him Shinken locked eyes with him as well. This man too screamed and went stiff before collapsing to the ground. Now the other thugs were beginning to second guess their approach. Shinken picked up one of the throwing daggers he had knocked away and with a weapon in each hand backed up until he was almost touching the VIP. When the shock and awe of seeing their fellow gang members suddenly drop for what seemed like no reason wore off the entirety of the gang charged Shinken. He was barely able to keep them off of the Ambassador. For every strike he blocked there was a follow up. Occasionally he would catch one of the thugs in eye contact and they would suddenly drop to the ground limp. After a few minutes of fighting there were only 4 gang members left. That was when the Anbu finally showed up.

When Shinken turned to see how Michio had fared his stomach flipped in on itself. He felt sick. The Kaguya was now missing his eye, and bleeding profusely. Kuno enlisted Shinken to help him hold Micho down and he did. The screams of pain did nothing to ease the Uchiha’s sickness. Eventually Michio had been healed enough that one of the Anbu was able to take him back to the medical center for proper treatment.

Shinken and the Inuzuka VIP arrived at the Kazekage’s office with little other trouble, and as soon as his charge was safely with the Kage Shinken took off toward the medical center . When he arrived the receptionist directed him to Michio’s room. The Kaguya had a bad habit of getting torn up on missions. That was something that Shinken would have to bring up to him. His temper clouded his judgement and led him to place himself in harm's way unnecessarily.

“You ok? That was pretty gruesome back there.” Shinken asked as he stepped into Michio’s room.

Shinken looked at his partner in his sorry state. The man’s anger had nearly gotten him killed today. Instead of using his emotions to steel himself he was letting them overtake him. That made him careless. If there was one thing the young Uchiha could do for the Kaguya it was to give him the tools he needed to control his anger.

“You don’t have to apologize to me. Though I could help you. It wouldn’t be pleasant, but I could teach you to use that anger, instead of letting it consume you. I doubt you’d like me very much at the end of it though.” Shinken said as he looked over to Shisara. Her face was one that pleaded with the young Uchiha to do what he could. His genjutsu skills could be an invaluable tool in helping Michio learn to manage his anger, but it would also involve putting him in situations that could drive a wedge between them.

“You can do that?” Michio asked looking surprised. The Kaguya had struggled with his rage his entire life. He wasn’t so sure that his friend could help him so easily. Still if there was a chance to save his relationship with Shisara, and become a better ninja at the same time he would be a fool not to take it.

“Yes I can, but it’s not going to be easy. I’m going to put you through your own personal hell. I’ll burn you down and you’ll rise from the ashes like a phoenix. Better than before.” Shinken said knowing how his speech must have sounded. He wasn’t sure he himself would have agreed to all of this, but Michio really needed this. The Uchiha supposed you could call it a treatment, but that would be giving it too much credit. Michio looked a little unsure about the direction this was taking and the Uchiha tried to give him his best reassuring smile.

“You don’t have to do this, but it might save your life one day.” Shinken said as he turned to look out the window. He wasn’t just doing this for Michio, though that was the bigger part of it. If he could help reshape his teammate it would be the first step on the road to reshaping the village. It took Michio a few moments but he looked over to Shisara and then back to Shinken before nodding to himself.

“I’ll do it.” He said with a note of finality that the young Uchiha didn’t miss. This was probably going to make or break the Kaguya. Both as a Shinobi and a person. It wasn’t something that Shinken was going to take lightly. He took one last look at Shisara and gave her a gentle nod.

“Well come on then. We’ve got work to do, but I don’t want to do it here. We’ll do it in the training field. I’d hate for you to lose your cool here in the hospital.” The Uchiha said sounding cold and distant. He couldn’t let his personal feelings interfere in something so delicate. The Kaguya felt the distance in Shinken’s words and he couldn’t help but feel a little bit apprehensive. Before he could raise any questions the Uchiha was already out the door and making his way to the training grounds. Michio followed after him, and soon the two had arrived at their destination.

Immediately after they arrived Shinken turned to Michio and activated his Sharingan. The Kaguya didn’t even have time to react as his teammate locked eyes with him and plunged him into a world of darkness. The only thing he would see were two giant red eyes staring him down. Shinken decided he would start small. The darkness reached out and wrapped itself around Michio’s limbs causing him intense burning pain.

“Go on. Get angry. I dare you.” A distorted deeper version of Shinken’s voice growled as the tendrils of Darkness lashed out at the Kaguya. Despite the immense pain the Uchiha was inflicting on his partner it took Michio some time to get riled up. Eventually though the young gennin saw the spark of rage and fanned it into an inferno. When Michio popped his claws and began to tear away at the darkness Shinken knew he had him right where he wanted him.

“Now. Calm yourself. Think of Shisara. Think of me. Think of your goals.” Shinken’s voice said this time sounding like the Uchiha was right next to the Kaguya. When words failed to get through to Michio Shinken tried another tactic. He projected images of Shisara crying onto the veil of darkness. The images were misty and black and white almost like an old noir film. When even that only stayed the Kaguya’s hand for a moment Shinken pulled back on the pain he was inflicting and projected Shisara’s voice into the dark aether.

“Michio...Michio…” Her voice called out as if she were searching for him. It echoed off of the darkness and where it did scenes of all three of them together could be seen playing out in black and white. Shinken too added his voice to the illusion again.

“MIchio come back to us…Remember your promise.” Both voices whispered in unison. The mental strain that this genjutsu was putting on Michio must have been intense, but still Shinken pushed forward. As soon as Michio began to calm down he inflicted the pain again and began to drag him down into a smoking inferno using the darkness as ropes and chains. When he saw that Michio began to lose his cool again he made the illusion of water falling from the sky. When the Kaguya looked up he saw a giant image of his lover crying over head.

“Michio please...You promised!” Shisara cried as her hand reached down staying always just out of his reach. That was when his rage took shape in front of him as a living breathing entity of fire. It reached up and grabbed hold of Shisara’s hand. The kunoichi let out a cry of pain and tried to pull away from the entity. That was when Shinken’s voice broke through the darkness, clear as day.

“This is what your rage will do to her.” He stated coldy as Shisara screamed in horror. She burned away turning to ashe that then coated Michio in a thick gray paste. The darkness receded and Shinken was left standing before his friend who was in a state of emotional turmoil. In that one Moment the Uchiha truly pitied his friend. To have to deal with such a monster inside of you every day must have been agonizing.

“Find your center. Find an anchor. Use it. Control the anger, don’t let it control you. It is a weapon, but a weapon can be turned on it’s user. Always remember that.” Shinken said as he reached out and gently poked two of his fingers into Michio’s chest. The Kaguya would feel his anger now as a flame inside of him, and all of the pain, and injury that the darkness caused was suddenly absent from the illusion. As the darkness began to creep in around Michio Shinken left him with two simple parting words.

“Use it.” He whispered as everything went black. When the Kaguya looked down at his hands they were alight in a blue flame, one that seemed to push the darkness back. As he calmed himself the flames began to go out, and the darkness wrapped itself around his leg. As it did so it was not physical pain that the Kaguya felt but rather sadness and a sense of loss. Scenes of his family and the way they were before the Inuzuka attacked flashed before his eyes. Then came images of Shinken, broken and battered, reaching out for help. This stirred the anger in Michio and the flames got brighter. As they did so the darkness shrunk back and away from the Kaguya.

“Yes. Your anger can be used to steel you against pain and protect you from loss...But it can also consume you…” Shinken said as He saw Michio beginning to lose control of his rage. As this happened the flames turned a bright white and pain flooded the Kaguya’s senses. The light from the flames became blinding, and in the darkness figures emerged. They were Shinken, Sayomi, Shisara and anyone else that Michio cared about. The light pierced holes in them and they all screamed in unison. The sound was deafening and the Kaguya was sure he could feel blood running down the sides of his face.

“Your rage will also consume them. It will eat away at everything you are. Everything you care about, until all that is left is ashes.” Shinken said coldly. Finally the pain and the sense of loss broke the Kaguya and the flames died down. His hands were nothing but charred bones. Slowly the flesh grew back and Shinken appeared in front of him again.

“Remember this lesson well…” He said as he stepped forward. This time he pushed on Michio’s forehead, sending the Kaguya tumbling back into the darkness. When he awoke he was standing in the training field. Shinken smiled and pressed a blade into his hands.

“Congratulations. I think you understand now.” His teammate said as he turned to wave at someone just out of view. Soon Shisara appeared from around the corner of a nearby building. She seemed overjoyed, but that only lasted for a moment as from the shadows there was a blur of motion. Then Shinken screamed. The sound quickly died off into a gurgle as a massive ninja dog stood over him with his throat in its teeth. It seemed to almost smile at Michio. In a panic the Kaguya turned back to Shisara who was standing in the street with a shocked expression on her face. There was a blade through her chest and her shirt was stained red with blood. She opened her mouth to say Michio’s name but the only thing that came out was bubbling frothy blood. The man who stood behind her was an Inuzuka and, much to Michio’s dismay, He reached into her chest and removed her heart. The ninja laughed as he took a bite of it and threw it to the ground.

“It’s about time we finish what we started.” The Inuzuka said with a sick smile on his bloody face. Then as Michio’s rage filled him there was a voice inside of his head.

“Use me...Kill him!” It whispered sinisterly. It took the Kaguya a moment to realize that something had dug into his arm. It was the blade that Shinken had given him. It seemed to glow and hum with power now, and it felt as light as air. There was however the disconcerting fact that there were organic looking tendrils slowly creeping up his arm.

The Kaguya looked down in horror. His distraction proved to be a near fatal mistake as the Inuzuka took advantage of the lapse in focus. His ninja dog leapt at Michio and bit down on his ribs. There was a sick cracking sound and pain flooded through him as he was tossed to the side like a rag doll. Still there was that voice in his head. Whatever it was wanted him to kill the Inuzuka. That was something that he wanted to do anyway, but he didn’t trust this thing on his arm.

“What’s the matter? You lose your nerve? Not that I blame you. If you’re anything like your pathetic friends you’re right to be scared.” The Inuzuka taunted. That sparked a flame of anger in Michio. Suddenly the blade in his hand felt lighter, almost as if it was becoming an extension of his arm. As his mind became clouded by his emotion he felt a sharp pain in his arm. The tendrils coming off of this blade were digging themselves deeper into his arm. Not only that they were creeping up toward his shoulder. That shocked him out of his rage and he began to panic. He popped a blade of bone out of his other wrist and used it to sever his arm. Shinken silently noted this unexpected reaction and suddenly felt very relieved that he had made sure to immobilize Michio with this illusion. Blood poured from the Kaguya’s severed arm and darkness closed in on the edges of his vision. The last thing he saw as he fell to the ground was the image of a laughing Inuzuka.

Michio awoke with a start in his bed. Shisara was laying next to him, and when he went out to the main part of the apartment Shinken was sleeping on the couch. He reached up to touch his eye and realized that it was still there. All of it must have just been a horrible dream. That was when Shinken stirred from his sleep. He let out a Yawn and sat up.

“Morning Michio.” The Uchiha said as he made his way to the kitchen. In reality they were both standing back in the training grounds and having held this genjutsu for so long Shinken was starting to falter. He would have to teach Michio his lesson soon or the entirety of this effort would have been in vain.

There was the sound of a commotion outside of the apartment and both Ninja ran out to see what it was. When they arrived at the window they saw a dog in the courtyard. Something felt too familiar to Michio and he went to check on Shisara. That was when he heard Shinken scream. It was all happening again. When he looked inside of his room he saw Shisara torn to pieces in their own bed. He felt his anger rising and there again was the voice in his head.

“Use me.” It whispered. When he looked down Michio found that he was again holding that strange almost organic blade. It was digging itself into his arm, but as his anger rose he felt it again become like an extension of his arm. From outside he heard the same Inuzuka from before.

“Well this is a disappointment. They said this assignment would be fun. All I see are a bunch of dead losers.” The Inuzuka shouted. The Kaguya felt his anger rising and the tendrils digging deeper into his arm. He didn’t care. He was going to rip this b*****d apart. Not wasting a second and giving in to his rage Michio jumped down to the ground floor. The pain in his arm was agonising as the tendrils made their way deeper into his tissues, searching for his arteries. He ignored it and rushed the Ninja dog blindly. He was able to knock it aside and spear it with the blade, however with its final breaths it took a large chunk out of the Kaguya’s side. Bleeding profusely Michio turned to face the Inuzuka himself now. The tendrils had reached up to his shoulder and as he advanced on his target he felt a burning sensation in his chest. Then he felt his arm go numb and his heart sieze. Shinken’s voice echoed in his head.

“A weapon can be turned on it’s wielder. Your anger can also consume you…” Even as the Uchiha’s words faded from his mind he heard the blade speak again.

“Use me…” It cried before everything went black. Back in the real world Shinken was covered in sweat. He had lost track of how long this genjutsu had been going on. Hours at the very least. The sun was much lower in the sky now, and he had seen a few people approach the training area only to see the two of them performing some kind of exercise and turn away. He had maybe one more shot at this before his chakra would be completely depleted and he would have no choice but to let the therapy be a total failure.

MIchio again woke with a gasp. This time Shisara reached over to comfort him. Michio didn’t wait this time he went Immediately to Shinken. If he could save the Uchiha he could have him protect Shisara while he went after the damned Inuzuka.

“SHINKEN! Get up! There’s an enemy ninja in here!” Michio growled as he roughly kicked his teammate. The Uchiha gave his teammate a very strange look but got to his feet and activated his sharingan anyway.

“What are you talking about? An enemy ninja here? In your apartment?” Shinken questioned rubbing his eyes. Michio let out a sigh that came out more as a growl. He didn’t have time to explain things to his partner. As long as the Uchiha was up and aware of the threat he could handle himself. With that Michio went into the bedroom and got Shisara up. He moved her to the kitchen where there were no windows and the only way to get to her would be through himself and Shinken. It was only when his thoughts drifted to his teammate that he realized he was nowhere to be seen. Before Michio could even form his next thought he heard the Uchiha scream. It was happening again, and there was nothing he could do about it.

In his hand he felt the handle of the blade again. It’s tendrils wrapping around his arm and burrowing into his flesh. The words use me echoed in his mind again and suddenly something clicked in Michio’s mind. The angrier he got the better the blade felt, but the more he let his emotions control him the deeper this thing dug into him. He had to get angry, but stay focused. He thought of the sight of Shisara dead in their bed, of the sound of Shinken’s gurgling scream and the anger came. It was like a fire that was burning through him, and as he stoked it he could feel the blade become a part of him. It was light as a feather and it moved as if there was no air resistance at all. The Kaguya struggled to keep his anger in check, but the painful reminders the tendrils provided when he slipped were enough to keep him on track. Eventually a blood soaked Inuzuka made his way into the apartment.

“Your friend there put up quite the fight. I took his eyes as a souvenir.” The Inuzuka said as he tossed Shinken’s eyes at Michio’s feet. The man had a sick smile on his face. As if he enjoyed causing pain and death. MIchio almost gave into the rage then, but he held himself back.

Back in the real world Shinken cracked a small grin. It was working this time. Michio was learning. If he could just keep his rage under control long enough to kill the Inuzuka, then almost any situation in they might run into in the field would be child’s play.

In the genjutsu the fight between the two ninja didn’t last long. Even with a ninja dog to help him, the Inuzuka was no match for Michio once he had properly harnessed both his fury and the blade that had grafted itself onto his arm. As the Inuzuka took his dying breath the illusion faded away and Michio was standing in front of a sweat soaked and panting Shinken.

“You...You did it. I know that was hell...But you did it. You controlled your rage…” Shinken said as he fell back onto his rear. He was out of chakra now and probably would be for the rest of the day. He only hoped they didn’t get a mission right away, or they would be at a severe disadvantage.

Shinken thought he had succeeded in teaching his friend to control his temper but he realized he was sorely mistaken when an enraged Michio mistook him for the Inuzuka in the genjutsu. He couldn’t see any trace of the Kaguya in those rage filled eyes. In a single moment he had flipped from being in control to more out of control than he had ever been. Shinken would have wondered if there was even a shred of hope for Michio if he weren’t terrified and stumbling back for his life. He didn’t have the chakra to stop this attack and the Kaguya was out of his mind. Nothing Shinken could say would bring him out of his enraged state. It was then that the Uchiha saw his Jounin enter the training field. Kuno saw what was going on and after attempting to stop Michio with words moved in to physically stop him.

As Shinken’s teammate was slammed into the ground he gave a nod of thanks to his Jounin who looked at the Uchiha with confusion plastered all over his face. The young gennin wasn’t looking forward to explaining what he had been trying to do. It certainly was a mistake, that he could see now. He had thought that if he could get Michio to wrest control of himself in the worst possible situation that he would be able to do it easily in any other conditions. Perhaps it had at least strengthened the Kaguya’s control over his rage, but Shinken wasn’t going to try that therapy again anytime soon. As Kuno scolded him the young Uchiha simply looked down at the ground. He knew he had done wrong but he had honestly thought it was going to help. The best qualities of a man were often forged in fire.

The young Gennin listened as his squad leader spoke of the Chuunin exams. So that was how ninja advanced to the next rank? It made a lot of sense. Not only would it keep one Village from eclipsing the others in terms of military power, but It gave each Kage, and the other gennin a look at what the other villages were capable of. That was both an advantage, a disadvantage, and a gesture of trust and cooperation. These exams weren’t just about personal advancement, they were also about the advancement of both the reputation of your country as well as your own.

When Kuno went on about how the Ambassador had graded the team he grimaced. The team as a whole had obviously performed in a subpar manner, and as his Jounin spoke Shinken’s fears were realized. The team averaged a near failing rank. He took solace in the fact that he himself had received a B, but was slightly angered by the fact that because he had held back his destructive Ninjutsu for fear of collateral damage he had been docked points. The fact that even their Jounin had scored poorly made Shinken wonder if the Hidden Sand was going to be the joke of the Exams.

Shinken decided to let his Jounin teach his teammate first. The Uchiha was already in good shape for the exams apparently, despite his horrible decision to subject Michio to such intense genjutsu training. Ironically Kuno was apparently going to teach the Kaguya a genjutsu technique. It surprised Shinken that Michio would express interest in that style of jutsu. It was something very out of character for him. Perhaps his session in mental hell had taught him something after all.

It was then that Kuno handed Shinken something he called a soldier pill. The little brown orb was surprisingly heavy for something so small. When he popped it into his mouth it was bitter and had a sourness to it as well. It was certainly not pleasant and the Uchiha couldn’t hold back a grimace as he swallowed it. It wasn’t long before he felt his chakra returning and some of his stamina regenerating. His mouth however felt dry and his tongue tingled. Perhaps he shouldn’t have bitten down on the pill.

The Uchiha listened to Kuno lecture on how the Genjutsu worked. It was sound based, something Shinken had yet to truly master, and he had his doubts that his comrade was capable of learning something that involved such complexity in the art of Genjutsu. To affect someone’s mind without them realizing was certainly a handy trick to have in one’s bag however. He would have to learn the Jutsu himself when time allowed. For now he had his mind set on learning Ninjutsu techniques that weren’t so destructive. Something he could use in close quarters without risking collateral damage.

Shinken watched knowingly as his partner tried and failed to perform the Jutsu. Both he and Kuno didn’t have very high hopes for Michio to master this technique easily. The Uchiha was caught off guard when he suddenly found himself slumping over. The Kaguya had actually succeeded on his second attempt of the technique. That was impressive. Wanting to make Michio feel good about his achievement Shinken waited for a few moments before breaking out of the Genjutsu. While it was irritating to be rendered helpless the young gennin felt a sense of pride for his companion. He was branching out and discovering he was capable of more than just laying a beatdown on someone. Perhaps that would help with his anger issues as well. If he knew he had options other than a physical fight he might give charging in a second thought. Now that Michio had learned something Kuno turned to Shinken.

“Well now I guess it’s time I teach you something. Since you seem to be lacking in Ninjutsu we’ll start there.” The Jounin said as he put his knuckle to his lips as was common when he was thinking. Before he could say anything else Shinken interrupted him.

“I have ninjutsu. I just didn’t use it because I didn’t want to endanger the citizens of the village with a giant fireball.” The Uchiha said flatly. He was still bothered by the fact he had been deducted points for prioritizing the safety of nearby non combatants.

“Fair enough. Still you could use more than just one Ninjutsu technique. I can think of a couple you might be able to use. Why don’t we start with a simple clone Jutsu? First gather your chakra, then Isolate a portion of it. Shape that portion of your chakra into a copy of you. It will be illusory and only really useful in fooling your opponent, but it can be useful if used correctly.” Kuno explained. Shinken nodded and tried to do as his instructor had told him. First he took his chakra and separated a decent sized amount. The Uchiha figured that to make a copy of himself even if it was illusory he would require a large amount of chakra to shape. As he tried to Shape it into a copy of himself his chakra began to behave strangely. It felt hot and began to break apart almost like a flame jumping from one source of fuel to another. Not wanting to fail the jutsu he did his best to shape all of the portions of chakra into copies of himself. When he formed the final hand seal there was a strange sound and Kuno’s eyes went wide.

“You...You made TEN CLONES?...And...They’re blocking light...They’re real...solid clones...What did you do Shinken?!” Kuno cried in utter shock. As The young gennin heard his Jounin’s exclamation he too held a look of shock as did all of the clones. How had he managed to do something so completely different from what he intended? Still ten clones were better than one, and real clones were better than fake illusions. So in the end Shinken considered this mistake a great discovery, and an unexpected victory. But he could feel them draining on his chakra so he stopped sustaining the techniques. All of the clones vanished in puffs of thick noxious black smoke.

“Smoke clones huh? I guess that makes sense with your fire nature chakra. Well That was a surprising turn of events. Remember how you did that Shinken. It will come in handy at the Chunnin exams. I guarantee it.” Kuno stated with a hint of pride in his voice. The young Uchiha heard that note of pride and smiled a little. He knew he still had a long way to go if he was going to be ready for the exams, but he was well on his way.

“Do you have anything else you could teach me Kuno Sensei?” Shinken asked hoping to prep himself even further for the coming exams. To his disappointment the Jounin shook his head. It would appear that he would have to figure out exactly what he wanted to learn, and then train for it. While his taijutsu prowess was average at best the young Uchiha was sure there was some way he could improve his technique. He couldn’t quite place his finger on how yet, but he would find a way.

“The only thing I could tell you is basic advice about fire natured chakra. You can increase its effectiveness by making it more potent. It’s sort of like fanning a fire. It may seem counter intuitive, but if you funnel more concentrated unaligned chakra into your fire nature chakra it will consume it like a fire eating away at it’s fuel. Similarly just as a fire that consumes more fuel more quickly becomes more intense so will your fire nature chakra. This will increase the potency of your fire based chakra, allowing for greater strength in fire based techniques.” Kuno lectured. While Shinken might have found it difficult to conjure up chakra that wasn’t already infused with fire nature, he could still do it. If adding a little bit of difficulty to his techniques could greatly improve their effectiveness that was a trade he would gladly take.

“Thank you for the advice. I will make note of it and experiment with the applications of that concept.” Shinken said as he bowed to his sensei. He was excited to find a use for this new knowledge but that would have to wait. Kuno had a look on his face that said he had something to say.

“Well seeing as how you seemed to have recovered from the incident earlier today Michio I have a mission in mind that was just posted up on the board today. It will be a good chance for us to work on our teamwork. There’s a local antique store one that I believe you two have already visited. Well there’s a rumor going around that someone is looking to steal something from it. We’re going to guard it and make sure that doesn’t happen.” The Jounin explained.

Shinken looked over at Michio and for just a moment thought he might be pushing himself too hard if he undertook this mission. The Uchiha shook off the thought almost immediately. His friend was strong, and this should be an easy mission. Protecting an antique store from some thugs would be easy work, as long as all three of them were there and Michio didn’t lose his temper. Considering that they now had a way to neutralize a group of enemies gathered in the same place the numbers of the local gangs were much less of a threat. Though the fact that they had recently given the store owner access to a scroll hidden in a ninja puzzle box, and there was now a rumor he was going to be robbed seemed suspicious. Given the way that the shopkeeper had shooed them away immediately after they opened the box, and now this mission Shinken had to wonder what exactly was on that scroll. Why was it so important? He did his best to hide his misgivings about the mission as he spoke.

“We can handle it. That shop has absolutely nothing to worry about with squad one on the job.” The Uchiha said confidently. He really was sure that whatever the potential robbers were capable of wouldn’t give their team much trouble. Now that they had a Jounin that was actually capable of working with them their strength had greatly increased.

As Shinken was given his ear piece he immediately put it on. It was important to be prepared and ready to go at a moments notice. In the life of a ninja a single moment could mean the differenece between life and death. Or at least that’s what they had taught them at the academy. It took them a lot longer than the Uchiha remembered to get to the antique shop. He had been correct to assume that it was the same one as the puzzle box, however it seemed that the Kaguya had been expecting the weapon shop. Shinken shook his head and gave his comrade a disbelieving look. It had been quite clear which shop Kuno had meant.

Shinken was then forced to listen to Kuno berating his teammate for the damage that occurred on their first mission. To be fair the shop had looked like a wall full of paper bombs had gone off inside. For all shinken knew they might have. It was after all a weapons and ninja tools shop. When Michio brought up the subject of the scroll they had found in the puzzle box Shinken began to wonder again if that was what all of this was about. If he could just get a chance to read that scroll maybe all of this would be made clear. What information could it possibly have that was so valuable? As he continued to ponder he heard Kuno scolding Michio for thinking about reading the scroll. The young Uchiha had to hide a smile, it wasn’t just the Kaguya who wanted to see what that scroll contained.

When the merchant greeted Kuno as if he had known him for a long time Shinken gave his sensei a look of confusion mixed with curiostiy. Why did this shopkeep know their Jounin. From the way that the shop owner spoke Kuno was a regular customer of the store. That was certainly worth investigating later. For now the young gennin would do his job and not ask questions, as much as he wanted to. The merchant went on about how every item in his store was worth more than a gennin would earn in his entire lifetime. Shinken looked down and rolled his eyes as soon as they were out of the merchants line of sight. As if he had anything that valuable in his shop. Such a broad sweeping statement was bound to be inaccurate.

When Michio asked how they wanted to do the mission Shinken found his thoughts again drifting to the scroll. It was the only thing that these thugs could want wasn’t it? There were old artifacts from shinobi days long gone inside, but those things were of no use to a group of thugs. Trying to move them on the black market would only give away that they had stolen them. A scroll was far less unique and could easily be moved. Still he couldn’t help but feel there was something amiss here. If it was the scroll how had the gang found out about it so quickly? Had they been planning this even before Shinken and Michio had opened the puzzle box? That couldn’t be it. The gang had just recently formed, or at least that’s what the information they had said. That just made everything seem more suspicious. If they had just found out, and were already moving they didn’t have a plan. What could motivate a newly formed gang to risk moving in without a plan? Was there some kind of ancient ninja technique on the scroll? Information on a cache of valuable artifacts hidden in a secret location? If they were risking such a reckless move the gang members had to know what they were aiming to take. Shinken was shaken from his racing thoughts by the voice of his Jounin.

“The first one, Michio-kun. You will take the alley over there and stick to the shadows. Ambush anyone who tries to break into the side door. Shinken, you're at the back door. I'll keep an eye on the front. Move out!” Kuno ordered. Shinken was quick to move to the back door. He didn’t want to seem derelict in his duties, but he couldn’t stop wondering why the gang members were moving so suddenly. They had just been disbanded earlier today. Perhaps a better question was how were they moving so fast? Shinken had a sinking feeling these gangs were just being manipulated by someone, and if that was the case there was a much bigger threat here than they thought. Again Shinken was shaken from his thoughts by a familiar voice. This time it was Michio’s

“You guys hear me alright?” Michio asked. For a moment Shinken considered filling him in on his suspicions, but thought better of it. The last thing he needed was Michio going all gung ho before he had everything figured out. If the thugs tried to come in through the back door he would interrogate them in a genjutsu. Hopefully it would provide some kind of relevant information.

The young Uchiha stood at the back door to the dilapidated shop for a few hours, and as the sun went down he began to feel his chest tightening. This whole situation didn’t seem right, and it was putting him on edge. The longer he had to sit and think the worse he felt. The young gennin couldn’t believe he was actually going to say what he was thinking, but the words came out of his mouth anyway.

“I wish they would just hurry up and attack already. All of this waiting is unnerving.” The Uchiha said over the comms. Just as he was about to switch the channel off he heard something scrambling around maybe 15 or 20 feet down a nearby alley. It didn’t take long for the source of the sound to reveal itself. A group of 5 men armed with clubs and kunai walked around the corner and Shinken immediately spoke into his headset.

“I’ve got 5 here!” He shouted as he began forming the hand seals for his clone jutsu. If he was going to interrogate one of them he would first have to reduce their numbers. As the smoke clones formed around him they dispersed, two to each combatant. Suddenly outnumbered the look on the faces of the thugs changed from confidence to one of fear. Shinken smiled darkly, hoping to heighten their fear. It might make them fight harder, but in the end it would help break their spirits, and a man with a broken spirit was easier to question than a stubborn one.

As the clones advanced on their targets the thugs brought their weapons up. Having full control over the clones via a mental link he had them drive the thugs into a group. Herding them back to back like frightened animals. That was when they snapped. They attacked with all of the ferocity of someone fighting for their life. Each time one of them struck out Shinken’s clones took advantage of the opening and struck them with two fingers, causing them to feel incredible amounts of pain as they saw their flesh boil off of their bones. The gang didn’t last long, but they did take out two of the smoke clones in their efforts. The real Shinken had refrained from engaging the enemy, and instead taken to studying the movements of his clones, hoping to find his own weaknesses in them so that he could work on fixing them. He noticed that when he went to counter attack he was leaving himself open, that was how they had taken out his smoke clones. Perhaps he was relying too much on the sharingan, that was something he would have to work on. If he ever fought someone with speed that could rival his own he would be in a lot of trouble. As he thought on this his remaining 8 clones held down the final gang member. Shinken met his eyes and gave him a very stern look.

“You’re going to tell me what I want to know, or things are going to get very painful for you.” The Uchiha growled. His voice was full of a dark sincerity that made the thug gulp hard. Still the man shut his mouth tightly. He was either loyal, or more scared of the person in charge of his gang. Either way, everyone had a breaking point. Shinken activated his sharingan and his eyes blazed a glowing red in the darkness. Again he spoke but this time the man could feel fire running through his veins. His vision blurred and every sound around him sounded like a paper bomb going off right next to his face. The man’s knees gave out and the only thing keeping him up seemed to be the clones. In reality he was still being restrained by the clones, and he was perfectly fine. The sound and pain stopped just for a moment as his vision cleared.

“How did this gang form so fast?” Shinken demanded. The gang member looked up at shinken with defiance in his eyes. Still the Uchiha gave the man several moments to answer. When he didn’t speak The young gennin slapped the man across the face hard enough to jerk his head to the side. The man craned his neck over his shoulder and spat out a mouthful of blood, before looking back to Shinken.

“Well you can’t say I didn’t ask nicely.” The uchiha said with a low growl as he flung the man back into the genjutsu. This time he intensified the burning sensation. As it raced across the man’s body and his vision went dark the young gennin added something new. A murmuring whisper that slowly echoed and grew into a chorus of voices, and then to an overwhelming wave of screaming souls. What the man didn’t realize was that as the red hot pain reached his organs he too began to scream. Shinken left him like that, writhing in pain for two minutes but it must have felt like an eternity to the thug. Eventually the Uchiha slowly brought the man out of the illusion.

“I’ll ask you again. How did this gang form so fast?” Shinken demanded. The man looked at him now not with defiance, but with despair. The young ninja’s face hardened and he grabbed the gang member by the throat.

“Tell me what I want to know, or you’ll suffer that pain for all eternity.” Shinken growled. The man began to shake and tried to break free of the clones to no avail.

“No! I can’t! I don’t know! I swear I don’t know! Enko just showed up, and made an example of someone. I don’t know where she came from!” The man whispered, obviously frightened of what would happen to him if he was heard speaking out against this Enko woman.

“What are you after in there?” The Uchiha said as he tightened his grip on the man’s throat. The thug looked around as if hoping someone would come to rescue him. When no help came he swallowed hard and looked back up to the gennin in front of him.

“There’s a scroll in there...Enko said she wanted it. Said it was valuable. A big score that would solidify our place as a gang. That’s all I know I swear!” The man said his voice getting louder, maybe hoping to draw someone’s attention. No one came to his aid and Shinken shook his head.

“There’s no one coming to help you, but you just saved yourself a lot of pain.” The young ninja said sounding almost grateful. Before the thug could ask for his freedom the Uchiha threw a powerful right hook and knocked him unconscious.

“These five are down. You guys need any help?” He asked over the comms. He was sure that his teammates could handle themselves but if this Enko woman showed up, and wasn’t just some ordinary thug they might have their hands full. Shinken didn’t think she would be here personally if she was just manipulating the gangs though. She certainly wouldn’t be happy that her plans had been foiled. Without knowing what she looked like, or what she was capable of there just wasn’t enough information right now to make a call as to what to do next. Still at least they had a name now.

After he had finished taking out the thugs Shinken regrouped with the other members of his team. It appeared that they were going to be heading back to the Kazekage’s office. That was fine with him. The young gennin needed time to think, and he had to explain to the Kage what they had found. He didn’t want to bother the leader of their village with his suspicions just yet.

As they stepped through the door The Kage made a comment about the team staying in one piece and Shinken had to bite his tongue. He knew that the man had an issue with Michio, but the comment was completely uncalled for. It also insulted their Jounin who, while he may have made a mistake during his last mission, didn’t deserve to be chided. As the Kazekage gestured to the three seats the young Uchiha sat down. It was then that the Kage explained about the Chunnin exams and how he and Michio were to be a display of the hidden sand’s strength. The young gennin felt a sudden weight on his shoulders now. The way the Kage had spoken seemed to indicate there would be a punishment for failing the exams. He didn’t have long to think about it as his Kaguya teammate interrupted the Kage with a question about Sayomi and Hanako. The Kage wasn’t pleased with this interruption but he did address Michio’s questions.

As the Kage explained why Shinken and Michio were a change of pace from the normal Gennin that were sent to the exams the young Uchiha thought on what he might be up against. If the sand hadn’t won in that many exams then it was going to be very difficult to win. He would have to step up his training, and create new techniques. The Sharingan alone wasn’t going to be enough to push him to victory in circumstances like that.

When he was handed his form Shinken bowed his head politely to the Kage. He certainly wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity like this. He was fairly confident that with some serious training he would be able to keep pace, and even defeat the gennin from other villages. He had already surpassed what most gennin in his village were capable of, so it stood to reason that he would at least be on par with those of another village. Of course they wouldn’t be sending just their average gennin. They would be sending their best. Before Shinken could get too deeply lost in his thoughts the Kage spoke again.

When the kage asked about information involving the gang, and the mission shinken decided it would look better if Michio and Kuno sensei spoke first. They needed to redeem themselves after the last mission. When they were finished explaining what they had learned the Uchiha spoke up.

“I had time to interrogate one of the thugs. He said that a woman named Enko formed the Zephyrs, and that it was her idea to go after the scroll. She told them it was something that would cement them as a powerful player in the sand village. But I suspect that was not the real reason she wanted it.” Shinken said. He didn’t have much time to think if he had missed anything before the Kazekage responded.

The young Uchiha also felt very uneasy that even the Kage hadn’t heard of Enko before. It didn’t bode well for things to come. Shinken kind of wished that there had been more of a focus placed on training before the exams started especially now that this was going on. Experience was one thing but ninja also needed the skill to back up their plans. If the mission tomorrow didn’t take all day maybe he would have the chance to get in some training with Michio or Sayomi. As he left the Kage’s office Shinken waved to Kuno and Michio.

“I think I’m going to head home. I just have this feeling that things are going to get really bad. I want to spend some time with my parents before we go on our next mission.” The uchiha said before heading off to his own home. He rarely stayed there anymore so his parents were very excited to see him walk in the door.

“Oh Shinken! Are you staying the night? How have your missions been going?” His mother asked. Her genuine interest in his well being brought a smile to his face. Before he could answer her his father took him into a bear hug.

“It’s good to see you son. Have you eaten? I know it’s late so our dinner is cold, but there was some leftover stew. You look like you’ve had a long day. Why don’t I heat it up for you.” His father said not even waiting for an answer before going to work. His mother pulled him over to the table and sat him down. The young gennin had to hold in a chuckle. Even though he would risk his life on a daily basis, his parents still viewed him as their little boy. If he was being honest with himself it was a nice change of pace to be pampered like this. The ninja life had been hard, and he hadn’t really had time to just sit down and rest.

When the stew was ready Shinken ate it happily. He wondered if he should tell his parents about the details of his missions, but he decided that given how they were going, and how badly Michio had been hurt twice now, that it would only worry them. So instead he gave them a vague overview of how he was doing, and that he had been selected for the Chunnin exams. His parents had mixed emotions about their son progressing so quickly, but they did congratulate him. No matter what they were proud of what Shinken had accomplished. After eating Shinken felt himself growing tired and he gave his parents a smile.

“It’s been a pretty long day. I’m going to turn in for the night.” He said as he got up from the table and placed his dish in the basin they used to wash their eating utensils. His parents looked a little bit sad, but nodded in understanding.

“Alright son. Your bed is all made up. Just make sure you get a good night’s sleep alright?” His father said sounding a little bit concerned. Shinken gave him a smile to assuage his fears. His father smiled back and went to cleaning the bowl that had housed Shinken’s meal. With that the ninja turned in for the night. His sleep was deep, and if he did dream he didn’t remember them.

When Shinken woke up it was early in the morning. The sun was just coming up over the horizon. He could hear his parents snoring in the other room, and smiled. This time he was going to pamper them. He got up out of his bed as quietly as his ninja training would allow. As he snuck into the kitchen his brain began to run over the possible things he could cook for breakfast. He thought he remembered there being some pork in the fridge, and he thought he would make Some pork buns. Knowing that the merchants would just be opening up their stalls he ran out to the market and purchased two kinds of cooking oil, a cabbage, some green onions and a little bit of ginger. At another stall he picked up some flour and a little bit of yeast. The merchants were surprised at how early he was out, but they didn’t complain as he gave them all generous tips for the inconvenience.

When he got home he began to prepare the dough. First he added some yeast to the bottom of a bowl and then poured some water that he heated with fire chakra. He proceeded mix the water to dissolve the yeast into the liquid until he could no longer see it. Then he added the flour and using a set of chopsticks slowly stirred the mixture until it became thick and began to stick together. When it had reached the desired consistency he removed it from the bowl and placed it on the counter so that he could begin to knead the dough. After the first ten minutes of kneading the dough his hands began to ache but he continued. It was a labor of love. He only hoped his parents would stay asleep long enough for him to finish cooking their breakfast. It took him another ten minutes to finish kneading the dough to the desired smooth consistency. He then placed it back in it’s bowl to rest, and moved on to preparing the rest of the ingredients.

The young gennin washed the cabbage and then searched the kitchen until he found the thick metal cleaver that he wanted to use to chop up the ingredients. He grabbed hold of it and quickly began to prepare the vegetable by chopping it up into fine slices. He then placed it into a bowl and poured salt over it. Shinken tossed the vegetable for a few seconds to make sure the salt was intermixed completely and then let it sit for about 5 minutes.

Next he moved onto the pork, which thankfully was already ground. He put it in another bowl and began to slowly add water to it. Each time he would pour a little bit more water into the mixture before stirring it with a set of chopsticks until he was satisfied that the water had been assimilated into the ground pork. He then began to mix it continuously in one direction until he was satisfied with the texture, and then he added soy sauce from the fridge. He mixed that in again making sure to only mix it in one direction. Then he set the bowl aside and grabbed the cleaver he had used to chop the cabbage.

Grabbing the green onions and ginger from his bag he washed them both off. The green onions were set on the cutting board and chopped into small pieces before Shinken moved on to the ginger. He peeled the ginger, before chopping it finely. Satisfied that the ingredients were properly prepared he added them to the meat, and again mixing in the same direction incorporated them into the mixture.

Now that the cabbage had been sitting for some time he pulled it out of the bowl and squeezed the excess water from it. He placed the cabbage back on the cutting board and chopped it up until it had reached a level of fineness that he deemed acceptable, before adding it into the meat mixture. He stirred the mixture again to incorporate the new ingredients before adding the cooking oils that he had purchased. The young Uchiha continued to stir until everything was properly mixed.

Now that his dough had risen shinken sprinkled some flour out on the countertop and pulled the dough from its bowl. He cut it into several large pieces and then one by one began to work them. He kneaded them and rolled them into 4 logs, which he then cut into smaller pieces. After he had separated the dough into small sections he rolled them out into small thick pastries, before taking each one and rolling them out into larger thinner pancake shaped pastries.

Now finally it was time to add the filling. Shinken took his chopsticks and shoveled filling into each pastry one at a time. He was careful not to add too much filling to any one pastry, knowing that if he did they would overflow. Then when he was happy with what he had made he slowly and carefully began to close each pastry by pinching the edges of the dough together until the pastry was completely sealed.

By now Shinken had made quite the mess of the kitchen and he still needed to let the Pork buns rest for almost another half an hour. Knowing that he was going to wake up his parents, he began to clean the kitchen. When he was about half way through washing the dishes his father came out with a yawn and saw what Shinken was doing.

“Son...What are you doing? Are you making...Pork buns…?” The tall older man asked sounding both puzzled and intrigued. Pork buns were one of his father’s favorite dishes but they were so much trouble to make that he rarely got to have them. This was only the second time Shinken had ever made them so he hoped he was doing it right. It didn’t take long for his mother to stroll out into the kitchen after she heard the words Pork Buns.

“Shinken you better not have...Oh.” His mother said when she saw the Pork buns already sitting on the table top, and Shinken doing the dishes. She was always very finicky about her kitchen. It always had to be neat and orderly, or she would tear into whoever left a mess.

“I was hoping to surprise you two with a home cooked breakfast, but I guess doing the dishes was just too much noise. Those need to sit for another 30 minutes and then I’ll steam them up for you.” The young Uchiha said. Knowing his mother’s attitude before she had her morning tea the young gennin began to boil a pot of water by channeling his fire based chakra into it. The process was much quicker than conventional methods.

Shinken took the black metal teapot that always sat beside the stove and placed the tea leaves into the filter, before pouring the boiling water into the pot. It took several minutes but the leaves inside unfurled and were soon tightly packed into the strainer. His mother looked at him and smiled. He knew she really appreciated all of this and that made all of the effort worthwhile.

He and his parents shared a nice cup of tea while they waited for the pork buns to set, and finally when they were ready Shinken placed parchment paper under each dumpling and steamed them for sixteen minutes, before letting them rest again for another five. Finally after all of the effort and waiting the pork buns were ready. He let his parents each take what they wanted as he went back into his room to fetch the earpiece from the night before. He was planning on heading out right after breakfast.

When the Uchiha got to his room he heard a muffled sound coming from the comm device and he placed it in his ear just in time to hear Kuno Sensei say that they were supposed to be at the Kage’s office in an hour. That gave him just enough time to have a good meal with his parents and then travel to the office at a leisurely pace. When he got back to the kitchen his father already had a mouthful of pork dumpling and the Uchiha’s mother slapped the man on the arm.

“Ryu! You couldn’t even wait until our son was here to start eating?!” His mother scolded. His father said something Shinken couldn’t understand through all of the food in his mouth and shrugged. The young ninja couldn’t help but laugh at the absurd sight of his father with mouth stuffed full of food trying to talk down his mother.

“Mom it’s ok. I made them for both of you, not for me.” Shinken said. His mother looked at him and smiled softly before taking two pork buns and handing one to the young Uchiha.

“Here. Eat, you look like all you’ve been eating is Ramen….and thank you.” His mother said. She wasn’t exactly wrong. He had been eating more ramen than he had ever eaten in his life this past month. He certainly didn’t mind though. Shisara’s cooking was pretty tasty, and there was that one time that Sayomi made him spicy ramen. He couldn’t hold back a smile as he thought of how she had tried so hard to eat the spicy food. He had to give her an A for effort.

“Thanks mom. I’m supposed to go see the Kage soon. Something about another mission. I know I haven’t been home a lot lately, and I’m sorry. I wanted to do this for you because I haven’t been around as much as I should be. I just have to keep my teammate out of trouble, he’s kinda clumsy.” Shinken said bending the truth a bit, so as not to worry his parents. His father shook his head and Shinken could have sworn he saw a hint of recognition in his father’s face, but the man didn’t say anything. His mother however did speak up.

“Well you two had better be careful out there. A ninja’s life is a dangerous one you know.” She said. Boy did Shinken know how true that statement was. He had seen his teammate almost get himself killed a few times now, and he had gotten into a few bad spots himself. There was always the risk that he was going to come home in a box, and that must have been weighing heavily on his parents. He would just have to become the strongest Ninja in the sand village, then they wouldn’t have to worry so much. With the Exams coming up Shinken could only hope his parents didn’t find out how truly dangerous they were.

“I know mom. I promise I’ll be careful, and I’ll make you and dad proud.” Shinken said before he took a bite of his Pork bun. He had done surprisingly well. The meat buns were delicious, and perfectly cooked. For a moment Shinken wondered if he had missed his calling as a ninja chef. As the family ate their breakfast the Young Uchiha lost track of time and soon almost 45 minutes had passed. He was just about to take the last pork bun when his father spoke up.

“Shinken aren’t you supposed to be going to the Kazekage’s office?” His father said hoping to distract his son long enough to grab the last bun. Shinken’s eyes went wide as he realized how much time had gone by. He grabbed the Pork bun and turned to run out the door.

“Thanks dad! Love you guys, I gotta go BYE!” He shouted as he took off running out the door. He knew the village well enough that he figured he could shave some of the almost half hour travel time between his house and the Kage’s office off by taking a few short cuts. He ran down the streets almost bowling people over. It was only thanks to his ninja agility and reflexes that he was able to step around them. And jump over them. The streets were unusually crowded today, and it was slowing him down. At this rate he was going to be late for the meeting.

Knowing that time was limited, and not wanting to anger the Kage, or keep his teammates waiting Shinken decided he would take to the rooftops. He jumped from the middle of the street up onto the wall of a nearby building and used his upward momentum to get a running start up the wall. The young ninja pushed chakra into the bottom of his feet to help him stick to the wall, and within moments he was on the roof. From there it was a clear shot to the Kage’s office, though he did have to run up the side of some of the taller buildings in his way. Eventually after jumping from rooftop to rooftop he made it to his destination. When he arrived he saw Kuno approaching. He waved down his teacher and the two of them entered the Kage’s office at the same time, though Shinken had a mouthful of pork bun. When Michio mentioned that they had a new mission he tried to speak but it was muffled by the food in his mouth so instead he just nodded.

He wondered what the new mission could possibly be. It couldn’t have been that important if the Kage had left it to this morning to do, but at the same time it had to have been potentially dangerous if he said they needed their rest. The Kage wasn’t the sort of man to put things off. He always thought that if you stopped a problem before it started then you saved yourself heaps of pain and effort. Shinken thought that on this particular issue he was correct. If one could n** an issue in the bud then they they should always take that chance, rather than risk collateral damage, but the more he thought about it the more he might be considered an issue to some of the villagers, perhaps things weren’t as black and white as he thought.

As he chewed his Pork bun, and relished what was probably going to be the last food he had until the end of the day with how things had been going lately, Shinken took the scroll from Michio and read it. They were supposed to retrieve the scroll from the old man. That would give Shinken a chance to see what it contained and maybe figure out a clue in the puzzle that was Enko. Though he would have to find a way to read it without Kuno Sensei finding out. Regardless he would feel better if the thugs of the Zephyr gang were kept far away from the scroll. As he swallowed the last of his pork bun the young Uchiha gave his teammates a smile.

“Well then… What are we waiting for? Let’s go finish this mission.” The gennin said with more energy than he usually had. He was excited to get to see what was in that scroll. Maybe it was some kind of secret jutsu he could learn to guarantee his success at the Chunnin exams.