Chapter Text
With a puff of smoke, a kunai reappeared in the middle of the circle drawn on a scroll. Sasuke passed his exam. He looked up to watch his teacher approach him with his own hitai-ate. The engraving of the leaf symbol on the metal plate looked fresh and jagged.
‘It looks sharp enough to draw blood,’ Sasuke thought.
As he focuses on the engraving, images of blood-soaked floors and walls were possessing his mind. He felt frigid as he mentally wandered streets littered with unmoving bodies. He could feel his eyes going out of focus as his breathing came uncontrolled and quick.
His sensei’s voice took him out of his spiral. “Congratulations, Sasuke-san. You’re officially an adult ninja of the Hid…”
His voice trailed off as he looked out into the field. Sasuke followed his gaze to see a kid in orange running away. Sasuke recognized him as the village’s troublemaker. He had been the one to do the exam before him, failing.
Sasuke wasn’t sure if he should feel bad for the guy. He was always antagonizing him, whether that was just picking fights or targeting him for his constant inane pranks. The coal haired boy didn’t know why he would go through all that trouble. His failure was just proof of how lightly he took his training.
He shook his head and put him out of mind. Looking at his teacher, he saw a familiar expression. It reminded him of the ones his family used to give him.
Images of his mother as she laid out dinner, and they talked about what happened that day. His father’s rare smiles of pride when he mastered a technique. Aunts and uncles when they visited or were watching him for his parents. Then he showed up and all he could think about was the last time he saw any of their faces. Covered in blood. Expressions frozen in pain. He shook his head, trying to get rid of those memories.
“Iruka-sensei,” Sasuke called for his attention. He wanted to get this done so he could move on.
“Oh, right. Sorry,” he apologized as he rubbed the back of head and cleared his throat, “As a newly graduated ninja you won’t need to come to the academy anymore. However, you are encouraged to continue coming for the morning conditioning until you're assigned to a Jounin’s team.” His voice carried a warmth to it, but it paled compared to the expression he sent that orange kid’s way. Sasuke felt a rising jealousy at what that guy had and immediately tried to squash it.
Sasuke practically glared up at his teacher when the meaning behind his words settled in his mind. The Jounin assignments won’t happen until the end of the term in three months.
‘What was the point of having early exams if they still had to waste time at the academy?’
“I know that’s not exactly what you wanted when you took the early test. But it will allow you to spend more time working on any clan techniques you know to wow your jounin mentor,” Iruka-sensei said in a placating tone.
Sasuke couldn’t help but think Iruka would not have been a good field operative. The man didn’t seem to have a brutal bone in his body. ‘I thought the same about him and look what happened,’ he thought sourly. He pushed that thought out of mind and assumed that Iruka-sensei just likes children.
“See this as your last chance to get varied opinions on your shortcomings and progress, unless you manage an apprenticeship, of course.”
Sasuke outright glared at Iruka at that. Apprenticeships were rare. No ninja wanted to share the secrets of their success on a whim. Almost all non-clan teaching only covered the basics and only gave suggestions about how students should take in training. There were only three major exceptions. The best when it came to advancement are the aforementioned apprenticeships. The most proficient being the jounin team assignments that gave the most well-rounded training. The least talked about being the Genin Crucible.
While each of these options are valid. The most prestigious was apprenticeships. Because it would allow up-and-coming ninjas to gain a proven skill set on top of any talents or proficiencies they came with.
The Genin Crucible is known for being the worst because there's a shortage of jounin teachers. Ninjas with civilian backgrounds that return to civilian life saturate the program; leading to the program having terrible rates of success. Another issue is that the training program lacks flexibility or has outright gaps in specific areas, hindering progress.
Sasuke’s plan for himself calls for variation, so it ruled out the Crucible outright. Apprenticeships were unlikely to fall in his lap, especially considering the village’s views on his clan.
So his only logical step forward was the jounin teams and hope they had the expertise to help him build his core repertoire. There was no way he could beat him with half mastered clan techniques alone. He needed to have surprises to gain any advantage.
Iruka rubbed his neck again at Sasuke's glare. He looked like he just remembered who he was talking to and that apprenticeships for him were even more unlikely than the others. Talent, or pity, be damned. “Well…with that, you may spend the rest of the day as you please.” The warmth in his voice never wavered, even as he looked at him with an unsaid apology for his earlier inattention.
Sasuke bowed respectfully. “Thank you for all your guidance, Iruka-sensei.”
On his way off the school’s grounds, he heard a ruckus. A gaggle of girls, some he recognized most he didn't, had grouped up to squeal for his attention. He forced himself not to glare their way, knowing it would most likely just make it worse. He cursed their loud, unwanted attention as he made a concentrated effort to ignore them.
He stared at nothing as he walked and planned his training schedule for the next three months. With conditioning covered, he can focus on perfecting skills and jutsus. “I’ll spend the afternoon practicing the clan’s taijutsu and ninjutsu. When it gets dark, I’ll focus on meditation to grow my chakra reserves. I need to get to where I can use the fireball more than once between refilling reserves,” he muttered to himself.
A flash of pink catches his attention as a girl runs up to him. He recognized her from his class. ‘I think her name was Sakura,’ he thought as he looked at her bowed head.
“Congratulations, Sasuke-kun!” she screamed as she shoved something packaged in bamboo leaves and ran off.
He had caught it on reflex, and she was gone before he could reject it. Curious, he opened it to find red beans and rice made into rice balls. “I guess I don’t need to make dinner now,” he smiled as a warm feeling grew in his chest.
That warmth disappeared, as though splashed with icy water, when the Uchiha district came into view.
He tilted his head to the ground as he opened the gate and closed it. He kept facing the gate for a moment, taking a deep breath, before turning and breaking into a brisk walk. Keeping his eyes low and moving, trying to avoid lingering on the scrubbed cobblestone where reddish-brown flecks lay.
His fast walk turned into a jog as he turned a corner. An area of small shops with broken windows and homes with doors on the ground where they fell on that night. Even with his eyes closed, he knew that the telltale flakes covered every surface.
The flakes only got worse as he ran farther into the residential area. More homes with doors fallen to the ground off their rails. More homes with windows broken. More homes covered with those haunting reddish-brown flakes.
His breath caught in his throat as red eyes looked into his. The images of his relatives falling to a sword. Screaming in pain and falling in their own blood. He shook his head as hard as he could, trying to get rid of them.
He finally makes it to his house, nearly out of breath. Sasuke opens his door and takes his sandals off. He sets them together right at the edge of the genkan as he steps up into the house proper. The coal brunet turned his head from the living area and raced into the kitchen to place the bamboo wrapped rice balls into his refrigerator. He ran up to his room and grabbed the bag he kept his training equipment in and ran back to the entrance and out of his house.
He kept his head low with eyes closed until he made it to the training grounds within the Uchiha walls. The only place, other than his room, untouched by those cursed flakes.
The area was sparse except for a row of dummies and wooden beams near the wall, about fifty meters away, and a few horizontal bars near the wall in front of him. The open space had been to allow the clan to have several groups practicing and sparring with little trouble. With just him, the grounds seemed needlessly big and unequipped.
Taking his mind off those negative thoughts, he took a moment to center himself. Once calm, he started warming up. He stretched and ran the length of the training field, roughly 100 meters, for an hour.
Then he went through the striking techniques for the Uchiha’s taijutsu style. Sasuke knew their forms were a variation of a martial art that the clan’s founder learned during his travels. It was a style that focused on fast and powerful strikes from punches, elbows, knees, and shins. The style was adopted to train reaction times that primes the mind for the sharingan, even if it is uncommon.
He thought the traditional starting stance was stiff and lacking in maneuverability during spars. But he knew he could just supplement it with another style’s footwork if he couldn’t make it work for him.
He made his way to the dummies to work on the katas. The dummy was carved in the approximation of a body’s head and torso. It had painted targets and what looked like the script used for seals covering it. When his strikes landed properly, the spot would light up. These dummies were used for technical training. He had to strike them with enough force to make the seals glow, but without breaking the wood or ruining the seal work.
It was the only way for him to see that he was making progress with his training.
Starting with simple combinations. A jab paired with a rear leg roundhouse kick. Both spots light up.
Jab, cross, hook, rear leg kick. Three out of the four lit up. He tried the combination again repeatedly until he made all striking locations glow.
Double jab and a push kick. All spots lit up.
The technical work was a soothing process. He wasn’t entirely sure how the seals knew which strike he was attempting to gauge he did it right. But it gave him immediate feedback and allowed him to try until he got it right, with no conversation needed. It allowed him to get into a rhythm.
He didn’t get distracted with unwanted memories. There was no one there to compare him to those better than him. No unwarranted praise by teachers trying to get something from him or comfort his bruised ego.
That soothed state slowly turned into irritation as he went through the more advanced combinations he half remembered. The seals lit up less and less.
If he could just get into his clan’s library, he would know what he was doing wrong. The Uchiha wrote down few things, but the basics of their ninjutsu and taijutsu styles were well documented.
“If not for the Hokage and those elders, I would be farther along,” he growled bitterly. The least they could do was let him have those manuals.
He felt stunted.
His clear path forward being thwarted just made it clearer what the clan lost that day. The secrets for masters of either discipline, and how the forms changed with the activation of the sharingan, were lost to him. Only one person knew them now.
A cracking sound brought him out of his thoughts. He had broken the head off and it was hanging by only a fibrous strand. He took a calming breath.
Stretching, he decided this period will be him preparing for the explosive growth once he meets his mentor and gains access to his clan’s library.
‘Foundations are important,’ he parroted.
A wavy haired cousin’s favorite piece of advice. His always smiling face was the only one he could picture without the blood. ‘Not that it matters. He’s gone like all the rest.’
He walked into the open field and started working on his ninjutsu.
Snake - Ram - Monkey - Boar - Horse - Tiger
[Fire Style: Blaze of Glory]
He took a deep breath and released a fireball that stood as tall as he was and lasted for a minute. He gritted his teeth. The flame needed to be bigger. Hotter. Last longer.
The Blaze of Glory was the only elemental jutsu he knew. He was too young to learn anything else. While the academy taught several ninjutsu techniques, they were all for utility at best. He needed combat power. So he focused on his strongest jutsu.
Taking a moment to rebuild his chakra levels, the coal brunet kept releasing the fire jutsu. Alternating its form from the ball form for slow-moving or stationary targets and the stream like version meant to pin down faster targets or deter attacks.
He looked up from the horizontal bar as he pulled himself up. The sun was nearly gone, and the light was nearly gone. He dropped off and went to reseal his weights so they would fit in his bag. He trudged his way, too tired to even register the flakes that haunted his district. Forgoing dinner, he washed up and went to sleep.
The next morning, he ate the red rice balls and made his way to the school. He noticed that the orange kid was running across rooftops chased by several of the teachers. Looking up, he saw that the monument with the Hokage faces was covered in what looked like toilet paper.
He dragged fingers through his coal hair as he wondered who backs that guy. His family used to maintain law and order in the village. He knew that there were strict laws for disgracing monuments, especially the Kage Heads. He also knew that, with how often he does this, that kid should not be getting away with just a reprimand.
Ignoring the surrounding noise, he went on with his day. Falling into an easy, if tiring, pattern.
Morning conditioning in the morning. Ignoring the fangirls still at the school. Spar with a teacher.
Eat lunch.
Train his taijutsu style. He worked with the plain wooden poles so he could work on the power of the strikes instead of technical work.
Training his ninjutsu. He went through the jutsu he thought was useful before focusing on his elemental jutsu.
He went home, made dinner, and went to sleep.
Morning conditioning.
Taijutsu training. Working on combinations of strikes: technical.
Ninjutsu Training. Setting up traps to catch targets in his jutsu radius.
Endurance training.
Meditate. He attempted to keep the chakra in his body for as long as possible.
Sleep.
Morning conditioning. Sparring matches.
He noticed that pink-haired girl watching the exams and taking notes again. The boy rubbed his sweaty, coal hair out of his eyes as he wondered if she would do something interesting for her exam. He makes a mental note to watch if he was still on campus when she did.
Taijutsu training. Combinations: power and speed.
Ninjutsu training. Focus on hand seal speed.
Strength exercises.
Sleep.
Morning conditioning.
Taijutsu training. Technical.
Ninjutsu training. Building chakra faster.
He doesn’t know why, but the focus of his ninjutsu training caused a headache. He grumbled as he stumbled home. ‘Why is this physically affecting me?’ Lying down, he tries to sleep it off.
<------o0o0o------>
A sword caught the light of the moon. Each swing sent blood spraying in all directions.
People and children fell to the ground with no chance of escape or mercy. Screams and pleas cut short.
His parents falling over into a fast-growing puddle of red.
Red eyes look into his, shining as they catch the light.
<-----o0o0o----->
He sprung up and out of bed. Rushing to the door. An image of the living area downstairs. Soaked with the blood of his crumbled parents.
His hand jerked back as though burned.
Turning, he jumped from his window and ran to the training field. He was shaking and his breathing was short and shallow.
He needed a distraction, but he lacked the physical and mental calm to train without hurting himself. He sat down, crossed his legs, and leaned into the cold, towering walls. The coal brunet took a deep breath and meditated.
With each inhale, he filled his body with as much chakra as he could manage. Each exhale, he would drain that chakra.
He repeated this cycle until the sun came up. The light burned his closed eyes and took him out of his trance. He felt oddly energized despite his lack of sleep. His mind was calmer than it had been in a while.
‘I should meditate longer more often,’ he thought as he stretched and made his way back to his house.
<------o0o0o------>
He was leaving the academy campus when a bird flew up to him. A summons for the clans’ meeting.
The last Uchiha glared and shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts. Barely controlling a snort as he turned and made his way toward the center of the village instead of the outskirts where his clan was pushed.
These meetings were a complete waste of time for him. He only showed up to keep his claim to the Uchiha Head seat and their district valid.
He was sure that the other clan heads were tiring of this farce, too. Most of the meetings he was expected to attend could have been handled through letters and were just excuses for the major clans to complain and the lesser clans to make connections.
Once he made it to the room the clan heads set up the meeting within the village’s government building, He was greeted and sent to sit at the farthest end of the room.
This meeting was about the team assignments. Apparently, some of the lesser clans wanted to break up the Ino-Shika-Cho unit for an experiment.
“This time of peace is the perfect time to try new things.”
“That is not up for discussion. Maybe if we had more of our number graduating, but that won’t be happening this year,” said a man with prominent scars on his face. He was the Nara clan head. Beside him were the composed Yamanaka and hulking Akimichi Heads.
None of them looked pleased about the leader from one of the lesser clans attempting to break their tradition.
The argument continued, and Sasuke shook his head. It was a fool's errand. ‘Why give up confirmed power and skill for a risky gamble,’ he thought.
Even if it wasn’t risky, why would they even rile up three major clans? Those three clans usually never spoke at these meetings and he suspected only did at the actually important ones when it was necessary. What was gained out of making those neutral parties move?
Tuning their squabble out, he looked around the room.
The Hyuuga Head was uncommonly quiet, but considering that this was about the genin ninja teams, that made sense. Ninja careers are for the branch family. The main family only moves for wars, not money.
The Inuzuka Head ignored everyone in the room as she scratched a large dog.
‘Can they understand all animals or is it just the dogs they breed,’ he wondered.
The Aburame head was speaking to one of the lesser clans about one of their graduates being on the same team. He didn’t listen in for long. The lesser clan head had unsettling reddish brown eyes.
Looking out the window, he tuned everyone out as he planned for the rest of his day.
‘I guess I’ll just meditate today,’ he thought. The meeting looked like it would waste the day away, and training in the dark was just asking for problems. Maybe allowing meditation to take a larger chunk of his training schedule will make it easier to build larger amounts of chakra.
‘ His reserves were a lot larger when he was my age. I need to progress faster.’
