Chapter 3.4- One thousand Hands

XXXXX- TOSHIRO TAKEHADA

The exams had been hard. The hardest thing he’d ever had to do. He’d trained his arsenal off for it but even with that, he’d just barely been able to last long enough in the ring for the chunin to count his taijutsu as a pass, and after doing and redoing the jutsu every day for weeks, he’d been able to execute all five jutsu required of him to graduate just without keeling over from chakra exhaustion. Shurinkenjutsu was easy enough, but the addition of the hourglass to make sure that he hit all the targets in such a small timeframe and moving targets to make it even harder had been one hell of a curve ball. He’d legitimately wondered how Shori passed that section of the test. Unless it was with that bow of his, the Senju boy had famously terrible aim.

All his work had paid off in the end. He’d been ranked last in class 3-A, but that was the wrong way to look at it. He was ranked 12 out of 50 students that graduated the Konoha Academy this year. Sure, some of them were holdovers from last year who’d been forced to retake the exams but that was how life worked sometimes. He, the son of a librarian, was going to have a jounin sensei and be placed in the same team as members of the best clans Konoha had to offer. He’d seen it- the looks that he got when he got home each day. It was even worse on Saturday, when everyone knew he’d be spending the entire day at the Senju clan complex. He was the only one he knew outside of the clan children at the Academy that had gotten to talk to Hokage-sama in person. He was special.

“How did you do?” Mom asked as he ran through the door, and he wasted no time to jump on top of her’ He’d had a smile on his face from the moment he’d left the academy, and couldn’t wait to share his joy with his mother.

“I passed” He said, wincing as his mother winced from the loudness of his voice.

“I’m sorry” He whispered, but couldn’t keep his joy down as she picked him up and twirled him in the air.

“Don’t be. It’s good to be excited. My boy, you’re going to be a ninja. My baby boy is going to be a ninja” She sang as she took him in the air. Years of training meant he didn’t feel any of the dizziness that would have been par for the course, but he still had a good time, smiling as she smiled and laughing as she laughed. Toshiro loved to see how like this. It made it clear to him just how young his mother was. She’d given birth to him when she wasn’t even ten years older than he was now. She was younger than all his classmates’ parents, but she looked older than most of them. Not when she smiled, though. When she smiled, her blonde hair came to life. Everything about her came to life at once.

“I’ll be the best ninja in the whole world” He told her, making her laugh and then I’ll find the bastard that put me in you and tear his intestines from his body he said next, but not out loud. Not to her.

XXXXX

He sat at his regular seat. Far at the back. He liked it for a million and one reasons. For one, it gave him a very good view of his role model in the class, Senju Shorirama. For another, it put him a fair distance away from the Class’ most volatile elements- Uchiha Uzume and Inuzuka Inukuro. The boy from the Inuzuka clan was much less likely to attack him than the angry Uchiha girl, but what he considered play time could lead to serious injury if one wasn’t careful. That dog of his was dangerous, as well, and Toshiro had learned from a young age to avoid animals. Dangerous creature, he thought to himself, unsure if he was referring to the creature himself or its owner. Sometimes, Toshiro felt there was no difference between them. Shori disagreed, but he had a habit of seeing nothing but the best in people. The Inuzuka boy was a beast, and so Toshiro would never keep his eyes away from him for long.

It was only a few minutes until class started, and he watched Shori laugh as he spoke to the other Uchiha- Izuku. Their conversations were always on a variety of topics, so unless he went closer or focused chakra into his eats to eavesdrop then he was clueless as to what the conversation could be about. That was one skill Shori had. He could talk to anyone about anything. Toshiro had considered himself the most well-read person in his age group, but that was only until he discovered just how much time Shori dedicated to reading on a daily basis. He’d have thought that the heir to the premier ninja clan would have all his time set aside for training, but finding out that he scheduled every resting minute for reading had been a wake up call for him. Even when Shori stopped training his body, he never stopped training his mind.

Even now, he was still training. Most people wouldn’t have noticed it- especially with how baggy his kimono tended to be- but Toshiro had better eyes than most. He was a stickler for detail. And when the wind moved through his clothing, one could spot, for a few seconds, the weights that he wore across every limb. Sitting down, standing, every movement was a form of training when one made use of ninja weights. Toshiro had considered doing it as well, but when he’d noticed the prices on his visit to the supply store, all his enthusaism had dried out. Especially when the helpful lady at the store told him that it wouldn’t be very useful for someone that was his age unless they had a medical ninja checking up on them on a nearly daily basis to heal the damage they were doing to themselves the right way and make sure they didn’t accidentally get crippled. For the Heir of the Senju, that kind of expense would make sense. Not for him. Not when mom worked extra hours at the Archive to make sure they had enough for rent and his ninja supplies.

“Quiet down.” Uraraka-sensei said as he appeared in front of them.

“As I told you when I gave you these...” He pointed at the headbands on their heads- most of their heads, he amended to himself. Shori’s headband was worn around his neck, and crazy Uchiha girl wore hers on her bicep in the same position as Nara-san.

“You are shinobi of the village hidden in the leaves now. That means you are to be the best of the best. You are now carriers of the will of fire, and must be trusted to uphold both the will, and the ideals of the village in all your dealings” He continued in a serious tone before suddenly pulling out a clipboard from nowhere.

“You already know that as members of Class A, you will be sent out in teams of three with specially chosen Jounin sensei. This is a special opportunity that you must be grateful for” He said, pinning them all with his stare. Uraraka-sensei was something else. He’d been like a father to most of them in their time in the academy, and Toshiro knew that he’d be far from the only one who’d miss their sensei after leaving.

“Here are the teams. Once I call your names, your Jounin-sensei will walk in and take you with them.” He said before taking an audible breath.

“Team 1 will be made up of Hyuga Uraume, Inuzuka Inukuro, and Aburame Shiba and you will be under the tutelage of Jounin Shimura Danzo.” At his words, a man appeared in the door way. He’d entered the classroom without opening the door? Or he’d opened the door without them noticing somehow? No, Occam’s razor as Shori called it. The simplest explanation. He’d always been there. Just under a genjutsu that prevented them from noticing. Even Hyuga-san was shocked, so that meant his genjutsu had been enough to fool even her advanced senses.

“Follow me, little branches” He said before disappearing in a shunshin. All three of his students looked between themselves, confused. “Head to training ground 1” Uraraka-sensei said, taking pity on them.

“Team 2 will have Yamanaka Inoken, Nara Shikahime, and Akimichi Choni, under Sarutobi Benzaiten” their sensei walked in through the door with an easy swagger. He was the type of man who you’d see on the street and bestow with the epithet, “Cool”. Sarutobi Benzaiten was a cool man, with his full beard and broad shoulders.

“We don’t have all day. Let’s get going, kids.” He said, waiting for all his students to stand up before walking out at a sedate pace with them in tow.

“Team 3- Uchiha Izuku, Kurama Kizuru, and Sarutobi Omoikane under Uchiha Kagami” The class went dead silent at that. Even when the Jounin entered the classroom, no one paid him any attention. Instead, all the genin in the room were looking between two people- Shori and Uchiha Uzume. What were the people in charge of the academy smoking? Putting Shori and crazy Uchiha together was a recipe for disaster. Even worse for him, he was on the same team with the both of them. He was a dead man. A very dead man.

When his sensei asked them to follow, Kurama-san boldly resisted the order, preferring to stare at his friend in worry until Shori sent him off with an easy smile.

“Team four” Uraraka-sensei said, addressing them since they were the only ones in the classroom at this point.

“Hatake Sakumo shall be your sensei” He said, and then a boy walked in. White hair and tall willowy frame marked him as a very handsome fellow. The only problem was that he didn’t look to be much older than them. Not up to a decade older, for sure. He looked like a teenager, if Toshiro was being honest. Of course it was just his luck to be put with two people who wanted to kill each other, and a sensei that had the least experience of all the options. He sighed.

A/N; Last part of the chapter. The Academy arc was really fast because I hate when those drag on.