He sits at the very back of the class filled with children much older than him who have all graduated. he waits patiently as the teacher walks in and begins to quiet everything down.
The teacher reads off a clipboard.
he dozes off till her name is called.
"Ryo."
he waits.
"Hyuuga Hotari."
"And Yamanaka Shouji."
he feels two pairs of eyes on him. he stares right back.
And he smiles.
--------------------------------
The Hyuuga wears a white turtleneck with black pants. Her forehead is bare, the main family member
The Yamanaka is dressed – quote on the quote in the latest shinobi trend – rich purple top and dark pants, and his hair is cut – quote on the quote in a daringly adorable yet cute way – wild with lighter streaks dyed in.
he studies his team members as they are all sitting outside, on top of the roof. Their sensei, a male, leaning on the railing, he was young, barely twenty.
"My name is Yukimura Kenji, I'm twenty-five years old and I'm a chuunin," he introduces. "My favorite foods are Takoyaki and Kitsune Udon. Least favorite foods are lettuce and carrots. My hobbies include reading and collecting rare books. My dream in the future is to live to see my grandchildren." He chooses Shouji to go next.
"My name is Yamanaka Shouji, I'm nine years old," he introduced cheerfully. "My favorite foods are Katsudon and all kinds of sushi. My least favorite foods are eggplants and lemons. My hobbies are looking at beautiful women and dating beautiful women. My dream in the future is to marry a beautiful woman and have lots of good-looking kids."
The Hyuuga is next.
"My name is Hyuuga Hotari, I'm nine years old," Hotari says shyly, rather different than regular Hyuuga members. "My favorite foods are Taiyaki and ramen. My least favorite foods are celery and tomatoes. My hobbies include leaf collecting and drawing. My dream is to merge the main and branch family into one." Her voice filled with conviction as she voiced her dream.
So bright, he thinks.
The three males are staring at her.
"You will be successful one day", said Yukimura sensei
"My name is Ryo no surname," he introduces himself, "my dislikes are too much to be counted, my like....well, I don't like anything other than Mikoto, as for my hobbies there are none, and my dream is to survive and die growing old"
-------------------------------
In the first week, sensei tested their chakra nature, turned out Ryo had a bloodline limit Swift release (Thunder and wind mixture)
Yukimura-sensei teaches them tree walking.
He learned it pretty quickly, in fact, he did it in his first try, in his second try he started running and reached to the top of the tree, his teammates just gawked at him as he completely mastered tree climbing in his third try, while his teammates couldn't even walk on the tree properly, so Yukimura have him doing complete exercises and stretches. he sits down and rests, the sun bright and hot and burning.
Under the shade of the tree, he watches his teammates struggle with the tree walking and wonders if he should help. he decides not to and sits down observing.
"Hey! Ryo-kun! Can you help me?"
Shouji, bright, cheerful Shouji, always trying to include lonely him somehow.
he nods, he will not refuse them help if asked, this started what he always wished for friends
Effectively, he tunes out Shouji's chattering and focuses on Hotari, who blushes under his gaze. he gives them pointers and watches as they try and try again till they master it. Shouji jumps upside down from branch to branch. Hotaru merely stands on the trunk, flushed with exhaustion and pride.
he finds it funny that he has the most controversial team.
A Yamanaka who does not study others but rather focuses on himself.
A Hyuuga who is not proud but rather shy and kind
he feels warm for some reasons.
-------------------------------
They call him the second coming Hatake Sakumo, he was a genius, a pure and absolute genius, in just 3 months, his chakra level reached near perfect, his genjutsu and kenjutsu talent was a talk of the village, his kenjutsu was so great that even the great Kenjutsu user... Hatake Sakumo said he was no way near as good as he is when he was near his age, adding to his swift release, he was near deadliest young shinobi
-------------------------------
"Ryo-Kun a-are you alright?" Hotari asks.
he nods and wipes the scratch on his arm with a tissue. Shouji is battling with the cat, Tora – the Legendary cat who always gets lost for some reason and had to be brought by genins, their team was sent to recover the poor cat.
Yukimura-sensei congratulates them on a mission well done with a smile and they return back to the Hokage Tower.
Another mundane mission.
-----------------------------
"Yay C-Rank!" Shouji cheers
It was their first C-rank mission. It was simple, get a scroll from the Konoha Intelligence Division and deliver it to a base.
Even the shy, Hyuuga and the introvert Ryo were smiling the whole day, after all, it's their first C-rank mission
Bright, warm, gentle.
----------------------
"They canceled our C-Rank!"
Shouji walked back and forth, pouting in anger.
"The war… my father tells me it is ending soon," Hotari's voice cuts through Shouji's ranting. "What is going to happen to us? All this time we have trained to join the war." Hotari's body shook, "What are we going to do." she is scared, scared of the future. An unplanned future.
"Hotari…" Shouji mutters, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.
She watches silently.
"We'll be fine," the sound resounds
They look at him surprisingly
"We'll be fine," he repeats. "We are a team after all. The end of the war will change nothing."
"Yea", Hotari smiled, even Shouji was grinning like an idiot he was
---------------
The war ends a week after.
The village celebrates.
Ryo stares blankly at the scenery below on the balcony located on the Hokage Monument. His team is with him, eating and drinking whatever they brought with them.
"Do you think that war is really over?" Hotari asks.
Yukimura-sensei seems reluctant to answer.
"No, it's never over." Yukimura sensei still answered truthfully
he plans to enjoy as much peace as he can.
-------------
He reached out to Mikoto they spent the entire weekend together, taking advantage of the fact her father wasn't home, they decided they won't do anything more than holding hands till they are married, he likes holding her hands more than anything else in the world, he was happy being with her, she was happy being with him, for the first time ever he was thankful for this cursed life of his
------------
Hotari teaches him the tenketsu in the human body. Where to hit them and how hard you hit them for killing or crippling them
Shouji teaches him how to read others, how to read someone face and expose their lies
Yukimura-sensei teaches him teamwork. How to combine your strength, how to lead
Mikoto teaches him, love, although they never go beyond as far as holding hands. But he felt love, he knows love and the darkness that once threatened to swallow him was no longer anyway near him
All he does is smile and learn.
--------------
He mastered the kenjutsu taught to him, he started creating his very own swordplay, his genjutsu made him famous, other than sharingan and byakugan others always fall to them not to mention most of the time he even fool sharingan or byakugan users through genjutsu which was not supposed to work on them and because of his speed they started calling him the speed demon
-------------
Yukimura sensei came to the traing ground hours before scedule meeting, when he saw Ryo training
"What are you doing this early"
"Sensei, well you see, I am making a new technique"
"A new technique?"
"Yea, you know i am very fast because of swift release, with sunshine it's near impossible to track me, but what if i improve my sunshine by adding the lightning element to it, won't that make me so fast that i would be able to go great distances before slowing down, it will be like i used space ninjutsu think of it sensei, i will be even faster than second Hokage using his hirashin
---------------------
"My father is angry with me," Hotari whispers, voice full of hurt and pain. "He says that I am not good enough."
Ryo stands and gets into form.
"Fight me."
Hotari stares at him wide-eyed.
he strikes.
Hotari deflects.
A kick. A punch was thrown. A fist deflected.
he hits a tenketsu above her arm and Hotari drops down.
"You are weak," he states. "But you will be strong, someday. Stronger than me, stronger than anyone and until you become stronger you are weak. It is as simple as that."
-------------------------
One year was gone just like that
Yukimura-sensei is in dismay as the team begins to fall apart.
Shouji constantly seeks the attention of women despite his young age of 13.
Hotari submerges herself with training.
he stands at the side, watching.
---------------
"Why?"
"Because if I won't, then no one else will"
Hotari's hand clenches around Ryo's arm.
"I'll become stronger," she declares, eyes burning. "I'll change the Hyuuga, I will bring main and branch family together. So help me."
It is the first time he sees so much determination in her eyes, he smiles and nods
-----------------
he is ten when he meets Obito. He is the nephew of the couple who adopted his twin sister. When the couple alongside his twin sister died, he adopted Obito from the orphanage, the Uchiha clan never cared but Obito was still of the clan and not his
He is seven.
The Uchiha clan has declared him old enough to enter the academy.
Obito is still a child, an expendable pawn of the clan.
"Nii-sama!"
Obito follows him everywhere. No matter where, but the kid always follow him
he does not know what to make of this child.
--------------
Time passes.
he ages. 11... 12... 13.....
And slowly his team repairs itself and they grow close once more.
Hotari teaches him the Hyuuga secret style, the Gentle Fist. Being the genius he is, he modified it and made it very own taijutsu style which was totally different than the Gentle Fist, even if Hyuuga head see him using the style, he still wouldn't recognize where it came from
Hotari knew that Ryo did it for her so that no one blames her for teaching their technique to the outsiders, her heart skip a beat
Shouji teaches him only the basic Yamanaka ninjutsu, the Shintenshin no Jutsu.
When he asks why…
"Because I trust you." came the reply from both of them
he feels like laughing, 'they are his friends for life, and he not gonna trade it for anything no matter what', he thinks.
he never uses the technique in battle.
But for some reason, he feels so warm inside.
-------------
As the time passes, the Crush Hotari has for Ryo only deepened as she begins to fall in love with him, despite knowing he had a girlfriend, she never told him though
------------
Obito is young and innocent.
He trusts too easily, he thinks, watching him sleep on his lap, his hand running through his hair.
'But he will kill', a voice in his head says.
He cries because he cannot live up to the clan's expectations because his clan expects more than he can give.
Ryo comforts the young boy because it is his duty.
-------------
It is the summer festival and Mikoto is dressed in a ripple designed kimono, rich purple with a bright red obi and long sleeves.
Ryo comes to pick her up for the festival.
It is loud and noisy and full of life.
"You look beautiful."
Ryo maneuvers a lock of her hair behind her ear.
She watches him with large black eyes as the fireworks shine brightly in the background.
Her heart is beating and she lowered her head blushing madly
---------------
His eyes were widened when Hotari confessed her love for him
"Hotari, you know that I do-"
"DON'T just don't say anything, don't answer either, I know you don't like me that way, but I can't help it, I am sorry Ryo, without reason, without knowing how when and why... I fell for you, I am sorry"
Her eyes widened when he hugs her, "Falling in love is not a sin, so don't ever apologize for falling in love"
--------------
Winter is here but Konoha is never graced with white snow as much as the other villages.
But lady luck seems to be shining on Konoha today and snow begin to fall. Although it always melts it is still beautiful to look at.
His eyes gaze at the white landscape in awe.
Hotari takes this moment to wrap a scarf around his neck.
"Don't catch a cold Ryo-kun."
He watched her and wanted to say something, but she turned away, he saw tears falling from her face and into the snow
His heart skips a beat, for someone other than Mikoto for the first time
-------------------
Time passes and the peace remains.
he is 15, Mikoto was 17, as he celebrates under a blooming cherry blossom tree suddenly Mikoto presses her lips against his.
[Just so you know, Minato fugaku kushina are 16]
He does not move. She never stopped
It is so very warm. That was his first kiss ever
------------------
His happiness does not last.
The third war starts.
His idol, Hatake Sakumo is the cause.
-----------------
Today is the day Obito graduates. he goes to the academy and he was amused that no one came. His eyes brighten as he catches Ryo in the distance waiting for him to come out, Obito's was smiling more than happily, Even he has someone waiting for him
"Nii-sama!" His voice is loud and happy.
Ryo smiles and allows the kid to drag himself off into the crowd.
"That's Rin," he says, blushing.
---------------
Their team is broken once more.
Yukimura-sensei is no longer there to do anything.
The war has started once more and their sensei is one of the first to be killed.
Rock-nins ambushed one of the bases.
Shouji and Hotari cry at his funeral.
Ryo stares at the stone plaque and traces his name over and over.
'My dream in the future is to live to see my grandchildren.'
Yukimura-sensei was never even married.
Tears were falling from his eyes, as he opens his mouth over and over again before closing it back, he was in pain and no one could sooth it
-----------------
Later that night, Mikoto came to his house, she was covered entirely in blood with her eyes showing no expression whatsoever, Ryo was shocked but he took her inside, he stripped her, took her to the bathroom and wash her body off, and after making her wear some of his clothes, he took her to bed and was about to leave when she hugged him, her eyes were tearing
'She lost someone probably her teammate', he thought before he hugged her back and they both sleep hugging each other like a husband and wife
---------------
The war claimed many lives, this time he joined it as well, he killed again and again, he was forced into darkness again, but for him this time it's alright, because he was having nightmares any more, he was happy and even if he dies, he will die knowing love more than anything else
[Next chapter onward it's war, and some fighting scenes finally]