Chapter Eight
I continued my 3-tomoe training with Hiroshi-sensei, taking time out of my personal schedule to train extra with him on week-day afternoons.
My 3rd year of shinobi academy ended in a few months and I still did not have the thing.
"Hiroshi-sensei, do you think I need more theoretical knowledge for it?"
"Seems unlikely, but we have tried a lot and the amount of time should be plenty by now."
"Have your Sharingan active, from the 2-tomoe to the 3-tomoe the differences are obvious, while the two only sees chakra in a limited fashion the three can see chakra in an opponent's body for a couple of inches."
"Is it then possible to see the chakra system?"
"Unfortunately no, for whatever reason only the Byakugan can see it. But, what you can see is the chakra pool, and enough to see how they are channeling the chakra, hence, skilled Uchiha can copy techniques."
"But if you can't channel your chakra the same way it's not possible to copy a jutsu?"
"That's right, this really comes down to chakra control; if they have S-class and you only have B, their most complex jutsu is out of your reach."
"I see, so is it possible to bypass your elemental affinity?"
"Yes, that's actually the primary advantage of the Sharingan; you can reverse engineer elemental manipulation."
"Interesting, so you look at how another person does it and get a non-personalized affinity."
"Correct, this is why copied techniques almost always cost more chakra."
"Ok, what else?" I asked, understanding this aspect, Hiroshi looked pensive for a couple seconds before replying.
"The enhanced vision comes to another level, allowing you to predict even finger movement by a small margin."
Basically, you can see the ligaments moving in real time, and can know a split second ahead of time that the finger will move. With the two-tomoe it goes as far as arm movement.
"But," The man continued, "It does you no good if you can't react, it's why Uchiha sometimes come off as high-strung."
Because they are, they train to be. It's not proven, but I think being high-strung all the time shortens your life a little. Well, for a ninja cutting five years off your natural life for a 10% better chance of living through the battlefield is a steal.
"Of course, the Sharingan has a cost, while we don't let outsiders know it, it's been proven that it limits the senses of touch and taste, only slightly though, nothing to worry about."
Of course, if all it needed was some chakra everyone would have it on all the time, seriously. Well, it sometimes creeps people out I guess.
While this has been interesting it's not something totally new, I've made plenty of speculation on the workings of my eyes.
"Also," I perked up, "The fact that the eye has chakra running through it makes control in the region much easier, this applies practically by making Sharingan genjutsu that much more effective and subtle."
Huh, so the Sharingan makes eye-to-eye genjutsu easier. Actually that makes sense, when you think about it, in cannon Naruto people got so scared of the eye's genjutsu that they seriously looked at the guys' waist.
"Unsurprisingly, it also makes countering eye-to-eye genjutsu exponentially easier."
"I see, is that all?"
"No it's not, but the rest is forbidden."
Aha, so he knows of the mangekyo, well, unless something else is forbidden when it comes to the Sharingan.
"In that case, thank you for the information," I bowed slightly; nothing was different about my eyes to my knowledge. Not the first time I've been disappointed.
I then left, to devote my attention to fuinjutsu. In this particular field I had made progress after a fashion, speed; I could now write nearly six times as fast while suffering from only 10% reduced accuracy, this was perfect for such things as explosive tags, which can be slightly flawed and still work due to their simplicity.
Of course, to someone who knows nothing of fuinjutsu a mere explosive tag is impossibly complex, and yet, it's the easiest and most common use of the art. It's a daunting subject, but the knowledge of its impressive results drove me on.
I'd also crafted a number of the mini tags, for use when I can actually get a breech-loading barrel crafted. My liquid storage scrolls work well enough, but slight errors can ruin the delicate balance, and I've mostly been focusing on offensive stuff anyway.
The fact that Suiton jutsu is years away also contributed; in any case, it's been listed and put in the Uchiha Archive of Techniques, this particular location I have no access to, unfortunately.
My stock of poison has grown, and I've personally felt most of its effectiveness. Overall I feel much more combat ready.
Except for the blasted Sharingan, stupid thing won't evolve. Ah well, the things just a crutch anyway, none of the Hokages even had a doujutsu, though that doesn't tell you much.
I wonder what having the Byakugan is like, or perhaps more interestingly, the Rinnegan. Well, it's unlikely I'll ever know, but I'd gladly give my left eye in return. Come to think of it, why don't the Hyuuga and Uchiha have an eye exchange program? That way there'd be Hyuuga with a single Sharingan and Uchiha with a Byakugan; now that would be interesting.
Of course, it'll never happen, no way would either clan give up their prized eyes.
I completed the explosive tag I had been working on, noting with satisfaction that despite my distracted state it had come out very well.
I read the D-rank fuinjutsu book I had many times over before returning it to the Konoha Archive. With a firm grounding in the basics and some skill with simple stuff I think it's time I look into harder material.
Unfortunately, I have no way of procuring such items, and so here I am, churning out tags and scrolls with what little ink I have left.
The fact is, my fuinjutsu will never progress beyond a certain level, but even with low-rank stuff you're that much more versatile.
I took my whip out, looking it over skeptically. Was there a way to use fuinjutsu on it? It's a whip so most likely no, however the tip can be affected by my talents.
I carefully wrote a reinforcement matrix onto the tip of my short whip, experimentally whipping out with it. Now, if fuinjutsu can't work on it, what can? Chakra certainly can, as evidenced by the Dragon Fire technique.
I cautiously channeled raw chakra into the whip; it instantly began to give off a slight aura of power and invincibility, how intriguing. I put in more, until I could feel the drain, lashing out I utterly cut through the post I was practicing on. Makes sense, but still incredibly useful.
Theoretically, if my control is good the cost for jutsu is reduced, time for water walking.
I went out to the river I had used for my liquid storage scroll years before, and after finding a calm spot, I began my attempts.
My skills at this particular exercise are rather pathetic, I have decided. This is obvious because… I am soaked from head to toe; I really should learn to swim. I feel better about myself though, I can stand on water for one second! Woot!
Yeah, this is really sad, time to dredge up memories of fan-fictions that described this exercise. Thinking… nope, nothing I haven't tried to do. Practice makes perfect they say; I kept at it.
Time flew, and my clothes got no wetter, only because they were completely wet already. Nevertheless, the land of fire is warm, and I felt no serious discomfort.
Eager to avoid the possibility of 'catching a cold' I took a hot bath before dinner. At said meal I ate a good portion, though with all due manners.
Tomorrow would be a school day; I was determined to be ready, therefore I went to bed after reading a short segment of the Poison Mixing book I had access to.
XXX
"Good morning, Hiashi-san, Hizashi-san." I greeted my maybe-friends; they've actually got warmer if anything over the years, though it could be that I'm just better at reading them.
"Good morning, Uchiha-san." They replied, each in turn.
After the pleasantries I excused myself and moved to my most amusing classmate.
"A fine day is it not, Uzumaki-san?"
"It's a fine day to smash you to the ground, clan-freak!" My, my, now it's a combination insult.
"Ah, but any day is fine for that isn't it though?"
She narrowed her eyes at me, acutely aware of my fondness for wordplays, "Yeah." She finally conceded.
"Indeed, but as I say, you can try, and you can fail, good-luck Uzumaki-san," I waved over my shoulder as I left her.
Moving on to the next of my acquaintances, I found Minato poring over a mathematics scroll.
"Looking to get ahead?"
He glanced up at me briefly, saying a short greeting and mumbling, "Yeah," he went back to his book.
"In that case, I'll leave you to it." Most of our math focuses on geometry and vectors, addition and division class math already behind us. I don't know how, but kids here can keep up with the high-school level work well enough.
Maybe being ninja - even if only in training - boosts efficiency? That's why civilians like Tazuna aren't impressive. Of course, this doesn't hold water, it being far to flimsy of a theory. I think it's good enough to hold sour cream though.
In any case, it seems Aoki-sensei is here.
"Sit down maggots!"
Everyone stopped what they were doing and smartly found a seat.
"One word: Chakra Control." Sorry to point this out, but that's two words. Is this a test? Worth a shot.
"That's two words, with respect, sir."
"Uchiha Nanashi… what makes you think you have the ability to question me? My word is the law, punk!"
"There are things greater than the law, such as a constitution."
"You're quite the little thinker aren't you? My office after school, Uchiha. Now, where were we?"
"Ah, yes, chakra-control, what does this mean to you? A means to an end? A tool? Some dumb thing that horrid teacher is talking about!?"
"No! None of that is right, chakra control is simple; it's what we're doing today."
I almost cracked up, this guy has serious humor. I have to say though, I doubt the academy has anything to offer on this particular subject, but, an open mind is needed.
"We're going to have something very special, the long thought lost… leaf exercise!"
Everyone here had already mastered said exercise, so, to say that this was less than enthusing would be an understatement. However, with all due conspiracy theory mentality, I happily marched over and pulled a leaf off the tree with my forehead. An old trick to wow kids.
It's a fact, outside the Konoha Ninja Academy several trees are grown, solely for their leaves.
Following my example, the rest of the kids went out and stuck a leaf to some part of their body. Yoshiro merely stared. I cocked my head to the side, then shrugged, if this wasn't an overseen event I'd have fun with it.
Grass walking, my new 'fun thing' for chakra control was born of a certain thought: "If you can walk on water, why not grass?"
Of course, I can do neither, so far. Grass walking is also really difficult because grass is simply not strong enough to hold human weight, nor does it have surface tension like water. So how can it work, you ask? Easy in theory actually, you just have to stiffen the grass with your own chakra, and then spread your weight out over several blades.
Unfortunately, I can't do it yet, I tried it on my hand though, it'll work in time.
"Uchiha Nanashi, I don't care what you think you're doing; leaf exercise is on the menu!" Aoki yelled fiercely, honestly, can't he make an exception for me? No he can't, it's like the Oliver Twist conundrum, if one gets more, all get more.
I sighed and lazily attached a leaf to each finger, returning to my grass exercises.
At length, the chakra control period of today ended, with no notable advancements in my theory. Perhaps you had to be a Sage to grass walk? Since it's so closely associated with nature? I somehow think not, in fact, I'd go so far as to say that nature chakra can be used without instruction from summons.
Of course, that'd take a while, but immortality is not out of reach with the possibilities chakra holds. I wonder; is this how Orochimaru feels? Knowing that it's possible, having an impossible dream that actually could come to fruition.
Although, his chosen method of immortality was amateurish at best; if I do get him as my sensei I'll let him know how I feel.
Next was biology, my worst subject under the sun, but after the chicken butchering anatomy theory doesn't really gross me out at least. Still, way too much to know with biology, I mean, not only animals, but plants as well? That's a lot of stuff to know.
After this it was taijutsu spars, I was paired off against some nameless classmate who was obviously cursing his luck at having to fight me. Eh, let's go easy on this dude.
"What's your name, kid?" I asked, surreptitiously ignoring that he was my age.
"Ieyasu, no last name."
"Ah, I see, then, let's have a good spar, Ieyasu-san."
What arrogant handicap shall I give myself? Aha! Only kicks, shoulders, and head-buts, that'll do nicely.
After the fight had officially begun I clasped my hands behind my back firmly, settling into a hard look at the same time.
"Don't underestimate me!"
Ouch, that's a loss flag. I mean, really, only fools yell such an obviously self-demeaning thing.
Ieyasu, a medium kid with dark-brown hair and a small nose, charged, impossibly slowly to even my normal eyes. He came in close, or rather, he tried to, my right leg was quite offensive when it wanted to be.
I rushed at the boy, body slamming him to the ground, then turning around and kicking his butt. He fell forward into the dirt, getting back up before he was counted down.
Obviously more cautious now, Ieyasu slipped into a good academy stance, firm and stable, but ill-suited to rapid combat. He advanced slowly, like a rock, avoiding my kicks by narrow margins and slapping others away.
Fish and whales! This guy has it figured out; if this keeps up he'll win.
Time to throw him off, "So, you have a girlfriend yet?"
"No, I am far too young for such things."
"To young to have friends! Where did you grow up? Or is this just a result of having no friends at all?"
He flinched at that, ouch, must've hit the nail on the hammer.
"No friend Ieyasu joined the academy, huh, why? He thought he'd make friends there? Or did he want to die in combat, and get his name on that beautiful stone?"
"You know nothing!" Ieyasu yelled in fury, rushing forward at a speed beyond what he was capable of before, hmm, I wonder how much and how long anger empowers you? This merits some research.
"You have a clan, a family that loves you! And you dare to mock me because I have none!?"
Wow, he really is letting it all out, sounds close to tears to.
"I lived my life in an orphanage, with kids smarter and more liked!"
"I spent my days trying to be good at something but nothing, nothing," He was panting now.
"Until I found I could mold chakra, it was like a dream come true! Ninja's are respected, I could be something. But then you, you and the rest of this pathetic class! All better than me!"
O.K, I did not expect this, makes me feel a little bad about this, but still.
I kicked him repeatedly, until the teacher called the match.
"Oi, Ieyasu, sorry about making fun of you, I didn't mean it, just making sure to make you lose your temper." I said to the boy as he got up, despite his bruises, and walked away.
He made a thin line with his lips and nodded once, but, what were more telling were the clenched fists he bore at his sides.
I scratched an itch on my neck; this whole taunting business can make you feel bad if they go too far with the reaction. Both sides needed this experience though, so I'll put this on my list of successes.
XXX
Do you know the difference between success and failure? There is none, failure is a successful fail and success is a failed fail. Don't worry if this all doesn't make sense to you, it shouldn't.
Nevertheless, it seems good to inform you that this mental stupidity was brought on by my failed failure at water walking. Thus, those who gaze upon my glorious figure shall be i- "Whoa!"
I shivered, darn leaf, don't you know that disrupting the surface is a no no?
It's the cooler months at this point and any bravado is done away with in favor of keeping warm when you're soaked to the dermis. I say to the dermis because getting soaked to the bone is physically impossible without ripping off some of your flesh.
The end of this year is the cut off for early graduation, not what you're thinking. It means that - unless we're at war - the end of this year is the earliest you can graduate.
The Hyuuga twins, myself, and Minato seem to be the only for sure graduates, but most kids try. Of course, the requirements are rather harsher than at regular graduation. Don't ask why, I have no idea.
So, I've been pushing on my Katon jutsu and chakra control. I've almost got water walking down and the fire techniques I know are almost second nature now. Still, in actual combat I have a high chance of getting slaughtered.
Maybe I need to be proactive about my jonin-sensei; if I interested Orochimaru he'd pull the strings and boom, Orochimaru-sensei. With Sakumo though, I have no idea.
If only the darn Sharingan would evolve. I activated it, hoping for the less-than-likely outcome of joy.
Huh, that was strange; the air seemed to have extra chakra here for some reason. A seal around here perhaps?
I look the area over, searching for something that would be releasing chakra into the air; finally I looked into the water with a scowl. My reflection scowled back at me and I couldn't help but look at it for a second.
My Sharingan's vision was too HD to miss the 3rd tomoe in each eye spinning around painfully slowly. My face split in two with a smile. Stupid thing finally cooperating I see, it's about time too.
I marched back out on the water, confidently watching the ripples in the water with my special eyes as I stood and even walked for minutes. Yes, the Sharingan was truly a blessing.
The next day, I remembered that I needed to inform Hiroshi-sensei of my success, and so I did, sprinting to his house and calmly knocking on his wooden door.
"Hiroshi-sensei, good-day, I have a surprise for you." I instantly said even as the man stepped outside.
"Oh? What kind?"
I activated my Sharingan, the three tomoe spinning up at the Uchiha's face.
"You got it!" He exclaimed unguardedly, before popping into a formal stance, "I heartily congratulate you on your remarkable success Nanashi-kun."
"I accept your gracious congratulation with upmost respect."
"Does your father know yet?"
"No, I have not yet had the chance to inform Father of this development."
"You should do so as soon as possible my student, he will be most pleased."
"Of course, I shall not hesitate to inform Father at the earliest opportunity."
"Good. How's the chakra control coming?" Hiroshi asked, slipping back into a more casual form of speech.
"I am now able to walk on water for minutes, though not always without fail." I replied, still formal.
"Excellent, I'll drop by to give some pointers next time you try."
"I kindly accept your gracious offer."
"How's the weapon throwing coming along?"
"My range is now beyond thirty meters on stationary targets." It's a fact, throwing kunai at ninja from more than ten meters almost always fails if they are moving, it's just that that no ninja has a constant velocity, simple physics.
"Very nice, hits or bull's-eye?" I'm honored; to even consider that I could hit the bull's-eye from there.
"Hits, sensei."
"Let's have a spar, training weapons and taijutsu."
"I'd be happy to spar with you, Hiroshi-sensei."
We walked over to the Uchiha training grounds, each of us taking pouches of blunt kunai and shuriken from the little stall next to the place. It was all quite convenient, if you were an Uchiha you had the right to use training weapons so long as you returned them when done, they even had swords and stuff, something to look into.
Hiroshi and I faced off, looking closely for any weaknesses, not that we would find any, being teacher and talented student. Since everything I knew about taijutsu came from Hiroshi, with maybe a couple exceptions, this was no over statement.
I began the spar by rushing in and point blank throwing my kunai before mounting a hasty retreat, hit and run has, and always will, work.
Hiroshi, however, was far too skilled to either be taken by surprise or hit, the Uchiha easily batted away my blunt kunai, almost missing the shuriken I had snuck into the barrage. Almost means nothing in the shinobi world, which is why in ninja math you always round down, whereas civilians round up. No kidding.
Slipping the kunai he had used back into his pouch Hiroshi came at me with a beautifully executed interceptor style.
Knowing that my smaller frame would result in my own demise if I took the attack head-on, I circled around it, aiming to land a kick on Hiroshi's shin. Not a weak spot to be sure, but shins had always been somewhat prone to breaking or feeling pain. Plus, skilled ninja always expected you to strike the knee.
And really, when it came down to it, the ninja who won was the fastest, strongest, and most surprising. It's why Naruto himself didn't die right away, he was unpredictable, but boy was he slow and weak.
So, as with almost all things, balance is the key.
Hiroshi was fast; and strong too, but surprising he was not, not to me at least, I knew what he was capable of, not all of it, but close. This was my advantage, he knew me, yes, but not for all I was.
Still, I blocked an overhead kick with both my arms; I don't think it'll be enough. I disengaged quickly, avoiding the body lift that would no doubt follow.
Hiroshi had fought many times, and he was good, much better than I was. Whatever conceit I had about being the best student was washed away every time I lost an encounter, which was almost all.
I jumped back, avoiding a straight punch, knowing that I could not block it. Hiroshi followed up with an upward kick that could have seriously mauled my tenders, seriously, that's vicious.
I continued to retreat, avoiding all manner of attacks and waiting for an opening. There! I jumped forward, placing my feet so that I'd have all the force I could muster; this had the side effect of making it impossible to back up.
Blunted kunai in both hand I hoped for the best, trying to get a read on what the older male's response would be. I didn't know what hit me until a quite a bit later.
Hiroshi-sensei had boxed my ears so forcefully I went dead out.
I woke up in my bed, noticing that the sun was lower than before, by a decent margin. Maybe an hour or two? It didn't matter, I needed water, badly.
I groggily stumbled over to the sink, grabbing my glass and filling it generously with Konoha's healthy tap water. Just another blessing from the Nidaime to me, running - and oh so clean - water.
After draining my glass I sparingly splashed water on my face, to wake myself up. I looked over to the coat rack, good, Chichi was home.
I sought out the nearest person, my mother as it turned out, asking her for directions.
Instead, "Already up, Nana-chan?"
"Yes, Mother, I have awoken, I assume Hiroshi-sensei knocked me out?"
She made a small frown before answering, "Yes he did, and mighty irresponsible it was. I mean, kids need training, yes, and even broken bones, but head blows that cause concussions are too much."
Mother is rather strange about this subject, but what she just said is her opinion in a nut-shell. She's all for kids getting beat up a bit, but anything that can cause anything approaching brain damage is a no-no. Makes some sort of sense I guess, the early years are very critical as far as the brain goes.
Still, to get back to what I came for, "Where is Father?" I hope Hiroshi-sensei didn't tell him himself.
"In his home office, working on a little surprise," She answered, almost proudly. Well, if it weren't a surprise I'd be all over that.
It's kind of strange though, Father almost never uses his home office, preferring to keep work away from home for the most part.
I walked over to where I now knew my father was, knocking sharply twice at the door.
There was a quiet rustling sound before he intoned, "Come in."
I opened the door, silently stepping in and closing it behind me, "I trust Hiroshi-sensei hasn't told you?"
He looked at me quizzically, "Told me what?"
Suddenly I felt worse about this whole thing, some part of me wanting to back out for no apparent reason, but I squashed it ruthlessly before speaking up, "My Sharingan evolved."
"The 3-tomoe then?" I nodded, "Good, I'm happy for you, I'll make some time and give you some personal instruction."
It's been forever since Father has had a direct hand in my training, this must mean a lot to him. Or maybe his work schedule is finally winding down a little.
"In the mean-time," He was quite serious, "There is a book in your library you should read, Laws of Konoha, as policemen, Uchiha are expected to be able to make just judgments, in fact, quite a number have gone on to be judges and lawyers after their active shinobi years."
How intriguing, I suppose I've always had a slight fancy for being the lawyer, like on the movies, still, I'm far too realistic to believe it really goes that way.
Still, laws can get me really riled up, I like to know what they say and hate on the guys who don't follow them. Of course, bureaucracy can be a serious pain, hopefully we don't have one here. Although, somehow I think there is a small one.
Nevertheless, pondering aside, Father has told me to read a book, and so I shall. I mean really, who doesn't want to please their dad at this age? And in a feudal society this is even more prevalent, if you don't do what your father says you are a downright rebel to society.
Not that I'm complaining, I'll get to do the same with my own kids. Assuming I meet that special someone. Or, I guess Father might arrange a marriage for me, I don't mind; as long as the girl isn't a you-know-what. To put it in less than explicit terms, hopefully my wife will not be a female dog.
I bowed lightly, excusing myself from the room. I then walked over to my own library hidden behind the curtains; I entered quietly, and began searching for the book Father had mentioned.
There we are, Laws of Konoha and then in smaller print below that and their Interpretations interesting, we get to read the laws, then their conventional meanings and then compare my own understanding to that.
After a short, and largely meaningless, preamble I got right into the reading. On a side note, the book is satisfactorily thin.
Highest Law: The Hokage has authority to make laws and administer judgments to the breakers thereof.
Short and to the point, I see he doesn't have the right to tax the population though.
Higher Laws: The general populace has the right to vote on the Hokage's successor.
How interesting, only popular men can be Hokage, it seems. Although this must be a new law, since both the second and third Hokages were appointed.
Only the Merchant Guild, with the Hokage's approval, can tax civilians.
Non-shinobi can't be arbitrarily taxed I see, though non-civilian taxes have not yet been mentioned. Giving this much authority to a 'Guild' sounds stupid; but I suspect that the name is a misnomer.
Clans shall retain the right to practice traditions, provided they do not infringe on the rights of other clans or citizens.
This is why the Hokage has no say over, say, the Hyuuga's cursed seal.
Every citizen of Konoha has the right to life and private property.
In other words, this is a dictatorship, but no way are we a socialistic society.
No citizen shall be detained beyond 24 hours or otherwise punished without due process of law.
Basically, 'we assure our wonderful residents that the cops won't come and torture you for no reason' definitely a needed provision.
The Hokage has the right to label rebellious shinobi missing-nin, to be hunted until such time as they are captured or killed.
Oooh, Hokage-sama can just call any shinobi he wants a nuke-nin, that's dangerous.
There might have been a couple more, but I skimmed over it and went on down to the regular laws.
Laws: All revenue wrought by mission payment shall be split equally between the participating ninja and the village, with the village always receiving half.
This one leaves no room for question, necessary when it comes to stuff like this. I looked down, wow, it seemed like twenty pages of laws; that's really good, the US had millions of pages, I am sure.
The Uchiha clan is hereby vested the authority to run and maintain the military police. Monetary compensation shall be provided for every ninja therein.
This one is pretty vague actually; it doesn't even say how much compensation. I'm sure there is a precedent or something they use for that though, unwritten rules.
Conditions for Citizenship: Both parents must be proven Konoha citizens, or, the applicant must reside in Konoha for ten years, or, the subject can be granted citizenship by the Hokage. All foreign merchants or resident non-citizens shall be treated justly.
That extra clause there is important, but still, this is huge, if Orochimaru's experiments were done on orphans who had no known parents and were less than ten years of age, he was technically within the law. Since I doubt the Hokage grants every one of them citizenship.
That's kind of mind blowing, of course, the Hokage has the right to label any shinobi as a missing-nin, so if he says no-no, don't do it. I'm still mind-blown by this particular revelation though.
Foreign emissaries shall be treated with honor and shall not be unduly spied upon or otherwise have their privacy infringed. No foreign emissary may be capitally punished.
I see; this is what screwed Konoha over on the Hyuuga incident; Konoha had broken its own law, not to mention grossly infringed on whatever the newest treaty was.
Although, about the upper sentence, I've got to say, this just means 'We won't get caught spying on you.' I mean, no one expects you to not spy on foreigners.
Something I've noticed about these laws, it doesn't say what the punishment for breaking them is. Must go back to the Highest Law, Hokage decides. And then after he's made a decision, judges in normal courts use the same one for similar cases? Unreliable, if workable.
Or is there a chief justice somewhere? That'd be a job.
I continued reading, picking apart in my mind the laws that were controversial, and trying to better understand Konoha.
XXX
With the three-tomoe Sharingan there are many benefits, and many responsibilities, as Hiroshi-sensei would put it. The ability to see chakra is a massive boon, but can also cause damage to the optical nerves if you see too much; or something like that.
Anyway, for a myriad of reasons, it's not safe to have a doujutsu on constantly; obviously these guys haven't met Nagato. Which, by the way, I am very eager to do, eliminating perhaps the greatest ninja since the Sage of Six Paths from the threat list is pretty important.
Nevertheless, I have no idea how to go about turning him away from his little 'Peace Plan', from becoming Pein.
As I've noted before though; in comparison, Obito is the greater issue. And I've done some thinking, killing Obito right away is unfair to the fellow, so, I need to find Madara himself. Either he will die, or he'll somehow turn me to the dark side, or I'll die, simple.
Of course, I'll need to leave a journal, detailing everything that will happen, if I choose to do this.
I'll right it in English, leaving a key to the unheard of language in my path, so that only those with both can know the future. Man, that sounds so mystically cool, 'Only those with both will know the future', like some treasure maps riddle.
Still, this is way off topic, where were we? Ah, yes, it's not safe to keep your doujutsu on for inordinate periods of time. Kind of like having adrenaline pumping for thirty-six hours isn't healthy.
But, the responsibilities are not insubstantial; those with the three-tomoe Sharingan have a place of prestige within the clan, since some never even activate their doujutsu.
Of course, my own prestige is already somewhat high; being clan head's son and all, but, having no head-band, Uchiha, rightly, dismiss me out of hand. And while my pride is damaged, my logic is delighted.
By far the greatest impact, however, is the ability to copy other's techniques. On this note I feel it right to mention that those who are offended by Uchiha 'thieves' don't deserve to be called ninja. Period.
I've not had the opportunity to learn anything in this fashion yet, but once I've graduated I'm sure it'll pick up.
On to other matters, Minato has really started to show his genius, almost surpassing even my own impressive lead. This, of course, would not stand, and so, grateful for the motivation, I have pressed on all the more, easily outstripping the rest of the class.
To my great intellectual delight Minato has recently begun studying some Fuinjutsu books of low caliber, allowing me to compare notes on the subject with him.
Kushina, naturally, is most unimpressed with Minato's newfound strength, his unimpressive features leaving her wholly disbelieving and doubtful. Her own scores are now at the bottom of the top seven, Shin'Ichi and Isao both having greater academic skill.
Her chakra control, while naturally boosted by her feminine gender, is lowered by her brash nature and hot-temperedness. It makes you wonder how a control freak like Tsunade ever gets away with being angry.
And for those doubters, it's a proven fact; mental instability causes disruption in the chakra flow, resulting in lowered control.
This is why true shinobi never waver, if they do, the techniques fail.
At this point, I'm lined up to graduate in six weeks, and I've never been more excited and dreadfully afraid for my life before.
XXX
"For those of you who are attempting early graduation, arrogant brats, come with me!" Aoki yelled, leaving his assistant to wrap up the school year for the few who remained.
Virtually the entire group had followed Aoki, somehow self-confident after four years of schooling. They should have known better.
"First we have a beautiful written test! Take a seat."
"There are thirty-six problems, from various subjects, and you have 15 minutes to finish them. Begin!"
No sense worrying about the time limit.
Who was the First Hokage's wife?
Easy peasy, Uzumaki Mito.
In what year did the First Shinobi War begin?
I hate date problems, I wrote down what I was fairly sure matched that event.
And so the problems continued, the history ones taking fifteen seconds and the math ones eating up the rest of the time, then with 2 minutes left I came to number 33.
You have two teammates, both genin, and you are facing a jonin opponent, what course of action do you take? Explain.
I negotiate; rank means little in the shinobi world, but, it's safe to assume that a jonin can run faster than any genin, running is out. Also safe to assume that the jonin has greater combat prowess than genin, so, buying time or outright avoiding confrontation is the best course of action.
Time ran out before I could complete my answer to the next tactical question which was: Assume that ten chunin are running toward your position at sixteen miles per hour, you have two jonin as back-up, what is your course of action if the chunin are hostile and the friendly jonin are tired? The chunin are 1.2 miles away. Explain.
I wrote Hide but had not the time to actually explain, "Pencils down maggots! We have a very special guest for our next section, taijutsu."
"Say hello to Nakata-san, teacher of sixth year taijutsu here at the academy, and very proficient at it."
I figure with long musty-brown hair turned around slowly and dramatically, flicking her hair back as she fully faced us.
"A woman!?" Some stupid kid yelled, extremely surprised at the feminine nature of the taijutsu instructor.
"Indeed," I answered dryly; seriously, it's not that surprising; anybody can be good at the academy style, which is why it even is the academy style.
"You've got one objective, last for two minutes or more against Nakata-sensei and you'll be well on your way to genin; come when called."
As usual, the list went down alphabetically, from the top, leaving me very near the bottom, which I was very happy about, this way I could pick apart Nakata-sensei's style. Finally, and I mean finally, the Hyuuga and Minato lasted forever, my turn came.
"You look tired Nakata-sensei; perhaps you should sit this one out?"
"Peh, I've got plenty in me kid." Oh, I know you do, just look at all those not-genins licking their bruises.
"I'm sure you do, but it's not healthy for women to exhaust themselves."
"You better shut up before you get yourself in trouble kid." Ah, darn, attempt number one to rile up opponent, failed.
"Hajime!" Yoshiro yelled, preempting any witty comebacks.
"You know, it really is quite impressive that a woman like you teaches all those big boys," I added a mocking lilt, "their place."
"I've heard better taunts from toads."
"Have you now? I wonder then, perhaps you know Jiraiya-sama, rather closely it seems, since he let you speak with his toads, mm." I jiggled my eyebrows and made a knowing look.
Without warning Nakata came at me, finally realizing that I was just buying time, that being the objective, I ducked under her blow, lashing out with my own. She swatted it away with her other hand, coming in with kick that could send bratty little boys like me flying.
"Did I hit a nerve?"
"You're stupid kid; I've barely even seen Jiraiya-sama."
"Ah, well, if it happened while you were drunk we can still find a doctor."
"If what happened?" She asked as I ducked under another blow.
"Nothing, seriously, everybody seems to think that this stuff means anything, I'm not implying a thing; you are just inferring whatever you want to." I'm not kidding; people take this stuff way to personally.
"Nice try, kid," Nakata praised me insincerely as I began my own series of attacks.
I hastily dodged as the female teacher countered with her right fist, dancing around the blow with what little skill I had. I glanced at the clock, at least thirty seconds to go.
Using all my speed I dodged a sweeping kick, followed by an eight punch combo. I jumped back as Nakata-sensei closed in, avoiding a brutal beat-down.
She then came in with a tackle, with great speed did she charge, but I slipped to her left just as she made to grab me, tripping her with my foot as I did so.
I caught her fall with both hands, even as the two minute mark rolled around; from here it's bonus points.
I lighted my right leg high, bringing it down with great force on the medium height teachers head, she hastily block with her left arm, deflecting the blow to her shoulder.
Doggone, if I was taller that would have finished her. As it was, the axe kick had hurt her left arm quite nicely.
I disengaged, not wanting to be thrown by my own leg, and took the interceptor stance.
"Time for a graduation reveal, yes?" Oh yes. I almost activated my Sharingan, but I quickly remembered that use of chakra in taijutsu only spars was not allowed, even to strengthen muscles.
"Che," I spat under my breath, stupid academy, now I'd have to make something up for my 'graduation reveal', oh well, let's make it funny.
"Oh yeah? Let's see it kid."
I wracked my brain for a second, before something popped into my head, "Watch closely." By now, the whole class was watching, wondering what the all-powerful move the top kid had been hiding.
I crouched low, putting my hands on the sandy ground and cocking my head to the side. Kushina scoffed.
"Sand Storm!" I yelled, after I threw dust into the watching eyes of Nakata-sensei. I followed up, even as she cursed, and as she rubbed her eyes and flailed I drove her out of the ring. That actually worked better than the Sharingan.
The entire audience was gaping, well, most of it, others were chuckling.
"So, how many points do I get for defeating a teacher?"
"100, next."
As Nakata reentered the ring, still blinking, she was opposite Isao.
At length the exams finished, and the successful students were ushered into the room of the graduating class, two years ahead of the pack, and with Konoha head-bands on.
Even as I had tied mine to my forehead, I felt ten times its measly weight on my shoulder, as I bound it to my head I felt bound to Konoha, if I left now, I was to be hunted until I was beheaded. It was a sobering moment, when I realized I was bound, bodily to someone else's ideals and beliefs.
"Team 11 will be Uchiha Nanashi, Hyuuga Hiashi, and Hironaka Kaede; your jonin-sensei will come and pick you up." Well, at least Hiashi wouldn't be a drag, that's for sure; hopefully this Kaede was a ninjutsu specialist that I could copy from.
After teams were listed off jonin-sensei began arriving and taking the children.
"Team four with me!" A white-haired man yelled, the red paint under his eyes marking his identity clearly.
Minato and his two teammates happily trotted out after the Legendary pervert Sannin, happy to train under such a prestigious figure.
"Team eleven, come with me," I perked up as the number eleven was called, nearly breaking into an impossible grin when I saw who it was.