Chapter 24
HIKARI HIZASHI
"Sure, go for it," and that was not the answer he was expecting out of their sensei upon telling him of Ino's request. He had thought that the man would offer to dissuade Ino from the notion, or worse, be offended by the idea of him training her.
Yet the smile on his face told an entirely different story.
"You are okay with this?" he asked, and the Sarutobi jounin nodded as he took in a big puff from his cigarette.
"Yes," and he could think of a dozen other objections. Ino was strange in the sense that her peculiar circumstances made her more aware of the dangers of the world they were in. Yet, she had chosen to ignore them all, believing in the goodness and false promises of a shinobi life that very well knew weren't all true.
She had a sharp tongue, but if the pain in her voice as she spoke about Sakura was anything to go by, she had a kind and caring soul—something that could be a rather significant burden in this world.
Hikari himself was deeply shaken by Sakura's death, which once more reminded him of the brutality of this world. He vowed to do everything in his power to ensure that the people he cared for would never suffer a similar fate.
"But what am I going to teach her? I am just a genin," and Asuma Sarutobi raised a brow at his words.
"We both know that ranks are meaningless to an ANBU," and with that, he shook his head as he added.
"I could name a dozen jounin much weaker than you. Hell, under the right circumstances, you might just even be able to kill me," and that was as great an exaggeration as any.
"I could never kill you," not as he was currently, but those dark eyes narrowed.
"So you say," and they spoke nothing for a few seconds as they waited for the rest of the team, as the man continued to smoke.
"Still, what am I to teach her?" he asked again, and the man shrugged.
"Teach her what she wants. Teach her to be an ANBU," and Hikari sighed.
"But she is not an ANBU, is she? She is Ino Yamanaka, the heiress to the Yamanaka clan," and the man nodded in as he finally understood his concerns.
"So, you are worried about that," for even if he was to water down the ANBU training regimen, it was still quite brutal. Let alone, he was a novice at teaching others, and so would probably make quite a few mistakes even if he were to accept this responsibility.
"Don't be," the jounin assured him, as he flicked away the cigarette bud and pushed himself away from the tree and stood tall.
"The Yamanaka are nothing like the Hyugas. I would even argue that you might even earn yourself quite a favor with the Yamanaka clan head because of this," and then those eyes narrowed.
"And someone in your situation could really use having a man such as Yamanaka Inoichi in your debt," and so he had no way out now, as Hikari began to contemplate on what he was to do with this newfound responsibility.
"Plus, with how things are going to be, I could use a hand," and he frowned.
"What do you mean by that?" and indeed he did, for unlike the usual compliment of three, the number of genin that gathered in training ground nine was five, for they were joined by Akimichi Choji and Inuzuka Kiba, as Sakura's two teammates were given to their sensei.
"Now, all of you here are familiar with one another, so we will skip the introductions," Asuma Sarutobi began as he addressed them all.
"Your sensei is still recovering from her injuries, and until she is healthy, you two will be training with us," and during all this, he was intrigued as he found Shikamaru looking at him rather intensely for some reason.
"So before we begin, each of you will spar with me so that I can know exactly where you stand currently," and with that, he turned towards them.
"I believe you all have your assignments," and it was Ino who spoke up resolutely.
"Yes," and Shikamaru nodded as well, before he turned away from the clearing and simply walked into the forest.
"I am going to go rest," and for some reason, he didn't believe the Nara boy, as Ino turned towards him.
"We should go as well," and with a final glance at the Sarutobi jounin, Hikari nodded.
"Sure," and with that, they moved one side, as their sensei began to talk with the two new genins, as Ino turned towards him enthusiastically.
"Where do we begin?" she asked, and he sighed and asked her one last time.
"Are you sure about this?" and she nodded.
"Yes, I am," and so he cracked his neck as he told her the most brutal truth.
"Well, then the thing is that while you are quite powerful as a genin, by ANBU standards you are weak…."
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INO YAMANAKA
Weak.
And the word cut deeper than she had thought, but there was no turning back now as Hikari continued in a scathing manner.
"You are smart, and you have talent to spare, but you lack conviction, and you are overly reliant on your clan's techniques for battle, which is quite a big handicap to have," and she knew of all those faults. This was exactly why she had asked him to train her.
Their sensei, for all his strength and prowess, was not an ANBU. She had seen him fight, and yet never had she felt the same semblance of fear and trepidation as she had felt when Hikari had taken out his kunai to fight off against Gato's men.
It was as if in that moment, Ino knew instinctively that they were all going to die.
She wanted that for herself. She wanted that confidence and power for herself.
"Then what do we do?" she asked, and he reached into his pocket and showed her a piece of paper—chakra paper, to be exact.
"I have something in mind for you, but first I need to know your chakra affinity," and he handed her the paper.
"I don't think I need to explain how it works," and she shook her head, for she already knew its basics.
"No," and as she held it between her fingers, she pushed a small amount of chakra into it, and in a second, she felt it turn wet as she found herself blessed with one of the more troublesome affinities.
"Suiton," he whispered, and there was a smile on his face.
"Good," she heard him whisper, as he looked her in the eye.
"Why good? Suiton is considered rather rare and difficult to master," and then there was the fact that water style ninjutsu was only ever effective if one had a source of water nearby.
Otherwise, she knew of but one shinobi who was said to be able to wield Suiton without the presence of ambient water. The Second Hokage.
"Because this is the perfect affinity for someone like you," he began, as he passed her a scroll.
"The truth is that you are never going to be as fast or as powerful as a male, that is just the cruel reality of it. Your reserves will also be somewhat limited, so you need to lean into your specialties and talents, and hone them to such an extent that you are able to offset all of these disadvantages," and he had made it all seem rather hopeless until the last line.
"And what talents are those?" she asked.
"Sensing and information gathering," he replied sharply without a second thought.
"That scroll contains records about the second Hokage's sensing technique. I believe that your clan will have some notes and ideas about it of their own. Use them, and hone your sensing abilities to a level where no enemy will ever be able to fool you and your unit. Ever," and she glanced at the scroll, before she asked him again.
"You want me to steal from the Nidaime Hokage?" she asked, and he seemed rather nonchalant about it.
"Yes, I do," and that was a bit too much, and her expression must have shown that as he rolled his eyes and added.
"Great Ninjas invent techniques. Greater ninjas steal them," and she had never heard that.
"Who said that?" she asked.
"Me," he answered shamelessly, as she couldn't help but blink owlishly.
"We are less than five months from the chunin exams, and that is not enough time to invent a sensing technique on your own. So, you steal what you can and add what you have to," and that was a rather callous way of thinking, but efficient.
And that was what the ANBU were famous for.
Efficiency.
"But that will be your task on your own time. Here, with me, we will be working on something else," and she raised a brow, rethinking her choices as he gave her a devilish smile.
"What?"
"Speed…."
.
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.
.
And within a week, Ino began to regret her choice of mentor as she found all her body aching as she realized that Hikari Hyuga, or rather Hikari Hizashi, was a demon given flesh.
For a week, he had chased her through the forest in a game of tag, except that she found herself unable to catch him despite giving it her all. She had known that he was talented and strong, but this went beyond any of her expectations.
Chakra control, history, theory, iryo-nin, ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu. He dabbled into everything, and the pace at which he understood and applied theory was a sight to behold.
Her morning training aside, even her home had become a training ground for her as she found herself sifting through old scrolls, filled with stories of battles between her clan and the Senju, as she tried to gather all the insights she could about the Nidaime Hokage's sensing technique.
And the more she read about it, the more she found herself amazed. The Nidaime Hokage was quite a monster, and while he was not as gifted as his elder brother in the ninja arts, he had made himself into one of the most dangerous shinobi of his time through sheer hard work.
By the time he was her age, he had already developed his iconic sensing technique along with a dozen other jutsus that were now used all over the world. He was a genius of hard work, and many times she saw his shadow in Hikari.
The second Hokage was not truly devoid of love and affection, for in her clan's journals, she found some hidden scurried away about a potential lover, but he was a man bound to duty. After the death of the Shodaime-sama, the burden of the village fell to his shoulders, and with the great war threatening to unravel all that the First Hokage had sacrificed to build, he had chosen to dedicate his life to the village.
As a week passed, Ino found herself heaving as their training session for the day came to an end.
"So, I will see you guys tomorrow then," Shikamaru whispered, as Hikari nodded.
"Yeah…."
"Wait!" she eeked out, and she was so worn out that even breathing pained her, yet still the two boys turned towards her.
"We are not training tomorrow," she declared.
"We are having a day off…"
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.
.
And Team Ten was not the only team working hard, and Hatake's three brats were driving the man mental as well. Hiruzen Sarutobi watched it all, saddened that another generation had to suffer a loss, yet that pain had transformed them all, as it revealed to them the cruelty of this world.
"It is good to have you back in the village," he greeted, as he smiled after quite some time as a white haired man stood against the wall, looking at him with a complicated expression.
"Jiraiya," and he was one of his students, a shinobi given the title of Sanin by Hanzo Hattori himself, and perhaps the strongest within this village, after Hiruzen himself. Though, given his age, Hiruzen could very well be wrong.
"I wish I could say the same, but still I wonder what made you call me back so suddenly?" asked the only living Sage as Hiruzen smirked.
"Naruto-kun graduated from the academy," he told him, yet his expression remained unreadable.
"He is a genin now under the tutelage of Kak…."
"You and I both know that I already know all of that," and the village may very well be damned if he did not.
"You need to meet the boy and explain his circumstances to him," he ordered, leaving no room for argument.
"He is progressing too quickly, and he needs to be prepared for the time he comes into contact with the bijuu's chakra," and Jiraiya did not agree with him, but nodded nonetheless.
"I guess it is time then, huh," and that was good.
"Was that all?" he asked, and Hiruzen shook his head.
"No. There is one more boy that you need to meet…."
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