Leaf's Ninja Inheritance

After having met with the Hokage at his brother's grave, and having received a request from the man himself, Akihiro ran towards the residential area first. There he found his home inside the Uchiha Clan district and after having stocked up on supplies he ran towards the training fields without telling anyone where he was going. The young boy was excited for having the opportunity to learn from the strongest ninja in the village and one of the founding fathers of the Hidden Leaf. What would this man teach him? Would he assign him to a team? Would there be any kind of tests?

All these questions went through the Sparrow's mind as he moved towards the training area. Due to his excitement rush, he ended up getting there half an hour earlier. So he was left with no choice but to lean against a log and wait for the Hokage, always wondering about what they'd end up doing.

Hiroji had recently graduated as a genin, and through that his father had prompted Hiroji to go out a lot more, even though Hiroji knew the outskirts of Konogakure like the back of his hand already, Hiroji took his father's advice anyway and decided to start spending a good portion of his time on a training schedule, he'll need to build up that strength if he ever planned to fulfil his goal of becoming the Senju clan leader, and perhaps one day... unlock the potential hidden within him that's inside every Senju and get the proper genes that Senju are really known for, but that's a dream for later as even he knows he's far away from achieving such a powerful point.

Today was the day that he'd officially start his training as a ninja, as he hasn't been assigned to a squad yet so he'd take it upon himself to improve his overall abilities before being drafted into one. He walked over to the second training grounds easy enough, wearing his ninja apparel and it wasn't that populated, curiously, what really caught the Senju's eye is a black-haired kid leaning against a log, the appearance of him reminded Hiroji of an Uchiha... maybe he is an Uchiha?

Well, he'd be avoiding him for sure. His father had told him to not trust those of the other great clans, which were the Uchiha and the Hyuuga, albeit that Hiroji has never met and interacted with a Uchiha properly, he took his fathers beliefs and words very seriously and would follow it. He would tolerate them well enough but if he can help keep to himself, that'd be better.

Akihiro was still waiting for the Hokage when yet another curious event unfolded before his eyes. Another shinobi arrived at the training grounds. This, by itself, was not unusual as these training grounds were public and open for any shinobi or kunoichi of the Leaf who wanted to make use of the wide open space to train. What made this particular ninja different was that, as he passed by the area around Akihiro, he stopped and stared. It was literally just this, no words, no salutations, not even the usual ignoring attitude most shinobi there gave to each other. At first, Akihiro thought he'd wait to see if this other guy was going to eventually go away. But after a while it became unbearable.

"Excuse me..." he would ask. Akihiro decided to engage in conversation with this man mostly because he was incredibly curious as to why this guy was staring. "Is there...something wrong with my hair?" The Sparrow asked, noting that his long hair would go wild on random occasions and that it could look silly. But after using his hands to check his head, everything seemed to be in its place.

Akihiro honestly couldn't figure out the reason for all of this staring. And it seemed like the guy didn't even notice he was staring! "Man... I wish the Hokage would just hurry up... This is awkward." He would think, as he began to feel uncomfortable, but the Genin knew well enough that there were still 15 minutes left until the arranged meeting time.

Hiroji felt like he should've felt some sort of hatred towards the Uchiha from what his father told him, with how the Senju will eventually be walked over for their peacekeeping with the other clans but deep down, he's honestly indifferent about it, but maybe it's mostly this Uchiha kid. He seems relatively normal and it's understandable as he wouldn't be that deep into Uchiha clan matters like Hiroji isn't with the Senju clan because of his age, but he decided that maybe he'll give the Uchiha a shot, his own chance to determine how they can be.

It seems the kid decided for Hiroji already as he approached the silver-haired kid, he guessed that it was his own fault, considering Hiroji wasn't exactly being subtle with how he was looking at the kid. When he asked about the hair, Hiroji gave a light shake of his head as his way of saying no. "It's just... you remind me of an Uchiha. Are you an Uchiha?" he would ask, maybe all his suspicions were unwarranted for as it's likely that this kid just has the features of an Uchiha, but maybe isn't one.

"I'm apart of the Senju clan, one of the great clans of the village." regardless of the kids answer, Hiroji would shift that sentence of his in, as if he said it with a sense of pride behind it.

Akihiro raised an eyebrow at the question. Could people really tell he was an Uchiha just by looking at his face? He wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or... something else.
"Well... Yeah, I'm from the Uchiha clan. Isnit that obvious? he would ask, genuinely curious. It was an odd meeting, theirs. What kind of people introduced themselves by stating their clan first instead of their name? Akihiro guessed this clearly showed the importance of bloodlines, clans and Kekkei Genkai abilities for the village and shinobi in general. The Sparrow noticed people treated him differently when he mentioned the Uchiha name, but he had never given it much thought until now.

Akihiro got a better understanding of the reason why the boy was curious when he mentioned his clan. The Senju were, indeed, one of the Hidden Leaf's great clans, along with the Hyuuga and his own, the Uchiha.

"My father often says a Hidden Village's greatness can be measured by the greatness of its clans. And that a clan's greatness can be measured by the potential of their youth." he stated. It was a fact, his father often incited him to train for the greater glory of the Uchiha and the Hidden Leaf. "Does that mean you have great potential? Or are you already great?" The Genin asked, im a curious tone.

The Senju boy was surprised the Uchiha boy didn't know the Uchiha's own defining traits as to how they can be known as Uchiha. "Uchiha are just known to have... well, black everything, the black hair, black eyes, the seemingly broody face..." he didn't mean to stereotype their clan so easily, but the fact that he managed to guess this boy is an Uchiha based on his appearance alone does say something about that stereotype.

Hiroji was slightly surprised by that quote that supposedly belong to the Uchiha's father, it would sound something exactly like what Hiroji's own father would say. He would calmly give a response to it though. "I like to say I have both." in his eyes, the greatness of the Senju clan is already with him, and he likes to believe he has that potential so later on down the road, he can truly unlock his hidden, Senju potential.

With that, he had wondered if the boy was somehow similar to Hiroji himself? a similar goal of aiming for a high position in the village? Hiroji's own goal, as previously mentioned is to aim for Senju clan leader and change the road the Senju clan are going towards, with having the secondary goal of becoming so great that the village will have to accept him as a Hokage and force change within the Senju clan that way. "Do you have anything you aspire to be?" he'd finally ask, if Hiroji's father had seen him right now... he might nab him away by the ear and tell him to not do it again, but he wants to know how the Uchiha can be.

As the boy described the regular Uchiha stereotype, Akihiro would look at his clothes and think of his physical traits. Truth to be told, he wasn't entirely wrong. Akihiro noticed he was, in fact, wearing a lot of black. But it wasn't like he was doing it on purpose... his black hair and eyes were a genetic condition he had no control over. Just like the sharingan, black eyes and hair were part of his Uchiha inheritance. As for the clothes...

"Well...I just picked the first whatever I found at the Uchiha district's gear shop..." Akihiro wasn't all that great at picking clothes. But he did know one thing: Black went well with everything, so he decided to pick mostly black items except for the white piece of clothing around his waist. "It wasn't like they had many ninja gear options for someone of my size..." Akihiro had graduated from the academy at the age of 12, and he hadn't really had much time to grow. He stood at a height noticeably shorter than the Senju's, and because of this it was sometimes hard to pick ninja gear compatible clothes that fit him and that also looked serious enough for people not to mock him.

As for the gloomy look...well Akihiro refrained from commenting on that one. He didn't think he was gloomy, in fact, Akihiro was someone who smiled quite a lot for a person who chose the path of being a shinobi.  "Hey I like your confidence." Akihiro would say, bringing out one of his usual smiles. The Senju's next question was rather important. Akihiro pondered for a bit and then replied. "Yeah, I guess there is something." he paused, unsure of how to word it. He would then casually look the Senju boy in the eyes, and smile yet again. There was hardly anyone in the village with a more tender, or gracious smile, and this fact usually gained sympathy from the villagers. He looked like an innocent child, and yet there was something in his eyes, in his expression. A brutal honesty. "I will become the greatest shinobi who ever lived."

Hiroji was surprised he was even enjoying this conversation with the Uchiha boy, he still kept the wordings of his father first and foremost in his mind that underneath every Uchiha is a manipulating and cold calculating person but despite all the... darkness that his appearance had apparently sought out, it was combated by his sweet smile. He paid extra attention to what the Uchiha's goal is, and didn't show too much surprise for some reason but it is indeed a worthy goal.

"There's just one problem with that..." the Senju had started to say. "You'll have to go against me at one point. I plan to become the Senju clan leader and possibly, the next Hokage." since the Hokage in Konogakure are considered the strongest in the village, and if the Uchiha boy truly wanted to be the strongest shinobi to ever live, he'll have to surpass even them. "And trust me, I plan on achieving it and if it comes down to it, I won't hesitate in bringing you down to get to that goal." finally, Hiroji popped out a smile with as he said this, it seems that the Uchiha boy wasn't so bad, Hiroji told him what his goal is without thinking it through, either attributing to Hiroji's fathers words that the Uchiha are indeed manipulators, or this boy is quite genuine.

Hiroji looked around the training grounds, deciding after all that talk, it might be best to switch to something more casual now. "I noticed you were laying against the log earlier, are you waiting for someone?" he could only assume that to be the case, since he wasn't using the space to train himself when Hiroji walked into the training grounds.

"Hmm?" Akihiro replied, when the boy said there was a problem with his goal. Was there something the young Sparrow hadn't considered? He had thought about this many times, it didn't seem like an impossible goal to the little boy. But then again, the 12-year-old was an eternal optimist, so this task would certainly prove to be more difficult than he dared imagine. "Oh, that." Akihiro hadn't considered who he would have to fight in order to achieve this goal. In his mind, it didn't really matter. These steps would have to be taken one at a time. The first step was graduating from the academy. That was done. The second step was learning from the best, and that was being worked on.

"Being Hokage huh...is that your ambition?" Akihiro asked. He had never considered being Hokage. Being the leader of the Hidden Leaf was more than just having power, it meant having a lot of responsibility and dealing with a ton of paperwork. Akihiro wanted to be a great ninja, but being Hokage wasn't really his main goal. The Sparrow shrugged. "I suppose it's a good goal to have. But I think...I think I'll attempt to fly higher." Ah, the dreams of youth were such a grace, involved in the hope that they would one day achieve their goals.

The boy asked yet another question, to which Akihiro had no problem answering. "Aye. Kazuya-sama told me to meet him here for training. But I ended up arriving earlier than expected so now I'm waiting."

Hiroji liked to be confident in his goals, but he was also a realist at the same time and knew that if he aimed too high, he'll just fall down harder that way and that's why he's mostly aiming for the Senju clan leader spot, it's more plausible and possible to aim for then the Hokage spot. "One of my ambitions at least, I have a few in mind but I'll keep those to myself for now." he felt like he revealed a bit too much as it is, not that he didn't mind it so far.

The Senju boy just simply crossed an eyebrow when he said the Hokage himself would be coming to the training grounds to train this boy, which must be crazy. "The... Hokage himself is coming?" that would be interesting, but so far it looks like the Hokage is a no-show. He's guessing that the Hokage must've gotten caught up in something or the Uchiha boy is just making it up for some reason, either way he wouldn't pry any further on it.

"So... let's talk abilities." this would be a more interesting topic to talk about. "I think we both know what our clans are known for so I'm not talking about that, mostly what you have so far in terms of jutsu?" as in what abiltiies he had right now, if the boy would give the details on that, Hiroji would share about the details of what abilities he knew currently.

Akihiro sighed, when the Senju asked whether or not the Hokage was coming. truth to be told, he himself wasn't entirely sure. The moments they shared near Uchiha Kazutoshi's grave less than an hour ago seemed to have happened a lifetime ago instead. It was a moment he would remember for the rest of his life, and one upon which he would reflect many times. "Well, he said he'd be here...I believe him. I have no reason not to. There's still time." As he said those words, Akihiro himself became more confident in his conviction. The Hokage said he'd be here, so he'd be here and that's that.

The Senju would then ask him about his abilities. Now there was a subject Akihiro didn't like to talk about. Not because he had anything to hide from his fellow Konohagakure Ninjas, but his particular set of skills were a bit hard to...explain. The young boy then had an idea. He smirked.

"My skills...? Do you want to see them? I still have five minutes before Kazuya-sama arrives." A battle was pretty much always interesting. And he needed to warm up anyway, so why not give it a shot at the Senju boy whose name he didn't even know? Akihiro assumed the traditional sparring stance, with his right hand making half a tiger hand-seal, and awaited his opponent's reaction.

Hiroji felt like the Hokage must've lied about meeting with the Uchiha kid for some reason, "Sorry to say, but I don't think the Hokage's coming..." in Hiroji's eyes, it's better to let yourself down first before someone did it for you but that's just his take on it. He decided to move on though and accepted the boy's challenge of a brief spar. This would be a good chance to take in what Uchiha genin are capable of, and he'd show the boy himself how capable a Senju can really be at his age.

The only surprising factor now that he realised it is the Uchiha's young age, from how he looked and the height he's at, he's probably at least a few years younger then Hiroji so around... 10 or 11? he couldn't know for sure, and would probably ask about that after their spar is done.

The Senju did a combat stance of his own, tensing up his knees so they're very slightly bent, with both of his hands raised up, ready to go against the Uchiha boy. "Okay... ready as I'll ever be, who'll deliver the first blow?" he'd ask, either way, if it was the Senju who went first or if the Uchiha boy who went first, Hiroji would stay right there and think about what he would do first, or to counter whatever the Uchiha will bring.

Akihiro didn't mind him saying those words. Maybe he was a naive young boy, but he was determined to trust the Hokage. If the hidden Leaf ninjas and inhabitants trusted the man with the tremendous task of protecting everyone, Akihiro trusted Kazuya to keep his word.

The Sparrow couldn't help but wonder whether or not he was being underestimated due to his small size and young age. If so, it wouldn't be the first time it happened. He didn't mind being underestimated, as it was an extra weapon his opponents gave him, and an edge to be used in battle and which could very well mean victory for the young Uchiha. But for now, this was a spar and he wasn't entirely sure at this point about his opponent's opinion of him. "Well, I'm the challenger." Akihiro said, putting his right hand inside his back pouch. "So I suppose the traditional first blow is mine. Well, here goes nothing!" Usually ninjas didn't announce the attack they were about to make, but Akihiro felt like the spar needed a proper beginning and this was it.

From his pouch, he took two shuriken and launched them at the same time. However this wasn't just any shuriken launch, Akihiro had used a special technique called the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu which allowed him to hide the second shuriken in the shadow of the first one, so his opponent would think he was only dealing with a single shuriken. The Sparrow was curious to know how well the Senju would handle this first attack. While his right hand worked, his left one immediately moved as if reaching for his back pouch again, but this time the hand wouldn't be picking up anything from it.


Used:
Shadow Shuriken jutsu

Hiroji was surprised he started such an attack already, he had imagine that they would do some up-close Taijutsu before getting into such a battle of sorts, but he could work with that, because of the shuriken slightly taking him by surprise, Hiroji quickly dug into the ground using the only Earth jutsu he knew currently. He had disappeared straight into the Earth for a few seconds, waiting for the shuriken to fly by, during which he slightly moved under the ground to his right so the Uchiha wouldn't throw another attack as soon as he came out of the ground he dug into.

He finally stepped out of the ground and his upper half got exposed, forcing him to push off the ground with his arms and get his lower body out of the ground. "I didn't think I'd have to use that technique, but you didn't give me much of a choice." he briefly said, Hiroji had no tools of his own and his true talent is at close range, meanwhile the Uchiha seemed to utilise long-range. This will be a tricky spar indeed. 

Now that he knew to expect shurikens this time around, the Senju would slowly step back, and start running if the Uchiha started to push him in an attempt on the Senju's behalf to try and exhaust his tool supply to try and keep at least twenty meters away so when he would throw his shuriken once more, he'd have just enough time to dodge it instead of resorting to that technique once more.

Used:
Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique

As expected, the Senju clan ninjas were no pushovers. Even the Genin seemed more than capable of holding their own in combat against most opponents. Akihiro wasn't expecting the two shuriken to hit their marks, but he hadn't been expecting this kind of counter attack either. Luckily, he was a ninja who liked to be prepared.

As the Senju began digging down the ground and dodging the shuriken, Akihiro made a single hand-seal using only his left hand which was behind his back and away from the Senju's range of vision. This allowed him to cast one of his favorite techniques, one taught to him by his mother herself. The Sparrow had to admit he was surprised at this weird sort of Ninjutsu used by his opponent. He had never seen this technique before and having his opponent underground without knowing where he was left the Sparrow feeling incredibly vulnerable, which was an entirely new feeling for the Genin. Akihiro was already learning from this spar

Luckily his opponent was nice enough not to directly attack him and instead coming off the ground, making a comment on his own technique. "Impressive use of Doton, I'd never seen that before." Akihiro admitted. Then, the Senju began stepping back. Akihiro wondered what was causing this sort of behavior. Was he trying to lure the Uchiha Genin into some kind of trap? Akihiro tilted his head to the side a little. The Uchiha wasn't going to give chase.

Earlier, the two shuriken he'd thrown had landed on a tree, about 15 meters away from his position. Holding the correct hand-seal behind his back, Akihiro had used the Wind Release: Verdant Mountain Gale technique on the two shuriken, effectively taking control of them from a distance. So, as soon as the Senju came out of the hole Akihiro made the shuriken return towards their first intended target, aiming to get Hiroji from his blind spot. They were moving even faster than the first time Akihiro threw them, coming at C-rank speed towards the Senju's neck.

Because the Senju decided to slowly step back while keeping an eye on Akihiro, the Uchiha had no difficulty in making the weapons follow the man's blind spot trajectory. At the speed they were moving, everything actually happened rather fast.

By the time the shuriken reached the close vicinity of Hiroji's neck, Akihiro would immediately change their trajectory and instead make the ninja tools move around the Senju's neck in a rather small orbit, but keeping their speed. "Gotcha!" Akihiro would say, confidently smiling. Deception was one of the shinobi's greatest weapons. And although Hiroji had been expecting shuriken from Akihiro and had (rightfully) kept a close eye on the Genin from the moment he left the ground, Akihiro began making his move while his opponent was underground, taking control of the shuriken far away from the boy's sight. From then, it was a matter of making the weapons follow the trajectory he wanted at a speed that even Akihiro himself couldn't keep up with in physical terms.

Used:
Wind Release: Verdant Mountain Gale

Hiroji had exposed his chakra nature to the Uchiha, meaning that the boy himself would've take steps to perhaps continue attacking the Senju the instant he'd use his one Earth technique once more, so he'd try his best to avoid using it again unless he really had no choice and kept his steady eye on the genin for when he would perhaps throw his next batch of shuriken, however... a surprise came to the Senju when suddenly, two shuriken infused with wind had passed by his neck. It gave him a light shock and made him realise that it was the Uchiha's doing.

He was a bit bitter he had lost so easily to the Uchiha, but somewhat impressed at the same time that he out-thought and tricked Hiroji like that. "I thought most Uchiha were used to Katon?" it was one aspect of the Uchiha after all, that they were known for their skillful use in the Fire Nature. He guessed that this boy was a more unique case, sort of similar to how most Senju are known to have tanned skin and black hair, but instead Hiroji received the lighter genes of the Senju.

The Senju didn't know what they could do, now that the Senju had lost to the Uchiha. "So... I lost, pretty easily it seems." that decided it, the boy had to get stronger if he had gotten defeated so easily, with that though... he'd officially declare something to the Uchiha. "I think I'll get stronger if I call you my rival, we'll have more battles like this in the future and I'll beat you next time!" he'd exclaim, he was pretty passionate about it. He'd get giggity at the thought of winning one over the Uchiha next time, but with a good, joyful feeling behind it. Perhaps the Senju had finally found a true friend.

Feeling happy that his tactic had worked out so well, the Uchiha Genin used his chakra to make the two shuriken return to his hand where he safely caught them and put them back in the holster. It was nice to have a technique that allowed him to recover shuriken so easily, this way he didn't have to spend so much money on basic ninja tools and could save it for cooler stuff (maybe a better, less black outfit? naaaah)

Akihiro nodded at the Senju's remark, regarding the use of Katon by most Uchihas. It was true that the vast majority of the Uchiha clan was an adept Fire Release user, and even that mastering the Great Fireball Jutsu was regarded as a sort of coming of age ceremony, but...Akihiro just couldn't use Fire Release, for some reason. It wasn't his natural element and forcing him to master a second element when he barely grasped his first was a mistake his parents made at first. "Well yeah. My father thought the same. But not all of us are great fire users, it seems. I'm a Wind Release user." Akihiro stated. In a way, he had pride in his wind release techniques. It made him different from the rest of the clan for sure, but wind release was a weapon on its own and one that could further increase the potency of his clan's already powerful Fire Release techniques. So he didn't mind his nature.

Akihiro then raised an eyebrow at the Genin, when he declared their rivalry. "R-rival?" the Sparrow repeated. He wasn't entirely sure of what rivals were supposed to do. He didn't want any responsibilities that he couldn't handle... then again, Akihiro had learned a lot from this match. Perhaps fighting the Senju in the future would allow him to learn and grow even further. "A-alright, I guess we could be rivals. I...I'd like that."

Placing his right hand in a half tiger hand-seal, Akihiro adopted a formal posture and bowed to the Senju, ending their duel just like the traditional rules of Shinobi Sparring demanded. "Thank you for the spar, ...err..." Akihiro suddenly realized something. "Wait, shouldn't we know each other's names before declaring rivalry?"

Glancing at the sun, Akihiro calculated the hours just like he'd learned at the academy. It was now ten minutes past the time of the Hokage's supposed arrival.

A wind release Uchiha user instead of a fire release Uchiha user? that's interesting. It certainly makes the Uchiha a bit more unique then his fellow clan members, but it is known that ninja can have multiple chakra natures and this doesn't manifest until later on in a ninja's life, so perhaps not all hope is lost that the Uchiha boy may indeed manifest a fire nature later on in his life. It would be pretty handy to have, it's like Hiroji is hoping that Water Release would manifest later on in his life, he wants to get the kekkei genkai that the Senju are well known for, and that's Wood Release which requires the combination of Earth and Water, with Hiroji only having Earth so far so it's a good first step.

Hiroji decided that he liked this Uchiha, he'd still be wary of other Uchiha members but he could tell that this one isn't so bad, when he finally mentioned about each other not knowing their names, Hiroji would quickly correct that little mistake. "Hiroji Senju, future Senju Clan leader and possible Hokage." he said, stating his previous ambitions once more from earlier, making them clear and known. "Though... my goal for now is to manifest Wood Release somehow, but that's years away... it's still a goal though! once I get it, the other Senju members will have no choice but to accept me as their leader!"

He then looked around, realising that time has passed quite a bit and even though he didn't want to bring the boys hopes down, he still believed that the Hokage is still a no-show. "I'm sorry to say, but I don't think he's coming." he'd repeat from earlier. Once he got the name of the Uchiha, he would leave him to it. "Either way, since the Hokage asked for you... I'll leave you alone to it, I wouldn't want to get in the way. See you later, rival!" as he started to walk away, waving at the Uchiha before turning around and running off back into the village.

(Exit)

Akihiro was starting to believe Hiroji when he said the Hokage wasn't gonna show up. He tried to keep his mind off that thought, while thinking about the other things the Senju had told him. Manifesting wood release was quite a goal...but Akihiro wasn't so sure about it being years away. Right now they lived in a rather peaceful Hidden Village but the young boy knew very well that only a few years ago the clans warred between them, and his father had told him about the Senju who manifested Wood Release techniques. Many of them were younger than Hiroji so perhaps, like the Sharingan, the Senju boy hadn't manifested wood release yet because he hadn't been pressed enough to do so. Akihiro was rather curious about that Kekkei Genkai as he didn't understand how it could have the power to match the great dõjutsu of the Uchiha or even the Hyuuga's. But Akihiro was naive child for now, and didn't know many things about how the world worked.

"I guess he really isn't going to show up..." Akihiro finally admitted defeat, with bitter disappointment. He felt like the Hokage had cheated or somehow tricked him, giving the boy false hopes only to get rid of his presence. If he didn't want Akihiro near Kazutoshi's shrine, all he had to do was ask him to leave! This was uncalled for. Sad, Akihiro went home after waiting two hours for the Hokage to show up.

[Exit]