Legends Cephied Variable ============================|+|============================ The Hokage's one of those men who thinks they're invincible. You can read it in the way he folds his hands, the way he stands with his feet planted firmly on the ground, legs spread just so and the ball of each ankle rests perpendicular to his shoulder blades. He thinks he's damn royalty. This weakness is unforgiviable in a leader- those invincible types, all you have to do is prod them until you figure out what they're most afraid of (and usually, it's the most trivial thing) and then all you have to do is remind them that they're human. Ah, Lord Hokage, I could break you in ten minutes and there wouldn't even be any blood. It would be nice if I could just say: "Sorry Lord Hokage, but I actually don't want to sit in your badly decorated office and drink watery tea with you while you prattle on about this or that when, we both know, between the lines you're really just talking about how fantastically you run your village." Blah, blah, blah- all he ever wants is information on the Hidden Mist. I'd politely inform him that I didn't defect for whatever reasons he seems to think I defected, but part of the conditions of my living here are these weekly afternoon pleasantries. He thinks he's brilliant and calls them: "interrogations". So here I am, grinning through my teeth. And can I ever grin through my teeth. Ha. And so this week he asked me about the Isonade. Which was perhaps a little more exciting because I got to display my ability to lie through my teeth as well. - from the personal log of Hoshigaki Kisame Chapter Two Uchiha Itachi poured his brother a cup of tea and watched the boy not drink it. Sasuke was like that- he would never refuse, but he wouldn't accept either. Instead he stared into the steaming cup as they talked, occasionally moving to stir it a little, as if he actually intended to drink it. Itachi had't been home in years, but he distinctly remembers his little brother being more talkative. Granted he still had no idea how to appreciate silence- he filled all the awkward pauses with his gloomy aura. Their mother had put on a fire earlier in the evening, Itachi had no doubt the chill in the room was caused by Sasuke's dark, accusatory glare. "I hear you've been training with Orochimaru." Itachi commented after several minutes had passed between them. "Yeah." Sasuke murmered in response. Itachi finished his tea and went to pour himself another cup, eyeing his brother intently. Sasuke had taken to staring at his hands again, every bit the stereotypical sullen teenager. "You should be wary of him, Sasuke." Itachi continued, and Sasuke's vision snapped up to meet his. "Why should I be?" he practically growled, biting down at the end of each word. Itachi raised his eyebrows slightly and sipped his tea calmly. "You should listen to my advice, Sasuke. I've known that man longer than you've been alive."Sasuke curled his fists into balls and narrowed his eyes, his entire body shaking with barely contained frustration, "Orochimari-sensei said... he said that under his care I could be a Jounin by the end of the year." "And why is that so important to you Sasuke?" The younger Uchiha pressed his eyes shut and let out a low hiss of anger between his teeth, "Aniki, are we finished? I have some training to do." Itachi shook his head, "You've changed since I left. Mother and Father expressed to me some concern that you might-" "And what would you care!?" Sasuke shouted suddenly, leaping to his feet and throwing his tea cup across the room. It hit the far wall and shattered, sending cold tea and polished chinaware flying- a minature supernova of bottled anger. Itachi watched the jagged remains of the cup his the ground and slowly turned his head back towards his heaving brother. "You just left!" Sasuke shouted again when Itachi's eyes were on him, "In the middle of the night! You didn't even come to say goodbye to me! Why do you even care what I do or who I become- if you don't want me to train under Orochimaru-sensei, you should have stayed to train me yourself! Like you promised!" Itachi waited patiently for Sasuke to exhaust himself, eyes impassive and hands steady. When the boy was finished, he stood calmly and brushed off his travelling cloak. "You should clean up the mess before father finds out." he said simply before exiting the room. ============================|+|============================ Iruka was rarely up before the break of dawn. He knew that it was a clumsy, un-ninja like way to be but he enjoyed waking up to light filtering through his window and the sounds of birds chirpping merrily in the yellow glow of mid morning. He did not like waking up to darkness and the sound of his mother's voice yelling his name up the stairs. "Iruka! There's a girl here to see you!" Iruka blinked and sat up in his bed, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and groping along the bedside table blindly in search of the lampswitch. When he finally did find it, he found himself squinting against the harsh, white light. "W-what time is it?" he mumbled groggily to himself, trying to decode the numbers on his alarm clock. Too early to be awake his mind decided. "Iruka? Did you hear me! You've got a friend here to see you!" A friend. A girl. Who am I friends with that's a girl? all his movements slow and heavy handed as if he were walking in waist deep water, Iruka pulled himself out of bed, shrugged on a sweated and ambled down the stairs only to find a stranger sitting in his living room. Well, not a stranger exactly. He'd recognize those Hyuuga eyes anywheres, and everyone knew that the only children in the Hyuuga clan besides the heir, Neji, were the twins. He'd been in a few classes with them and knew enough to identify this one as Hanabi (becuase Hinata had short hair, right?). Her long, black hair was tied in two loose ponytails and she was dressed in a no-nonsense white shirt and black pants. She moved with a practiced grace well beyond her years, but it was a dangerous sort of grace; one that promised skill and speed, but not tenderness. Iruka took one look at her and decided that the girl would probably benefit from a little color in her waredrobe. "Why are you here?" he asked, still rubbing his eyes. With that same humourless frown on her face, Hanabi pulled out a crisp scroll and unfolded it, "You're on my team- didn't you get one of these?" Iruka blinked, "Uh, well." "It was on my doorstep this morning when I woke up. Don't tell me you've been asleep this whole time."Iruka felt as if he were physically shrinking beneath her severe stare (those white eyes were so good for glaring), "Well, uh, yeah." Hanabi's frown deepened, "Well, you're up now anyways. Our teacher expects us to be at training field number three by exactly seven oh six AM. We should start studying now." "Studying?" Iruka groaned, "Why are we studying?" Hanabi furrowed her brow, "Because this is probably the same day that our new sensei will test us. If we fail that test, we don't become genin." Iruka sighed in heavy resignation. The last thing he ever wanted to do again was study after so many years in Gai-sensei's academy. Their former teacher was a staunch believing in the "no pain, no gain" philosophy but since he was too soft hearted to actually practice methods of physical pain upon his students, he preferred to inflict severe mental pain with his endless homework assignments. "Okay, okay, just let me get dressed." Hanabi nodded curtly and put away the scroll, folding her hands in her lap patiently. Iruka wobbled back towards the staircase, but stopped and asked, "Uh, what about our other team mate?" Hanabi scoffed and ran a hand through her thick hair, "Oh, he's not worth the time. Trust me."Iruka turned towards the stairs and rolled his eyes. There was the typical Hyuuga arrogance for you. ============================|+|============================ Their teacher cut an imposing figure against the horizon- wide shoulders, long limbs and the most unusual fashion sense. However, the first thing that really struck Iruka about the man was that his skin was blue. Iruka's brain did a double-take. Blue? His eyes boggled and Hanabi leaned over his shoulder, her black hair brushing against his cheek, and whispered, "It's rude to stare, Iruka-kun." "Ah, right." Iruka cleared his throat and straightened himself, following Hanabi hesitatly as she approached the man who was to be their sensei. Almost on cue, the man tipped back his sakkat and glared at them disapprovingly with small, milky colored eyes. Oh God, Iruka felt his eyes roll back against his will, Blue skin, pointy teeth and are those... gills? This isn't a man- he's a shark! "The first lesson a shinobi needs to learn." the blue man said sternly without preamble, "Is that when you are told to meet at 7:06AM, the clever thing to do would be to show up half an hour early, lest the induvidual you're meeting with decides to stab you in the back. Gaining the initiative is imperative in every situation you will ever face for the rest of your lives, whether it involves battle or not." he paused for dramatic effect, and continued with a wide, toothy grin: "Of course, your enemies will always try for the initiative as well. That your opponent is as well trained as you are is something you must also factor into your consideration. If you show up at 6:30, he will show up at 6:00. Taking this into consideration, sometimes showing up on time is the least predictable thing you could do." Hanabi nodded sagely, but Iruka found himself unable to wrap his brain around the speech, Okay, he thought hopelessly, Now I'm just really confused. "... in light of that," the blue man continued breezily, "Lets enjoy the sunrise while we wait Mr. Inuzuka to make his apperance, and I decide whether or not to fail you all for tardiness." "W-wait!" Iruka stammered, "You mean if one of us is late, we all fail?" Their teacher perked an eyebrow and crossed his arms inside his cloak's long sleeves, "Mmm? You don't think that's fair, Mr. Umino?" Iruka bit his lip, "W-well, no. No I don't. Shouldn't we be judged by our induvidual actions? Punishing us for someone else's faults seems a bit extreme." "Iruka-kun," Hanabi cut in cooly, "One of the most important skills you'll ever learn as a shinobi is effective teamwork. We aren't be judged for our absent team-mate's abscence, we're being judged for our ability to work together." "You," the shark-man stated, pointed at Hanabi, "Are my favorite student from now on." Hanabi didn't quite smile, but she certainly did beam. Iruka frowned, "How are we supposed to work together when we barely know each other?" he decided not to point out that Hanabi was the one who refused to pick up their third team mate. "Whatever your feelings, Mr. Umino, the choice is mine in the end. So for now, we wait." Hanabi nodded again and sat crosslegged in the grass, adopting a meditation pose. Iruka sighed and put on his best pout before collapsing in the grass beside her, leaning back on his palms so he could watch the sky. This was going to be a long day. ============================|+|============================ Itachi almost wished that he could feel nostalgic walking the narrow, cluttered streets of his birth place. Konoha hadn't changed in the eight years since he'd left, nor did Itachi suppose it would ever change. Ninja villages had a habit of uintentionally stagnating their societies in an attempt to keep their secrets under tight wraps. He'd hardly been in the village for three days, but already people on the streets were stopping to stare as he passed. "Oh, is that really-" "Yes, it is. The last of the legendary Sannin!" "Wow, I heard that he-" He also wished he could feel ashamed of his general impatience with the people of Konoha, but he'd seen and experienced too much in his travels to force himself to care anymore. It was a small city with a small Hokage and small ideas- there were things in this world he could have scarcely imagined before he'd left the village. What he did feel was regret. He regretted ever returning home, but it had been necessary. He regretted the person his brother was turning into and he regretted that he hadn't dedicated more of the past twelve years trying to figure out the Yondaime's riddle. He also regretted having fallen into such an intense obsession with his former team mate's last words. Itachi was torn from his thoughts by the sight of a young boy barreling down the street with his eyes on a scroll rather than where he was going. Itachi easily stepped out of the way, and the boy breezed past him with a startled yelp, falling face first into the dirt. He quickly scrambled to his feet, teetered back and forth a few times and straightened his forehead protector before looking up and flashing Itachi a dazzling grin, "Sorry, Mister! But I'm in a rush!" Itachi narrowed his eyes taking in the sparkling blue eyes, too-yellow blonde hair and bold fashion sense. He was all orange and blue and too much color in one place. He bounced from one foot to the other, impatiently waiting for a reply. Itachi stared at him intently for another few moments until the blonde sighed loudly and said, "Hey, whatever! I'm late!" and went to brush past him, but Itachi grabbed his arm. "What's your name?" he demanded sharply. The boy's eyes went wide (he had the most peculiar markings on his cheeks) and he yanked his arm away nervously, "Hey, hey! I said I was sorry!" "What's you name?" Itachi repeated, careful to keep his tone even. The boy rolled his eyes, "Well, if you want to know so badly-" here he paused dramatically, arranging himself in a ridiculously overconfident pose, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And you'd better remember that name, because I'm gonna be number one ninja in the entire village!" Itachi stared at him blankly, trying to decode the eerie familiarity of the scene. The boy relaxed his pose and resume his impatient pouting. "Uh, can I go now?" "Yes," Itachi replied quietly, "Yes, thank you." He was so familiar. He could have sworn that he looked just like- "Why, I'm going to be the number one ninja in this entire village, of course! It's my destiny to be Hokage!" "Destiny? Only fools believe in destiny." "Feh- you're always so negative, Itachi. Why don't you just lighten up once in a while! Listen- I'll totally make you head of the ANBU when I'm Hokage. Would *that* do anything for your perpetual PMS?" "... you can't just make me leader of the ANBU because you want to, you idiot." "Yes I can. I'll be leader of the village. I'll be able to do whatever I want." "Only if it's beneficial for the people of Konoha." "What, you don't think you'd make a good ANBU leader?" "..." "Oh, come *on* Itachi- commanding all those assassins, deciding who lives and dies, controlling the flow of information in the entire country! I know that's the kind of thing you dream about every night, you shameless power whore!" "Hokori-sensei will be displeased if we're late." "... aww, Itachi. You're never *any* fun." Oh, of course. and Itachi nearly laughed as he watched the young blonde bound off in the opposite direction, Of course. The Yondaime had left clues everywhere- legacies and puzzles invisible to the average mind. But this- this was almost too obvious. He'd have to ask Seiki Hokori about this Uzumaki Naruto when he next saw him. Although Itachi highly doubted his former sensei would tell him the truth. ============================|+|============================ "Hey guys, what did I miss!?" Iruka leaned is head back to see none other than Inuzuka Kiba sauntering towards them without a care in the world, his dog Akamaru running along side him, barking at his heels happily. Having spent the past fourty five minutes in terrified misery, his only company that of a Hyuuga noblewoman and a sadistic man-shark, Iruka had never wanted to punch someone in the face so badly. "Good morning, Mr. Inuzuka." their teacher called cheerfully, "I hope you had a good breakfast." Kiba stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw dropping open and his eyes going so wide Iruka feared they might roll right out of his head, "Y-your... oh no, no, no, no I can not believe this." he slapped his forehead and made a frustrated growling noise in the back of his throat. Akamaru looked up at his master with concern. "Please join us," the man-shark held his arms out, "I'm sure your new team mates would like to meet you." Kiba closed the gap between himself and the other genin grumbling and swearing all the way. He sprawled across the grass lazily, Akamaru curling up beside him, "Of all the jounin in this entire village, you had to be my sensei. I'm gonna-" The blue-skinned jounin cleared his throat loudly "I am Hoshigaki Kisame," he said, and Iruka was relieved he finally had a name to put with the unsettling face. Now he was only a little intimidated, "I was formerally from the Hidden Mist. Shinobi of the Hidden Mist- as you are well aware, I'm sure- are moraless, bloodthirsty crazy men, all of us. If we had been back home, I would have simply given each of you a different weapon and left you alone for a few hours until all but one of you were dead. However, apparently Lord Hokage expects all of his academy graduates to reach genin rank alive and preferably in one piece, which complicates matters slightly." Of the three students, only Hanabi dared to stare at him- Iruka was afraid that her gaze was a little bit reverent. He couldn't be sure, though- he was too busy looking at the sky, the trees, anywhere but his teacher's three rows of crooked, pointy teeth. On his part, Kiba just looked unimpressed and disgusted. "To be honest," and here Kisame sighed long-sufferingly, "I came to this village as a retirement of sorts. Understandably, I'm not eager to pass you children on today as it would be a full-time distraction from my exciting life of watching the sun rise and running errands for the Hokage. Thus, if you three want to be shinobi, this is the time to impress me." a pause, and he pointed abruptly in Iruka's direction, "Name five practical uses for fine tuned chakra control. Eh, I'll give you ten seconds." Iruka stopped breathing for a moment and glanced around him at Hanabi, and then Kiba. Oh yeah, that finger was definitely pointing in his direction. "Uh, um." he racked his brain. Oh why, why, *why* can't I rememeber? all he'd done the entire morning was study, afterall, "Improved speed, increased stamina, increased effectiveness of ninjutsu and special taijutsu!" he sputtered out quickly. Please tell me those were actually *words* and not just something I pulled out of my ass. Kisame arched an eyebrow and nodded slowly, "While those may sound good in a textbook, Mr. Umino, you forgot to include some practical uses. Such as walking up walls or across unstable surfaces, strengthing your hits or, lets say, lengthing the amount of time you can hold your breath under water." Iruka wilted, "Oh. Well." I'm only twelve. Give me a break. "With that in mind," Kisame clapped, and suddenly Iruka found himself surrounded by an unfamiliar rumbling sound and the feeling of air thickening against his skin. Faster than he could react, he was swept up and incased in a tightly condense bubble of water and chakra. Frantically, he flailed his arms attempted to swim, and for his effort found himself with a handful of a very peturbed Hyuuga Hanabi. A few moments later, he was kicked in the face by Kiba. "That would be my famous Suiro no Jutsu- water prison technique of the Hidden Mist!" Kisame announced proudly, his voice muted and far-away, "I know it must be uncomfortable in there, so I'll make a deal with you. I'm going to go buy myself breakfast- if you're all alive when I get back, well that saves me a lot of paperwork. If you all manage to get out of the water prison within the next half hour, I might consider passing you!" he smiled gleefully and waved to his students, "Have fun!" And with that, he was gone. Beside him, Iruka could hear Kiba gurgle something that sounded suspiciously like: "Well, shit." Chapter 1 // Chapter 3 ============================|+|============================