2 Kizashi-I

Kizashi Haruno was having the time of his life. He looked on as Mebuki and his children cleared the dining table after the sumptuous dinner they just had. Usually, they would have all gone out for a celebratory dinner. But there were gifts to be given that were not for prying eyes yet. Fortunately, Mebuki had pulled out all stops and made an amazing dinner.

Ichigo had the house rigged with various seals that prevented any sort of spying. That was one of the main reasons why they did not head out tonight.

He quietly left the room and returned a few minutes later with a scroll. He dearly hoped that his daughter liked her graduation gift. He knew that Inoichi and their allied clans were doing something similar. He had asked him what kind of gift they would be giving their children, but the answer he got was pretty lackluster. A symbolic earring might be enough for clan heirs since they already have access to all kinds of resources. For second gens like Sakura, something worthwhile would go a long way in helping her stay alive. Kizashi remembered his own graduation where his civilian parents gifted him his first proper set of kunai and shuriken.

Thankfully, this was not his first rodeo. They had stumbled around a lot when it came to providing for Ichigo. But his son was self-sufficient and knew exactly what he wanted. That came a long way in them supporting him with his goals. Many people would think that Kizashi should be ashamed for letting his son outrank him at such a young age. To Kizashi though, it did not matter one bit. His children could only fill him with pride and nothing else. In a way, Ichigo and Sakura's success meant that he had fulfilled his job as a father and provided for his family. Nowadays, he was thinking of retiring. A lifetime as a genin was enough, and he was trying to convince Mebuki to retire as well, and just stay in the village as a part of the reserves.

The funny thing was that Ichigo was always of the belief that Kizashi had a wellspring of hidden potential. So much so that he believed Kizashi could be a kage-level ninja. Maybe, if he had made different decisions in his youth, it might have been somewhere in the realm of possibility. Maybe, in another life, in another world, he had actualized the potential Ichigo believed him to possess. Here and now though, he was a career genin who was proud of his talented children. Nothing more, nothing less.

As a result of observing and supporting Ichigo's rise, Kizashi and Mebuki were sufficiently equipped to aid Sakura. Thanks to Ichigo, they were able to capitalize on training her early on. This was her first stepping stone, and he hoped that they did not leave her wanting.

Mebuki looked at him and nodded once everyone was seated. It was time.

"Sakura dear, once again, congratulations on graduating at the top of your class," he said.

"Your father and I are immensely proud of you-" Mebuki was interrupted by Ichigo feigning a cough. She sighed in exasperation and continued, "Yes yes, Ichigo is proud of you too. Like he would let anyone forget," she finished with a glare toward their mischievous son. Kizashi couldn't help but snort in amusement. Ichigo always loved to rile up Mebuki with his antics. He immediately adopted a serious expression when the glare was pointed toward him next.

"Before I was interrupted, what I wanted to say was that I hope you keep following your dreams. We'll always be here to help you. Your father and I have a small gift for you in celebration of your achievement," she said and gave him a pointed look. Kizashi smiled and placed the scroll on the table and pushed it towards Sakura. He pointedly ignored the sound of a whip that came from Ichigo's vicinity.

"Thank you," she said demurely and opened the scroll. She was no stranger to storage scrolls, so she looked at them, wondering if it was okay to unleash the contents.

"Go ahead," he encouraged his daughter.

With a puff of smoke, a pile of books and scrolls appeared in front of her. She immediately began checking out the reading materials with glee.

"So far, all your training was to give you a leg up on becoming a balanced shinobi. The main goal of Ichigo was to make you effective in combat, to give you an edge in battles. Kizashi and I thought that it was time for you to begin branching out according to your innate strengths. All this literature is geared towards iryojutsu and genjutsu," said Mebuki.

"This is not everything though. We have spent a long time in the force, albeit as genin. We still have useful contacts nonetheless. Read up on all this at your leisure, and I will put you in contact with some medics. It's always prudent to learn iryojutsu under someone's guidance," Kizashi said.

"Obviously, you know whom to approach with regards to genjutsu. I've spoken to her. She agreed to guide you. But she wants you to read up all this first," stated Ichigo.

"Thanks," she said with a bright smile and hugged Mebuki and Kizashi.

"Well, it's not over yet. Time for my gifts," said Ichigo with a smirk, a box puffing into existence right in front of him.

Sakura took the box from him and opened it at once. Placed atop a velvet cushion was a sheathed wakizashi. Kizashi had seen the sword already. He knew that it looked beautiful. With the grip the same color as her hair and the tsuba etched with sakura petals, it was a sword made to complement her appearance. She gasped as she gingerly reached for the blade.

"I am very sorry Sakura, but this is not what you think it is. For now at least," said Ichigo with a wince.

"You mean it is not like your Zangetsu?" she asked in confusion. Kizashi's mind wandered towards the pitch-black daito his son had named Zangetsu. The sword had earned him a place in the bingo books and had also solidified his reputation when he was a newly promoted Special Jonin. The creation of the sword took him two years of relentless research and failures. It was an expensive process, but the result was more than worth it. Without Ichigo's aptitude for fuinjutsu, it would have been a foolish endeavor. But if it was one thing his son was good at, it was fuinjutsu.

He could still remember how dumbfounded he was when his eight-year-old son told him that he was creating his own fuinjutsu script. The only people who had that kind of talent were the Uzumaki. Fearing a similar fate, Kizashi had done his best to impart the importance of secrecy to his son. Not that it was needed. Ichigo had bided his time and used the time in the academy to hone his craft rather than jump towards early graduation. JavaScript, he called the new fuinjutsu script. Why that specific name, Kizashi would never know. But Ichigo was rather adamant that it was the proper name for his variant script.

It wouldn't have turned out so well for them if all this had been revealed to the others when he was still in the process of developing his skillset. Meticulous planning had resulted in Ichigo only revealing his true capabilities once he had proper allies and solid backing. He shuddered to think how his son would have been exploited otherwise.

"Yes, your wakizashi does not have any special properties like my Zangetsu yet. It is a high-quality blade and can conduct chakra, but that's it. The reason for it is threefold. First, if word got out that you had a special weapon, you would be targeted in the field for it relentlessly. A lot of people would try to steal it from you. It would be a moot point because of the anti-theft measures I will inevitably place on the sword, but it would put you at needless risk anyway. The second reason is that I still haven't succeeded in finishing the fuinjutsu component of the blade. It will be quite different from Zangetsu, that much, I can assure you."

"How different?"

"Ah, that would be telling," he said and stuck his tongue out.

"But it would help me learn more fuinjutsu," she pouted in response.

"Not exactly. This process will not be conducive to learning direct combat applications of those scripts. You are better off improving your personal strength and focusing on your training. I want you to be strong enough to wade off any would-be weapon thieves first. I can teach you the rest later."

"Fine. Then why did you give me this sword now?" she asked.

"That ties into the third and final reason. The sword that you will eventually get will be of the same dimensions. The balance, the look, and feel, even the appearance will be the same. It looks like a normal wakizashi, it performs like a normal wakizashi. When we upgrade it, nobody will notice the difference until you pull out the ability I'll graft onto it. It'll be your ace in the hole. I need you to get used to this so that when you get the superior version, you can hit the ground running."

"Alright," she said without any more complaints. Kizashi smiled at that. Sakura was always a reasonable child. He thanked heavens that she did not turn out to be a spoiled brat.

"There is another reason for it," Ichigo said as he scratched his chin with an annoyed expression on his face.

"When I had finally finished Zangetu, I was already a Tokubetsu Jonin with a lot of important connections. I was a proven asset to the village and had the backing of a prominent clan who owed me a lot. Even then certain… elders tried to railroad me into becoming a weapon manufacturing facility for the village."

"When did this happen?" asked Sakura.

"Last year, a few months after my promotion. They thought that it would be easy to convince a thirteen-year-old on what is good for him," he snorted in derision.

"Not bloody likely. I've been trying to reign you in all your life and had no success. Fools should have picked a different target," said Mebuki with a vicious smile on her face. She had been very upset when she heard that the Hokage's advisors were trying to manipulate their son.

"Yeah, anyway, their plan was doomed to fail. They do not have the final say in what happens in the village after all. Like I told you, I had the backing of a prominent clan. They were willing to nominate us for clan status," he finished with a flourish.

Sakura gasped in response. Kizashi and Mebuki couldn't help but smirk at that. This song and dance was something he had seen for years now. Ichigo was always a good storyteller, and would often tell Sakura different bedtime stories with effective inflections. She would always be enthralled by the stories and play along with him. It often reminded him that despite the boy's seriousness, he was still a fourteen-year-old.

"There are certain requirements that need to be fulfilled for a family line to be considered a clan. Secret techniques or a bloodline limit was the first requirement. Active shinobi serving the village is another requirement. The Hokage's acceptance is the final requirement. The best thing about all this is, that many clans have been in a decline due to back-to-back wars. So our lower number is not actually a major issue."

"Are you being serious?" she asked incredulously, dropping the play-acting.

"Dead serious. We are not a clan yet. But we are in the process of becoming one. Things would have been way easier if we had a bloodline. Alas, we only have my secret techniques. So, we need more numbers. We will be under probation until we get more members. Basically, I need to grow up, get married, and chuck out a few kids. We'll still enjoy the benefits until then. We just won't be given a full-on clan status before that milestone. It's all stupid bureaucratic posturing and pointless politics."

"Oh," replied his stunned daughter eloquently.

"It'll boost morale as well you know. Lord Third was highly supportive of it. We lost the Uchiha clan quite a while ago and many other clans are on a decline. Maybe the fact that a new clan is formed will motivate people to develop their own secret techniques and try to attain a similar position. Not that it is easy," said Ichigo.

"And that solved the issue? Just like that?" she asked.

"Of course not, dear," interjected Mebuki, "The village was formed by different clans coming together and putting aside their differences. What do you think will happen if the village asks the clans or their individual shinobi to hand over their secret techniques?"

"Dissention," she replied succinctly.

"Exactly. They can't afford to set such a precedent, or all the other clans would revolt in a heartbeat. Even if we were not a clan, they can't just snatch secret techniques and individual property without a very good justification. But that is not the main issue here. They were not asking for my techniques. They were instead trying to make me do something which would take a lot of time and effort, and hamper my growth. If we were a clan though, they can't dictate us on our practices. Look at the Hyuga clan. The assholes enslave their own family, and the village does not intervene at all," said Ichigo with a scowl.

"Mind your language Ichigo," barked Mebuki at once.

"Yes, mom. Why I am telling you all this is because, keep in mind that you are not supposed to teach my fuinjutsu to anybody else. No matter what sort of coercion or justification they give you, you are well within your rights to tell them to fuck off-"

"Ichigo!"

"Sheesh mom, just cut me a break. Sakura, now that you are an official genin, some higher-ups might try to be clandestine and try to get more information, or some idiots might outright order you. I am telling you to not trust anyone. Especially an old cripple with bandages wrapping his right eye. His name is Danzo and he is very interested in getting his hands on our secrets. Mom and dad are planning on retiring soon, and they don't have the know-how about my script. You, on the other hand, are just starting your career, and know the basics, so you need to be careful," he said.

"Okay," she mumbled with a downcast expression. Kizashi immediately engulfed his daughter in a hug.

"Our intention is not to scare you Sakura, it is just that we want you to know about the issues you might face. Many people don't want others to rise above their stations. Therefore, it is better to be prepared for all kinds of opposition," he said.

"Don't worry, I will always look out for you," said Ichigo, a palpable pressure emanating from him, almost drowning the entire room.

"Anyway, now that we are done with the serious stuff, it is time for my other gift," he shifted back to his normal demeanor and urged them all to follow him.

Once they all reached the backyard, he motioned them to stop and then turned around.

"Look at the hand seals carefully Sakura," he said as he bit his thumb and smeared his palm with blood. He then went through a set of hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground.

With a puff of smoke, a nine feet tall polar bear appeared in front of them. The bear was wearing samurai armor sans a helmet and had a massive axe strapped to its back. A set of claw-shaped scars adorned the right side of its face. Overall, the summon looked menacing. Kizashi was familiar with the white bears though. The Haruno family had no reason to be intimated by Ichigo's summons. Behind the hard exterior, almost all of them were big softies.

"Yo, Shirokuma," his son waved at the bear cheerfully.

"Ichigo," he spoke in a deep voice and then looked at the audience before continuing, "So it is time?"

"Yup. Sakura, step forward," said Ichigo.

Shirokuma tapped his vambrace, and a scroll almost as tall as Sakura appeared in his hands. He deftly unfurled the scroll and placed it vertically in front of himself.

"Go ahead," Kizashi nudged his daughter forward as she stood there, dumbstruck.

"Sakura Haruno. You have been given the honor of being a summoner for the polar bears of Shiroi Tsundora. We are a prideful clan. We stand tall despite the harsh conditions of our home. Generally, we have vigorous tests before we allow anyone to summon us. But, Ichigo has done a lot for us. His seals have allowed us to flourish in recent years. He tells us that you are a capable kunoichi. We have no reason to question his assessment. Therefore, you will not undergo such tests. Although to summon the boss, you would need to pass his tests at a later time. Please sign your name in this scroll," he points to the space next to Ichigo's name.

"Well, it wouldn't be much of a gift if you had to spend days on end in a frozen wasteland, said his son.

"Don't call it a wasteland," deadpanned the bear, long used to his son's antics.

Kizashi noticed that there were only two names preceding Ichigo's and they were unheard of in recent times. He wondered how long the bears had gone by without any summoners.

He watched as his daughter cut her finger, signed her name in blood, and placed her bloody fingerprints below the name. She got up with a determined look on her face.

"Got the hand seals?" asked Ichigo.

"Boar, dog, bird, monkey, and ram," she answered confidently.

"Perfect. Remember that you need to practice one-handed seals more from now onwards. Especially since your right hand will be occupied with the sword. Go ahead then. Smear the blood from the cut on your palm, let the chakra flow into your hands and then expel it outwards from there. Use a quarter of your chakra this time," Ichigo instructed. Kizashi knew that his daughter would be precise with the chakra usage. She always had exceptional chakra control. It made it way easier for Ichigo to teach her various techniques.

Sakura smirked in response, swiped her bloody finger on her palm, and performed the seals with just her left hand. She then slammed said hand into the ground. With a puff of smoke, a polar bear, half as tall as Sakura appeared in front of her. The bear cub was clothed in a green kimono, with a green ribbon tied into a bow on her head.

With wide eyes, the bear looked around, before it caught sight of Shirokuma. He nodded at the bear, and it immediately turned towards Sakura, who was now sitting on the floor, eyes level with the cub.

"Hello! I'm Sakura Haruno, the new summoner of the polar bears," she said as she held her hand out.

"I am Kiyokuma, daughter of Shirokuma," squeaked the bear cub as she shook Sakura's hand. Kizashi looked at the larger bear and could see that he was beaming at his daughter.

"Pleased to meet you Kiyo. I can call you Kiyo right?" she asked.

"Yes! My friends and family call me Kiyo. Are you my friend now?" the cub asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"Of course," said Sakura as she finally lost her self-control and hugged the fluffy bear.

"Yay! Let's eat fish together to celebrate our friendship," the bear jumped in place excitedly as her father slapped his paw to his face.

"Get to know each other. I will bring you some fish," Mebuki said indulgently before she briskly walked back into the house. Kizashi suspected that she wanted to pet the bear cub herself, and was using her fondness for fish as an excuse.

He chuckled as Ichigo and Shirokuma began to inform Sakura about the ins and outs of working with the polar bears. He slowly walked back into the house, leaving the bears and their summoners to it.

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A.N: There was a lot to unpack in this chapter. I wanted to go a different route and try to explore a route where someone wants to create their own clan. Obviously, there is some amount of politics involved, and I will expand on it in later chapters. It will not be a prolonged thing. Thanks to lucifer79 for the suggestions.

Also, Zangetsu here is not a Zanpakuto. As we know, fuinjutsu is capable of a lot of bullshit. The protagonist here created his Zangetsu as a tribute to Kurosaki Ichigo. The capabilities of this sword will be shown later. It is very much within the realm of possibility in Naruto. I've made sure to not go into complete overpowered territory.

If you want to talk to me on discord, please find the invite in the auxiliary chapter.