4 Chapter 4

Naruto looked at the Ramen in front of him.

'It's not the same.' Naruto thought in a depressed mood.

Currently, he was in Ichiraku's to eat his daily dosage of Ramen but he wasn't in the mood like usual to eat the Ramen there. He had just enjoyed the company of Akira and Karin so he had decided to eat some Ramen especially after the one he ate made by Akira.

"What's the matter, Naruto-kun? Did something happen?" A brown haired girl around 14 years old asked.

"Ah! Ayame-neechan... it's just that... this Ramen just doesn't taste good anymore."

Ayame recoiled as if she heard that the world was going to end because she never would've thought that the Ramen loving boy would say such a thing.

"How... can that be? Are you sick Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked worriedly.

"Eh! I am alright Ayame-neechan. It's just after eating Akira-niichan's Ramen. This just doesn't taste that good."

"Akira-niichan?" Ayame questioned since he didn't really have any brotherly figure in his life.

"Oh! Akira-niichan is our new Taijutsu sensei! He's so cool and his little sister Karin-neechan is an Uzumaki just like me but she has that awesome red hair. I wish I had a red hair as well." Naruto said in a happy tone.

"Oh! Congratulations Naruto. It seems like you finally found a relative. That's good." Ayame was happy for Naruto since he was a sad and lonely boy. But the fact that this new brotherly figure of his could cook up such delicious Ramen made Ayame's spirit burn.

She had to inform her father about it and learn that damn recipe of the guy.

"So how was your day today?" Shikaku Nara asked while playing Shougi with his son Shikamaru Nara.

"Troublesome... a new teacher was there." Shikamaru replied in a bored tone but Shikaku could see there was curiousity in them.

"Oh! Tell me about him? What do you think?" Shikaku as the Jonin Commander already knew about Akira from the Hokage.

"He is well... a mystery. He taught us something that has never been heard before. We knew about how important the breathing rythms were in our survival exercises but we never knew it could be utlised to augment strength or use it against our enemies to weaken them." Shikamaru stated as he had already figured out all the uses of breathing techniques Akira had given the class.

Shikaku nodded. 'It seems Hokage-sama's decision to let him teach was the right one but it's only the first day. It's a dangerous bet to place an unknown in a class full of clan heirs but if he is not a threat to us then we might benefit from his teachings.'

"So in the end what do you really think of him?" Shikaku asked his son as he knew Shikamaru was extremely intelligent.

"His teachings will benefit the students and he seems to have similar beliefs to the will of fire. So, he is good in my opinion." Shikamaru drawled out.

"It's good you think that but you must always learn to see underneath the underneath. Don't let your guard down." Shikaku warned Shikamaru as he instantly became alert.

'So he is more than he seems to be...' Shikamaru thought and kept in his mind.

Hinata Hyuuga was known to be a failure who was so weak that she even lost spar against her little sister but currently she seemed like a butterfly fluttering as she dodged all the attacks of her little sister with ease.

'What is this? I have never felt so relaxed and light like this. Is it because if Akira-sensei's breathing technique?'

Hinata had gone through the breathing exercises and found one of those exercises extremely relaxing.

She continued that exercise and was using it while sparring as well. It made her feel more flexible.

"Stop!" A commanding voice said as both girls stopped the spar.

"Hinata, explain to me regarding the change you suddenly gained." The middle aged man said. The man was Hiashi Hyuuga, the head of Hyuuga clan and the father of Hinata and her little sister Hanabi Hyuuga.

"Umm... it's because of a exercise, Father." Hinata said in an unusually calm voice. She would usually be a shuttering mess but now due to the breathing exercise, all her anxiety was gone.

Akira might used the breathing technique to calm himself if only he remembered but Hinata not having anything else kept using it since she was always nervous and had low self-esteem.

"Exercise? What sort of exercise, is it?"

"It's a breathing exercise taught in the academy by our new teacher." Hinata said.

'A breathing exercise!? And new teacher?' Hiashi thought in mind as various speculation was conjured in his thought process.

"Very well... Hinata, you have done well for now. Go back and do what you wish. I need some time alone." Hinata bowed and left wondering what her father was thinking.

Hanabi too was surprised at the current event. She could have never thought that her meek sister would improve this much by a simple breathing exercise.

Hiashi was now currently happy. Why? Because he has finally found someone who could guide his daughter properly. Even though he was happy, he still kept his strict and stoic face on the surface.

Sasuke looked at the mirror and kept rubbing his eyes to see if it was a dream. But no matter what he did, it was still there.

The Sharingan. The Ultimate Doujutsu of his clan and he had awakened it simply because of a breathing exercise!?

Inconceivable! How could this be? Sasuke kept thinking it was a dream but the Sharingan was still there.

After few minutes, he laughed.

'Itachi! I am one step closer to killing you!' Sasuke thought with fevor.

"That new teacher... Akira Kurogane... I must have him teach me. I need to get more powerful but... he said protecting others will make me powerful... do I have to babysit these weaklings? No... he might said it because it limits ourselves and when we improve upon that state, it will only make us stronger when we unleash our full potential. Hahaha! He is a genius!"

The already prideful Uchiha only got more prideful as he had awakened the fabled Sharingan.

"Akira Kurogane... I must have him as my personal instructor!"

Deep inside an underground hideout, an old man with bandages wrapped around his right eye and hand was calmly sitting there as one of his Root ninja appeared before him.

"Danzo-sama, I have collected the intel on the new anomaly Akira Kurogane."

"Speak!" Danzo ordered.

"Akira Kurogane came to the village about a week ago with his adopted little sister Karin Uzumaki." Danzo's eyebrow raised at that.

'An Uzumaki, huh? She might prove to be a valuable asset to the Root.'

The Root ninja continued, "From the way Akira Kurogane holds himself, we can say that he is a master at the art of killing but his personality says otherwise. Speculations indicate of split personality as he has another persona for violent action of sorts."

Danzo nodded. He had seen many people with different persona as they only unleashed them in the times of need.

"The Hokage after verifying that he was not an immediate threat decided to recruit him to the ninja ranks by testing his skills against Chuunin, Kurenai Yuuhi of 18 years old."

"The result?" Danzo asked.

"One-sided victory as Akira Kurogane didn't even let her weave her handsigns. He pummeled her with a series of complex techniques hitting her at the exact spot with every hit."

"Interesting... then what do you say about his Taijutsu prowess?"

"Equal to Might Guy or above in terms of pure skills but not in power." The Root ninja gave his answer.

Danzo was now even more interested in this new guy, "Comparable with the Hyuuga?"

"No, the Hyuuga's Taijutsu is no match for his." Danzo's eyes gleamed.

'It seems Saru has quite an eye for talent.' Danzo thought praising his old teammate, Hiruzen who was also the Hokage.

"The Hyuuga clan's Gentle Fist Taijutsu requires their Doujutsu bloodline Byakugan to fully use it to it's maximum potential where as the Taijutsu Akira Kurogane has used has similar results to Gentle Fist but doesn't require any bloodline and does not require for the user to hit chakra points to damage their opponents like Gentle Fist. Not only that, it does both external and internal damage to the opponent according to the medical results of Kurenai Yuuhi."

"In other words, it is vastly superior to Gentle Fist." Danzo stated. "And what about those breathing exercises I have heard rumours of. The civilian side of the students are going crazy over it."

"Danzo-sama... the breathing exercises Akira Kurogane has shown extremely favourable result as all the ones who are practicing has shown significant increase in their strength and chakra reserves though it will lose its effectiveness through repetitive usage but it still shows that it can be used to give proper maintenance of the body through it. It also has the ability augment strength and conserve stamina through different breathing rythms."

Danzo had already thought of what he should be doing.

"Every Root ninjas must practice this breathing exercises and I want this exercise to remain in Leaf. This kind of information is too valauble to reach our enemies. Make sure of that!"

"Yes Danzo-sama!" The Root ninja disappeared from there leaving Danzo to his own musing.

'Saru always had the luck of the devil with finding talented people.'

"So Inu, what do you think? Is he a threat?" Hiruzen asked the Anbu wearing a dog mask in front of him while smoking.

"It is very unclear... his personality and demeanour doesn't match." The Anbu answered. "Are you sure we should leave him with such high profile people like clan heirs?"

Hiruzen puffed out the smoke as he spoke, "It is precisely because of that I left him there. He will basically be watched 24/7 and it seems like he has already gained many attention to himself."

"And what about Naruto? Are you sure it's wise to leave him there? Especially with 'that' inside of him." The Anbu said evenly but Hiruzen knew he was worried since Naruto was the son of his teacher Minato Namikaze.

The Anbu was Kakashi Hatake and he was assigned to protect Naruto from the shadows.

"You don't have to worry, Inu. Isn't that why I asked you to watch over Naruto?" Hiruzen said calmly as he trusted Kakashi's abilities.

Kakashi could only nod.

"And what do you think about his lesson he gave today?" Hiruzen asked curiously. He had heard do many rumours that was all extremely ridiculous but they all matched.

"Permission to speak freely." Kakashi said as Hiruzen nodded for affirmation.

"Honestly I have no idea what to think of those techniques he passed. They are so good and effective that it's ridiculous. The techniques he taught is equal to clan's personal secret techniques. To me it seems like he is just giving out casual information and I fear what kind of techniques he may have hidden as his trump card." Kakashi gave his input.

Hiruzen contemplated for a while, "You are right, Inu. So I want you to inform Kurenai and Anko to get close to him. He seems to have quite friendly relations with them. I do hope that they will be able to make Akira-kun loyal to us."

Kakashi nodded and disappeared.

Meanwhile Akira had no idea that he had caused so many ruckus in the village. The breathing exercises he taught were no longer simple as he had thought of because of his Instant Mastery ability.

The breathing exercises he taught were the pinnacle of energy refinement technique that even he himself didn't know. So, teaching such an advanced technique would surely cause ruckus in the village.

'Now what should I teach tomorrow?' Akira thought while training his new wind elemental Ninjutsu he created.

He had no idea he was going to create even bigger ruckus tomorrow but as they say 'Ignorance is Bliss.'