Chapter 5: Spar

Isshin wakes up the next day and gets dressed, hurrying downstairs to catch his dad before he leaves. As he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he hears the door open. Isshin shouts, "Oi dad, could you wait a moment?" He then hears the door shut and footsteps approaching.

Inochi walks over to Isshin and looks at him with a raised eyebrow before asking, "What do you need, son?"

Isshin looks up at Inochi and asks, "Do you think you could lend me some money?"

"Didn't I give you your allowance last week?" Inochi asks.

Isshin chuckles as he replies, "Naruto and ramen hurt the pocket."

"So, like you and Dango," Inochi retorts.

Isshin nods. "But I wasn't asking for pocket money, and I'll pay it back after I do some missions, I promise."

Inochi looks at Isshin and asks, "What do you need it for?"

Isshin rubs the back of his head and says, "After I got home last night, I started thinking about my strengths and weaknesses. I have good speed and flexibility, but not much power, so I was wanting to get some weights. I also thought about how if I get into a closed or narrow space, I wouldn't be able to swing my katana around too much, so I wanted to get a tanto or wakizashi."

Inochi smiles and replies, "I'm glad you are taking it seriously." He puts a hand on Isshin's shoulder before continuing, "I think we might have a few of those in the armory, but for the weights, you'll probably need to go to a ninja shop. And don't worry about paying it back."

He says this before motioning Isshin to follow him. After about five minutes, they reach the clan's armory. They greet the people guarding it before they walk in. Isshin looks around, seeing a lot of armor and blades, some crates with kunai and shuriken. As he follows Inochi around, they reach a shelf that has a few wakizashi and tanto placed on it. He looks around at them and sees a tanto that looks to be around 10 inches long. He picks it up; the sheath and hilt are both pure white. He places it above his katana within his obi and looks back at Inochi. They start walking into the village. Inochi gives him some ryo before they part ways.

Isshin walks around the village, looking around for a ninja shop. When he sees a shop with a sign saying Higurashi Weapons, he walks in. He starts looking around for a few minutes before he sees a girl behind the counter. She has dark brown hair styled into twin buns and dark brown eyes. She is wearing a pink qipao blouse and blue ninja pants. He walks up to her.

"Hello, I'm Tenten, welcome to Higurashi Weapons, what can I do for you today?" she says while smiling at Isshin.

Isshin scratches the back of his neck before saying, "I was hoping to get some weights, but I didn't see any around."

"They aren't that popular, so we don't sit them out. Would you like some wrist weights, leg weights, or both?" Tenten asks.

"I would like both if possible," Isshin replies.

"Oh, alright," she says before picking up a set of wrist weights and leg weights. She places them down; they are black, looking like armbands with multiple pouches on them. The leg weights look about the same as the wrist weights, just wider and longer. She then says, "The leg weights come with 40 pounds already inside of them, while the arm weights come with around 15 pounds." She then pulls a plate out of the leg weights and shows it to Isshin. It looks like a thin sheet of metal with some Kanji inscribed onto it. She then says, "You can add or remove plates whenever you want, but to add any, you need to come back and buy heavier plates from us. They have a weight seal on them that activates or deactivates when you pulse your chakra through them." She then tosses the 40-pound weight to Isshin. He catches it, and it seems like it doesn't even weigh a pound. He then hands it back to Tenten; she slips it back into the weights before telling Isshin the price.

Isshin opens up his wallet and gives her nearly all of the ryo that he got from Inochi. He puts the weights on. "Thank you, please come again," Tenten says with a smile.

Isshin starts making his way to training ground eleven. As he walks into training ground eleven, he doesn't see Hayate around. He kneads his chakra and closes his eyes. He spreads his senses around, trying to find any chakra signatures, but doesn't. So, he walks up to a tree, sits down in front of it, and leans his back onto it. He then does some hand signs and pulls down his bandages before taking out his Ocarina and playing it.

As Hayate nears the training ground, he hears the melody and continues walking until he is near Isshin. He just stands there with his eyes closed, listening to the music. Before it stops, he then says, "Good morning, Isshin."

"Good morning, Hayate sensei," Isshin replies while pulling up his bandages and putting his Ocarina away. He makes a hand sign while saying, "Kai." He then pushes himself off the ground.

Hayate pulls out a sealing scroll, injects some chakra into it, and two wooden katanas pop out of it. He tosses one to Isshin and says, "As I said yesterday, we are going to spar so I can see where exactly you stand. You are free to use whatever you know."

After Isshin catches the Katana, he starts to stretch before sending chakra to his weights. He asks Hayate, "So, when do we start?"

"Now," Hayate states. Shortly after he says that Isshin dashes toward him, holding the katana to his side. When he reaches Hayate, he swings the wooden Katana horizontally. Hayate blocks it with only one hand on his wooden katana. Isshin drops down to the ground and tries to sweep Hayate's legs. Hayate jumps backward. Isshin dashes at Hayate again and slashes upwards diagonally. Hayate parries Isshin's slash. He then kicks at his chest. Isshin leans backward and manages to dodge it by a hair. He then goes and tries to roundhouse kick Hayate in the head. Hayate leans to the sides. Isshin then holds his wooden katana with his right hand and makes a few one-handed seals with his left hand. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he says as three Isshins rush at Hayate. All three of them slash down. Hayate uses both of his hands on his Katana to block the strikes. This time, three Isshins

 jump backward as Hayate dashes at one. He feints a left diagonal slash before slashing horizontally. Isshin didn't expect the

 feint and gets hit. He pops into smoke as Hayate spins around and elbows an Isshin who was trying to sneak behind him in the stomach. That Isshin bends over coughing out spit. Hayate then dashes at the last Isshin and clips him on his side. That Isshin pops up in smoke. He then turns and looks at Isshin standing up panting before saying, "I think that's enough for now."

Isshin plops down to the ground to catch his breath. Hayate sits down next to him and asks, "So, one-handed seals and Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?"

Isshin nods while chuckling. Hayate then says, "From what I can tell, your speed is around low to mid-chunin level, your strength is around mid-genin, and your kenjutsu is probably around high-genin." He pauses before asking, "Do you have any idea of what kind of shinobi you want to be?"

Isshin thinks for a few moments and then shrugs. "I don't know exactly what type of shinobi I want to be," he pauses for a second before saying, "but I figure I should play with my strengths and mainly focus on quick but precise strikes."

Hayate thinks for a moment before asking, "Would you be against being an assassin/infiltration type?"

Isshin shakes his head and says with a frown, "I don't think I would be."

Hayate nods. He starts coughing. He then says, "Alright."

Isshin looks over at Hayate and asks, "Hey sensei, do you think you could teach me the Shunshin no Jutsu?"

Hayate says, "Sure, I don't see why not, but not today. We need to go do some missions."

Isshin clicks his tongue before saying, "I wasn't looking forward to doing D-ranks."

Hayate chuckles as they start to make their way toward the Hokage's tower while having a conversation. They make it to the Hokage's tower and head up to the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen greets Isshin and Hayate. "I would like 2 D-rank missions, please," Hayate states.

Hiruzen pulls out two scrolls before tossing them to Hayate and saying, "Have fun."

Hayate and Isshin make their way out of the tower. Hayate opens the scrolls and says, "Looks like we got a mission to paint fences and to deliver an old lady her groceries. Let's hurry and finish these. I'll introduce you to someone later."

They finish up the missions right before nightfall. They return to the Hokage tower and turn in the missions. They get paid and exit the tower. As they are walking away, Isshin asks, "So, where are we going?"

"To my apartment," Hayate replies, and they start making their way there. They make it to Hayate's place after walking around for a bit. They walk through the door, take off their sandals, and walk to the kitchen.

As they walk into the kitchen, they see a lady with long purple hair and brown eyes. She is wearing a white tee-shirt and gray sweatpants, sitting down at a table reading a scroll with what looks to be a few boxes of takeout sitting on the table. She looks up before getting up, walking to Hayate, and giving him a hug and kiss on his cheek. She then says, "Welcome home, Hayate." She then looks at Isshin and says with a smile, "Hello, Isshin. I am Yugao Uzuki, nice to meet you."

Isshin gives her an eye smile before saying, "Nice to meet you too, Yugao."

"Care to join us for dinner?" Yugao asks.

"I would love to," Isshin says as his stomach growls.

Hayate and Yugao chuckle, and they walk over and start eating. After everyone gets done eating, Yugao gets up again and walks over to grab a plate. She places it in front of Isshin, and she sits back down and looks at Isshin, seeing stars in his eyes. She giggles before saying, "I heard you like dango, so I picked some up when I got takeout."

"Yatta! You're the best, Yugao," Isshin exclaims. He says, "Itadakimasu" before he starts devouring the dango.

"What about me? You emptied my wallet yesterday," Hayate asked while glaring at Isshin.

Isshin looks up at Hayate with a blank stare and ignores him as he continues to eat.

Hayate sweat drops and says, "It seems like my student doesn't need me to buy him food again."

Isshin drops to his knees crying anime tears and exclaims, "No, that's not right."

They start arguing while Yugao watches on with a smile.

After hanging out for a while with Hayate and Yugao, Isshin heads home and goes to bed.

The next day, Isshin wakes up, gets dressed, and activates his weights, before making his way downstairs and heading to the kitchen to join his family for breakfast. He sits down and says, "Itadakimasu," and starts eating.

Mika looks over at Isshin and asks, "What are you planning on doing today?"

Isshin stops eating for a moment before replying, "Going to see if my sensei will teach me the Shunshin."

Inochi chuckles before saying, "I was looking forward to doing that."

Isshin face faults and asks, "Is it going to be as bad as tree walking?"

"Most likely, it's going to be worse," Inochi states.

Isshin shrugs and gets up before saying later and heads off to the training ground. Before he walks in, he hears coughing coming from behind him. He gets startled, and he turns around to see Hayate also making his way into the training ground. "Good morning, sensei."

"Good morning, Isshin," Hayate says.

"Do you think you could teach me the Shunshin today?" Isshin asks.

Hayate gives him a grin and says, "Sure, but we need to do some D-ranks later."

"Alright, thanks sensei," Isshin replies with an eye smile.

When they walk into the clearing, Hayate begins to explain the Shunshin. "So, using Shunshin, a shinobi can move short to long distances at quick speeds, almost untraceable. The distance you travel is dependent on how much chakra you use, meaning that the more chakra you use, the farther you can go, and the less, the shorter you go."

Isshin interrupts and asks, "Can you use it for fights?"

Hayate shakes his head and says, "It's not impossible to, but it would require you to pretty much master it. Even then, you might not be able to unless you have great chakra control, reflexes, and battle awareness." He pauses before saying, "Before the Uchiha massacre, there was a Uchiha well known for his use of Shunshin. So well known that he was known as Shunshin no Shisui. It's said that he was so good

 with it, he could make afterimages and move between them and attack from each of them." He finishes.

Isshin's eyes were wide open in surprise. "That sounds amazing."

Hayate then explains that the hand seal is a tiger, and Isshin starts trying to Shunshin. After about 2 hours, Isshin flickers away and runs face-first into a tree and falls to the ground with a bruised face while Hayate is chuckling.

Hayate then says, "Alright, I think that's enough for now. Let's go do some D-ranks." He turns around and starts heading towards the Hokage Office.

Isshin gets up and follows him.

[Timeskip no Jutsu]

It's been around three weeks since Isshin first started learning the Shunshin. He has been hanging out with Hayate and Yugao almost every night. He has quickly come to think of them like family. He has trained with Yakumo a few times as well and has learned a few lower-ranked genjutsu.

"So, sensei, are we going to do some more missions today?" Isshin asks as we see him and Hayate leaving the training ground.

Hayate nods. "Let's head to the Hokage's office." They both hold up the tiger seal before flickering away. They appear in front of the Hokage tower. When they do, they hear a shout. Isshin looks over and sees Naruto looking at him with stars in his eyes.

"Yo," Isshin lazily waves at Naruto.

"When did you learn to do that?" Naruto asks.

"Almost three weeks ago," Isshin replies. He then looks at Kakashi, seeing him reading Icha Icha. He walks over behind Kakashi, stands on his tippy-toes, and attempts to read.

"Could you teach me?" Naruto asks.

Isshin ignores Naruto as he continues to try and read Icha Icha while Kakashi giggles.

Hayate sighs and stares blankly before saying, "Do you want me to tell Yugao?"

Isshin looks at Hayate with terror in his eyes and says, "You wouldn't."

"Oh, I most certainly would," Hayate says while grinning.

Isshin plops down to his knees with anime tears begging. "Please don't."

"Then come over here and be a good little boy," Hayate says, motioning Isshin to stand beside him.

Isshin gets up and walks next to Hayate, crosses his arms, and puffs out his cheeks as everyone but Kakashi and Hayate sweat drops at Isshin.

Kakashi then asks, "How is Yugao? I haven't seen her in a while."

Hayate smiles and replies, "She is doing fine."

"Are you guys going to get a mission as well?" Kakashi asks.

Hayate nods his head as they all start walking to the Hokage's office.

As they walk in, Hiruzen says, "Ah, hello, everybody. You all here for some D-ranks?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi replies while continuing to read Icha Icha.

Hiruzen tosses over a scroll to Kakashi. Team seven precedes to walk out of the room. Before they exit, they hear Hayate say something that surprises the genin.

"Hokage-sama, I think Isshin here is ready for a C-rank."

Iruka, who was sitting beside Hiruzen, interjects. "You can't be serious. He has only been out of the academy for a little over 3 weeks."

Hayate coughs a little before saying, "It may have only been that long, but he puts his all into training, and he has grown a lot in these three weeks."

Iruka then looks at Isshin concerned before saying, "Still, even with putting his all into training, I don't think a fresh graduate is ready for what can happen on a C-rank."

Hayate chuckles before saying, "You're right." He pauses as Iruka looks on in relief before Hayate says, "A fresh graduate wouldn't be, but Isshin has had a Tokubetsu Jonin training him one on one every day since then."

Hiruzen blows some smoke out of his mouth before he asks, "Do you truly believe he's ready?"

Hayate nods with a serious look. He says, "With every fiber of my being."

Hiruzen ponders before he asks, "What type of mission would you like?"

"Do you have any bandit missions?" Hayate asks.

Iruka gasps. "You can't be thinking of..."

Hayate interrupts Iruka with a sad smile. "Yes, I am. He needs to get his first kill sooner rather than later." He pauses before saying, "He might end up freezing up after his first, and I would like to be there to watch over him. If he gets it while I'm not around and freezes up, leading to him dying or one of his comrades dying in front of him."

Hiruzen nods thoughtfully while listening to Hayate, while Isshin is looking on with a determined glint in his eyes. Iruka is looking down at the ground.

Hiruzen then pulls out a scroll before saying, "A small rural village in the Land of Fire had a villager come and post a mission. There has been a bandit group of what we determine to be around 20 bandits ransacking nearby villages. Your mission is to exterminate the bandits. You have 7 days to finish. Leave before nightfall."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Isshin and Hayate exclaim, and they turn to leave. Iruka tells them to be careful as they leave. Hiruzen turns to Iruka.

"You know, Iruka, after your students put on that Hitai-ate, they are proud shinobi of the Leaf. You can't keep babying them. You can still worry about it obviously, but you should also believe in them. Believe that they will come back from whatever this cruel world throws at them and believe that they can accomplish whatever they set their minds on."

Meanwhile, Isshin and Hayate, arrive outside of the Hokage's tower. "You have two hours to get ready before meeting me at the gate," Hayate says.

Isshin gives a mock salute and says, "Aye, aye," before making a hand seal and flickering away.

Hayate chuckles before he also flickers away.