16 Ch 14. Kenjutsu Sensei.
Izana was really happy and naturally told his uncle and aunt about the graduation. Itachi wasn't there as he was on a mission with his team. How envious he was of Itachi. Izana wanted to go on a mission too, not chasing cats. He wondered, how is chasing cats even a mission in the first place?
Still, Izana was excited to share the news with his family. It was an honor to finally start working as well, getting stronger in the process.
When he completed his mission, also known as the cat chase, the Third had given him a forehead protector with the mark of the village on it. Izana happily showed it to his aunt as he hung it around his neck. He had tried it on on several locations, his head, arms, leg. Yet it only felt like it limited his movements. So he chose to wear it on his neck, which also served its purpose, as the neck was a rather vulnerable location as well.
Aunt Mikoto was happy for him as she patted him on the head for a job well done. Izana couldn't get enough of the head pats as a big smile again emerged on his face. Having a family was truly amazing. He just couldn't get enough of this feeling of belonging.
When it was almost time for lunch, Izana helped his aunt in making lunch as they both enjoyed each others company. It was completely their time alone to enjoy. An activity both relished as their private bonding time.
When lunch was served, Fugaku joined them as Izana told him too about is graduation. Fugaku seemed pleased as well to hear about Izana's accomplishments, though Itachi was still better at having finished after only four months at the academy. It was hard to beat Itachi's record.
Fugaku was still happy and proud and he let it know too, as he praised Izana a lot for his hard work. Sasuke too seemed a lot happier as both of his parents seemed to be happy too. Izana laughed at Sasuke as he fed him some self-made sadwiches.
Sasuke looked like a little chipmunk with the way he was chomping on it. His cheeks were bulging a lot, making Izana want to pinch them. He did just that, earning an unhappy look from Sasuke.
"Not fair."
Sasuke said as he did the same to Izana when he himself was munching away on a sandwich.
Just like that there were two little chipmunks pinching away at the others' cheeks. At the end of it, both of them had sore and reddened cheeks, rubbing them painfully in the hope the pain would fade away quickly.
Mikoto smiled at the scene, loving how heartwarming it was.
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The next day, Izana was happily waiting at the Hokage's office as he couldn't wait to meet his teacher. He wondered what kind of weapon he would be training first with.
He already knew how to use shuriken and kunai, being relatively skilled in throwing and cutting with them to the point he was being praised by the teaching Uchiha senior, so he could still learn kenjutsu, Böjutsu, Kusarigamajutsu (chain-sickle technique) and the use of the wind fan.
Izana really wanted to learn kenjutsu, but he wouldn't mind böjutsu and kurigamajutsu either. It would be best if he could be proficient using all kinds of weapons. If he ever lost his weapon, he would always be able to use other weapons if the need arose. There would be plenty of weapons to be found on the battlefield. There would be no question on who the previous owner was.
Izana was called out of his thoughts when the Third called him into his office. Izana walked in and saw a man standing besides the Hokage. He had his forhead protector as a bandana on his head. He had short brown hair, dark eyes and dark markings beneath his eyes. The man wore the standard shinobi attire, consisting of the common outfit, flak jacket and the Shinobi sandals.
"This is Gekkö Hayate. He will teach you how to wield the sword. If you have any other weapons you want to learn, just ask Hayate and he will figure something out." The shinobi Hayate looked a bit shocked at the Third, as he covered his mouth as a soft cough escaped his mouth.
"Etto, I'm Hayate, nice to meet you. I'll be your Kenjutsu teacher. You can adress me as Hayate-sensei if you'd like. Hayate-san would suffice as well."
Izana nodded and immediately greeted him as well.
"Hello Hayate-sensei. I'm Uchiha Izana. Thank you in advance for teaching me kenjutsu." Izana said politely.
If someone would teach him something he was interested in, Izana would be respectful and polite to them. After all, you wanted to know something, that didn't mean they were obliged to teach him, even if the Third had ordered it.
Izana couldn't wait to get started.
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Once on the training field, Hayate handed Izana a Boken, a wooden training sword. The boken was made from red oak, it was easy to handle and not too light in the hand. Swinging it around a bit, Izana got a feel for the average weight and range.
Hayate made him do two hundred sword swings after he had stretched his muscles. Hayate wanted to see how fit Izana was. If he knew Izana's limit, he could slowly start to break it and build it up from scratch to build his foundation.
Hayate looked closely at how Izana performed the motions. He had apparantly a bit of practice before as his swings weren't like an amateur. Though they were stiff, that could be worked on.
The more Izana performed his swings, the more sure and smooth the motions became. Izana was having a lot of fun, as he got more and more into the exercise. Sweat was forming on his face and hands, but he wasn't getting tired at all.
By the time he surpassed the two hundred swings easily, Hayate could hear the air being cut from the speed of the swing.
Izana didn't even look tired as he continued the swings. By the time he reached four hundred, Hayate began to doubt if the kid would ever get tired.
Hayate coughed again, making Izana stop what he was doing as a sigh escaped his lips. The kid seemed to have as good as infinte stamina. He might become a monster if he learned Kenjutsu well. Don't even mention kenjutsu, the kid would definitely become a monster in all he did. Hayate had already heard from the Third that Izana had chakra comparable to jonin. The kid was only seven and he already had such a massive chakra capacity. It wasn't even done growing yet.
Izana looked at Hayate and wondered what he would be taught next. Hayate sighed again as he gave Izana many kenjutsu techniques and methods to train. Whenever something was a bit off, Hayate would correct it.
The same mistake was never made twice and by the end of the day, Izana had already learned all Hayate could teach him. Hayate at least saw some flaws, as he didn't have a lot of experience and was very adept as using what he has learned in a battle.
Hayate left in exasperation as he left Izana behind to train on his own. If Izana needed something, he could just find him.
Hayate couldn't have known, that Izana had a purpose for getting stronger. At most he would probably think it was just an interest. A lot of kids had the urge to get good at something, even if they had only seen it being done once or twice. He thought Izana was the same, but he was wrong.
Since the day that Kushina and Minato died, Izana had trained hard to become stronger. He'd held back during the exams. If he caught too much attention then the unpleasant man with the eyepatch, Danzo if her remembered correctly, would become more interested in him than he already was. Standing out just enough to catch the Hokage's eye would suffice. No need to get more attention than needed.
Ryuujin had already mentioned the tails that had been following Izana right after the day of the Kyuubi's attack. Izana had known it was Danzo as soon as he heard him talk with the Third in the hospital. It was the gaze he gave Izana when he left that gave him away.
Ever since then, Izana had tried to keep a low profile, but not low enough to cripple his growth. He needed to become a Genin to gain experience. So even if he stood out a bit, it was a necessary evil. He still had his clan to shield him from the village elders.
He needed to get stronger to defeat that masked man. Only then could he keep his family and loved ones safe, because his gut told him that man wanted Konoha to disappear. If Konoha disappeared, his loved ones would definitely die in that man's schemes. So he had to be ready when the time came. Even if he had to deceive his allies, it was the best way to deceive his enemy.
