The Problems of a Shadow
Konohagakure; The Village Hidden in the Leaves… Home to some of the most powerful leaders in history, the starting line for who would become the legendary Sannin and more largely known in… The site of the Nine Tailed Fox's rampage.
There was no time for anyone in the village to mobilise; all focus was on evacuation and if they could fight, to aid the retired Third Hokage Sarutobi in pushing back the Fox since the current Hokage was nowhere to be found.
Minato Namikaze, The Yellow Flash had been attacked during the events of his son's birth and the weakening of his wife's seal. A masked man had ordered the release of the Kyuubi to him or their son would die at his hand. While he fought off the man with fervoured desperation, it would all be in vain because even the fastest man in the Leaf and even the one who could outrun the Raikage was powerless to stop someone who could phase through his attacks. His quick thinking and his Flying Thunder God Jutsu was able to push back this masked foe however it didn't stop him from getting injured himself…Or from doing the unthinkable in using the Binding chains on the Fox and injuring Kushina to break her hold….though his attack had done more than incapacitate the Nine-Tails's Jinchuriki.
"Kushina…Please don't make me do this….We've already lost our son…I can't bear it if I lose you too…." Minato tearfully begged his exhausted wife; "Let…Let me take the Beast into myself, I'll be able to protect the village AND save you in the process! I can even ask Jiraiya to help us find Tsunade to heal you while you recover here!" He pleaded with her as he held on to her weakly clutching hand.
"Minato, I know you don't want this…I don't either but this is the right thing to do, if that masked man is after the Fox then he won't stop until he gets it." Kushina pointed out to him in a weakened voice; even with what she had endured up until now; the life force of the Uzumaki bloodline had it's limits.
Minato paused for a moment as he clutched his pronged kunai in hand; "You're right…It's not a matter of what we want…it's what's right for protecting the Village…" Minato said with a sad chuckle and gripped the kunai tighter in his shaking hand.
"You're doing the right thing…Even if it was for a moment, I'm glad I was able to hold our son for the briefest of moments…" Kushina croaked with a tearful smile on her face; there was no sadness or despair anymore…She only had acceptance now as she knew that at this point, she'd be able to see her son once more in mere moments.
Minato raised his hand up to finish the deed as the masked man returned, he and Kushina uttered the last three words to each other that they would never regret in their first and last moment together.
"I love you…"
The Masked Man however had some different ideas as he weaved several handsigns and shot forward a volley of barbed chains; "I won't allow it! I refuse to let you take the Fox from me!" He roared as he finally managed to pierce the two together, though to his dismay and frustrations: he had landed what he thought was the killing blow on Kushina and the already mortally wounded Minato in the process which meant one thing: He had to conduct the ritual and fast.
"No way….Are you going to win anything from this…." Minato sputtered with his last remaining few breaths and began to channel the last few remnants of his chakra into his legs and threw his Hiraishin Kunai towards the rampaging Fox at a blinding speed.
"No…Not while I'm so close!" The Masked Man tried to follow after Minato when he vanished, but despite how fast they were…They weren't able to match the Yellow Flash as he used his final Jutsu to snub the Man and to save the Village he was sworn to protect.
In a different time, under different circumstances; Minato could have been able to salvage this situation with a quick albeit drastic decision…But right now Minato had to go for something entirely crazy since everything he could afford to lose had all faded away.
The Fox howled out as it saw Minato flashing himself towards it with a growing speed and reared it's claw back to strike him down…However it was too late with Minato's dogged plan and desperation making him faster than he ever moved before.
"Flying Thunder God; Tailed Beast Slayer!" Minato yelled out as he pushed all his Chakra outward and rocketed from one side to the other with kunai in hand; the golden yellow streak ran across the sky like a burning golden comet and under the neck of the Nine Tails before the sight of the giant Fox keeling over and the numerous tails twitching on the ground engrained into everyone's brain as smoke started to rise from it's giant body.
"He…He did it…."
"The Hokage! He killed a Tailed Beast on his own!"
The shinobi on the front lines broke into an almost deafening cheer as they saw their attacker collapsed on the ground but that quickly dove into the broken sounds of mourning as Minato Namikaze, The Yellow Flash of Konoha and the youngest Hokage to serve had literally burned his own body to a crisp eliminating the Nine Tailed Fox.
The Third Hokage Sarutobi stood to attention with a pained grimace as he captured everyone's attention; "Everyone here know this! Our Hokage may be dead but he will never be truly gone nor forgotten, He gave his life to save us all and the Will of Fire will ensure that his memory lives on in us along with what he loved…Until we can elect a new Hokage, I shall take the position and ensure that we can rebuild…." The elderly man declared as even though he told everyone that things would be better; He too felt the bitter sting of losing his successor and a friend.
——Meanwhile——
Under the very foundations of the Leaf stood the secondary "authority" that kept things in check from the shadows; Danzo Shimura and with his squad of hidden agents, he had heard that he did not get his chance to become Hokage and grimaced with stifled frustrations.
"The Uchiha Police have successfully managed to rescue everyone, Lord Danzo. We suffered no civilian casualties but those fighting against the Fox had not been without it's cost." A ninja wearing an owl mask explained with a bowed head and awaited further instructions.
"All well and good…What about "them"…Have they made any moves?" Danzo asked as he tapped his cane impatiently; Alongside their role to protect people, The Uchiha had also been under constant surveillance to ensure they didn't try to take advantage of any weakness they came across while maintaining their role as police.
"Nothing so far sir…"
"Very well, Have them and the remainder of ROOT pick up that fox's corpse and bring it here, we may not be able to capture it but we can harvest it's monstrous body for what it's worth…." Danzo ordered them but found himself terse when he noticed that the ninja in front of him had something to add.
"We…Can't…Our scouts went ahead to see what we could take back but once the Hokage had vanished to the office, it looked as though the Fox had already been cremated, there doesn't appear to be anything left after Lord Fourth's Jutsu…The same can be said for our former Hokage as well…" The Ninja explained with a tone of anxiety that almost betrayed the emotionless shinobi; detailing on how the remains of both the Hokage and the Fox were nothing more than ash .
Danzo's grimace added another wrinkle to his face as he maintained control; "And what of the wife? The Uzumaki woman…Their genes are incredibly rare and in the hands of our doctors, we can make something incredible of our forces once we can dissect her." He inquired with a rather ghoulish line of thinking.
"W-With all due respect Lord Danzo…Lady Kushina perished along with her child and they were given the proper rites along with her husband…It wouldn't be right t-" The Shinobi then fell to the floor in frozen pain as a seal lit up on their neck.
"I did not enlist you as ROOT to discuss ethics…You will find whatever is available and bring it to me, do I make myself clear?" Danzo warned with a voice that threatened something much worse than a simple dismissal and watched as the Shinobi quickly vanished to carry out their mission. "I may have missed my chance to become Hokage…But rest assured Sarutobi, with the Uchiha's inevitable demise at it's own hand and Orochimaru still missing…I will take your seat and you will hang your head in shame for not taking the steps I would have."
Years would pass as stories of the Fox Demon's demise spread to other villages but the massacre of the Uchiha managed to spread even faster then it had before; Though something unexpected came about, the now labeled S-Rank renegade Ninja Itachi managed to leave not just one but two survivors of their clan alive, though questions of why and how seemed to follow. Some thought it was that these two hid and snuck away, a smaller margin thought that the two stared down Itachi and he left them to fend for themselves.
Though the more heroic and flattering stories were reserved for Itachi's younger brother Sasuke and plenty of people in the village gave him all the love, support and dedication that they would have. The same however couldn't be said for their cousin Ryōga; Ever the outcast even among Uchiha for his more popular kin's achievements.
The idea and the hope from the Third Hokage was that these two remnants of family could stick together in the Uchiha estate that was left for them so they could thrive and recover what was lost. What became of them didn't come anywhere near as close as what he wanted as Sasuke got the lion's share of their home because he was the fabled little brother, while Ryōga was all but forgotten in the home that he had come from in the smaller part of the Uchiha compound and even then it was not much solace for him.
Students gave the two Uchiha's a wide berth when they were undergoing their Genin Exam but in Sasuke's case it was because of the shrieking mobs that swarmed him and fought desperately to stick close with him, while Ryōga's was more self implemented for other reasons.
It wasn't because he was particularly bad looking, truthfully he was actually on par with Sasuke in terms of looks and had a fair number of distant admirers though they never openly admitted it or told him; He shared the same narrow face and the brooding glances that his cousin had but his own onyx eyes had flecks of sapphire, his hair had grown out to be lazily tied in a low, shoulder length ponytail that swayed from side to side and while Sasuke had the eyes that felt like they could burn through someone, Ryōga's eyes seemed to hold the sadness for the both of them and made him appear as more of a mournful spirit rather then Sasuke's spirit of vengeance. As they entered class for their Taijutsu training, Iruka and Mizuki both decided to elect who squared off with who.
Each partners managed to pass decently but this didn't seem to get much reaction out of people since the class were curious as to who the Uchiha boys would be fighting, the anticipation and hype was getting more and more palpable when the day got closer and closer to the end until finally…It was stuck between the two for the final push.
"Alright, you two…This is straight Taijutsu fighting so no big Jutsu." Iruka explained as they took notes. "And Ryōga? I actually want you to try putting effort into this part, your grade is riding on this one!"
Mizuki raised an eyebrow and looked to Iruka; "Come on, Iruka…You've seen his grades for the other stuff, he's practically aced all the other stuff like Sasuke has and you can't deny that Uchiha kids have talent."
"Family name or not, he's still suffering a D-Rank grade in Taijutsu…C-Rank at best." Iruka pointed out as he looked to the rather eager looking Sasuke and the unnerved Ryōga. "The only reason I was willing to compromise was because the last time….That instance showed me that he has what he needs but his insistence on not using what he practiced diminishes his grade."
Mizuki nodded; "Yeah, Giriko's still in the infirmary after Ryōga….Well…"Showed what he got", this is for your headbands so GO!" He announced as he let the cheers of the other kids encouraging ring out when both Sasuke and his cousin got into their stances.
It was surprising to even hear anything with Sasuke's fan club screaming their support for their number one bad boy but hidden among them were the sounds of Ryōga's smaller group of friends such as Shikamaru, Choji and even Kiba who seemed to be the few people who weren't on board the "Sasuke is cool" train, even the heiress to the Hyuuga's main branch quietly mumbled her support despite being drowned out the most.
"Come on, you heard the teachers…Stop whimpering and try to hit me if you can." Sasuke taunted him as he rushed forward with a quick rush of punches toward his cousin's face.
"But I hate this! Can't I just skip Taijutsu?!" Ryōga protested as he quickly slapped away Sasuke's strikes but made no attempt to hit him back. It had always been like this; The other kids and the teachers thought he was just being lazy and Sasuke merely thought that his cousin had one extra reason why he was considered the runt of the litter.
"Keep it up, the more you complain and the more that you'll prove that you're too weak to even be considered on my level." Sasuke gloated before swinging a kick up at Ryōga's head; "And you'll show everyone here just how pitiful you are…as nothing more than a weak. little. coward…" Sasuke snarked as he waited to see how everyone would react when he proved himself a greater Uchiha.
Though what happened was the exact opposite; Ryōga suddenly froze up before he reflexively caught Sasuke by the ankle and pushed him off. This time the sullen Uchiha rushed forward and ducked under his cousin's attempted palm to the face and managed to not just flip him onto the ground but kept him pinned there with a double arm clutch and a knee pinned to Sasuke's back to detain him, something that the Academy didn't teach and Iruka quickly got suspicious.
Mizuki was too busy basking in the fun of watching kids beating each other up but Iruka recognised that vacant stare on Ryōga's face when he started fighting back; That was the same look that he had when he lashed out against another kid and that alone was more than enough for him to step in before a repeat occured. Using a Clone Jutsu to pull Ryōga away and letting Sasuke back off as the two called the match.
——Later in the Day——
Ryōga watched from under the tree as the others all started heading home; His friends all had families and friends to welcome them back with congratulations on their new headbands. Even though he got told that he technically passed like the others did, Iruka was the one to tell him that the excessive force he displayed was enough grounds to debunk it and brought him to be failed. "Another wonderful screw up by me...What else is new?" He thought dejectedly as he saw Sasuke leaving the Academy, even though he didn't have anyone to take him home; the other girls who fawned over him were clamouring to try scoring a date with the Uchiha who won along with the parents who tried to cosy up to Sasuke and earn favour.
"Tough day, huh…" Mizuki mentioned from the tree as he watched the others head off and felt like now was his chance towards the younger Uchiha; "I'm sorry that you didn't get your headband…If it helps you feel any better, I did my best to try convincing Iruka that you had the potential." He remarked with a sad smile; "Though, are you going to take the extra credit?"
"What extra credit? Iruka-sensei said that I blew my chance and have to wait again…." Ryōga grumbled with a hint of resentment; He had figured that Iruka would have at least seen his side of things or at least heard Sasuke's taunting.
"He didn't tell you? Man, he's really keen on keeping you down." Mizuki said with a raised eyebrow as he got out into the light to face Ryōga. "The Exam isn't always the prime path towards becoming a Ninja…There is another way that you can earn that headband like you deserved." He explained and watched the boy's face lighten at the prospect.
"What do I have to do?" He asked as he was determined to try proving that he could do anything Sasuke could and more.
"Well, part of being a master Ninja is through stealth and precision; So if you can enter the Giant Forest on the outskirts of the Leaf and retrieve one of the Shura Mushrooms that hang on the oldest trees without disturbing the wildlife, you get an instant pass!" Mizuki detailed to Ryōga and lay out the "Plan" for him to follow.
"So I just have to take a mushroom from the forest…Why exactly?" Ryōga asked curiously as he hadn't heard about the mushroom that Mizuki mentioned.
"Well, this particular fungus has some pretty potent effects, putting it in Pills and medicines make it three times more potent than the Medic Ninja carry around." Mizuki detailed and then held out a small scroll; "You take this and you store one of the shrooms inside it…And you'll be right there alongside Cousin Sasuke in no time."
Ryōga felt an odd sensation in his gut but his desire to keep up and prove himself as a capable ninja overshadowed it as he took the scroll; "I'll find the biggest and stinkiest mushroom that I can find." He promised before rushing off as Mizuki waved after him.
"Good luck, you'll need it!" Mizuki called out before that smirk turned sinister when Ryōga was out of sight and he was alone. "Wow, I can't believe that the desperate little shit was that gullible…If those animals don't kill him then I'll just silence him when he turns up empty handed…" He thought to himself as he turned and walked off, only to see Iruka looking around. "Iruka? What's wrong, you look…off."
"I felt bad about the way I dismissed Ryōga earlier, so I figured that I'd try cheering him up with some dinner while walking him back…I doubt that Sasuke'd be in a good enough mood to walk with him." Iruka admitted as he looked around; "Weird, he's normally hanging around when he sulks…You didn't see him, did you?"
Mizuki shrugged; "I guess today hit him a little harder than usual, maybe he's wandered off somewhere to be alone?"
Iruka felt a pang of worry as he felt like his harshness took it too far this time and headed off to try seeing if he was at other spots or with the small amount of friends that he had.
However, unbeknownst to the two and to the young man; The Third Hokage was watching the Uchiha rushing towards the gigantic forest through a crystal ball. "Ryōga…What on earth are you doing?"