Progress

It was early sunday morning, the start of a new day in the Land of Fire. In the middle of Hidden Leaf Village, beside the flowing Naka River, two figures could be seen flashing through the woods, fighting with each other. Their swords were clanging as they fought continuously using only kenjutsu.

One of them was a man in his mid-twenties with short, black hair that reached to his shoulders. His eyes were red with three tomoes spinning continuously as he surveyed the surroundings. He had visible creases below his eyes which were pronounced by his stern look. He wore a simple dark blue kimono with grey pants which had the Uchiha clan symbol on the back.

The other one was a boy who looked like 15-16 years old. He had long and spiky black hair, brown eyes. He had sharp, oval shaped face with chiseled jaws. He had a black diamond shaped mark on his forehead. The boy wore a plain brown haori with white juban and black pants.

The boy was standing on top a tree branch holding a ninjato when he suddenly vanished. The man, sensing something suddenly spun around and blocked the slash from the boy's sword with his own katana.

A fight started between them. Both fought using pure kenjutsu skill, showing their incredible finesse with swords. The fight lasted for a few moments until the man disarmed the boy by twirling his sword as slashing at his wrist. The boy, not wanting to take the damage, let go of his sword. He managed to stick his hand to the man's sword and pulled it.

The man unable to hold his grip had to let go of his sword and jumped backwards. But before he jumped, he managed to kick the his sword away from the boy's hands.

Both of them had now disarmed eachother of their weapons. They looked at each other for a bit, each trying to determine the other's next move.

"You used your sticky hands thingy, Takeru. The rule was to only use kenjutsu and taijutsu. You broke the rules." - spoke the man as he suddenly smiled.

"You too used your sharingan, sensei. You too broke the rules." - the boy, Takeru replied with a smirk on his face.

"That is true. So, let's count this kenjutsu match as tie then. How about it?" - the man, Shunsui said as he took a taijutsu stance.

"Sure. Now let's settle this with taijutsu." - Takeru also took a stance.

Another fight erupted as both of them rushed at each other with blinding speeds. Fists met flesh, kicks were flying as both the teacher and the student fought with everything they had.

Shunsui anticipated and countered Takeru's each and every move with ridiculous speed and reflexes, as he saw through them with his sharingan.

Takeru saw, heard, felt and sensed each and every move of Shunsui as he too countered them as he jumped and moved erratically and acrobatically.

Takeru moved and fought with ever-changing rhythm as he punched, kicked, and dodged between the onslaught of attacks that Shunsui was delivering.

Takeru's moves were sometimes soft, sometimes hard. He sometimes used fist while other times he used palms. Takeru fighting style looked like a mix of multiple fighting styles with all of them slowly coming and merging together as one. Shunsui and Takeru fought relentlessly and the fight lasted till dusk.

"You have, 'huff', gotten stronger, Takeru. You lasted a hour, 'huff', more than the last week." - Shunsui was panting as he sat down on the ground leaning against a tree.

"Yeah, all that training is paying off. How was my kenjutsu and taijutsu, sensei?" - Takeru asked as he was lying down on the grass. His whole body was severely bruised and battered. Takeru used medical ninjutsu and his whole body started glowing green as all of his bruises and wounds were healing slowly.

"Your, urgh, kenjutsu is remarkable. It is high jounin level at least. I guess teaching, argh, you three Uchiha kenjutsu style was worth it. Arrrgh! I am so going to make you perform D-rank missions now, you little shit. Fuck! Where the hell did you learn to punch so hard?" - Shunsui began cursing vehemently as he tried to move. His whole body was wracking in pain.

Shunsui never imagined this little boy could punch so hard. He was inwardly crying, cursing his loud mouth and shitty luck. He just had to promise his students that he will train them individually with more intensity. He just had to make them little monsters.

Shunsui for the past few months returned to his home all bruised and battered for nearly all the time he stayed in the village. For the first few times it was not too eye-catching as his clansmen thought he had been on high ranking dangerous missions. But after some week all of them started looking at him weirdly. Even his father asked him multiple times, whether anything was wrong with him.

Shunsui could not just tell them that he fought and sparred with his students nearly all the time they stayed in the village. And his students beat him to a pulp every week. They would surely laugh at him.

In the beginning it was not too straining as he could easily spar with Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu. Shunsui had to fight with each of them seperately for 6 days a week, giving 2 days for each of them. They were easy pickings for him. But after some week, all of them began to improve, especially Takeru.

After months of training and sparring all of them improved leaps and bounds. Biwako and Shikatsu had firmly reached high-chuunin levels. Takeru, had even reached elite jounin level. But all of this changed when by some weird devilry, Takeru, the little monster's strength and speed went beyond comprehension.

Each and every punch of his became earth shattering. Shunsui only saw streaks of fire zipping around without his sharingan. His movements became so fast that by only using his sharingan, Shunsui could fight Takeru. And forget about chakra control, Shunsui had never seen such perfect chakra control in anyone except one person.

The fights became more and more taxing for Shunsui as his students pushed him more and more. Shunsui even started doubting himself, if he really had become a masochist. As no one in their right mind would keep on suffering like this. And this time Shunsui came to decision that he had enough of this shit.

"I tried to control my strength as far as I can, sensei. I am truly sorry. You know the saying, fists do not have eyes. It is kind of like that. Please forgive me, sensei. I swear I will not punch you anymore. Please do not make us perform those D-rank missions again." - spoke Takeru sheepishly as he instantly went full dogeza mode and started apologizing profusely.

He had already performed D-rank missions for six months. No matter how much he loved his village. He really did not want to go to those hellish D-rank missions.

"But what about my face? My handsome face? Who is going to marry me, Takeru? Answer me, you idiot." - Shunsui nearly started crying as he touched his bruised and bloodied face. He, Shunsui of the Uchiha clan, did not want to stay single.

'Fuck my life, now Naori would probably start to ignore me because of my hideous face and that brown haired little fucker would swoop in to woo her' - Shunsui thought to himself as he was fighting to keep his optimism but was failing hard. 'Be a teacher they said, it will be glorious they said. Your students will look up to you. They will respect you. I will snap that dumb fucker's neck who suggested Lord Hokage to make me a jounin sensei. Hell, I think my students are thinking of different ways to kill or maim me.' - Shunsui was really depressed.

Takeru was almost healed by now. So, he started healing Shunsui while slowly speaking words of wisdom.

"Look at it like this, sensei. Me, Biwako and Shikatsu, all of us are becoming strong. Soon, the whole village will come to know about our strength. And guess who will they praise for it? You, sensei. They will praise you. For being such a wonderful teacher, for being such a kind-hearted man who keeps suffering just to make his students strong. You, sir are a true hero. A dragon amongst men. You are a magnifi..." - Takeru stopped as Shunsui stared at him with a deadpan expression.

"A magnificent masochistic meatbag. Is not that right, Takeru? Just shut the fuck up and help me get up." - Shunsui said in pure exasperation as he was fed up with Takeru's bullshit.

Takeru promptly shut up and helped Shunsui stand up. Then he continued healing him.

"Ah, that feels nice. Now, where was I? Yes. Kenjutsu. Your kenjutsu has improved as much as possible with sparring. Now, only live battle situations could refine your prowess. And for that we will be taking more bandit extermination missions.

Now, for taijutsu, yes I admit I did not think you would improve this much in a year. I could find little to no flaws in your moves. And congratulations on fully learning Disturbance Style and the Interceptor Fist. But you should really practice controlling your strength, Takeru.

I know it is tempting to just straight up punch your enemy on face. But brute force can only take you so far. Try combining your strength with your taijutsu style. I think, you will make your taijutsu even more fearsome." - Shunsui said as he started feeling better.

Shunsui was completely unaware of the fact that Takeru had total control of his strength. It was just that Shunsui had the most punchable face in all of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Woah. Thanks for that. You do not compliment me that much without a reason. So, what are you planning?" - Takeru asked shamelessly as he was struggling to hold his laughter.

"Well, this will be our last sparring session. I have kept my promise to train you all for a year. I seriously need some rest. From next week we will start taking missions again.

I have already told this to your teammates and now I am telling you this also, that I am recommending you three to the upcoming chuunin exams next month." - Shunsui said with smile of relief.

"The what?" - Takeru asked curiously as he did not know if Leaf Village even had chuunin exams at this time.

"Well, it is actually an experiment. You see, you lot are the first batch of genins to graduate from the institution unlike myself and others who have gained their respective shinobi rank using their power, skill and experience.

Your batch would have to go through a test or tests to be accurate. It is to determine if the Shinobi Training Institution is a success or not." - Shunsui explained.

"Wait, so, we all will be tested to see if the current shinobi education system is fruitful or not. And if we pass this test. We get promoted to chuunin rank shinobi. And the passing rate of genin to chuunin will determine if the institution stays like it is or gets changed. Am I right?" - Takeru inquired.

"Yes, that is true. And as the team leader of Team 9, I am recommending you three to the exams. I think you all are overqualified to be honest. But rules are rules. You have to pass the exam to be a chuunin." - Shunsui clarified.

"So, can we get the exam details? Like what is the topic and things like that" - Takeru tried fishing for information.

"Yes, you can. The exams will test you on how to use water release to wash your ass properly. Nice try little guy. But no information is to be leaked. My lips are sealed." - Shunsui made a zipping motion with his hands as he gave a smug smile.

"Real mature, sensei." - Takeru deadpanned.

"Anyways see you tomorrow. We will meet at 8 in the morning, sharp in front of the mission hall. See ya." - Shunsui said his goodbyes as he flickered away. Takeru sighed and packed up his belongings as he walked back to his home.

It had been 8 months since Takeru had completely formed the yin seal. He trained and did missions every other day. He took breaks obviously but he never procrastinated or slacked off his training.

Takeru had finally finished level 5 training mode and was now in level 6 training mode. He could now control his weight properly and had no fear of just crashing down all the time. And after 8 months of daily rigorous training he had nearly completed the level 6 training mode.

Takeru after all this time had finally mastered Fire Release: Body Flicker Jutsu. His speed became truly frightening. Takeru had also became more proficient in wind nature chakra.

Takeru wanted to learn the Wind Release: Vacuum Bullet like Shikatsu had. But Shunsui thought otherwise. Shunsui, considering Takeru's chakara capacity and control, decided to teach him an advanced wind release jutsu. He taught Takeru Wind Release: Pressure Damage.

Takeru learned the jutsu in a few months. He also learned and practiced other jutsus. He had successfully learned Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu and Hair Needle Senbon.

Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu was easy for Takeru to learn and master as it needed precise chakra control to clone shurikens and other projectiles. Which Takeru had in spades.

Hair Needle Senbon on the hand was a very useful jutsu. The user of this jutsu could grow, elongate and harden their hair to throw hairs as projectiles like senbons. Takeru after learning this jutsu could easily grow and elongate his hair.

Takeru did not like long hair as it generally caused interference in combat. But now as his hair also became a weapon itself. Takeru started keeping longer hair.

The most intriguing jutsu Takeru learned in the past few months had to be the Clone Explosion Jutsu. The jutsu functioned by releasing all the chakra inside a clone at once. The jutsu was useful as distraction and suicide attacks.

Takeru wanted to make the jutsu even more advanced. He tried to merge Shadow Clone Jutsu, Clone Explosion Jutsu and Fire Release altogether. After much experimentation Takeru succeeded in his project and created a new jutsu.

He named this jutsu Fire Release: Shadow Clone Jutsu. This jutsu worked just like normal shadow clones did. The clones were tangible like normal shadow clones and could operate, fight, use techniques on their own. But it had some differences. The clones could only use neutral or fire release techniques and the memories and chakra infused in them did not return back to Takeru.

The clones upon receiving enough damage or while dying would explode into violent flames burning everything in their immediate vicinity. Takeru could also preemptively explode the clones at anytime. And interestingly Takeru could regulate and control the amount of chakra each clone possessed, meaning the technique did not divide his chakra equally among the clones and himself.

Takeri also did not stop practicing Ito clan's hiden technique. His mother was right. The technique was easy to learn but hard to master. After all this time Takeru managed to reduce the necessary hand-seals to one. Takeru, even with his perfect chakra control, could not perform the jutsu without hand-seals. Nevertheless he at least made progress.

Takeru had told Shunsui about his inability to use genjutsu properly. Shunsui thought about it and told Takeru to practice genjutsu with him on every training session.

On the first session Shunsui understood Takeru's condition. Takeru had been doing genjutsu wrongly all along. Shinobi use genjutsu by controlling chakra flow of a target's cerebral nervous system thereby affecting their five senses.

The genjutsu user first needs to adapt their own chakra to move simultaneously like their target's chakra flow, thereby making the individual unaware that he has already been under a genjutsu all along. Then the user could alter and control their target's perceptions as much as they wish.

Takeru was doing it wrong as he misunderstood the basic usage of genjutsu. Takeru's sensing ability which enabled him to detect genjutsu instantly and his chakra vibration that made him immune to the effects of most genjutsu, also became the reasons why he could not use genjutsu properly.

Takeru could always sense everything around him. And as he used shadow clones to practice genjutsu, he did not realise his mistakes. As his targets, he and his own shadow clones could always detect that they were in a genjutsu from the start. So, Takeru thought that his genjutsu was not working.

To counter it Takeru always directly bombarded his targets with yin chakra, trying to overload the targets' senses. Genjutsu needed precise control and imagination. Which Takeru had but did not use correctly. Takeru slowly gained a bad habit of not adapting to his opponents' chakra flow and used brute force to employ genjutsu. Thus he failed all the time. And due to continuous failure Takeru started thinking himself untalented in genjutsu, his mentality stunting his growth even more.

Shunsui recognised the issues. He told Takeru to stop controlling the chakra inside his body and to shut off his sensing ability as much as he could. Takeru stopped controlling chakra inside his body, which after all this time he could do subconsciously. But he could not shut off his passive sensing. Takeru nonetheless tried to shift his concentration and succeeded.

Shunsui used genjutsu on Takeru and told him not to dispel it. He told Takeru to feel the inner mechanisms of genjutsu. Takeru felt his surroundings change and shift. He could feel his disturbed chakra flow.

Takeru focused and felt the changes in chakra that Shunsui was controlling. Takeru finally understood how to properly use genjutsu. Shunsui undid the genjutsu and Takeru came back to his senses. Shunsui then told Takeru to employ genjutsu on him with the least amount of yin chakra Takeru could use.

They trained like this for months and finally Takeru became proficient in using genjutsus properly. Takeru, during his genjutsu training mastered both the Infinite Darkness Technique and the Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique fully. Takeru was not some genjutsu prodigy but his perfect chakra control boosted the strength of his genjutsus.

After doing missions together, training together and spending time together, Takeru and his teammates had gotten really close. Shunsui saw his students as his family and they saw him as their guide, mentor and as a friend.

Takeru came home after sometime. He took a long shower and got changed. Akane was busy cooking dinner and Toru was enjoying the calm evening with a bottle of sake.

"How was your training?" - Toru asked as he saw his son sitting beside him.

"Good. Sensei actually praised me today."

"Haah. I feel sad for you sensei. I think someday he will go mad just because of you three." - Toru shook his head as he sighed.

"Do not worry. He will be alright. Anyway, have you heard anything about the chuunin exams?"

"Chuunin exams? I think I have. There was a notice given to us by Lord Hokage a month ago. It was about the changes in the curriculum. I think there was a mention about the chuunin exams in there."

"Changes? What changes?"

"Well, there was something about a new course for kunoichis. I think the age of admission for children is going to be reduced to 5 years old. The curriculum span is fixed though. That is all I can remember."

"Oh, so younger shinobis will appear."

"Yes. Tension is rising among us and other shinobi villages. It is done to bolster the number of shinobis. To think after all the effort and suffering, there is still some embers of war, 'Sigh'." - Toru sighed as he took a gulp of sake from the cup.

Akane called them for dinner after sometime. The Yamamoto family had good dinner and conversed about various things.

Takeru told his mother that he had become proficient in the first part of Extreme Concealment Technique. Akane was overjoyed. She told Takeru that she would teach him the next part after dinner.

After dinner Takeru and Akane sat together in the drawing room. Akane started teaching Takeru about the second part of the Extreme Concealment Technique. What was more interesting that this second part had to be used simultaneously with the first part.

The user of this technique could phase through any and all surrounding surfaces. This allowed the user to quickly avoid an incoming attack and escape. The user could freely move and travel through any and all surfaces undetected. Using this method of approach, the user can excute surprise and guerrllia attacks to their enemy.

Takeru was amazed just thinking about the usefulness of this technique. This was the ultimate stealth technique. No wonder the Ito clan was feared for its assassins.

Takeru followed his mother's instructions and started practicing the technique. He first concealed himself using the first part of the technique. Then following the instructions he made the necessary hand-seals.

At first nothing happened. But after a few moments Takeru felt himself sinking through the floor. He opened his eyes and saw that he was waist below underground. Akane told him to concentrate and to feel the sensations.

Takeru bit by bit tried to control himself. And after an hour he resurfaced above the ground. It was a weird experience. Akane told him not to practice this technique by himself. As a momentary lapse of concentration could result in Takeru being stuck inside a surface.

This was a really dangerous technique. Takeru obeyed his mother's words as he was not confident if he could practice it without any supervision.

The day ended as Takeru went back to sleep. He was excited about the chuunin exams. He wanted to test himself. And what better test than the chuunin exams. Takeru knew his parents would be proud if he became a chuunin on the first try. It would give them more assurance about his safety. With these various thoughts in his mind, Takeru fell asleep ready for tomorrow.