Strength

Team 9 returned to the Leaf Village and performed the necessary procedures. The bandits only had money and some weapons as their belongings so they all agreed that they would not take those. Thus, Shunsui donated all the money and weapons to the village.

All the bodies of both the bandits and the prisoners were buried at the Tanzaku city grave except for the body of the bandit leader. Shunsui had taken the body with him and gave it to the village to ascertain if the bandit was truly a bandit or some unknown shinobi.

Shunsui distributed the payments among themselves and all of them dispersed as they went their way. Takeru walked back to his home. It was late morning when Takeru came near his home. As he was entering the house, he sensed 2 familiar presences inside, along with his parents.

"I am back." - Takeru spoke as he entered.

"Oh, Takeru, you came back. Come, come here, look who came to visit." - Akane hurriedly came to receive Takeru as she dragged to towards the drawing room.

Takeru entered the drawing room to see his two of his childhood friends had present there.

"Renji, Genji, you guys came". - Takeru's mood improved as he saw them.

"Hahaha, we told you that we would visit. How are you, man?"- The Ji brothers hugged Takeru.

"I am fine. How about you guys? Did you guys relocate? What about Tsukino? What about the others?" - Takeru asked rapidly.

"Slow down, slow down. We are also fine. Our family, uncle Hikaru's family, and nearly all of the village have relocated to Keishi. The only people still living in the village are old man Tenshi and some others." - Renji answered.

"So, he really did not leave the village?"

"You know how stubborn that senile old man is. Grandma, father, uncle Hikaru, all of us tried many times. But he refused. He just said his work was done and he wanted to spend the rest of his life inn the village." - Genji spoke while shaking his head.

Takeru nodded as he knew what the old man meant.

"What about Tsukino?"

"She has made it big. Do you know she is now in charge of the decorations at the the Daimyo's palace? Her sculptures are famous, you know. She was personally selected by the Daimyo's wife."

"Wow! I knew she was talented but this, this is amazing." - Takeru was happy knowing that his friend has achieved success.

Akane was getting ready to go to the hospital. She told Takeru to freshen up as he had just returned from a journey. In the meantime she chatted with the Ji brothers. Takeru took a nice shower and changed into casual clothes.

Takeru came back and saw his mother going out for work. Akane gave him some money to enjoy this day with his friends as a nice gesture. Takeru wanted to refuse the money. He earned more money than his parents and his parents also knew it. But still he accepted the nice gesture nonetheless.

Takeru, Renji and Genji chatted for sometime. As they had come to the Leaf village for the first time, Takeru wanted to show the Ji brothers the various sights and spots of interest. All of them spent their time happily, reminiscing their childhood, talking about their life and their future plans.

During their sightseeing and talks, Takeru got to know why the Ji brothers had actually come to the Hidden Leaf Village all the way from Keishi. It was because they wanted to open a buisness in the village, a restaurant to be exact.

A restaurant in Keishi went out if buisness a few months ago. While the owner of the restaurant went into another buisness, the chefs and the staff lost their jobs because of it. The reason the restaurant went out of buisness was because the owner's mismanagement of the funds and over-expenditure.

The Ji brothers, due to their buisness connections met with the head-chef of the restaurant. They understood the situation and wanted to open a new restaurant by themselves with the previous chefs and staff. But Keishi was already oversaturated with numerous restaurants and other eateries. The competition was high and the turnover was low.

So, after much discussion, their father Atsuno gave them an idea. It was to open the restaurant in the Hidden Leaf Village. It was actually a good idea.

The Leaf Village was growing day by day and its population was rising every year. More population meant more opportunities, more opportunities meant more traffic and more traffic meant more buisness. The village was still in it infancy. The demand here was high but supply was low.

Shinobis enjoyed entertainment, sustenance and good living as much as any other person. At the end they too were humans after all. Seeing the massive opportunity here, the Ji brothers made necessary arrangements and deals and finalized their plans.

Although the civilian population was still much lower in the village than shinobi population. Buisness in the village was lucrative. Atsuno, Renji and Genji pooled nearly all their earnings and some of their savings to buy a good piece of land in the middle of the village. The construction of the new restaurant had started just a month ago and was finally finished a few days ago.

The brothers invited Takeru to have lunch at the new restaurant. Three of them walked for a few minutes and reached their destination.

The decorations of the restaurant was almost finished. Three of them entered and Takeru started looking around. It looked very good. The restaurant was large with wide windows, multiple green-seated booths, though some tables allowed customers to sit down on the floor with green cushions as their seats, and menus were plastered on the walls. Each table had a charcoal brazier built in the centre and is equipped with tongs for cooking.

"How is it?" - Renji asked smilingly.

"It looks great. So, did you guys name the restaurant?" - Takeru asked.

"Ah no. The restaurant already had a name. All the chefs and staff are the same, only the ownership and the location changed. So, we did not change the name."

"What is it?"

"It is Yakiniku Q. Good name, showcases the speciality of this restaurant. Come, let's have lunch. The salted beef tounge here is really good." - the three of them took seats and talked about various things while having their lunch.

"So, how is the shinobi life treating you?" - Genji asked.

"Uh, good actually. Just regular missions and stuff." - Takeru said.

"Did something happen?" - Renji caught Takeru's tone.

"No. I am just tired, you know. I have been in a mission for a couple of days. It was mentally exhausting."

"Ooh, I get it dude, you are in a lot of pressure, right?"

"Yeah, something like that" - Takeru spoke as they changed the topic of their conversation.

After all of them continued their chat. Takeru found out that the restaurant would be opening early next month. Takeru promised them that he would surely come to the opening ceremony.

It was past noon and the Ji brothers said their goodbyes to Takeru and told him to give their greetings to Toru and Akane too. They would be going back to the caravan on which they came to the Leaf Village to start their return journey towards Keishi.

Soon, they left and Takeru went back to his home. After coming home, Takeru took a long nap and started his training again.

It had been 2 months since Takeru came back from the mission. During this time Takeru revamped his training routine and doubled the effort.

Takeru had already mastered the Body Flicker Jutsu to its full potential. But he wanted more speed. Now Takeru was not adept in speed enhancing chakra natures like wind and lightning. The only nature transformations he had mastered were fire and earth. In which Takeru's proficiency over the fire nature was atleast ten times more than earth nature chakra.

Takeru's expertise over fire nature chakra was incredible. Hie knew that fire could not enhance his speed. But he tried and experimented with it anyways.

Fire was the process of combustion, combustion created pressure, pressure could be used to propel something or in this case someone.

Takeru worked on this theory and tried to implement fire nature chakra on his body to propel himself. He first wanted to use fire release from his back like a jetpack. He thought that maybe it would work. But he failed miserably.

Takeru's clothes lit up in violent flames and his back got burned. It took him 3 days of constant application of medical chakra and treatment to recuperate from the damage.

Takeru learned his lesson and curbed his dream to create Fire Release Chakra Cloak temporarily. He focused on his current task and started experimenting again by using fire in various other ways.

After a lot of tests and failures, Takeru came close to a new way to use fire. Takeru tried to use fire release by emitting concentrated fire nature chakra from the soles of his feet. When he first did so, he got propelled forward instantly with immense speeds in an uncontrolled manner. Takeru nearly got smashed into a boulder. Only his superhuman reflexes and reaction time saved him.

Takeru tried it again a few times and everytime he faced two problems. The first problem was sheer uncontrolled speed. Takeru tried controlling the power and speed of fire that he released from his feet. But it proved to be difficult.

The second problem was direction. Takeru always moved in a single direction while using this new technique. He tried shifting the direction of the released fire but it also proved to be difficult.

Nonetheless Takeru had created a new technique. He named this new movement technique, Fire Release: Burst Steps. Now he just wanted to merge this technique with Body Flicker Jutsu. If he did that, then his speed would increase massively.

Takeru wanted to perfect this new technique he had created but he first wanted to solve a more important and major problem of his. The problem was that he was not sure if he could control his body weight on level 6 training mode.

On all the previous levels Takeru used his impressive chakra control to shift and distribute his weight evenly on the surface he stood on. Otherwise he would have had crashed into anything he stood on.

Takeru found that on level 5 training mode he had to use much effort just to move and run. He was not sure if he could even move his body in level 6. The added gravity, restriction and chakra disruption might not even allow him to concentrate on anything.

Takeru needed to solve this problem fast. As otherwise it would be detrimental to his training progress. Takeru came to decision that it would be a good time to finish forming the yin seal. He had been slowly amassing chakra into his seal daily. But due to his intense training regimen the amount was not huge.

Takeru had a solution for the problem. It was to use the absorption ability of his sword to fill up the yin seal. But this posed another problem. As the sword absorbed even ambient chakra and as he had no control over the ability. Takeru was sure that it would be a very bad idea to use the ability inside the village.

Takeru needed to find a way to train outside the village unnoticed. And he had to do it without raising suspicions. Takeru made a plan for that. He asked his sensei Shunsui if he could take D-rank missions on his own.

Shunsui was confused because of this sudden request. He knew Takeru and nearly everyone hated D-rank missions. As such he could not believe what his student was saying.

"You sure you want to do D-rank missions on your own?" - Shunsui asked with visible confusion.

"No, you are not sick. Did you train so hard that it hurt your brain or something?" - Shikatsu said as he touched Takeru's forehead.

"Shut up, dude. No, I am not sick. I just want to serve the village more." - Takeru said exasperatedly.

"Takeru, have you gone insane?" - Biwako asked as she could not believe her ears.

"No, I am perfectly alright. I have not gone insane. Trust me. I want to do it." - Takeru said with all seriousness.

"You and I both know that is pure bullshit. Even I would not perform D-rank missions to serve the village. So, what exactly are you planning, sweet little student of mine?" - Shunsui asked.

"I can not tell you the reason right now. I will in the future. But for now, please, sensei, allow me to perform D-rank missions on my own. It is my only request. Please, please." - Takeru bowed as low as he could.

"Haah! Alright. If you want to torture yourself so badly. Go ahead. I, as leader of Team 9 give you my permission. But on one condition. You have to perform D-rank missions for 6 months." - Shunsui spoke with creepy smile.

Shikatsu and Biwako shuddered hearing this. Takeru's eyes widened.

"No, no. You can not do this. This is unfair!" - Takeru cried out loud.

"I can do this and it is not unfair. Think about how much good you would do to the village. Think about those people who are in need. You have to be strong Takeru. You are a true hero. I believe in you." - Shunsui said with a radiant smile on his face while inwardly he was laughing out loud.

Takeru could not believe his luck. He wanted to smack that face so hard right now. But he knew if he did that, his misfortune would only increase, Shunsui would surely use every bit of his strength to make sure he would suffer more. This would be catastrophic to his future plans and mental well-being.

"Alright, I accept the conditions. But I want another thing as well." - Takeru thought about it as spoke slyly.

"What is it?" - Shunsui did not know why he had suddenly started feeling uneasy.

"You, sensei would have to train all of us seperately for atleast one year. Each of us gets two days of personal training with you per week. 6 days of training a week with the free day being sunday. How about it?" - Takeru asked as Shikatsu and Biwako too agreed with him.

"And what would I train you all?" - Shunsui asked.

"Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu and kenjutsu." - Shikatsu added quickly.

"What about the missions?" - Shunsui felt that he was slowly falling into a pitfall but could not think of why.

"How about we train for a few weeks continuously and not take the free days. We accumulate the free days for sometime and when the amount gets high. We could perform missions as well." - Biwako spoke.

"Uh, I guess, that could be done. I am glad that you all are so dedicated. Really I am happy." - Shunsui spoke.

"So, do you agree, sensei?" - Takeru asked innocently.

"Yes, I agree." - as soon as he said it, Shunsui had a faint feeling that he was fucked.

"Yosh. Sensei, you are a blessing to us. The name of the greatest teacher, Shunsui Uchiha will soon ring all around the world." - All of the three genins said in unison.

"Ahahaha, it is nothing. It is my duty to train you all." - Shunsui felt embarrassed.

Takeru from then on started taking various D-rank missions in the time he got after doing his personal training, his training with Shunsui and missions with his team. As he took more and more missions, Takeru's popularity among the village residents skyrocketed. He became popular as a kind, helpful and good-natured shinobi of the leaf who loved his village very much. Takeru was slowly making a name for himself.

Takeru at first did these missions out of necessity. But after sometime he started to like D-rank missions somewhat. Each day he saw thankful and happy faces of the villagers. He observed their daily lives, their struggles, their joy and happiness. Slowly Takeru's sense of belongingness to the Hidden Leaf Village grew more and more.

Takeru slowly shed his indecisiveness, his nativity, his contradictions. His previous mentality went away and he became more determined. The conviction to protect this village that radiated peace and security. It was idiotic in a sense. Takeru knew that. After all the strangers he would probably fight for, might not even remember his name after a few days.

Takeru did not want do it for those strangers. He wanted to protect the village that gave them shelter. The village in which his family lived. The village which held his dreams. The village for which his friends and teammates fought and would continue to fight in the future.

Takeru was being idealistic. He knew that idealists died an early death, while realists lived to tell the tale. But he wanted a little idealism for himself. He remembered his sensei's words and felt the hopes and dreams all the shinobi of this village had. Takeru gained his conviction. He too wanted to protect the burning leaf that shined on all of them.

Takeru took random missions. He roamed nearly all the village to perform missions. Takeru got to know the village's various tunnels, hideouts, secret entrances and hidden places by using his sensing ability.

Takeru wanted to find a good area to get out of the village unnoticed. And he got the chance during one mission. The mission was to clean a local brewery near the edge of the village boundary. Takeru took the mission happily.

As he was performing the mission, Takeru made a shadow clone of himself. He ordered the clone to perform the mission while Takeru concealed himself and went to the edge of the village beyond the wall.

Takeru used his sensing ability to the max to look out for anyone that might be observing him. He found none. Takeru sped up and towards the forest. Near the forest Takeru sensed a thin film of barrier enveloping all the Hidden Leaf Village.

It was a sensing barrier. Takeru knew his concealment technique was not that powerful that he could bypass the barrier. So, Takeru had to improvise. He came up with a ridiculous and high-risk plan that although was idiotic to a degree, might just work out.

Takeru with every bit of his fuinjutsu knowledge and chakra control tried to implement the alter-limit seal on the barrier. He knew it would take him much time as he lacked necessary knowledge about barrier techniques and he wanted to bypass the barrier not smash through it. And as he wanted to make sure that no one could notice him, he had to be extra careful.

After working on the barrier for 4 hours, Takeru realized that the task had only progressed by a quarter. He needed more time. Takeru swiftly made a shadow clone and directed the shadow clone to go and infuse all of its chakra into the other clone who was performing the mission in his stead.

The clone flickered away and Takeru concentrated on his task once again. Soon, the day ended and Takeru was only halfway through bypassing the barrier.

On the next day at early morning, Takeru had finally finished implementing alter-limit seal onto the barrier. Although it took a lot of time, Takeru gained unexpected rewards.

First, his knowledge about barrier techniques increased a lot. Second, he now had permanent access to bypass the sensing barrier around the Hidden Leaf Village. Although he could only come and go through the barrier without raising any alarm. It was a huge boon to him.

Takeru had just finished the task when he sensed his clone approaching him. He dismissed his present shadow clone and created another shadow clone. He sent the clone to his home. He skipped training for the day.

Takeru went past the barrier and into the forest. He sped up and ran for an hour. When he gained enough distance from the village. Takeru stopped.

He looked for a good place and found one after a moment. It was a small patch of area under the shade of a big tree.

Takeru sat down in a meditative posture and summoned his sword. Takeru at first calmed himself down and got steady. He then started the absorption ability of his sword as slow as he could.

A relatively smaller wave of suction power began emitting from the sword as it started absorbing all all the ambient chakra nearby. Takeru was prepared this time. Although he could not control the suction power fully, he nonetheless did not get overwhelmed like the last time.

Takeru channelled all the absorbed chakra steadily into his yin seal. The yin seal began filling up almost immediately. Takeru stayed like that all day, absorbing chakra in the environment.

Takeru woke up and saw that it was night. Only a quarter of the normal chakra portion of the yin seal had gotten filled up. Takeru sighed and got up. He stored his sword inside the inventory and rushed towards the village.

Takeru became 12 years old a week ago. For the past 4 months Takeru maintained his daily routine of doing D-rank missions, doing missions with his team, his training with Shunsui and most importantly his personal training.

Takeru did D-rank missions personally every now and then. He continued to absorb chakra with his sword on every chance he got. To complete the yin seal completely fast, Takeru reconfigured the yin seal. He removed all the partitions to create one single storage space that contained all the chakra.

Team 9 also went on some C-rank missions when they were free. It ranged from regular escort missions to extermination missions. Shikatsu and Biwako both understood the reality and became less and less hesitant to killing. Whereas Takeru had finally accepted his life in the shinobi world.

Takeru also practiced his new movement technique and managed to successfully merge it with Body Flicker Jutsu. He created named the new technique Fire Release: Body Flicker Jutsu. Takeru's speed increased massively. Although he had not mastered the technique yet. He guessed that he would be able to master it within 6 months.

Takeru made huge progress while training with Shunsui. Shunsui taught all three of his students various things and sparred with them nearly evry single day. All three genins had made huge improvements.

Shunsui taught Takeru and Shikatsu, Uchiha clan's kenjutsu style to increase their kenjutsu prowess. This made their kenjutsu expertise increase heavily.

He also taught all three of them Uchiha clan's taijutsu style, the Interceptor Fist. He also helped Takeru learn the Disturbance Style. Takeru improved his taijutsu style by incorporating counters, controlled movesets from Interceptor Fist. He also learned to make rapid movements and acrobatics from the Disturbance Style.

But the main thing Takeru focused on was to complete the yin seal. That is why Takeru now sat under the same tree with his sword on his lap, far away from the village.

Takeru sensed that he was nearly finished filling up his yin seal. He steadied himself and started absorbing chakra. Takeru sat still for a few hours like that.

Slowly a faint diamond shaped mark began appearing on his forehead. The mark was black in colour and it became more and more prominent as time went on.

Finally, after a few hours, the mark became stable. Takeru slowly opened his eyes and stopped the absorption ability of hus sword. He felt each and every single bit of chakra under his absolute control.

Takeru, storing his sword, slowly stood up and clenched his fist. He suddenly ran a bit and jumped. Every single chakra ability he had, got enhanced to a ridiculous degree. Takeru felt that he must have fully mastered his chakra enhancement ability.

Takeru clenched his fist again. He concentrated chakra on his fist into a single point far too easily and punched the ground with all his might.

'BOOM!!!'.

A gigantic shockwave spread out uprooting all the trees nearby as the groud shattered to pieces. Clouds of dust and dirt went up in the sky. All the birds and animals nearby ran away in fear. Takeru nearly lost his footing as the ground collapsed.

Takeru jumped away from the area and stood above a tree branch. What he sensed shocked him. A huge crater devoid of anything was there instead of the large patch of forest. Pure destruction was the apt description.

'All of it just because of a punch?!' - Takeru stood there for a moment taking it all in. 'This, this is strength.', Takeru thought to himself as he started laughing. He was happy, happy that he had finally succeeded. He had finally gained the strength of a hundred.

Takeru blitzed through the forest as he went back to the village with a huge smile on his face. All the while a question formed in the back of his mind.

'Where the fuck did the sword absorb all that chakra from?'.