Chapter 21

"Damn it! That hurts!" A loud wail echoed inside a forest.

"Again. Didn't I tell you to not make exaggerated and flashy moves? Those moves are nothing but suicidal, I would have killed you three times in that instant if you were my enemy." Ken berated Naruto who was sprawled on the ground while heavily panting.

"I get it-taebbayo!" Soothing the pain in his gut, Naruto stood up humpbacked. Compared to half a year ago, the kid definitely grew taller, still shorter than his little brother, though.

Not caring about the pain the kid is in, Ken looked at Hibiki with a provoking stare.

"What? Scared?" He said with his taunting smile.

"Tsk. I really am starting to hate you now." Hibiki sounded annoyed. Just like every other Aburame Clan member, he also had the same style as them. His outfit consisting of dark sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar and he also had a military hair cut. Overall, he looked cool and handsome.

"Come on, you are useless without your bees, Naruto can even beat you without them." Ken suddenly disappeared and instantly reached in front of Hibiki, delivering a light punch towards the kid's stomach.

Lowering his arms, Hibiki managed to block the punch but it sent him skidding backward.

Thump! Although it was just a light punch, to Hibiki, it felt like he was hit by a car.

Ken did jot stop though, he again dashed and delivered another light hook to the kid's face.

Hibiki panicked and instinctively used his bugs to shield his face as he could not react faster to block. Who would want to go home with a black eye?!

Ken stopped before his fist made contact with the scrambling bugs trying to block the upcoming attack. It would be a waste if some of those bugs died.

"You are still very reliant on your bugs. What's wrong with you being hit? The best thing to learn hand to hand combat is through pain and real combat. You easily lost your calm because of an attack you could have avoided. This is just under the situation where your opponent can't reach your back.

"Just because you have them does not mean you can really heavily on them. If you want to become a capable Shinobi, then train your body. Do this for yourself and do this for your bugs. Just think about how many of them would die just because you are incapable." Ken stated calmly. In his previous life, he learned through tough beating. With no one to rely on, no one to cry to, just yourself.

"I understand." Hibiki lowered his head in shame. He suddenly understood that if his bugs would all die, then he could do nothing but die. He wanted to become the best ninja tracker and the best in his Clan, but he finally understood that he would be unable to if he kept his current mindset.

"Again!" This time, Ken did not aim for the head and focused on the lower body.

The dust stirred as he stomped on the ground and delivered a 'light' kick which Hibiki avoided.

Not hesitating anymore, Hibiki also charged at Ken and delivered a combo

"It's good that you understand. You can go home now, it's getting late. See you tomorrow." Pocketing his hands, Ken left the two kids to reflect on their life. Making sure that no one was around, Ken suddenly disappeared after becoming a puff of smoke.

On the training ground, the Original Ken felt a surge of memories rush through his head and he sat on the flat rock to organize the new memories from his Clone that just dispersed.

'I still can't get used to this.' He thought. The one day experience from his Clone being transferred to him gave him a slight headache, weirdness and left him uncomfortable.

After 10 minutes of rest, Ken decided to go home as he trained all day and he felt a little bored.

Every step he took looked normal, but hidden in his loose pants were actually ankle weights that totaled 80 kilograms. This is to develop his leg muscles faster.

Just three months ago, he finally met the guy called Maito Gai. The man indeed felt strong, just that he found his personality annoying with all those youth crap.

The man also offered him a set of green colored set of clothes that would make you look like a frog and an idiot at the same time. Of course, Ken politely rejected the insistent offer.

In the end, "the" Gai agreed to get him some weights. "The" Gai was even generous to get him a total of a thousand kilograms of weight. Of course, Ken asked his parents to pay for them and it cost a lot of money. He also told Itachi and Shisui to strap some weights as it could benefit them.

Reaching home, he found Sasuke in the backyard training with his Kunai's and Shurikens.

"Not bad." Ken praised with a light smile.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke exclaimed in surprise before running and hugging Ken joyfully. Ever since that day, he and Itachi talked about how they would find time to play with their li'l bro.

So right now, the three siblings are actually pretty cool.

They would teach Sasuke how to use tools such as kunai, shuriken, wires and etc. Ken and Itachi taught him some hand to hand combat by demonstration. Jutsu, not so much.

As for knowledge, Ken found out that they teach that at school. So not to make it boring for their kid brother, they decided not to teach it.

The two spent some time instructing Sasuke with his training and the sky slowly turned dark.

"I am home!" It was at this moment that Itachi also came home.

"Itachi Nii-san, welcome home!" Sasuke greeted joyfully.

Several minutes passed and the door opened again.

"Mom! Welcome home!" Sasuke greeted cheerfully again.

Just as Mikoto finished cooking dinner, the door opened and Sasuke rushed to greet their last member.

"Dad! Welcome home! Dinner is ready!"

"Thank you, Sasuke." Fugaku pinched his son's cheeks.

The family finally ate again as usual with a harmonious and cheerful atmosphere.

...

But while they were harmonious, the same could not be said inside the Hokage's office.

As usual, the Hokage still had that pipe in his mouth while occasionally puffing out smoke. He looked relaxed, but the person in front of him is in no way at ease.

"You are too soft, Hiruzen! The Uchiha are surely planning something by befriending the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki! " Yelled a frail old man with a cane. He had black, shaggy hair, his right eye was bandaged and has an x-shaped scar on his chin. He wore a white shirt, with a black robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder, concealing his right arm.

If Itachi or Shisui was here, they would surely recognize the man as Danzō.

The man dubbed as the Shinobi of Darkness. The man in charge of the Foundation that does the dirty work for the village. It was the man that attempted to recruit Shisui and Itachi.

And right now, they were discussing the matter regarding Uchiha Ken befriending Uzumaki Naruto.

"The matter is already concluded. Feel free to leave." The Hokage replied at ease, ignoring the angry old man.

Bang!

"You... Do you want to replay what happened three years ago?!" Gritting his teeth, Danzō slammed the table in anger.

"The door is open." Not paying any heed, the Hokage spun his chair and turned his back to Danzō.

Puff.

The fragrance of tobacco wafted in Danzo's nose making his anger rise even more. In the end, he only gritted his teeth and left the room.

"Haa..." Enjoying the peaceful night, the Hokage continued to puff off smoke and just like that, a new day is starting.

...

The bell rang as the three friends walked shoulder to shoulder. Naturally, as the boss, Ken is in the middle. With Naruto on the right and Hibiki on the left, they were like the regular mob in school.

However, as weak as the trio looked, nobody actually dared to come close to them. Even the seniors avoided them like plague, but the girls, man the girls looked at them like they were some hot pies. To be more precise, they were looking at Ken.

Like a boss, the trio walked smugly to the classroom. The hallway was instantly cleared and the trio walked like they were The King and the Royal Knights.

Unlike yesterday, the two sidekicks who had taken a beating from Ken had an arrogant and lofty expression.

It looked like a scene from a high school film.

Although the other two seemed to be only basking in the glory of Ken, they were in fact quite notorious.

The two were only weak in front of Ken, in actual combat, Naruto and Hibiki were actually pretty good. Adding Naruto's Natural Halo, the Kyuubi, no one dared to come close to him.

Hibiki could control bugs that creep out almost all of the girls and scares most of the boys.

And with Ken as their backer, no student dared to bully them, they were like the Alphas of the Academy.

...

Three months ago.

While Ken was walking to the Academy... to be continued.