Sixth Year Celebration

Hard to believe that six years had already passed, Kentsuru had to remind himself. The child found himself within the yard of the Iruzuka Household in the rightmost district of Konohagakure, his father immersed with the various merchants and businessmen who had come for the child's birthday. Ken's father Tsuchi was a businessman of repute within Hi no Kuni, responsible for the creation of kevlar armor within the ninjas' flak jackets. Among the children who had come to his birthday were Ino Yamanaka and Inuzuka Kiba as well as several civilian children.

Perhaps the most important invitee to the party was, however, Danzo Shimura himself. The elder wasn't quite young but neither was the old man which Kentsuru had known throughout the Naruto anime. One might ask how Kentsuru knew about Danzo at such a young age, however the child was not merely a mundane being but rather a reincarnator who had been reborn in this world and had regained a majority of his previous self's memories. Kentsuru was very fit for one of his age, due to the wish placing his physique as equivalent to Kenshin Himura in his prime.

Having finished conversation with his party guests, Kentsuru wandered through the space of the yard and to the small pit which the child had built for himself. Reaching down and grasping around the wooden bokken's hilt, Kentsuru relinquished the weapon and broke into a weapons kata. Kentsuru weaved and danced like the crane as he brought slash after slash into and through the air without resistance, finishing with a draw-slash. Hearing applause, the child's ears perked up as he twist and looked to Danzo. The elder was the root cause of many hardships the village would face.

"What a display," spoke Danzo in a hoarse tone, "I'm looking forward to watching your progress in the future. Would you mind a spar, young Kentsuru?" Danzo asked inquisitively, stepping to the side and retrieved a shinai from nearby weapon rack with ease. He then stepped to the edge of the pit and then within the center. Danzo brought the shinai into a central guard. Kentsuru closely examined the Elder, then nodded his head in agreement. "I wouldn't mind that at all, Danzo-Sama. I've not had a real fight well - ever. This should be a good measure for me."

Shinai met Bokken within a flash, shards of wood breaking as the two blades slammed into one-another. Kentsuru pushed with his right, deflecting the blow to his side where he quickly raised the hilt and with a two-handed grip brought the bokken down into a crescent. Danzo pushed back, avoiding the strike while Kentsuru charged forwards. Danzo cut diagonally, his shinai passing through the child's mirage. The boy leapt high, bringing one hand down while the other brought the sword blade into an arcing slash, shouting. "Ryūtsuisen!"

Danzo maneuvered the Shinai quickly into a guard, however was unable to fully guard against the attack. While the boy could possibly end the elder here and now, there were reasons to keep the Elder living at the moment and so reined his strength back at the last second. The shinai was broken and a strong hit collided with the shoulder of Danzo sending him down to a knee. Kentsuru landed, dropping the Bokken into the mud and walked over towards Danzo. "I'm so sorry, Danzo-Sama. Perhaps I should have pulled my punches?"

Danzo merely began laughing boisterously, speaking in an elated tone. "Not at all my boy, that was quite splendid. You will truly become a splendid shinobi! Well, I think I know just what to give you for your birthday little man. Here, this scroll contains the secret sword techniques of the Shimura Clan, perhaps with this scroll you can invent a new sword style. I'd be interested in promoting such a school using some empty land near the shinobi academy, should you graduate from the Academy. Let us return to old man Hiruzen and your father."

Kentsuru collected the scroll and placed it within a small pouch that contained a small sealing array upon it, then joined Danzo and began stepping towards the main stretch of the yard just as another child had entered the yard. Kentsuru could tell immediately the boy was a Hyuuga by his milk-white eyes and the slavery seal branded upon his forehead. As the two returned, Hiruzen lowered himself to young Kentsuru and revealed an item laid within a ceremonial silk case with a golden flower pattern on black silk. "Feel free to open it, but your father has informed me that he doesn't want you using it until you've entered the Academy. Oh, and the blade is made from chakra metal."

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe, while Kentsuru steadily opened the case to reveal a hickory wood scabbard holding an exquisitely-crafted katana bearing a flower tsuba with paired hickory tsuka and fine golden fuchi and kashira. After revealing the masterful blade, Kentsuru returned the sword to her scabbard in one graceful move, then re-affixed the bag. "Thank you, Hiruzen-Sama; You've given me a fine birthday gift that will go along greatly with the scroll on sword techniques gifted to me by Danzo-Sama. Now then, there are some people I'd still like to meet."

Hiruzen and Tsuchi waved Kentsuru away with warm smiles, while the six year-old moved to meet with the newly-arrived Hyuuga child, Neji. Kentsuru expected the branch member to be depressed due to the death of his father, but found that wasn't the case. Regardless, Kentsuru approached Neji. "Hey, how are you? I'm Kentsuru Iruzuka. I've heard that the Hyuuga Clan practice acupuncture techniques, well that they practice pressure-point based taijutsu. I wonder if such techniques would work with chakra-conducting material. That is, if you could hit pressure points with your chakra through an item."

"Sounds interesting, it would have to be something handheld though. You couldn't block tenketsu by throwing Kunai." responded the black-haired youth. Kentsuru smirked, "Well, I am somewhat of an authority on swords, so perhaps with your genius in the Hyuga martial arts and my genius with swords... we could come up with a way to use sai or maybe even a Jian to utilize your clan techniques? By the way, would you like to be my friend...? I don't really know many people my age that I get along with. Well, there's just Ameno."

"I... I don't know if the elders would allow that. But my father wouldn't allow them to do that, so sure let's be friends. I'm Neji of the Hyuga, but just call me Neji. It's a pleasure to be your friend, Ken. Well then, why don't we test your idea after the party? My dad won't be back for a couple hours he's currently handling clan business." Neji remarked. Afterwards, the two were called back to the main stretch for lunch. The party would continue, and eventually wear to an end. It would be another hour until Neji's father Hizashi returned for him.