Chapter 1 1/2

To the daimyo, hidden villages were a symbol of power: that your empire was so great and economically stable, that you didn't have one powerful assassin at your beck and call, but an entire villages' worth. A hidden villages' military strength was all that mattered, nothing else. They were scapegoats to be sacrificed.

Which was ironic, considering how fundamental they were to an elemental nation.

To the people of the different countries, a hidden village was an opportunity. Here were people who had managed to harness chakra, an apparent magical substance that could do anything, and would do anything as long as you had the money for it.

Which was borderline stupid considering what chakra actually was.

And finally to the ninjas themselves, a hidden village was their home, or better yet, the only option. They were taught to obey and kill without hesitation. They were humans just like everyone else, but their 'culture' would turn them into monsters.

Which was funny, with him being a bijuu and all.

Jigoku, the physical manifestation of the desire for dominance, or also known as 'the first bijuu', 'the dark mist', the 'burning skeleton' yadda yadda, considered the ninja villages to be slaughter houses of the finest order.

He stalked the closed gates, using his 'mist form' to pass through the cracks while the lack of light (due to it being so early in the morning) helped him hide his form.

He was weak after his fight, so he needed food.

The perfect opportunity was currently in the training grounds, training his butt off- to what he didn't know or care (the little chakra that remained would be used to find another and slightly stronger human), all he knew was that the boy was alone, unprotected, weak-willed and desired dominance. The perfect snack! He would eat, then move on to a few ninja (before the leader of the village would inevitably find out about his presence). In the meantime, he would give the boy (and the following snacks) their dominance.

At a heavy cost, of course.

Tenzuka usually never trained at this hour.

He wasn't lazy or anything, but he'd rather spend his time reading or learning jutsus instead of punching a log. Not the best of hobbies, true, but it was better that then combing his average brown hair or dressing in nice clothes like most of his classmates did.

The reason that he was up at such an early hour in the morning, was because he had made a terrible mistake.

He had been challenged by Neji Hyuga.

The prick in question was a clan member to one of Konoha's best bloodlines and had everything a civilian like him could ever want: better chakra reserves, clan jutsus, unique abilities that nobody could ever learn...

All in all, a wet dream.

He hadn't even meant to challenge the guy. He knew he would lose, so he always made sure to stay clear from the guy-

Except today.

He punched the log again and again, his breath getting heavier by the minute. The academy would start at 9, so he had another five hours of training before he would have to face the guy.

And get his butt kicked.

Tenzuka wasn't a fool. He knew he didn't stand a chance, but the goal wasn't to win, it was to take out Neji with him.

He had read an awesome book about deception and manipulation (written by the second Hokage himself!) that explained tons of different things, one of which was 'instead of preparing against every move, prepare against the one your enemy used' and then explained how to bait an enemy.

He had done his research yesterday afternoon and had found out about all sorts of Hyuga traditions. For one, they used two (official) types of attacks; palm and finger strikes. Both of them damaged the interior of a human body more than a punch ever could, but the finger had a more concentrated area.

So goal 1 was to piss him off, so he wouldn't use these moves (any chakra based technique required concentration, while punches were effortless and more satisfying psychologically) and goal 2 was to manage to land a good hit before Neji absolutely murdered him.

Goal 1 should be super easy- Tenzuka was great at pissing people off, not to mention his research had made him discover the Hyuga traditions.

Which explained why Neji was happy yet so angry at the same time. He had a loving father (Tenzuka even met the guy, he was awesome) and tons of prestige, but was also a slave.

Or at least Tenzuka guessed he was. He had never seen the infamous seal, but that's because Neji always covered his head.

Goal 2 was the real bastard. One kick to the balls was all he needed and Neji would go down. Problem was, Neji had great reflexes. He would break the offending leg with no trouble.

Which was why he was practising his punches. He needed to be lightning fast if he wanted to stand a chance.

Of course he also needed time to rest before the battle, so in a few minutes he would switch to kicking-

He heard a rustle in the bushes behind him.

Tenzuka spun around with his fists raised, heart beating like mad, while he slowly looked around. It could be nothing, and it probably was considering all the ninja patrols the village had, but every instinct he had was screaming like crazy to run away.

It made him a little curious to be honest.

"Hey there, you can come out now."

There was no response, which probably made things worse.

"Come on, no need to be shy, I only bite those who bite me first."

Slowly, a little girl walked into the clearing. She was small, dressed in dirty white rags, had medium length black hair and a... Teddy bear? She was sniffing.

"P-please don't hurt me."

A kid? At this hour? The situation was so weird that it made him want to laugh.

He couldn't though, because despite her appearance he was utterly terrified of her for some reason.

"Don't worry, as I said earlier I bite only if bitten first... Say, what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

The girl made an audible 'gulp' sound and looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"I was camping with my older brother w-when..." The tears started to fall down her cheeks. "When I was attacked by a giant monster!"

"Oh shit, that's not exactly what I was expecting." Said Tenzuka with wide eyes. "We have to get out of here-"

"The monster nearly ate me! Then I killed it."

What?

The girl showed her teddy bear. "It was thanks to mister snuggles... He was a present from my brother. He said that mister snuggles went to those that have noble goals. Mister snuggles says you need his protection now."

She offered him the teddy bear.

The clearing remained completely silent for a bit.

Tenzuka was staring at the girl warily. A random encounter with someone offering power? That sounded rather suspicious.

"How does it know that I need help?"

The girl choked a bit in her tears. "I-I don't know-"

Tenzuka grabbed the teddy bear. "Hi, I'm Tenzuka. Is the girl crazy or can you actually talk and offer abilities?"

The girl seemed to cry a bit at that but he offered her no heed.

"H~el~o," said a weird voice. It was strangely neutral, but also reminded him of an old man. "I came to help-"

"Why?"

"B~ecause you need it-"

"No, I mean why help? What's in it for you?"

"N~othing, it is sim~ply the r~ight thing to- hey!"

Tenzuka had already dropped the teddy bear and was walking away.

"Sorry," he said to the girl, making sure to not give his back to her, "It's just a bit too suspicious for my tastes. I'm sure Mr snuggles means well-"

The teddy bear disappeared in a heap of black smoke. The girls teeth became pointed, and smoke appeared out of her facial holes.

"I fucking knew it!"

Tenzuka had seen enough. As soon as he saw the scene he turned his heals and ran as fast as he could.

Itachi Uchiha was the fifth Hokage, and first Uchiha to ever make it to the seat.

He took an immense pride in his accomplishments. Thanks to his position, he not only managed to stop the civil war from happening, he destroyed the roots of hate in the first place; there were many reasons for the loathing between his clan and village, but part of that was public discontent- nobody liked the police.

So with the Uchiha mergence act, he changed the rules to the police department. The first difference was that any ninja from any clan could join, which would maintain it's prestige but also cause the hate to not be solely directed from the Uchih-

"Hokage-sama!"

Itachi hid is annoyance.

"What is it?"

The Anbu made a quick bow and gave him a letter.

Oh great it was from Danzo. This was probably important.

He opened the letter... But it was blank.

Itachi didn't sigh. The paranoid old man.

He activated his sharingan and words 'appeared' on the paper.

It was a report from one of Danzo's security teams. They had many different barriers to detect the entry of any threat, according to this... a bijuu was inside Konoha.

Itachi swore out loud.

Wakita was one of the best academy teachers Tenzuka had ever had. She always organized her material and explained with passion. She was tall, tanned and had brown hair that went to her neck.

She actually made Tenzuka feel guilty when he wouldn't pay attention, like today, but he just couldn't help but not focus.

He would have to fight soon.

He wished he hadn't fallen asleep this morning when he decided to do some last minute training, but it is what it is.

It was lunch break and the academy students were all gathered around a fighting match in the mini-playground.

Tenzuka really hated this. He already disliked being the centre of attention in itself, what's worse is that he was going to lose.

Well, may as well put up a fight. He sort of had a plan, but who knows if it would work?

Neji finished eating and stood, gaining a relaxed pose.

"Well? Are you going to apologize?"

"Are you going to make a decent argument?"

"The argument has already been made: we all have our roles in today's society, which are defined even before our birth. Money, status, power, all of these things are pre-defined, and like my father always says; It is best to just accept these roles, the good and the bad."

"And I'm saying it's more complicated then that; your equation doesn't account for internal differences like hard work and talent, or outside circumstances like luck. Being birthed to a kage doesn't mean you will become one yourself."

"You're right." Said Neji with a smirk. "One can always not live up to their full potential."

"True, but they can also surpass what you define as 'potential' and beat the odds."

"Then prove it! Enough talk!"

Neji got into a stance.

Tenzuka did the same with a sense of dread.

"Ready?!" Said a classmate that was acting as referee. "Fight!"

He needed dust.

Tenzuka went for a roundhouse kick, which Neji blocked and used to make him trip.

Getting back to his feet as quickly as possible with a fist full of dirt, he dodged a kick to the stomach and jumped back.

Goal 1 was fine for now, but he was nowhere near goal 2. What could he say that wouldn't be completely obvious and true?

Neji stood in his usual Hyuga stance and waited for his next move.

"Intending to wait for an attack? That's just your problem you know, you can't just wait for opportunities on a silver platter- you have to make them."

Neji said nothing.

Tenzuka made to lunge but actually threw the dirt he picked up from earlier.

Neji closed his eyes on instinct and Tenzuka used the opportunity to punch him in the nose.

There was a crack sound and Neji jumped back, glaring at him while he cleaned his face.

Tenzuka used the opportunity to grab more dirt in both fists this time.

"You're just playing the victim. Any loser can do that! What makes a difference is when you work against the odds."

Tenzuka gave himself a mental pat on the back. His arguments were actually making sense.

Neji closed his eyes and raised a single hand seal. His veins around his eyes started to... grow?

Neji ran towards him, so Tenzuka threw the dirt on instinct-

Which harmlessly bounced off his face.

Despite having his eyes closed, he dodged all attacks and countered Tenzuka with little to no difficulty.

Godamned byakugan. He needed goal 2 fast.

Tenzuka dropped and then jumped back-

But Neji was on to him and was palming him hard. So much for goal 1.

"You act all high and mighty but the truth is that you're just convincing yourself!"

Tenzuka managed to make a bit of space between.

"It's why you wear bandages all the time isn't it! You train so hard to become the clan head or something but you always fail like a loser so you make up excuses!"

Neji's lips tightened. Good.

"You can't even throw a genuine punch! Always 'palm this' and 'palm that' because with those you are nothing! You try to convince everyone of this philosophy of yours just so you can earn privilege despite being a loser-"

Neji punched him in the forehead.

Hard.

Tenzuka fell like a sack of potatoes.

Neji wasn't done with him however. The boy grabbed Tenzuka by the shirt, lifting him as he snarled.

"I've had about enough of you-"

Tenzuka used the speech to punch Neji's balls as hard as he could.

The boy in question stopped abruptly in mid sentence. Tenzuka dropped to his back and kicked Neji in the stomach as hard as he could.

The boy was pretty much sent flying.

Tenzuka stood, feeling incredibly powerful. The strong punch from earlier didn't even hurt anymore!

"All that talk and you're down in only two hits-"

"Silence, filth!" barked Neji.

Tenzuka blinked. He was taken back by the sheer anger in Neji's tone right now.

"You think you know everything just because you read a bunch of books! I unlike you, actually go into the real world!"

Tenzuka sweated. He was getting a strong urge to run right now.

"And let me tell you! Nobody gives a fuck about how hard you try!"

Neji took off the bandages on his head.

"This is why I cover my head! From shame! Because try as I might, to the world I am, and will forever remain, just that! A slave!"

Tenzuka was suddenly feeling incredibly weak. All the energy from his recent victory was suddenly disappearing.

"Know your place!"

With that Neji was suddenly in front of him and punched him straight to the ground. Tenzuka was knocked out immediately.

In his mind, he could hear the distant sound of laughing.

Hiruzen Sarutobi used to be the third Hokage. Feared in all of the nations as the professor, he was an excellent strategist, absolute insane levels of elemental mastery and fuinjutsu, he was a man to be respected and feared-

"Grandpa! Look at what I can do!" Said his grandson as he dropped to his hands and lifted his feet.

And now he was a feeble old man in retirement.

"I finally learnt how to do a hand-stand!"

Which was exactly what he wanted.

"Very nice Konohamaru, now you can-"

He stopped and stared at a seemingly innocent wall.

"I'll be back in a moment."

He walked outside and stared at a patch of grass.

"What is it?" He said to no one.

"Itachi-sama has amassed a squad to deal with and locate the dark mist. He wants you to lead it."

"I'm retired."

"He understands, but you have more experience than anyone else when it comes to bijuu-"

"Experience means nothing. Minato knew ten times what I currently know and he still managed to turn to stone. Get someone fresh with a brilliant mind, one who knows about his own ignorance so he will always take caution."

"Shikaku has already said no. He said it was too troublesome."

Hiruzen chuckled. "How about this. I work as the head but he is second in command."

"I shall report to Itachi-"

"Tell him those are the only conditions I'll accept."

"Very well Hiruzen-sama."

"The soup is delicious!" Chirped Sera happily. "Keep this up and you won't need a babysitter anymore!"

"I already don't need one but ok." Tenzuka retorted with a small smile. He quickly finished his meal and returned to the scroll.

After his defeat by Neji, he could finally focus on what he actually enjoyed; reading and learning new jutsus. He had a bunch to practise actually. It was a simple F rank jutsu, one of the basic five, simple yet vital techniques, even an animal could (in theory) perform it. One was supposed to know at least two upon graduation, and all five by the time they were chunins...

Tenzuka decided that by graduation he would know all of them. Just because. He had saved up some money for a while now with simple chores and had bought chakra paper. He read in the library that they were the easiest and most accessible method to learn one's own affinity...

"Whacha got there?"

"Chakra paper." He said without looking up.

"Ah, the elemental thing. Don't they cost a lot?"

"They did until recently. Konoha had it's own producers but they couldn't keep up with waterfall, so the prices were high. The two companies joined together recently, so I figured now was the best time to buy some, before they calculated demand and increased the cost again."

"Huh, smart. What do you think you'll get?"

"Fire, it's the most common after all."

Sera nodded and peered over his shoulder to watch. He suppressed a blush and channelled his chakra. Sera had a very attractive face with long black hair. Said hair was touching his shoulder right now which made it hard to focus-

The paper dampened.

"Cool," said Sera, "a water affinity."

"Also weird."

It wasn't uncommon for children to have different affinities from their parents, but a water affinity? Did he have a grandfather from water country or something?

Still, it changed little for now. He intended to learn all five no matter what, so let's see, the basic F rank for water was...

'Survivors drink.' Simple jutsu that creates a small body of water in the mouth using chakra. Huh, it would be useful for deserts.

He practised the few hand seals a bit to memorize the sequence, read the instructions carefully as to where the channelled chakra was supposed to go...

"I think I got the hang of it! My mouth is damp!" He said excitedly. He double-checked the scroll- ah, he was supposed to create a mouthful of water, not make it slightly damp.

"You sure it's not saliva?"

He stuck his tongue out in responce.

So master of water jutsu's, it's been over an hour, how's it going?"

Tezuka turned around slowly with a sour expression and opened his mouth. Litres of drool left his mouth.

"Ewww."

"Hey, it's harder then it looks ok?!"

It had taken him forever to stop making salty water. Here he was imagining ice drinks whenever he wanted and he couldn't even stop producing drool!

"Or you could just suck." She said playfully.

He stuck out his tongue again. "You try it!"

"Oh no, I have a fire affinity." She said and moved near the stove. "Pretty convenient for camping."

As she said this her fingers moved to the stove. With the gas turned on and a snap of her fingers, the flame was on and ready to cook. She turned it back off.

Tezuka sighed. "Whatever I've got ages to get it down."

"You giving up already?"

"I don't have a choice..." he said with anime tears. "I ran out of chakra!"

Damn it sucked being a civilian.

The next morning was the weekend.

After spending most of the day nailing the survivors drink, he decided that he had enough of practices and went for a walk.

His mum called out to him to return home for dinner, which was easy to agree to and with that, he was off!

He didn't really have any goals so he just picked a random road and started walking. There were tons of things he was supposed to be practising but he couldn't be bothered.

It didn't take long for him to find the same park as last time. It was day time now, so he wouldn't be imagining monsters any time soon-

What was that?

He prickled his ears and heard... shouting? It didn't sound like fright.

Curious and confident thanks to the hour of the day, he walked in.

He eventually surpassed the area he discovered last time and walked to a small clearing. To his surprise, it was Tenten, a classmate of his. They didn't talk much.

"Hey! What are you up to?" He shouted.

Tenten had a katana in her hand and was going through different stances. "Huh? Oh, hey Tenzuka I didn't see you there."

"I just came here. How come you're practising on a sunny day like this?"

"My dad came home two days ago from his last travel and gave me this Katana." She said, showing off her weapon. "He used to be so grumpy all the time, but these days he's pretty cool! He said it was because civilians like us need any boost we can get!"

"True. You come here often?"

"Nope! First time was a few weeks ago to let off some steam. I liked it immediately because I felt better straight away. I hadn't come recently because I had other things to do, but with my new katana this is the perfect spot!"

It was nice seeing her so enthusiastic about something. As a civilian, he should probably get his hands on a weapon himself.

"Say what's the cheapest way to get a weapon like that?"

"A present." She replied back with a smile.

"Obviously," he said with a chuckle, "I mean the cheapest way to buy it."

"Work part-time with a blacksmith. You get all sorts of discounts. My dad did it in iron country when he was younger."

He thanked her but inwardly grimaced. When it came to weapons, nobody could match up to iron countries' quality or quantity, so if he did get an apprenticeship, he wouldn't be getting any discounts. Still, maybe it was worth a try. It would take a lot of time off his sleeves but it would also give him extra money.

"Halt!"

Tenzuka barely had time to look around when he realised they were surrounded by Anbu.

"Wha-"

He lost consciousness's.

Getting knocked out by the police wasn't a fun experience. Waking up to the Hokage's terrifying Sharingan eyes wasn't much better.

Itachi Uchiha was basically every kid's hero, his included. His record was brilliant and he was the youngest Hokage in history.

The Sharingan faded as soon as Itachi noticed he was awake.

"I apologize for your rough treatment."

"What's going on?" Said a confused Tenten. She yawned.

"Nothing to worry about." The Hokage reassured. "You may leave."

The two blinked.

There was a bit of awkward silence as they made for the door.

Suddenly, Tenzuka was sitting again. This time, Tenten was gone.

"I apologize for the use of genjutsu, but I would prefer that this information remained confined for now. If the population needs to know these things, I shall announce them myself."

"What's going on?" Asked Tenzuka.

"You are in my genjutsu. Our conversation is completely private."

"Oh."

"You entered into contact with a powerful entity a few days ago. You are lucky to be alive."

Tenzuka blinked. "What?"

"The dark mist. The burning skeleton. He goes through many forms, but we just simply call it bijuu. Powerful creatures that draw power from souls and negative emotions."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Yes, because it repressed your memories, but Inoichi got rid of that for you. Think about this morning."

Tenzuka blinked and did exactly that, not seeing the point: he had slept in this morning-

Oh.

No, no he hadn't. Well damn.

"It increases feelings of anger and resentment and triggers a dangerous state of mind. The bijuu corrupts you and slowly drains your energy until you eventually die. Usually takes a few days." Said Itachi dramatically.

Tenzuka felt his body go cold.

"The bijuu you encountered has a habit of creating unwilling jinchuriki, humans that carry their corrupt power. It is the only one that seems to behave like that. It does this because it feeds off the desire for dominance. Tell me, for what or who do you feel such a thing?"

That was easy.

"For a classmate of mine: Neji Hyuga. We had a difference opinions and wanted to solve it in a spar. I really wanted to make him submit." He said with a little shame.

"The emotion couldn't have been too strong because your memories show that he left pretty quickly. Tell me, have you noticed an increase in intelligence and aggression in a classmate? A family member? It is vital we lock away the bijuu. We are lucky we're dealing with the weakest one there is, but in the right place it can easily bring the village to ruins."

Tenzuka thought about it. "I think it's Neji."

"The same child you dislike?" The Uchiha asked him with a raised brow.

"I remember I felt really weak in the spar all of a sudden and Neji got like ten times faster. Also if anyone wants to dominate it's him; he's part of the branch family."

Itachi nodded, it made sense.

"Will he be ok?" Tenzuka felt kind of bad for the guy, he didn't like him but he didn't hate him either.

Itachi smiled. "Yes, he will. Every bijuu has a different way to corrupt and be contained. This one is the weakest and has the smallest sphere of influence. He will be dealt with quite easily."

Tenzuka actually felt better.

"Be proud. You have done the village a service."

"T-thanks," he said, hating himself for stuttering in front of one of his hero's. "I'm guessing I'm not to talk about this with anyone?"

"Yes that would be appreciated. There's no use in producing mass panic over nothing: we have the best seal masters in the world in our village."

Tenzuka nodded. The genjutsu ended.

Itachi mentally breathed a sigh of relief as the children left.

When Danzo had given him the letter he had cursed out loud. Who knows what sort of subtle damage the beast was capable of making?

Thanks to combined efforts of the Senju, Uchiha and Uzumaki, the village had a lot of private information about the natural calamities that were the bijuu, but they didn't know everything. This particular beast for example, hadn't been part of the Hashirama peace pact for one, which meant there were at least 9 of these things.

By the time he managed to assemble a force that had the necessary experience to seal it up, the thing had disappeared.

He kept the forest under check, just in case and had been honestly surprised when one of the ninja reported the faint remains of that toxic chakra.

His thoughts were interrupted as a young boy and Hisashi walked in.

"Good afternoon Hokage-sama. I need to make an urgent report. Neji, tell him what you told me."

Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"I was practising my kata's this afternoon and my byakugan showed my body getting eaten out by black chakra-"

Hanging out with Tenten was fun.

She was curious, asked important questions, was great at research in general and always spoke her mind. When he asked her if she wanted to come he had instantly regretted it, figuring it would be a boring experience (she was a girl after all) but he had been proven wrong.

Which led to the obvious question: why wasn't every other girl like her? What change existed between the circumstances that led to Tenten versus whatever made idiots like Rikimaru?

When he first started the academy he had tried to make as many friends as possible in all ages- his brother said it was a smart thing to do so he tried.

Most of the boys only cared about fighting while the girls wouldn't care about anything. If he so much as mentioned the library the conversation ended.

Speaking of, the library had an enormous amount of information on the topic called 'bijuu' but the actual one that they were looking for didn't seem to exist. The Hokage seemed to know everything about it though.

Must be a secret of sorts.

Although he didn't know how. The Texts clearly stated that bijuus power level worked differently from humans. First things first, they didn't regenerate power as other living things did but absorbed it from other sources, so when they used their powers they would be weakened for decades. Second of all, their form wasn't definitive as there had been a lot of situations when bijuus lost or grew a tail, even morphing their entire body. Finally the more tails, the stronger it was, usually.

Tenzuka sighed. He'd like to do more research but Tenten was getting curious and he wasn't supposed to tell her anything. He decided to tag along for now and perhaps do a bit more research later.