Dreams

It had been a week since Takeru returned to the Hidden Leaf Village after completing his mission. He spent the free week training. Takeru for wanted to increase his capabilities more and more. So, he started doing his physical and mental excercises with more vigor.

Takeru would start his daily training at 4 in the morning and end the session at noon. He would take a short break to have lunch and some rest. And after that, he would train till sunset.

He maintained this routine for a week. And thanks to that he could now complete the OPM regimen six times in a row.

Takeru learned the Temporary Paralysis Jutsu. It was a relatively simple C-rank jutsu to learn and use. Even genins should be able to perform it. Using this technique caused a target or targets to be physically immobilised, as though they had been tied down with invisible steel ropes.

However, the strength of the binding varied significantly from one skill level to the next, so a mere genin could not hope to restrain the same targets that a jounin could, for instance. Takeru found that Temporary Paralysis Jutsu was a useful way to stop an opponent from attacking or, alternatively, make an opponent easier to attack.

Takeru had been practicing the first part of the Extreme Concealment Technique everyday. And after a week he became more and more proficient in it. He could now use the technique with ease. Although he needed all the hand-seals to do so. He wanted to shorten the number of hand seals to zero. But It would take time and Takeru knew that. He used his shadow clones for practice and he was sure that he would be able to achieve his goal in a year.

Takeru had been doing his wind release training. And with his shadow clones helping him, he became proficient in using wind nature chakra. Takeru thought that it would be a good time to visit the village archives. He wanted to find some easy wind release jutsus or other techniques.

So, Takeru went to the Hokage Tower to visit the archives. The Leaf Shinobi Archive building was attached to the Hokage Tower. It was situated on the left side of the tower directly opposite to the Shinobi Training Institution.

The archives were different from the library. Whereas the Leaf Public Library was open to the general public and accessible to everyone. The Leaf Archive was not. Only registered leaf shinobis could access it as it contained all the jutsus the village had gathered from various sources like contributions, loot from dead shinobis, etc. It ranged from self-created jutsus to watered down version of hiden clan techniques. Every shinobi of the lead had contributed at least a single jutsu to the village. Even clans like the Uchiha, Senju, Hyuga had donated jutsus and their basic clan techniques.

Takeru was just a genin and as a genin he had access upto C-rank jutsus. But due to his contributions he had the permission to access jutsus upto A-rank.

Takeru came at the front of the building where a kunoichi stood guard at the door. Takeru showed her his genin ID card. She checked the card and after verifying it, let him through.

The building was 3 storied and windowless. Takeru sensed 20 shinobis hiding in tbe shadows and fake compartments. All of them were alert and on guard as this was probably the most important building in the village.

Takeru went towards a bored looking old man who was sitting at the counter right beside the door. Takeru asked him for directions. The man simply pointed his finger to a room on the left and said, - "Go to that room, choose the jutsus and techniques you want from there and come back. I will give you the copies".

Takeru entered the room and saw a simple wooden table. There were 3 scrolls and some writing utensils on the table. The scrolls were named Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu.

Takeru, first opened the ninjutsu scroll and found numerous jutsu names and their basic descriptions stated inside. There were various jutsus, elemental, non-elemental, medical and even some weird but useful ones. All of them were categorised by their respective ranks.

Takeru found some interesting jutsus in there, namely - Ninja Art: Needle Hair Senbons, Shadow Clone Explosion Jutsu, Poison Extraction Jutsu and lastly Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu which was invented by his friend Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Takeru was amazed at the fact that Hiruzen had created an A-rank jutsu all by himself. Now Takeru had also created an A-rank jutsu but he had an advantage. Takeru was inherently a grown man. He was mentally far older than his peers. But Hiruzen was not. He was just a 16 year old boy.

Takeru found two wind release jutsus which suited his needs. They were Wind Release: Gale Palm and Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. The former one would undoubtedly be useful in multitude of situations and the latter one would be able to increase the potency of his fire release jutsus immensely.

Takeru did not find his two self-created jutsus in there. He found the fire and earth elemental jutsus that he contributed in there. He even searched the whole list but he could not find Rasengan and Fire Release: Searing Strings Jutsu no matter what. 'Did Tobirama hoard the two jutsus?' - thought Takeru curiously as he was intrigued.

Takeru could not find any other jutsus he would need urgently. So, he wrote the the names of the jutsus he picked from the scroll to a paper. He then closed the ninjutsu scroll and opened the taijutsu one.

There were many types of taijutsu style names written in the next scroll. Some were good, some were bad, some were useful but only in certain situations like this one style named Serpent Fist which used flexibility and maneuverablility to the extreme. But this style did not match Takeru.

After some searching Takeru found two specific taijutsu style that he was very interested in. The first was called Disturbance Style.

An user fighting using this style would look like a warrior's dance performance, The user would be able to rapidly and relentlessly bombard his target, with precision, at various angles and locations. This style, comprised of sheer unpredictable movements and acrobatics, could easily catch his opponents off-guard.

The second one was the Gentle Fist. Now it was stated in the description that it was only the basic katas. Thus this basic soft style needed neither chakra application nor byakugan to practice and use. But it served its purpose as a base for combat effective soft style martial arts.

Takeru was interested in it because although he had some knowledge about soft martial arts due his father teaching him Aikido. It was not combat effective. Takeru wanted to create a new hybrid taijutsu style that would be all-encompassing. And he was ignorant of the mechanisms and principles of soft style martial arts.

Takeru wrote the names down on the paper and closed the taijutsu scroll. He then picked up the last scroll containing genjutsus.

Takeru was a newbie to genjutsu. He knew only one genjutsu technique and even in that he was a novice as he needed his chakra strings to effectively use the genjutsu. Takeru wanted to start small as he wanted to train his yin release badly. He took two simple genjutsus from the scroll, the D-rank Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique and the C-rank: Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique.

Satisfied with his finds Takeru checked the paper to see if he had missed anything. When he found everything in order, Takeru left the room and went back to the old man.

"Hello there, I will be taking these jutsus" - Takeru said as he passed his ID and the paper to the old man.

The old man took Takeru's ID, checked the number and searched for his file from the cabinets behind him.

"Another upstart genin, huh? Well, let's see. Ah here it is. So, you can pi...wait! You have A-rank clearance?! How did you get it?" - the old man shouted and nearly dropped the file as he saw Takeru's file.

"Uh, I gave some techniques to the village and Lord Hokage gave me the clearance" - Takeru answered.

"Uh, huh. I get it, contributions. So, you want 2 A-rank, 1 B-rank and 3 C-rank ninjutsus; 2 taijutsu styles; 1 D-rank and 1 C-rank genjutsu. Well then, I will update your team..uh Team 9, yes Team 9's record" - the old man kept talking as he brought a new file and began flipping its pages.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on. I am not taking these jutsus for my team. I am taking these jutsus for myself" - Takeru was confused.

"Did you fall on your head kid? These are dangerous techniques, A-rank ninjutsus we are talking about, not some low rank jutsus. And you are what, 14? Are you sure about this?" - the old man looked sceptically at Takeru.

"Yes. I am absolutely sure. Can I get the scrolls please?" - Takeru just wanted to get this over with.

"Sure. You have the clearance. Wait here." - the old man said as he gave Takeru back his ID, put the files back into the cabinets and went towards another room.

Takeru waited for about 10 minutes when he saw the old man coming back.

"Here, all of the techniques are in this scroll. Destroy it after you have learned the techniques. Do not, I repeat, do not share the techniques with anyone, or you will charged with treason. Now go and practice. Just do not try to over-reach yourself and die." - the old man said as he gave a fat scroll to Takeru.

"Do not worry old man, I will not die." - Takeru said as he left the Leaf Shinobi Archive.

Takeru got the new jutsus 3 days ago. But he only added the three C-rank ninjutsus, the two fighting styles and the C-rank genjutsu into his training regimen.

Takeru learned the two wind release jutsus and the medical ninjutsu easily. Wind Release: Great Breakthrough was a jutsu simple enough to learn. But Takeru found something different with the Wind Release: Gale Palm. This jutsu had the possibility to get easily integrated into the basic katas of Gentle Fist. Takeru with his daily practice tried this a few times and found that it worked.

Takeru fought with his shadow clones and managed to grasp the inner workings of the basics of Gentle Fist. It was really not that complicated to him. The Hyuga used all of their tenketsus to channel chakra outwards to perform the Gentle Fist. Takeru could also fully control all of his tenketsus. Although he did not have the byakugan and its visual prowess. His sensing ability somewhat made up for that.

Takeru could not sense accurately sense another person's chakra pathways without concentrating heavily. Thus it was not possible for him to use Gentle Fist like the Hyuga but what Takeru did was to integrate the style into his own taijutsu style. This made up for his lack of knowledge and experience using combat effective soft martial arts.

Takeru wanted to integrate Wind Release: Gale Palm into his fighting style but it needed time and practice as he still needed hand-seals to perform the jutsu.

The Disturbance Style on the other hand gave Takeru a headache. Takeru was flexible and acrobatic enough but he could not connect his moves. He failed to make his moves seamless.

The Poison Extraction Jutsu was a crude method to extract poisons. Takeru had the first hand experience of it. Takeru theorized that maybe if he used poisons on himself in safe amounts then his body might adapt to such poisons and gain immunity to it. To test his theory and to practice this technique, Takeru bought some low level poisons and their antidotes from the shinobi shop.

The Hidden Leaf did not have much people who knew about poisons or their advanced usage. So, it cost him time and money to procure just a few little bottles of it. Takeru administered the poison into him slowly with increased dosage each time. He used his shadow clones to practice the Poison Extraction Jutsu on him.

After a few painful sessions, Takeru discovered something. His theory was right. After each use of poison, he slowly started to gain immunity against the poisons. After 3 days of practice Takeru found that he became immune to all the poisons he bought from the shop.

Takeru was ecstatic at this discovery. He theorized that if he truly kept going like this. He would very well become immune to most poisons. Takeru wanted to get more poisons for practice but he could not find any other poison in the village. 'Perhaps the Sand Village would have them, they were the masters of poison arts after all' - thought Takeru.

But due to this torturous training Takeru became proficient in using the Poison Extraction Jutsu and as a bonus gained immunity to some poisons.

Genjutsu, the only thing that Takeru was weak at. Takeru learned the Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique very quickly but he was shit at using it properly. He practiced it with his shadow clones and was getting better at using it. But it was too slow. Takeru knew that either he was not talented in genjutsu or he needed practice.

So far Takeru came to a conclusion that he really had not talent in genjutsu. He made the genjutsus too strong to be believable or too weak to be used. Nonetheless Takeru practiced relentlessly. He did not want to leave such a hole in his arsenal. Although he knew that it would take far more time, he did not give up. Genjutsus were useful and it was better to know simple and easy genjutsus than none at all.

All in all in the one week Takeru had improved leaps and bounds. He spent his little free time with his family either playing shogi with his father or helping his mother with ger chores. He spent sometimes with his friends, laughing, chatting and enjoying the moment among themselves.

But all of this took toll as every night Takeru would sleep like a log. With his shadow clones working and training all the time he was awake, all the memories and experiences came crashing down on him at night. Takeru experienced headaches every single day. But to him all the pain and suffering were worth it.

Today, after a free week Takeru went to the training ground to meet with his team. He entered the grounds and saw Shunsui and Shikatsu sparring with each other. Biwako was leaning against a tree, watching the fight. Takeru went and sat on the ground beside Biwako.

Biwako noticed Takeru and greeted him. Takeru reciprocated. Shunsui was going easy on Shikatsu. They fought for some more minutes and ended the spar. Shikatsu was panting as he sat beside Takeru and started wiping the sweat. Shikatsu had improved a lot. Although he had not reached extraordinary levels. His prowess was firmly in the chuunin standards.

After Shikatsu was done it was Biwako's turn. She also made huge improvements. Her taijutsu and bukijutsu was chuunin level already. Takeru found that he was not the only one who trained this past week. His teammates also gave significant efforts to improve themselves.

At last it was Takeru's turn. Shunsui after fighting Takeru for a moment, immediately noticed the changes of his fighting style.

"Where did you learn the soft style?" - Shunsui asked inquisitively as he dodged a roundhouse kick from Takeru.

"I found two taijutsu style from the archives, the basics of Gentle Fist and another style called Disturbance Style." - Takeru answered as he ducked and sweeped his feet.

"Hyuga taijutsu, huh? Well, their taijutsu style is incredible. But it will not be any help to you. One needs to possess the byakugan to learn the Gentle Fist properly." - Shunsui jumped and launched a axe kick.

"Well, I just want to make my taijutsu flawless. Can you help me?" - Takeru dodged sideways and engaged Shunsui.

"Sure, we will all spar every morning, how about that? You taijutsu still needs polishing. You still have some wasted movements and illogical flourishes" - Shunsui activated his sharingan and dodged a chakra string effortlessly.

"Alright then, eat my fist, Hiyyyaah!"

They both sparred for sometime and ended it. Takeru sat beside his teammates. Shunsui came near them and sat on the ground. All them shared their greetings with eachother and started chatting.

"So, how was your week, Takeru?" - asked Shunsui.

"Well, you know, the usual stuff. Spent time with my family & friends and trained a bit" - Takeru answered.

"Yeah, yeah, we know. You trained like a madman hell bent on conquering the world" - Shikatsu joked as he laid down on the grass.

"Nah, too much work. I would rather become a senile old man lecturing kids on how to be a shinobi" - Takeru replied.

"That too is a good dream to have, Takeru. You wish for a long and fulfilling life. It is both simple and worthy." - Shunsui commented.

"I thought you would have some big goals. Like becoming the Hokage or something." - Biwako said as she sat down.

"Nah, why would I want to be the Hokage? All that paperwork and pressure. I am fine with living a simple life. What about your dreams Biwako?" - Takeru asked a with a smile.

"Well, I want to be a strong medical-nin so I can save people's lives. What about you Shikatsu?" - Biwako asked.

"Me? I just want a pillow and nice weather. I will be satisfied with that" - Shikatsu said while yawning.

"Yeah, We get it. What about you, sensei?" - Biwako was exasperated with Shikatsu's laziness.

"My dreams, huh. Well, as a child I dreamt of avenging my brother. He was killed by a member of the Senju Clan. I did not think about anything else. All I wanted to do was to kill that man. But then I found out something. It was one of the last battles we, the Uchiha had with the Senju. The man I wanted to kill had lost his son to an Uchiha, me. We fought bitterly. And I won the fight. But just as I was about to kill him, I stopped.

I saw pain in his eyes. My sharingan could see through everything. And I saw his hopelessness.

We were both products of the hate. The hate that permeated all the warring lands. It was a non-stop cycle of war and hatred. And I lost my brother to it as he lost his son.

I could see myself in him. I thought I would find peace If I avenged my brother but at that moment I could sense that I would not.

All I would have left is loneliness and pain. Killing him would not bring my brother back from the dead. And he also knew that killing me would not give his son back to him.

So, I made the choice to spare him. He also did not fight back. We just stood there staring at each other in the battlefield.

Soon, the battle was over. Our then clan leader Madara lost to the then Senju clan leader, Hashirama, who is now Lord Hokage. All of us surrendered. But like the previous times the Senju did not kill us. All they did was to make sure we went back to our home safely.

I was tired of all the wars to be honest. All of us were. We all wanted peace. There was some battles after that but we, the Uchiha did not give our all. Neither did the Senju.

Only Madara fought like a man possessed. But he too saw the futility of these senseless bloodshed.

Then came the peace treaty. All of us supported it wholeheartedly. Who would not? I did not want to lose another of my family. Neither did anyone else.

Soon enough, this village, our new home was created. And I found myself dreaming again. My dream is to protect my family, my clan and my home. I want to save people who have fallen into the depths of their own hate.

I met that man once again a few years back. He has gotten old. He now works as the manager of the archives. I think all of you have seen him in the village.

We do not talk to each other. Just a simple nod is enough. He now has a grandchild and I have now a family.

So, yes my dream is also simple. I just want to protect the leaf that holds my dreams." - Shunsui said with a serene smile.

Takeru, Biwako and Shikatsu were silent. Shikatsu did not have any lofty dreams, neither did Biwako. Takeru was meanwhile thinking about the words of his sensei.

Shunsui had been seeped deep into the Curse of Hatred. But he freed himself from the curse all by himself. Takeru always found that his sensei was different from the others. He was a jovial and sensible guy but if push came to shove he would become cold as ice. Takeru knew that Shunsui was a good shinobi but he found out that Shunsui was a better man.

Takeru thought to himself that if something like this ever happened to him, would he sink into despair and hatred or would he be able to overcome the challenges and rise above the hatred like his sensei did. And Takeru found out that he was not sure.