It had been about three days since their arrival into the village when the Hokage sent word the previous evening, via a pigeon on their living room window. Hisayo and Akio stood in the middle of a clearing in the training ground they were told to meet at. By this time they had learned the lay of the village and surroundings, so they easily found the meeting spot. The Hokage soon appeared, along with two others.
One was a man wearing his village leaf forehead protector like a bandana. He carried a sword on his back and he seemed to have dark circles under his eyes as though he didn’t get enough sleep. The second was a woman with her hair tied up in a spiky ponytail. She wore her head band across her forehead and a pendant around her neck. She wore an orange skirt and a fishnet top with a tanned overcoat.
“Hisayo, Akio, the two Jounin standing before you are Hayate and Anko. They will be your opponents today. I want you all to start off with taijutsu and then I will let you know when to start using ninjutsu. You are not to land lethal blows. Is that understood?” All four nodded in understanding.
“Good, now begin!” The Hokage jumped back and positioned himself a safe distance away so he could look on without having to dodge any debris that might go flying from the battle.
It wasn’t long before heavy smoke spread into the surrounding area of the training grounds, after several explosions. Several trees had been uprooted and many craters of varying sizes filled the ground. The four stood in the smoke that slowly began to dissipate. A breeze moved across the field, further aiding the clearing of it. Hisayo and Akio stood, facing their opponents given to them by the Hokage.
“You two are good.” The one called Hayate said in between coughs. He held his sword up, ready to engage the two again.
“Or maybe you’re just losing your touch, Hayate.” Anko’s voice spoke in a joking manner as she twirled a few kunai between her fingers.
“I wouldn’t be talking if I were you. You’re not exactly having an easy time either, Anko.” Hayate said to the woman before beginning to cough again.
“If you don’t pay attention…” A voice calmly spoke from between the two ninja.
Hayate and Anko both turned, eyes wide in surprise. She had just been in front of them a good twenty feet away, mere seconds ago. Yet despite the distance and their keen senses, they had completely failed to pick up on her movements; so there was Hisayo with her two kodachi unsheathed and by her sides.
“…then you might get hurt.”
Hisayo then twisted around with her short swords held facing out. Hayate and Anko both narrowly dodged the swift attack and slid across the ground away from each other and Hisayo.
As soon as Hayate came to a stop, he quickly turned to his left to block the sword brought down upon him by Akio.
“Don’t forget about me now.” Akio warned. He bore his weight down and forced the coughing man to jump away from him.
Hisayo focused her attacks on Anko while her sensei had the other busy. All Anko could do at the moment was dodge the continuously moving kodachi blades. She quickly brought up her two kunai to block the oncoming attack when she found herself backed up against a tree with no time to dodge. Sparks flew as each weapon made contact and both opponents were at a gritting standstill, each trying to overpower the other.
Akio and Hayate were in the same position as the others. Akio eventually shifted his weight and brought a foot up to kick the Jounin in the side of the head. Hayate ducked to a kneeling position, dodging the kick, and held his sword up to block Akio from above. He then pushed up with all his might to force Akio’s sword back up and away. In the same moment, Hayate kicked Akio’s feet out from under him. Akio easily recovered, turning his fall into a small back hand spring and landing back on his feet. Both opponents were slightly panting and now eyed each other, looking for an opening.
From the side lines the Hokage continued to look on. He was impressed with both of their skill in wielding their weapons. ‘And this is only with the use of taijutsu’ He thought with a smirk.
“You may now incorporate ninjutsu. Remember no fatal hits!” The Hokage shouted from the distance to the four combatants.
Anko smirked after hearing the order and kicked Hisayo away from herself. Hisayo landed a few feet away and sheathed her twin kodachi before dodging a fire release technique from Anko. Hisayo formed the appropriate hand seals while still dodging. When the fire died out, Anko could make out lightning forming around Hisayo’s body. Hisayo slammed her hands together out in front of her. The lightning surrounding Hisayo’s body began to move away from her and shaped itself into four wolves.
“Lightning Release, Lightning Wolves!” The wolves that had formed seemed to howl eerily before dashing forward, leaving streaks of lightning behind with each step they took.
…
Hayate looked over to the two women after hearing howls that made the hair on his neck stand. What he saw shocked him—no pun intended on his part. Before he could fully take in the action, the earth beneath him began to crumble away. Hayate looked down at the ground underneath him and looked back up at Akio to find him knelt down with his free hand to the ground. The earth began to collapse in on itself and Hayate jumped in the air to avoid falling in the hole that Akio had created.
“Didn’t I tell you not to forget about me?” Akio smirked and stood from his spot on the ground.
“What is that jutsu she is using?” Hayate asked, referring to Hisayo, as he landed and faced Akio.
“A lightning release technique. Hisayo came up with that little trick a few years ago.” Akio explained as he sheathed his sword by his side and began forming seals.
Hayate ran at Akio and created several shadow clones to attack. The clones began unsheathing the swords behind their backs as they drew closer. Akio stopped midway with his technique to dodge, block, and take out the clones with a kunai he drew from inside his haori. Hayate was about to create more clones when Akio threw a kunai to the ground with an explosive tag. The explosion caused enough of a distraction for Akio to create his hand seals without disruption. As the smoke cleared, Hayate found himself staring at six wolf-like flames.
“How do you two have similar techniques?!” Hayate was surprised that Akio formed the same technique using a completely different element. The flaming wolves snarled impatiently, awaiting commands.
“Did I forget to mention that Hisayo’s technique was modeled after mine? But you will soon find that there is a wide margin between teacher and student. So do not think that both of our techniques are the same. You may end up hurting yourself if you do.” Akio warned before holding his hand out in front of him. The blazing wolves charged at the man before them, scorching the ground as they moved.
…
Anko had managed to dodge the first two of the lightning wolves, but was caught on the arm by a third. She screamed out, feeling the pain of the electric surge running down her arm. The wolf disappeared as soon as it had made contact.
Anko gritted her teeth and held her uninjured arm out to conjure snakes to take out the fourth wolf before it came in contact with her. The lightning wolf disappeared as soon as the snakes shot through it, sending small fragments of electricity in the air. They continued to shoot towards Hisayo with lightning speed and caught her around her shoulders with a sickening bite. The force of impact sent Hisayo hard to the ground.
Anko breathed heavily from the strain and continued to have her snakes hold down the body. She couldn’t believe how much effort she had to put into this fight. In a sudden poof of smoke, Anko found herself staring at a log in place of Hisayo.
“A replacement justu!” Anko retracted her snakes and quickly glanced around before feeling a cold sharp object held up to her neck from behind. Beads of sweat rolled down her cheek and she took a small gulp.
…
Hayate found himself being circled by the flaming wolves and cut off from any escape route. The circling wolves began to look like a single ring of fire. It was difficult for the coughing ninja to distinguish one wolf from another as their flaming bodies seemed to melt together.
Without warning, a single wolf jumped towards him. Hayate side stepped to dodge and brought his sword down on the flame. His attack went right through the wolf shaped flame, and the flame jumped right back into formation with the rest, unharmed. A second and third did the same and scorched the Jounin’s sleeves and pant legs in the process.
Akio quickly and quietly made his way behind Hayate, using the tall flames as cover. Hayate was too busy trying to anticipate the wolves’ next move, that he didn’t notice the small breaking of flames behind him. Akio entered the circle and drew his sword to strike his opponent. Hayate, sensing the danger, turned with his sword in front of him to block. Akio’s attack forced Hayate to the ground on his back. The ninja narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he continued to block. Akio kept the force of his blade pushed down with one hand and held a kunai over the heart of Hayate with the other.
“Do you yield, friend?” Akio kindly asked as he gently pressed the kunai down into the vest of the young man.
Hayate held back a cough as he spoke. “Seeing as I’m the one on the ground with a kunai to the chest, I’d have to say yes.”
Akio smiled and helped the Jounin to his feet after sheathing his sword. The flames slowly began to die down as Akio dispelled his jutsu. He then looked over to the trees where Hisayo and Anko were.
…
“Do you give up?” Hisayo spoke from behind Anko and moved the kunai closer to her neck.
“Alright, you got me.” Hisayo lowered the kunai and stepped away from the kunoichi. Anko grabbed her injured arm and began walking back to the Hokage.
“Very good! You two have great skill indeed. Now to decide where to put you two.” The Hokage put his hand under his chin in thought.
Perhaps he could put the young woman in a small group of Chunin for starters and she could work her way up from there, he thought. He knew that she had more skill than she showed, so perhaps she would jump up through the ranks easily.
The same could be said for Akio, but his comment about his jutsu earlier, sparked interest in the Hokage. He should do well teaching others. But the question was whether he should give him Genin to teach, or place him in the academy to teach. There were so many options after seeing both of their performances. There was their status before becoming part of the village to think of, however.
He continued to think.
Hisayo and Akio stood patiently waiting to hear what the Hokage would say about their placement. Akio knew that they may be placed in areas that kept them under high watch until they were proven to be trusted by Konoha. Because of that, their small display of ability and skill would not be the only thing the Hokage considered in his decision. He could understand that though. He and Hisayo were new comers after all.
Hisayo on the other hand didn’t care as long as she wasn’t left to get rusty and out of shape. Fact was, that this was the first time in a while that she was able to flex herself a bit more—not a whole lot, but more than the last few jobs she and Akio had. Those last jobs had required stealth and a quick kill. Not very exciting if you asked her, but that’s what the jobs demanded. Perhaps she would get work that would make her push herself to her limits and help her improve more, she thought.
“Hisayo I’d like you to assist in a few missions with a team of Genin and commanding Jounin. Then I will move you up from there.” the Hokage smiled.
Or maybe not, she thought, with an unreadable face shielding her slight disappointment. Of course she would have to start at a low level and work her way up. How could she think that just because she was skilled that she would get a high position right off the bat? Maybe if she had showed off a few more techniques and really let loose, then he would have put her somewhere else. But then again, he had said no fatal blows, so she was stuck having to hold herself back.
“Akio, I think you are best suited for teaching at the academy for a while. You will be given missions too. I’ll assign you to work under a team of Chunin for now, until further notice.” The Hokage then turned his attention to his two Jounin. “I think it’s best the two of you get taken care of at the hospital.” Anko and Hayate nodded before disappearing.
“Before you two are dismissed, I like you to come with me to my office.” The Hokage turned and walked back to the mansion where his office was. Akio and Hisayo followed closely behind.
******
The Third Hokage sat in his chair and lit his pipe for probably the eighth time that day. He motioned for the two to step forward and pulled out two head bands with the Leaf symbol.
“The two of you are officially shinobi of this village now. You two will protect and help this village maintain the ‘Will of Fire’.” The Hokage held out the headbands.
“ ‘The Will of Fire’?” Hisayo asked, not understanding. She took hold of the head band and looked down at it; Akio did the same and waited for the Hokage to answer her question. He was trying to understand too.
“Konoha shinobi fight for their village. They fight for all that is precious to them—their loved ones, their hopes and dreams. It strengthens their will to fight. You will create bonds and develop a spirit that will drive you to protect those bonds. You will become a protector of all that you love and cherish. This village, your new home, will be under your watch. It depends on you and all other shinobi of this village to keep it safe. Do you understand?” Sarutobi explained.
“I believe I understand Lord Hokage. Hisayo?” Akio was afraid to think of her answer.
He knew that it would be difficult for her to create that bond the Hokage spoke of. It wasn’t in her to form those kinds of bonds. The Ookami clan was at fault for that and he had wished for the clan to put a stop to the pain and suffering that they had caused her and so many others before.
“Akio has chosen this village for a reason and he has never led me astray. With that said, ‘Will of Fire’ or not, I will only show loyalties to this village too. I will, however, try to understand, Lord Hokage.” Hisayo looked up to the Hokage, still as expressionless as ever.
To the Hokage, it seemed as though she was perfectly fine voicing her thoughts on the matter. But really, inside she had been struggling to speak what she felt. She wasn’t used to conversation unless it was with Akio. It had always just been the two of them. She hardly spoke to anyone else in the past unless it was over a job she and Akio were paid to do. Even then, Akio was the one to do most of the talking, if not all.
Akio was a bit surprised by her answer for three reasons. The first was how forward she had been about him and her loyalty. The second was her willingness to try and understand the Hokage’s words. And the third, was how much effort she had put forward in speaking to the Hokage. He didn’t know why she was being so responsive, but whatever the reason behind it; he had hoped it would continue.
“I appreciate your honesty in this matter.” The Third smiled warmly and continued to speak on a different subject. “I’ve been informed by the two Chunin who took your names at the gate a few days ago that you had no last name. Is this true?”
“Yes, Lord Hokage, it is. We would like for you to please give us last names, if that is alright with you.” Akio requested with a smile.
“Very well then. The two of you will indeed need a surname.” The Hokage put his hand to his chin and began thinking. “I have it. From this day forward you two shall be known as Hisayo and Akio Nakamura.”