Author's Notes: Hey guys, JTX1000 here with a brand new story for y'all to sink your teeth into.

As for this story itself, I'd just like to reiterate from the description that this takes place around 200 years following the events of Naruto and is set in the Land of Lightning. Why? Half of them use swords and they specialize in lightning based jutsu - that's awesome! Plus we don't know much about it as of this date and I'm not sure we ever will, so it's basically a treasure trove of potential for me. This just means that it'll be completely original.

Finally, like The Room of Spirit and Time Saga I will be using the english phrases coined by the dub (So basically stuff like hand 'signs' instead of 'seals' and fire 'style' instead of 'release') - the reason for this is that for me, it gets a little jarring writing all the prefixes like -san and -kun and there's the issue of where to draw the line when using Japanese terms; I've seen a lot of fics that use stuff like 'Onegai' and 'Nani?', which looks a bit weird reading it in English. There's a lot of great fics out there that use it but I personally can't write like that; just give it a chance? Pretty please?

Also there's a planned three volumes, each of which will have around twenty chapters with timeskips between each volume, so this fic should be pretty long by the end.

So without further ado, sit back and enjoy my latest piece of work: Legacies

Volume I: The Dawn of a New Threat

Chapter 1: The Ninja with no Legacy - Part I

As the sun began to rise above the Village Hidden in the Clouds a single boy sat atop a small, rocky spire that peaked in a flat plateau the width of a small building - a perfect place for the boy to call his own. This was his personal space where he came frequently to think, hang out and train, though the latter admittedly got less attention than the others these days.

The Village Hidden in the Clouds came as a series of rising mountain summits each within a shuriken's throw of the next. Around the middle of each steep spire ringed platforms were circled around them and entire structures were built into the cores of the mountains. Each peak was joined to the next by a sturdy walkway, leading down and onto different levels of the village so complex that only a native could navigate it properly without getting lost. Hundreds of feet up in the air they dwelled, as the highest mountains spanned right up beyond the clouds, where the boy made his residence.

He'd left at around five in the evening of the previous night for several reasons. Firstly, he didn't want the hassle of his mother fussing over him in the morning; secondly, to get some training done; and thirdly, because he felt like it. There was nothing better to do at his home that now lay some eighty feet below him – being out here was to be free – to give him some time to contemplate on things and get away from the watchful eyes of the village.

Now the sun had begun to rise over the Village Hidden in the Clouds, meaning he had only an hour or so before he had to go to class. To the graduation test.

He sighed. What was the point? He'd failed it twice already, would today be any different? By the regular standards of ninja his age the boy was average, though his main problem nowadays lay in his lack of resolve; if no one expected anything of him then why should he prove them wrong? What did he have to gain from pushing himself beyond his limits? That was his way of thinking at least. But in spite of that, the boy's small sense of pride refused to let him become completely useless. He'd come up here to practice his jutsu and told himself beforehand that he'd be training all night. When it came down to it however, he'd kept on going until the fatigue became too great and collapsed in the grass to sleep until waking just a few moments ago.

With a groan of effort the thirteen year old ninja in training got to his feet, facing both the dawning sun's glare and the three stationary targets he'd hauled up here a few years ago. They were torn and shredded where he'd practiced on them and had faded with the weather, though he'd repainted the bull's eye circle a few times to keep his aim true. With the targets lined up fifteen yards ahead, the ninja wearily stretched out his arms and legs and savoured a few deep exhales before he let his right hand creep behind his back; nothing like a little last minute revision to put his mind at ease.

In a flash the boy's arm snapped up, retrieving the folded quadrant of a blade. As he spun forwards in a full circle pivot the windmill shuriken fanned open before the boy launched it with all his might on a curving trajectory towards the target. But he wasn't finished yet; the boy spun again, revealing another of the huge shuriken that chased the first, zigzagging across from it as the two carved symmetrical arcs through the air. A single hand sign was then executed with near perfect precision, leading the boy to finish his small strategy.

"Wind Style: Air Slash Jutsu!" he cried.

From the palm of his right hand a sharpened crescent of air suddenly erupted and chased the two mirroring shuriken as the boy leaned forwards in anticipation, eager to see the result of his attack. The first windmill shuriken struck bull's eye, yet the second hit the outer ring of his target. The Air Slash Jutsu on the other hand merely glanced off the side of the middle target, but still, progress was progress. If those three were enemy ninja he'd have killed one, wounded a second and knocked a third off balance, though in combat foes were hardly ever stationary, and rarely did ninja come in the form of circular targets.

From last night's training he'd improved just a little. It would hardly make the difference between ranks, but at least it was something – he always had close quarters kenjutsu to fall back on anyway. Swiftly the boy drew a pair of swords; one that lay across his back and a shorter blade that hung by his side. He fell into a choreographed dance of simple yet effective movements, ignoring his previous attempts and devoting his attention into slaying the invisible enemies that surrounded him. With two swords at his disposal the boy leapt and spun and wildly slashed to keep his assailants at bay, all the while hoping that he didn't fall over.

Two swords meant more attacking power, as both the main hand and the offhand contained a blade in each, though its style was wild and unpredictable – in this regard it could be just as easy to cut oneself as an opponent, and one's defence was left hampered. He'd tried to be conventional and stick to the traditional single blade of the Village Hidden in the Clouds, but the boy simply lacked the balance and discipline – he always got carried away and shifted his weight too much when using a single edge, and so had been forced to switch to a style where such a flaw was turned into an advantage.

He practiced long and hard on his technique, flipping from place to place as each blade flailed from his body. After fifteen minutes however, beads of sweat began to form on his forehead and temples as his breathing grew unsteady. Another two minutes passed before he eventually caved in and deemed it enough for now; he told himself that he needed to save his energy for the exam, though in hindsight he realised that he probably would have quit anyway.

The boy was clad in a simple combat shirt of the lightest sky blue, fading down into white trousers made slightly grey with the passage of time. His hair was constantly concealed from fear of judgement by a black bandanna, tied at the back in a simple knot. His features were sharp and angular from head to toe, resulting in pronounced facial features and a rather slender frame despite all the weight exercises he'd attempted to try and fix it.

Satisfied that he'd done enough, the boy retrieved the two windmill shuriken from the targets and made to the edge of the clearing before hopping off a seemingly sheer drop onto a handily placed ladder he'd set up years ago. With it in place, he could easily descend the almost vertical plunge with little difficulty and hop back onto the labyrinth of walkways that connected the Village Hidden in the Clouds. The academy would be a twenty minute walk across breezy bridges and circular plateaus; a short distance that would help him recover and give him the space he needed to prepare his mind for the exam. Despite his cynical outlook, the boy was now determined to pass the test with it being just around the corner, but had he done enough to secure graduation? The boy contemplated this as he passed an opening stall; he figured his technique was already at the Genin level, but he had to take into account the fact that nerves would make him lose focus, along with the fact that Zakari Takazawa, his sensei, hated him with a passion.

"Shoryu!" cried the Chunin as the boy entered the room, putting on a show of faux-politeness as a facade for something more sinister. "Early as usual I see. Funny how you play truant less often when it's graduation day – what is this, the fourth? Fifth time you've tried?"

Shoryu Aizawa decided to only ignore his sensei's comments. To get him annoyed enough to backchat was exactly what the man wanted; any excuse to throw him out of class or disqualify him from the exam was good enough for Zakari. He'd fallen into his trap before, but not today; he'd never get a rise out of this ninja on such an important event.

It was no coincidence that the student and the sensei shared the same final character of their surname, just as it was no coincidence that Zakari seemed to have a vendetta against him.

Amongst the Village Hidden in the Clouds there existed a family of ninja known as the Zawa family – an elite group from a family tree that dated all the way back to the fifth Raikage. They were hardly common amidst the hundreds of ninja and citizens living in the Village Hidden in the Clouds, but over the last few decades the group had prospered, branching out into different families and spreading their precious genetic gift. Just over thirty ninja of the Zawa name now existed in the Village, and be they Takazawa, Yukizawa, Ranazawa or Aizawa, each of them possessed the Kekkei Genkai – or bloodline trait – of the Raikyogan.

All save one.

Perhaps the bloodline had become too diluted - or maybe it had undergone some kind of mutation, but for some reason or another Shoryu Aizawa had missed out on the power of the Raikyogan, and in recent years it had become very much apparent that he would never attain it. Since the clan's beginning the Raikyogan had materialised between the ages of eight and ten years old without fail - Shoryu was now thirteen and had stopped waiting for it to happen years ago. His sensei and two of his classmates were experts with the Raikyogan dojutsu, and whilst he bore no personal grudge against them, they seemed to resent him.

Even his mother had been shocked when it had finally dawned upon her that her only child didn't possess the Raikyogan. She loved him even still, even if she was the only one amongst the Zawa bloodline who showed such emotion to him. He gave them a bad name; Shoryu was no weakling, but the Zawa family came from a tradition of being constantly above average if not exceptional ninja. Shoryu knew his mediocrity was a disgrace to them – it was like they expected him to denounce his family name and refute whatever inheritance he was due for not inheriting the Kekkei Genkai.

It hadn't just been in the last few years either; from the moment he turned five and joined the Cloud Ninja Academy he'd been targeted. As was standard in this day and age, all ninja were tested with chakra paper to calculate their natural elemental affinity upon their registration to the Academy. In almost every case all members of the Zawa family, no matter the branch, were bestowed with lightning affinity. The earth element appeared in perhaps one in fifteen cases, but Shoryu's paper had split in two, meaning that he was aligned with the element of wind.

It was for this reason that he'd been seen as an outlier from a young age. He had almost no talent for lightning style jutsu, and the fact that the lightning element itself was in fact vulnerable against the wind element led people to speculate that even if Shoryu had possessed the Kekkei Genkai it would be almost useless to him, as the wind-based chakra within him would severely weaken the lightning-based Raikyogan.

One by one students piled into the simply laid out classroom. Naturally, Zakari happily greeted the other two members of the clan without even a hint of the hostility he displayed to Shoryu. Eventually the class was filled with both usual suspects and faces he'd never seen before who'd studied in their own time. Even with the unfamiliar faces, Shoryu saw the even split between those who were about to pass and were about to fail. At this stage Shoryu had no idea which of the two categories he fell into, yet for everyone else he could label in a heartbeat.

Zakari cleared his throat before beginning. "Alright students. As you all know today is the day of your final exams, and just like last time we're going to mix it up a little so that we keep you guys guessing. Some of you have attempted this before. . ." his gaze noticeably fell to Shoryu, who had to bite his tongue hard to prevent a cocky retort flying uncontrollably from his lips. "So it would be unfair to the newcomers if we did the same test again."

As annoyed as he was for the sensei belittling him, Shoryu couldn't help but lean forwards in anticipation; any kind of change could give him either an advantage or a disadvantage.

"This term the Raikage has insisted upon focusing our efforts on ninja selection, as you students are the future successors to inherit this village." Zakari continued. "So instead of it just being me like the last time, two Chunin and two Jonin will be joining me in the evaluation of your skills."

Shoryu almost jumped in excitement thanks to this new revelation. With four extra ninja on board he'd be more likely to pass without the overly scrutinising judgement of Zakari dooming him to fail.

"Of course, as your sensei I will have the final judgement in the end, but the other ninja will be there to provide clarity and extra input should I miss anything. Even I'm not perfect." The sensei laughed.

Shoryu's heart sank again – Zakari would no doubt veto against his graduation, and even if they disagreed no Jonin would care enough to insist on passing him; this was probably just a way for them to make a little more Ryo on the side - what did they care who passed and who failed?

"Students from other classes may be familiar with the two Chunin: Yoshino Sakamine and Katane Satoshi. As for the two Jonin, Ruki Jenbo and Reizo Yukizawa will also be overseeing the test."

Great. Shoryu figured bitterly. 'Yukizawa' - just perfect. That's all I need; another prejudiced ninja from the clan lobbying against me. Even if I aced the whole thing I probably still wouldn't pass.

"The final graduation exam will consist of five stages arrayed in a scoring system so listen carefully. The first is a standard written exam covering the basics of shinobi battle skills."

Shoryu mirrored the other students in frantically scribbling the information down on any scrap of paper he could find in his pockets.

"After that you will each be allotted half an hour time slots to return here and complete the remaining four. The second is a test of long range combat, the third for taijutsu or kenjutsu, the fourth for ninjutsu and the fifth for resistance to genjutsu. The written exam will be a pass or fail test – any more than fifty percent and you score a two, any less and you get a zero for it. The last four work a little differently: if you display no talent at all for the skills you score a zero, if you're vaguely competent you get a one, and if you're at the required Genin level you get a two."

Just as he finished his sentence a girl sat at the front with brightly coloured green hair shot up her hand and spoke a second before Zakari even addressed her. "So the maximum is ten points, right?" she asked.

"Correct, though an extra point may also be awarded if someone excels in a particular aspect. Since you're supposed to be at Genin level for all attributes a full ten is expected of you, though you need only six or more in total to pass the exam. Anything less and you fail."

Shoryu noted everything down as fast as possible, knowing that Zakari wouldn't repeat the rules, especially to him. He noted that the exam was far more complex in its layout as previous terms. Perhaps it wouldn't be harder, but there was certainly more required since one would be tested in all forms of battle skills. Shoryu knew that he had to completely wipe the floor with this test and excel in all areas if he had a hope in hell of passing, and so he prayed that the three non-Zawa judges would be sympathetic towards him.

"So look alive students because the written exam begins right now!" proclaimed the sensei.

Mixed expressions of fear and excitement infectiously spread around the classroom as students reacted accordingly. The female Chunin known as Yoshino then entered through the east entrance with a stack of papers that she began to dish out across the front row of students.

Shoryu left the building an hour later feeling more than satisfied with his performance. For the most part, the questions he'd wanted to come up had appeared. The test had begun with basic knowledge of chakra and Genin level jutsu before progressing into standard weaponry, the history of the five Villages and the complexities of elemental transformation. Despite being questions worth only a single mark, Shoryu had smiled upon seeing that two of the three history based questions concerned his personal idols: the First Raikage and the Sixth Hokage, two ninja that he was more than happy to write about.

All in all Shoryu simply knew that he'd gotten more than he needed to pass the test. Half the questions he knew by heart and those that he didn't know he'd hazarded an educated guess at. There was no way he'd gotten lower than sixty percent, and since it only took fifty for a pass he had little to worry about.

But more was on the way; he'd only gotten two out of the six he needed to pass. Projectile attacks, close combat, ninjutsu and genjutsu resistance were to come. If he could just get a 'competent' pass on each of them he'd be safe, so he returned once again to his mountaintop hideout for some dedicated preparation with the six hours he had before his timeslot.

Two hours after the written tests had ended, Reizo Yukizawa found himself sat in a quiet room checking over tests after the two Chunin and his fellow Jonin had finished with them. He was an experienced shinobi of the Cloud village, wearing the long sleeved standard flak jacket of the Jonin and keeping his black hair in a tidy ponytail behind him for professionalism. He was tall, yet his weight was perfectly distributed into relatively muscular arms and a rather broad chest given as a reward for all his training.

Zakari had already marked the twenty four candidate papers, and with his history as an excellent sensei to the academy ninja, Reizo had no reason to suspect any foul play or bias from his fellow shinobi.

That was of course, until he saw the test paper of Shoryu Aizawa.

He smiled upon seeing the name of a distant nephew scrawled untidily in the name box on the front cover. He knew the story surrounding this boy; as a member of the Zawa family tree without the Kekkei Genkai of the Raikyogan he was surely disadvantaged from the start, and so Reizo recognised right away that this would be an interesting paper. He'd already checked over two of the Zawa clan's members today and for the most part agreed with Zakari's judgement, but upon turning even the first page he knew something was definitely amiss with young Shoryu's paper.

Hmm? He wondered as his steady eyes scanned the page. To the naked, unsuspecting eye there was nothing wrong with Zakari's marking; had Reizo not previously noted the significance of the paper he'd have probably missed it too, as it was only thanks to knowing the kid's history through family gossip that the Jonin studied it with a little more interest than the others.

These markings. . . He flipped through the next three pages to confirm his theory, and sure enough the trend continued. They're all wrong. He evaluates where necessary and describes meaningful factors whenever they're present, yet Zakari catches him out for missing the tiniest details – details that even a Chunin wouldn't be expected to know in such depth. . . Also. . . Reizo squinted his precious green eyes closer to the page to study further a few questions that seemed empty at first, though wrinkling marks of an eraser creased the sheet and faintly distinguishable lines could be seen where Shoryu had pressed down a little harder. Did he get rid of some of the answers?

As many students had already surmised, no one here truly cared about whether a student passed or failed; they trusted in Zakari's judgement, so if he showed it to the others he'd get nowhere. Furthermore there was no evidence to show that it had been Zakari who had rubbed out the missing answers and not Shoryu himself.

Interesting. He thought to himself, observing further that the final score was forty nine percent – a convenient fail. Very interesting. . .

Shoryu leapt up from his sleep at the first ring of his precise alarm clock that lay next to him in the grass – three forty five had struck, waking him from his slumber and telling him that his four o'clock timeslot was almost at hand. He'd left the written test at ten, bought something to eat and then practiced until quarter to three; casually as to not burn himself out too much before the main event. He'd then granted himself an hour long sleep to replenish his chakra and restore his fatigue. It wasn't much, but he needed every help he could get if he was to face the bias of Zakari Takazawa and come out on top.

Just as before, the boy flipped himself over the edge of the rocky spire and descended the rungs he'd fashioned out of plywood. After landing smoothly on the wooden gangways Shoryu set off at a quickened pace to make for the academy, knowing that if he was even a minute late the sensei would disqualify him. Just as he crossed the second bridge and made it past the stall vendor however, a familiar figure stopped him in his tracks; his mother Yuuko had just finished her annual grocery shopping and turned to him with a look of brewing tears in her eye. As much as he needed to move, he couldn't bring himself to avoid her when she looked so full of emotion, and so he turned greet her, telling himself that he'd only be a minute.

Yuuko cracked a smile upon seeing the determination of her only child's face. "Shoryu, I just wanted to w-"

"Don't even say it." Interrupted the boy swiftly, using a harsher and more blunt form of speech than his usual tone.

"Pardon?" stammered his mother weakly. She'd never experienced such an attitude from the young Shoryu; was he really disrespecting her?

"Good luck – you were about to wish me good luck." Shoryu explained. "Well save it, because when I pass this exam and become an official Cloud shinobi it'll have nothing to do with luck."

Yuuko nodded as her forced smile widened into one of sincere radiance – the kind Shoryu saw only rarely. "You know, you've really grown in your own way. I know that if your father were still here he'd be so proud even despite everything you've been through."

Shoryu nodded. He'd never known his father, though from the stories his mother had told him the man had been a great shinobi. "Mom. . . I know I don't always seem committed-"

"But that's only because you're sick of other people bringing you down." Yuuko presumed correctly. "Listen, don't worry about it – forget about them. You don't need the Raikyogan to be a great ninja. You've got mine and your father's blood in you on top of your own strength. You forge your own path Shoryu. People might tell you otherwise, but in the end you decide what you are in life."

As it occurred to Shoryu that he'd never seen his mother express these feelings he fought back tears and bit his quivering lip. He knew that she hadn't said any of this up until now purely because he was so isolated and unapproachable; he'd shunned her away without even realising, making her keep what she had to say bottled up for fear of him resenting her.

"Thanks mom." He said finally, encouraging her with a wry smile before realising that he'd spent more time than he ought. "I gotta go! See you!"

"Bye! And good l-" The woman paused, correcting herself quickly. "Do your best!"

This is it! Shoryu thought as he set off at a brisk pace. Today I become a Genin of the Village Hidden in the Clouds. There's nothing Zakari can do if I perfect every test, and even with that other clan ninja there, the others will have to object if they try and cheat me out of a mark! Get ready mom, 'cause I'm not going to let you down this time!

This trail of motivational thinking supported Shoryu all the way to the Cloud Ninja Academy. The academy was built within one of the highest spires of all the peaks in the village, with a circular hub serving as the ground level before the structure spanned up another three storeys to the top. Each level harboured multiple rooms and smooth platforms protruding out of its sides for outdoor combat training, making the whole arrangement look like a giant brown plant stalk with odd leaves shooting out at different angles as one went further up the spire.

As always, the classroom was on the base level, and as Shoryu jogged into the room he noticed that the clock gave him just another thirty seconds – he'd made it. The three Chunin and two Jonin level ninja stood already waiting for him around Takazawa's desk.

"Well well." Teased Zakari, ever using that familiar condescending tone whilst speaking to the boy, "Shoryu we were beginning to think you'd chickened out! Third time's the charm eh? Another half a minute and we'd have had to disqualify you."

You'd love that wouldn't you? Shoryu only wished he could speak the first words that popped into his head. "Well I'm here now so let's do it!" He stated.

"Confident?" Pressed the sensei.

"You bet! There's nothing that can stop me from passing this test now!" Shoryu assured.

Zakari grinned. "Well it's just a shame your test results don't reflect that notion. You scored forty nine percent Shoryu – almost, but I'm afraid you didn't quite make it. I hate to say it but you start with a base score of zero."

"What?" exclaimed the teen. He bit down hard to stop himself from cursing at the elder ninja.

"But don't worry Shoryu; all is not lost. There are still four more tests with two points each for displaying Genin level prowess. You can even get bonus points if you really excel."

Yeah right, even if I did excel he'd die before he gave me an extra point. . . But I know I answered at least half of those questions right – that snake must've cheated me out of my first two points! Despite his quiet rage Shoryu's head got the better of him. If he exploded in fury now he knew he'd be disqualified for sure, but at this point he still had a chance of pulling through. It's alright. Stay calm Shoryu. It's like he said, you get two points for being at the basic Genin level for the disciplines to come, and for the first three I know I can do that, which would give me the six points in total that I need. He reminded himself.

"Fair enough." After calming himself, Shoryu finally spoke again. "But I'm still gonna pass this thing. Let's get started."

"Of course Shoryu – come right this way." Zakari then led the sky coloured teen and the four other ninja towards the north door where a room made up of only a massive, winding staircase spiralled upwards into the heart of the mountain spire. He led them up step by step it as he continued. "Now as you may recall, the second test deals with that of ranged combat. You must utilise shuriken, kunai or senbon to strike a moving target; it's simple enough really."

Yes! Figured Shoryu. This should be easy enough. I'm at a similar level for all of these first three disciplines, but if I had to pick one I'd say that projectile combat is probably my strongest out of them. "I can use windmill shuriken right?" he checked.

Zakari flashed a brief look of disgust at the reminder of the boy's wind affinity despite his Zawa clan blood. "This isn't the Sand Village Shoryu." He reminded.

"Actually, it's perfectly within the rules." One of the Jonin smartly corrected Zakari and Shoryu turned to smile at him before noticing the mark on the back of his hand. Though he wore long sleeves and tight fitting, fingerless gloves, the square gap at the Jonin's gloves conveniently showed off the faint shape of a lightning bolt from the Raikyogan Kekkei Genkai. This man was clearly the Jonin 'Reizo Yukizawa' that Zakari had mentioned earlier, but if that was the case then why had he corrected Zakari and helped Shoryu out? Was he taking pity on the boy?

"Ugh, fine." grunted the sensei. Higher and higher the six ninja climbed up the spiralling staircase until they passed the second storey and ascended up to the third. Once at the opening the group stopped briefly as Reizo eyed Zakari with suspicion; the Chunin sensei was definitely contemplating something, and so after a few moments he led them further up the staircase to the top level.

We're going to the fourth floor? Wondered Shoryu. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Reizo give the sensei the same look of apprehension – he knew exactly what was going on, and Shoryu only wished that he did himself. But we've never been there for ranged exams before. . . Why now? Don't we usually just use the second and third? Why's he taking us all the way to the top?

Shoryu's question was answered once the group reached the top floor and stepped out onto the wide, circular balcony protruding out from the grand spire. It took him a few moments to work out, but in the end he understood and couldn't help but be impressed by Zakari's deviance. Up here, a whole three levels above the classroom and the upper walkways of the village, the draught was far more noticeable with the high altitude. Thanks to its large surface area a windmill shuriken like Shoryu's would be heavily affected by the currents; one wrong move and it would be liable to veer off in any direction.

Zakari led the group out to the edge of the circular plateau and pointed to a moving target some thirty yards out, moving briskly from right to left across a wire that connected two neighbouring spires. A red circle the size of a human chest lay inside a larger circle of yellow. "See that target over there?" he said. "You must hit it with any projectile you like. . . You may begin when ready."

Shoryu nodded and made towards the edge to survey the distance. It was a long way – longer than any gap he'd ever attempted to throw his shuriken across before, plus the wind was a huge factor to consider. He licked his finger, closed his eyes and held the appendage to the sky, calculating the direction and strength of the wind so that he could apply it to his throw. He knew he'd have to throw the weapon with a huge force to stop it flying away – force he just didn't have with his slim build. He'd have to find another way to generate enough power in his throw.

"In your own time of course." Zakari teased.

Yeah, well let's see you make that throw. Grumbled Shoryu. I have to hand it to you sensei, you've really outdone yourself this time, but no one said this would be easy; it's time to show these guys what I can do.

With his thoughts as a motivator Shoryu then took ten long strides backwards until he was stood with his back facing the entrance back indoors. As he retrieved the shuriken from his back the boy saw the Jonin Reizo smile and nod with approval. Was he mocking him too?

By contrast Reizo thought very differently from Shoryu's perceptions of him. Very clever. He noted. The kid's got brains at least. Still, it's a long way; I'll be surprised if he pulls this off.

"Shoryu, what on earth are you doing all the way back there?" mocked Zakari.

Wait and see.

Answering his question with actions rather than words, Shoryu suddenly bolted forwards into a sprint, holding out the enormous shuriken behind him as it fanned out to full size. Even before he'd thrown it he could feel the wind catching its surface and trying to slow him down, and so he sped up as he reached the end of the outcropping. Hopping up and cocking up the knee of a single leg Shoryu spun gracefully in the air, landing with all the speed and momentum he needed to hurl the shuriken as hard as his arm would allow him as his front foot skidded to the very edge of the plateau.

All six ninja noticed immediately that upon launch, the shuriken seemed to swerve on a violent bend; he'd thrown it too hard to hit his target.

"Ahh, too bad." Zakari offered. "Looks like it's going wide."

Wait for it. Reizo reminded himself. He glanced from Shoryu to the shuriken, seeing that the boy's eyes never left the spinning blade, ignoring his sensei's comments. As the blade soared higher into the winds he saw Shoryu's look of anticipation crease into a wry smirk; catching the higher air currents with a perfect success, the windmill shuriken changed its trajectory only slightly and bowed back downwards at the precise angle to bury itself firmly into the target.

Incredible. An impressed looking Reizo watched the still moving board as the kid clenched his fist in triumph. That was no fluke. The kid's really something with a shuriken.

"One point!" Called Zakari.

Shoryu's moment of victory was crushed once again by the harsh decision of his corrupt sensei. That had been one of the best throws he'd ever made; how had it been beneath Genin level? He was mere moments away from throwing a fit when the most unlikely ninja questioned him first.

"I'm sorry." The Jonin Reizo scratched his head in confusion and turned to the Chunin proctor. "What did you say?"

"One point." Reiterated the man.

Shoryu grumbled again.

"Care to explain to us how you arrived at that decision Zakari? The kid made the throw after all – that's all that is required."

"Well." Zakari pointed closely to the target. "He didn't quite get it you see. Look – his shuriken landed between the red and the yellow."

Upon looking closer Shoryu noted that his sensei was right, though this shouldn't have mattered in the grand scheme of things.

"Zakari, I'm sure I don't have to remind you, but up until now we award zero for a miss and two for a hit. One point is only given if the projectile bounces off the surface or if the shuriken hits outside the yellow. He hit the red after all – if it was an enemy ninja they'd be dead for sure."

"Ah, but you're not taking into account the long and unnecessary run-up the boy took."

Reizo laughed to himself. "No Zakari, I am. The fact is that with his build and at this altitude, there was no other way to gain the speed and momentum his shuriken needed to hit the target without it flying away completely in the wind. It was an excellent move. On top of that, the kid understood exactly what angle he needed to manipulate the wind in his favour – even I thought it was going wide for a second. That was no accident Zakari; many Chunin I know couldn't make that shot. If I were in your shoes I'd give him the bonus point as well."

"Ugh." Zakari looked to his peers as the two Chunin shrugged and the one remaining Jonin nodded in agreement with Reizo's claim. Shoryu saw his sensei flash the man a bitter look of resentment and understood why perfectly. As another member of the Zawa clan, Zakari wondered exactly why Reizo had insisted on helping Shoryu out, even when the others did not – why would he favour the talentless brat?

"Fine." He eventually settled. "Let's compromise and call it two points."

Reizo shrugged. "You're the boss." He reminded.

.

Author's Notes: Like it? Well if you do then keep reading because there's more! Yeah Chapters 1 and 2 were originally just one chapter, but I split it up into two since it got so long and too wordy for me to edit in one sitting.

So yeah, if you're still interested then treat this and the next one as a single chapter, especially considering the second part is far better.