In the past 10 years, Takeru had heard of many things that were happening around the world. The founding of the Hidden Leaf Village created shockwaves throughout the Elemental Nations. Everyone was talking about it. At first n.o.body believed the news as the two mortal enemies, the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan making a peace treaty was really unbelievable. But after getting the confirmation people became ecstatic as the long going war was finally stopped. Afterall with the two most powerful shin.o.bi clans joining hands, few others would have the courage to even challenge them. Slowly many other shin.o.bi clans joined them and signed the treaty. The first ones among them were the Sarutobi clan, the Shimura clan, Hyuga clan, Nara clan, Yamanaka clan and the Akimichi clan. Along with many other major and minor clans, the first shin.o.bi village, Hidden Leaf was founded, ending the vicious warring states period. The clan head of the Senju clan, Hashirama Senju became the first leader of the village. His t.i.tle being the Hokage. The Fire Daimyo of the Land of Fire authorised the post and ruled the nation with the Hokage together. Fire Daimyo being the supreme authority in administration and civilian aspects while the Hokage became the dictator of the military forces. This incident sent ripples in different nations as the shin.o.bi clans of each respective nation started making treaties and pacts. And 4 other shin.o.bi villages were founded. The Hidden Stone Village in the Land of Earth, the Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water, the Hidden Cloud Village in the Land of Lightning and finally the Hidden Sand Village in the Land of Wind. The leaders of the said villages were t.i.tled Tsuchikage, Mizukage, Raikage and Kazekage respectively. The next major incident was the sudden change of clan heads of the Uchiha clan as Madara Uchiha, the then leader of the Uchiha clan went rogue and died after some years in a fight with the Hokage Hashirama Senju. After hearing this bit of news Takeru grew anxious as he knew the 1st Great Shin.o.bi War was approaching so talked with his family about relocating to the Hidden Leaf Village. This resulted in a quarrel between Takeru and his father. Toru did not want to go much less live with his family in a village filled with hired killers. Takeru reasoned with him. He told him that with the formation of the five shin.o.bi villages, the next wars would not just stay between shin.o.bi clans. The upcoming wars would happen between nations. And they, the regular citizens would suffer the most from the crossfire. Toru and Akane were sceptical at first and did not believe it. But a few months ago a caravan coming from the Land of Gra.s.s was attacked by some unknown shin.o.bis. The whole caravan was looted and burned and every single person was killed. Same things started happening often. And people could tell that the animosity between the villages were increasing and a war greater than any other in the past was approaching. Toru and Akane were finally convinced by Takeru that leaving the village was the best course of action. Toru and Akane wanted to move to Keishi but Takeru thought that Hidden Leaf Village would be the better option as the shin.o.bi village would have the most protection form other shin.o.bis.
Today, Takeru had turned 10 years old. The Yamamoto family was in joyous mood. The day ended with much celebration. The guests all gave Takeru some gifts and little presents except Tenshi. He rather asked Takeru to come to his house tomorrow. It was evening and most of the guests had already left. Takeru and his friends Renji and Genji along with Hikaru"s daughter Tsukino were chatting in the backyard. They were sitting beside the pond and relaxing. Renji and Genji, the two brothers were 15 years old now. They helped their father in his business and one day hoped to become the richest duo in the Land of Fire. And to achieve that they already opened a shop in Keishi which was currently being manned by their father, Atsuno. Tsukino on the other hand was the 9 year old. She was an excellent woodcarver and sculptor. She could make lifelike wooden sculptures and her sculptures sold like hot cakes. Hikaru sometimes even joked that she did the most income in his family. Tsukino gifted Takeru a small sculpture of him and his family. Takeru skipped training today as he just wanted to relax and enjoy this day. Toru and Akane already discussed with the other families that they might move out of the village. They shared their concerns and the points provided by Takeru. Granny Miyako"s family was willing to move out albeit in the upcoming year, so were Hikaru and his family. Only Tenshi wanted to remain in this village, refusing the leave. Even when all of them tried to convince him, Tanshi remained stubborn. Soon, it became dark and the Ji brothers and Tsukino also left. Takeru now sat with his parents and asked them about their plans of departure from the village. Toru told him about the happenings. Apparantly, Toru was contacted a few weeks ago by a guy from Tanzaku city who usually deals with real estate and housing in across the Land of Fire. He knew about their lands and the shop and was very eager to buy it. So, the moment Toru showed his intention of selling the property, he jumped right in. Toru haggled with him for a bit and came to an satisfactory agreement. The guy had the ownership of a medium sized house near the centre of the Hidden Leaf Village. The previous owner moved away 2 years ago and sold him the house. Somehow, he coud not sell the house without taking a loss. For two years he showed the house to many of his customers but all of them opted to buy apartments or flats instead. According to the verbal agreement, Toru would got the house at a discounted price and 500,000 ryo in cash. Takeru immediately rushed his father as the deal was very good. Akane also agreed as they would profit from it. Seeing his wife and son agree, Toru decided to visit the Leaf Village to check out the house. Toru found a few days ago that a small caravan from the Land of Iron would pa.s.s their village tomorrow, heading towards the capital Keishi whilst making a stop at the Leaf Village. So, he told his plan to visit the Leaf Village to Takeru and Akane, which they readily accepted.
The next day in the morning, Takeru and Toru went out, Toru went to buy some supplies for his journey and Takeru went to visit Tenshi. Tenshi Higurashi was an old man in his sixties. He came to this village nearly 40 years ago and became the resident go-to blacksmith of this village ever since. The man never married or had any reltives. Although Atsuno once mentioned that he knew one blacksmith surnamed Higurashi in Otaf.u.ku city. Tenshi, for some unknown reason had an intense hatred for shin.o.bis. What was the reason? No one really knew that. Though the man loved Takeru very much. Tenshi was always nice to him and perhaps the only few times the old man smiled was in Takeru"s presence. Takeru entered the Higurashi Shop and was greeted with the sounds of hammer meeting iron. Takeru did not disturb Tenshi, instead he sat on a chair nearby and watched Tenshi"s work. After sometime Tenshi was done. He closed all the doors and windows and locked them making sure that no one could come from outside. He scanned the room twice making sure that they were alone and then finally greeted Takeru with a smile.
"You came early."
"Well, I wanted my birthday present." - replied Takeru, looking at Tenshi with a weird and questioning look.
"Yes, your birthday present. Tell me Takeru, how are you with a sword?" - asked Tenshi after freshening up..
"I would not say I am bad at it but I am no master."
"Has you father taught you the samurai sword style?" - asked Tenshi as he went behind the forge and crouched, staring at something.
"Yeah, he did." - answered Takeru as he sensed Tenshi doing a few hand-seals and then "puff", some smoke came out. On Tenshi"s hands appeared a sword, a ninjato to be exact wrapped in cloth.
"Show me then." - Tenshi said with a grave voice and seriousness as he unwrapped the cloth and handed the weapon to Takeru. Takeru gently took it, marvelling at the craftsmanship. The ninjato was a bit longer than normal. It"s single edged blade was matte black in colour. The handle was wrapped with cloth and raisin, making the standard handle design with black and white colours. Takeru saw Tenshi looking at him, so he quickly stood up, got steady, took the opening stance and demonstrated the full sword style. After demonstration he went back to his place, sheathed the blade and with a lingering stare at the sword, handed it back to Tenshi.
"Excellent! Now, come with me." - Tenshi took the sword and went further inside his house. Takeru followed him getting more and more confused by his actions. Takeru could not tell why Tenshi was so happy right now. After coming inside Tenshi asked Takeru to sit while he took a piece of paper from a drawer and handed the paper to him.
"This piece of paper is called a chakra induction paper. It can show you what your chakra affinity is. Now I want you to send a tiny bit of chakra to the paper and we will know what your chakra affinity is. If it is fire then the paper will catch fire and turn into ash. If it is wind then the paper will split in half. For lighting, earth and water the paper will either wrinkle or turn to dirt and crumble away or will become damp." - said Tenshi. Takeru was stunned. He did not know what to say. So, he simply did what Tenshi asked. He too wanted to know about his chalra nature. Takeru slowly sent a silver of chakra to the paper and "whoosh" the paper burst into violent flames and literally got vaporised in an instant.
"Hmm, you have the fire affinity and to a high degree it seems. This is very good." - said Tenshi as he went to the storeroom in the back. Takeru was a bit disappointed. Takeru did not wish for a kekkei genkai as he knew there was little to no chance of him possessing one. But he did wish for a least two chakra natures. Instead he got the most common affinity people of his nation had. But still, it was better than having earth or water affinity. Takeru wanted to know what Tenshi was planning. He knew Tenshi would never do any harm to him. But Tenshi"s random actions and the suspense was killing him. After a few moments, Tenshi returned and asked him to come inside the storeroom. Takeru entered and saw words and weird symbols written on the floor, which he recognised as some kind of fuinjutsu sealing array. The ninjato was placed within the array. Tenshi took a cup and asked him to pour some blood in the cup. Takeru believed him but his actions were weirding him out. Nonetheless he did as Tenshi instructed. Tenshi poured Takeru"s blood evenly all over the ninjato and finally asked him pour some of his chakra on a specific place on the array. Takeru took a deep breath and went along. He started pouring chakra on the specified area. After some time Tenshi asked him to get away from the array. Takeru stood beside Tenshi and watched him perform a long series of hand-seals. Tenshi suddenly slapped his hands on the ground and the sealing array lit up for moment and then vanished leaving only the sword on the ground. Tenshi took the sword care fully, checked it and sheathed it into the scabbard. He then asked Takeru to follow him. They went back to frontroom of the house and sat together. Takeru now seriously wanted some explanation.
"I know you have some questions. But first let me explain." - Tenshu spoke first.
"Okay. Go on."
"I was born in clan which specialised in shin.o.bi weaponry and blacksmithing. My father was a master blacksmith. He always wanted to forge a legendary sword like the Kusanagi sword or the Totsuka blade. As I grew up, his dream slowly started to become my dream. So, my father and I went on a journey one day to find the best metal to forge the blade. Along our journey we collected different types of chakra metal but our journey ended the day when we found an unique metal on the mountains of the Land of Lightning. This metal came from a meteorite that crashed there. We returned and started forging the sword together. We finished the main body of the sword. But before we could finish the sword some shin.o.bi somehow came to know about the sword and attacked us. My parents died that day protecting me. My father gave me this sword and made me swore an oath to finish what he started. From then I kept traveling around the world, never staying at the same place twice avoiding my pursuers until finally I came to this village. This sword is essence of me and my father"s lifetime of work. This is our legacy, Takeru and I want you to have it." - finished Tenshi handing the sword to him. To say Takeru was shocked would have been an understatement. He never knew old man Tenshi had such a history. The sword felt heavy on his hands. It was far too valuable.
"But why me? What about the rest of your family? What about your clan?" - asked Takeru.
"I gave it to you because I want to, nothing more and nothing less. As for family and clan I do not have any. My family died that day and I never got married or took an apprentice. The clan did not matter to me anymore when I came to know that they banished me and parents to save themselves form trouble. So here"s your explanation. And by the way it is your sword right now so you can do whatever you want with it. You can use the sword or you can throw it or sell it or give it to someone else for all I care. It is your choice." - grinned the old man.
"I,I do not know what to say. I mean, are you serious? This is your legacy, your dream and you just gave it to me."
"Well, my dream was fulfilled the day I finished the making the sword. So, yeah, I just gave it to you and you should give this sword a name by the way. It is a powerful sword and it deserves a name. Oh, wait. I have some more things to give you."
"I am not taking anything else from you old man!"
"Oh, shut up. You are going to need these." - Tenshi said as he hurriedly went to the storeroom and soon came back with 3 books.
"Consider these parting gifts from me. I know you are going to move out of this village soon and I wish to give these to you." - said Tenshi as he handed the 3 books to Takeru. Takeru saw the first book and he was stunned when he spotted the familiar whirlpool symbol.
"This book was given to me by an old friend. Everything I know about fuinjutsu came from this book. She was an Uzumaki, she wrote this book and you do not doubt an Uzumaki when it comes to fuinjutsu. The second one is actually my ancestors"s notes about the fire nature transformation, it"s manipulation and how to control the fire. The last one is my clan"s kenjutsu technique, the Higurashi Kenjutsu Style."
"I can not take these old man. These are personal and clan secrets we are talking about."
"Oh, so you already accepted the sword I gave you."
"W-What?"
Immediately Tenshi shoved the 3 books and a paper to Takeru and literally pushed him out of his house and locked the door, leaving Takeru standing in the street with a sword in one hand and the 3 books and the paper in the other one. Takeru sighed. The visit took a dramatic turn and he got far more than he could ever wish for. Just as Takeru was planning on going home, Tenshi suddenly opened a window and shouted at him - "Oi brat, read that piece of paper first before you do anything." and closed the window with a slam. Takeru was amused at the ridiculousness of this situation. Soon, he got home and saw his father packing some things for his journey. The caravan would start going about half an hour later from now and Toru already made arrangements for his transportation. The caravan was guarded by both samurai and shin.o.bi and was relatively safe from any attacks and Takeru knew that if push came to shove Toru could handle the situation. Takeru went to the room hurriedly, eager to inspect the things he got from Tenshi. The first thing he did was to read the paper. The paper had old man Tenshi"s writing on it. It had details about the sword and some instructions. Old man Tenshi and his father made the sword with various chakra metals and the unknown metal they found. They apparently wanted to create a legendary sword and form the things he read on the paper, it seemed they succeeded. The unique metal, fuinjutsu and special forging techniques gave the sword some special properties. The sword was sharp, ridiculously sharp, probably sharper than any sword in the world. The sword was could absorb both kinetic energy and vibrations and was virtually indestructible. The sword was extremely chakra conductive and could absorb chakra and supply it to the user. The sword was permanently keyed to his chakra and blood and due to the fuinjutsu sealing array on the sword, Takeru could summon the sword from anywhere to himself. Takeru tried summoning the sword a few times to test this. He willed the sword to come him and everytime the sword would appear on one of his hands. Takeru practiced for a few moments and could now directly summon the sword from the scabbard to either of his hands or anywhere near his body anytime he wished. Takeru surmised that maybe the sword was more powerful than any of the 7 swords of Mist Village. Satisfied, Takeru checked the books. He glossed over the contents of them quickly. The fuinjutsu book included step by step guidance from the very basics of fuinjutsu to simple s.p.a.ce-time seals. The book was written by someone named Fumiko Uzumaki, a grandmaster sealer. The next book was old man Tenshi"s ancestor"s instructions about fire nature chakra transformation, manipulation and control. It was a tremendous a.s.set to Takeru as he did not have anyone to teach him about fire nature chakra. The final one was the Higurashi clan"s kenjutsu style. A very balanced style with emphasis on battlefield control. The book also had instructions on chakra flow and how to master it. Takeru was very grateful to old man Tenshi as the sword and the books would help him tremendously in the future and would increase his power very much. As Takeru finished checking the gifts out, Toru called him to say that he was going out. Takeru carefuly kept the things hidden under a floorboard and accompanied Toru to see the caravan. The caravan was mainly consisted of travellers and businessmen carrying goods. It would take Toru at most 3 weeks for the whole roundtrip. The guards of the caravan included 20 samurai and some leaf shin.o.bi. As far as Takeru could tell, there were 1 jounin, 2 chuunin and 6 genin level shin.o.bi. Takeru was satisfied with the lineup. Soon the caravan started moving and Takeru wished his father on having a safe journey. Toru waved his hands and promised to bring some goodies from the Leaf Village. Soon, the caravan went out of the village and out of sight. Takeru returned to his home wanting to make the most of his time. He was very eager to train. He knew that having fuinjutsu, fire release and chakra flow would greatly increase his powers. The sword and the new sword techniques would bring his kenjutsu prowess closer to mastery. He was very happy that his family agreed to move to the Leaf Village as this would give much security to his family. Takeru let out a sigh of relief and went on his way for further training.