14 The Main Story Begins

*A year passes

Tora was attending the graduation of his old classmates. He was was watching as Tsunade handed the genin headbands to everyone and congratulated them. They all were happy and excited to finally become genin and enter the world of ninja. Naruto was already more skilled than in the initial story and had no issues passing the exam this time. Additionally, Naruto was treated significantly better by those around him and he had a good relationship with Iruka, though not as much compared to the initial story.

Speaking of the initial story, without any real way to trick Naruto due to having a much better childhood, Mizuki himself tried to steal the scroll of seals out of desperation and was immediately caught. Tora, who already knew Mizuki was scum, informed Tsunade that he was suspicious of Mizuki and was able to set a trap ahead of time with the scroll of seals.

After being caught, Mizuki was then sent to the Torture and Information department once it was learned that he was somewhat influenced by Orochimaru and was hoping to gain his acknowledgement by stealing the scroll. Unfortunately, not much knowledge was gained however, aside from a rough prototype of Orochimaru's cursed seal that allowed one to gain the attibutes of certain animals.

Afterwards, Mizuki was originally supposed to be sent to prison, however Tora argued for execution and/or experimentation on his corpse to gain more information on the cursed seal. He did this since he recalled that Mizuki was able to stage a prison riot in the anime; which would only cause headaches and collateral damage if it did actually happen. Tsunade was curious at first, but wasn't willing to argue over the rights of a traitor and approved after Anko, who was with them during the trap, also agreed with Tora. Tora felt sorry for Iruka and Mizuki's fiance, but he didn't really want to let scum like Mizuki live, especially if there was big chance he would only make more problems in the future.

(Confused Author' Note: So I have a question, I was always confused by this and it actually affected this chapter. So Naruto is the same age as Sasuke, Sakura, etc right. Then how is he in the same batch as them if he apparently failed the ninja academy graduation exam repeatedly until the Iruka Mizuki arc happened? I had to montage and do alot of guesses through this beginning portion because I'm unsure of the logistics and timeline of Naruto's graduation.

Also, bruh... I didn't even know they made a filler arc regarding Mizuki in the anime. I only found out after looking at his fandom page )

Once the ceremony was completed, Naruto was hanging around with Sasuke and his family while Tsunade was still busy greeting some of the other clan heads. Though officially, Tsunade adopted him as a member of the Senju; Naruto was able to create a close bond with Sasuke and his family, it could be argued he was even an honorary member of their family. It was to the point where he shared Sasuke's idolization towards Itachi and treated him as another goal he wanted to surpass. Additionally, Sasuke and Naruto also had a sibling bond and sibling rivalry.

Naruto had noticed Tora and waived at him. Tora nodded and smiled and came over to them. He first politely greeted and waited for the reply of Fugaku, Mikoto, Itachi, and Izumi; before giving a more casual greeting to Sasuke and Naruto.

Due to the presence of prodigies such as Itachi and Shisui within the clan, Fugaku, once he had recovered, had over the past years begun to hand over more and more responsibilities to the next generation. Fugaku now mainly presided over the most important matters within the Konoha police and the clan, and handed much of the other work to Itachi and Shisui. Though, he would pressure Itachi to further develop his relationship with Izumi occasionally, as he seemed to be allured by the idea of grandchildren.

With his new free time and less pressure of an impending coup, Fugaku was able to develop a better and warmer relationship with his sons and Naruto. For the most part, Fugaku treated Naruto well due to his respect for Minato and Kushina, though he was still worried of a kyuubi break-out and was unable to fully love Naruto as a unofficial son like his wife Mikoto. Mikoto on the other hand, was able to fully become a second mother to Naruto and raised him how she felt Kushina would have wanted.

Naruto was grateful for all of the love he was given and thus did not take the news of him being a jinchuriki as badly as most thought he would. Tsunade had decided to tell him the secret truth of his birth, that up until now remains top secret to the majority of the village, and was happy that Naruto took it in stride and actually wanted to become the hokage like his father. She was grateful for another chance at happiness and redemption, as she saw her younger brother's will and spirit in Naruto. Unfortunately, this did make her overprotective of Naruto somewhat as was usually hesitant to put him in dangerous situations unless she herself was there.

After speaking for sometime with Sasuke and Naruto. Itachi speaks to him.

"Tora-kun, when are you planning to finally take the chunin exam." Itachi asked.

It had become known to many of the higher-ups that Tora was a genius on the same levels as Kakashi or Itachi. Tsunade would not be so willing to give him B-rank missions while he was a genin if he wasn't. Thus they did start to wonder why he was not excited to become a Chunin like most prodigies.

"Ah, Itachi-senpai, I plan to take the next one. It is here in the leaf so I do not have to travel outside of the land of fire." Tora replied respectfully with a nod.

"I see." Itachi thought of Tora's answer. Itachi, like many of the clans, knew what had happened to Hoshigakure. Thus he supposed that Tora was being careful so that his clan's secret technique wouldn't be captured by other villages. This was especially true for Tora, since he had a special kekkei genkai never before seen in his clan; though it was speculated that his younger twin siblings also possessed this but haven't awakened it yet.

"Hey! I'll guess I'll see you there Tora. We're all gonna be Chunins together. Dattebayo!" yelled Naruto in excitement.

"Settle down, Naruto. We have to get there first. We don't even know who our Jounin is, or if we're even going to be paired together." Sasuke mentioned in response.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Hokage-sama will pair you two together, the only question is who your medic ninja is going to be. Though I wouldn't count on it being Hinata, I remember Hokage-sama mentioning that it would distract you too much." Tora says, he didn't fully know what the squads would be in this altered timeline, but he did hang around the hokage office a bit and overheard a few things.

"Heyy!" Naruto yells back while blushing so red that all of the Uchihas, including Sasuke and Fugaku laugh.

"I agree with the Hokage on that one Naruto, it would get annoying if I have to do all the missions by myself while you two flirt." Sasuke teased. It was amusing to everyone watching how Naruto and Hinata started getting really close to each other over the past year. They were still kids, so their flirting was still in the "pure" and "precious" phase, but the distance had significantly shortened.

"Anyway, I'll be on my way. I have a mission to do. I'll see you and Sasuke later." Tora said

"Fugaku and Mikoto-sama, Itachi and Izumi-senpai, I shall be on my way." Tora bowed his head once again, then left.

"Hmm... Tora-kun is always so stiff and polite towards us. He should learn to relax. " Izumi mentioned when Tora left.

"Sigh... The shinobi of Hoshigakure were always known as being stiff and hardy people. Especially with what had happened 7 years ago, this much is already something to celebrate." Fugaku explained quietly so Sasuke and Naruto wouldn't hear.

Izumi quietly nodded at this. The atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

"Itachi, I heard you sparred once with Tora before. How is he?" Mikoto then asked Itachi, as to somewhat change the topic.

"He is as talented as they say. Coupled with his kekkei genkai, he is extremely difficult to face in close range due to his Kenjutsu and Taijutsu." Itachi explains his findings concisely.

"Oh? Could you defeat him if you fought today Itachi?" Fugaku then asks, curious of his son's response.

"If it was me when I was his age, it is difficult to say. However, he is not compatible to fight me today. I can get away from him and cast genjutsu easily. Though, I have no knowledge on possible trump cards he has, so there is always a chance he can defeat me." Itachi elaborated.

"Hmmm... I heard from Aka that recently Tora has been training with Kurenai and the Kurama clan's prodigy to resist genjutsu. It seems whatever happened in your spar has affected him greatly."

Itachi thought back to the one time they sparred in private at Tora's request. Tora was extremely hardy, persistent, and physically strong. He would repeatedly try to use his kekkei genkai to pull his opponents close, when it didn't work on Itachi, Tora used his mystique peacock wings to move faster but was still unsuccessful. Though Itachi was never hit, it was extremely obvious that all of Tora's attacks had significant destructive power.

Itachi turned to Sasuke and Naruto who were bickering a distance away and not paying attention to the conversation.

"Naruto, Sasuke... If you ever encounter Tora in the Chunin exams as your opponent, it is better to run whenever possible." Itachi tells both Naruto and Sasuke.

"Huh? Nii-san? Is Tora really that powerful?" Sasuke asks, he knows Itachi wouldn't say that for no reason.

"Yeah, why big bro?" Naruto also asks, he never got to fight Tora in the academy since he was always paired with with someone else. He was really looking forward to fighting him.

"As you two are now, you are not his opponents... I have a feeling Hokage-sama will be using him as a tool to send a message to the other villages rather than an actual chunin candidate." Itachi explained to Naruto and Sasuke.

Both of them nodded and trusted Itachi's words but felt regretful that one of their former classmates was already so far ahead of them.

A few days later, Tora was at the Hokage's office awaiting a mission from Tsunade. He was a bit tall and mature looking for his age, perhaps looking around 13-14 years old rather than 12, and was sturdy looking.

"Genin Tora, for the next few months I would like for you to stay in the village and as an emergency support troop while you prepare for the chunin exams. In a few days, when the genin teams are introduced to their Jounin leader; I'd like for you to go and assist if anything is needed. Some Jounin tend to expect too much of their students and may force them to overwork themselves." Tsunade gave her orders.

"Hai Hokage-sama." Tora replied, he had built up quite a track record and had a lot of pocket money, he could now just focus on getting stronger for the exams.

After accepting his task from Tsunade, Tora arrived home and was greeted by his two twin sisters, Ayaka and Aiya.

"Nii-san!" Both of them yelled and came to excitedly hug Tora.

"Hi guys, how was school?" Tora asked his sisters who were in their 2nd year of the academy. They both had violet hair like Tora when he was their age but looked more cute than tough.

"It was good nii-san, everyone was really nice to us" Aiya said.

"Mhm, Iruka sensei said that he hoped we both would become really good ninja like you." Ayaka added.

"That's great guys, just don't feel to pressured to do anything you don't want. I want you guys to grow up at your own pace and enjoy your time at the Academy." Tora smiled as he said this, unlike him, his two younger sisters were still innocent and didn't have to experience the darkness of the ninja at a young age; he wanted to prolong this for as long as possible. He actually tried to push for his sisters to become civilians rather than ninja but he was rejected by both of his parents.

"Hey, why don't we go buy some dinner so Mom doesn't have to cook. It's my treat." Tora then added.

"Really? Alright!" Aiya said.

"Let's go!" Ayaka added excitedly.

Tora smiled and wanted this time he spent with his family to last forever.

[Status]

Name: Tora

Age: 12

[Fighting Strength]: Elite Jounin/Low-Kage(Cosmic Wrath)

[Attributes]

[Notice: Aside from Chakra Reserves and Control, Ninja ranks will no longer be used to describe other physical attributes once the host reaches above C (Chunin level). This is due to the large variation of builds that can arise from different statistical allocations. Continued use of ninja ranks may only cause confusion and be misleading when comparing certain ninja. ]

Vigor: B+/A- (Cosmic Wrath)

Endurance: B/B+ (Cosmic Wrath)

Strength : B+/A- (Cosmic Wrath)

Dexterity: C+

Chakra: B (Jounin)

Chakra Control: B+ (Elite Jounin)

[Skills]

Taijutsu: B+ (Elite Jounin)

Kenjutsu: B+ (Elite Jounin)

Ninjutsu: B- (Low Jounin)

Genjutsu: N/A (Unable to Use)

Genjutsu Defense: B- (Low Jounin)

Shurikenjutsu: C+ (Elite Chunin)

[Jutsu/Jutsu Series Known]

Mystic Peacock Series: B (Advanced User)

Starscourge Series (Gravity and Heavenly body Jutsu): B (Advanced User)

Shadow Clone/Multi-shadowclone Jutsu: C+ ( Skilled User)

Scarlet Rot Release: C+ ( Skilled User)

Medical Jutsu Series: *A- (Specialist User), is very adept at specific aspects of the Medical ninjutsu.

Chakra Strengthening Jutsu: C+ ( Skilled User)

Author's Corner

Hey Guys!

Alright we're back! The main story has began and the flow of events has become better as compared to the initial story. I think in the next chapter, we're going to cover what Tora does to assist the different Jounin when they first meet their genin squads.

Oh and our boy and his sisters have mock-up images now. I've added it to the character glossary and here as a paragraph comments. I had followed a suggestion to use AI art generators to create them. It's really cool and you can try it here. (www.waifulabs.com/generate)

Also, I'm thinking of making side-chapters based on the different stories Tora had with the Konoha 12 during the time-skip. The chapters are there to help flesh-out the relationships Tora has with everyone but are definitely skippable if you aren't interested in it.

Thanks for Reading!