142 Shuichi's advice to Isozaki

A couple of hours later, at the Hyuga clan compound;

Ichiyama was having his daily evening spar against his aunt, usually done before dinner.

"Ha" Ha"

He was throwing punches and kicks as fast as he can but Hanabi skillfully blocked them one after another.

Meanwhile, Isozaki was sitting beside his father as they became spectators.

Following Hisashi's wishes, as Shuichi banned the usage of ninjutsu, kekkai genkai, and other dojutsu within the clan premises, Isozaki couldn't give his best as Ichiyama does.

As a result, he was always left with an unsavory taste in his mouth, making it difficult for him to enjoy the following dinner. And that bitterness only increased further with the recent awakening of new power.

It was actually funny when one thinks about his situation. He was born in the clan of Hyuga but instead of byakugan, he awakened the Uchiha clan's sharingan and First Hokage's mokuton. It made him feel like he became more distant from the clan than he ever was.

As he doesn't like to think that way, Isozaki decided to not think about sparring at all within the clan premises and opt for a standard fighting style just like every other shinobi.

Back to the present, as the father and son duo were silently watching the spar, Shuichi decided to break the silence by asking him about the team. "Excited for the test?"

"Well, I'm a bit nervous actually. I mean we are going to fight a Hokage, after all," replied Isozaki.

Shuichi smiled as he patted his son's head, "Just give your best when you can, and try to work together with your teammates when you can."

"I heard that Rokudaime-sama was the team leader (mentor) for uncle's team back then. After that, he didn't take any students," said Isozaki before staring at the sky and mumbling, "I wonder what kind of test they have gone through."

Upon hearing it, Shuichi said, "well, for me, we went on for a treasure hunt only to end up…"

He narrated his story with two of his late teammates.

"If I remember correctly, Aunt Yugao was your team leader, right?" asked Isozaki a bit of curiosity.

Shuichi nodded and replied, "Yeah. She's also the one who taught me chakra-style kenjutsu, one that doesn't require us to wield any weapon. If she hadn't formally retired after Orochimaru's invasion, she might have become a legendary kenjutsu master by now."

"Why did she retire? I heard that she has gotten married after the fourth shinobi war," asked Isozaki. After a brief pause, he added, "I mean Orochimaru's invasion happened nearly 20 years ago, right?"

Shuichi let out a sigh as he remembered the past events. Remembering Yugao means he would also remember Danzo and the tragedies that occurred to his friends.

Gazing at the stars, he slowly explained, "something bad happened to Yugao sensei before the invasion and she quit being an anbu. After that, we never stayed in touch due to various situations but I heard that she went through depression due to the loss of a loved one.

But, thankfully, she managed to find her happiness after the war.

With a noble Uchiha like Shisui as her husband and a talented child (Suzuki), Yugao sensei is one lucky person.

Anyways, I was thinking… since you served under the police during the internship program and you even wanted to be a police commander someday, I was wondering about letting you work there part-time to gain adequate experience. What do you think?"

"Eh? Part-time police officer?" Isozaki was taken aback a little bit before his face glowed in excitement, "really? I can be a shinobi and police at the same time?"

Shuichi shook his head, "not exactly a police officer, more like an assistant to the police commander. This way, you can learn office work in your free time."

"Office work?" Isozaki was confused. "But, I want to fight."

Shuichi looked at his son, "What do you think a police commander does? He sits back and does the paperwork while his subordinates go out there to apprehend the enemies. If you want to become a police commander, you must also understand his work too."

Isozaki felt like it was nonsense and made sense at the same time. But, he didn't argue with his father and just nodded, "I'll think about it."

***

Meanwhile, far away from Konoha, somewhere in the land of Iron;

A group of ninjas in black outfits like anbu (without any masks) was moving across a forest at a fast pace.

All of them had the forehead protector that was used several years ago during the fourth shinobi war, indicating that they belonged to the Alliance.

After the war, as every other country went back to using their respective forehead protectors, Shuichi took this design that was thrown away by the kages and used it for his organization.

While nationality doesn't role any play in this place, this group of four was still made up of Konoha ninjas.

The leader of the group is the red-haired ninja, Rinji Hyuga (Uzumaki), who was a former anbu and is currently an instructor at Elite academy.

The remaining three were teenage girls, Aihara Otsutsuki, Sumire Kakei, and Mirai Sarutobi. The three of them were on the same team for more than a year and had great coordination between them.

Team R is currently on a mission to destroy the criminal gang known as the Ishi terrorists.

Ishi Terrorists is a group of rogue ninjas from Ishigakure that possessed the collection of kekkai genkai. Their well-known achievement is their failed attempt to assassinate Gaara, the fifth Kazekage.

It was long known to be disbanded but lately, they have gotten a mysterious new leader and they resumed their activities.

According to the secret intelligence report of the Alliance, there is a strong rumor that the Ishi gang had taken their daimyo as a hostage to control the entire nation of Stone (not to be confused with Earth country or Iwagakure).

The Land of Stone, which is located between the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind, usually should have protection from Iwagakure after the war.

However, the rumor about Iwagakure supporting Ishi terrorists brought both countries under the scanner.

As a result, the Elite academy of Alliance had assigned a mission to three groups, one to strike their secret research facility, one to assassinate the leader and well-known members, and the last one to obtain the secret documents in order to confirm Iwagakure's involvement.

After traveling for several hours nonstop, the group of four entered the Land of Stone and decided to rest for the night at the first village they come across.

Little did they expect to run into another problem, far bigger than the one they were dealing with.