Chronicles of the Leaf

"The Next Gen Pt 2" -Yuuri V

"From this day forward, you nine students will be official genin and ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village!" Okita Sensei proudly announced those words with a smile on his face. The blue bandanas with the Hidden Leaf's insignia were handed to each of the nine graduating students. I immediately wore mine around my forehead and quickly made sure my bangs weren't stuck before quickly looking to Abe and Miya. "We did it guys!"

"This is the best day ever!" Miya cried out, excitment bubbling over her as she held up her new headband with the most prideful of smiles. I couldn't help but smile too, along with Abe who was staring at his bandana with a look of absolute awe and joy.

"Now kids- no, SHINOBI, now you will compete in a tournament that will determine which of the three squads you'll be placed in. The squads are Alpha, Beta and Charlie, with Alpha being of our best students and Charlie being the least talented. However, this does not mean you won't improve and become even more skilled than those who start out in Alpha. Understood?"

All nine of us nodded and Okita turned to begin drawing out the tournament bracket on the blackboard. My first match was against Shoji of the Akimichi Clan. I made an audible hmm as I looked back at our shared lessons during academy. I didn't speak to Shoji much but I had seen how tough he was during taijutsu lessons. Then I saw that Komatsu Senju and Miya Kiyoko were in the next match. Although I wanted to see Miya beat up her past bully, I couldn't help but yearn to fight my rival. I smiled, but it disappeared when I heard Abe's moaning.

"Are you kidding me?! I have to fight an extra match?!"

Okita turned around and chuckled. "Sorry Abe, but we have uneven numbers so we picked the two best performing students on the written test to have the extra match." After his explanation, Okita went back to drawing the rest of the lines.

"Abe vs Ryuu... Should be an interesting match." Miya muttered, her voice laced with an underlying nervousness. I could tell she was scared about fighting her past bully, who had always been one of the strongest and most promising students.

Once everyone had seen the tournament bracket and taken their headbands, Okita Sensei would lead the way to the tournament's location, which was in the training grounds on the outskirts of the Leaf Village. Abe and Ryuu would face each other from a suitable distance whilst the rest of us watched in the shade. Okita yelled, "Begin!"

Abe's specialty wasn't in hand-to-hand taijutsu but the hiden ninjutsu passed down the Haru Clan. However I knew not to underestimate Ryuu's ninjutsu capabilities as well. The two of them immediately began doing hand seals.

"Construction Jutsu!" Abe cried out, and a katana appeared in his head.

"Void Blast Jutsu!" Ryuu unleashed a blast of pure black energy that seemed like something out of this world.

Although Ryuu had stronger ninjutsu, Abe was more strategic and experienced with his own. His planned attacks proved to be more dangerous than his opponent's more chaotic and destructive ones, therefore Abe was the winner. Miya and I cheered and clapped as he made it to the next round, however it would now be my turn, against Shoji Akimichi.

When our battle began, I immediately activated my Sharingan and charged towards him. I grinned as I heard impressed oh!'s and wow!'s from the crowd. I looked at Shoji dead in the eyes and swung a kick at his chest which he blocked with ease. But that was a genjutsu. I snuck up behind and whacked him on the back of the neck, knocking him out. I had won my first round, with relative ease and speed. I crossed my arms and smugly walked back to Abe and Miya who were both ecstatic about my victory.

Next up was Miya vs Komatsu of the Senju Clan. As strong as Miya had become, I knew deep in my heart that she didn't stand a chance against a descendant of the First Hokage. In the beginning of the fight, she held her own with water style jutsu combined with her own vibration style where she can increase sound vibrations or use vibrations to make her hand as sharp as a sword. Despite this, she couldn't match the immense power held by Hashirama's Wood Style. I tried to comfort her and tell her that "it's okay" but I knew she was still upset.

The next battle was between Hatsume and Sakata of the Sarutobi Clan which was the bloodline of the current Third Hokage. Sakata defeated Hatsume in astonishingly only four seconds, breaking records for the fastest battle in the academy. I could see that even Okita Sensei was shocked by his open mouth and lack of words.

Knowing that Abe was next to fight, I turned my head to see him sitting in the shade beneath a tree. He was sipping a lot of water and looked pretty tired. Had he used too much chakra from the fight before? However the battlefield was ruthless, even for the tiresome. Abe would be fighting against the Hyuga Clan's main branch prodigy: Shoda Hyuga. An expert within the Gentle Fist style was the worse opponent for Abe. If any of his chakra points were blocked in his current state, he could collapse. When the fight began, I watched as Abe struggled to dodge Shoda's attacks. It was likely that he knew he had to stay on guard for even the smallest touch of Shoda's fingers. He jumped back and threw multiple kunai towards Shoda, who used Gentle Fist to deflect all of them with his fingers. His grey Byakugan eyes could see them all coming and hit them with precision. Then... Abe collapsed. He had run out of chakra. Okita quickly ran over and began administering medical ninjutsu.

Miya and I quickly waddled over nervously but I sighed from relief when Okita Sensei assured us he would be fine.

Although my concern for Abe didn't end, I also grew to worry about my upcoming fight against Komatsu. I wasn't sure whether I had enough chakra to use my sharingan for any longer than 10 seconds but if I ran out of chakra, I could end up like Abe. Once Okita had carried my unconscious friend and placed him in the shade , Komatsu and I were told to move into our fighting positions. I looked at her in the eyes, my eyebrows furrowing tightly with clear determination but not a durable one. My tight face softened gradually as her eyes reflected in my own dark irises. Komatsu's lips were curled into an excited smile, like a child getting a gift. I knew we were shinobi and no longer children, yet I smiled too. I was excited to fight her. My rival.