Naruto: Ancestral Roots

7

Neji woke up groggily in a training field, only to see Arashi in front of him. Arashi was sitting contently.

"Hey Neji. How did you sleep?" Arashi asked.

Neji scowled. "Did the main house send you to babysit after my humiliating defeat to that weakling?"

"For a weakling, she kinda kicked your ass. Listen kid, I know of the seal you carried. It's an awful burden to know that someone could kill you or torture you and there's nothing you could do to stop them. The caged bird seal is an abomination of the sealing arts...but, like any bird you can't just stop picking at the door, freedom lies at your feet Neji, will you take it?"

Neji faced Arashi fully. Gone was the confident smirk or angry fury that is normally present on the Uzumaki's face, in its place was a look of understanding. "What would you know of my burden?!?!"

Arashi smiled softly. "Nothing, but you don't know anything of mine either. The one who best understands your burden, is Naruto."

"The idiot my cousin is infatuated with? Lies!" Neji stepped back at the spike in killer intent.

Arashi sighed, releasing his killing intent. "Sorry about that. He's not an idiot. His teaching at the academy was sabataged and no one bothered to teach him to read, stores sold him expired food or just outright charged ridiculous amounts of money, people hated him so much they resorted to beatings, and one assassination attempt that I know of. His burden makes yours look like nothing, all because of a seal."

Arashi stood, then tossed him the band that normally covered his forehead. "You no longer have the seal to fear, will you remain caged by the past, by your clan, by anything... or will you man the fuck up and fly?"

Neji just looked at the floor, wondering if his father would approve of his actions. "I will do my best, Uzumaki-san..."

Arashi grabbed his shirt and lifted him up, flaring his chakra and killing intent.

Neji panicked for a moment before glaring back and jabbing at Arashi's tenketsu.

Arashi winced. While his tenketsu were too strong for Neji to close, it still felt like a hot nail digging into his skin. Then he let go and smiled at Neji. "There it is. The fire. Dont ever let go of that. It's your power. Most people would faint from being exposed to my unfiltered power like that, but your instinct was to fight. You sent a caged bird, you're a Hawk."
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"Team three is Shino Aburame, Sakura Haruno, and Choji Akimichi. Your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi." Sakura began crying anime tears.

"I got fat ass and bug boy?!?!"

Choji just grumbled and ate his chips, unknowingly releasing killing intent.

"Team five: Shikamaru Nara, Hinata Hyuuga, and Naruto Uzumaki. Your sensei is Arashi Uzumaki."

Naruto high fived Hinata and I Shikamaru grumbled. "What a drag..."

"Team six is Kiba Inuzuka, Ino Yamanaka, and Sasuke Uchiha. Your sensei is Kakashi Hatake."

Kiba jumped. "Yeah! Team six is top dog, I'll beat everyone here!"

"Actually Kiba. You tied for dead last with Shikamaru, just like Naruto and Sasuke tied for Rookie of the year. The girls on your teams are the best kunoichi we had." Iruka said calmly, making Sakura jump up.

"But sensei I had the best grades!"

He sighed then looked at her. "Due to Uzumaki Arashi's presence in council meetings, he's convinced the council that more emphasis should be placed on the shinobi aspects you will use most, namely taijutsu and ninjutsu. Which is why we tested all of your elemental affinities and made you learn at least one jutsu from your element. You did excellent in theory and on tests, but when faced with the physical parts...you were sub-par. "

She threw a glare at Naruto, getting a smirk from the blonde.

"Alright class, wait here for your sensei to pick you up."

Arashi walked through the door. "Team five, off your ashes let's go."

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Once at a training field Arashi told them. "Look I'm not into the whole 'real Genin test' and I specifically asked for you three, so I want to spar. Three on one. Hinata, Shikamaru, you're with me. Naruto, get ready to fight."

When no one moved he chuckled, "Tough crowd." He pulled his shirt off and crouched, "All of you need to fight me in my monster form."

Then his power exploded. A shockwave shoved the genin back and when they looked up Arashi was covered in a strange exoskeleton with sharp clawed fingers and burning eyes. "Full transformation, level one of three. Let's see how you three do."

Hinata was the first to act, firing an arrow at her sensei.

The arrow shattered harmlessly against his skin and Arashi slammed his fist into the ground, creating a massive dustcloud.