7 The End of the Second

About a year went by after that night. Nawaki, Minato, and Fugaku all advanced two years in the academy and would graduate in one more if they kept their pace. A few of the other clan kids followed along with them as expected. The trio along with Kushina continued to regularly learn fuinjutsu from Mito. They were all progressing nicely and had reached the point where they could create some basic seals. At this rate, they could become master sealers within a few years. In addition, Tobirama took notice of them studying fuinjutsu and told them that once they reach a certain level, he would share some techniques with them.

One night, Toka, Mito and Nawaki were enjoying dinner. After some silence, Toka said, "There is some good news. I have heard that the war is going to end soon!" Suddenly, the mood in the room lightened as they all cheered up. Nawaki raised his glass into the air and motioned for Mito and Toka to do the same. He then said, "To a swift end of the war and to our families safety." "Kampai!" they all said in unison clinking their cups.

About 4 months passed by. In this time, the trio and their ninja clan classmates all advanced another year at the academy. That means that they would graduate in less than a year. In addition, the sealing group had moved on to advanced sealing. Noticing this, Tobirama kept his promise and delivered a scroll with some of his personal techniques in it. There were some very interesting seals and powerful techniques. The one that was most notable was the Flying Raijin. Both Minato and Nawaki lit up when they saw it.

As they continued their studies, the war came to a close. A few weeks went by. One day, Nawaki, arrived home to an all too familiar scene. Both Mito and Toka were consoling each other in the kitchen. Nawaki could all but tell what had happened. Seeing Nawaki enter the kitchen, Toka got up and gave him a hug. She then said, "Tobirama is dead." Nawaki had no reaction. He knew it was going to happen soon but he still was not able to prepare himself. Growing up, Tobirama was an influential figure in his life. His uncle was very special to him and even helped him develop his skills. It was a very hard loss. Kensho then said, "Even knowing it would happen, it's no easier. I'm sorry for your loss." 'Thank you Kensho' Nawaki thought. Within a few days, a treaty was signed and the war officially ended. The next day, a huge funeral service was held for the second Hokage, and all the others who were lost in the war. All of the major figures from Konoha were present to offer their condolences and send off Tobirama. The recently appointed Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, led the service and made a speech about the will of fire and how the lives lost in this war will not be in vain. Following the service, Hiruzen had a quick chat with each of the clan heads and planned a meeting. After Toka talked to him, her, Nawaki, Tsunade, and Mito headed home together.

Despite all that happened, Nawaki was happy. His older sister was finally home and would get to spend more time with him. As they walked, Nawaki turned to Tsunade and asked, "Hokage sama is your sensei right?" Tsunade smiled and replied, "Yup, I am getting trained by the Hokage himself!" Nawaki widened his eyes and then pouted, "Lucky. I want to have a Hokage as my sensei." The four of them laughed after hearing that and went home.

Another six months passed and it was now time for the trio to graduate. As expected, those three, along with their clan kid classmates, passed their graduation exam with flying colors. As per the requirement, they all did well on the written exam, performed the clone jutsu, and also performed the transformation jutsu. In terms of rankings, the top three were Nawaki, Minato, and then Fugaku in that order. Fugaku placed lowest because Nawaki and Minato performed better on the written examination. Having received their forehead protectors, the trio took their seats. Standing in front of the class, Yuna said, "Congratulations to everyone who passed. Those of you who passed will meet here tomorrow morning to be assigned into teams. See you all tomorrow!" In unison, "Hai sensei." the class responded. All smiling, the trio walked out of the classroom sporting their Konoha forehead protectors. As they exited the academy building, Nawaki asked, "So, you guys think we will be on the same team?" Minato smiled and then said, "I sure hope so. I wonder who our Jonin sensei will be." The three then split up and went home to rest up for tomorrow.

Once he arrived at home, he could not believe his eyes. Once again, Toka was sitting at the kitchen table with an empty bottle of sake in front of her. He already knew what happened. Nawaki realized that Mito was now dead and that Kushina had become the new jinchuriki for the kyuubi. He didn't tell anyone that he knew of this but still took note of it. Nawaki saw Tsunade standing in the hallway near the kitchen. Together, they walked into the kitchen to console their mother. She cheered up a bit when she heard some good news. Nawaki told her about how he graduated from the academy. In addition, Tsunade and the rest of her team were promoted to Jonin. Nawaki and Tsunade then cooked dinner together and ate with Toka. After cleaning up, Nawaki returned to his room. After a few minutes, he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he said. Tsunade slowly opened the door and entered the room. After waiting for a moment, she turned to Nawaki and said, "I want to give you a gift for you graduating from the academy. Close your eyes." Nawaki looked at her for a moment and then followed her instructions. Suddenly, he could hear Kensho laughing. He thought, "Oh shut up you perv." Kensho continued laughing. Nawaki felt Tsunade place something around his neck and then she said, "Okay, you can open now." Nawaki opened his eyes and looked at what she gave him. Immediately he turned to Tsunade and asked, "Are you sure? This is Oji-sama's necklace." Tsunade nodded and said, "Yes, I am sure. If he knew that you could use wood release, I am sure that he would want you to have it." They both smiled and Nawaki gave Tsunade a long hug before saying, "Thank you Onee-chan." Tsunade then left and they both went to bed.

The next day, Tsunade accompanied Nawaki to the academy. He turned to her and asked, "Why are you coming with me to the academy?" Tsunade smiled and said, "It's a secret." Then she stuck her tongue out at Nawaki and laughed. As they got to the academy, Nawaki saw Fugaku and Minato waiting outside so he said bye to Tsunade and ran ahead to meet up with his friends. As Nawaki ran up to them he said, "Are you guys excited?" Both Fugaku and Minato nodded and they walked into the academy building together. As class started, Yuna entered the classroom and said, "I will now announce the teams." She went through the list of names. As Nawaki expected, the Ino-Shika-Cho team was formed. After a few teams were named, Yuna said, "Next team. Senju Nawaki, Uchiha Fugaku, and Namikaze Minato." The trio looked at each other and smiled. The rest of the teams were announced and then Yuna said, "Alright. Now that everyone is in their teams, your Jonin sensei will come to get you." As she said this, a few Jonin entered the room. Among them were Tsunade and Orochimaru. Orochimaru was one of Tsunade's teammates on team Hiruzen. After that group of Jonin called out the teams assigned to them, all that remained was Nawaki's team and the Ino-Shika-Cho team. 20 minutes passed and their Jonin sensei came to get them.

Now it was just Nawaki, Minato, Fugaku, and Yuna. After about an hour passed, Yuna spoke up. She said, "Well… as I guess you guys have already figured out, your sensei decided not to show up. Now that I look at who it is, you should probably go look for him. Your first mission will be to find your Jonin sensei somewhere in Konoha. Are you three ready?" The trio looked at each other and then back to Yuna when they all nodded. Yuna then said, "Alright, you three need to find…"