6 The Departure

Fire is the visible effect of the process of combustion. The process gives off excess energy as heat and light. Takeru knew this much. He knew how to make fire by mundane means. But to make fire using chakra was a whole different thing altogether. Takeru read the notes about fire nature chakra fully and completely memorised them first. Then he sat down in meditative pose out in the backyard , made the tiger hand-seal and focused internally. Any kind of fire needs some fuel. It could be chemical, biological, physical and in this case an individual's own chakra and the oxygen in the atmosphere. To make fire an individual first needed to mould his/her chakra, knead it to create friction. The friction would create a spark. Then the individual would use that spark as a firestarter and use the chakra as the fuel to create fire. Fire is very difficult to control so any fire release jutsu is generally expelled from the mouth. Takeru following the given instructions, started moulding and kneading his chakra. He could do it quite easily due to his freightingly high chakra control. He created a small spark and used his chakra as fuel to create fire. Finally he expelled a little ball of fire from his mouth. Takeru used too much chakra to create such weak fire. He knew he had to practice his nature transformation. His mastered shape transformation would help him tremendously to use any jutsu. But he had to master fire nature transformation first before he did any fire elemental jutsu. So, another training spree started and within a week he was proficient in using fire nature transformation enough to start learning fire release jutsus. Takeru remembered the hand-seals of some fire nature jutsus from his previous life, 3 jutsus to be exact, the Fireball Jutsu, the Phoenix Fire Jutsu and the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet or Dragon Flame Bomb Jutsu. The Fireball Jutsu and the Phoenix Fire Jutsu were both C-rank jutsus but the other one was a B-rank jutsu. He wanted to try the Fireball Jutsu first. Takeru made two shadow clones and told one of theim to stay at home and the other one to start reading the other two books. Then he went to his personal training area in the jungle. Takeru stood beside the small lake and made the necessary hand-seals, snake → ram → monkey → boar → horse → tiger, while moulding chakra and finally "Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!", 'Whoosh', an orange coloured big spherical ball of fire about 10 meters in diameter came out of his mouth in the the air above the lake, vaporising the water and giving out intense heat. Takeru's lips formed a smile.

It had been nearly 3 weeks and today, Toru came back to the village at the evening. His journey towards the Hidden Leaf Village was safe and secure but while returning there were two attacks by bandits. Toru had issued a regular C-rank escort mission and he had 1 chuunin and 3 genin level shinobis escorting him to the village. Toru was safe but one genin from the 4 man squad of leaf shinobi that were escorting him got hurt. So, they requested for a night of rest as there were no inn or motels in the village and Toru fulfilled the request by inviting them to stay in his house for the night. Takeru was practicing kenjutsu in the backyard when Toru and the guests came in. Takeru sensing his father's presence wanted to call his mother but stopped when sensing 4 unknown people, who he sensed were shinobis with him. Takeru sheathed the sword, wrapped it with a cloth and hung it on his back. He then freshened up a bit and went inside the house. Takeru made a few shadow clones and told them to be ready for anything. He did not know why these shinobi came here. They did not emanate any negative emotions but he did not want to take any chances with his parents present. He entered the house to see his father talking with 3 of them while his mother made a simple bed and layed down an injured shinobi on it and started healing him.

"Ah, there he is. This is my son Takeru." - Toru intoduced Takeru to the guests.

"Nice to meet you, Takeru-san. My name is Shinji Uchiha and these are my teammates, Akahiro Senju, Mei Shimura and the guy on the bed is Sora Sarutobi. Sora got injured while travelling and he needs to rest so we can return to the village tomorrow. I apologise for imposing on you all like this." -  bowed the black haired, black pupil-less eyed shinobi who was likely the team leader of the other three.

"Nice to meet you too, My name is Takeru Yamamoto. And do not mind it, you guys protected my father and he got injured doing it. It is the least we could do.

"Stop apologizing Shinji-san. We would love to host you all. I already healed him mostly, he just needs some rest. Here, let me prepare some tea." - said Akane while bringing a tea making set and started making tea. Shinji and Toru conversed while Takeru observed these people silently. Shinji was an average looking middle aged man. He wore a grey shinobi battle armor with a mark on his back signifying his chuunin rank with the leaf headband on his left arm. The other three, two boys and a girl, about 18-19 years old, all of them genin from the looks of it. Takeru was finally assured that these shinobis meant no harm to his family, so he dismissed the clones. While Takeru was observing, one of the genin with light brown hair, blue eyes, wearing white long-sleeved shirt and blue pants and leaf headband on his head asked him.

"Hello, there, I am Akahiro, nice to meet you. Can I ask you something?"

"Nice to meet you too, and sure. Go ahead."

"Can you teach me the basics of kenjutsu, please?"

"Huh?! What? Why?"

"I want to learn kenjutsu but Shinji sensei said he would only teach me after my taijutsu became acceptable in his eyes. Which I think will never be. I saw you carrying a sword so I thought you would know kenjutsu. I just want to know the basics, that is all. I want to decide if I should learn it or not." - sighed the genin ruefully.

"Shut your blabbing Akahiro. Hello, please do not mind him. I apologise for this idiot's behaviour." - said the girl with green eyes, black hair wearing a grey combat outfit.

"No, no. It is alright. I could show you some basics Senju-san but it would not be much." - said Takeru amused by this guy.

"You shut up, Mei. See that, he agreed. Please call me Akahiro, Yamamoto-san."

"Then you have too call me Takeru, you too Mei-san."

"Just Mei, I am not good with honorifics"

"Then you can call me Akahiro too!"

"Alright, let us go to the backyard." - said Takeru as he went towards the backyard with the two genin following him. 'So, an Uchiha, a Senju, a Sarutobi and a Shimura in a team. Who would have thought?' - Takeru was thinking as they reached the clearing. Takeru took off his sword and placed it aside. He took two wooden practice swords, handed Akahiro one and took one for himself. Mei was watching them from the side. Takeru slowly and carefully described Akahiro about kenjutsu and its advantages and disadvantages. Then he demonstrated the basic stances and moves of kenjutsu. Akahiro tried to imitate Takeru and tried to understand and emulate the moves but he sorely failed. Kenjutsu was difficult for Akahiro to learn, as he really did not have any talent for it. Akahiro sighed at the unfairness of it.

"Do not worry, Akahiro. If not kenjutsu then learn a different weapon." - said Takeru as he sat beside Akahiro and Mei.

"Yeah, that is what I am thinking right now." - sighed Akahiro once again.

"Can you guys tell me about the Leaf Village? - asked Takeru

"It is called 'Hidden' Leaf Village for a reason, you know." - Mei eyed Takeru and replied.

"Well, we are definitely going to move into the village, so I just wanted to know something about it."

"I am just joking, it called 'Hidden' because without any of us leaf shinobis accompanying, one would never find a way to the village."

"Our village mainly consists of shinobi clans and some freelance shinobis who started living there. Although the number of civilians moving in has increased since a few years ago. The shinobi populace is a majority there. Nearly all of the civilian populace are either merchants or professionals of some sort." - explained Akahiro.

"Do not worry, Takeru. The Hidden Leaf is a really good village and you will love it there." - assured Mei.

The sky had already darkened. So Takeru, Mei and Akahiro went inside the house. Akane prepared a small feast for the guests. Takeru and Akahiro freshened up a bit and joined the table. Toru, Akane, Shinji and the already healed genin Sora was already there. Sora was a lanky young man with black hair, black eyes wearing a yukata. He greeted everyone and Toru introduced his family to him. Soon, they started eating.

"So, how much time will the inspection take?" - asked Toru.

"It differs. In your case, it will take a week at most. You have to understand, Toru-san, the inspection is a necessity. Otherwise any enemy shinobi could easily infiltrate the village." - answered Shinji.

"I understand it. I am not against it but during the inspection do we have to stay outside the village?"

"Actually no. It is a standard procedure but you can ask Lord Hokage about it. Personally I do not think it is necessary. You can stay in your home safely. You just have to give us contact information of some people who know you and your family and some time for us to validate the identities."

"I will ask for an appointment to Lord Hokage."

"Did you get the house dad?" - asked Takeru.

"Yes. I did. The house is in good condition and the position of the house is excellent. I confirmed the deal. We will be moving to the Hidden Leaf Village in next month."

"Yes, the house's position is very good actually. It is one block away from the Hokage's Office and the training center and just a walk away from the hospital." - explained Shinji.

"Training center? What is that?" - asked Takeru confused.

"Shinobi Training Institution is the name of the building, although it it not confirmed yet. Lord Hokage created it some years back. So, that children of the shinobi clans and the regular civilians both can learn the way of shinobi together. There are many students already learning there." - answered Shinji.

"So, all they teach there is only shinobi related?" - asked Akane.

"No. Children are taught the basics first, reading, writing, language, mathematics, science, history, geography, everything from basic to intermediate level education. Shinobi skills are taught when they get older and only with the permission from the parents." - explained Shinji.

"Shinji-san, are there any future job opportunities for the non-shinobi students learning there?"

"There are some opportunities. One can join the medical corps and work at the hospital if they know medical ninjutsus or one can join the sealing corps if they know fuinjutsu. There is also the archives management but it requires seriously high level of clearance. Many usually go to Keishi for higher education as the infrastructure and facilities are better there. One can even find a job there, working for the state. Please do not mind me saying this but Akane-san, I think you should work at the hospital. Your healing capabilities are very standard and your knowledge of herbology would save many lives. It is just a suggestion. Shinobis take missions which sometimes becomes life-threatening. In some cases they live to tell the tale and in some cases they do not. I have had many friends who had to end their shinobi career because of an injury or wound. You would be saving not just lives but also their and their families' livelyhoods. Please do not take any offense for my words. But every person whi knows medical ninjutsu matters" - said Shinji earnestly.

"I did not take any offense at all. What you just said is right. I have been one of the healers of this village for over a decade and I know my responsibilities. Toru and I already talked about this and he also suggested that I do continue my work in the Leaf Village and knowing that there is a hospital in the village, I would like to join it very much." - assured Akane.

"That is excellent then, please take care of us in future." - Shinji said with a smile.

"Do not worry about it, now let us continue our dinner. The food is getting cold."

Soon, the dinner eneded and all of them went to sleep. The day tomorrow, the leaf shinobi squad left after saying their goodbyes with the mission completion statement from Toru. Takeru thought about these people he had met. He did not think one could have such jovial conversation with an Uchiha out of all the people. Maybe it was something else. Takeru looked underneath the underneath and sumised that maybe Shinji was tasked to show a good image of the village in front of their eyes. The village was in its infancy and there were very few people who knew medical ninjutsus. The Hidden Leaf, or to be exact any village for that matter could never have enough healers. It was a recruitment strategy all along. His family brought potential in their village and the leaders of the Leaf Village saw it. If they were regular civilians with no special skills then Shinji would not have spoken so much. His father was an accomplished swordsman with above average skillset and was probably a samurai in the past. His mother on the other hand was a good healer and knew medical ninjutsu well enough. He also did no think that Shinji, an Uchiha did not notice his huge amount of chakra reserves. They probably marked him as a probable shinobi candidate. Takeru came to a conclusion that this visit was no coincidence. It was a planned encounter. 'Damn, scheming ninjas!' - thought Takeru as spent his days and soon he fell into a routine of work, training and some leisure and his life went on.

It had been nearly a month since Toru came back from the Hidden Leaf Village and today Takeru and his family were packing their things hurriedly as the caravan they would be traveling with would leave in just an hour. Takeru trained like a madman in these few days. His execution of Shadow Clone Jutsu was unparalleled now. He could create clones in an instant without any hand-seals or any smoke. His clones were also more durable than regular shadow clones as they could take 4-5 hits before they dispel. He did this by infusing some of the physical energies in his clones. He also mastered the Higurashi sword style and fused it into his kenjutsu arsenal. He finally fully incorporated chakra strings into his taijutsu movesets. Takeru had fully mastered the 3 fire release jutsus. He could now do them without any hand-seals and lowered the chakra consumption to a miniscule amount. His control over the fire also increased. He could now change the shape and form the fire according to his wishes skillfully. Takeru did not try his hands on fuinjutsu but he did practice calligraphy rigorously, wanting to perfect his writing skills. Takeru's chakra reserve and chakra moulding speed increased a huge amount. He surmised that he probably had more than elite jounin level chakra reserves already. He sensed that he had more chakra than Shinji, Akahiro, Mei and Sora combined. All in all Takeru's power increased a fold in this past month. He was sure that he could protect himself and his family if something untoward happens during the journey. Akane hurried Takeru to finish his packing as she checked if they forgot anything. Toru and Takeru took the heavy luggages with Akane carrying a small bundle herself. They exited the house and saw their home for the past decade or so for the last time. Toru and Akane looked at each other and smiled. Maybe this bit sacrifice was needed for them to have a new chapter in their life and a fresh new start. Takeru saw the house probably for the last time reminiscing the time he spent. His birth, his growing up, all the joy and happiness he had, all the love he got. The memories he made in this house would stay with him all his life. After staying there for sometime, the Yamamoto family started going towards the caravan. Nearly the whole village came to see them off. Granny Miyako and her whole family, Hikaru and his family, Old man Tenshi and all of their neighbours came. The Yamamotos were loved by the village. Toru was a upright and responsible good man. Akane was gentle and always had a motherly aura around her. Takeru was their favourite. They all saw the child growing up to be healthy and fine boy. He was a genius, be it academics or swordsmanship, Takeru was a prodigy. But he did not have the arrogance of a genius, pride yes, but no arrogance. His good behaviour and amiable nature made him the favourite Yamamoto of the village. Takeru said his goodbyes to his friends, Renji, Genji and Tsukino. The Ji brothers promised to visit him next year and so did Tsukino as they too would be moving out of the village. The Yamamoto family bid their farewells and boarded the caravan. The caravan was a merchant caravan carrying goods throughout the Land of Fire. Toru opted to act as a guardian of the caravan with 13 other people. They were mainly freelancers hitching for a ride. Toru's expertise in kenjutsu and martial prowess granted him the position. As he would often spar with his son, his fighting prowess increased much in this decade. Toru was stationed at the back of the caravan, where Akane and Takeru were. Akane was sitting on a carriage while Takeru walked alongside his father chatting about different things casually. They were one of the only two families in this caravan. The other one being the leading merchant family who was in charge of the caravan. Their journey started well and only had two pit stops in every day for lunch and dinner and some refreshments. Takeru had already made two shadow clones for scouting ahead. He also periodically used active sensing to sense for anything suspicious. He knew his father was attacked while travelling on this road and he was ever vigilant because of it. He did not want any accident to happen because of his carelessness. Like this 4 days passed while they were travelling. Takeru came to know that the leading merchant was some big shot in the capital. This guy owned probably every entertainment and gambling venues in the capital. From sensing, Takeru also found out that there were two shinobis disguised as caretakers of his family. One of them had around the same chakra level as Shinji, probably an average jounin. And the other one was a genin level shinobi, Takeru surmised from what he sensed. Takeru used his focus point vision ability and used his two points on both sides of the caravan. Takeru used his sensing ability sparingly so it would not tire him out. He wanted this journey to be safe and without any unexpected incidents but man proposes but god disposes. He did not foolishly think that they would complete their journey without any troubles.