In the family tents, Solomon was standing his ground against his father, who is the leader of the Hyuuga clan, and his mother. The clan leader, Masato, was busy fretting over his son's first official assignment for the clan. His wife, Syuka, was sorting through all of Solomon's outfits and equipment. Solomon put up with the onslaught as hard as he could, but could only withstand for so long.

  “You have to be safe, which means taking everything you can to handle any type of situation. Do you understand?” Masato anxiously asked.

  Unable to keep his stoic veneer, Solomon cracked. “Yeah, I know, dad. Mom, could you please leave my stuff alone?” He foolishly asked.

  Syuka turned a gaze that could boil water at Solomon.

  “When your sister left for her first mission two years ago, she happily took all of our advice and assistance with sorting her belongings. You will have plenty of opportunities to pack your own bags, but this time let us handle it. Okay, little one?” Syuka said pleasantly after lessening her stare.

  Solomon looked at his father, silently pleading for help. Masato widened his eyes and gave a little shake of his head.

  "Since you have refused the trial of survival, you must take and complete an assignment before you are accepted as a member of the clan. Which means we are going to make sure you are as prepared as possible.” Masato said.

  The three continued to talk and bicker until Solomon's sister, Emilia, suddenly entered the tent.

  “Ah, Emilia. You have been approved to accompany Solomon on his mission. The roster is now four clan members, including you and Solomon.” Masato said, looking up at his daughter. He frowned upon seeing her face.

  Emilia said nothing as she marched through the tent, grabbed her bag she had prepared earlier that day, and left. Solomon kept his head down. Syuka and Masato looked at each other for a moment, before Syuka got up and left the tent.

  Syuka pulled the tent flap and rushed out to catch up to Emilia. The sun began to vanish over the trees as the two walked in silence for a minute. Syuka broke the silence.

  “You’re quite worried about him, aren’t you?” Syuka broached.

  Emilia said nothing for a few seconds before speaking.

  “I don’t want him to get hurt. He’s not ready for this. He should be with us, learning more, but dad insists he spend all his time training Kotetsu instead.”

  “Your father cares a great deal about all of you. The clan elders have forbidden all of us from teaching Kotetsu, so your father is doing what he can with what he has. And what he has is you, and Solomon. You know why.” Syuka said carefully.

  Emilia's face scrunched up as she remembered what her father had said.

  “Official clan members are forbidden from teaching outsiders… But, Solomon is technically not an official clan member yet. I’ve asked him to watch over Kotetsu for the time being.” Masato had told her.

  “The mission isn’t direct combat. You’re just acting as bodyguards, remember? You likely won’t even need to throw a punch. Not that you would need much more to finish a fight.” Syuka teased, before bringing her daughter into a hug.

  “All you have to do is trust your brother and the others. They are plenty strong enough. You are strong enough.” Syuka reassured her.

  “I have to finish getting ready.” Emilia said, walking out of her mother's grasp and toward her tent.

  Syuka sighed as she watched Emilia vanish into the tent.

  —

  Masato watched Solomon leave the main tent with his hefty pack in tow. He winced as Solomon almost tripped on the tent flap. A few minutes later, Syuka returned. The two gave each other a knowing glance as Syuka sat down opposite the small table in the tent. A few seconds later, Kotetsu wandered into the tent. He looked up to see Masato and Syuka, looking at him in unison. Kotetsu suddenly felt like a deer walking into a trap.

  “Uh, I’m just here to… Put this back and go to bed.” Kotetsu said, quickly stowing the small blade in a bag near the entrance before turning to leave.

  “Sit.” The order came from Masato.

  Kotetsu froze, then slowly turned back. He stiffly walked to the table and sat down. He really hoped they didn’t know about his torn pants from yesterday.

  “Let’s talk about your training.” Masato continued, a slightly amused expression appearing on his face.

  Kotetsu visibly relaxed. He began to recount the day's events, and how he definitely won against Solomon at least twice this time. He decided to leave out the actual number of times he himself lost.

  “Do you feel like you are getting better? We haven’t seen you fight yet.” Masato asked.

  “I’m getting really good. So good, I could probably take on Emilia now.” Kotetsu said with utmost confidence.

  Syuka and Masato looked at each other. Syuka spoke with a warning tone.

  “Don’t let her hear you say that. You saw Niko's poor face tonight. That might be you.” She said.

  Kotetsu considered the warning with sudden remembrance of Niko after their ‘spar’. He wished he had seen the fight between Gakuji and Emilia. Looking up between the two adults, Kotetsu hesitantly asked.

  “May I go eat and get to bed now please?”

  The two nodded. Kotetsu quickly got to his feet, but before he could exit the tent fully, Syuka called after him.

  “Kotetsu, do remember to bring those pants to the clothing outfitters so they can stitch it up, okay, dear?”

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  Kotetsu felt his face drop as he moved faster out of the tent.

  —

  The next day, four kids of varying ages met at the western edge of the encampment in the early hours of the morning. Solomon and Emilia, plus another boy and girl. Solomon was the youngest boy at 11 years old, while the other three were all 13 and 14 years old. Emilia had been assigned as the leader. Their mission was estimated to only take three days. Emilia would have it finished in two if she could manage. Everything would depend on the group they were meant to escort.

  A small group of adults, including Masato and Syuka, plus Kotetsu standing in the back, all saw the group depart. The adults quickly dispersed as they had their own tasks for the day to get to. Kotetsu planned on sleeping for the whole day. Kotetsu rushed back to his personal tent, went to get in his sleeping bag, and almost stabbed himself on the sharp blade sitting inside. Carefully grabbing at the blade, he picked it up out of the bag to find a note attached to it. He groaned as he read the note.

  “Kotetsu, I have left training instructions for you here. Follow them closely while I’m gone. Also, there is a gift for you in your clothes from yesterday. Solomon.” The note read.

  On the back were instructions. Kotetsu rolled his eyes as he read through the torture methods barely disguised as exercise instructions. Reaching for his clothes from yesterday, something hard and circular fell out of one pocket. He picked up the small wrapped disc. It was light. Unwrapping it, he found a rough cut of wood from a branch, around half an inch in length and a few inches in diameter. There was another note in the cloth wrapping. After a few seconds of reading the note, he smiled and picked up the wood disc with a new excitement while running out of the tent.

  “Kotetsu. This wood is special. You know that Chakra is a source of power for us as shinobi. You don’t know how to use it properly, though. This wood can be used to find out what your Chakra Nature is.” The rest of the note detailed how to use the wood, and what the results of using it meant. Kotetsu slipped the wood into a pocket, then quickly and quietly began to make his way out of the camp and toward his usual training spot. He was interrupted when an older boy suddenly stepped in front of him.

  Kotetsu stopped and looked up into the bruised face of Gakuji. He was by far the tallest of the group, with light brown hair that barely stopped above his eyes. There were four other boys, all crowded behind him. All five boys looked down at the small boy.

  “Uh, I forgot something in my tent. Gotta go…” Kotetsu began to say, trying to turn around, but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

  “You disrupted our game. You have to pay the price now.” Gakuji said, pulling Kotetsu back with his stronger grip. Kotetsu looked up in surprise.

  “Game? What game?” Kotetsu asked, looking up suddenly.

  “A very important game. The rules are simple. Here, I’ll tell you how it works. We take turns telling someone to do something, then we play Janken. If that person loses, they have to do what we told them to do.” Gakuji said with a smirk.

  Kotetsu's eyes widened as Gakuji explained the game. As Gakuji finished, Kotetsu took a step back and held his hand forward in a fist.

  “Okay, I wanna go first!” Kotetsu stated. Gakuji smiled.

  “If you insist. I order you… To climb up a tree.” Gakuji quickly said, then brought his arm down and opened his palm flat.

  “I win. You gotta do that now.”

  Kotetsu looked down at his and Gakuji's hands in surprise to find his still closed fist, and Gakuji's open palm. The other boys all agreed that this was totally fair. Kotetsu felt sudden hesitation.

  “What’s wrong? You agreed to this. That tree over there looks high enough. Get climbing!”

  Kotetsu looked up at the tall oak tree. Walking over and jumping a few times, he finally grabbed the lowest branch. He proceeded to take the next few minutes to climb to the top.

  “Okay… I did it! Let me climb down now and we can play another one…” Kotetsu started to carefully put one leg down, but Gakuji called up at him before he could move too far.

  “Hold on, you have to play from where you are! It’s the rules. I order you… To jump out of that tree.” He stated.

  Kotetsu couldn’t believe the rules were this strict. Hesitating only for a moment, he held his arm out with a fist again.

  The other boys snickered again as Gakuji quickly yelled “Go!” and held out an open palm again. Kotetsu was left astonished that he lost yet again.

  Looking down, knowing this was the game he signed up for, he jumped from the top of the 20 foot tree. He attempted to aim for a bush to land in, but missed slightly and ended up rolling into a pile of mud. Kotetsu felt his legs burn from trying to absorb the landing. After trying to catch his breath, he began to get up, patting his chest and trying to remove the mud from his hair.

  “When do I get to tell one of you what to do?” Kotetsu asked between breaths.

  “When you win.” Gakuji said.

  The next hour was filled with Kotetsu trying time and time again to win a game of Janken. He did not win a single match. Each time, one of the boys ordered him to do something more ridiculous than the last. When one boy asked him to go take a dump in one of the elder's tents, Kotetsu decided his life was more important than winning some stupid game. The boys had been left greatly amused after ordering Kotetsu around for a whole hour.

  Kotetsu had a slight limp as he made his way out of the camp. Remembering the wood disc, he pulled it out of his pocket to see that it had broken into pieces. He wasn’t sure if that was caused from trying to lift that huge rock or falling out of the tree. He hoped the wood still worked like how Solomon's note said it would. Walking in silence for a while, he eventually came upon the crevice. He found a suitable rock to sit down on while he examined his new bruises and the wood. He recalled the note.

  “When you are ready, you have to flow your Chakra through the wood. You should remember this from when I showed you how to jump and run faster, though you weren’t very good so it might take a few tries. Don’t give up.” The note read. Kotetsu wondered about the feeling of Chakra flowing through his feet the first time those weeks ago. Solomon told him to imagine sticking his feet into a stream of water. It took Kotetsu that entire day before anything actually happened.

  Kotetsu held a piece of the broken disc in his hand, and imagined shoving his entire arm into a cold stream. He thought hard. And harder. He sat on the rock for minutes, arm jut out in front of him. Nothing happened. After squeezing the wood so hard he thought it would pierce his hand, he let it drop to the dirt. He looked down at it accusingly.

  “Why don’t you work? I want lightning powers already…” Kotetsu said to the wood. The wood said nothing back. Kotetsu grunted and stood up. He stared up at the sky, the sun beating down on his face, and let his mind wander. Something Solomon said once prodded at him from the back of his mind.

  “...My nature lets me create and control water. I can’t drink the water I create sadly, but I can make it look like someone peed themselves, which is arguably better.” Solomon had said. The two were taking a break from their latest spar that day.

  “Nature?” Kotetsu had asked.

  “Yeah, like water, wind, fire, earth… Everyone has one. Even you. We’ll try to figure out what your nature is some time. Oh, and there’s also lightning…” Solomon had said. Kotetsu listened with wrapped attention.

  “Did you say… Lightning? Are you saying that I could control lightning?” Kotetsu asked with all the hope and wonder of a 9 year old.

  Coming out of the daydream, Kotetsu realised something. If Solomon had to imagine a stream of water to flow his Chakra, then maybe Kotetsu had to imagine whatever his nature was, as it clearly was not water. Reaching down, he picked up the piece of wood. Clamping down on it with his fingers, he filled his mind with the sound of thunder, and the bright flash of lightning. He loved storms. Thinking of that bright flash, he reached out, and tried to touch it. Kotetsu held that image in his head for a solid minute, just trying to touch the lightning. The flash grew brighter and warmer. Then hot. Then burning hot. Suddenly, Kotetsu heard a crack between his fingers, and dropped the piece of wood while opening his eyes. What he saw… Was not lightning. The smoldering piece of wood dropped to the ground, a small fire erupting from within, leaving the splintered piece of wood as a pile of cinders.

  Kotetsu looked at his slightly burned hand in astonishment.

  “I guess fire is good enough…” Kotetsu said with a slight frown after a moment.