Chapter 13: The Weight of Arrangements
The photography process took over an hour.
By the time Ryuzen and Hinata finished their official photos and walked toward the school gate, the afternoon sun had begun its slow descent. New genin and their families milled about the entrance, excited chatter filling the air.
But one figure sat apart from everyone else.
Uzumaki Naruto, alone on a swing.
His new forehead protector was tied around his head, but his expression wasn't the joyful one he'd worn earlier. Now, he just stared at the ground, feet scuffing the dirt as he swung slowly back and forth.
Ryuzen's Kenbunshoku Haki, always active now, picked up the whispers from the parents standing nearby—those who'd come to celebrate their own children's graduation.
"...that boy..."
"...the demon fox..."
"...shouldn't even be allowed..."
"...disgrace..."
The words weren't kind. The tones dripped with disgust and fear.
On the surface, Ryuzen's expression didn't change. He continued walking, hand in hand with Hinata, as if he hadn't heard anything.
But inside, he felt something stir.
A hero's son. The container for the village's greatest weapon. A child who had done nothing wrong, who didn't even understand why everyone hated him—and yet, he was treated like a monster.
If Ryuzen had been born into those circumstances, if he'd faced that kind of rejection every single day since childhood... he wasn't sure he could have remained as bright, as determined, as Naruto somehow managed to be.
He shook his head slightly and kept walking.
At the door to his house, he and Hinata said goodbye. It was still daytime, so he didn't walk her home—just watched until she disappeared around a corner, then went inside.
The forehead protector went on his dresser. He stripped off his kimono, showered, and changed into training clothes.
Then, as always, he went to the training hall.
The daily task hadn't changed much in two years. Two thousand slashes. The same number he'd been doing for a while now.
But the meaning of those slashes had transformed completely.
Every swing was a cut now. Not just a practice stroke—a genuine technique that could sever without touching. Yet he could perform them without damaging his surroundings, controlling the power with perfect precision.
Shing—
Shing—
Shing—
The blade sang as it moved through the air. The hours passed. Dusk came and went.
When night fully fell, Ryuzen finally stopped.
He knew what was happening elsewhere in the village tonight. The Scroll of Seals incident. Naruto, manipulated by Mizuki, would steal the forbidden scroll, learn the Shadow Clone Technique, and finally receive the acknowledgment he'd craved his entire life from Iruka.
Ryuzen had no intention of getting involved.
The whole affair was transparently orchestrated—a plan full of holes, designed by the Third Hokage to give his predecessor's son some compensation for years of neglect. Only a fool would insert themselves into that political theater.
He went for his usual two-hour run through the village, then returned home, showered, and went to bed.
But sleep didn't come easily.
Lying in the darkness, staring at the starry sky through his window, Ryuzen's mind turned to tomorrow.
Team assignments.
Where would they put him?
Class 7 was impossible. No way the Third Hokage would put the top student and the second-ranked student on the same team. Besides, the destined conflict between Indra and Asura's reincarnations—Naruto and Sasuke—required them to be together. Add in the necessary "two men, one woman" dynamic for team balance, and the third slot had to be a girl.
Class 10 was the new generation Ino-Shika-Cho formation. Outsiders need not apply.
Class 8 was the sensory team—Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. All clan heirs with tracking abilities. The chance of Ryuzen, a civilian with no sensory heritage, being placed there was practically zero.
So where did that leave him?
Stuck with a team of nobodies? Random graduates thrown together to fill numbers?
Ryuzen's mood soured just thinking about it.
If he got assigned to a team of dead weight, if he failed the survival exercise because his teammates were incompetent... he'd be sent back to the Academy. For another year of this nonsense.
He refused to be a babysitter.
And honestly? If they didn't make him a ninja, fine. He didn't need the village's recognition. His strength was his own. In the chaos approaching, power mattered more than titles.
With that decision firm in his mind, Ryuzen finally closed his eyes and let sleep take him.
He didn't know that someone else was worrying about the exact same thing.
In the Hokage's office, lamplight flickered late into the night.
The Third Hokage sat behind his desk, pipe in hand, staring at the graduation list Iruka had submitted. Beside it lay a stack of ninja files—one for each new genin.
Normally, team assignments were simple.
The six major clan heirs fell naturally into two groups: Ino-Shika-Cho, and the sensory team of Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. The Uchiha survivor and the jinchuriki needed to be together—that was non-negotiable. Add a girl that Naruto cared about to balance the dynamic, and the teams practically arranged themselves.
But this year...
Hiruzen picked up a particular file and studied it.
Yagyu Ryuzen. Age 12. Civilian. Top student for five consecutive years. Scores: perfect across all categories. Instructor notes: "Exceptional talent.远超 peers in taijutsu and weapons mastery. Possible prodigy on par with Minato or Itachi."
Prodigy. That word again.
Hiruzen had watched this boy grow, though Ryuzen didn't know it. Years ago, the Sandaime had noticed a small child in a training hall, swinging a sword again and again, day after day, with a determination that reminded him of two ghosts from the past.
The Yellow Flash. The White Fang.
Both gone now. Both lost to the village.
And here was this boy, silver-haired and crimson-eyed, carving his own path with nothing but relentless effort.
Hiruzen puffed his pipe, blowing smoke rings toward the ceiling.
If he put Ryuzen with the sensory team, he'd have four members—unbalanced. If he put him with Sasuke and Naruto, that team would be too strong, and the dynamic would suffer from three boys.
If he put him with ordinary graduates... was that fair to the boy? To waste such talent on a team that couldn't challenge him?
The old Hokage's eyes drifted to the window, gazing out at the darkened village.
"Yagyu Ryuzen..." He murmured the name, feeling a strange sense of familiarity. Then it clicked.
The boy from years ago. The one he'd watched through the crystal ball, practicing alone, hour after hour, long after any child his age would have quit.
"He's grown so much," Hiruzen said softly. "And he's become the top student of this year's class."
He set the pipe down and picked up a special seal—one reserved for unusual assignments.
"You really do remind me of them, boy. Minato's brightness. Sakumo's determination."
The seal came down on Ryuzen's file with a soft thump.
The decision was made.<｜end▁of▁thinking｜>Chapter 14: Team Assignments
Morning arrived with its usual unhurried pace.
Ryuzen woke, exercised, ate, and created his daily shadow clone without any particular urgency. Today was simply another step forward—team assignments would be announced, and then he would know exactly what path lay before him.
The clone headed to the Academy while the original settled into his morning sword meditation.
But his mind wouldn't quiet.
Where will they put me?
He'd gone over the possibilities a hundred times last night. Class 7 was out—no way the Hokage would stack Sasuke and the top student together. Class 8 was for sensory types, which he wasn't. Class 10 was Ino-Shika-Cho, locked down tighter than the Hokage's office.
That left... random assignment. A team of ordinary graduates with no special heritage, no standout skills. The kind of team that scraped by on D-ranks and never made waves.
The kind of team that would hold him back.
If they put me on a team of dead weight...
Ryuzen's jaw tightened. He'd made his decision last night. If the survival exercise went badly because of incompetent teammates, if they tried to send him back to the Academy for another year—he'd refuse. Walk away. Go rogue if he had to.
His strength was his own. He didn't need Konoha's recognition.
But that would complicate things. Hinata was here. His training spot was here. The relative safety of the village, at least for now, was here.
Better to wait and see.
He forced his breathing to steady and sank deeper into meditation.
The morning passed.
When his shadow clone returned at noon, Ryuzen released it and absorbed the information. The team assignments had been posted. The clone had checked the list.
And what Ryuzen learned...
He blinked. Then blinked again.
"That's... unexpected."
The Academy classroom buzzed with nervous energy.
Graduates crowded around the bulletin board where team assignments had just been posted, searching for their names, calling out to friends, groaning or cheering at their luck.
Naruto pushed through the crowd desperately, finally spotting his name:
Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke
"YEAAAH! I'm with Sakura-chan!" Naruto pumped his fist—then froze as the rest registered. "Wait... SASUKE?!"
Nearby, Sakura's expression cycled through several emotions before settling on something complicated. With Sasuke and Naruto? This was going to be... interesting.
Sasuke, for his part, simply turned and walked away without comment.
In another corner, Shikamaru examined the board with his usual lazy expression.
Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji
"How troublesome," he muttered. But a small smile tugged at his lips.
Nearby, Kiba scanned the board with Akamaru in his jacket.
Team 8: Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata
"Alright! Me and Shino and..." Kiba looked around. "Where's Hinata? Hey, Hinata! We're on the same team!"
Hinata, standing slightly apart, gave a small smile. "Yes... I saw."
But her eyes kept drifting to another name on the board. A name that wasn't on any of the expected teams.
Team ??: Yagyu Ryuzen
There was no team number listed. Just his name, alone, with a notation that sent whispers rippling through the crowd.
Special Assignment: Direct Appointment
"What does that mean?" someone asked.
"I've never seen that before..."
"Is he not getting a team?"
Ino pushed through to look, her eyebrows rising. "Special Assignment? What kind of special assignment?"
Shikamaru's lazy eyes sharpened slightly as he studied the notation. "Direct appointment from the Hokage... that's unusual."
Even Sasuke, already halfway out the door, paused and glanced back at the board. His dark eyes found Ryuzen's name, and something flickered in his expression—jealousy? Respect? Irritation?
Then he was gone.
Naruto scratched his head obliviously. "Special Assignment? What's that mean? Is Ryuzen not gonna be a ninja?"
"No, idiot," Ino snapped. "It means he's getting a different kind of assignment. Probably something special from the Hokage himself."
"WOW! Ryuzen's so cool!" Naruto's eyes sparkled. "I bet he's gonna be an ANBU or something!"
"ANBU are chosen from experienced ninja, not fresh graduates," Shino's quiet voice corrected. "But this is indeed... unprecedented."
The whispers followed Ryuzen's name all day, but the man himself wasn't there to hear them.
He was at home, processing the news.
Direct appointment. From the Hokage.
He hadn't expected this. Hadn't even considered it as a possibility. In the original story, nobody got special assignments like this. Team 7, 8, 10—that was it. Everyone fit into those boxes.
So why him?
What did the Third Hokage see that warranted this treatment?
Ryuzen sat in his training hall, Shigure Kintoki across his lap, considering the implications.
On one hand, this meant he wasn't stuck with dead weight. No babysitting duty. No risk of failing the survival exercise because of incompetent teammates.
On the other hand... it meant he was visible. The Hokage had his eye on him. That could be dangerous. Danzo had his eye on promising young ninja too—and Danzo's attention rarely ended well.
But worrying wouldn't help. Whatever came, he would face it.
He had his strength. His path. His Hinata.
Everything else was details.
A knock came at the door just as dusk began to fall.
Ryuzen opened it to find Hinata standing there, a wrapped dinner in her hands and worry in her lavender eyes.
"Ryuzen-kun... I saw the assignments." She stepped inside, setting the food down before turning to face him. "Are you okay? What does it mean?"
He smiled, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "It means the Hokage has plans for me. Nothing to worry about."
"But... special assignment? That's never happened before."
"Which is exactly why it's nothing to worry about." He took her hands. "Whatever it is, I'll handle it. And you—you're on Team 8 with Kiba and Shino. That's good. Kurenai Yuhi is a excellent jonin. You'll learn a lot."
Hinata nodded slowly, but the worry didn't fully leave her eyes. "I just... I don't want to be separated from you. We've trained together for so long..."
Ryuzen squeezed her hands gently. "We're not being separated. We'll still see each other. Still train together. Nothing changes that."
She looked up at him, and the worry finally softened into something warmer.
"Okay. I trust you, Ryuzen-kun."
They ate together, talked about nothing important, and for a few hours, the uncertainty of the future faded.
But in the back of Ryuzen's mind, gears were turning.
The Hokage had plans for him.
He needed to be ready for whatever those plans were.
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