[An unremarkable ninja is born!]
Born the child of two civilians Fenjji Shanzai was not gifted the best of starts in the shinobi world, his parents did not belong to any clan but instead attempted to live in peace in a small non-military village within the earth village. By the time Fenjji had reached his first year however the village formerly known as Sanka was reformed into the far studier organization of Iwakagure No Sato. After several meetings amongst the village elders it was decided that, given the upheaval common in the Earth Country, the villagers would approach the leaders of Iwakagure No Sato and beg they be allowed to join the village. They would offer strong bodies for basic-construction and other work that Shinobi would be wasted on, and they were a strong and proud people that would not be taking no for an answer easily. Their offer was quickly accepted by Miyama Moto and before Fenjji could even form his first memory of his birthplace he was uprooted and taken to live in the 'safety' of Iwakagure No Sato.
Things did not become easier for him within the confines of the ninja village, at least not in respects to his destiny to become a Shinobi. In fact his parents even protested when, at young ages, he would play at ninja with the other village children. Such games were common inside Iwagakure No Sato, where children would see their elders lift mountains and create rivers by simply making a few un-followable hand-seals and wish that sort of ability for themselves. Of course the children knew little of the hardship of Shinobi life, or the death that followed Ninja around as a second shadow. The parents within the village were not so niave, for was it not because of the protection these trained killers offered that they had joined the village in the first place?
His parents were protective of their only child and did not want him to fall into a military life that would jeopardize his safety, and so even from a young age they sheltered him as much as possible from the lure of the Shinobi-lifestyle. They may have come to Iwakagure No Sato seeking protection from the Shinobi of the village but they were not willing to allow their only son to become one of the people that they not only respected, but greatly feared for their military power.
Much to his parent's anguish however Fenjji played in secret with the other children and, alongside his peers, developed a taste for the fun-and-game styled ninja battles they would orchestrate amongst themselves. He was charismatic and had a flare for leading others even back then and would often end up in one of the main roles of their game, commanding one 'clan' of ninja against another with no mercy. Their battles were fought with sticks and paper shuriken and consisted of equal parts play-fighting and arguing about who killed who and what side won. Although not by a large amount Fenjji was usually on the winning side of these battles, and to his friends he was a hero!
This innocent hobby soon grew from an interest into an aspiration, and from there it developed quickly into a dream for Fenjji. It was one year after most of his friends had managed to do so but after much whining and crying, and promises that he would take extra care even in the schoolyard, he managed to convince his parents to allow him to enroll in the ninja academy at the age of six.
[From hero to zero.]
The Yama academy had only been around for a handful of years, not long enough for even one class of standard Shinobi to pass out yet, though there had been quite a few prodigies etc that had aced out long-before they were originally expected to. In it's juvenile years the academy became home to Fenjji, a place of learning and study, and after a few months basic practices of the Shinobi. Most of the introductory year of the school was simple things like maths etc, but they were usually edged towards application into the Shinobi-world somehow. He neither excelled nor struggled in these lessons and often scored average marks in class tests etc, it wasn't what he had been expecting the academy to be like and nor how he had expected he would perform when he did eventually enroll, but it was taking him to greater places he knew and he would improve with time so he willed himself to hold on.
It was not long until the physical sparring sessions began, led by the Chunin instructors whom would try their best to place the children against people of equal skill-levels. The first few sessions were terrible for poor Fenjji, whom quickly discovered that for all his might and power outside at fake-ninja-fights he was without a lick of talent in the real thing. He was defeated by most of his classmates with relative ease, that number much to his shame did include the female members of the class. It was quickly established that were Taijutsu was concerned he was amongst the bottom of the class, this was only made more embarrassing by the fact most of the children were a year younger than he was.
As they advanced through the terms of the academy basic Ninjutsu was added to the register of class-work, though it consisted mainly of learning the basic handseals and how Ninjutsu actually worked. A few children from his class took to the art like fish in water and before he had even managed to commit the hand-seals to memory they were performing Ninjutsu far beyond their years, though still nothing truly noteworthy of course. His skills here were not the worst in the class, but they were not far from it. The school yard soon became a terrible place for Fenjji, whom would often be the butt of the more-skilled childrens' jokes because of his inability.
His roughening school-life began to show at home and his parents, angered that their child was being picked on, were close to pulling him out of the program entirely. With much protestation Fenjji managed to convince them to let him try and deal with it in his own way before they ruined any chance he had of ever re-gaining his peer's respect. It was an odd decision for a child to make, especially one with little going for him at the time, but even the adolescent Fen had fire in his gut and he was not going to be chased off by a few silly comments.
Instead of being disheartened by the jeering and taunting of his former friendly classmates Fenjji took it in his stride, and only worked two, three, nay ten times harder, on his school-work than before. Whilst other children were outside playing at break times and lunch-interval he would remain in class and work on trying to get a better understanding of the Ninja Arts, initially this obviously gained him no favor amongst his peers but he did not care. This wasn't so much about gaining their respect back, it was more about being able to respect himself and say that at the end of the day, no matter the results, he had tried his very hardest.
With his new determination driving him forward Fenjji's skills began developing at a rate faster than most of his classmates, but the defect between their skill and his own was still noticeable for some time. He may have been improving, but he was working against the grain, and most of them had simple natural talent that he would never possess. At the age of 7 his Taijutsu skills had progressed to the point where they were almost a match for the majority of his classmates, but where he shone brighter than that was his understanding of the workings of Ninjutsu, though he was yet to actually be able to perform even a single jutsu. It was like knowing the principles behind how to use any weapon, be it a sword or a claymore, but without the physical training to actually implement it. His mind was more absorbent than his body it would seem, for although he put equal hours of each and every day into either of their development he always seemed to do better when using his head and not his body. 'Mind over matter' became his mantra. and it was with his head instead of his mettle that began approaching his problems.
It was the middle of his last term at the Yama Academy, when he was 11 years of age, when the Shodai Tsuchikage passed away silently in his sleep one night, and although Fenjji had never personally met the man he felt saddened by the loss of the village figurehead.
Luckily it was not long until a new Tsuchikage was appointed, The Nidaime Tsuchikage came in the form of the first's young pupil. This one he had heard many tales of, and they all spoke of her fiery passion and wild temper. He did not know what her rule would bring, but soon he would be a fully fledged Shinobi and so it would be his duty to serve her no matter her order...
[The years of eruptions and beasts came...]
Fenjji passed out of the Academy with high test scores and slightly below average physical test results, luckily he had mastered the basic Academy ninjutsu in just enough time to pass out alongside his classmates. He was assigned to a four man squad alongside two of his classmates, Yukio Shringi a talented young female that was already showing signs of having an affinity towards Genjutsu and Medical Ninjutsu despite her young age, and Sosen Arumi a brash and bold boy a year younger than his two teammates but quite a few years ahead in terms of ability. He had spoken only slightly to Yukio throughout their time together in the Academy and had something of a developing crush on her by the time their Academy years were ending. He and Sosen had bumped heads countless times however as Sosen had often been the one leading the group of children that picked on Fenjji's poor skills, though as they had progressed through the Academy Fenjji became more and more defensive and more able to defend himself both verbally and physically from the more talented boy's insults and physical provocations.
Working with Sosen was not how he had thought he would begin his years as a Shinobi, but as fate would have it their new Sensei was not one to allow his team any animosity towards each other whatsoever.
Tenzin Tramuchi was a seasoned Shinobi of advancing years and carried himself with great dignity and respect, and quickly asserted that he expected his team do like-wise. During their first team-meeting he told them that he had been Sensei to a number of young Shinobi before them and each and everyone had developed into an outstanding warrior, and that he expected nothing less from his new pupils.
Without even having to ask Tenzin seemed to sense the lingering hatred in the air between Sosen and Fenjji, with a single shake of his head he commented that they 'would surely die on the battlefield, if they could not trust their teammates entirely'. Both Sosen and Fenjji showed signs of discomfort at the thought of working with the other, Fenjji because of Sosen's years of abuse, and Sosen because he thought himself far above both of his teammates, especially Fenjji.
Tenzin was silent for a time and then declared that he would allow the boys their 'silly rivalry' so long as they passed a test of his, and if not then they would throw aside their hatred for each other and put the success of the team first. The test was to be held the next day, and he suggested that all of three of them prepare for the greatest challenge they had faced to the day.
The meeting place was a wasteland a ways outside of the village and it was at noon that the four-man-squad came together for the second time. Fenjji had spent the entire night preparing a set of tools for every occasion, thinking himself more than prepared, and also running over his jutsu to ensure he was in top form. Whatever test, he thought, his new Sensei threw at him he would certainly be able to handle it.
You can imagine the surprise when Tenzin declared that their test was one of combat, and their opponent was to be him. He held up a small hourglass and tipped it so that the sand began trickling down, his face had been stern and serious as he had explained the terms of their challenge to his students. They were to cause him to drop, or otherwise break, the hourglass before the sand reached the bottom. They were free to use any and all techniques at their disposal and he even stated that he would not be impressed unless 'my very existence is threatened during this game of ours'.
With their challenge made clear the Shinobi all burst into action in the way they each thought best; Yukio turned and fled behind some nearby rock-cover, Fenjji reached into his pouch and threw a shuriken as best as he could towards the hour-glass in the hopes to smash it before the test had even begun, unfortunately however Sosen chose that exact moment to simply charge Tenzin head on...The shuriken hit home in the back of his arm, just above the elbow, and caused him to let out a shrill shriek of mixed surprise and pain.
As Sosen turned towards Fenjji in anger Tenzin shot forward and landed an almighty roundhouse kick on the unsuspecting boy's turning lower jaw, as Sosen flew towards him from the impact Fenjji realized their new sensei was deadly serious about this trial of his...
It was safe to say that after the three hours it took for the sand to trickle away Tenzin still held an entirely un-touched hour-glass. Sosen had, with lessening enthusiasm each time, tried half a hundred different forms of head-on assault, even managing to launch two C-rank Doton techniques in the hopes to catch the older Shinobi off-guard. Tenzin had expressed only mild surprise that the boy could perform C-rank jutsu at his age, and then deftly avoided both attacks with astounding ease. Fenjji had been smarter about his assaults but had been met with the same lack of results. Yukio had been absent most of the trial and had only appeared when she thought her Sensei had forgotten about her entirely, launching some unseen barrage from afar only to have it thwarted effortlessly by Tenzin whom didn't even bother to pursue her afterwards. In fact for the entire duration of the trial Tenzin rarely moved from his stationary position and instead simply defended himself from each individual attack as it came, moving only when one of his pupils made a blunder so painfully grand that he felt the need to beat that habit out of them before it started.
As the trio of adolescents lay panting and exhausted around him Tenzin deposited the hour-glass into a pouch on his flak-jacket with a sigh, he began a speech that would go on to define the team, a speech so poignant and un-deniably correct that even the hot-headed Sosen saw sense in it. The finishing lines of said speech will remain with Fenjji until the day he dies, and is often amongst the first lessons that he teaches anyone studying under his own tutelage;
"In the wilderness a single tree that stands alone cannot hope to weather the force of a great storm, but the forest as a whole will endure together, with each individual tree strengthening the ones close to it and lessening the force each individual tree must take.
In the same sense a man that stands alone on the battlefield is easily overwhelmed by an enemy force, these men and women I call warriors and I commend their bravery, but bravery often leads to foolishness, and on the battlefield that leads to death.
A man whom stands alongside his allies is never alone and is not so easily overwhelmed, they are using their head instead of heeding their own sense of pride and glory-seeking and for that reason it is them that shall survive where lone-warriors shall die, these men and women are deserving of the title of 'Shinobi'."The lesson concluded that alone none of them stood a chance at even almost touching the hour-glass, but together they might just have been able to endanger it and win this challenge. Tenzin declared that they had lost their challenge, and so lost the privilege of hating one another. Any further signs of resentment towards their fellow teammates would result in immediate expulsion from the squad, and re-assignment to the Academy for another year where 'perhaps they would learn the true meaning of what it is to be Shinobi'. Fearing for their newly gained status as fully fledged ninja Sosen and Fenjji shook hands then and there, though neither had truly forgotten their disapproval for the other.
As it happened however there was not much time for their team to grow before their first crucial mission was dished out, in fact it was the very next day that a volcanic eruption shook the village and endangered the safety of Iwakagakure. It was not their place to deal with the lava itself, far more experienced Shinobi were deployed to deal with that, but it was their job to help evacuate civilians that may have been at risk if the flow was not somehow diverted in time. Luckily the lava did not reach Iwagakure, and so their mission was arguably pointless, but it only added to the already overwhelming list of motivations that the team had to put their differences aside.
Over the years Sosen and Fenjji's dislike for each other grew smaller and smaller, and their rivalry actually turned into a somewhat amicable one. Sosen would more often than not come out on top, but it gave Fenjji a solid goal to aim for and in doing so made him strive even harder than before to become a better Shinobi.
Seeing Fenjji's burning desire to better himself Tenzin took a great deal of personal interest in him and would often spend nights helping the boy practice what skills he already did possess, or teaching him new concepts and ideas. Over the course of their time together Fenjji began seeing Tenzin as more and more of a father-figure, though of course it was only in later years that he realized that, at the time he simply had great respect for the man.
By the time they were 15 all three of the Shinobi were no longer Genin and so their squad was officially disbanded, Fenjji and Yukio had been promoted to the rank of Chunin, a rank that Sosen had reached the year previously and which he had been advanced beyond this year. The fact that his rival had been promoted before him had served as a strong incentive for Fenjji to work even harder before, and when Sosen was promoted to Jounin just as he himself reached the rank of Chunin that incentive only grew in strength.
By this point Fenjji had become quite adept with his Suiton release, which had taken quite a while for him to even master the basics of. By putting hours upon hours of work into its' development each day however, and with the guidance of Tenzin-Sensei, he had gotten it to the point where he could stand proudly amongst the other Suiton users of the village without fear of great ridicule, though he was far from being considered even a specialist in its' use. His Taijutsu was still pretty shabby, but he he had faced many enemy Shinobi whilst out on missions and had found that he could hold his own against most of them. His skill at Genjutsu extended as far as being able to sense its' affects on himself and being able to disrupt it, he had no skill whatsoever at actually implementing it though.
Though his old-squad was no longer intrinsically bound to one another they still kept in contact regularly and were even assigned to missions with together due to their strong teamwork and their varying set of individual skills. With Tenzin as acting head of most of these missions they went by without a hitch.
However, there were occasional missions when Sosen, as a Jounin, was appointed as the mission head because his skill-set was more suited towards their mission goal. Those missions were somewhat less productive, because Fenjji found it difficult to unquestioningly obey the orders of his teammate and rival, after all they had spent the past several years competing at just about everything you could imagine. Given enough time he would fall in line, but he would not be happy about it, and he learned quickly enough that the mission had to come before his personal feelings towards his acting-captain.
It was approaching his one year promotion anniversary when Iwakagure was suddenly attacked by the Yonbi, and as a Chunin of noteable skill he was deployed to help in fending the beast off from the village. In fact he soon found himself side-by-side with his old squad and together they launched combination after combination of 'powerful jutsu', and watched in awe as they washed off of the Yonbi uselessly. Of the four only Tenzin and Sosen's attacks even seemed to phase the beast, though fortunately there was a sea of Iwa-nins battling the beast alongside them, amongst their number the Tscuchikage herself, and a lot of them wielded jutsu powerful enough to properly molest the beast. One of the beast's counterattacks came frighteningly close to getting a direct hit on Fenjji, but using the body flicker technique he managed to avoid the attack just in time, though the devastation left by the attack caused him to become separated from his team.
After a long and hard fought battle the Yonbi was eventually forced to retreat, leaving behind in its' wake so much destruction and carnage that the portion of the village it had laid siege to was almost unrecognizable.
Fenjji had, of course, heard of the power of the tailed beasts but it was not until that day that he realized just how divine these beings truly were in levels of power. It was only because Iwagakure stood together that it had survived. Much as Tenzin had said all those years ago; so long as Shinobi stood together beside their comrades there was nothing they could not surmount.
The aftermath of the attack was confusion, and driven anger towards the Nidaime Tsuchikage whom had been ordering Shinobi with the potential to drive the beast back to try and capture it instead, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of many. Fenjji did not question his superiors though and although the Tsuchikage may have made a few rash decisions during the attack it had been her leadership that ultimately drove the beast away, without her Iwagakure might well have fallen entirely.
More concerned about recovering the bodies of the fallen Fenjji joined the dozens of Shinobi that had began the task of clearing the rubble and collecting the corpses of their comrades, or more fittingly in most situations; what remained of their corpses. It was he that stumbled upon the wreckage that was once his teammate, and rival, and in a ways even his friend; Sosen's body had been half-crushed by a falling stone whilst the other half was unharmed but utterly lifeless. Stricken by sorrow Fenjji remained alone by the fallen body of his friend for quite some time, until his Sensei eventually came across the two of them and joined him in silent grieving for a time.
The words that Tenzin did eventually speak were not easy to hear, but he needed to hear them nonetheless.
'Sosen was strong and Sosen was brave, let us remember him for those perfections...But let us also not forget that Sosen was arrogant, and he thought himself above even the strength of the Bijuu. Forgetting how strong and proud he was would be a shame on us both, but forgetting what got him killed in the end would be a mockery to him.
He has died here today and all we can do about that is grow, become stronger and move forward with our lives and protect the village in his memory.
I will understand if you need more time to grieve, he is the first true friend you have lost, but I fear he shall not be the last my young pupil.'
Like a series of pins falling into place something clicked within Fenjji's head and he no longer felt saddened by his friend's death, at least not so much he was consumed by sorrow, instead he felt invigorated. Sosen had always been stronger than he was, he had always been better no matter what Fenjji had done to try and catch him, and yet Sosen had died today whilst Fenjji lived on. It was Fenjji's goal now, his one mission in life, to surpass his fallen comrade and live on to be even stronger than Sosen could ever have imagine he could be. He would become strong enough to protect his village and his comrades from anything, even something as fearsome as a Bijuu. His reply had made his Sensei smirk at the time, and it brought a similar smile to his face whenever he thought back to that tragic day.
'I hope you don't mind...If I use that time for grieving...To train instead....'
It was not physically possible to increase the amount of time Fenjji spent training his mind and body each day without illy affecting his health, but from that day forward his efforts during that training were even greater than they were before and the benefits of his training blossomed as a result...
Over the following years, alongside the fall of the Nidaime Tsuchikage and the rise of the Sandaime, Fenjji trained almost non-stop under the tutelage of his Sensei, whilst the same time also taking on a teaching role at the Yama Academy to pass on what he knew to the next generation. He may have been constantly bettering himself, but even at his young age the village recognized that he had a way of making others try their very best and get the most out of their potential.
His work at the Academy was great and he thoroughly enjoyed watching as the next generation of Shinobi learned the very basics, things he himself had barely mastered fully. It felt odd to be given such a vital task to the village at such a young age, but he was honored by it and took his role entirely seriously, and his pupils were amongst the happiest and highest scoring students the Academy had produced in quite a while.
By the age of 18 he was promoted to Tokebetsu Jounin because of his skill as a trainer, and was taken from the Acadamy and instead assigned a team of his very own. His own learning under Tenzin came to a formal end, though the two would still meet up and spar occasionally. Instead his time became focused solely on developing the skills of the young ninja under him, a far more direct pupil-mentor relationship than he had had with his Academy students. His team was made up of talented young ninjas but under the oppressive reign of their new Kage it proved difficult to inspire a sense of dedication to your superiors in them.
None of his pupils required as much personal attention as he had at their age and they were all roughly of equal skill, it was a team that had clearly been picked for their similar levels of natural talent. Going out on missions as the leader of the team all of the time was strange at first but he took to it quickly and soon found that he actually had a knack for coordinating the trio of fledgling Shinobi, all whom looked up to him as he had his own Sensei.
By the age of 22 his team had all been promoted to Chunin and he himself had made the official rank of Elite Jounin, earning the right to take the exam after performing flawlessly alongside his team on a number of top-priority missions. By this point he had began developing his Raiton release, and his Suiton release was incredible to behold.
Instead of being assigned a new squad to teach, Fenjji was surprised that he was instead assigned to the secretive Kage-Corps, meaning that his orders came directly from Gaki Ito himself. Under orders of the Tsuchikage Fenjji began carrying out top-secret espionage-based missions, as well as assassinations, and it was throughout his years in the Kage-Corps that his skills at chakra control truly flourished. He became renowned within Corps for his ability to hide his chakra signature from prying eyes, which as you can imagine made him immensely useful to have on a low-profile mission.
By the time he was thirty Fenjji was considered one of the most distinguished members of the Kage-Corps and his skill at assassination was flawless, though he still worked better as part of a squad in conjunction with other Shinobi. His control of Raiton had increased drastically and his skill at Taijutsu was fast becoming a force to be reckoned with.
Away from the life of the Shinobi he had also began courting his old team mate Yukio and was someone managing to lead a somewhat peaceful and happy life considering not only was he being led by an oppressive tyrant, but he was operating as one of the most effecient assassins that tyrant had under his control. Although they rarely talked about their Shinobi duties to one another, especially where Fenjji was concerned, Yukio did teach him the basics of both Medical Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu, both of which she had gathered great skill in over the years.
For a time everything was strangely tranquil and peaceful in his life, it was a flawed facade for his true life of madness and warfare he knew, but he enjoyed the moments he had to just sit back and enjoy the little things.
It was a shocking day when Hiryuu Saito revealed to the rest of the Kage Corps that the suspicions many of them had been harboring over the past several months were true, the Tsuchikage was nothing but a puppet of some unforeseen master. All these years they had been operating on the orders of someone outside the village, and the thought sickened Fenjji greatly. With this new knowledge the Kage Corps, led by Hiryuu, quickly uncovered the corruption within the Elders of the village and usurped the Yodaime Tsuchikage's title.
The decision to elect the leader of the Coup as the next Tsuchikage was not an easy one for the villagers to accept but in the end they did, and Fenjji was glad for it. He knew Hiryuu, and had worked alongside him personally during a handful of missions whilst in the Kage-Corps, and he knew him to be a good and intelligent man. Certainly a man that would improve all the wrongs that his forebear had done before him, and work to change Iwagakure No Sato back into a peaceful and truly happy place.
With the reformation of the Kage Corps into the Blast Corps Fenjji felt his place in the organization had come to an end, but had no sooner left the Corps than was offered the position the leadership of a new Four-man Squad by his old comrade in arms Hiryuu. Glad that he would be able to continually benefit the Village with his particular skill-set Fenjji graciously accepted.
After hearing about his pupil's promotion Tenzin approached Fenjji congratulating him on his new position, and also warning him not to take such an esteemed job lightly at all, even if he had already lead a Genin squad in the past. He expressed deep pride in his pupil and went as far as to say he was the greatest of all of his former pupils, and helping him become the man he was was the greatest achievement in all of the old man's long life.
He also expressed a singular sadness, the years had not been overly kind to his mentor you see, and he had reached an age now were his body was no longer responding as it should. In a real battle, he said with obvious reluctance, he would be more of an encumbrance to his fellow Shinobi than an aide and so he was planning to retire.
Fenjji thanked his Sensei for all he had done over the years and shared his sorrow that the aged Shinobi felt his time was done, but with a smile and jovial attitude he asked if the ‘old man’ would do him the honor of one last sparring match to see if Fenjji had indeed surpassed his Sensei.
The match was well fought on both sides with Fenjji being the more experienced Ninjutsu-user of the two and Tenzin favoring a solid mixture of Taijutsu and Doton-Ninjutsu, but, just as he had said, Tenzin had grown old and slow in his movements and was no match for the well-versed fighting style of the much younger Fenjji.
It was a proud moment when he defeated his Sensei, but it was saddened by the realization that even he would one day be old and no longer able to stand and fight as well as he could right now. The life of a Shinobi was a fleeting one, either because they die young, or because they live long enough to become a burden on the battlefield. The most he could do to stop this was to prepare the next generations as best as he could, for it was them that would carry on the legacy of Iwagakure long after he was dead and buried...
[The Thrice-named Sensei. ]
The years have been kind to Fenjji of late, the squad he had been assigned had comprised of good spirited and hard-working boys that he had helped see promoted to Chunin the this recent year. Their skill levels were not great as of yet, but they had potential beyond what he had had at their age and he was sure that, given time, they would go far indeed.
Now though the time has come for him to be assigned a new Genin Squad, and he wonders if this one will be as easy to work with as the last two were. Part of him hoped for more of a challenge, he certainly had required more work from his own Sensei than any singular member of either of his squads, and he strode to find a student that truly required his aide rather than one that simply benefited from it somewhat.
