Naruto: The New Sealmaster

Author note: So yeah this is the second part of the split chapter.

***

Finally the day had come. Graduation day. Well it was final exam day, but Aoshi was feeling confident. He still lacked any sort of power but he had the technique and mind to compensate.

"Hey Aoshi! How are you feeling?" He looked over to his right side and there stood Tenten. They were both going to graduate today.

"I'm feeling good, rather excited. Though.." He looked over to the treeline at two specific people "Not even close to how excited he is."

A couple of metres away they could hear two shouting voices with eyes burning with passion. They both had the same shiny black hair and ugly green spandex outfit. This was Rock Lee and his personal trainer. "I'LL DO IT GUY-SENSEI! I'LL GRADUATE TODAY!"

The older man started crying a river, quite literally. "YES! SHOW THEM THE POWER OF YOUR YOUTH!" then he flashed a giant smile which seemingly actually reflected quite a bit of light for a moment as he flailed his hand in a thumbs up gesture. "YOU GOT THIS!"

Tenten and Aoshi stopped listening and walked inside to the written portion.

***

Most of it was rather easy. The written part was simple, then came throwing kunai and shuriken, but that was something Tenten had taught him rather well. The taijutsu portion wasn't his strongest performance but he managed to dodge quite a few strikes before getting beaten, which was good enough. When Aoshi performed the three required ninjutsus, he was given a black headband and was gently congratulated. The teachers clearly didn't think much of him, which was a shame since he had tried rather hard with what he could do.

Aoshi was one of the last examinees, so when he came out with his head he would find a smiling Tenten waiting for him. He smiled back at her "We did it!" At that, she lost all composure and jumped into him with a hug. "We did."

Off in the distance they could hear Rock Lee celebrating that he was made a ninja. Aoshi could only chuckle at the scene with his sensei. "You know, I'm glad Rock made it." At her raised eyebrow he elaborated.

"He'll never be an anbu with that personality, but you have to appreciate how much he has struggled to stand on equal ground as the rest of us." She clearly conceded the point with a smile.

"I guess.." She looked over at him doing one-armed push ups without touching the ground with any part except his hand and furled her eyebrows again. "I don't think I'd like to be in his team though."

Aoshi laughed at that and put his arm on her shoulder as they walked towards her place. "Me neither. I can stand an hour here or there but I couldn't imagine spending most days with him.."

On the way they saw the top student of their class walking home as well, alone. Aoshi added, "Wouldn't want to be with him either. Too cranky and up his own arse for my taste."

Tenten scoffed at that. "You're just jealous that he has what you wish you had."

Aoshi scoffed, "What does he have? Arrogance? White empty eyes? A whole family of people who looks down on the rest of us? A mindset which he has to get rid of fast unless he wants to completely isolate himself and then die alone on the battlefield?"

Tenten punched his side and threw his arm away from her shoulder. "He has talent, he has support, he has a strong body and he has-" Aoshi KNEW he shouldn't have jumped in there to make this jab at her but he couldn't stop himself. He interrupted her to finish her sentence with "-your complete love and devotion?"

She slapped his face instantly. Aoshi was aware of the girl's crush on Neji, but they had never really talked about it. He knew she was afraid of just being another fangirl, as those were the kind of people she hated most of all. When she heard what her best friend had to say it sounded like betrayal. It sounded like he thought she was one of them.

Her face reddened from anger but her eyes almost glistened with tears. "You're such a mean bastard sometimes, you know that?"

And Aoshi knew that. He often made snarky comments without thinking. He often didn't wish others well and whenever he was less than happy he had a tendency to take it out on whoever was near him. But Aoshi knew most of all that he didn't want Tenten to run away without letting her know that he didn't mean it.

He took hold of her hand, the one who just slapped him a few seconds earlier, and looked into her eyes which clearly tried to suppress those tears of hurt feelings. "I didn't mean it like that. You know that deep within, but that doesn't make it right. I'll keep trying to be better. You're a badass girl who doesn't fangirl over anyone, you can't believe I'd think otherwise considering how many times a week you beat my ass."

That got a little emotion filled chuckle out of her and he brought her in for a hug which he returned. "You're my best friend Tenten. I've known you like him for a long time, but this is not how that discussion should have went." She shook her head and he continued.

"Why don't we go back to your room and properly discuss this, huh?" She nodded and jumped up to the rooftops. She clearly didn't want everyone to see her in this state so Aoshi followed quickly.

***

Back in her room they sat down on her bed and Aoshi took out an empty scroll where he wrote down how he had described Neji. He put the scroll in her lap and gave her the brush with ink on it.

She crossed over white empty eyes. "You know how powerful those eyes are. You might not wish you had them since you have your own bloodline, but they're still part of the reason why he's the number one student." She wrote byakugan next to it instead.

He nodded so she continued. She crossed over a family of arrogant people. "Neji's closest family is dead, Aoshi. His mother died long ago and his father gave his life to avoid a war. He's also a branch member of the Hyuugas so he isn't getting any support there." Instead she wrote supportive classmates and teachers.

She wanted to cross out the bit about the mindset but couldn't as she knew it was true. "Maybe I could change that if I get teamed up with him. Maybe I could get him to realise that fate isn't everything. And if I fail, I'm letting you do that bit for Hina-hime."

That was the main reason he disliked Neji. Hinata had been bullied by the guy for years and she wouldn't let him get back at Neji for her.

She then wrote down a strong body as a reason why Aoshi is jealous. "I know you've always wanted to grow stronger physically, so I know that it must hurt seeing a guy who has a natural strong physique.." Aoshi conceded that point and then they reached the final bit.

"I don't love him..I appreciate his talent and hard work." Aoshi shook his head "You like him. I know you do." Before she could protest he put a hand on her shoulder. "I just don't want you to fully fall for a bully who doesn't show emotions. You deserve better than that."

Although she didn't agree with him, she appreciated the meaning behind it. The two shared another hug to reconcile. Then they threw away the scroll and laid down on the bed next to each other.

"This day has been rather emotional from the start, you know." Tenten looked at her friend asking for an explanation. He sighed.

"Father is going to try and sell the last bit of our legacy, the house we live in and the land surrounding it." Her eyes popped open and she looked at him surprised waiting for an explanation.

"Even though I've been paying for the food for the last four years, he still ends up with quite a bit of debt. I found an agreement with the merchants who are building a new apartment complex. As soon as it is done, he will swap our lands for an apartment and money."

Tenten put a hand on his chest and looked into his eyes with determination. "How long do you have?"

He sighed "At most? About a year and a half. Unless I make Chunin and take over as the head of my family by then, I will lose the last connection to my legacy."

She looked into his eyes with such clear honesty and earnestly answered "You can do that. I know you can. With a good sensei it'll be easier but you can do it either way. And I'll be there to help you every step of the way."

He kissed her cheek "Thank you Tenten. I can always rely on you." Without getting flustered she just jumped up from the bed and flexed her arm muscles. "Of course! What are best friends for?"

After having talked through their troubles, the duo decided to both go over to Kurenai's with Tenten's father to celebrate their graduation together. It wasn't unexpected, but such an important step should be celebrated!

When they got there, the door was opened by Hinata who smiled at Aoshi "Congratulations, Ao-kun!" He immediately enveloped her in a hug which she was not ready for and therefore got a bit flustered, but managed to hug him back.

"Thanks Hina-hime. Feels good to finally put on this bandana." Tenten had a response to that. "Yeah, you really needed something to keep that fluff you call hair down. Maybe now you'll look proper"

She entered the room with her father chuckling gently behind. Kurenai came out of the kitchen at this time. "Oh Tenten, and Tenchi! So glad you could make it! The food will be ready in just a moment, come right into the dining room."

Aoshi let go of Hinata but made sure to ruffle her hair a little before they went to take a seat.

It was a day of ups and downs but the hours spent with friends and family that evening, was a memory Aoshi would appreciate for the rest of his life. Being able to have a joyful meal together and talk about both memories and the future was the peak of his life so far. Such a simple thing, but it means a lot.

Before it got too late, Kurenai decided it was time to end it. "You both have to get up early tomorrow and make a good first impression on your sensei! I will not be at fault for any of you giving them a bad image of you."

With that, they shared some last hugs and left. Aoshi decided to escort Hinata home.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" She looked towards him with her sweetest smile. He nodded.

"I wonder what kind of ninja I'll get, and I wonder what kind of dregs they'll pair me up with." She laughed. "I'm sure it'll be fine. How bad can they be? They graduated right?"

He grumbled something but she didn't hear it. Soon they were by the gates to the hyuuga compound and shared a final hug of the day. Hinata was prepared this time so she took it like a champ. "I'll miss seeing you around school though. Who will help me with Naruto?"

He patted her on the head. "You can handle him all by yourself. You could even seal his chakra points so he can't leave before you tell him anything." She slapped him on the arm for that.

With a final smile though she said "Good luck!" And then she walked into the compound.

***

Today was the day. He would get his team today. Aoshi stood in front of his mirror and fixed his appearance. He had grown up quite a bit the last few years. His face was still rather feminine though. With female clothes and perhaps if he let his hair grow long, nobody would think he was a guy.

It wasn't great, but at the same time he thought he looked rather good. The girls at the academy clearly agreed with that statement as well. As soon as he could build some muscles though, he would be golden. Currently he was far too skinny for his liking.

He looked at his black bandana which actually did flatten his hair a bit. He was proud he had it, but it was just the first step. Next step was to become a chunin. Then he could start creating his own legacy.

Aoshi said goodbye to Kurenai and ran towards the school. He met up with Tenten and together they went inside to check where the yearly rankings had been posted.

"Yes! Kunoichi of the year, Higurashi Tenten" She made a victory pose to his face and he could only smile at her happiness. "Well I got second after Neji, as expected." He was rather close to him in every part except for the Taijutsu portion where Aoshi was just average while Neji was by the top with Rock.

"Seems like Rock Lee got the dead last spot. Probably just because he can't perform ninjutsu. Oh well, let's go to our classroom and wait for the announcement." And so they went in there, sat themselves down in the middle, and waited.

Half an hour later it was time. The teacher wanted a short speech before letting them go. "Congratulations everyone! As you know, I'm not a sentimental person so I won't go into a speech here. I'm glad so many made it through though. Anyway, here are the teams for this year."

The room was silent. Everyone was waiting for this. Team 1 was just a couple of random people who Aoshi thought had no chance of ever becoming more than Genin. Team 2 was in circulation. Then came Team 3. "Higurashi Tenten, Hyuga Neji and Rock Lee. Your sensei will be Might Guy." At that, Rock flew up in excitement "YOSH!!"

Might Guy popped in immediately and picked them up. He seemed as excited as his student. Tenten gave him an exasperated wave.

The following teams were nothing of note and then came Team 7. "Rokushō Aoshi, Shimura Tetsuo and Kohaku Akiho. Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi...he doesn't appear to be here yet though, so you will have to wait."

And wait they did...