Ryouta Senju - Makings Of A Legend

You know that feeling you get when you wake up form a really intense dream and your mind hasn't quite sorted out what's real and what was part of the dream? What happened to me was kind of like that. At first anyway.

One second I was cocooned in a comforting darkness that felt safe and secure, content to merely exist within my own little corner of the universe, and the next I was cold and terrified and had absolutely no idea what was happening.

More than just being frightened of the unknown sensations assaulting my senses, I was also terrified of the fact that I couldn't move. My arms were weak and didn't respond to my commands. My eyes were so blurry that even when I managed to open them I couldn't see anything. I was confused and afraid and did the only thing that seemed to be within my power to do: I started wailing for all I was worth.

I didn't connect the dots until much later that that what I had been experiencing was actually my birth, that the giants standing around me speaking strange words and smiling down at me were actually my parents. As time went on I discovered that I had been given the name Ryouta Senju and had been born on September 28th, two weeks later than expected but perfectly healthy, son of Kiyo Senju and Teichi Senju.

Kiyo Senju, a medical chūnin who married into the Senju Clan

Senju Teichi, a Jōnin hailing from the Senju Clan and Tsunade's younger cousin.

So I was a direct descendant of Hashirama, being his grandson, therefore, Tsunade was my auntie and Tobirama was my great grand-uncle.

For lack of a better term, as near as I could tell, I had been reincarnated. Or at least I think I was. For all I know I'm lying coma in some hospital right now, and everything I've seen and done up till this point has just been some fantasy my mind has cooked up.

And that's not even taking into account that I remembered my previous life. I had been an ordinary guy on his way to his first year of college. At least that's the last thing I remembered. I hadn't done anything remarkably bad as far as I could tell, but then again I had never done anything remarkably good either. I was just... average. Even if I had been reincarnated and even if I did remember my past, ultimately I'm not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Given the choice I'd like to think that I took a wrong left turn on the way to the afterlife and ended up somewhere I didn't belong.

But for the first few months of my life none of that really mattered to me. What mattered was that I was trapped in the body of an infant and that didn't seem to changing anytime soon. After a few days when I began to realize that whatever was happening to me wasn't going to stop, and that I wouldn't wake up from whatever crazy dream I was in, it hit me that I wouldn't be able to go back to my old life.

It hadn't exactly been amazing, but it was everything I had ever known. My friends and family, my plans for the future, my life. It was all just... gone.

I don't think my parents ever really knew just how grateful I was for them in those first few months of my life. My entire world revolved around them, everything from sleeping and eating to my daily schedule, they dictated almost every action I took.

But above everything else I was most grateful for the comfort they provided whenever I needed it. As a newborn child the only real way I had to interact with the world was to cry whenever something bothered me. Which I did. Frequently. But my tears weren't normal tears.

My tears were for the life I left behind, a life that I would never get to see again.

If I had to choose a moment where I actually began to develop feelings for my new family then this would be the time I would think of. It's impossible to depend on someone, to look to them as such a constant source of love and comfort and not begin to love them back.

I was so certain what I was experiencing had to be a dream for one simple reason. Even if I couldn't figure out why I still remembered my previous life I could accept I had been reincarnated. The part I had difficulty accepting was that I had been reincarnated into the Naruto-verse.

It wasn't just that my parents- and oh my god, did it take a long time before I was comfortable actually thinking of them as my parents- spoke Japanese, or that they wore headbands with the Hidden Leaf symbol, or even the occasional glimpses I would get of the Hokage Mountain whenever my mother would take me out for a walk. All of those things could be faked, one way or another.

There were two specific things that finally convinced me that what I was seeing wasn't a dream. The first was my chakra (and others), not that I was aware of what it was when I first felt the itch of the forming chakra coils under my skin. But there was no denying that there was something strange and foreign, something that didn't belong spreading throughout my entire body.

Trying to describe chakra is like trying to describe color to a blind person; there's no good way to do it. The first time I reached for it I hadn't been expecting it to actually do anything, still convinced that what I was seeing and experiencing couldn't be real. To my surprise not only did it respond but it responded eagerly as though it had a mind of its own and wanted to be put to use. The feeling of using chakra is nearly indescribable. Just channeling it to different parts of my body left me feeling both drained and invigorated.

The second thing that made me realize what was happening to me was real was a bit more on the nose than chakra. Since my chakra was all internalized at this point and the effects of it were hardly noticeable I could write it off as my imagination.

But I couldn't do that with the attack of the Nine Tailed Fox.

I was just over a week old when the attack happened. Of course I had no idea what was happening at the time. I had barely figured out I was a child by that stage. But I remember the chakra. Filling the air, it was heavy and oppressive and the fact that I didn't know what was causing it just made it worse.

It weighed down on me to the point that I thought I would die just being in its presence. It was pervasive and terrifying and no matter how much I wanted to I couldn't get away. Time lost all meaning in the face of such raw hatred. The feeling had been so interwoven into the chakra, that I hadn't been able to distinguish one from the other.

When the feeling finally passed all I was aware of was someone, my mother in all likelihood, holding onto me for dear life, clearly terrified but keeping it together regardless, and whispering something into my ear that I couldn't understand, but helped to calm me down all the same.

Days later when I was taken out into the village for the first time since the attack, even with my weak infant eyes, I was able to see the destruction left behind from the attack and that's when I knew what I was seeing wasn't a dream, wasn't fake. Against all odds I had been reborn into a world that I hadn't believed existed.

For days after my revelation about where I had been reborn I was almost catatonic. My body was just going through the motions while my brain seemed to have shut down on me. After my mind managed to reboot itself enough that I was able to start thinking rationally again I took a couple deep breaths and tried to think things through.

I was in the Naruto-verse. There, I said it, or at least thought it. Didn't make it any less unbelievable, but I had been here for over a year and if this was the Naruto-verse as I remembered it then I needed to stay calm and start figuring things out. Given that the Hokage Monument only had four faces on it and the Kyūbi attack had happened only days prior, I had a relatively solid idea where I was time wise. But just because I knew, more or less, when and where I was didn't mean that everything around me would match what I could remember.

With me in the timeline, things would surely change if I had wanted them to.

But even if everything was exactly as I remembered, my own presence aside, the Hidden Leaf Village wasn't exactly the best of locations to be reborn into. Even if you didn't count the invasions, or the upcoming war, there was still the fact that a large number of the population were trained killers.

This might have been one of the nicest Ninja Village's around but that didn't change the fact that it was a Ninja Village.

But then again I could have been born somewhere far worse. Like the Hidden Mist Village which was embroiled in a civil war at the moment, or the Hidden Sand Village which, simply by being in the middle of a desert, was a far worse place to live. And the Village Hidden in the Leaves was also filled with relatively nice people. Like any other large gathering of humans there were obviously outliers who were arrogant or cruel or enjoyed hurting others, but for the most part they were nice, companionable even. And there was very little discrimination. Outside of criminals, everyone was welcome so long as they obeyed the law.

Yes, there were much worse places I could have been born.

As much as I wanted to start doing something, anything, there really wasn't a whole lot I was able to do at the moment. I was just a child after all. Beyond making a few half thought out plans for the future all I could really do was live my life. I had no information at all. Beyond a vague estimate on when I was born I had no idea if the world around me matched the show or not. Without any further knowledge there was just no way of knowing if I could act on any of the information in my head. Which is why I was thrilled when my parents decided it was time I learned how to read and write, which surprisingly was easy, easier than I thought it would be due to the Japanese language and culture, but, it seems as if the rebirth had substitued my original language, languages if you count my secondary language (Spanish) and replaced it with Japanese for my new life, though it was weird as, in my past life, I was absolutely shit at languages.

Thankfully, my love for books had transferred into this life as well, by the time I turned three, I was already reading at an academy level.

By the time I turned four, my father had started preparing me for the academy by training me, teaching me the Senju taijutsu kata and chakra control, which, for my large reserves, was actually perfect, which had shocked me, as I had thought with my gargantuan reserves, that my chakra control would be only slightly better than Part 1 Naruto's, though was I shocked to see that my control was precise enough to be a medic, though it wasn't what I wanted to be.

I suppose it was for the best.

I got my confirmation that I was indeed where I thought I was time-wise when I was out with my parents and met a young, Ino, Shikamaru and Chōji at the park among a young Sakura and other unidentifiable civilian children.

I didn't really want to play with them but my mother forced me to, I ended up being the best at whatever they did, whether it was a race, hide and seek, tag or playing ninja.

Since this was the Naruto-verse that I know of, I would need to get strong, extremely strong, despite me being a kid, being one of the few Senju left put a huge target on my back, and anyone would gladly kidnap me for information or as breeding material, or to just kill me to make sure Mokuton doesn't mutate into me or one of my descendants.

Definitely wasn't going to let that happen. So that's when I had decided to be a shinobi. And not just any shinobi. I decided my dream would be to surpass my predecessor, Senju Hashirama and become the next Shinobi no Kami.

Ever since I started training, which had started out with simple exercises to condition my body, I had given my all and found that, I had a very fast regenerative ability, my parents believe this stemmed from my grandfather.

It only took an hour of torture from my father before all my injuries would heal, I would bet my regeneration ability is on par with Naruto's, if not just a little weaker.

This meant that we could go all out every single time in training, and God did Tou-san not pull any punches, I'm four years old for Christ' sake.

I had gotten the Senju taijutsu kata down in my muscle memory easily, it was as if this kata was made for me, and after a year of training with my dad, something incredible happened.

Flashback- 1 Year Earlier-

After a tough training session with Tou-san, I had decided to unlock my chakra. After seeing, reading and my parents explaining what chakra was, and me playing with it constantly up to now, I had a basic idea on how to pull it out and unlock it.

I meditated for a bit before feeling a warm tug that I instantly recognised as my chakra due to me playing and experimenting with it. I gripped onto it and pulled it out, though with struggle at first.

I kept pulling for what felt like 10 hours before it responded to me and began following me. I pulled it out of my body, the fact that it took so long to respond spoke volumes about my chakra levels. As more chakra was released, the surrounding ground suddenly formed spiderweb cracks from the sheer density and potency of the chakra, however, they had disappeared just as fast and, I could clearly see a tree growing. I looked at it and gasped before...

"Ryouta! Stop it now!" Both my parents had exclaimed as they grabbed me forcefully.

'How much chakra was he releasing?! And he doesn't even look winded. Wait a minute, a tree? No way. Has he really awakened it? Has Mokuton come back to Konoha?' Thought Teichi Senju (Ryou Senju's father)

"How much chakra do you think that was mister?" Mom asked me as I cowered slightly. "A-A-A l-l-lot?" I asked stuttering and shaking as she looked at me angrily.

"Is that a tr-" My father started before my mother turned her eye onto him. He quickly faltered under her stare as he smiled nervously.

'Ryouta. Gomen. You're on your own.' Thought Teichi as a resounding punch to the head was heard throughout Konoha.

Flashback End-

'Shika's right. Mothers are scary.' I thought while shivering at the memory. 'However. While unlocking my chakra I had unlocked my Mokuton as well. I think tou-san was going to mention it but kaa-chan was too angry to notice the tree I think. That's good overall though, knowing I have Mokuton.' I thought before putting my hands in my pockets.

My destination was the Konoha academy. I had a year until I joined however I had wanted to see it for myself. The only knowledge I'd need from the academy would be the History and Geography of the Shinobi World anyway, that's questioning the fact whether I want to become a prodigy with my foreknowledge of events anyway.

Actually, considering what is going to happen and the fact I have Mokuton, I'll have to become a prodigy anyway. I am somewhat protected from Danzō considering who my family is, but with me showing my potential early on, Hiruzen would probably want to keep me out of Danzō's reach.

After all, I had the famed Mōkuton.

1 Year Later-

After a year of training and a tough decision I had to make regarding whether I become a prodigy or not, I had become a lot stronger for my age. I had learned 3 ninjutsus for Suiton, 3 for Fūton and 3 for Doton which are the elements I have.

Tou-san had started to train my elemental natures considering my Mokuton had popped up early. I could now say at 5 years old I was officially low-mid genin level considering my tai, gen and ninjutsu were all amazing as a kid just joining the academy.

During the years, I had also made some friends in advance, which were Naruto, Ino, Sakura, Chōji, Shikamaru, Shino and Kiba.

In fact, I had rapidly made best friends with Shikamaru. Shikamaru was a must have friend for me, in the future, he would be so reliable with his brain, I could do well with him in my genin team thinking of all the strategies, though you never know.

Right now, I was walking to the academy with my parents behind me. We walked to the main entrance before they stopped. "Ryou-kun. Get ready. This is the start to becoming a Shinobi. You better not slack off like you usually do, or you'll catch my fist to your head! You hear me?!" Kaa-chan exclaimed as I sweated profusely, why do mothers have to be so troublesome!

"H-Hai!" I exclaimed nervously as she turned to her sweet caring personality again.

"Great! I'll be cheering you on my sweetheart." Her mood switched immediately as she kissed my head.

Tou-san simply placed a hand on my head and ruffled my brown spiky hair. "Ryou-kun. I'm sure you'll do well after witnessing for myself just how talented you are. Go show everyone why the Senju should not be underestimated." Tou-san stated with pride and love in his eyes.

I smiled and nodded. "Hai Tou-san." I stated before hugging my parents and walking into the academy ceremony which the Hokage oversees himself.

This was going to mark the first time I met the Hokage and his chakra, aura and presence just screamed powerful. I wasn't really listening to the ceremony, the only things he said was really, good luck to the future shinobi.

The last few minutes were worth something as we found who was going to be in what class we were in.

I had found that I was with the other clan heirs and heiresses though I had expected it since I was also a clan heir, albeit my legendary clan was near extinct, the only Senjus left in the world were me, Tou-san and Tsunade.

Anywho, I walked in with my new class excited as I wanted to absorb as much knowledge as I could. So I would be trying in these lessons.

We were doing physical exercises, conditioning our body, reading and writing, an introduction to chakra and taijutsu spars in the first year, we are also taught the academy taijutsu kata in the first year.

The second year we were doing basic chakra theory as well as lessons on hand signs and revisiting what we learnt the year before. The second year in the shinobi academy is where we finally had our first tastes of freedom.

In the second year we were also allowed to use the academy training grounds unsupervised and we could leave the academy during break and lunch, though we had to return once break or lunch was over.

The third year was the introduction to nin/gen/taijutsu. The fourth year is where we are taught the academy three which was the Bunshin jutsu, Kawarimi no Jutsu and Henge no Jutsu. We were also doing intermediate chakra theory and revisiting the past lessons we had over the years.

The fifth year is where we relearn everything as well as starting to do advanced chakra theory for a select number of pupils. These pupils were usually the best students in the class and if they were willing, they could be taught that. I knew that's what I wanted to get taught. The more I know about chakra the better because I remember next to nothing about the show, other than the obvious plots (fourth shinobi world war, tobi is obito, sasuke defects, uchiha clan massacre and things of that nature).

The last year we revisit everything we had done in the academy as revision for the graduation exam.

Iruka led us into a classroom where he arranged us into our seats. We then took a register check before introducing ourselves. When it came to my turn, I planned my words carefully.

"My name is Senju Ryouta. I am 6 years old. I like my family, my friends and reading. I don't particularly dislike anything and my hobbies are reading, studying fūinjutsu and training. My dream for the future is to become the strongest shinobi Konoha has produced and surpass my grandfather as the Shinobi no Kami." I stated with a happy smile as everyone in the classroom looked at me with awe, jealousy or lust. I'm guessing I now just made over 20 girls cream and a whole lot of fangirls

After a while, introductions were done and we had finally started the lesson on introduction to chakra, which had lasted a whole hour and a half, which had led us into break.

For break, I had originally wanted to eat by myself but a troublesome blonde haired girl dragged me along to play with her and her friends (Shikamaru, Chōji and Sakura). Though I regained that happiness when my friend, Shika, had just been cloud watching.

We cloud watched and ate the whole break and went onto the training grounds to start our taijutsu training.