It all happened ten years ago...

At the Academy.

“Riiiiiinnnnnggggg!!!!” twas the clacking sound made by the irritating alarm clock; the hour was about to start.

There was an old and circular watch located just above the door which indicated that the time was 11:00; however, that greenish clock usually managed to get the students more nervous, as at least half of the class kept starring at it continuously.

“Everybody, please take a seat. I want to see nothing more than a simple pen on your desks, also if I find you cheating in any way, you will be punished and this test will be considered a failure. However, if you manage to fail the test without cheating, you will be rescheduled once more in a month. With that being said, you all five minutes to get ready, and once those are gone, the test shall begin.” were the words spoken on a serious tone by the Sensei before he began walking between the benches. With a considerable stack of papers laying between his clutches, the man who looked around his thirties began giving each and every student an empty working sheet, alongside a paper which contained the questions. Every question had a couple of answers, and the students were needed to mark the correct one. There were approximately twenty questions which needed to be answered, making this test a hell of a ride.

As soon as the alarm assaulted Tenzō’s ears, the young lad went storming inside his bench. That hair of his was relatively short, just two inches longer than a normal buzz cut. Standing at a medium-sized height with a frail looking physique, the young Uchiha was one of the shortest within his class. Those grades of his were also fairly bad, as he used to spent most of the time either home, or playing outside with his older sister, Shiro. Unlike the other classmates which spent days studying for this test, Tenzō barely allocated more than a single hour to his studies; he was bound to fail this test. Once both of the sheets were placed beneath his eyes, the young Uchiha reached for his pen in order to write down his name on the piece of paper. In the process of doing so, he realized that the test sheets were different between each other; to be honest, it was quite obvious due to the number two written on the upper left corner.

---

410 Words

It was a bright morning and today out of all days was a bright one. Of course, almost everyday was a bright one for the little senju boy. He was born with wisdom, immense knowledge and extreme understanding. He was a star amongst his sky of friends.

Today, there was going to be a written test in the shinobi academy and for this test, dray had prepared well enough that he was very confident he would pass with flying colors. Dray raised the sheets from himself to reveal that he was wearing just shorts. He was someone to imitate. Since his parents and sister died a couple of years back, he had been living alone and he had done well so far not needing too many help from anybody besides, not many people know that he lives alone.
Not wanting to get late for the test, dray quickly hurried to the bathroom. He ran the shower and quickly stepped away from the path of the water. It was friggin cold. Dray stepped into it again and stepped out trying to get accustomed to the temperature of the running water. With courage, dray had his bath and stepped out of the shower to dry himself. He brushed his teeth and dressed up. His attire consisting of long black trouser, a green shirt and killer boots. He quickly ate a breakfast of bread, fried eggs and a cold orange juice before exiting his home.

The path to the academy was a rowdy one as almost everybody who attended the academy did not want to be late for the test.
Sighing softly, dray branched into the alleyway and carefully lowered himself into a sewer after he had removed the cover and replaced it. The water running through the sewer looked clean as dray walked beside it on solid ground. It was a short cut to the academy. This was not the first time of him using it so he had little to no problems navigating the way despite the many turns and tunnels.
Some seconds later, dray popped up behind the academy and made his way to the entrance. Looking behind him, away in the distance, he could see the fellas he once saw before he took his short cut. They were yet to arrive. Dray entered his classroom and took a seat in an angle where he could see the whole class from.
He waited patienly for the teacher while surveying the room and the students that came in.

With the annoying academy clock announcing the hour with it's loud ring, the teacher walked in with a stack of paper in hand as he spoke.. "Everybody, please take a seat. I want to see nothing more than a simple pen on your desks, also if I find you cheating in any way, you will be punished and this test will be considered a failure. However, if you manage to fail the test without cheating, you will be rescheduled once more in a month. With that being said, you all five minutes to get ready, and once those are gone, the test shall begin.”... Of course, all he said did not apply to dray as dray never cheated or attempted to. Only if intelligent tricks where counted as cheating then, he would be guilty but still, that was if he was caught.
Before then, a boy seemed to walk in. He had the face of a girl but something about him made dray stick to the fact that he was a boy. Such attitude towards a test. Arriving late eh.
In no time, the test sheets were distributed round. Calmly, dray filled out the space for his name. He looked at the questions and saw that they were what he knew.
Wasting no time, he shaded the right answers and checked them again. He was sure of his work.
Standing up from his seat, most students seemed to gaze at him. He boned their suprised looks confidently and proceeded down the aisle to submit his sheets to the examiner.
WC:680

“Tick... tick..” was the irritating sound that drove the Uchiha towards his limits; the clock was unbearable and it added quite a large amount of pressure upon his shoulders. That pencil which he held between the tips of his fingers was quivering in an unstoppable matter, these were questions beyond his logical capabilities, maybe he should have studied at least for once instead of spending all that time either playing or sparring. Hilarious, but on the right corner of his test sheet, there was a small sketch of a lion; an animal which was quite dear to his heart. Drawing instead of focusing on the answers, this Uchiha seemed to have no future in the shinobi world if someone were to judge him based upon the grades which he had up until now. All of them were bellow mediocre, and most of his earlier tests were failed, so he needed to redo them once the time was right.

The whole test would last for an hour and a half, although that time seemed like an eternity for Tenzō, as he felt like being trapped within a genjutsu that offered him only countless years of pain and suffering. From the corner of his eyes, the Uchiha tried peeking with the hope of finding answers for this particular test, although almost everyone around him had a different set of questions. And the anguish did not end here, since he also was bestowed with a few questions that baffled his mind; math was the only thing which he hated, and calculating trajectories or how fast should projectiles be thrown was a thing which he despised from his heart. Those ebony eyes saw almost nothing of interested before they scoured a bit more inside the room ,stopping against the window which was located on the left side of the class.

Even the weather seemed more interesting than that piece of paper which stood beneath him, on the top of his desk. Few rays of sunlight perturbed his eyes and caused him to once more shift them against that test sheet. The heat was quite attracted to him, due to the fact that he wore a dark grey t-shirt with a few black marks on it, causing the sun to act like a magnet around it. As the time kept passing by him, someone already seemed to arise from his bench; apparently, the Senju was already submitting his answers. That meant two things for the young Uchiha, either he was a genius and finished everything rather quickly, or he actually didn’t knew any kind of answered and just decided to give up earlier. Tenzō’s eyes widen like saucers while his jaw almost touched the bench in which he was sitting; nonetheless, his composure was readjusted before his attention was once more brought upon the test itself.

There were at least thirty more minutes before the test was over, and the only thing that Tenzō was doing, was to tap his pen against the bench in a rhythmic pattern, synchronizing himself with the clock that made a similar sound; a boy, fascinated by everything else around him except his own future. While being caught inside this trance state, a few images flashed inside that thick skull of his. None of them helped him at all with the answers that were needed to be given. Without further ado, the Uchiha pinched himself before leaving this sleepy and nonchalant state in which he was in. As such, he began reading a certain question which stood at page three, the one which caught his attention the most.

“There is a country which is known for their rituals and culture regarding the Bushido Code, and also the practicing of Kenjutsu. Most of them are born and trained within a harsh and rather hindering environment, the lands are making their work quite harder. However, that’s also one of the main reasons that makes them sturdy as individuals and as a group. Which of these four country is the correct one?”

a) The Land of Wind
b) The Fire Country
c) The Iron Country
d) The Land of Earth

Amazingly, but this may be the first question for which Tenzō knew the answer for, as he was also a shinobi which practiced this fighting style. A broad smile took over his face while he made a fairly large circle around the third answer of the question.

“Doton is known for its numerous techniques which can be used for defense, as the ground is known for being sturdy enough to oppose certain types of offensive techniques. Most of the shinobi prefer this element due to them being able to develop quite a large number of both defensive and supplementary ninjutsu which could help them change the course of the battles. However, some of them prefer to develop offensive techniques for this particular element, believing that it has great potential when it comes to surprising your enemy. What element is known for being strong against this one?”

a) Katon
b) Raiton
c) Suiton
d) Fūton

This one was also fairly easy question, although the Uchiha pondered on it a bit. He was thinking that the answer might be either Suiton, by believing that the water may melt the dirt, or raiton due to its chaotic nature. Without further ado, he took the pen and circled the third answer; unbelievable that he managed to fail at such an easy question.

Just when he thought that things were going too well, the alarm began to ring once more, announcing that the time was up. “Everyone, drop your pencils. You all have one minute to bring your test sheets on my desk, or your test will be considered null, in other words, you will fail.” were the words spoken by the teacher on a rather sturdy and irritating tone. The man clapped his hands continuously in order to make the students hurry up; he was quite an impatient man. Tenzō couldn’t believe it, since he only managed to circle just two answers; the rest of his test sheet was almost brand new. His pen was slammed against the table before both of his wide-opened palms went against his face, covering it completely. Disappointment caught up with him, although without any more time wasted, the Uchiha arose from his bench before going towards the Sensei, and placing that deplorable test upon the man’s desk.

The test was finally over.

A deep breath was taken by the Uchiha in order to calm himself down before taking a few heavy steps which took him outside the classroom. Tenzō was now standing on the hallway with a slight depressed look upon his face, it wasn’t really that hard to figure it out that he was going to fail this test. However, he will surely pass it the next time with a straight five, due to the help that was about to be given towards him by his beloved sister, Shiro. The girl always used to help him with his studies, as if it weren’t for her, passing the academy might have probably not been possible for him.

Heavy seemed the backpack which clung upon his shoulder, it was black in color and it has the hidden leaf symbol upon it, on the lower side beneath that silver zipper. In reality, the backpack was filled with everything besides the material that was needed for his academy. Tenzō had quite a hobby that revolved around reading the history regarding his own clan. Therefore, there were quite a few books and scrolls inside of it. During the lunch break or in other classes which did not matter that much to him, the Uchiha would often read something or at least take a quick view upon some of the large paragraphs which were used to store down their past. Those clothes of his were rather old, as most of the money were usually spent upon paying the rent that was needed in order to acquire those books or scrolls; buying them was out of the question, since they were a bit too expensive for his own pocket.

---

1362 Words

Total Words ~ 1772

Dray walked down and submitted his exam sheets to the examiner who smiled. Dray walked up the aisle to gather the rest of the writing materials he had brought to the academy. Once again, he spotted the boy who he had earlier seen coming late to the exam hall. At first, that was when he came in, dray did not recognize him probably due to the fact that the young boy was stressed and his face was all mushed up. Dray now remembered him to be the boy from the uchiha clan though his other name always hid somewhere in dray's head. The boy had probably not studied for the exams as dray saw on his face that he had nothing to write. Dray wished he could help but the boy would have to do this one out of his own.
Few seconds later, “Everyone, drop your pencils. You all have one minute to bring your test sheets on my desk, or your test will be considered null, in other words, you will fail.” the examiner said. Dray calmly watched the boy. He had managed to mark some answers in his book. Whatever they were, dray hoped they were right.
With the examiner collecting all of the exam sheets from the students, he left the room as the bell rang and the students left the classroom too. Dray thought of going home to rest and then continue his training later in the day. That was a perfect way to get better. Rest the already trained up muscles and train again. Dray trains for about five hours, he sleeps for three and studies for two. He made sure to balance everything. Afterall, he had to live up to the expectations of his dead family. Even though they were dead, they still lived within him. In his every thoughts, his every actions. They guided his path.

The morning was fast fading into the afternoon. The sun, as bright as ever shined upon konohagakure no sato. Dray wondered what was beyond those village gates. One day, just one day, his many questions would find answers.
Dray thought of what to do in the academy. After the test, classes were pretty much over but he felt like there was something he still had to do before leaving the academy premises.

Dray put his both of his hands in his black trouser pockets while scanning the area for whatever it is that his eye would catch. At an angle, he saw some students running here and there and at another angle were some that were sparring and trying to hone their skills. Were they truly doing it for the sake of trying to get better or they did it because they wanted attention because dray could see a couple of girls watching them and smiling.
Girls never like dull guys. Dray hated honing his skills in public. He did it only when he really wanted to or he needed to. What's the point of showing all your skills in public. He loved to have a hidden strategy. A trump card. Even when he spars, he tries as much as possible to suprise his opponent even if he did not win. That was true victory. A situation whereby your opponent realizes that you won the battle but lost the fight. In every battle, dray tries as much to analyse his opponent's fighting style so as to decide the best way to face him. Having such intelligence at a young age, dray knows he'll become a beautiful shinobi for konohagakure no sato- The village hidden in the leaves.

Dray was about to turn back when he spotted the boy with the girly face. He was dressed in a black shirt. The senju and the uchiha. Quite a beautiful catch phrase. Dray calmly walked up beside him and pressed his back against the wall and raising his right leg to the wall too. His father had always told him the tales of the senju and the uchiha clan. The uchihas were filled with a natural hatred while the opposite was the case for the senjus but dray did not totally believe it. What in the world was natural hatred, was it from birth or what. How would a new born child be filled with hatred? This many questions just keep swarming in his head and it often gave him a headache.
Dray looked forward while speaking to the boy just few inches away from him.
"You did not study for the test.. did You?"
WC:760

The Uchiha’s footsteps where placed to a rest once the Senju posed his question against him. Those ebony eyes of his were facing the ground, although they’ve slowly arose from it while that head of his slightly cocked against the direction from which the words had spurred. “Uhm... yes. I found the questions to be rather difficult, and... I probably should have studied a lot more for this test.” were the words that came pouring between those numb lips, on a rather quiet tone. The young boy was still worried about the test, since he knew that both of his parents might scold him quite roughly on the small grade that he was about to receive. Living in his sister’s shadow wasn’t that easy at all, since the girl always used to overshadow him with those high grades of hers; however, that did not bothered Tenzō at all, since he was quite pleased about her being the smart.

“Oh! Wait!” the Uchiha exclaimed before his eyes widen like two saucers. “You’re the guy who finished up rather quickly on the test, aren’t you? Did you actually gave up that early, or you knew all the answers, and found the test to be rather simple?” Tenzō asked as those two eyebrows of his had fully arched backwards. The Uchiha wasn’t really that good when it came to his studies, since he basically neglected them to the fullest. He believed that experience and training were far more important than the theory that you learn within class, although this simpleminded of his was going to change a few years later.

There were only a few books that managed to catch and steal the young boy’s interest, and most of them were those that contained history and hidden knowledge about his own clan. Something that was once considered a hobbit, was about to turn into an obsession; one that was very difficult for him to satisfy, as there were only a few things relevant written in those books, as such most of the important information was quite hard to discover. Almost every clan had their own fair share of dark secrets, and this particular one was quite known for that.

Tenzō was probably eager to head home, since today he was supposed to train with his own sister. The young boy didn’t really enjoyed fighting with other people, usually he would refrain himself from getting into any kind of conflicts by either ignoring it or laughing along them at their mocking remarks. Humble and honest were the most appropriate words to describe this phase of his, although naivety was also present on him during his childhood.

---

451 Words

Total Words ~ 2223

Dray definetly knew the answer to his question. He only asked the question for the sake of striking up a conversation. He wanted to know what the boy knew no matter how irrelevant it was afterall, no knowledge is lost.

Dray stared into the emptiness while waiting for the little boy's answer...

"Wake up big brother, Wake up"...she continued shooking him thorougly. He opened his left eye to look at his younger sister. She was always up very early in the morning. She had turned to an alarm clock for dray, but today, dray was in for the joke. He wanted to make her feel like she was not functioning. He picked up the pillow at the top of his bed and put it over his head. For a few seconds, the room was quiet. Dray opened the pillow to look at his sister. She had finally found a way to draw his attention.. She had folded her legs while seated on the bed and her hands held in some manner that made dray laugh. Was she meditating. Before dray could take any other action, "Tag, you are it"...she said while tapping dray's forhead and running round the room. Dray sighed. He and his sister had a rule. Whenever anyone of them was tagged, he or she had to chase the person who tagged them. No exceptions. So, she wanted to play eh, dray was ready to. He switched his personality and became his playful self. He chased her all over the room, tagging her as she chased him too. They did this for about an hour until both of them were exhausted as they flung themselves unto the bed, heaving a sigh of relief.
Almost instantly, both of them rose from the bed at the same time. His sister crouched as he stood upright. They looked at each other and smiled. His sister crawled while he tip toed. It was an assasination mission. All they had was a sense of smell. They were to eliminate that smell and they knew just what they were facing.
As both of them tip toed from dray's room past his younger sisters' they walked behind the large chair of the sitting room where their mother and father were seated straight to the kitchen. Ah, there mission was complete, they both smiled as the picked up the sweet smelling cookie from the cookie jar...
"Mission failed" said a scornful voice from behind them. It was their mother with her disguised voice again and this time, she was blocking their route of escape.
Uniformly, both dray and his sister raised both of their hands in the air. Their mother smiled as they also chuckled. They took some more cookies and went to join their father in the living room...

“Oh! Wait!” the voice said as his already light green eyes reverted back to normal... “You’re the guy who finished up rather quickly on the test, aren’t you? Did you actually give up that early, or you knew all the answers, and found the test to be rather simple?” the uchiha boy beside him asked.

"You dont get suprised when you see something you are expecting, do you?".. Dray had well prepared for the tests beforehand so he knew what to expect. He had taken time to study though his learning periods did not compromise his training or nap time. He was a free man. He had the right to do whatever he wanted. Free in the sense that he had no house responsibilities but still, the thought of not having a sister to play tag with, a mother with a disguised voice, blocking an escape route, a father to join in a living room all made the hole in his heart grow wider... Dray had a feeling that the boy probably preferred long trainings to studying books. Dray once had that mentatility until he learned from his father that what you study, you learn to put in use. Only if the boy knew this. Perharps, dray had found a new friend..

"Why dont I show you a quick route to the village and back to the academy so you won't ever be late to class again." dray said, hoping the boy would agree so dray could show him the sewer road.
WC:747

Apparently, these two might have quite a chance at a good friendship, since they probably both had something useful to learn from each other. It was clear as daylight that no one was perfect, every person had their own pairs of flaws, despite their age and experience, clan or fate. Knowing at what you’re good, or bad was a rare quality indeed, since once you knew that, you were capable of protecting it. Knowing the weakness of your enemy was just as important as knowing your own; of course, this was a thing which only one of wisest people were able of accomplishing, ignorance was lingered almost inside of all; however, in some, this ignorance was more present that in others.

“Hmm... well, the thing is that I have already a few things scheduled, to which I really need to attend to.” the young Uchiha said while after taking a bow in order to express his sincere apologies. “However, my name is  Tenzō. If you’re up for it tomorrow, I will be glad to accept your offer once more.” he added on a calm down just a moment later, once that head of his had retracted from the ground. Inside he was rather curious about the new route that the Senju was about to show him; however, he was supposed to meet his sister right after the test, since she was already awaiting for him outside. Without further ado, the Uchiha would await for the Senju’s answer, while hoping that he would accept his apologies regarding his earlier statement. Once the answer was supposed to be given, Tenzō would wave goodbye before heading down the hallway in order to leave the academy and meet up with Shiro.

As a young child, Tenzō was rather polite with those around him, and this trait of his grew larger over the passing years. Respecting adults and those who were around his age was something that he learned from his father, during all of those times that he used to accompany him outside the village in order to procure food for the table. Hunting was one of his father’s hobbies, which later on was passed down towards the young Uhicha; he also became fond of this act, even though he used to watch for the most time, up until he was capable of actually learning the tricks which stood behind this hobby. A few tries were given by him in order to learn how to use a bow, however they’ve ended up quite harshly since he wasn’t showing any kind of proficiency with it at all. However, this may change up within the nearby future.

His old man used to say that hunting was more than just taking down your pray; the whole journey from getting yourself ready, up until the moment that the food was being placed on the table, was considered nothing less than sacred for his father. Despite his father also being an Uchiha, the man had one of the warmest hearts, and each and every time that he spent scolding Tenzō, was in order to make the young lad overcome his current state, to surpass his own weakness and acknowledge those who could not be eliminated. Ignorance was something that caused the death of a lot of good shinobi, as underestimating your opponent was a common mistake that was practiced by most of the young fellows.

With the help of his family, the young Uchiha would surely lean towards an alarming rate of his development, as he already shown signs equaled to that of a mature person. Even if, Tenzō had a certain spite when it came to reading everything else besides what he wished for. Although, in time he would probably overcome this weakness of his, and expand his knowledge in more than a single domain, or field. Besides his affinity towards ninjutsu, during his early childhood, the Uchiha began honing new skills and techniques which revolved around Bukijutsu; there was a wooden katana which he used for training at home, sparring with it against his own sister. In spite of him loosing most of the duels, the young lad wasn’t that easily intimidated, and still continued on working and training into this particular field.

It seemed like just another normal day at the Academy; however, something was clearly different in this particular one... and time was the only thing which could unveil this fate.

---

743 Words

Total Words ~ 2966

Training Perception from E3 > D3 | 2966 Words - 1475 = 1491 Words Left

Training Reaction Time from E3 > D3 | 1491 Words - 1475 = 16 Words Left

Total Words Left ~ 16

Exit Thread.

Dray really hoped that the boy would consider his offer. He would have finally found a friend worth him after such a long while. After his father, mother and younger sister's death. He became a closed person, always doing everything alone. Being with himself. He found it hard to open up but now, right now, at this very moment, whatever word or sentence that could be used to describe this period. Dray felt like his body was opening up to the uchiha boy, all by itself. Was this the power of friendship?

As dray waited for the boy's reply, whether good or bad, though dray always liked to think positive.. He opened his mind eye to one of the many books he had read in solitude..
..."The greatest gift of life is true friendship, and I have received it from you. Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for real silence. A time to fully let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own already forged destiny and a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over. Friends show their sincere love in times of trouble, not in happiness. When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving us advice, good solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our painful pains and touch our deep wounds with a warm and tender hand. Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. You might take me as an enemy today but Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a good friend. Friends are born, not made and right from birth, their destinies are crossed.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart, deep down in it's core. The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have. I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.' The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach my full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to my personal excellence. I Infuse my life with serious action. I Don't wait for it to happen. I Make it happen. I Make my own future. I Make my own hope. I Make my own love. And whatever my beliefs, honor my creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what I can to make grace happen... Myself, right now, right down here on Earth."

The book was written by a popular book writer. Dray had begun to read novels of different categories ranging from inspirational to motivational to friendship to love to behaviour and even to death. At a very tender age, he had known what it meant to die.

His thought were now getting the better of him as each day passed by. These many knowledges he was gaining kept on flashing frequently, becoming a habit to him.
Dray now shifted his gaze on the young uchiha boy..
“Hmm... well, the thing is that I have
already a few things scheduled, to
which I really need to attend to.” He said as he bowed his head to dray probably as a sign of apology. It was a pity, the boy could not make it. Dray felt bad. It was as if he had given out himself cheaply. Something he had not done in a while.
“However, my name is Tenzō. If you’re up for it tomorrow, I will be glad to accept your offer once
more.” He concluded.
Ah, dray was reliefed. The boy had not completely turned him down. He felt at ease now. There was no problem in showing him tomorrow..
"Fine by me".. Dray replied as he saw the boy leave his presence.. Well, what else was he waiting for as he proceeded out of the academy gates and off to his home.
WC:743

EXIT
Total Wc: 2930
Trained:
Str C2-C3(700/2930)
Spd C2-C3(700/2930)
End C2-C3(700/2930)
Rea C2-C3(700/2930)
Remaining 130 words.