Growing Up

Higeki was a frighteningly quiet baby.

Except for occasions when he needed something, or if he crapped himself, Higeki would always keep quiet.

Usually, at his age, babies would be loud, crying, and demanding attention every second, but he wasn't like that.

It was almost as if he was aware of himself.

His biology was also very different from the other children.

His body was saturated with too much chakra, and instead of becoming physically weak from the oversaturation of chakra in his body, it caused a mutation, which led to him being able to transform and manipulate ice as naturally as breathing.

Ironiki was surprised when one day, Higeki suddenly transformed water into ice when he was bathing.

It seemed like Higeki unconsciously transformed the hot water into ice, but for some reason, he was fine with cold water.

Then, Ironiki later discovered that Higeki had an affinity for cold things as well.

He would enjoy ice cream and cold milk a lot, and the food that he eats would have to be cold as well, or else he would unconsciously freeze them.

Although his behavior was excellent, making it much easier for Ironiki to raise him, Higeki could be called a penchant of bad luck; having 4 assassination attempts on him and Ironiki.

(Flashback)

Ironiki and Higeki were walking outside Konoha because Ironiki had an easy mission that required him to deliver some groceries, and he didn't want to leave Higeki behind or hire a babysitter.

When they finished the mission, they were on their way back to Konoha when suddenly a kunai flew straight toward Higeki.

Ironiki raised an eyebrow and pulled out his kunai to deflect the kunai flying at

Higeki, and he jumped towards a building, dodging a kunai tagged with an explosive note.

Ironiki looked around for the assailants, and he found 4 of them; hidden in black coats.

'Who's dumb enough to attack a jonin near Konoha? No, better question; how did they get the information that a jonin would be doing a mission for genin? Hokage-sama registered it as a genin team doing the mission, and it was classified information that I would be heading outside Konoha.'

Ironiki snapped out of his thoughts and dodged a fireball coming towards him, and then he flickered away to dodge a water bullet.

'Smart. They won't even announce the jutsu for me to hear their voice.'

Ironiki then used, [Earth Style: Bedrock Coffin] to trap an enemy, then he used [Fire Release: Great Fireball] to burn the trapped enemy alive.

The other assailants took the opportunity and tried to attack him with Water Release and Lightning Release, but Ironiki used, [Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall] to block all of the attacks coming towards him.

The 3 jutsus collided with the earth wall, creating an explosion that created smoke, hindering the vision of everyone in the area.

When the smoke cleared, the earth wall held strong without any cracks in it, and Ironiki proceeded to use [Earth Style: Earth and Stone Dragon] in conjunction [Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet] to create a flaming dragon.

The enemies separated from each other to dodge, but it was all for naught; for Ironiki was able to explode the flaming dragon, launching large amounts of shrapnel in the form of molten rocks everywhere.

2 of the assailants were hit with the shrapnel, and one died on the spot due to it piercing their brains, while the other one survived with a crippled lower body.

The other assailant saw this and tried to run away, but reinforcements for Ironiki arrived in the form of Anbu.

The Anbu members killed the fleeing assailant, while one of them heading towards the wounded one to stop their bleeding, and knocking them out with a genjutsu, preventing them from committing suicide.

"Ironiki-san, are you alright?", Danzo approached Ironiki after asking him if he was fine.

"Yeah, I'm fine. 'Was just wondering who was stupid enough to attack a jonin near Konoha."

"How is Higeki? Is he wounded at all?"

"Nah he's fine. I made sure he didn't get hit at all."

Danzo looked visibly relieved that Higeki was fine, but he then narrowed his eyes and looked at the knocked-out assailant.

"We'll make sure to interrogate him well."

"Yeah do that please, also notify me when you're done because I'd like to know the idiot who attacked me."

(Flashback end)

After being interrogated, the assailant confessed that they were after the bounty on Ironiki's head, which was 58 million Ryo.

Ironiki was surprised that he had a bounty, and his bounty was the 5th highest in Konoha, being after Hiruzen, Danzo, Sakumo, and Tsunade.

It seems like Ironiki couldn't remember any occasions worthy of being granted a bounty.

A/N: The reason why Tsunade has a high bounty is that she's Hashirama's granddaughter and one of the last Senju alive.

Ironiki was both happy and dejected at the fact that his bounty was that high, because he was proud of having such a high bounty, and he was sad that more people would be coming for his head now, which would put Higeki in danger.

From then on, Ironiki decided to do missions outside the village to lead enemies away from his home, which has been re-located to the central area of Konoha, where patrols are frequent.

Since Ironiki needed to leave Konoha to do missions, he decided to do Hiruzen a favor and created babysitting missions for Team Hiruzen.

Tsunade and Jiraiya were annoyed at having to babysit someone, while Orochimaru was indifferent, and Hiruzen was curious about Higeki's growth.

...

"Sensei! Why do we have to babysit this brat? Can't our client just hire a nanny to babysit the little boy? I wanna learn ninjutsu!"

Jiraiya was complaining to Hiruzen as usual, Tsunade and Orochimaru looked bored, so Hiruzen decided to play the cards and trust his student, and he was also tired of listening to them complain everyday.

"*Sigh* Guys look at this."

Hiruzen pulled out a kunai and threw it at Higeki, Jiraiya was panicking because he was very close to being hit, while Tsunade and Orochimaru looked shocked that Hiruzen would do something like that.

"SENSEI! YOU KILLED THE BABY!"

Jiraiya and Tsunade were shouting and panicking, but Hiruzen calmed them down and said, "Look closer, he's fine."

The three students looked at Higeki, and they saw that he turned into ice and was reforming his head after having a hole put in it.

Higeki looked completely unaffected and resumed playing around with his toys, while Jiraiya and Tsunade looked shocked, and Orochimaru had a glint in his eyes.

"WOAH! THAT KID IS FINE! IS HE A MONSTER?!?!", Jiraiya shouted and had a scared look in his eyes.

"I'm telling you this because I trust you my students, but Higeki-kun's kekkei genkai; the Ice Release, is mutated. His body is oversaturated with chakra and it mutated, causing this", he gestured at Higeki's reforming head, "to happen."

Orochimaru then asked a question, "Sensei, if this is a cause of oversaturation, doesn't that mean that if we make someone's body oversaturated with chakra, we can create mutations?"

Hiruzen pondered the question and replied, "It wouldn't be ethical due to the oversaturation being unnatural, which would cause extreme pain to the chakra pathways and the body itself."

Orochimaru still looked curious, but he seemed to accept this answer.

...

(Year 46)

The cycle has been repeating for 5 years, and eventually, Higeki turned 5.

"Higeki! Today is your first day at the Academy, don't be late! I'll be there for your entrance ceremony, but I gotta leave after to do a mission!"

"Alright, dad. I'll be preparing now."

Higeki replied to Ironiki's statement and he prepared himself to go to the Academy, changing his clothes and brushing his teeth.

"Are you ready? Then, let's go."

The father and son duo walked side-by-side to the Academy, and they reached it after a few minutes of walking due to their house location.

Ironiki and Higeki arrived, and they saw a lot of families there, waiting to enroll their children.

Higeki got curious and looked around, and he found children being led by a lady, to which he asked his father what they were doing.

Ironiki replied with a somber look, "They're orphans. Their parents likely died or abandoned them.", and he didn't explain any further.

Higeko was curious and saw a blonde boy peeking his head out of the line, and they made eye contact with each other.

The boy's blue eyes seemed to shine, and he smiled towards Higeki, and instinctively, Higeki smiled back.

"Ahem! Hello, my name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, and I'm better known as your Hokage! Today will be your first step in becoming a ninja that fights for and protect our village, and I'm proud of you all for being brave. The Will of Fire shines brightly within you all, and it will never be extinguished through any means. Welcome to the Academy!"

Everyone cheered after listening to Hiruzen's speech, and as Hiruzen walked away, he motioned for me and Ironiki to follow him.

"Hello Higeki-kun, how are you doing?"

"Hiruzen-san, I'm doing well. Father taught me how to better control my Ice Release, and I won't freeze anyone else accidentally now!" Higeki replied with a bright smile on his face, but Hiruzen's smile became a little bit awkward due to 'that incident'.

(Flashback)

"SENSEI! JIRAIYA GOT FROZEN!"

Tsunade could be heard shouting for Hiruzen when he was busy doing paperwork in Ironiki's house, and Hiruzen got up immediately and flickered next to Tsunade.

"Calm down, Tsuna. What happened?"

"Jiraiya warmed up the milk for a prank, and the kid froze him when he fed him the milk!"

Hiruzen face-palmed and said to the frozen Jiraiya with a tired tone, "Jiraiya, Higeki-kun's Ice Release is very weak at the moment, you should be able to break out of it easily unless you're scared of him, which makes you think that you won't be able to move."

Jiraiya then easily broke out of it, but he had a frightened expression on his face, it seems like he didn't enjoy being frozen.

"Now, you know to not prank the kid with warm food."

(Flashback end)

Hiruzen asked to speak with Ironiki privately before the conversation became more awkward due to recalling the incident, and Ironiki sent Higeki to join the kids waiting to be administered to a class.

...

The children were sorted into 5 classes, 1-A, B, C, D, or E.

The clan children were administered into 1-A, and some lucky fellows were also in it, like a certain blonde kid.

When the kids were sorted into classes, they were ushered into different homerooms and were allowed to choose their seats.

As if fated, the blonde, Namikaze Minato, and the white-haired kid, Shorai Higeki, sat next to each other.

"Hello! My name is Namikaze Minato, what's yours?", the blonde asked with a smile on his face.

"Shorai Higeki, nice to meet you.", a smile also bloomed on Higeki's face.

"Since we'll be together in the same class, would you like to be friends, Higeki-kun?"

"Of course, Minato-kun."

Minato and Higeki introduced themselves and quickly became friends due to their natural attunement with each other.

"Attention! My name is Katsute Hawabara! You can refer to be as Katsute-sensei. I'll be the one teaching you for the next 5 years."

Katsute introduced himself to the children in his class, and he did an attendance check.

"Arashig Murtoa!" "Here!"

"Raskien Laikenge!" "Here!"

"Shinbosa Rikale!" "Here!"

"..."

"Namikaze Minato!" "Here!"

"Shorai Higeki!" "Here."

"..."

After finishing the attendance check, Katsute introduced the schedule to the students.

9:00 AM - 10:00AM: History of Konoha

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Mathematics

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM: Lunch

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM: Chakra Theory & Hand Seals

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM: Taijutsu

Looking over the schedule, most children noticed that there was no period for practical chakra applications, which was the thing that most were looking forward to the most.

One raised his hand and asked, "Katsute-sensei, why don't we practice chakra at any part of the day on the schedule?"

It seems like Katsute was prepared for this because he replied, "We'll be starting on practical applications of chakra starting in year 2. The first year is merely an introduction year, while second and above years will be practical applications."

The children looked impatient because they would have to wait a year to do anything practical related to chakra, but Katsute noticed this and chuckled, "Don't worry, a year pass in a flash."

"Now, let's get started! We'll be learning about the history of Konoha, so prepare to take notes!"