The Four Heavenly Kings

"I am your older brother, after all." After Naruto left, Yin Xiang murmured softly to himself, then shook his head, smiled, and continued eating his ramen.

"One day, you two will surely recognize each other." Uncle Ichiraku leaned over the counter and said to Yin Xiang.

"Mm, I believe that day will come, and the sooner, the better." Yin Xiang nodded, finished his ramen, wiped his mouth, and left money for Uncle Ichiraku.

"I'm heading off now, Uncle." Yin Xiang waved his hand as he spoke.

"Take care." Ichiraku nodded and cleared the money from the table.

Yin Xiang returned home to wait for tomorrow, when he would head to the academy to be assigned a team leader.

"Well, I might as well study some ninjutsu." Yin Xiang opened a B-rank ninjutsu scroll; these were all written personally for him by Kakashi.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!" Yin Xiang moved his hands, weaving signs rapidly, and spat a high-pressure sphere of wind from his mouth. It struck the large tree in front of him, blasting a massive hole through it, and a moment later, the tree collapsed.

"Not bad for a B-rank jutsu." Yin Xiang smiled, looking at the fallen tree.

"Come to think of it, Wind Style counters Lightning Style. If I master all the wind and lightning techniques, wouldn't my own techniques end up countering each other in a fight?" Yin Xiang lowered his head in thought. "If I can't use Lightning Style while using Wind Style, how is the Insoro Clan supposed to push their wind and lightning techniques to the limit?"

Yin Xiang pondered, then sat cross-legged on the ground, resting his chin in his hand. Wind Style... Lightning Style... As he thought, spheres of wind and lightning appeared in his left and right hands respectively.

Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Yin Xiang. He used Chidori with his left hand and Rasengan with his right; the two techniques collided and vanished simultaneously.

"When Naruto and Sasuke had their final battle, they both used Rasengan and Chidori. By then, those moves were already incredibly powerful, and when they collided, they both lost an arm."

"Logically, since Wind Style counters Lightning Style, Naruto's Rasengan should have been able to defeat the Chidori without causing him any damage, yet both of them lost an arm."

"When a technique reaches a certain level of power, it can completely ignore elemental affinities. If I can cultivate both Wind and Lightning to their peak and fuse them together, I could unleash immense power." Yin Xiang smiled at this thought.

"Chidori is an A-rank jutsu, and even more powerful is the Chidori, which is an S-rank technique. Rasengan is also an A-rank jutsu, and its higher-level S-rank version is the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken. I can ask Kakashi for guidance on Chidori, but for the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken, I'll have to research it myself." A Rasengan appeared in Yin Xiang's hand again, and he tried to inject wind-style chakra into it.

"Urgh!" The Rasengan in Yin Xiang's hand grew slightly larger, and four transparent wind blades appeared, but a sharp pain shot through his wrist, and he quickly dissipated the technique.

"Right, right, I almost forgot. This Wind Style: Rasenshuriken causes severe internal damage to the user and was even classified as a forbidden jutsu by Tsunade. Even Naruto could only use it freely after mastering Sage Mode." Yin Xiang clutched his wrist; it really hurt.

"It seems I can't rush S-rank techniques. Even with a wind-lightning cultivation body, I can't train like this. Sigh." Yin Xiang sighed.

What Yin Xiang lacked now was combat experience, and he lacked it severely. He had absolutely no experience fighting other ninjas. Even with a repertoire of powerful techniques, if he were to face a real ninja, he could be killed in an instant.

"I hope I can take on some combat missions soon to accumulate some battle and killing experience. That way, I'll be able to do something for Naruto in the future." Yin Xiang looked up at the sky, then returned to his room, grabbed a few jugs of wine, and sat on the veranda.

"I'm sorry, Mom. Even though you told me and Naruto not to drink until we were twenty." Yin Xiang smiled, poured himself a cup of wine, and downed it in one gulp.

He sat there alone until nightfall. While Naruto lived a lonely life, was Yin Xiang any different? Naruto was shunned because he was the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, while Yin Xiang was avoided because he was the orphan of the Fourth Hokage. Neither of them had friends.

They were only classmates with the others in their grade, and no one ever approached them.

"I, Yin Xiang, don't want to be a ninja feared by everyone in this world. I just want to live a simple life, have the strength to protect myself, have a wife, have a child, and live happily for the rest of my days." Yin Xiang looked up at the moon in the sky and said.

Swish.

Four black shadows swept across the roof of Yin Xiang's house and landed on the wall in front of him. They wore masks and radiated an intense killing intent.

"Damn it." Yin Xiang was startled, and the wine cup in his hand fell to the ground. These four people weren't... the four masked men who had hunted him down all those years ago, were they?

"Are you here to kill me again?" Yin Xiang stood up from the veranda. So many years had passed; if they were going to come, they would have come long ago. Why now?

Yin Xiang secretly wove hand signs, ready to use the Flying Thunder God to escape at any moment. Clearly, he was no match for these four.

"My Lord." To his surprise, the four figures vanished from the roof and appeared right before him, kneeling on the ground.

"Eh!?" Yin Xiang was so shocked by this action that he took a step back. What was going on? Weren't these four here to kill him?

"My Lord, twelve years ago... we were controlled by a genjutsu and... killed our own kin," one of the masked men said.

"And we nearly killed you, My Lord. We deserve to die for our crimes," another added.

"Wait... what is going on? Are you... members of the Insoro Clan?" Yin Xiang asked, frowning.

"We four are the Four Heavenly Kings of your clan. Our ancestors guarded the Insoro Clan for generations, keeping it safe from intrusion. But that night... a Masked Man appeared before us. Our strength was insufficient, and we were controlled by his genjutsu in a single encounter."

"Our own kin were all slaughtered by our hands. We only recently broke free from the genjutsu's control. After tracking down your whereabouts, we rushed here immediately. We await your judgment, My Lord!"

The four remained kneeling, their heads bowed, not daring to look at Yin Xiang.

"How did you know I was in Konoha?"

"Although we were controlled by genjutsu, our memories remained. The last time we saw you was in Konoha. We searched everywhere, and only just now confirmed that you are indeed our Lord."

"Genjutsu..." From the mention of the Four Heavenly Kings, Yin Xiang became even more certain that this Insoro Hen must be a transmigrator just like him.

"What kind of genjutsu were you controlled by?" Yin Xiang asked, looking at them.

"Sharingan."