Advancing

                                    

                                          


"SLOW DOWN!"
Three kids ages 5 and 6 ran across the tiled roofs of the village. 
The one leading was a boy with a low black bun and a white cat in his arms. Another boy ran directly behind him with straight flowing brown hair, and angry expression on his face as he ran down the other boy. 
A smaller kid with wavy back hair brought up the rear and followed the other two as they made their own pathway through the sky.
"KENTA I SWEAR TO ALL YOU HOLD DEAR! STOP SPEEDING UP!"
Yumi Hyuga screamed at the boy infront of him. Kenta turned his head and looked back. "Not my fault you're slow."
Civilians craned their necks up to look at the boys as Yumi grew increasingly louder with his choice words. 
"We all want to get there quickly so lets get on with it. You don't want to be disqualified before we even get to the exam." Shota spoke up from behind them, earning an irritated and amused look from each boy. Despite Yumi's insistence that they were both annoyances all the time, the emotions Shota felt through the Hyuga's chakra betrayed his true feelings.
They got closer to their target, the building where the chūnin exams were being held getting closer. 
They had been training non stop since becoming genins and this was where they would see the fruits of their labour. 
They had gotten special permission along with a few other teams in their class to participate in the exams even though they were so young.
Shota was pleased with their progress as a team. They had gone on a lot of d ranks and a few c ranks before Jona decided that they would train heavily to enter the exams. She was very...vocal, in her request to get Konoha's officials to permit the three to take the exams.
Lets just say the hell she put them through made the exams a cake walk.
All three ended up in the green flak jackets that indicated their rank to other shinobi.  
They had fully decked each jacket out with weapons and scrolls and first aid kits like any other chūnin, but Kenta and Shota wouldn't admit to filling a few pockets up with cat treats. Miriku was very vocal when around Shota from that point on, immediately knowing that there was teats on his body.  
Obito thought the jacket was the coolest thing in the world and even asked Shota is he could try it on until Kakashi hit him round the head. "You've got to earn it, idiot." Were the words that earned the silver haired boy a harsh scowl.
Sure enough, six months later when the next exam took place, Obito earned his very own jacket along with Kakashi.
Unfortunately Guy was taken out by Kakshi during them exam and so he and Rin were the only ones who didn't pass. 
A few others in their old academy class passed too which resulted in Shota seeing a lot more ranked shinobi around.
Way more than the usual flow. 
He supposed that this was another sign of the growing unrest in the lands.
The war, the inevitable third shinobi war was finally building up to happen. 
They could see it in the shops with a decreased verity of options, things being unattainable due to the decreasing trade and supply routes. They could hear it in streets of the village, gossip from travellers and shinobi about fights or changes in political power. 
He new it was coming but it still made his stomach unsettled.
Mono was able to offer some comfort as they both trained practically every waking hour. 
They practiced switching control quickly to change fighting styles and attacks while sparring with Kenta and Yumi. 
Shota had remained undefeated, holding solid ground against Jona-Sensei when she was going at a steady pace. He could even get her on the loosing side when he found or made openings in her guard.
She often went full out during training after this kept happening. He was proud to say he could go for ten minutes and keep up with the Jonin before slowly getting the living shit beat out of him. 
He medical training was advancing quickly too. He was now able to reset broken bones and heal larger wounds. He had begun to be trained now in transplants, surgeries and, more interestingly in Monos opinion, the creation of chakra scalpels and how to derange a target's nervous system. 
The latter being only the theory from medical journals by Tsunade herself. Its was a highly advanced technique which involves creating an electric field by giving your chakra the properties of electricity. Striking the target with your hand, the electricity pours into their nervous system and rearranges their body's signals. Ordinarily, the brain sends electric signals to the body to control how it moves. But when under the influence of this technique, these signals will produce any movement other than what the brain intends. When used against most opponents, they will be unable to do something as simple as walking.
Mono was determined for them to be able to do it one day.
The other two were advancing with their chosen skills too but not as quickly as Shota and Mono as when one was tiered the other would switch in. The fact they could heal Shota's muscles and flush out toxins from his body from exercising with medical-ninjutsu also kept them going for a lot longer than the other two. During this training period, team eight kept going on more missions that the two noticed were increasingly more directed north west, were Iwagakure resided in the Land of Stone.
A few years after the other two had passed their Chunin exam, Shota was recommended to take the Jonin exam by his dad and Jona-Sensei. 
You would assume taking an exam of such importance was nerve racking. Mono and Shota could hold their heads high through as he was the youngest ever Jonin at the age of nine.
It was obviously not paraded around but when Obito saw the blue under outfit, fingerless protective gloves and green flak jacket which almost every Jonin wore as a uniform, he almost collapsed. He pestered Shota until the boy finally confirmed it to stop the Uchiha yelling in his face. The awe he felt about Shota made his eyes shine when they were together. Obito also made a commented how the raven haired boy looked like a mini version of his dad in his uniform which got him a hard hit round the head.
This of course set everyone else off, saying how cute he and his dad looked as they matched fully now when in uniform.Shota having a similar tanto on the small of his back adding to the similarities. Only the anbu mask and Shota's scarf made the outfits different.
Shota's only savour was the scarf around his neck that his blush.

His days leading up to the announcement of the war were actually pretty normal. 
Training at the Hospital and with his team. Reading books in his room and making notes with Mono so they could keep important things in his head for the future. Hanging out with his friends on their days off, going to town and eating or playing tactical games in the forest. Resting at home and talking to his dad about his day,  Miriku purring on his chest.
It wasn't unexpected for him at all with the future knowledge but the announcement the Hokage gave to the whole village one Morning came out of nowhere. 
The whole atmosphere of the village shifted afterwards. Changing within the second that the words came out the old man's lips from atop the stage where the villagers had gathered. 
His dad held his shoulder tightly and Shota could see the mans thoughts going at a hundred miles an hour. 
Rin trying to keep her tears in, putting on a neutral face while the other two in her team had their eyes blown wide open. 
Shota could see Yumi and Kenta with their families. The clans having a serious air about them, knowing that their people would make up quite a number of Konoha's Shinobi.
Everyone's alarm was obvious. This edge that had settled into everyone's heads would not leave until a long time after the war.
For the Shinobi who were going to be fighting- the seasoned adults, the young chunin and genin, the kids who were going to be taken out of the academy early, those who hadn't even joined the academy yet but were still destined for the front line- this edge in their heads, would never leave.