Soon enough the entire camp forces arrived before the Hokage building, or rather next to it where a large platform stood.
As they all stood in line, thoughts and memories flashing through their heads, a man appeared on top of the platform.
He wore a long cloak of sorts with a large hat, the kanji for fire embroidered in it.
It was the third Hokage, his face showed a soft expression however his aura was commanding beyond belief.
Kazuo who stood near the front of the shinobi had a clear look to it.
He had already experienced the aura of the man during a previous turn however this was the first time that he had seen it in its full glory.
It was like he was standing in front of a towering beast, though the aura felt more protective than dangerous.
'Is he using chakra as a way to increase it? I don't see any other logical explanation, his aura almost feels physical.' Kazuo thought as he gazed at the man who would later be called useless by most of the people in his previous world.
However at this moment, he wasn't the professor, he wasn't Naruto's grandfather figure.
He was a god amongst shinobi and he didn't ask for respect, he demanded it.
A smile bloomed on Kazuo's face, his entire being was overtaken by sheer excitement.
'Can I reach that level? No, I must and I will.' Kazuo thought to himself.
Finally, the god of shinobi arrived at the front of the platform and started his speech.
His voice towered over any other sound as he welcomed his shinobi back into the village.
Hundreds of villagers had already gathered around, their hearts being ignited by the man.
"I welcome on this day people who have triumphed over our enemies and have given everything they have for the prosperity and safety of our home." The man started, his gaze seemed to pierce into every shinobi.
His next speech was convoluted if Kazuo had to say so, every work felt like it had been specially crafted to ignite the so called will of fire into the shinobi and to turn their depression and hatred into fuel that continued the fire that was housed inside the village.
As a way to better control and manipulate everyone, so that they followed his orders even in death.
'Frightening, the amount of charisma required to turn battle-worn shinobi, killers who have fought with death itself and then turn that back into its original state of well behaved dogs that will do anything for him, for a sense of justice that has been crafted by the village.' Kazuo thought his smile twitching as he continued listening to the man.
The speech lasted for twenty-five minutes before the man nodded, amidst the erupting cheers of the shinobi and villagers alike.
And then he disappeared back into the Hokage tower, the villagers mostly dispersed and the tired ninja soon followed, each heading to their own homes.
To meet their family and lovers. For them the war wasn't over however they had won a significant battle.
Kazuo followed suit and used the body flicker to head to the apartment at the edge of the village, where his memories told him his home was.
Arriving at the apartment, Kazuo found nothing but filthy roads, old buildings that seemed to be on the verge of collapse, and unsightly people hanging around the roads.
'Seems like the place I was given as a genin really isn't all that huh? Though I already knew from the memories, experiencing it yourself really does put everything into perspective.' Kazuo thought with a slight sneer before heading to the door of his apartment only to realize that his keys had been melted and completely destroyed with his tent.
*Sigh*
Releasing a soft sigh, Kazuo put two fingers on his wrist guard, summoning a kunai which he quickly slashed at the lock.
*Klang*
The lock fell down and he gained entry into his home once more.
Heading through the door, he saw a single bed with white walls that looked like they had been smeared with shit and some old drawers to the left that had seen much better days.
'Not only was that bastard lazy in the academy but he also lived like a fucking pig.' Kazuo thought in annoyance, closing the door behind him and walking to the bed.
Sitting on the bed, Kazuo put his feet up and lay down fully.
'I'll rest for a while, we will have around two weeks of vacation before we get sent to the next battlefield. I expected less but it seems like the war is coming to a quick close.' Kazuo thought as he gazed at the ceiling.
At that moment a loud sound was heard and the bed under him crashed to the floor.
A twitching smile was the only change in Kazuo's expression, he hadn't even moved when the bed had collapsed from under him.
'Ah, why is the war camp starting to look like a good place all of a sudden.' Kazuo thought before quickly jumping out of the bed and heading to the door.
Grabbing a ninja wire, he tied it around the door and then tied the other end to the handle of a kunai he threw a few feet behind him, effectively making a lock.
Heading back to the bed, Kazuo lay down once more, this time closing his eyes, hoping that he wouldn't have any nightmares today.
His hopes were utterly crushed however as he spent his entire time asleep dreaming about his deaths, each one more harrowing than the other.
Be it being impaled through the chest, exploding into smithereens, having his head blow up from a jutsu, having his head decapitated, or having his entire upper half slashed through by a root ninja.
At the end of each death, he saw a singular non-changing figure.
A large black sea, on top of which a small wooden row boat stood and the man rowing it was a dark skeleton with a large weathered black cloak, the holes in his skull piercing as they gazed at Kazuo.
A shrill laughter was the only thing heard before Kazuo dreamed of another painful and harrowing death.
Only at the end of the dream, did the skeleton finally say something.
"You will never escape Destiny, for it has already ensnared you in its web."
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Here's the daily chapter, and with this the first volume is officially over.
[ Volume 1: Destiny ]
It has been quite a while since we started this journey, we had ups and downs, chapters that you may have liked or you may have hated however I can only say one thing.
Thank you for reading every day and for sticking with me thus far and hopefully into the future as well.
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead and help support me further then check out my Patreon at:
Patreon.com/NarutoAuthor
As always, Lots of Love, and Stay safe out there.
From an Ordinary Naruto Author
*Huff* *Huff*
Releasing harsh breaths, Kazuo woke up with his back drenched in sweat, the broken bed creaking underneath him.
Looking around quickly, he remembered that he was back inside the leaf village.
Using one hand to clean off the sweat that had covered his forehead, Kazuo got up whilst releasing a sigh.
No thoughts passed through his head as he headed to the small kitchen on the left side of the apartment, opened the fridge, and found nothing besides rotten food with so many cockroaches that Kazuo wondered if they had made a nest inside the fridge.
'Fucking hell, what a great way to start the day.' Kazuo thought as he released a long sigh and headed to the door, he had quite a lot to do for these two weeks.
His plans were to train until he completely mastered water walking, bringing his chakra control to higher levels which would help in maintaining his reserves in combat.
He would also be training every other technique at his disposal until they reached the highest degree of mastery, this wouldn't be that hard considering he had the time loop.
Most important however was the fact that he had to increase his physical stats, to do that he needed a good diet as well as a set of weights that he could wear constantly during the two weeks.
His physical stats couldn't be trained using the time loop, so they had become a point of weakness to Kazuo.
Once outside of the apartment, Kazuo used the body flicker jutsu to quickly arrive at the Hokage tower, inside of which was a special office where ninjas could get their monthly paycheck.
With him having become a Chunnin, his pay would be much higher than it had been as a Gennin.
"Im here to receive my monthly pay," Kazuo said as he stood in front of a wooden oak counter, behind which an old woman stood.
"Could I get your ninja ID please?" The woman asked as she extended her hand and Kazuo didn't dally at all as he extended the small card toward the woman.
Thankfully he had stored it inside his wrist guards otherwise he would have had to go through the process of acquiring another one, lowering the time he had to train even further.
"Everything checks out, this is your monthly pay as a Chunnin." The woman said as she gave him back his ninja ID as well as a small brown bag.
Kazuo nodded before putting the ninja ID back in his ninja bag and tying the small brown bag to his waist, after which he headed outside and used the body flicker to directly head toward the shopping district of Konoha.
The streets were made of dirt with wooden buildings all around, a complete contrast to the asphalt and concrete that Kazuo was used to back in his old world.
Hundreds of villagers passed through the street, creating the image of a bustling and well-off village, the faces and expressions of these people were soft, some even had calm and happy expressions as they went about their day.
Standing still, Kazuo looked at them for a moment before releasing a light chuckle and heading toward what looked like a ninja shop, considering the sign on top of it was a kunai and a shuriken.
Heading inside, he quickly found that he was quite wrong, the shop was a noodle shop, turning around Kazuo tried a few more stores before finding what he was looking for.
Once inside, Kazuo found hundreds of different weapons, be it kunai, shuriken, senbon needles, ninja thread, and even giant Fuma Shuriken.
"Welcome to our small shop, what might I help you with today kid?" An old man with a large beard that almost went down to his waist said from behind a wooden counter.
"I was looking for some training weights, do you have any?" Kazuo asked as he looked at the man who nodded his head almost immediately.
"We do, I'll bring out the types we have in just a moment." The old man said as he turned around and headed into another room behind the counter, coming back a minute or so later whilst holding three items in his hands.
Putting them on the counter, he pointed to each item and gave a short description.
"We have three different types of weights." The old man said before pointing to the one on the far left.
"These ones are the cheapest but they do the job, they have physical weights placed inside of them so their limit is only at one hundred kilograms." The man said before pointing to the next item.
"These ones are seal-based weights, they can increase and decrease the weight based on a certain mechanism though I don't understand clearly how they are made, what I do know is that they can go up to three hundred kilograms." The man said before turning his hand to the last item on the counter.
'Those look like the seals that Rock Lee used to use.' Kazuo thought as he stared at the familiar-looking weights.
"These are the best ones we've got, they are also seal-based however they can go up to one ton in weight." The man said before giving Kazuo a price for each item.
"I'll take the cheapest ones, im quite short on money for now uncle," Kazuo said as he gave the man a smile and pointed to the cheapest non-seal-based weights.
"All right, I'll prepare them for you right away." The old man said with a smile, as he removed the two other seal-based weights quickly grabbed what looked like a bag, and placed the physical weights inside together with sixteen iron rods.
"Here, two ankle weights and two wrist weights. I also placed all the different weight rods inside, they're included for the same price." The man said and Kazuo quickly handed over the money, took the bag, and headed outside.
'This is fucking heavy' Kazuo thought as he used both hands to hold the bag that weighed one hundred kilograms.
Once outside of the shop, Kazuo quickly used the bodyflicker, his next destination was a place called Yakiniku-Q, a famous place for barbeque which would be the source of his food for the next two weeks.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Here's the daily chapter as well as the first chapter of the second volume.
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead and help support me further then check out my Patreon at:
Patreon.com/NarutoAuthor
Thanks a lot for the support and for reading.
Lots of Love
Naruto Author
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