Chapter 3: Chapter 3 I’m Quite Pretty Eh?

"We're currently guarding this village so we can't escort you there, however if you head directly in that direction, you should make it in a couple weeks." The short ninja pointed west as he sighed, he did kind of want to help the kid since his family was a big part of his gennin days, but hey at least he could give him some directions.

Before Riku left however, "one more thing, is there anywhere I can wash up? I'm a bit dirty you see.." Riku said with a slightly embarrassed face, "and maybe could you buy me some clothes.. and maybe some equipment.. and maybe teach me how to use chakra.. maybe.."

The short ninja looked at Riku suspiciously "clothes and a wash maybe but I can't go around teaching random children how to use chakra and I certainly won't buy you any equipment."

Riku brightened up and said "can I wash now? Where's the nearest place?"

"Well the only place really is my apartment so I'll take you there, then I will buy you some clothes while you bathe" the short ninja said almost too casually.

"Is it because I'm a kid? Or maybe my family? Why is he so familiar with me.. even letting me bathe in his house? He's not a pervert right? Kokuenryū can you sense any lust from this fella?" Riku thought for Kokuenryū to hear

*hmm.. not from what I can sense, this guy is really that naïve and trustworthy..*

Kokuenryū and Riku both were sort of confused, both of their guards were up in case he really was some sort of super perv that got off to having children bathe in his house.

Either way, Riku still went. He was desperate for that wash after all, as he stripped and entered the cold bath, he felt at peace after almost 20 whole years of endless fighting.

As Riku relaxed in the bath, the short ninja was trying to predict what size Riku would wear, as most of the clothes seemed either too big or too small, but in the end he went with the bigger option.

Worst case scenario they were too big and Riku could grow into them, not like he could shrink into the smaller ones.

Riku, in the bath sat in a meditative position as he tried to sense the chakra within him.

In his previous life, people that wished to awaken their magical energy had to shape the natural magical essence into a wheel around their heart, the more wheels the higher the strength. Riku was a 9 wheel/circle mage which was the highest tier, so manipulating magical essence was child's play to him, so he assumed chakra felt the same.

But he wasn't completely wrong, he could certainly feel chakra from the same technique, but trying to shape such violent chakra proved difficult, he couldn't control it even slightly, after all he was still growing and his chakra was still unstable from being slowly fused with that of Kokuenry, so he stood up after washing all the blood off him and stepped out of the bath, he would continue trying to adapt to his chakra at a later date, as of right now, it was time to see what this new body looked like as he had been given mixed signals, he was told he looked feminine, but many people seemed scared by his looks.

As he stood up, trying to see himself in the mirror, which he had to get on his tiptoes to see, what met his eyes were two slit pupils like that of a reptile, his irises were grey and he had long white eyelashes, his eyebrows were a dark grey/black colour. His long white hair reached down to his upper back had black strands, making his hair colour naturally black and white just like the Kuroshiro family's signature unique hair colour. Yes, as the bandits had said he was quite pretty, his full lips and petite nose mixed with his long eyelashes did add a feminine charm to the boy. However the most noticeable part of his face was a black mark on his right cheek. The kanji for dragon — "龍" seemed to be engraved on his face, just like Gaara's kanji for love — "愛" on the left side of his forehead.

His body was toned, but still very skinny due to malnutrition, but his hands were conditioned for wielding a sword thanks to his families harsh training. He was slightly taller than the average child at his age which was a good sign as it could lead to him being taller than most when he reached adulthood.

"Remember when you said I had an ugly mug and had to be of bastard origin?" Riku giggled at Kokuenryū with arrogance and victory

*you humans all look the same to me. You don't have beautiful black scales therefore you are in fact, ugly* Kokuenryū shrugged his arrogance off with even more arrogance, being a dragon his ego was naturally too high, a dragons pride is something they are well known for in the end.

As Riku dried himself off, the short ninja entered the house and handed over Riku's brand new clothes. He had been handed black pants that looked like pants called harem pants in his first life, they were baggy but tight around the ankles and waist making them perfect for the heat, as for the top he was handed a large black tshirt that's arm length made it to his elbows , but he could tuck it into the belt to make it fit him, over this was a beige scarf, that could also be used as a cape for how big it was. As for shoes and underwear he had a couple pairs of underwear and he was wearing a grey vest beneath his shirt and also had bandages wrapped around his forearms and shins for protection against the sun and incase he needed to engage in hand to hand combat where he would need to avoid getting bruised / getting a rash, his shoes were the basic black combat boots with the front part removed for his toes to breathe for some reason, practical and good for managing the sand he assumed.

Overall, he was ready, but everything felt so easy for some reason. He had gotten out of being butchered by Gaara, then coincidentally met someone that was willing to help him so much, it was almost all too good to be true..

Riku then thanked the short ninja who Riku had found out that his name name was Jin, who had helped him the most so far. Not only had he given Riku directions but he had given him an opportunity to clean himself, and had also bought Riku clothes.

"What a nice guy" Riku thought to himself as he exited the village.

…

After a solid day of walking Riku was feeling so bored, Kokuenryū barely replied and when he did they were short and tired replies. This situation wasn't satisfactory for either of them, they both knew they secretly wanted a group of bandits to swarm Riku so he could slaughter them. See Riku spending the last 20 years of his life on an endless war ground, he naturally forgot how to interact properly with people and the only thing in his mind was slaughter. And Kokuenryū was just weird like that naturally.

As Riku walked, he sometimes circulated his chakra to help get a feel for how it works. Actively moving the chakra to a specific area in his body to strengthen it was difficult, but this was probably because of the amount of chakra he had to begin with. Usually young ninja wouldn't even have a quarter of what Riku has and therefore manipulating the chakra would be easier as it was less to control and less chaotic. Not to mention Kokuenryū's agressive chakra slowly fusing with his own, but Riku being a Jinchuriki knew this was only natural as their soul binding hadn't fully formed yet.

Riku continued walking for a couple days, repeating the chakra movements and taking short breaks to eat some rations and have some water. Nothing of particular importance happened aside from a couple of encounters with animals such as vultures, big sand worms, some more birds of prey and a couple wandering merchants who didn't instantly run at the sight of Riku as he wasn't covered fully in blood anymore, but he was a bit messy and disheveled from being sweaty and constantly walking while circulating his chakra, at this point he had finally spotted some green, In the distance he could clearly see trees. He heaved a heavy sigh of relief as he began to run with a bright smile on his face. He was one step closer to fulfilling his childhood dream of being a ninja in the Naruto world.