Capítulo 16: First
Almost a year had passed since the time I became friends with Naruto. Over the past months, our group of 4 had grown a lot closer, and Lee had become friends with Naruto as well. Both of them were extremely energetic, passionate, and simple-minded, so the friendship between them bloomed naturally. He also got close with Shikamaru and Choji as well, but not as much.
Another thing worthy of mentioning is that I made contact with Sasuke as well.
Speaking of which, Sasuke's fate was a tragic one as well. Everyone only sees the revenge-driven Sasuke in the future, but now, he's really just a kid. A kid who loves his brother dearly, and a kid whose entire world will be ripped from him in the course of one night. For a person who never experienced much hardship in his life, he was thrust into the reality that his entire clan was murdered, parents and kin included, by the person he held most dearly, his brother.
He was also forced to accept that reality repeatedly, as he watched Itachi murder his parents over and over again through Tsukuyomi. He wasn't even allowed to cope with it, it was literally ingrained into him that he didn't have anyone anymore. He was just 7 years old at that point in time, and what happened to him was a cruelty not many can say they've ever experienced the likes of.
Again though, for now, he was just a kid. He didn't have many friends, or any really, but from what I remember in the anime, he would just go home early every day and train. He would train in the forest, sometimes joined by his brother.
How we made contact was simple, I saw him waiting for his brother one day so I went up and struck up a conversation. He wasn't an antisocial power obsessed-person, for now, he just wanted the recognition of his father and to be as powerful as his brother. He still had some pride, being part of one of the most powerful clans in the entire shinobi world, but it was really just childish pride. It wasn't exactly rare, Kiba and Naruto were prideful people too, so it wasn't too difficult to have a conversation with Sasuke.
He was a nice kid though, he had some shyness in him, and decorum worthy of an Uchiha, overall just a well-behaved person. Quickly after we started talking, however, his brother came into view. Sasuke quickly lost interest in talking with me and beamed at his brother. Itachi came over and questioned,
"Oh? Sasuke, why haven't you introduced me to your new friend?"
He ruffled Sasuke's head, who started pouting and said
"Brother!"
Itachi chuckled and turned to me,
"Hello, friend of Sasuke's. My name is Itachi Uchiha, I'm his brother. May I know your name?"
"Of course, Mr. Itachi. My name is Aizen Sosuke. I'm not so sure if Sasuke and I can be considered friends though, after all, we only just introduced ourselves right now"
Itachi looked back at Sasuke, who nodded his head, and said,
"Well, I'm sure my little brother would love to have you as a friend Sosuke. For now, though, I am sorry to say we have to start heading home."
"Of course, I wouldn't want to keep you waiting. Goodbye Mr. Itachi, goodbye Sasuke."
Sasuke nodded his head at me and said a short goodbye, then he quickly held his brother's hand and started heading home. I could hear part of the conversation when they were heading out, and it seemed like Sasuke was telling him about his day in school.
It was truly a wonderful display of brotherly love, but thinking about the events that would occur in the future left a bitter taste in my mouth. After that day though, Sasuke would nod his head at me when we saw each other, and we even occasionally spoke with one another.
My training during the first academic year at the Academy didn't slow either, and after the day I pushed past my limits during training, I started more intensive training. One-legged squats, finger push-ups, rice bucket, variations of pull-ups, kunai training, shuriken training, handstands, etc...
I could do now about 200 pushups before falling into exhaustion, a 4x increase since a year ago, and way higher than when I first started working out. These achievements and milestones make me proud, proud of how far I've come and how fast I'm progressing. Of course, this is all due to my hard work, but still, seeing my efforts pay off made me exhilarated in a way I've never felt.
I bought a kunai for my training, using it against Lee in battles occasionally, but I mostly stuck with melee combat. I felt like a kunai couldn't be integrated too well into my fighting style, considering I aimed for strength as well as speed and precision, but a suitable weapon would have to be found in the future. After all, even those kunai put my savings back quite a bit.
Shuriken training, on the other hand, compliments me more. I realized that even with the perfect martial style, I needed to be able to execute long-distance attacks as well to make up for any weaknesses. While ninjutsu could fit this aspect, I also had to make sure in situations where I had to conserve my chakra to have an alternative long-distance method. Eventually, I could train with senbon to have more variety, but shurikens contained more power and suited me better. I was also pretty talented in shuriken training, hitting about 8/10 of all my targets. I was far away from monsters like Itachi, but I was pretty good.
Speaking of chakra, I had gained a basic master of all three basic jutsus. My transformation jutsu was fairly accurate, only by taking a close look would you see flaws. I could substitute with a big log, but I still needed hand signs to do so. And I could create a clone, but it would disappear after a minute or so. The academy said that they would teach us the three basic jutsu in the second year, when ninja training would begin. The first year was meant to probe the students, get them used to the philosophy of the village, and built camaraderie, and the years thereafter would be used to train the children into ninjas.
That meant that I was pretty ahead of my fellow civilian classmates, but not ahead of the clan people since I knew the Clans began training their members in the basic jutsus in the first year as well from Shikamaru. I couldn't say it was exactly unfair, however, since the library did grant us access to those jutsu, you just had to look for it.
My chakra training paid off as well, as I reached complete mastery of the Leaf Concentration method a month or so after my meeting with Naruto, and I began walking on trees soon after. Much like the Leaf Concentration method, this training required total control and concentration of your mind, and a slip would result in you falling.
In the anime, Naruto and Sasuke took a day to complete the training, but for me, I could only say I gained basic mastery of it a month ago. I had taken almost an entire year. I knew that I might not be as talented as those two, but this was too exaggerated. I figured out why, however, when I realized what age I was at.
I was currently a bit above 7 years old, which meant that my chakra reserves were abysmally low. While Naruto and Sasuke could attempt to climb the tree for a whole day since they were 12 or so, I could only attempt to climb the tree one day at a time. Exerting that much chakra at once was exhausting, considering that my body wasn't even utilizing all of it anyway.
My mind and body inhibited me from using a complete burst of my chakra, since, first of all, my chakra pipes were not trained. Untrained chakra pipes meant that they were still small and fragile. If I unleashed all of my chakra at once, I would probably end up crippled or have permanent damage. I had to slowly get my chakra pipes used to releasing chakra, making them sturdier over time.
I couldn't circulate enough chakra to make me properly hold on to the tree bark, so there were a great many slips and falls. And since I couldn't properly muster up enough chakra to stick on the tree, this training was the hardest of them all. Another point was the mental inhibitor stopping me from unleashing more chakra. It wasn't easy to get your body and mind used to causing damage to itself. Unleashing anywhere close to the limit of my chakra pipes was difficult since my mind knew how dangerous that was and instinctively stopped itself from doing so. So, I had to constantly get myself used to doing that, unleashing as much chakra as I can so I can gain control of my mind.
In simple terms, my body couldn't handle exerting too much chakra since my chakra pipes were untrained, and my mind didn't let me exert the already small limit I had, so walking on a tree took a long time to achieve. Over time though, my chakra pipes got sturdier, and I gradually overcame the limit my mind put on my body.
I could release about 5x more chakra than when I first started, which was something to be celebrated. This was a qualitative change from when I first began training this method. Now, I could properly exert enough chakra to walk on the tree, and reaching the top was just an eventuality after training and putting in the effort. Of course, I still needed total concentration, so I couldn't say I gained mastery of it. I could only say I had mastery of something when I could use it in battle, and currently trying to walk on a tree while defending myself from an enemy was a pipe dream.
My chakra control had increased even further though, putting me leagues ahead of everyone my age in the current generation. Trying to walk a tree when you couldn't release the necessary amount of chakra seemed to do wonders for my control. I was constantly adapting to utilize chakra more efficiently since I didn't have enough throughout the training, and now my control is terrific. I'm confident that even if I reverted back to when I first began training the Tree method, with my current chakra control, I could reach half the tree before falling. That was exponentially better than what I could do at the start, only getting a couple of steps.
Today was the last day of summer vacation. Over the break, I was able to make more breakthroughs in strength since I had so much more time to train. After mastering the Leaf Concentration method, it couldn't help me gain any more control over my chakra, but I found other variations to it. While a leaf didn't help me anymore, holding something heavier with my chakra was still helpful.
Even though it didn't assist me as much as walking on trees, constantly having something sticking to me still helped me refine more control even further. It was just something to pass the time in school, so I would stick pens, scissors, metal balls, and anything that was small and a bit heavy.
Now I constantly had something attached to me, even while just walking, since I realized it helped me with multitasking. Currently, I was hanging out with Naruto, Lee, Shikamaru, and Choji. We were all cloud watching, even the hyper Naruto and spirited Lee, since we wanted to spend some time relaxing before school.
"I have to say friend Shikamaru, watching the clouds with friends is most relaxing!"
"Sighh, even when you're relaxing Lee, you can't pipe down"
Lee merely chuckled at that, used to getting such replies from the lazy Shikamaru.
"Yeah Bushy Brows! I think the same!"
I enjoyed the atmosphere around me, peaceful and tranquil. Over time, these kids next to me, not even a third of my mental age, were growing very near and dear to me. I sort of looked over everyone, acting as the glue of the group, since I was used to dealing with all types of people and had the patience to do so. I was also the calmest and matched everyone's personality the most. I could play strategy games with Shikamaru, though I'd never won, ate and shared snacks with Choji, ran around and played with Naruto, and trained and talked with Lee.
I had found a good group of friends, and I knew this group would continue to grow in the future. No matter what people say about the Leaf Village, the shinobi here, behind all the scheming and lying, the murders and killings, and all the betrayals, they were all genuine-hearted. No matter if it was Sasuke who became obsessed with power, all the people stayed true to their ninja way the whole way through. That was a characteristic I found very admirable about the shinobi of the Leaf Village.
With thoughts about how lucky my experience really is, I watched the drifting clouds passing by, thinking about nothing but the peace I was experiencing. It was also good to have days like this. Days to unburden my mental stress and just spend time with friends.
After hanging out for the rest of the day, Naruto and I started making our way back home. The mood was light, and the previous peace was still present. On the way, however, I had a very slight tingle on the back of my neck. It was hard to ignore, and I felt my instincts warning me. I tried to sense everything around me, but I didn't get any results. I kept walking at the same pace, and only when, I assume, their eyes passed over to me did I feel an overwhelming amount of bloodlust and maliciousness. It was a person.
Analyzing the bloodlust, I knew that no trained ninja would allow themselves to release that much bloodlust while following their target, so the stalker was probably still a civilian. I couldn't deduce much else though since I could only sense their existence and not much beyond that. I looked over at Naruto who seemed to be oblivious, and I identified the target.
I hadn't made any enemies in my time at the Leaf Village, much less a civilian enemy, but Naruto on the other hand... Naruto was a walking target for every civilian and even some ninjas of the Village.
I had to decide what I would do next. Thankfully, I had some shuriken attached to my back, courtesy of my Concentration training method, and a kunai in my pocket. If the stalker had a weapon, engaging them in a fight would be 10x more difficult when I was unarmed considering my reach was already less. I bent down and collected some rocks as well though since I knew I would use the three shurikens pretty quickly. I put my arm around Naruto's neck and brought him closer to me. I whispered in his ear,
"Listen to me Naruto. I want you to go to Shikamaru's house right now and ask his parents for help. Don't ask me any questions, just follow my orders. Understand?"
I couldn't trust that any other ninja wouldn't stall if they knew it was Naruto who needed help. Naruto looked over at me, confused. He was about to open his mouth, probably to ask or shout at me about why I was being weird, but I gave him a hard glare and told him
"Naruto. I don't need you to say anything right now. This isn't a prank. Just nod your head to tell me that you understand."
He was still a little dazed, but at least nodded his head. Good.
"When I push you, start running as fast as you can towards Shikamaru's house ok. You're faster out of the both of us, and you know the Village layout more, that's why I'm sending you Naruto. I'm trusting you here ok?"
Naruto nodded at me again, clear eyes of confusion this time.
The moment I gave him the push, he started running forwards as fast as he can. I took a shuriken attached to my back and flung it at the source of the bloodlust. The stalker was taken by surprise, and I heard the shuriken impale flesh. Oof.
I looked back at the stalker and saw a 40 or so year-old woman with messy light green hair with a shuriken sticking out of her left shoulder. Nice, that meant that she had an incapacitated arm and the fight would be much easier.
The woman was glaring bloody murder at me right now, staring at me with crazy red eyes. She started screeching,
"How dare you kid!?! Don't you know who you just let run!? That kid is the reason my family is dead!! He's a monster!! Do you know how--"
She was obviously not in her right state of mind, but that added to her threat level. Someone who didn't care about their lives was scary after all.
I couldn't say that I wasn't nervous, I was about to get into my first real battle. Someone out of both of us could die at any moment. We were in a war of skill, technique, and luck at the moment. My heart was beating faster than ever, my blood was circulating faster than a bullet train, and my senses were all dialed to an 11. I took another shuriken and released it as quickly as I can, trying to use her distraction against her.
She had a kunai in her right hand and used it to deflect the shuriken. It seemed that she has trained after all, probably academy training. Still, more than I've learned. After that throw, she seemed to regain a bit of sanity and started running towards me. She probably figured I had a weaker physique than her since I was a kid.
I was confident in my own strength though, it wasn't something a 40-year-old somewhat trained civilian could compete with. I took the kunai from my pocket and dashed towards her as well. The moment we got closer, she brought her kunai up and slashed down. I stepped to the side and tried to clip her arm, but she retracted it fast enough.
She retreated a bit, but I knew I couldn't let up my advantage so fast. I followed her and her and threw a rock toward her eyes. Surprised by the small projectile, she wasn't able to react in time and the rock successfully reached its target. Blood started oozing from her left eye, and she couldn't help but close her eye as it swelled. Another advantage. I struck her stomach with my left hand, and she used the momentum to retreat from me.
I was hot on her heels and thrust my kunai forward. She parried with her kunai at the last moment, but I still grazed her side since she wasn't strong enough to parry me properly. She flinched from the sharp pain, and I used my left arm to throw some more rocks at her. This time she dashed forward, regardless of the pain. She caught me off guard and slashed down since she was taller than me. I quickly brought up my kunai and attempted to parry it, but the blow carried more strength and she scratched from the top of my forehead down to my cheek.
Blood started flowing, and some of it reached my eye. I had to close my right eye, while she had her left closed. She didn't let up her offensive and kept slashing at me. The technique was rough, but pure insanity fueled her strikes. I had to parry each time, until she slowed for a moment due to a lack of stamina. The moment I saw that I brought my kunai forward and began my own offensive.
My technique was rough as well, but I was faster and stronger than her. She could only roughly parry each time, and when I slashed up roughly the kunai was thrown out of her hand. The moment that happened, she started a crazy last offensive and dashed towards me. I let my last shuriken hurl towards her, but she did a hand seal and was replaced by a log. Substitution jutsu! Damn it! She appeared behind me, and before I could react, struck my back. I was lifted off my feet since I didn't weigh much, but used my remaining rocks and pelted all of them backwards.
I spun midair and looked behind me. She was getting closer to me, and the rocks only did some minor damage. If she got this strike in, I would probably be finished. I wouldn't be able to recover in time for her assault after that.
At this moment, I allowed myself to follow my instincts once more. I threw the kunai in my hand at her, missing her head. Her eyes brightened at the thought that my last assault failed, and she quickly arrived to strike my head. The blow seemed like it hit me, but I also did a hand seal and substituted with the log she used herself. The log that she struck shattered into pieces.
The moment I appeared behind her, I caught the kunai hurling towards me, spun around, and threw it once more at her head with as much power as I could muster. This time, it didn't miss. The kunai impaled the back of her head and she swiftly fell to the ground. Blood started pooling around her head, and the only sound remaining was the sound of my heavy breathing.
I looked at her. I was pretty sure she was dead, and I was the one who killed her. The blood kept pooling around her, and with a kunai sticking out of her head, it was a gruesome sight.
I knew that I was to kill people, but I just didn't think it would be so... soon. If I didn't sense her first though, if that first shuriken didn't catch her off guard, if I was tired from training... I didn't want to think about it too hard. I took my clothes and started wiping the blood from my eye and forehead, attempting to distract myself.
Around this time, Shikaku appeared instantly above me. He surveyed the situation and was surprised. He saw Aizen wiping blood from his face, while there was an unknown woman with a kunai sticking out of her head. He jumped down and spoke to the boy,
"Sosuke. Are you ok?"
He saw the boy turn around and look at him. There was a vertical cut running from his forehead to his cheek, but other than that he had no visible injuries. He seemed dazed and only responded with perfunctory a
"Yes, Mr. Nara. I'm fine"
He couldn't help but sympathize. He remembered his first kill, he was around the same age as well. At that time, it was war. He was prepared to kill all those threatening to kill him, though that didn't make the first kill any better. He went over to Sosuke and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about the Uchiha police. I'll take care of the situation"
Aizen looked over at Shikaku and gave him a grateful nod.
There was a short lull, until some other kids appeared running in the distance. It was Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji. Apparently, Shikamaru and Choji had just gotten to Shikamaru's house when Naruto came barreling over, screaming for help. Shikaku quickly exited and asked what was wrong, and Naruto informed them that he didn't know. He only knew that Aizen told him to run as fast as he can and ask him for help. Shikaku asked him where and Naruto gave him the general direction. After that, Shikaku disappeared from sight, while Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji started following behind.
When they arrived, they saw Shikaku and Aizen, as well as someone dead. None of them knew how to react, but Shikamaru was the first to approach Aizen and ask him,
"Aizen! What happened? Are you ok?"
That seemed to wake up Naruto and Choji, who both proceeded to come over and ask him if he was ok. Aizen looked at the three of them, all shouting around him, and he gave a small smile. It didn't matter that he had killed. He knew he was going to do so eventually, and it just happened to be now. This was the shinobi world, and this was the path he prepared himself for when he chose to be a ninja over a year ago. He had no illusions about the dangers, not like other kids his age. He knew this was a profession to kill. He took a deep breath, released a heavy sigh, and said
"Yeah, guys. I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
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