After getting cleaned up, I pulled out the kunai from the makeshift holster I made using some plastic bags. The holster wasn't going to last for long, but I could always ask N Onee-san for a kunai holster. I stared at the kunai with a solemn look on my face before I stowed it back inside the holster for safekeeping. The other kids in the orphanage were just that, kids. I didn't want the other kids to see the kunai.
For them, becoming a Shinobi and fighting for Kumo on the frontlines was the greatest honor, so if they saw the kunai, they would become jealous of me. Yeah, I know it was childish, but they were children and I have seen it happen before right in this orphanage… N was a good woman, I am not going to deny that, but at the end of the day, she was a Kunoichi of Kumo.
No matter what she felt for the children, she would still carry out her mission, and her mission was to make the children loyal to Kumo and sort out the most talented children from the rest. It was considered an honor to receive a kunai or a shuriken from the matron, so the ones who received it would obviously show it off to other children, and that would make the rest of the children jealous and it would also compel the rest of the children to do better.
All in all, it was quite a simple, but devious plan…
*GONG*
A loud gong was heard from downstairs and I slowly climbed off my bed. N uses the gong whenever the food is ready. As soon as I came out of my room, I was greeted by a couple of children of my age. "Raijin, what did N Onee-san make today?" The girl asked in a hopeful tone, looking pretty excited. I simply smiled at her before deciding to tease her.
"I don't know… Maybe she made a salad or something" I answered with a grin and the girl gagged at my answer.
"Yuck" The girl grimaced before her face turned a bit green.
"He is only teasing you, Mira" The other girl spoke up drily while giving me a dirty look.
"Eh? I wasn't teasing her, Jira. She might have made a salad for all I know" I raised my hands in defense. Mira and Jira might have similar types of names, but they were not siblings. Heck, they didn't even look alike. Mira was a brown-skinned girl with pale blonde hair while Jira was a fair-skinned girl with dull red hair. The only reason they had similar names was because the two of them were left outside the orphanage on the same night.
"Hmph! She would make something to go along with a salad" Jira pointed out with a smirk tugging on her lips and Mira almost had tears in her eyes by that time.
"You two are being mean…" Mira poked out her tongue at me and Jira. While bickering, the three of us finally arrived inside the dining hall. We weren't the first ones to arrive, but most of the other children were yet to arrive.
"Raijin, help me with the food" N called out with a ladle in her hand.
'Well, there goes my peace' I sighed internally before I started to make my way toward her. Soon the rest of the children also arrived, but I continued to help N with the food until everyone except for me and N had a plate of steaming food sitting in front of them. Even though the food was served, nobody was eating since N and I were yet to sit down. After both N and I took our seats with a plate of food in our hands, everyone clapped our hands together. "Itadakimasu!!" Everyone chanted together at the same time before we finally started to dig into our food.
I glanced around the table with a complicated glint in my eyes… Right now, there were only 15 children in the orphanage, but there used to be a lot more. Only a few days ago, twenty five children who were older than us were taken to the Kumo Training Facility… There was no Shinobi Academy in Kumo from what I knew, and all the Kumo Shinobi were trained in the Training Facility. However, I wasn't sure about the Anbu as I had yet to find any mentions of them, which was quite understandable.
From what I have read in the books in the orphanage, I have realized that Kumo is probably the most militaristic village among the five great Villages, which didn't bode well for me. Alas, there was nothing I could do to help my situation. I had to work with the hand I had been dealt with… While I was sad that I wasn't born in Konoha, at the same time, I was glad that I wasn't born in Sunagakure… Considering the shit Suna went through in the canon, I feel really bad for that miserable place.
Back to the topic of Kumo Shinobis, according to the books, Shinobis in Kumo were categorized into two major categories… After graduating from the Training Facility, some Shinobis received code names based on the English alphabet, though the alphabet A, B, and C were exceptions A was reserved for the Raikage, B was reserved for the closest aide of the Raikage, and C was reserved for the second closest aide of the Raikage. Shinobis with alphabetic code names were considered elite and they acted solo most of the time, but they could be assigned to a team if the mission required it.
Then there was the second group, who received code names based on their personalities. These Shinobis were assigned to a team of three, and just like Konoha, they would also have a Jonin instructor during the training period, but the team would cycle through various Jonin instructors so that they could find their own calling… I believe the system in Kumo was better than Konoha's as a student might be a Medical genius, but his talent may go unnoticed since their Jonin instructor didn't know anything about Iryo Jutsu.
However, there was something common between the two groups. After graduating, they would discard their old names and only go by their new code names…
Now, as for the children who were recently taken to the Training Facility, I wasn't sure what was going to happen to them… It has been only a year since the war finally broke out but from what I understand, Kumo isn't planning to send 4 year olds to the frontlines, but that may change in the coming years… I just hope I am not sent to the front lines. After I turn four, they are going to take me to the Training facility too, so they could turn me into a trained killer.
Even in this fictional world, I would have loved to stay away from all the conflict, after all, I was a completely normal law-abiding guy in my past life… I might have done some drunk driving here and there, but still, I was mostly law-abiding, but now I was going to be taught how to kill. I wasn't sure how I was going to fare, but what other choice did I have? If I had a family then I would have had a choice, but for an orphan like me, their only choice was to become a Shinobi.
I didn't even know my parents… After giving birth to me, my mother walked away without bothering to give me a name and apparently, my father never showed up at the hospital. N gave me the name Raijin when she saw my blue eyes which were quite similar to Lightning Chakra. As a matter of fact, I think it is better this way… It would have been harder to become a nuke nin if I had a loving family back here in Kumo. Thankfully, I didn't have anything holding me back from running away if I ever decided to go down that route.
Though for the time being, running away was not an option… First of all, if I wanted to run away then I would need to be quite adept in wall walking as Kumo is up in the mountains and then I would have to somehow creep past the sensor nins patrolling the borders of Kumo and right now, the security was much tighter since the village was at War… Then again, even if I somehow managed to escape, what was I supposed to do? Where was I supposed to go?
"Raijin, are you okay?" Mira asked worriedly as she shook my arm.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry… I was lost in my thoughts" I easily lied through my teeth and Mira simply smiled back at me. At least, there was something really good about being a child again, you would start absorbing all the knowledge like a sponge and rarely would anyone suspect a three year old… There was always that…
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~~Timeskip~~ (One year)
Just like that, another year passed by, though nothing notable happened in Kumo even though the war between Kumo and Iwa was starting to pick up the pace, though for the time being, Kumo forces were handling the fight pretty well, but the situation could change any moment as I believed the five Great Shinobi Villages were simply checking the waters.
I stared at myself in the mirror and a figure with black spiky hair and electric blue eyes stared back at me… I don't want to sound narcissistic, but for a four year old, I looked good. Just like every other child in the orphanage, I have lost my baby fat long ago even though none of us had started training. It seems like Chakra basically enhances our bodies to the most optimum state.
After some time, I walked out of my room with a small backpack on my shoulder. Today was my last day in the orphanage and to be honest… It's funny how quickly the time passes. Now that I look back, it feels like only yesterday I arrived in this orphanage… I internally sighed as I finally stepped into the kitchen. A complicated look appeared on my face as I noticed N, preparing our food.
A year ago, when I didn't show off the kunai to the other children, she decided to take matters into her own hands and the next day after I received the kunai from her, she revealed the existence of the kunai to the rest of the children… Then all of a sudden, I became the center of attention and a target of jealousy. Not that I cared much since I was in my late twenties if I combined both of my lives.
On that day, I realized that even though N loved taking care of children, if she had to choose between Kumo and us, she would choose Kumo every single time…
"You are late" N stated as I plopped down in an empty seat after putting down my bag.
"Yes, I was so excited that I didn't sleep well last night" I easily lied before I yawned and N simply hummed noncommittally before she turned back toward the pot. Most of the kids of my age were already here and all of them looked quite excited. Even Mira and Jira were looking pretty excited.
Soon, the rest of the children arrived too and N started to serve us the food, straight from the pot. Today, she didn't ask for anyone's help and served the food on her own. The orphanage was back at full capacity, but once again, it was going to become empty since all the kids of my age were going to leave for the Training Facility.
To be honest, I was feeling quite nervous… I was going to be taken into an unknown place along with all the orphans of my age to be trained into killers, of course, I would be nervous. If it was an academy like in Konoha, then I would not be this nervous, but the Training Facility sounded more like a place where Danzo would train his Roots.
I hope they were only going to use verbal brainwashing and not drug-induced or physiological brainwashing. Considering how insane and eccentric some ninjas were, I was really really worried, and considering the fact that I am an orphan, I was even more worried… I can only hope for the best as I don't have any other choice otherwise.
If I really want to survive in this grim-dark world, I have to write my own Fate with my own hands…
Uh… That might have been a bit cheesy, but I meant what I said. Soon a Kumo team, consisting of three genins, arrived at the orphanage to escort us to the Training Facility. Usually, a Jonin would also accompany the genin trio, but right now, most of the Jonins were occupied due to the War and they couldn't be bothered for a simple escorting task inside the village.
For some of the kids, this was the first time they were leaving the premises of the orphanage, so they were pretty excited to see Kumogakura in all of its glory, and the genins didn't mind answering anyone's question, but as soon as we entered the Shinobi district, they clamped up and stopped answering anyone's questions.
'Maybe, they aren't allowed to reveal anything to us' I mused internally. After all, we were still civilians and how militaristic Kumo was, they would never reveal Shinobi matters to some civilians. Now, someone might say how does it matter since we were going to become Shinobi either way, but at this moment, we were civilians and we were going to remain civilians until we graduated from the Training Facility.
"This is the Training Facility" One of the genins stated while pointing toward the massive building in front of us. Just like the other buildings in Kumo, the Training Facility was also built around a mountain tip, and the mountain was probably the second-tallest mountain in Kumo followed by the Raikage Tower.
"Genins, hand me your mission scroll" An eerie voice spoke up all of a sudden and I felt chills run down my spine. I didn't even notice him arrive. I slowly turned around toward the direction of the voice, only to find a grim-looking man, but what intrigued me were his eyes. His eyes didn't seem to have any sort of life left in them. "I will take it from here" The man added after a small pause.
The genins dutifully handed him their mission scroll without saying anything. The man took out a stamp and placed it on the scroll before handing over the scroll back to the genins. Then the man turned toward us… He was sporting a wicked scar along his jawline and some of the children shuddered at the sight. "You brats, follow me and don't fall behind. I hate waiting" The man said in an indifferent tone before he turned around on his heel and started to walk away without bothering to give us another look.
Some of the children looked at each other nervously, but I don't think that man likes to wait, so I started to walk even though I was starting to feel really nervous. I knew my palms were already sweating, but I simply clutched my hands tightly and started to strode forward. Following my example, the children also started to walk toward the Training Facility. After crossing through a massive pair of steel doors, we found ourselves standing inside a massive hall and the man from before standing in front of us with a dead look in his eyes.
"I am Jonin Shinda Me, but all of you will call me, sir. Is that understood?" The man asked but nobody answered him. "Is that understood?" The man repeated his question, but this time, his voice was chilling and there was a certain edge in his voice.
"Yes, sir!" All of us screamed, and even though all of us were not in sync, I don't think Shinda was going to mind. As expected, the man didn't show any outward reaction.
"From now on, this is going to be your new home for the next six years. There are two dorms, one for the boys and the other for the girls. Locating the dorms is going to be your first task, but you may skip it if you want to sleep here. Your second task is to locate the cafeteria, but once again, you may skip it if you don't want to eat anything. That's all for today, but you must report here by 4 am tomorrow or else you will be punished" Shinda stated blandly before turning around.
He started to leave, but then all of a sudden he stopped and turned around. "Oh, and all of you are free to visit the library" The man added before he resumed walking and then all of us finally breathed out a sigh in relief. I didn't even notice that I was holding my breath… Shinda's presence was so intense and overbearing that I felt like I was standing in front of a hungry predator.
Is this what a true Shinobi is like?
But I never felt like this around N Onee-san… Is this Shinda Me better than N Onee-san? No, that's not right, N Onee-san is supposed to be an elite. I think she is simply better at hiding her true nature… I was broken out of my musings when an argument broke out. I turned only to find the perpetrators to be Jira and our resident bully, Itawa. Well, I can't call him a bully since he never managed to bully anyone under N Onee-san's watchful eyes.
Though I wonder why N Onee-san always prevented any sort of bullying in the orphanage… Considering her mission, I would have thought she would have allowed bullying to run rampant, but that was not what she did. She did the complete opposite… Maybe, someday I will find my answer… Anyway, I had other important things to deal with, like breaking up a fight, finding our cafeteria or dining hall, and finally, finding the boys' dorms…
========================
If you appreciate and love my work, then you are welcome to donate to support me and keep me motivated.
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