章節 4: Unlocking Chakra and academy

//////// 6 months later, in the clearing ////////

'Today's the day. I can feel it.' I sat down to meditate and began to clear the thoughts from my head. The tingling sensation that I got 6 months ago? It was getting stronger and stronger, so I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track. Anyway, I started reaching within myself, for this energy I've been trying to grasp for half a year. And with this last push, it was like a dam had broken inside of me.

I felt more alive than I'd ever felt. The feeling of power through my veins was intoxicating. I started flexing my chakra, because that's what it had to be, and moving it, which was more difficult than I thought. It was like trying to pick up syrup with a fork.

'Damnit. I just unlocked chakra, what was I expecting?'

Then I started feeling tired. Which is weird because I haven't even started my physical training for the day. Then, as I started collapsing, I realized something.

'Ah, I can really be a dumbass sometimes. Of course, flexing my meager amount of chakra is going to exhaust me.'

'Haah, I don't think I can stand up right now.' And I was right. So I lay there for what I think is two hours before I felt some strength coming back to me. Which is when I realized it was dinner time. I would probably get grounded if I'm late, so I ended up dragging myself back to the house, where my mother was there to greet me.

She was already used to me coming home exhausted, so she didn't notice anything outside of the norm.

After dinner, I dragged myself to bed. Before going to sleep though, I decided to check my status.

[Taijutsu

Skills: None

Progress: 3%]

[Kenjutsu

Skills: None

Progress: 0%]

[Fire Release

Skills: None

Progress: 0%]

[Chakra

Skills: None

Progress: 1%]

Progress is slow, but I can feel the difference that even just 1% did for my physique. That said, it still is a little slow for my taste. I am planning on adding punches and kicks to my routine to see if it goes faster. I push the screen out of my mind and go back to sleep. I have a long day of training ahead of me.

/////// 3 years and 6 months later ////////

It's finally time to enter the academy! My stats are probably genin level and my chakra reserves are at the level of an elite genin. That is to say, physically at least. I still haven't had a single fight or any instruction on how to fight, so I'd probably lose to a genin in a heartbeat. But I'm still proud of my progress. Especially my chakra. I take a quick look at my stats.

[Taijutsu

Skills: None

Progress: 7%]

[Chakra

Skills: None

Progress: 11%]

I'm broken out of my thoughts, though.

"Sweety, don't forget your lunch. And make sure to play nice with the others. I know you're not much for socializing but try to make friends. Also-" I cut her off, "Ok, Mom. I get it. This is the third time we've gone over this; I'll be fine. See you at dinner!"

After my quick goodbye, I ran out of the house towards the academy. I couldn't wait. 'Finally, some real ninja education!'

At my pace, I quickly arrived at the academy and headed to my designated classroom. I was probably 10 minutes early, but the classroom was already packed full of kids. I pushed my way through the back and took a seat in the farthest corner. I started to observe some of my classmates when my eyes caught sight of three canon characters. Or, I think three, because Rock Lee looks different since he hasn't met Guy yet. Tenten and Neji are pretty distinct though.

"Hey, can I sit here?" A voice broke me out of my surprise. A boy slightly shorter than me, with brown hair and green eyes, looked back at me.

"Sure," I said. "Thanks. I'm Ito Isamu." Definitely not someone I remember from canon. Though it is possible that I just have a bad memory. "I'm Tsurugi Kaen, nice to meet you." After I said my piece, I turned away from him. He looked like he was going to say something but at that moment,

"Alright everybody, take your seats!" At the slightly intimidating voice, all the students shut up and sat down quickly.

"Good," The teacher said, "My name is Yamanaka Kei, and I'll be your homeroom teacher for your time in the academy. You will refer to me as sensei or Yamanaka-sensei. I will not tolerate any disrespect." He did seem like a no-nonsense kind of guy. Well, this was going to be fun *yawn*.

Despite my inner thoughts, the Yamanaka continued on. "Everyday you will begin here, where I will teach you about our village's values and history until lunchtime. After an hour for lunch, you will be taken outside for physical exercise and technique training for 3 hours. For the last hour, you will be paired up with partners to spar. This sparring will start next month since some of you don't have the basics of a taijutsu style yet."

He took a minute to make sure we were all listening and then continued. "Now before we start, I will call out your name and you will introduce yourself." This part was pretty boring as everybody said something generic. A couple stood out though. One was an Uchiha girl, I think her name was Ayame or something, but she wanted to be a jounin and lead the police force.

Second was the boy sitting next to me, Ito Isamu. He wanted to build a large family and become an elite jounin, which was a high goal. Not as high as my goal of being the strongest, but I could feel the resolution in his voice. Which is something I can respect.

The next was a predictably boring 4 hours of history and patriotism. Then a bell rang and I was released from my torture. Lunch was a rather boring affair, as I didn't want to talk to anyone and no one wanted to talk to me. But it was after lunch that the excitement started. I was finally going to learn some techniques!

As we headed out to the field, a new instructor, who I recognized from canon.

"Hello class, I am Mizuki and I will be your taijutsu and shurikenjustsu teacher. You can call me Mizuki Sensei!" He said in a kind and welcoming tone. But I knew what lay underneath. I pushed down my disgust, though. 'I still need to learn, even if it is from this asshole.'

After introducing himself he demonstrated some proper footwork and some basic punches and kicks, which wasn't much, but I can't expect to have an epiphany on the first day of class.

For the next 2 hours, we all worked on our taijutsu forms, while Mizuki and an assistant that I didn't even notice went around and corrected our stances.

For the last two hours, we learned how to throw shuriken and kunai, which awoke the child inside me, because kunai and shuriken are cool.

All in all, it was a productive day. I couldn't wait for next month though, because that's when we would start sparring. I didn't forget that sparring would increase my template's progress faster. Even for how brief the system's tutorial was, it still had some valuable information.

After dinner, I returned back to the clearing behind the playground. No time for slacking, only the grind.

I went to be exhausted but satisfied that night.