A Boot Slips on a Pebble

A Boot Slips on a Pebble

__________

I wouldn't have to return to the academy for the next three days, as they needed to evaluate a large number of students, so the next morning I returned to my regular routine. I awoke a little before sunrise to start the first of three daily workouts. I loaded a backpack with around forty pounds of various books and other household items, and gave myself an hour to do as many sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, and pistol squats as possible. Afterward, I gave myself an hour and a half to run as far as possible with the backpack still on.

I was just shy of twenty miles at the moment, which seemed impressive but was nowhere near sufficient. Chūnin were expected to be able to travel at least six hundred miles in a day with a full load, and still be ready to fight at the end of it. Jōnin were held to an even higher standard, as they were meant to be prepared for everything. If I really pushed myself, I figured I could make it two hundred miles in a day. That was amazing for a four-year-old, even by this ridiculous world's standards, but it was nowhere near enough for me.

By the time I returned from my run, Akari was up and preparing breakfast.

"Morning aunty!" I greeted as I entered.

"Good morning Kazuo," she returned as I made for my room.

The long showers and slow mornings of my previous life were unheard of in a hidden village. Takigakure, like the rest of the shinobi settlements, was essentially just a massive military base for the Land of Waterfalls, and as a result, a certain degree of discipline was ingrained in its culture. It took only a few minutes for me to shower and change. I took a moment to really look at myself in the mirror.

My face still looked quite childish, but I had started to gain some definition in my features. For the most part, my looks were quite delicate, calling back to my mother, but I saw the beginnings of my father's strong jawline beneath my cheeks. My complexion was pale. Not as snow white as my mother, but a far cry from my father's tanned skin tone. My hair carried the same pitch-black color as both of my parents, and I was doing my best to emulate them by letting it grow out long. My eyes were green, as was common in Takigakure, rounding out my looks as somewhat memorable, but nothing unusual.

Back in the kitchen, a generous breakfast was waiting for me. Akari had prepared large quantities of rice, tofu, and various vegetable sides, because I needed the calories for a shinobi lifestyle. There was no meat at the table, a holdover from my past life. I had been born and raised a vegetarian then, and despite the bloody nature of my new calling, I couldn't bring myself to start eating meat now.

Vegetarianism was surprisingly common among shinobi. It was cheaper, which was always appreciated, and the sheer number of calories we consumed meant it wasn't all that hard to get enough nutrients eating only plants. Further, shinobi spent enough time shedding blood for the sake of duty. For most, this just desensitized them from any sort of violence, but for a surprisingly considerable minority, it instead left little room in their hearts for unnecessary bloodshed.

"Aunty," I started, breaking from my thoughts. Akari looked up at me from her meal. "How do we know the Watanabe family so well?" I asked. She took a moment to finish her mouthful.

"Ah, well," she began, taking a pause to wipe her mouth. "Your parents were good friends of mister Suien," she explained with a slightly brittle smile.

'So it was likely related to their shinobi careers, just as I suspected,' I surmised. Akari very much disliked talking about my parents as ninja. She would happily tell me stories of how much my mother loved to chase fireflies, or of how my father once lit his hair alight on a stove, but she always became curt when it came to their status as shinobi.

Strangely enough, the one thing she absolutely refused to answer was just how she was related to me. "I knew your mother from the day she was born," was the only answer I would receive, and no further details would be provided.

The remainder of our breakfast progressed in silence.

After our meal, we left for my aunt's tea house. I escorted her every morning before leaving to meet up with Sora.

__________

I arrived at the missions' office in time to catch Sora and his team heading out.

"Sup squirt," greeted Matsouka Kou, a young shinobi and one of Sora's teammates. "Same deal as always?"

"Yup!" I responded happily. Miura Saki, a young kunoichi who was Sora's other teammate, laughed slightly and shook her head.

"I can't believe you talked him into this," she said to Sora as the group walked towards their first destination.

"I didn't do anything!" Sora insisted, "the kid's crazy; he asked me," he explained.

"Yup it works out great for me," I chimed in. "You finish your missions faster, and I get better training," I pointed out.

Our agreement was simple. The initial D-ranks a genin team received were quite boring, mainly meant to build up teamwork and resourcefulness. My extra hands could make a five-hour task into a four-hour task, and the team would let me join them on the training grounds, offering tips, and the occasional spar.

Tada Kayo, the team's Jōnin-sensei and a rather fearsome looking kunoichi, had no problems with this. Conscripting trusted and available resources was a perfectly acceptable tactic to aid in completing missions, and was exactly the kind of resourcefulness that was encouraged. Given that it was wartime, the team would soon start taking C-ranks, such as delivering non-critical communications and supplies, which I would be unable to help out with, but by that time I would be in the academy.

__________

"Alright guys, we've going to be working rations today!" Sora announced, taking the leadership role.

His father was one of the top generals of the Land of Waterfalls, and according to the rumor mill, he was a favored contender to replace the aging Jōnin commander. Sora seemed intent on following in his father's footsteps.

I winced at Sora's declaration. I had done this mission once before, and it was definitely one of my least favorites.

In order to supply the front lines, food had to be prepared for easy transport. We would have to distribute the designated foods into individual portions, before sealing them into scrolls. Sealing scrolls weren't that hard to use, but the mission required a team to prepare fifty of them. Each scroll held a hundred seals, which meant that last time I had been responsible for sealing away a thousand meals. It was tedious work, and worst of all charging a thousand seals would wipe out most of my four-year-old body's chakra reserves.

Saki shot me a pitying look.

"Don't worry so much Kazuo," she reassured. "I'll take care of one of your scrolls."

'Bless this girl, she's a saint,' I said to myself.

"Alright, but only the sealing, and I'll organize the meals for one of yours," I responded, not willing to do less than my part. Saki smiled at me and hummed in agreement.

"Very well," she said. Like most ten-year-olds in this world, she was far more well-spoken than I would have expected.

__________

The mission was monotonous and draining as expected. Kayo-sensei checked in on us once in a while, but didn't participate at all as was the norm. By the end of it, I was wishing for nothing more than a nine-tailed chakra battery sealed into my gut. The blonde protagonist of the world I was in could have taken care of this in seconds with his army of clones. As such, I adamantly refused to believe he could actually exist. The idea of an idiot like that stumbling into such unimaginable power, with so little effort, was extremely infuriating and discouraging.

With the day's chores complete, I joined the team on their trip to the training grounds.

__________

As we arrived, Kayo-sensei was waiting seated on a post, sharpening a long blade.

"Brats and plus one, nice of you to make it," she teased in greeting. There was nothing malicious about it, but the gruff nature of her voice just naturally put people on edge. It was understandable, given that the woman was dangerous. She was one of the five-hundred or so Jōnin that topped off a force of over sixty-thousand shinobi, in a village that was particularly renowned for its powerful Jōnin.

Given their rarity, very few Jōnin actually took teams. I hadn't been able to find out exactly how the Jōnin who took teams were selected, but I knew they only taught the very best of the academy's graduates: only those who were almost guaranteed to become Jōnin in the future themselves.

"You two, with me," she directed to Sora and Saki, and then tossed a scroll to Kou. "Big guy, target practice," she continued before turning to me. "Shortstack, dodge," she said with a grin.

Kou gave me an apologetic smile before I had to jump sharply to avoid being bruised by a blunted kunai.

__________

The next two days passed in much the same manner. I would complete my first workout, help on a mission, train with Team Kayo, complete my second workout, then spend time with Akari while discreetly practicing chakra control. After dinner, I would complete my third workout, exhaust my chakra reserves, and pass out for about nine hours. The largest chunk of my day was spent training my body, and that was by design. I didn't have nearly enough chakra yet to spend a significant amount of time training it, but even if I did that wouldn't have been my priority.

I had chosen to take the fictional works of Naruto I remembered with a healthy pinch of salt. The world I found myself in was far more ruthless than the convenient and occasionally zany world of the Shōnen series from my past life's youth. That being said, there were many things I couldn't really afford to ignore. Madara, the Akatsuki, and Kaguya might never come to exist, or they could be far worse than I could ever imagine. I was preparing for the latter.

What constantly echoed in my mind was Gai's last stand against Madara. At the end of it all, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu had been mostly useless unless wielded by the figurative demigods that the series revolved around. It was Taijutsu that had propelled a character to the very pinnacle of power, and between my head start and my unconventional sources of knowledge, I felt that I could go even further.

For this reason training my body took precedence over all else.

There was also my second rationale: I wasn't a true genius or prodigy. Unlike Itachi, Kakashi, and the like, I didn't have that intrinsic ability to comprehend concepts that let them use ninjutsu and Genjutsu so easily. My so-called genius was entirely due to the additional memories and mindset I carried.

Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Fuinjutsu, and similar arts required creativity, talent, and raw intellect. I wasn't lacking in any of those fields, but I didn't consider myself exceptional either. Taijutsu on the other hand required nothing more than hard work, dedication, and practice; all of which were far more accessible, and their results were amplified greatly by an earlier start. Of course, I didn't plan on keeping things this way forever. In just a few years my chakra reserves would be large enough that it would be feasible to leverage them fully, but my focus would (at least initially) be on using chakra, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu to amplify my abilities with Taijutsu and Bukijutsu.

__________

"Yooooo, Kazuo, over here!" called a young boy's voice as I entered the academy grounds. It was Oyama Sho, one of the students I had struck up a friendship with on the day of evaluation. His shaggy blonde hair bounced up and down as he waved eagerly.

"Hey Sho, Katsuo," I greeted as I walked over. Anzai Katsuo, the other student I had befriended that day stood next to him and gave me a wave as well. Katsuo's moderate skin tone and beige clothing blended into the dirt field far too well. Had it not been for his burnt-orange hair peeking out over the crowd due to his stature, I might have missed him entirely.

"Hi Kazuo," he greeted before gesturing to the girl standing by his side. "This is Hisoka," he introduced. The violet-haired girl gave a shy smile and a small wave. "Remember her?" he prompted before Sho cut in.

"Course he remembers her, he was staring at her like half the time," Sho said matter-of-factly. I shot him a glare and Hisoka blushed slightly. I had not been staring at her. I had just been keeping track of my competition; I had stared at Sho and Katsuo just as much.

"Anyways," Sho continued, not letting me explain myself. "Go get your placement!" he exclaimed, holding up a sheet of paper. "We're all in the same class, we got moved up a year," he said proudly. I saw similar papers in the others' hands.

Their advancement was understandable. After me, I estimated that these three had given the best performances of the class in the tests I had seen. As long as they had performed well enough on the written exam, their advancement had been guaranteed. I was aiming for better though. I held the memories and mindset of a sixteen-year-old, and I didn't intend to let a five-year-old Kakashi show me up. I wanted to join the graduating class.

"Alright, I'll meet up with you as soon as I get it," I said, heading towards the line. Sho walked right next to me though, with Hisoka and Katsuo trailing right behind us.

"Why?" he asked in confusion. "We'll just wait in line with you."

'That works too' I supposed.

The line moved swiftly, and Sho's talkativeness kept us all entertained. The kid must have spoken as much as Katsuo, Hisoka, and I combined, but he was naturally charismatic enough that we didn't mind.

"Name?" asked the Chūnin sitting in front of me as I reached the front of the line.

"Kimoto Kazuo," I told him.

"Alright, one moment Kazuo," he responded as he flipped through the papers before him. He pulled out a sheet and took a quick look at it.

"Very nice work!" he complimented, handing me the sheet.

'Kimoto Kazuo, Class 315, Arai Juro,' I read, and my face fell. The '3' at the beginning of my class number indicated a third-year class. My trio of friends saw my dismay and immediately crowded around me.

"Ohmygosh, you're a third-year!" Sho exclaimed, causing a few of the other students to turn and look at me. My face reddened a little and I let out a laugh. Katsuo had a suitably impressed look on his face, and offered an impressed nod.

"Don't worry Kazuo," he started, "I'm sure you'll make lots of new friends in your class," he reassured, wrongly surmising the reason for my disappointment.

"Yeah Kazuo," Hisoka chimed in softly. "You should be proud,'' she insisted.

The girl was right; a four-year-old third year was still unheard of. We were two years into the Third Shinobi World War, which meant Kakashi would have already graduated; however, no matter how exceptional it was, the graduating age of an academy student would never be big news. Further, if I had improved enough by the end of the semester I could still move up classes and graduate this year.

With a new goal in mind, I pushed away any lingering disappointment and smiled at my friends.

"Thanks, guys!" I offered, before stopping to think. The three were clearly exceptional; especially Sho. He was on track to be a genin at eight, which was nothing to laugh at. Even Sora, the son of one of Takigakure's top shinobi, had only managed to graduate a year early.

"If you guys want," I started, "you can come train with me at my aunt's tea house," I offered. "I train my chakra control there every day."

"Sure!"

"That sounds great!"

Katsuo and Hisoka called in agreement. Sho looked at me oddly though.

"What's chakra control?" he asked. I looked at him funnily, before remembering what it meant to be five years old.

"Stuff like the leaf exercise," I explained, not wanting to get too detailed. "It helps you do ninjutsu and Genjutsu."

That definitely seemed to get his attention.

"Oh! Yeah okay, I can ask my dad about it too!" offered the excitable boy.

We continued to iron out our plans, but after a few minutes, it was time to head to class. As I approached the room I would spend most of my days in for the next five months, the excitement showed plainly on my face.

This was the start of my journey. Today marked the official start of my career as a ninja.