9 Chapter 9 - Strange Neighbors

A - Check who your neighbors are.

___________

Chapter 9 - Strange Neighbors

…

The way Yamato spoke about the neighbor wasn't in a bad way and he wouldn't mind knowing another experienced ninja. Shinji knew that something could be learned from everyone, even the weakest ninja. But experienced Jonin usually had a lot to teach, even if they weren't his jonin teacher.

Shinji didn't have to wait, long, or at all really as he saw a man climbing up the stairs using only his hands while balancing a bag of groceries with his feet. At first, Shinji wondered if this was his neighbor, but he didn't have to contemplate for long as the green-wearing man stood in front of the door next to his apartment. This was where he had heard the sound coming from.

The man stood in front of the door, still keeping his eyes locked on the door, by the serious expression Shinji wondered what the man could be thinking about. Because while the man's green overalls were fashionably questionable, he still wore a jonin jacket. So he wasn't someone to be underestimated.

Shinji knew that with every jonin he had met until now, which hadn't been a lot, as it was mostly Yamato speaking of his other jonin friends. Still, from what he had gathered till now, no jonin was stupid. So while the man was looking at the door with a complex gaze, most people's first assumption would be that he was thinking about how to open the door since his hands were occupied.

But Shinji would never underestimate a jonin, so instead, he observed. Trying to understand what the man was going to do next. Suddenly, the green-wearing jonin turned towards Shinji and noticed him looking.

"Hey, there young man!" The jonin spoke loudly, due to the sudden yell, Shinji felt his heart skip a beat and unconsciously he had already prepared to use Substitution just in case. "Can you help me open this door?"

"Uhh… sure," Shinji felt his image of the jonin that had in his mind, smart, badass, stealthy, all of those impressions shattered like glass. Though he still learned something new today, jonin came with many… variations, and that his previous thinking had been flawed. "Though can't you just put the groceries down, and then open the door normally?"

The bowl-cut immediately frowned and Shinji's body clenched. Did he take that as an insult? Shinji hadn't meant to offend him, but the situation has become very nerve-wracking for him, he can't read the person in front of him. Maybe the green-wearing jonin was just this simple, but he didn't want to underestimate someone.

"Oh! That makes sense," Guy nodded, while still upside down.

Fwish!

He instantly changed position and before the groceries could even start falling as they were left in the empty air, the jonin caught them in his hands and took out a key. After opening the door, he had a friendly grin on his face, showing his white teeth that had a strange, unreal, genjutsu-like glitter in them. "Thanks, you man, what's your name by the way?"

"Shinji."

"Oh?" realization seemed to dawn in the jonin's eyes as a glittering light shone in them. "So you must be Yamato's genin?"

"Yes," Shinji nodded, seeing no reason to hide such a fact. "Do you know Yamato -sensei?"

"Of course, and I know about you too. Your sensei never stops bragging about you to whoever he can. Saying that not only are you talented but also very hard-working," the jonin nodded approvingly and suddenly his body started shaking, as the smile on his face grew wider. A flame seemed to burn ablaze in the jonin's eyes as he took a deep breath and yelled out. "That's so YOUTHFUL!!!"

Shinji got chills down his spine when he heard the last word. But he tried to keep a nonchalant look on his face. While the jonin's actions seemed ridiculous, Shinji still noticed how fast he was. Going from a hand-stand position to sitting up faster than not only he could see, but before the groceries started falling was an amazing feat.

'That speed is something that even Yamato -sensei would fall short on. I can at least feel the wind move when Yamato -sensei attacks. But with this guy, I doubt I can dodge even knowing where the attack was coming from.'

Of course, Shinji knew that his examination of a jonin-level person would be lacking. But he still saw clearly that this silly-looking man, with caterpillar-like eyebrows, was nothing short of a beast in a human's body. "By the way, what's your name?" Shinji couldn't help but ask. "Since we are neighbors after all."

The man's glistering teeth seemed to shine brighter, and he gave a thumbs up. "I am Might Guy! Konoha's Green Beast!"

Shinji nodded in respect, needing his head, about to go back to his apartment and rest after a long day of training. But suddenly, he heard footsteps climbing up the stairs, and this time it was an old man

He had gray hair, which was tied in a short ponytail, and the old man was carrying a big cooking pot on his back? He looked like a kind grandpa, and he smiled at Shinji. "Hi there new neighbor, I see that you've already met Guy."

Shinji hadn't met his neighbors at all during his stay here that was now almost a week, yet was able to meet two of his neighbors in one day. They might have been on a mission, so that was likely why, but Shinji knew that it was common sense to not ask a ninja, especially a jonin, what missions they were on. He considered himself lucky, and couldn't help but feel safer with having a jonin like Guy as a neighbor.

"Oh, Maruboshi," Guy greeted the old man respectfully and smiled. "Our new neighbor, Shinji, is quite youthful."

"Hahaha," the old man laughed happily. "You call even an old man like me youthful, Guy."

After some small talk, everyone went to their apartment and during that conversation, Shinji learned that the old man was a genin too. That was a little surprising, since by that age a genin is either dead, which is the more likely possibility, or they should have enough money saved up to retire. Even the enthusiastic ninja usually only work in administrative positions by that age.

Still, Shinji didn't bother thinking too much about that, as after washing himself he slumped onto his bed and the sweet darkness of sleep consumed him. As an aftereffect of training hard, and pushing himself to the brink of Chakra Exhaustion daily, he could fall asleep easily.

…

Two weeks passed within the blink of an eye, and for Shinji, those two weeks were a blur of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu. Oh yeah, sparring with Yamato too. Each day his muscles were broken, and his body bruised, but his will never faltered.

He kept going strong, training 16 hours a day. Even when eating, or shitting, he was reading a Genjutsu book or something. So essentially he had trained for 224 hours in two weeks. Even if someone trained a whole month, they would have to train over seven hours daily, and that was still a lot.

Essentially, Shinji had compressed months of training within two weeks. He had to go sometimes to the hospital for the medic-nin there to have a look at his condition. But with a perfect diet, and consistent, robotic-like training.

…He had achieved something remarkable.

Shinji stood in the training ground where he and his team usually met. As usual, everyone was here. By now Kota had gotten the handle on water walking, which was considered good progress for the average ninja. Especially since he trained hard too. But in comparison to Shinji, he was lazy.

Sayuri looked on with a strange look in her eyes, smiling at Shinji. There was something in her eyes that he couldn't quite put his finger on. But dismissed the thought as there are more important things right now.

Yamato stood opposite of Shinji and warned the other two genin. "Stand back," after saying that he looked at his student. As a teacher, he couldn't hide the look of pride in his eyes. He might have pulled a couple of strings to have Guy give him a detailed scroll on the Strong Fist that had his notes on. Yamato didn't hold back and did everything he could to have Shinji grow fast. "How is your progress on learning the Strong Fist?"

"Kind of slow," Shinji muttered, his eyes sharp like a hawk. While his body was ready to jump at any moment.

"I will try and get Guy to help you personally in the future. Though no promises there as he has his own Genin Team." Yamato nodded and suddenly started waving through hand seals.

Shinji immediately started waving through hand seals too, but he only needed to do one while Yamato did three.

<Water Style: Wild Water Wave>

[Water Style: Wild Water Wave]

Both took a deep breath, mirroring each other. The water that spewed out of their mouths created a wave that would engulf the other and it was like a miniature tsunami.

BOOOM!!!

The waves crashed, splattering all over. Sayuri and Kota who were quite far away already jumped back, not wanting to get hit by the harsh water drops as they were like rocks due to the massive pressure created with the clash.

"This doesn't look like a fight between a genin and jonin at all," remarked Kota, amazed as Shinji dashed, walking on the water as if it was second nature by now. His speed was nothing to joke about either as before the water droplets could touch the ground he was in front of Yamato. Unlike two weeks ago where he could barely defend, now he could attack too.

Yamato still had a smile on his face, clearly showing that to him Shinji's speed wasn't at a level where it could yet be dangerous. But as he looked at Shinji's eyes, the jonin's eyes widened. The world around him shifted, turning into a desolate place, a destroyed Konoha, multiple heads of Konoha jonin's heads were on pikes. The blood felt so real, he could smell it.

The Hokage was in a crucifix, suddenly a pale man with snake-like eyes came out of the darkness. But Yamato did the tiger hand seal and yelled out. "Kai!"

The world around him shattered like glass, though he could still smell the blood. He saw that Shinji's knee was about to hit his chin, but the difference in speed was apparent as within a split second Yamato caught the genin's knee and his fingers sank into it.

*Poof*

But that was revealed to be just a log, surrounded with sizzling paper bombs.

Shinji, the real him, stood atop one of the trees, he had never thought that a D Rank Genjutsu would be able to stop Yamao for more than an instant.

BOOOOOM!!!

The explosion surrounded Yamato and created a crater, which had the water from the previous water jutsu fill it and create a small pond. Shinji smiled seeing this, but his eyes widened as the air behind him twisted, and he was able to duck below a fast kick aiming for his head.

Taking out two kunai, Shinji pounced like a tiger at Yamato, and without hesitation stabbed the pointy metallic weapons into his jonin -sensei's body. By now the Shinji from two weeks ago would have panicked at the thought of maybe killing a jonin but by now he knew better.

*POOOF!*

A large cloud of smoke surrounded him. "Shadow Clone," he muttered, looking around but his sight was interrupted. But Shinji felt a heavy feeling in his stomach, as the sound of rushing water entered his ears. He contemplated using Substitution, but the jutsu wasn't made to be used in long distances, and by the sound, the Jutsu was a wide area one.

<Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu>

[Water Style: Water Wall]

So he was forced to use the only B Rank jutsu he knew, putting as much chakra as he could into the jutsu while throwing a kunai upward.

BOOOOM!!!

As his water wall clashed with Yamato's jutsu, his water wall was destroyed, but it still protected him long enough for the smoke to clear up and Shinji to regain his vision. Not a second later, the water hit Shinji harshly, making him spit blood.

But that Shinji turned into a kunai, showing that he had used Substitution, the one that he had thrown upward, due to the split-second lag after using Substitution, which wasn't instantaneous, Shinji had been forced to waste a huge chunk of his chakra. The real Shinji was mid-air. Not a position he would consider favorable, since he couldn't move well up there. Though it wasn't like he had a choice, to begin with.

"Shit," he swore, annoyed. Sensing the next attack was barely done as the air seemed to shift, but Shinji knew that no matter what he did now, he wouldn't be able to dodge it. A giant torrent of water slammed onto him, he winced in pain, as he could hear his ribs crack. "Fuck, can't you go a little easier?"

While inside the water, Shinji was being slammed towards the ground, but he had to stop that from happening or he would be out of the fight by then, too injured to continue anymore. But to his surprise, he felt a shift around him and he saw Yamato's figure who was inside his own jutsu and he smiled at Shinji. This made the latter have a look on his face as if he swallowed a peeled lemon.

"I am not using earth-style jutsu, that's good enough of a handicap for you," Yamato explained himself.

'Yeah, and you also are not using that other thing. But of course, I can't say it out loud.' Shinji thought. He started waving through hand seals, ready to use a genjutsu that would give him an advantage.

But Yamato wasn't going to let that happen, as he kicked Shinji's wrist and the power behind the kick was enough to dislocate the wrist. What surprised the jonin was that he didn't scream in pain or anything, his eye only twitches a little, that was the only sign that he was in pain and he threw a punch towards Yamato's face.

Of course, the punch was easily blocked by Yamato's palm, but Shinji smiled as he used the jonin's hand to complete the hand seal. This surprised Yamato, and that surprise was enough for Shinji to take advantage

[Paralysis Jutsu]

Yamato's body froze for a split second, but he broke out of it quickly, just as Shinji was about to slam into the ground. Yamato noticed the slight weight shift in the water and knew that Shinji had used Substitution.

BAAAM!!!

The water pressure cracked the ground like a spider web, and Shinji was nowhere to be seen. But the genin appeared from the trees, Yamato narrows his eyes in suspicion, a little unsure if that was the real Shinji or just a water clone. The jonin also could feel his chakra running a little low, having used multiple A-Rank Jutsu.

He assumed that Shinji must be low in chakra, but the genin could will-power through most injuries and pains. So it wouldn't be weird for the jonin teacher if somehow his student forced himself to enter Chakra Exhaustion. Shinji was smart enough to not do something detrimental like that, but Yamato knew his student's competitive spirit.

While Shinji's Chakra Reserves weren't quite to Yamato's level, the latter had used a lot more chakra than his student. This was mostly due to Shinji's mastery of the Substitution Jutsu, which cost very little chakra and could be used to dodge jutsu that would cost a lot.

*sigh* "What an annoying brat to fight," Yamato complained loud enough, to make sure Shinji heard him.

The Shinji that had made himself appear smiled. "I am sure that if you went all out, then you would be able to defeat me easily. I'm just a simple genin after all. Using earth style you would have been able to go underground and take me by surprise quite a lot."

Suddenly Yamato looked down and saw that the water he was standing on felt thicker, heavier, and immediately he attempted to jump away. Five figures resembling Shinji came out of the water.

[Water Clone Jutsu]

Each clone extended their hands out, having gone through multiple hand seals already.

[Water style: Water Prison]

A dome of water formed around Yamato, and a heaviness settled around him, locking the jonin's body shut. It felt more like being encased in heavy wet concrete than water. But Yamato slowly turned into a wooden doll, with his form.

Shinji winced. Feeling the chakra exhaustion settle in, he didn't want to be incapacitated for weeks. So he let exhaustion take effect as he stumbled back and started falling.

Fwish!

Within an instant, Yamato appeared behind him. "This is the second time you make me show something that I am not supposed to," the jonin glanced towards the wooden doll. "Though I have a sneaking suspicion that you already know that."

"Hehehe," Shinji chuckled, feeling tired, both mentally and physically. "I don't know what you're talking about Yamato -sensei. I forget a thousand things a day, and will make sure this will be one of them."

Yamato sighed, but a chuckle escaped him. "Well, this will be the last spar we will have in a while. These spars between us won't go unnoticed for long. You need to rest.``

"But-"

"No," the jonin's gaze turned harsh. As he laid his student on the ground softly. "Remember Shinji, you still have a life. At your age, you should be out there experiencing life, making mistakes, sometimes looking like a fool. That is a different experience that will give you certain understandings that a ninja needs to know. Growth isn't something you can rush, or it will be stunted."

Shinji stared at Yamato with a dull look in his eyes. "Before you interrupted me, I was going to agree. I am not stupid to overwork myself too much. During this time I was injured almost every single day during training, and that sucks. I am not masochistic."

"Oh… so you understand," Yamato said awkwardly.

"Obviously," Shinji replied. "I know that if I try to work too much I will become a burned-out 'genius'. Someone who can only follow a road already paved for him and not make his own, like that most people can reach jonin-level at best," his eyes narrowed and overwhelming hunger and ambition shone through them. "I want to surpass Tobirama Senju, and he was one of the ninjas known to have created more jutsu than even his brother. Though I also know that training must be done in moderation."

The jonin nodded proudly. "That's right. By the way, what do you think about our team going on a C Rank Mission? I want to hear your opinion on this too. Normally genin don't' get C Rank Missions so early, but you're an exception."

Shinji could see that Yamato -sensei wasn't worried if he was ready. The one he seemed more concerned with was his teammates. Who were having… average progress, that grossly paled in comparison to Shinji's. He contemplated what to say next.

__________________________________

[Pick one, and put your choice in a comment down below]

A - "Yes, we are ready. I will make up for Kota and Sayuri's shortcomings. That's what teammates are for, after all."

B - "No. We aren't ready yet. They need to train for a little longer and find something they're good at before going on a C Rank Mission."

C - "Yes, but only us two need to go on the mission and leave Sayuri and Kota behind." Shinji feels like this choice would ruin the team dynamics.

D - "No. I don't want my teammates to see how apparent the difference in power between us has become. It might make them feel bad."

E - "No. Let's continue with more training. For now, we need to become stronger. Maybe I could get Guy to help me with training Taijutsu while you concentrate all your efforts on helping them. We need to all be ready for this, not just me."