4 Chapter 4: Forward

13 of October- the year of the Kyuubi

I was walking around numbly, thick clouds of dust were still floating along the streets, the usually bright Konoha was uncharacteristically silent. Everyone was tense, careful to catch even the barest whisper. The squads of tracking shinobi had already swept over the battered area of the village, so it was unlikely that someone needed to be rescued, and the ones still under the rabble didn't need help any longer.

I wasn't alone in my slow contemplative walk, a lot of civilians were roaming the ruins that covered almost half of the village. Either so desperate that their minds had simply shut down to numb the pain, o acutely aware that they had lost everything. There were already squads rebuilding on the edges of the open, no, already cauterized wound of the village.

I shuddered remembering the dread of the night before, I had been glad when the magical shiny barriers of chakra had sprung out on their own here and there, cutting off the venomous presence of the demon. The academy had one hell of a defense, probably because it would be the target of any kind of preventive strike against Konoha. It made sense: first the schools, then the hospital. After a few days, the barracks, and you have mass panic.

Turns out the orphanage I was living in had been on the safe side of the village, so my long months of preparation in crafting myself a possible alibi had been useless. I was also relieved to see Chihiro unscathed, even if she had almost hugged the life out of me once I made my way back to the orphanage. I had to suppress an annoying twinge of guilt while she was fussing over me. I couldn't avoid thinking that the people around me were real and no longer fictional characters. But still, it wasn't like I could do anything to change their fate. And the option of being found out was the real scary thing in that world. Until I reached S rank at least. I was a mediocre academy student, and my self-discovery of chakra wasn't something I could compare with anyone else. But I hoped to have the possibility of growing strong, enough to not feel constantly threatened. Even while I was walking aimlessly I feared being kidnapped by Root agents. I could only hope that my less than stellar Academy performance was enough to keep me away from them. Maybe I should encourage Itachi's tentative friendship? Maybe not. I thought, remembering the giant, swirling Sharingan in the eyes of the Kyubi. The Uchiha had enough problems on their plate, and I wasn't going to poke at the future massacre with a ten-foot pole.

And I already disliked the thought of killing strangers, but realistically, what could I do?

The academy had been put on hold for a week, while the bureaucracy of Konohagakure no Sato gathered its bearings, the funerals would proceed into an uninterrupted flow for three days, at least the ones for commoners, the Hokage funeral was going to be held on Saturday. The academy students were expected to attend. I somehow disliked the thought. Maybe it was related to the small twinge of guilt that the thought of Chihiro dying summoned in me? I couldn't tell, and I carefully sidestepped the problem of analyzing my feelings. I couldn't be bothered.

I watched from the edge of the off-limits area a group of doton users bringing together groups of the rabble that were being charged over carts which ran swiftly over rails. At least they can use chakra for something that it's not killing. I thought. I could distinguish grim expressions and stern gestures from where I was standing. These were people used to deal with death, if not sudden disasters of that proportion. I remembered that Kakashi was only fourteen. Hell, in my first life, the biggest problem I had faced at that age had been the number of wanking sessions I could have in a single day.

"We should probably help." a voice said from my side, startling me. I looked at Itachi tilting my head in a manner that I hoped could convey how annoyed his sudden appearance made me.

"We are civilians until we make genin. And while for you it's a formality, for me there's still a long way to go. Besides, don't you have some Uchiha stuff to do?" I replied.

Seeing him frown at the mention of his clan I rolled my eyes. He was thinking that I would treat him differently because he was a Clan heir. "I know that you have a little brother, probably your parents would prefer it if they had you watching over him while they do what they can."

"Mother had been less than amused by my late night." He almost shuddered. I would need to break him out of that she that hid his emotions, speaking to a brick wall was unsettling after all. "And there are wet nurses for all the clan children, my aid would only hinder everyone."

I recognized a note in his tone that I didn't expect. Concern. But not for his clan, for me. He was such a thoughtful kid, worrying over the home of the orphan boy from the academy.

"The orphanage was spared. Even if a giant boulder crushed his way through the park in front of our courtyard." I informed him, and from the minute lowering of his shoulders I could tell that he felt relief.

"Hana is well too." He added.

What? "Who?" I asked, honestly without a clue. Beyond the most important characters, I knew very little about the narutoverse. Sure, the rare explanations about chakra and techniques were easy to remember, but those had always been the most fascinating parts. At least for my fantasy dependant brain. He briefly looked at me with an arched eyebrow and turned once more toward the disaster in front of our eyes. Both of us lost in our thoughts.

I was once again thinking about the implication of the story Itachi shared with me. And on its own, a memory made its way at the forefront of my head. In one of the Naruto movies they traveled back in time through the Hiraishin. The potential of fuinjutsu was right there for all to see. But I didn't know if this world was strictly the manga one, the anime one, or a mesh of everything, fandoms included. But it was something I had no control over.

I turned my back on the destruction and started to walk back to the orphanage. Maybe I should focus on my chakra control regime until it was deemed acceptable training in the park on your own.

25 of May- four years After the Kyubi attack

I stepped forward and tilted my head to avoid a jab, while punching the inside of the arm that was outstretched, giving me an inviting target I could hardly refuse.

I hit a cluster of nerves, but I didn't stop there, raising my elbow to intercept the other, enraged punch from my opponent.

I concluded the step forward slamming my forehead on my enemy's nose, strong enough to break it, before dropping low and executing a textbook leg sweep.

Hana went down heavily, howling in pain and being assaulted by her three puppies, that immediately focused on licking away her pain.

I leaned forward and raised her from the ground, ignoring the forgettable sensei: "The winner is Daiki! And that's all for today! We will see you all the next week for the genin test!"

Before he could come over and ask us to perform the 'bullshit sign of hippy happiness', or how the sensei preferred to call it reconciliation, I pinched her nose and pulled, setting it right.

She howled in pain once more and two of the pups growled threatening me, while the third headbutted my leg lightly. He was the smart one.

Being triplets, the Haimaru brothers had the same grey fur with white undersides and short pointed ears and mostly resembled Huskies. By whatever Inuzuka secret ceremony, she had been assigned the triplets a month before, and their understanding of human-tongue was still shaky. But at least they had stopped peeing everywhere.

"If you keep letting your face unguarded I'll keep breaking your nose." I blandly pointed out, before performing the sign of reconciliation and leaving the academy' grounds.

"Team 10: Daiki Eatslug, Hana Inuzuka, Kanbei Shin."

A cloud of white smoke along with a 'poof' covered the sensei words, and from there emerged him. Wearing a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers, and the standard Konoha flak jacket, which he left unzipped. His red forehead protector was worn around his waist like a belt. Maito Gai, or Might Guy I didn't know, stood proudly in front of our class.

He placed himself in his trademark 'nice guy' pose, thumb up, and shouted "I'll race you to the training ground 10! And... go!"

He disappeared. I looked at my teammates, vaguely recognizing Shin, and amusedly noticing Hana was slamming her head on the desk, destroyed by having me in her team. The huski triplet was looking at me like it was completely my fault. And from what I knew, it was true, I didn't know if Guy had taught to another team before Lee's one, but the possible difference could easily be chalked up to some kind of butterfly effect.

However we left the classroom and ran toward the training grounds, we had to slow down because the dogs were too young to run on par with us. But after a couple of strides, I grew tired of wasting time, and without saying a word, I choose to act. I grabbed one of the pups by the scruff of his neck and placed it in the arms of a flabbergasted Shin, took one for me, and threw the last to Hana, who scrambled to catch him on the fly. I may have thrown the last one because he had bitten me, nobody would ever know.

We reached the training ground 10 only to see our future sensei doing pushups, his fingers buried into the ground because once he finished pushing up, he pulled himself down, in a mystery of gravity-defying 'Just Do It!' meme.

"YOSH!" He shouted, jumping up in front of us "I AM THE KONOHA BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST OF PREY! MIGHT GUY IS MY NAME! AND MY DREAM IS TO TRAIN HARD AND PROTECT MY VILLAGE!"

He was so loud the Hainaru brothers had slumped down and were whining, covering their ears with their paws, and I wished I could copy them. I let my chakra pour lightly out of me, testing his 'presence'. I couldn't get a read on him, nothing beyond the idea that he was solid. Like a boulder, but maybe with a hidden ember buried within. Guy was so different from what he portrayed himself as. My two teammates were very easy to distinguish, the kunoichi was the one that felt like a cozy room with a lit fireplace, while the other felt like some kind of... ivy. I decided. The three dogs were a confusing mess, but it was hard to feel something that held such a little sense of identity, their pack mentality blended one dog over the other. I opened my eyes, after unknowingly closing them, and looked critically at my teammates.

Hana didn't bother hiding her conflict between disgust and painful acceptance. She brought down her long brown hair which she usually wore in a ponytail with two locks of hair framing her face in a useless attempt of shielding herself from the loud presentation. Her large, black eyes shut down to block any visive input. For the occasion she wore a light shade of lipstick that matched the traditional fang-like tattoos of the Inuzuka clan on both of her cheeks, in addition to a new tattoo on her upper right arm that resembled a flower. She had a brace on her left wrist, bracelets on her right hand as well as bandages wrapped around her legs, while she wore light-brown clothes with white fur around the collar and a grey sash around her waist. She noticeably had a softer appearance than the other members of her family, not having slit-like eyes, or wild, shaggy hair, clearly, she had dressed up for the occasion, and I smiled at her naivety.

Still, having Might Guy as our sensei was a lucky turn of the events. Taijutsu was the base upon any shinobi relied upon, the one thing you could use without chakra or weaponry. I was lucky, really lucky to have him as a sensei.

I studied distractedly with my other teammate. Shin was taller than me of a couple of inches, but beyond that he had a leaner build than mine, resembling the stereotypical scarecrow ninja. He wore a combination of gray and dark brown clothes that would help him blend in with the vegetation, I approved. He had short black hair and brown eyes, while his high cheekbones and sharp chin made him look almost like an elf. From what I remembered he had a knack for traps, and then my eyes widened.

I remembered that Naruto' s generation of teams had been heavily specialized in a field. Team 7 front liners, the team with the Nara was a kidnap and read minds, while Hinata's was a tracking one.

Before our sensei could ask us to introduce ourselves I blurted out: "We're a sabotage team aren't we?"

The others whirled on me with a questioning expression on their faces, while Guy shot me a thumbs up along with a wink, followed by what I think he believed was a roguish grin. "You are indeed youthful, my young student! Explain why or you'll do five hundred laps around the village!"

At that point I simply went with the flow, and I knew that his training methods had merit, and their result was mastery over the eight gates, and power made you go on par with a god. Sure, then it killed you, but one could not have it all.

"I'll run one thousand laps if I get this wrong sensei!" I shouted back in kind, raising both my arms over my head with hands closing in fists. I brought down said fists on the shoulders of my teammates and kept shouting "And since we are a team, they'll run with me!"

Ignoring the satisfied 'YOSH' shouted by my sensei and the subtle but unmistakable approximation of killing intent Hana was leaking out, I was surprised by the complete absence of any kind of protest. Maybe the pack mentality of the Inuzuka served us well there, and my other companion seemed to be quietly accepting his fate. I hoped that such a demonstration of teamwork could spare us the bullshit of the bell test. I pointed toward Shin: "Traps and camouflage," I turned toward the kunoichi and the Haimaru triplets: "Tracking, hunting, and Hana has chakra control good enough to become a proficient med nin, and vet too."

I pointed toward Guy: "You can teach us how to be kickass on the close quarter since taijutsu isn't loud like ninjutsu. And..." I pointed at my chest with my thumb, before deflating a bit, it was a time good as any other to learn what Konoha knew about me. "I... what do I do?"

Might Guy leaned forward, a knowing grin on his face. Oh, I was so busted. He pointed at me: "Thieving and Subterfuge."

Shit! I thought. Not only he saw through my blatant attempt of fishing for what they higher-ups knew about me, but they also knew that I had been stealing from the civilian population. But the fact that they knew and didn't intervene raised more questions than answers. My teammates too were looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"Why nobody stopped me?" I quietly asked. I had been stealing ryos, and little sums here and there, only from people who wouldn't suffer their absence. I didn't need the money to survive, but the chainmail I was wearing under my clothes was sold in a shop of a retired shinobi, so stealing it had not been an option. The same went for my ninja wire, shuriken, senbon and kunai. I had been looking forward to being able to purchase armguards, but it couldn't be helped. Luckily I had already bought a tent, so I wasn't in a hurry to find myself a flat. Becoming Genin meant that I could no longer stay at the orphanage after all.

"Why, my youthful genin, because you stole randomly only from people rich enough to barely notice it, and from three people that had been unknowingly suffering at the hands of a shoplifter for years. Then you stole enough for them to notice, and they issued a C rank! Be warned however, that shinobi are not allowed to act against the civilian population in Konoha."

I nodded quickly, hiding a grin. I liked that he had specified 'in Konoha', whichever mission we took outside the village would see me getting a tiny bit richer than normal.

"So! Introductions, please! Tell me your names and most youthful dream!"

"So we aren't running?" Hana sighed in relief.

"Oh No! We most certainly will run! After all Daiki-kun didn't finish his explanation!" The sensei in green spandex most youthfully answered, and I could feel that my teammates were less than amused. I grimaced, I knew that the taijutsu master knew what he was doing and that the results of his training would pay off, but that didn't mean that I had to like it.

I sighed and went first: "I'm Daiki Eatslug, I like calligraphy and old stories, and I dislike wasting time. I have chakra control good enough to learn medical jutsu and genjutsu. My dream..." I thought briefly about it. It wasn't something that I had actively thought about. Staying alive was an objective, and condition through which everything else could be built upon. So I naturally shifted over the following task on my list that I didn't know how to achieve on my own. "And my dream is to become the best Seal Master to have ever lived!" And it was even mostly true.

I turned towards Hana, who was still looking at me with raised eyebrows. "I'm Hana Inuzuka, and my dream is to become the best vet for my family dogs, and one of the strongest kunoichi in the village!"

"I'm Shin Kanbei, I like knives and... fire" o

Oh, fanfuckingtastic a pyromaniac. I thought amusedly. "I dislike bandits, stuck up clan shinobi and vegetables, my dream is to become a shinobi strong enough to protect my family business."

That sounds terribly like a mafia thing to say. Go to Italy! I sarcastically considered in my head.

"YOSH!" our sensei shouted "Now my youthful students! I was supposed to test your teamwork, but you selflessly accepted your team mate's bet! And helped bring here the triplets! So we can get straight to training! I can already tell that your dreams mesh well together!"

And so it began my grueling new life.