32 32: Elsewhere, Days Go By

Author note:

I had to update this chapter and add this note because I forgot to mention that this is the last chapter of Volume 2!

Have a nice day!

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Reincarnator number #17, Renji, could only cry when he got home after the announcement was made. It was his early graduation day, and the worst case scenario had happened.

He had been placed on a team with reincarnator number #15, Mishima. The boy who had been tormenting him constantly ever since the day they'd met over a year ago.

'Why... WHY?! What did I do to deserve this? I thought I would be free... I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FREE!!!'

He knew, of course, that Mishima was incredibly popular in the academy. Both the students and most importantly the teachers were obsessed with him due to his extremely rare Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai and the fact that he could already control it even though he was only seven years old.

'He must've said something.' Renji concluded. 'There's no other way for this to have happened. He kept spouting that bullshit about me being part of his team almost every time graduation was brought up. Of course they would listen to him and make it so, how the hell was I so blind that I couldn't see it coming?'

Renji rolled over in his bed and looked over at his small workspace in the corner of the room, where his puppet, Hari, lay slumped next to several vials of poison and stacks of senbon needles. He sighed.

'...There really is only one way that this'll end, isn't there? It needs to be a mission outside of the Village. Our first C-rank? ...No. Too early; our sensei will be watching us more closely then. Maybe the second or third C-rank mission, and then I'll do it. I need to make some adjustments to Hari before then... Something to make a huge shower of senbon from multiple directions, so that even if he senses it, he'll never be able to dodge... no, what if he burns the poison off of them before they hit? How about...' He began constructing a plan.

This was his only option if he wanted to be free of that psycho. Diplomacy had failed before it could even get off the ground since the bastard was so delusional that he flatly refused to even remotely listen to the other reincarnators who tried telling him to stop bullying Renji already. He said they were all just 'extras' and that they were getting in the way of his new life.

'I doubt he even truly cares about this life. If he's complaining about his immersion being broken then that means that he doesn't even see this as reality. Just a story, where he is the main character. Fucker...'

Renji slipped out of bed and immediately got to work sorting through all of his puppet parts. It'd take him a while to create all of the delicate mechanisms that he would need to make this work. But he believed he would have plenty of time between D-rank missions and group training to finish constructing the parts he needed. The money from the missions would help too. New parts and more potent poisons would be paramount to his success.

He whispered to himself in the darkness of his bedroom.

"Just you wait, Mishima. Your days are numbered. And I will finally be free..."

- - - - -

"Oi, Senku! Wait up!" Sado, otherwise known as reincarnator number #8, called out to the boy as he was heading home from the local training ground.

Senku smiled back as he spotted him. They had crossed paths a few months ago and had quickly become fast friends. Honestly, it was almost a wonder how neither of them had met sooner. Sure, Konohagakure was a pretty large city in reality, and it turns out that they lived at exact opposite ends of it. But even so, they both frequented the various training grounds and both specialised in Kenjutsu.

Senku's early graduation from the academy was the culprit, they learned. He left right before Sado started attending, so they never met on school grounds.

"Heya, Sado. What's up?" Senku asked his new friend. Sado grinned and pointed at his left shoulder, where a brand new Konoha headband was tied around it.

"I finally graduated yesterday! Now I just gotta wait to see who my team is gonna be. Are you doing anything this evening? I'm calling a bunch of my classmates over for a small party and I figured that you should come too. We can invite Kasumi as well, if you want." He offered.

Senku paused to consider that suggestion. Kasumi Uchiha was another reincarnator that had been born in Konoha. Number #16, to be exact. Unfortunately, Senku had had an... 'interesting' experience with her a few days prior.

"Uuuuhhh... I don't know if inviting Kasumi is a good idea... I may or may not have accidentally used my system when it finally unlocked after all this time, and she happened to be the target. Needless to say, she was very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY, VERY-"

Sado cut him off. "Man, get to the point already."

"I accidentally cast a hypnotisation spell on her! And it failed! And she could tell it was me who did it! And then she shot a bunch of fireballs at me and I haven't seen her since..." He admitted.

Sado sighed and shook his head.

"Man, you Harem System weirdos are all gonna get yourselves killed. How the heck do you 'accidentally' attempt to hypnotise someone, much less a fellow reincarnator almost four years younger than you who happens to also be an Uchiha?"

"It's not my fault, I swear!"

"It was your fault the moment you chose that as your system. I've had a bunch of girls trying to get with me already just because I'm strong; I don't need any harem cheats. I'm perfectly happy with my Training System." Sado smirked as he spoke.

Senku groaned and changed the subject, "Whatever, none of that's important! Yes, I'll be available this evening. It'll be a good chance for me to apologise to Kasumi as well. What are we having?"

Sado grinned once more. "Ichiraku Ramen, of course! I've told Teuchi's dad to expect us so he'll be putting out a bunch of tables and chairs just for the occasion."

Senku salivated at the mere thought. An evening to relax with Ichiraku Ramen on the menu? He couldn't ask for a better way to spend his time. It would make a good atmosphere to apologise to Kasumi as well.

After all, good food can calm anyone down.

- - - - -

Rumi sidestepped the expensive plate of even more expensive food that was thrown at her.

"Damn brat, you're supposed to be our weapon, our tool! Why do you refuse to be turned against our enemies?" The obese old man on the other side of the table screamed at her.

She suppressed the urge to sigh and responded calmly.

"Venerable Elder, there is no need to do so. We have no enemies who would actively harm us. Admittedly there are some who use our lands as a crossing point to invade others, but they do not harm our own people. We should not make enemies for the sole purpose of showing off our power."

His face turned even redder and the veins on his forehead bulged outwards as he ground his teeth together.

"How will our once-mighty village ever return to its former glory when no-one even takes us seriously? How can you be so damn USELESS that you cannot comprehend this fact?! Ugh. Get out of my sight." He waved her out.

She bowed and left the building, a quiet rage simmering within her.

'Whoa. He was really steamed at you that time, Rumi.' A voice, one not belonging to her system, spoke within her mind.

'It's getting harder to deal with.' She spoke back, 'This village has always had an issue with its leadership, and he is the last remaining member of the old council that made numerous severe blunders, chief of which was when they decided to make an enemy of their own top ninja. The only reason he's even alive is the fact that he was too weak for Kakuzu to even consider taking his heart like he did to the other council members.'

She took the long route home to her secluded, run-down shack to avoid talking to anyone. She was an orphan of course, and although she was an official member of the village shinobi they refused to pay her any more than a slave's wages for the missions she completed and even if she'd had the money to have the building repaired, nobody in the village would ever willingly do the job for her.

She had to improvise by gluing shut the holes and gaps in the building's structure with silk webbing that she could create from her chakra. This actually made the small home rather well insulated and durable against any vandals that would often come by to deface the building for fun, though it had the side effect of making the village's people only see her as more and more of a monster, living in her very own giant nest.

She did her absolute best, relying heavily on her past life's experience to keep herself calm whenever they hurled abuse at her. It was good for them more than her, really. If she didn't have the maturity of a person tripple her physical age, she would've simply given up and unleashed the Seven Tails upon the villagers years ago.

Opening the door to the shack, she placed her hand on the solid cocoon wall behind it and allowed it to peel away before sealing it shut behind her. She would never leave a single gap for someone to break in through. Several dozen different people had already tried numerous times in the past, usually men. And they've started showing up more and more as her body started developing. She secretly dreaded the day that she would actually reach puberty, even if she would not ever display that dread out in the open.

Finally able to relax, she flopped down on her silken bed and checked her quest progress.

[Major Quests]

[1. Junior Shinobi: complete 10 C-rank missions. Current count: 7/10]

[2. Budding Powerhouse: defeat higher rank shinobi in battle. Current count: 2/5]

[3. Takigakure Explorer: accurately map out the entire Hidden Village of Takigakure. Current percentage: 97%]

[4. Beast of Ruin: kill your abusers. Current count: 0/6410]

'It went up again...' She lamented as she checked the last Major Quest. It seemed that every new person who threw insults at her in the streets, and every new person who tried to break into her house also counted as an 'abuser'. That number had started out in the low dozens when she was younger.

'Of course it went up! It's only gonna keep going up until you leave this unlucky place behind, ya know?' The voice of her Tailed Beast chimed.

'I know that, Chomei. I know. But at least this place is somewhere to return to at the end of every day. If I were to throw that away then I wouldn't have anywhere safe to stay. I stick out like a sore thumb to any half-competent Sensor-nin within a mile's radius of me. If I leave I'll eventually be tracked down and killed by people trying to claim you for themselves.' She reasoned back at him.

'Pshhh. As if this place is safe! I might be more naive than my siblings, but your smartness is rubbing off on me, Rumi. Even I can see the way those... those 'people' look at you. Sooner or later they're gonna start getting more aggressive. You're gonna get less and less lucky as time goes by! Why don't we just fly away from it all? Maybe you could ask your reincarnator friends if you can stay with them?' The Beast suggested.

She shook her head. 'No. Disregarding the fact that most of them live in major shinobi villages who would only treat me the same way that I'm being treated here, I would have to cross a lot of terrain to reach them. And then I would be detected, and summarily captured on the way. I need to increase my power first.' She looked back at her system window for a moment as she used the Chat's camera function like a mirror, brushing her mint-green hair out of her eyes.

'One day I will form a coalition of like-minded reincarnators to protect ourselves from stuff like this, but that dream will never come true if I don't become strong enough to protect myself first. And for that, I need somewhere safe to return to when I need to rest.'

Chomei didn't really agree with her, but he saw the appeal in having at least some semblance of safety to return to. He'd been recaptured every single time he'd escaped out into the wilderness in the past, after all.

'Hmmmmm... fine~. But just be careful alright, Rumi? I know you don't wanna hurt the people here, but if any one of them lays their hands on you? Use my chakra. Show em that 'Lucky Seven' Chomei's partner doesn't mess around, kay?'

'...Alright, Chomei. I would rather not do so, but I know how people can be. Number #2 was lucky he had the common sense to mellow out. These frustrated village idiots who are so stressed out by their own inadequacy when compared to my power that the only way for them to cope is to try and dominate me? They won't be so lucky.'

'Heh, now you're speaking my language!'

She smiled slightly to herself before getting up to make a dinner using fresh ingredients from her system's reward shop as she mentally prepared herself for a future of continued struggle.

Such was the daily life of reincarnator number #6.