3. Pre-Shinobi

Konohagakure no Sato

Year 68​

Totsu POV:

I met Anko today.

"Hurry up, you cocky little bastard! Fight me!"

No, this wasn't her. This was a stubborn classmate of mine who couldn't stomach the fact that I had been moved up a class, and I was the top student within the fourth years. It was a spur of a moment decision that I regretted no sooner after I had made it.

I needed time…no matter how boring and inconsequential I found the Academy. Time here gave me freedom to further hone my already exemplary skills…and as my recent encounter with the snake's student had shown, an opportunity to branch off into other interesting disciplines I had neglected.

Like Juinjutsu and Senjutsu.

"Calm down, Hagiri," Funeno-sensei cautioned with a slight frown on his normally jovial face, "remember, this spar is meant to help the students with their taijutsu skills, not a brawl."

Hagiri didn't look in any way chastised, glaring at me with utter disdain. I lamented the fact that I had to deal with Itachi and Izumi's baggage…I truly wasn't fond of beating up kids, no matter how bastard they were.

With a sigh, I stepped into the circle, disregarding the whispers and murmurs from my classmates. The outcome of this match was clear to all of us, except for Hagiri, of course. It wasn't because I was considerably stronger than my opponent; I had taken precautions to conceal the majority of my capabilities. The truth was, Hagiri was hilariously weak.

They all were, but the bully was the most vocally unliked so his insignificance was widely known, and errors magnified.

Funeno-sensei urged us to perform the seal of confrontation. We did so, two fingers held in front of us as we glared at each other— Hagiri glared, I merely looked at him calmly, wondering how to end this battle without much inflicted injury.

A moment passed as we stood, the day's wind rustling both my untied hair and shirt, before our sensei signalled:

"Fight!"

He moved first, zooming toward me with a lunging thrust intended for my left shoulder. The speed was at least impressive…for a second year.

I spun — counter clockwise — and avoided while also deflecting his attack with my pocketed left arm, elbow to his cheek. Simultaneously, i counterattacked with a measured punch to his left ribs, relying on the momentum of his failed attack to amplify the effectiveness of my punch.

Bwack!

The attack connected, and the air within Hagiri's lungs left him as he staggered aside, pained and dazed.

Allow me to once more reiterate, Hagiri was weak. Not just strength-wise but in endurance too. The fact that a lazy punch from an eight year old — and I did maintain laxity in my strength— left him this disoriented was honestly laughable.

Exerting force beneath the ground and gaining height for my follow up, I managed to catch the slightly disappointed look on Funeno-sensei's face as I rotated.

Hagiri recovered and turned just in time, receiving an angulated tornado kick on his neck, the force of it dragging him out of the ring. Of course, he wasn't knocked out or significantly injured, my final attack only applied force upon connection to mimic the effects of push.

This time the bully recovered quickly and tried to retaliate, unaware that he already lost. Unfortunately, Funeno-sensei called for him to stop.

"Enough!"

"But sensei I can sti—"

He tried to reason but Funeno-sensei cut him off.

"You have been pushed out the circle, Hagiri. Totsu wins." He beckoned for the bully to come closer, "Now perform the seal of reconciliation to reestablish the bond of comradery."

Hagiri grumbled but still complied, I did so as well, feeling no glory save for my kept promise to limit injuries to a minimum. Our classmates weren't so restrained, wearing my victory as if it was their own.

Important to realise was that despite my celebrated victory I was still not liked, I was merely disliked less than my opponent in this bout. As someone who skipped a grade— especially after someone as famed as Itachi and a stubborn as Izumi— I was viewed as a privileged intruder at best… and briber at worst.

Despite his tendencies, I held no ill will but sympathy towards Hagiri. He was one of the few kids in our academy who had been orphaned by the Kyūbi attack and left to the tender mercies of the village. The village, despite its leniency, didn't coddle; instead, it sought to harness the potential within chakra-gifted individuals to shape them into capable shinobi…even if they only became meat shields.

Because being a shinobi wasn't a profession, but a commitment.

As we left, rejoining the rest, I sensed Funeno-sensei's studying gaze burn into the back of my neck. The suspicion wasn't unfamiliar…long had he expected some kind of deception from my part, especially with the oddity of my attacks despite their lack of injury.

The thing was, I always attacked vitals…executions that would spell the death of an opponent if they were ever coupled with intent.

The punch I delivered could have been an instant kill if I had a kunai with me, plus I was stupidly proficient with Hien (Flying Swallow)…because adjustable length was always an advantage.

As for the tornado kick, all it needed was sufficient strength to break an opponent's neck, or shatter it if I was feeling particularly cautious.

Still, what I showed was killing proficiency and measured movements, while impressive, there were nothing to write home about. My ninjutsu was untested and unknown, reserves suppressed to that of a genin, and sensory abilities unmeasured and unsuspected.

If I was to judge my strength, I would rank somewhere within the lower ranks of jōnin (C), due to my lack of jutsu, mass and muscle, and inability to combat a group of chūnin ranked shinobi.

My refined mastery over the basic three would give me an edge in a forested area though, especially since I had learned to incorporate my Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Jutsu) and Chakra Threads to fool sensory types shinobi and dōjutsu wielders by giving the Bunshin a chakra network.

As for my Shunshin, I suspected that a Sharingan or Byakugan was necessary to peak it to my required level. Still, I was still masterful with them, to the point where I could perform them without hand seals and still achieve greater speed even with little focus.

Though what I excelled in was the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Replacement Jutsu), my sensory abilities proved a greater advantage than I had expected. I was beginning to suspect that the reason why the Nidaime and Yondaime were so fast and able to use the Hirashin (Flying Thunder God) to an unnatural level was because of them being hyper sensitive to chakra.

It also explained why sensory type shinobi were able to counter them as well. Case in point, Madara and Naruto were able to not just dodge, but counter opponents who moved faster than they did.

Distanced from the gathered crowd, I watched at the following battles, uncharmed by their styles or skills. Only two students had been able to trance me in their fluency and unique taijutsu, both of them had been heirs of their clans. Itachi and Hana.

And while the latter lacked any personal talent, she had been smart enough to be able to utilise her clan's techniques with adequate skill.

Unfortunately the Inuzuka taijutsu skill was similar to the Jūken (Gentle Fist) of the Hyūga, it was modelled after their clan's Hiden, as the Jūken was reliant on the celestial dōjutsu for even its most basic functions.

Even now, I couldn't believe that the Hyūga have sacrificed so much in their pursuit of uniqueness. Sure, while the Jūken was dangerous, it was incompatible with anything else, denying the Hyūga shinobi to even be able to use Ninjutsu in battle without opening themselves to attacks or grave opportunities.

And because the kata was taught to the members at such a young age— a calculated move to maximise the effectiveness of the Jūken upon the awakening of the Byakugan— relearning common kata was nigh-possible, lest the end product be subpar.

A pair of steps interrupted me from my musings and watch of the sloppy combat happening about. Looking, I found the approach of one of my classmates, Osaru Rikini.

She was a more likeable of the many girls within my class, sociable yet considerate…and perhaps most of all, talented and determined in the pursuit of excellence. Plus in a way, she reminded me of Rin, possessing the same brown eyes and hair the dead girl had, though without the markings.

"Totsu-kun, what are you doing this far back from everyone?" She asked in way of greeting.

I let a smile claim my features, its formation genuine.

"C'mon, Osaru-senpai, you know most of the class doesn't like me. Plus if I'm this far, I won't be able to sour their moods."

What was left unsaid was that I didn't enjoy the noise they were all making…discussing and arguing about who was the best or the most cutest.

Osaru pouted, "I told you not to call me that, Totsu-kun."

I couldn't resist milking the Japanese honorifics for all they were worth, especially since I had been quite the weeaboo for Japanese media in my life-before.

A bonus was that despite her outward expression, I knew that Osaru, just like all the other kids, secretly enjoyed the title of respect. It made them feel like they were still superior to me in some regard.

…what could I say, I liked seeing kids happy.

Osaru came to sit next to me and gazed at the fights as well.

"Congratulations on your victory, by the way. Even though I think you should have been more harsher on Hagiri."

I just shrugged, dangling my legs over the tree branch.

"You know he won't stop harassing you if you just keep ignoring him."

"He won't stop harassing me regardless, besides, all Hagiri-senpai ever do is call me names," I turned and looked at the girl, "it's not like any of you guys believe him."

"That's because he's a loudmouth moron who likes saying lies about anyone he doesn't like."

Ah, it was the Naruto treatment, except this time it was somewhat deserved, at least from a child's point of view.

Hagiri, along with his friends, Tenma and Katsura had been attention seeking bullies due to their shared pain of having lost their loved ones during the Kyūbi attack.

The poor boy not only lost his mother and sister, but the friends he had made excelled beyond him, leaving him behind at the academy…with Tenma dying at Obito's hands.

But credit where it was due, Hagiri never wavered in his hatred for the Uchiha unlike the other two.

"Hey, can you show me that leaf exercise thingy again," Osaru asked.

I wasn't surprised. Despite the young age, the kid was a shinobi, albeit one in training. And like I had said, she was oddly determined.

"Still trying to become a genjutsu specialist, Osaru-senpai?"

I idly asked, of which she nodded, "Suzume-sensei says I need to have better chakra control if I want to be one."

Ah, the kuniochi instructor. She was an odd one that one.

I plucked two leaves and gave to Osaru. I placed my leaf on my forehead and let it stick.

"Focus your chakra on the section where you've placed your leaf and pull it," I instructed.

The objective was to be able to create isolated push and pulls through one's own body and manipulate the objects place on it. Of course, I made sure to botch the process and instructions a bit just in case dear Osaru was playing spy.

…because like I said, she was still a shinobi.

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Advance Chapters are available on my Patre-on under the same name.