Side Story: The Not So Odd Ninja

When I found out my Jonin-sensei was Orochimaru the Snake Sannin I was excited, when I told my parents they were excited.

We couldn't be more excited. 

I come from a Shinobi family. My parents are Shinobi, my uncle and cousins are Shinobi, it's just who we are. There was never a path other than Shinobi for me, and I was happy with that. 

I wanted to be a Shinobi. 

I trained every day.

I studied every day.

When I graduated top of my class a celebration was held. My family was proud of me, my older cousins congratulated me, my little cousins looked up to me, I wore my forehead protector with pride.

Then two words brought me back to reality.

Academy good.

When I met my first teammate, Mitarashi Anko, I was surprised by her age. She was only 10 years old, two years younger than me. Graduating early wasn't something I ever even considered a possibility, it never crossed my mind. 

But I was still stronger than her so I wasn't really upset by it.

Then I met him.

Sozo Akinori, hand picked my Orochimaru-sama himself.

He was only six, half my age. Akinori graduated before his first year was even over when he was five.

Academy good, that's what he said about me after our first spar.

I wasn't good.

I was Academy good. 

Orochimaru didn't train us himself, he put Sozo in charge of that. 

And train us he did. 

Akinori was much stronger than me, I couldn't touch him, nothing I could do could ever change that look of indifference on his face as he easily adapted to my every move.

My accomplishments felt like a waste of time.

But I wasn't going to give up, that wasn't the Taki family way.

Akinori also only ever calls me by my family name, Taki, never Nozomi, my name. At first I thought he was just kinda formal, but he called Anko by her name? OK sometimes he said to Mitarashi, but that was only when he was talking down to her.

Anko didn't like that.

Anko really wanted to beat Akinori, apparently they knew each other before?

I also wanted to beat Akinori but it felt like it was impossible. Anko believed she would one day be stronger than Akinori, while the idea felt more like a fantasy to me. 

I hate to admit it but Akinori was right, I was Academy good. I didn't graduate early, I wasn't so much stronger than my classmates that I could disregard them like Akinori could do with me, I was barely above the second highest in my class.

Looking at the time I saw it was nearly 7, I had 17 minutes before Akinori expected me to be at the training grounds. Grabbing the sword given to me by Akinori I left out my room's window.

Swords are cool.

…

"Taki!" 

I jumped as Akinori yelled directly behind me.

"What was that for!" 

"Just testing something," he said, walking away with his arms behind his back.

I followed.

"Is Anko here yet?" I asked.

"Yeah she's in that bush over there trying to sneak up one me," Akinori said pointing towards said bush.

"Dammit! I've been here for over an hour, when did you figure out I was here," she yelled, really herself.

"Now isn't that the question." Akinori said before moving on.

"Alrighty you two, I have an announcement. I have been given permission to take on C-rank missions. So go pack then meet me at the mission center."

…

Standing before the main gates of the village I am uncertain in myself, can I really do this?

Am I ready?

"Hey Taki, you good?"

Jumping a little I turn to Akinori who is looking up at me, "Yeah.. just… I'm good, let's do this."

Akinori smiles, letting out a chuckle as he walks out of the village where Anko is impatiently waiting. 

I can do this. 

I take my first step outside of my home, and then I take another, and another, followed by countless more.

Soon enough I could no longer see the village gates.

I stay relatively clone to Akinori while Anko was kicking around in the grass enjoying herself.

As we walked a wagon came into view.

"Car." Akinori said, moving to the side of the path as he laughed to himself.

I looked at him in confusion as he just keeped laughing to himself.

"You would have had to be there," is all he offers in explanation.

A inside joke?

Our mission was to deliver a scroll to the Land of Tea. Akinori said it shouldn't be two much trouble, no Shinobi resistance was to be expected, and on top of that we were deliberately taking certain routes to avoid going anywhere near any warzones.

I was kinda concerned by how much Akinori was looking at the map before looking around as if we were supposed to be somewhere else by now.

Are we lost?

Does he know how to read a map?

Of course he does, the idea he wouldn't know how to read a map is ridiculous.

"I have no idea where we are," Akinori said, looking up from the map.

"What!" Anko said.

"We were supposed to have come across another route by now, it seems we are not on the correct path.

Good to know I need to learn how to read a map," Akinori said before tossing the map to me, "Taki, you're up, figure out where we are."

Looking at the map I saw Akinori had already highlighted the route we were supposed to be on, the only problem was we weren't on that route, it seems he chose the wrong route a ways back.

Looking up to the sky I turn to the north before looking back down at the map.

"If we cross through the forest we should eventually end back up on the route you marked," I saw pointing in the direction we needed to go.

"Lead the way," Akinori said, motioning for me to get going. 

"You seriously can't read a map?" Anko asked.

"I may not know much about maps," Akinori said before he began walking.

"..."

"And," Anko said.

"That's it," Akinori replied.

Continuing through the forest we… ah… ran into a problem, well me and Anko did.

There's a large ravine in the way,

"How are we getting across this?" Anko asked.

"This isn't on the map," I said looking at it.

"How? it's massive!" Anko said.

The map itself wasn't really detailed, it had the borders and routes but gave no information on the terrain. The closest thing would be the areas that Akinori clearly marked as avoid at all costs.

How are we supposed to cross? It's too big to jump, there's no bridge, how-

Akinori walked right off the clift.

Looking down, Akinori was standing on the ravine side.

"Come on," was all Akinori said as he began to walk to the bottom.

Wall walking. Akinori did teach us wall walking, it's just… I've never had to do it this high up. 

Anko seemed just as apprehensive as I was but still began to slowly climb down.

I went with a much more cautious method of using my hands and feet instead of trying to walk down the cliff with just my feet like Akinori, this way if I fell I'd have a much easier time catching myself.

Just keep going down. 

No need to look.

Just keep going. 

I eventually reach the bottom after what felt like an eternity.

"Alright good job you two, now get climbing, I'll be right behind you just in case you fall. Just don't both of you fall at the same time, I'd hate to have to choose a favorite." Akinori says before chuckling.

Looking up, I share an uneasy look with Anko before we begin the climb.