Chapter Eight- A Concerned Parent
"Would you like me to peel the potatoes?" My helpful little sister asked as I was breading a chicken breast I cut into cubed pieces. I already had a good deal of rice cooking in a pot on the back burner while the one closest to me was filled with oil that was already boiling.
"Yes please, cut them into chunks as well. You know Misa dislikes rice" I replied as dropped all of the thoroughly breaded chicken into the frier and began working on a spicy glaze that I would put on the freshly fried chicken.
"Done." She said as I noticed she held the kitchen knife expertly and cut all and peeled all of them in under a minute. I smiled, Koshu must be helping her with something that wasn't academic while I've been away.
"Just toss them into the boiling pot and that's it. Go set the table and wait for Koshu and Misa to arrive" I said with a content smile as she nodded and quickly left to carry out my request.
It wasn't long after that I began plating the rice with spicy chicken on top that the doorbell rang. Mikoto quickly got up to welcome our extended family.
I was embraced in a warm hug before I could blink, Aunt Misa was always a hugger.
"Oh… little 'Metsu. I was so worried" She said with a smile as she pretty much strangled me.
"Hi..iii" I replied as I managed to free myself. Soon after we all took our seats and began enjoying our dinner in blissful silence. Once we finished our meals I received hundreds of questions regarding my mission, how it could turn into being stationed? What happened to my squad? How I ended up with Sakumo? I tried my best to answer a few of them before Aunt Misa shook with rage.
"How dare the assignment desk station you on the war front a month after graduating, that is not protoc…" She began raging in a motherly fashion before Koshu placed his hand on her forearm.
"There's no reason to be so angry dear, it already happened. I even spoke with Lord Kagami." He said as I realized something was going on. It hadn't been long since I was a 'child', so I could almost smell when someone was deciding something for me.
"What are you guys talking about?" I said while I agreed it was ludicrous that my team and I were stationed on the front, I saw no need to inform the Clan Head.
"We'll talk about it, it's about time we got out for a little exercise" Koshu said as he rose to his feet and regarded me to follow him.
"You'll need it at your age" I said with a smirk that caused him to freeze in his steps toward the doors. He turned to me with a happy smirk.
"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this. Been tired of going easy on you, you're a little war hero now, surely you can handle a jonin like me" He said with a small chuckle as he disappeared in a flock of crows. 'Need to learn the Uchiha version of the body flicker, so badass…..'
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{Quest Accepted}
A Cubs Resolve.
Objective: Score a clean blow against the Jonin, Koshu Uchiha.
Rewards: ???,???,???
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'Oh….Maybe shouldn't have baited him. Might've been an easy quest with his guard down…' I finished the thought with a small sigh. I waved to both the girls before I left the house. There were only a few places Kusho would want to spar, I'd be willing to bet it was the training ground near the Naka River. He trained me a lot to help me become the rookie of the year there, well in the few days he had time.
'How could I beat him….. No, that's impossible. How could I hit him. I'm his lesser in every ninja art…..'I began thinking on the way. 'Guess there's only one way. It's surely a gamble, hopefully the rewards will be worth it.'
I arrived in the clearing in a swirl of leaves, quickly I was met with a roundhouse kick that was heading for my chin. I barely had time to react, luckily I managed to roll with the blow, I landed a few meters away as I began rubbing my chin.
"Cheap..." I retorted as Koshu appeared from the shadows with his arms crossed. 'Thank the paths I took my weights off before I got here…..That would've blown my head off.'
"That would've easily knocked you out a month ago." Koshu said as his eyes squinted.
POV Change-Koshu Uchiha
'What the hell did Sakumo do to this kid? That was easily chunin speeds' I kept the thought to myself as I looked down at the little tyke I've helped raise since he was born. There was something…. Wrong with him. Too different, too quickly.
"A battlefield is a crazy place, I was only a part of it for a few hours. You either learn quickly or die" The kid said rather morbidly as he put his hands behind his back. 'He does know the Sharingan can tell when somebody is molding chakra right? Petty tricks like unseen hand seals would never work'
"Ok….. We'll table that discussion then." I said as I made sure our eyes met, in moments my chakra slid into his system. Disrupting his jutsu and putting the boy in an illusion. I waited a good few seconds too see if he would be able to disrupt the illusion on his own. He obviously lost after the first second passed, would've been long dead if this was true combat. 'Not having your Sharingan active against a superior opponent? Foolish'
I walked over to the frozen kid and flicked his forehead, sending a jolt into his system to disrupt the illusion. 'Thank the Paths, I was worried the kid was too talented.' I thought as a wave of relief washed over me. Then his body turned into smoke. I felt it before I saw him, he appeared behind me and kicked me in the back of the head.
I took a page from his book there and rolled with the blow until I was next to him upside down. With a twist, I grabbed his arm and it was over, my foot held the back of his neck on the ground while I held his arm in a grapple. An obvious outcome in a battle between a genin and a jonin but a stray thought screamed in my mind. 'If the katana at his waist wasn't sheathed…..At the best he would've wounded me enough to cause a retreat and at the worst….'
I looked down at the kid who was struggling in my grip with a sad expression, he would be all over the Bingo-book before the year's end, well not if I and Lord Kagami had anything to say about it. The child shouldn't have even seen the war front to begin with, the Uchiha have lost enough while fighting Konoha's war.
"I give, I give! Let me go you old bastard" The kid yelled as I realized I'd had him in the hold for well over a minute, must be uncomfortable.
It was then I realized the kid was sweating bullets, breathing erratically, and seemed to barely even struggle in my grasp, his wrist felt slightly cold as well. 'Minor Chakra exhaustion' my years of experience informed me as I let the kid go. He turned over onto his back as he tried his best to regain control of his breathing. Most likely caused by using too much chakra too quickly, a novice mistake.
POV Change Tometsu Uchiha
'It worked! I don't know how but it did' I lamented as I struggled on the ground. It seemed using five hundred points of chakra at once is something I can't do yet. I feel like my body itself is revolting against me for using the Shadow Clone jutsu. I had enough chakra now? What's wrong?
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{Quest Completed}
A Cubs Resolve.
Objective: Score a clean blow against the Jonin, Koshu Uchiha.
Rewards: 1 perk point, 5 stat points, 2,000 exp.
[Level up….5 stat points added] 'Damnation, I almost want to say it wasn't worth it!'
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"Here, you damn idiot" Koshu said with a sigh as he tossed what I hoped was a chakra pill, because it flew down my gasping throat. It caused me to gag for a good minute, though when the sensation left I felt better, less like I had some kind of terminal disease.
"Thanks. That was not what I was expecting to happen" I said as I stayed on my back and looked up into the starry night sky.
"And what did you expect to happen when you used a copied jutsu without even knowing the effects." Koshu said as he ruined the beautiful scenery with his scowling face that appeared above me.
"You're right, it was dumb to try it without testing it first" I admitted, it seemed my body just had to get used to such a large output.
"Talk to me kid, what really happened when you left the village a month ago" He asked me seriously, as he sat next to me. I was honestly surprised by the upfront question. I would never tell anyone of the scroll, I just had a distinct feeling it wouldn't end well. But that obviously wasn't what Koshu meant. When asked during dinner I played down everything that happened, with half answers and slight lies.
Mikoto and Misa did not need to hear of something like that, and I wouldn't feel right telling them what happened. What Koshu wanted was the actual facts.
"Watched my entire team die, somehow survived. Continued my mission, and completed it. Met Sakumo and found out I was going to be on the frontlines. Managed to talk an S-rank shinobi into being my sensei, in hopes that I might survive under his training. Got lucky on the battlefront and managed to return home a lot sooner than I expected." I tried my best to make the explanation as simple and to the point as possible.
"What a…..Shit show" Koshu responded with a perturbed expression. It seemed like a thousand thoughts ran through his mind before he sighed.
"What did Aunt Misa mean? What did you talk with Lord Kagami about?" I asked curiously, it was slightly eating at me not knowing what was going on. And the last I heard was that Lord Kagami was battling on the Northeastern front against the land of Lightning, why would he be back in the village?
"It is rather simple. Before the week's end you are to apply for the police force" Koshu said with a note of finality that caused my curious expression to freeze.
"I refuse" I said, honestly I was surprised by my answer and how quickly it came. It was what I expected my future to be, most young male Uchiha would strive to get a position on the force. There were only so many spots, to be offered one after only two months of being a genin would've been my dream a few weeks ago.
As a member of the police force you operate solely in the village and the land that surrounds it. A generous pay was given monthly while you would never be forced to join the war front or accept a mission. You could choose to participate but only at the behest of the chief of police would that be allowed, which was Lord Kagami.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows though. Those were just the perks. As the police force was solely run by the Uchiha we received a modicum of hate from the civilians. It also went without saying that if the village were ever to be attacked directly we were to put ourselves in harm's way to protect the people.
"It has been decided. But I'm curious as to why you'd refuse, didn't you say this was a 'cushy' job you'd kill for a couple of months ago? What changed?" He asked. I'd be lying if I said that him talking to me like a child didn't greatly annoy me. He had his reasons, plus I owed him more than I could repay so I answered.
"Strength, I want it. More accurately, I need it. The battlefield will give me that and Sakumo will watch my back while I strive for it" My answer was simple, but the budding rage on Koshu's face led me to believe that was the last thing he wanted to hear.
'Sure I could train my life away in the village, wasting time patrolling the street. But when the third war comes, so will my reckoning. With the 'Scroll', I believed I could grow fast in a war. The amount of quests I received and the fact I leveled up from taking lives were huge factors. I hated being there but... I didn't have a choice anymore. This was the cost of my 'second' life.'
It was also not needed to mention that I took a modicum of pride that I was Sakumo's apprentice, he helped me when I was pretty much lost on what to do. I may have only known him for three weeks but I'd say he was a worthwhile friend, one I wouldn't leave behind when a safer option was put in front of me.
"Tometsu, you survived a single battle. On pure. Dumb. Luck. Nothing will go as you think it will when war is involved. You are a stupid child" he didn't yell, his voice didn't raise a modicum. But the chilling rage in his voice was palpable as he disappeared from the clearing in a storm of crows. 'I love you too old man'
I had a feeling that if I didn't appear at the police station by the end of the week….. He would probably beat the hell out of me. 'Damnation…. I wish I could just tell him he's lucky I'm even alive for him to be mad at.'
Luckily when I awoke the next morning it was Saturday. Mikoto had the weekends off from the academy so I got to sleep in until mid-day. It was, I honestly didn't have the words to describe how amazing it felt to be lazy for a change. It was too bad that this was the last day I could attribute to rest, I was on a time limit to master the water walking exercise after all.
In the beginning, I figured a month was not enough time for me to be able to complete the quest.
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{Chakra Training Quest lll}
Master Water Walking
Objective: Walk continuously on water for over three hours with your weights on
Rewards: +10 Intelligence, (Wind) Nature Transformation-Training Guide.
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Realistically I didn't have near enough chakra to even attempt to stand on the water with my weights on for three hours. I understood that the 'point' of the exercise was to ration the chakra I had to be able to stay on water for the longest possible time, it was easier said than done though.
I didn't have time to do it in the 'intended' way. Not even to mention the fact I had to keep up with my swordsmanship while also training my body physically during this time.
So that was another reason I dumped the stat points I gained from the quest that caused Russo to lose his arm. All twenty of them in fact. I didn't just do it for the shadow clone strategy for Koshu's quest, it was a decision I made in hopes of mastering water walking as well.
But there was only so much 'planning' I could do when pure hard work was what was needed.
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Level 9 (1480/6000)
Name: Tometsu Uchiha
Chakra: 1035/1035
Title: Fang's Apprentice- Boosts the learning speed of Kenjutsu and Lightning release by 20%
Strength:18
Dexterity:22
Agility: 27
Endurance:21
Intelligence:49-(69)
Stat points:10
Perk Points:1-(2)
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'I've made a good amount of progress since I left the village. Sakumo said the Shadow clone jutsu can only be used by a shinobi with low-chunin level Chakra, so I was glad to say I reached a small milestone thus far.' Jovial progress aside, I couldn't help but feel the number '2' on the perk point counter staring back at me.