THE MANNED GENIN

Posted : 28/6/2015

Chapter 1 : The old man and the boy.

With firm footing on top of the weathered boulder the old man steadied his gaze on the village. How utterly breathtaking it still was, even after all these years the sight of Konoha in its entire majestic splendor still soothes the tiredness off of his bones.

Even now the view from where he stood was perfect, even now the exuberance of youth long pass and the weariness of old age collides in blissful agony in the old man's heart. Long it had been, many were the deeds he wished to undo; and the weight that clung to his heart had been so heavy.

He was tired, so tired. His time was near, he could hear it in the wind the caressed him, he could feel it in the earth beneath his sandals – they were calling him home.

Death did not frighten him, for someone that lived as long as he the Reaper was merely a friend guiding them on the next great journey, and he was ready. But he knew he couldn't go just yet; he still had one last thing to do before his soul goes to join the Nakamas that had gone before him.

He had to pass on his Will of Fire to the new generation before he closes his tired eyes.

At 74 years Maruboshi Kosuke knew he was luckier than most, for very few gets to live such a ripe of old age with the shinobi lifestyle. By his reasoning one had to be either amongst the strongest or the plainest of plain; so plain that you were always overlooked to cross the 60 years mark as a shinobi. Kosuke knew he was neither of the two, but he had crossed that mark 14 years ago.

He had to smile at the irony of it, he was going senile, even his reasoning and real life was starting to contradict.

In truth this was not his first time in his attempt to find a suitable successor to his Will of Fire, there had been more candidates than he could count if he was honest. But every time he found one worthy either someone would beat him to it or there would be something problematic preventing him to do so.

If things had gotten his way than the young Jiraiya would've been his first pick, but Hiruzen sempai had beaten him by grabbing him straight out of the academy. And one does not say no to someone like Hiruzen sempai.

Maito Duy was another promising candidate, but he later found out the gaki was unable to mould chakra well enough for him to teach. Kosuke felt like one of those judgmental fools when he rejected Duyi but it couldn't he helped. Did he think one could become skilled shinobi without being able to mould chakra? Absolutely, he had seen proof of it in his travels. But the thing was, there was few he would be able teach the gaki. Kosuke had a vast repertoire of ninjustsu and Taijutsu, and also the philosophy he'd inherited from great men he had known.

With Maito Duy he would've been able to pass on only Taijutsu and philosophy - and Kosuke badly wanted an apprentice he could teach everything, ninjustsu, Taijustsu, everything.

Then there was Minato, the little orphan boy whose parent he knew well. They boy was perfect; he was considered a genius among geniuses with a heart of gold to boot. And better yet he had no clan or family to keep him from being taught how Kosuke wished. But before he could act, Jiraiya – who was by then a great shinobi had grabbed the gaki right under his nose like his sensei had done before him.

Kosuke couldn't fault Jiraiya on the last one, the perverted sage managed to turn the gaki into the most feared Kage in the elemental nations after all.

"What to do?" Kosuke pondered, he was now sitting in a meditative pose on the boulder, his trademark wok and ladle beside him. There was a small part of him starting to consider taking on the gakis nominated by the council, the rebellious part of him however, had no wish to even look at anyone the Konoha council had thrown at him much less teach. But at the same time he was getting desperate, there was a tiny voice in his head telling him that - "Did someone like him, with all the mistakes he had made really have the right to choose who he taught?"

If he recalled correctly, from the time he turned 20 to this very moment there had been at least 26 genin or clan children the council had nominated to be his student, and Kosuke had rejected them all.

"Ah, what to do?" he let out in a sigh, at this rate he'd be far too old by the time he found someone worthy.

"What to do?"

"Arrrrrrrgh" the voice was young, and it sounded frustrated. At first Kosuke was slightly surprised but then he remembered, the day was a Saturday, and every time for the past year and a half should his return to the village would coincide with a Saturday he'd see this young boy running with all his heart to kami knows where.

The first time he saw the boy shocking really, the boulder he sat on was located about 20 kilometers away from the village, and to see a boy running pass as if the devil was at his heels was a sight.

"Any minute now" Kosuke said to himself, and just like clockwork the boy was there, a white shirt under a sleeveless orange hoodie, with black pants and sandals kicking up dust as he raced forward.

"Hm?" an eyebrow rose as Kosuke noticed the new addition to the boy's attire, a stopwatch at one hand and a kunai at another. "So, he was training to be a shinobi after all" he nodded, as a suspicion from more than a year ago was confirmed.

"Interesting".

What was it that prompted him to follow the gaki Kosuke wasn't sure, could it be that his sad reminiscing had forced him to pity the boy? Or could it be that he was genuinely curious what the boy was up to. Well, he'd find out soon whatever the case was as he raced after the boy via the branches.

~XXXX~

It was nearly twenty minutes later that Kosuke stood on a branch of a large tree, and he was looking down at the boy that was catching his breath. It was a bit anticlimactic, the way the boy was shouting before Kosuke thought he was going to fight a bear or something.

But there he was, on his knees after making a cut in the bark of the tree Kosuke was on. With a loud "Kuso!" the boy tossed both kunai and stopwatch aside and started pounding on the ground with his bare hands. That got the onlooker's attention, stopping him from leaving the boy alone as he was about to, and there were faint sniffs alerting Kosuke that the boy was weeping.

"What could possibly cause someone his age to be in this much pain?"

With stealth the level of Jounin and ANBU Kosuke descended, landing behind the boy without alerting him to his presence, and began assessing the boy from the back.

"Hm, he can be no older than 6 or 7, and blond hair, a Yamanaka? No, the color's too light, and he doesn't have the clan symbol on his clothes. He must be from a civilian family then."

"Ahem", with his assessment finish Kosuke chose to make his presence known, he was due a report to the Hokage about his latest mission so he didn't have time to tarry. "Might as well get to the bottom of this" was his thought.

What happened next was so comical Kosuke would've hollered with laughter if he hadn't been the cause of it. With a loud "Aaaaa" the boy dive forward head first into the tree he had marked earlier, and there was a loud crash as head met wood.

With a series of 'ow' the boy turned around, nursing a sizeable bump of his head. Once noticing the cause of the pain he pointed at the old man in front of him, "Teme! You could've killed me jiji"

"So sorry, so sorry" Kosuke said with an eye smile, and presented the boy some wrapped candy as peace offering which was accepted immediately accepted.

As the boy ate Kosuke noticed the whiskers like markings on his face, "A demon child" the though came like lightning, and he cursed himself for his weakness. He'd always thought himself above the silly superstition that gripped the majority of the Konoha populous; he'd be dammed if he starts falling for it now.

The years following the Kyubi's attack infant mortality rate were high in the village; miscarriage and birth defects caused heartbreaks for many would be parents.

There had been many cases of mutation from the residue demonic chakra and infants in their mother's womb were the worst to suffer for it, children coming out of the womb with multiple limbs, with fur or with fox like features were common, and the sad part was those that died at birth were the lucky ones, those that lived would soon be abandoned by their parents if not killed by them – they would be left to die on the streets or would be found dead and rotting in some remote area.

And if by some miracle, like the boy in front of Kosuke they would survive, they would be forever hated and ostracized, the term 'Demon child' was an example.

'Jinchuriki' the word floated in Kosuke's mind, causing an ache in the old man's heart. In their attempt to create hosts for the nine demons the five great villages would have outbreak of demonic chakra time to time, Konoha being the latest. It was sad really, these demon children would be treated as bad if not worse than the actual Jinchuriki.

Almost everywhere the Demon children shared the same fate. While the Jinchuriki themselves were relatively left alone in fear on unleashing the demon they contained, people would take their anger out on the next best thing.

Iwa would kill these children the second they leave the womb, the same as Suna. Kiri would tolerate them if the child was from a notable ninja or clan, if not it was the same as the previous two. Kumo however was vastly different as no Raikage would ever sponsor the killing of infants; this was something Kosuke admired about Kumo.

Then there was Konoha, the village considered the greatest of the five, and the worst to treat the demon children in Kosuke's opinion. While allowed the children to live albeit under death threats from the Hokage, they would treat them lower than dirt.

"Jiji?", the voice brought Kosuke out of his muse, the curious face on the boy was very cute.

"Um, what are you doing here jiji?" Kosuke could barely make out the words with the boy having a mouthful of candy, but replied "Oh nothing really, I was just on my way to Konoha when I heard you so I got curious and decided to find out what was going on"

"He he, sorry about that, I didn't know I was being so loud", there was something about the boy that pulled a thread in the old man's heart, and the wheels in his head were turning – Could he be the one, it said to him.

For the first time since the day he got promoted to genin Kosuke's heart filled with joy. Who would've thunk it, there he was pitying himself about not being able to find an apprentice when BAM! Heaven dropped one right on his lap, the odds were astronomical.

But before he did anything drastic – like proclaiming the boy as his student right then and there, Kosuke steadied himself enough to think, there were things he needed to confirm.

"Don't worry about it, you weren't bothering me. If anything it is I who should be apologizing, tell me, what were you doing anyway, it's not every day you'd find one like you training so hard?"

From the way the boy's posture dropped it wasn't hard to deduce it was a sensitive topic, "It's um, it's nothing really" he replied, his head low and his eyes on the ground. Kosuke could feel the pain, the desperation the boy felt.

"Nonsense, you can tell me. I'm a shinobi of the leaf you see; the name is Kosuke, Maruboshi Kosuke. And as a shinobi of the leaf it's my job to find out what troubles young people such as you."

At the mention of him being a shinobi the boy's eyes shot up, "Really jiji? You're a ninja? But, but you're so old."

A smile crept up Kosuke's face, "Ah, the innocence of childhood."

"What's your name gaki?"

"Uzumaki Naruto jiji, um I mean sir." There was new found respect in learning he was a shinobi, meaning the child has interests in the ninja arts.

"Mah, mah Naruto, Jiji's fine, tell me then Naruto, why are you so far from the village? Your parents might be worried".

When the boy told him he was an orphan Kosuke's opinion of the village as a whole dropped a few points, here was another child abandoned because of idiotic superstition. And he cursed himself as well for not noticing it sooner and making the child admitting it, the signs were all there – clothes that looked like handovers, under nourished body that screamed orphan, and most of all the markings on his face indicating demon child, like anyone in the village would keep such a child.

"Naruto, do you want to be a ninja?" Kosuke knew he couldn't beat around the bushes anymore; least the child would resent him for forcing him to admit painful truths.

"U huh"

"Why?"

"Because, because if I become a ninja than I'd get really strong, than everyone would have to respect me".

The answer was satisfactory for Kosuke, which leaves one more thing, to see if the child had enough chakra for what he would be teaching him. "Remain still Naruto" he said as he placed a hand on top of the boy's head. "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit" he said as he began to channel a miniscule stream of chakra into the boy.

What Kosuke was doing was an old technique to see if one had enough chakra to be useful as a shinobi. The technique was still in practice today, particularly in the academy and by clans to check a child's chakra level by forcing it out.

The principle behind the technique was very simple, though it should only be applied by skilled individuals as not to damage the child. It was like this, similar to genjutsu a person would inject his chakra to a child, and the child's body in response to the foreign chakra would release its own to expel it, and as you increase the chakra injected the child's chakra would also increase exponentially to drive it out.

But you had to be careful though, as children do not have much chakra you had to start small, otherwise if you injected more chakra than the child could handle you risk damaging the child's chakra core.

Kosuke's eyebrows were up in surprise as not only did the child meet the amount of chakra injected, it simultaneously forced him to increase it rapidly as not to be pushed out. Ten seconds later Kosuke was almost at his full chakra capacity, "How can this be?" he thought, surprise clearly visible on his face.

Finally Kosuke chose to go for it; he would take the blame if he caused damage to young Naruto's charka core. With his free hand in the 'Tairitsu-no-in', better known as the seal of confrontation he forced his entire chakra capacity on the child, and what happened next was beyond his wildest dreams.

The boy's chakra, much more potent and more in volume than his own made itself known. It began as a faint trace, then it became thicker and thicker till it was clearly visible and swirling around the boy.

Before he it Kosuke was knocked off his feet; the child's chakra not only forced his out of his body but tossed him a good four meters away.

"Impossible" he muttered in shock, even forgetting to comfort the frightened looking Naruto, "Impossible, he has more chakra than me?".

That was it that was all he needed to know, at the moment Kosuke was sure, he'd teach all he knew to the orphan Uzumaki Naruto damn the consequences.

"So Naruto, you said you wanted to be a ninja right? Would you like me to teach you how?"

The different ranges of emotion on the boy's face would be easy to tell even for the most ignorant.

First there was shock and hurt at what the old man had just done to him.

Then there was confusion at the old man's proclamation of him having more chakra than he.

And at the last part his face was still, the shock at meeting someone willing to teach him how to be a ninja seemed unreal, Naruto thought it was all too good to be true, that he would wake up to find it was all just a dream.

After pinching himself to find it wasn't a dream Naruto looked at the man straight in the eye, and he found no sign of deceit, the eyes that looked back at his were warm and caring. Slowly the side of his lips curved upwards into a smile, and he could feel the tears running down the side of his face.

With the smile now forming a toothy grin Naruto raised both fists in the air, inhaled a mouthful of air and answered.

"HELL YEAH, DATTEBAYO!"

~Chapter End~

A/N : And that's a wrap for the first re-edited version of The Manned Genin, I deleted the previous one as I felt It was too badly written. Tell me what you think.