Ch. 1 Graduation
(I hate starting new fanfics. They're the second hardest part of a fanfic with the ending being the hardest. I hope you'll enjoy Rui's journey to become a ninja and favorite, follow or leave a review.)
{Rui's Point of View}
My name is Rui. Currently, I'm a cadet at the ninja academy. I'm trying my hardest to become a genin but due to my shortcomings... that's harder than I thought it was. Currently, I'm a 4 foot 11 tall 13-year-old white male. I have short black hair and two different color eyes. My left eye is hazel while my right eye is brown. I'm right handed so my brown eye is the dominant one. Sometimes I'd wear my sweater with the hood up to hide my face from others. Mostly because of my bad reputation. On my hands, I've wrapped bandages around them because of my training. Sometimes my knuckles were burned or rubbed raw, so the bandages were used as a sort of cushion. On the back of my hands were a headband like armor to protect them further. As for the legs, I wore black sweatpants to match my sweater with black sneakers. I like to wear this for a comfortable leisure appearance. It gets me made fun of, sure, but I feel comfortable and prepared for the weather. My ninja tools pouch is attached to the back of my sweatpants with one pouch hidden under my sweater. I have two for double the tools and so I have an extra one in case my enemies stole mine. I guess being prepared is my ninja way. Now, let's get into my shortcomings. I'm the second person in my family that has ever had any chakra. Yes, my family members are all normal citizens with no chakra whatsoever. The first person to get chakra is my older sister Mary. We don't talk about her much though... Currently, she's 15 but already a jonin in the Anbu black ops. She was the best ninja in her class and graduated the academy when she was 9. Turned into a chunin when she was 11 and become a Jonin when she was 14. My parents were... well... that's complicated. They don't like Ninja at all. They view ninja to submit citizens and push them around. When my parents found out I had chakra... they weren't happy. I've never seen my parents look so... devastated. Being 5, I wanted to make them happy, so I told them I'll never use my chakra. I wanted to be normal, so they could be happy. Instead, my sister informed the ninja academy and enlisted me without telling us. When I turned 8, ninja came to our house and demanded my parents to hand me over. I didn't want to go but my parents forced me to. After that, I was in the academy without a real... want for it. The other students were so happy to be there while I... just kept to myself. I didn't have any friends and my old friends were normal, so they didn't want anything to do with me. My parents never looked at me the same again. They hated me for being like my sister and having chakra. The only times I've ever felt enjoyment was when they taught us history and math in class. That's the only thing I excelled at compared to the others. However, I was the worse in everything else. I found out when I was ten that I have only 40 % of the chakra reserves for a kid my age. That means I could barely do two clone jutsus before falling over exhausted. Once I learned that, I began to be strategic on how I use my jutsu. On my spare time I'd practice my clone jutsu to shorten the amount of chakra needed. When I started, the clone jutsu took up about half of my chakra. Now, they only take up a quarter of my chakra. Chakra management... that's the key to my victories... or at least I thought it was...
"Ugh..." I groaned as I woke up in my tiny room and stretched.
My room was a small 6 by 3 foot rectangle with white walls and one tiny window. During the summer, this room becomes a sauna that nearly killed me six times. My bed is just a small mattress with a neat pile of clothes next to it. They're arranged as follows, boxers, socks, sweatpants, t-shirts, sweaters. My googles were on top of my socks so I reached over and grabbed them. Currently it's October so the days are relatively cool. With nothing else in my room, other than the wood flooring, there's a door.
My mother opened it as I slowly got up, "Breakfast is ready." she told me quietly before closing the door.
With a groan, I got up and started putting my clothes on, "Probably burnt toast again..." I muttered.
After getting dressed, I got out of my tiny room and walked down a small hallway. Our apartment was small, but it was home. It had two bedrooms, one being the smallest(Mine), one bathroom, and a Kitchen/Living room. The Kitchen/Living room was the room with the front door. It took up most of the apartment being 10 feet by 14 feet. I stood in the hallway looking into the room to see the door across from me. In the middle was a small circular table with four chairs.
"Hey, he's awake." My dad snorted.
My dad is a tall burly fellow in his early 40's. His once radiant black hair was now turning gray along the edges along with his beard and mustache. He wore a green and blue Sweater vest converted muscle shirt. To convert, he basically ripped off the sleeves to free his muscular arms. I glanced at my own arms seeing how they're still small compared to the other kids. His eyes are brown and teeth yellow from the cigars he smokes. He was currently reading the newspaper but folded it up and placed on the table before getting up.
"Dad... you know I never wanted to disappoint you... right?" I asked with a sad frown.
He gave me a sad glance before sighing, "I'm only half disappointed in you Rui. You're still our son... if we didn't care about you, we'd have kicked you out a long time ago." Dad responded.
I looked down sadly, "Does me being a worthless ninja make it worse?" I asked.
"No... it actually makes me think you wanted to be normal but... fate isn't kind to everyone." My dad frowned.
The table he sat at had a white and teal cloth covering it with four circular white plates. In the center was a large dish with toast, scrambled eggs, sausage and one piece of bacon. I looked to see mom was cleaning the dishes. Along the wall near the door was a counter with the sink and stove. Between the counter and door was our refrigerator. My mom was in her late thirties with long, still brown, hair. She stood at 5 foot 4 with a white apron on with a brown blouse underneath. She hummed to herself as she washed the dishes.
I took a seat and looked at the food, "Did mom eat yet?" I asked.
"No." My dad answered.
"Then I'll just take toast some eggs, and one link of sausage. I would like her to have the last piece of bacon." I smiled to make my parents happier.
They just shrugged, "Whatever you want Rui..." my mom whispered.
With a sad glance to my legs, I started taking my food. Dad got up and left to go to work since he's a construction manager. Currently, they were rebuilding a large apartment building that was destroyed by enemy ninja. From what I've learned in history, the seventh Hokage was able to finally make the shinobi world live in peace. However, during the tenth Hokage's rule, the ninth Mizukage ordered his ninja to try and take land from the land of fire. This led to a long conflict and the shinobi world was on the brink of war. However, this was avoided as the ninth Mizukage backed off due to threats from the Kazekage. Currently, our Hokage is the twelfth. He's an Uchiha named Iicha(Ee-cha). It's been 100 hundred years since the seventh Hokage's rule, but nothing has changed or advanced. When I think about it... why is that? Shouldn't ninja tools have evolved or something? Instead, we still have the same kunais and paper bombs. Maybe they're just too efficient to replace? Either way, I'm not going to figure this out.
"Oh! Are you going to be out training after class or are you coming straight back?" my mom asked.
"Training, why?" I asked.
My mother turned off the sink and dried her hands, "Because I have to talk to you about something. We received a notice today from the academy. Here." My mother pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to me.
I started reading it, "Hello, this letter is to inform you about Rui's poor performance at the academy. Although he excels as an intellectual, he's worthless when it comes to jutsu of all kinds. If he doesn't pass his next graduation exam, he'll be cut from the ninja academy as a failure. Now, I've never received any word of it but I believe Rui is a cheater on his tests. That is unacceptable and, if this is true, I demand that he comes clean. To make it worse, how can he be such a horrid ninja when his sister is a genius? Someone like that is completely worthless in the shinobi world but hey, he already is."
I felt my eye twitch as I felt my anger boil, "Completely worthless, eh?" I growled.
"Are you okay?" My mom asked.
"No. I'm angry. They flat out say I'm worthless." I spoke as I crushed a piece of toast.
My mom frowned, "If you fail... you'll disgrace us... you know?"
"Sigh... yeah... Mary would probably kill me, but I guess that'd make you guys happier huh...?" I frowned sadly.
I felt my mother hug me, "Sure... we hate that you're a ninja and treat you coldly but... we do love you." My mother whispered.
"Thanks mom." I hugged her back.
"Finish your breakfast. You have to leave for the academy in a few." My mother reminded.
"Oh yeah..." I sighed.
"You can do it. That is, if you're not a cheater like they say you are." My mom frowned.
"I've never cheated a day in my life. I have more intelligence in one brain cell than everyone in my class. I wish I could break the person who wrote this' face." I declared.
"Then go prove it." My mother shrugged.
I finished my breakfast and got up, "Fine. I will." I spat as I headed towards the door.
(At the Academy)
I sat in the bottom front row on the left of the teacher. There were about 24 other kids in the class with our teacher being a chunin. He was a rather short fellow, standing at 5 foot 1 with light gray wavy hair and tanned skin. A strand covered his left eye a bit and his eyes matched the color of his hair. He wore the traditional flak jacket but had several names written on the back. Each had different hand writing skills to signify that a different person wrote it. Under the flak jacket was a plain green t-shirt under the green chest guard. For pants, he wore skin tight light green jump pants with knee guards to make a bump. For his feet, he wore open toe, steel grey, sandals.
"Alright everyone! Today, we're going to have combat training in preparation for the graduation exams next month!" he yelled.
Everyone yelled back, "Okay Menpai Sensei!"
Everyone got up and followed Menpai Sensei outside to the open field used for combat training. It had a large fence to encase it and I noticed some people were walking by. Most of the students in my class were about 11 years old while I was 13...
"Alright class. Who wants to go first?" Menpai Sensei asked.
One kid raised his hand, "I'll go first Menpai Sensei!" he yelled.
"Alright and... Rui! You can fight him. Surely you can put up a bit of a fight." Menpai Sensei teased.
I bit my tongue, "Yes sir..."
I went out to stand in front of this kid. He looked about 11 years old, standing at 4 foot 9. He had spiky red hair with a bit of orange to give it flare. He wore a red t-shirt with an orange flame on it. Bandages were tied around his fingers as if they were injured by something. His shorts were a deep blue as if to contradict the red. He wore blue sandals like Sensei's and had a wide grin.
"I hope you like getting your butt kicked. Especially since you're the worst fighter anyone's ever seen." He mocked.
"Save it for when you win." I sighed.
We held up our dominant hand with our index and middle fingers up, "Alright... begin!" Menpai sensei yelled.
The kid started making quick handsigns, "Fire Style! Burnout!" he yelled as he started blowing a large amount of fire at me.
Using the substitution jutsu, I dodged the attack and appeared behind him. He watched the flames die down and assumed he'd already won. I walked up behind him with a frown as he started laughing.
"That was way too easy!" he laughed.
"Uh yeah?" I kicked the back of his knees and grabbed his forehead, slamming my knee into the back of his head, "Way too easy. All ninjas can use substitution you idiot. All you burnt was a clone I had to make quickly." I panted.
He held the back of his head as he fell forward but turned into a log. I expected this and turned around as three kunai were thrown at me. Pulling out my own kunai, I deflected them. He ran at me and I tried to punch him but my arm when right through him. It was a clone and I barely saw him as he attacked me from behind. I turned and got punched across the face. I thought it was over, but I refused to let this kid win. Staggering from the punch, I reeled back my right arm and fueled it with chakra. He looked surprised as I smashed my fist right on his left cheek, throwing him back. He fell onto his back unconscious from my punch as I collapsed to my knees panting.
'How can that kid use fire style? Why does he get to have so much chakra?' I wondered in frustration.
Menpai Sensei walked over to us and helped me stand up, "Huh... maybe you're not completely worthless." He half complimented.
I scoffed and walked past him, 'Douchebag. He could have just complimented me by saying good job.' I thought angrily.
After combat training, we went to equipment training and my practice alone was paying off. I was nailing every target with shuriken and kunai. Everyone was surprised to see me doing so well and I started to feel confident. After that, we took a test on everything we've learned so far. I finished the test first and got a perfect score. After that, Menpai Sensei started to talk to me in private.
"Rui, we're giving you a shot. Next week, you're taking an early graduation exam due to your previous failure." Menpai Sensei informed me.
"Thanks! I'll pass it this time and show you that I'm not worthless!" I yelled.
Menpai nodded, "Alright. Make sure you train to be perfect for it. You'll need to make two clones at least as well as other things. You'll find out when you take it." He smiled.
"Thank you, Sensei." I nodded.
With that, he allowed me to go and I went straight to my training grounds to perfect my chakra use. If I do this, I'll be so happy that I proved everyone wrong.
-1 Week Later-
"Alright Rui, are you ready?" Menpai Sensei asked.
To my surprise, it was only Menpai Sensei. Last time I did this, there were two other senseis here. I was caught a bit off guard until the door opened and three people came in. Two were female and one was male, all wearing the headband. The three of them went into the back of the room to watch.
"Who are they?" I asked.
"You'll find out once you pass the test. If you fail... you're expelled. Right now, it's pass or fail." Menpai sensei explained.
I took a deep breath, "Alright. Tell me what I have to do." I replied.
"Clone jutsu. Make two clones." Menpai sensei instructed.
"Alright." I made the handsign, "Clone Jutsu!" I yelled as two perfect clones appeared out of white smoke.
"Perfect. Now..." he made three clones appear, "My shadow clones are going to throw nine targets into the air. Hit all of them with either Kunai or Shuriken. However, you can't pull out the kunai or shuriken until the targets are thrown into the air." Menpai Instructed.
"Alright... I'm ready." I told them.
The shadow clones threw up nine targets simultaneously. I pulled out nine kunai and threw them at the targets as they fell. I missed one and quickly threw a Shuriken to hit it as it fell.
Menpai Sensei's clones disappeared as he clapped, "Perfect. You're already eligible to pass but here's one more. Do you think you can learn more jutsu other than those two?" Menpai sensei asked.
"Well... there hasn't really been another jutsu I can learn because no one can teach me. My sister never sees me, and my parents are normal. If someone tried to teach me, I'm sure I can learn." I answered.
"Good. Those three, are your new squad. The two girls are genin and the male is your jonin squad leader. This," Menpai Sensei threw me a headband, "Is your headband. You graduated. Congratulations." Menpai Sensei smiled.
I stared at the headband for a moment, "That... that was easy. How did I fail this before!?" I asked.
"You failed the most important test of all. Combat. You can learn the basics, but basics won't save your life in battle. How can you support your squad if you can't fight? If you can't kill the enemy before he kills you? If you lost against that red head, you'd have been a hopeless case, but you won. There was a fire in your eyes as you gave him that punch. That fire smothered his and knocked him out cold. Something I never noticed was your chakra control. Even with so little, you used it perfectly. You must have practiced every day to have that kind of control." Menpai acknowledged.
"I have one more question." I told him.
"What is it?" Menpai Sensei asked.
"How do I increase my chakra reserves?" I asked.
"That's the thing. The only one who's lowering your amount of chakra, is you." Menpai Sensei told me.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You already know. Tell me, what is chakra?" Menpai asked.
"Chakra is energy shinobi use to power jutsu. It's created when two other forms of energy are molded together. The two types of energies are Physical energy and Spiritual energy." I told him.
"Exactly. You can increase those individual energies to expand your chakra pool. To increase your Physical Energy all you need to do is exercise and train. Spiritual energy is derived from the mind's consciousness. To increase that, you need to study, meditate, and get more experience. However, I think your physical energy is what's keeping your chakra down. Work out more and it will increase with time. Now, go meet your new squad." Menpai sensei told me as he got up.
When he left the room, the male of the three approached me. He stood over me at 6 foot 3 with short silver hair. His eyes were a deep blue with a bandana to cover the bottom half of his face. His headband was tied around his neck to protect it. The bandana was black with shark teeth lined along the edges. His flak jacket had various stains from blood to mud. Cut lined the edges with black paint covering the right arm. His jacket was zipped up, but a green undershirt was exposed under the flak jacket. Our village's symbol was apparent on both shoulders and back. He wore blue jump pants with two pouches attached to them, one of each side. A front pocket had two small scrolls exposed. His shoes were gray with the soles being a deep blue.
"So, Rui, welcome to squad 3. Just call me Sensei." Sensei told me.
"You don't want me to know your name?" I asked.
"No. You may not be around long enough to really matter. Our last third member died. I hope that doesn't happen to you." he warned.
(I hope this chapter is pretty decent. Please favorite, follow and review to support the story.)