Ch. 4: First Day
As the sunlight hit the young boy's eyes, he woke up groggily with a yawn. Finding himself exactly where he slept last time, he sighed, knowing for certain that this was not a dream, but a reality. A new reality, in which he finds himself, through unknown circumstances over which he has no control.
If there was a Jumpchan or an ROB, he would've begged them to go back to own life, after the powerful beings had their fun making him live according to their wishes. But with no one to listen to his pleas, he was forced to accept the situation and adapt to the reality which was merely stuff of fiction and imagination for him not a day ago.
Even so, as he shook his shoulders and stretched wide, he realised that now that he had at least a little inkling of what to expect from this life, from this world and from the people here, he knew this was no time to slow down, to relax or to let down his guard.
This was a dangerous world, and he was at a distinct advantage, having the mind of an adult, without the inhibitions, distractions or naivety of his age. But, this advantage was short lived, as the children in this world grow up and matured far too early due to the violence in this world, and this is worse during times of war.
Furthermore, as an adult born and nurtured in a civilised world, lavished by peaceful society and developed world, he was at a distinct disadvantage due to his morality and desire for non-violence and peace, which is an anathema to the inherent ambitions and inclinations of this world.
And yet, Si his Pacem, para bellum. He must be utterly ruthless, amoral and uninhibited, if he desires to survive this world, which may have been an anime intended for children and young adults, but at its core vehemently and unabashedly displays the savage human nature and their desire for violence and disruption.
And therefore, if he must live and thrive, then he must be prepared to commit and to go to lengths he would have previously abhorred. And beyond all that, he needed to carefully lay out plans, scheme and plot to wring every advantage he can from the world he lives in, and he needs to live even if everyone dies. Which means, no emotional commitment or attachment to this world and the people in it.
After all, to his mind, this world was and still is a plot of an anime come true. If a few 'NPCs' die, there is no harm, right?
After cleaning up, and making a shopping list, Arashi took his handbook with him, along with his backpack, to stuff his things and carry them to his new home. Locking the door, and going to the town, he memorised faces of people around him, his neighbours, the regular people who walk about and the shopkeepers who are selling him his daily necessities. He marked the prices of the spices, the seasonings, flour and vegetables and finally of the first pair of his clean underwear and a pair of shorts and T-shirts.
Beyond training his observation skills and deducing the purchasing power of Ryo, he was also keeping track of the prices of the bare essential commodities which could be indicators of the situation of civilian economy, shinobi war and how they affect each other.
He left the purchase of his shinobi tools for last, because he knew he would be fanboying about owning kunai, shuriken and scrolls.
He had a lot of odds and evens to purchase, and it took well into late morning to carry all his things back home, when they were getting to heavy to carry them around, especially when the shinobi part of the village was far away.
He decided to have a lunch, and reviewed the things he wrote down. When he was done with his lunch, he quickly left for the shinobi district, where he found the stores which offered discounts on essential training equipments. He realised that they were quite cheap, because they were blunt and not heat treated, which meant they were simply stamped out pieces of metal shaped as weapons.
When he reached another shop, for his Kunai, he asked the shopkeeper, "Ojisan, why is the blunt Kunai so cheap, when the difference between the real kunai and this one is only heat treatment and sharpening?"
The middle-aged man, who would be around late forties to early fifties replied with a knowing smile. "The heat treatment needs a special oil, available only from trees found near the Land of Wind. And the whetting stone for these Kunai is found in Land of Tea. So blacksmiths rarely waste good resources when children are merely going to practise with it.
Wow! That's something! Who knew economy affects prices like that. "Really Ojisan?"
At his question, the man burst into unbridled laughter. "No gaki. I am just messing with you. We keep the prices high so that untrained kids like you don't waste good weapons, especially during wartimes."
WHAT!!
Seeing the young boy's shocked face at being trolled like that, the man, whom the boy had decided to refer to as 'the bastard' had the gall to pat his head.
"Ahh! sorry boy. I couldn't help it, when you asked that question. Little children like you rarely bother about prices, and merely care about buying cool weapons. So I couldn't help but tease you about it."
At that, Arashi may have acted petulantly and snuffed like a child, "Then what you told me before was all a lie?"
He smiled at the young boy and shook his head. "No. That part was true, and that does mean we are careful with their use, but the whetting stones and the oils are reusable along with the other things we use for quenching, and they last a long time, before they need to be replaced, so that does not affect the prices much.
Seeing that at least the man was not giving misleading information, Arashi smiled and thanked the man.
There were a lot of things to be purchased, and he had found a few things he wanted to buy for himself.
Just like with kunai and shuriken, purchase of Tanto or swords was not allowed, and students had to buy bokken for practise. There were of course a few tools which were allowed to be purchased, and so Arashi bought a spool of Ninja Steel wire, fifteen feet of small steel chain, a heavy grappling hook, two long chords of heavy ropes, and finally one long steel Pole, which weighed about fifteen pounds.
Why, one would ask, would you ever need a steel chain, and ropes in a shinobi world where you could walk vertically using chakra? Well, Arashi had a plan, and before he could be an invincible powerhouse by stealing Sharingan and knowledge of Senjutsu, he had to become a capable killer using the tools at his disposal!