Disclaimer: I do not own either Naruto or One Punch Man. Even if I did, there is no way I could've done that Moon God scene any better than how Murata did. Those three panels of god staring down at the world shook me to the core.
Chapter 6: The Confrontations pt. 1
'Urrrgh, I don't think I can take this anymore.'
Child Emperor tried, he really did, but by this point even his own body was betraying him. Dark spots held firm underneath his eyes while his mind weaved between reality and unconsciousness. He spent several all-nighters back to back and now those lost hours of sleep were pounding on his door demanding their rent.
All he could do is hope that sitting at the corner of the room was enough to disguise his feeble attempts at reclaiming some crumbs of rest...
"Isamu, I see you have been paying attention. Go ahead and present your solution to the encrypted message."
'Oh great, not again.' Child Emperor groaned as he glanced up at the board filled with a seemingly random assortment of numbers. His only saving grace from being completely lost was that the topic being discussed was encryption and codebreaking. Since he was already well acquainted with this subject, he could just solve along as he went, making it appear as if he was paying attention. If it had been a topic specific to this world such as history, geography or shinobi law he would've been in trouble.
If there was one thing he learned during these past couple months was that Mizuki-sensei hated sleepers. It wasn't uncommon for a piece of chalk to be shot straight onto the foreheads of napping students.
'A numerical substitution cipher? Anything worth putting the time to encrypt wouldn't use such a basic protocol to begin with.' Isamu mused before shaking his head. He took a couple seconds to glance over the message before giving his answer.
"First, notice how the beginning and end of each numerical string consists of either a 12 or an 89. This serves no purpose other than to throw off the codebreaker. Eliminate the pattern and then perform a frequency analysis for the rest of the message. Since the percentage distribution of the numbers matches almost to a one to one with the kanji frequency list we can presume the encryption used is a substitution cipher. Replacing the numbers with the appropriate kanji will result in the encryption being broken. The message is giving instructions to the intended reader about the patrol patterns of a border outpost and how to sneak in undetected." Isamu stated, exhaustion dripping from his voice like oil.
"...Yes, that's correct. Well done." Mizuki stared at Isamu for a moment before turning to the rest of the class. "Alright, I think we have discussed enough for now. You all are free to go to lunch. Anyone who is even a second late will be marked as absent."
A couple of grumbles rang from the class as the students made their way out of the classroom. Child Emperor was about to follow after them until Mizuki pulled him aside. "Stay here for a moment, I need to have a word with you."
'Of course. Why wouldn't he?' Child Emperor held back a sigh before turning towards the teacher. "What would you like to discuss, Mizuki-sensei?"
"Don't worry, it won't take long." The chunin prompted. "As your instructor it is my responsibility to look out for your best interests, don't you agree?"
Isamu paused for a moment. Why would Mizuki-sensei feel the need to emphasize such a point when it should be a given? "Yes... that makes sense. I would assume it would be in the job description."
Mizuki let out a chuckle. "Indeed it is. Since you have enrolled in the academy your performance has been nothing short of phenomenal, perhaps the best we've seen in years. This week I am not seeing that same effort from you. I notice you are hanging around with that… Uzumaki kid. Associating yourself with a vagrant like him will only drag you down even further."
Child Emperor raised an eyebrow. He could point to several students within this class alone who would be far more of an issue to "associate" with than Naruto.
Maybe Mizuki-sensei was taking a cautious approach towards the prankster to ensure his student's best interests. That would at least be understandable but even then, the attribution to the cause would still be incorrect.
"If this is about my sleep deprivation, it has nothing to do with the Uzumaki but rather a personal project I was working on. I have already made several adjustments to my schedule to allow for more adequate sleep, preventing something like this from happening again." Child Emperor stated in a careful but consummate tone.
The smile adorning the instructor's face curled into a frown. "Even if that's the case, you have nothing to gain from being with that miscreant. It would be a shame if your stellar performance were to disappear right before graduation due to poor judgment. For your own good, it'd be best for you to stay away from him. Is that understood?"
'...What is that supposed to mean, for my own good?' Child Emperor stared at Mizuki, his gut twisting in an uneasy warriness. For a brief moment he could've sworn he felt the barest hints of a threat lining the Chunin's voice.
No, that didn't make any sense. Why would a teacher conspire against his own students when said students' performances directly affected his reputation, career advancement, and potential financial bonuses? Any subversions on tests and evaluations would be easily caught by the head instructor. Sabotaging what essentially were the village's most valuable assets would be as effective as shooting himself in the leg.
It would do no good to attribute malice to an action when incompetence could be just as valid of an intent. Isamu knew full well that even those in the highest seats of power were just as likely to make short-sighted and downright idiotic decisions as any other person. He spent far too many nights having to clean up botched assignments, leaked security details, and questionable activities caused by the executives of the Hero Association.
Whether or not Mizuki-sensei was acting out of an abundance of caution, Isamu knew that Naruto had no negative effects on his 'stellar performance,' but how can he prove that?
Sure, he was well on track to graduate but the standards needed to do so were, at best, mediocre. Back home it wasn't uncommon for some classes to have over half of the students drop or fail out of them. Here? As long as the students did the bare minimum during evaluations they were almost guaranteed a headband. There could never be enough bodies for the frontlines after all.
The real evaluation was not graduation, but what came afterwards.
Thus, the only way he could prove himself right now would be through the Academy Rankings. For most of his time in the academy, Child Emperor paid little attention to its ranking system. Unlike in the Hero Association where someone's position had a direct and significant impact to their income, benefits, and status among the populace, the Academy's rankings served no visible purpose other than bragging rights and 'motivation' for students to improve.
Regardless, the top ranks were still very contested especially among those who were considered the best, the most promising. If he could make it to Rank 1, Rookie of the Year, it would send a clear and unmistakable message that his association with Naruto was not even close to a liability.
It would take a bit more effort than just the smooth cruising he has been doing, but he was quite willing to do whatever task or take down whoever he had to get there.
Spite can and has been quite an effective motivator. Few things can push someone as hard towards a goal than to prove to others wrong.
"...Understood, Mizuki-sensei. Is there anything else you would like to discuss?" Child Emperor asked. Mizuki shook his head.
"No, nothing else. I'm glad to hear that we have an understanding. You are free to go, but return here at the same time as everyone else."
Child Emperor nodded in acknowledgement before whisking himself out of that classroom. He doubted that Mizuki would try something on him, but it could never hurt to cover all of his bases. He needed to make a couple adjustments to his plans...
For now though, finding a nice bench to sleep on for a couple minutes would be more than satisfactory.
.
-5 Weeks Until Graduation; Training Grounds 9-
The glaring rays from the sun battered Isamu's face as he dashed across the open field, his eyes never straying from his target.
Finding the perfect angle, he sent a barrage of kunai flying towards the silhouette. Each blade made contact, one buried deep in the forehead, another finding its home in the throat, and three locking onto the torso. That poor figure never stood a chance.
"Hmm, not bad. When doing the underhand throw, keep your wrists locked. Let the kunai slide off of your fingers instead of flicking them. Makes it much easier to line up your shots when throwing multiple blades at once." A girl quipped from the side, sitting comfortably on a stump not far from the action.
She had fair tan skin, evidence of many hours training outdoors. Her brunette hair was tied into two neat and tight buns while her clothing remained practical, consisting of only a pink and red sleeveless blouse and dark green pants, along with the same blue sandals worn by the majority of shinobi.
"That makes sense. I will keep that in mind, Tenten." Child Emperor nodded, wiping the sweat off of his forehead before unlatching the blades from the wooden targets.
Even though Tenten was in the same class as him, Isamu didn't really begin talking to her until a couple days after the words of advice he received from Mizuki-sensei. She showed up on his radar due to her having perfect scores in both kunai and shuriken throwing. He figured that if he was going to be Rank 1 he might as well refine his less than ideal accuracy.
Despite being the Rank 5 student and the top kunoichi in the class, she was much more reserved compared to most of her peers. She was an orphan, a clanless civilian girl. Being that far up in the rankings, she was viewed as both too good or overachieving by the other civilian students but not established or connected enough by the clan kids, leaving her stranded in social limbo.
When Child Emperor first approached her during lunch, she was quite hesitant to open up, making little effort to hide her suspicions of his intentions. However, as the two began talking more and more to each other, the mental guard she held up quickly replaced itself with eagerness to make a friend. Soon enough, Isamu managed to work out a beneficial arrangement with Tenten in that she would help him refine his weapons accuracy while he would assist her with the more technical topics such as fuinjutsu, codebreaking, and the physical sciences.
"You know, at this point we could just go straight into practicing kunai deflections and shuriken curving." Tenten stated, tossing a canteen of water over at Isamu. "I mean, you already hit nine out of ten targets even at forty meters. That is far more than the sixty percent that is needed to graduate."
Child Emperor shrugged as he caught the container, taking a much needed sip before speaking again. "True, however we both know those standards aren't exactly that high. An accuracy of just ninety percent still far too low to be effective in combat… and sixty percent is practically useless."
Tenten giggled. "You are preaching to the choir. I am guessing you are also trying to get into the Top 3?"
"That'd be correct. We only have five weeks left and thus every assessment becomes more and more significant to final rankings. Got to make the most of them while we can."
Tenten's copper eyes widened before a groan escaped her lips. "Oh my god... you just reminded me that we have only a month left until we graduate. I could've sworn the year just started! I need to step it up before it is too late. At this rate even you are going to pass me in the ranking!"
A slight grin crept up on Child Emperor's face as he took another sip of water. "Makes you wonder why you decided to team up with me. I am just one rank behind you after all."
Tenten huffed, sending a playful jab at Isamu's arm. "Because unlike our other classmates, you are not annoying or a jerk." A confident grin of her own spread across her face. "Besides, it is not like I am going to let you pass me without a fight. What's to say I am not just gathering intel on the competition?
"Then you would know that you got your work cut out for you." Isamu smirked, popping a dango in his mouth while ignoring the squawk of indignation from the brunette. A moment of silence passed before he continued the conversation. "How high do you think you could reach by the end of the year?
Tenten tapped the side of her face a couple times as she took a moment to think. "Hmm… there are only a couple points between me, fourth, and third. A couple of good spars with either one of them or some high ranking student in another class might be enough to get me into Rank 3 by graduation."
Child Emperor raised an eyebrow. "You don't think you could make it to Rank 1?"
Tenten sent him an incredulous glance. "Are you kidding? I don't stand a chance against Neji. He is a genius in every sense of the word. He has perfect scores in practically every test and his spars barely lasts more than ten seconds. I even overheard a couple instructors saying he is already close to Chunin level."
That caught Child Emperor's attention. From what he gathered from various accounts and books, he deduced that a Chunin could fit anywhere from a B-Class to a mid-ranked A-Class hero. Even if the sentiments regarding Neji were hyperbolic, he did not want to just rush into a fight with someone on par with a B-Class hero especially without his pack.
Although Isamu also ended most of his spars with about the same effort as the proclaimed Hyuuga genius, it was the way Neji fought that proved to be most troublesome.
The Hyuuga clan was renowned across the Elemental Nations due to not only their Kekkei Genkai, the all-seeing Byakugan, but also their taijutsu style, Jyuuken, the Gentle Fist. It was said that even the lightest touch from a Hyuuga can be enough to rupture organs.
Isamu was much inclined to investigate further into this fighting style, but had no means how to without directly challenging Neji to a fight. Going into such a fight blind of information was a position he always wanted to avoid.
"I think you are underselling yourself a bit short but alright. What about Rank 2? I think you might fare a bit better against Kata." Isamu offered.
Tenten thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "Yeah, a bit. Maybe if I have a perfect streak and he bombs a couple tests I might make Rank 2. Even if by some chance I do pass him, it won't be worth dealing with the trouble afterwards."
Trouble? Interesting choice of words. Most of the trouble should've been during the climb, not afterwards. "What exactly do you mean by that?"
Tenten paused for a moment, her lips curving into a frown. "Right before you came there was this boy named Ren. Despite being completely outclassed, he always found a way to get onto Kata's bad side. One day though I am not sure what but something happened during the boys' PE session to cause Ren to snap, cursing Kata out in front of the entire class which resulted in some huge fight. The following week, he never showed up to class again."
Isamu raised an eyebrow. "I am assuming Ren resigned from the academy?"
Tenten shook her head. "I really doubt that. During that weekend one of the girls saw him at the hospital. Rumors floated around for a bit saying that he broke his leg while climbing a tree, but Mizuki-sensei nor any of the other instructors would confirm or deny it."
"And do you believe that to be the case?"
"Not a chance." Tenten answered immediately. "Kata was in far too good of a mood that following week for it to be so."
Isamu nodded in agreement. The timing of such an injury would be far too convenient. More likely than not that the leader of the school gang caught Ren off-guard and decided to gain some retribution for the incident.
This type of situation wasn't new to Child Emperor. Within the Hero Association it was far from uncommon for factions to target, beat down, or even cripple lone heroes who either refused an invitation to their group, operated in 'their turf,' or got on their shitlist for whatever reason. The intense factionalism within the lower-ranks was the main reason why working alone as a hero was so impractical until A-Class, where heroes are strong enough to defend themselves against most threats, including themselves.
The Hero Association administration, of course, never bothered to address the issue. In fact, Isamu knew from meeting records that they encouraged it. Keeping the 'lower-quality' heroes in groups not only made it far easier to manage and control them but also caused those groups to bid for missions far more frequently, accepting lower and lower prices for their service. If a low-ranking solo hero were to be out of commission, there was never a shortage of aspiring heroes from the populace who would gladly accept a lower pay for a chance at the "exciting and fulfilling" career as a hero.
It was an extremely short-sighted practice that only led to a further deterioration of cohesion and loyalty within the ranks. No matter how many letters and requests Isamu sent to admin, however, they all were promptly left on read.
"Didn't Kata receive any disciplinary actions? I highly doubt the instructors wouldn't be able to connect the dots given the blatant animosity between the two." Isamu inquired, hoping that the academy had a bit more foresight than his current (former?) employer.
Tenten crossed her arms, a look of displeasure planted on her face. "Kata is a top ranking student and the son of some big shot Jonin commander from the Third Shinobi War. Take a wild guess what Ren was."
Ah, figures. Child Emperor didn't need to guess, the answer was as clear as day. Like Tenten and Isamu, Ren was a clanless orphan, pretty much the lowest one could get in this society. For most orphans, they had two options: live a short and miserable life of destitute poverty or live a short and terrifying life as a shinobi. Needless to say, many opted for the latter option because at least then they had a chance of improving their life.
While the shinobi system was far more meritocratic than the Hero Association, as anybody no matter where they come from can climb to the highest ranks given enough work, faults were still well visible from the surface and the largest cracks originated at the academy. Kids from clans or shinobi families came sprinting into the first year with solid conditioning, basic knowledge of shinobi skills, and additional instructions from relatives already in the field. Kids from civilian families at least have some sort of support system at home. Orphans came in knowing nothing, having nothing, and then had to compete with those who may already be years ahead of them in skill.
Accentuating that year over year at the academy it shouldn't be a surprise that despite orphans making up over twenty percent of the student population, only Isamu and Tenten made it to the top ten of any class for their year. Even then, he can't really include himself since he wasn't raised in this environment so it was really only Tenten. All of the others were situated well close to the bottom of the rankings, barely knowing much more aside from what was taught at the academy while clan kids already know enough jutsu and tactics to go toe to toe with experienced Genin.
Unless definite, undeniable proof presented itself, the Academy wouldn't kick out one of their most promising assets in exchange for a mediocre one that could be easily replaced.
While all students were considered equal, some were just more equal than others.
"I see your point." Child Emperor sighed. "However, I am not too concerned about Kata. It would be his mistake to try anything on me."
"Would be fun to watch." Tenten giggled, a grin spreading across her face. "Still though, he isn't the only one you have to worry about. There are a lot of words being spread about you, and most of them aren't that friendly. It would never be a bad idea to keep an eye on your back."
Isamu grimaced as he gave a nod towards the brunette. Seems that trust tended to be just as scarce no matter where he went.
"Anyways…" The brunette started, hoping to steer the conversation towards something a bit more pleasant. "When we are done training can you help me out with something? I am working on an idea I had for the storage seal you showed me but nothing I do ever seems to make it work. I swear I am just an inch away from burning the whole thing to the ground."
Heh, he lost count of how many times he wanted to do the same thing with his own projects. Child Emperor let out a smile as he pulled out two scrolls from his pouch. "Sure, let's see what we can come up with."
.
-4 Weeks Until Graduation; Training Grounds 15-
He couldn't afford to ignore it anymore. He was being followed.
Child Emperor expected as much. He would've been far more concerned if the Hokage didn't assign a shinobi to watch over him. He doubted it was a common occurrence for random kids to fall out of portals near village territory. There was no guarantee he wasn't affiliated with a potential enemy. Having him roam around unattended would be at the highest tier of negligence.
There was one wrench that threw his theory out of the window though. If he wasn't able to detect a chunin instructor- someone who hasn't been active in the field for several years- tailing his team for a good portion of an hour then there should've been zero chance he would notice an elite shinobi who specialized in espionage and remaining undetected.
Isamu always hated being followed, and for good reason! No matter how many times he altered his routes back home, for some god-forsaken reason those psychotic fangirls would always find a way to track him down.
He honestly would've been extremely impressed if not for how terrifying it was.
However, here he wasn't a globally recognized superhero. He should be as relevant as any random kid, which pretty much meant damn near invisible. He barely interacted with the other academy kids much less the civilian ones. If it wasn't a shinobi sent by the Hokage that was stalking him, then who else would have a reason to do so?
"Oi Isamu, catch this!"
He would have to confront this issue later, for now though he got a troublesome blonde to deal with. Child Emperor turned towards the voice to see Naruto send a couple of small orbs flying his way, each of them exploding into a thick haze of smoke blocking his vision of his opponent.
'And here we go again...' Isamu thought, swiftly drawing a kunai into his hand. He has noticed Naruto has been incorporating smoke bombs into their spars more and more often to not only hide his actions but also to force Isamu into a more disadvantageous position.
Instead of jumping backwards from the smoke as he usually did, Isamu dashed forward from where the orb was thrown, expecting to close the distance and take down the blonde for overreliance on such a tactic.
When he exited the smoke however, he immediately twisted himself in the air, avoiding a barrage of kunai that would've cut him to shreds. By the time he landed back on the ground Naruto already closed the distance, flipping high into the air to send an axe kick onto Isamu's head.
Child Emperor crossed his arms over his head to block the kick, just in time to avoid a nasty concussion. Naruto flipped off before bursting back forward, launching strike after strike to keep up the pressure.
A slight smile spread itself across Isamu's face as he blocked and dodged the blonde's attacks. For the past two months Naruto had a bit more speed, a bit more variety in his attacks, and much better grasp on his techniques. While the spars still were more instructional than anything else, with each week he had to put more and more effort to stay ahead.
Child Emperor bent backwards, dodging two spinning kicks aimed at his temple before getting back up to see a fist flying straight towards his face.
In one motion Isamu locked onto the wrist with one hand before bashing an elbow straight into Naruto's ribcage, stopping a counter-attack. He then pulled the arm forward, flipping Naruto over and sending him crashing into the ground. A kunai pointed at his throat signaled the end of the match.
"You threw away your element of surprise when you announced your attack to your opponent." Child Emperor drawled, standing up while pocketing the blade into his pouch.
Naruto huffed as he sprang back up from the ground. "You sure looked surprised when you almost got turned into a target dummy."
"Almost is irrelevant in combat. It is either you have taken the enemy down or you didn't." Isamu stated, taking off the plastic wrapping from the dango before inserting it into his mouth. "Your tactics and fighting style have been satisfactory, however, so it is not all bad."
"And not absolutely awesome?" Naruto asked, a cocksure grin spreading onto his face as he took out a water pouch.
"You will earn that praise when you actually manage to win another round." Isamu shot him down, hints of mirth lining his voice.
Naruto stuck his tongue out at him before chugging down the last of his water. "Yeah yeah. You better not have another excuse when I beat you down this time!"
Child Emperor was about to open his mouth to respond when a shadow shimmered in the corners of his vision, a reminder that his stalker was still in the area.
"I... actually have a lot of things to catch up on so I think we will end it here for today." Isamu sighed. "Since tomorrow is Friday we can just meet back up here at the same time."
Naruto looked at him for a moment before shrugging. "Gotcha. Welp, see you later! Oh, and if I were you I would avoid being near the academy early tomorrow morning." He ended with a devious laugh before bursting into smoke, a log taking its place.
...Did he even want to know? Probably not, he wasn't in the mood for another migraine. He just hoped that whatever scheme the blonde was planning would result in a mess big enough for a three day weekend. Having an extra day off to catch up on projects and lost sleep sounded amazing right now.
As soon as he was certain Naruto escaped hearing range, Child Emperor snapped around, sending three shuriken deep into the trunk of one of the trees. As the projectiles hit their mark, a short 'eep' shot out from the foliage, causing one of Isamu's eyebrows to rise. Whoever was following him was at least around his age. Someone from the academy? "I know you are still there. Might as well show yourself."
A couple seconds of silence passed before the stalker finally made their move, dropping down from the tree they were perched on. The figure was of a small girl, her dark blue hair cut along the back of her neck with two bangs canvassing the sides of her face. Despite the humid and sweltering late spring weather of Konoha, she wore an oversized beige fur hoodie which covered most of her body.
That article of clothing was far from the most peculiar thing about her though. What caught Child Emperor's attention the most was her eyes. They were the same blank and pupil-less eyes worn by Neji. The fiery emblem stitched onto both of her sleeves confirming her affiliation with the noble Hyuuga clan.
"I-I am very sorry." The girl mumbled, bowing her head in apology. "I promise I won't do this again…"
Child Emperor stared at the girl, a mix of subtle alarm and perplexity painted on his face. Why would a Hyuuga, much less one from the main branch, have any reason to follow him around?
Unlike Neji and the two other Hyuuga in his year, she did not wear anything to cover her forehead. From what he has heard, there was some tattoo placed on members of the side branch of the Hyuuga clan, a seal that enabled the main branch to command absolutely authority over the lesser branch. What exactly that seal did, however, was beyond him at the moment.
"It's fine... Any particular reason why the Hyuuga heiress has been following me for the past week?"
"I-I am no longer the heiress..." The girl whispered, her gaze never dared to rise from the ground. "N-Naruto-kun has been getting stronger…. I-I have seen him with you alot… I wanted to know why. I'm sorry if I caused any trouble..."
Ah okay, so Naruto was the target, not him. That eased him up by a bit but not by much. While the girl appeared mostly harmless, there was little benefit to allow her to keep spying on him and Naruto. It wouldn't be fair to his training partner to knowingly allow someone to invade their privacy, classmate or not.
Before he could send her off however, an opportunity flashed within his mind. Not only was the girl in the same clan as the Neji, she was also part of the main branch. That meant there was a good chance she knew of techniques taught only to that branch along with everything else from the side branch.
If he could get the girl to join in on the training sessions he could get first hand experience analyzing and fighting against the infamous Jyuuken. That was as good of a chance as any to get a distinct advantage against the top-ranking student.
"Don't worry about it, no harm was done." Isamu shrugged, his voice obtaining a more colloquial tone. "How about this, instead of watching from the sidelines you can join us tomorrow for practice. I wouldn't mind you training with us and I am positive Naruto wouldn't either."
For the first time, her eyes shot up from the ground, surprise displaying itself for a fraction of a second before it just as quickly returned back down. "I-I can't… I am not good enough. I would only hold you two back."
Child Emperor let out a sigh, scratching the back of his head. The girl had the exact opposite demeanor compared to all of the other stoic Hyuuga's in his year. While not necessarily a bad thing compared to the alternative, her confidence, or lack thereof, could be tolerated and possibly remedied in due time.
Isamu shook his head. "Well, that's what training is for. You will never be good enough if you never even tried to begin with. I can't force you into it but if you ever change your mind, I am sure you'd know exactly where to find us."
The ex-heiress' face reddened in embarrassment at the remark. "Oh… okay. Thank you." The girl bowed before running off, disappearing into the foliage.
xXxXx
Sure enough, the following day the Hyuuga girl did manage to show up.
"G-Good afternoon." The former heiress greeted tentatively as she stepped into the area, her hands holding onto a rather large picnic basket.
"Glad you could join us." Child Emperor nodded, popping a red bean cake into his mouth while he watched a certain blonde stagger and tumble off the tree trunk he was sticking himself on, letting out a stream of curses on the way down. Isamu had to admit, supervising Naruto over the tree walking exercise had a far greater entertainment value than expected.
Naruto groaned as he stood up from the fall, rubbing a sore part on his head. His eyes widened as he spotted the Hyuuga girl staring at him. "Hey, I know you! You are that quiet girl from class."
His gaze darted from the girl to Isamu and back again before a devilish grin spread across his face. "Ohhh so that's why you had to leave early yesterday. You never told me you had a girlfriend!"
Child Emperor did a double-take, the pastry he was chewing on diving into the wrong hole.
"W-what? No!" He gagged after saving himself from an early end by asphyxiation. "I just figured that she might be a good addition to training, if you don't mind of course."
"Fine by me." Naruto shrugged before turning towards the girl whose face had been glowing a bright vermillion since his previous remark. "Err, sorry what's your name again?"
"M-my name is Hinata Hyuuga." The girl stammered, lowering her head as she extended the basket towards him. "I-I brought some food... for both of you. I hope you find it n-not too terrible..."
Naruto lit up in excitement rushing over to Hinata while Isamu followed suit. The three sat down around the basket underneath the shade. Inside the basket sat three steaming cups of ramen and a large container of water.
The fact that one of the ramen cups was miso and another was beef was not lost on Child Emperor. It would've been far easier to just make one type of ramen and yet the Hyuuga took the time to prepare their favorites. The fact that she even knew what theirs were indicated that she was following them much longer than he initially anticipated...
"Wow, this is great!" Naruto exclaimed, slurping up the cup in less than a second. "Not as good as Ichiraku's but still far better than the stuff at the supermarket."
Hinata paused, conflicted as to whether to be glad someone thought her cooking was actually good or disappointed that it wasn't the blonde's number one choice. Naruto seems to enjoy the food, so she just gave a slight nod, her fingers fumbling around the chopsticks.
Following the meal, Child Emperor sent Naruto to continue his attempt at tree-walking while taking Hinata to the side to gauge her chakra control. While the girl was no Sakura, she had far above average control relative to other Academy students, being able to stick up to five leaves to herself on a consistent basis. That was enough for Isamu to teach her the principles of tree-walking and then have her practice with Naruto for half an hour before it was time for combat.
"Finally!" Naruto exclaimed, flipping off from the side of the tree. "So is this going to be a free for all fight or something?"
Child Emperor shook his head. "That would be inefficient since most battles occur between two defined parties. While we may do two on one fights at some point, for now we will just do academy-style spars, taijutsu only. We will start with me versus Hinata, you will then switch out with me, and then I will switch out with Hinata."
At this, Hinata took a step back. "Oh, um… I don't know about going first."
Naruto slapped a hand on her back, causing her to stiffen. "Don't worry Hinata, he isn't as bad as you think! I've beaten him plenty of times before."
"If you are going to blatantly lie, at least don't do it right in front of my face." Isamu drawled, annoyance painted on his face as Naruto stuck his tongue out. He was going to go a bit easy on the blonde, but now it seems that some corrective measures were long overdue. He turned his gaze towards Hinata. "This fight won't be anything serious and nothing is at stake. I just need to gauge where you are and what could be improved."
Hesitancy remained prominent on Hinata's face but she made the effort to stand in front of Isamu. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she set herself in a wide forward stance, knees slightly bent and body upright. She extended an arm out in front of her, her palm open while her other hand remained steady at her side.
"Byakugan!" Her eyes shot open, her pupils now distinct and focused while veins bulged from around her temple.
'So this is what the Byakugan looks like... definitely high on the intimidation factor. Her stance is mostly suited for a heavily offensive fighting style. This could be interesting.' Child Emperor nodded in approval, getting into a stance of his own before glancing at Naruto. "Set the clock for two minutes. Call the fight when you are ready."
"Hold on, hold on." Naruto called out as he fumbled with the controls. "Alright, got it. Ready, fight!"
Despite her initial hesitancy, Hinata was the one to initiate the attack, shooting forward with a palm strike aimed towards Isamu's chest.
Child Emperor sidestepped the attack along with two more quick finger strikes by the Hyuuga. Isamu remained on the defensive, using the opportunity to observe Hinata fought while dodging and redirecting her precise attacks.
As the spar continued, he decided that Hinata wasn't bad at taijutsu by any means. While she could be a bit faster with her attacks, a bit more decisive on how she responded to certain counters, she seemed to have a solid understanding of her clan's taijutsu style. She never let herself get too overextended and she had very strong reflexes, no doubt aided in part due to her Kekkei Genkai.
Her fighting style, the Jyuuken, reminded him of a couple obscure fighting styles back in his world, ones that focused on dealing precise strikes on an opponent's pressure points to incapacitate them. The problem was that the Hinata was barely putting any strength behind her attacks, most of them nothing more than taps and passing glances.
At first, Isamu just figured that she was still holding back, unwilling to cause too much harm in a friendly spar. As the fight went on however, the girl appeared more and more determined and yet the power she put into her attacks didn't increase in any significant way.
Something wasn't quite adding up, and no good results come from unbalanced equations.
Deciding to push her a bit, Child Emperor twisted around on his leg, snapping a kick towards the girl's temple. Hinata jerked her head back, avoiding the blow before putting her arm up to block another quick kick by the boy hero.
Ducking under a right hook, Hinata pushed forward, her eyes guiding her palm to a small opening in her opponent's defense. Isamu stepped back and crossed his arms, expecting to block the attack before pushing forward to put an end to the spar.
As soon as the palm made contact however, an excruciating jolt of pain shot throughout his arm, as if a needle had been jabbed deep inside him injecting its burning contents all throughout his veins.
He hissed in pain as he sprang backwards, barely avoiding another punishing strike by the Hyuuga. He felt his arm become cold and numb. Any attempt to move his fingers became null. Even trying to push chakra back into his limb felt like forcing water through a clogged pipe.
Just one strike and he was already down a limb. He could figure out what the hell happened later, right now he needed to put an end to the match, lest he never heard of it from a certain blonde for the next month.
Isamu rushed forward, feinting a strike before dropping low, sweeping the girl's legs out from under her before pointing a kunai straight towards her throat.
"Match." Child Emperor grunted. He reached his good arm out to help Hinata up. She accepted the offer, though a disappointed expression rested on her face. "Don't feel bad. For your first match, you did quite well, far better than what I would've initially expected."
"Yeah Hinata, you did great!" Naruto chimed, running over from his position near the trees. "You totally should've seen the look on Isamu's face. I didn't even know you could hit that hard."
"Ano… it is not that." Hinata started, her face glowing red from the praise. "I-I only blocked off one of his tenketsu, it didn't really matter in the end…"
Isamu's eyes widened for just a second as he recognized the term. Tenketsu were nodes in the body's chakra circulation system, serving as a sort of circuit breaker relegating the flow and velocity of the chakra throughout the body. Since they were as small as the tip of a needle and their exact location varied from person to person, reliably and consistently hitting them in the heat of combat should be borderline impossible.
For those wielding the all-seeing eyes of the Byakugan, however, it was only a matter of point and shoot.
"When you struck me in the arm, you injected your chakra into one of the tenketsu. This prevented blood and chakra from being dispersed throughout my arm." Isamu began, less of a question and more of a reiteration of what he could pick up from the fight.
Hinata nodded. "Y-yes, that's correct. I didn't block it off completely… your arm should go back to normal within a couple hours. I am able to unblock it for you, if you want.."
"That'd be appreciated," Isamu stated, extending his arm out. He winced as Hinata poked two fingers into the area of impact but then relaxed as he felt the soothing warmth of chakra returning to his newly freed limb.
It was... disconcerting how easy it seemed, to shut down the very life essence of a person. His arm was rendered utterly ineffective with just one strike, and yet not a single bone broke or muscle fiber torn.
What would happen if a Jyuuken strike struck near his liver? His lungs? His heart? People can train muscles to be near impenetrable from physical attacks, but it is impossible to train organs. It doesn't matter how strong or weak the attack is, all a Gentle Fist user needs to do is to get close enough to tap their opponent and the fight might as well be over.
The only viable counter to this? Not let a Hyuuga get close to him in the first place. And with their bloodline ability enabling them to track and dodge most projectiles, a fight against any trained Hyuuga would be at best a miserable experience.
"T-there. You may still feel a bit of a strain but you should be able to fight effectively now." Hinata murmured, removing her hand.
Child Emperor thanked the Hyuuga before stepping out of the way as Naruto and Hinata faced each other for their spar, though one was clearly more excited for it than the other.
This time, Naruto was the one to press the offensive, immediately kicking off the match by sending strike after strike towards the former heiress. While Hinata appeared much more anxious than during her match with Child Emperor, she wanted even less than to appear again as a disappointment by falling early against the blonde. She put up a solid defense, even managing to punish a couple of overextended attacks with well-placed Jyuuken strikes.
As the match went on, each strike Naruto took caused his movements to be more and more painful and sluggish. With not much time left on the clock, he had to do something or else he was a goner. Thus, he did the first thing that came to mind.
He leaned back, evading a palm strike towards his chest before rushing forward with a seemingly straightforward punch towards Hinata's face. Right as she was about to send another jab at his arm however, he grasped onto arm with one hand and another hand grabbing onto her coat. A shocked squeal escaped the Hyuuga's lips as Naruto turned over on his side to flip her over, sending the girl crashing into the ground exactly as the bells of the alarm went off.
"Time's up." Isamu drawled, jumping down from his perch on a tree. "Since neither of you got a killing blow, this match is considered a draw."
"Aww, ah well. Hey Hinata, that was a fun match." Naruto stated, cracking his neck before turning around to see Hinata still lying on the ground, her face fiery red as her eyes swirled in a daze. "Erm, I think I might have slammed her too hard. This means I won, right?"
Child Emperor could only shake his head. "Go ahead and place her underneath some shade. We could go for a bit of a longer spar until she wakes up"
As Naruto went ahead to carry the Hyuuga towards a nearby tree, Isamu could still feel a deep uneasiness in his gut, as if he was being watched yet again. Given that this world is run by ninjas, elite warriors specializing in stealth, it would do wonders for his safety and sanity to create some sort of detection system. His backpack did have a monster detection radar but that would take who knows how long to repair, let alone reprogram to detect chakra.
Though, there was that tracking seal he managed to record from Higurashi's. If he could reuse some of the code from his radar and transpose it into a seal… he might get something out of it.
He let out a sigh as he stuffed another pastry into his mouth. He wondered just how long he would be able to survive in a world like this before he could figure out how to get to where he really belonged.
xXx
Hiruzen let out a chuckle as he watched the scene from the crystal ball sitting on his desk. He took a long drab from his pipe before glancing towards the two advisors sitting across from him. "Thoughts?"
Homaru, a tanned bearded old man, cleared his throat as he pushed his glasses up. "The boy shows promise, that much is evident. Even with him providing supplemental training to the jinchuuriki and the former Hyuuga heiress, it would be immature to not keep close watch over him. We still have yet to determine whether the origin the boy told you is true or if his mind has been tampered with."
Hiruzen let out a sigh. "I already have the Yamanaka instructor at the academy keep close tabs on him and she has yet to report any inconsistencies. After he graduates I will be sure to have Inoichi personally assess him before he is cleared for the field."
Koharu, an eldery woman with short gray hair tied into a bun, shook her head. "Even if the boy's outlandish story is true, he already has a conflict of interest between Konoha and the organization he supposedly worked for. His loyalty to Konoha isn't certain. That is another loose end which only puts the lives and security of the village at unnecessary risk. This exponentially increases should others from 'his world', whether his colleagues or his enemies, show up to retrieve him."
Hiruzen closed his eyes as he took another long draw from his pipe. "I have been thinking over that ever since he arrived. I consider that risk miniscule compared to the potential value the boy might bring if we play our cards right. The two ANBU I have set watching over his apartment have been reporting week after week of new seal designs and advanced technology far out of reach from even that of Ame or Kumo. If this is an elaborate ploy by an adversary, at this rate they are doing us more of a favor than anything else."
"As for the boy's loyalty…" Hiruzen glanced over at his crystal ball, a slight smile spreading on his face as he watched Naruto and Isamu duke it out in a fierce spar. "I have no doubt that in due time, his heart will adopt the Will of Fire."
The two advisors glanced at each other before letting out a sigh. "For the sake of Konoha, we can only hope this bet of yours pays off, Hokage-sama…"
Author's Note: I'm ain't dead yet! Still unfortunate how long this chapter took. No excuses here, just need to find those bits of motivation to keep going, and all of these favorites and reviews definitely help!
As you could tell by the chapter title, I had to split the chapter in two. Still refining two very important fight scenes in the second half. Ideally I would like to have the next chapter out by the end of the year. School is ending, but I got a new job so it is about a 50/50 chance about that happening. Still doesn't mean I am not going to try though!
Also, I am starting up a new story, a Dragon Ball Super x One Punch Man crossover featuring Saitama as the main hero. This story will have shorter chapter lengths compared to this one but that means it should have slightly more frequent updates. I find it a good way to switch focus whenever one story is giving me blocks/frustration. The first chapter is already out if y'all are interested.
As for some questions:
Andres2hgr: Yes, there will be other heroes who will show up. Who, when, and where, well that will be revealed in due time. I will say that we are not far off at all from the first one showing up, so keep an eye out for future updates!
OmePunch: Actually, a really good point. Keep in mind though that Child Emperor a: sees this world as a temporary set back and not his real home and b: not even sure whether the currency here would transfer over to his world. Whether or not he does decide to become a shinobi, it wouldn't be long until money isn't as major of a factor given he possess skills very much in demand within the Elemental Nations.
And yeah, that's pretty much it. Thanks for reading. Remember that pain is temporary, success is forever. See y'all in the next one!