That's it, I'll be switching to third person in future chapters. A warning: the narrative of my stories is pretty unreliable. I narrow my story perspective to my characters' perspective.
Third Person writing will allow me to dish out more longer and wordy chapters since it's a style I'm more comfortable with in. It might also affect the pacing of the story...like a lot.
Ever wondered what the difference was between clan kids and civilian kids? I found myself pondering this question as I sat by the window desk looking quietly outside, savoring the heavy dark clouds that hung gloomily over my new home.
It was actually mid-class, and our homeroom teacher was touching up on history topics predating the warring era. Personally, I found little intrigue in such topics since they cover history as old as half a millennial with the necessary records to support it. But still, take away the miscellaneous and you'd still find yourself with an era surrounded by war and hatred.
Well, that was kind of the theme with this world; war and hatred. Now that I thought about it, it wasn't much different from my previous one.
But, I digressed.
Ah, I was thinking about clan kids and civilian kids. The answer actually came to me in a form of myself. It was something that was easily overlooked when I actually scaled myself against the people in this academy, I ranked incredibly low, in both chakra density and basic physical capabilities — much so went chakra was excluded.
It was genetic evolution influenced by the supernatural energy that roamed this world. It touched everything and everyone. I suspected this might have been why things such as incest had no actual consequences. It also explained the uncanny beauty harbored by the inhabitants of this world, the kind that made me question…wonder if my previous world's humans were merely prototypes.
The fact was unlike clan kids or dare I say, ninja kids, I was actually born from regular individuals — well, about as regular as a human could be in this world — thus I never had the opportunity to be fortified by chakra while I was still in my mother's womb. Hell, even my conception was normal, with no chakra-infused sperm or egg, thus I lacked the advantages a lot of the people in the academy had.
My base chakra conductivity and adaptivity were almost regular.
So when it came to biological comparisons, I was actually low on the scale, and even with my cheat-like advantage, there was no way I could make up for the crucial nine months of chakra mutations that happened in the womb within a span of a year.
And there was a difference. Naturally, the clans also had some way to further maximize this effect as I doubt I was the first person to come upon this discovery.
Luckily for me, it wasn't a permanent disadvantage. Well, the chakra density part was kind of permanent but because of my exceptional, nigh-perfect, control over chakra, my body was slowly being refined and mutated to one befitting a supernatural human.
Even so, I was still able to match and even surpass everyone by relying on my active physical alterations — something I realized was similar to Tsunade's Chakra Enhanced Strength Technique, though my utilization focused on lending Properties of the Wind. Still though, it was too taxing a thing on my mental energy.
It needed to be said that my advantage didn't extend to ordinary civilians. Hard to believe actually, there was never an ordinary civilian who entered the academy and made it all the way to A, not to mention, S-rank.
Yes, all the super ninja monsters had ninjas or at least people who had unlocked their chakra as parents.
Naturally, you'd think that a person like me who was born from normal civilians skipping grades would garner some attention from the higher-ups. Nope! Everyone just thought of me as a hardworking lad trying hard to honor his parents' wishes.
Yea, apparently I was fated to burn out after graduations… Genin Corp, here I come.
This provided me some level of cover from people like Orochimaru and maybe Danzo. A good thing, yes? No, because the kid in me hated to be looked down upon, and the adult needed the attention to act as a permanent shield from the aforementioned monsters.
There was probably some major holes in my logic but that was insufficient in the face of ninja fame.
"You need to stop flaring up your chakra like that. It's…uncomfortable."
The low monotonic voice drew me out of my thoughts, a lazy glance to the side finding a neutral face looking at me with hidden intensity.
Ah, my wind natured chakra did act up when…well, let's just say I had found a way to influence the natural air subconsciously. Yes, my mastery over the wind element was impressive by common standards.
"Ah, sorry about that."
I supplied with absolute neutrality, keeping the amusement out of my voice. It was basic ninja rule number one; never allow your emotions to touch your exterior. In fact, my desk partner was the one who taught it — albeit not vocally — to me.
"…"
I could feel the mixture of curiosity, annoyance and confusion swirl in the young scion's heart via my sensory. The truth of the matter was that people couldn't keep emotions from festering in their hearts, and my empathetic ability kind of nulled all emotion cloaking techniques.
Yea, my parents business was in safe hands.
"You needn't hold up on questions, Itachi. If you are curious about something all you need to do is ask."
I probed, catching the teacher ending the history lesson with a pleasant smile on his face. These people were incredibly patient and kind, it made me wonder if the Universe Kishimoto wrote about was actually a retarded version of this one? Because I just didn't see these teachers — and to some extent, residents — treating Naruto like dog shit.
A small frown found its way to the prodigy's face, no doubt contemplating if my words were actually true.
It took a moment:
"Where did you learn wind nature transformation?"
An excellent question actually, where did I learn wind nature transformation? Unlike most things, the ability to seclude and refine the wind chakra within my system was just there when I started my ninjutsu training: moulding, shaping and strengthening my chakra. Sure, I picked up some jutsu here and there but that was just to learn elemental application and fatality strengthening.
It was surprising that I hadn't thought of it before. It was most likely due to the fact that I found a way to actually do fire, wind and water along the way, albeit to a lesser extent.
I cocked a brow and answered:
"It's an inherent trait."
Again, the young prodigy showed no surface reactions, but the bloom of mistrust and suspicion within his heart was clear as day. It was a fleeting thing, his suspicion, a month with him had taught me that much.
It had somewhat become routine actually. Ever since I had pointed out my knowing of his sharingan acquisition, Itachi hadn't been frugal with activating it to judge the falsity or validity of my answers.
It was annoying, until it wasn't. He didn't seem to be sharing his finds which made me uncertain of whether his curiosity was intellectual or childish.
Still, the boy was good company as our classmates seemed to view us with some level of disdain.
"I see…"
Itachi's attention receded, the entrance of our next teacher garnering it. I, on the other hand, still found the greyish weather a treat, the sudden taps of droplets on the window claiming my complete focus.
"Sosuke, would you be willing to have a spar with me?"
When lunch time came, the random taps of raindrops had turned into a heavy shower. This meant the students weren't able to go outside, resulting with our classroom becoming polluted with noise.
Such a turn of events had found me a bit annoyed, the comforting rainy weather now a nuisance.
I still sat near the window, though, and Itachi had joined me after he'd finished doing away with his lunch. Despite the disdain, we were rarely interrupted by our classmates; left to our own devices.
I took a bite of the ration bar in my hand, the cardboard taste something my tastebuds vehemently fought against.
— Argh, how in god's name do people get used to this crap?
These ration bars were a requirement for missions, odourless and crunch-less, not to mention bland as a cardboard. It didn't take a genius to see why there were a necessity for shinobi on missions.
I frowned, both at the taste and Itachi's out of the blue request.
"Ugh… You want to spar with me?"
I looked at the boy, forcing the bland lump down my throat. The second the ration reached my stomach, I felt my hunger, or more specifically, my appetite, recede.
— These things are counterintuitive.
They felt more made for people struggling with weight loss than ninjas.
Itachi matched my frown, the puzzlement in why I kept torturing myself with the bars a glint in his eyes. He quickly recomposed himself and offered a nod to my question.
I, on the other hand, pushed the half-eaten bar to the corner of my desk… I would see to its completion before the day was done.
"I don't understand, why would you want to spar against me?"
It wasn't like the Uchiha scion to request something like that. And, to be honest, I didn't think they would be any benefits to him sparring agains—
Wait, now that I thought about it, the two of us had never really sparred against each other. Pretty weird actually, being the shortest individuals in our class, one would think it would have happened by now.
"I'm curious to see how I rank against someone in my age group. You are of course welcome to decline my request."
Obviously that wasn't going to happen. It was a spar against Itachi Uchiha, why in hell would I decline that? Still, it made me wonder the real reason behind his request, the provided one was obviously bull.
I ran a tongue against my teeth before shrugging.
"I see no reason to reject such an offer." I paused and looked at my wear, "So, when would you like the spar?"
Relief bloomed in his heart, and I couldn't help but let a tug pull at my lips.
"I would like it to be a biweekly thing until the day of our graduation. Today would have been a good day to start but I feel the recent shower would make for an uncomfortable experience."
Oh, it felt like he had been mulling over this for quite some time.
"And the location?"
"There's a secluded clearing near the Uchiha compound, I have been using it for my training."
"I'm guessing you've already planned out the rules for these sparring sessions you plan to have with me, mind sharing what I could expect?"
It wasn't like I had much to do at home, having finished and perfected the primary jutsu and all. Not to mention this provided me an opportunity to see where I actually rank as well. Ego stroking wouldn't get me any further than it had already had.
— I hope Shisui joins us, he might give insight into how to utilise the Body Flicker Jutsu in combat.
