Hachiman dashed to the closest bathroom and made sure that no one was inside before opening up a stall and sitting down on the toilet. He stared at the cover of the Ninja Nomicon for a few seconds before taking a deep breath.
"Alright, moment of truth, let's see what secrets I can learn from you," Hachiman announced to the Nomicon.
Before Hachiman could open it, the Nomicon started glowing before it opened up by itself and started flipping its own pages. Once it stopped on a certain page, Hachiman felt his body go limp as his soul left his body and transferred to the pages of the book. As Hachiman's soul travelled through the pages of the books he briefly saw pictures of ninjas doing battle with different kinds of mythical beasts, such as dragons, yo-kai, and demons. He was both shocked and amazed by the Nomicon; he found it incredible that he could be inside the pages of the book, it made it feel like he was a part of the Nomicon. Hachiman suddenly slammed into a bunch of large words and landed on the pages.
He turned his attention to the words he crashed into, and they read: "Believe in the weapon that is in the suit."
Hachiman couldn't help but deadpan at the lesson the Ninja Nomicon was trying to teach him, "Are you telling me that the reason that I couldn't beat that monster was because I didn't believe in myself? The more I learn about being the Ninja, the more it feels like I'm living in a shounen manga."
After interpreting the lesson the Nomicon gave him, Hachiman's soul was immediately returned to his body. Once he left the bathroom, he quickly returned the Nomicon back to his shoe locker and made his way back to class.
"Once class is over, I'm going to beat that monster once and for all," Hachiman told himself.
Hannibal McFist was absolutely livid; not only could he not get a good view of Krakenstein beating up the Ninja because of the crowd of students that were blocking his view, but the damn robot had disappeared, and he had no idea where it went. He made his way to his car, once inside, he quickly got his phone out of his pocket and dialed in Viceroy's number.
"What seems to be the problem, sir?," Viceroy asked over the phone.
"The problem is that the robot you created to destroy the Ninja disappeared, and hasn't destroyed the Ninja!" McFist yelled.
There had been a few minutes of silence as McFist waited for a response from his employee. He heard clicking sounds from his phone for a few seconds before they disappeared.
"Alright, I checked the tracker I implanted into Krakenstein, and it seems that he's in the basement of the school," Viceroy told his boss.
"What the hell is your robot doing there?!," McFist asked in anger.
"It's possible that Krakenstein needs some maintenance; you should go to the basement and check," Viceroy instructed.
"Fine, but if your dumb robot is broken, you're gonna scrap it and use its parts to make a more dangerous and deadlier robot, got that?!," McFist commanded.
"Read you loud and clear, sir," Viceroy confirmed before hanging up.
Once the call ended, McFist got out of his car and made his way to the basement to the school. When he made it down to the basement, he heard banging and roaring coming from the basement's bathroom. Slowly, he opened the door to the bathroom, went inside, and closed the door behind him; he noticed the banging and roaring was coming from the last stall on the left, but he was pretty hesitant to walk over there and free Krakenstein.
"Maybe I should just leave the robot here, that thing sounds like it's pissed," McFist decided.
Just then, he got a message on his phone from his wife telling him to come back to Ms. Hiratsuka's office so that they can continue their meeting.
"On second thought, I'd rather take my chances with the robot then go back to that boring ass meeting," McFist reevaluated.
McFist quickly made his way to the stall that held Krakenstein and removed the pipe from the stall's door handle. Once the pipe was removed, Krakenstein busted the door open, pushed past McFist, and jumped through the ceiling.
"Just you wait Ninja, soon you'll meet your doom!," McFist exclaimed before he made his way back upstairs, trying to find where Krakenstein went.
For Hachiman, it felt like hours until science class ended; now that his class ended, he needed to head to the basement and take downstairs, however, that would prove to be very difficult at the moment. Yoshiteru and Saika had insisted that they walked to their next class together, and didn't really give Hachiman room for argument, so now he had to find a way to ditch them. For once, luck seemed to be on Hachiman's side that day as Krakenstein threw a car from outside, through a wall. As Saika and Yoshiteru turned their attention to the hole in the wall, Hachiman ran away from his classmates so that he could find a place to transform, and then take down Krakenstein.
Yoshiteru became very excited by the robot's reappearance, "Yes, now the Ninja must come back, and you can get the chance to see him in action and meet him, isn't that great Hachiman?"
When Hachiman didn't give a response to Yoshiteru's question, Saika and Yoshiteru looked around them to see that Hachiman had disappeared.
"Are you kidding me?!," Yoshiteru exclaimed in frustration.
"That's weird, where did Hachiman go?," Saika questioned with concern.
"Maybe he went outside to see the fight, come comrade Totsuka, let us make our way outside and find our companion," Yoshiteru declared before running towards the school's front door, with Saika following.
Meanwhile, McFist was outside, watching the destruction and fear that Krakenstein was causing.
"This is perfect, all that's missing now is the Ninja!," McFist muttered to himself.
As if the mere mention of him was enough to summon him, the Ninja appeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Yes, the Ninja is here, this is perfect!," McFist cheered, causing people to cheer as well, mistaking McFist's cheering for the Ninja's demise as McFist cheering for the Ninja.
The Ninja looked towards Krakenstein, and glared at the robot, causing it glare right back at him. 'Alright, all you have to do is believe in yourself, and then you'll be able to beat the monster,' the Ninja thought to himself. 'I believe in me, I believe in me, I believe in me,' he mentally repeated before gesturing for Krakenstein to come at him.
As the Ninja had requested, Krakenstein came charging towards him; once it got close enough, the Ninja jumped onto one of its arms before jumping off it and stomping down hard on his head before landing behind Krakenstein. Krakenstein turned around and tried to punch the Ninja, but he blocked the incoming attack; Krakenstein tried again and again to hit the Ninja, but no matter how hard it tried, the Ninja kept blocking its attack. Krakenstein tried to attack the Ninja one last time with its tentacle arm, but the Ninja countered with a Tornado Roundhouse Kick, causing its jaw to get knocked out of place the second that time that day and for it to fall over. The crowd of students and teachers watching the fight began cheering once Krakenstein got knocked over. The Ninja couldn't help but smile at how better he had gotten at fighting just by consulting the Ninja Nomicon.
"Maybe being the Ninja won't be as terrible as I thought it would be," the Ninja mumbled to himself.
Almost immediately after speaking, Krakenstein readjusted its jaw the second time that day before a seventh robotic arm emerged from its chest and pinned the Ninja to the ground.
"Alright, that was a lapse of judgement; being the Ninja is always going to be horrible," the Ninja admitted to himself.
Krakenstein got off the floor, walked up to the Ninja, and tried to attack him with its bear arm before the Ninja dodged it by moving his head. It continued to try and attack him, only for the Ninja to keep moving his head out of the way of its attacks.
"I don't get it, I believed in myself, so why didn't I beat it?," the Ninja asked himself.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, 'Wait a minute, a ninja is supposed to have a plethora of weapons; the Nomicon wasn't telling me that I should believe in myself, it was telling me that the Ninja Suit has weapons, and I need to believe in them. Earlier today when I was trying to find where the Ninja Suit held the smoke bombs, I reached into the Ninja Suit's belt with the intent of finding smoke bombs, and then smoke bombs materialized into the hand that was reaching into the belt. Maybe, if I reach into the back of my scarf with the intent of finding a sword, a sword will materialize into my hand.'
The Ninja decided to test this theory by reaching into the back of his scarf, and surely enough, he pulled out a long ninjatō with a black and red handle. 'Admittedly, it was pretty stupid of me to not think of doing this before, but oh well, better late than never,' he thought before slicing off the arm that pinned him down. Quickly, he got up and delivered a double leg kick to Krakenstein's chest, causing it to get pushed back. Once again, the Ninja glared at Krakenstein before motioning it to come at him. Krakenstein charged at the Ninja once again, but once it reached the Ninja, he delivered a multitude of slashes to Krakenstein's body, causing it to stop before it could attack. A second later, its limbs started falling apart before it finally split in half, causing everyone, including the Ninja, to look at the utterly decimated robot in shock.
The Ninja turned his attention to his sword, still shocked by his actions, 'How the hell was I able to do that, earlier today I couldn't even do any real damage to it, and now I can deliver a series of slices like it's nothing?!,' he thought in surprise.
Ultimately, he decided to shrug it off, "Eh, I guess the Nomicon meant I needed to believe in myself and my weapon," he theorized to himself.
Meanwhile, McFist walked away with sadness and disappointment clearly written all over his face. Suddenly, the crowd of people who were watching the fight surrounded the Ninja and started chanting, "Smoke bomb, smoke bomb, smoke bomb!," before the Ninja threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared.
Hachiman decided that the best place to take off his mask was the left side of the school since the fight took place between the front of and the right side of the school, so the people who watched the fight were still lingering around. The back of the school was where gym classes were taking place, so there was no way that he could take off the mask there, so all that was left was the left side of the school, where no one was around to see him change back. A few seconds after changing back into his school uniform, Yoshiteru and Saika came running to the left side of the school.
'Seriously, what the hell is with my luck today; if they came a few seconds earlier, then they would have found out my secret identity!,' Hachiman thought in annoyance.
"How the hell did you guys find me?," Hachiman asked, shocked that they were able to find him a few minutes after the fight ended, and when he changed back.
"Ha, ha, ha, as you now can see, I possess a supernatural aptitude at detecting people, friends and foe alike!," Yoshiteru bragged.
"Actually, I checked my phone and saw that we were running late for gym class, so Zaimokuza suggested that we cut through the left side of the school since no one would be here to block our path, unlike the right side of the school," Saika admitted, causing Yoshiteru to sulk a bit.
Yoshiteru quickly recovered and gained an annoyed look on his face that was aimed at Hachiman, "That aside, Hachiman, do you think that I'm some type of idiot?," Yoshiteru asked.
Hachiman looked at Yoshiteru with an unimpressed look on his face, "Do you honestly want me to answer that question?"
Yoshiteru seemed unfazed by Hachiman's implications and decided to further press him, "I mean, did you really think that I wouldn't find out your secret?," Yoshiteru asked, causing Hachiman to get a little nervous. "First, you're gone, and the Ninja appears, and then he leaves, and then you reappear; I know your dark secret Hachiman, and you will no longer be able to hide it from Totsuka and I, because I am now going to reveal it."
Hachiman didn't know whether he should feel nervous that Zaimokuza of all people figured out his secret identity, or angry at himself for being so careless with how he disappears, that Zaimokuza of all people figured out his secret identity. Suddenly, he thought of a way to make sure that Yoshiteru kept his mouth shut about Hachiman being the Ninja; he didn't have to worry about Saika revealing his secret identity since Saika's an angel, and an angel like him wouldn't reveal Hachiman's secret. He quickly took his mask out of his pocket, put it on his face, and transform into the Ninja, causing Saika to be in a state of shock by seeing this, while Yoshiteru had seemed distracted by his own self-confidence in figuring out Hachiman's secret that he didn't see what was in front of him.
"Hachiman, it's alright, that robot was quite intimidating, so it's okay that you run away and hide," Yoshiteru tried consoling his classmate before he finally started paying attention to Hachiman and saw that he was wearing a Ninja costume, and had a sword in one of his hands.
"Wait, you're the Ninja?! More importantly, were you trying to kill me because you thought I figured out your identity?!," Yoshiteru asked in shock.
"Hachiman, are you insane, you can't kill Yoshiteru!," Saika yelled in disbelief.
"What, no, I wasn't going to kill you, I was going to bribe you!," the Ninja clarified.
"Bribe me how?," Yoshiteru asked.
"I was going to let you use my sword for a few minutes in exchange for your silence," the Ninja explained.
"Ohhhhhh! Uh, sorry about accusing you of… you know… trying to kill me," Yoshiteru awkwardly apologized.
"Yeah, sorry about that Hachiman, I really shouldn't have accused you of something so heinous, especially since you've done nothing to prove you would do something like that," Saika apologized with a guilty look on his face.
Almost immediately after seeing how guilty Saika looked, the Ninja felt the need to make Saika not feel guilty.
"It's fine you guys, you don't have to feel so guilty; I had a sword in my hand, so with no context, it's reasonable that you came to that conclusion," the Ninja reassured his two classmates, mostly so Saika would feel better.
Saika quickly recovered from his guilt and smiled at the Ninja, "Thank you Hachiman, you're truly a good person," he told the Ninja, causing the Ninja to smile underneath his mask.
"Saika is right, you have a heart of gold Hachiman; it is no wonder why destiny chose you to be the Ninja," Yoshiteru stated, making the Ninja want to roll his eyes. "Now that we got our apologies out of the way, I would just like to say that I cannot believe you're the Ninja, this is amazing!"
"Yeah, I was pretty surprised myself when I found out," the Ninja admitted.
The Ninja took off his mask and changed back into Hachiman, he then looked at his two classmates with sternness, which got their attention.
"You know, when I first got the Ninja Mask, I didn't want to be the Ninja, after fighting that robot, my stance hasn't changed on; I still don't want to be the Ninja, hell, if I knew who it was that gave me the mask, I would give it back in a heartbeat," Hachiman confessed, causing Yoshiteru and Saika to stare at him in confusion, not really getting why he was saying all this.
"Be that as it may," Hachiman continued, "I can't really do that, so I'm stuck being the Ninja, I'm stuck with the weight of others lives on my shoulder, and I'm stuck following the rules that I was given when I became the Ninja. One of those rules was that I couldn't tell anyone, so I need you guys to swear you won't tell anyone."
Saika and Yoshiteru looked at each other with confusion before turning their attention back to Hachiman.
"Of course we won't tell anyone; we're your friends, we wouldn't tell anyone such an important secret," Saika explained.
"Yes, your dark secret is safe with us," Yoshiteru confirmed. "Not only that, but we will assist you in as many ways as we can."
Saika nodded his head in approval, "Yeah, we'll cover for you if you're late to classes or if you're late in meeting someone due to you being the Ninja; just let us know when you need our help, and we'll be there.
Hachiman couldn't help but side smile at his classmates' declaration of promising to help him out. Monster attacks were pretty random so being late to class was to be expected; maybe relying on his classmates would be beneficial to effectively balancing his school career as well as his career in being the Ninja.
"Alright, I guess I'll rely on you guys for stuff like that," Hachiman hesitantly agreed to their proposition.
Yoshiteru gave a thumbs up to Hachiman's agreement, while Saika just smiled brightly at his superhero friend. 'This may make me sound like a shounen protagonist, but maybe, just maybe, I've finally found people who I can actually rely on,' Hachiman admitted in his mind.
Thus, began the bizarre friendship of Hachiman, Saika, and Yoshiteru. Oh, and they all received after school cleanup duty as their punishment for being late to gym class.
Thus ends the "First Day On The Job Arc," that was admittedly supposed to be 1-2 chapters long, but became too long, so had to be cut up into three chapters. Alright, hey guys, Phoenix here, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Now that I finished the introduction arc, chapters won't be as frequent, and they will only become very frequent if multiple chapters need to be posted for an arc. Next time I post a chapter, the title of it will be, "Got Stank?" Make sure to review and give me your honest criticisms, hope you enjoyed, and until next time, later!