My Path That Diverges

Chapter 1

A bug, more specifically a kikaichu, hovered in front of my face. I was in the middle of eating a nice ham onigiri which I had saved from my rations from the orphanage. From my secluded spot on the academy grounds, I couldn't see anyone nearby. I raised an eyebrow at the bug. "Can I help you, Shino?"

The kikaichu hovered up and down slightly before buzzing away and back behind a nearby tree trunk. It was nearing the end of lunch time at the Academy. I had chosen the backside of the academy grounds to eat my lunch in peace away from the other members of my class. I preferred mulling over my thoughts alone, a habit I still retained from my previous life. However, it seemed secluding myself did not guarantee me isolation. A mop of bushy black hair and a pair of dark rimmed glasses, stepped out from behind the tree.

"Yes, you can Hisahito-san," he said in a monotone voice. "You are available after class, correct? How do I know this? I see you training by yourself in the Academy training grounds."

Hisahito. Just Hisahito. My new name for my new life.

"Yeah, that's correct," I said, finishing off my last few bites of my onigiri.

"If I may enquire, how do you know what to practice? Or if you are utilizing your weapon and genjutsu correctly?"

I tilted my head and pulled up the book I had set aside next to me. In a faded title, it read Advanced Tactics for Genjutsu. "There's a lot of publically available resources in the Shinobi Archives. While all of the stuff there is generic, it helps me advance."

And I go there to get away from being dragged away into Ninja Tag. I entertained the idea of acting like a kid once. I quickly reversed the decision after a single day.

"Do you need my help with some kind of project or something?" I queried. "I don't think Iruka-sensei has anything special planned."

"No," Shino interrupted. "I wanted to spar with you. Why? Because out of all our fellow classmates I believe you are the closest to my skill level."

I raised both my eyebrows in response. A clan heir asking a civilian orphan to spar. I didn't think there was precedence for this. Honestly, though, I was only conjecturing that clan kids and civilians didn't mix. For all that I remembered about my past life, some of the details of the Naruto store did escape me.

Over the past year and a half, the young group of academy students often sparred each other. As the quarters of the years passed by, more and more students dropped out. So the pool of talent dropped quickly and students became quickly aware of the pecking order between the classes. My skill level was far below some of my peers though I was definitely not at the bottom.

"Why not Sasuke? Hell why not Naruto or Kiba?" I asked.

"To answer respectively," he spoke deliberately as if he had already predicted my question. "Unresponsive and wouldn't give good feedback, too loud and wouldn't give good feedback." Shino paused slightly. "Extremely loud and would give no feedback."

I gave a small snort at the accurate summary of what would happen. I stood up and brushed my pants down. I was surprised that Shino of all people would come to me. I hadn't made myself known in my time at the academy. Being a civilian orphan, even if I was more mature than my peers, still lagged behind the extensive training and edges clan kids had.

"To answer your question more directly," Shino continued. "Your use of the rope dart and genjutsu are far unique compared to our fellow classmates."

I gave a small shrug. I'm familiar with using the rope dart from my previous life. Genjutsu came naturally to me, as illusions required navigating the mind. And understanding people's patterns came naturally to me after a long career as a manager.

"I thought genjutsu didn't work against your kikaichu?" I asked.

"Correct," Shino agreed. "However, that doesn't mean your prowess in your Taijutsu and Ninjutsu will be lacking. Also Genjutsu could still affect my own senses. You're skills are not below your peers."

He was sort of right. While my skills were mostly generic from what I could scrounge, I honed them. Orphans in Konoha did not have a lot of options when it come to schooling. They were a fresh talent pool to draw from for the Shinobi Corps. However, even if they did not have the aptitude or the determination, they would be guided to Shinobi related vocations like blacksmiths, medics, logistics, etc. However, I knew for a fact that those areas were far less lucrative than being a middle of the road shinobi. Less dangerous, immensely so but not with the knowledge I knew was coming.

I still vaguely remembered the events that took place in Naruto. I knew about the attacks on Konoha, the great war, but all the rest was quite fuzzy in my mind. I knew who the important people were, Naruto, Sasuke and his ilk. However, the details of the relationships escaped me and I didn't exactly have an on hand resource to refresh me after my reincarnation.

So I decided to become a Shinobi, as I was being railroaded into it and it would improve my odds of survival. I trained on what I remembered and honed skills that interested me. Gaining mastery over my skills still brought satisfaction in both lives.

"What would our sparring involve? How many times, and how long?" I asked as I mulled over the benefits of sparring Shino.

"Two times a week after the academy for an hour or until we yield. We can spend some time reviewing afterwards," Shino explained. "Would this be acceptable?"

"Fine," I relented. I had no reason to refuse anyway. "How bad can this be?"

Shino nodded in agreement, and I noticed the edges of his lips curl upwards. I guess it excited him to have a sparring partner then, even if we were only in our 2nd year of Academy. I hadn't even expected to cause a blip in the lives of the main characters. But, I guess sparring with Shino would barely cause a small divergence.

"E-excuse me," A small whisper barely stopped me mid bite.

I turned away from my glorious prize, which I had saved up my weekly allowance to buy, and turned to the voice next to me.

Standing only a foot away from my lonely bench in the park was a hunched up Hyuuga with a light tan coat. Hyuuga Hinata. I regarded her with some trepidation because, not only was this nowhere near the academy, today was a weekend for academy students.

I finished sparring with Shino yesterday. And going at it for a year had settled us into a comfortable routine. We worked on different areas every week with a specific book I grabbed from the Archives. Sometimes Shino's father, Aburame Shibi, would stop by and check in on us. However, I didn't have much interactions with any of the other main characters. Until now.

I had decided, as a celebration to make it to my third year of Academy, I would treat myself to a glorious, juicy cinnamon bun. I had purchased it fresh from the bakery on my day off and went to the park. I sat down with a fresh book from the archives to read right after I devoured the sweet pastry goodness. And here I was, with my jaw wide open, holding the bun in front of me, while staring at Hyuuga Hinata.

Somewhere, somehow, someone really had it out for me.

"Umm," Hinata stuttered out. "I didn't mean to disturb you. Sorry."

I lowered my bun.

Hinata wrung her hands in front of her. "I-I just wanted to ask. W-what is that pastry? I-I've never seen it before and it smelt very sweet."

I split my bun in half and held it out to her.

"A-are you sure?" She blinked rapidly. Her hands twitching slightly as she took half a step back.

I pushed the split half of the bun into her fingers and let go. She almost dropped it but caught it deftly before it even fell an inch. I bit into my bun and watched her expectantly. Slowly, but surely, she bit into the pastry. Her lips curled upwards with her squeezing tightly in a triumphant smile. I couldn't help but smile too.

"It's called a Cinnamon bun. I got it from the pastry shop over there." I said.

Hinata quickly looked down at her half and looked back up quickly. "T-thank you for telling me. A-and s-sharing."

Even though she was rambling, I knew better than to interrupt. Those who were more nervous or jittery needed to bleed the energy out. This would let them gain confidence in what they were speaking. Interrupting them or even trying to help them complete their thoughts would only diminish and hinder future attempts at expression.

"I- I don't know if I can purchase the pastry from the shops. But I will definitely pay you back." She said, her voice growing stronger.

I nodded, finishing off my pastry. "Sounds good. Do you get an allowance?"

Hinata quickly stuffed her part of the pastry in her mouth as if following my actions in part of a ritual. She nodded her head quickly.

"Well, pass me 100 Ryo. I'll put up 100 Ryo as well and buy a Cinnamon bun for the both of us and we split it fifty fifty during next class. Sounds good?"

It would be good to get more cinnamon buns for me as well. Saving up 200 Ryo was annoying because I had to reserve most of it for food during the week.

Hinata smiled brightly. "I can do that."

I smiled back. But more at the confidence of the last sentence. A small sense of pride bubbled within me at the idea of bumping up her confidence a bit more. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could feel myself turning this into a project. 'This' being boosting Hinata's confidence a bit more.

It's how most of my hobbies started and how I usually worked. I would see something interesting and slowly pick a way at it. Maybe I would grow bored. Maybe she wouldn't need me anymore. Maybe our interactions would cease due to some outside influence. I wasn't that important here. But maybe a small push could be of some use to her.

"What are you doing out here by yourself, anyway?"

"Ah, I-i" She went back to stuttering.

I didn't let anything show. My interactions with her needed to be slow and measured. Pushing her to do too much would make her feel an obligation which would do nothing to build her confidence.

I paused. Damn, I was already thinking about coaching or managing her.

"I-i c-came here to pick some f-flowers." Hinata mumbled. Her voice returned to a whisper. "T-to press them into my books."

"Interesting," I said politely. "What kind of flowers do you need?"

Honeslty, I didn't really know much about flower pressing. What did it actually entail? Or if there were specific flowers for pressing. That wasn't the point, though. It was a subject that I was fairly certain she was confident in. And that meant that I could use that as a connection point to get her talking. From there we could use the subject in our little future meetings or whenever we met during academy.

Dammit, I really am thinking about how to manage her. I mentally groaned in my head as I listened to Hinata go into some casual explanation about flower pressing. How she went through drying the flowers and keeping certain books and weights on hand to imprint them into pages. Apparently there were different techniques which was wild to me. I kept track of a few keywords and made a note to look them up later. Any attempt at a bridge to connect with her later would pay dividends. It would allow her the confidence to open up to me. To say yes, you can talk to strangers with confidence.

The sun started setting and Hinata spluttered out that she needed to go. She apologized for taking so much of my time and rambled on about paying me back for the cinnamon bun. She scrambled away, and I watched her go. We would have to work on adding some confidence in ending encounters. I shook my head in disbelief at myself. Why the hell was I thinking about this so hard, I rubbed my eyes in annoyance. This wasn't my life anymore. I wasn't a manager with people working under me. I wasn't some dude working at a finance with some plan. I did not need to manipulate, push, prod, and convince people to do what I wanted. I didn't need to build people. It wasn't my responsibility.

So why did I naturally think I needed to manage Hinata? For what purpose was I doing that for? Just cause? I scoffed at meandering thoughts as I thought of how ridiculous my situation was. A reincarnated soul looking for answers on the meaning of life, the second life, to be exact.

I carefully placed a black stone next to the row of white stones. It would force the other player to pull back or risk a counterattack. But doing so would limit their resources. Would they need to risk more, or could they ask for something else in return elsewhere?

Before I could contemplate a response, a shadow covered my Go board.

"Who are you playing?" Nara Shikamaru asked.

I placed my hand inside the bowl and pulled out another stone. "Myself. It's difficult to think about the other side. Change perspectives without ideas bleeding into each other. But it's fun sometimes to figure out what is possible."

Shikamaru gave a small hum before settling on the other side of me. I rolled my eyes as I see I would not be escaping the following conversation.

I had set up a board at the park near the pastry shop. Hinata had just left after our biweekly cinnamon bun sharing weekend, where she reviewed my latest flower pressing. I had actually been quite proud of it, getting a small daisy to settle into a journal I had lying around. Hinata was kind enough to offer some advice. Kind enough to actually hide her small giggle at my attempt and give me pointers on how to set it in straight and evenly. She left early to go attend to family business, and I was left alone to my own devices. Picking up my old habits, I pulled out a Go board, which I had borrowed from the shinobi archives and used to play.

"I would think that you would pick up Shogi." Shikamaru asked. He slouched slightly on the bench next to me.

"I don't know. I guess I'm attracted to the concepts of the game." I said.

"Really? Did someone teach you the concepts beforehand?" The lazy boy's eyes brightened with interest.

I shook my head. "No, I merely perused books in the Shinobi Archives. Did you know there's an entire miscellaneous section for just random hobbies? Shinobis actually write these books and just store them there." There were hundreds of topics covered. From baking to fishing, and yes, Flower pressing was in there too. Hinata even recommended a couple of books to me.

"And you picked up Go from there?" Shikamaru asked.

I shrugged. "I got nothing else better to do. And there was a set for me to take, anyway." I paused. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for Choji to finish up at the bakery. His dad wanted to deliver something to that store. I came over to wait. They're doing something big in the back and I was asked to wait at the park."

I gave a nod of understanding before putting another stone down.

"Why there?" He asked, his brows furrowed at my most recent move.

I blinked and looked down. It was a seemingly inconspicuous move at the opposite end of where i had been playing all this time. I gave a small smile. Yes, to the laymen it did seem like a random move.

"Look at the whole board," I commanded.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru murmured. His eyes darted between the board, trying to find where I was going with my moves.

It'd be faster for me to just play him to give him an understanding. Plus, it would have the added benefit of me not being bored by myself. Now, how to bait him into it. "Well, I would say we could play a game, but I don't know if we would have the time."

Shikamaru's eyes now glimmered with excitement. "We could always continue at school."

I gave a fake sigh before clearing the board carefully. "Here take black. Do you know how strong you are?" Depending on what he thought, I'd add extra stones in his favor. While I couldn't compare to his base IQ, I was pretty confident in my skills at Go.

"I'd rather play an even game?"

I gave a small laugh. "If you're sure. Go first."

Shikamaru did, and I followed suit. Go, a 19x19 board game, played with two sides vying for territory. We played a couple of moves before I got a sense of Shikamaru's skill. He was definitely good, a solid Kyu player. Being that strong and him mostly playing Shogi was quite impressive. Give him a couple months and he could probably go toe to toe with me at Go. I would need years to compete with him at Shogi.

"You asked me about concepts earlier." I said off handedly, looking at the board. My upper right corner would influence how I would play the left side.

"Yeah," Shikamaru whispered. His eyes locked on the bored.

"There's a lot of life meanings that can be drawn from Go," I explained. "Like Shogi. For example, the influence of seemingly one concentrated area affecting an entirely different part." I placed my stone to reinforce the side. With that move, the upper right would be strong. While I gave Shikamaru the initiative, I would have no need to come back to the upper right. Normally, that could be seen as slow or over secure. However, the more secure you are, the braver you could be.

Shikamaru started putting pressure, putting me on the defensive. "You're talking about something like securing outposts and why we still have keeps."

I gave a small shrug. "Something like that." We had only started learning the deeper part of Konoha's Shinobi infrastructure at year 4, our final year.

"But it can be at more of a micro level," I said. Placing down another stone to defend Shikamaru's pincer movement. "While moving fast with small units can be advantageous for positioning," I watched as Shikamaru overstepped his attack. "It can lead to debts to pay later." I pushed through his formation.

"What?" Shikamaru blinked rapidly. "You're just going to ignore my attack and counter?

"Yeah," I said. "Unlike Shogi, objectives can change on a macro level as well."

"And what your opponent's focus is different," Shikamaru reasoned. "It's more like a negotiation."

"I liken it to a Taijutsu match, actually."

Shikamaru raised a wary eyebrow, balking at the idea of physical exertion.

I gave a small smile as I heard two sets of footsteps approach. "Yeah, you should take some time to figure out why. We'll continue later I think." I turned and saw Choza and Chouji approach. Chouji's hands were slightly covered in flour with Choza still wearing an apron. I stood up and bowed politely to Choza.

Shikamaru hurriedly looked at the board, probably memorizing it for later. While he was doing so, I politely declined Choza's offer for bbq, stating I needed to go back to the orphanage before curfew. As they prepared to leave, Shikamaru turned to me with a pensive look in his eyes.

For all the famed laziness that people touted the Nara clan for, Shikamaru for the last few minutes had been anything but.

"We'll continue at school?" Shikamaru asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, if that's not too troublesome," I said, returning the smile.

"No," Shikamaru said. "It's actually interesting."

"Same."

At least I had something else to keep my mind busy.

The sun creaked in early to the classroom as I settled down in the second to last back row of the classroom. My favorite spot. Not to far in the back to warrant extra attention and not too forward enough to garner extra participation.

During my four years at the academy, I didn't gain any notoriety, special treatment, new friendships, or anything in between. I was an average joe with some above average skills. Like everyone else in the academy who made it this far. Sure some people were lacking in areas, I could spy Naruto's orange jumpsuit from here, but that they couldn't make it up in other areas.

So here I was, having passed the academy, ready to receive my headband. I tapped my fingers against my scribbles on my notepad. It was the latest game that I was playing with Shikamaru. We had gotten into the habit of playing long games over many weeks. We would pass each other a few moves during class or play a bit just after I finished sparring with Shino. Hinata even ate a cinnamon bun while watching us.

I was glad for the more quiet and somber company I had chosen. It felt much better than trying to get my butt kicked by the Uchiha or my ear being talked off by the Jinchuuriki. It wasn't that I didn't keep an eye out for them, rather I made it a point to avoid them. From class sparring, assignments, mock missions, I kept myself firmly away from any and all the main characters. While it got harder to do it in the fourth year, with our meager class barely reaching 21 people, I still wanted to avoid contact.

Why? As my friend Shino would always interject.

Simple, I didn't want the responsibility.

I had spent a life being saddled with responsibility, being told to chase money. And, ironically, I still was in a sense. But, this time I didn't feel that rat race drive for it. Maybe it was because life and death was far more at play in being a shinobi but that wasn't it either. I felt satisfaction in my efforts to train and my efforts to gain more knowledge.

I guess maybe that's what I was chasing after?

My eyes snapped up as Iruka stood in front of the class, bandages wrapped around him tightly. He smiled brightly and gave a small speech about being proud of our growth. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a small warmth from the earnest praise.

"Team 7 will be composed of Naruto…" He started trailing off on the names.

I looked back down at my notepad, scribbling the final moves i wanted to put down before Shikamaru would get called to his team. While I didn't have exact memories down to each individual event, I still remembered some of the teams.

"Team 8 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Hisahito. Your team leader is Kurenai Yuuhei."

I blinked. And that wasn't one of them.

I stood up slowly out of my seat with slightly wide eyes, looking towards Shino and Hinata. Shino, who stood near the front of the glass smirked smugly while pushing up his dark tinted glasses. Hinata was beaming happily while still looking nervously between us and her fingers.

The doors to the front of the classroom opened and sure enough, black curly hair, a red dress and white wrappings walked in. Red eyes flashed brightly, tracking all of us in their gaze. "I'm Kurenai Yuuhei, Team 8 follow me we're heading to Training ground 13."

I stumbled out of my seat. As I passed by Shikamaru, I shakily gave him my note. His head barely lifted off his arms but I could see his eyes flickering between me. His lips pressed into a thin line as he was thinking hard about something. I ignored it for now, in favor of joining Hinata and Shino at the bottom of the steps.

Hinata gave me a shy smile, her fingers still locked in a tight prayer.

Shino looked at me with some confusion obvious on his face. "Surprised? Why? I feel this was the most obvious configuration."

I laughed, unable to keep the nervousness out. "Well, I have to admit I am."

Kurenai looked at us with a small smile. "Well, follow me team."

We walked out the door and down the hall at a sedate pace. As we exited the academy, I felt slightly numb. Had I really changed the world that much? The story? Kiba still existed, hell he was in the same classroom. Everyone loved Akamaru. Was it because of my outside interactions with them that the teachers put us together? Were they spying on us? I watched Kurenai's steps as she moved in almost sauntering fashion.

"U-um" Hinata walked up next to me.

I turned to her, still reeling from the team pairing.

"A-are you ok, Hisahito. I-I know I'm not the best-"

"No, I'm fine," I cut her off. "You're fine. I'm the one just surprised. I didn't think I was good enough to be on either of your teams."

At that HInata went wide eyed. I heard Shino let out a small scoff. And even Kurenai gives a backwards glance with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's head into this tea shop over here," Kurenai waved a hand at a tea shop on the side. One I don't really remember. Why hadn't I noticed this tea shop before? I came by here all the time to get pastries.

HInata blinked in confusion but followed suit. Shino moved forward to follow. I noticed a small buzzing coming from him. "Are you alright Shino?" I asked.

Shino turned to me slightly. "I am fine. Why?"

"Your Kikaichu, they're buzzing."

Shino paused before shrugging. "I feel they are excited. Do not worry, I feel that we will sort it out once we sit down."

I could only stare at him and follow. Wrong. Kurenai chose a small table near the entrance and had already ordered by the time we got there. Four steaming cups of jasmine tea rested in front of our seats. I sat down in between Shino and Hinata facing Kurenai, whose faint smile never left her lips.

"Once again, I'm Kurenai Yuhi," She said. "Why don't we go around introducing ourselves? Tell me what your likes and dislikes are. Any hobbies? And goals for your future."

Even in the relaxed setting, I still felt nervous or an unsettling bubble in my stomach. I didn't know whether it came from my lingering shock of being on team 8 or something else. I didn't touch anything but the seat underneath me.

Shino nodded, taking the lead. "I am Aburame Shino, I like forests surrounding Konoha. I dislike pesticides. I take care of my Kikaichu on my free time. My goal is to defend Konoha and those within it."

I kept silent, looking around slowly. THe tea shop was small, with only a few tables. However, no one occupied them. The waiter who had served us our drinks was no where to be seen. It was just us. I looked around us and saw civilians passing by normally. They didn't even spare us a glance. Wrong.

"How about you continue, Hinata," Kurenai continued.

Hinata looked between me and Kurenai before nodding. "I-i'm H-hyuga Hinata. I like cinnamon buns, walking around the lake. I-i don't really have dislikes. I do flower presses and am learning Go. M-my goal is to become strong enough t-to stand up with my friends." Her vocie grew more confident in the end.

However, it felt like her voice was wrapped tightly in a bubble. Wrong. wrong. wrong. Something wasn't right.

"Hisahito-kun?" Kurenai prodded. "Would you like to continue?"

"I-" My mouth seemed to formulate the words for me. "I am Hisahito. And" I reached within myself, drawing into the energy within my chest. I pulled it towards my hands. "I'd like to get out of this genjutsu."

Kurenai's eyes widened as the smile on her lips widened.

I snapped my hands together and focused. "Kai!" I pushed the chakra through my hands like an antenna broadcasting signal. The pulse of chakra acted like a wave disrupting the surrounding area. It ripped the air as if slightly muddying the defined lines of a painting.

The air rippled once more, then dissolved.

We were sitting in the middle of a classroom at the Academy. Four steaming cups of tea in front of us. Hinata looked at Shino and I. Shino stood up facing the jounin opposite me.

I stared at a sharp smirk, light brown pupil-less eyes, and violet hair wrapped in a ponytail. A long tan jacket billowed over a heavy set of mesh armor.

"Well, well well," the Jounin drawled out. "With that out of the way, I think we can properly introduce ourselves since you passed the test."

I stood up as well looking at my new teacher. "My name is Hisahito. I like my friends and improving myself. I dislike tricks. My hobbies are Go and reading. My goal…" What the hell did I want? What did anyone want? Live to see the next day. Live a comfortable life to retire and rest on laurels. I've been there and done that in my previous life. I would chase what I enjoy because I know that's what would make me happy.

"My goal is to do whatever I want." I finished.

The Jounin laughed with a sharp bark. "Not a bad kid. My name is Mitarashi Anko. And I am your Jounin Instructor for Team 8. Let's get cracking." She smiled widely with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

I gave a smile back.

Here's to freedom then.

Author Notes:

Something to pass the time and sharpen my skills for first person limited.

What do you think? Will be trying to make this more slice of life unlike My Path That Loops.

Also the motivation of the Character is fundamentally different from Toki so it'll be interesting to write it from this stand point. I will try and dig deep into Shinobi systems.