Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is purely for entertainment purposes, and I am making no profit off of this.
The boy charged at me blindly, only barely bothering to apply the taijutsu that they've been teaching us for the past year or two.
Children.
I stepped to the side, avoiding his attack with ease. At eight years old, I was a year younger than all of the children in my class.
I had quite a bit of time to consider what to do. On one hand, I could sweep his legs out from under him for a nice and easy end to the sparring session.
But that would cause him embarrassment to be taken out so handily.
That would make unnecessary enemies in the Academy. While I doubt a single humiliating spar would be enough to make him my 'enemy,' people have been hated for less.
If anyone tried to pull the whole 'bully' act on me, I'd probably react with calm indifference and try to avoid the issue. If it really came down to it, I could probably take anyone in my class in a fight. Hell, if I was stretching things a bit, I could probably take them all in a fight. There were only a few other clan children in this class, and none of them took to training with the same intensity that I had.
There was no point though. I would rather make as few enemies as possible in the Academy. Fewer enemies meant fewer chances for me to appear strange, which meant that I would blend in more into the background.
Any sort of blending in would be great, because right now, I kind of stick out a bit.
I waited for the kid to turn around and face me. He pulled his fist back in a horribly telegraphed punch. I sidestepped it again.
Case in point.
I stood so far above these children that it was difficult to pretend that I was anything like them.
Bullseye
I kunai had torn through one of the hind legs of a hare. The creature whined pitifully in pain.
A quick swipe of a kunai put a swift end to its suffering.
I picked up the dead animal and dropped it into a bag that I had carried with me.
After the squirrel incident, I had taken to going around and killing small woodland animals for practice. The wooden training boards were good and all, but I wanted practice hitting moving targets. I would still have to use the boards, as I hadn't even mastered hitting static targets yet, but getting some moving targets would only help.
The bag that I carried was full of animals that I had murdered for practice.
I slightly disgusted frown adorned my face. It didn't seem… right, somehow. Hunting all of these animals when there was really no need just made me feel dirty.
But really, is killing animals really all that different from killing people?
That was what I would be doing in the future. That was something that was taught to be service to the village. To kill is to serve. And to serve is to be good.
Disgusting.
The vultures would be happy with what I would bring them today.
I was moved up another year. My skills had proved superior enough to my peers that the school board figured that it would wise to shift me into the next year. At this rate, I would graduate in just another year.
I would be nine years old.
"Wouldn't that be exciting? Right, Chisei-kun?"
"Oh, wow, Chisei-kun? You're graduating so early?"
The Yamanaka had never been an extraordinarily combat-oriented clan. There had never been a Yamanaka 'prodigy.' Oh, of course there had been valued members of the village coming from the clan. But there had never been one like Itachi or Kakashi.
"Really? That guy that's always sleeping is that good? Huh. Wasn't expecting that."
"I always knew you were a good kid, Chisei-kun," One of the guards ruffled my hair.
My graduation would be nothing as impressive at graduating at five years old, like Kakashi. But it was one of the best in the clan.
"Inoichi-sama came over the other day," My mother said softly, holding out a brand new set of kunai, "He brought this and said, 'Congratulations.'"
Ino could barely contain her excitement, "You're so cool, aniki! You're becoming a ninja so soon? I've barely started in the Academy!"
I was the pride of our clan.
What a shame.
I saw him today.
Itachi
He was walking with little Sasuke, who smiled with innocent glee. Even in a casual setting, Itachi was deadly. At twelve years old, he was four years older than I was.
It wasn't fair.
I could see the power. Even when he was so young, I could feel it. Every part of his body was built perfectly. I could feel the latent strength in his chakra, even with my still developing sensing skills.
It wasn't fair.
I spent that night pounding my fists into the training boards and throwing kunai and shuriken as quickly as I dared. The shards of metal struck the target boards near the centre.
Near the centre.
Not at the centre.
I snarled. Itachi, at my age, had no doubt already mastered shurikenjutsu. Itachi wouldn't miss. Itachi was a fucking prodigy. Itachi, Itachi, fucking Itachi.
He was born with all the skill in the fucking world. He was a motherfucking natural. He didn't have to train until the moon rose into the sky. He didn't have to train until he passed out from exhaustion. He didn't have to force himself away from the training fields so that he didn't burn out his entire body from his feverish desire to become stronger.
Not everyone was born equal. Not everyone was born with talent handed to them on a fucking silver platter.
It wasn't fucking fair.
In the distance, I heard the screeching cry of a vulture.
Toad-sage66: Thanks for the suggestion of putting an age on the MC. I think it's definitely a good idea, as you mentioned, to give people a better idea of progression.