Chapter 5
I sat at a corner, sweating, muscles burning and very out of breath. Gai-sensei had nearly pushed me to the brink of my limit. He had me exercise some situps,
pushups, pullups, squats, and running laps. For each one, he observed how much I could do. Some of these exercises I never heard of, but managed to do,
but not as much. Situps:42 without stopping. Pushups:27 til my arms gave out. Pull Ups:16 till I dropped. Squats: 46 til my legs shook. Laps around the
village:5 til my legs gave out.
I brought myself to lay down to catch my breath, spirits bless me that I live today and survived the rest of this training. "Slacking off?" said Gai-sensei as he
approached me. I sat up, gritting my teeth as I did so, "No sensei, just gathering myself." He chuckled, "You have a long way before you reach the level of my
students, all these exercises they reach an average of 200 or more, and that without being tired." My face fell, "You gotta be kidding me?" I said, my breath
slightly ragged, "What about laps? What's the average of that?"
"About 100, but they could do more." he stated.
I stared as my spirits sank, they can do 100 laps no problem, while I struggled with just 5?! I looked over to see them still sparring, what am I getting myself
into? Gai-sensei seem to sense my poor spirits, "You're just beginning. Everyday I will push you to get better than the day before, you'll get results, don't
worry." I sighed, not feeling any better. I didn't like this defeated feeling. I slowly got to my feet, "I should go sensei, I have to meet up with Iruka soon." He
nodded, "Ok, tomorrow you will meet here in the morning, eight o'clock sharp, don't be late" I nodded, "Yes sensei, see you then." I walked to the village. I
made a small stop at a food stall, I bought these small mound of rice, 'riceballs' the woman called them, with some water. When I finished, I made my way to
the Academy, I seen some students still hanging around, chatting about. Normally, I would have been so flustered by some stares I was getting, but I was too
tired and depressed to even care. When I entered the building, Iruka was waiting, "Hey," he said, "I remember I didn't tell you where my classroom was, so I
waited for you."
"Thank you," I muttered as we made our way.
After a small trip down the halls, we entered the classroom. A huge chalkboard was on the front wall, in front of that was his desk I presumed, along with
desks filling the room.
He instructed me to take a seat at the front desk, "So you trained with Gai today?" he asked as he gather some things at his desk. "Yes Iruka-sensei," I said
as I prop an elbow on the desk, resting my chin on my hand. He frowned, "You don't sound so enthusiastic, I know Gai can be harsh and demanding at times,
but he is a great teacher." I sighed, "It's not that I'm doubting Gai-sensei's teachings," I said. I started fidgeting in my seat, wondering if I should say what's
really bothering me, "I..." I struggled, "I just don't think I have what it takes to become a shinobi". Iruka placed a stack of books, folders and papers beside
me, "Kira, you only just began your training today. It's not like you're gonna learn everything and be your best overnight." he consoled me. I chewed the inside
of my cheek, "I know, it's just his students are so much stronger than me." I said, "How am I going to catch up?" Iruka smiled, "Kira let me tell you something,
when I receive new students in the Academy, I always have some students that know nothing of what they want to I always have some students that have
early training before they reached the Academy. The ones that knew nothing, after some time and hard work, reach the level of the one's that had previous
training. Why, even a few surpass them." He patted my head, "What you don't know is, Gai's students have been training for almost a year together to reach
where they're at now. You are already have experience taijutsu and from what I hear, your kekkei genkai. With hard work, you will reach their level, why, you
may even surpass them."
I felt my negativity dissolving when he said this, and I felt tears running down my face.
"I'm sorry," I said as I wiped my eyes, "I just had so much doubt in myself, but I guess hearing that what I want to achieve is possible and having someone
believing in me, just erased that, it made me so happy that I started crying." I did a final wipe, embarrassed that I cried in happiness. Iruka-sensei just
grinned, scratching the back of his head, "It's okay, all you needed was some encouragement".
After that, Iruka-sensei showed me all the things I was going to learn, "You're going to have to learn a lot about shinobi rules, standard jutsus, the knows and
how to control chakra, and tons of other things." he said, piling papers in front of me. I grinned, "No problem, studying is something I've done almost all my life,
plus I'm a fast learner."
"Let's test what you know then." he said.
After a few question, he nodded, "You seem to know a few things, but you still have much to learn. Let's try molding your chakra." He noticed the confused
look I had. He laughed, "I'm getting a little ahead of myself, Chakra is pretty much your life force, you mix your physical and spiritual energy together to
perform justus. It's a really more complicated than it sounds."
I nodded, but frowned, "How do I released it? I don't think I ever used chakra."
Iruka shook his head, "That's a lie, you used your kekkei genkai, that involves you using chakra." I closed my eyes and thought back really hard, 'Focus your
energy, and concentrate your mind' Father had said when I had trained, and that day when I had first used my kekkei genkai, I remember the feel of the
concentrated energy that ran through my body, when I had released my attack. The energy had flowed into the water. My eyes shot open, "I have. I have
used my chakra, Father always fussed that I had to focus my energy..." then the more I thought, something dawned on me, "Iruka-sensei, is it...my father was
teaching me how use my chakra?" He grinned, "Seems so, from what you say. Sounds like standard chakra training to me." I was speechless. I was depressed
earlier because I thought my future teammates had far more experience while I had nothing to show, when really I do have some training and maybe some
skill. I just had to practice them more, perfect them. I smiled as I felt my spirits soar, my dream is possible, it was not that far out of my reach.
"Now, focus your chakra." commanded Iruka.
I brought my hands together, beginning to focus all my energy. I gathered my strength and calmed my mind, focusing them both together the best I can, then
I started to feeling something pulse inside me.
"Release it," he instructed.
I forced the that energy out, from what I guessed my hands, a quick gust of wind followed then died. I looked at my hands, "I did that?" I asked, shocked.
Iruka seemed surprised too, "Wow, you surprise me more and more, that was no normal chakra, that was elemental. You just performed a wind jutsu, it
wasn't strong, but you did perform it." I stared at my hands, "Wow,"
"But you will need to learn how to manipulate your chakra properly." he said, "Plus while training with Gai, as your stamina strengthens, chakra control tends
to go easier and you can last for long periods of time." He looked at the time, "That's enough for today, you will need to take all these books and folders with
you." he said as he straightened them out neatly, "There's an outline of what you need to study and what to practice, if you need more help, you can ask Gai if
you're with him."
I nodded, "Thank you Iruka-sensei," I slowly gathered the materials in my arms, my muscles tensing up at the extra weight, but I ignored it.
I made my way through the village, the sun slowly making it's way across the sky, it will be dusk soon. I sifted the books and folders in my arm, every so often
as I walked home, careful not to bump to anyone who passed by. As my home grew more near, I grew more grateful, my arms were aching with each passing
second.
"You seem to be struggling there," said a voice ahead of me.
I stopped, lowering the bundle in my hands to clear my view, It was Tenten who had spoke, with Neji accompanying her. I shook my head, "I'm fine". I noticed
her expression, something seem to bug her, she had a slight scowl on her face. It seems like she had something to say.
*Neji's POV*
After finishing some extra training, Tenten and I made our way to our homes. Her's was somewhat on the way to the Hyuuga Compound, we would then part
ways and continued our ways. So we walked down the almost empty streets as Tenten talked here and there, and she would always return to the subject of
our future teammate. "Why is she being assigned to our team? She isn't even a genin and she's already be part of a squad? Something's fishy about this, and
she's weak." she would rambled on. I had to agree, something was off, why put a non-genin in a squad? More importantly an advance squad who's been
genin for almost a year? A weak person would only slow down the squad. "Speak of the devil," said Tenten, distastefully. I turned to see Kira walking down
our path, but she couldn't see us as a stack of books and folders were in her arms, blocking her vision. "You seem to be struggling there," called Tenten, with a
sense of loathing in her eyes. I understood my teammate's anger, she felt like this newcomer was getting special treatment, which I couldn't help but agree.
Kira had lowered the books, her cobalt eyes staring at us, "I'm fine". I glanced at her arms, the muscles were twitching, obviously from being overworked. I
viewed her profile, her long black hair, braided, had a few out of place hairs, her features seemed show she was exhausted, but she tried to mask it. She was
studying Tenten, who had a slight scowl, stared back at her. "Tenten, if you wish to say something, I'm listening." Kira said coolly. How bold, I thought. Tenten
seem to take the bait, "Why are you assigned to our group when you aren't even a genin?" Without missing a beat, Kira replied, "I am going to be genin. I'm
working on it, my deadline is before the spring." Tenten looked confused, "What do you mean your deadline is before the spring?" She sifted the load in her
arms, "I am to be at genin level before the spring. That was the agreement the Hokage and I made, but my goal now is to be more stronger than that."
Tenten seemed to read my mind, "Impossible, you're too weak for such a feat." she stated. I saw her fingers clench the books tightly, her brow furrowed and
her eyes turned dark. She walked passed us, then stopped, "I know I'm weak right now, and I don't fully understand everything right now." she started. She
turned to us, a fierce look of determination on her face, "But I know what I'm capable of and what I can achieve. I will become stronger, I will become a genin
before the spring. And I will be strong enough to surpass you one day." she said boldly. And with that, Kira turned and left.
I had to admit, she had became an interesting person, and I wondered what she had to show.
KiraSan here, been working on the next chapter and planning how the story plays out and such. Yeah, Tenten seemed to be a *ahem* in this
chapter...*whispers* a bitch that is...but it was for good reasoning I guess, she won't be like this forever. (I hope...)
Next chapter, back to Kira's POV. Hmmm...don't think I have nothing to say...I might be putting some time jumps soon so the story progesses faster.
Okay, I said my say. REVIEWS PLEASE! Much love.