Chapter 5

We left the Leaf Village without much fuss. It was another two weeks of slow walking before we reached our final destination. The legionary camp, it was built next to a river that was one mile away from the coast. We were all exhausted from our trek. We came marching into camp all dressed in our armor. We did have to vouch for Jiraiya's entrance since he wasn't a Roman, but eventually we satisfied the guards and were allowed in. We quickly found our way to the legate's tent, it was easy since all roman camps are laid out the same way.

As we enter the legate's tent, we all got our first good look at him since we had last left. He looked awful. He was hunched over a table that was covered in maps. He had bags under his eyes, his skin was a unhealthy pasty white color, and he had frequent coughing fits. He looked at us and his eyes widened for just a short moment, before regained his composure.

"You have returned. Explain your lateness." He commanded.

"It is a long tale," Arminus replied.

"I have time." The legate replied.

Arminus then proceeded to recount all of our adventures. He included every detail. The legate would sometimes ask a question or two, and Arminus would answer them. It was a long story, but Arminus relayed almost every single detail. He also introduced Jiraiya and explained how he had saved us from Orochimaru.

"I understand why your scouting mission was late now. Good work, all of you. I need to think about all that you've told me, then I'll call you again so we can discuss the specifics of this ninja training. Go rest and relax for the time being you all did a great service for Rome" The legate said before dismissing us. We all left the command tent.

We quickly found our way to our old century and reported in to Timon, who quickly found us a spot for our own tent. We set it up and Arminus started to cook dinner. We were quite popular as soldiers and engineers from our own and other centuries came over to us to listen as we recounted the tales of our expedition. I was mostly quiet for the recounting. I was too busy thinking.

The training that Cincinnatus was putting me through was no doubt effective, I was honing the instincts of battle. When I first started, I was easily killed, however it wasn't from a lack of one on one fighting prowess, but rather a lack of "battle sense". Battle sense being the term applied to unmeasurable skills. Knowledge of what fights to engage in and which not to engage in, instinct of when to assume incoming projectiles, and a "sixth" sense of danger. This did not come easily, rather a fair amount of deaths and grueling pain seared into my head these skills. I was soaking up information like a sponge, for it was apparent that knowledge would be the best way to keep myself alive, probably.

Unfortunately, it was the idea of keeping myself alive that I was having such a large amount of consternation over. It wasn't that I didn't like living, I very much did. It was the absolutely arbitrary nature of death that was putting me in such a state of mental anguish. The fact was that at any time even the most well trained, well equipped, and well led soldier could die anyways. There were times where I would do everything right and I would still be killed by either a lucky arrow. What was the point of training if I could be taken out by some asshole with a bow and a lot of luck?

I knew that this thinking was doing no good for myself, but it was hard to keep my mind in check.

"Hey Cincinnatus, I have a question" I asked. Having just fallen asleep I had immediately jumped into the mindscape.

"Oh boy this is gonna be a good one" He said in a dismissive tone. He had become rather snide recently.

"What's the point of all this?"

"Of all what?" He asked, his tone blunted and almost even worried.

"This training. Both this and the ninja training. I mean from all the experience I've had it always seems like pure dumb luck plays a major role if I live or die. I mean what's the fucking point of putting all this goddamn work in, if I could get taken out by an asshole with the luck of the gods. I mean come on, An arrow kills you if your Gaius the Peasant or FUCKING HERCULES IF ITS LUCKY ENOUGH. SO TELL ME, WHY?! WHAT'S THE FUCKING POINT? I COULD PUT ALL THIS WORK IN. SUFFER ALL THE PAIN OF DYING OVER AND OVER AGAIN. AND IT WOULD BE FOR FUCKING NOTHING" At this point I realized I was yelling at the top of my voice. I needed to calm down. I sighed and took a deep breath.

"I just want to know if there is something I'm not getting, am I wrong? Can training to a certain point push my skills to the point where I won't get killed by arbitrary events that I have no control over. To my mind it just seems that because of the arbitrary nature, with or without these skills I'm in the same boat. I can die whenever and I have no control over that. It's annoying you know? Why work if I'm fucked either way?" I realized I was rambling at this point so I forced myself to shut up and be quiet.

I stared at Cincinnatus and he stared at me, his face held an indecipherable expression. His eyes bore into me. He eventually sighed and his face softened.

"Okay, sit down." He waved to a pair of chairs and a table that appeared. I sat and so did he. He continued. "I expected this might happen, but I didn't think it would happen this fast."

"What did you expect?" I felt anger begin to rise in my throat again.

"Why do you follow orders of the legate?" He asked.

"Because he is the commander and I must fulfil my duty to Rome." I replied.

"Thats bullshit, try again and give me a real answer. Why do you follow orders?" He responded so sharply it caught me off guard, and I ended up staring at him almost slack jawed incomprehension.

"I do it because I have to?" I answered truthfully.

"Ok, so why did you become an apprentice?" He asked.

"Because my parents wanted me to have a step up. So I could get a job for the imperial bureaucracy." I answered truthfully again.

"So now what are your life plans since you no longer have a family to live up to, a bureaucratic role to fill or really any purpose?" He asked. I opened my mouth to respond, but then I stopped.

I hadn't thought of what I really wanted to do. I had been caught up in the chaos of all this, I hadn't ever really thought of what I wanted to do. But, now that I had to think about it I had came up with nothing.

"I don't know." I admitted shamefully.

"Exactly, you don't know. Therein lies the issue. So excuse me if I put words in your mouth, but you don't see a point to all the work and suffering you're going through because you don't have a purpose. The arbitrary nature of death isn't what is bothering you is it? It's the fact that you don't have a reason to fight, a reason to put everything on the line. Because as you have learned, whether you live or die is as much up to luck as it is to your skill. If you don't have a cause you are willing to sacrifice yourself for, then the arbitrary nature of this all makes training worthless. However, if you find something you do care about that in theory makes it all worth it? Make sense?" Cincinnatus explained. I had to admit it made a large amount of sense, so I nodded in agreement.

"Good, any questions?" He continued.

"Yeah, so what should I do?" I asked.

"Search for something that you want to protect or fight for" He replied.

"So I make my purpose right now to be finding a purpose to fight for?" I reiterated.

"Essentially." He acknowledged. I had to admit it made perfect sense, make my goal right now to be finding a better goal.

"That answers my question, so where will I be fighting tonight?" I asked.

"No where, you're taking a break. Sweet dreams" Cincinnatus said as the world around me began to melt away and I fell into unconsciousness.

I slept late. Our tent group had been given a duty free day. Furianus and Cato verbally sparred. Muscius listened and chimed in every so often, and I slept. I spent most of the day in the tent, only coming out for food and water. It was only when the sun began to fall behind the hills that my rest was disturbed.

"Caius wake up" I snapped awake to the orders of Arminus.

"Whazzat?" I groggily answered.

"The legate wishes to meet with us, get up now" He informed. It took my brain a second to figure out what he was saying before I shot up. I got myself ready quickly and exited the tent to find everyone waiting for me. We all walked to the legate's tent where Jiraiya and the legate were already in conversation. The legate turned to face us as we entered the tent.

"Perfect timing, now that I have you all here I have several things I wish to discuss. First off, good job on your scouting mission. I have reread all the notes that you collected and they have been extremely reports contained more information than the other groups combined managed to gather. This will be of great use to ensure the safety and integration of ourselves into the local society. However, this is not the only reason why I called all of you here. Arminus you are aware that your four pupils all seem to have access to skills that were unthinkable to us before we ended up in this world?" The legate asked.

"Yes sir" Arminus responded.

"Good, because it is the topic of these skills for which I wish to discuss with all of you. It has been made clear to me that to hone these skills would require a lot of training. However, we Romans do not have the knowledge to do so. This means that the potential of your pupils would go to waste if not trained properly. However, we have allies who could unlock the potential of your pupils, the Hidden Leaf Village." The legates eyes focus on all of us apprentices.

"You all will be trained by the Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. You will serve both them and Rome. You will form the shield and sword that will protect Rome against the enemies in this new world." He trailed off and his eyes focused on all of us. I was shocked. We were going to be trained to be ninja. We were going to be returning to the Leaf Village and becoming ninja. The legate continued.

"You will return to Leaf Village and be enrolled in the academy there, you will pass with excellent scores, and then you will serve both the Leaf and Rome. Do I make myself clear?" He finished with a question.

"Yes Sir!" We all responded with a yell.

"Good. You all will leave tomorrow. Arminus you shall accompany them and continued to be their caretaker. You will also serve as the liaison between the Leaf and Rome. Our two peoples are natural allies since we both serve the Land of Fire, therefore we must do our best to ensure our two peoples can cooperate and communicate effectively. You all shall be the forefront of the defence for the children of Rome. Serve Rome well. That is all. Arminus stay behind. The rest of you are all dismissed." The legate finished his speech. We all began to get up, but then Jiraiya started talking.

"Boys, we will be leaving at dawn so I would suggest you all get a good night's sleep." He then turned back towards the legate who was already talking with Arminus. The rest of us all left the tent and began to walk back towards our site.

"I can't believe it! We are going to become legit ninja. " Furianus was the first one to talk.

"It's crazy" I added.

"Definitely, although we should put our all into this." Cato added.

"Yeah whatever, hey who do you think will be the strongest out of all us?" Furianus asked.

"Not you, that's for sure" Cato jabbed.

"Oh and you think you have a better chance? We all know that I'm the strongest out of all us" Furianus said while flexing his muscles.

"Ya wanna bet?" I challenged.

"Yeah I do, plus if I'm stronger than you then I'm definitely stronger than you pretty boy" Furianus pointed to Musicus.

"Muscius back up me, aren't I stronger than Caius?" Cato asked.

"No comment" Muscius responded.

"Alright in that case I propose a 3 way arm wrestling contest when we get back, also last one there cleans the pots!" Cato said before he took off towards the tent.

"Fuck you!" Furianus and I yelled in unison as we chased after him.

Muscius ended up cleaning the pots, although it wasn't due to lack of speed rather that he just walked. In our arm wrestling contest I beat Furianus who beat Cato who beat me. We argued for a good while before Arminus came back told us to shut up and go to bed. I fell asleep quickly and awoke in my mindscape.

"Alright so what am I doing tonight?" I asked Cincinnatus.

"You will be going to a training field where you will learn archery, javelin throwing, and knife throwing. Then you will have a class on human anatomy and then there will be one extra thing at the end, but that's a secret for now. Have fun" He said as I was transported to a grassy field.

"Something extra? Interesting" I thought before I got to work.

I had just finished the lesson on the integumentary system. The teacher disappeared and I was left in the usual open air classroom that I had mentally constructed for lessons.

"Excellent your done. So now I will be introducing a new aspect to your training cultural studies. There is a very very miniscule and slight chance that there is way back home, so you will need to study the culture of the old world so in the case of you returning you will be able to act as an emissary." Cincinnatus said

"Okay so does that mean I will be learning languages or customs?" I asked.

"No, you will be exploring the arts of the old world. This will give you a perspective into their cultures that is not gained by studying it in the classroom. Anyway off you go," He snapped his fingers before I could protest and I found myself sitting in a chair facing a screen. I was in a theater. I had been in one before when one of my physics when I was shown a video of how stars formed in space.

A roaring lion appeared on the screen faded out and I read the text. "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents…. The Wizard of Oz"

When Dorothy woke up and the credits began to roll I found myself annoyed at how the nice witch could have just told Dorothy at the beginning all she needed to do was to tap the heels and wish instead of telling her that at the end. I woke up.

"Caius get up!" I woke up to see Furianus shaking me awake. I stared at him.

"Yep, you're definitely the scarecrow." I said in a matter of fact tone.

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it" I said as I blinked the sleep out of my eyes. I quickly packed. We had a light breakfast and all met up at the front gates. Jiraiya was already at the gate. The legate was there to send us off.

"You all are performing an indispensable job for Rome. Good luck and safe travels." The legate turned away after his short speech and walked away.

"Alright let's get going, we have a long walk ahead of us." With those short words Jiraiya started walking at quick pace. We all scrambled to keep up as he burned trail. We walked at an almost jogging pace for half the day before he called for a stop.

I dropped to the ground panting. Sweat covered my head and my shoulders ached from carrying the pack that held the scroll along with extra supplies we had been given. The rest weren't much different, even Arminus looked tired.

"You guys must be out of shape if that short walk has tired you out" Jiraiya said as he stood over us. He didn't even look winded.

"What are your chakra reserves at?" Jiraiya asked.

"I have a full supply" Muscius responded in between breaths.

"Same here" I added.

"I didn't use any so I'm full" Furianus wheezed out.

"Wait, did you kids not use any chakra to augment your legs during that entire walk?" Jiraiya asked a bit of shock in his voice was evident.

"Were we supposed to?" Cato asked. Jiraiya thought for a moment and then chuckled to himself.

"I guess not. I keep forgetting that you guys don't have normal chakra systems. Next time as we walk, try and put a small amount of chakra into your muscles as you walk. I guarantee you'll get better mileage."

"What do you mean by normal chakra systems Master Jiraiya?" Cato asked.

"I'll tell ya if you can keep up with me. Arminus is it okay if I work these kids a bit?" Jiraiya asked.

"Go ahead Master Jiraiya" Arminus responded.

"Good, there is a town 10 miles further down the path. If you can't keep up with me then I'll have you do 300 push ups." Jiraiya said.

"300! We couldn't do that even if we were fresh!" I yelled.

"Well don't fall behind. Arminus just follow us, I'll double back once we get there. Get up kiddos" Jiraiya said.

My muscles felt as if they had been drained empty. When Jiraiya started off at a jogging pace I considered just walking and doing the 300 push ups, but then I saw Furianus keeping up with him. Cato and Muscius weren't far behind.

"Fuck me" I moaned before I willed my muscles to move. Left foot in front of the right foot. I soon found myself at a jogging pace. I was managing to pull the pace.

I then began to push a bit of chakra into my muscles and the incredible happened. All the exhaustion that had been weighing down my legs vanished. They felt fresh! I picked up the pace since now Jiraiya was in a full sprint.

What was probably happening was that chakra would be able to first off get rid of the lactic acid that would build up in strenuous exercise while also it would be able to act as a stand in for ATP which would be consumed at a smaller rate so the need for ATP and thus the need for oxygen would decrease to point where ATP could build up. This essentially made chakra a way to keep up stamina, while also increasing the power and twitch speed of muscles. It made the superhuman possible.

We all began to speed ahead of Jiraiya. Every minute I burned approximately 2% of my chakra reserves. That meant I could go approximately 50 minutes. The average running speed is about 15 miles per hour so I could get about 13 miles, but that would completely depleted my reserves. That was an unacceptable time limit, most of the battle I had fought lasted from several hours to a whole day. I would have to stretch my supply.

The limiting factor in the body was oxygen intake and ATP usage. Muscle fibers use ATP to move, ATP is generated by mitochondria using Aerobic Respiration. This requires glucose and oxygen, however in strenuous exercise the body can't provide enough oxygen to make ATP so mitochondria instead use a different process called anaerobic respiration which produces 16 times less ATP and also produces lactic acid which causes cramps.

So what I could do was instead of using a constant supply of chakra was to use it in bursts to get rid of the painful lactic acid and use the chakra as a replacement for ATP which would mean that if no ATP was available the mitochondria the muscle fibers would use chakra instead. That would give enough time for oxygen to build up so that the aerobic process would occur. Basically, I would use chakra in bursts as a replacement so the body could build up a supply of energy the efficient way.

When I tested this out it reduced my chakra consumption to almost a .12% per minute that meant I could go for 800 minutes and cover approximately 200 miles at this pace on one tank of chakra, assuming I could stay awake that long and also negating the effects of wear and tear on the body.

Using my new approach I was able to sprint almost effortlessly the rest of the way. Infact all of us managed to outpace Jiraiya at his full sprint. We stopped at the town wall. It felt strange and intoxicating to be able to have this level of physical endurance.

"You kids sure learn fast" Jiraiya said.

"Of course! Is that all ya got old man?" Furianus challenged. The look in Jiraiya's eyes changed and I realised Furianus might have made a mistake.

"Ohoho you think just because you can outsprint an old man you're suddenly unstoppable? Well in that case all of you give me 500 pushes up right now." Jiraiya challenged.

"No problem!" Furianus said in a cheerful voice. I felt pretty good about myself, if I could run for 800 minutes then 500 push ups shouldn't be a problem. Cato and Muscius also looked confident as they dropped down started.

I quickly learned that the energy consumption levels of push ups and running were vastly different. Push ups burned energy at a level of 5% per minute for about 48 per minute going full speed. I burned about 53% of my chakra reserves doing the push ups.

"Not so smug are ya kids now?" Jiraiya said with a smug grin. While we had been doing the push ups Jiraiya had doubled back gotten Arminus and carried him here.

"No Master Jiraiya" Cato said before Furianus could go shoot his mouth off again.

"Good, now that we are here at town you should check into the inn and rest. We will be training again tonight after dinner. I have to run some errands." He turned and started walking away.

"What about my question?" Cato asked.

"Oh yeah, I'll tell explain tonight" Jiraiya said as he continued to walk away.

"Damn old bastard makes us run, then makes us do the push ups anyway. Then doesn't even answer a simple question." Furianus muttered.

"He made us do the push ups because your dumbass challenged him!" I yelled at him.

"Yeah well…" Furianus just trailed off. "So anyway, anyone know where to get some good grub?"

"Don't change the subject!" I admonished. Cato started to insult Furianus and he started to argue back with him.

"QUIET!" Arminus yelled shutting us up. "We need to get checked in at the inn and then we will be learning more principles of design rather than getting some 'good grub'" Arminus pronounced 'good grub' in a sarcastic tone. My stomach growled.

We hadn't had a lesson from Arminus in a while with all the chaos that we had been caught up. Now he was determined to make up all the lost time, that meant he didn't go easy on us. For four straight hours we had every single detail about soil strength, flooding and foundation construction drilled into our heads. It seemed like pointless suffering to me, I mean we were now going to become great warriors. What was the point of us learning how to build things if all we were going to do was fight.

It was around dinner time, but Jiraiya hadn't shown up yet. So being the rebellious little shit he was Furianus decided we ought to go hunting for the old man. Cato and Muscius refused both preferring to relax in the room. I also was a rebellious little shit so I joined Furianus in his search for the old man. We had search the whole town top to bottom and considered giving up before we heard a giggling nearby.

"You hear that?" I asked.

"Sounds like him, over there" Furianus pointed towards an alleyway. We scampered over there, but we saw a sight that neither of us could have predicted. Jiraiya was there staring through a hole in a wall, giggling and writing. He was peeping at women in the baths. He had cultivate a persona of extreme professionalism and skill, but it was all shattered in that instant. He looked like a dumbass. He paid us no mind.

I cleared my throat.

"Excuse me Peeping Tutor?" I said. He ignored me.

"EXCUSE ME PEEPING TUTOR?" I raised my voice this time.

"Ehh what? Oh it's you kids keep it down for a second I'm doing research" He said in dismissive tone before returning to his peeping and writing. Yep he was a definite dumbass.

"Move over I wanna have a look" Furianus poked Jiraiya.

"Ohohoho, we a man of fine taste in the making. Go ahead my boy" Jiraiya side stepped with a smile. Furianus put his eye up to the hole and he started to ogle.

"Unfucking believable, you people are just real pieces of work" I said in near disbelief.

"You just lack a taste for the finer things in life" Furianus shot back. I sighed. The two stayed there taking turns before getting bored of it after 10 minutes.

Jiraiya cleared his throat. "You will keep this quiet, won't you? It wouldn't do anyone any good if the Hokage found out about this I think we can all agree on that hahaha"He let out almost a pained laugh. I almost said yes, but then my sense told me there was a chance for profit in this.

"Of course it wouldn't do anyone any good, which is why you will give us extra lessons in the night and after we return to the Leaf Village." I said with a shit eating grin.

"Are you blackmailing me?!" He asked in shock.

"Think of it as a beneficial business relationship, you get to do your research we get more lessons so we can advance quicker" I responded.

"How will you know that I'm actually giving you extra lessons and not ones that I already planned to give." He shot back. This was the clincher I would have to nail this response. I walked up to him and moved my face as close to his as I could.

"Convince me this deal is worth my time or we will have to terminate the contract" I said in the most neutral tone I could muster.

"Your one evil kid" He responded.

"It's just business my friend. Now we have some dinner to eat and two lessons to do." I said as I turned and walked away.

"Your friend is a real buzz kill ain't he?" Jiraiya whispered to Furianus in a not so quiet tone.

"Totally, he's always been this way. Fun and Caius is the definition of an oxymoron." Furianus whispered back. I sighed. It was going to be a long dinner.

It was a long and boring dinner. The sun had fallen and we were in a grass clearing. Jiraiya led us out to a clearing where he then proceeded to have us do more push ups, pull ups and about any other form of physical training. He then dismissed us to bed. I was in the of my usual nighttime mental fighting when I was shaken awake.

"Wake up kid." Jiraiya whispered.

"Huh?" I mumbled in a daze of confusion.

"You asked for extra lessons kid and I am a man of my word" He posed dramatically. "Head down to the lobby, that is where we shall begin our lessons" He said before he left the room. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and headed to the lobby. The rest of my friends were already waiting there.

"Caius what's this about?" Cato came up to me and asked as I walked into the lobby. Before I could respond Jiraiya cut in.

"Caius begged and pleaded with me for more lessons and being a wise and benevolent ninja I decided to spare a bit of my valuable time," He said in a condescending tone. Cato and Muscius both gave me a almost pathetic look. That old man sure was a rat bastard. I mumbled a denial.

"Alright take a seat kids I will dispel some of my sagely wisdom and teach you all what skills you need to be a ninja" Jiraiya said.

True to his word he did have a lot of wisdom. He meticulously went through and explain Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu. He went over basic chakra theory and more advanced chakra theory. He detailed every single hand seal which we all attempted to replicate, but our untrained fingers failed spectacularly in creating the detailed seals. He went over how chakra can have a shape transformation and a nature transformation. It was all really interesting. But one item really caught my attention.

"Nature and Shape transformations can be done in a person or they can be performed by a seal much like how your sealing scroll works. However at your level you won't need to worry about that moving on I'd like to focus on kenj-" I cut him off mid explanation. This sounded interesting, I had always wondered how my scroll worked anyway.

"Wait how do the sealing scrolls work?" I asked.

"Seals or Fuinjutsu is the art of using seals on paper or other mediums to perform tasks. It's an extremely complicated field that not many shinobi learn." Jiraiya began to explain but I cut him off again.

"Can you teach us how to do it?" I asked.

"Teach you guys?" He said with almost a laugh. "Kid, there are ninja who have decades of experience with chakra and seals give them headaches. What makes you think you guys can pick it up?" He ridiculed.

"It couldn't hurt to try" Cato added.

"Yeah, Master Jiraiya would you please please teach us this extremely awesome and very practical skill? I mean you're probably a master of it so I would only want to learn from your vast wisdom " Furianus asked in his teacher's pet voice.

"Why yes I am a master of seals" Jiraiya answered in a very pleased voice. "Alright fine, I'll give you kids an introductory lesson tomorrow night. But now it's bed time for you kiddos, we're going to have a long day of travel tomorrow. So get some rest" He shooed us back to bed. As I sat in bed I tried to process the vast amount of change that had happened to my life.

I was going to become a real ninja! I had a kind of purpose and isn't that what I had needed? I now had a purpose. It had only taken me getting thrown out of our original universe to some alternate one.

I looked around my room. This inn only had single rooms and Arminus had forgone his usual frugality and we had all gotten our own rooms. It suddenly struck me, this was the first time in very long time that I had a room to myself.

One thought that I had banished from my heads by force returned in force. One that I had tried to keep held down with all the mental might I had. One that I had fooled myself into thinking I'd never think about or get me down. I tried to keep it away, but now that I had solitude the shame that had aided in the repression disappeared.

I'd never see my parents or my brothers or my sisters ever again. They were all dead having died probably years ago. All my friends from home, the nice shopkeeper who gave me free bread, and the old man who told us stories of his campaigns in the legion were dead, all dead. I might be someplace where I had purpose now, but it had come at the cost of almost all the people I had cared about, all the people who I had grown up with, all the people who I had loved.

Tears began to form in my eyes as I tried to banish them away. Real Roman men didn't cry, they were always strong and stoic even in the face of death. But I wasn't a Roman man, I was a boy who had lost everything.

It was not a restful night.

Authors Notes: Yay Biology! Its really hard to try and make the laws of Physics as we know them work with Chakra, but I"ll try my best. I want to know how I'm doing with characterization and conversation. Anyway, thank you for reading. Reviews always encourage me to write faster. And hopefully this won't turn into another shitty OC story, although it could already be at that point.