Exploiting Bugs

Chapter 9 – Get in loser

I managed to extricate myself from the table after around forty five minutes of eating and being grilled about any potential love interests, feeling considerably overstuffed. I wasn't sure if Chika was always like this, but I hoped that it was just her being excited at seeing me after having not done so for a while, and that she would calm down after some time. I considered returning to the training room, but thought that I may as well go and buy the weights sooner rather than later.

I made my way through the perilous group of trees that lay at the entrance to the compound with a little more ease this time. I still felt quite a bit of discomfort, but I was beginning to get used to the feeling by now, and managed to walk straight through without stopping or having a panic attack. I also didn't gain any more levels in the fear resistance skill, but I was sure that those would come eventually.

The streets were at the the peak of their midday business once I arrived at the centre of the village, with plenty of casual shoppers, and people taking breaks for lunch. The Higurashi ninja supply store, however, was empty. A small bell chimed as I pushed through to the door into the almost deserted shop, which prompted the rather strong looking man begind the counter to look up from the book that he had been reading. He seemed at a loss as to what to do for a moment, a small paperback held open in one hand, and a piece of gyoza pinched between the chopsticks he held in the other. He looked from one hand to the other a couple of times, before placing the book face down; which made me wince a little as I could almost feel the spine of the book begin to crease; and shoved the pieced of gyoza into his mouth, before standing up, wiping off his hands on the thick leather apron that he wore, and walking over to me with a wide grin on his face. As he approached, I really took in the size of the man. He was over six feet tall, but also with a wide frame and heavily muscled. If it weren't for the blinding smile he wore on his face he might've been quite intimidating.

"Good afternoon young man, are you looking for anything in particular today.".

I felt myself smiling back at him without even thinking about it, his jovial nature too infectious to resist.

"Yeah, I'm starting at the academy on monday and my Oji~san told me I was allowed to get some weight bands so long as they aren't heavier than half a kilogram each.".

The man looked me up and down with an appraising eye for a moment.

"Alright then, you're a little young, but you do look like you could handle some weights of that size, so long as you're careful. I can sell them to you, but you'll have to promise me that if your joints start to hurt, or if you get any sharp pain in your back, you'll take them off immediately and talk to one of your instructors at the academy about it.".

The man maintained the smile, but raised his eyebrows at me with a serious look as he waited for my reply.

"Yes sir.". I nodded quickly.

He put a large, meaty hand on my shoulder, and steered me over towards a corner of the shop where there were a selection of weighted bands to choose from, the smallest, I noted, weighing only half a kilogram each.

"So all of our bands come in black, but if you want we can put some lovely colours on if you don't mind paying slightly more and waiting for a day. Also will you be wanting just two bands or four? It's totally okay to just train your arms to start out with, but the bands can also go round your ankles to help train your legs too.".

I thought for a moment, checking the price. Each band cost five hundred ryo, so I'd be spending twenty percent of my weekly budget in one shot, but I didn't want to take any half measures. If I was only allowed the lightest of weights, I should get all four to make the most of my training.

"I'll take four please, and just the basic black will be fine.".

The man grabbed four of the bands from the shelf, and walked back over towards the counter. As he reached for a small bag to put them in, I decided to ask him what had been bugging me since I walked in.

"Sorry, if you don't mind me asking, why is there nobody else here? The new year at the academy is starting on monday, I would've thought there would be plenty of people coming to get supplies today after finding out they had passed the entrance exam.".

He smiled kindly at me as he folded over the top of the bag.

"Ah don't worry about offending me, its not a sore subject at all. This is a real ninja supply store, and I only stock the best quality goods, although I'm a little biased, I make half of the stuff myself. Most people get their children's gear from general stores or buy training gear directly from the academy. Its mainly real ninja who come to me to meet their needs. The only reason I stock stuff for kids like you is the clans like to buy equipment here for their children.".

I nodded, that made a lot of sense. From the sounds of things he made his money from quality rather than quantity, and the slower business would give him plenty of time to craft his own stock, which explained the leather apron he was wearing. I pulled two thousand ryo from my envelope and handed it over in exchange for the bag that he proferred to me.

"Well, thanks for you help, its Higurashi~san right?".

"Aye, Higurashi Katashi at your service. You're more than welcome to come back if you need anything else, I'll see you kitted out right.".

I smiled and waved at him over my shoulder as I pushed my way out of the door.

Spending so much of my budget made my next task clear to me; I needed to go and figure out what I had in my apartment and work out exactly how far my money would go. Training weights were a good start, but I wanted to make sure I had decent training clothes too if I had the money for it. Getting some of my own kunai and shuriken wouldn't be a bad idea either, as currently I'd be limited to being able to practice at the Aburame compound or perhaps at the academy. Not that going to the compound was a bad thing, but having the option to train elsewhere would be good just in case.

As I got back through my front door, I threw my bag onto my bed before going to take stock of my wardrobe. From the first glance I had taken in it before, I already knew what my clothes mainly consisted of. Upon closer inspection, aside from what I was already wearing, I had six more sets of cargo pants, t-shirts, and jackets, in an only slightly varying spectrum of midnight blue, to grey, to black. It struck me as a little odd that I would have the same number of jackets as t-shirts, but that would prove quite useful, as with intense training I would probably want to wash the jackets after a single use too. I also found a spare pair of open toed sandals like the ones I was currently wearing at the bottom of the wardrobe. There was a small drawer that held a jumbled mess of socks and underwear, but it looked like more than enough to last me. I'd likely have to keep washing my clothes quite regularly, but the kitchenette had a washing machine and my radiator had plenty of space to hang clothes over so that shouldn't be an issue.

Next on the list was the fridge and cupboards. I'd glanced in the fridge earlier, and apart from a now almost empty box of eggs, there were a few vegetables, some portions of chicken, and a half drunk bottle of milk. The cupboards were fairly bare, with only some cereal, and a few nutrition bars. All in all it was a rather frugal and boring diet for a six year old, but then again, I wasn't so sure of the prevalence of sweets and the like in this world. I knew that ice cream was a thing here, but I didn't actually have a freezer so it was easy to see why I didn't have any of that. It could also be that the old me would eat out a lot. That might not be realistic depending on budget, but I would have to go and look round some shops to see exactly how much my remaining eight thousand ryo would buy me. I didn't really know how much the weighted bands I had just purchased would be worth compared to other things, so there was no use speculating on that basis.

Before I left again in search of some kind of supermarket, I put my weights around my wrists and ankles. A half kilogram weight didn't really feel like much at first, but just walking around didn't move the weights very far from my torso, and over time I knew that my muscles would quickly begin to ache. Not to mention if I tried to do someting active like the taijutsu kata I had learned that morning, I'd probably be completely wiped out after a single run through.

It was only a short walk down the road to find a convenience store. Before I bought any supplies, I scoped out the prices, trying to decide how much money I would have left over. The stock was fairly simplistic, and unlike what I was used to from an utterly modernised society, but it had things like cup ramen, so it wasn't too far behind the time. As usual, I was having trouble placing where the exact technology level of the elemental nations lay, but I wouldn't complain about any comforts that I was able to enjoy. I did not, however, get any cup ramen or other ready meal style foods. I was unsure how widespread information about proper nutrition was here, but I should do my best to fuel my body with the best foods for my growth.

Having had a look through what was available, I grabbed one of the woven baskets that was available by the front of the store for gathering your shopping, and got to work collecting a week's worth of supplies. I got a large bag of rice, enough fruit for a couple of pieces a day, which was mainly made up of seven pears and then an assortment of others. I wasn't sure what grew around here and what might be low quality imported goods that had deterioted while travelling in a merchant's cart, so I may as well try a few things out initially. I also got more milk and eggs, which would be important sources of protein, along with plenty of chicken breasts. The red meat was more expensive, and would contain more fat also. There were less desireable parts of the chicken, like the thighs, available also at a slightly lower price, but out of convenience I preferred to spend a little extra to get something easier to prepare and to eat. For vegetables, I was unable to find potatoes, and so picked some turnips and radishes instead, as well as cabage and onions. I also looked for some cereal, but could only find relatively plain options that didn't quite take my fancy. I decided to replace cereal with some nutrition bars that I found for my breakfast option. They seemed to be made from some kind of grain, but they at least had fruit in to sweeten them up a little.

I managed to get all of that for a little over six thousand ryo, with the largest portion of that being spent on the meat. Looking at all the prices, meat seemed to be proportionally more expensive than I was used to, but it was a non negotiable source of protein and taste for me if I was going to start training myself into the ground. On my way back to my apartment, I stopped by a general supply store and spent seven hundred more ryo ona a strudy looking leather wallet to keep my money in, not wanting to carry it around in an already deteriorating envelope. With that I had barely over a thousand ryo left for the week, and decided I wouldn't spend any of it yet in case I realised there was something I really needed. The combination of the weights and the shopping I had bought really began to make my arms ache, but thankfully the return journey was not far, and I quickly got all of my supplies put away.

I still had much of the afternoon left ahead of me, and so now had to decide how best to train during that time. I could go back to the Aburame compound and start practicing my Shurikenjutsu again, but I suspected that Hideaki would be waiting for me there the following morning, and given the absolute difference in strength between us, thought it would be best to begin training up my stats as quickly as possible instead. Not to mention, there was some multitasking to be done. Even with my gradually returning memories from the body before I had awoken, I still didn't know much of the village, so I decided that I could start with a run. It would be a little more taxing now with the weights, but with no test to complete and no time limit, I could go at my own pace and stop for a rest if need be.

I left my apartment at a jog, taking the steps down to the ground floor two at a time before setting off in earnest once I reached flat ground. I decided to go to the main thoroughfare of the village, and then make my way in the opposite direction of the Hokage monument that towered above the village and towards the main gate. I set a decent pace, such that I wasn't getting really out of breath, one that I felt I could keep up for a while. For the first forty five seconds, I activated running, using up all of my stamina points. I felt it best to use them up right away to give them the longest possible time to recover. It raised my pace briefly, but then I dropped back as the skill stopped working. I drew a few odd glances as I went, but not too many. It was fairly obvious that I was training, and though most people would do so at a training ground, with so many ninja about it surely wouldn't be unheard of for some of them to go for a jog in the streets. Perhaps it was due to my weights increasing the difficulty of the exercise, but I managed to gain another level in the running skill just before my stamina ran out.

As I got towards the gate, I saw the familiar figures of Izumo and Kotetsu standing guard. It seems like they only had a little break from their regular duty to help manage the Academy entrance exam. I wasn't keen to head out of the village, actually I wasn't sure they would let an unaccompanied child just run out the gate past them, so I turned left and began to circle around the periphery of the streets. I knew if I continued in this direction, I would eventually reach the Aburame clan compound, but I had no idea what occupied the intervening area.

The relatively built up streets slowly began to thin out, and commercial buildings quickly turned into residential. The well maintained compacted dirt roads also gave way to loose dirt paths, which were also narrower than the main streets. Initially, there were buildings on both my left and my right, but after a while, the buldings on my right; towards the village wall, gave way to trees. Thankfully, with them not being a part of the Aburame compound, they shouldn't be absolutely infested with flying bugs. By the time the trees began to show up on my right hand side, I had earned a pair of notifications.

Due to your training, your strength has increased by 1

Due to your training, your constitution has increased by 1

The effort, however, had tired me out quite well, and I stopped to catch my breath, leaning against a nearby sign. I pulled up my stats to see my improvement.

Name: Aburame Taiki

Age: 6

Level: 2

Exp: 0/2000

HP: 55 (+11 p/h)

SP: 9/53 (+11 p/h)

CP: 120 (+24 p/h)

Str: 3

Dex: 3

Con: 4

Int: 11

Wis: 6

Cha: 4

Free Points: 5

Chakra Control: 20%

I was gladdened by my progress, and with the increase in my HP pool was a little more confident that Hideaki wouldn't accidentally kill me during our next 'spar'. As I caught my breath and my hearing wasn't distracted by the sound of my heart pumping at mach speed, my ears caught the sound of thudding and grunting off into the trees. I looked down at the sign I had been leaning against, which read 'Training Ground One'. With a shrug, and wanting an excuse to not start running again so soon, I made my way down the little path near the sign that led into the trees.

A/n: I know that most don't really care about the little details, but I had some fun researching what fruits and vegetables were indigenous to Japan. Also, with them being such a staple part of most people's diet, its easy to forget that large portions of the world did not have potatoes until the dutch brought them all around the world from Peru(?I think). Kinda sadge that I realised oats are not in fact indegenous to Japan though. Also, I'm aware that the geographaphical shape of the elemental nations more closely resembles China (Or at least china with japan attached via an isthmus, but I'm just going to be focussing on japanese culture and geography to use as a reference for the most part.

A part of me realised half way through this chapter that I felt like I've started writing a slice of life story. That is not what this is, don't worry, I'm just taking my time with world building and introducing characters, original and otherwise.

Finally, to the one most enlightened fellow who decided to weigh in on the matter of whether irregardless is a word. More educated people than you or I have had their say on this matter. I will say first, I was born in England, English is my first language, and I received a classical education from a school founded a mere 21 years after columbus got so famously lost on the way to india. While American english does consider irregardless to be 'non-standard' (according to both merriam webster and collins, and it does still appear in both), it is considered standard in british english (again see Collins or OED). If you want to find a dictionary that doesn't include it, then of the big ones you'd be looking at Chambers, but realistically how many people actually use Chambers barring those who write crosswords for the broadsheets? Further, I'm going to assume that you're american (based on context, but also because the vast majority of the audience is according to my traffic stats), and if you were to insist on referring to Chambers, you should know that Chambers is a dictionary for british english exclusively, rather than american. I do find it interesting that the above dictionaries do not concur on its first use. Both OED and Collins say the early 1910s, with OED's earliest evidence of usage being in 1912, whereas Merriam Webster says that the first known use was 1795 (Though its webpage does not cite a source for this). Still, thank you for your review irregardless of its veracity, it was quite a diverting fifteen minutes of fact checking.