Well, I died.
To be honest, thats all I could say. I didn't intend to die. I didn't want to die. But I did. How you may not be wondering? Well my parents were involved in some... shady stuff to say the least when I had lung cancer which I just barely beat. Ironically enough it wasn't me who smoked. It was my parents. Anyways, due to the shady stuff my parents were involved in someone came to our house to collect the debt that they owed.
Naturally, it ended up in me being shot in the head with a pistol. No minute long dramatic deaths, no extended goodbyes, Not even a last word. Just a brief second of reflection before a quick, painless death. I didn't get the chance to reflect upon much. Mainly how I didn't die from an accident, from something stupid like choking, not even from my lung cancer. But from a murder. Five long and painful years of fighting cancer only for my life to be ended with a pull of a trigger. I could have gotten out of the way too if I was able to move well. But I still wasn't 100% recovered.
It was funny in a way.
I was in a struggle for years with the only things keeping me company for most of my time being Anime, Fanfics, and Doctors and Nurses since my parents were busy trying to make money to keep me alive. It didn't help knowing that I was a burden to everyone I knew.
That got to a guy.
Even now, wherever I was without a body, I still felt a dull stabbing pain telling me I am a burden. If I just didn't exist than my parents wouldn't need to try and keep me from dying to cancer. They wouldn't need to throw their lives away for me, a useless teenager who's spent a majority of his life watching anime and rotting in rooms. I didn't even learn anything cool like using a weapon. The most I can say is I became a dollar store magician.
If I didn't exist then my parents wouldn't have to mourn me. They wouldn't have to probably die to the Mafia. They wouldn't have to be in pain due to me. My minimal friends on discord wouldn't need to be wondering where I was.
I knew though that it wasn't worth it to be having a pity party. I already had one for the last five years. But still... I still felt horrible for causing such pain to the people in my life. I deserved to be wherever I was now. Speaking of that. I had no idea where I was...
It wasn't what I expected heaven, hell, or even purgatory to be. It was dark but not really, I couldn't feel anything, move anything, or sense anything. I was dead so that was to be expected but... Seriously where was the fire I knew I should be seeing? Maybe this is whats after death for people like me? People who should never have existed. People where are a waste of space that never will do anything or never did anything in their entire lives.
People without a purpose.
If this was that place then... I didn't know how to feel. Complete sensory deprivation would basically be eternal torture... Did I deserve that though? Maybe I did. maybe I didn't. I would never know. A waste of space I may have been but I was never a genocidal artist.
Maybe this was the waiting room for hell?
To soften up people before they go to hell?
Perhaps this where the soul rots?
I didn't know when. But I had a hunch I would find an answer... Maybe then I could ask whomever met me there a question... Something I always wanted to know...
[Welcome, Chosen one]
I felt my eyes open... 'What was that?' I saw a lot of light. 'My eye's aren't used to this stuff...' Eventually I managed to see my surroundings. I appeared to be at a school of some sort. I saw a bunch of children and a man infront of us, standing... He appeared to get ready to speak. He was tall, had black hair, and his eyes were black. Like all black... 'Okay this is weird.' Honestly... This wasn't what I expected.
Reincarnation wasn't something anyone expected really. But then again, nobody expected dying and spending what was probably a thousand years being unable to do anything, feel, smell, hear, or see anything, or move... 'Wait a second!' I had legs! I could move around! 'Okay think about moving later. Ascertain your surroundings first.' Maybe the weird man would have the answers I needed. Most importantly, where and when the fuck was I?
It looked like there was alot of mist in the area... And a lot of these people did look really weird. Is aw a few people who looked like sharks... 'There is a possibility.' But if that was true then that'd mean... I didn't see anyone I recognised but I wasn't really looking that hard.
"Hello there student's." The man put on a warm smile... A comforting one. "Now is the time you all have been waiting for. Your bodies have properly grown and now can be subjected for the year long training we are going to be putting you through to prepare you for the world." Training? What did the man mean by that... It sounded rough from the tone of the man's voice. "Normally it would be two years but the war has been tough on Kirigakure." War... I was in a wa- Wiat did the man say Kirigakure?
'I think I recognise this dude... But barely...' No fucking way. 'I feel like the appropriate word for this scenario would be fuck.' That sounded fitting. Okay so it appeared that his reincarnation came with a caveat. 'Either the third or second shinobi war. This guy is the third Mizukage.' It could be the fourth as well. Just before Yagura was hopefully elected Mizukage... 'I'm royally screwed.'
I know how to throw a punch. But that's about it... 'And in wartime you probably can't back out of the academy.' Okay great. So pretty much he had no choice but to fight... 'I don't want to die again.' I probably didn't have parents to dissapoint but still. I was... alone. Atleast I think I am.
"-Welcome to the Kirigakure Academy." The Sandaime Mizukage finished his speech. I didn't catch most of it but I think I got the gist. We were in a war. One that would likely be very bloody and messy and overall just not fun for me to be in... I really wish I spent all of those hours online looking up fighting techniques. "Your Sensei will explain to you what you will be doing for the next twelve months." With that the man seemingly teleported away.
'Maybe my skill in Sleight of hand will be useful here...' I wasn't going to freak out. That wouldn't be good. I didn't want to kill myself to get out of this mess because the void wasn't something i was fond of... I was going to survive. Maybe try and change canon... But for that to happen I need to actually be useful. But I probably didn't get any of the cool kekkei genkai from Kiri. My luck was terrible.
"Alright as the wonderful Sandaime said, I shall be explaining to you what we will be doing for the twelve months you will be training under me. My name does not matter and neither will yours. Because at the end of these twelve months, there will only be half of you left. The other half shall be dead." Well, this wasn't good.
'I saw a screen earlier...' A bit of hope filled my heart. In my time in the hospital I had read a lot of fanfiction. Usually, in the reincarnation genre the main character had a system to help them. Either nerfed or an extremely overpowered one. 'I expect the nerfed one if I do have one. Stats.'
A screen appeared and I felt a grin spread across my face. Before I read it though I heard my new Sensei begin again, "-ere will be three things you will be tested on today which will determine what we will have you work on for these twelve months. Chakra control. Chakra affinity. And proficiency with a weapon. Of course you will be taught Taijutsu and theory as well. First we will be doing the elemental affinity test." He grabbed what I assumed was a chakra paper. "Channel your chakra into these and then state what happened."
Suddenly a chakra paper was in my hands. 'How do I channel chakra?' I felt something warm inside of me but that was about it... I pulled on that feeling mentally and focused it into my hands. It worked and the Paper turned soggy. "The Paper turned soggy." I heard a few repeats of my words along with a few other variations.
[New Skill Unlocked: Water Manipulation lvl 1]
I glanced at the screen and grinned. This was all the confirmation I needed.
[Water manipulation; Lvl 1:
Increases control of Water according to level
Water jutsu are 1% more effective.
Water jutsu cost 1% less
Water jutsu are 1% less effective on user]
'I can work with this.' I then looked at the other screen I had. My grin only grew. I expected this but still.
[Name: Kukui Tanku
Age: 10
Title: None
Chakra: 50/50
Stamina: 50/50
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 6
Constitution: 5
Chakra: 5
Chakra control: C+]
'It appears that I was blessed with good chakra control.' That was wonderful. It'd be the key to my hopefully eventual greatness. My other stats were meh. I wonder why dexterity is a six though. Maybe it has something to do with my past life.
Our sensei nodded after everyone finished channeling their chakra into the paper. "Alright good. Everyone can channel chakra. Now, lets move onto the chakra control test."
To my surprise, I had the highest chakra control in the class. We did the leaf concentration exercise and I managed to get it down second try. Though I felt a bit exhausted after I was relatively fine still. 'Who knew it'd take 5 chakra points a second...' I needed to find a way to up my chakra count and fast.
'So, I'm in the Naruto world in Kirigakure likely in the third shinobi war. I have a nerfed gamer system, a year until a fight to the death, and I got good chakra control.' Was I forgetting anything? Oh yeah an Inventory. 'Why am I disappointed? I expected this.' Still seeing it hurt. My call for an inventory failed.
Okay, no inventory... That means no quests probably. So that was bad. But I had titles, stats, and I knew my name. Kukui Tanku. 'Okay... Survive. Thats all we can do.' I just had to hopefully get good enough within the year to survive a war and then hopefully screw over canon hard enough to where I won't have to one day meet Madara Uchiha. That was the goal.
For now though... I looked at the weapons infront of me. We were allowed to pick any weapon and try it out. If the weapon "didn't feel right" we'd pick another one. If we didn't find a weapon we liked then that was fine. Currently, the weirdest weapon was a hooked staff like weapon. Some shorter boy was currently wielding it and sparring with another boy who had a standard Katana. The short one appeared to be decent at his weapon already.
Currently, we were being supervised by a clone of our sensei to make sure none of us killed each other yet. He went off to do other things first. 'Maybe write lesson plans or something...' I looked ta my choice of weaponry. I could go for the massive cleaver infront of me and try to be Zabuza or I could go for something like the very obvious Nuibari look alike. But they didn't speak to me.
'...This one speaks to me.' I grabbed a dagger. Just barely bigger than the Kunai I figured out I had with me but lighter. Not for throwing but for stabbing. For tricks with the hand... 'Perfect with Sleight of hand.' I looked at the dagger in my hand and held it. 'I think I have an idea of how to use this.' This was normally used by rouges to kill people stealthily. 'Don't think about murder now. Think about survival.'
I looked at the shorter boy who just defeated the boy with the Katana who walked away in defeat. He then looked around, "Would anyone else be willing to spar with me?" I saw hesitation brew on the faces of everyone else here. The boy could help them get stronger though. Couldn't they see that?
'I can use him...' I saw his face before but I don't know where. He had purple eyes and very light brown hair... Maybe he was a filler character... He honestly looked like that Yukimaru kid from that one filler. 'He can help me become stronger.' I put on a friendly grin. I didn't want to use someone but alas, I wanted to survive. Besides, potential allies would be wonderful. "I'll spar with you."
Even if I failed It would be a learning experience. One I must exploit. And I was likely to fail. So I would have plenty of learning experiences. I would hopefully not have to face him in the death battle though. That would be rather unfortunate... I wasn't some super prodigy. I couldn't make that much progress in a year.
The boy's eyes lit up a bit. "Come at me then." He got into a defensive stance with his staff. "I want to try and be on the defensive." Okay this would still be a good learning experience then. Although I would love to learn to fight someone stronger when they were on the offense.
I nodded. "Alright then." I felt my legs begin to move. A glorious feeling. "I'll do my best!"
I honestly hoped I'd not lose too horribly. I prepared to clash with the brown haired boy.
*Clang!*
I looked at the mirror. I was in the bathroom of the academy. It had been roughly a day since I was reincarnated and this was the first time I actually got to see a mirror. 'It's weird...' I had brown hair and blue eyes. Just like real life... I'm wearing a long sleeved black shirt and some blue pants. Nothing really crazy. 'Its almost how I looked a few days ago...' I almost laughed. Of course my soul found a body to inhabit that looked like me.
'Well then. Nothing I'm not used too.' I had a long road ahead of me. Some conversation I heard confirmed when I was. The third shinobi war... It was a bit weird to think about to be honest. 'I'm alive...' I put a hand over my heart. I was on a bathroom break so I didn't have much time to really think.
I was in Kirigakure, the place I knew next to nothing about. Well I knew next to nothing about the time period. Other than this was the bloody mist. 'I'm in a world of murderers and theives in the worst place to be in at the time, I'm going to fight in a war in a year if I survive, and to survive I have to kill someone else.' I pushed back the disgust in my mind... I wasn't going to die here. I was useless in my past life... but maybe here I wouldn't be.
'To actually not be useless though I need to learn. Before I can screw over canon or attempt too I need power.' My spars with the Yukimaru look alike yesterday taught me a lot. Mainly I sucked at fighting. I was better than others since I could actually throw a punch but they were corrected quickly. Sensei was brutal with his training. We did a lot of physical conditioning and running yesterday. I actually had skills for them too.
[Physical conditioning lvl 2:
Increases the rate at which your body improves when training by 10%]
[Running lvl 2:
When activated increases speed by 10%
Cost: 9 stamina per second]
I was going to be in for a long year. And I kne that. It wasn't just a hunch either. 'He actully made lesson plans in an hour...' I sparred with the brown haired boy for nearly an hour and when sensei came back he had lesson plans. Not just that but an individual three page booket for each student on what they should work on. We were going to be worked to the bone.
Mine basically told me to go for the chakra control route. Once I mastered the leaf excercise(Which was level three already by the way) I would work on wall walking. Then water walking. Then Elemental manipulation. Whilst I was working on my chakra control I would pick one shinobi path to learn. Medical Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, or very precise Ninjutsu... I didn't exactly have high reserves so I was probably going to go for Genjutsu with a hint of Medical Ninjutsu.
Chakra blades would be exremely useful for someone like me. Nobody expects to die when they get punched once. Or to have their arm suddenly not work anymore. And with Genjutsu... Not a lot of people expected that. Sure I'd learn some ninjutsu... But still.
Jutsu and chakra in general were probably the only things that excited me. 'Speaking of... One of sensei's first lessons on chakra. I can't miss it.'
I left the bathroom.
[Chapter end]
A short chapter one but I fucking hate writing chapter one's so this honestly tracks... Honestly I didn't expect writing a kiri fic. Let alone one with less than 50 swears in chapter 1. There were three instances of the word fuck and one was in the AN. Excluding the last one of course. Anyways, Kukui's in the third war this time around. This time he's in an actual position to change a lot. Since the third war is pretty much where everything goes wrong Kukui can stop it.
I also have another story I'm working on for MHA. Shockingly enough its at chapter 2. I dunno if I'll ever continue it beyond chapter 2 but oh well. Figured I should share... Thats at least 3 active stories. I won't upload this fic until I get to chapter 9 this one so I'll have 8 chapters in the stockpile.
Anyways hopefully you enjoyed the chapter!