Today was a big day. Not for any special reason like learning an S-rank jutsu or reaching lvl 50 in everything. No. Today was the day I decided to get competitive. Now everyday we did a few basic excorcises. Running a lap on a track. Doing physical conditioning excorcises. And Shurikenjutsu. It what we did every day with the occasional spar.

I was maintaining a position of about sixth behind Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. In that order. I was starting to get sick and tired of Kiba's constant boasting even though I tuned it out most of the time. I was relatively close to Shino and Hinata with Kiba being somewhat further ahead. Enough to where even if I pushed myself to the absolute limit and he was having a bad day, I'd still fail.

With running activated I could bridge that gap. Especially with it now giving me a forty percent boost. I'd now be faster than Hinata if just barely. I'd have to push myself to the absolute limit to beat Kiba though. I intended to do so today.

I was confident I could do it too. I had been training with Tenten for over a month and the damn slavedriver was brutal. It had expanded more from sparring, Kenjutsu, and Fuinjutsu to her forcing me to become stronger as she felt like my punches were rubber and I was slow.

Now though. I had a 14 dexterity so I was fast. Really fast. Not faster than Kiba. Or god forbid Sasuke and Naruto. But I was fast enough to where with runnings boost. I'd beat him. The only issue I had was time. I didn't have lots of it with Running. Sure it'd make a huge difference but I needed to conserve the boost. So I'd have to wait until we were almost done so my speed would remain consistent the entire time.

This was the Debut I'd take into the spotlight. I noticed people looking at me more than ever when I became sixth but soon that would change. I'd beat one of the better clan heirs at the very least today. Hopefully three of them. Then I was going to beat them in spars. Then I'd be able to beco- Oh yeah I was becoming really competitive... Oh well.

"Alright everyone. You know the drill. Get into place and then I'll countdown." Iruka's voice boomed to us as we exited the academy as we did everyday in the last five months. This time it was different though.

I grinned and started walking as confidently as I could toward the track. 'I'll win the war. I may not win the battle but I will win the war.' Speed was far more valuable in battle than strength. And in general really. So most of my training focused on speed. I wasn't going to be slow. I would be fast enough to go for the kill.

"Someone's cocky today. Think you can beat me, runt?" I looked over to my left. Kiba was there. He was always next to me. He was always there in front of me. It was just so infuriating, "Well it won't happen today or ever. You may have been getting better but you still don't compare to me." Akamaru barked in agreement.

I glanced forward. We were almost there. I then put my full attention back on Kiba, "Scared that you'll lose? I've been training for this day and I don't intend for it to go to waste." I hadn't really interacted much with anyone here in this world other than Tenten. I hated a lot of the people here. I didn't want to be here half the time in the academy. But out of all the people I hated here. Kiba was the closest one to me. The first obstacle I needed to beat. The greatest one too conveniently.

Kiba barked out a laugh, "Nah. We'll see if your training was good enough or if you are still a loser." He grinned as he said that last part. A challenge. My gaze turned harsher. Challenge accepted. Buddy didn't know what was coming.

We reached the track and everyone was in position. Everyone who was normally last was first and then the top ten was at the very back. This was so it'd be more fair to the kids who were slackers and to motivate them into trying even if just a bit.

"Alright class!" Iruka gathered our attention as we all looked at the man and then back to the track. "You all can go in; Three... two... one... Now!" Iruka's declaration set everyone off running.

Quickly all the usual suspects came out on top.

Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba, Hinata, and then Shino.

I was just barely behind Shino. 'Not yet.' It was still the start of the track. I couldn't give in to my desire to use running now to get ahead. I also wouldn't kill my legs yet. I needed to save as much stamina as I could for when we reached... I'd say around 70% into the track.

I am confident I can at least tie with Shino normally. If I killed my legs and went beyond I could get ahead of him. But I'd use running before that point. I wanted to be as fast as possible to beat Kiba. I had to beat Kiba.

Around halfway through the track I began gaining on Shino who seemed to be tiring. 'Good. I have better constitution. We'll tie somewhere around the 60% point...' I mentally noted to level up Constitution a bit more and I continued onwards.

As we approached the 60% point and I finally caught up to Shino, Kiba turned around. "You'll never catch up runt!" He laughed to himself before turning back around. Bastard wouldn't get away with this.

'Almost...' We were almost at the Seventy Percent point. This would be the time to turn the tides in my life. Nobody would suspect the orphan kid to be strong or fast like a clan kid in this day and age. This was something that would probably not get me noticed much but this would mean I would become noticed eventually. I wanted that. I wanted to have the attention of everyone. I wanted to show everyone that I could be wrong too. I owed this to Kukui Tanku at the very least. 'Now! Running!'

I began to pick up the pace right away. Suddenly I was ahead of Hinata. I heard a surprise gasp from the girl as I blazed ahead of her. 'Remember. For the old Kukui Tanku. And for my ego at the very least. And to prove to myself I can be stronger than them!' My grin must have looked manic as I laughed and gained speed, "WHAT DID YOU SAY EARLIER, KIBA?" I was sixteen and shouting at a child. No I didn't care, "I'LL NEVER CATCH UP?" I laughed again, "LOOK AT ME NOW!"

Okay I was having too much fun with this. I needed to tone back the insane laughter of ecstasy now.

Kiba let out a growl as I managed to catch up to him, "Your speed boost won't last for long runt. I don't know where you pulled that speed from but It won't last longer than me!" Kiba began running full tilt. Naruto and Sasuke both looked back at this point.

'Your next.' I looked at Naruto. I then looked back at Kiba and began running full tilt as well. There wasn't much track left. I could win this. I just had to push through more. I grit my teeth as I ran faster than I ever had before.

'90%' I began to fall just slightly behind. 'Not like this!' I began running faster. 'Not yet!' Kiba began falling behind then at 95%. 'Yes!' Suddenly in a second wind, Kiba began to come back. 'Damnit!'

The finishline was there. I just had to cross it before him. 'NOW!' I put my first foot in front of the finish line and jumped when I noticed Kiba barely passing me.

"Kukui and Kiba tie for third!" Iruka said with a twinge of pride in his voice. I collapsed onto the nice soft dirt.

I looked over at Kiba who began arguing with Iruka. 'I still lost... But... I at least got third. Even if it was a tie. I'll take it and do better next time.' I likely wouldn't continue to use running or to kill my legs for this. I wanted to do this legitimately. But I could still do this. I did do it.

[Quest complete: Get third in the track race!

Rewards: +1 Dexterity +2 Running lvls]

'Thanks Game...'

Ninjutsu class was here and I am pumped for it. Our Sensei still hasn't arrived yet but that was okay. I could sense her just outside of the door. Waiting. It was hopefully not going to be a long wait but I was in this for the long haul. This class was literally vital to my plans being done before graduation.

I wonder what we'd learn first. Likely our element and how to use it. I hope I have a fire, lightning, or earth element as they're the best ones to have for my ideas at the moment. Water would be too situational and wind would be too hard to use unless it was for gale palms an great breakthroughs.

Currently, I only saw two recognizable faces... Naruto and Sasuke. Shocker I know. And unfortunately, they were both seated next to me and glaring at each other. Great. I was in the middle of this mess but it was fine... Now they were looking at me funnily.

I suppose my running trick earlier worked. That was nice to know but it seemed they care about glaring at each other more than looking at me. Good. I really hoped our Sensei would arrive soon to get them to focus on something else though. I also wanted to learn my element really badly. 'I hope its earth. It's the most versitle in my eyes and there's so much I can do with it.' Lightning was my second pick but I could make fire work too.

Suddenly the door burst open.

A figure burst through the hallway and flipped onto the desk with smoke concealing their appearance. 'Don't tell me...' I had an idea of who this could be and the thought was rather... horrifying. The smoke cleared and revealed a brown haired woman who looked to be in her twenties wearing what could only be described as an "Edgelord outfit but bright." Which made me calm down. I loved being wrong.

"That was awesome!" To nobody's surprise, it was Naruto who said that, "Was that a jutsu? Can I learn it?" Sometimes I forgot Naruto was an idiot in everything but battle and stealth.

The woman chuckled, "Sure why not! Although that wasn't a ninjutsu which is the purpose of this class." She then jumped off of the desk, "We're about to learn some real dangerous shit and its gonna be fun!" Who let this woman be a teacher? Oh well not my problem. She then appeared to calm down a bit, "Now before we get onto the exciting stuff which is gonna be way far into the future we gotta get a few boring things out of the way." Introductions. Great.

Suddenly there was a sheet of paper on our desks and we all looked down. 'Chakra litmus paper... So no introductions at all huh?' Sensei wasn't the type to introduce themselves to their students it seemed. Fine by me. I didn't know her and that as okay.

"So the first thing we're gonna be doing is testing your elemental affinity and I'll be giving you a choice for what you want your next couple of weeks to be like in this class. Channel some chakra into your paper and we'll see what affinities you have," The woman sat on her desk and lazily took out some onigiri, "You all have one main affinity and one sub affinity usually you can learn. Normally the strength of your first affinity is a sign of how easily you can learn it and move on to the next one but we won't be doing that in this class. Now watch and be amazed by your chakra litmus paper!"

She then perked up as if she forgot something, "Oh yeah before you do so you should know what everything does. If your paper burns to ash you have fire, if it crumples its lightning, if it turns to dirt its earth, if it gets wet its water, and if it cuts in half its wind. The stronger the effect means your affinity is stronger than usual so watch out for that!" With that everyone grabbed ther papers.

I looked at Naruto and Sasuke's papers. Sasuke's crumpled into a tiny ball and Naruto's was cut into what seemed to be a million pieces. 'Well here goes nothing.' I looked down at my paper and channeled some of my chakra into it.

It turned to ash. A dark black ash that had black wisps coming off of it. 'Holy shit... I can work with this.' Fire wasn't ideal but... I could always learn earth.

"Wow the three of you seem to have really powerful affinities. Specifically you brat," She pointed to me when she said that as she looked at me, Naruto, and Sasuke, "There was a whole bunch of black wisps coming off of that paper. Your affinity must be very powerful then." That also meant I was gonna have an easy time learning my element... I nearly felt like jumping for joy at that.

My life would be a million times easier!

She then fnished her onigiri and threw the wrapper down, "Alright I see one wind, three lightning, seven earth, four water, and the rest fire with three hyper powerful affinities. Nice. Its gonna be a fun year," She then pulled a leaf out of her pocket and made it burn to ash, "Now thats option one. Remember when I said I'd be giving you a choice? Well this is the first one. Will you learn how to control your affinity or would you like to learn a jutsu? Raise your hand if you'd like to learn a jutsu!"

I saw everyone but me and shockingly Sasuke raised their hand, "All but two of you huh... Well this is gonna be tough for you all. Alrighty then," Suddenly there was a scroll on the desks of everone, "You two," She looked to me and Sasuke, "There contains the steps for the first stage of Fire and Lightning manipulation respectively. Figure that out and you'll get a jutsu,"

She then looked at everyone else like a predator, "As you the rest of you, Your all gonna learn your jutsu and then we're gonna cram a bunch of theory down your throats as for why learning elemental jutsu without learning the element first is stupid,"

I very much didn't regret my choice.

Yes the collective groans that came from everyone else at realising this was a trick question was part of that.

[Fire manipulation lvl 1

Increases control of Fire according to lvl

Fire jutsu use 1% less chakra

User is 1% more resistant to fire

Fire jutsu are 1% more effective]

I looked at the slightly burnt leaf with pride. We hadn't really done much in the academy today. The only eventful thing was in ninjutsu class where me and Sasuke began learning how to use our element. Why didn't he go for a jutsu? I'd never know. Fuinjutsu class had like five people in it which was more than I expected. We were all adapted to skill level and shockingly I was the furthest ahead.

Other than that and the track today nothing eventful happened so I relayed the events of the day to Tenten as I reached the area of the forest I claimed a few months ago. I was practicing fire manipulation as well. If I could get it to level 100 then I'd basically be a fire god. Well even more so than I had planned.

"So does this mean we can start working on the elemental seal? I know the theory behind it so we should be able to do it. But do you think your up to it?" Tenten was as always a lifesaver that could read my thoughts, "I know what your thinking. No setting yourself on fire mi battle is stupid even if you'd be immune to it."

In the deepest depths of my mind I sighed. 'Nobody will know.' I grinned, "Sure! It wouldn't hurt to try it now." The elemental seal was only a third of what was needed for my plan. The other seals needed were an output seal and a reshaping seal. Both are commonly used in Suna but Konoha also had notes on them.

Tenten grinned, "Well good because we're doing it anyway to give you a break. I'm sure you don't like getting beat up," One day I'd have my revenge, "Now what do you know about the elemental seal?" Okay, Teacher Tenten was back. Good.

"The seal is a modified storage seal. Its main difference is that the ink used is embedded with elemental chakra. Thats what allows it to seal elements without the seal being destroyed since it is sturdier than a normal seal. At least to that specific element." I knew it wasn't that simple. Fuinjutsu wasn't that simple in general. But this was the gist of the seal from my knowledge.

Tenten nodded. "Good. You know the basic of it but thats not all of it. You have to find the perfect ratio of elemental chakra to put into your ink to use for the seal. If you use too much then your seal will be too powerful and you won't be able to get the element out. Too little and your seal is going to be destroyed. So the first thing I need to do is find a good ratio of chakra. But before that you need to finish burning your leaf whilst I try this!" The grin on her face grew when mine soured.

To use fire chakra with seals you had to have great control over it. And great control in general... "Does this mean I can try the tree walking exorcise too? "Walking on walls was something we'd learn in a few weeks at the academy as told by Iruka yesterday. But if I could learn it before and get my chakra control to be higher than that'd be great!

Tenten nodded, "Actually whilst I work on this you can start that intead. Having more control over your chakra before trying to learn elemental manipualtion helps a lot. Trust me." She had a wind affinity from my knowledge. The hardest to learn. So yeah I'd trust her on this, "So do you know what do you need to do yet or do I need to teach you?"

I shook my head, "Nope!" The academy library was something I frequently visited. I had researched all the chakra control exercises I could in the last month or so as a side project. Although I hadn't gotten around to doing anything yet, "I have to find the right amount of chakra to use if I don't wanna fall off the tree. Explosively or not."

"Good." Tenten then grabbed some basic sealing paper, "Now whilst I do this you can improve your chakra control."

I nodded and walked up to a tree, "I'll do this. Probably not first try but I'll do it!" I felt a bit confident today. I put a foot on the tree. 'Look before you leap. A step before you run.' I channeled a bit of chakra into my feet. I then placed the first foot higher and put my second foot on the tree. I began walking a few more steps

I'm doing it!

Suddenly on my seventh step a chakra explosion happened.

"Ow..."

I heard a chuckle, "Its tough to do. But you should be able to get it after a few days," Tenten then helped me up, "It took me around a week to get it done. With how much you train You'll get in in like five days," That was reassuring... It was probably a lie. No. It was definitely a lie.

I still smiled, "Thanks," I then looked at the tree again and grabbed a kunai, "Alright I'll try again,"

I ran toward the tree once more.

[New skill unlocked: Wall Walking Exercise lvl 1]

[Wall walking exercise lvl 1:

Allows user to walk on vertical surfaces with skill according to lvl

Cost: 10 Chakra points per second]

I punched the log with renewed vigor. It had been two days since I began training harder than before. I had been training in chakra control, fire manipulation, and I doubled my physical training from before since I didn't have weights. So 1000 punches and kicks from each limb.

'Almost there... 988.' I punched the log with a heavy sigh. It was tough but I was managing. I needed to get stronger. Faster. I needed to have more stamina. I needed to have more chakra. I needed to be stronger in general. '989... Fuck why didn't I just focus on fire manipulation?' It was level two. I needed to finish the leaf exercise soon... Well, not soon but I needed to finish it in a few weeks at most.

'990!' I internally cheered as my fist impacted the log that looked absolutely destroyed. My knuckles were bleeding and covered in blood. I was trying to callous my hands but I didn't have bandages. '991... 992... 993...'

I had been in the Naruto world for six months. I had around a year and nine months left before the first threats were here. Gaara and Orochimaru. I needed to be as strong as I could to make a difference. 'Why don't I have better hacks?' Don't get me wrong seeing my own progress was astounding. It allowed me to plan and push myself harder but I'd really love to have a Sharingan or wood release instead.

'994... 995... 996...' I grit my teeth. I had to continue. 'Why Naruto?' Something I had begun to question was why the Naruto world? Out of all the possible worlds I had to be reincarnated into, why the Naruto one? It was violent and dangerous. Sure using chakra magic would be great but I'd need to kill.

Now I had no quams about killing. I hadn't in my past life and I don't in this one. Its fucked up but dying once and knowing your gonna die at some point soon just makes you want to preserve whats left as much as possible. But I'd need to kill innocents at some point. It may be soon or it may be years off. But I'd have too.

It was something I had made peace with but... I didn't want too. I'd also likely be horrified. I could act all tough now but that didn't matter in the face in the future. 'I'll do it...' I didn't even know why at this point either. My only real connection to this world is Tenten. '997.' I had no reason to try to help this world so why try? '998.' Was it to scratch that hero itch I had when younger? '999.'

Nonetheless I just couldn't let a war happen. I was here and this world is different from the one I know. Even if only a little. I don't know if I'd be able to live for a better tomorrow or not if I wasn't a shinobi... I needed to be one. I needed to kill Black Zetsu and Obito.

'1000.' I sat down with a sigh and looekd at my bloodied fists. A healing factor sounded nice right about now. 'I need friends...' I had Tenten sure. But we had only known each other for so long. There was no way in hell one friend would cut it. I'm lonely and I couldn't talk to Tenten all the time.

'Stupid humanity.' Times like this I cursed my humanity. The fact I had emotions was just... such a pain in the ass sometimes. 'Focus on different things now. Stats.' I called for the now familiar screen to take my mind off my mental health.

[Name: Kukui Tanku

Title: Gamer of Konoha

Chakra: 280/280

Energy points: 280/280

Dexterity: 15

Strength: 13

Constitution: 14

Chakra: 14

Chakra control D+]

They hadn't went up much but Dexterity was looking really good. Strength was my lowest stat as I hadn't gotten any rewards for it but I had been putting effort into it too. I was confident that with Running I could at least beat Kiba now. I could probably tie him too without needing to destroy my legs. 'I think I'll stay third for now with Kiba. I want to improve naturally...' Forcing my legs to work overtime would only lead to destruction and using running would probably help but I wanted to do it on my own. Running gave me a 50% boost now so I could blaze ahead of Kiba. I still wasn't able to catch Naruto, unfortunately.

Looking up into the sky I sighed. I probably should have went the civilian route. Lived a nice life and had a child with a wife I adore and friends I love like family. But I had to choose this path. Sure I could have backed out of the academy but... I chose not too. I was in too deep now. 'Might as well go all in. Show the world who I am and become the strongest...' I had dreams. Dreams that clashed. If I couldn't live out one then I'd just live out the other.

I stood up. "I suppose its time to go home," It was getting dark, "I'll make something simple I guess,"

I began walking home.

Bit of a depressing end there to be honest but oh well. Man I enjoyed this chapter. Originally for the Ninjutsu class teacher I had decided to use Anko because fuck it and some logic my tired ass thought was good. After a bit of thinking I elected to just make an OC who's probably Anko's best friend. If your wondering her name is Kaori Sarutobi.

Anyways yeah Kukui is feeling a bit lonely and is starting to think about his life. Don't worry he'll make another friend soon! When? I dunno. But soon. Who's he gonna befriend? I have a few people in mind but I really dunno yet. Also Kukui's fire affinity is something I should bring up. In the previous incarnation of this fic the ROB was Amaterasu who blessed Kukui with powerful fire. Now this isn't exactly the same and the ROB is different but [SPOILERS]

Anyways hopefully you have a nice day everyone and thank you for reading the chapter!

- Tobi