Chapter 6 - Six Months Later
Mid-term exams had come for Shinji's first year class. He had been more than prepared all the while still researching methods and refining his plans for the trial of stone. Genjiro had been a non issue for Shinji ever since he had stood up to him on his first day and put the fat boy in his place. As a matter of fact, he had seemed to stop his bullying ways, all it took it seems was someone willing to stand up to his behavior.
Coincidentally, ever since that day Shinji had become a rockstar amongst his peers. Despite being two years younger than them, a lot of them looked up to him as if he was their better. The young boy even had a fan club of girls that perpetually annoyed him to such a degree, he learned the cloning jutsu, under Oni's personal tutelage, to throw them off.
Shinji's friends, being Emi and Kaito, had tried to remain at his level, and academically, Emi was lesser than Shinji yet better than Kaito being the top girl in their class. Poor Kaito had remained behind both of them, sitting in the middle of the class rankings.
Regardless of whatever outside matters, Shinji was going to crush this exam which consisted of a physical and written exam. For this half of the school year, he had flown through all lessons with flying colors as he was already exposed to such subject matter since he could walk.
Shinji managed to finish the test in record time and waited for the others to finish so the physical portion could start.
"Alright everyone, times up! Pencils down and I will come collect your papers." Sensei Haru called out to his class.
"Oh man, I'm so dead." Kaito said as his head hit the desk. "Once those grades come out, my moms gonna kill me." The way he sounded, it was if his fate was sealed.
"I'm sure you did fine, Kaito, I tutored you after all." Shinji replied while he leaned back in his seat.
With exaggerated tears running down his face, he turned to Shinji, "Thank you so much Shinji sensei."
Growing uncomfortable, Shinji replied "Yea uh, sure. Just don't call me that." Shinji looked to emi to ask her how she thinks she did, only for her to turn away, the pink still on her cheeks. The boy rolled his eyes in response. Over the past six months, the obvious crush Emi had on Shinji had only grown and it caused a lot of awkward moments among the small group of friends.
Soon enough, everyone's papers were collected and they soon headed outside to the training yard to conduct the physical test. This test consisted of three parts, shurikenjutsu, peer on peer sparring, and a relay race for a test of speed.
Shinji watched as fellow classmates threw their little metal stars at the target, only for the majority to either miss or sink in so little that they fell out.
Emi and Kaito both managed to pass, with Emi scoring three out of five possible points and Kaito scoring four out of five. Shinji getting a perfect score came as no surprise to anyone. Shinji had hoped the sparring portion would prove to have even a single competent challenger, but unfortunately that proved to not be the case as he was partnered up with a glasses wearing nervous wreck of a kid who went down after a single punch. The disappointed boy sighed to himself at the pathetic excuse that collapsed after he hit him and walked to a nearby tree, jumping up into the tree to rest while the rest of the class finished the exam. 'This entire day has been so disappointingly boring. I'd ask Oni to spar but he's been out on mission for this whole week.'
Yet again, the relay race had been a disappointment, but not a full one. Perhaps no one could rival him in skill or strength, or anything at the moment, but one kid managed to have him sweating in the speed department. His name was Ryuji Kamizuru, part of the bee user clan of the village.
The Kamizuru clan, like the Fuma and Maki clans were the staple power houses of Iwagakure with each clan having a particular clan jutsu or bloodline they used to excel within the ranks. The Kamizuru were Iwa's answer to the Aburame clan in Konoha, both using insects but the Kamizuru using predatory bees and wasps as their main source of power.
Ryuji was someone Shinji never paid a whole lot of attention to and it showed when the race came about. Apparently, the dirty blonde child saw himself as a silent rival to Shinji, and he respected him for it. 'You could actually be the only one that's mildly interesting, Ryuji.'
The day was done, exams were finished, and the children had the next week off. Some were going to celebrate, others would train themselves to be better for when they returned. Shinji would be one of these people. Realizing he had been slacking on his physical training, he spent the next week doing intense work, with Oni coming by two times to supervise and inform the child.
Upon this particular visit, Oni decided to prod the child into what he desired out of his career.
"Tell me kid, what do you actually plan on becoming? A shinobi, sure, but what's the goal?" Oni asked as Shinji finished another chakra control exercise.
In a calm manner, Shinji answered, "I wanna join ANBU." Oni was surprised by the quick answer on Shinji's end, expecting to have to prod even further.
"That was quick, why? We do the dark and nasty work of the village." Oni stated in a serious manner.
"It's the only way to learn what I need to learn. I want to learn real stealth. Besides, the masks are cool. And…I have to be as strong as I can, there's someone that I need to kill one day." Shinji had almost turned into a different person when he said that last sentence, and it was not missed by the ever present eyes of Oni.
"Revenge isn't worth it Shinji. Trust me on that one." Oni gave his words of wisdom, but knowing he wouldn't change this boy's mind.
"It's not revenge, call it a contractual obligation." He finished before returning to his training session. Oni considered the words of the child he watched grow from the two year old into the five year old he is now. A small kindling of pride ignited within his cold heart for all the boy has overcome so far.
Oni stood to leave, but just before leaving, remembered something. "Almost forgot, happy birthday Shinji." Oni tossed a scroll to the boy who caught it with no issue and soon disappeared with a body flicker.
Shinji cocked an eyebrow at the scroll, but after opening and reading the contents, "Oni you glorious bastard." A devilish grin came to his face as he saw the steps of the body flicker within the scroll.
"Man, where's Shinji?" Kaito whined while waiting for his friend.
"Not sure." Emi said in a downtrodden tone.
"What's up with you? Why're you so down?" Kaito asked the upset girl.
"It's that dummy Shinji! You'd think he would have noticed and said something by now about me liking him but no! He's smart when it's books, but matters of the heart are lost on that bonehead!"
"I resent that statement by the way." the voice of Shinji suddenly called from behind them.
"Emi whipped around with a bright red face, "How much of that did you hear?!" She asked with a panicky voice and shifting around.
"Just the end part." Shinji answered before giving a look at Kaito that said 'I heard all of it.'
"How'd you even get here so fast?" Kaito questioned his friend who looked back over his shoulder.
"I learned the body flicker." Shinji stated in a lackadaisical manner with a cocky smirk. His dismissal of the feat left the two stunned still. Kaito and Emi looked at each other before looking back to Shinji who kept walking to class.
"WHAAAT?!" They shouted in unison at him. 'Knew they would react like that. Besides, they're acting like I won't teach it to them next week. If you're gonna be my friends, I refuse for you to be weak. I will not have you two rely on me for everything'. Shinji heard his friends continue to argue behind him as he walked into the building with them in tow.