Just stay quiet. It was all he could do, all he did. Just stay quiet, learn the language, mumble the words, get used to the tongue, read every moon rune that passed his eye, ask if he didn't understand things, but say no more.
Just stay quiet, but not silent.
He was twenty-five, yet he was five. For the past five years, he'd had to learn subterfuge, lying, manipulation, and acting. The matrons thought him a tad bit slow, when in reality he was just miming and copying. Behind the guise of baby fat, there was a mind and soul that was alien in its entirety. Behind a guise of well practiced emotions played out within bathroom mirrors, there was a mess of anxiety and terror that was screaming near constantly at the boy of five to be quiet, to be hidden. Yet, there was another that was yelling at him to be powerful, to be skilled, to cast away the shadows and live instead of playing charades and becoming something that he was not.
Koh stared into the mirror, a soft smile on his face. He tried to portray the emotions of someone that was content, someone that was happy, but not too happy. He poked his cheek and felt the micro expressions twitch. A firm frown dominated his face, the happy child that existed a moment ago vanished and in its place emotionless and dull eyes stared into a mirror.
A deep breath was taken and the smile was back in place. Koh finished washing his hands, before exiting the bathroom. At the door, a matron guided another child into the bathroom, the younger boy smiling widely at Koh with childish innocence, a smile that he mirrored back at the boy. He babbled something to the cooing matron, the words lost as Koh rounded a corner and made his way to the yard.
There eight boys played with one another, fighting with sticks, trying to hide from one another in the bushes, or throwing small rocks at one another and acting like they were kunai or shuriken. One boy was hit with a rock too big and went down bawling and crying, the boy who threw it started crying, and a matron came to manage the situation.
Koh sat down on a cobblestone wall, picking up a soft leaf and placed it on his right wrist. It stuck there and was slowly grabbed and pulled along by a current of invisible energy. Like it was alive it was manipulated down his arm and pulled to his solar-plexus, there it rested and stuck firmly, rotating.
Koh breathed in deeply, feeling the supernatural energies of spiritual and physical energy, yin and yang. He meditated easily as the energies mixed and molded naturally within his meridians, often called tenketsu, before spreading out through the metaphysical network and traveling through his various Gates. Koh's perception of the world spread outside of just himself, and he 'saw' within his mind's eye the presence of the children.
They held just mere flames, sparks really, of blue fire to his perception. The matrons varied, stronger than the children, like bright coals within a fire, and others were truly strong; holding the vested energies of a roaring campfire. Some matrons were kunoichi, retired, injured, or just not mentally fit to continue the hard enduring struggles of being a ninja.
'No Root. Possible Root insurgents distracted or not present.' The young boy thought idly as he tossed a rock up and down. With his confirmation and sensing complete, he flicked it with the slightest bit of reinforcement of chakra to his fingernail and the rock itself. He watched as the smooth stone flew like a BB shot out of a pellet gun, his eyes tracking the stone with practiced ease. It speared a floating leaf right in the center, the dull thud drowned out in the clearing populated by screaming children.
Koh folded his hands into his lap, sitting utterly still on the rock, almost like a statue as he melded back into his meditations. He felt the ever present throbbing power of Natural Chakra nip at his senses, yet he dared not manipulate or touch the volatile energy. Instead he just grew used to it around him, but never let it enter his body. If the children were mere sparks, their Chakra weak, and Shinobi holding flaming campfires, then Koh was a decided middle ground. Something entirely unique and strange for a child of his age.
He'd claim himself around the High-Genin level already, at least in terms of Chakra supply. Not that it was anything impressive, but he'd take what he could get.
Once he felt he'd had his fill of chakra control and sensory training, acting like he'd just dozed off while cross legged on the hard stone. A behavior that wasn't deemed unnatural as many people in this strange reality had far worse or more disruptive quirks than mere 'narcolepsy'. Koh stood up and ran over to the kids that were playing ball, and a bright wide smile on his face as he yelled, "Hey! Let me join!"
He was received well, the kids briefly fighting over who'd get him on their team, before the game started and Koh let himself go. He played the most physically active; playing hard, not smart within the game of ball. He never stopped moving, always running, always pushing hard, always trying to gain that extra little bit of distance and speed. It was somewhat noticeable how much faster and more athletic he was than the other kids, yet a few trips, the unsteady balance, the gasping breath; all of it made his feats of seeming impressive physicality just that slight bit off and more childish. Just a boy pushing himself a bit too hard in a game, one blessed with a strong body yes, but nothing suspicious or odd here, Mr. Ninja.
A matron called the kids inside and after a quick scrub, lessons started. Koh sat in the back as children's games were played, only speaking when spoken to, always sitting behind someone, never leaving his back exposed, eyes not flickering but rather scanning. Looking for anything odd, anything unusual. He smiled and stuck his tongue out at one of the matrons as she went around giving everyone a piece of candy.
'Root Kunoichi, Matron Ueki Hirari, confirmed affiliation. Detected giving Miyo to a powerful Chakra signature, given money in compensation. Likely not a full member, but masks can easily be worn.'
The lessons went on for a while, before chores were announced. Koh needed to help wash dishes, and thus he went to do so. He washed dishes, using minute amounts of chakra to stick plates to his fingers and use the adhesive property for greater grip strength and leverage. Soon his chores were done and he was let go to play and do whatever bored Orphan children did. He bolted out to the front yard, telling a matron that he was going to go play ninja with a few neighborhood kids.
Such kids did actually exist. A few academy students that he befriended by stating how cool they were and acting like an awe-struck little boy at seeing 'real ninja'. Such praise paired with casual demands of wanting to see 'Cool Jutsu' had him easily obtaining the necessary glances at scrolls, homework, and demonstration of decently proficient transformation and clone technique.
The two students sadly didn't know the substitution technique, however, Koh was really only after the Transformation Technique in the first place.
Instead of heading to hang out with what he mentally referred to as 'exploited resources' he headed to a location that held just as much information for him to peruse and utilize for his future.
The Library.
A few hand signs and Koh was aged up a few years, had a different looking face, smart looking glass on, and put on a nerdy act of bundled up insecurities and skittish nervousness.
He then headed on to the Academy, and entered the public floor of the library section within section E. He pulled from his pocket an academy ID, one he'd stolen from one of the Genin he hung out with which caused the boy to be yelled out profusely by his teacher.
The ID held no real photo, the technology reserved not for simple library cards but instead for Shinobi Identification; something Academy Students wouldn't have.
He flashed the ID to the lazy Chunin reading Icha Icha on duty, the man waved, and he was cruising through various aisles of the E Ranked Academy section.
It was here that a massive amount of information on the daily lives and foundations of a Ninja were stored. Here there were scrolls of every poisonous plant throughout the Elemental Nation, symptoms of such poisons, and common usages and users of said poisons. Here there were guides and E Rank chakra-less techniques on how to walk silently, be more quiet, reduce one's Chakra Presence to non-sensors, how to reduce one's Chakra Presence from passive sensors, although there wasn't really much one could do from an active sensor.
Yet, the holy grail wasn't the scant few books on the introductions of Fuinjutsu. It wasn't the few E-Rank techniques, chakra control guides, shoddy guides of acting, quality documents on how to produce realistic and animated Transformations. They were useful, they were important, yet they were ultimately completely worthless compared to the true sparks and specks of knowledge that were hidden throughout this basic beginner library.
Chakra Theory.
From the recollections and notations of Tobirama Senju, the added profound notes and aspects of innovation developed by Hiruzen Sarutobi, or the comprehensive analysis of dedicated researchers and experimenters. There were dozens of books, and just as many scrolls that detailed the exact interactions of various hand signs that gave Chakra its shape and form.
Koh had been infiltrating and exfiltrating this library for the past six months, and in that time he'd gotten deep within the academic notes drudged out of drawers and backrooms of the library where only the driest and most mundane or irrelevant of material was sent to rot. There he rummaged through several notes of technique creation and development, there he theorized the exact functions and capabilities of chakra and its multifaceted functionality in elemental and non-elemental jutsu.
He delved further as well, picking out introductory medical books that largely focused on the most basic aspects and requirements to learn Medical Jutsu. Yet, he was not so easily shunted off by a dusty old tome effectively telling him 'Not Yet'. Following the breadcrumbs that led to the mundane, Koh picked apart medical textbooks, hammered into his skull the anatomy and detailed functionality of chakra symbiosis and its effect on the human physique. Bolstering it to supernatural levels, but also acting as another organ to fix if damaged, even if meta-physical.
From medical theses, to poisonous effects of the local plants and multifaceted aspects of Natural Energy feeding into various plants and animals. Mutating them into what were simply called animals. There wasn't any unique name for a tiger that was taller than the tallest man and thrice as long. To many in the world, that was simply a big tiger.
Within the multi-faceted lands of the Elemental Nations, there existed plants that were said to give eternal life, waters that gave superpowers, and beasts as tall as mountains.
When the mundane fauna and flora were still supernatural, yet ultimately nothing compared to the dramatic scale or effectiveness of such entities; they became just as mundane as the common leaf, even if certain plants could bolster natural recovery just as well as the average medical ninjutsu.
To Koh, a young man that had watched this world through a screen, it often amazed him just how many aspects of this world there were that to many were seen as mundane; yet to him were utterly unnatural and bizarre.
Koh sat down at a table, a secluded one, but never the same table. Routines were for those who wished to die in an alleyway on their commute to work, and the only reason he'd ever take a routine would be to memorize every aspect of it and to look for key details that might be different. His home would be one such place, with small tiny details sensitive to movement placed around as signs of intruder.
He cracked open a book, this one's title reading 'The Forth's Analysis on Advanced Reversed Hand Seals and Their Effects on Elemental Jutsu.'
His eyes started to devour the knowledge of the book, and before long another book entered his hands as he cross referenced the mentioned material with other books and notations. The boy's fingers itched for something to write on, yet any form of writing was a papertrail of evidence that could possibly be traced back to him. Dandruff, loose hair, his handwriting, a fingerprint; anything and everything could be traced back to him.
There would be no writing in English to keep track of a ciphered recollection of canonical events; for such a language already existed within this world and was used most predominantly by Kumo Ninjas; as could be seen by their names of ninja using the Alphabet. Such things could be physical evidence that might possibly convince others he was a Kumo Spy, a natural genius, or other such oddity that warranted further insight into his nature.
Instead, Koh utilized and practiced complex memorization techniques developed by and for ninja to remember even the most irrelevant of details with ease. A mixture of real psychological and neural trickery to 'file' and 'organize' one's mind and memories with nuanced codes and keywords of information. An example being 'Bright Unicorn In Snow' being both a mixture of mental imagery and a code language that he used a form of self-genjutsu to brainwash himself into attaching certain concepts towards such mental imagery. Much like how a smell, scent, color, or other form of qualia might inspire someone to suddenly remember their grandparent's house, a wholesome event, a dark tragedy, and so on. Koh took this and manipulated his mind to attach certain easily accessible and replicable forms of qualia -often replicated through sensations generated by a mental codex of genjutsu he applied on himself- to various forms of information, data, and memories.
This technique when mixed with the spiritual energies of Chakra designed to stimulate the brain; advanced genjutsu of watered down Yamanaka mental techniques gave him an amazing way to recollect and interact with his mind. This was considered a 'mundane' technique to many within this world. It wasn't even really taught outside of information specialists due to its difficulty and was considered a 'novelty'. To Koh, it became a legendary function in accelerating and refining his mind's ability to categorize, understand, comprehend, and memorize detailed information. Furthermore, it allowed him to consciously interact with his subconscious and to extract, interact, and effectively 'communicate' with 'himself'.
Ever speak to the voice in your head? Yeah, he was a smarmy bastard; a paranoid one too.
To be Superhuman was truly something that was often ill-discussed in the micro aspects of that super ability. Most considered being superhuman merely as being stronger, faster, quicker, and more enduring. It wasn't, not by a long shot. The ability to hear, to see, to touch, feel, think, remember, react, perceive, discover, understand, comprehend, explain, persuade, speak, act, move, walk, jump, run, enter flow; all of these basic actions were super with the addition of Chakra, an energy that was both physical and spiritual.
The comparison between him now and him in his last life was laughable. His balance was unreal, his celerity, agility, flexibility, dexterity, accuracy in movement and the stability thereof; superhuman. His mind clicked and rushed with concepts and information. No longer did he stutter, mispronounce, error in speech, or lack connection and control of his mind telling his body what to do. His instincts were real, they gave him tangible and understandable advice linked to his mind via this mystical energy, communicating with him in startling clarity of concepts of danger, trust, safety, good food, bad food, disgust, oddities in the surroundings, and so much more.
His recall of information was near instantaneous, no longer did he pause to think, in the long process of understanding input request or stimuli, retrieve information to understand stimuli, comprehend stimuli, generate solutions to stimuli, debate on solutions, and then act. All of that happened in microseconds to a normal human, and to him; even faster.
Chakra allows the human mind and body to react and communicate with nuanced detail and thought through the interconnected relationship between ingrained muscle memory, instinctual thought of the 'base' mind, and higher orders of understanding and ability in a tactical sense. Mental math was a quick process that was created less through route memory and the building of neural connections, but rather his mind simply working so fast neural connections didn't need to be strengthened as intensely to work as much. With that, a mind could diverge and develop into mastery of concepts that truly only required an intellectual understanding and the muscle memory of an almost pseudo-intelligence that was his body learning to respond to certain stimuli. The so-called Training and Power that these Shinobi spoke of wasn't just Chakra and Technique. It was the codified teachings and reactions a Shinobi beats into their body paired with the ever-adaptive mind of a flexible warrior with the required experience and mind-over-matter - in most cases pain and genjutsu - to ignore active resistance towards one's state of flow and codified 'katas'.
Imagine Maito Gai, a Taijutsu Master; one who's instincts have been refined by war, combat, and mission experience. One who's training has beaten muscle memory of deadly combat techniques into his flesh. One whose mind flows between both instinct and muscle memory to guide both aspects of himself with a clarity that was likely only rivaled by the legendary Sharingan's own step-up of perception of movement that it bordered on precognition. Yet, even a Sharingan had nothing on the human body's accelerated and supernatural sense that sight alone failed to understand.
To understand the Sharingan, put headphones on and blare music, before trying to do a complex task, one that involves movement, deftness, and most key and important: Spacial Awareness. It is distracting, yes, but it also removes and limits another sense that even if the task itself is intellectually easy to do, like say, making dinner, becomes even easier once a theoretically irrelevant sense is restored. A mixture of focus and awareness of one's total surroundings along with the brain's natural range of sensory information relaxes the mind and allows it to focus on what is happening around it. Music, despite it being a core of all human culture, is unnatural. One is more in tune with the world around them and its movement when all senses are unhindered.
Koh disdained the Sharingan, as despite its manyfold abilities; diluted other senses. Why hear when one sees time itself slow to the power of one's eyes? Why feel the brush of the wind when one can pick apart the individual particles of dust within it? It was undoubtedly a powerful tool, one that if used correctly would take all of the above and refine it into a power that only a few individuals within history have even accomplished. Yet, humans are lazy creatures and why develop one's senses when the eye is so powerful?
With his studying done and the time-space for a shift change coming, Koh stood up and returned all his books back to their designated spaces. He then walked out of the academy, looped into a busy marketplace and scanned for any potential followers with his senses. Finding none, he still looped around and changed his form several times. He formed clones within shadowed areas, utilizing natural shadows to hide Bunshin's own lack of one to further obfuscate pursuers.
He then arrived back at the Orphanage, a happy little smile on his face as he was put to bed and kissed to sleep by a woman whose hands are likely stained with the blood of several dozen innocent children.
His chakra roiled within his body and a genjutsu fell over his mind. Half of it resting, half of it not. Every thirty minutes this would reverse, one eye dully staring through eyelashes and his ears strained for any form of information. He was shirtless and his blanket was strewn to the side, letting the air currents wash against his skin as his peachy hair on his arms and skin felt for any movement in the room.
Dawn cracked, a boy woke up and went to the bathroom. He smiled happily in the mirror, a content smile on his face.
He poked his cheek.
There was no twitch.