Chapter 5

Shinji was walking through the village, still riding the high of passing his entrance exam. Passing through the market square of the village, he passed by the same fruit stand who had been serving him ever since he was able to walk.

"Hey Shinji! How are you, young man?" The elderly man welcomed the young boy with a grandfatherly smile. Shinji approached the man's stall with the various fruits and vegetables on showcase. He idly picked out an orange and a few apples as he reached into his pocket to pull out the wad of cash he had left from the stipend provided to him once Akuma Sato was imprisoned.

"Not too bad Mr. Watanabe. Dad was put in jail, and I get to start the academy next year so everything's coming up Shinji." the boy said with an exuberant smile as he placed his products on the table.

Mr. Watanabe didn't know what to make of Shinji's words. So instead of questioning, he went with it. "Glad to hear my boy! Actually I have a little surprise for you." Mr. Watanabe dipped down behind his stand and came back up with a burlap sack. "So I just got a shipment of some pretty weird fruit, thought you might be interested." He opened the sack and pulled out an indeed strange looking fruit. The skin was red and had a leathery texture, with scale-like leaves spreading out from the skin.

"It's called a 'dragon fruit'. Tell you what my boy, this ones on the house ." Mr. Watanabe added with a wink as he added the fruit to Shinji's pack. Shinji shrugged and thanked the man before heading on his way once more.

Upon leaving the market district, Shinji decided to walk about the village proper. He came across a restaurant soon after with a familiar man in red armor sitting outside. From an outsider's perspective, it seemed as though people avoided this man. Mothers were beckoning their children away while others looked on with disdain or whispered behind the man's back.

Shinji stopped for a second, considering whether or not he wanted to approach the man. Ultimately he decided he wouldn't, 'I got training to get back to anyways.' While on his walk, Shinji picked out the strange fruit given to him by Mr. Watanabe. Peeling away the leathery red skin revealed snow white meat speckled with black seeds all throughout. He bit into the meat, being met with a refreshingly sweet taste that was unlike anything he had prior.

By the time Shinji had finished his fruit, he had arrived at his home now. Walking through the door, he was met with a clean smell and silence. He sighed with a pleasant smile, "Still gotta get that window fixed." he commented to himself at seeing the currently shattered window being covered by a tarp.

Placing the fruit in the fridge, he grabbed his trusty wooden sword resting by the back door, and headed outside, kicking the door shut behind him. He mused to himself about what he would work on today, "Swordsmanship? Chakra control? Or should I even try using a Jutsu?" He continued to idly twirl the blade in his hand, thinking of what he could do before it finally came to him.

He dropped the blade, ran inside to his pack and grabbed all of the books he could on plants, animals and biology and sat down at the kitchen table. Hours went by with only a few lines of work to show for it. Shinji was frustrated and angry at this point and in a child-like fit, threw the biology book at the front door. "Dammit! I'm still missing something!" Racking his brain for any solution to the missing puzzle piece anything at all. Seeing his hands on the table, a memory came back to him, one of his old life.

"What is this place Imad?" Gaston asked his mentor as they arrived into a spacious room with strange machinery littered about.

"This, my apprentice, is how you came to be. How you, and everyone else, became a witcher." Imad went to flip a lever on the nearby wall which activated all of the old lights in the room, bathing everything in an orange light. "This is the trial of grasses Gaston." Imad informed his apprentice.

"Wait, if this is the trial of Grasses, why don't I remember it?" Gaston asked incredulously.

"Simple, the trauma you experienced that day put a sort of…lock onto your memories." Imad stated matter of factly with his back turned to gaston.

"But why show me this? We all vowed-" Gaston started."

"It doesn't matter anymore. Nothing does. I'm showing you this because I'm naming you grandmaster of the Manticore school." The elderly witcher coughed the last part out to which Gaston rushed to support his mentor who was now fully enveloped in a coughing fit.

"I show you this, Gaston, so that the knowledge wont die with me. Never forget." Imad wished upon his student.

The memory of his mentor faded back to reality and a sardonic smile fell across Shinji's face. "Dont worry Imad, I haven't forgotten everything." Shinji got up from the table, picked the book back up and started once again.

One year later

Shinji heard his alarm blaring and immediately hopped out of his bed. Checking the alarm clock he picked up a couple months prior in preparation for the academy, it read 7:45 a.m. Classes started at 8 am so he had a nice fifteen minutes before class started. Doing his morning routine which consisted of a minor workout, brushing his teeth and doing his hair left him with five minutes left.

He got dressed in a simple maroon shirt with black bottoms and sandals which were brand new, thanks to the stipend provided by Onoki, grabbed his trusty backpack and made his way to the academy.

It was a normal day for the students in Iwagakure's academy for future shinobi, students who knew each other from classes past were chattering away with each other as their teacher, Sensei Haru, entered the room. Haru was a chunin in rank and was an average looking man with the exception of the sunglasses that he always wore, dawn to dusk. His skin was on the darker side of olive and he had messy black hair. Garbed in the typical attire of a shinobi of his rank, he carried himself as a man worthy of respect.

Sensei Haru went to shut the door behind him, before it stopped and a short, young boy with long, tied back black hair was there holding it open.

"I'm not late yet, am i?" Shinji asked his teacher.

"Uh, no? Are you sure you're in the right place kid?" Haru asked with confusion evident on his face.

"I'm Shinji Sato." the boy replied simply. Haru's face recognized the name and was shocked to see the fiveyear old standing in front of him. However that was soon replaced with skepticism as he raised an eyebrow and in a condescending manner, asked, "You sure you're ready for the academy kid? You could stand to grow a few more inches first."

Shinji adopted an annoyed look but still had a smirk in place, "Considering it was the Tsuchikage who personally tested and passed my entry, i think the question is are you ready for me to make you feel stupid in your own class?"

Haru was taken aback and angered at Shinji's reply, but not wanting to invoke the wrath of his village leader, bid him entry.

"Before we begin class, we have a new student." Sensei haru spat out. The entire student body within the classroom looked to the front of the class with surprised faces at the child they saw before them.

"Shinji Sato, nice to meet you all." the boy said with a cheeky grin. A hand was raised in the back of the classroom to which sensei Haru called on him.

It was a chubby boy with a mullet and an annoying voice who stood and asked, "Sensei, how old is this kid?" fatty asked in a snarky tone. Inwardly grimacing already at the amount of people pissing him off today, Shinji answered the boy's question.

"I'm five, fatboy. Can I take my seat now sensei?" In a blink and you'll miss it sort of way, Shinji not only answered the question and insulted the child in front of everyone. Their responses were immediate laughter while the unnamed fat kid went red in the face with anger and sat back down.

Haru nodded to Shinji for him to take his seat and Shinji did so. Taking an empty spot near the window in the middle row. He was flanked on his right by two others, a girl with long black hair and a boy with a fat nose that reminded him of Onoki.

He ignored them both and thought that they would respect that, but the girl had other plans in mind. "Hi! I'm Emi Suzuki, that was pretty funny what you said to Genjiro, he's a real jerk."

"Nice to meet you too, Emi." The two exchanged pleasantries and would go on to spend the day becoming somewhat friends.

Shinji got through the day with no issues, the courses they were currently studying was stuff he already had researched over the past year. Now, though, the reincarnated witcher found himself on a lunch break, and relaxing on the roof of the academy.

Laying down with his hands behind his head, he tossed around ideas in his head. Mainly about how he was going to make money. For his plan to continue and to move forward, he needed a substantial bank account.

'Hm what if…Nah that wouldn't work. But I could…No, that's dumb.' as Shinji shot down idea after idea with no ending in sight which managed to frustrate him and proceed to eat his sandwich angrily.

"Hey! Shinji!" The boy heard his name being called from down below. He looked over the ledge of the building and saw the two kids he sat next to in class.

"What's up?" he called back down to them

"Wanna have lunch with me and Kaito?" Shinji put the pieces together and figured the other boy's name was Kaito and thought about it. "Eh why not." He mumbled to himself before gathering his things.

"Watch out below!" The boy called out with a large grin.

"W-wait is he seriously going to-" Kaito started to ask, but in that moment, Shinji leaped from the top of the tall building and caused the eyes from Kaito and Emi bulge out of their heads at seeing the five year old kid throw himself off the edge of the building.

However, instead of going splat against the ground, Shinji landed in a crouch in front of them with a hushed-poof from the dirt below. He stood up straight with his arms outstretched. "Ta-Da!" he said to the pale faces of the fellow kids.

"How did you do that?!" Emi exclaimed with anxiety turning to excitement in a snap. Shinji's response was just the fact that he trained a lot as he sat down and brought out his food.

Shinji's lunch consisted of an entire dragon fruit, and a bowl of what appeared to be soup.

"What is that? Ive never seen soup like that before." Kaito asked as he too sat down.

"It's a family recipe, called onion pottage. Wanna try?" Shinji outstretched the thermos to kaito who took a small sip.

"That's amazing! What's in it?" Kaito asked with gusto and stars in his eyes. 'Guess he's a foodie.' As Shinji talked with Emi and Kaito, someone large and unhappy came up from behind, with shiji as the target.

Feeling the hefty footprints reverberate through the ground, he already knew who was coming, and with Emi looking behind him and looking worried, he devised a plan as a malevolent glint came to his eye with a devilish smirk to match.

"Hey Shit-ji! It's time for payback you little run-" As the large boy went to swing at the turned back of Shinji, the black haired boy used his small size to his benefit and rolled between the large boy's legs, getting behind him.

"Don't call me little." Shinji started with a smirk, before kicking Genjiro straight in his ass and sending him to the ground. Genjiro got off the ground, dirt covering his face and tears making muddy streaks, he ran off crying.

'Yes! I conquered the school bully! Me! The 70 year old…reincarnated witcher… triumphed over a child…nevermind.' Shinji's pride crumbled before it even gained traction at the realization of his advantage over kids his technical age.

Kaito was laughing, but Emi was looking at Shinji with something…more. He looked toward his friends, and Emi looked away with a dusting of pink on her cheeks.

'Fucking great. That little display of mine is gonna stick with her, isn't it.' Shinji thought as he noticed Emi's behavior.

The rest of the school day went off without a hitch, although Shinji did get into some trouble after he literally kicked Genjiro's ass. He arrived at his quiet home and looked at the dining room which had slowly become his research area. There was a mess of papers in the middle, and neat stacks off to the side with books piled over in one corner of the room, organized by subject and size.

Not even five minutes after getting home, there was a knock at his door.

"Oh for the love of-Coming!" he called out as he approached the door. On the other side it was the same demon masked shinobi that arrested Akuma Sato.

"Hey runt. How was the first day?" Oni asked as he invited himself into Shinji's home.

"Oh come right on in Oni. I'm glad youre so comfortable in my home." The irate boy ground out as he slapped the door shut.

"Any progress on your little project kid?" Over the past year, Shinji had informed Oni of the fact he had been on a quest for knowledge, but never fully informing him of his plans. The ANBU agent observed designs of a machine of sorts that looked like it was a pod that could fit a person inside.

"Yes and no. I actually figured out the recipe for what I need months ago, it's just a matter of the hardware and funds for said hardware. Also ensuring the power used doesn't cause a village wide blackout…which it very well might." Shinji explained with crossed arms as the two of them looked over his work.

"Interesting. Are you willing to share what you're actually planning here? Working in the dark for the Tsuchikage is one thing, but I'm not about to do it for a kid." Oni looked down to the boy who wore a serious thinking expression. Shinji considered it, he wanted to inform Oni of what the purpose of this all was, but he really didn't want it to backfire in the end. On the other hand, if he kept silent, there was a chance his partnership with Oni would cease here and now, which he didn't want he had to admit.

"Fine. Well, the plan in the plainest terms, is to make a super soldier by method of genetic mutation." Shinji explained matter of factly.

"But isn't genetic mutation not only incredibly risky, but hard to pull off? How did you even figure this out?" Oni looked closer at Shinji's research, deciphering the equations and theories only to discover the truth.

"Wait a minute-you're planning to use chakra along with a chemical combination to induce a brand new chemical reaction within the body."

Shinji remained stoic. "Yep that's pretty much it." He continued to explain further to Oni just the true depths of what he dubbed, "the Trial of Stone."

"Kid, do you understand what this can lead to?" Oni asked almost in a whisper.

"I do." Shinji nodded. Yes, the former grandmaster of the Manticore school knew all too well the implications of this research. As he and his fellow witchers discovered what had happened to them, they vowed to be the last generation of manticores, to no longer induce the pain caused to them, among other living beings. After a few short decades, their numbers dwindled until only He remained, only to die in an unnamed cave at the hands of Caranthir.

"Shinji!" Oni shook the boy, who was lost in thought.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to zone out like that. You were saying?" Oni stood to his feet and once again looked down to Shinji.

"I'm proud of you kid. If you're not the strongest in six months, you'll sure as hell be the smartest."

Shinji adopted a greedy grin, "Does your pride in me grant an extra stipend?" the boy asked

"No. Nice try." Oni replied.

"Damn. Oh well." As Shinji went to speak to oni again, he realized he had already vanished using the technique he learned to be the shunshin.

"I should start learning that. *Yawn*" As Shinjis body became tired, he decided to head to bed all the while still planing, ever so.