When I first opened my eyes I was with a blurry outline of a person who seemed to have naturally gray hair. I forgot about this part being reborn means you have to experience life as a baby for a bit.
During the first few months, my days were spent sleeping, pooping, eating, and puking what I ate. It was exhausting and mind-numbing spending all your time trapped in such an infantile body.
Luckily for me though it seemed that children in this world matured faster with the presence of chakra I soon got the ability to crawl and then walk.
I would also have lessons with the blurry figure with the long gray hair who I assumed was my mother. My father was present in the first few months of my life though that changed when I finally matured enough to walk he started going out for days at a time before returning.
During our much-needed lessons, my mother taught me the language and writing system of the world. It took a couple of months to get the hang of the new language however I stuck to using more childish terms.
Not wanting people to suspect that I am some kind of evil spirit possessing a child although even with my efforts I would sometimes slip up saying things that I shouldn't know.
Luckily my mother thought that I was just a gift child and did not suspect anything malevolent. So my routine continues for a few years.
In the past almost half a decade I've learned plenty of things about my situation like how I live in the Land of Hot Water and that they fortunately still have ninja academies though paltry compared to any of the ninja academies in the major villages.
I know that when Hidan was born the Land of Hot Water stopped with the shinobi tradition. This means that the psychopath hasn't been born yet and many of the big names like Deidera aren't out yet so I have more time to prepare before something like Akatsuki or Madara comes to the end the world gets me.
Another big thing I discovered was chakra.
It appears that my purchase of the Basic Chakra Control had helped awaken my chakra than what was usually expected of a child without assistance from someone else.
After a year of not making much progress with my chakra only managing to make a few chakra threads, I told my parents about it. Pleasantly surprised, both my parents started teaching me about chakra and the jutsus that came from it.
In the days after that, my mother and sometimes my father would teach me about justus and the happenings around the world. That's how I learned that a war was occurring, namely the second great shinobi war.
A conflict between the Hidden Villages of Sand, Leaf, Stone, and the minor villages between the three.
This was a good and bad thing, even though Naruto’s timeline of events is complex at best and incoherent at worst.
Knowing this would help pin down where am I in the timeline I should at least have a little over a decade before the Kyuubi rampage and twice that when Naruto actually becomes a genin.
During one of the lessons, my mother informed me about shinobi ranks. Gennin, Chunin, Elite Chunin, Tokubetsu Jonin, Jonin, Elite Jonin and above that were the mage.
Learning that my mother was a chunin and my dad an elite chunin before I was born my mom and dad would go on missions with their team of three other chunins. However, when I was born my mother was unable to participate in any of the missions, having to take care of me until I was self-sufficient.
Instructing me in basic ways of training my chakra. They taught me the leaf concentration exercise. An excessive where you put a leaf on your core head and try to balance it with your chakra. I've already been practicing this method for a while and was already able to maintain it for an hour before losing concentration however I went with it not wanting to let slip that I know more than I should.
The second wasn't really an exercise however just how you can increase your chakra regeneration by meditating.
Your chakra is like a muscle you need to use if you ever want to improve and going to near exhaustion is one of the best ways to increase your chakra capacity.
To help in exhausting my higher-than-average chakra pool they also taught me the three basic jutsu that would be taught in the academy. Basic Clone Jutsu, Substitution Jutsu, and Transformation Jutsu
Basic clone jutsu creates an after-image and unlike most clone jutsus this jutsu has no substance and can be easily dispelled with a touch.
Substitution Jutsu is a jutsus that uses misdirection, replacing yourself with another ‘dummy’ object that could fool your opponent.
And transformation jutsu lets you disguise yourself into the desired target. The more familiar you are and the better your chakra controls, the indistinguishable from the original.
Seeing me train my parents commended me for my initiative and diligence saying things like having a strong foundation leads to a stronger shinobi. Whenever Mother took her walks around the village I’d accompany her. Having a strong body is just as important as jutsus and having great cardio is essential when leaping from branch to branch is your main mode of traveling.
In our walks I’d simultaneously balance a leaf on my forehead. I would sometimes get weird looks from the other kids in the village whenever I do this. But who cares what kids think it's not like they could stop me.
Walking into the kitchen one day with a leaf on my forehead I saw my mother with her own trinkets from head to toe she was covered with it unlike my own all of them floated around her only sustained by a chakra thread.
She told me I had inspired her to train on her skills even though she wasn't taking any missions.
Though I personally think that's just an excuse to flex on her son and show how cool she was.
And so the sight of a mother and son walking around with knick-knacks on them could be frequently seen around the village.
Requiring to go out and attend to some business I was left by left in the house.
While I would usually say that leaving a four-year-old by themselves is a terrible idea even in a close-knit village mine, who knows what can happen?
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Waving her hand Mom left to do what she'll do not telling me what.
Leaving Tsutaka her ninkin a Harpy Eagle she raised since young who’s thrice my size. I entered the house leaving the eagle outside as it ran through its black feathers with its equally black beak.
I hadn't had much of a chance to experiment with my perk Inferior Hidan with my parent's protective nature but with none of them here I can go and do whatever.
Heading over to the kitchen I climbed onto the kitchen table with a chair and opened the cabinet containing the knives and other sharp implements.
When I was about to grab a hold of one of the knives I was carried out of the kitchen table and carried into the arms of my… mother?
And there she was, my mother. The one was supposed to be out of the house on an errand. Watching me with a reproaching look she gave me an hour-long lecture on how little kids should not play with knives and placed me in the room or living room where she could watch over me.
When night had started my mother dispelled a puff of smoke.
Oh, so it was a clone and a shadow clone I guess. I thought.
Soon not long after came the form of my mom barreled in and gave me another hour lecture on the hazards of sharp objects in the hands of children.
I guess experimentation is for another time. Resigned I took the verbal reprimand as best I could.
Months later after the announcement of me unlocking my chakra, my parents gifted me with a set of wooden ninja tools like kunai and a pair of new running shoes that would replace my old ones that I've mostly grown out of.
* ••
Two years had passed since I started my chakra training and learning jutsus. And I've finally become eligible to attend the Ninja Academy of Yugakure and with a new school year starting in May, we’ll be taking the entrance exams to enter.
In these two years, I've drastically changed, not anymore three and a half feet tall child I've almost broken into the four feet category. That was not all that grew even though my chakra pool had increased almost tripling compared to those before and steadily increased my mastery of jutsus and control. I am finally able to climb trees.
Upon nearing the Academy I saw under a hundred children some were with their parents or siblings while others were most likely orphans huddled with one middle-aged woman.
A man garbed in the uniform of a Yugakure jonin walked out of the building. The voices of conversation quickly died down before he spoke.
“I will be your instructor, you can call me Shinzo-sensei,” announced Shinzo, his booming voice carrying to all of the children.
“We will be measuring your chakra level, physical fitness, and knowledge. Don't worry if you haven't unlocked your chakra we’ll do it for you.”
A wave of relief came from the children whose chakra hadn't been unlocked. “For those students who have chakra unlocked please go to my right for testing and those who haven't please form a line to the people on my left.”
Quickly the crowd of children split into two groups, and without any surprise, the chatter of children resumed.
Both my parents followed me as I proceeded to the chakra-sensing area. A sensor type nin. They are people who are trained to sense chakra from long distances.
“Name?” said the sensor, clipboard on hand.
“Ikichi Tadao, ma’am,” I said.
Flinching in recognition, she looked over at me and wrote a few things on her clipboard. “Impressive chakra, have you been training?”
Giving a nod of agreement I answered. “That's right, I awakened mine when I was four.”
“As expected, go to room 3A, darling. The Written Exam will take place there.” said the lady gving me a blue slip before turning to my parents. “Mr. and Mrs. Ikichi or should I say Kenji and Eri long time no see.”
A flicker of familiarity passed over my parent’s eyes before Mom spoke “Oh it’s you, Ringo! I barely recognized you with your new getup and I see you've finished your sensor training.”
They continued to talk for a minute before they had to separate. “You have a really talented kid, Yumi, make sure to nurture him, and before I forget you're not allowed in the same room you can wait outside the door.” giving the yellow slip.
“Thanks, let's have a get-together, I'll call the others,” said Dad.
Inside room 3A the third floor I got my seat in the back of the room near the window. The room was sparsely filled. After ten minutes of waiting for kids to arrive and take my seat, once all the seats were filled a shinobi entered the room with a cloud of smoke.
“I’ll be your supervisor, you'll have to complete this answer sheet to the best of your abilities.” he held the packet of test papers. “Cheating shall not be tolerated! if you were to be discovered to be cheating you immediately would be suspended from our Shinobi Academy for two years. Other than that you'll have an hour and a half to finish, do your best.”
Looking at the three-page test paper I started to sweat looking at the first page filled with math questions. Turning to the second and third pages they were all situational-based questions like what jutsu should you use to counter that jutsu or murder mystery questions.
I knew something was strange when I was being taught long division at just five and now that I am six and this is an Academy test I bet my sixth-grader self wouldn't be able to answer half of this correctly.
I guess children here are just built differently. Although they wouldn't be able to compare me to someone who has passed Computer Science, I don't think that knowledge would be useful here but I do recall Guy using a walkie-talkie device. So it might not be for nought.
I answered the test to the best of my abilities, not holding back. If I hadn't been homeschooled about this I might have held back to not stand out but I've already learned all this. To think that those hours spent at a desk studying instead of practicing ninjutsu were actually necessary.
An hour and a half had passed the same when Shinobi from earlier entered and grabbed our test papers before leading us to a track and field behind the Academy.
We were out in the field. The other kids and the man from earlier Shinzo were there. Mom and Dad were waving what seemed to be flags with my name on them.
My eyes twitching, I couldn't help but facepalm myself. Man, I never thought having parents again could be so embarrassing.
“Alright everyone! Your task here is to perform 10 laps of 200 meters. Cardio if a ninja’s best friend you'll be constantly running to do missions” his piece said Shinzo walked out of the track.
The first five laps went without a hitch.
Looks like I was right, kids here are built differently. I don't even have one winded.
It was after the first set that I saw a few straining for breath.
“If you think you could go for another set prepare and those who are exhausted please go to the stand,” said Shinzo
It was after the second set that some of the less athletic kids stopped. On the fourth set, more than three-fourths of the group left. It was only me and three more kids when the seventh rep ended. deciding I’ve gone far enough I vacated the field another of the three also left.
I saw those two arguing and they don't look anything alike. Do they have some kind of rival relationship? I walked towards the flag waving in the air with my name on it. I was showered with praises by my parents once I reached them, and before I knew it I was being raised up and thrown into the air.
Flailing my hands around my eyes contacted my dad’s, my black marbles filled with panic in contrast to his red eyes of mischievousness.
Finally, back on the ground, I stared at his beaming grin. Lowering my head like a bull I charged at him. Due to my smaller stature, my head contacted that of his pelvis. Letting out a groan of pain he buckled over on the ground.
A resounding groan came from the surrounding men in the field.