The brisk morning stirred even the most lethargic souls.
Raito woke up with enthusiasm and excitement for the schedule he had planned. This alteration was the aftermath of his fierce confrontation with Iruka-sensei, a battle that secured his freedom.
With determined strides, Raito headed away from the hustle and bustle of civilization, utilizing chakra explosively to engage his ‘[Sprint]’, which lasted for a full five minute before dying. Even then he did not stop, Raito kept on pressing and when his chakra was full again, he used ‘[Sprint]’ again.
An hour of relentless running left him exhausted, prompting him to lean against a tree and gulp down a bottle of water.
Even when he could not see anyone, even when there were no houses around, when Raito activated his ‘[Chakra Sense]’ he could feel the waves of chakra around him, coming from the Sensory Department at the top of the Hokage monument. ‘It’s Mikan today for section six to ten.’
Raito was currently running uphill to a small shrine at the top. It would have been much easier with his 30 plus STR stat, but then that would not be considered training. Raito was strapping himself with some weight cuffs, which he had created/ made/ crafted. On each limb, there was the addition of five-kilo weight strapped on him.
He was quite happy with the occasional notification about his stats up. The only thing that was bugging him and making him feel down was the description of the self-made weights.
It was downright demoralizing.
[Extremely Novice Level – Weight Cuffs]
Added weight cuffs, made for training purposes.
Note - Crafted by the extremely novice artisan, Raito, these cuffs feature a less-than-stellar design and uneven weight distribution. They prove to be extremely disappointing in both functionality and appearance.
Made by – Yoshizawa Raito
Owner – Yoshizawa Raito
Grade – -10/10
Weight – 5 kg
Durability – 5/20
Made from randomly scrapped metals mainly cast iron, Fire jutsu – Camping jutsu – spark, stolen hammer…more.
Uses>>
Flaws>>
The next hard, emotional blow was when Raito pressed the ‘Uses’. Another window popped in front of Raito, revealing that the primary function of the weight cuffs was to serve as scrap metals for forging, with their use in training mentioned as a mere afterthought in the subsequent listing.
“Haha,” Raito let out a hollow laugh, his eyes void of life.
Depressed, Raito refused to look further. Closing the tab, Raito hesitantly clicked the ‘Flaws’ on which a long list was present. Not even daring to give it a glance, Raito closed the tab immediately.
After a quick rest stop, Raito continued with his run all the way to the border of the village and back. It took him nearly 4 hour to complete the circuit. But, it helped him nicely to level up those ‘Running’ and ‘Sprinting’ skills, and as for those VIT and STR stat, it was humbling.
In that moment, Raito resolved to create new weight cuffs—ones with improved design and increased weight, and go for another long run. ‘All for myself. Go me.’
Standing in front of his house, Raito looked around to see a few people walking by and nodding at him. They were also shinobi and understood about training and coming home sweaty and looking like that, but this wasn’t an excuse to be full of sweat, grime and dirt.
Just as he was about to enter, Raito sensed the murmur of voices. Ino was talking about her small group in the academy, who became her source of information bank. Paying no heed to it, Raito entered the house and headed directly for the shower. His ‘Stealth’ was nearly reaching thirty, and it was getting easier and easier to sneak past most of the people around him.
‘I love this kind of passive grinding.’
Raito quickly showered and changed to a fresh set of clothes, then grabbed the juice off the table before strolling out into the backyard.
There was a folding table outside the house, which confused Raito thinking if he had ever brought that. Besides, that was not the main point. The main point was the books on the table; it had completely filled the table.
Grabbing a book Raito, Raito pulled the chair when everyone gave him a wave and hello. Raito waved back with a smile and asked. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Ino was telling about Asuma-sensei. She gathered some news about him.” Naruto said with eyes sparkling with excitement. “You know, Asuma-sensei was a guardian in the capital, one of the strongest, one of the twelve. That’s so cool.”
“I know,” Raito looked back at his book, disinterested. As an aspiring Shinobi, Raito was knowledgeable about many things. It was basics, after all.
‘The Guardians’ were a group of individuals, numerically 12 at all times, gathered together from different backgrounds in the capital. They were labeled as a unit that took orders directly from the Daimyō. Their status was on the higher side of the power level in the capital. The group consisted of shinobi, monk, samurai, priest, warrior, strategist, whisperer and similar others professions.
The well-known to Raito was the Konoha’s own Sarutobi Asuma and the guardian monk of the fire temple, Chiriku.
“I know about Kakashi-sensei too.” Ino added, pointing her finger towards a direction and added, “He currently lives at the Jōnin quarters, closest to the Hokage office.”
“Closest?” Raito was intrigued. Jōnin quarters were exclusively for Jōnins, and being close to the Hokage tower meant not only that they were stronger than their peers but also they were single and didn’t have a home of their own.
‘Kakashi, Hatake clan should have an area to their name.’ Raito thought for a second before looking at the book. “Konoha Vegetation.”
“That’s a clan book.” Shikamaru remarked, catching Raito muttering.
“I have never read this book.” Raito admitted and added, “It would be great if…”
“Don’t think about keeping it.” Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Raito had somewhat of a persistent mind. Last time when Shikamaru brought a book, Raito asked if he could keep it. Of course, Shikamaru could not accept. So, Raito grabbed a scroll and started copying it down, making Shikamaru late for his dinner and hence, getting mom’s scolding.
Ignoring Shikamaru, Raito activated his gamer powers. ‘Start Recording.’
While everyone was talking, Raito started flipping the paper slowly and steadily.
Ino looked at everyone and everyone looked at Ino. She made a shush sign and said, “Do you guys know why Kakashi-sama, has the nickname, ‘Kakashi of Sharingan’.”
“Isn't it because he has Sharingan?” Raito teased, “The nickname has Sharingan in it, so the nickname.”
Ino pouted and glared.
“Kakashi-sensei has Sharingan, but how, why?” Naruto rubbed his head as he thought about the books. “Shouldn’t it be Uchiha who have the Sharingan?”
“It was unofficial, and only few people know about this, but he got those eyes from his friend who was with him during the Shinobi World War.” Ino looked downcast when she shared it to everyone.
Seeing that everyone quietened down all of a sudden, Naruto was about to say something but Raito elbowed him and took out a stack of paper.
“What’s that?” Shikamaru asked and grabbed one.
“These techniques are going to be very useful next week,” Raito answered, then looked at everyone. “It depends on what affinity you have on what you can learn.”
“Don’t you-ow” Naruto was elbowed once again before he could do any damage.
“Fire spark,” After channeling chakra according to the manual, Shikamaru was easily able make a spark. “That was easy.”
Naruto’s eye widened with awe and envy. ‘I wanted to do it too.’
Raito passed the papers to everyone and explained, “They were supposed to be taught in the academy along with ‘Clone’, ‘Transformation’, and ‘Replacement’ techniques but after the war ended, the civilian population inside the academy increased because of a lot of… you know what.”
There were a few nods here and there.
“The council decided that these techniques should be taught after the academy students become a Genin. Under the supervision of a Jōnin instructor.”
Naruto growled, “They just want to stop me from my Ninjutsu-”
“Stop,” Raito elbowed once again, flinching Naruto. “Show them.”
“Next is this.” Naruto took out a paper tag, which had kanji for kunai written on it and showed it to the crowd.
“Fūinjutsu?” asked Ino
It was Naruto’s turn to ride the tides and show everyone his knowledge. “More specifically, a storage seal. This is a very small one so it can only store one item.”
Naruto made a hand sign and passed his chakra to the seal. With a puff, a kunai appeared out of the seal and the weapon kanji written on the seal disappeared.
“Clan districts use this all the time.” Chōji added for the information.
“I don’t think it’s possible to take scrolls with us.” Hinata added in a small voice.
Everyone looked at her making her cower.
Naruto made an ‘O’ with his mouth then asked. “Why can’t we take scrolls with us?”
The stares were getting to her.
Ino decided to be her support as she glared at everyone to become more civil.
“Because I-I saw it last time, the earlier parts.” Hinata’s voice was getting smaller and smaller.
“With Byakugan.” Raito commented and Hinata nodded.
“With Hinata’s knowledge about the survival mission, it would make it a bit easier for us.” Shikamaru commented.
“So what happens in this test?” Naruto asked in straightforward way.
Hinata took a breath and exhaled, calming down her growing nerves then started, “In the Training Ground Zero, there are two wooden cabins – one for the boys and another for the girls. Everyone is checked thoroughly and things such as kunai pouch, sealing scrolls or personal weapons are taken. Then we are divided into groups and given a specific region.”
“This sounds easy.” Raito commented. “These books should come in handy.”
“Food will be problem.” Chōji commented, his eyes shifting craftily, looking at Raito.
“Umm, my facial routine.” Ino crossed her arms and frowned in worry.
“We had these kinds of test before but they were for only a couple of hours and at most, one day. I don’t think-” Shikamaru stopped at Raito’s head gesture and looked at his side, where Ino was. She had a frown on her face as she looked at Shikamaru.
“L-Let’s train these techniques first.” Shikamaru grabbed the paper and walked off.
Everyone nodded and started reading the paper except for Naruto and Raito.
Raito gave Naruto a scroll and whispered in his ear. Naruto nodded and disappeared.
Raito walked toward a corner and opened his skill list.
His highest were ‘Chakra Sense’, ‘False surrounding’, ‘Chakra control’, ‘Observe’, ‘Stealth’, ‘Clone’, ‘Teaching’, and ‘Reading’.
Chakra Sense remained active, leveling up faster compared to the rest. False Surrounding, being applicable to multiple objects simultaneously, progressed swiftly.
‘Observe’ and ‘Stealth’ were used more frequently, like when going out for a walk, every ‘single’ time.
The ‘Leaf Sticking’, ‘Hovering’ and ‘Spinning’ were also leveling up fast and the main branch ‘Chakra Control’ was going to hit twenty soon.
Ratio brought out a stump, a little less than his full size, and passed a chunk of chakra inside it. Then Raito went to the other side, made a few hand signs and activated the skill ‘Replacement’. Looking at the skill level, Raito saw an increase in 5%. Closing the windows, Raito repeated the technique.
After his chakra depleted, Raito used ‘Meditation’ to replenish his reserves before resuming the practice.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Quite a while later, Naruto returned with his clothes dirty and his face bruised, followed by Sasuke, who was equally bruised and battered.
Raito hurried to Naruto’s side and quickly used ‘Heal’. The more he recovered the higher the skill would rise, making Raito eager for some volunteer work.
Sasuke looked at Raito’s medical Ninjutsu with confusion and asked, “Since when?”
Raito looked at the wounds and answered, “Two days, maybe. I don’t remember.”
“It’s a new thing, okay?” Raito waved, signaling for Sasuke to come forward.
Sasuke nodded and took a seat on the bench.
Ino fixedly watched Sasuke, contemplating, 'I need to learn Medical Ninjutsu.'
“…” Shikamaru rolled his eyes and distanced himself from the group, followed by Chōji.
Hinata grabbed Nara clan’s Konoha Vegetation and started reading.
As Sasuke only had minor scratches, the process didn't take as long as it did for Naruto—three seconds at most.
Raito passed the paper to Sasuke then he went to read.
When Raito walked back to the table, he saw Hinata holding the book and reading. Raito froze for a second before grabbing another book from the pile.
“That means you are probably a Fire Nature Type.” Naruto smiled widely and stared talking about his own ‘Erasing Wind’, or what Raito had told him.
“Hn,” Sasuke nodded before pushing more chakra. The sparks of fire increased and grew to the size of the fist. Stopping the jutsu, Sasuke frowned. The chakra consumption for increasing the output was just too much, but the result wasn’t much. His Great Fireball Jutsu was the much better compared to this small jutsu.
Sasuke then tried a few others while being accompanied by Naruto, but there was not much of a result. There was a minor reaction to Lightning Palm, but it would have been better to say there was none.
Sasuke placed the paper back and left Naruto.
Running away from the sticky Naruto, Sasuke eventually found Raito, training his ‘Replacement’ technique away from others. Sasuke watched for a couple of minutes before moving back.
Raito gave him a side-glance before breathing out. ‘Replacement’ level had risen by a lot and cost of the use was decreasing bit by bit, almost becoming negligible.
A silly smile hung on Raito’s face as he sat down cross-legged and started ‘Meditation’. In just ten minutes, Raito’s CP was refilled more than half.
While Raito was refilling, Sasuke moved around and installed traps. ‘I’ll show you.’
Sasuke walked back to Raito’s area and waited for him to stop meditating and stand up or whatever. Sasuke was a person of fair game. He wasn’t willing to become like Raito.
Twenty minutes passed and Raito finally opened his eyes. Activating his ‘[Chakra Sense]’, Raito easily found Sasuke and his traps that even didn’t even cover half of the expected area of the battlefield.
“Learning traps from me should be the biggest reward you’ve had.” A kunai appeared in Raito’s hand as he swiftly turned around and blocked the shurikens.
Tink
Sasuke used his advance shuriken skills, and made them appear from Raito’s behind.
Raito successfully blocked the one and dodged another, but it affected his balance.
Sasuke grabbed this opportunity and rushed forward with a kunai in hand, aiming for Raito’s back. To his dismay, upon contact, when the kunai touched Raito, Raito turned into a log and disappeared from his side.
“Seal-less Jutsu?” Sasuke muttered in frustration, pushing the log away before swiftly darting toward the nearest tree. “Damn it.”
Gripping to a trunk of the tree, Sasuke surveyed the surroundings before diving into the woods.
Raito tsked, stowing the rope in his inventory, and trailed behind Sasuke.
Shu, shu, shu.
The soft rustle of leaves accompanied Sasuke's rapid sprint toward a safer location. His best bet was some place away from the clearing, because of all the ‘Replacement’ materials around.
Wish, thud.
Just before Sasuke could reach his destination, the makeshift bolas ensnared his legs, immobilizing him and leading to a fall. Luckily, he had a kunai with him. He cut the rope lose and ran.
‘What am I doing?’ Sasuke pondered, grabbing a tree and concealing himself opposite the direction from which Raito had thrown the bolas. ‘Calm down,’ he instructed himself, closing his eyes and attuning his senses.
“I am so near you, Sasuke.” Sasuke heard Raito.
With a quick spin on his heels, Sasuke threw shuriken towards Raito’s figure.
The shuriken crossed by and stuck on the ground and the figure also disappeared at the same time.
‘Genjutsu?’ Sasuke looked around, kneeling down and grabbing all the pebbles he could find. Whenever he found a shadow, Sasuke would throw a pebble.
The pebbles in his hand was exhausted but the shadowy figures were endlessly surrounding him. Sasuke gritted his teeth and looked around. ‘Damn it. If only I had Sharingan.’
Raito stood perched on a high branch, peering down. "If only you had Sharingan, huh?"
After some thought, Raito dispelled the Genjutsu and jumped down. With a little help of water and fire techniques, he created a little illusion of chakra exhaustion. Raito’s face was red and sweaty as he walked out with a wooden sword in his hand.
“So you have finally come?” Sasuke gave a quick glance around and took out his left over shuriken.
Raito remained silent, assuming a combat stance.
Sasuke was still looking around for any kind of ambush. Seeing nothing, he threw the shuriken and dashed away.
Raito blocked the shuriken easily and chased. With the increase in stats, the difference between him and the others was now clear.
Combined with ‘[Stealth]’ and ‘[Physical Reinforcement]’, Raito quickly caught up to Sasuke.
Just a few steps back, Raito took a leap forward, positioning himself just above Sasuke, and swung his wooden sword.
“Got you,” Sasuke turned around with a tiger hand seal. “Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique”
A massive fireball exploded out of Sasuke’s mouth and enveloped Raito.
“That was dangerous.” Raito looked down the tree and wiped his sweat.
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique”
“Huh?” Raito turned around and found a fireball just a few steps away. “Hehe”
‘Genjutsu,’ Sasuke turned around and jumped away.
Raito gathered water on his hand using the ‘[Water Condensation]’ jutsu. The water had dowsed the fire but the char and the burnt smell remained. It was his backyard and simply didn’t wanted Sasuke to burn down everything.
Raito looked the scene for a long time before muttering, “I don’t like this.”
Raito’s ‘[Chakra Sense]’ was locked onto Sasuke. “I should end this as quickly as possible.”
Sasuke sat beside a tree with closed eyes, a kunai held just above the ground.
Raito jumped from branch to branch, occasionally dodging shuriken.
Just as he appeared at the edge of a small clearing, Raito saw Sasuke looking at him from the other end of the clearing. They stood at the opposite end and glared.
As Raito approached a small clearing, he found Sasuke at the opposite end. They stood, glaring at each other.
As the tense standoff seemed endless, Raito descended. “[Earth Release: Rock Fist]”
Sasuke looked calmly and swung his kunai lightly, cutting the string.
Shee.
A bunch of branches and logs were tied to make a ball, which fell down on Sasuke’s action.
“Wires.” Raito looked at the logs and branches falling towards him. ‘It should have taken him lot of time.’
“[Fast Thinking]”
The world moved slower in Raito’s eye as he simultaneously activated ‘[Chakra Flow]’ in both of his hand which enhanced his ‘[Rock Fist]’.
Roughly twisting his body, Raito punched the ball of stump and branches and pushed it away. The force acted on him equally, which pushed him to the tree.
Swish
A shuriken flew by and cut the wire atop the ball.
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique”
The Great Fireball collided with the ball of log and branches, which quickly caught fire and changed its course.
Raito frowned as thought of punching came to his mind but quickly disappeared. ‘It’s a bit too extreme.’
“[ID Create: Wasteland]”
Raito disappeared, which messed Sasuke’s whole plan.
The fireball along with logs and branches crashed the tree, creating a small explosion. Sasuke flinched at his work, then looked around. ‘No way.’
He took a lot of time finding all the logs, around this area then pile it on the traps. There was no chance that he could have used [Replacement] with nothing to grab into.
“How come-omph.” Sasuke grimaced, coughing out saliva as he kneeled in pain.
Raito observed him closely and muttered, "He's out of control."
Shikamaru walked out with a serious face, as he looked at the wire and the logs.
Raito looked back and smile then crouched down and started using ‘[Heal]’ on Sasuke.
Shikamaru looked at the two and sighed. “It’s such a pain.”
Fifteen minutes later, Sasuke and Raito sat opposite each other and in between them was a Shogi board.
Sasuke took a sip of tea, exhaling slowly as he studied the pieces, then shifted his gaze to Raito.
“Can you please move that stupid son of a piece?” Raito demanded, struggling to keep his anger in check.
“Why are you getting so angry for?” Sasuke remained calm, chewing on his rice balls.
“It’s been five minutes since you last touched a piece.” Raito answered while pointing at Sasuke’s face.
“How do you know it’s been five minutes?” Sasuke questioned again.
“There is something called a clock.” Raito answered a bit slowly and asked, “Why are you questioning me?”
Sasuke made a grunting noise but did not answer.
“Look here Sasuke, those girls are doing Chakra Control Exercise, and the boys back there are doing strength training. Meanwhile, I’m stuck with you playing a one-sided game where you don’t even play.” Raito said in exhaustion and grabbed a rice ball.
Sasuke listened and moved a piece.
Sighing, Raito made a move instantly, ‘I used the same strategy against Shikamaru and he won in ten moves.’
Raito retrieved a leaf from his pouch, placing it in the center of his palm. He began his chakra control exercise, altering it slightly to make the leaf rise and spin.
A bit later Raito heard a familiar ding sound.
A shock ran through his entire body. He felt a newfound sense of freedom, as if he could breathe a little easier. A screen popped up in front of him, eliciting a smile from Raito.
[Skill ‘Chakra Sense’ leveled up to level 50.]
[Chakra Sense Lvl 50 (Active) Exp 0.0%]
The ability to sense the chakra outside the body, the higher the level greater the area of sensing and more precise.
# Domain
# Area Sense
# Chakra Signature Sensing
# Imaging
# Clarity
# Remote Viewing
# Area Expansion
Raito smiled at the notification and checked the expanded area his Chakra Sense now covered. He could now sense Kakashi, who was a kilometer away.
Raito turned towards the Kakashi’s direction then smiled.
Looking at the weird things Raito did, Sasuke was looking at him in confusion then made a comment, “You are weird,” then moved a piece.
Looking at Sasuke, who was giving him a weird face and ‘you are weird’ comment, Raito flew in rage and hammered the table, destroying the formation.
Raito looked at the board and his face twisted in pain. Sasuke stood up with a smile on his face.
“Hey, come back. We still haven’t finished the game.”
“Oioi, Sasuke, come back, you bastard.”
Raito shouted to Sasuke’s deaf ears. After that, Raito sat down and started his ‘Chakra Control Exercises’.
At the Hokage’s office,
Hiruzen smiled, looking at his crystal ball, then walked towards the desk. Sitting in his comfortable chair, he took a deep breath of smoke, then exhaled.
A figure appeared in front of him, interrupting his short break. Sighing, he looked at the figure, "Kakashi, anything?"
Pointing at his book with a lazy posture, Kakashi answered, “He improved again.”
“Again?” Hiruzen questioned with a frown. He walked towards a bookshelf, then tracing the books, he stopped at one and after injecting a bit of chakra, he pulled it out.
Flipping a few pages, Hiruzen read the text in it, then gave the book to Kakashi.
“He is soon going to surpass his father.” Hiruzen stated. then sat on his chair.
Kakashi, on the other hand, was flipping through the book, "Hokage-sama, if we compare Raito with his father, it would be a hundred times faster. Is that even possible?"
Hiruzen did not reply and continued to look blankly at Kakashi, when suddenly Mariko knocked on the door twice and stopped.
Two ANBU dropped down and stood by Kakashi’s side. Looking at the serious face of Hiruzen, Kakashi closed the notebook and placed it on the table.
Hiruzen wore his hat and stood up, “Let’s go to T & I department, Inoichi has got things to tell us.”
“Hai, Hokage-sama.” The trio replied in affirmation.
A moment later, the office was without a sound and a soul to be seen.
Raito, on the other hand, was practicing the academy three.
Observing Raito's figure, Sasuke looked confused and then continued his training.
CP: 10/1500
Raito’s chakra hit low levels and could not use Jutsus anymore. Checking the skills, Raito smiled happily.
[Clone Lvl 30 (Active) CP Cost 30 Exp 0.0%].
[Transformation Lvl 45 (Active) CP Cost 20 Exp 0.0%].
[Replacement Lvl 30 (Active) CP Cost 20 Exp 0.0%].
‘I exhausted all my chakra, so now I should do physical training.’ Raito went towards the log and started hitting it at a rhythmic pace. At the same time, he was looking at the status tab and his eyes landed at the unused stat points.
Looking at the status page, Raito sighed in hesitation, then closed the tab and continued hitting the log even harder while shouting, “Sasuke!”
On the other side of the backyard, Ino raised her leg high and hit Shikamaru.
“I never felt Taijutsu would feel so good.” Ino laughed, enjoying the feeling of hormone rushing.
Chōji helped Shikamaru stand and looked at Ino, “You are getting stronger, Ino.”
“Damn that, Raito.” Shikamaru cursed under his breath. Right now, he was breathing heavily, and dust and grime covered his body.
“You should train harder, Shikamaru. Otherwise, Ino will beat you every time.” Chōji said in a way Raito suggested him to do so.
“You’re learning bad things from Raito.” Shikamaru retorted, then looked in a certain direction.
The direction Shikamaru looked at, Sasuke was hiding in the bushes. He observed the people Raito said were improving greatly, wanting to confirm his suspicions. ‘Is training in a group is more effective than training alone?’
Sasuke looked at Ino, who had improved her Taijutsu greatly, then his eyes landed at Shikamaru, who was also improving in his Taijutsu.
‘My Taijutsu is already better than theirs, I can easily use Genjutsu after I unlock my Sharingan and for Ninjutsu, my clan has lots of it. They are doing the basics only, they will be useful as… ’ With dark thoughts, Sasuke retreated.
Raito, on the other side of the backyard, was using his, ‘[Chakra Sense]’ and at the same time practicing Taijutsu and Kenjutsu. The improved ‘Chakra Sense’ allowed him to see the detailed image of something without using ‘Fast Thinking’. So, he could see the somewhat disappointment at Sasuke’s face. Sighing lightly, he ignored it and continued practicing. “Your methods don’t work like you think, sensei.”
Minutes later, Ino, Shikamaru and Chōji arrived at the area where Raito was practicing.
“Sasuke was observing us.” Shikamaru stated, looking at Raito for an answer.
“He was… looking for answers, by observing you guys.” Raito answered, reasoning the same thing Inoichi had said to him.
“I think I over-exaggerated when I asked him to join our group, and now he is disappointed when he saw us training on basics.” Raito explained with his face covered.
At that point, Hinata walked in slowly, revealing herself. She was alone and a bit sad.
“Hinata, where is Naruto, that idiot?” Ino asked while walking towards her.
Hesitating a bit, Hinata replied, “Naruto-kun said he wanted to go out for a bit.” Her voice was low, and one could feel that there was something she had left out.
“He went after Sasuke.” Raito commented from the side then walked towards the house.
Letting out a sigh, Raito said, “Why are you worrying about them? Just worry about yourselves first.”
Grabbing a towel, Raito walked inside the house, paused for quite a while then said, “I am going for the bath first.”
Ino hugged Hinata from behind with a small pout. “Those three have a problem. I feel sorry for you, Hinata.”
Shikamaru and Chōji nodded in affirmation but Hinata looked a little sad.
“Let’s do a few more rounds and end for the day. Hinata, want to join us?” Shikamaru told Ino and Chōji then asked Hinata.
“Mm.” Hinata nodded slightly and joined the trio.
Meanwhile, in the shower, Raito clenched his fist. The cold water from shower hit him, suppressing his anger and cooling his enraged mind. “Stupid Sasuke,”
A few streets down from the house, Sasuke walked quietly with a disappointed expression. "I shouldn’t have expected."
‘Out of all of them, only Raito and Naruto improved. Only Raito can fight with me. Naruto, Shikamaru, Ino, Chōji, and Hinata may have improved in these past few days, but they are far from me, definitely.’ Sasuke shook his head, paused, and looked back.
Naruto was running and in a few moments caught Sasuke and shouted, “Oi, Sasuke!”
Sasuke sighed and replied blankly, “Naruto”
Stopping, Naruto breathed heavily. After a moment, he began, “Why did you leave so fast? I still have got to fight you. Come back, Chōji is going to make some food, you may not know, but his cooking is really awesome. And Ino has–”
“Shut up.” Sasuke cut off Naruto with a shout. “I am going home.” With that, Sasuke started walking again.
“Wait, we can-”
“Naruto.” Sasuke coldly interrupted Naruto. “I am telling you, I am going home.”
“Don’t you want to hang out with us?” Naruto said once more with a softer tone.
“Damn it, Naruto! I am telling you I do not have time to play with you all. I do not have time to waste; I want to train, train, and train some more. If I stick with you all, I cannot improve… I cannot become stronger. It’s because you guys are just too weak.” His voice got higher and face contorted.
Sasuke’s words were like sharp kunai piercing through Naruto’s heart.
Rubbing the side of his forehead in irritation, Sasuke continued. “That is what I think, so stop caring about me and just leave me alone.”
He looked at Naruto, whose eyes were watery and left the area.
“Sasuke, you-” Naruto felt a sense of sadness washing over him, looking at the Sasuke’s lonely back.
From a distance, Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Chōji were looking at the two of them. Shikamaru sighed lightly before jumping down and making his way inside the house.
On the other hand, Chōji stared at Sasuke’s back, his typical gentle and always smiling face had a frown, “I really want to beat him.” Then Chōji also jumped down and followed Shikamaru.
Hinata and Ino exchanged glances, their expressions reflecting the shared sorrow they felt.
A few minutes later, Shikamaru and Chōji entered the bath.
“I am not asking you guys to leave, but this bath really isn’t that big.” Raito said, getting uncomfortable with Chōji and Shikamaru in a small bath.
“This tub isn’t as big as in my house but it is good enough.” Chōji commented
‘Damn.’ Raito cursed internally at Chōji’s innocent boasting.
Extending his hand, Shikamaru clenched his fist then slowly dropped it. Frowning lightly, he tried to relax.
Chōji looked at Raito and said, “Raito, today I saw Naruto and Sasuke… I don’t think-”
Raito interrupted Chōji, “Chōji don’t think too much about this all. Sasuke… he… I don’t think he is going to come.”
“Make sure to drain the water, okay?” Raito hurriedly exited the bathroom.
Raito looked at the mirror and sighed. Even his depressed mood was couldn’t overshadow his handsome face. He couldn’t have looked more perfect.
Just as he was about to wear clothes, Raito heard two pair of footsteps coming towards him. Reactivating the ‘[Chakra Sense]’, Raito ‘saw’ two girls, Ino and Hinata, walking towards him.
Ratio looked at himself, not wearing clothes, and started to panic. “Damn it.”
A calming blue light passed through Raito's eyes, dispelling his panic and allowing him to calmly think of a solution.
Raito swiftly dumped his clothes inside the inventory, then dragged the clothes icon at the avatar screen. Instantly, he was wearing his clothes and even the belt was properly buckled.
Ino placed her hand on the doorknob, but Raito was did it first. When the door was opened, the girls were startled and Ino even took a couple of steps back.
“What’s the idea?” Ino shouted in anger and embarrassment.
“Oi, oi. What are you girls doing coming here when the boys are taking a bath?” Raito asked, then looked at the two with a shocked expression. “Peeking?”
Raito raised his hands and dashed off.
Hinata flushed red whereas Ino gritted her teeth and chased Raito while shouting, “Raito, come back here.”
“As if.” Raito laughed while running.
Ino chased Raito all over the house but couldn’t grab him. Later, Hinata joined, but she was more passive, always standing in a pincer position between the two.
Trying to dodge Hinata, Raito fell down but grabbed Ino, dragging her with him. They were in an awkward position; Ino was on all four, lying just above Raito. A few moments passed while the two of them locked eyes.
Ino was breathing hard as she pushed herself up, “I-”
Their moment was abruptly interrupted by a sudden bang. Naruto walked in with a big smile on his face, concealing the conversation he had with Sasuke just moments ago.
Just as he was about to talk, Naruto froze by the sight he saw.
At the same time, Chōji and Shikamaru also came to the scene.
Panicking, Ino pushed Raito and jumped backwards, “Haha, I finally caught you.”
“I… that…” Raito mumbled
“Hinata, let’s go.” Ino quickly grabbed Hinata’s hand and ran upstairs towards the bathroom.
Raito ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “What a pain.”
Shikamaru and Chōji gave him a glance before walking towards the kitchen.
“I want some tea.” Shikamaru waved to Naruto and hurried away.
Smiling lightly, Raito hooked his arm around Naruto and said, “Hey Naruto, I thought of a super new training method that will help you get stronger quickly. Wanna join me?”
“Really? Okay.” Naruto quickly answered with a smiled.
Shikamaru, who heard about Raito’s new training method, looked at Naruto and shook his head. Training with that crazy Raito, only Naruto was dumb enough to get hooked.
Raito chuckled and patted Naruto’s shoulder. “Let’s start with the books.”
Raito grabbed a couple of books and passed it with a smile, then said. “The new practice method is… what I call, ‘Dragon behind you’.”
After giving an evil smile, Raito disappeared into a dungeon. “[ID Create Wasteland – Wasteland].”
Hidden grounds of Konoha – T and I Special Department
“Mizuki, you have betrayed us. Years ago, I found out about what you were doing and gave you a chance to change yourself, but years later, you are still the same.” Hiruzen sighed, the clothes of Hokage and the hat giving him a much more dangerous look.
The chained Mizuki did not even turn his face or responded to the comment.
“Rest well for now,” Hiruzen left the room, followed by the group of people.
The door was slammed shut, and the room was plunged into the darkness. Nobody could see the twisted expression on Mizuki’s face as his heart sank into the abyss.
‘What a fine specimen I got here.’
Outside the room
Inoichi started taking out scrolls, and so did his subordinates.
Waiting patiently, Hiruzen looked back towards the room. He could feel a small scratch in his heart, but the feeling was different.
“Hokage-sama, we couldn’t retrieve any knowledge regarding the person he is in contact with. All we got is a hazy figure, but we were able to see a person and that is… Orochimaru.” Pausing for a bit, Inoichi saw no surprise in his Hokage’s eyes and sighed internally.
“The first contact with Orochimaru was about eight years ago, just before Mizuki was asked to join the academy.” Inoichi continued to tell Hiruzen about the things that happened and listening to it, Hiruzen face got darker and darker.
Orochimaru, a formidable shinobi and even more, a great manipulator. Seeing the greed in Mizuki, Orochimaru gave him some power and made a deal with him. Mizuki remained hidden in the village like any other reserved shinobi. Then some time ago, he met Orochimaru’s lackey and they started helping each other.
Inoichi finished telling about Mizuki’s past. Hiruzen sighed, learning about the dark history of his subordinates.
“Inoichi, sometime ago, we talked about some kinds of therapy, which heavily involved talking and giving advice, I now think that you were right about that. After this ends, I want to learn more about this.” Hiruzen remarked, looking at the chambers behind him.
“Start the interrogation officially and inform his fiancée about this. I hate to do this kind of thing to our own men, but what he has done till now and what he was planning, betrays the village. He deserves punishment.” His voice deep and slow, giving chills to the new members.
“Everyone here, come to my office tomorrow and someone, call Iruka to my office.” Hiruzen gave out a bunch of commands to his subordinates and dismissed them.
Meanwhile, in another corner of Konoha,
“A pawn has been caught, how disappointing. But, he is just… a failed experiment. Perhaps I should I try to go one step further?” a man murmured to himself.
“I’ve finished doing most of my work here. On the other hand, Orochimaru-sama’s work may take several years before it gives results.”
Adjusting his glasses, “I may have to stay here longer than I think.” Sighing, the man closed his scroll, sealing them, he walked out of the room.
In the residential district
A man wearing a regular ninja flak jacket extended his hands towards the door, sent his chakra into the seals, slowly opening it.
“Hehe, so easy.” Laughing gleefully, the man walked inside and his shifty eyes surveying the house.