Train. Eat. Study. Repeat.

The mantra of a skilled ninja. Or anyone planning to live pass thirty in a world prone to violent conflict. Without this realization, you either died a martyr or lived long enough to understand that your strife didn't matter. Knowing this at young age was vital, as it already gave you a step ahead of your generation.

No one had a better understanding of this mantra than Kobaru Museigen.

Growing up as the child of a mortician. Most evenings were, by default, gloomy. There was always a sense of restricted enthusiasm in the household. You were allowed to be happy but not blissful. More to prevent their spirits from being too high than anything else. One always had to be ready for death. You never knew when you'd be dressing the body of a criminal on a death sentence. Or a beloved family friend.

He was always mentally equipped for whoever ended up on his family's table. What he wasn't ready for was dying.

There was no fear for the concept. His family were firm believers in an afterlife. Whether it be to cope with their grim occupation or to comfort those who suffered a loss. It didn't matter. What had him second guessing his final breath was kicking the bucket young.

Kobaru had the misfortune of seeing bodies of many shapes sizes and affiliation being cleaned at the mortuary. There was one however that nestled itself into his long-term memory.

Parents had a natural drive to care for their offspring. Which is understandable considering that they were quite literally fifty percent them. The other half being of someone they could tolerate enough to practice procreating. That drive would, by nature, increase when there was only one child that came from their union.

He had once witnessed the cleansing of a two-year-old body. A child that died due to ongoing issues with health. A death that was more or less expected. Yet it even during an ongoing war effort this was the thing that hit the mourning family the hardest.

He was only four at the time, but the reaction that came from it was so bizarre, that even he couldn't cope with it. Their eyes wide, their denial silent but overbearing. Along with the child the Museigen buried the family's joy and hope. Leaving a niggling sense of disappointment and self-hatred. He'd never wish the same for his parents.

Sadly, the universe had other ideas.

With the third war set on making it to a tenth anniversary. The entire continent was on edge. It was the longest war the ninja world had seen since they adopted the village format. There was no sign of the fighting slowing down and with shinobi dying faster than they could replace them. Everyone was turning to their next line of resource.

The law-abiding village citizens.

The common folk did not see murder and treachery as tools. They acknowledged its existence only to be embraced as a last resort. So, they couldn't be less equipped for war. They were besides themselves, but the agreement stood. Upon seeking protection from a hidden village, one must be willing to provide their offspring to bolster the ranks in times of need.

Nine years of baseless fighting apparently led to times of need and eligible civilian children were targeted. 

At six years old Kobaru Museigen was, much to the disdain of his parents, was an eligible civilian child.

If there was one thing that he loved about his parents were their unrivaled honesty. Nothing ever got passed his mother and his father was as blunt as a rock. The perfect duo to say it as they see it. They were either unable to sugar-coat their words or made a conscious effort to highlight grim details. His father more so than his mother, but they both had their moments.

Upon his official addition to the academy, Kobaru received their transparency at full force. He still remembered the hard glare his father provided when he informed him that "two thirds of genin were expected to die on the frontlines. You have a thirty-three percent chance of surviving. Use it."

At first, he considered it great motivation, but once the adrenaline dried up, he realized that his parents were slightly unhinged. His confidence did go full circle and he promised them with a smirk that he would thrive and overcome his new task. By the gods he would make it out alive to see them die of old age.

Being the obnoxious kid he was, Kobaru took to asking his class sensei about ninja that got to retire. The man visibly bit back a laugh before telling him that only the crippled and terminally ill had the opportunity to retire. The most notable being their very own Shodaime.

Kobaru was as appalled as a six-year-old could be upon hearing such news. How was he supposed to be strong enough to stay alive long enough to catch some terminal illness? Or more pressing matters. How could Hashirama be strong enough to unify the clans in the land of fire but somehow allow himself to die by infectious disease? Wasn't he The Walking Forest? Wasn't his brother a genius? Wasn't his wife a ninja witch? This reality gave him little hope in his chances of survival.

Still, Kobaru respected the man for braving the frontlines of shinobi conflict. Then lived long enough to die of natural causes. It was the life befitting of the strong. It was what he aspired to be. Not necessarily the disease or the crippling part, but the luxury of being strong to the point where your decision was above the law.

So, after that, his goal was set in stone. Become the best to live long enough for a successful retirement.

It took all of five hours of his first day. To realize exactly how much work needed to be done to accomplish this. A lesson taught to him by a smiling devil of the Uchiha variety.

Kobaru did not see himself as the most adept fighter, but he could honestly say he knew his way around a school yard brawl. Never would he have expected someone the same age as he was to so thoroughly hand him his ass. Nothing he threw at his clan opponent was landing. The opposition danced around the attacks and retaliated with little contention.

The worst part about the tangle was that his martial art was one of the better civilian performances.

Citing the other Taijutsu spars that day between average citizens and children of shinobi families, led him to see exactly how far behind they already were.

They were horrendous really.

Altogether the civilians accumulated a total of one hit and even then, the girl immediately stopped to apologize to her opponent. How quickly everyone's reaction went from doting over her to hoping she learned her lesson, lined up perfectly with how fast she was slammed against the dirt.

It became obvious that he needed to improve just to make it out of the academy alive. Before the rude awakening his plan was quite simple. Get a promotion from the academy. Get a jonin sensei to study under for a year or two. Then get promoted to chunin and apply for specialized training.

Now he would have to restructure and recalculate.

Just like any sane person wanting to prove a point. He spent the entire year requesting spars with the black eyed Uchiha child. Dedicating all of his time into dismantling his opponent's style. Trying his hardest to come up with the ultimate counter. Kobaru being new to formal combat and by no means a prodigy, improved at an accelerated rate. Still, every time he took a step forward, his more experienced opponent would immediately appear twelve steps ahead.

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The beatings were numerous, and the victories were non-existent. There was a point where the class sensei suspected him of being a masochist. Going as far as conversing with the boy's parents about his penchant for sustaining damage.

He couldn't be more displeased when word made it back to him. Through a student no less. He was weak but far from stupid. Kobaru was well aware of the more efficient methods of self-harm. He just wanted to hit the curly haired brat at least once.

Besides getting beaten like an egg every other day by the black-eyed child did force improvements. Eventually he had a few moments against the other clan kids where it looked like it could go either way, but still ended the year without hitting the Uchiha.

His hunger for improvement in taijutsu was where his capabilities as a shinobi ended. As the other fields of his study were just barely enough to graduate him to the second year.

This only lead to a deeper feeling of inadequacy. The clan kids and civilians who had better overall scores, were promoted to genin. Then sent out to act as messengers in a war that was older than they were.

Kobaru promised that he would never be as short sighted ever again. He missed out on the opportunity to become an apprentice, all because he took losing a spar personally.

This negativity plagued his mind for two months straight until his parents came baring what they called "bad news". Which was a gross understatement.

Someone eating your sandwich without permission was bad news. His father being unable to make it to his orientation was bad news. Every civilian born genin of the most recent promotion being murdered during an ambush was terrible news.

The only reconciliation from that was that the bane of his existence Shisui Uchiha lived. So, the one-sided rivalry lived on with him.

He was told of the chances of his survival, but those were people that were better than him at the craft. They were of higher understanding than he was. Yet they were all wiped off the face of the earth before they even began to cherish life. Kobaru even toyed with the idea of quitting. A futile thought as the only way to leave the academy was by being promoted or by flunking out. The latter of which could only be done during the sixth year.

There was no way he'd spend the next five years acting like an idiot. He was still a child, but he had enough pride for four dozen lions.

It was back to school, punching and kicking until he was adept enough to graduate.

Save for his, just above average taijutsu. Which he poured his heart and soul into. Every other aspect of his academy education left much to be desired. Kobaru quickly realized that this was no fault of his, but a result of passive interference by his parents. There was a tasking chore he had to do after school or an errand he had to complete on the other side of the village. He didn't expect full support at improvement, but sabotage was crossing the line. Not that he could retaliate.

Still, he needed to work around chores that would leave him too tired to look at a book for more than five minutes without falling asleep. For that he commended them. It was a brilliant move to prevent your son from transforming into a cold killer. The only problem with that was he would get wacked by a cold killer if they kept it up. As with all issues he'd ever encountered he quickly adapted to their spontaneous requests. He left most of his studying to be done at school. Reading and applying theory at the lunch break.

With that scheduling he fully embodied his mantra for the next two years.

Train. Eat. Study. Repeat.

During this time, he made it clear to himself that nothing would stop him from becoming an ideal shinobi. Not the abrupt end to the Third War. Not the new clanless hokage. Not a giant fox dancing atop the village's Southend. Not even the death of said clanless hokage could stop him.

Nothing would and nothing could.

It seemed that his effort after the two-year wait had paid off and Kobaru was recommended for a chance of early promotion. It was no doubt a ploy to fast track genin hopefuls into replenishing the military population. The universe sought to deplete the numbers further. As they lost a small army during the fox's attack, but it was worth it. Besides he wasn't one to question his opportunities. It was his life's work. He deserved that forehead protector more than the fifteen other kids primed for promotion.

All he had to do was beat up some snot nosed six-year-old, who was being recommended by every chunin with a mouth and a pair of eyes.

Still, he was confident. He was considered most improved in the entire academy. Going from some bottom of the barrel nobody to the best of his class in record timing. He ignored that all the other students that were potentially better were already promoted. This was his moment though and frankly his opponent did not matter.

So far, he'd beaten a classmate and a fifth-year student to make it to the last eight. All that stood in his way of getting an actual jonin mentor and eventually more power, was a child.

A child that was staring at him from the other end of the circle. The most innocent expression on a mostly blank face. This was someone that hadn't even lost their baby teeth and Kobaru was expected to pummel him with intent. He couldn't fight this kid. No goal in the world was worth it.

That and he was already marked as a masochist by the other nine-year-old academy children. If word got out that he beat up a kid, he'd be listed as a child abuser too.

Kobaru reinforced his resolve.

If he didn't win this. It would be another opportunity that he was too inadept to secure. He would have to wait another year for a chance at promotion. That was if the village felt a need for extra genin twelve months from then. He concluded that he would beat the kid, but he would also allow him the chance to put on a show. Repay the good people that got him this opportunity.

The two bowed with the seal of confrontation. The six-year-old short enough to plant his forehead on the ground. This low bow allowed Kobaru to catch a glimpse of the symbol embroidered on the back of his shirt. A symbol that made his blood boil.

The red and white Uchiha fan.

Kobaru did not hate the Uchiha. They were the shinobi that civilians saw the most. After all, they were the backbone of the konoha military police. Who didn't like people who were being paid to protect them?

The Uchiha however seemed to hate Kobaru. As they were always there to provide a harsh reality check whenever he got too cocky. He admired their dedication.

"Kobaru-kun ready?" the chunin proctor asked glaring at the older of the two hopefuls. He nodded his affirmative. The proctor didn't even bother asking the Uchiha child for approval, "Fight!"

Before this spar, Kobaru had only truly panicked once in his life. The first was when he broke his mother's vase while practicing kata indoors. Said panic dissolved in five seconds when he made quick work of the floral disposal and got rid of the broken glass. Thanks to his father's penchant for being oblivious it was made to look like the vase didn't exist in the first place.

The panic he felt when the six-year-old closed the distance, before he could react, was one that shortened his lifespan by two decades. It was scary and physically impossible for someone of his size and stature to move at such speeds.

Kobaru's theory was proven right when a dango sized fist connected with his chin.

The knuckles were cold. The air around it was cold. This little Uchiha brat was using chakra. A topic that wasn't explored further until the fourth year. Even then application was reserved for the last two. Kobaru himself knew as much as was required for his education. Here throwing a punch at him was a six-year-old who figured out how to utilize it.

It suddenly dawned on Kobaru why the chunin were eager to get this kid up and out of the academy. Another year would only stunt his growth. After all, battle experience was better than someone talking about theirs.

He scoffed at how quickly his mindset had gone from, help the kid put on a show to knock him out before he gets the chance.

After collecting the well-placed hook, Kobaru spun with the momentum priming a retaliatory backhand. The timing was perfect, and his arc was flawless. His fist was held firm and would knock the kid flat on his ass if said kid was about twelve inches taller.

Upon his revolution. Kobaru found himself face to face with another tiny hand. This time he received a chop to the side of his neck. He stumbled with the blow. His scrambling for footing was interrupted by a sweep from his attacker. Before he could even make sense of what was going on he was lying on his back. His right arm pinned under a knee and a small hand to his throat.

"Winner Itachi-kun!"

It was official. Kobaru hated the Uchiha.