He failed.

Kobaru couldn't rid himself of one measly Uchiha child. He had been bested once more by the clan of black eyed demons. Yet he was still promoted.

He didn't feel like he deserved it but it mattered little to him. He was a genin now whether it be through pity or by his hard work, he would accept it. As this pushed him one step closer to achieving his relatively lofty goals.

The chunin that proctored his deciding fight, provided him with his forehead protector and had him sign away his youth in all of thirty seconds. Kobaru didn't mind. Shinobi lived fast after all and according to them he was now a full-fledged adult.

Even though he was officially a shinobi of Konoha, his poor showing during the evaluation wouldn't be enough to get him into a team. That was a privilege reserved for the graduating class and the top four of the early promotion exam.

Anyone else would be passed on to the genin reserve corps. A bootcamp where they got everyone up to scratch to at least survive a week without getting their heads chopped off.

He was given five days off, before he would start with the next batch of genin. The school's isolation on the east end of the village was well known. Any academy student with two ears heard the ever popular ghost stories about the place. He still had no idea what it looked like, but when he asked his proctor all he got was, "you'll know it when you see it."

Though it was likened to a thing of legends. In times of conflict the corps would be the main line of educating the village's genin. Jonin were seen as the elites and adding the responsibility of training three juveniles was relegated to one or two. This luxury was only heavily depended on in times of peace, in an attempt to groom a new generation of elites.

That's not to say that every jonin accepted the team that was given to them. As they were masters of their craft, they had a choice in exactly who would inherit their knowledge. Jonin privilege also extended to drafting a genin team from the corps.

That barely ever happened.

Any one incompetent enough to wind up in the corps, was usually overlooked. As they were seen as the perfectly average, not worth the time of elites. That and no one in their right mind would drop a team hand-picked by the Hokage and the class chunin, for a trio of misfits in the reserves.

It wasn't seen as an intelligent move.

Eighty percent of the Konoha's ranks were processed by the corps. Still, it remained taboo to include it in your background. You could acknowledge it, but never would you find someone bragging about it. This was mostly because it was where academy delinquents and knuckleheads went to have discipline beaten into them. Reasonably everyone chose to forget that part of their lives once they secured a promotion to chunin.

Although it produced the most. The genin who learned under a Jonin-sensei were more likely to endure a better career. The more influential the mentor the more faith that the village had in the student.

What Kobaru would hate not having the most was the freedom to select missions.

If one was a graduate of the corps, they would have to take whatever was delegated to them by the mission desk. Once you were qualified and available you'd have to complete what was provided. Such was the expectations of a good shinobi.

Great shinobi and their students on the other hand. Got to browse through the list like it was a freaking menu.

Well I don't feel like cleaning dog shit today. Maybe I'll travel south... Assassinate a bandit or two instead.

Those were the main reasons why he resented being sent through to the corps, but he was willing to hold of on his prejudice until he got to see what it was like.

He arrived at the reserve camp half hour early and put simply the chunin was right. He knew what he was looking at the moment it entered his line of sight. It was a concrete building that resembled more of an abandoned factory than a place where children were thought to kill.

On second thought it looked exactly like where you'd teach people how to kill.

Why was the actual academy in the center of the village and so close to the Hokage's office? If a group of terrorists targeted said Kage, they could potentially take out three generations in one attack.

Some genius the Second was to not consider that.

Kobaru made his way into the grey walls, the scent of stagnant water invading his nostrils upon entry.

"Great. I hate it already."

He cruised down the empty hallway trying his best to remain composed. He had no intention of having a bad first impression. The classroom stated in his contract was at the very end of the hallway. As expected it was empty. No one arrived yet.

To his surprise the classroom was surprisingly neat. Unlike the outside walls it was painted and in a warm yellow that radiated tranquility. Desks and chairs perfectly organized in six rows of five. Ceiling spotless and the floor pristine. The only thing that was slightly shinobiesque, was the complete lack of windows that made the room look like a cell.

He glared at it for awhile thinking it to be a well laid out trap, but took a seat at the very front regardless of his reservations.

Once situated Kobaru produced three marbles he had been using for chakra moulding practice.

It had been a week since he was made a fool off by a chakra boasting toddler and made it his goal to figure out how to mimic the child.

It took him exactly fifteen minutes to successfully channel chakra into his limbs.

This left him puzzled. Chakra moulding was restricted until the fourth year of the academy. The chunin described it's usage as dangerous energy that should never be moulded without supervision. All of that turned out to be useless banter. It wasn't dangerous at all. As a matter fact it was quite relaxing.

Chakra already existed inside of you. If your own energy was detrimental to your survival. Then you would have died in the womb.

The hardest part of channeling his energy was getting it to flow through his coils. Chakra was for lack of a better word, misty. It was there and you knew it was there but the moment you tried to touch it. Chakra decided it had better places to be. Once he realized that he was supposed to guide and not force it. He was pushing cold wisps of blue out of his palm.

Once he got over the fact that it was almost as easy as breathing. He concluded that chakra was the best thing to ever be discovered.

Want to run up a vertical wall? Expel chakra in small tendrils to grip onto the surface.

Want to jump ten feet into the air? Use chakra to reinforce the power that you can produce in your leg.

Want to punch a hole in a tree? Use chakra to line the muscles in your arm.

That one proved to be a terrible idea without proper instruction. Sure he blew a hole in the tree truck, but raw chakra did little to reinforce skin. Or his pain receptors. The knuckles on his right hand were still recovering.

He placed the three marbles on his open palm and latched onto them with his tendrils of chakra. He then proceeded to spin them on his open palm as quickly as he could.

Kobaru was intent on making his use reflexive. He was by no means gifted in the arts and everything he'd succeeded at so far was of pure dedication. Through all that he was still considered average. So if someone like him was able to understand channeling within fifteen minutes. Others would probably get it in five.

A week of training had gotten him down to conscious effort. In this fast paced line of work instincts was the method that kept people alive. He would drill this exercise into himself until the tendrils were as natural as a heartbeat.

After twenty minutes of sitting alone someone entered the classroom and took a seat to the far right of the front row. Directly opposite with three empty desks between them.

Kobaru looked over at the genin. A girl. By the looks of it a member of this year's graduating class. She held her frame rigidly as she stared directly ahead of her. Her dark blue hair was done in a bun tied up by her forehead protector. Which defeated the whole purpose of the equipment.

After seeing such misuse he redirected his attention to his palm. The marbles were still spinning albeit slower as he lost focus to scrutinize the new arrival. He poured energy into his palm once more and smirked as the marbles spun in his small hand.

More students arrived, some even getting there after the time they should have started. The more genin that arrived, the more Kobaru realized that he was one of the few that knew the true use of a forehead protector. Most seemed to have it placed anywhere other than the namesake.

Heck! This one kid was wearing it as a belt.

These were the people that he was supposed to trust without end? He had been affiliated with the corps for all of thirty minutes and already he was contemplating missing-nin status.

The final student arrived almost an hour after the official start time. He was obviously a delinquent. He walked into the room with a stupid grin on his face that leaked chaos and disorder. He was also hard to miss with his head of... orange hair?

The worst part of his entry was that he was the last student, which meant that he would take the last seat. Which just so happened to be to the right of Kobaru. Hopefully they would not be expected to keep seats.

The moment the orange dope sat down a puff of smoke went up at the front. Once it dissipated standing in it's place was a full-fledged jonin. Kobaru could tell by the red spiral embroidered on his left sleeve. It was required that jonin wear this as a sign of being elite. Chunin also had vests but could wear anything they got their hands on with it.

The man was tall. Sure Kobaru was still nine and was barely standing over four feet, but this man could be street light if he so wanted to. Long brown hair framed his face, which had purple tape placed diagonally under both cheekbones. Said face was wrenched into a tight scowl as though he was already disappointed in them.

"Listen up maggots! This is your official welcome to The Factory!" He yelled leading Kobaru to regret his decision of sitting at the front, "My name is Nohara Raichi! You maggots can call me sensei! Refer to me as anything else and I will make you wish you were never born."

He paused to conduct a silent scan of the genin and stopped the moment his eyes landed on Kobaru. The young genin did his best not to flinch, "Little Maggot! Stand Up!"

Without question he flew out of his seat and stood at attention, eyes taking an interest in whatever was directly ahead of him. He channeled chakra to his throat and spoke with as much base as his vocal chords would allow, "SENSEI!"

Ugh... Too much.

"Name! Registration I.D and Goal as Konoha-nin!"

Kobaru swallowed at that. He was pretty sure he knew his name before he was asked.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

After two seconds too long, he got his brain up and running again, "Museigen Kobaru. I.D. 012114," now for the hard part. His goal. He was confident in it and he wanted to accomplish the task. Still, he had never said it out loud before. Once the academy had pushed that the protection of your loved ones should always be the goal of good Konoha-nin. His will of fire appeared to be very selfish.

"My goal... Is to live long enough to retire."

He continued to stare straight ahead, unfazed by the snickers that penetrated the tension. He'd expected some form of indifference. The chuckles were quickly stopped when Nohara-sensei called on one of the perpetrators.

"You! Carrot Maggot!" He pointed at the orange haired delinquent sitting next to Kobaru. He shifted around in his seat before deciding to stand.

"Nakamura Chusei. I.D uh... 012330. My goal is also to live long enough to retire."

More laughter this time with less restraint. Kobaru stole a glance at the older boy, who was smirking, leading him to realize he was being mocked.

"Wrong! Your I.D is 012098! How do you expect to live long, when you can't even remember your own god damn I.D" Nohara-sensei barked saliva flitting out of his mouth in an angry spray, "I suggest you spend the next year working on your skill as opposed to cracking lame jokes," he paused to regard the boy some more, "understood maggot!"

"Understood sensei," Chusei bowed respectfully then took a seat. Kobaru was about to do the same and if he was a millisecond faster he probably would have taken a seat. This process was stopped when Nohara-sensei turned on the orange haired genin once more.

Three shuriken embedded themselves in the desk of his neighbor. It had been done so swiftly that he didn't register that something was thrown until he heard the dull thud on impact. The three of them appeared to be neatly placed on the desk avoiding Chusei's arm by a hair.

"You sit! When I tell you to sit!" The man yelled again with a volume that had to be aided by chakra. Chusei slowly rose into a stance his legs suddenly incapable of baring his weight, "Little Maggot!" He pointed at a very wide-eyed and scared Kobaru, "rest your legs."

"Thank you sensei," he bowed and did as requested.

Others would probably see this as a classic case of instant karma. That the bully got what he deserves. Kobaru was not others and saw things for what they were.

Nohara-sensei had painted a sign on his back that said "practice murder techniques here". Kobaru had never been bullied before. He was laughed at yes. Even then that was understandable. He would laugh at any kid that threw themselves repeatedly at an opponent they couldn't beat. Now he was going to be listed as the teacher's pet. That was uncharted territory.

He had just seen firsthand; individuality being snuffed out. They were only in the class for three minutes and indoctrination was already in effect.

The introductions continued and Kobaru used it as a backdrop for his thoughts. Allowing himself to delve into his slightly unnerving reality. The brainwashing had been there since he entered the academy, but at the corps they were more than likely going to flip the bird at subtly and go full on military boot-camp. Gone are the days of a personal interpretation of the will of fire. Welcome the times of village before your pride.

"What!?"

Kobaru was yanked out of his thoughts by Nohara-sensei. Surprise, surprise, the man was yelling.

"My name is Hirai Nagisa," the girl who arrived after him replied. Her tone was leveled and dry, "I would like to be referred to by either or both."

"I will refer to you with whatever I feel like."

"If that is the case. Is it alright if I call you anything other than sensei?"

"No be-,"

The girl had enough courage to cut him off. At this point the brown haired jonin was practically steaming. He was clearly angry beyond anything Kobaru had seen to this point.

"My name is Hirai Nagisa and you will refer to me as such," she paused in what appeared to be an invitation for a response, "I.D 012085. My goal is to master all Konoha Taijutsu styles."

"Well Hirai-chan," Nohara-sensei forced a pleasant smile, "you're getting written up for insubordination. Get. Out!"

XxX

The rest of the introductions went by without incident. Of course no one could top the girl that told off their new sensei.

After that he took the class out to the back of the factory where they were expected to demonstrate their level of Taijutsu in quick fire spars. The man had employed elimination based fighting to get through the class as quickly as possible.

They started with two genin and the winner of the match would face a student who hadn't gone yet. The highest streak before Kobaru was called to the circle was two wins in a row. That in itself was a big mistake. It was a genin girl who reacted badly to a grapple to her chest. With one solid surprise kick she lodged the offender's balls up into his crotch. She was then two for two.

When Kobaru was called he made quick work of her and the next two opponents solidifying his position as teachers' pet. This only painted an even bigger target as he became the one to beat.

The Taijutsu of the other genin in the reserves were, to put nicely, workable. The reserves were made up largely by civilians and orphans. No clan or shinobi family worth their name would allow their representatives to fall into such status. Which meant that the Taijutsu here was exactly what the academy taught. Everyone employed the same basic tactics. He too would be using this if he didn't spend much of his development imitating an Uchiha. Breeding a completely unorthodox style that went under the radar. All thanks to said Uchiha beating him every time they entered the circle.

There was really nothing wrong with the academy's style of hand to hand. It was developed specifically for the stature and size of the average child. In the hands of children who learned nothing until they entered the academy, it was essentially a glass canon. If they were ever to engage with anyone that was not exposed to the style. They would have a three second window to dispatch the opponent. Otherwise they would figure out the patterns and wind up beaten into a bloody pulp.

Kobaru was well versed in said style so trying to use it against him was a bust. He could take everyone out before they could throw their first punch.

"Alright that's enough," Nohara sensei called the fight prompting him to ease of his opponent's throat. His streak had quickly extended by three more, without taking any hits. He tried his best not to give in to the sting of superiority that he was beginning to feel.

"Guess I'm up then," Chusei the carrot top said as he replaced Kobaru's last opponent in the circle, "let's put on a show kid."

They bowed with the seal of confrontation but made no attempt to capitalize on each others relaxed demeanor. Chusei kept staring with a dumb grin crowning his chin. Kobaru with narrowed eyes and a sinking feeling of suspicion. If that second Uchiha kid taught him anything, it was to never underestimate an opponent. Everyone was to be regarded as powerful in their own right. After all even a genin skilled with a stone could take down a jonin armed with a tanto.

"You have the weirdest looking eyes I've ever seen," Chusei tilted his head, "Is your mom part cat or something?" The question was clearly an attempt to knock Kobaru off his train of thought, so he refused to pay it any mind, "Oof not a talker."

With that Kobaru rushed towards the orange haired boy, plotting his string of offence as he did so. He opened with a left fist, jabbing it at Chusei's shoulder. The older boy quickly brushed the attack to the side then chambered a left handed strike of his own. Kobaru afforded the ability to duck at the last moment allowing it to sail over head.

He popped into a stance with a palm strike aimed at the chin. Enough chakra lacing his arms to finish it in one hit. That was the plan at least.

Chusei in an extreme feat of reflexes caught the rising wrist and wrenched the offending arm. He then positioned himself with tell tale signs of a shoulder throw. He swapped his footing and jammed his shoulder into Kobaru's armpit.

The smaller boy righted himself the moment his feet left the ground and planted them on the lower back of his opponent. He channeled tendrils of chakra into the soles of his feet to keep him attached disrupting the toss and throwing Chusei off balance.

He then wrapped his free arm around the older boys neck and wrenched himself backwards. The two fell to the ground. Chusei's back to Kobaru's front who was coiled around him in an ever-tightening chokehold. His torso now wrapped up by short legs that held him in place. There was no getting out. In an actual fight he would have been dead already.

"Well that was anti-climatic," Nohara-sensei coughed officially calling the fight, "all of you were simply atrocious. So know that there is going to be a lot of Taijutsu-centric training in your future," he motioned for the two boys to join the others on the opposite side of the circle, "Alright then. I hope you maggots are better at ninjutsu than you are at throwing punches. I want you to demonstrate your usage of the three basic academy jutsu."

The what now?

Kobaru had been so distracted by powering through this bump in the road of life, he forgot that he was three years behind education wise. While everyone here had demonstrated the basics required to be a shinobi in front of their class chunin, all he did was a written test and kicked around a couple of older kids.

Ninjutsu was exempted for the early promotion, because it was something that they could easily pick up later in life. Sure he had to know the hand signs and their corresponding nature, but being able to hit a target ten times out of ten was seen as more important than swapping with a log.

"Little maggot," Nohara-sensei pointed at him, "how 'bout you start us off."

Right before he could say anything Chusei stepped forward, "how 'bout I go first. Kobaru-kun just had seven spars in a row. Even if he doesn't look like it he has to be tired," he looked at the younger boy who stared back wide-eyed, "right kid?"

"Uh... Yeah. I am slightly fatigued," Kobaru agreed to the boy's attempt to buy him time. It was a shot in the dark that would just increase the time between now and his inevitable failure, but it was time none the less.

"Okay Carrot Maggot! You first!"

"Alright. I'll start with... Aha! Kawarimi no jutsu," Chusei grinned. His tone sluggish and deliberate. He pointed at a rock a few feet behind Nohara sensei, "first I focus on the object... Then I'll mould chakra for the swap," he continued going through the hand signs in the slowest manner.

Tiger. Boar. Ox. Dog. Snake.

"And..."

Two small bursts of smoke later and Chusei was standing behind Nohara-sensei with the rock in his place. The orange haired genin looked back at Kobaru and provided him an exaggerated wink.

Great Sage, Kobaru's jaw hung itself agape.

Chusei was giving him a crash course in the basic three.

"Great! Now I'll do a Henge of uhm... I have to find something that my chakra is already familiar with. Aha! That rock," he pointed once more at his desired target. This time speaking much quicker in realization that Kobaru caught on to his ploy, "so I'll eject a trickle of chakra from the tenketsu in my arms and force it to replicate the image."

Dog. Boar. Ram.

Another burst of smoke and the boy was now a rock. Once again Kobaru found himself enamored with the existence of chakra. Was there anything it couldn't do?

"Lastly for the Bunshin I'll-"

"Just do it Maggot! You don't have to announce it for the whole world to know," Nohara-sensei yelled drawing Chusei to a pause.

Shit! There goes the academy three for dummies!

Kobaru narrowed his eyes to take in as much detail without the verbal guidance. He would have to find some way to repay Chusei for his selflessness. Sure he was still going to fail but he'd do it in style.

Ram. Snake. Tiger.

The older boy, as per the technique's namesake, summoned identical copies of himself. Three to be exact. The figures flickered into existence then stood still staring at nothing in particular. After ten seconds of holding them in place, they went away in three plumes of smoke.

Sadly, now that Chusei had completed his task. All eyes fell on the person next in line. That person was Kobaru, whose knowledge of those jutsu was limited to what he just saw. He wasn't capable of doing that. He could mould chakra but that was it. There was no way he could expect himself to replicate those three techniques. He'd consider himself lucky if he got away with one.

"Little Maggot we're burning daylight here."

Kobaru hardened his resolve and stepped forward. This was just another bump in the road. The worst that could happen from his failure was letting everyone know that he couldn't do what was asked. Which they would figure out even if he wasn't to attempt it. So he'd try now then work on his areas of improvement later.

He inhaled a lungful of air and concentrated. All he had to do was follow the instructions of a stranger. A stranger that he had in a chokehold a few minutes prior. The same stranger that was abject to scolding from Nohara-sensei on Kobaru's behalf. Maybe he said those on purpose to trip him up. If he did, then it didn't matter. It would take more than that to confuse the younger boy.

He focused on the rock and extended tendrils of chakra to envelope the object he wanted to swap with. Raw chakra was almost useless when it exited the body. If it wasn't for his control it would be weak enough to be blown apart by the wind. Once he latched onto the object, he did what he thought was the obvious and performed what equated to a mental tug.

There was a quick feeling of inertia as he found himself standing in place of the rock.

He actually got it on his first try.

The only difference between his attempt and the one before him was that there was no puff of smoke. It resembled more the appearance of Chusei's clones. He was there, then he shimmered and was gone, with a rock in his place.

Nohara-sensei grunted in disapproval having obviously caught on to his signs of novice. Still he made no move to stop his attempt on the next jutsu.

Seeing that he wasn't being sabotaged. He once again subscribed to the direction of the older boy and allowed his chakra to form a thin layer around his frame. Once he leaked a film of sufficient chakra he imagined his appearance morphing into that of the rock. His skin tingled under the layer of chakra as he changed into an exact replica of his target. There was once again no ringing sound or a cloud of smoke. Just a shimmer and that he was now several inches shorter and couldn't move.

The knowledge that he needed to shroud objects in his chakra for him to take on the image. Matched with a newfound level of confidence in his abilities. Kobaru deduced that the Bunshin couldn't be that much different to the Henge. All he needed to do was gather chakra and form it into the image of himself. Which shouldn't be that hard considering that he was already shrouded in his own energy.

He imagined a fraction splitting shedding off and materializing into a copy of himself. As simple as that there was a loud ring and a puff of smoke. When it dissipated at it's epicenter was a clone. Considering that he finally got the smoke thing down pat he wasn't expecting this much of an error.

His clone looked around at everyone then at him, "Hm... It actually worked."

The sensation of two different fields of vision permeated his mind and reflexively the clone shut his eyes to deny the intake. Just as quickly a patch of black replaced the second field that was granted to him. He was no longer required to perceive for two, but the black bar that ran below his line of sight was thoroughly annoying.

Everyone in the circle, except for Kobaru, had been reduced to a gaping mess. Even Nohara-sensei dropped his scowl to take on a confused glare.

"Where did you learn that technique?" He asked in the lowest tone he'd occupied to far.

"Uh..." Kobaru looked at Chusei who shrugged in response, "Just now. Sensei."

The man scoffed then stooped down in front of the copy. Even in this position he was still taller than Kobaru.

"You don't just learn the Kage Bunshin maggot," What now? "You have to pour hours into developing the control necessary to even start thinking about performing this," Kobaru shifted uncomfortably at the praise. He wasn't used to compliments aimed directly at him. The man scoffed then shot into a stance, "How the hell did you wind up in the reserve corps?"