Chapter 3: My New Life
A/N: All characters and places belong to Kishimoto…... except the ones that don't.
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Chapter 3 – My New Life
(4 Years Later…..)
-Arashi-
It's morning and I am gazing at myself in front of the mirror in the washroom after I have freshened up.
Not to brag or anything but I am a pretty adorable kid. I mean, with the scarlet red hair, deep-blue eyes and this cute face. I swear if I wasn't a Jinchuriki ladies would have been swooning over me, but alas fate has shown me the Middle Finger and now here I am mulling over the 4 years of my new life.
….. just 31 years left, huh? Time sure flies by quickly.
My new life has been less hectic than I expected it to be.
First thing first, the old woman from day of Nine-Tails's attack that was in the room that I thought was the matron wasn't actually the matron. Yes, I can also make mistakes for people. Get over it.
I guessed wrong. The real Matron is actually a fairly attractive woman, I think she between 30 to 35 years. I don't think she dislikes me. Soo... that a plus point. She always has an impassive face….. I can't even tell her mood even after 4 years of staying with her. Although, when I cause her trouble, she does give me her one of the patented glare that clearly says 'Behave or you will be fucked up', not that I mind it that much. I even talk to her about the mundane topics and she doesn't send me away as she does for everyone else.
….. What? I am 28 years (age before death: 24 years) old adult man, damn it! I need adult interaction!
As I predicted, children in the village were instructed to stay away from me. Even in the orphanage, children were told to just ignore me by some caretakers and they obeyed like the dumb fuck they are. Not that I mind really. They are honestly pretty stupid and I didn't want to seek companionship with dumb kids so even if they did try to talk to me (mostly to order me around) I just ignored them.
Hey! I may want some companionship but I have my pride and I am not ready to swallow it up yet by being ordered around by dumb kids.
So, I am largely disliked and ostracized by village and orphanage population. Except for Matron….. I think she hates everyone equally.
…..Well, she at least gave me my own room, food and clothing so that a plus point.
Moving on…..
Second, to not draw more attention on myself than it already is, I 'acted' around people to show that my body and mental growth was normal, like started walking only after at least 4 other children have already started walking that were around my age, spoke the first words only after 3 other children had done it before me and did other shit that babies did on an average level.
Didn't want to freak everybody out by showing them I was developing at a rapid pace. They might even think I have been possessed by Nine-Tails or something.
I don't need to open that can of worms.
Learning to speak the new language was pretty easy for me as I already understood the language and just needed practice to able to speak.
Reading? Now that was another matter entirely. This was helped by the unwilling caretakers. They weren't willing to help me at first but the Matron gave them one of her patented glare that clearly said 'help him or I will fire your ass' and the caretakers relented. Say what you will about the Matron, she is at least professional and unbiased as I have come to find out. It is much better than most people I know by far….. in fact, she is the most likeable person I know in this world.
.…. that certainly says a lot about my situation in this place.
The only thing that irritated me about learning to read was that child books here were a source of full swinging propaganda which basically declares Konoha as the God's chosen village and other villages as an evil force.
Third, tried accessing chakra. Was successful after many, many, mannyyyy attempts.
It's was a new feeling….. feeling Chakra, I mean. You can't just describe it as it has been in many fanfictions.
It's not warm or cool, it's just…there! No words to describe it!
And no, I am not hypersensitive to a chakra or gotten super strong just by being able to unlock chakra. So, I am not a Sensor nor fucking Superman.
I would most likely have to use BIOLOGICAL IMITATION to gain Chakra sensing skill.
Because about it, there is gotta be something different about sensors on a biological level that can make them feel chakra around their surroundings compared to others.
I can make no other guess where that skill comes from unless it is a mystical power, but I think that is highly unlikely.
There may be a lot of powers in the Naruto-series, but I can count on one hand those that are mystical. The ones I can think of are that Akatsuki guy that couldn't die and the whole Indra-Ashura reincarnation bullshit.
…..Meh, will see when I will cross that road and Guidance System might help me find that out.
…..Well, chakra sensing would mostly be useless once I copy Byakugan.
I mean, why would I not steal those power? Able to see chakra with the naked eye. X-ray vision. Almost 360 degrees round vision. Those are eyes awesome! albeit a bit creepy, even if not as awesome as Sharingan. Once I have them Chakra sensing will mostly become useless.
Fourth, tried to talk to Nine-Tails. No luck so far.
At least I know some things in fanfic were bullshit! (In which they were able to talk to Nine-Tails right after accessing Chakra.)
Now on the important parts.
Fifth, for the first 3 years I tried to recollect every tit-bit I could remember about Naruto (the show). Recounted the events every night in my head so I would not forget about it later but I knew I will forget about eventually even if I reiterated the events in my head.
It's not like I have an eidetic memory or anything.
So, as soon I got my very own personal notebook (which I stole from one of the older kids in the orphanage, it's not like they study or anything. They won't even notice. Like I said before, dumb) I tore the front page which had the name of the previous owner and wrote everything I could remember from the show.
By everything, I mean everything, even the minor characters that I could remember.
Stored it inside a plastic sealing bag (which I stole from the kitchen ) so that it may not rot before I could use it and buried it in the rather big flower pot that is just outside my room and in the hallway the next afternoon without anyone noticing. As to how I was able to do that, that day we were given duties to plant the plants in a flower pot to make the orphanage more lively.
I couldn't think of a better place to hide the notebook. Rooms are checked and cleaned rather randomly throughout the day.
The whole orphanage is cleaned regularly. And I can't hide it outside the orphanage, the Ninjas are always watching me when I am outside.
And no one going to rip out the plant and soil without the announcement of planting new plants or maintaining them. The chores are done mainly done by children of the orphanage so there is usually an advance announcement about these sort of things.
Just for good measure, I switched the pot with the pot that was in front of the room that was 2 rooms adjacent to mine so that it is found, no suspicion comes to me.
If by any chance some did find, well they will be in for a big surprise because…..
I wrote the diary in 2 different fucking out of the world languages!
ENGLISH and FRENCH to be precise.
Alternate pages are written in English and French to be even more precise.
HAHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!
Good luck figuring out what I wrote you, dumb bitches!
You would have to rip the knowledge out of my mind if you so desperately want it!
Wait….. Yamanaka Clan can do that.
Shit!Shit!Shit!
Calm down.
Calm down.
Deep Breathes.
Deep Breathes.
*Inhale*
*Exhale*
*Inhale*
*Exhale*
Okay, I am calm now…... Contingencies need to be put in place.
I will have to steal Yamanaka bloodline (and yes it is a bloodline, not a technique otherwise at least some villages would have been able to copy it or make their own version) from them as soon as possible and build a strong mental defensive barrier in my mind if that is even possible (I mean….. they do have all the mind related techniques so they should be able to it) or meet Nine-Tails as soon as possible at get him to guard my mind against intruders otherwise if I am caught I will be fucked.
Okay….. so now that's settled.
The next phase of the plan is a bit risky but not extremely risky.
Sixth, I have decided to steal Sharingan and upgrade it to Stage Third (with three tomoe).
The Third Stage of Sharingan grants eidetic memory which will help me remember all the details from my notebook.
This might take a bit of time since I will probably not be acquainted with any Uchiha until after I join the Ninja Academy and even after the imitation and assimilation process. It will probably take some time to reach the Third Stage. So that's that.
That notebook information is crucial. It's essential for selecting which bloodline I will take in the future and where would I could possibly could find them.
After the memorisation of the notebook, that book will personally be turned to cinders by yours truly. Can't take any chances as the ninjas might be able to decode it. Who knows?!
This is what I have planned so far. The next phase of planning will have to wait I can get into the Academy.
I also found out another fun tit-bit. Apparently, children start going to the Academy at age 7. I found this info a couple of weeks ago when I overheard pair of caretakers talking about orphan kid's future plans. Apparently, if the orphaned children join Ninja Academy, they are sent to a Boarding Facilities and there they are then given Monthly Allowance.
The fees for various services and living expenses of Boarding Facilities and School Fee is already deducted from the allowance.
This goes until the student graduates or is kicked out of the academy after which he/she has to pay for himself/herself. They also have to find their own place to live and arrange living arrangements.
And lastly but the most important thing is that the child who fails to graduate has to pay back the total sum of Monthly Allowance till he was in the academy in the next 20 years otherwise there are serious consequences.
But the most hilarious thing I found about this arrangement is that adults are forbidden to sway an orphan child's decision against the idea of becoming a ninja. I mean, there is a law stating explicitly that adults aren't allowed to influence the orphaned children's decision in this matter.
'Freedom of choice' they call it. BULLSHIT! I know it, they know it and everyone knows it. But what the fuck can people do even if they want to?
This village is an under a Military Dictatorship with its soldiers as Wizard Ninja.
Who in their right mind would go against that? They will be cut down even before they know it.
How fucked up is that?!
What's more fucked up is that there are monthly visits from ninjas who gather all the orphanage's children and tell them their 'heroic tales' about being a ninja and all the benefits that come with it, which doesn't count as influencing kids apparently. The entertainment they call it. Bullshit!
And the kids, like the dumb fucks they are, take that at face value and dream about saving Princess and all the other dumb shit like that, not knowing how risky it was even to enter the Ninja program and not even knowing how there life will be fucked up even if they graduate from the academy.
I honestly believe that those kids that are booted out of Ninja program will have a better and safer life compared to those who will graduate.
At least those who won't graduate will only have to worry about financial problems and not worry about dying on the next mission for their entire career.
It's a fairly efficient and well-thought system for pumping out child soldiers with naive minds and well-placed loyalty for Konoha with all the propaganda and brainwashing they go through in their childhood.
Orphaned and civilian children are brain-washed since early ages and clan children have clan loyalty ingrained into them from an early age, the clan which are in turn loyal to the village.
And if the clan opposes the village….well, we all know what happened to Uchihas in the Original Universe.
Huh…. I wonder is this why Leaf Village has considerably less missing ninja than other villages…. thoughts for later.
I have to say, I'm willing to admit I am fairly impressed by the system that has been put into place.
It might be unethical but it is doing its job fairly well all things considered.
…..This world is truly a fucked up place.
That isn't to say I won't be joining or graduating from the Academy, because I will.
Becoming a ninja is the path to power and skill that I need desperately to live longer than 35 years and be free from the life of slavery.
I will need to graduate the 'top of the class' to get the best Jonin instructor cause I don't really know what the team placement will be now that this world is an AU and becoming 'Rookie of the year' will guarantee that I have the best instructor. I couldn't even bring myself to care about who my future teammates will be.
That is why I have started the physical conditioning of my body. It has probably been 2 weeks since I started.
It's nothing major like weight training as that would probably do more harm to my body than good in this age. It's mostly the light workout for flexibility and endurance by doing cardiovascular exercise for now. Heavyweight training will be more beneficial in later years.
I also started working on light chakra exercises about the same time I started working on physical conditioning.
For now, it's just leaf sticking where I can now stick 3 leaves on the forehead for about 5 min after which they just burst and scatter.
My guess…. too much chakra, but no worries since I am slowly but surely gaining more Chakra Control. Hopefully, I won't be like Naruto. His chakra control was so abysmal that he couldn't even make a normal clone.
All the chakra training was done inside the room when I confirmed that no one was in the room.
I had been trying watching for Ninjas who observed me since I was born in this world.
ANBU especially.
For the first 3 years of my birth, I could see that there was always someone at the dark corner of the ceiling.
First time I saw them, I was freaked out but slowly I got used to it used it.
I don't know why was I able to see them. After some thought, I concluded that it was probably their decision to be seen by me. Otherwise, there was no chance hell I would have been able to see them.
After my third birthday (which was also on 10th of October same as the Uzumaki twins ), they started to settle on the tree outside my room instead of the ceiling corner. Again I was allowed to see them for the first week, then their presence disappeared….. Just gone!ohhhh but I knew I was being watched.
It's something of a feeling you get. I couldn't tell where it was coming from but it was there.
Huh….maybe I am sensor, just of weaker variety?
Speaking of birthdays, it happens on the same day as the festival of the defeat of Nine-Tails.
I NEVER went outside on the week of my birthday. Nor will I ever go until at least I have graduated from Academy and have armed myself to kill.
I have read so many fanfictions as to what happened to Naruto on his birthday. From physical abuse to attempted rape. I wasn't willing to take that risk to go outside that day, in fact, that whole week was and will be spent inside the orphanage walls.
And I even got birthday presents from Matron on my birthdays. "It's nothing special for me to give birthday present," she said, she gets present for everyone on their birthday. Although she also said that she doesn't get the point for the celebration of celebrating birthdays and only does out of social obligation.
But still, it's was a nice gesture. I, on my 4th birthday, got a nice new red shirt and black shorts, it even matched with my hair! and I finally asked what she doesn't get about birthday and birthday present? She replied with her usual impassive tone.
"What's the point to counting years till you die? I mean, as the no. increase, death only comes closer. So, what's the point?"
Her answer made me laugh hard and I realised it was the first time that I laughed so hard since I came to this world. I was silenced by her glare a moment later but the smile didn't leave my face for a while.
Ahh… Good times. Our relationship is growing slowly.
A knock on the washroom door from outside interrupted my 'Me-Time' in the washroom. I quickly washed my hands and opened the door only to be confronted by the Matron.
She had her usual impassive face but little twitching of her left eyebrow gave me the impression that she might be irritated.
"...What were you doing there in the washroom for that long? It's been 20 minutes since you went in. The other children are complaining that you are holding the washroom all for yourself."
I, with a straight face, thanks to years of acting in this world said the funniest thing that came to my mind.
" …..Shitting Rainbows "
Ohhhh my, the twitching got faster.
There was another thing I failed to mention, during one of talks with the matron, I accidentally used a swear word that I had from a passer-by in front of our orphanage's street and one of the caretakers (I knew about swear words from English and French, not in Japanese.)
Suffice to say, I got the ass-beating of a lifetime and when she asked where I had heard those words I did not waste any time to throw that caretaker under the bus to save my tiny, little ass. I don't even feel bad about it, she was one of the shitty caretakers any way.
That caretaker got a ruthless berating from the matron and then got her ass fired from here.
That was one of the good things that came out of that fiasco, the other being I could do some swearing sometimes without getting my ass-beating beaten.
Matron just glared at me after I said that.
I gulped the saliva down my throat.
Apparently, this was not one of those times.
_________________________
(One ass-beating later…..)
"Now I hope you have learnt your lesson.", the Matron said with impassiveness on her impassive face.
After that ass-beating you gave, do you think I am dumb or something to say 'no'?! I won't be able to sit comfortably for weeks!
" ….Yes, Akane-san". Yes, the Matron's name was Akane.
"Good, now go change into a new outfit for today, and meet up with other children in the hall."
"Huh…. But why? I thought Ninjas were coming to the orphanage today." I asked confused.
"You thought right….." she said, not elaborating further. That made me somewhat irritated.
"So, why do I get to wear new clothes today? Other times you were fine with me wearing old clothes." And I was pretty serious, I had only one pair of new Shirt and Shorts that she gave me on my birthday! I don't want to wear them out just yet!
She gave me an exasperated look and sighed.
"Because an important person is also coming with the ninjas today and I want the children to look good and be behaved as much they can. It will give a good impression of management and maybe we will get extra funding for the orphanage"
I idly nodded as she gave her reasoning but my mind was somewhere else.
Who was coming? This has never happened before.
Deciding to not raze by brains over, I simply decided to ask.
"Who is coming?" in the most exciting way I could think of.
She gave me the look that said 'Do you think I am stupid or something?',
Clearly, my acting isn't good as I think it is if she can clearly see through it.
"The Hokage."
My mind halted at those words for a few seconds but immediately after that my thoughts were running speeding at the sound of light.
Why the fuck is he coming here? Now of all times! Is he coming here to check on me? Did the guards notice my chakra training? Did they tell him about me? Is that why he is coming? If he did found out about me then I am…..
Words escaped my mouth and I was barely able to change the tone and line of the sentence.
"...fuck….ING YAY!" I cheered in fake excitement.
Matron's eye narrowed at my fake passion but luckily she didn't question me about it.
That didn't mean I was able to escape the second ass-beating of the day.
But during all this, my mind was solely on one thing and one thing alone.
Minato fucking Namikaze.
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TO BE CONTINUED…
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