It's been 6 months since I was isekied here against my will, and it's been... Well, I guess. I have done a total of 14 jobs for the Red Menace and have been training to be a ninja. And to be honest, it feels like rather than learning, I am just doing something I have already done before. And it is not a lie, cause with the info from the 3 hokage, I am speed running this ninja thing.
I didn't lose the weight I had—just turned it into muscle. The only reason I did it was because of medical jutsu.
To use medical jutsu, you need good chakra control, which I have been training hard for. I can walk on water now, too. So I went on to practice a jutsu meant to heal. I practiced on a fish to bring it back, and for several weeks, I either burned the fish or let it die. But after the 4-month mark, I finally got the Mystical Palm Technique working.
And with it, I strained my muscles to the limit... then healed them back stronger. It was genius. But also exhausting—draining not just on the body, but the mind. Even though I'm training both chakra and body, this is basically a very bad boot camp.
But I got motivation.
Knowing that mages can and will kill me just to study my body... cause it's an anomaly. Yeah, that kinda keeps you moving.
Speaking of being an anomaly...
I found out I can't learn magecraft. Not even the basics. Why? Incompatibility. Straight up.
Take Medea, for example—yeah, the witch. She's from the Age of Gods. She uses magic, the real kind, because of the mystery surrounding her very existence. But because of that, she can't use magecraft. Why? 'Cause magecraft is just an imitation of magic. A knockoff. A downgrade.
And back in her time, magecraft didn't even exist yet. Her version of "casting spells" is so OG that modern magecraft looks like baby's first spellbook by comparison.
Me? I'm in the same boat, but for the opposite reason.
My system is too foreign. Not descended from the Root. Not shaped by the Five True Magics. Not built on human history or the collective unconscious. It's like trying to plug a phone charger into a USB port on a microwave. Sure, it fits. But nothing happens.
Even if it runs on mana, it doesn't link into the Thaumaturgical Foundations that magecraft relies on. It's mana as fue, not mana as formula.
I'm not incompatible because I'm weak. I'm incompatible because I ain't supposed to be here.
After the red hair found out, she began to study me and found out that even thou magic circuit and chakra pathways are the same, they operate differently, though small differences, like how I'm producing prana, are different. But she didn't explain it properly for me to understand.
And lastly, I have been training my eyes. I got the Byakugan, and there is no real problem in turning them on, like the Uchiha, where they have to feel a strong emotion.
The Hyuga Byakugan are always there and can be turned on by pouring chakra into the eyes. And there is a whole fighting type in using these eyes called the Gentle Fist. No, we remember when I said the 3rd Hokage learned every technique in the Village Hidden in the Fire? Well, I meant that, because he learned everything—even techniques he could not use because of bloodline limits.
And while training in other ninja arts for taijutsu, I have been learning the Hyuga Gentle Fist.
"David, are you done cooking?" yelled the Red Menace.
"Yeah!" I yelled back as I finished setting the table.
Thred-haired hair moved to the dining table and started eating.
"So, what's today's job?" I asked.
"This one's a week-long gig."
She didn't even look up as she said it, just kept chewing like she was talking about the weather.
"It seems a mage from the Association is dead. Rumor is, he was researching Reality Marbles. Now, one of his apprentices moved into the city. Since the Association usually finds rogue mages in under a week, we've got that long to track him down and either convince him to leave… or convince him to leave missing a few limbs. His choice."
"Sounds like a chill guy. Who is he?"
"Ogón Traimin. Old family. Middle East-based. They specialize in wind and heat spells. Most of their bloodline runs tight—two, maybe three families max. Low-key, but dangerous if provoked."
But here's the kicker: they can summon beasts that look like things out of old Middle Eastern myths. Not the real deal, but close enough to squash you if you're not careful. So yeah—try not to get flattened."
"So I want you to try locating him through your weird ninja magic," she said while picking up her drink. "I'll use magecraft on my end."
After we finished eating, she wiped her mouth and stood up like the mission had already started.
Touko pulled out a map, but it wasn't like any normal one. It looked off. Strange symbols, and what caught my eye were the vein-like lines running through it. Each one pulsed differently, some thick, some thin.
"Ley Lines?" I asked, raising a brow.
"Yeah. He's one hundred percent going to build a workshop. That's the first thing a mage does: dig in deep, root himself in mana flow. There are only five ley lines in this city that are strong enough to support a real workshop. We're standing on one right now. The others..."
She pointed at the map with her finger as she spoke.
"One's downtown near that small pond behind the tall glass building. Another's out by the city's edge past the industrial zone. The third's near the mall—you know, where we bought those knives last month. And the last one's close to the college campus. He could be hiding near any of them."
"You hit the industrial zone and the college," she said, already folding up the map.
I stared at her, eyes narrowed. "You picked the easy ones for yourself, huh?"
She smirked without shame. "You're a ninja. Young, full of energy. I'm old—practically fossilized."
"You're twenty-six," I deadpanned. "You're not old at all."
"What do you mean? Don't you see these wrinkles?" she said, dramatically brushing her face.
"Alright, fine. But from now on, I'm calling you 'Old Lady.'"
"You what? You can't just call a lady that—!"
"Oh yes, I can. And I will," I said, already weaving a hand sign.
Before she could throw a retort, I vanished from the living room in a blur of chakra—Body Flicker jutsu humming in the air behind me.
The first one I hit was the college. I transformed myself into a student I had seen earlier and started to walk around. When I got to the place I would consider the middle of the school, I sat down and began to build up mana, focusing my attention on the task at hand.
I went through the necessary hand signs and focused.
"Barrier: Canopy Method Formation."
An invisible dome came from my body and spread out. This was a B-rank ninjutsu that creates a barrier capable of detecting everything nearby. The range depends on how much energy I put into the jutsu.
I stayed there for an hour, trying to find unusual mana levels. After some time, I pinpointed about six people with unusually large amounts of mana.
I got up from my seat and walked towards the area where the six people were. As I approached, I focused energy into my eyes and concentrated.
"Byakugan, activate!"
The veins around my eyes popped up, and I turned my focus towards the direction of the six individuals.
I was confused. There were six girls, all of them with the same mana signature. They had the same number of magic circuits, a massive amount, and high quality, too. Their faces were identical.
Were these... homunculi?
Then all six of them turned their heads in my direction.
Which freaked me out, so my body flickered away from there.
It seemed they were good at detecting mana as well.
I started to run, but not toward Touko's mansion—toward the industrial zone, hoping to lose them in the maze of warehouses.
Using my Byakugan, I noticed they were still tailing me, weaving through the crowd with enhancement magic and illusions, making sure nobody noticed their presence. When I reached an open space, I decided to try and shake them off. I planted my feet, focused my mana, and shot off in a random direction, fast, hoping to confuse them.
Then, I slammed into something hard. (This feels... familiar.)
I quickly got to my feet and saw it—a barrier. And standing right in front of me, blocking my escape, were four more of the girls. The ones chasing me had finally caught up.
"Uh… is it possible for you guys to just, y'know… ignore me? Maybe turn a blind eye?" I asked sheepishly, slowly backing away.
Their response?
One of them moved faster than a blink and nearly sliced me in half with a saber. I leapt back just in time, but not without a cost—my clothes tore where the blade grazed past.
I didn't get a moment to breathe. A barrage of crimson projectiles—like needles made of red sand—blasted toward me. They struck the ground where I'd been standing, turning it into a crater.
Okay. I need to get out of here.
I slammed my hands together.
Fire Style: Hiding in Ash!
Smoke and searing hot ash burst from around my body, forming a dense cloud that bought me a few precious seconds.
Another set of hand signs. My body sank into the earth like it had turned to sand.
Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique.
I tunneled deep, slipping beneath their barrier and making a break for it underground, straight toward Touko's mansion.