Chapter 2 : It was a start
A week had passed.
In that week, (Sousuke) had tried to adapt to his specific injuries.
The air in the small apartment always carried the faint, sterile scent of the hospital, a ghost that had followed him home. Even after the medical treatment his body had received, it still throbbed with a persistent, dull ache. Every joint felt like it was packed with ground glass.
Creeeak.
He shifted on the cheap wooden chair, and it protested loudly. Since (Sousuke) had suffered such a direct injury from an explosion to the middle of his face, this was, apparently, natural. The phantom pain of a shattered jaw and broken cheekbones was his new, unwelcome companion.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
His fingers, restless, drummed a nervous rhythm on the tabletop. Anyway, that wasn't the main subject. The main subject was that after a week of hoping—praying—to wake up in his previous world, in his own bed, to go to a job he now missed with a bizarre nostalgia… in the end, he could only sigh.
It never happened.
Every day this week, he had tried to reassure himself. He had even done many different things to jolt himself awake. He'd pinched the tender skin of his forearm until purple bruises bloomed. He'd stared at the ceiling until his vision blurred, convinced the popcorn texture would resolve into his familiar, modern apartment ceiling. He'd even, in a moment of profound desperation, tried to loudly declare "Log out!" in the middle of the silent night.
He had always imagined that everything around him was an illusion.
But in the end, he accepted reality.
Not in a nice way.
He was forced to accept it, like a prisoner accepting his chains.
Sigh.
Currently, he was walking through the streets of Konohagakure no Sato. The ground beneath his feet was hard-packed earth, not asphalt. The air was filled with the smell of dust, grilled dango, and a collective, palpable relief. The people around him were smiling, their faces lit with a genuine joy he hadn't seen before. They had just heard the news of the war's end.
He watched several children running past, their small feet kicking up little puffs of dust.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
They were imitating ninja shapes in a way that was, to his modern sensibilities, extremely embarrassing.
"Take this! Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" one of them yelled, puffing out his cheeks and blowing air.
If he were in his previous world, he would have at least thought that. He thought it now, without mentioning that he still couldn't remember who he was in that world. His memories hadn't returned. It seemed (Sousuke)'s memories were the victorious ones in the war between the memories of his previous life and this life of a civilian ninja whose team had died on the last mission before the war's end.
Rustle.
A dry leaf skittered past his foot, a brittle, brown thing. Perhaps he felt some sadness at having taken over another person's body. But knowing that the owner of this body had died, he accepted the matter more easily. The previous tenant had already vacated the premises; he was just a squatter who had mysteriously inherited the lease.
With that thought, a small, cold stone of guilt settled in his gut.
Nevertheless, he was still suffering from some problems accepting that he was much younger than he had been in his previous life. At the very least, he didn't remember who he was in that world, but he remembered being in his forties on Earth. Currently, he was fifteen.
His voice, when he'd first heard it from his own mouth, had been a shock—a higher, younger pitch that didn't feel like his own.
"Look! I'm gonna win! I can use techniques!" a child's voice, loud and bright, cut through his musings from a distance.
He heard the voice and turned his head slightly, his new black eyes, sharp but weary, tracking the source. He didn't know what he should say about that. What was there to say? Congratulations on your mediocre, imaginary victory?
He decided to sigh quietly, the sound lost in the village's ambient noise, before leaving. He had to get to the house. Or what he now called (Sousuke)'s house. The place where he would live. At least until something appeared that could send him back to his world.
He couldn't accept that he would live in a ninja world forever.
Even if there was no method he could think of logically.
But was it logical for a person to be transported to another world and shoved into the body of a teenager trained to kill in a war between shadow ninja?
Scuff.
His sandal scraped against a loose stone. He supposed that with this line of thinking, he had clarified his position regarding his desire to return to his previous world. Because he definitely found it better than this world full of blood and killers.
"If this is the apartment, isn't it? (Sousuke)'s memories are precise in the description. It's the same place. Naturally."
The building was a drab, three-story structure, its wood weathered to a uniform gray. He pushed the door open, the hinges emitting a low, groaning sound.
Groooan.
It was an apartment located in the residential district for civilians, far from the other major clans. In Konoha, the residential areas for all individuals were divided into several tiers. At the highest level was the Hokage's clan compound. After that came the old clans like the Hyuga, plus the Uchiha, and especially the Senju clan. On any account, this clan still retained a small number of its members even now.
They would probably disappear after the Third Great Ninja War, which would come in six years.
As for the rest of the places in the village, they belonged to lesser clans like the Ebrami, plus the Akimichi, the Inuzuka, the Nara, and the Yamanaka. These smaller clans, plus the Shimura clan, specific to that fox, (Danzo)…
Thinking of him, (Sousuke)'s body shuddered involuntarily as he sat down on the apartment's couch.
Squeak.
The springs complained bitterly under his weight. The apartment was tidy. There was a bathroom, plus a bedroom and a room for receiving guests, along with a small kitchen. And there was, most certainly, a refrigerator.
A refrigerator.
Yes, a refrigerator.
In such an ancient-feeling era?
It seemed the existence of chakra hadn't made this world's technological development too far behind Earth's. The fridge hummed a steady, modern tune that felt utterly out of place.
Hmmmm.
"What the hell do I do now?" he muttered to the silent room. "I am now a Chunin? What does it mean that I am no longer a Genin?"
(Sousuke)'s memories were also in his head, along with his training. He looked at his hands, pale and unmarked, after adjusting his position on the couch. He hadn't tried to do that in the hospital so as not to look like he was suffering from some kind of neurological disorder.
He had been lucky they hadn't called a member of the Yamanaka clan to treat him from the first time he was injured. The doctor had thought he was suffering from amnesia. Even though he was correct, and he was suffering from amnesia, the idea of one of those people who could see memories entering his mind at that moment and seeing the anime memories—which were now his cheat sheet in this world—had been worrying.
In a scenario, it would have been a tense plot point.
But in truth, it was frightening to the point that he complied with every word the doctor said without a word for the entire three-day period he was in the hospital. All of that just to get out without any chance of arousing suspicion.
In the end, he had managed to get out.
And now, since he was in this apartment and there was no chance for an ANBU from the Hokage to be chasing him, he would, for the first time, be able to manipulate the specific power of this world known as chakra.
The information was still preserved in his head regarding this strange energy that is drawn out through physical energy—which is the power produced by body cells—and which merges spontaneously with mental energy, known as spirit in this world.
After these two are merged together, chakra is formed.
This chakra could give the user the ability to use elements, strengthen their body, even enhance their memory and psychological skills, and even their learning ability to a great extent.
Ninja in this world were people with abnormal power. If they were on Earth, they would be superhumans, capable of running at speeds exceeding cars, traversing kilometers with ease, and even their rate of fatigue was very slow compared to people from Earth. They didn't feel fatigue even after running tens of kilometers without stopping.
Thump.
He let his head fall back against the couch. "What can I do with this power? It's impossible for me to survive the coming war with the level this body possesses."
(Sousuke) had been very lucky to be placed on a team with a Jonin from a major clan like the Nara, plus having teammates who were also from major clans. Without that, he wouldn't have been able to survive all these years. But as for his abilities so far, from his memories, he could only say he could barely be described as a Chunin.
He mastered the Tree Climbing exercise, and his control was good for people his age.
But he was a civilian.
Most likely, his ability to control chakra wasn't due to any special talent in him, but rather because the amount of chakra he possessed was very meager, so he was able to control it finely. In the anime, (Kakashi) had said that it's easier for people with small chakra amounts to master manipulation techniques faster. However, they couldn't benefit from it much except a little at the beginning, before people with larger amounts could catch up and then surpass them by using Ninjutsu—the ability to use elemental ninja techniques which consist of releasing fireballs or water bullets, or even manipulating earth or wind elements to launch attacks or defend.
"With the power I possess now, it's impossible. I can be sure of that."
He admitted it in his heart. But did that mean he would die quietly?
That was impossible.
He had been born into this world which was about to enter another war after just finishing the first one. He had six years. Plus, he possessed a decent amount of money. (Sousuke) hadn't been a bad person; he had saved money because he didn't use it. He hadn't known what to do with it.
His Jonin-sensei hadn't taught him any techniques. He only knew the three Academy techniques, plus good throwing skills and basic chakra control. Other than that, (Sousuke) didn't possess anything else he could use to become stronger. So, he had stored the little money he had, gathering it without any purpose.
But for him, the matter was different.
He was a person who had seen the anime Naruto.
He possessed some ideas about power.
Plus, he possessed some basic understanding of this world's power and ways to increase it. Even though it was impossible for him to reach the levels of characters like (Kakashi), who possessed very high chakra reserves and exceptional control from the beginning. He had been able to become a ninja at age six, with the insane amount of chakra inside him. That alone placed him as an undisputed genius.
If the anime had clarified one thing about this character, it was the amount of madness hidden behind him. If he hadn't possessed the Sharingan, which had weakened his chakra reserves, he would have been much stronger than in the beginning of the anime. Maybe the Kamui was a good ability, but it was very costly and useless in a long battle. With (Kakashi)'s power and skill, if he had abandoned that eye, he would have been much stronger than the original version.
Click.
His tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth in frustration. Anyway, this wasn't the time to talk about that character. Benefiting from it, in the anime, (Kakashi) had introduced (Naruto) to several ways to become a stronger ninja.
First, physical training, which (Kakashi) used with (Sasuke), where in one month (Sasuke) became able to match (Lee)'s speed, who was the fastest character at the beginning of the Chunin Exams, according to his knowledge of the story.
The reason (Sasuke)'s character reached this level was through his use of chakra weights.
These weights were available in weapon shops. They allowed the user to automatically increase weight and train without negatively affecting the body. Plus, these weights were capable of increasing strength and passive chakra control, which helped increase the user's chakra mastery for physical enhancement.
"With the money I have, I can buy these things. These weights will be a big help. Also, with control, plus they will give this body more strength."
(Hiduki Sousuke) was a young man of fifteen. However, his height was low, standing at 160 cm, making him slightly below average. Plus, he had white hair and sharp black eyes. His face wasn't as distinctive as his hair. Nevertheless, his body was very slender. Therefore, (Sousuke) thought that by using these weights, he would be able to raise his physical strength and his control passively by using them.
Crack.
He stretched his arms above his head, feeling the bones in his spine pop. As for the second thing he could use to raise his power, it would be the Chakra Nature Affinity test. This test, from his memory, would allow him to understand which techniques he could use. And if his affinity was good and offensive, he would be able to become stronger faster. And if it was defensive, he would choose a style to protect himself in the coming war.
On any account, he had six years.
These were two good ways to increase power for him. And if he worked hard, he was sure he would become better. Or at least, less likely to die a gruesome, explosive death.
He stood up, the wooden floorboards creaking under his feet.
Creeeak.
He walked to the small, grimy window overlooking the street. The sun was beginning to set, casting long, distorted shadows that looked like grasping hands. Six years. It felt like both an eternity and the blink of an eye. He had a list. He had a goal. He had a pathetic amount of chakra and the memories of a thousand episodes of anime.
It was a start.
It would have to be enough.
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