Chapter 451 - My SI Stash #51 - Red and Purple by BANIX (Naruto) (1/2)
-Another great short story from BANIX, it would be really nice if this gets some sort of Boruto sequel tho/
Synopsis: Nobody said that there really is a second chance at life, that my second chance at life is to grow up as a child soldier in a world that was once fiction. Nobody said that I would be reborn with the fate of being cannon fodder where all I want is to live, to survive. But, I have a friend that helped me, a friend with an unhealthy obsession for purple. (Reincarnated OC)
Rated: T
Words: 15K
Posted on: fanfiction.net/s/13766294/1/Red-and-Purple (BANIX)
PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)
-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics/originals mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)
Chapter 1
Nobody said that there really is a second chance at life.
Nobody said that my second chance at life is to grow up as a child soldier.
Nobody said that my second chance at life is to grow up in a world that was once fiction.
Kumogakure, a village located in a range of tall mountains and quite literally hidden in the clouds. Vast mountain ranges are all you can see and thunderstorms are as common as seeing the sun rise and set each day. Rivers meander around the mountains as they eventually flow to the sea and the view of the coastline is something that might even put the Maldives to shame.
I say might, because I never did have the chance to visit the Maldives in my previous life.
Visually, Kumogakure are made up of two distinct types of people. The people with tanned skin or those with a lighter shade. I belong to the latter. Like most of the populace, I sported light yellow hair. My genetic roots are definitely from Kumo since I look like any of the ordinary citizens living up in this mountain village.
Kan, that is my name in this life. Simple and to the point like how people from Kumo prefer. I have no family name. The third war was in full swing by the time I could comprehend that this world is the world of Naruto and it is not pretty. Unlike what the manga or the anime portrays it is something that is only filled with horror, fear, and propaganda.
Like many other children of Kumo and the victims of war, I have no family. I have no idea who my parents are because I have never met them. All I know is that I am Kan, another orphan living in the Village Hidden in the Clouds.
By the third year I am here I had made up my mind that the only way for me to continue living in this bloody world is to be a killer for hire. I had seen for myself what being a civilian means. No power, no say, and too weak to do anything against cold-blooded killers that wield the magical powers of chakra. If I want to stay alive for as long as I possibly can I have to be able to wield chakra.
I need to be a shinobi.
There were no restrictions in regards to how young one can be a shinobi, especially during times of war. As long as you are capable of keeping up with the education and prove yourself worthy you are admitted to the academy to be moulded into another faceless tool. It took me a few years, but I managed to get myself admitted by the time I was six.
While I do remember a fair bit of the series, they largely center around another village where all the protagonists gather. Kumogakure isn't such a place. What I do know about the village largely stagnates about the Raikage, the jinchurikis, Darui, the big ass turtle and that is probably about it. Maybe throw in the Gold-Silver brothers for additional information.
I definitely wasn't expecting to recognise Nii Yugito. I definitely wasn't expecting to be in the same class as her, much less being her desk mate. I have no idea if fate has plans for me or if this is purely coincidental.
Yugito and I both sit at the very back of the class, right at the very left corner where we are easily overlooked. It is an area where we draw the least attention to ourselves and is why I chose to sit here in the first place. I wasn't expecting her to choose the seat beside mine when she entered the classroom just five minutes after I did on our very first day in the academy.
Everybody knows who Yugito is. It will be very foolish not to, considering she is Kumo's second jinchuriki, host to the flaming devil cat Matatabi. Whispers follow wherever she goes, fearful stares trail along wherever she walks.
Her presence alone spells fear.
She merely casted me a brief glance and a smile when she sat next to me before taking out a book to read, ignoring all the harsh whispers and stares that were directed our way. I remembered that I simply stared at her, jaws dropped, not really knowing what to do.
But f.u.c.k it. I'm an a.d.u.l.t, at least mentally, I can handle this much.
And so, I take out my own book to read as well. Thank whatever gods out there that I had the foresight to bring a book along for entertainment.
The academy is hard, physically.
The more intellectual part of the academy course wasn't much of a challenge beyond the initial language barrier, what with the Japanese language being confusing as hell to learn. Thankfully, I got that out of the way even before I entered the academy. With that down, things like history, math, and whatever nonsense that followed wasn't too hard for me to ace them with ease.
Things like physical conditioning, taijutsu, ninjutsu, and insert whatever jutsu here are another story entirely.
I don't hail from a clan. I do not have shinobi parents. Even when I had taken the effort to try and improve my stamina even prior to joining the academy the most I could do were things like push-ups and running laps. Those were still not enough to prepare me for the academy. I do not know how to properly punch, kick, stab, and kill.
The academy is supposed to be there to rectify all of the above problems, but even then it is lacking. Being a skilled shinobi does not automatically translate into being a good teacher and that goes for the chunins here. If you want to look further, just look at how Kakashi handled Team 7 pre-Shippuden. The extremely basic tree walking aside, the only thing he ever taught them was 'Those that break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash'. Spiritually lifting? Yes. Practically useful? I think not.
The clan kids do not care about the subpar academy lessons because they have a clan to fall back on. The same goes for the students with shinobi parents. As you might have imagined, civilian students like myself find ourselves severely lagging behind in the physical department just one month into the academy. At this rate by the time we graduate from the academy we will be nothing more than cannon fodders. In a world where information and techniques are guarded so zealously, you cannot go far without any form of backing or connections. That is the harsh reality of a shinobi village.
When I realised that the chunin teachers are of no help I decided to forgo my pride and be shameless, asking whoever I know of that might be able to help me for tips. Most brush me away, some indulge me as they give me a tip or two. That was all I could work with. However, it frustrates me, because the amount of help these so-called tips gave me really wasn't much. I know I can be better, I know I can go further. I just need the opportunity.
I have no idea what spurred me to do what I did next. It was just another ordinary morning. Like me, Yugito is an early bird and values the notion of punctuality. The both of us were just sitting there at our tables reading our books, waiting for the day's lesson to start and for some unknown reason I opened my mouth.
”Do you mind teaching me taijutsu?”
There was an awkward pause between us and for some reason I dare not look in her direction, not even a glance. However, she did give me an answer.
”Sure.”
Yugito is merciless.
She had started training at the age of two, the age where she was made into a jinchuriki against her will. She had the best teachers to guide her along and train her in whatever it was deemed necessary for her to learn. The only reason she enrolled into the academy was because the Raikage felt that it was necessary for her mental well-being that she interact with people her age, even if it was for one short year. It will not do well for our jinchuriki to be a social idiot.
With the kind of life she had led ever since she could think, I couldn't fault her for not knowing what the word 'restraint' meant.
Everyday before and after school we would spar. She beat me every single time but I am happy. Eager, enthusiastic even, because I now have someone who is willing to teach me to be better, to be stronger, to be able to have the opportunity to learn how to survive in this f.u.c.k.i.e.d up world.
She corrected every single mistake she could see. She taught me what she knew without holding back and I learned with an eagerness that I never thought possible. Maybe the thought of being involved in the war in the future spurred me on even more than I realised, but I don't really care to find out.
I will learn and I will survive. The plot? I couldn't care and am not able to care. I am not reborn in the right place and age. Whatever happens after the third war, if there is an after, I will deal with it when I get there. I have to be able to survive the third war before I can even start thinking about the plot because right now, I have nothing.
Right now, I am nothing. Right now, the only thing I could do is to learn as much as I can in order to survive in this cutthroat world.
Yugito is a very reserved individual. I couldn't really remember what her personality was like by the time Shippuden rolled around so I have no idea what to expect. Even then, I'd like to think that we had formed some sort of friendship between us.
It was also during my time spent with her did I really get to experience a fraction of what the life of a jinchuriki is like. The whispers, the stares, they are always around.
It really is too much.