"...296, 297, 298, 299, 300!" - Takeru collapsed on the ground heaving and gasping for breath. It was early morning in the Hidden Leaf Village and in the forest beyond the newly named Hokage Mountain, Takeru just completed his daily physical training. He doubled the training weights he was carrying from 100 kgs to 200 kgs as he was accustomed to the previous weight. Takeru did the whole One-Punch-Man regimen thrice today and he was overjoyed that his physical capabilities were incresing day by day. The effect was visible. His shadow clones were also training nearby; training kenjutsu and taijutsu rigorously by fighting among themselves; practicing shurikenjutsu in a nearby tree; practicing chakra control; practicing fire and earth nature chakra and learning more fuinjutsu. Takeru after calming down a bit, got up and and took his backpack he had thrown earlier under a tree. He took a water bottle out of it and freshened up. Takeru then sat under the tree and meditated whilst doing high level mental calculations. Sometimes later a shadow clone jerked him awake and Takeru saw that it was nearly 8 in the morning. The cla.s.ses were going to start in a few minutes. Takeru hurriedly packed his backpack, ordered his clones to continue training and ran towards the inst.i.tution. Takeru could not use shadow clones to attend cla.s.ses as Tobirama strictly forbid him from doing so and he did not think that it would be beneath the man to test if he really was sending a clone or not. And if his clone somehow popped during the cla.s.s due to some unfortunate circ.u.mstances, he would be royally f.u.c.ked. So, Takeru ran as fast as he could, which was ridiculously fast to say the least, and came in front of the cla.s.sroom 3-A just in time. Takeru just entered the cla.s.sroom only to hear the bells ring, signifying the start of the cla.s.s. Takeru took a empty seat in the middle of the room and sat down while other students were watching him inquisitively. Takeru sensed a man approaching the room who would be the teacher of this cla.s.s. The man came in, glancing at the students and saw him sitting. He went to the podium and addressed the cla.s.s, "h.e.l.lo cla.s.s, today we have new student among us who will be studying with us from now on. His name is Takeru. Takeru, introduce yourself to the cla.s.s"."h.e.l.lo, my name is Takeru Yamamoto. My dream is to be strong to protect my family, friends and the village. I hope we all can get along".
"Alright then, as Takeru joined our cla.s.s a bit late, today we are going to take revisions on what we learned the past week. Takeru, you should open your notebook and note things down. So, the first thing we learned this year is Shin.o.bi Tactics and Strategies. The things a shin.o.bi must always remember in a fight is…". The cla.s.s continued and Takeru learned far more things in a few minutes than he learned in the past week. Takeru knew that stealth and secrecy were a shin.o.bi"s bread and b.u.t.ter. Approaching your target discreetly and finishing a mission without anyone noticing was paramount in a shin.o.bi life. But in this world where chakra monsters, alien G.o.ddess and people who could summon giant animals or could create ma.s.sive ethereal armor and buddha statue lived, stealth sometimes would lose its meaning. Still, it was one of, if not greatest defining characteristic of a shin.o.bi. Strategy and Tactics were another thing altogether. Takeru learned various tactics and strategies in just a day that would help him his whole life. Diversion, misdirection and subterfuge, he found meaning in those words. Takeru absorbed everything he was taught. Soon, after daily physical activities, the day ended and Takeru went home. Takeru after coming home continued his studies with gusto. He practiced daily to increase his stealth. He sneaked around the house, making his footsteps lighter and leaving less and less signs of his pa.s.sage. He even had his parents play hide and seek with him. He continuously used his senses and control to make his movements more and more covert. He even trained to mask his chakra signature. Although his near perfect chakra control made it so that he leaked only a tiny bit of chakra involuntarily, his would deliberately shut off all his tenketsus completely, masking his chakra signature even more. He discussed with his father about strategy and tactics. Toru, to help his son, bought a shogi set and played with Takeru every single day. Takeru was slowly coming to enjoy shogi more and more, not just as a method to train but also as a sport and a means to pa.s.s his time in leisure. Takeru studied vigorously and trained rigorously, and like this 4 months pa.s.sed.
Takeru had grown a lot during these months. He finally mastered shurikenjutsu completely, able to hit targets within little more than 300 meters with perfect precision and unparalleled accuracy. He can hit targets farther than that but his accuracy lessens the more distance appears between him and the targets. He found that his senses and control had more to do with it than it normally seemed. Takeru mastered two more fuinjutsu seals, the chakra disruption seal and the almost cheat like alter-limit seal. The chakra disruption seal did what its name implied. It would disrupt the chakra of anyone with some kind of chakra circulatory system. The alter-limit seal on the other is a simple but marvelous seal. This seal could be applied to any already existing seal formula or any pre-existing seal. It granted the user of the seal complete control over the said seal with only being dependent on how great the person"s chakra control was. If applied, the seal would protect the seal formula or seal matrix forever and could only be stopped or broken by people with higher chakra control than the user. And with Takeru"s chakra control being so close to perfection, if he applied this seal to any other seal then it would be completely unbreakable by all barring a few individuals. Takeru had also increased the training weights he carried every single moment to 500 kgs spread all over his body. And he was slowly getting accustomed to the strain. Takeru had already mastered three earth release jutsus, the Earth Wall Jutsu, Earth Clone Jutsu and the Hidden Mole Jutsu. He was also close to mastering the Headhunter Jutsu. In using earth release jutsus Takeru used relatively less chakra than before but still he could not spam them like he could with fire release jutsus and he knew that he could never do so. Takeru continued his fire nature transformation practice and was close to mastering fire release completely. His kenjutsu and taijutsu expertise had increased. His mastery of fire nature jutsus also increased.
Today, after studying for 4 months continuously Takeru decided that he would move up cla.s.ses once more. He ingrained shin.o.bi tactics and strategies into his very soul. Though he did not agree to a few of them as he would always put his friends" and comrades" lives ahead of the mission. He nonetheless adhered to the main guidelines of how a shin.o.bi should operate as much as he could. Takeru only after reincarnating into this world and living again understood the value of life. The Hokage"s speech made him truly comprehend the words of Obito Uchiha - "In the world, those who break the rules are sc.u.m, but those who abandon their friends are worse than sc.u.m", and Takeru followed this motto with all of his heart. Takeru, as he completed the third and fourth year courses of the inst.i.tution, thought that it would be better for him to move up to the final fifth year and the current graduation cla.s.s. So, today as usual he went to the inst.i.tution, attended all the cla.s.ses but when the final bell rang he did not leave with the other students. He stayed to have a talk with his cla.s.s teacher. He went up to the teacher and asked him if he could move up cla.s.ses. This event went just like the previous time and it was decided that Takeru would have to take a test tomorrow, and only by pa.s.sing the test he could skip years. And as Takeru had already skipped two years previously he would not be allowed to graduate early independently. He would have to take cla.s.ses with the current graduation cla.s.s until the they all graduate. Takeru did not worry about it as he knew the conditions for one to graduate from the curriculum booklet and he could literally do so without using a single hand-seal. As all he would have to do was to perform the three basic ninjutsus, Transformation Jutsu, Body Replacement Jutsu, Clone Jutsu and pa.s.s the mandatory tests that included taijutsu test, shurikenjutsu test, written test and the obstacle course test. Takeru"s mastery of these justus and techniques was already jounin level and he could literally do them with his eyes closed. Takeru went to the inst.i.tution the next day to take the cla.s.s promotion tests. Takeru was guided by his current cla.s.s teacher to the examination hall. Takeru entered the cla.s.sroom and saw the same two instructors when he took the last test. The two instructors" faces looked constipated. They were cursing their luck inwardly as they were sure that this kid would break another set of records today and would make them do even more paperwork. Takeru was amused seeing their reactions. Soon, the written test started and finished with Takeru acing the exams with full marks in a record time. After the written test, the viva voce started. Takeru was asked questions about how he would approach a supposedly dangerous target for elimination, his plan of action in a high value information delivery mission, how he would safely escort a VIP through a potential warzone etc. Takeru answered all of them truthfully and in an answer to a tricky hidden question stated that if he was in a situation where he would have act as a bait in order to save his comrades and ensure the completion of the mission, he would do so gladly. When asked why, Takeru first stated multiple contingency plans for if such a situation like that happens, which would effectively defuse such situation or outright negate anything which could be the cause of such situation. And if everything fails, Takeru would willingly act as bait or distraction as he was confident that with his abilities he although could not escape unhurt, he could escape with his life intact. To say that the instructors were impressed would be an understatement. They found that Takeru was not arrogant, he clearly understood his strengths and limitations. They became curious as to how a 10 year old kid could be so sure of himself. They evaluated his answers and came to a conclusion that Takeru had a flawed personality. His mission priorities were straight and he showed considerable amount of caution, tactical prowess and leadership qualities. They knew that Takeru would grow up to be a formidable shin.o.bi. But just out of caution they marked his file with his personality flaws and gave him a priority recommendation for solo missions. After the viva voce the physical obstacle course test started and Takeru broke his own previously set records. In the shurikenjutsu test after, Takeru hit all the 10 targets with kunai and shuriken with 100% accuracy every single time. The instructors were used to it by now so they did not show much expressions. Soon, Takeru was congratulated again and was given permission to attend cla.s.s 5-A from tomorrow.
Takeru was happy that the day went without any hitches. He knew that his answers would leave a mark on his file but he did not mind it. Takeru went home and told his parents about his cla.s.s promotion. Toru already knew about it as the other teachers would not stop talking about it. Akane was very happy for her son. Takeru spent that day training a little and playing shogi with his father. The next day Takeru, woke up at 4 before dawn, trained until 8 in the morning and ran like h.e.l.l to the Inst.i.tution. Takeru entered the inst.i.tution and after a few minutes found the cla.s.s 5-A. He did not enter the room among the chattering students. He stood outside the room patiently, waiting for the instructor to come. The instructor came down the hallway, saw him standing outside the room and said - " You must be Takeru Yamamoto, I presume. Come with me". They entered the cla.s.sroom together and the chattering of the students stopped. The instructor stood above the podium and addressed the students.
"Alright, students listen up, we have a new student with us who will be joining this cla.s.s for the rest of the year. Takeru, please introduce yourself to the cla.s.s."
"h.e.l.lo, my name is Takeru Yamamoto. My dream is to be strong to protect my family, friends and the village. I hope we all can get along", - Takeru introduced himself calmly. The students in this cla.s.s all reacted differently from his previous cla.s.ses. In the previous cla.s.ses, Takeru was barely given a glance because first of all he really did not talk much with the other children and the time he stayed in those cla.s.ses was far too little for him to have any meaningful conversation with his fellow cla.s.smates. In this cla.s.s however, all the students looked at him as if he was some sort of animal in a zoo. Takeru kept a calm a demeanor and with the instructor"s permission found himself a seat in the back of the cla.s.s. Takeru sat on the bench with two other students, a boy and a girl. Both were around the age of 15. The girl had shoulder-length brown hair which she kept in a high ponytail, dark eyes. She wore a green kimono, light-brown long sleeves shirt with a loquat on the back, red pants and sandals. The boy had dark hair tied up into a spiky ponytail, dark eyes, he wore a blue long-sleeved shirt and black pants. The boy was currently sleeping on the desk and had a perpetual aura of boredom on him. Takeru observed his deskmates for a moment and focused his attention on the lecture the teacher was giving currently. Takeru soon found out that he knew about the topic the teacher was teaching. It was about how to properly use the Body Replacement Jutsu. Takeru listened for sometime but soon found nothing interesting. The girl who was sitting beside him saw it and started a conversation with him.
"Hey, are you the boy who was promoted 4 years after starting of the Inst.i.tution?"
"Why are you asking this?"
"Well, I think you noticed how the other students look at you. You might not know this but you are very popular in the inst.i.tution."
"I am? But why?" - Takeru asked incredulously.
"I have not heard another student who has done something like you did. Pa.s.sing 4 years in a single year is a great feat no matter how you see it. Oh, I am very sorry I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Biwako." - the girl said with a smile.
"I am Takeru. I see, so that is why all of them were looking at me so weirdly."
"I am Shikatsu by the way, nice to meet you." - the seemingly sleeping boy introduced himself.
"Dude, why are sleeping in the cla.s.s?" - Takeru asked.
"Do not mind him. He is from the Nara clan and all of them are lazy like this." - Biwako explained.
"Oh, I see." - Takeru nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, yeah, I am better of watching clouds instead, you know. The white fluffy ones in a windy day, laying on the gra.s.s, just relaxin.." - Shikatsu seemingly fell asleep again.
"Okay, I think I understand this guy." - Takeru was amused.
"Yeah, he is just lazy. He is very good in studies though."
"So, Biwako, can you tell me about the rumours about me?" - asked Takeru.
"Yeah, sure. So, the first one is that you are the hidden son of some clan head, the second one is that you have been taught by Lord Hokage personally, the third one is…". Takeru and Biwako chatted the whole day with Shikatsu joining the conversation sometimes. Other times he just slept through the cla.s.ses. Even in the physical education cla.s.s he just layed down on the ground and lazed of and in taijutsu practice he either just surrendered to his opponent or outright refused to partic.i.p.ate. Biwako wanted to be a medical-nin and focused mainly on that subject so she performed only a bit above average in the other subjects. Takeru smashed through the shurikenjutsu practice and physical activities. In taijutsu practice he defeated all the other students easily barring two. The first one was an Uchiha clan member, Kagami Uchiha and the second one being the ever energetic Hiruzen Sarutobi. Takeru was carrying the training weights all the time so he could only move much, much slower, Kagami had already awakened 1-tomoe sharingan giving him an advantage and Hiruzen was simply a genius. Though Takeru defeated the two, he had to give considerable effort in doing so. The only other student who came close to the three in taijutsu was a hot-headed boy with black, s.h.a.ggy hair, dark eyes, he wore a short dark-green kimono tied with a sash. The boy"s name was Danzo Shimura. Takeru did not notice him at first but after Hiruzen defeated him, Danzo began to emit waves of emotions, mainly jealousy and envy. Takeru just could not think that this boy would become one of, if not the most evil and hated person in this whole world. Takeru after watching Danzo"s interactions understood where his hatred and animosity came from. Danzo was ambitious, he wanted to be the best in everything. But time and again he could not as he was overshadowed by Hiruzen"s genius, Kagami"s talent and now Takeru"s capabilities. This envy was eating Danzo from the inside and his pride as a memeber of a prestigious shin.o.bi clan made it even worse. Takeru made friends with all of them except for Danzo as he did not consider the word "friend" meaningful so he became his comrade instead. Kagami was a good-looking, clam and composed guy with s.h.a.ggy black hair and standard Uchiha characteristics wearing a half sleeved blue shirt and black shorts. Hiruzen was an energetic and exuberant guy with below-average stature, he was tan-skinned and had dark brown, spiked hair. He also had a single line running vertically under the outer corners of each eye. He wore a dark blue kimono with a yellow sash. The day ended and Takeru went to his home. Takeru was happy that he finally made some friends in the Inst.i.tution. He knew how his new friends" futures would be without any interference. Takeru thought that as with his mere presence canon was already f.u.c.ked. He could save his friends from their futures. The future was not set and he could, with his effort make changes so it would be less dark than it should have been. Takeru after completing his evening training routine slept peacefully on his bed.