A shadow appears among the trees, cold metal in its grip. Nature is disturbed as leaves shift, branches sway and birds move. A lone deer sense the change and looks around, bewildered, but trusting of its instincts. It moves in one fluid motion, with grace and with speed, speed which will make its undoing. A kunai flow seamlessly through the air, the deer sees it in the corner of its eyes, but with no chance of changing its direction. It watches in despair as it accurately slip through skin to hit a soft tissue which beats in a rhythmic motion. Ba-dum, ba- dum. Ba...dum...ba It does not take long before its eyes lose their light, nor does it take long for it to slump to the ground, dead.
In contrast with this dramatic moment, our protagonist is easy going and rather bored with the result, he has seen it so many times before! 'Will this be a staple? I do something new, find it funny, then it becomes monotonous, boring work after a while? I mean, it's necessary as I would rather die than ever eat the mud from the orphanage kitchen again, but I don't feel the exhilaration of winning anymore.' Kenshin sighs as he easily cut the deer with practiced motions. 'Tiger, ox, boar' He makes the hand seals then press his arm upon a scroll, making a bag of ice appear. He proceeds to put the cut meat in this bag. 'It's strange' he muses 'That although you can only seal one thing, what exactly that thing is can be very ambiguous.' His mind finishes as the does the opposite hand seals, sealing the bag once again. 'I wonder what the law behind this is… perhaps it's a prank by the uzumaki seal masters of old, I should ask … someone the next time I have an opportunity, this seems like something right up Orochimaru's alley, now that I think about it' Nodding to himself, he arrives outside the orphanage. They had struck a deal, he provides the meat, they prepare the meal. It might be somewhat to their advantage, as the staff and a few favorites benefit more from this arrangement, but it ultimately makes his life easier. It also makes him part of a greater whole, so that his voice is somewhat respected, if only a little.
An hour later we see Kenshin leaving the orphanage, happy and fed. He feels like doing some reading, and perhaps afterwards, he can make trip to the training grounds to work on his stamina 'Wouldn't be good to throw up all that delicious meat, after all' He thinks to himself.
Arriving before the library, he begins to looks through the practical books of fuinjutsu. Exactly. Fuinjutsu. He'd decided that he needed some kind of edge to break off from the norm, and fuinjutsu could be that edge. He was, however, disheartened by the lack of theoretical knowledge on the subject. Making do with what he have at hand, he'd begun practicing calligraphy of the various symbols found in the practical books. He may lack the knowledge of what these symbols mean, but the mechanical mastery of these symbols will help him create a foundation until he can proceed further. He'd also begun to notice a few similarities between these bit of practical examples, how almost all jutsu of the storage type begun with a particular symbol, or how all fire related fuinjutsu begun with another. There were a few examples with invalidates these claims completely, but he'd found that they were the exception instead of the rule. Which rule? He had no idea.
Continuing this line of thought, he'd looked at more excotic knowledge to supplement his already heavy foundation. For example, the academy would teach you about where each and every vital organ were. What they wouldn't teach is why those organs are vital to the human body, that's the realm of medical ninja, but who's to say that it won't be useful knowledge down the road? Instead of taking up fiction books like he'd originally planned, he begun to make his own kind of wikipedia, in his head. Obviously there are limits to what a man can learn in such a short time frame and he would have to make adjustments accordingly, but as they were mere supplementary subjects for when he'd needed a change of pace, it weren't relevant. Coming to this conclusion he'd put away his reservations about what he should be doing, and begun to do. With some more medical knowledge, other things like why he should be training a certain way as opposed to how he should be training became interesting, then he'd begun reading on the gates and how they interacted with the chakra to create stronger bodies, the synergies etc, moving along this vein he'd come across the the tenketsu, and the further he went, down the rabbit hole of 'Might be useful someday' knowledge.
As much as he'd learned, he still found his approach of focusing on stamina correct. He'd also learned some more about spiritual chakra, like how experience and knowledge affects how much of it one would have, not just will and concentration. Somewhat astonished, but accepting, he'd gotten another piece of motivation for his haphazard learning of random things and actually learned something useful.
In the library, below a oil lamp sat a child of 5 measly years, though anyone you asked would say he's 7. He's slowly and deliberately following the brushstrokes on a piece of paper, the librarian following his every move fondly as he does so.'That child, it's hard to say if he's a genius or not, he's certainly mature for his age, but he spends the best time of his life studying. Truly a pity, why is he rushing?'
'Why indeed' A certain aged kage ponders as he watches over the newly discovered prodigy. The air felt infused with a kind of magical atmosphere, and if you didn't know better you'd mistake him for a wizard. Aged, wrinkly hands move slowly in a bewitching manner, as if trying to capture something intangible. A certain ball of glass, filled with mystical energies swirling in a manner quite similar to a certain renowned technique. 'In some ways he reminds me so much of Orochimaru.. But little maru was so very innocent in his time as a child. So very pure, with of clear fascination of the world, prompting him to make new discoveries and question the very essence of the world. In time, he lost his innocence and a lustful desire for knowledge itself drove him to madness seen in few ninjas, even today' The hokage of the hidden leaf thinks grimly, Masked ninjas, hidden in the corners of the room tense as they witness their beloved leader age in the matter of seconds. Shaking his head, Sarutobi Hiruzen pulls on a force within himself, something which has never failed to impress, if someone asks, he'd call it the will of fire. The third focuses on the ball once again 'But, as similar as they are there is a fundamental difference between Orochimaru and this child. He doesn't enjoy knowledge, he enjoys to master the knowledge. As if an ambitious adult wanting to win. I'll have to check in on him in the future, but for now… '
The Third then issues the order which would drastically change the destiny of this world
"It's fine, allow him to graduate" Waving his hand in a casual manner, Sarutobi inhales a few mouthfuls of smoke, as if to change the taste of his current decision. That done, he packs up for the night. He had a wife waiting for him, and she'd waited long enough.
While engrossed in reading about the different summoning clans in the world of the elemental nations, a shadow looms over Kenshin, he doesn't notice before he feels a tap on his shoulder. Bewildered, Kenshin looks up, only to see empty air. He hear a few weak giggles from his right and look up to see the strict librarian with a fond expression, which quickly turned strict "Kenshin, I know how much you love to read, but we're closing soon! You've gotta get up, don't you have school tomorrow? Sigh, when I were your age I'd fall asleep as long as someone put a book in front of me" The librarian begins to remiscense about her childhood days. Kenshin snickers a little at the librarian, but get the evil eye and quickly shut up. Then what she'd said register in his mind. "Wait, you're closing? Oh man, I completely lost track of time! Damn it, I forgot to work out!" He says with much regret, but a small part of him breath out in relief at avoiding the torture. If he didn't know from past experience how easy it is to lose motivation he'd take more 'break-days' instead of torturing himself on the field. The corner of the Akiko's mouth twitch in amusement, but she keeps her countenance strict. Placing her hands on her hips, she chides "All the more reason for you to get going! I'll take care of your book, run off now!" Kenshin quickly folds under her demeanor and run out of the library, planning to spend the last hour running intensely.
Although he focus more on stamina than any other physical attribute, it takes up a lot of time. So when he lacks the time he'd be upping the tempo just so much as to exhaust himself regardless of time left. 'I wish I had more time' Kenshin would say to himself at times, then realise he's around 5-7 years old psychically and hit himself mentally for the stupidity. "Although, it does feel like that most of the time, not enough time to do what you love, not enough time to learn what is necessary, never enough time. Time.. time.. I'm still young so I would theoretically have a lot of time left, but everyone dies, and nobody feels fulfilled at the end of their life. Perhaps.. Perhaps… Oh well." Kenshin fills his head with heedless thoughts as his legs turn numb from running at speeds he's not used to.
And so his life would go on for a few more months, he'd practice his chakra molding religiously while working on his stamina to perfect his constitution. On the side he would study fuinjutsu and whatever he deems necessary, how does he know what is necessary? From studying 'for fun'. Since he came from an era of humanity where they had almost perfected the art of entertainment, and then gone beyond, his evaluation of what 'fun' is had become excessively spoiled in comparison to the people around him. On that note he'd been an drug user as well, further heightening the considerable and insurmountable mountain that he'd name 'entertainment'. As a consequence, nothing he found in this world could be considered 'fun'. Not only were it not fun, he's also 7 years old, so he can't do anything which other adults, because he's very much an adult still, deems fun. Faced with this incredible despair, he'd thrown himself into whatever training and learning he could, as if he couldn't live while having fun, he could at least be productive, right? And doing this, he found he kind of.. Enjoyed it. Working towards something was pleasant, having an ambition, felt great. This being an supernatural world only further knocked the point in that this could be something he'd like doing, he didn't have to read about other people having incredible adventures, he could make his own! If there was something he missed it were human interaction, being a kid could be tiresome at times, he thought morosely while glancing at Akira spinning his mouth off beside him.
They were just about to walk out of the classroom, the last class of the year. Soon he would turn '8' and he still had not graduated, sometimes it felt like the instructors held him back on purpose. But, he could understand why, it had not even been a year since he arrived and a plethora of other issues. "Ah, Kenshin! Before I forget - Stay behind, will you? I've got to talk to you about something!" His teacher yelled with a concerned tone. It was enough to make Kenshin stop in his tracks, smiling apologetically to Akira and saying "Sorry man, the teach wants to have a chat, we'll talk later?" While inwardly sighing in relief. Akira took glanced between Hoshi and I before forcing a smile on his face "Yah, sure man! Catch you later!" He says loudly before walking towards some other people to hang out with. "Kenshin looks at his receding back for a second before turning around and walking towards the teacher's desk, where Hoshi busies himself with some unknown papers. His expression serious as he leafs through the pages at speed unimaginable. Kenshin looks at him for a while before coughing to get his attention, something which went ignored. Slightly embarrassed by his failure and feeling like Umbridge, he decides to simply call him out. He smiles brightly before yelling loudly "Teacher! You wanted to talk?" Hoshi jumps at the volume, as if he had forgotten that he'd asked for Kenshin to stay back earlier. "Kenshin! Don't scare me like that!" He tries to chide, but there is a fond smile on his face, completely contradicting his words. "So, what do you want? Out with it! I don't have all day!" Kenshin looks at him strangely. "You told me to say behind, remember?" Hoshi looks to the side before palming his face "Right! I did do that! Sorry bout that, I've just been so stressed lately with the graduation coming up" He smiles guilty at Kenshin, who smiles back "That's cool teach, I can understand that. Although I wish i could graduate this year" His smile and tone take on a shade of bitterness. Hoshi looks like christmas has come early and says in one breath "Haha, Kenshin! You can, you can! I put in an application for because you've been bugging me about this, guess what?" Kenshin looks up expectantly "You got in! As long as you pass the exam next week you're good to go! I don't know if I've ever heard anyone not in a ninja clan complete the academy in one year, although you're a little old to be called the youngest ever, only crazy people like Kakashi Hatake and Uchiha Itachi has ever graduated any younger" He puts on a thoughtful face "In fact, you should go see Itachi, you're both the greatest prodigies of your generation, bout the same age too!" Hoshi goes on for a while about some unrelated matters, not that Kenshin cares much, inside his head he's currently fist pumping, having accomplished the first hurdle of his ninja career a lot earlier than he expected. 'With this I've got access to much better jutsu, a home, money, even the genin library is a boon of graduation'.
After a while of energetically running his mouth off Hoshi looks on the clock and shakes in distress "Oh no, I spent so much time talking I've got almost no time left to grade these papers." He looks down sadly, in a comedic way "She's gonna kill me" he barely whispers before ushering Kenshin out the door "Go on, beat them all into the ground, I know you can do it!" Kenshin looks at him in bewilderment, but presses on with the most important topic "Wait, teach, when is the graduation test?!" Hoshi pauses for a second, then replies "10'clock, next week, monday!" He says quickly before burying himself into work again. Kenshin helplessly looks at him before walking out the door "One week, One week, I can't believe I'll graduate in one week! I gotta brush up on my basics!" He thinks with some excitement. "I wonder what will be on the exam? That useless teacher of mine never said anything" Kenshin thinks, almost in tears.