...
As I did my daily laps around the village of Konoha, my legs and lungs had began to produce a familiar pain. Running a whole lap around the village of Konoha is about 8 miles (13 kilometers) in total.
This was my 7th lap around and I could already feel a couple eyes look at me weirdly. Seeing a 5 year old doing laps around a village was a bit strange as most kids my age wanted to play ninja.
But I personally didn't care a single bit what those people thought. I knew that my stamina and lung capacity would be brutally important for my future endeavors. Monsters like the 3rd Raikage had bodies capable of spending a whole 3 days and nights relentlessly fighting over thousands of ninja.
Might Guy could probably fight an army of a thousand ninja for a few minutes at most. The seventh gate and the 'daytime tiger' would take out a chunk of them due to its speed and power. But he would be at their mercy once the gates begin to fade and his body is exhausted.
I was nearing my apartment complex and was about to finish my 10th lap but saw a familiar looking kid get thrown out of a shop.
'Isn't that naruto?'
"Get out do my shop demon!" A rough voice yelled drawing the people's attention towards the boy. In his hands was a cracked mask. The mask had probably been cracked on his rough landing. "If I ever see you here again, I will kill you!"
"Hey." A woman whispered to her friend before pointing towards the kid. "It's the demon. He's making trouble again!"
"He's just begging to be beat up isn't he?" Another man spoke out loud before picking up a rock. "We already told you to stay out of this area!"
The man then threw the rock and accurately hit the boy in the head. Crumpling to the ground, Naruto put his hand on the top of his head and notices that the blow had drawn blood.
In response to it, he looked towards the guy with a bitter and sad expression. The man noticing his look just began to laugh and pointed towards him.
"Hah! Look at him! Look how pitiful he looks!" He said with a sadistic smile before pointing towards the rest of us. "Go ahead and grab some friends! Let us join together to teach him a lesson! A lesson that demon filth like him is not welcomed here!"
'It's not fair is it?' I thought to myself as I kneeled down and grabbed a few rocks. 'Why do they hate me? Am I really that much of a burden? That's probably what your thinking right Naruto?'
'Well I'm afraid I can't answer that for you.... I'll get executed.....' I thought bitterly as I got to my feet and walked towards the man who threw a rock at him. 'But I can at least do this for you.'
*smack*
Accurately hitting the man on the temple, he crumpled onto the ground causing everyone to look towards me in shock. Naruto was the one who was the most shocked. Poor kid had probably given up on other children playing with him.
'Still that was a lucky shot.'
Walking up to Naruto, I reached a hand towards him. "Hey come with me real quick. We need to get your head patched up." I said with a smile before glaring at the people watching us.
"Plus it will be a lot better compared to being with these pricks."
Moving my eyes towards him, I could see a look of hesitation and fear inside of his eyes as he looked at my hand. Years of harsh abuse and betrayal clouding of his childhood clashed with him as he decided on whether of not to take my hand.
"Get away." With a bit of aggression as he smacked my hand away and glared at me before getting up on his own. He then changed his expression into a smile before giving me a thumbs up.
"I don't need anyone's help or pity. Because I'll be the Hokage you hear me! So stay out of my way and watch, dattebayo!"
Turning his back towards me, he started to walk towards a familiar complex. And with a smirk, I began to match his steps.
Not minding me next to him, he kept on towards the complex and walked up the stairs before stopping.
"Why are you following me?" He asked in an annoyed tone. "Are you a stalker or something?"
His eyes then looked on me with fear before he jumped back and pointed towards me. "Wait don't tell me your a per- OOF!"
Punching him on top of his head. I fished my pockets for my key and put in the lock of the door next to me. And when Naruto had recovered a bit, he looked towards me with stars in his eyes.
"Wooooooow~!" He sounded out as he swayed side to side. "You got a nice puuuncch~ there friend. I'm just going to rest here for a bit.... kaaaay~?"
"Heh." I chuckled as I stepped through the doors of my apartment with closed eyes. "You do you I guess. I'll be getting some breakfast, knock if you want some."
Once inside, I opened my eyes and shook my head bitterly. 'He's already grown a deep psychological condition. His cheerful attitude is just a mere facade to hide his pain.'
The only time Naruto's facade had broke down for everyone to see the real him was when the toad sage had died. But I have no interest in changing his mental issue. Nor will I actively help him when he's in trouble.
I just didn't want to see a group of full grown adults brutally beat a kid to death. Especially when we are in the middle of Konoha! Doesn't Naruto have a group of Anbu protecting him!
That man should be executed for even attempting to endanger our jinchuriki's life. But I suppose even the Anbu 'protecting' Naruto want to see him suffer.
"Wait he lives right next to me!" Naruto's voice suddenly came from the wall next to me causing me to sigh. 'Yup, he's a smart character for sure.'
Anyways, I decided to cook up a simple meal to feed my body before looking at the documents on my countertop. On one of the pages was a picture of my face with a bunch of Mumbo Jumbo that I couldn't read as I don't yet know how to.
Walking into my room, I saw a pouch full of Kunai, shuriken, and senbon on my dresser. Next to the pouch was a new pair of Sandals, a few pairs of clothes for training, a simple short sleeve green shirt, and a simple pair of shorts.
I planned to wear the shirt and shorts for when I spend time in the academy. 'Aunty' or better yet known as my landlady was nice enough to provide me with all of this stuff. Too make it up to her, I promised to help with any request she may have. The request can be cleaning, delivering a message to a friend, a massage, just anything she needs of me pretty much.
"Rock Lee!" Aunts voice then came from my front door. "Open the door for me please!"
'Speak of the devil and she shall come.' I thought bitterly as I groggily made my way towards the door. When I opened it, she walked through my door with a tired expression before sitting at my diner table.
"Thank you for letting me in Lee." She said before leaning back on the chair and letting out a groan. Putting her hand up, she waved me to come over. "Can you be a doll and give me a massage? My shoulder pain is killing me!"
'Ok, maybe ANY request was albeit too much.' I frowned in thought as I walked behind her and started to knead my hands into her shoulders. In response to the feeling of my small hands knead at her tight muscles, she started to hum a song which made me smile. 'But I guess having company every once in a while is nice.'
"Rock Lee, you know what tomorrow is correct?"
"Yes Aunt, it's my first day at the academy." I responded as she gently touched my hand.
"Try and put more force into the neck please." I swear I saw her smirk a bit as she said that! Leaning back, she sighed in relief as I began to knead the spot she requested.
"What classroom number do you have?"
"32"
"Number of students."
"17"
"Class type."
"Civilian."
"Girls you like?"
"Aunty of course." I said cutely causing her to chuckle.
"At least I don't have to worry about your ability with women." She said as she pretended to wipe a tear from her eye and looked up. "He grew up fast didn't he Abe? He even has your flirting skill!"
"....."
"Hey did I say to stop the kneading brat?"
Hearing her, I felt my blood pressure rise drastically as I desperately struggled not to wrap my hands around her neck. 'Knead and breathe Lee. You got this.... knead and breathe.'
.....
After satisfying Aunty, she had left to take care of some things around the complex. She bid me goodnight which meant she probably wasn't going to show up again.
Looking through my bathroom window, I saw the location do the sun and let out a smile. Sitting down, I went through a 10 minutes stretching periods before getting up and catching my breathe.
'Now that my warmup is over. Maybe I should do 20 sets today? My body should be able to handle it.'
I then blanked out completely as I focused completely on training. I'd say the moment I came back was in the middle of a sit-up. Immediately, my body screamed in pain and I ignored it.
My mind had already acclimated to the pain and soreness I get from my efforts. But I knew that I should have done 20 sets.
It's an improvement compared to my original 14 sets. But that just means that my body is getting used to my normal stuff. This means I'll have to raise the amount I normally do in every set.
Honestly though, chakra is a seriously impressive thing. I can do such strenuous workouts as a child and be 'almost' at peak strength the next day. It's no wonder Might Guy did 5000 laps around the academy's track and was able to recover the very next day.
But I know that I'm not at that level yet, I still have a long ways to go. And these next 7 or 8 years inside the academy will give me the time I need to grow my strength. Experience however is something I'll need to find on my own.
And I've already given up on the ability to use ninjustu. My defect is the inability to mold chakra. This means I can only use it in a raw form.
Maybe I could learn how to walk on trees and water though. Theoretically, I'm just using raw chakra to balance and hold myself onto a surface.
Reaching into one of my pant pockets. I pulled out a leaf and let out a frown.
'This will decide a lot of the things I can do in the future. Please tell me that I'm able to do this.'
Putting the leaf at the center of my palm, I directed my chakra towards said palm and focused on sticking it to the leaf. Once confident that my chakra had touched the leaf, I turned my palm over and let out a bitter smile.
'I couldn't give it the properties to stick. That counts as molding.' I said as I watched the leaf fall onto my bathroom floor. 'This means that the eight gates is my only defense against genjustu. The pain provided by them will make me immune for a certain period.'
'But I do wonder.'
Clenching my fist, I circulated my chakra through my back muscle and arm muscles before throwing a quick jab in the air. But as soon as my fist reached its maximum length, I sent the gathered chakra into a single point and let it explode out.
*fwoosh*
Blanking out, I stared at the gentle gust of wind and literally felt like crying. I have the chakra control to use chakra strengthening, but I don't have a monstrous amount of chakra like Tsunade.
'I doubt it's enough to break out of genjutsu. Or at least currently it's not enough....' Clenching my fist, I thought about my next eight years and let out a sigh. 'Might as well get to it again.'
Dropping to the floor, I began to do some push-ups. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,...."
It was going to be one of the future Rock Lees countless nights of training.
...