Months have passed and I was able to adapt to this new world. In a sense, I have been living here for 7 years so it's not that hard.
To avoid any unwanted attention and suspicions, I stick to my character as Sasuke. Though it's not like someone's going to suspect that a totally different person is living in this body especially after what happened to "me". But I know that this kind of thinking will not do me any good, my experience in this world is still lacking and there are a lot of unexplored concepts that either "me" and current me don't know about.
In the past few months, I put all my effort into recovering my full health and strength. Tsukuyomi is no joke. It put a huge toll on both my body and mind. It's only thanks to Itachi deliberately lowering the intensity of the genjutsu for me to survive.
But thanks to that at least, I have awakened my sharingan. I'm still surprised that it's not mangekyou though even after watching the anime multiple times and experiencing it myself. It's probably because of "my" lingering hope at that time that everything is just a genjutsu and refusing to believe that Itachi, "my" beloved brother, just really did it.
'Or maybe, I'm just not strong enough to manifest my newly awakened power.'
It's a possibility. I'm gonna need to explore this matter later but I'm not putting all of my bets into it. The thing that I needed the most to ensure my safety is the rinnegan.
In these past few months, I have also been attending the academy. And honestly, I don't have much to learn from them. All the information I need is in our clan's library.
"Hey, Sasuke. Let's go. I'm so hungry."
A certain yellow haired kid approached me in the middle of the class.
"We're still in the middle of a class, you meathead."
"Urghh."
He groaned and just sat to my side. He couldn't really argue with me because he knows that I will not listen to whatever he's about to say.
"Anyway, do you have lunch with you? I know you always bring one."
"I already ate it earlier."
"What? We didn't even have breaks yet, when did you eat it? Haha, I thought you were a good kid but it seems like you're just naughty like everyone else."
"I always come here at the academy very early so I have plenty of time to eat my lunch before the start of the class. What's more, I just increased the intensity of my training yesterday so I got hungry immediately."
"Excuses. Well at least you know your place and still keep up with your training. Else, you will never catch up to me. HAHAHAAHAHAHA."
He laughed very loud which is very dumb considering we are in the middle of a class. Not long after, a board that is used to keep track of our attendance came flying like a saucer and hit his head.
"Ouch!"
"Hey, Naruto! How many times do I have to tell you to be quiet when someone is standing here in front?!"
Iruka-sensei yelled and made Naruto write his name and misbehaved repeatedly throughout the time remaining.
Though I act like Sasuke in the anime which is not much different from how I acted in my past life, I did become someone easier to approach. In this world, comrades who you could trust and depend on are very important.
Naruto is such a carefree and friendly guy so I got acquainted with him easily.
"Alright, everyone. Go to the training ground. We will be having taijutsu sparring."
"Yeah!!"
The whole class got excited.
…
[Training ground]
The familiar scenery greeted us. We've been training here for a long time. There are wooden targets used for long range weapons, dummies for hand-to-hand combat and close quarter weapons, obstacles for survival training, and a circle drawn on the ground for taijutsu sparring.
And today, we will be sparring in that circle to see how much we improved and update our rankings.
"Alright. You already know the rules so let's begin immediately and finish this early so you can go home. Sasuke, come here. And you too, Kiba. You will be the first to spar."
I and Kiba nodded and entered the ring.
"Hey, kid. I will not settle as number 2 when it comes to close quarter combat. I think you know what that means. You're done today hahahahaha."
"It's been a long time since we had been matched. I will be looking forward to your improvements."
I did the Seal of Reconciliation and Kiba did the same, to show comradery after the fight.
He crouched down on all fours, like that of a dog, and launched himself towards me using the muscles in both of his arms and legs. It's impressive to see someone utilize their arms strength like legs with such mastery.
But not impressive enough to surprise me.
'Seems like he's been developing his technique,
If he only used the speed I showed in the academy as a reference, that is.
But even if we say that "that" is the speed I'm only capable of, such an aggressive move can be exploited easily.
'Like this, for example.'
I just stood calmly while Kiba's head was threatening to knock me out of the ring. But I have enough experience from hunting wild animals with Itachi to see the trajectory of his attack. He's aiming for my torso but it's a little bit off the mark towards my left shoulder.
Seeing this, when his head was only a foot away from me, I raised my left hand to protect my shoulder. Using my palm, I shielded myself and grabbed his head. Instead of getting knocked out of the ring in a linear motion, I used the momentum transferred in my left palm to spin my body mid air and land on my previous position all the while Kiba got flying out of the ring.
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