His chest ached, his lungs struggling with every moment to exhale just a little bit of breath and then take it back in.
Tears blurred his eyes making his vision blurry. Granted, not that he would be able to see much of anything even if they weren't washing over his iris'. The thick black smoke cloying at his throat and swirling throughout the building in amongst red hot flames.
Fucking terrorists man.
It was sad, pathetic really. All he could do was sit here and moan and groan, dazed and waiting to die.
He'd love to escape if he could, but considering the large weighty pillar pinning him beneath it? Well, that wasn't likely and he was seriously up shit creek without a paddle.
Honestly, it was odd how calm he felt about all of this. But then, it wasn't like anybody would even miss him. He was just a no name orphan, no family, no friends, nobody that cared about at all, not even the orphanage matron.
'…Ah, this fucking sucks.' he groaned internally. The only joy he had in life was working out and anime, not really a pair of hobbies that went together, but hey, one inspired the other.
He had nothing really going for him, but anime had inspired him, made him realise that he didn't need to if he put the work in.
…To bad that wasn't going to amount to anything. Since some dramatic asshole had come to school this morning and decided to blow themselves up for whatever reason.
Probably being bullied, his life was that sad that he would get killed over a cliche like that.
God damnit, he didn't want to die. As pathetic as a reason it was, he hadn't finished watching his favourite anime, surely life couldn't be so cruel as to do him in before that?
He never got to see if Luffy became Pirate King, or if Natsu found his dad, if Ash became a champion finally, or the conclusion of the fight between Naruto and Sasuke.
A flame boiled in his chest, not unlike the roaring embers threatening to swallow him whole and burn him alive.
He'd never had anything going for him his entire life and it, It wasn't FAIR!
Do You Wish To Live?
"…I've gone mad." he gaped as his vision suddenly cleared in an instant and found himself staring at a floating ebony black screen with crimson red writing.
For a moment, he just stared, forgetting where he was.
It took him a moment to shake off the shock. Was he seeing things, hallucinating now that the smoke was getting to him? Was he about to lose consciousness?
He struggled, trying to lift his arms, to no avail, the weight of the pillar pinning him to the ground was just too much.
Seriously, fuck this school.
A derisive snort left his lips, "Of course I want to live!" he spat, losing himself in the delusion for a moment.
His life was shit, but it was his shit life.
Just as he spoke, the crimson red words on the black screen shimmered and a different sentence appeared.
Very Well, Prepare For Transmigration!
He blinked, "…What?" he uttered.
But that was all the time he had to say anything, because a split second later, the screen seemed to balloon in size and warp around him like an all consuming cocoon of red and black and then butterflies fluttered in his stomach as he felt himself falling.
He didn't even have time to be shocked at being swallowed by the thing or the trippy red and black darkness all around him, because a moment later, a life time of memories crashed into his mind, sweeping through and integrating deeply within his psyche.
Daiki Yurei, or rather Yurei Daiki awoke with a gasp, pushing himself up onto all fours and panting deeply.
He stared at the mud beneath him as his mind raced.
"…What?" he swallowed heavily, having trouble processing.
He lifted one hand from underneath him and traced his throat with a finger, feeling nothing but unblemished skin.
That wasn't right. He could vividly remember the feeling of a kunai slicing through his jugular and his vision going dark moments later as he bled out and died.
Fucking Iwa ninja, they caught sight of him during a delivery mission just across the border of Fire Country, a pair of seasoned chunin who thought it would make for a grand old time to bully and murder the young Konoha genin.
Pricks.
…But that wasn't right either. Yes, that assuredly did happen, he was decent enough with Genjutsu to tell if that was real or fake and it was definitely real.
But rather, he remembered things.
Things that made no sense. Of a boy just like him, an orphan, a nobody, worth nothing, caught in an explosion during schooling and waiting, pinned beneath a heavy pillar waiting to either asphyxiate from the smoke or be burnt alive by the flames, whatever came first.
And incredibly, beyond even having the memories of another teenager dying, was the fact that said teenager had memories of watching an 'anime' called Naruto, all about the life of Uzumaki Naruto.
…He graduated with an orange wearing dope called Uzumaki Naruto. The same blonde moron that he saw in his memories of that 'anime'.
"Just what the hell is going on?" Daiki groaned, clutching at his throbbing head.
What he knew of his own world, of his own village that he dedicated his loyalty to, was horrifying.
While he couldn't speak of what happened later in that anime, he could straight up say, that it wasn't wrong at all about Naruto's younger years.
…How insane!
The Kyuubi, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Jinchuuriki, Orochimaru, Akatsuki, the Sage of Six Paths. The sheer daunting prospect of what awaited the world in the near future almost made his throat close up in horror.
…But how!? This didn't make sense. For one, they seemed to be from completely different worlds, hell, completely different dimensions, there was no such thing as chakra in that world from his memories. How the hell would that world be able to not only see clearly into his own, but even know of the future of it?
"Wait!" his eyes widened as he remembered something, "That box, was it not a delusion?"
His mind raced once more as he tried to make sense of it. "It looked almost like a status s-"
Just as he spoke, the air rippled with black light and before his very eyes, that familiar screen he saw at the end of that other boys life, appeared before him, crimson red text and all.
Yet, compared to what it was like before, asking questions about wanting to live, it was now wholly different.
Name: Daiki Yurei
Age: 13
Chakra Capacity: 936/936 (Genin)
Strength: 14/500
Endurance: 14/500
Durability: 14/500
Agility: 14/500
Taijutsu: 25/500
Ninjutsu: 20/500
Genjutsu: 10/500
Bukijutsu: 15/500
Chakra Control: 30/500
Chakra Affinities:
Lightning - (N/A): You have no training with this element.
It looked almost like it was listing his abilities as a shinobi? His general shinobi training and physical abilities were listed in a numerical value out of five hundred, and he even had a numerical value for his chakra, but right next to it, labelled as genin?
So did that mean according to it, he had as much chakra as a typical genin? Sure, one could gauge the sheer volume of chakra others had, so technically it could be listed in a numerical value, but where did it get these numbers from?
And chakra affinity? His affinity was lightning? Well, that totally saved him having to pool together his money to buy chakra conductive paper to test his affinity, those thing cost a pretty penny.
Odd though, his father was from Kirigakure, he moved to Konoha to escape the harsh living conditions of the Mist Village and met his mother, a Konoha native.
Not that he'd ever met them, they were apparently killed during the Kyuubi's attack on the village, leaving him orphaned. But still, it would make more sense for him to have a water or fire affinity, not lightning.
How the hell was he going to learn lightning jutsu in the Land of Fire? He was totally going to have to pay people or shit to teach him, wasn't he?
"Wait, wait that's not important," Daiki huffed, glaring at the screen, "Is this all your doing?" he demanded.
The screen did not change at all, no other words appearing to answer his questions.
He tried tossing out a few arbitrary commands, but nothing, it just stayed the same.
The only thing that got any reaction, was him telling it to go away making it disappear.
Daiki then collapsed on his backside and looked up at the sky above with a sigh, "…I suppose I can't really complain." he mused.
Not only had he died, but that other boy, his other self? He had been about to die as well. This system or whatever it was, it had saved them both, in a way. They were both dead, but together, they lived on as one.
And he definitely could not deny, that the knowledge he had gained was useful.
Even just two minor things that Naruto learned early on, Tree Walking and Water Walking, were completely alien to him before now.
He was a member of the Genin Corps after all, a failure who graduated the academy, but failed to pass his given Jonin-sensei's exam.
Daiki snorted, "Genma huh?" he hummed. As it turned out, his possible sensei had been a bit of a big shot, being a personal guard to the Hokage, and being taught how to use the fabled Hirashin by the Yondaime before his passing.
…By sealing the Kyuubi into his son of all things.
To think he used to blindly believe Minato Namikaze had killed the Kyuubi and worshipped the ground he walked on.
So much lies.
As expected of a shinobi village, he supposed.
Sighing, Daiki decided it was best to get a move in, he couldn't hang around here for much longer, who knew if those Iwa cunts were still in the area?
He could decide what to do with all his new information in his head when he returned to Konoha.
He pushed himself up from his sitting positioned and groaned, "Of course…" he rolled his eyes.
He was standing in the middle of a ditch. Those assholes had literally tossed his body in a ditch after ganging up on him and murdering him.
Well, at the very least he could still see the town he'd delivered the scroll to for his mission, so he could find his way back.
He checked the equipment pouch tied around his hip and sighed in relief when he found his equipment untouched.
At least they hadn't looted his body.
Thankfully, Daiki's mission didn't take him all that far from the Land of Fire borders that had patrols of Konoha Shinobi, so he didn't need to worry about any enemy ninja for the most part.
Rather, any that did manage to get passed the border patrol, would be way above his ability to deal with anyway.
He arrived back in his home village by night fall, exhausted and sweaty as all hell, but relieved.
He wasn't afraid at all to face his death head on, he'd already experienced it once, but he couldn't exactly say he wasn't tense and twitchy all the way back.
A weight was completely removed from his shoulders when he passed through the large gates of Konoha and into the safety of his home.
He made a bee-line for the mission desk and turned in his mission results straight away and happily took the fifty four thousand ryo he was awarded for his efforts.
As sad as it was to be considered a career genin, part of the jokingly named drop out corps by many in the academy, the fact he didn't have a sensei or a team provided at least one boon, two even.
He wasn't stuck constantly doing D-rank missions after completing ten of them, could choose to do missions whenever he pleased and not need his sensei to do them and he could take them himself and thus get to keep the reward all to himself.
After pocketing the reward from his first ever C-rank mission, Daiki returned to his lonely one bed room apartment he'd been provided once he entered the shinobi academy.
Once he was home, door locked securely behind him, Daiki collapsed on his ratty couch and groaned in relief, "Never thought I'd be glad to see this shithole." he snorted.
He wasn't able to relax for long though, before his mind wandered back to the massive bunny bijuu in the room.
The future and his memories of it.
As much as he'd love to believe it to be wrong, he was never that lucky. And, he couldn't exactly just go telling someone about this. One wrong suspicion and he could find himself in torture and interrogation, getting tortured the shit out of and then mind raped by a Yamanaka.
That didn't sound like a fun time at all.
Really, the only thing he could do was prepare himself and make sure he lived.
To be honest, he didn't exactly care all that much for Konoha anyway, it wasn't like he was treated all that well here. Hell, he was treated as a failure because he was in the Genin Corps.
Seriously, he couldn't stress enough how bullshit it was that he was being treated as a failure because his would be sensei gave them a stupidly difficult task to complete and they failed. He demanded they land a hit on him, a hit on a fucking seasoned Jonin.
Bullshit.
Daiki knew he wasn't exactly the shining highlight of shinobi, he was middle of the pack in his class, the true top of the line had been Sasuke. But lazy shits like Nara Shikamaru who never put in any fucking effort passed, and even Haruno Sakura who's physical abilities were abysmal passed.
He'd even claim it was bullshit Naruto got a pass over him, but while better than Naruto on paper, he'd lost quite a few bouts to the blonde haired boy during their time in the academy because the fucker just would not stay down and outlasted him through sheer tenacity.
Daiki sighed, leaning his head over the back of his couch and staring up at the ceiling, "…Status.." he muttered on a whim, calling on the status window, he'd figured out how to call and dismiss it on his way back.
He blinked as he looked at the stats reflected back at him.
Name: Daiki Yurei
Age: 13
Chakra Capacity: 956/956 (Genin)
Strength: 14/500
Endurance: 14.2/500
Durability: 14/500
Agility: 14/500
Taijutsu: 25/500
Ninjutsu: 20/500
Genjutsu: 10/500
Bukijutsu: 15/500
Chakra Control: 30/500
Chakra Affinities:
Lightning - (N/A): You have no training with this element.
His chakra capacity had increased by twenty points? And his endurance by zero point two.
It wasn't exactly some massive ground breaking change, but it really was incredibly interesting to see his abilities grow numerically before his very eyes.
A feeling of satisfaction rose up in him.
It was odd though. His endurance listed as fourteen did look incredibly low, but at the same time, it was what he'd gained from training his body since he was but a young boy in the academy, he'd been training since he was four.
Sure, zero point two again wasn't a big massive change, but at the same time, that was a seventieth of his total endurance score, gained over eight years of training.
Did this system thing, perhaps enhance his rate of growth? Or was that perhaps just a by product of him essentially being made of up two different people now?
Could potential and talent be measured as such even?
"Well, no point looking a gift horse in the mouth." he mused, he'd find out in the future through training either way.
If so, It did present an opportunity though. He had been a Genin for two months now, in four months, the Chunin Exams were due to be held and he knew they were due to be held in Konoha now.
"I've got enough money to live on for a decent while now I suppose." Daiki mused, so he could focus fully on his training, especially now that he'd went through all the information briefings he'd had to sit through the last two months due to being part of the Genin Corps.
The next morning, Daiki dragged himself up off the couch where he'd fallen asleep without even realising it at the crack of dawn.
He threw on a fresh set of clothes, took care of his daily business, ate a light breakfast and then got a move on.
He headed straight towards the training grounds and already he could hear the sound of ringing and clashing metal echoing and slight tremors shaking the ground.
"This'll do." he mused after finding an empty training ground. It was pretty small since it was a higher numbered training ground, but it had a small stream going through it, so if things went well, he could work on the next part of business he wanted to get around to.
For now though?
He made his way over to one of the large tree's surrounding the training field. It was time to get tree walking down.
Daiki lifted his foot and focused his chakra into the sole of it, before pressing it to the tree.
It stuck firmly for the moment, it wasn't really all that different from the leaf training exercise he learned in the academy it seemed.
Though, a bit more challenging since his feet were a lot larger, and his body a lot heavier than a leaf that he could stick to his head with one point.
He repeated the motion with his other foot, sticking to it and found himself sticking to to it vertically.
"Cool." Daiki grinned, he could already imagine all the ways this could help in combat.
With that thought in his mind, he lifted his foot from the tree to step up, only for the bark to spontaneously erupt and propel him backwards with quite a bit of force.
He flipped through the air and landed on the ground about ten feet away, lips pursed, "Okay…so not as easy as I thought it would be." Daiki mused.
Tree walking, really was far more complicated than Daiki thought it would be without proper instruction.
It ended up taking him a total of four days to get it down and done with. He couldn't remember exactly how long it took Naruto and Sasuke to finish, but he knew Sakura had done it on her first try.
That was frustrating. Was her chakra control just that good, or was it just the fact that her chakra capacity was that miniscule?
'Surely it isn't anywhere near my own.' Daiki consoled himself. Even in the academy, Sakura only ever used jutsu when called upon and he'd never seen her at any of the training grounds provided by the academy.
Daiki put her out of mind for the moment and wiped the sweat that had formed over his brow, "At least I've finally got it done." he grinned to himself from where he stood hanging by his feet from a tree over two hundred feet high.
And, he'd actually passed by Naruto this morning on the way here to the training grounds, so he definitely hadn't left for the Wave mission yet.
That was an accomplishment right? He'd learned Tree Walking before any of Team Seven at the very least.
Shaking his head, Daiki cut off the flow of chakra from his feet and dropped the two hundred foot drop to the ground, his feet absorbing the impact of his landing as easy as breathing.
"I suppose it's been a while," he stroked his chin, he hadn't wanted to check until he finished up with tree walking, "Status."
Name: Daiki Yurei
Age: 13
Chakra Capacity: 962/1322 (Genin)
Strength: 14/500
Endurance: 15.3/500
Durability: 14/500
Agility: 14/500
Taijutsu: 25/500
Ninjutsu: 20/500
Genjutsu: 10/500
Bukijutsu: 15/500
Chakra Control: 66.6/500
Chakra Affinities:
Lightning - (N/A): You have no training with this element.
His eyes widened as the status screen appeared and a wide grin appeared on his face, "Now that's what I'm talking about!" he pumped his fist into the air.
Over his time training, he'd noticed how much easier it was to call upon his chakra and use just a specific amount, and how second nature it became to use it to keep sticking to the trees while learning the chakra control exercise.
And his efforts had clearly borne fruit! His chakra capacity had grown by nearly a half in a mere four days, his endurance had increased by nearly ten percent and his chakra control score had outright doubled!
"Fuck yes!" he cheered, a savage delight filling him. He still couldn't tell if it had increased the rate at which he grew, since he was on the move constantly, using chakra constantly and mastered a control exercise way beyond the leaf sticking exercise he'd gotten down first time-
But, with his progress reflected back at him here and now in numbers, he felt like he really could do this!
"What should I do now?" Daiki wondered to himself idly, stretching out his arms.
He still had quite a bit of chakra left in the tank, but he'd just went through four days of intense training.
He should take a break.
"…Then again I have zero friends." his shoulders slumped. Different life, same story huh?
It wasn't even like he really had any other goal either, or hobby even. He hadn't been able to afford any decent hobby growing up.
The only thing that could even be slightly counted as a goal in his life before had been becoming stronger, rising up the ranks and drawing the awe of everyone around to him.
Kind of sad really now that he thought about it. Hell, it wasn't even all that different from what Naruto wanted to accomplish.
"Not that I can really afford to take it easy either." he added, and somehow, he felt himself slumping even further.
He couldn't leave the village without being branded a missing ninja and getting his ass hunted down and chopped up. And in less than four months, the Chunin Exams would take place and Orochimaru and Suna would be invading the village.
He was fucked either way he looked at it honestly.
"Stop being a pussy, you big sloppy pussy!" he scolded himself. He wasn't some little kid getting by on a stipend anymore, he could just go on a mission and make more money if he needed it and indulge in a hobby.
Maybe pick up a book, or go see a movie or something.
"Orah!" hyping himself up, Daiki pulled his shirt up over his head and kicked off his pants, leaving him in only his boxers before rushing over to the stream at the side of his training ground.
"Cowabunga baby!" he shouted, channelling chakra to the soles of his feet and landing on the water surface.
Or at least he tried to, he yelped as he sunk straight through with a big ol' plopping splash.
"FINAAAAAALLLLLYYY!" Daiki's voice echoed throughout the expanse of training ground sixty-nine.
If anyone passed by at that time, or were just curious about the shouting and came to take look, they would find a young tan and broadly built teenager, soaked to the bone, his dark boxers moulded to his skin standing atop the stream within the training ground, crowing his 'victory to the sky.
Seven days, seven fucking days! A whole entire week of nothing but trying to walk on fucking water.
He loved training and trying to become the next Jesus as much as the next shinobi or kunoichi, but holy shit did it begin to get mind numbing after a time.
He had nothing else better to do, sure, but holy crap again, it was fucking insane, he was going absolutely stir crazy spending all this time playing in the water.
"Fuck I need a break from this crap." Daiki groaned, plopping his ass right down atop the water, he wobbled a bit on the water as he did, but held on.
He so was not in the mood to keep this up any longer.
It was normal for shinobi to train for long, extended period of times, that was for sure. But, he needed some damn variety here.
The only thing keeping him going here, was checking his status every so often and watching as some of his numbers rose up and up.
It was odd how watching numbers go up relaxed him and made him feel good, but he wasn't complaining, it was a balm to this shitty week.
'Being a ninja sucks ass man.' Daiki groaned internally, he should have just joined a civilian school and learned a trade, he would have probably been way happier with his life.
No going back now though, once a ninja, always a ninja and all that nonsense. Plus, he'd totally get squashed by a giant snake come the chunin exams if he was a civilian, that was just how his luck rolled.
He had to clear this downer of a mood, and there was only one thing available for him to do that right now, "Status."
Name: Daiki Yurei
Age: 13
Chakra Capacity: 312/1960 (Genin)
Strength: 14/500
Endurance: 16.6/500
Durability: 14/500
Agility: 14/500
Taijutsu: 25/500
Ninjutsu: 20/500
Genjutsu: 10/500
Bukijutsu: 15/500
Chakra Control: 130.4/500
Chakra Affinities:
Lightning - (N/A): You have no training with this element.
"That's the stuff." Daiki groaned in relief as he looked over the status screen. God, look at his fucking chakra control!
It had reached over a hundred! That was fucking amazing. A week and a half of training and here he was, more than a fifth of the way to maxing it out.
Though, it was definitely going to slow down from here. He didn't exactly know any other chakra control exercises, hell, none even really came up in the series after water walking from what he remembered.
Beyond Naruto learning Sage Mode and how to balance the Kyuubi's chakra. Was there even any other chakra control exercises even? Ones he could use that is. Or was it something he'd just work on passively like he had before getting this status stuff after he mastered the leaf sticking exercise?
Perhaps if he learned more jutsu or trained his affinity. Not that there were really any good options for that around here, they wouldn't exactly keep instructions for those in the standard library, right?
Either way, beyond that; "My chakra capacity has outright doubled since I started." Daiki's grin grew to blinding proportions…before dimming almost as quickly as it appeared.
Despite doubling it, it was still labelled as genin level. Man, his chakra capacity must have really been trash before. Hell, he guessed it was still trash.
He sighed, his mood was like a yo-yo here. What he'd accomplished here, was treated as big turning point for Naruto, a milestone reached more or less that let him jump massively in strength and fighting ability.
It didn't feel like a big goal or anything to him though, the only congratulations he was getting were the birds chirping in the trees.
"Fuck it, I'm so done here man." Daiki hopped up, dismissing his status screen.
He was heading home to change his boxers, then he was going to do…something. Whatever honestly.
Maybe buy a television so he could laze around his house for a bit and relax. Konoha Crush, screw that noise, he was gonna go loopy at this rate, hell, he'd take a conversation with Iruka-sensei over being alone much longer.
The silence beyond him was stifling.
Now that he was a Genin, an active shinobi of the Leaf Village and part of the military, he didn't have to settle for the public library.
Instead, he was allowed to access the Konoha Library Archive.
Daiki made his way back through the village, and headed towards the Hokage building, and then passed it. His destination was in fact, built into the Hokage Mountain.
As soon as he entered the general vicinity of it, multiple green vested shinobi came into view, on guard all around the perimeter.
And Daiki was willing to bet his left testicle that there were at least a dozen Anbu Black Ops out of sight that he couldn't detect.
Fuck man, he wished he was a sensor. Sadly, being a sensor-nin was pretty prestigious and a luck of the draw, it was even rarely ever passed down through blood, and appeared at times just randomly.
If he was a natural sensor ninja, he'd probably have got some special attention during the academy.
'The only way I'm getting sensory abilities is if I learn how to harness natural energy.' Daiki huffed annoyance.
Multiples eyes drifted to him as he approached the building built into the side of the mountain, but he only had to point to his headband, before he was ushered on inside.
A whistle left his lips as the door closed behind him, a whistle that echoed quite impressively. The inside of the building was absolutely huge.
All around him he could see huge bookcases as far as the eye could see. The only place without book shelves from what he could tell, was the path laid out to the door, leading to a large round table that could probably seat a good fifty people and a desk behind it.
First things first, he didn't know where anything was in here. So he made his way to the front desk, where a somewhat familiar older girl wearing a white lab coat and with swirly glasses hiding her eyes sat.
If he wasn't mistaken, that was Shiho right? Part of the Konoha Crypto Analytic Squad.
Hmm, odd, why would she be working as a librarian.
'Maybe their lab is in this building, or under it?' he mused. With all the data compiled here in book format, and with how many guards there were and with how close it was to the Hokage's building…
It kind of made sense.
"Hello, can I help you?" she asked when he stopped in front of the desk.
"Hiya," Daiki smiled brightly as he greeted her, "I'm looking for some books or scrolls to help me with my training. Preferably something with jutsu instructions in it or elemental training."
She stared back at him for a moment, lips pursed into a frown, "That won't be possible I'm afraid, while there are a few jutsu instructions scattered about in here, you won't find specific books or scrolls dedicated to teaching them here," the girl replied, "And elemental manipulation is a very advanced form of training, it especially won't be open for just anyone to waltz in and have a look at, it would be simply too easy for a spy to get their hands on."
Daiki clicked his tongue in annoyance, there went the easy route, why could nothing ever be simple for him?
But there was a line in there he could use, wasn't there? Something, was better than nothing after all, "Do you know of any that contain instructions for jutsu like you said?" he asked wonderingly.
He wasn't too picky at all at this point. For an orphan like him with no legacy, there really wasn't any jutsu he could easily get his hands on.
If he could even just get his hands on an incredibly low level elemental jutsu, it would at least give him a feel for it to try and using as a spring board to bounce off from.
"Hmm…" Shiho hummed tapping her chin.
Daiki grimaced, preparing to be told a flat out no, because that was just how his luck rolled, so h-
"I do recall one I think," she nodded suddenly, "I believe the instructions for the Shunshin are written within the taijutsu scroll that helps one learn the Feather Fist style."
"Feather Fist?" Daiki blinked, confused. He'd never heard of that taijutsu style in his life. Granted, he only knew the academy style himself, but he knew of the Strong Fist thanks to his memories of another life, and he of course had overheard talks of clan members taijutsu because of how many had been in his class.
Such as the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist, the Uchiha's Interceptor Style, the Inuzuka's Beast Claw style and such.
"It's a taijutsu style for those leaning towards incredibly fast, precise attacks, best suited for assassin style shinobi," Shiho shrugged lightly, "While it's all but impossible to use the Shunshin freely in combat, it is quite possible to use it for acceleration purposes and it is very handy for escaping from other ninja as long as you are going in a straight line."
The shunshin, huh? Well, it wasn't exactly what he was aiming for, and it wouldn't be the most helpful in combat unless he had a Sharingan or something like Shisui Uchiha to stop the tunnel vision, but it was definitely a start.
"Can you show me where it is?" Daiki asked.
"Certainly, please follow me." Shiho stood from her chair and beckoned him to follow her.
He did so and she led him through the stacks.
She stopped in front of a truly massive book case filled with scrolls and books, "Here we are." she pointed at the top shelves, where a variety of large scrolls were lined up.
He followed her finger and saw one of the scrolls was labelled 'Feather Fist'. Beside it was another one labelled 'Sticky Fist', and then his eyes widened as he caught sight of the next one on the row.
Strong Fist.
Daiki choked, "The Strong Fist is here as well?" he sputtered, wasn't that Gai's own created Taijutsu, made by his father?
"Why would it not be?" Shiho frowned at him, and though he couldn't see her eyes, he assumed she was looking at him in confusion, "The Strong Fist has always been a Konoha taijutsu style, though, it was incomplete for a long while before a man by the name of Maito Dai, the father of one of our famed shinobi, Maito Gai, took it upon himself to complete the style."
Oh, that kind of made sense considering Dai was a career genin and really weak. He wouldn't exactly have the resources to create it all himself now, would he? Still, really fucking impressive what he turned it into.
"Doesn't this include how to open the eight gates?" Daiki gaped at her. Forget jutsu, that was some really fucking dangerous information!
"It does and it does not," Shiho shook her head, "It does contain the information on how to prepare your body for opening the gates, but the information to do so has long since been removed from here, only Gai-san and the Hokage have access to the scrolls on that part of the Strong Fist."
Oh, that was good.
…And not.
Learning how to open up the gates on his own would have been amazing! Even just the first few would make a massive boost in his abilities. And as amazing as Gai and Rock Lee were, they only used the gates to empower their physical abilities.
From what he knew of them, they also powered up the users chakra as well, meaning their jutsu would be way more powerful as well.
Gai and Lee were horrible at ninjutsu granted. But, in his hands, if he could learn to do so, he could not only enhance his physical ability massively, but also any jutsu he learned to employ!
"So, am I allowed to take these out of the archive?" he asked.
"You are, though because you seem to only be a genin, you have a hard limit on only two pieces of literature." Shiho replied.
Two huh? That meant he could take the Strong Fist and the Feather Fist. If he wanted, he could learn the Shunshin from the Feather Fist scroll and then see about training in the Strong Fist.
Though, maybe just training in the Feather Fist would be a better avenue? The Strong Fist, from what he saw of Gai and Lee, involved a heavy, gruelling regiment of weight training, though they only did it on the legs for some reason.
'If I do it, I'll go all in and go for my arms as well.' Daiki mused. He didn't like the idea of only training one side of his body for fighting, that seemed silly to him.
Still, only two huh? And he didn't really want to focus on too much at one time. He couldn't exactly just pull a Naruto and use shadow clones to learn at an accelerated rate, so spreading his attention between multiple things would be a bad idea.
He already knew how to go about using shadow clones, they were just that simple. He was just absolutely and absurdly wary of attempting them right now with how little chakra he had.
Perhaps when he had as much chakras a chunin he'd attempt it, but as he was right now, he may end up killing himself in the attempt.
'Might be a good idea to axe learning the Strong Fist.' he mused. The conditioning from what he knew, was pretty straight forward.
Though, best to check just in case.
He reached up and grabbed the scroll, before opening it up and pouring over it with a quick glancing read.
'Yeah, pretty much a heavy focus on weight training and general body exercises with a focus on the legs.' he nodded to himself.
The only thing he'd need the scroll for, were the forms and he didn't really need them, better to get his hands on another scroll or something with a possible jutsu in it.
If he wanted to learn how to open the gates, he'd need to ask the Hokage or Gai about it anyway. And he didn't see that going anywhere unless he made a name for himself first.
Oh wait, didn't Kakashi know how to open the gates as well?
'Pfft, I'd have better chances asking Orochimaru to take me on as an apprentice.' Daiki snorted inwardly.
Rolling the scroll back up, he put it back up on the shelf, before grabbing the Feather Fist style scroll.
"Tempting, but I'm more interested in jutsu at the moment," he said to Shiho, "So, do you know any other ones with jutsu in them?"
Shiho shook her head, "I'm afraid not." she dashed his hopes.
Damn.
"Well, that sucks, but the shunshin is a nice consolation prize either way." Daiki shrugged.
And it wasn't like he was totally out of options for learning jutsu either. Beyond the shadow clone jutsu, he did in fact know how to go through some very specific training to learn quite the powerful jutsu, a step by step process even.
The Rasengan.
It would be a bit off an odd jutsu for him to know, perhaps even a bit suspicious, but at the same time, there is nothing to say you couldn't have 're-created' it yourself when trying to make jutsu of your own.
It is a pure chakra manipulation jutsu after all.
The only problem again, is the chakra cost. The Rasengan was an A-rank jutsu and very, very powerful. But also cost an absurd amount of chakra to use, chakra he did not have at the moment.
…If only he was a Jinchuuriki, things would be so much simpler.
Sure, the Akatsuki would be a problem, but they were everybody's problem in the end. He'd rather get strong and have a target on his head, than weak and get ganked like he had before by utter random scrubs.
"Well, thanks for the help." he expressed his gratitude to the older girl, "So, can I check this out now?" he held up the scroll he was holding to her.
"That should be fine," Shiho's lips quirked, "Though, if you are wanting to know jutsu so badly, might I make a few suggestions?"
Daiki blinked, before shrugging, "Sure."
She nodded, "We have a few basic instruction manuals for Fuinjutsu if you want, I can let you check out one of them," the girl said, making his eyes go wide at the mention, "And if you have enough chakra control, I know the hospital will help train any possible medic ninja and learning the Mystical Palm technique is one of the requirements, so if you are able, it would be a quick way to get some instruction on that jutsu even if you have no leanings towards being a medic."
Daiki's mind raced a mile minute. The healing of the Mystical Palm, wouldn't it be able to heal his muscles and allow his physical training go advance even quicker?
But the bigger kicker, was Fuinjutsu!
Fuinjutsu was awesome, amazing even. One of the most basic of basic bitch skills from that art was basically making an inventory!
Something his system didn't seem to provide him. He'd checked.
Quite thoroughly.
…And at even higher heights, one could even seal a bijuu with Fuinjutsu.
And he just so happened to know more or less, where the Sanbi, the three tailed armoured turtle, Isobu should be now.
Daiki grinned widely, "I think I'll take you up on that offer Librarian-chan!"
"C-chan!?" Shiho sputtered in response.
As it turned out, all he really needed to do was give his ninja registration number to check out what he wanted, the scroll on the Feather Fist style and a manual on basic fuinjutsu.
He would have returned home after that, but he decided to head back to his training ground.
His Water Walking was still a bit shaky, so once he got there, he hopped onto the water and idly went through some taijutsu motions, while reading taking a cursory glance over his spoils from the library.
"Huh, this looks familiar." Daiki mused as he poured over the Feather Fist style.
The diagrams within the scroll that is. They had a heavy leaning on spring like motions with the feet, basically, bouncing on the feet, or leaning forward on the front of the feet to spring towards an opponent, and with a focus on using the fists, feet, knees and elbows for lightning fast strikes.
'Isn't this just like kick boxing?' he mused. Either way, it was a pretty straight forward style and shouldn't be too hard to learn, especially since it seemed to mesh well with the basic Academy style.
Though, there was also a lot of information on the best points to strike on the body to debilitate or kill using these types of strikes.
His eyes drifted down to the bottom, where some specific instructions lay. Instructions for the Shunshin technique, the vaunted Body Flicker.
Except not really. It was only a vaunted technique in the hands of Uchiha Shusui or Namikaze Minato.
The instructions for the technique were pretty straight forward as well, though there was a warning that it could be pretty chakra intensive. It was a technique that merely needed one to focus their chakra using the tiger hand seal and then expel their chakra from specific chakra points or tenketsu on the body, located at the back of the body to accelerate.
It was basically the same general idea of using thrust like a rocket, only with chakra and a human body.
It even mentioned that once one got used to the sensation enough and had a powerful enough chakra, they wouldn't even need the hand seal to focus their chakra enough and it could be used without the seal.
He memorized the general forms of the Feather Fist style and went through them for a while atop the water.
He kept it up until his chakra was nearing empty, before sitting down atop the water and spending the remaining time he had left before his chakra capacity ran dry pursuing through the fuinjutsu manual he had been given by Shiho.
Within a few minutes, he already felt a headache coming on.
The introduction into the book, for the most part, was memorization of basic fuinjutsu symbol's, how they reacted to chakra and how they overlapped with one another.
It was almost like looking at coding for the first time. And he wanted to give up right then and there, because fucking hell did it look complicated.
He didn't though.
Because instead of coding stupid computer programs, this could let him code symbols together that would let him obtain the power of what may as well be a force of nature.
And hey, the book outright had a diagram for creating storage seals and explosive seals.
That was fucking epic!
…He'd need to get some good paper and ink though first.
So, once his chakra pretty much dwindled away to near nothing, he hopped off the river, much more steadily now and made his way back into the village, into the shopping sector.
He stopped by a calligraphy shop and spent ten thousand ryo on supplies, paper, ink and brushes and such.
He was about to head on home, when he caught sight of a shinobi store, swords and more shown proudly in the windows.
"…Should I?" Daiki pondered to himself.
He was fine on kunai, shuriken, ninja wire and such for now, but, this was the type of shop that would sell body weights for training.
They'd probably cost a pretty penny though. Which meant he'd have to go on another few missions to make up for his dwindling funds soon.
'A few missions won't hurt I suppose.' he mused. He'd definitely be sticking to missions in the Land of Fire though, if he could at least.
Because fuck heading out alone again until he was much stronger.
He headed into the shop, ignoring the various displays of weaponry and headed over to the shop keep standing behind the counter, an older man with a large fuzzy beard, quite short, but with a bulky build and huge muscular arms.
"Something you need boy?" the man asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm looking for body weights to help condition myself," Daiki replied, "Preferably ones for my legs and arms."
"Yeah, we've got em," the man shrugged, "What kinda weight are you looking for? Have you done much weight training before?"
"Some." Daiki replied, though in another life, the ninja academy only focused on basic physical conditioning, all rounder type, though many leaned into one or two specifications on that aspect of training by pure instinct and body type.
"I see that I suppose, you've got a pretty good build on you," the shop keep eyed his broad shoulders, beyond the rotund Choji, he was by far the broadest in his graduating class, only Naruto and Kiba having a chance of competing on that route, "What are you looking for? Strength building?"
"I'm an all rounder, despite my looks," Daiki laughed lightly, "Not only strength, but I want to focus on speed and the like as well."
If the Raikage could do it….
Why not him?
Heck, he even had the lightning element as his affinity. God, he'd love to get his hands on the lightning armour technique.
"Right, I suppose then a pair of ankle weights and wrist weights, each one weighing three hundred pounds would fit for you to start off with," the man stroked his chin and nodded, "Bit heavier than your standard beginner fare, but with your build, I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Fine with me," Daiki shrugged, "How much will they cost?"
A total of twelve hundred pounds spread across four limbs. That was doable, it would take a bit to get used to it, he could lift over six hundred pounds when he graduated the academy after all. They were double that amount, but half of that would be on his legs and not all on his arms, so it should be fine.
…Besides, he'd seen people calculate how much weight Rock Lee wore during the Chunin Exams. People had calculated it to be around five tons on each leg.
It would be too embarrassing for him to bare if he couldn't even lift what amounted to a twentieth of what Rock Lee could with just his legs, using his basically his whole body.
"Eh, one hundred and fifty thousand ryo, pretty cheap compared to the heavier shit." the man shrugged.
Daiki winced.
He'd have less than ninety-four thousand ryo left. He'd definitely need to take a few missions to boost his funds.
"I'll take them." Daiki sighed, 'The things I do for strength.' he shook his head. Not everyone could be Rock Lee and have a famous and powerful Jonin take interest in him just because he tried hard despite being 'untalented'.
Such bullshit.
"Alright, one moment." the shop keep nodded and made his way through a door behind him into the back of the store.
He came back out a few minutes later with what looked like two sets of pale straps, each about ten inches long, with heavy a multitude of rectangular ridges popping up over them.
"Right, each of these pockets contain heavy metal weights within them to add the weight to these, they have some seal doohickeys on them that increase weight or whatever, that's why they're so expensive compared to normal weights." the shop keep explained.
Once Daiki paid for them, the man handed them over, and the genin took the time to strap them on.
"They feel alright?" the man asked him once he was done.
Daiki lifted his arms up and down a few times, then repeated with his legs, getting a feel for the weight. There was a definite massive resistance, but, it was manageable.
"Yeah, they're great." he grinned.
He headed home from there for the most part, only stopping to run through some basic exercises to tire himself out and get a bit more used to the weights.
Some people gave him funny looks, but he ignored them, he was much more focused on the gains these would give him.
By time he locked the door of his house behind him and collapsed on his couch, dusk was already beginning to fall.
"Ah fuck!" he groaned, "I totally forgot to get some books to read." the only shit he had in his crappy little apartment were his textbooks and shit from the academy and some children stories.
…And he also needed to make dinner.
But he honestly just couldn't be fucked right now.
"Ah fuck it, I'll do it later." Daiki slumped back onto the couch and decided to just take a look at his progress by calling up his status screen.
Name: Daiki Yurei
Age: 13
Chakra Capacity: 412/2200 (Genin)
Strength: 15/500
Endurance: 19.6/500
Durability: 15/500
Agility: 15/500
Taijutsu: 45/500
Ninjutsu: 20/500
Genjutsu: 10/500
Bukijutsu: 15/500
Chakra Control: 132.4/500
Chakra Affinities:
Lightning - (N/A): You have no training with this element.
Fuinjutsu: -
Maybe try learning a few seals?
Wait…what?
There was some interesting things to take there. His chakra capacity had broken two thousand, yet was still genin-tier, his physical stats had increased pretty noticeably. His taijutsu stat had almost doubled, which was interesting. The basic forms for the Feather Fist were easy to get down, but it wasn't like he had mastered the fighting style or something, not even close.
…Was it maybe because the Feather Fist style was just that much better than the Academy Style maybe?
Honestly, a lot about this stupid status thing still confused the fuck out of him.
Perhaps the most interesting thing though, was that he now had a Fuinjutsu…skill? Ability?
"Is thing sassing me?" Daiki gaped at the screen.
The more he thought he knew about this thing, the less he knew. Was it sentient? Or was it just his subconscious mocking him?