It's been 4 days since Yuto entered the ninja world, and he'd already regained his memories of the first 4 years of material for the academy. He was relieved to find out that Yuto's grades were above average, and he didn't have to play catch-up. Luckily, Yuto, being from a household with a shinobi, actually completed his years in the academy with exceptional grades and was in the top 10 of his class. He was aware that he wouldn't graduate as the rookie of the year just because he decided to "get a grip" in the last two years of the academy, but that was the least of his concerns. Being in the top 10 meant he was guaranteed a spot on a jonin team. Titles like rookie of the year meant nothing in the long run. Being on a jonin team would allow him more resources, and he had no intentions of ending up in the genin reserves.
During the few days in this world, he figured out that jutsu's were not just free to the public, and you not only had to be a registered ninja but you had to gain enough merit and catch the attention of higher ups and if your contributions are recognized by the hokage you'll be rewarded with a jutsu of your choice from the village archives. The more practical way is to earn contribution points through missions or become a private tutor and take contribution points as currency. You can then use these contribution points to buy jutsu scrolls from the village archive.
Those that come from shinobi clans and shinobi families are passed down scrolls from their clan elders or clan head. For example, the Uchiha clan grants all clan members the C-rank Ninjutsu fireball jutsu. Yuto felt a bit of jealousy, but he was just given a blade from his father and didn't have much room to complain.
He also found out the village was paying for his apartment, and he was given survivor benefits for his father's service in the village's shinobi military. His mother died from a sickness years before his father fell in battle, so he wasn't left much by his mother. But his account had enough to handle any necessities the village didn't cover until he became a shinobi of the village.
After almost a week at the academy, he became content with his role as a soon-to-be shinobi and stopped trembling the second he thought about the idea of battle.
He walked around his squeaky clean apartment, pulled out a green lighter from his pocket, and lit the candle on the kitchen countertop. He opened the fridge to find it practically empty. "This kid is worse than Naruto," he thought. He pulled out the eggs and instantly got to work.
He worked at a few restaurants in his previous world and often cooked recipes he came across on YouTube. So he had no problem preparing scrambled eggs and a glass of milk.
He eventually put on his basic attire consisting of one of his long-sleeve black shirts and some plain black shorts, along with his shinobi sandals. He learned how to travel on the roofs after a few close falls within the four days he'd been there, so he arrived at the academy quickly.
"Class, can anyone explain to me what the will of fire means?" asked Moreno sensei.
Yuto raised his hand.
Moreno nodded at Yuto, "Go on, tell us," he said.
"The will of fire is the representation of the strong duty and responsibility towards the village."
"It's a shinobi's unyielding determination, loyalty, and sense of unity." "It's the force behind the hidden leaf villages' inherent power."
"The hope of the village lies within the yet-to-come younger generation."
"Were the tree leaves dance, the fire will burn, the light of that fire will continue to shine on the village, and sprout new leaves," Yuto said.
Everyone looked at Yuto in shock and confusion. He was never this attentive before, so for him to recount the whole lecture was surprising to say the least.
"That is indeed correct," said Moreno.
Moreno then clapped his hands together to get the class's attention.
"We're heading to the academy grounds for sparring," he said.
The class burst in excitement, because the spars were where they showed their skills off to their sensei and were sometimes given opportunities to get academy credits, which they could distribute into different subjects and curricula to help grades in the courses they did poorly in.
Yuto's eyes dimmed after hearing that. He shared none of the excitement the rest of his classmates had. He had never been in a fight in his two lives, and he wasn't excited to take a beating. And he had had enough of those back in high school. He decided that if he was forced to fight, he wouldn't fight fair. He'd aim for the nuts, throw sand in his opponents' eyes, and use the moves he learned from the 3-hour jujutsu class he took in his previous life. While he was in the body of a 10-year-old, he had the pride and dignity of a 20-year-old man and had no plans of getting battered by a brat.
Moreno told the students to warm up with a few laps around the perimeter of the field. Yuto let out a sigh. He took the rubber band off his wrist and tied his hair in a ponytail, letting his bangs frame his face as usual. His dull brown eyes had black rings surrounding them. He'd spent days staying up into the night studying theoretical knowledge along with shinobi concepts and practices. His hair blew in the wind as his eyes glimmered in the sun, changing to a golden brown. As much as he hated this world, he couldn't complain about his new look; he was quite handsome compared to his previous self. His eyes became determined as he leaped off in a light jog around the field, his long black ponytail flapping on his back as he did.
After a few laps around the field and a light stretch, he plopped down on the ground, hoping that if he acted like he didn't care about the sparring, he wouldn't have to fight. But he knew that wasn't the case; from what he remembered, everyone fought on sparring days. He sighed. Here he was again building up his confidence, just too sulk when it was time to actually face his problems. He became arrogant after gaining Yuto's knowledge and thought that just because he had the experienced mind of a 20-year-old, he might not embarrass himself. He realized that despite having the skills and prowess to fight now, he was still weak-minded.
All those skills were useless, because he still had the mind of a 20-year-old loser who, despite having many life experiences, was too weak-minded to learn from them. he was used to chalking it up as having bad luck and complained about how hard his life was, and never took the initiative to change anything because he was afraid to fail. A coward was what he was. The only reason he started to try and change things about his new life was because now his life depended on it, and his fear served as an endless fuel tank; he was just lucky enough to be reincarnated into a newer "model", so he had a lot more time.
He was taken out of his thoughts as he felt a nudge on his shoulder. His sensei had called him to the empty fighting circle, but he was too lost in his thoughts to notice.
"It's your turn to fight Yuto," said one of his classmates.
He got onto his feet, trying not to stumble on his shaky legs. He slowly walked up to the circle as he finally saw his opponent. he let out a silent grimace, seeing the "big boned" build of the boy in front of him. he had the signature marks of the Akimichi clan on his cheeks. Yuto analyzed his opponent. he had brown hair, black eyes, and was dressed in a big white t-shirt along with some combat pants and shinobi sandals. Yuto put on his best acting skills, putting on a disinterested look, and scoffed at the giant frame of the Akimichi boy. he spat on the ground and shifted into a fighting stance he saw in a martial arts movie from his old world, hoping he didn't regret trying to intimidate his opponent, not that it worked.
The boy obviously didn't like Yuto's blatant dismissal of him, as his gaze became intense and he started cracking his knuckles and tilted his neck, making a sharp popping noise.
Yuto's opponent finally spoke, "Don't try acting all high and mighty just because you got a little smarter," he said, referring to the will of fire speech earlier.
"I'll beat you into the ground like I did last year".
Yuto had no idea what he was talking about. That was until more memories started to flood his mind of the brutal defeat handed to him by the Akamichi. Not only that his combat experience from his academy spars flood into his mind, along with some of the spars he had with his father. His face broke out into a thirsty grin, feeling that he had become five times stronger in just an instant, just by obtaining a few memories of his academy brawls. The Akamichi gave him a questioning look, but soon paid it no mind.
Yuto snapped out of his downloading session, not bothering to respond to the Akimichi's earlier response, a plan already forming in his mind. Yuto's mouth could be seen moving, but his mouth was still closed.
Moreno, seeing that his students were ready, signaled for them to begin, his hand making a chopping motion in between them.
They both shot forward, ready to rumble.
This was Yuto's first time experiencing a fight firsthand, as his earlier fights had only just returned to him in the form of half-remembered exchanges. Yuto's face intensified as he puffed his chest out, channeling chakra towards his lungs.
"Is he planning on using ninjutsu in a sanctioned academy match-up?" thought Moreno sensei.
He shot a high-powered glob of spit out of his mouth, nocking the akamichi backed and temporarily blinding him. he thrusted his palm forward, slamming it into the akamichi's stomach, making him keel over. His head was exposed as Yuto channeled his knee with chakra, attempting to slam it into the akamichi's face. His opponent shifted his head out of Yuto's knee's path and grabbed hold of Yuto's leg. Yuto gasped in shock, feeling his small body being lifted off the ground. The next thing he knew, his back was slammed into the ground. The back of his head bounced against the rough terrain as his vision became dizzy, and his back ached in pain. He felt like his spine had been pulled out of his back. The Akamichi grabbed Yuto's collar and slammed his fist into Yuto's face, making a loud crunching noise. His nose was, without a doubt, shattered.
His hands felt around for anything he could use to prevent taking another one of the fists that felt like boulders. His hand grabbed onto dirt, leaving behind a clawing mark in the ground as he instinctively used one of his arms to take the brunt of the next punch, simultaneously flinging dirt into the Akamichi's eyes. The Akamichi's hands scurried toward his eyes, rubbing the dirt out. Yuto took his chance, seeing his vision finally cleared, though his head still throbbed. Yuto looked up to see the akamichi clawing at the air, as Yuto flung his legs up as fast as he could, wrapping his legs around one of the akamichi's arms and his neck. he dragged the akamichi to the ground with his legs, compressing his windpipe. he sat on top of the akamichi's chest while still having him in a triangle choke, and he began to drop elbows down on his face, causing deep cuts on the akamichi's cheekbones and above his eyebrows.
Yuto gritted his teeth in pain, feeling the akamichi's fist driving into his side, as the akamichi struggled to breathe and felt the crushing blows of Yuto's elbows. Yuto felt one of his ribs snap from the force of the blow, but he was used to the pain from his previous spars. He slammed a double elbow down, finally putting the Akamichi out.
He tried his best to pretend like the pain didn't faze him. he did the unison side with the Akamichi's limp hand as he then calmly stood up, changing his pain-staked face to one of indifference and walked off like it was an everyday thing. He scoffed and spat some blood out of his mouth and cracked his nose back into place with a wince.
Moreno sensei picked up the akamichi, slinging his arm around his shoulder as he spoke.
"You should head to the infirmary as well," he said.
Yuto gave him a nod and turned to see the shocked faces of his classmates and heard whispers.
"he fought like an animal," said one of them.
"he used dirty tricks," said another one.
"I never saw Yuto fight like that," someone whispered.
"It's probably because of what happened a few weeks ago," a girl said.
"What happened"? asked one.
"You don't know"? She whispered in surprise.
He ignored the gossiping and walked to the infirmary.
[Be sure to give me your power stones]