[AN; Our first one, due to a lack of foresight on our front. I sincerely apologize for it.
This is in direct relation to something that popped up earlier in story. We explained it out of story so anyone who didn't read the whole thread probably isn't aware as to why the SI isn't gaining stats.
It's because Golum, when he created the story imposed a limit on it, the SI would not gain stats 'naturally' through training until he was at least twelve years old. I'll specifically go out of my way to address it this chapter.
From this chapter on, we'll be ignoring suffixes. Expect from extraordinary cases, I.E Calling Jibei Sensei instead of his name. Whenever the context of a relationship changes through whatever means, we'll use the new suffix once to emphasis the point, then just leave it unstated. It'll still be 'said' just not written. Some may still slip through, but this is our compromise.
Some Japanese words will probably sneak through under our eyes, but we'll make a serious effort to tone down on them.
[Sarcasm]Please mention, bitch and whine about it, if some snake through. Thank you very much. 
[/sarcasm]]
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Chapter 5
The following laps around the academy were both a sight too fast and torturously slow. I didn't feel the burn personally, well actually,
I did but that was beside the point. When I stopped for about fifteen seconds of not doing anything to further aggravate the miniature injuries I was accumulating, just 'running' as I was the pain would fade.
Even sooner actually, sometimes it was
ridiculously hard to gauge how long 'fatigue' pain would last. I could make an educated guess however as to why it took differing times to fade. It was the level of 'activity' that was required to get me to the fatigued stage, 'Jogging' at a decent pace for around an hour plus was the most 'endurance' oriented physical training I'd done in well….
ever.
The point being that I would be as fresh as a metaphorical daisy within at
most thirty seconds of stopping the exercise.
As we came to a halt a small distance from the entrance to the academy, I casted a discerning eye towards those that were running in the 'first' wave of students alongside me. Kakashi was huffing slightly, the
'leisurely' run having been a small workout for him apparently.
I myself was slightly winded, well I was.
I almost
groaned in relief as the aches and pains were swept away, leaving me feeling as though I'd just woken up.
I think, I
honestly think it bears repeating.
Dear sweet, merciful god, I love The Gamer's Body.
I readjusted myself, shaking myself slightly as I moved from being slightly slouched and out of breath to looking as though I
hadn't just been running for an hour and a half, give or take fifteen minutes.
It looked as though Kakashi himself was going to just sit down and rub at his legs, that simply wouldn't do I decided, feeling perhaps a touch mischievous.
I reached over and lightly slapped Kakashi's back, timed so that I hit him as he was breathing out instead of in. The rest of the air left him rather forcefully as he casted his suddenly baleful eyes at me. It'll also help in building future relations, giving the appearance that I'm looking out for his wellbeing will help me in the end, while make him more willing to listen to me in future.
That would probably mean a whole lot in the coming years.
"Might want to do some cool down stretches Kakashi, the aches won't set in as deep that way." I offered.
"I was
planning on it, you didn't need to hit me you know."
"Hit you? Why, I would never hit you. I think you're merely imagining things! Also, I refuse to accept that you were planning on doing cool down stretches, not with the way you were about to collapse into an undignified heap!"
"
Really?" I personally didn't think it would've been possible for his response to have lacked any more emotion, the perfect deadpanned response I decided.
I ignored Kakashi, along with the appraising eyes of the Instructor, and the inquisitive eyes of the students whom had collapsed near us as I started a few stretches.
A few seconds later, I was in the middle of a jumping jack routine. Intermixed with what I had learned from the Hyuga as cooldown routines.
Kakashi himself grudgingly joined in after I finished the first three jacks I did. Apparently, he saw the benefit in doing so… or he just wanted to prove me wrong, I'd like to think he saw the benefit however.
Not that it would really help me, the stretches that is, but I knew for a fact that it'd help them. I think that much got through to them, that this was for their own good. Gai-san and his iconic spandex looked rather thoughtful as he hopped up from being seated on the ground to standing, in one fluid move too! I think he wanted to join in on our stretching, and I was proven right not even ten seconds later.
"Truly, a most wonderful Idea Hirsohi-san! I shall join you in these stretches!" He sounded rather tame compared to what I'd expected from him. I kind of expect it to be more verbose… louder and more in your face honestly. I think it suited him more than anything. He was, at the end of the day a
simple academy student. For the time being that was.
Enough of the first wave of students also joined in on them too, the jumping jacks that is, that when the stragglers showed up, started the jumping jack's themselves. Apparently, they thought we had been ordered to do this by the instructor.
I didn't particularly blame them for that thought either. I mean, what do you do if you show up late to something and see a majority already there doing something, and the 'authority' on the scene is also making no moves to disrupt it? You join in of course.
I'd like to say that the entire cool down routine took around five minutes, but I think it may have dragged on longer as more and more students joined in on the impromptu cool down session and needed to be shown the routine again. Luckily, between Gai's apparently never ending wellspring of energy and my
limitless patience we managed.
As the last student hit the ground, the Instructor slapped the clipboard he was holding against his palm, gaining everyone's attention.
His countenance was set to 'Stern' apparently.
His voice
boomed, easily penetrating the near dozing students bubbles of relaxation, making them very much aware that this wasn't the time for it.
"Form up! I want two lines, shortest in front tallest at the back!"
I think, my ears may have started ringing slightly when he was done. I couldn't tell however over the rustling of clothes, of puffs and huffs as the students arranged themselves.
I was placed firmly at the front of one line, being
four years old had its advantages, and disadvantages actually. Kakashi was my twin in the other line, he too was placed at the front of the line. I'm guessing since the Instructor assigned me to one line, and Kakashi to the other that we wanted two lines that went from shortest to tallest.
The Instructor inspected our lines with eyes sharp enough to
cut before letting an agreeable grunt escaped him. He told us to wait and quickly jogged around the corner.
But then again, it also has its disadvantages. I sounded out in my head as the instructor returned. Only, he didn't just bring himself, oh no.
He had brought with him
two tree trunks. The trunks themselves were about half a meter thick but I couldn't be sure. I
did however know that both of them were the same length, which made both of them double the length of either line of students.
That horrible feeling I mentioned before when the Instructor started grinning his ghastly smile? It was back, only this time instead of mugging me in a dark alley, it had instead stuffed me in a burlap sack and was making off with me to places unknown.
The feeling further intensified when he lifted one log with each arm, a
bark of exertion leaving him in the process. He lifted them so they stood vertical, and explained our next task…
"Alright kiddies, I've got two logs, you're in two lines. I want you to carry these logs
above your head as we head to the next training location only this feels too easy for such a spirited bunch of youngn's. When I call out left or right, I expect you lot to touch the log to your corresponding shoulder." He proclaimed happily, as though our suffering was amusing to him.
Jibei started a few stretches, standing between the logs. "Well, what're ya waiting for? An invitation? GET TO IT!"
For a moment, I briefly considered the chances of killing the man and getting away clean, before I dismissed the idea. I wouldn't be able to do it at my current skill level. Maybe later.
As it was however, I moved to grab the log, bracing myself so it would fall onto my left shoulder so I could use it as a brace. I turned my head to the right, enough so that I could see the rest of the line, more specifically the person behind me. I caught their eye, and I almost sighed when I noticed that they were locked in indecision.
I raised my voice as to be heard over to
groaning that was filling the air as the students realized what was expected of them, "
Alright, I'm going to lower it slowly,
get ready!"
I got a better grip on the log and slowly
pulled it over to me while I
pushed it upwards so I didn't get crushed… The log was
a lot easier to lift than something that size should've been, I decided as the line of students teetered side to side.
I had to do it because I was incapable of lifting the log naturally, and considering that it felt
light-ish to me instead of the stupidly heavy it should've been, I was of the firm opinion that some ninja magic, or bullshit was happening.
The reason I was of the firm opinion that
bullshit was happening because I spotted the tiny and
almost hidden squiggly lines, and characters that flowed down the sides of the log. Sealing perhaps, it was suddenly chief among things that I needed to look up.
It took a few second for the line to stabilize its grip on the log, the log having grown several times heavier when everyone grabbed it during which I was seriously weighed down by it, enough so that my legs almost buckled from the weight. As a matter of fact, they did,
only slightly.
In the end, it took almost fifteen seconds of stumbling and shambling before we had a solid grip and stance on the log. I looked over at Kakashi's side of the exercise and saw they'd done much the same thing, only it looked like a
considerable amount of weight was being put on Kakashi.
Kakashi's side looked considerably shakier compared to mine. Not that I didn't have an insubstantial amount of weight resting on me either, I just hid it better. I swear, the Hyuga instructors could
smell weakness.
I turned my head and I could've sworn my face bleached white, well whiter than it was normally. The instructor had already been walking in his leisurely pace for the entire time it took for us to get our footing with the logs.
… I briefly considered the ways I could make this man's life miserable as recompense for this, before I decided against it. At the end of the day, it would be better to gain the stats that I was no doubt going to gain from this than it would have been to NOT do this exercise and not get stats.
xxxxx
I collapsed behind my desk, heedless of the fact that The Gamer's Body was negating all the pain already, I didn't care.
Straight up, I was exhausted, no if's, but's or maybe's about it. I was
exhausted, both mentally and physically, or as much as I could be with my unique afflictions that was. Even that faded however, moments later when the Gamer's Body kicked in full swing.
I was left as fresh as a daisy in bloom again, amidst an
entire class of mentally wrung out and physically exhausted kids. I couldn't find even a shred of pity for them however, not with how draining the day was.
Most days, time seems to just flow by in increments I didn't notice, lost in a haze of training, repetition and thought. While at the same time I was adjusting my body position, trying to think on the implications of it all. I never really noticed the time.
From the moment I was reborn minutes would pass as seconds, and days would pass as hours to me or at least they had. Today had felt more real, more elongated than any other I could recall in recent memory, seconds had dragged on as though they were minutes, and hours as though days.
My shadow however, stayed stubbornly correct throughout the day. It was stuck in the same length and position as any other day. Yet today, I could say without any compunctions, was the most exhaustive day I'd suffered through in a long,
long time.
I was wrenched from my introspection as Kakashi sat down next to me… Well, saying he sat would be giving him too much credit. He collapsed into an ungainly heap next to me, the only saving grace in the action being that he didn't spill over onto me, somehow.
He simply sat like that, utterly exhausted for a few minutes before taking a massive breath and moving himself to some semblance of decency…. And by some semblance of decency, I mean he went from being sprawled out looking for all intents and purposes as though he had fallen asleep, to laying with his head down on his desk, cradling his head.
Not that I blamed him either.
As it was, I just reached out to gently push his shoulder, "What do you think we'll have tomorrow Kakashi."
An entirely too exhausted grunt made its way from Kakashi's throat to my ears, and I chuckled openly at him, Ignoring the shift in him as I laughed, quietly of course. It wouldn't do for me to attract the attention of the entire class after all.
The 'Log' walk as the class as collectively coined it, was one of the more
draining exercises today, but honestly it played second fiddle to the Kunai Range. I'm not ashamed to admit that I only scored in the top quarter of the class. Not the best, not the worst but I've got room to improve. I did get a neat skill from it so it's all good.
In my defense however, I wanted it to be known that this was the first time I had ever handled an actual Kunai. The Hyuga had focused solely on honing my Juken to above and beyond the normal, meaning the other areas of the Ninja Arts was actually below what was average.
Something I had serious plans to rectify immediately now that I had free time from the compound. Well, not
right now per se but after the initial testing week I suppose. I could skive off early and visit either the academy Library or the Konoha General Library.
An idea struck me actually, I hadn't yet 'eaten' a book in this world. Did I
have to 'eat' the book to learn the skill contained or could I actually read the book for it? I considered my options, I couldn't really
leave class to go check the library, maybe I would get a chance tomorrow, and the day was winding down currently.
The Kunai Range took up a considerable chunk of the afternoon when all was said and done. Having everyone in the class throw a hundred Kunai, then having the thrower go and
collect each and every one for the next person. It's entirely understandable that it took a while.
The fact that we had to break in the middle of it for lunch upon the rowdy demands of the class had nothing to do with it.
After that, we were then herded back into the academy proper and our classroom. All the instructors did was say we could rest and have some dinner when we got there.
He hadn't lied either, we were allowed dinner provided we had the foresight to bring food with us. I had that foresight thankfully, to that end I was happily enjoying a cold dinner that still tasted as good as it would've had it been hot. That was something I was practically gleeful for. The amount of food that I'd discovered so far in this life that tasted just as good cold as it did hot was mind-boggling.
They were also, more than likely specifically tailored for my age too, knowing the Hyuga as well as I did. Everything I could even feasibly need and then some. I have no idea how they managed to make it all taste as good as they did though.
I looked over at Kakashi and oh god, I almost
gagged. He was eating those 'nutrient nut' bars that practically
every Shinobi oriented store sold. They… I had eaten one,
once. I didn't like them at all, they were pretty much just melted cardboard slapped together with a healthy dose of some kind of 'tangy' tasting mixture, only it didn't 'tang', no it took a running nose dive off the nearest building and fell flat. They were called Condensed Meals and they were crimes against humanity.
"Condensed Meals" they called them, I called them
bullshit bars'. Moral of the story, anything labelled as a 'Condensed Meal' tastes like nothing and has the texture of slightly moist shit.
I looked down at my 'dinner', I mentally calculated how much I had left and how I could stretch it, but in the end I came up with a better solution.
There was enough of my 'dinner' left over to serve as breakfast in the morning too, should I leave it but I
really didn't want to be eating this tomorrow morning either… I had a feeling that it would be a bad idea.
I had an idea.
A tap of the shoulder later and I had Kakashi's attention, "I'll trade the rest of this, enough for another meal for three of your '
Condensed Meals'? You get a proper dinner and
I get a proper breakfast."
Kakashi seemed to mull it over, a thoughtful frown pulling on his face. I could understand why honestly, here I was, someone with whom he had only interacted with a few times. None of them were remarkable in any way either.
But then, here I was offering him a considerably more filling dinner in exchange from some shitty pieces of soggy cardboard that they claimed as food. He acquiesced with a grunt, producing three 'Condensed Meals' from nowhere as I shuffled the rest of my meal over to his desk.
I grabbed them without effort, paying slight attention to the instructor as he droned on, his voice deliberately bland and unassuming. I knew what he was doing however, he was using a rather obscure technique. He made what he was saying seem as bland and useless as possible, but what he was telling us was
vital information.
He was briefing us on the local fauna and flora in the most nonchalant voice he could muster. I believe he must've been an Instructor for a
very long time, because it is very unnoticeable unless you pay special attention to it.
As it was, I grabbed some coins from my inventory, accompanying the action by reaching into my dirtied sleeves.
I really needed to clean my clothes, and I planned on doing so at the
first possible opportunity, but as I started rolling some coins in my hands I mentally went over my stat gains today, and a skill. Lucky me.
I counted the stats I had gained today, solely from the log running, Kunai throwing and the lecture that the Instructor was droning now.
+4 Strength
+2 Dexterity
+2 Endurance
Not too bad for an afternoon's work I decided. I enjoyed the thought that I had gained Endurance from suffering through the current lecture, I enjoyed it
way more that I should've.
