A Living Jiangshi

"With my blood as the medium, and the flesh of the cursed as an offering, heed my call from the depths of the shadows." A melodic, yet childish voice droned within an overgrown cemetery.

The sky was clear on this eerie night, but even so, as the new moon night of the sixth month, no light brightened the cold headstones, forcing one to use candles to provide light and warmth to the lonely ghosts abound.

"I welcome all spirits to the land of the living." Within a circle of candles, a silver haired child chanted, and an ominous wind blew, killing the candles' dying fire.

...

"Hey! Michimiya, I'll trade you my onigiri if you give me some of your takoyaki!" An Inuzuka child called to his civilian born friend, carrying a hastily wrapped bento box.

"Huh?! No way! You know I hate tuna filled onigiri." The civilian born child shook his head, protecting his own carefully packaged lunch in his arms.

On the other side of the hallway, three girls from different classes chatted with each other in excited tones.

"She actually agreed to teach me bukijutsu!" A girl with her brown hair tied with a green bow exclaimed.

"No way! Isn't she a Jounin? Doesn't she have, you know, Jounin stuff to do?" Her friend asked in disbelief.

As it would seem, it was a normal day in the Shinobi Academy, with children going about their lunch period as they would normally do, filling the hallways with cheerful chatters.

"Excuse me."

But, suddenly, everything turned silent.

Soft rhythmic tapping sounded along the hallway as a small child dressed in black Manchu clothing with a golden yin-yang symbol on the shoulder to signify his clan, walked towards his class carrying a gilded coffin on his back.

Soon, after the child disappeared into the room, the conversation gradually returned, this time a little more hushed than before and all pertaining to the particular child that just passed by.

"That's him, right? The clan head of the new clan that just moved to Konoha?" Michimiya asked quietly.

"Yeah! The Hitsugi clan, I heard!" The Inuzuka answered, finding the thought of attending school with someone of a high stature exciting.

"But, isn't he too young to be a clan head? I heard he isn't even five yet!" Michimiya muttered, unsure.

"Hn. Not much use of being clan head when he's the only one in his clan." A passing Uchiha child commented somberly, effectively cutting off the conversation before entering the same classroom the Hitsugi clan head did.

Inside the room, Hitsugi Kurashi sat at the back with his head resting on his arms, trying to ignore the stares of his classmates and wanting to be anywhere but here.

He really had no idea why he, a being which had lived for hundreds of years, must go to school with a bunch of human cubs, but apparently, since he currently possessed the body of a mortal child, then he was also included in the spectrum of those who must follow human rules.

Even if his soul belonged to an undead.

Nonetheless, that fact did not prevent him from pursuing an early graduation to rid himself of this pain faster.

"You didn't attend morning classes. Why." The Uchiha boy, Utaru, who sat beside him asked-demanded an answer.

Kurashi furrowed his brows, unsure why this particular human child kept on approaching him ever since they started attending classes a few weeks ago.

He did ask for a reason just the previous day which was answered with an 'It's only natural for Dōjutsu clans to stick together. Except for the Hyuugas. They're hopeless. Hn.'

But, he still didn't know what that meant.

"I was performing a funerary ritual last night and overslept." Kurashi answered curtly, which wasn't a lie, but wasn't the exact truth. For now, the answer seemed to satisfy his seatmate as the boy just nodded and dropped the subject.

Perhaps the boy was also trying to avoid the subject pertaining to anything funeral related, especially after he learned about Kurashi's recently exterminated clan which forced him to leave his previous home, Oni no Kuni.

But, it wasn't like Kurashi felt anything in particular for his so called clan since he only knew them for three years, which wasn't long considering he had memories of hundreds of years living as a Jiangshi.

At most, he'd promised to take revenge for those humans who gave him his name, body, and took care of him in his infanthood when given the chance in the future.

Going back to the subject at hand, the real reason why he was unable to attend the morning lessons had something to do with him testing out his body's inherited ability, the Reigan, which was the dōjutsu the Uchiha boy previously mentioned.

Apparently, it gave him the ability to see constructs of chakra, the energy prevalent in this world, meaning, confusion caused by clone jutsus or the transformation jutsu was impossible for him, plus, it gave him the ability to see Yokai (not like he needed it since he could already see them even with Reigan deactivated).

Yokai, as in, the spirits only found in ancient folklore. Yes, they were real. As real as the Jiangshi stuck in a child's body, aka Kurashi.

Which brings us back to what he was specifically doing last night.

As it seems, with the Hitsugi clan's dōjutsu giving them the ability to see otherworldly entities, it was only natural for their abilities to revolve around that as well, so, after consulting the book of jutsus left by the previous clan head to him, Kurashi decided to combine it with his knowledge of spirits from his previous world and managed to form a contract with a particularly powerful Yokai the night before through a ritual which may or may not involve a severed hand, his blood, and a few bribery underworld money.

"Kekekeke~" An odd laughter drifted out of the coffin leaning on the side of Kurashi's desk, causing the nearby children to suddenly shiver.

"What was that?" Uchiha Utaru shuddered.

"Nothing." Kurashi rubbed the bridge of his nose, rustling the yellow paper stuck on his forehead, and kicked the coffin, effectively shutting up the strange laughter.

...

"Man, obstacle course again?" Inuzuka Kisho whined as the class exited the building and were led to the obstacle grounds by their teacher, Senju Sakaki. "Why can't we do sparring matches instead?"

"Maybe because we already did sparring yesterday?" Yamanaka Inosachi shot back with an eyebrow raised.

"Alright, form a line." Their teacher instructed. "We'll start with the ones that got the best time two days ago to those that need improvements."

"Kurashi and Utaru, you two go first." Kurashi blinked impassively, dropping his coffin and two tantos to the side before heading to the line.

As he stood on his place, crouched in a starting position, he could feel the Uchiha boy's gaze on him before he too focused on the obstacles before them.

"Start." And, with that command, both boys took off as their classmates began to cheer them on.

In the beginning, the two were running side by side but, as they reached the first obstacle, Kurashi began to pull forward, speed not lessening even as he weaved through various traps, leaving Utaru behind him who had to slow down every once in a while to avoid the obstacles carefully.

"Hitsugi Kurashi, 17 seconds." Sakaki-sensei nodded in approval. "Four seconds faster that two days ago. Good job."

Kurashi nodded back in thanks. Not finding himself prideful because of the praise, but finding his improvement only natural. Granted, the obstacle course they were using was the easiest one out of the three that the academy had.

Though, if he were one of the ordinary students, he might've found it challenging, especially considering his physical age which was a year or two younger than most of his classmates, but, he wasn't exactly a normal child.

"Uchiha Utaru, 25 seconds."

"KYAAA!!! UTARU-KUN!"

"UTARU-SAMA! YOU'RE SO COOL!"

Hearing the ear-shattering screams of the girls, Kurashi inwardly cringed. Those female cubs are way too young to be looking for a mate.

"You're quite popular." Kurashi commented as his seatmate stood next to him.

"Like you're one to talk." Utaru scoffed, causing Kurashi to furrow his brows.

"Huh?"

Utaru turned towards the younger boy with eyes widened in shock. "You can't possibly be telling me that you didn't know, right?"

"Know what exactly." Kurashi asked back, suspicious of what the other was referring to.

Instead of answering, Utaru just groaned, side-eyeing the group of both males and females behind the silver haired boy with predatorial glints in their eyes.

...

As the warm rays of the sunset basked the clearing, a child with long silver hair tied in a tight braid stood straight with his fingers displaying the Snake seal.

"Yokai Possession: First Stage."

A small trickle of inky black chakra exited from the coffin on his back and connected to his shoulders, shrouding the boy in a shadowy cloud which dissipated shortly after without leaving much effect.

The corner of the boy's mouth twitched. "Please cooperate with me on this, Sensōbokken."

"Krrruu..." The door of the coffin opened slightly, revealing a single gold eye. "Hungryyy!"

"Yes, I will bring you to the cemetery tonight so you can eat as much as you want." Kurashi sighed, patting the coffin in comfort. "For now, please try your best to respond to the jutsu."

"Awwuooh~" The Yokai whined but, eventually, it did close the door in compliance.

Once again, Kurashi took his stance and formed the Snake seal. "Yokai Possession: First Stage."

This time, a significantly larger tendril of black chakra exited the coffin and wrapped around Kurashi's body before being sucked into the point at the center of his forehead.

Instantly, changes began to occur to his body, starting with his eyes which turned from being pale lavender to bright gold, and both his nails and teeth elongating and turning much sharper.

"Finally succeeded." Kurashi sighed in relief, taking out a mirror from his pocket to assess his changes. "The first stage of the Yokai Possession seems a little different from what was described in the book."

When the glare of the sunset hit his eyes, Kurashi winced, finding his eyesight much more sensitive than before, along with his sense of smell and hearing. It was a disorienting experience, having to deal with sudden improvements to his senses.

Furrowing his brows, Kurashi hopped lightly, feeling as though his body was much lighter than before. It seemed that even his physique had also been improved greatly.

To test it out, Kurashi took off into the forest, running as fast as he could, causing a gust of wind trailing after him and rustling the leaves as he passed underneath the trees.

Soon, he arrived at the depths of the forest where trees began to cluster closer together, forcing him to have to weave in between spaces to try to avoid crashing into them but, instead of slowing down, he actually pushed himself to go faster, coming dangerously close to injuring himself several times.

Though, strangely enough, he had a grin on his face, enjoying every bit of freedom he felt, running with the wind whipping through his hair. Kurashi closed his eyes, losing himself to the wonderful sensations, but the moment he opened them again, he was greeted with the sight of thick wood coming extremely close to him.

Showing no hint of fear, Kurashi unsheathed two tantos with both hands and slashed, enhancing his blades with dark chakra which exploded the bark at the moment of contact, scattering pieces of wood everywhere.

Finally forced to stop, he retracted his tantos from the partially destroyed tree and brought his arms and legs close to his head and torso to protect them from flying splinters as he was pushed back by the explosion.

Kurashi sat on the ground, breathing hard as the adrenaline wore off and exhaustion took it's place. With another Snake seal, he cut off the black chakra coursing through his body, ending the Yokai Possession jutsu.

"That was..." Assessing the damage to the tree, Kurashi took deep breaths, calming down from his run. "Much more powerful than I expected."

With a resounding crash, the tree which could no longer support itself, came crashing down, nearly toppling several other trees on its way down.

"I might need to get that controlled as soon as possible."

"Hungryyy..." From the coffin on his back, a gutteral whine sounded, bidding Kurashi to pay attention to the time and realized that the sun had long since set.

"You're right, we really should get something to eat now." Kurashi smiled and dusted himself off, patting the coffin as he headed back to the village.

"Good work today, Sensōbokken. I'll be relying on you as well tomorrow."

"Kukuku~"

...

Uchiha Utaru lived a very repetitive life.

Everyday was a cycle of waking up, eating, training, and going to sleep. He was a genius, having awakened his sharingan at a very young age, yet not quite a prodigy. Nevertheless, he was expected live a boring life serving his clan until the day he dies in a battlefield somewhere. So, he continues to live his monotonous life.

That lasted until the start of the academy.

On the first day of classes, he, along with a whole class filled with other six year olds, who thought themselves to be geniuses, were faced with a real prodigy in the form of the youngest clan head to ever be recorded. Hitsugi Kurashi.

Granted, his whole clan seemed to have died off, and he was forced to seek solace from Konoha, alone. Thinking about it, Utaru couldn't help but feel pity for the boy, but that too, only lasted until the sparring matches where he was easily defeated by the boy two years younger than him.

"Good match." Kurashi stood before Utaru, extending a seal of reconciliation, his face devoid of any emotion. He didn't even look like he was proud of winning against the Uchiha. If anything, he was acting like it was only natural for him to win.

"Hn." The Uchiha boy scoffed, extending his own seal of reconciliation, touching the other boy's fingers for a mere split second before pulling back extremely quickly and trudging off with a grunt, silently vowing to himself that he'd defeat the boy someday.

And Utaru was perfectly fine, brooding on his own, far away from the young clan head, pretending he doesn't exist. But, apparently, the majority of the girls in his class didn't understand his goals, squealing every once in a while about the Hitsugi's cuteness or prowess in battle, reminding him that there was a boy named Hitsugi Kurashi in his class who was so much better than him at everything.

How Kurashi didn't notice the existence of his quickly forming fanclub, he had no idea.

"Hn!" Utaru grunted, carrying his packed lunch with him and left the classroom, looking for a quieter place to eat, and eventually arrived at a tree near the training grounds behind the academy building.

"-ot enough... Need to form handseals faster." In the middle of eating his lunch, he heard a familiar voice speak from the training grounds behind him. Curiously, he set down his lunch, hoping to catch a glimpse.

There was a burst of chakra and suddenly, the ground five meters radius around a silver haired boy became covered in a black, tar-like substance where numerous hands began to form, grasping at the air as though they were searching for something to pull down into the tar with them.

"Reiton: Nigiru Te." Utaru peeked from behind the tree, watching as his enigmatic classmate practice a type of jutsu he had never seen before.

What even was Reiton? Spirit Release? Whatever it was, it looked incredibly scary.

Utaru shuddered, thinking about his shoddy great fireball jutsu. What a monster! That jutsu Kurashi was doing was atleast C-rank!

"Three seconds..." The Hitsugi clan head sighed helplessly and began to walk back to the classroom. "Too slow. This body... it's too slow."

Using what he witnessed as a wake-up call, Utaru spent the next few days repeatedly practicing his Great Fireball jutsu, even going to his older clansmen for tips. Eventually, his technique began to improve by leaps and bounds, garnering him praise from his elders but, even then, he wasn't satisfied.

Because, if Kurashi wasn't satisfied with his abilities, then why should he?

At that time, Utaru saw Kurashi as his rival, an imaginary enemy who he had to defeat. But, something happened several days later which made him view the younger boy in a different light.

"Here. This is the fourth time you've fallen down the stairs of your own house." On the way to the academy, Utaru encountered Kurashi giving a civilian boy a string of wooden beads and shrine coins. "Did you tell her what I told you? She really should drive the malicious ghost away while it still hasn't grown too troublesome. All she needs is some salt and morning dew, it's not that hard."

"I did! But she didn't believe it." The boy sniffled, rubbing the red bump on his head, presumably from when he fell from the stairs. "She said I was just clumsy and ghosts don't exist."

A ghost? So the young clan head also has such a naive side. Utaru thought to himself. Cute.

"Ghosts, Yokai, Mononoke. They all exist." Kurashi's eyes flashed golden, causing Utaru to widen his eyes in surprise. "Do not doubt this."

Kurashi strode off after leaving those words.

It seems Konoha had welcomed another Dōjutsu clan without telling anyone.

Since that day, Utaru no longer saw Kurashi as an enemy, but still retained his pursuit of wanting to defeat him as a rival.

Though he'd never voice it out since that would destroy his prideful Uchiha image. Hn.