Chapter 4

After the day of school, we did a few exhausting spars, still not done with training. It lasted for a bit more than an hour, during which I mostly trained my durability and dodging while Mei constantly bombarded me with Jutsu to master them and work on her stamina and endurance at the same time. It was efficient.

Now tired and in dire need of a break, we decided to go out, aiming to eat something. Eating was always a good coping mechanism and today's training had been rough, to say the least, so we fully intended to eat away our pain.

We went toward a sushi shop we had discovered a few months back, it was delicious. The land of Water wasn't called the Land of Water for nothing and fish was a very big industry here, so in Kiri, fish was both affordable and often fresh. Which caused sushi to be excellent and not as expensive has you'd suspect it to be.

Well, it didn't matter that it was affordable, Mei was rich, her clan had always been part of the village, wealthy was too small of a word to describe them. Which was probably the main reason why they hadn't been exterminated yet, they had influence, so they were tolerated despite their Kekkei Genkai.

Thus, it didn't bother me anymore when she paid, I just swallowed my ego with my sushi and everything was fine, I could barely afford a single meal alone. I was poor. Dirt poor. For now.

After a hearty and full meal, we returned to my orphanage first, since her parents kind of did not know she hung out with me, a nameless orphan, and probably wouldn't approve until I had proven myself as I ninja. They were a bit discriminating against the people of the lower caste. A little bit.

We were walking through back alleys and dubious shortcuts and we entered a particularly suspicious one, one where the shadows hid mendicants, cadavers, trash, bloodstains amongst other less pleasant things when I sensed three men behind us and two in front. They seemed to be doing a poor attempt at concealing themselves. I was not surprised in the least, robbers where more than common here, in the slums. Mei had also remarked them, and they probably were not shinobi if we could notice them this easily.

We communicated discreetly with hand signs, seemingly ignorant of them. It wasn't the first time I had encountered bandits, but they usually realized I was as poor as them pretty quickly; hence it would be completely useless to try and rob me, I had nothing to be robbed of. But since today I was with Mei, who looked (and was) rich, we were suddenly interesting targets.

A few seconds later we first sensed them, five men appeared near us, much to the surprise of…no one. The biggest one, a huge man with shoulders as large as a door, an unkempt and dirty beard and torn-up clothes, a usual look in this part of the city, neared us, towering over our smaller forms. His stench, notably of alcohol and of...other things I did not want to know of, invaded our nostrils the closer he got. I was used to this, I lived there after all, but Mei was visibly repulsed.

"Ah, what do we have here, isn't it a little princess and her servant…You shouldn't be in this part of the town, but I'm feeling kind today. Give us your money and we'll let you go. I know you have some, you smell of rich, little girl," he slurred with difficulty and I recognized the effects of alcohol and a popular street drug, one that bolstered courage and made one impervious to fear. It was a bit like being drunk on that regard, but without the loss of balance.

To add to the effect, the other four started to smile murderously and go even closer to us, weapons, mostly clubs and or badly maintained swords that were now blunt, drawn and ready to use.

Mei almost gagged at his unpleasant smell and even less pleasant attitude, while I signalled to her that I would handle this. It's not that I didn't trust he, but I knew how to deal with them. It was simple really, they would only attack those that were weaker, those that feared them, so they rarely tried to rob shinobi, it was a pretty suicidal thing to do after all.

"I'm not so sure you want to do this, you don't think just anyone would be walking here at this hour, don't you? We're shinobi, and if you don't leave us alone within ten seconds, I'm gonna kick your ass to the Kage's office and feed you to his dogs," I threatened, my laid-back attitude completely gone, replaced with a confident manner that screamed danger. Showing weakness got you killed fast here.

I did a quick water clone jutsu and positioned it strategically to prove my point.

"You think I'm new to this, kiddo? I've done this longer than you were alive, I know when my prey is lying, I can smell the fear from the princess here…"

The number one sign of an inexperienced bandit is that they always say they are experienced. Always. And they don't know how to bluff. Or how to read one. In that case, Mei was not scared at all, merely disgusted by them, a normal reaction considering her upbringing and their smell.

"You think I'm scared of you, you fat pig? I only was backing because closer I think I would've thrown up from the look and the smell, though I'm pretty sure that my vomit still smells leagues ahead of you," Mei retorted, indignant, full of rightful fury.

Goddammit! Why now Mei? Why?

Why did she have to choose this moment show her prideful side, now they were going to want to skin us alive, and they would if they could. We would still easily win, but I could've probably talked ourselves out of this without much effort.

Anyways, it's not as if it mattered in the end. They could not threaten us in the least, it would simply be a hassle.

"What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? You're fucking dead, kiddo, got get her, boys!" He shouted, his face red, he might as well have been spitting blood from anger.

They all charged at us, the drug and alcohol making them much more courageous than they normally would've been. Without a word, Mei turned around, taking the two behind us while my clone and I took the three to the front.

I took out my sword from my back and preemptively stabbed one of the goons, to test his defence and dodging capabilities, I was fully expecting him to easily dodge this, even an Academy student easily could.

Except he didn't. The sword went through his stomach, getting out from his back, without resistant. Easily. Too easily. He fell onto the ground, bleeding out. I stared while blood splashed my clothes, tainting them crimson.

The leader charged at me at the same time, not noticing that his accomplice was already dead.

Still a bit dazed, I dodged his puny strike and slashed back at him, sewering his head in one movement, all on instincts and reflexes. His eyes stayed wide open even in death, still confused about it all.

I looked up just in time to see the last one getting killed by my clone, a hand through his stomach.

Three thugs killed. 600 EXP.

I heard two thuds behind me and turned around, still by reflex. There were two bodies on the ground, their necks ending without a head, already cauterized. And just like that, it was over, the scuffle had barely lasted for ten seconds. They were dead and we were not. As simple as that.

"We killed them Mei, they're dead," I grimly said.

"I know, it was…too easy, I fully expected them to dodge. They didn't, and they're dead. But we would've been forced to someday…better now than then, with people that really deserved it." Her reply came, ever the voice of reason.

"I guess you're right, they probably did more bad than anything else…" I tried to rationalize the situation, with a bit of success.

"What do we do with the bodies?"

"Just leave them here, it's not as if anyone will miss them, they'll just be another dead on a backhanded alley. It happens every day here."

"I guess…"

"Wanna get some sushi again? I think we need some. You know, eating away your emotions…"

"Yeah, it'll do us some good."

And so, that was we did, we went and bought sushi for the second time of the day, to eat our emotion along with a good meal.

The owner was surprised to see us for the second time of the day, but shinobi were reputed to be some of the hungriest -and angriest- people there was, so they often ate their emotions.

Like we did.

As we waited, the kills kept playing back in my head, how easily my blade had gone through one of them, without any resistance. Was that the life of a shinobi? It was at that moment that I truly realized what killing really entailed, it was not a pleasant experience, but I knew I could do it again if I had to, I would do it again.

"It was easy…how did yours die?" Mei asked me, trying to get me to talk. She knew talking would ease it.

"I stabbed the first one, beheaded the second one and my clone killed the third one, he punched through his stomach. Right through! I did not even know I had the strength necessary for this, let alone my clone…"

"Well, civilians and squishier, there's a reason why ninja exists and why firearms never really worked out in the end, most Chunin can simply resist the bullets without trouble."

"I guess…How did yours go?"

"I launched a twin lava bullet at them. They didn't even realize it was there and their heads were gone. They didn't bleed either. Simply dropped to the ground, lifeless."

"I think we had both expected them to be stronger, I don't remember the last time I fought with civilians…There's a reason they don't mix with ninja…"

"Yeah, we're supposed to protect them, not kill them. Though I don't want to protect civilians like those…"

"They were bad people, Mei, if anything, they deserved to die, they probably robbed and killed, amongst other unsavoury acts. It's life in the slums, the third caste is like this."

"Yeah, and we need to change this, it can't go on."

"We'll change this Mei, we'll change this village."

We chatted for a little longer, eating away our sushi and worries, but we weren't that affected by our kills, we knew we would have had to kill one day and didn't really have a problem with it, it was the suddenness and the easyness of it all that had taken us aback. One moment we were peacefully walking, and the next the hooligans were dead on the ground.

Even Mei, the more sensible one of our duo, wasn't more bothered than that, the Academy did an excellent job at desensitizing us to death and killing. It was its job to create a perfect little killing machine in three years, and if its students couldn't kill, what use were they?

That day, I went to sleep with a full belly and a clear mind.

Two Weeks later.

Today was graduation. I would have to kill a classmate and become a Genin. Of course, since I was in my second year, I could choose not to do it, but I wanted, no needed to graduate. I just pitied the poor soul that would have to bad luck to go against me.

I intently listened in class as the teacher gave his last lecture, words of wisdom from one of the few retired shinobi, our teacher was old enough to have taught our parents. Well, those that did have parents, so his advice was invaluable.

He gave us advice on how to survive, when to flee, teamwork, and other things you could only learn when you had served for several years. I don't know if any of us would truly understand, but we certainly listened.

"…and finally, your gut is almost always right, if it tells you something is wrong, well…be much more careful. I can't count the number of times this saved my life…Ah, I remember the First Shinobi World War, when I was still a young Chunin, my gut was the only thing that saved me from the little girl from Kumo, she was a deadly one, poisoned people with senbon, fooling them by disguising herself into a civilian, my gut had told me not to go near her, so I didn't, even if she was younger than you all. I later learned she was ANBU from Kumo…And now, I'm alive and she's probably not."

Sadly, he didn't have time to go into one of his lengthy, but always enjoyable and instructive anecdotes. It really was a shame, the man in front of us had fought in all of the Shinobi World Wars, he was a shinobi before the village had even been founded. He was probably one of the most knowledgeable people in the world. I always wondered what pushed him to go to teach young brats like us.

"Now, it's time for the graduation exams, all of you follow me, even if you don't want to participate, you will still watch. It is important to know death if you want to become shinobi, and those exams better serve as a reminder for you, next year, it will be you on that stage, fighting to the death."

Letting his grim words hang in the air, he quit the class and we followed behind him, being led into the sparring arena. It was the same as during the tournament at the beginning of the year, it was an immense circle, half of it being a pool of water and the other half was stone.

As I intended to participate, I put my name inside the jar, along with all of the third years and some courageous -or foolish- second years, including Mei.

As there were about a hundred graduates each year, thus that many fights, all of the fights would not be inside the main sparring ground, it would be way too long, only those of Class 2-A and 3-A, the best fights, would be watched. The rest would be elsewhere, probably inside one of the many sparring rooms.

Unsurprisingly, the headmaster was there and would announce all of the duels, along with most of the teacher and all of the students. After all, even if you didn't participate, you still watched, I think it was to desensitize the students to death and violence so that they could kill more easily once it was their turn. A disgusting, immoral thing, but it worked, Kiri produced some of the best ninja in the world each generation.

"Welcome, welcome students….Welcome to the graduation tournament! It has been a wonderful year, and it will end wonderfully…for some of you. Now, let's not waste any time, it is time for duels…to the death! Regarding the rules…there are no rules! Do what you want, as long as you win and don't leave the circle…With that said, I'm sure you can't wait to know who will be your opponent, so here it is" he shouted with glee, waving his arms dramatically as an immense list of names appeared on the rightmost wall.

Almost everyone turned and rushed closer to the list, fidgeting while trying to know who they were against. Curses were heard, some started cry, others shouted in happiness as everyone could see who they would need to kill, or who they would be killed by. Of course, everyone hoped they wouldn't be put against one of those in one of the A classes. It was the equivalent of a death sentence. There were always exceptions, underdogs who rose up to the challenge and defeated all odds, but it was rare.

I, less excitedly than most others, also went to check who I was against, though I was confident. It wouldn't make big of a difference in the end, my improvement this year had been phenomenal, partly due to my system, but also to my painstaking efforts.

My opponent was a Genkoku Daltyio, someone from 3-E, one of the worst class. Poor him, but he would've probably been killed anyways, he was in one of the worst class, so it meant he wasn't very talented or strong.

Good for me.

We would be the fifth fight, so there was a bit of time to wait. By curiosity, I went to see who was Mei against, she was against a boy from 3-D, she would win, easily, probably. Especially in a "small" arena like the one we were in, she was in her element.

I watched the first battles happen, most of them were not close at all, people from class A were a notch above everyone else, though the third one was very close, and the outcome had been surprising, the boy from 3-B had won against his opponent from 3-A. He had been cunning and merciless, so when the time to deal the final blow had come, he did not hesitate.

The blood in the arena was quickly washed and the corpse was disposed of, just in time for the next announcement.

"Hakuro Reikoku against Genkoku Daltyio!"

Finally, it was my turn, I went inside the circle, awaiting my victim. I saw him for the first time, he looked had seen better days, to say the least. He was pale, was sweating buckets, his eyes darted back and forth and he was fidgety, all signs of lack of sleep and anxiety. I could not really blame him, today would determine his fate, it was undoubtedly the most important day of his life so far.

And when he saw me, I'm pretty sure he was that close to fainting…poor him. But I had no time for pity, he had no one to blame for his luck.

And I'm almost certain he would've been killed anyways, it was evident just from a glance that he wasn't the best of shinobi there was. That was no one's fault except his.

It seemed like an excruciatingly painful thing to do, but he did finally join me in the circle after some time, his stance shaky.

"Start!"

As I most of the time did, I rushed directly at him, sprinting faster than my size and build would suggest I was capable of. He was taken aback for a moment, but a moment only, he was still a trained shinobi after all, he could not be completely helpless.

He went through hand seals, with an above-average pace, doing a jutsu I could recognize with just a glance, it was easily the most popular offensive jutsu are.

"Water release: Water Bullet!" he shouted.

A current of water shot from his mouth in a straight line incoming at me. I wasn't impressed, his jutsu was weak. I could rsist it without a problem.

I did.

I did not even slow down, plowing through the jet of water like a spear. I did not hurt a lot, but way less than anything Mei could throw at me…one a bad day and while chakra exhausted.

My opponent panicked at seeing me virtually unaffected by his attack, probably his best one in fact, and did the only thing he could think of, he avoided my first attack by replacing himself seven meters behind me, already preparing another jutsu.

I did not let him.

I flickered alongside him, with impressive precision; one of the good things about the DEX stat is that it improved my senses as much as my general dexterity, something that did not happen with other shinobi, not all of their senses and abilities progressed like this. Most stalled at a point, like in low-pressure environments, when they were not constantly threatened while I did not, my stat never decorated so far.

It proved to be enough.

I steeled my heart, I had to kill him, even if I did not want to, taking out a kunai.

He sensed my apparition, but it was too late, he had a kunai through the heart, and a moment later, his throat was slit open. He died in an instant. I let him fall, subconsciously avoiding most of the blood, but I ended up looking like a trained killer.

I kept my emotions shut, not showing weakness, walking out of the arena. The dual had not even taken ten seconds, it was over in an instant.

"Winner: Hakuro Reikoku."

Genkoku Daltyio killed. 700 EXP.

People parted themselves before, I had taken the record for the quickest kill this year and it probably wouldn't be broken soon.

The corpse was retrieved, it would be given a proper funeral…maybe… and the arena was automatically cleaned, acidic water flooding it and destroying everything inside, mostly the blood.

"Next fight: Mei Terumi against…"

Oh, it was Mei's turn, I looked at her and she flashed me a reassuring smile. I smiled back.

She got up and graciously walked into the arena, her future victim already in there. He looked grim, but determined.

Once the two were ready, the referee declared the start.

They both sped through hand seals, Mei noticeably faster, I don't think any student here was faster than Mei in hand seals, she was fast.

"Earth release: Rock Pillars."

Rock pillars emerged from the ground all around the boy, he was forced to abandon whatever he was doing to replace himself far away to avoid being skewered.

However, while he was doing this, Mei was not idle, she reached three rock clones, the rarer counterpart of the water clone. Though they could not cast jutsu, they were strong and, most importantly, they were identical to the original, at least at a first glance.

All clones and Mei ran off in different directions while doing different hand seals.

Then, two things happened, one of the clones was blasted to smithereens by a water spear, and mist, non-acidic, but extremely thick, covered the entire arena.

Everyone's view was blocked but I already knew what Mei intended to do, it was one of her favourite tricks to use against me.

Wordlessly, intense tremors, like a small-scale earthquake, wrecked the arena. Earth release: Tremors.

The boy stumbled loudly, signalling to Mei where he was. Less than a moment after, Mei's voice rang.

"Earth release: Two Pillars of Death."

Crunching sounds filled the air as the pillars did their job, and, when the mist finally cleared, there was no sign the boy ever was there, only a new rock formation in the left side of the arena, near the water, that strangely wasn't there before, along with a small pool of blood.

"Winner: Mei Terumi!"

Mei exited the arena and joined me, taking the seat at my left.

"Good job."

"Thanks."

A few moments later, the arena returned to normal, no signs of the boy that once was her opponent. The acid cleaned the blood and it was time for the next duel. The dead student was forgotten by all, just another casualty. After all, you didn't make friends in the Academy, except when you were once in a generation genius.

The next fights weren't anything noteworthy, except when Kisame annihilated his poor opponent to the surprise of…absolutely no one.

The duels ended, a hundred and twelve new graduates. Well, we would officially become Genin tomorrow, when we would be assigned to a team. We would also receive our headband at that time.

The day over, I exited the Academy with Mei, we needed to clear our thoughts, so we went near one of the many lakes in Kiri. Despite its inner ugliness, Kiri was undoubtedly the prettiest of the five shinobi villages, there were lakes and rivers everywhere, with clear, pure water inside and extensive wildlife running wild. It was the least industrialized of the villages, so the landscape was still beautifully preserved. On the rare days it wasn't misty, it was an incredible sight to behold, there was so much potential in tourism that was sadly unexploited.

I sat on the edge of a cliff, the water below me, free, limitless. As always, Mei was right beside me; or I was beside her, it depended on the point of view.

"We passed, tomorrow, we'll be shinobi," I told the obvious.

"Yeah, we passed…"

We stayed silent a bit more, enjoying the sight, it was simple things in life that made it worth living sometimes, otherwise it would be pointless. The water was tainted red, orange and purple by the sunset, creating an warm scene.

"We'll probably not be together anymore…we'll almost certainly be assigned different teams," she said, melancholic.

I smiled teasingly before speaking, in a light-hearted tone.

"Are you sad…I knew you'd miss my exalted self, I would miss me should I one day find myself without me."

She nudged me in the ribs, strongly so that I would feel something. Perks of having high END.

"That tickled, can you do any better? I'm afraid what you want to say will go unheard otherwise."

She hit me even harder, not hurting me, it wasn't her intention either. I laughed and she soon followed a crystal clear laugh, one that was rare in those times. We stayed, side by side, smiling in the sunset for a bit, before she turned serious.

"But seriously, don't die, I'll have no one to beat up if you're gone."

"Don't worry, you know how tough I am, I doubt I could die even if I wanted, but you…don't die either, all of effort will have been in vain if you're not here. And nobody will prevent me from starting a bloody civil war…"

"You'd better not start one while I'm not here to watch you…I leave alone five minutes and…"

She paused, sullen.

"Let's make a promise, I won't die and you won't. Simple right?"

"Aight, I promise I won't die."

"Better not," she mumbled.

We spent an hour, watching the lake, talking, arguing, enjoying one of the final moments we'd have together before we'd be thrown onto the deadly battlefield.

I knew she would survive, but that didn't keep me from being worried for her, it was natural; I was her friend. And I knew she felt the same.

It was what friends did.