Nakahara Ryu
As the soul regains its consciousness, it realizes that the dark place it currently resides in his mother's womb. By this point, it comes as no surprise to him as he always experiences this at the beginning of every reincarnation. It just waits patiently, knowing that it always regains his consciousness at around two weeks before his birth.
Two weeks pass by while waiting. When it feels that its the time, it just closes his eyes and waits to be pulled from the womb. Hearing the cries of a woman, and voices saying unknown things, it knows that is finally born again. Feeling the air caressing his delicate skin, he opens his eyes, and thanks to his rich experience he already knows what to do. He starts crying.
"Congratulations, it's a boy!", says the doctor after wrapping the baby in a towel and handing him over to the woman on the bed. She has black, long hair and brown eyes. She looks at the baby with affection in her eyes.
"Look, Endo. Isn't our son beautiful!", said the mother while addressing a man by the side. He is a middle-aged man with a stern face. He is tall, with brown hair and black eyes, a 'x' shaped scar can be seen on his left cheek. wearing black pants, a black long-sleeved shirt, and a green flak jacket. A red circle, with swirling lines, can be seen decorating the shirt.
"Yes, he is. he is my son, my own son.", he said barely holding his tears.
"What name are you both giving him?", asked a nurse that stood by the side.
"Ryu. Nakahara Ryu.", Says the mother with a smile on her face.
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Four years passed since the day of his birth. Due to the capabilities he has shown during his infancy, he was dubbed a genius by other adults. He was a quiet child that barely cried. Only when needed did he cried so to get the attention of his parents, stopping right after his goal is accomplished. At 9 months of age, he could walk, and due to feeling that his vocal cords developed enough, he started picking up words and was already able to speak some words.
When feeling hungry, he would turn his head to one of his parents and with a deadpan expression and say 'milk'. When feeling that he needs to have his diapers changed he would turn his head and say 'poo'. When annoyed by the people who tried to play with him by making baby noises, he would slowly put his finger over the person's mouth and shake his head with a deadpan expression on his face. No need to say that these antics of his creeped the hell out of people, especially his mother that has to take care of him all day. As can be seen, he doesn't like very much the period of being a baby and just wants it to end soon.
At 12 months, he was able to say whole sentences. He learned that his father is named Nakahara Endo, while his mother is named Nakahara Megumi. Both are what this world would call shinobis. His father has the rank of Jōnin while his mother is a Chūnin. To be honest, he is quite surprised by the fact that this world's power system is dominated by shinobis. It's not the first world he had been that shinobis were predominant, but to have been sent here by that Being to develop his Magic attribute shows how special this world is compared to those he knew. For the moment, he did not see anything special about the power system but only time will tell.
He also noted that this world appears to be at war in this age. His village where he lives, Konohagakure, is one of the main players in this war. His father is also fighting in the war, only occasionally returning to stay with his family. His mother seems to be always sad when his father is out at war. He understands the reason, after all, it's war. He may lose his father. Although he does not really care. It may seem cruel, yes, but when you've had literally millions of fathers/mothers, things like these do not move you anymore.
[I'm four years old already. I should start training this body of mine so that it can get used to combat.], thought Ryu while observing the
passersby through the window at his bedroom with his arms crossed. He has dark-brown hair, and black eyes so deep that it seems to hold an abyss as you stare at them. Although not particularly the most handsome, but his entire being exuded an aura of dominance, as if everything that exists is nothing but a fleeting thing in his eyes. His outfit is composed of light-grey shorts with blue sandals and a black high-collared shirt. His expression is indifferent as he ponders. [Hmm. Pure, unadulterated training, huh? I have stopped my natural comprehension of laws when I was reincarnated. I don't want that to get in the way or else there would be no point in all of this.]
After having all those thoughts, he shook his head and got ready for training. He did not stand idle for these four years, he got a throughout comprehension of the physique of humans in this universe by studying his own body so that he would be able to optimize his training to the most important muscles. Getting started, he did some exercises on the floor of his bedroom.
Doing his intensive physical training for 4 months, he was already able to see results. he got to admit that the physique of humans in this universe is basically made for combat. Almost comparable to the physique of certain races of 'that' universe, the one he had become a God.
His mother caught him doing his exercises a few times, she was surprised to see her son so dedicated but did not stop him. After all, in this world kids of 5 years of age are sent to a ninja academy. And those who just graduated are required to go to war!
Felling that the time was ripe and that he could get to the next part of his training, he approached his mother.
"Mother, can you help me getting a place to train?", asked Ryu.
"Oh hello, honey. More training? Have you not been training upstairs at your room?", asked his mother with a gentle smile on her face.
"That was just some exercises I've been doing. I want to start on real training.", he says with a serious look on his face.
"Don't you want to wait till you enter the academy next year? Why are you so eager to train?", she asked with some curiosity.
"Mom, We're civilians and not part of a shinobi clan. That means that if I want to have any achievements I need to start training as soon as possible.", he answers. hearing that, his mother really couldn't argue with that reasoning.
"hmmm. I think I can help you with that. You know, when I was in a shinobi team, I was together with a member of the Inuzuka clan. We still are good friends, so I can try and asks her if you can train in one of the Inuzuka training grounds.", she replied after thinking for a moment.
"Thanks, mother. I would be grateful.", he said with a smile so bright which made his mother ruffle his hair with a laugh.
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"Thank you, Mitsu! You had no idea how much of a favor you are doing for us right now. This brat really wants to start training so soon.", says Megumi as she ruffles Ryu's hair while speaking with her friend at the Inuzuka clan. Ryu has an indifferent expression while having his hair messed up by his mother. After asking for a place to train, his mother brought him to the Inuzuka clan the day after.
"No problem, Megumi. It's just a place for training, it's no big deal. I bet he can get along pretty well with the kids of the clan that are also training.", says Mitsu with her hands resting on her waist. She is tall, with her light-brown hair above her shoulders. She has a strong personality as you can see by her expression and manners. "Ryu, right? You don't need to be shy. Go ahead, the training grounds is straight left. You can go."
"Thank you, Mitsu auntie.", thanked Ryu with a slight bow. He calmly walked to the training grounds.
When he reached there, he noticed that there barely any people in there. Only a few kids scattered around doing a few exercises. Picking a corner for himself, he soon starts his training. He begins with punching the air, one hand at a time. after practicing a few hundred punches, he rests for a while before continuing with kicks. He keeps doing this for the rest of the day, only stopping when he sees the orange hue taking control of the horizon. He finally returns home.
This continued for a few more weeks as Ryu makes his body more used to combat.
After finishing a series of moves, Ryu sits down with his legs crossed to regain his stamina before continuing. [My body has already reached an optimal state for combat. I can now use some techniques without having my body falling apart from the stress. Unfortunately, I can only use martial arts. Any other techniques that require the use of anything other than the physical body can't be used due to the differences in laws of this universe.], he sighs before having his thought interrupted by a familiar voice.
Looking to the side, he can see a little girl walking towards him. She wears light-brown clothes with white fur around the collar and a grey sash around her waist.
"Hi, Ryu. You are still training? Don't you do anything else?", asked the girl with a curious face.
"Hi, Hana. Haha, nothing beats the sensation of becoming stronger, you know.", answer Ryu with a light smile.
"Can we have another spar? I'm sure I can beat you now after having one of my seniors teach these last two weeks.", she exclaims with confidence.
"Sure.", he said while standing up and beating the dust off his pants.
"Great. I want to test my taijutsu against you.", as she said that she starts cracking her knuckles.
Smiling, Ryu takes a few steps back before turning to face Hana. She was already in a position of attack waiting for him. With a relaxed posture, he beckons to her. "Alright. Come at me with all you have."
She rushes at him while he stays in the same position. When she got near, she releases a punch towards his face. With a minimal shift of his head, he dodges. Hana follows the punch with a kick at his chin, which he easily dodges by lightly reclining his back. Still not satisfied, she continues sending punches and kicks towards him while circling his position to get to his back. He easily dodges all the attacks while standing at the same position, only moving one foot at a time when dodging.
Even attacks directed towards his backside are evaded as if he has eyes at the back of his head. Getting frustrated and tired, Hana jumps to get some distance from Ryu. "Hey. This is spar. Stop from just standing there and attack too.", she says with a frown on her face. [He does not even take me seriously.]
Turning around to face her, he's still smiling. "You sure?", she nods. "Very well.", he rushes her with a speed she can barely keep up. With a palm strike towards her chin, he stops a centimeter from hitting her. "Dead.", finally reacting she jumps back and at the same moment, he rushes to the place she will land, when her feet touch the ground his index finger is already touching the place where her heart should be. " Still dead."
With a stunned expression, she keeps stuttering trying to find any words that she could say. Retracting his finger, he turned around and started walking off the training grounds. He's already bored of bullying a child.
"W... Wait! Why? Why even after training so hard with an actual shinobi, I can't come close to touch you? Someone who has been learning all by himself!", she shouted towards his retreating figure.
He stops on his tracks. Turning slightly so he can look over his shoulders towards her. "Well, maybe I am just that great of a genius.", he says with shrug.
"Genius? No way! You evaded all my attacks without even looking. You are no Uchiha ou Hyūga. How you did that?", she asks while stomping towards him. As she got near him, she stares at his eyes without blinking. As if trying to see if his eyes would start to change.
"How?", he lightly laughed. With a mysterious smile on his face, he turns around and keeps walking off. "With my instincts, of course.", with that, he got out of the training field and walks towards his home. He is returning early today because he has an important new training to start.
"Instincts?", she stares confused for a moment. "Humph. If you don't want to tell me, fine! I will just train even more and beat you up! Idiot Ryu!", she stomps away.
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[Hmmm. Have I overdone by bullying a four years old child with my quite literal god-level martial arts?], Ryu pondered with a hand on his chin as he walked towards his house. [Nah, it's fine. It's these little things that make life interesting during the early life of a reincarnation. After all, after I have enough power, won't I just be killing some people? That gets boring pretty fast when everyone else is way out of your league. It's just like cutting vegetables.], he says as he shakes his head.
[Anyway. It's finally time to get started with this world's true power system. Chakra, as they called it. I've been reading a few books that explain it.], he finally reaches his house, even though he is completely immersed in his own thoughts. having his mother know that he returned, he got to the bathroom to take a bath as he is covered in sweat due to training. [Basically, chakra is formed when two forms of energy are molded together. Those being physical energy, produced by every cell in a person's body. And also spiritual energy, derived by a person's consciousness.]
As Ryu finishes the bath, he puts on a casual outfit before sitting cross-legged in his bed. [For spiritual energy, I don't need to worry about it. If there's any being with a consciousness stronger than mine in this dimension I might as well throw millions of reincarnations worth of experience in the trash and kill myself for a thousand reincarnations.], he thought with the highest level of confidence.
[So, I only really need to worry about my physical body. As long I advance it, my chakra reserves will be able to progress rapidly. The only thing that I feel that might be a problem is the fact that it's mentioned in those books that a person can be limited to a certain amount of chakra due to genetics.], he frowns. [I might need to find a way to circumvent this restriction. Only in this way can I use the full extent of my powerful consciousness.]
"To start, I guess I should try to sense and control my chakra.", as he says that, he enters a meditative state and tried to sense his chakra. It wasn't difficult, after only a few seconds of trying he already sense it. Having used an unknown amount of different energies throughout his reincarnations, it turned into somewhat of an instinct by this point.
[hmmm. Is this amount below or above average for my age group?], he ponders for a moment before pushing this thought aside. [Now, as for controlling it... is there any kind of elementary technique used to practice chakra control?], he remembers that no matter what kind of energy, if there is a way to manipulate it then there's some kind of technique created so that new users can practice.
Not wasting any time, he gets up and quickly got down to the kitchen where he found his mother. As a ninja, she surely has a way to practice chakra control.
"Oh, hey Ryu. Are you hungry? I can make something for you to eat.", asks Megumi with a cheerful smile on her face.
"Thanks, mom. Hmmm, I guess I accept a sandwich of some sort.", she nods before she starts to create a sandwich for her son. Ryu got to sit on a stool behind the kitchen balcony. "Hey, mom. Is there a technique to practice chakra control? I was just able to sense my chakra just now."
Surprised, she stops whatever she was doing as she looks at her son. "Already? Really? Hmm, there are indeed a few methods you can use to practice.", she said after feeling a little surprised. Her son just started learning about chakra at 4 years of age? Did she give birth to a genius, maybe? Having thought about that, she cannot help but be a little excited and happy. "There are three general training methods. Leaf concentration, Tree climbing, and Water surface walking. You can start in this order for increasing difficulty.", after that, she goes on on explaining each method in detail.
Pondering about these methods, Ryu decides to try the leaf concentration while his mother makes him a sandwich. Walking over to a plant on the corner, he plucked a leaf. While enduring the murderous look of his mother, he stuck the leaf on his forehead and controlled his chakra, and directed all his chakra to the leaf. The leaf immediately sticks to his forehead without any noticeable changes. Meanwhile, his mother is observing him, but because he has his back towards her she can't see the leaf stuck on his forehead.
Ryu waits for a few more seconds for... something. But nothing happens, the leaf is just stuck to his forehead. [...is this it? sigh. Chakra is so... tame. Especially when compared to other types of energy he had dealt with.], a little disappointed that it was that easy, he turned to his mother. "Uhmm, mom. I... think I did it.", even he was a little embarrassed by how stupid the practice was. [I won't do 'that' again in this new world... will I?]
His mother blinked a few times, looking at the leaf stuck at his forehead after the first time she became slightly stunned but quickly recovered.
"Well done... dear. You can try the later two methods later.", she lightly laughed as she looked at his weird expression.
Nodding, he took the leaf off his forehead as he waited for the sandwich his mother was making for him. After eating, he said goodbye as he was leaving once again to the Inuzuka clan's training field to try tree climbing and water walking.
As he arrived at the Inuzuka clan and was heading towards the training grounds, he was spotted by Inuzuka Mitsu who was brushing her ninken.
"Ryu? Haven't you just returned home an hour ago? You are already coming back?"
"Hello, auntie Mitsu.", he bowed slightly. Others might have problems with doing so, but he has no such useless pride anymore. "I have come back so that I can try tree climbing and water walking."
"Huh? already? Have you tried the leaf concentration already?", she asks with surprise on her face.
"yes, I just did it a couple of minutes ago at my house."
"Hmm. Starting with tree climbing and water walking at 4 years of age. I see that you have quite the talent.", she exclaims with admiration. "Well, if you don't mind I can go with you and give you some pointers if you have any difficulties.", although she said that, she knew that the kid will take a while to learn the two techniques.
"I would be grateful.", even though he said it, he suddenly had a premonition that it might not be a good idea.
"Okay, then. Let's go.", she stands up and walked towards the training grounds with the ninken following close behind. Ryu sighed secretly and followed.
Standing before a tree, Mitsu was instruction Ryu on a few points to be aware of. "... and remember, try to control the amount of chakra. We don't want the tree to get damaged, you just want to climb it. Okay?", Ryu nodded. "Then go on and try."
Going up to the tree, Ryu looked up the at tree's top for a moment. Putting the left foot on the tree, he tries to send chakra towards the sole of his feet. Frowning slightly, he took the foot off the tree and placed it back at the ground. Repeating the motion 2 more times he finally became confident enough to try and put the other foot on the tree. And he succeeded. Walking up and down the tree, upside down under a branch, running up and down and around the tree.
"Ha, it's not really difficult or anything, to be honest. You just have to be careful with your chakra control and everything comes smoothly.", he started babbling as he walked down the tree. "It's just a little tricky though to get it right in the first few tries, but once you get the hang of it, you can...", as he walked down the tree and turned to speak with Mitsu he saw her paralyzed there, with open mouth and twitching eyes. It honestly seems as if she saw him eat shit or something. She was completely horrified.
[Shit!], he screams inwardly as he saw her reaction to what he just did. "hmm... auntie Mitsu... are you okay."
"You... You... is this really the first time you tried?", she asks while stuttering.
"Uh, yes. Actually, I just started sensing my chakra about an hour ago.", he said while scratching his head.
"...You are kidding me, right?", she asked. For some reason, she felt an immense desire to beat the shit out of this brat.
"Uh, no. My mother can testify for me actually."
"...", she stares at him with wide eyes. "Brat, try water walking, right now! I can't believe you learned that so easily!", the veins on her neck are
already starting to pop out.
[I can't do that again. Not at the first try, at least. I should look like I struggled a bit.], he thought as they approached a small pond by the side.
Swallowing his own saliva, he first put his left foot on the water before sending chakra to the sole of his foot, after trying to get a feel a while he
took his foot back and pondered. Doing 2 more times, he is finally ready to try walking on water. Looking discreetly over his shoulder at Mitsu, he tried to walk and with a splash fell down on the water.
Mitsu sighed in relief, he is still human. "Hehe, brat. See? It's not that easy. Shinobis use years to perfect their chakra controls. Practice a little more, will you?"
A getting out of the water, Ryu once again approached the small pond. He first has the left foot in, then the right one. And he is standing perfectly straight in the water. He first tried taking a few steps forward, seeing that it worked, he tried running, jumping, backflipping, side-jumping, standing upside down with his hands on the water. after 5 minutes of testing, he smiled and started his babbling while walking out of the pond. "hmmm. Auntie Mitsu. It was indeed a little harder than tree walking. You were right, to perfect our chakra control, a few hours is not enough to...", he stopped after seeing the look at Mitsu's face. Now it looked like not just him, but she also ate shit. Even the ninken had the same expression. It's that even possible? They looked absolutely terrified and were looking at him as if he was a monster. No, the king of hell who had come to earth to destroy all humanity.
"Uh... auntie?", he smiled embarrassedly. [I fucked up. 'That' happened again.], his lips are twitching as he remembers one of the most recent reincarnations he went through. [...I just hope they don't have a crazy one who would dissect a child alive to uncovers all of its secrets. They don't have that, right?]
"Uh... auntie...", before he finished he shut his mouth. Mitsu had all veins from her forehead to her neck popping out like snakes. As she looked at me, she slowly lifted a closed fist while looking directly at his eyes. [...Hey.You up there, I know I said that you shouldn't interfere no matter what. But look at her, I might die here.], he waited for the beating silently. He does have god-level martial arts and techniques, but remember that this body is still that of a 4 years old child that started training a few months ago. My physique is completely inferior in every aspect. I might have had a chance if I could use ninjutsu, but I just learned chakra literally one hour ago. I have no ninjutsu.
Sighing, he just resigned to his fate. He knows that revealing his capabilities in this way could cause problems for him, but he got affected too much by his endless reincarnations. Where if he died he just needed to wait to return to another life, no big deal. This made him treat death with disdain and all his reincarnations as a game. You can't really blame him, when you had died enough deaths that you had spent literally hundreds of thousands of years in a void waiting for reincarnation, your thought process does tend to change. He only plays with others in this way because, to be honest, he's tired of always acting indifferent
and aloof, although he had long transcended normal emotions, he's not completely emotionless. maybe in this life, where I have a deal so a certain Entity, I need to treat things differently.
With a change of heart. He just smiles at her. And after seeing the complete carefreeness of that smile, Mitsu seems to regain her bearings. Sighing, she looks at the little boy in front of her. "Come with me, Ryu.", without waiting for his response she starts walking out of the training grounds along her ninken.
Following her, he wondered where she would bring him. If needed he does not mind having to flee the village, although at 4 years of age will be going to be a challenge. All his worries were swept away though, as he recognizes the path they are walking. It was the path to his house.
Reaching his house, he enters and invites Mitsu over. "Oh, Ryu? Already back? You just went out not even an hour ago. Did something happened?"
Before he could even respond, Mitsu took a step forward. "Yes, Megumi. Something indeed happened."
"Mitsu? How come you are here?", asks Megumi with a smile on her face a she appears out of the living room. Meanwhile, Ryu just stood quietly at the side with a stoic expression.
"Tell me, Megumi. How long had Ryu started to learn about chakra control?"
"Huh? Well, he asked not long ago for ways to train chakra control. And he said that he had just started to sense chakra. Oh, and he was also able to complete the leaf concentration method perfectly. Why?", for some reason she was having a strange premonition.
Mitsu afters hearing that took a deep breath. "Megumi, I know this might sound totally ridiculous, and it is. But believe me, it's true.", Ryu's mother nodded as if to signal her to continue. "Ryu just used a perfect tree walking technique on his first try.", Just with that, Megumi was already shocked. "... And then continued to master water walking with just two tries..."
As she finished speaking, the entire house went silent. Both women and the dog stiffly turned their heads to look at the four years old boy. No, the four years old monster.
Seeing everyone's attentions turn to him, Ryu just shrugged and walked away to his room. [Well, I already did this anyway. Might as well go all the way while being careful. In a few years, I will already be in a position of power in this world, I just need to be careful until that time arrives.]