Settling In.

After establishing his first minor goal in his mind, Tendo immediately went to take a bath. The poison gave off an extremely nasty odor and it was starting to cling to his skin. Also, having a bath helps one think sometimes.

As Tendo stepped in the shower and allowed the water to run down his long, spiky hair, he closed his eyes in deep thought, wondering about his purpose in this world. After all, he only arrived here on a whim. He barely had time to prepare himself for such a trip.

'What should I do, what should I do...? I can just do some assassinations mission but how long would it really take before that gets boring? Not to mention that I need to reach a certain level of strength to actually thrive in this world. Hmm...'

Tendo slicked his hair back and allowed the water to slowly wash away the poison as he kept thinking about his goals.

'Take over the world? Too much hassle. Maybe join Madara? Eh, still too much hassle. Hm...I got it. I'll just become the strongest so that I can do what I want. That was how it was in my old world so I'll just repeat the same thing here.'

Coming to this conclusion, Tendo took about ten more minutes to wash up before he got out of the bathroom. He opened his wardrobe and took out a brand new set of the standard monk uniform as the old one was basically destroyed.

After doing that, he wrapped his hair up in a ponytail and exited the house, heading out to the training grounds of the temple.

'It's time to get a general understanding of what is going on here and get some training in. I have a lot to catch up on.'

As soon as Tendo exited the house, he bumped into a child monk who was sitting on his steps crying his eyes out. He looked to be around the same age as current Tendo, who was ten years old.

'Is this who I think it is?'

The child turned around and looked at Tendo, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Brother Tendo?! You're alive?!"

The child jumped up from his position and was about to throw himself in Tendo's arms when all of a sudden Tendo attacked.

WHOOSH!

Tendo caught his arm and twisted it behind his back while turning him around, instantly locking him in a chokehold.

"W-wait, brother Tendo! I-its me, S-sora!"

Instantly realizing what he was doing, Tendo let go of the child who was coughing quite a bit at this time. In his mind, Tendo was cursing his reaction time as he couldn't stop a simple reflex like that.

Normally, he could've, but it was like a part of him wanted to kill the child for coming that close. It was a sense of bloodlust that he felt getting stronger and stronger the moment he transmigrated into this body.

'This must be that madness-inducing side effect of Jugo's clan. If I don't get this under control soon enough, I could blow my cover in a fit of rage. Now, for this boy...'

Tendo looked at Sora and tried his best to put on a sympathetic face as he said, "Sora, I'm sorry! I mistook you for the bandit leader that attacked me in the forest! Are you okay?"

Tendo couldn't even convince himself that it was an act but he knew that a child like Sora who was lonely and badly wanted friends would instantly believe him. And so he did.

Hearing the apology and seeing Tendo's sincere expression, a smile appeared on Sora's face as he said happily, "No problem, brother Tendo! I thought it was something like that! Well, no worries! You're among friends now and the bandits aren't even close! Are you feeling alright? Everyone thought you were dead!"

Tendo nodded his head and responded, "I'm fine Sora. Let's get to training before the master scolds us."

Sora quickly regained his breath and showed Tendo a thumbs-up sign before running off towards the training grounds. He was ecstatic to show the master that Tendo was alive and well. He was even more excited at the fact that his only friend was still with him. It felt like his worries had all gone away in the blink of an eye.

'I'll have to incapacitate him then absorb the power of the nine tails he harbors within him. I knew he and the original owner of this body were friends from the memories but I didn't think I would meet him this early. I'll do it before I leave the temple to enter the leaf. That way, I should be cleared of suspicion. I just need to find the right alibi but mistakes can't afford to be made. I'm dealing with professional killers like myself so they should be able to catch on if I don't cover my tracks...'

Coming to this conclusion, Tendo solidified his resolve and followed Sora. Using just his natural physical speed without any sort of technique involved, Tendo easily caught up to Sora who was using the body flicker jutsu, albeit he was not that good at it.

Sora widened his eyes in surprise as he thought to himself, 'I don't remember brother Tendo being that fast before. Wasn't he the weakest one out of us because he couldn't control his massive chakra? Seems like he's gotten a bit better!'

As Sora was there being happy for Tendo's 'sudden improvement', the latter had already thought of a few ways to steal his abilities. He just needed the right time to act.

It wasn't long before the duo got to the training grounds where many other monks, young and old were practicing their morning meditation to build up a special kind of chakra. The chakra was named 'Gift Of The Sages' and it required daily, unrelenting training to master.

Many monks had tried to master it but most failed. Those who did either became a part of the Twelve Guardian Ninja's or became noteworthy shinobi in the leaf. There was no need to mention those who didn't.

Seeing the duo enter the grounds about a minute late, a bald man with dark eyes and thick eyebrows shouted out in a stern tone, "Sora, Tendo! You're late! Both of you will spend extra time training today. Especially you, Tendo. Since you wanted to worry us so much, your time will be doubled! Get busy!"

Hearing the man shouting at him, Tendo seemed unaffected as he found a spot to sit down and meditate, immediately closing his eyes. Sora wanted to say something to him but when he noticed the master's stern gaze, he quickly got to training too.

The master of the temple, named Chiriku, nodded inwardly as he noticed how diligent Tendo was meditating. To him, it seemed like his student had changed quite a bit after coming back from the brink of death.

'He's much less timid now and he seemed to have developed an air of calmness about him. Maybe this encounter was a good thing after all. If this continues and he manages to control that massive chakra that lies within him...I might not have any worries about remaking the Twelve Guardian Ninja.'