"Lower your hip more when you're preparing to launch forward. It will help you project ahead with more speed, and the closeness to the earth improves stability, allowing you to control your direction, and it takes a lot of weight off your ankles in case you need to stop."

Takuma furrowed his brows but lowered his hips anyway and repeated the kata he was practicing. He launched forward and found him getting to point B quicker than before, and his foot skidded less when he made a stop. He eased his stance as he turned to Maruboshi and gave him an appreciative nod.

After the day Takuma had met Maruboshi, the aged shinobi had always found him during the evenings while he practiced his taijutsu. He would come and advise Takuma as he cycled through the academy kata. Takuma was grateful for it. There was only so much taijutsu one could learn from still images on a scroll, and Maruboshi's adjustment instructions helped tremendously improve his lousy skills. They were still pathetic even when compared to his classmates, but he thought that he saw some improvements when he was able to sidestep an attack— even though the next moment, he had been kicked in the gut hard enough to end up on the ground with a senbon each, inches away from his eyes.

"How young are you, young Takuma?" Maruboshi asked.

"Ten," said Takuma as he attacked the wooden log. Even though he had come to terms with the fact that he was now a ten-year-old boy, it still felt strange to voice out the reality. What was he doing when he was truly ten years old? Whining to parents about wanting more toys, spending time outside with friends doing absolutely silly things, or whatever your run-of-the-mill ten-year-old did on a daily basis.

'Now though...' Takuma sighed. He was learning how to turn his body and mind into a weapon— and doing so very badly. He guessed at least that was typical of an average ten-year-old.

"That would put you in the last year of the academy... Your taijutsu skills are poor— very poor— for someone in their last year," Maruboshi's voice suddenly snapped Takuma out of his wandering thoughts.

Takuma froze up. He turned to Maruboshi, who had been sitting on a nearby rock with a kunai and a wood block that he had been carving. He stared at the old man for a moment before asking, "What are you trying to say?" Takuma was surprised at how guarded he sounded.

"The academy's curriculum is formed in such a way that the last year doesn't involve much new learning. The last year is dedicated to strengthening the learnings from past years and ensuring that the student can utilize the learned skills smoothly on missions. The teachers schedule lots of spars, survival outings, and classroom simulations to prepare the children for what they might face when they become genins."

"I don't understand..."

"Young Takuma, before you told me, I thought you were a tall child in the second year of the academy."

Which meant he was as bad as a seven-year-old. He should've known that a shinobi who survived to such an old age must be very skilled. 'I should've lied about my age,' Takuma thought, but he had no such foresight beforehand. He looked down at his body. Fixing his diet was definitely the right step; he already saw an improvement in his complexion and felt more energetic in the morning. But it was too early for it to take total effect— he still looked like a thin twig— most girls in his class had more meat on them than he had.

"Is taijutsu a weak subject for you?" Maruboshi asked.

Takuma nodded. But then he bowed his head and muttered, "I'm bad at everything..."

"I'm sorry, I missed that." Maruboshi chuckled, "My ears must have gotten weak; would you mind repeating for this old man?"

"I'm bad at everything!" Takuma said and then glared at Maruboshi, daring him to try and make fun of him for it. It wasn't his fault that he was awful at shinobi skills. 'I'm not even terrible; I just started out!' he thought furiously.

"Everything?"

"Everything," and that somehow broke the dam as Takuma's frustrations poured out. "I can't beat anyone in sparring, I can't hit the targets, I can't perform jutsus— I can't even mold chakra" — he had tried to follow his learning plan and go by the years, but the temptation of harnessing chakra had beat him, and he ended up reading up on it, but just like everything else, he was awful at him, he couldn't sense chakra in his body— "I can't tie the knots fast enough, or start a fire, or hunt, or build a shelter in the wild. I don't understand ambush strategies or tailing tactics. Everything's confusing, and there's no one I can ask for help. I have less than one year before graduation. I will fail like this. I don't want to fail. I do not want to fail."

Takuma breathed out deeply to calm himself because he would've broken down into a hyperventilating mess if he didn't. It had happened before; it wasn't something he wanted to experience again.

"Calm down, little one," said Maruboshi in a soothing voice. He sat Takuma down and handed him a canteen of water.

"I'm sorry; that was unsightly of me," said Takuma after he had settled down. He couldn't look at Maruboshi as he apologized in fear he would see mocking in his eyes as he had seen in everyone else's. "I shouldn't have reacted that way."

"It's okay. There's nothing for you to be ashamed of. It happens to the best of us," Maruboshi said with a soothing smile.

"Even you?"

Maruboshi's eyes glazed over for a moment and a faraway look appeared on his face before a brief bitterness flashed in his eyes. It was gone in an instant as Maruboshi focused back on Takuma. He nodded, "Even me. I have found myself lost one too many times. And I believe I have found my way back every time."

"What should I do? I will truly fail if I continue on like this."

Maruboshi didn't reply immediately. Instead, he took away the canteen from Takuma and put it back. He kneeled on both his knees and sat down facing Takuma. "Do you truly want to pass and graduate from the academy?" he asked seriously.

Takuma was confused, but he nodded. "I have to pass at graduation. I'm an orphan, but because I'm in the academy, I live alone in an apartment. They give me an allowance, but the moment I'm out of the academy— pass or fail— that will end. If I don't have a good job, I won't be able to pay rent... And I can't go back to the orphanage; I'll be an adult at eleven, regardless of whether I become a shinobi or not."

It was the harsh reality of the situation. The moment the boy(OG Takuma) stepped out of the orphanage and into the apartment, he had no way of returning. An eleven-year-old with no trade skill training wasn't going to get a job with an income high enough to afford rent, even in the cheapest area of the Leaf village. His tradecraft was supposed to be a mercenary for hire, for which he had been trained for five years... but now, that seemed like an impossible dream.

"If... If I offer to train you, will you train seriously?" Maruboshi suddenly asked.

Takuma's confusion turned into a startled shock. He looked into Maruboshi's eyes, trying to figure out where the offer had come from. He then snapped out and realized he had been silent for a moment now.

"Yes!" he shouted. "I mean! I will train seriously!"

Maruboshi frowned deeply. The kind man looked unkind for the first time since Takuma had seen him. "You had five years to learn. You didn't learn then; why should I believe you will change now?"

Takuma wanted to scream that it wasn't him who didn't learn. He had seen how Kibe and his classmates treated him. The boy had no friends. The only figure of authority in his life had deemed him worthless. Yet there was no animosity against him. His classmates didn't hate him; they simply ignored him. It couldn't be more clear that the boy was a bad student, someone on the lower string of the social ladder, someone who was forgotten and unseen because he had nothing special or of interest. His reputation wasn't Takuma's fault. He had been trying his best since he had come here.

But he couldn't say any of it, so he clenched his fist as an outlet.

"I can't give you money, for I don't have any," said Takuma.

"I don't—"

"But, I will give you my life... I can give you my mind, body, and obedience. If you can teach me to be a shinobi, I will do everything and anything you say. Your words will be commands, and I will be yours to order. You say jump; I will ask how high." Takuma matched his eyes with Maruboshi and said, "You asked why you should believe me... I'm desperate and in a corner; there's nothing I won't do to get out of it. I can see my life about to be destroyed" — it already had — "and I will do anything to get it back on track."

His life had already been taken away from him. He had no choice but to build himself a second one. And he would rather be a safe one than one of endless misery.

"I don't have a devil to make a deal with," Takuma looked up at Maruboshi. "So, I will make this one with you... Teach me and I will owe one with no questions asked."

"You don't need to owe me."

"I have already offered it. If you don't want to, then it's your choice to not claim it. It's the only thing I can offer," Takuma said. He felt better knowing that he was offering something in return— regardless of how small it may be.

Maruboshi didn't reply. Instead, he stood up. For a moment, Takuma thought he would back out, and his heart sank deeper than Tartarus's depths.

Maruboshi stared down at Takuma for what seemed like an eternity. "I will teach you..."

Takuma's heart sang songs of heavenly joy upon hearing Maruboshi.

"But at any point, I feel that you're not putting effort, our agreement will end," said Maruboshi, and it sounded solemn when coming from someone as elderly as him. "But if you give me your all, I shall do my best to reciprocate to the best my old bones can manage."

Takuma hurriedly got off the ground. "You won't feel the need," he said resolutely. He had been in the world long enough to observe some of the culture, so he bowed deeply to Maruboshi.

"Thank you for this opportunity... thank you..."

Maruboshi patted Takuma on his shoulder. "It's too early for you to be thanking me. If you want to thank me, do it after you graduate. I would gladly accept it then," he said. "How much time till your graduation?"

"Less than a year," Takuma said. He had been in the world for three weeks, and the school year had started two weeks before that. Meaning that one month had already passed. An academy school year was eleven months long with no summer break and only a single month respite between years. "I have roughly ten months until the last test."

"Ten months..." Maruboshi squinted as he said.

"Is that not enough time?" Takuma asked, knowing well it wasn't enough.

"It is not," Maruboshi said. "We will have to work long and hard every day. I will guide you best, but I can't promise progress. It's only you who can guarantee that."

"I... I understand," Takuma nodded. If he screwed up, it would be all on his head — that's what it sounded like to him. And he didn't like the sound of that at all. "When do we start?"

"Tomorrow. Meet me here in the morning at five."

"... Five?" Takuma blinked. He repeated it, hoping Maruboshi would correct himself, but the old man just smiled before vanishing in a whirlwind of leaves.

Takuma stood alone in the field, wondering the last time he had been awake at five. He had stayed awake through the night playing games, but it had been a while since he had done that. He looked up at the sky and wondered what the sky would look like at five in the morning.

 

 

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