Chapter 03: Two Can Play That Game

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After breakfast, he went to his room and sat on his bed. He closed his eyes; his eyelids fluttered seemingly in a trance – and not a second later, he opened his eyes.

Akio did this because he wanted to refresh his mind on Naruto. Although he remembered the basic things – still he brushed up on some parts to prepare his plans. Now that he had time; he'd rather dig deeper and think for some information.

'Now I have a rough estimate on the second shinobi war and that Minato is two years older than me since he's in the same year as Ariza..'

This was an extremely important time for him to get stronger. He is currently five right now, and the academy enrollment starts just three months from now. There wasn't much time but he was content with this, so he could try catching up with the higher clan kids.

Immersed in his thoughts – three knocks were tapped rhythmically on his door. It startled him for a split second, forgetting that he was in his room but he quickly kept his composure before opening the door.

Twisting the doorknob and pulling the door towards him, a familiar figure stood, wearing an innocent smile; her hazel eyes staring into his.

Immediately, Akio's brows creased as he inwardly thought. 'Miko! This bi*tch.'

However, Akio put on the fakest – yet – polite smile he could muster and slightly bowed. "Hi, stepmother. What do I owe the pleasure of?"

Miko found this behaviour weird – normally he would shy away and not even meet her gaze. After all the things she had done to him; he was polite?...

'Has this kid finally lost it,' she inwardly thought. Maybe she had berated and harassed him too much to the point that he had lost his brain cells. Even daring to be a shinobi now – did he want to lose his life? With his mental fortitude, it would be a miracle for him to survive the academy.

"Oh I just came here to congratulate you on your decision to become a shinobi," she sweetly replied.

Akio inwardly laughed, hardly containing his laughter but controlling it – blooming an even larger smile.

'This woman is as shameless as it gets – well two can play that game. This woman basically beat the living shit out of him since he was a toddler.'

Contrary to his thoughts, he had stars in his eyes – admiring the woman in front of her. "I see! I know you have always believed in me. You even inspired me as you used to be a shinobi as well."

This took her back for a split second and really thought this guy had lost it.

'From this guys memories tell me that she was just hardly a genin. I'm not surprised.'

"Ah… I never knew you were such a fan of mine; I am flattered," she exclaimed – the fake smile still plastered on her face.

This time Akio whispered, "Don't tell Ariza and Ima, but I've admired them for some time as well. They're sooo strong."

His childishness couldn't be hidden from her eyes as she questioned herself on if Akio had memory loss.

'My children have literally tortured and caused him misery throughout his whole life yet… he admires them.'

She didn't know what to say…. The only words she had was – he had become delusional after so many beatings.

After more time just conversing with her, she soon got flabbergasted at this kids behaviour and left. The smile was still plastered on his face as she walked away, although, as soon he shut the door; his cold stare was shown.

'That woman is truly a venomous snake; I cannot let her bear her fangs.'

Miko and her children had devastating damage to the previous owner's psyche, but he wasn't the previous Akio… he was just a transmigrator. The memories and pain they caused upon him didn't affect his feelings toward them.

They were merely an obstacle in his eyes – if they stood in his way then it meant, he would have to take action…. If they didn't – well he would just carry on with his main objective.

If that meant, he had to smile at her and treat her with respect then so be it. He was weak right now; it would have been a different story if he had strength.

This was what this world was.. a dog-eat-dog one where only the strong had a saying whilst the weak followed – and right now, he had to follow. So he merely had to act oblivious but it wouldn't work forever.

'This is why I need strength…'

Talking about strength, Akio already had a plan set up whilst he brushed over his memories. Whilst he did; he found out that there was no library in this house, contrary to it being a previous clan, which was unfortunate. However, he had a different idea.

'I have around three months until the academy, so the first thing I should do is ask my father. He's the only one I know that is a shinobi that can help me.'

As he closed the door behind him, a maid scurried across the corridor with a basket in her hand, alerting him of her presence. Her footsteps were quite loud on this wooden floor.

"Maid!" he yelled, just as she was about to go downstairs.

Immediately, she stopped in her tracks, glancing straight at Akio and replied. "Y-yes, sir."

His tone clearly startled her a bit. She was quite young when Akio first glanced at her. And her features were quite pleasing to his eyes so he beckoned her to come over. She even looked younger than all the other maids – probably around twenty.

The maid put down the basket and walked over to him with eyes that were desperately all over the place.

'How nervous she is. Was my tone too harsh?'

"How could I be of help, young sir?" her tone was extra polite – not making eye contact and standing in a respectful demeanour.

Akio straightforwardly replied, "Where is my father?"

She fidgeted with her hands."Umm… he's either patrolling the village or at the entrance. It is nearly afternoon now."

"That's all I need for now. Thank you…" he said.

"What was your name?"

"It's Tatsumi, sir." She walked away, picking up her basket on the way.

Akio never looked at her and had a thoughtful expression. In actuality, he had already scanned through his memories – and he couldn't find any information. This kid just was holed up in his room all day so he didn't even know where his father went

Well, at least he knew now. But first, he was going to take a shower; he actually looked forward to it as he needed some refreshment after all that had happened.

'It's felt like years since I've had one."

Without hesitation, he quickly showered up and changed out of his previous pyjamas – to his now black t-shirt and shorts – with the normal sandals.

Then, he styled his spiky black hair. It looked quite comical to him.

His features were that of a kid right now; he had black spiky hair with an oval face shape – and light brown eyes. Although his cheeks look sunken in and his limbs were pretty much depraved of meat; his skin was extremely pale from just staying inside all day. The only outstanding feature he had was his eyes – everything else… well it was plain. He wasn't ugly nor good-looking – he couldn't really tell due to age but if there was one way to describe him then it would be a ghost. However, he didn't care, as long as one was powerful enough then looks didn't matter. Even charisma could only take you so far – it would make your life easier though.

'So he's patrolling the village or at the entrance; I should check the entrance. If he's not there then I'll just seek some other way to gain knowledge.'

It's not like someone needed to guide you at this stage in this world but it did matter later. There was still the library and other means to have an idea, and even if it was not today – he could still ask for guidance tomorrow.

He needed strength quickly, but being impatient would probably be more detrimental instead. As much as he would like to gain strength, he would cloud his judgement over it

Akio arrived at the open front door and stepped outside. His skin immediately felt the much-needed breeze – and he gladly savoured the fresh air.

'This body hardly went out as he was just holed up in his room depressed. Out of all the people I transmigrated into, it had to be this guy.'

He felt unhappy being brought into such a world, but what's even more annoying is the 'setting' he was put in; he wasn't the main character like those from fantasy – or had some sort of beast in his belly. Except, he did have some sort of memory recall.

'Maybe this was the price to pay for acquiring such a cheat. If it is then I shall gladly squeeze its use.'

The village entrance was just a few minutes away and before he knew it; he had arrived.

Two guards were already stationed, so he walked up to them and asked.

"Sir, have you seen my father– Hagiro by any chance

One of them with a rough face replied, "Nah kid, he wasn't coming in today."

To his disappointment, his father wasn't there so he had a change of plans.

'Seems I need to go to the library.'

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