Chapter 09: Academy Entrance Exam 

---------

"Akio!" Hagiro shouted from downstairs. "Hurry up… it's only your first day."

As soon as he said this, a fair skin kid with black hair and brown eyes briskly walked down the stairs. His attire was different to the time before – now wearing: black cargo shorts with a black t-shirt. A holster carrying kunai and another one with shuriken strapped around with bandages. Above his ankles were also bandages wrapped around – seemingly hiding more weapons.

Akio was now ready for his first day at the academy… or shall he say – the entrance exam which was fairly confident about. Except for the clan kids, he probably had no competition with the others. After a full month of constant training, he has improved in all aspects – some more than others.

Surprisingly, his chakra control improvement triumphed over everything else. His area in the knowledge department… well there isn't much to say – even the clan kids probably won't know as much as him regarding theoretical practices. No – he was sure no one in the whole class could beat him in his expertise.

As he walked through the streets of Konoha – on his way to the academy – Akio thought about his chakra control progress which surprisingly had the most gains.

'Now I can even stick the leaf on my forehead for a good couple of minutes. Before controlling the chakra was a drag… but now, it seems as though it's another body part.'

It was abnormal… even his father had some surprise at the progress, exceeding his expectations. Well, that was the only one that did – in other departments like: shuriken throwing, strength, endurance and maybe technique… he was average.

 Although the technique was not as average as the others – Akio guessed, it was his mental ability, which was further than others, that caused him to pick things up quicker. Other stuff where continuous motion and body growth were needed is where he was lacking.

'Time… if only I had more time: I would have been at least up to par with the clan kids. My constitution doesn't just get results every time like it's a gamer body or quickly because of talent.'

Talent… is what every person in this world desired – people had it, but wanted more. There were levels of talent and Akio believed that he made such progress because of his age.

His father thought he had a naturally gifted mind – but was he such a person? No, he was a twenty-year-old inside a kid's body. The only thing Hagiro was right about was his diligence; his resolve and mental ability are what pushed him to do such things, without this – he would have just been a dead transmigator.

'My mental ability is what helped my chakra control – coupled with my age. Both of these together helped me gain more control over my body too, helping me with technique.'

Somehow his mental cheat also came with another advantage – body control. Maybe the ability itself had strengthened his mind.

"If I was put into this world with different conditions… different life and no cheat. What would I have done?"'

Akio was inwardly grateful for such things.

Over time, he had come to realise that even if he was in a world full of killers… he was thankful.

Thankfully, he never was thrown in with anything and with only himself to rely on – he had guidance: Hagiro and a good ability. This had allowed him to change his perspective on things – maybe his situation wasn't so hard; he was just looking too negatively at things.

Still, he was pessimistic but not always looking at one side of the coin – but still knew that if he was in a different circumstance like: in the body of some experiment of Orochimaru, a body with some sort of disease or a branch family Hyuga, then he's not sure if he could handle such things.

'If I had just not let that situation occur; I would not be here. Hah… maybe this is some sort of karma – that is what I thought first. But unbiasedly thinking… is it really though?'

His journey to the academy was quite thoughtful to say the least, as he had now arrived at the front gate.

More than a dozen kids were queued up – at the very front stood a shinobi, wearing a flak jacket, who had a paper in his hand. He spoke some words every time someone stepped forward – letting them go through the gate next.

A few minutes passed and the person in front of Akio had just walked through – it was now his turn so he stepped forward.

The man sternly glanced at him and said, "Name."

"Akio Hanshiro, sir," he politely replied.

As soon as he said this, he quickly scanned through the page until his eyes slowed down and stopped.

"Go through and wait next to the others on the training grounds."

So he followed these instructions and walked through – now – in front of him, stood the same kids but in rows. Akio walked over to the last one and stood across from an instructor.

After all the remaining kids from behind the gate lined up, the instructor yelled.

"Listen up! The exam will now commence."

All the kids whispered amongst each other as he said this…

"Quiet!" The chatter immediately stopped – everything turned into pin-drop silence.

"Now, you little brats; you see the massive track over there – all of you will go there and run around five times. This will assess your ability and will depend on which class you go – as you know – class a is the highest and c… well the lowest."

Akio looked at the track, surprised by how massive it was; it was… well extremely massive. Each run was at least eight hundred metres – twice the size of a normal one… this wasn't a test for speed but endurance.

Not even a second was wasted, and he started leading them toward the track – everyone was put in their positions and another yell came.

"Now on three – start running…"

Everyone got into their desired stance; they all had serious faces – ready to shoot off at any second."

"One… Two."

Twitches started to occur… their fibres ready to go on overdrive at any given moment – the tension felt by everyone.

"Three."

Suddenly, the whole crowd shot off like a herd of rampaging bulls; not a single person faltered nor stood back… thus a stampede was created.

The childish antiques of kids surfaced, pushing anyone in front of them which caused a domino effect.

Akio who was further ahead, avoiding the stampede, had kept his breaths steady throughout… but this was soon disrupted. A kid behind him pushed through everyone behind him and just like the others, was catching up to Akio; his next target.

Hearing the groaning and thudding behind him, Akio's eyes gleamed and strangely slowed down his pace.

The kid who pushed through noticed this and smirked – speeding up his own pace.

He ran… and ran – and now just behind the slowed-down Akio, expecting to be another clean sweep… although things didn't turn out as he expected.

Just as he was about to barge him, Akio quickly squatted down, dragging his right leg across the floor and under the opposition's foot, sweeping the kid. He never even stopped for a moment and carried on running whilst the other kid was left in the dust – now trodden on by the others.

'As I thought,' he inwardly suspected and sped up his pace which was quicker than last time.

The instructors didn't say anything to this bombardment of behaviour, concerning the pushing… shoving and fighting. This meant – as long as people were trying to win– then rules didn't matter; you can use any means necessary.

'Heh. I like the sound of that. There was no luck involved – if you were strong then you could be at the top. If you weren't – then get trodden on by the others. This reminds me of the time in the show – where cheating wasn't allowed, yet the real meaning was – don't get caught.'

This meant, even if you were the fastest or had the greatest endurance, there was a chance you'd still get pushed by those slower. In the end – it only mattered whether you were stronger; not fast or having great endurance… but strength.

Time passed… Kids fought… pushed others who tried getting in front. Kicked those who were behind them... Trodded on those affected – and finally – the race had finished.

As expected, the civilian kids were all left behind in the dust to fend for themselves and the clan kids led at the top. Not a single kid could make it in their time.

This was the gap between them – whilst clan kids had: a systematic regimen, diet, guidance and moulding/ experience of the environment… they had nothing. Only some of them had shinobi parents but it wasn't enough – the sheer difference in mentality between the civilian and clan were much different.

Akio was in the clan kids section, breathing irregularly as he bent over with sweat dripping down his neck. The hot sunny weather added to his skin, glistening his fair skin.

Despite his sweaty face and tired expression, he closed his eyes and sighed with relief.

'I am now with the others – Class 1-A... I expected this but still – it sits well with me.'

Now, Akio had finally enrolled in the academy – all the days of constant training and never slacking off had finally paid off. A feeling of pride welled up in his heart, appreciating his hard work… It felt good… strangely it felt a strong kind of good. It was just the academy but for the first, he looked forward to what was to come.

His first step on the shinobi's path had now been taken…

**

**

**