
Chapter 2
Because of his jinchuriki status, he's named a ward of the village, and thus ends living very close to that man, Shibuki's, private quarters. At first Harry never leaves his room, he's faced with a dilemma after all.
He doesn't know who Fū was or how he ended up in the poor kids body. He doesn't know what Fū liked or didn't, doesn't know any of his friends....nothing.
A few days of going stir crazy have him throwing caution to the wind, fuck it.
According to Shibuki, (who's name isn't really Shibuki-sama, because -sama is just a formality that symbolizes the highest regard or respect), after a bit of subtle prodding, Fū wasn't really much under the village council's radar before he became a jinchuriki, so Harry figures he could act which ever way he liked, but not too suspiciously because they could do a follow up on his behavior by asking the matrons at Fū's former residence.The sad part is that Harry had no idea how to act like a kid.
Oh he'd watched his own, but it was completely different. Watching and doing it was easier said than done, he felt like an idiot. He just didn't know how to act like a kid.
Voldermort, Dumbledore and the fucking Dursleys had made sure of that.
He forgets all about that problem as well, because he finally remembers his kids, who he'd forgotten because (lets face it) he is a shitty father and that kinda hits him hard....but also, makes him want to find away home as quickly as he can.
He just doesn't know where he could possibly start. Except — "Is there a library somewhere around here?" He asks Shibuki five mornings later, when simply wondering the village does him no good.
"Why do you ask?" The man questions, halting his chewing.
"I wanted to read a bit."
"There are books in your bedroom." Shibuki says, confused.
"I don't want to read fairy tales. I want books, real books with solid information."
"Those books might be a bit too difficult for a four year old mind to grasp."
Harry raises a brow at him. "We both know I'm no regular four year old."
True," he says slowly, rubbing his chin. "What do want books for? You know you can ask me anything, right? I'm not just the Headman, but also one of the best scholars in the village."
"I'll ask for help when I need it. Right now I just want to know where the library is."
Thank Circe he's easily agreeable.
He randomly picks books as he strolls through the large room, not even checking what they're about. Harry never claimed to be good at doing research, he left that to Hermione. He quickly realizes that maybe he went about it the wrong way, when the books he's reading have numerous pages where chakra is mentioned. Harry doesn't even know what chakra is.
"What in the seven hells is chakra!?" He exclaims in frustration, pulling st his green hair. (Seriously though, the hair colours he's seen in the past two weeks are ridiculous. What is up with this world?)
"Its a mixture of physical and spiritual energy." A young boy, five or more years older than Harry....or is Fū, says as he sits on the opposite side of Harry's table with a book in hand.
"Eh.....?"
"Physical energy flows through our body. We gain it from eating foods rich in carbohydrates, fats,and protein and training our bodies. Spiritual energy is concentrated in our minds, we get it through meditating and sleeping.
Our chakra coils, located at our centre of mass, or our abdomen, is where spiritual and physical energy are combined to form chakra."
Harry blinks at the boy. "Ok. Why is it mentioned all the time?"
"This is a Shinobi library and we primarily rely on chakra based techniques. How do you not know that?" The boy asks when Harry's look of confusion does not fade.
"What the hell are Shinobi?" Harry asks.
"How old are you?" the boy asks, looking perplexed. "Old enough."
There is something calculating about the look he gives Harry. It has his hair standing on end, because he feels like prey on the other side of a predators gave.
Then the moment disappears like it never happened.
The fuck?
The boy sniffs. "I graduated from the academy last year and my family was very proud." A pause."You must be from an important Shinobi clan."
"Why do you say that?"
"You must be from a very high ranking clan if they let you in here. Not just anyone is allowed entry after all. My name is Tsugaro and I'm the youngest son of Kazami clan's Head."
"Fū, nice to meet ya."
"And your clan?"
"Never met them before. I'm guessing it doesn't happen everyday that someone your age graduates from the academy."
Tsugaro gives him a this look for abruptly changing the subject, but his expression has Harry believing he'd rather talk about graduating early than clan politics. "It doesn't happen much in Taki, I'm the first to graduate early in last fifty years."
"Really? Does this village have a shortage of smart people or something?" Harry questions, momentarily forgetting about the book he was reading.
"No, it has an...adequate influx of smart people, especially civilians. It just doesn't have any that are extraordinary." The boy explains. "Our village has a strict regime for academy students. Its so hard that only a few people without prior training make it into the Shinobi ranks. Most of our Shinobi are made up of Shinobi clan members, as they get training before entering the academy."
"That doesn't seem fair." Harry says, folding his arms and sitting forward.
"That point has been raised before, and our previous Headman took measures to increasing the passing rate of our academy. He opened up a dojo where civilian children with interests in becoming Shinobi would be given basic taijutsu training, diets and training exercise regimes to keep in shape."
"What's a taijutsu?"
"Hand to hand combat," the boy says after a pause. "They would be assisted in finding their chakra and developing their networks, given rudimentary ninjutsu and genjutsi training, as well as taught basics such as hunting and preparing meat, identifying plants safe to eat and those good for making poisonous, traps as well as many other survival methods that Shinobi clans teach their children."
"What are ninjutsu and genjutsu?"
"I'm guessing your interest in the Shinobi arts is recent."
"Never would've guessed it myself." Harry snarks.
With a sniff, Tsugaro goes to explain ninjutsu and genjutsu as best as he can with Harry hanging onto every single word he says.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Tsugaro asks.
"No shit." He breaths out, because chakra is amazing, if not more so than magic.
"Where did you learn to speak so crudely?" The boy asks, lips curled in disgust.
Harry expertly ignores it. Pureblood prick.
"Say, you wouldn't mind teaching me all of this on your free time, would you?"
There's a long stretch of silence where that creepy look returns.
He's getting Mini-Mort vibes from the kid. How is this his life? The first 'friend' (the word is used very loosely in this scenario) he makes is giving him super charged psychopathic vibes.
"Unfortunately, most of my time will be spent doing missions with my teammates, and I'm not allowed to teach anyone clan techniques" he says this slowly, considering ",which happen to take up most of my repertoire. But I suppose I can help you with a few things. The rest you'll just have to learn elsewhere." The nine year old says with a sniff. "I'll meet you outside tomorrow morning, five o'clock sharp. If you're even a minute late you can forget about me helping you. I have better things to do with my time." Overall, its a well spent morning.
True to his word, Tsugaro is waiting for him outside the Headman's monument looking as if it isn't five o'clock in the morning the next day. Harry can barely keep his eyes open, having spent the previous day devouring any piece of information he could get hands on about chakra.
"Since this is probably the first time you'll be doing any sort of physical exercise, I'm going to ease you into it. Today, we'll take a walk around the village to gouge your stamina, then tomorrow and for the rest of the week we'll be pushing you past those limits.
Next week we'll take a jog, with the same purpose of gouging your strength and pushing your limits, then we'll move up from there. Got it?"
"Yeaw...." He says with a yawn.
"Good, now to be productive," he says, starting the walk. "I'll be teaching you a bit about the village, because I know you're clueless, its written all over your face." He mutters out the last part.
"Heyw," he says with another yawn, trying to act offended even though he's really grateful the kid is helping him.
"Takigakure is a Shinobi village, first and foremost and it is located in the Land of Waterfalls. Despite not being one of the great Shinobi villages,—"
"Which are?" Harry interrupts.
"Konohagakure, Kumogakure, Sunagakure, Iwagakure and Kirigakure."
"I read about them in passing, but I'm a little confused," Harry asks, rubbing his chin. "do all those names have a particular meaning?"
Tsugaro takes a deep breath unable to keep the exasperation of his face. Harry doesn't bother feeling embarrassed, he needs to know these things before someone else figures out how very little he knows. "They are the Hidden Leaf, the Hidden Cloud, the Hidden Sand, the Hidden Stone and the Hidden Mist respectively. They are located in one of each of the five great countries. Konoha in the Fire country, Kumo in the Lightning country, Suna in the Wind country, Iwa in the Earth country and Kiri in the Water country. There are other countries of course, but those five are the best, the greatest.Takigakure is found in between Earth country, Hi no Tetsu, The land of Iron and the Fire country, and is primarily made of Shinobi with Water and Earth Release. Some are capable of using Wind instead of Earth Release, and the rest have all sorts of Kekkei Genkai."
"I've been meaning to ask what that is."
"Bloodline limits. One of our clans, the Akurai, have the ability to bend light and use it for various things, which is a Kekkei Genkai. An ability that develops over time, with nothing mystical about it. Its all genetics and the ability to adapt to a situation. A good example is the Kazekage clan from Suna, who have the Wind release and magnetic release. Over time, they've adapted to using the desert around them as a weapon. Some can bend gold, the current Sandiame Kazekage being a good example, others iron, platinum and many other minerals found in the desert sand."
Harry nods. To think, people can do things like this here? Chakra seems like an upgraded version of magic.
"—ur village is in possession of numerous scrolls depicting Forbidden techniques . These are all kept locked in a special vault, access to which is granted to only the highest-ranking people in the village. Despite us not being very big and powerful, the village's population is still fairly high. This comes from the fact that many people prefer this village due to the tranquility here, although that has slightly changed in recent times due to the industrialization and modernization process that is taking place. It aims to help Takigakure in catching up with the other shinobi Hidden Villages, especially those ofthe Five Great Nations.Our village is surrounded by four other nations—"
Circe, how is it possible for a nine year old to speak in such a soporific yet surly tone?
"And I'm guessing the state of the village is a normal occurrence?" Harry asks, looking around as they pass by broken down buildings in the process of rebuilt.
"It has never been successfully invaded. Our guard rotation is made of our best Water Release users and sensory type Shinobi, and with it surrounded by that large body of water," Tsugaro says, "no one gets in unless we say so."
"What is a Sandiame Kazekage?"
"A Kazekage, meaning Wind Shadow, is the title given to the leader of Sunagakure. Sandaime means third in succession since the establishment of the village. Each Hidden village has a Kage. Konoha has the Hokage, Kumo has the Raikage, Iwa has the Tsuchikage and Kiri has the Mizukage."
"You know a lot."
"So I've been told." He sniffs.
"You sniff a lot. Is there something wrong with your nose? You should probably get your sinuses checked."
Tsugaro glares down at him before sniffing in derision. "Its a bad habit, I know."
"You never did tell me why you agreed to help me." Harry says, coming to a halt, his breath coming out in huffs.
The stare again. Harry is starting to get used to it, which is a good thing. Right?
"You're smart and spending time with you isn't half as bad as I thought it be. Plus, you're useful, you look useful and, you're more than likely to get good qualities if you hang around me, which is good. This village needs more Shinobi like myself."
Harry highly doubts it, but eh—this is his life, how it normally works. He's just gotta find a way to work with it.