Of true friends
Today another batch of kids, who decided to join academy this year , went to take physical examination to make sure there are fit for the duty. Because Konoha isn’t that wasteful, it produces child soldiers, not useless child meat shields.
As I was already examined, I didn’t need to go again. Daiki wasn’t able to shut up about taking first step towards his goal and how fun it would be for us to study together. I couldn’t help but become a little excited myself.
Today I decided to have a rare day without training and scout shops to found out prices of food, so I can plan my budget. When I returned back, everyone was already at the orphanage.
I could see some kids with gloomy air about them.
Ahh, those who are not fit to be shinobi.
Honestly, who wouldn’t want to learn how to walk on water and spit out fire. But unfortunately not everyone can do it. Even if they weren’t physically fit, as long as they showed something extraordinary about themselves, Academy or specialised departments will gladly take them in.
Maybe later they will think of it as a blessing in disguise, but their dreams are crushed into a dust now. To begin with, we all start with disadvantage compared to pretty much everyone else. Clan kids have their own training,,children from civilian background have moral and monetary support from their families ,who genuinely care about them(not everyone,but most). All we have is some advice from caretaker, who care about Konoha and it’s system.
I picked some daises on my way home to congratulate Daiki. To be honest I have been avoiding him a little, he is always so innocent and pure, it makes me feel dirty and tainted in comparison.
When I entered the room, I could see him bundle up in blanket. Hmm? Shouldn’t he be jumping around in joy right now. I have a bad feeling.
I poked at his cover” hello, hello. Is someone there?” I asked with faked cheer in my voice.
I heard quite mumble from him, so I leaned down to hear better” What? Can you repeat that again?”
Daiki took off the blanket and shouted” I said GO AWAY!”the smile on my face froze.
So, he probably didn’t make it
I asked others about what has happened at the hospital and they confirmed my conjecture.
Turned out he was born with deformed chakra coils, he won’t be able to perform any ninjutsu or genjutsu in this life at all.
His journey to become shinobi ended, before it even started.
Is it horrible of me to feel equally parts concerned and relived?
He wanted to become great hero, that saves the day. But as far as I can see, there is nothing heroic on this path, which personally suits me just fine. I have known him for a long time and I can’t see necessarily decisiveness in him, that is required in this field. Maybe I am wrong and he could obtain it in the future. Now we will never know
He already knows that I am as good as admitted to academy. I also bragged to him that I activated a kekkei genkai and soon will leave him in a dust.
What can I even say to him to cheer him up? It will all sound hypocritical coming from me.
Let’s just give him some time.
I was dealing with aftermath by concentrating on routine.As time went on I almost religiously continued on with my training program and during resting time I tried to talk with Daiki. All my attempts were met with utter silence from him, it hurt me quite a bit, but I could understand that he was hurting himself too.
But then the look he gave me changed and he started glaring at me for some inexplainable reason. Soon I found out that he started hanging out with those punks, who spread rumours about my arrogance.
Oh, well. He will cool off after some time.
I thought a little dismissively.
As shitty as it may sound, I didn’t have enough energy to help someone else, I could barely keep myself together without having a meltdown.
It was like any other day. I finished my last lap and was leaning on trunk of a tree trying to catch my breath, then suddenly I felt sharp pain in my nose. Someone just punched me out of nowhere . I instinctively gained distance between me and my assaulter.
I raised my head and saw three boys and one girl. And Daiki. He was standing behind them and looking at me with guilty eyes.
What
I was in shocked state,I couldn’t comprehend why My friend was just standing there and watching me getting hit.
I couldn’t even hear what those idiots were saying, my gaze never leaving the form of My friend.
“ ….hey, are you even listening?!!” the girl pushed me in my shoulder.
Finally, that got me out of my stupor, I looked at her and what seems to be her cronies. They were the ones to spread the rumours about me.
I was pissed off “ What?” I glared at them.
She took a step back “ Hey, you see I was right. He thinks he’s so high and mighty. We must teach him a lesson” she smiled arrogantly
She was spouting some bullshit. Fights are as common as breathing at the Orphanage. You don’t really need a solid reason to start one. There are always those types of people who want to feel good about themselves by putting someone else down.
Moral indignation is but a jealousy with a halo.
I became a little bit of a loner as of late, those who were jealous just took their chance.
Still I am way smaller than they are, even if I wasn’t ,they have me outnumbered. The only logical thing to do is run the fuck away. But of course I wouldn’t be that lucky. They formed a circle around me, shouldn’t have zoned out like an idiot.
No matter how much I tried to block and dodge I couldn’t escape all attacks. One of them was able to land a heavy hit on my stomach. I curled up on the ground shielding my head and trying not to throw up.
Those fuckers continued to kick me, it was certainly painful, but it wasn’t my first time getting beaten up. What hurt more was the fact that Daiki was watching it, he purposefully led them here.
They finally stopped . Probably got scared after seeing all that blood seeping through my bandages. If I wanted to I could take them all on with my blood chains, but I am not confident enough to use them without killing anyone.
Those bastards threw some self justifying words at me and went away. I didn’t care much about them. The only object of my focus was Daiki.
He was looking down at my crumpled form with a smile on his face.
Still I could trace of the guilt inside his eyes. I don’t know what he expected, but this probably wasn’t it.
Sometimes when people feel ashamed of their own actions, anger starts overtaking them. Anything to make themselves believe that they’re not perpetrators, they are victims.
He started shouting “ you deserved all this, you were always looking down at me. Always treating me like I am some sort of idiot” Was I now?
I slowly pulled myself into sitting position against the tree and looked leisurely at him pacing around me.
“I know that you talk behind my back telling everyone, that I am worthless now and avoiding me just because I don’t have any value for you.Also,Akane-chan rejected me ,because she likes you more.How are you any better than me?! I just don’t get it, just because you are better at studies? ” Never heard of her
“ You even activated kekkei genkai, while I can’t even go to the Academy. How is it fair?!” He started loudly gasping for air.
So , it was all it took to brake our friendship
Or did he always secretly hate me?
So he has inferiority complex and is jealous of me.
None of it reflects how I feel about him, it just shows what he thinks of himself
I felt just so tired, something cold was welling up inside of me. I looked at him silently as he was huffing and puffing after his rant.
I probably should be more understanding, all his dreams were crashed, while I am succeeding in everything he wanted. And those guys were definitely goading him.
Hmm? Maybe I was underestimating that girl, she might have wanted to showcase her manipulative abilities.
In all likelihood in his eyes all my achievements look like they were just dropped in my lap and I didn’t have to lift a single finger for them.
He has no idea how much time I spent reading all those books to be the first in the class, how much effort I put in my training and the price I had to pay for kekkei genkai.
He is such a pushover and coward,this whole thing likely wasn’t even his idea
He didn’t even join the fight, all he did is spout nonsense at me, when I was already down.
Haha. Can’t believe I considered someone so pathetic to be my friend
I was somewhat envious of his cheerfulness and optimism, because I tend to assume the worst of people. But he fell apart just after one hurdle and starting taking his anger on innocent people.
He continued on with his spiel, which I zoned out long time ago.
Hahahaha
I started uncontrollably laughing
[“Kaito-kun, you are my best friend.” When we will become ninja, I will definitely protect little shrimp like you” he put his hand around my shoulders and ruffled my hair. ]
He flinched and looked somewhat angry and a bit scared “ Wha..what are you laughing at?!”he clenched his fists “ As I said before, don’t you dare think about Akane-chan. Everyone approaches you only because of your face, no one really likes you.” I could see the moment he regretted what he said, but it was already too late.
[“ I don’t want to go with them” I whined and plopped down on my bed
“ they are so stupid and boring anyway “ I huffed and crawled under the blanket “ my cheeks are all swollen from their pinching. They treat me like some wonder doll, who can talk and walk on its own”
Daiki hit my head . Ouch. “ don’t say that, obviously they like you, because you are awesome”
I raised an eyebrow doubtfully “ You really think so?”
“ of course” his nose was turned up so high it could touch a ceiling. “ when have I ever been wrong?”
Pretty much daily. I thought to myself, still I could feel something warming up in my chest]
Ah, he is truly my best friend, he knows exactly where to hit.
I couldn’t stop my hysterical laugh. But my eyes were extremely cold. Looking at him like he is my prey
He started backing away from with a face full of fear, whatever courage he had ,it already disappeared into thin smoke.
Yo..you , don’t come any closer he stuttered
[I will definitely protect you, Kaito-kun
His gaze was filled with affection and determination ]
His face paled in horror, he started crawling backwards away from me
Sigh, how annoying.
The more I looked at him, the angrier and more betrayed I felt.
The blue haired boy looked like a demon with his blood soaked bandages and maniac grin on his face. Unbeknownst to him, he started leaking small amounts of killing intent and blood chains were slowly forming from his hands.
Should I just kill him?
No, no. I can’t do that
I was shaking my head and clutching my hair.
Ah, after accident I trained my chains in a completely calm state. It is really difficult to control them, when I feel emotional.
Calm down, breathe in..1..2..3 , breathe out
Slowly his momentum was decreasing and blood flowing back into him.
Daiki pissed himself and shouted loudly “Monster” at me
I have never shown or explained in detail my kekkei genkai, because I was afraid of this reaction
Something snapped inside my head, my grin widened.
Right
I am a monster
Why should I hold back?
Bloodlust and killing intent were pouring out of my body like an unstoppable flood
Blood chains were formed were formed in a matter of seconds and shot towards the forehead of the cowering boy on the ground.
Millimetres before they could penetrate his skull, they abruptly stopped.
No… shouldn’t kill..
He betrayed Us
WE should kill him
He hurt YOU
He hurt US
Huff… huff..
I could hear the wispers in my head, I suppose, I didn’t imagine it, when those chains felt like part of me, but at the same time like a completely different entity, whose only role is to protect me
I panted heavily, my body and chains kept trembling
Suddenly in a clearing appeared four shinobi, who were probably nearby and reacted to my killing intent.
One of them grabbed Daiki and others surrounded me.
The one with long silver hair tied in a ponytail looked at my chains with assessing eyes and at myself with a little bit of pity.
I still had that deranged smile on my face“ Ah, shinobi-san, could you please make me pass out, I don’t really feel that great” I giggled for some reason.
“ can’t promise, that they won’t attack y..” 4 long chains were protectively hovering around my body.
Before I could finish that sentence, my world became dark
If I knew at that moment that the man standing before me was legendary
Konoha's White Fang , my chains would probably snap from how fast they would change from their protective formation to making heart in the air and acting cute.
I myself wouldn’t hesitate even hesitate for a second, if he asked for my kidney in exchange for his autograph.
Pity that I didn’t know