Chapter 03: Taking another path

Riku had to commend Umino Iruka, he knew how to have tact. Instead of announcing in front of the whole class that he was sent to the genin corps, he did it in private after saying ‘special circumstances’ to placate any nay-sayer. Riku couldn’t help but thank the man for sparing him the public humiliation. The revelation that nobody wanted him had stung. It had been a while since he got such a harsh reminder of his situation in the village. Thankfully Iruka had been nothing but supportive and explained to him that while he was sent in the genin corps, the Hokage had arranged some help for him. That was something a bit under the table and it would be in his best interest to not say anything about it.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you, Riku.” the chunin said in a regretful tone.

“It’s alright, sensei. You did more than enough by talking to Hokage-sama because I doubt he would have helped me without you slipping him a word or two.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.  Hokage-sama had tried himself to make the jonin change their mind from just a look at your academy file.”

“Thank you nonetheless.”

“Are you going to be alright?”

“I… will be. I’ll be honest, sensei, I’m absolutely livid. I busted my ass more than anyone. I earned the right to be on a team more than any other and yet…” he stopped his rant because he knew that it was pointless. Nothing would change for him by doing so. Instead he sighed tiredly. “It’s not alright but it’s fine. I came so far out of pure spite already, I’ll just go further until I become Hokage.”

“I admire your determination but… Spite?” inquired Iruka with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“Spite, yes.” Riku nodded. “Ever since I… ended up at the orphanage and was treated like shit, spite has been my main motivator until I entered the academy. To prove to everyone that I’m not my mother. That I’m not a traitor and that I’m not better off dead. I was hoping that I would make friends at the academy but the only ones who took the courses seriously were Sasuke, whom we won’t talk about and Shino who was not interested in friendship. At least not with me. My next hope of friendship was to be in a genin team. It’s dashed now. So I’m left with myself and my desire to prove everyone wrong. In one word: spite.”

“...”

Iruka was a bit speechless at the confession he had just heard. This was not really the Will of Fire in the narrow sense but again, Riku did wish for friends and comrades. He also understood completely where his former student was coming from. He had something to prove and, yes, spite was an excellent motivator. He couldn’t begrudge him that. Once more, he was surprised by the stark contrast between Riku and Naruto.

“Anyway, what do I have to do?”

“Tomorrow, you are to present yourself at training ground eleven at 9:00 AM. There, you will meet two people, Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu. They’re both experienced chunin that will evaluate you and your skills properly and in depth, unlike the academy. You better not hold back this time.” Iruka warned.

“I wasn’t holding back, sensei.” Riku denied. Under an ‘I don’t believe you’ look that Iruka gave him, he stood his ground. “The skills I’m proficient in are not evaluated at all! It's not my fault I couldn’t display them.”

“What are they? Out of curiosity.”

“I’m alright with Iryō ninjutsu, especially the chakra scalpel, otherwise it’s just pure knowledge about the human body, herbs and poisons. I’m pretty sure I can use the mystic palm but not safely, so I refrain from using it with proper guidance first. Beyond the academy ninjutsu, I know the Wind Release: Gale Palm and that’s about it. Where I excel the most is fuinjutsu.”

“Fuinjutsu?” the Chunin repeated in surprise. “Of all the shinobi arts…”

“It makes sense to me.” replied the recently promoted genin with a shrug. “So far I can make my own storage scrolls, my own explosive tags, some variants and I know a few small barriers offensive or defensive. Genjutsu wise I know the Hell Viewing Technique and the  Sly Mind Affect Technique.

“That’s not bad, really good even, considering you’re just out of the academy. Be careful of not branching out too much. It wouldn’t be good for you to be a jack of all trades and a master of none.”

“Yes, sensei. It’s not my objective though. It’s just mastering all the basics. When it’s time to choose a specialty, I will focus on being a medic-nin and a seal master. I don’t really like the idea of hurting people in the first place. With my chakra reserves, I’m not fit to be a ninjutsu specialist though it could be argued that with my control I could be pretty decent I think. Genjutsu is… more suited for torture in my opinion and there is no way I’m getting into that.”

The grunt of disgust Riku let out when he talked about Genjutsu was a clear indication about what he felt about the art. He wasn’t wrong in a way, though that wasn’t the only use for it. Iruka was quite pleased to hear that while spite was Riku’s main motivator he was more interested in caring for others than hurting them. And that was knowing that he didn’t have any friends at all in the first place.

Riku thanked Iruka again for his help and left the Academy. The young graduate was under no illusion that the help he was just given had nothing to do with the Hokage and all from his former sensei. After all, why would the Hokage care for an academy graduate with a background like his? Sure, he believed the chunin when he said that the old man had tried to change the jonin’s mind about not taking him in their team but going so far as having two chunin to help him when they probably had better things to do? That, was unlikely.

And Riku wasn’t wrong, Iruka did lie about the Hokage’s involvement. He couldn’t do otherwise. The knowledge that your superior, the highest one at that, didn’t fight too much for you and simply gave up wouldn’t do any good for a kid who had no ties to the village and who wasn’t that important in the first place, regardless of his prowess during his time at the academy. Kakashi’s excuse had been bullshit in the context but not untrue. Besides, Hiruzen had better things to do than help an orphan kid. That was understandable but it left a bitter taste in the mouth.

Riku went back to his house. Yes, house. Not home. That place was no home to him. Not after the only clear memory he had of it was his father kicking down the stool he was standing on to hang himself. That memory would be stuck forever with him, eclipsing all others. It wasn’t like he had many, he had been only four when that happened and he was sent to the orphanage.

So no, it wasn’t his home and the only reason he lived there was because he wanted out of the orphanage. Thankfully when he entered the academy at eight he was able to inherit his parents’ possession. He wasn’t a proper adult at the time so he couldn’t use all the money however he wished but he could use the house and so did. Truth to be told, he hated it but it was better than the alternatives so he simply sucked it up. He was also lucky that his mother had left a few jutsu scrolls behind. That's how he learned the Gale Palm and the two genjutsu he knew. She also left behind her shuriken and kunai.About a hundred of the first and half that of the second. They were not the best in the market but not the worst either. They did the job well so he didn’t have to worry about buying more at a weapon store. God knows what prices the clerks or owner would give him. The food he bought was already overpriced and that was cheap. Shinobi tools? He didn’t dare to think about it.

He barely put down his bag in his living room when he saw the book of medicinal herbs he had finished the previous night. He had forgotten to take it with him in the morning to return it to the library. Sighing, he picked it up and went back outside.

Now that he was a genin he had access to the first level of the restricted area. He could now study up to C-rank jutsu without other restrictions than to study on site. He couldn’t take the book or scroll away but he was allowed to make a copy of it. The jutsu themselves were not that important if they were leaked, the scrolls and books themselves however, were old and had value.

What was great about this was they were free. Any B-rank or higher needed to be paid for and no copy or note about a jutsu could be made.  He was never able to confirm it but A-rank jutsu were supposed to be accessible only if you were given authorization to look at them from the Hokage. S-rank, Riku had never heard of them being in the library. If anything, they were probably under key. Hidden somewhere by the Hokage himself. None of that mattered to Riku anyway. He didn’t have the chakra reserve to pull A-rank and S-rank jutsu nor the skills. Not yet at least. One B-rank jutsu may be possible but it would deplete most of his chakra so it was useless. No, Riku was perfectly content with D and C-rank jutsu.

Arriving at his destination, he greeted the librarian and gave back the book he had borrowed.

“Could you please tell me how I can access the first restricted area?”

The middle aged woman looked at him for a moment and noticed the leaf head protector that he was wearing around his neck and gave him an answer.

“Third floor. You need your shinobi ID to be let in.”

He thanked the woman and left for the stairs. He didn’t like her much but at least she treated him like she treated everyone else so she was alright in his book. Reaching the third floor was a new experience. For the last six years he had spent plenty of time on the first floor and went up to the second a handful of times. Never having the need to go higher he didn’t know what awaited him.

What did was in fact an old man behind a desk near a wooden double door. The man was a veteran shinobi, that Riku could tell thanks to the chunin vest. That, and the notable facial scar and burns on one side of his face. Greeting his elder and showing his ID, the old man nodded. He then reached under his desk with his hands and activated a seal and the door opened.

Not wasting any time, Riku went for what interested him the most first. Earth release. Anyone knowing the fresh genin had a wind affinity would question why but to Riku it was obvious. Earth was the most defensive element of the five and while he knew some protective barriers, they couldn’t be deployed at the snap of his fingers. Perusing the shelves  for a few minutes, taking notes of interesting jutsu for another time, he found what he was looking for.

“Earth Release: Earth Shore Return. Hmm.. Not quite what I was looking for but it’s a start.”

This particular jutsu ripped a chunk of the ground to make a relatively thin wall of earth in front of the shinobi using it. It could block, kunai and shuriken without any problem and obstruct the view. The latter part was a double edge sword. The enemy may not see what Riku was doing behind the wall but so did Riku. Not the greatest defensive jutsu there was but Riku speculated that it would give him enough time to deploy a defensive barrier. His idea of a dome of earth would have been better but that was probably a B-rank or above.

Instead of going to a table and immediately copying the jutsu and its notes he went to another section of books. His first stop was the wind section where he found Wind Release: Great breakthrough. It was more of a support jutsu to put distance between him and the enemy but it could do some damage if used smartly. Lastly, he picked up a book on intermediary fuinjutsu. Since it wasn’t a scroll but a book he could borrow it for a small period of time.

Quickly making duplicates of the two jutsu he tok, he put back the original in their proper place and exited the floor. Checking the book with the old chunin, he left the library to training ground eleven.

Training grounds from 1 to 10 were private training grounds, reserved for genin teams and from 11 to 20 they were opened to all shinobi without restriction. The particularity of those training areas was that they were inside the village. From 21 to 50 everything was outside the village and needed a proper authorization to use them. The most famous of them was training ground 44, better known as the forest of death. From what Riku heard here and there the name had been aptly chosen. Hostile fauna, hostile flora. Check. Cherry on the cake? Everything was gigantified. One of the rumors he came across was of a giant man-eating centipede and of leeches bigger than a brown bear. Speaking of brown bears, the ones in that place were supposed to be at least twice as big and thrice as bloodthirsty.

He put any thought of this blasted place aside when he arrived at his destination. A few shinobi were there already. Some were sparring in taijutsu, others practicing throwing kunai or shuriken. At the very end of the area he saw a shinobi and a kunoichi, twenty feet apart, training lightning and water ninjutsu respectively.

Giving a nod of greeting to any comrade he came across he joined the small zone reserved for ninjutsu practice, far enough from the other two ninja present, and sat down.

He looked at the notes of the Great Breakthrough first and started with practicing the chain of hand seals.

“Tiger, Ox, Dog, Rabbit, Snake.” he muttered.

Over and over he made the five seals in the correct order. After half an hour, estimating that he got them, he switched from molding his chakra to actually using the jutsu. With his chakra ready to be used he took a big breath of air making his chest swell then blew everything he had. The resulting wind that came from his mouth was simply perfect. Powerful, fast and hitting a relatively good area width wise. More importantly, the amount of chakra spent for the jutsu was not a lot.

‘Thank Kami for chakra control.’

From there he used the jutsu two more times normally then tried to create variants. Modifying how much he opened his mouth and how he opened it in the first place allowed him to come with very nifty things. By having his mouth as close as possible, he could laser focus the wind he blew, making it stronger and increasing drastically the damage the jutsu would normally do. Positioning his tongue in a way to obstruct the middle of his mouth, he created two different air currents. It wasn’t as powerful as a single stream but more powerful than the original wide area effect.

Practicing for another hour, then taking a break to replenish his chakra, he stopped practicing the jutsu to learn the other.

This time it took him all afternoon to only raise a plate of earth the height of his knees. He was doing everything correctly but he failed to catch the right feeling to make the jutsu work properly. That was something that couldn’t be worked around. Only hours of practice would do.

When the sun began to set, he took his belongings and went back home. After a quick but healthy dinner, he picked the book on fuinjutsu and began reading it.