Chapter 3. 3:
...
Once a week, just like last year, a chunin from the village would come to the academy to teach Suna's Basic Taijutsu. No special clan techniques or rare family styles: we all had to learn this foundational style, no exceptions. Even if you came from a prominent family or your clan had a unique taijutsu, as was the case for some of my classmates... it didn't matter.
Yep. Only Suna's basic taijutsu.
The idea was for us to finish the second year mastering this style inside and out. After that, if you wanted to merge it with your own or take it to the next level, that was up to you.
And, as had become customary, three months after the start of classes, it was time for the first formal 1 vs 1 combat of the year.
A kind of practical evaluation.
One-on-one, using only the Suna basic style. No weapons, no ninjutsu, no strange seals or hidden puppets. Just hands, feet... and technique.
In these three months, I did what I always do. Train, train, and when I got tired... sleep so I could keep training.
Thanks to the so fuckingblessed [Gamer's Body], I could push myself with exercises for hours, and with just a bit of rest, I'd be as good as new. Sometimes I thought that if this had existed in my first life... I probably would have been an Olympic athlete or something like that. Of course, I had it in my second life and didn't take full advantage of it... which is why I ended up the way I did.
But well, I learned from my mistakes and knew that this world, like that of One Piece, wasn't a place where one could be complacent. The difference between living or dying could be a single bad decision... or a poorly executed technique.
With that in mind, besides continuing to perfect my taijutsu, I was also practicing more ninjutsu. I had already mastered several D and C-rank earth and wind jutsus. As for lightning... well, that was still pending.
Why? Well just couse I didn't find any useful scrolls about it among what my family left behind, and my grandfather didn't have much knowledge on the subject either.
Apparently, lightning nature isn't very common in Suna, so even finding scrolls is tricky.
Still, I wasn't in a hurry. For now, earth and wind were more than enough.
Now… The enhanced magnet element with the Jiki Jiki no Mi, on the other hand... that was a special case. Using it was as natural to me as breathing, but also exhausting since converting chakra into magnetism consumed a significant portion of my chakra reserves.
Oh I had good affinity, yes sure, and prior experience with magnetism for obvious reasons..., but my chakra reserve still wasn't large enough to use it extensively without ending up like a wet rag. Despite having a system bonus that increased its capacity by 20%, I still didn't have enormous reserves.
Better than most my age, of course. But nowhere near sufficient to properly use this incredible power.
So I used it sparingly, only at specific moments.
In fact, I had decided to focus on becoming a more well-rounded ninja. Without relying solely on magnetism. Without depending only on the system, which was now just a fraction of what it once was.
Yeah… Now I preferred to trust first in my own skills and hard work. Because yes, one learns. And again, I... learned from my mistakes in One Piece. The hard way.
Back at the academy... as expected, my performance continued to stand out. I'm not saying this to brag. It's just that, well... if you're blind, and still get the highest scores in all written and practical exams except for bukijutsu, people notice. For better... or for worse.
And now, it was time for what truly mattered in this village: combat.
"Alright, second-year students," said the sensei with his voice that had become part of the scenery. "As you know, today we will conduct the combat test. But this time, you can challenge any classmate you want."
The entire class filled with murmurs.
"Sensei, can we use ninjutsu or weapons this time?" asked one of the most prominent boys in our year, with a voice that had more enthusiasm than brains.
"No. As always, only Suna's basic taijutsu. I'm not here to see or measure your overall progress but just your progress in this and only this. And remember: the results will be reported directly to the Kazekage."
And then the commotion started. Again.
It was as if everyone had been holding back the urge to test themselves against the "best," and today they finally found the moment. And yes... when I say "the best," I'm not talking about someone else. I'm talking about me.
As if I were a walking cliché, one after another began to say that today they were going to defeat me. That this time they would prove I'm not that strong. That without my "weird taijutsu style" and without my "tricks," I had nothing.
And why did they say this when I was clearly superior to them in combat? Because now we were all on somewhat equal footing, so to speak, since most had started learning Suna's basic taijutsu at the academy, hence at the same time.
I just listened. It wasn't even worth responding. At most, I gave a smile. Not of superiority, but of resignation. Again with this?
Honestly, at this point, it didn't even bother me. Beating them was easy even if I only had to use Suna's basic taijutsu since I not only had more experience, but my damn body was solidly built through pure hard training... even though I was only 7 years old, I was already strongly built due to the hellish and constant training I had been subjected to since always.
So, no, it wasn't out of arrogance that I knew I would win easily, but because... well, it was true.
That said, I didn't get complacent either. This was the shinobi world. Sometimes a Kakashi was born. An Itachi. A silent monster with the face of a seven-year-old boy. So I was always on high alert. But at least in my generation, besides Rasa, who seemed far superior to the rest of his age group and I'm not 100% sure I could beat him without magnet release, there was no one that outstanding…
Even Yoshiro stood out, but I already knew I could beat him; it would take me some time but nothing too complex.
Anyway...
Karura, meanwhile, remained by my side, talking to me as if nothing was happening. As if the rest of the class wasn't about to tear each other apart for the supposed honor and pursuit of recognition.
Yeah… She was just in her own world... and effortlessly dragged me into hers.
"So... are you ready to shatter illusions again?" she asked me, laughing.
"Nah. Today I came to shatter expectations," I replied, half-joking, half-serious. My plan to gain recognition little by little was going well, but I shouldn't overdo it or make too many enemies, as it could cause me unnecessary and yea complex problems that would only complicate things quite much.
Why? Simple, one must know that Sunagakure was extremely corrupt, and if I wasn't careful, I could find myself dead for some reason.
That's why I sought for the Third Kazekage to take an interest in me, but I couldn't rush things or it would bring more problems than benefits. Even if I now showed a talent similar to the Kazekage's with the iron sand, he wouldn't intervene with a young, not yet graduated, who was part of the Jiki clan, a clan he was also a member of in the past. No, demonstrating this now would only make the leader, Rasa's father, pay much more attention to me than necessary, as he obviously wanted his son to be the one to gain all the Third Kazekage's interest so that the next head of Suna would also be the next leader of the Jiki clan, as was once the case with the First Kazekage.
So…. yep, I would probably just be an obstacle in their plans.
And I think it's pretty easy to figure out what happens with the obstacles for such powerful and bloodthirsty people, isn't it?
That's how corrupt this world and this village were; I couldn't trust even within my own clan, as showing great talent wasn't always entirely good, not when you affected others' plans in the process.
Others who would kill without a second thought to prevent this from happening.
And for now, Rasa was the only known person with the magnet element besides the Third Kazekage, so I had even more reason not to act hastily.
And even if I kinda hated holding back… I must say that I hated the idea of ending up buried in the desert even more…