"Kukui vs Kiba" Iruka called out and I smiled.
"Finally, time to prove that last time was just a fluke!" Kiba howled out. For the last month and a half, he has been saying how when we spar again that he would win and prove that I was a loser. Just a bunch of delusional shit.
"Really? I remember kicking your ass last time we spared" I said as we both stepped up to the ring. He grinned ferally.
"That was just luck, kukui you're going to regret ever entering the academy after today" He said, cracking his knuckles. He looked confident today
"Aww, little kiba thinks he's big and strong. Me and you both know that what happened that day was just skill" I mocked. I wasn't scared of him anymore. I was far stronger than him now. My stats showed it.
Kukui tanku
Title: Academy student
Energy points 540/540
chakra points 270/270
Strength: 19
Dexterity: 22
Constitution: 27
Chakra: 27
Chakra control. C]
Strength hadn't reached 20 yet but I was close. But I was fast enough to outspeed kiba and just knock him out of the ring. I was also faster than sasuke now. Didn't get a reward for that though sadly. Sasuke was surprisingly fast though. I finally passed him last week. It seems he has been neglecting his speed somewhat.
My strength probably rivaled his now. All in all, It was looking like I would become the best soon. I hadn't been neglecting my book smarts after all... But man do I hate tests a lot. Me and naruto have moved up quite a bit. But the fruits of our labor would be shown in the midterms in a week.
"Haha. I'm the strongest here, kukui. After I beat you I'm beating sasuke and then I'm reclaiming my position as the best" Kiba said. His ego somehow grew even larger.
"You are delusional and you need help. We're in the academy. Rank doesn't matter" I said but he ignored me. I heard Akamaru growl at me from the sidelines.
I heard my fangirls scream that I would win. Fuck I hated that.
"Alright, you two. Begin!" Iruka exclaimed jumping back
We both jumped back. Now I could be a dick and toy with him but I'm not him. I would just let him lose in one punch. I was that much faster than him and everyone else really.
"You should forfeit now kiba. Save your pride" I offered him. I truly didn't want to continue to embarrass him. I really did. But he didn't make it easy
"Trying to save yourself eh? HA that won't work" Kiba laughed. The poor fool must really think he has a chance now.
"You poor, poor fool" I muttered. I looked to my friends for their approval. I didn't want to look like a dick to my friends.
Ino nodded and Naruto gave a thumbs up. I smiled back as kiba began to rush at me. He was hoping to swipe at me with his claws.
"DON'T LOOK AWAY FROM ME!" Kiba shouted in anger. He had used the man-beast jutsu as he had claws. Jutsu isn't allowed at the moment so he was cheating basically. Well we were killers in training so eh. But still it's the principle that counts.
I quickly ducked under the swipe and grabbed Kiba's arms. I then leg-sweeped Kiba.
"Whoa" Kiba was knocked down onto the ground.
"Cheating tsk, tsk, tsk I never thought you'd go so low mutt-kun" I mocked bringing kiba up to my face
"This is the closest you'll ever get to beating me" I whispered to the inuzuka bastard before punching him out of the ring
"Winner kukui. Now kiba we need to have a talk" Iruka said as Kiba was knocked out of the ring.
"No, NO, NO, NO THE LOSER SHOULDN'T WIN. I'M THE ONE WHO SHOULD HAVE ONE" Kiba shouted in pure anger. He then began to rush at me. Iruka grabbed Kiba before he could even reach me.
"KIBA! You do not attack classmates outside of spars. I have put up with this for far too long. Next time you do this I'm letting your mother know" Iruka said sternly as Kiba shriveled into himself. Iruka was a patient man. A very patient man. But even he could break.
"O-Okay..." Kiba said before he was let go and he walked away to Akamaru in shame. "Bastard. I'll beat him then I'll make him watch as I cripple those stupid friends of his" He muttered. I didn't hear though
I walked away to my friends.
"Aww man I thought you were going to kick his ass more" Naruto whined.
"Yeah, you couldn't have roughed him up a bit more couldn't you?" Ino asked, sulking. Man, my friends really hated Kiba, didn't they?
"I wanted to take the high road. I didn't want to lower myself like him" I said with a holier-than-thou voice. Just to be an asshole
"But nobody would have blamed you if you knocked out a tooth" Naruto complained
"Maybe so"
"Nature is just wonderful," I said, breathing in the air. Sightseeing was my new hobby. Even though a lot of the sights here were the same it was still calming to do so. I was currently in a forest with a bunch of tall trees. It was night so some moonlight was illuminating my path. It was beautiful.
"You really think he could give me the kind of power I want?" Asked a voice I recognized. Kiba. I looked around and noticed Kiba was talking to... kin in a secluded section of the forest
"Yes. My master can offer you so much power all for your loyalty. He will tell you what to do. He won't ask for much" Kin said. She put out her hand for a shake
Kiba smiled. "I dunno. This seems too good to be true" Kiba said. He was still on the fence about kin's offer it seems.
"I'll give you some time to think about this then. Meet me here again tomorrow. Same time and place" Kin said before leaving
"Gotcha'" Kiba said before leaving to
ISt there for another hour in shock. I could tell someone about this. The hokage maybe? No he wouldn't listen to me. I needed to tell someone about this. I needed help.
But who could I trust? Naruto would just shout at them blowing our cover. Ino might tell someone. Plus she loved to gossip. My friends were out of the pool. Sasuke might just go to Orochimaru sooner. Chouji is chouji. Sakura is sakura. Hinata would tell someone for sure.
This leaves Shikamaru and shino.
Shino had a logical mind. He was smart and he had his kikaichū bugs to aid him with tracking and they could drain chakra. But he might not be able to help me that well. Kiba could smell the bugs before they drained him completely. Now with Shikamaru. He had the shadow possession jutsu and a large IQ like shino. But he was a Nara so it was naturally better.
Shikamaru would be a great pick then. He would be a valuable ally to have anyways. Tacticians were always needed in any good group. I could always enlist shino later if need be.
I decided to go home quickly after that. I didn't want to risk any of Orochimaru's lackeys being here or something
Although I might need to be careful at home as well. You never know who might be creeping around.
I saw my target. Shikamaru Nara. I had a way to actually talk to him without looking suspicious to anyone. Shogi.
I placed the board in front of him. "Wanna play?" I asked. Ino and naruto were sparring so we had plenty of time
"You play?" He asked surprised. Nobody had willingly asked him to play shogi before it had seemed.
"Eh sometimes. Now I have a question to ask of you" I said. I set up the board quickly
"Of course, there's a catch. What is it?" He asked making the first play of the match. It looked bad for me already.
"I need your help. Badly" I said, making my counter.
Shikamaru sighed. "Why don't you ask ino or naruto?" Shikamaru asked. He made yet another crippling move to my game. Hiruzen had more mercy. I wanted to win though.
"Because they aren't the best fit. Naruto is naruto and ino is a gossiper. I need someone smarter as well" I said, making a move that surprised Shikamaru.
"Clever. Why though?" The genius asked, It was clear he was suspicious of what I wanted to ask. He took out my king. He won in four moves.
Shogi went up a level
I ignored the screen. "I can't tell you here. Meet me at my apartment after school and I'll explain. I really need your help man, I'll owe you big time if you help me here" I said handing him a note with my address He took it and nodded
"That big huh? Why not tell an adult then?" He asked as I reset the board and he smiled slightly.
"I'm a child in the academy. Nobody would believe me unless I had a witness and some help" I explained as he nodded along.
"Makes sense. I'll meet you at 5 pm then" Shikamaru said as we played out the next shogi game
I then took my board and put it away after Shikamaru won and I went back to me and my friend's spot in the yard area
"You two look like shit," I said as naruto and ino came back to the area
"Okay captain obvious," Ino said sitting down and sighing
"The spar was fun! Ino was a bit annoying though. She just kept running away" Naruto said happily.
"She's training to be a med-nin naruto. They're trained to evade" I explained to my blond friend who made an 'Oh' face.
"So you're training to not get hit," Naruto said after.
"Shino vs kiba" Iruka called out
"Now bets on the next fight?" I asked. I hoped shino would win.
"Shino, He isn't an ass and he has a fighting style that counteracts Kiba," Ino said, nodding her head.
"Kiba, As much as I hate to say it, shino just isn't as fast," Naruto said sadly. I pat him on the back.
"Its fine. I think it's a toss-up though. Kiba could win because he's faster but shino could also win with better technique" I said being the middle ground for both naruto and ino's choices
"Now lets watch"
*Knock, knock, knock* I heard and I quickly opened the door.
"Hello, You actually came," I said somewhat shocked. But I really wasn't
"Yes, real shocker. Now, what did you need help with?" The Nara asked lazily.
I closed the door. "Okay sit down you're going to need too" I said
"Gladly," Shikamaru said, taking a quick seat.
"Want some tea?" I offered pulling out my tea set.
"No, not a fan" Shikimaru replied
"That's fine, So you know the new girl kin right?" I asked as he sighed.
"You have suspicions about her too huh?" He asked now sitting straight
"Yes. She is a spy for someone and she is trying to recruit Kiba for some reason" I said as Shikamaru just nodded.
"Troublesome. And you know this how?" He asked. He sighed and then looked at me
"Yeah. I was walking around the forest nearby and I heard Kiba. He asked kin "You really think he could give me the kind of power I want?" And I couldn't just move on. I heard kin explain her master's offer. She gave kiba time to think about it
"Troublesome of course kiba wouldn't go to the hokage right away. So you want me to help capture her and slap sense into kiba or something?" He asked after banging his head on the table.
"Yep. Capture her, Make sure kiba doesn't fuck his life up before he goes and works for someone dangerous." I said. I knew it was Orochimaru but I couldn't let anyone know that part.
"Of course. Why do you have to be so troublesome?" He rhetorically asked.
"I don't know. But for now we have more important matters to talk about than me being a trouble magnet" I added the last part after a few seconds.
Shikamaru sighed. "So we wait for them in the forest for how long again?" The nara wondered
"An hour or so," I said. "We can play shogi for an hour then," I finished, then the lazy genius smiled.
"I'm all for that," Shikamaru said as we left my apartment.
"So when do you think they will arrive?" Shikamaru asked. He had decimated me all 105 times we had played shogi. Kiba and kin were taking a long time to show up.
"Dunno but they should soon. If not then we do this again tomorrow" I said making another move.
Shogi went up a level
'Nice'
"Nice. They can take as much time as they want" Shikamaru said. Making the final move to end the 105th match.
I sighed. "Well there goes the 105th game. Hopefully they show up soon though." I said. Suddenly we heard someone talking.
"Are you sure there isn't anyone here?" Asked a voice. They sounded giddy
"Kiba" I whispered to shikamaru.
"Hm so you actually were right" He whispered back.
"Yeah. Nobody knows where this location even is. Now let me show you the type of power you could get" Kin said. Suddenly music note-like marks begin spreading over her body. "This is the cursed seal of sound. This isn't the only one but this is mine. You could get your own" Kin showed off. Kiba's eyes glowed with desire. A tint of hesitance showed though. I opened up my notebook in the inventory. There were no notes on the cursed seal of sound. Hell kin never even had a curse mark
"Could you perhaps show me something you could do?" Kiba asked. He was still curious it seemd
"That mark... It feels evil" I whispered to shikamaru. He nodded back.
"It's probably a power-boosting seal. It doesn't look like it does anything else. But I could be wrong" Shikamaru whispered back.
"Sure," Kin said, walking over to a tree and punching it. The tree fell over. It wasn't a huge tree but it still was impressive.
"Damn" I whispered to Shikamaru.
"Yeah..." He whispered back in awe
"Whoa," Kiba said in shock. "Thats... strong" He said simply. Kin smirked
"I'm going to give you some more time. The sound will be waiting for you" Kin said
"The sound? What's that?" Kiba and Shikamaru asked curiously at the same time. although I was the only one who could hear the ladder
"The sound village is a new village. It was just created by my master. Orochimaru of the sannin" Kin said. She looked scared at the mention of Orochimaru.
"Made by the guy who can beat even the Hokage... Wow" Kiba's mouth was agape now.
"This is bad, really bad" I whispered to my new ally. I now had a witness. Someone else now knew Orochimaru was involved too.
"This is. Orochimaru is a really bad guy. I see why you couldn't go to an adult. They'd think you made this up for attention" Shikamaru went into his thinking pose. "We can't take kin on either. She with that mark looks even stronger than Sasuke. We need to prepare." Shikamaru whispered back.
"We need a fuinjutsu expert to help us..." I whispered. I didn't want to say the name of who could help us.
"Naruto..." He whispered back. "I know you don't want to get him involved but we might need to" He finished.
"I know... but there might be another way.
"Yep. He even can beat the yondaime hokage" Kin boasted as she turned off the curse mark. "By the way, there's even more than this. Another level of power can be accessed but I do not have it yet" Kin finished. Kiba looked at her with seriousness in his eyes
"I need to think about this. This is treason to the highest degree" Kiba said with full seriousness in his voice.
"I understand. Many are attached to their home village" Kin explained. Kiba just nodded. "Meet me back here tomorrow and tell me your final choice" Kin finished before leaving. Kiba quickly left too.
"We need to make a plan," Shikamaru said as we both got up.
"Yeah... We can't tell anyone about this. We need to find a counter to that mark. And we need to have a plan to beat her" I said counting on my fingers.
"I'll meet you at your place tomorrow. We need to make a plan then" Shikamaru said before leaving.
I left too. There was no place like home after all.
'This is bad' I thought. When kukui asked me for help I thought it'd be something less troublesome. But Kukui had complete seriousness in his eyes.
That was rare. Kukui was normally calm and kind. But today he was different.
He had shared my suspicion about kin which was a shocker. I thought I was the only one that noticed something off but he told me something that shocked me
"She is a spy for someone and she is trying to recruit Kiba for some reason" he blurted out. I sighed at that. Of course, it had to be that.
Kiba just had to be getting involved with a spy. I wished he was joking. My classmate was a spy and the other was thinking about becoming a traitor. Who wanted to hear that?
I just didn't believe it. But I thought I'd humor him. We played shogi for nearly 2 hours. He did not give up even after over a hundred losses. I was shocked at that but happy. Nobody other than my dad would play shogi with me.
Then kiba showed up. Which made my suspicions go away. Kiba was actually thinking about it.
Then kin showed him that creepy mark. ``We might fight her,' I thought. We might have to fight her to capture them. Now kukui was strong. Strong enough to at least rival Sasuke. But she knocked down a tree. A fucking tree. In one punch. That was absurd even for shinobi.
Kin then said that she was from the sound. The new village was made by Orochimaru of the sannin. The man who could supposedly beat even the yondaime Hokage. That's what scared me
I see why Kukui asked for my help. He needed a tactician. If kin and possibly kiba were now spies he needed help to stop them both or gain evidence to put them away. They couldn't be allowed to get any vital info.
I had to come up with a plan to capture them. We needed to enlist help too. We needed it badly.
But... We were just academy students. We couldn't take that on. Kukui probably thinks he could. Ego. This is bad. I need to tell someone about this... That can wait though
I breathed in and out. I had to be prepared to fight kin.
I needed to hit hard. Like really hard. But I needed speed too. I decided to level up sprinting whilst strength training. I was pulling two small rocks along whilst running around konoha. This was my new morning exercise before I met up with ino and naruto. I would be strong enough to not get them involved.
Strength leveled up!
New perk unlocked
Primal rage
When angry strength increases by 20%
New perk unlocked
Welcome to the 20's!
Increases all physical stats by 20%
I smiled. Finally, I had everything over 20. That other perk seemed fucking overpowered though. This could also mean that if all my stats reached 30, 40, 50, 60, and up that I could get another version of this perk. It arrived at the perfect time too. If I needed to fight kin I now had better stats to do so. This also made my stats at least equal to Sasuke all across the board. I now was able to neglect my physical stats at least. I wanted to focus more on elemental manipulation for a while and bukijutsu. I almost mastered the club. Almost. I'm glad I chose the easiest weapon.
Suddenly I heard someone run up from behind me.
"Yosh how youthful, Such training at such a young age!" I heard from beside me and I saw Might guy. Konoha's green beast and his student but he was missing his headband
"How youthful! Another youthful student!" I heard Lee exclaim.
They quickly caught up to me. "Young man, may I ask you for your name?" Guy asked
I smiled. "My name is kukui! May I ask yours?" I asked. If I could train with might guy my strength problems would be solved forever.
"My name is might Guy and this is my youthful apprentice rock lee!" Guy announced. "Would you like to train with me and my youthful student kukui-kun?"
'Apprentice huh? Must be training him personally before he gets Neji and tenten. "It would be an honor," I said.
Guy and Lee just smiled