Chapter 101 - My SI Stash #1 - The Forge's Fire by Btralox (Naruto)

-Starting the Vol. 2 with a Naruto SI Fic~ This SI doesn't have any op bloodline nor Gamer system, just meta knowledge. He's of course training to be a Blacksmith/Ninja.

*It's a very slow fic that felt refreshing, the grammar is perfect, the SI and his family seem real and their are just quite likable. The author is still updating after almost 5 years. Check it out if you want a more slower SI fic~

(*￣3￣)╭

Sypnosis: As far as death worlds to reincarnate into went the Elemental Nations weren't bad. Though I have a serious gripe with whoever it was that tired to convince me that a modern education would amount to much here. But hey, I have my family and friends, I'd get through, even without a bloodline limit. Rated M for occasional cursing and to be safe. (First Person SI)

Rated: M

Words: 73K

Posted on: forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-forges-fire-naruto-si.352170/page-5#post-18594636 (Btralox)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter: Epilogue 1-6 (exceptional)

I don't recall the first first two years of my life at all.

Such a sentiment would usually be met by most with a raised eyebrow and a comment along the lines of "Well of course." After all, our brains are not quite developed enough at that age to truly make instances stick in long term memory, and even if one did remember those times it would mostly be blurry sights through underdeveloped eyes, moments of incontinence, and a.d.u.l.t talking to you like you are a particularly stupid (though cute) animal.

However, it is notable with me when I say I don't remember the first two years of my life, because I remember an entire life from outside the Elemental Nations. I remember a life when I was a grown man and the stories of Naruto were a work of fiction.

I remember a life where I wasn't Ayasugi Daisuke.

------------------

My new life as Daisuke wasn't a bad one. I had a mother and a father who loved and raised me as well as a twin sister who seemed to want to spend every waking moment of her life making me do some form of activity with her or another. Though my life did get a bit more unusual from there.

I held a great amount of respect for my mother of this life. She was a beautiful woman, she had high cheek bones, good facial symmetry, and always kept her long black hair expertly styled (in fact she seemed to change her hairstyle at least once a week). She was kind to her children and fierce when she felt my sister or I weren't being treated fairly. She did much of the housework and made wonderful home cooked meals. And she did it while in a wheelchair. How she ended up in the wheelchair and how it inconvenienced her life was never talked about.

Whenever my sister or I would ask what happened she'd give us a stern look and tell us it happened because she didn't listen to her mother.

If we asked our father we'd get the same answer, though he seemed to say it with a slight bit of teasing and small smirk at the corner of his mouth.

I could be wrong though. My father was a very difficult man to read. He didn't seem prone to shows of emotion and almost always kept his face passive. I'd honestly think he didn't love his family if it weren't for the fact that his eyes always seemed to soften whenever he looked at one of us, that whenever he passed one of us by he'd gently place his hand on our shoulder before moving away, and whenever our mother was having trouble reaching for something from her wheelchair he'd seem to appear from nowhere and hand it off to her with a peck on the cheek.

I am part of a good family, better than most in the Elemental nations, and I love them greatly. I always felt truly safe with them. Like nothing could go wrong.

Until one day, when I was three, and I wouldn't feel safe for quite a while later.

-----------

The memories of my previous life came slowly and in bits and pieces that didn't seem to actually make much sense in connection with each other, which was really rather annoying. When I turned three I could quote, from memory, half of the Emperor's New Groove...in English.

As one might guess that isn't particularly helpful when you are in a country where no one speaks said language. It wasn't even particularly helpful even if people understood what I was saying.

Regardless, most of the information I was receiving wasn't particularly helpful.

That is until one day, when our father had taken my sister and I out of the house to give our mother a break, and I looked up to see four faces overlooking the village.

I had seen the faces many times in that life before, I had glanced at them and not thought them particularly special, they'd always been there.

But this time. I looked at them and I understood what they were. I knew their significance and who each face represented.

And a cold shiver wracked my body. For as long as I was in this world...I would never really be safe.

This was the Elemental Nations. This was Konoha. And I'd experience at least one war in my lifetime if I wasn't killed by someone else before then.

There was a clock on a countdown to a fight that would rock this entire world, and I had to try not be collateral damage.

--------------

Epilogue 2

I was in the Elemental Nation.

A place of death and war. A place that the idea of cooperation and peace had only seriously been considered within the last seventy years.

A place where a single man could wave his hand and wipe out the entire village with only his mystic wizard-ninja powers.

I could feel my skin turn hold and start to sweat, my arms shaking at my side as my breaths started to come in and out quickly.

"Daisuke?" My father's voice came, he was kneeling down infront of me. (When did he get there?) His face had more worry on it than I think I'd ever seen, he got those little wrinkles next to his eyes.

"Dai? Was' wrong?" Atsuko, my sister, asked as she grabbed my left arm with both her hands. My mouth felt dry but I kept it closed and said nothing. I didn't even have the words to say what I wanted to. It was one of my biggest embarrassments right now.

Atsuko had started talking before she was two years old and could already put together complete, though mispronounced, sentences. I barely knew which words to say. At this point I think my parents might think me rather stupid. I should be a chatterbox at this stage of life, Atsuko certainly was, but it was rare for me to ever say anything.

I blame the fact that what to say in English is always the first thing that popped into my mind.

I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head, pulling my arm away from Atsuko. I take a deep breath in and try to calm myself. To give me time to think logically.

Four heads.

Meaning there have been four Hokage's. Which means...I'm currently in probably the most peaceful time this world has seen in a long time and it will probably stay that way for several more years.

There were only two things to worry about right now then. Kurama's attack and Orochimaru's play to kill the Third.

Orochimaru's play I think I could avoid but Kurama's attack...what could I possibly do to make sure my family and I are safe from that? Maybe I could...

My thoughts are cut off as my father picks me up off the ground, saying something. The only word in the sentence I caught was "Home".

Yeah....yeah...being home...would be really nice right now. I've always been a stay-at-home sort of person.

I grip my father's shirt and lean into him, the smell of charcoal and fire wiff into my nose. My father always smelled that way...but today it just didn't seem comforting.

"Yes. Home. Home." I muttered. I REALLY have to work on this language thing.

We begin moving again. I'm not very familiar with the world outside our house but I'm fairly sure that the landmarks we're passing means we are headed back, likely without having completed our shopping trip.

I didn't have it in me to feel guilty right now.

I was more concerned with how I could keep my family and myself alive in a world of death and bullshit magic eyes. (And I don't use the word bullshit lightly or often.)

Epilogue 3

A day had passed since my little...incident on our grocery trip, and I can tell that something is up. My parents had a long conversation when we got home. My name was mentioned many times and I could FEEL them looking at me every few seconds. I generally tried to ignore them and instead "play" with some wooden blocks that I had gotten at some point in my life. Though really it wasn't playing and probably didn't look much like playing from the outside either.

The blocks were made of wood and carved into shapes from a cube to a pyramid to a arch and colored in various bright shades. Probably a staple childrens toy and similar ones could probably be found in almost every home in Konoha.

I had arranged the pieces in front of me by color and shape to organize a line and row system.

I was using them to organize my thoughts. Paper and pen weren't readily available to someone of my age for obvious reasons, so I took half the box and laid them out before me. Half because the rest of them were being used by Atsuko at the moment.

"Dai! Come on! Help me build the castle!" Atsuko said as she tugged on arm and tried to get me to come over to where she had been taking her blocks to build the biggest structure she could. It was already leaning over precariously and likely wouldn't last a few more blocks being placed on top unless she did something to add in support.

I pulled my arm away from her with a firm. "No."

Atsuko reached out again to grab hold of my arm and again started to pull me off towards her castle, until I twisted my arm out of her grasp and gave her a stern look and harsh "No!"

Atsuko opened her mouth, likely to tell me the way it was going to be when our mother's voice came. "Leave him alone Atsuko-chan."

"But he's not even doing anything!"

"Atsuko." Our father's voice cut in; his tone making it very clear that she was to stop immediately.

My twin scowled with a look of defiance on her face, but stomped over towards her little project. Said stomping resulting in her work collapsing.

"Noooo!" She cried before going over to rebuild it, leaving me momentarily forgotten.

I felt a bit bad about ignoring her, she really isn't use to it. I normally just do whatever it is she wants, though with less enthusiasm than she would probably like, so this was a bit of a new experience for her.

I'll have to do something later to make it up to her.

I look back at the various blocks before picking up a red pyramid, closely examining it.

It will represent Kurama. I placed it carefully on the ground. This was probably the most important thing to consider right now. Everything always tied into Kurama or Naruto, and truly those two were the most linked together, their fates intertwined no matter what. A blue block was placed below the red Pyramid.

Okay so when am I?

I pick up two yellow rectangular boxes and place them wide away from each other. The one on my left representing the fourth's inauguration, the right representing Sarutobi's death. The four faces means that's my timeline, I'm somewhere within there. Though...I've been aware of my surroundings for about a year...I think I'd notice something like the Sand/Sound invasion...so....I move the yellow box on my right further in and place a purple cylinder above it.

That...still leaves a good amount of time. Roughly...thirteen to fifteen years I'd guess.

Okay so major events to occur in that time frame? Clouds ill thought out attempt to kidnap Hinata. A white cylinder is place about three fourths of the way between the two yellow rectangles.

Importance of the event?

...minimal to my situation. Nothing I could do about it within the next few years anyways. Probably something I'll illogically blame myself over for a while but I have other things I need to worry about. Perhaps, if I meet her at some point, I could try and befriend and encourage Hinata at some point. I always felt that moment is probably what caused her to become so shy. That or her father treated her harshly because he blamed her for his brother's death.

Right. So befriend Hinata and motion her towards Naruto. Thats going to be set no matter what. If I'm old enough to actually do something when the event occurs I'll try to help out...best I can do right now.

Next would be the Uchiha massacre.

I pick up a red cylinder and place it just past the white one.

Very important. However...I'm even less likely to able to do anything about that. If I'm near Itachi in age I might be able to influence him a bit to get a different outcome but outside that I really can't do anything. Danzo is a better schemer than me and I certainly won't have the combat ability to get involved in that for years yet.

If the event is unavoidable...best action is...basically what I plan to do with Hinata. Befriend and push towards Naruto. Though...I suppose friendship isn't the only option with him. I could become some sort of rival or other such nonsense. An antagonist his age who can actually get to him might actually end up beneficial to him if applied close enough to the massacre.

I might have to go the second route.

I feel sorry for Sasuke but I never particularly liked him as a character. Though that might prove different as a real person.

Ultimately there was still nothing I could for a few more years.

Last event....Obito's attack via Kurama.

The thing most likely to get me and my family killed in the given time frame.

Again...nothing I can do to prevent it. When it arrives though...what to do...is there any way I can make sure everyone is safe?

A show of emotion.

If one of my parents seems to want to participate in something heroic...show emotion. A raging fit, a crying breakdown...and if those don't work collapse to the ground and stopping breathing to force them to instead focus on getting me to a doctor.

Best I could do.

Dealing with the even afterwards...brings me back to the blue block, Uzumaki Naruto.

Do I become his friend? It...might be a bad idea to break him from his loneliness, because it was that pain that turned him into the hero he became. It gave him the ability to relate with others pain and feel for them. It was Naruto's greatest strength and the reason he is able to change so many people's lives for the better.

Should I really stop that?

....

Yes. Past experience doesn't justify current behavior. Just because I read what happened in a manga in another life doesn't mean its going to play out that way here. Particularly since my existence is likely to be tossing out butterflies.

Plus having a friend like Naruto in your corner would be incredibly beneficial.

Okay. So befriend him if possible.

...if any of this is even valid. This could possibly be a world where Danzo has a heart of gold and the biju don't exist. I didn't know and couldn't know for a few more years.

Which brings me.

I look at a green arch.

What can I do about me?

I need to be strong enough to at least not be killed by random ninja mook B.

How do I go about that?

Well strength comes to three categories: body, mind, chakra.

Chakra was probably the most important, but I wasn't going to even TRY to touch that stuff until I had proper instruction. Anything that could cut thing on the cellular level, summon the embodiment of death, and bring the dead back to life is not something I want to go playing with blindly.

Mind was the next most important, in my opinion. Tactics and planning. I could do some basic practices by myself now but again it would work best if I had instruction. The best way to receive that...is if I focus on my ability to speak, read, and write. I need to meet or exceed my peers in this category.

I hate being uninformed more than anything else.

Last was body.

I could try practicing some of the forms I learned of chung do kwan, but that would probably net me some attention I don't want right now. Next best option, if I don't have an instructor, is...play. Be an active child and become fit that way.

Well....no time like the present.

I push my blocks to the side and calmly walk up to my twin. She turned to look at me in confusion and just started to open her mouth to say something before I poked a single finger to her head and let out a quite "Tag." Before turning and running away.

"Wha-? Hey! Get back here!"

I smirked as I ran out of the room, intent on getting an exercise out of this.

Who said preparing for the future can't be fun?

--------

Epilogue 4

Our game of tag didn't last long. After a few minutes our father came and found us running circles around the dinner table, Atsuko giggling madly. However I caught the look on our father's face and stopped, causing Atsuko to barely be able to keep herself from running me over but hitting me with her hand with a shout of "Tag!".

"Daisuke." His voice rang out as he motioned for me to follow him.

"Tou-chan! We were in the middle of playing!" Atsuko's whining voice complained.

"Go to your mother Atsuko. She needs you for something."

Atsuko crossed her arms with a scowl on her face before going off.

My father pressed his hand into my back to guide me through our house.

And it was actually a house. To my knowledge its actually pretty unusual that we don't just live in an apartment, but had a two story building with four rooms, enough of a yard that two three year-olds could run around in it, and then my father's workshop.

I'd never been entirely sure what it was that my father did for a living. What time he didn't spend with us he seemed to spend in his workshop, and my sister and I weren't allowed to go in there. Occasionally I'd see other people, that I now realize had been ninja, go in through the outside entrance to the shop. Also, whenever our father came out of the shop his clothes were always coated with sweat and much his exposed skin colored black by whatever it was he was doing. Though he never brought anything out of his work area and not even our mother ever went in.

Thus I was very surprised when my father guided me to the door leading to his workshop and opened the door. I looked up to him in question and he just gestured for me to go inside.

I cautiously stepped inside, looking around. In the center of the room sat what I recognized as a forge and an anvil. The far wall had a rack with an assortment of hammers of various sizes, as well as tongs and other equipment that I wasn't sure of the name for or their purpose. Up against the wall to my right seemed to be several container of coal, sand, and...I think some kinds of metal? I wasn't really sure. If it was metal it was in its raw and unpolished form. The rest of the workplace seemed to be filled with various weapons, though by far the most prominent were shuriken and kunai of various shapes and sizes.

My father was a blacksmith.

How the heck did I not ever hear the pounding on the anvil in the blacksmithing process?

Though it also explained my father a bit. He was a big man. And I don't mean height wise, since everyone looks big when you are two feet tall, but he was built wide like Jiraiya was in setting. That is to say he was wide and had arms like tree trunks.

Wait...my dad was a red-head....Uzumaki? It was a pretty vibrant red, though it was hard to tell because he only ever had stubble on top his head.

No. I've heard our last name and it isn't that....though maybe similar ancestry? Possible. And oddly enough his red hair managed to beat out our mother's black hair for Atsuko and me, though our hair is a pretty dark red.

"Daisuke, do you want to help me out in here from now on?" My father asked.

Oh.

I'm being groomed to learn my father's business. Understandable, and really it would help with physical fitness.

Though the question is does he want me to do this and not be a ninja? Because that....doesn't seem like a bad idea. I wouldn't mind it...I'd probably prefer it even. However if I do still end up being a ninja, well, this is excellent physical training.

I give my father a nod and a smile. I could do this.

"Good. Now let me show you what you are going to be doing."

-----------------

I couldn't do this.

I now know why blacksmiths were usually considered the toughest guys in town back in the other world. I'm exhausted and we haven't even got to hammering yet.

My father had me shovel some coal into the furnace, then taught me how to arrange it so that it produced the most heat. It was tough for me at that point but I felt like I could keep up.

Then he took this clay cup looking thing and started to fill it up with some of the bits of metal shards and what appeared to be metal sand. Each time he picked some up from the box though he'd flash me a certain number of fingers for how many shards to pick up from each box and then just one handful for the metal sand.

I'm guessing that we're making some sort of alloy? That's why the different boxes. Though really they all looked pretty much the same to me, even as an ingot, iron looks way different from the other metals I was familiar with.

Then my father did something that made me practical drool at the mouth.

He brought his hands together through a few seals, going so fast I couldn't pick them up, and then brought a single finger up to his mouth and blew fire at the coals, setting them alight.

I stared dumbly at my dad, slackjawed. My father could breath fire...which means at some point I'd probably be taught to breath fire...oh yes, I am okay with this.

Dad let me have my moment as he took the clay cup and set it into the coals...with...his...bare...hands....

There was more staring as the man just pulled his hand out like he didn't just have his hand in a small inferno.

After I recovered from that Dad set me again to work. He wanted me to pump that...air thingy that pushes air into the furnace and heats up the coals.

That wasn't hard...for the first two minutes or so. A little while after that though I began breathing heavily as the heat from the furnace radiating out and began making the room almost stifling. Sweat began to soak my shirt though the exertion and heat, but every time I started to slow Dad would start to clap his hands to set a faster tempo for me.

I didn't even finish. It got to the point that I couldn't pump the thing any more, my muscles too tired, and Dad stepped in while I layed down on the ground panting.

It was around that time that a knock came at the the outside door before said door then opened a loud voice boomed "Hada-san!"

My father looked up from what he was doing, but didn't stop as he said, "Ah. Gai-san. Hello."

That made me immediately sit up and look over.

Sure enough there stood a green-spandex clad man with orange leg warmers and a jonin jacket. The bowl cut was also present. Looking at the man I gauged him to be in his early twenties.

Meaning we were past the Kyuubi attack.

I collapsed back on to the ground in relief, thankful I didn't have to endure the attack of the chakra rage monster.

Gai and Dad talked back and forth, about what I wasn't sure. They were using a bunch of words I didn't know yet and Gai seemed to talk pretty quickly.

Though I did hear Gai say "Sumi-san" at one point so I can be pretty sure they talked about my mother at some point.

Then I heard my name, which had Gai looking over at me before shouting something that I'm certain was to the effect of "The Spring Time of Youth!" before giving me his "Nice Guy Pose".

I gave him a small wave and said "Hello".

I vaguely expected him to get down over my underreaction, but he just went back to talking with my father. I guess a three year olds approval isn't as important to him.

Gai left shortly after that with a very excited farewell that mentioned both my name and Dad's.

It was then that my father called me over as he stood in front of the oven that was melting the metal. Then Dad went through several hand seals in a very slow and very precise way, so much slower than the last seals I saw him do that I had no doubt it was because he wanted me to see them.

The last one in the series was a tiger seal, which if I remember right is usually indicative of a fire move, followed by him just lowering his hands....with seemingly no effect.

That is until he reached into the oven and pulled out the cup of now liquid metal with his bare hands and poured it out into a mold for a long cylinder. Not sure why anyone would need a solid metal cylinder but okay.

Then my father proceeded to STICK HIS HANDS INSIDE THE MOLTEN METAL.

I actually stepped forward a bit and started to yell...but cut myself off as I saw my father....massage the molten metal like it was a damn batch of dough.

I stood there and stupidly watched him do that for the rest of the afternoon.

Epilogue 5

Dad and I didn't end up coming out of the workshop until it was starting to get dark and when we came inside it was to the wonderful smell of a stir-fry that my mother was no doubt making. The smell of it made my mouth water and it dawned on me just how hungry I was.

It was a bit odd. I had an appreciation for stir fry, and many other typical asian dishes, in this life, but I hadn't particularly cared for them in my previous one. I suppose different taste buds had something to do with it. That or my mother just made them better than anyone in my previous life.

I am personally inclined to believe the taste buds thing.

Dad and I walked into the kitchen to see my mother standing in-front of the stove on her one leg, mostly supported by a crutch under one of her arms while her other hand stirred the various vegetables in the pan.

With nary a word Dad came up beside her and gently nudged her out of the way to take over the task.

My mother glared at him for a moment before saying "I'm perfectly capable of cooking it myself."

"Yes, I known you are perfectly able to burn the food." Dad replied, "I'll handle this. You go check on Atsuko."

That was a lie. Mom had never once burned the food in as long as I can remember, but it was an exchange that occurred almost daily, and it would always get my mother to get back in her wheelchair and do something else.

I knew it was just my father's way of showing he loved her, and I'm pretty sure she knew it too.

Though...the fact that Atsuko wasn't in here was unusual. Normally she'd be buzzing around mom offering to "help".

Curious, I followed after mom to see what was going on, to find Atsuko sat the dinner table with a bunch of papers scattered in-front of her, several ink stains on her cheeks and a brush in her hands. Atsuko looked up to Mom enter the room and waved excitedly with her hand holding the brush, resulting a bit of wild ink spatter as she shouted "Mom! Come see! Come see!"

Mom rolled over and looked at the down at the papers on the table for a moment before taking on the high pitched voice that parents always took when congratulating small children and began telling Atsuko about how much she improved.

Was she drawing things? Just making a mess and being indulged?

I walked over to take a peek at the pages. I only managed to get a glance of the several sloppy and barely recognizable kaji before Atsuko suddenly swept the pages away and stuck her tongue out at me.

"No! This is for me. Mom said you aren't ready yet."

The lightbulb clicked.

I was being taught blacksmithing today. Atsuko was being taught how to do calligraphy.

I knew my mother did calligraphy, we were occasionally allowed in the spare room where she did the work, but only with supervision. She was passing this on to Atsuko like Dad was passing on Blacksmithing to me.

Also...caligraphy...did my mom make seals?

If so...on the one hand, that's really cool and the munchkin in me did a little happy dance at my access. On the other hand...making things like exploding tags and sealing scrolls in the same house that you raise children in doesn't sound like a particularly good idea.

Wow....my house might be filled with explosives as well as sharp pointy objects.

Not sure how safe that makes me feel, especially with Atsuko around.

"Don't worry Dai-chan." My mother's voice cut in, bringing me out of my musings, "You and I are going to be doing something else tonight after dinner, okay?"

Something else?

Not...quite sure what that would be but okay, don't think its anything I'd be particularly against.

"Good. Now lets get you two cleaned up before dinner is ready, okay?"

Aw crap.

I get that from their perspective I'm a little kid and it isn't that weird for my mother and sister to bathe with me.

In my perspective it was wrong on so many level I didn't even know where to begin. Thankfully I was way too young to experience any libido, but I was aware enough to feel the mind crushing guilt.

I pretty much spent all of every bath time gazing at my feet or keeping my eyes closed.

I did not need memories haunting me later on in life.

And I'm not going to bother running because...yep there it is. Mom picked me up and put me in her lap. She knows I'm not fond of bath time and thinks it because of some other toddler boy thing or whatever. I didn't particularly care.

There were many times I DID run...but having a one legged lady in a wheelchair have to chase after you is not a good feeling.

I heave a sigh and close my eyes. Lets get it over with.

---------------

After that ordeal that I decided to pretend didn't happen we were all sat down at the dinner table and enjoyed our meals. One of the few things I had an advantage on Atsuko over was here. I could reliably use chopsticks with a...mostly negligible mess. I wouldn't say I'm proficient with them, but for a three year-old I wasn't bad.

After dinner though my mother again picked me up and put me in her lap.

Now, I'm fine with physical affection and all, but I'm really looking forward to the point that this didn't happen so often.

I don't like being manhandled.

She wheeled the two of us into my room and sat me on the floor.

"Now, Dai-chan, I've got a surprise for you!" She said...or at least I think...not sure if that word meant surprise or gift.

Either way it resulted in Mom pulling a thin box about two hand-lengths wide out of...somewhere...not sure where. She proceeded to open said box and pull out a bunch of note card things.

"Its to help you learn words!"

THAT got my attention.

Communication is really what I need more than anything else right now. So heck yea, bring on the flashcards.

Some of my excitement must have registered on my face because Mom grew a big smile on her face and seemed to breath a sigh of relief.

She held up a card. On it was a picture of a tree and a kaji under it.

"Tree." She said tapping the picture before repeating it once more. "Now you say it Dai-chan."

"Tree." I replied. I had already knew that one, and I knew she knew that, but I'm guessing this is one of those moments of getting me use to the premise of the idea.

She took out another flashcard with a brightly colored koi on it. "Fish"

And so my night went.

It was a pretty demeaning task but...I needed this. It hurt my pride but I've always held pride dosen't do you any good, especially if it prevents you from doing something that would be beneficial.

Epilogue 6

It's a really good thing this world doesn't have the internet or video games, otherwise I'd not have made near the progress I have in the last few months.

Boredom is usually a good way to make me actually work on something.

I feel like I'd come a long ways. I could actually string together a few sentences and could understand basically everything people were saying now. Which made me realize my parents think I have some sort of mental abnormality...which....isn't exactly wrong but I'm pretty sure they weren't guessing it was because their son has the memories of a twenty-four year old jammed into his head.

Hopefully they'd never find that out. That would make some thing pretty awkward.

I'd also managed to become physically stronger; I could actually mostly keep up with what Dad was asking me to do now. Though it was still the tasks I had started with on the first day. I don't expect to be given a hammer or be taught to breath fire anytime soon. As my language started to get better Dad started to explain the process of what he was doing more and more. For the most part I was doing a pretty good job of understanding what he was telling me too, the only parts I slipped up was when he started to use the word "chakra" then he pretty much lost me. I'm guessing its something I'm going to have to get around to after I learn how to harness my chakra.

I also found out that I'm apparently going to the Academy eventually. At least that's what I'm guessing, because when I asked when I'd learn how to use my chakra I was told "At the Academy."

Which caught me by surprise. I had expected to be raised to be a blacksmith but Mom just gave a reply to that with "Everyone goes to the Academy."

So there goes lots of fan theories and fanfictions.

Well...maybe not. It's possible this isn't the world Kishimoto translated into manga.

Atsuko was also growing, though not as quickly. Her kanji were getting better, but they still looked like a child did them. Sometimes Atsuko would also spend time helping dad out in the workshop, but she always hated it and did whatever she could to get out of it.

My parents didn't try very hard to make her do it either.

I guess they figured only one of their kids had to learn the blacksmithing stuff.

So after the several months of our parents preparing us for our future we found ourselves in October. Today in particular was a rather...odd day. Mom was bustling through the house, cleaning to a level she didn't usually bother with, and she had a certain...stressed air around her. One I recognized from my previous life.

We were going to be getting a guest tonight.

A grandparent?

Possible...but unlikely. A grandparent would have been more active in our lives.

A friend?

More likely...but my parents didn't exactly get out and socialize a whole lot.

A client?

That...sounds right. Dad didn't have a shop, so he sold his wares to shops and they in turn sold the product. A few customers did come directly to him if they wanted to special order something or for him to do some maintenance on something.

Yeah. Probably some sort of business relationship.

As if my thoughts summoned it a knock came at the door. Mom takes a deep, calming breath before she wheels herself over to the front door. I keep my spot in the living room.

People don't usually appreciate kids rushing them as they come into a house.

So yeah, not going to run to the door.

"Hello....Jiraiya-sensei."

I trip over myself as I make a dash for the door but mostly manage to stay up.

Spiky white hair? Check.

Colorful and exaggerated outfit? Check.

Geta? Check.

Red cheek tattoos? Check.

Lecherous personality?

"Sumi-chan! You've grown so big! And in all the right places! Motherhood's been good to you!"

....check.

How is she possibly his student?

Wait...he had a gennin team didn't he? Minato, that dark skinned guy, and....oh.

So thats who my mom is.

So...Mom was a ninja...which means her leg was probably lost in the line of duty.

I'm...not sure what to do with that.

"Ah! This must be Daisuke! I see he is stunned by the majesty of the great Jiraiya-sama!"

Oh. Right. Staring at him like an idiot.

Eh...Jiraiya could do with an slight ego deflating.

"Ka-chan, who's this dumb looking guy?"

Jiraiya let out this delightful squawking sound as Mom turned around with a cry of "Dai-chan!". But it was in one of those tones of voice where a parent is trying to get on to a child, but what they really want to do is just laugh.

I gave my best innocent smile as I asked. "Did I say something wrong?"

Jiraiya had another moment of bl.u.s.tering before breaking out into a boisterous laugh. "Yeah. He's Hada's kid alright!"

The comparison made me smile.

--------

Dinner was an incredibly awkward affair.

"So....what have you been up to lately Sensei?" Mom asked.

Jiraiya perked up, "Oh! I just finished writing a book! Its about....uh..." He glanced at me then Atsuko, "...stuff."

"How interesting." My father droned before placing some rice into his mouth.

You know those comfortable moments with a family where everyone could sit at the table and not say anything and be perfectly okay with it?

This was not one of those moments.

I even did the awkward cough thing just to fill the silence.

"So, Hada-san. How is work?" Jiraiya asked.

"Good. I got a contract with a shop a few months ago. Work's been pretty steady since then."

"Oh...that's...good."

You know the sounds of people eating rice, when you really listen, are very different from pretty much every other food. It has a pretty distinctive sound when-

"Why do you have those lines on your face? Did you get cut?" Atsuko asked.

Oh thank goodness.

Plus that was something I had wondered about.

"These?" He said pointing toward the red lines tattooed on his face. "Nope! These are clan tattoos! Besides, noone could manage to cut the great Jiraiya-sama!"

Wow. He even got up and put a foot on his chair to do a pose. Props to him for commitment.

"You're part of a clan?" Atsuko asked with large curious eyes.

Jiraiya's face got a rather sad look on his face as he replied with, "...no. No I'm not."

...ouch.

That means either his family was killed, or he got them to be clan tattoos for his family...which he never ended up having.

"Then how are they clan tattoos?"

Mom and Dad gave a grimace.

"What? I just wanna-"

"Atsuko." I cut in. She looked over to me and began to complain again but closed my eyes and gave a slow headshake.Thankfully I appeared sufficiently serious to get her not to say more.

Oh look, we're driving through awkward town in the awkward-mobile again.

"Welp! Thanks for the hospitality Sumi-chan, Hada-san, but I should be going. You know, countries to save, princesses to rescue." Jiraiya said as he stood up, probably having decided that was enough of that.

"I'll see you to the door Sensei." Mom said as she wheeled over to him.

I let the two of them go to the door alone where they had a quiet conversation, before Mom came back to clean up the table, the family dispersing to do their own thing.

--------------

I came across mom staring out the window later that night. Her gaze vacant as she looked out, and her lips slightly turned down.

I placed a hand on her arm. "Mom...are you sad that the dinner didn't go well?"

She opened her mouth to say something...but seemed to change her mind and instead said, "Yes, Dai-chan. I am."

That had to hurt. A jonin sensei was a major part of growing up to a ninja. Like part of the family, if not even a parent. To not even be able to have a dinner with someone who was once so close must be...heartwrenching.

"I'm sorry." I say.

"Its okay Dai-chan. That's just life. People change and their paths may split from each other. But it doesn't mean the bond between them has disappeared."

She turned to look at me, both her hand coming to grasp my own as her eyes filled with a feeling I couldn't quite identify it was....

"I know that if I ever really needed him he'd show up, and I'd do the same for him. We don't need to be in eachother's lives. We are still very important to each other. That doesn't just go away."

Melancholy.

The feeling was melancholy.