Chapter 2: "Without Any Gift for Ninjutsu, Can You Never Become a Great Ninja?"
"Hah... hah..."
"For Dad's sake, I know I can do this..."
"..."
Out on the Academy training grounds, Might Guy had been running since noon. His stamina was nearly gone, his breathing ragged and getting louder, and at this point only sheer willpower was keeping him on his feet.
A crowd had gathered nearby to watch, growing larger by the minute. Some of the boys who had passed the entrance exam looked at Guy sprawled face-down on the ground and laughed:
"Five hundred laps? He can't even manage a hundred!"
"Delusional idiot!"
"If you failed the test, go home already..."
The jeering from the outer ring didn't reach Guy. He peeled himself off the ground and started running again, and somehow, impossibly, his pace was faster than before he'd collapsed, like he'd broken through a wall.
When it became clear they weren't going to get the reaction they wanted, and the dramatic collapse they'd been hoping for wasn't coming, the crowd gradually drifted away. Nobody actually wanted to watch Might Guy finish his self-imposed challenge.
By the time the sun dipped low, Might Duy, who had been quietly watching his son from behind the fence the entire time, had tears streaming down his face again.
He knew this wasn't the right method. But even so, he murmured under his breath:
You're going about it the wrong way, Guy, but keep going anyway...
"..."
In the small wooded area beside the training grounds, the afternoon's kick-the-can game had finally wrapped up, and the group was completely wiped out.
Bodies dead, spirits high. After a good rest the boys traded jokes and said their goodbyes.
Shiranui Genma was flat on his back with the glazed eyes of a man who had seen too much. He snatched the drink Ebisu handed him, took a long swig, and groaned:
"I'm alive again."
"Why does Osamu always catch everyone so easily? And you two have way too much stamina, it's actually ridiculous."
Kakashi, wearing his usual blank expression, eyed his deflated wallet, glanced sideways at Furukawa Osamu who was handing out drinks on the other side, and answered flatly:
"Because he can sense where we all are."
"That's cheating!"
Ebisu straightened his little sunglasses at the complaint, puffed up with obvious pride, and fired back:
"Ninjas are supposed to exploit every advantage they have. Consider it a genius's privilege."
"You were the one getting rescued every single round. You're the last person who should be saying that!"
Shiranui Genma shot to his feet and he and Ebisu immediately started arguing.
Ignoring the two of them, Kakashi drifted over to Furukawa Osamu's side. They both looked out at Might Guy still running on the training grounds, and Kakashi said quietly:
"You were sensing my chakra, weren't you."
"Well, you kept hiding in the nearest treetop every single time..."
Osamu shot back without thinking. After an entire afternoon of that "game," he deserved to complain. The silver-haired kid's competitive streak had dragged the whole thing out way longer than it needed to be, and by the end it had basically just been the two of them going at it.
"Next time I'll rescue more teammates than you. I mean it."
"..."
Osamu barely kept a straight face. If he remembered right, when they'd first met a couple of months ago, Kakashi wouldn't have been caught dead playing something this childish-looking.
Ebisu, who had wandered over to join them, looked out at Might Guy, now collapsed on the ground again, and said with genuine sympathy:
"I heard his ninjutsu and genjutsu are both basically zero. His physical fitness is okay, but that's about it."
"There's no reason to push himself like this."
Genma nodded in agreement. The two of them fell into quiet gossip. Kakashi, listening, thought back to his introduction to the Might Duy and Guy pair outside the Academy gates after the entrance exam, and felt a flicker of doubt:
Is this really who Father called my rival? He still hasn't shown a single standout talent.
He watched the pattern, fall down, get up, repeat, for a while before losing interest. Among kids his own age, Kakashi still believed only Furukawa Osamu was truly worth competing against.
He'd spent a long time gathering intel before enrollment, and he trusted his own judgment. For now, he set his father's words aside, waved a hand, and called it:
"It's getting late. See you."
"Later!"
As Genma and Ebisu laughed and waved goodbye, Furukawa Osamu noticed that this time Guy hadn't gotten back up for a while. He walked over, crouched down, and held out a drink:
"Impressive stamina out there. Here.."
"I'm already five years old, and I can't even run five hundred laps around the grounds..." Guy took the drink, sat up, and spoke in a choked voice. "I let Dad down after everything he did for me..."
Osamu was about to say something encouraging when a shadow burst out from behind him.
"Guy, you idiot!"
Might Duy came charging in and punched his son flying. Osamu sidestepped just in time, watching the scene with his mouth twitching.
"Don't cry over your own effort. You just went about it the wrong way!"
"..."
Might Duy, tears pouring down his face, launched into an impromptu father-son lesson. The two of them went back and forth with increasingly passionate declarations until they finally threw their arms around each other and sobbed openly.
Furukawa Osamu, drowning in secondhand embarrassment, quietly began inching away. The father and son appeared in front of him almost instantly, bowed deeply in unison, and thrust their thumbs skyward:
"THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR SUPPORT!"
"Guy, you made a friend through your own hard work today. This is what youth is all about!"
The father and son embraced again, their tears soaking visible patches into their green jumpsuits. Furukawa Osamu pretended not to notice, gave them a polite nod, exchanged a few parting words, and finally let out a breath of relief.
He walked home, nodding hello to the familiar shop owners along the way, and turned the afternoon over in his head. After all that, he could only admit to himself:
No gift for inspirational speeches. None at all.
"..."
* * *
Late that night, Might Guy lay awake worrying about the supplementary enrollment list. He noticed his father wasn't asleep either. After a long hesitation, he asked quietly:
"Dad... if you have no gift for ninjutsu, can you really never become a great ninja?"
"Guy, your youth is just beginning. Youth doesn't retreat. Put in the work and it will pay off."
The encouragement settled over Might Guy and he said nothing more. Even though he always wore his confidence on the outside, he knew his father's situation. Fresh tears prickled at the corners of his eyes as he made a quiet wish to himself:
I wish I had a real gift for ninjutsu too.
* * *
Konoha Year 42, the last day of March.
"Osamu, I really want to see you grow up healthy..."
"I don't want to die, Osamu. I want to see you again so badly."
"..."
Furukawa Osamu jolted awake and pressed his hand to his forehead. The two figures in his dream, lying in pools of blood, had left him gasping.
It wasn't even six o'clock yet. He turned and looked at the framed photo on his bedside table.
In the picture, a young man and woman named Ichiro and Aoi, both just twenty-two years old, held a small child between them, beaming with the kind of happiness you could feel just by looking at it.
Since the two of them had died on a mission in early January, Furukawa Osamu had triggered his own ability through what could only be described as a hellish method, and completed his first use of Gathering.
"Aoi, Sakumo-sama is going to recommend me for jonin as soon as this mission wraps up! We'll have so much more money coming in."
"Check this out, Osamu, the Shadow Clone Technique. Pretty impressive, right? Normally only jonin can pull off a B-rank jutsu like this!"
"That's my kid, already loves reading at this age. You're going to bring the Furukawa name to great things someday..."
"Once we've saved a little more, I want to find work at the medical corps. I want to be able to watch Osamu grow up in peace."
"What a sweet child, he even gets shy at home!"
"..."
The nightmare had pulled those memories back to the surface. The warm, ordinary moments he'd collected since coming to this world kept drifting through Osamu's mind as he sat down at the breakfast table, only slowly fading.
Milk, a fried egg, and a sandwich. He ate in silence, thoughts wandering, until something from his previous life's anime memories surfaced unbidden, and he laughed at himself quietly:
So this is my own twisted Tsukuyomi. A retread of Uchiha Sasuke's trauma, just with different faces.
After finishing breakfast alone, Furukawa Osamu opened his notebook and ran through his usual daily summary of his ability, what he'd come to think of as his cheat. After nearly three months he had pinned down several things:
Confirmed: the ability carried over from the old browser game in the previous world contains only the Gathering function.
Gathering living people doesn't appear to work under normal conditions. Gathering yields partial ninjutsu insights and training experience, allowing for accelerated self-improvement.
Gathering demonstrably increases spiritual energy. Sensory range is expanding. Side effects are significant and difficult to ignore.
Can gather from plants. The exact nature of the Essence component is unclear, needs further testing.
Can Gathering work on Kekkei Genkai?
What is the fundamental nature of Gathering itself?
...
He finished his daily notes in Chinese characters, set down his pencil, and did his best to recall the anime episodes he'd watched on satellite TV and video platforms in his previous life:
Should have paid more attention instead of skipping the recap episodes.
Back then he'd only cared about Naruto and Sasuke's storyline. After he started working, he'd drifted away from anime entirely. By thirty he'd gone full idle-game mode, no story, no effort, just letting things run.
He still couldn't pull together anything useful for this particular point in the timeline. He burned the page he'd written on, then turned back to the scrolls and records left behind in the house:
B-rank, Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall.
B-rank, Water Style: Water Encampment Wall.
C-rank, Earth Style: Earth Shore Return.
C-rank, Water Style: Violent Water Wave.
D-rank, Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu.
Beyond those documented jutsu, there were also personal notes on Lightning Style: False Darkness, Shadow Clone Technique, nature transformation, and shape transformation.
Osamu had essentially mastered Earth Shore Return and Syrup Capture Field, and the D-rank basics were no trouble at all.
It was a little different from what he'd expected. An ordinary ninja's personal arsenal wasn't nearly as extensive as the anime made it look. Ichiro, talented enough to be considered for jonin, had excelled mainly in taijutsu, shuriken, and mission performance. His nature transformations covered only water and earth, and his specialties leaned toward defensive and support jutsu.
Chakra really is a remarkable kind of energy.
Even an ordinary ninja couldn't store large amounts of it, but once it became second nature to the body, even a small child could walk up walls and across ceilings. Likely because of what he'd absorbed through Gathering, Osamu could feel himself developing in real, concrete ways. His body was gradually converting those accumulated insights and experiences into instinct.
The Academy officially opened tomorrow. With a larger goal in mind, Osamu ran through the plans he'd been putting together:
Water, earth, and lightning, three nature types. If I can pick up medical ninjutsu and get a position at Konoha Hospital, it might cut down significantly on my training time.
Before heading out, dressed and equipped, Furukawa Osamu looked at the photo one more time. Thinking of the dreams he'd had these past months, he let out a long breath and said quietly:
"I'm going to live a life worth living. Life shouldn't be this fragile."
* * *
Ninja Academy. Cherry blossoms in full bloom along both sides of the road.
The green-jumpsuit father and son had been standing in front of the notice board since early morning. The moment Might Guy's name appeared on the supplementary enrollment list, they grabbed each other and burst into tears all over again.
The parents gathered nearby to check the list all took an instinctive step back. Might Duy, practically glowing, crouched down and placed both hands on his son's shoulders:
"Guy, you have no gift for ninjutsu. In my eyes, that is something to be proud of."
"Knowing your weakness is what lets your strength shine. Your taijutsu is already starting to stand out!"
Might Guy nodded again and again, taking in his father's confident smile and raised thumb. Making it into the Academy had already done wonders for his confidence, and now he pumped himself up at full volume:
"I'm going to work so hard. Once I can run five hundred laps around the training grounds, I'm going to challenge both Osamu and Kakashi!"
"That's the spirit, Guy!"
"..."