—-

Special thanks to my Patrons—I appreciate it a lot. If you want to read the next chapter of this fic right now, check out my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) PaladinKaladin

My discord server: /shDTSvPrnZ

enjoy!

—MPGTOI—

By PaladinKaladin

Chapter Eight: My teacher is a psychopath.

My eyes slowly opened themselves to the real world, as the fluttering of eyelids signaled that I was finally gaining consciousness.

"Ugh…"

I clutched my head with a groan, trying to somehow force the migraine that wracked my brain away with pure strength. Clearly, that didn't work. I began to slowly absorb my surroundings, my eyes widening and trying to process the sudden change in environment.

The hospital?

Memories of what had happened the last time I was conscious began to flood my mind, my eyes slowly beginning to widen and widen.

Ibiki Morino.

Are you willing to kill?

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again. This was going to be a long day.

"You're finally awake."

My head snapped to the right to the recognizable voice. Ibiki Morino leaned on the right wall of the hospital wall, right next to an open window which had the drawer open. His glare was not as deep as before, and he overall didn't look as insane when I had fought him before.

"How long have I been unconscious?" I asked Ibiki with an inquisitive raise of an eyebrow.

Ibiki snorted. "Not that long, to be honest. An hour, five or take. You took a lot of damage mostly from my hits, but any decent medic-min could get rid of that in an instant."

I hummed in the middle of the comfortable silence. This environment was very familiar, and I had a pretty valid reason for being at ease in a hospital. Half of my life was in the hospital—at which point does it become my home? I didn't really have any sense of PTSD or some other trauma from the hospital environment, mostly because I just didn't really know what I was missing and just how unfortunate my situation was while I was in the hospital in my past life. It was only until I was reincarnated, that I truly began to appreciate the life I had missed back then.

"What happens now?" I questioned, even though I already knew the result of the 'secret' exam.

Ibiki shrugged. "Nothing much." His large, shadowy figure didn't match the bare white walls of the hospital room, and every movement he made was standing out way too much. "You passed the exam. Congratulations are in order, I guess. Anything less from the Rookie of the Year and I would have sued the Academy for wasting my time."

Fair enough.

I smirked. "So you're officially my sensei?"

Ibiki nodded. "Yes, fortunately or unfortunately."

A sudden doubt filled my mind. "How the hell did I even pass, anyways? You basically whooped my ass the entire time, and the final move I had didn't work one bit!"

Ibiki stayed silent.

He seemed to be contemplating things, his mind whirring as he tried to process what he was about to say.

In the end, he settled for a shrug. "It's because you were willing to kill."

"What?"

Ibiki hummed whimsically. "In reality, anyone could have passed that test. As long as you showed the capacity and the willingness to kill, of course. Nothing else mattered." He suddenly stopped before continuing once more. "I don't care how you ended up after all those years at that blasted Academy—once you've undergone my training, you'll be a completely new man. Assuming of course, you won't give up."

I internally mused his sentences. I repeated my nindo in my head, embedding yet words into every single corner of my brain.

"So if anyone just said that they were willing, you would have let them pass?" I asked confusedly. That just didn't make sense for the strict Jonin in front of me—out of character in a sense.

Ibiki shaked his head. "It's not about what they say, it's about what they do. They have to show me that they are capable of killing. Your last move there showed me that you were capable, and that's all that mattered in the end."

He continued. "If you were offended by anything I said during the exam, don't be. It was simply a way to test the solitude of the prospect Genin. If a ninja can't handle something as small as words by themselves—they don't deserve to be here, it's as simple as that."

I nodded. "The purity of gold is tested only through the flames of fire."

Eh, some random quote I read online back in the day. It seemed fitting for the moment and what he was saying, so why the hell not?

[New Passive Skill: Ethereal Wisdom Lvl 1]

What does that even mean?

Ibiki snorted. "Something like that. Remember this, Shinji. As my student, things will get…dire. I want you to promise not to falter, regardless of how dark it will get. I am a torture specialist first, not a teacher. I will teach, but in my own way." He chuckled darkly. "Trust me—I'll train you in a very, very different way."

I felt chills go up my spine.

"Shinji Nara. The other Jonins are teaching their students to become shinobi."

I gulped.

Ibiki's eyes sparked.

"I'll train you to become a demon, so you better fucking be prepared."

[—]

Two hours later…

Inuzuka Bar

"And then I confronted him all by myself. Though I promptly got my ass kicked a second later…" Naruto's voice lowered at the end.

Sakura grinned. "I don't think that that's all he did, Naruto."

Naruto blushed heavily. "DON'T!"

I chuckled. He was probably referring to Kakashi's infamous "Jutsu" he used on Naruto, One Thousand Years of Death.

"Yeah, whatever. It ends up that the real objective of the test wasn't to get the bells anyways, we just had to show some sort of cooperation," Sakura finished for the blond.

"I'm surprised you all managed to work together for once," I admitted.

Naruto shook his head. "We didn't really work together. Sasuke and Sakura gave me food even though it was forbidden, and apparently that was enough cooperation to pass the test."

What.

I completely forgot about that. A wave of memories flooded my mind a second later, my eyes widening in realization.

That's right, Naruto and the others passed because they gave each other food.

Food.

It was completely rigged. Kakashi wouldn't have passed away his sensei's own son and the last heir to the Uchiha clan to some random Jonin. He knew he was the only Jonin in the village truly capable of protecting them if something were to happen. Why else would he give them another chance to complete the exam, and let them pass the exam purely for giving food to one of their teammates?

I didn't blame the guy, either.

A Jinchuuriki and the Uchiha in the same team would have to be managed by someone capable. I wouldn't be surprised if the Council had something to do with Kakashi, especially with him getting to teach Sasuke—though I might have been dipping towards fandom territory.

I was only able to realize this because right now I was actually in Naruto world, and there was no way someone would pass so easily. They took this very seriously, and rightfully so.

"How was your sensei, Shinji?" Ino asked from her corner of the table.

Kiba had personally invited everyone from the graduating class to his bar after the recent success of his Genin test, which he had supposedly passed with flying colors. I didn't actually doubt him considering who his teacher was. I was considering whether I should go or not an hour before, but ended up being forced to go by my mother who heard that Shikamaru was going. All right, I know I sound like an actual dork for actually wanting to stay home, but I was making major, major progress with the seals.

I shrugged. "He's completely insane, but it's perfectly fine for me, I guess. I couldn't really expect more from a torture specialist, right?"

The table fell to silence.

Shikamaru slapped a hand onto his head.

Ino chuckled nervously. "Oh yeah, sounds good."

I scratched my head in confusion. I didn't really say anything too weird, right? To be fair, I could blame my absolute lack of social skills on my circumstances in my old life without it being plain excuses. Hanging around in the hospital for so long with only anime and fellow redditors to talk to wasn't an ideal situation for a growing teenager.

"How come Hinata didn't come?" I asked right after, trying to spark a conservation that didn't result in me looking like a fool in front of everyone else.

Ino smirked. "Of course you ask that. She had something to do with her family, and couldn't come."

Ignoring her first statement entirely, I could see why Hinata didn't come. If anything, she was probably training. In this world, where Hinata wasn't a nervous wreck, she had supposedly trained a lot more, and gained more respect from her family at the same time. Hinata was going to be rightfully treated as the Heir to the Hyūga clan, and would be a lot more focused upon.

"What about Sasuke?" I questioned, looking over at Naruto and Sakura, who would probably know where the Uchiha brat was.

Naruto frowned. "He's training. Something about being embarrassed by our sensei."

I couldn't really blame him. Kakashi was an S-tier troll whenever he fought his Genin for the first time. I still couldn't believe that he had put Sakura into a Genjutsu making her think that Sasuke had actually died—that would be rough for any Genin to go through. To her credit, she did seem perfectly fine right now.

I looked at the clock, and my empty plate.

Shikamaru noticed my sudden movement and subtly nodded.

Man, having a brother that could understand so easily was amazing.

I stood up, bringing everyone's attention towards myself. "Alright guys, I think it's about time I go home, it's getting late and we have to meet our sensei's tomorrow anyways."

"Huh? We were just about to start the karaoke, Shinji!" Choji protested, looking at the clock as well. "It's not even that late!"

I laughed jokingly. "Trust me, you don't want to listen to me singing. Besides, Shikamaru is staying. Just think of him as me."

"If Shikamaru is staying, why don't you stay as well? Your mother isn't going to say anything if you do, you already told us this," Ino tried to argue.

I didn't budge. "I'm going for different reasons, trust me. I'm getting really tired."

Naruto looked ready to jump on the train to persuade me but the look I sent him immediately silenced the talkative ninja before a word got out.

Shikamaru snorted. "Let him go guys. He won't budge on this, I can tell."

Everyone mumbled their own words, before finally accepting the fact that I was going to leave, and waved their goodbyes. I walked out of the bar silently, zipping up my thick jacket as I did so. It was pretty cold since the evening, so I found the need to bring it.

I started running before I knew it, going over rooftops on a straight line path towards my home. A few minutes later, I was there.

My mother looked surprised to see so early. "Why are you here alone? Where's Shikamaru?"

I yawned. "I was too tired to continue—Shikamaru is going to come sooner or later."

"Alright, make sure to sleep early!" I heard my mother's voice as I climbed upstairs to my room.

"Sure!" I responded dutifully.

I made my way towards my room, keen to do the exact opposite of what my mother just told me to do.

My eyes lit up with a manic passion when I saw the remaining seals present on the table arranged messily. Scattered ink bottles, books everywhere, pieces of paper—both failures and partially successful seals—cluttered around the entire room.

Needless to say, it was getting painfully obvious that I was addicted to Fuinjutsu.

It wasn't even some sort of claim to brag or anything—I was genuinely obsessed with the art of making seals. So much so that I barely even slept anymore, instead preferring to read one of the Fuinjutsu books I had or practicing the seals myself. There was something about the ability of gaining so much power at the palm of your fingertips by simply drawing onto a piece of paper that was so exhilarating in my opinion. As I went deeper and deeper into the art of Fuinjutsu, it quickly made sense why the Uzumaki clan were wiped out without any hesitation from their allies.

With the power of sealing literal gods on earth into children—they had the ability to set the world on fire. It was a good thing the Uzumaki weren't a particularly aggressive or evil clan by any means, or else the world would have been shaped very differently today.

And while I had no delusions that I would be at their level any time soon; in my eyes, a journey with the promise of gold at the end is always a worthwhile journey to embark on.

I looked in the mirror, noting how darkened my eyes really were.

[Passive Skill: Insomnia Lvl 2]

[Negates most effects of sleep, comes with obvious side effects.]

The bar showing this skill had randomly appeared one day while I was practicing. In my half-dazed state, I hadn't thought much about what it was and the implications behind it.

This wasn't a skill, it was literally a disease.

The system just gave me a disease for fun.

I had laughed internally at myself for the next hour after I realized that, before realizing just how royally fucked I really was. Insomnia wasn't a joke. Woo! I get to stay awake all day long without any manner of proper rest! What an awesome skill to have, right?

I groaned. Self-pity was getting to me. I couldn't really complain about my situation considering where I came from.

I flexed my wrists.

"Back to the grind," I muttered slowly.

I had a few objectives in mind, firstly, to perfect the major explosion seal and get it to a practice. Second, the first major development into the greater areas of Fuinjutsu, was the Gravity Seal.

Gravity wasn't an element which could be controlled—it couldn't actually be manipulated using a simple seal like the other elements. Gravity seals, in the end, weren't actually truly gravity seals. They were just seals of pure weight—created by storing absurd amounts of air inside them. There wasn't any seal for Gravity, instead, an overarching diagram to produce intense storage of air was used. All the air condensed in the extremely small space would become heavy.

I wanted to pursue this seal when I saw the several uses that came with it from the anime and real life. One, I could pull a Rock Lee and train myself to the limits during my physical training and fitness. Two, I could glue these on others during fights and slow them down entirely.

The shape of the gravity seals was made to center the focus of the applied chakra to the epicenter, where the center of mass would be focused and would tie into the weight of the piece. It was an advanced set of chakra mechanics that I didn't really understand at this stage of the game.

My brush moved rapidly, copying the diagrams present in Jiraiya's book.

He covered the Gravity Seal very late on, meaning it had some theory that I didn't have knowledge over at this point, but that didn't really matter. Most of this topic was intuitive in my experience. I drew five circles adjoined by interlocking, parallel lines, looking like a gateway of sorts. Then came the more detailed parts of the seal. The inside of the circle—where the actual elemental seals were used. It was a good thing that chakra elemental affinities weren't a thing in seals, or I would have been screwed over if I wasn't a natural air user.

I sighed, before looking intently at the seal. "And so it begins…"

I didn't know how long it took—the first seal always took the longest, after all.

But eventually, I managed to finish it.

The gateway was still there, but filled to the brim with countless seal combinations and formulas inside. It was messy, ugly, and was made without any finesse. Without any more hesitance, I applied my chakra to it.

A large zipping sound ensued as I could hear the sudden loss of air that was absorbed into the seal.

It worked! I thought with glee. Wait. It's on my—

My hand dropped to the floor with the effect of the sudden weight on the limb, bringing my entire body to the floor with a thud. I groaned in pain as I tried to move my hand, but to no avail. I disabled the seal using my other hand, disrupting the chakra flow of the seal by adding my own signature chakra in the opposite direction.

"It worked," I said to myself, genuinely surprised. "IT WORKED!"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!" Shikamaru screamed from next door.

I quieted down sheepishly. It was an hour before the sun would rise, I noticed. I had probably been annoying Shikamaru since midnight.

[Passive Skill: "Gravity Sealing" Lvl 1]

[You have gained 1000 EXP!]

[Congratulations!]

[Perk System has been unlocked!]

[Information: Perks are special abilities which are not dictated by levels, and exist permanently. They are given as choices to the user, who has the ability to choose which suits the best.]

[Choose wisely.]

[Perk: "Photographic Memory"]

or

[Perk: "Quick Regeneration"]

"Eh?"

~~~~to be continued

Yo!

What's up?

To begin with, thank you so much for the support on the fic! 1300 follows with only 7 chapters—that's genuinely insane! I would never have thought that my rookie writing would gain such attention, but the internet has always surprised me.

My upload schedule: THIS FIC IS OFFICIALLY WEEKLY. My exams are finally finished and holidays are here—I'll be pumping out chapters.

Question of the day:

1. Which skill do you think Shinji should choose? Photographic memory or Regen? REVIEW!

I've had several complaints that Shinji's progression is slow—do you guys agree? I don't think that progression should be fast paced where Fuinjutsu is involved, IMO. However, one of the perks he *might* choose will DEFINITELY improve his progression.

If you want to read the next chapter of this fic right now, check out my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) PaladinKaladin

Check out my discord, link in my profile.

As always, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! Make sure to follow and favorite so you stay updated!

Cya' next chapter,

PaladinKaladin.