Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Moments

Chapter 12: Moments 

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A crowd of children circled around a podium, where two people could be seen exchanging blows. After a minute, one of them had fallen to the ground – a fist stopped right in front of his face as a sign of mercy. 

"Enough. Both of you now do the seal of reconciliation," Arima said. 

The one who lost stood up, wincing as he clasped his hand with the winner – a sign of respect. 

"Next, Akio and Kuroto," he said, glancing at the both of them now walking up to the stage. 

They both stood opposite each other; both in a ready stance, crouched down and at eye level waiting for the go. 

"Now fight." 

As soon as this was said, Kuro dashed forward at a blitzing speed; his leg was raised, ready to stab him in the chest. Except, Akio saw this coming and sidestepped – now toward his side -- he planted his left foot and raised the right… aiming straight for the opponent's head. 

Kuroto, who was still facing forward, raised his right hand and blocked the kick – he even tried clasping onto it but Akio snapped his leg back – seeing his movements. 

Both of them now faced each other – only a metre apart but this time – Akio went for the first move. In blitzing fashion, he twisted his waist and kicked his leg then followed through with a straight punch – however – Kuroto slanted his neck, dodging the punch.

This didn't stop Akio's momentum as he grabbed his opponent's arm and clasped it – although Kuroto struggled to get his arm free but when he did; he pushed Akio back and threw a high kick… it was but a big mistake. 

To his surprise, his leg was caught and a leg was swept under him, losing his stability and tripping him over. 

However, it didn't end there as Akio started kicking him whilst he was on the floor… 

This got a lot of strange looks from others as he carried on kicking his opponent into submission. 

"I-I give up!" Kuroto yelled – another kick landing on his arm. He had lost count of how many times he had been kicked in the same place. 

"Enough. Both of you – seal of reconciliation – now." 

Akio let his opponent stand up and they both clasped their hands in acknowledgement. 

The next people got up the stage whilst they went down... Akio had a thoughtful face as he stepped down. 

'I need to quickly progress in my chakra control because my body is one of the worst in the class.'

The person he versed just now – Kuroto – was hardly top ten in the class and it took some strength for him to beat. His physique was weak, yet he had a plan to overcome this – using his chakra control for chakra enhancement. But this level of skill needed a lot of time before it was developed. 

It's not like he could become a jack of all trades – training in every single aspect didn't bring that much gain. He either was average in everything yet a master of none – this was a bad thing when you needed something to specialise in. Chakra… he wanted to become proficient in using chakra as this was his 'talent'. It would definitely pay off in the future.

"Akio well done, train harder and be faster next time," Arima explained – Akio knowing his flaws best nodded with conviction as he went back.

A few days later…

Today marked the fifth month Akio had come into this world… and also his birthday. 

Currently, he was sitting around a table with his family – a cake was placed in the centre with six candles on top. 

"Akio – my son. Do you want to see the gift that I gave you?" He smirked… rhetorically asking. 

With a pleased smile, Akio rolled his eyes. "No, I don't want the gift." 

Hagiro chuckled – pulling out a wrapped-up present from underneath the table and passing it over. 

Instead of opening it now, he just put it beside him. 

"Akio dear, I also brought you a gift," Miko sweetly said. 

"Ariza, Ima." She turned around with a wide smile.

"What about your gifts to him? Come on – it's his day today." 

To their mother's voice, they both pulled out their presents.

Beside him now were four presents which he looked forward to opening. 

"Akio, it's time to blow that delicious cake of yours," Miko said to which Hagiro nodded – even pushing the cake toward him. 

Following their instructions, he looked intently at six candles blazing in front of him – causing an orange hue in his eyes. Just like they said, he closed his – seemingly making a wish.

'I wish to live to the fullest…' he inwardly thought.

He made his wish before blowing out all six candles… this whole scene made it seem like they were a big happy family.

An hour passed and the charade was finally over.

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Akio made his way to his room – unwrapping the gifts they bought him – starting with Ima. 

She had bought him a few shuriken and kunai. The usual stuff and so did Ariza as he got him a book. 

'Haha.." Akio inwardly chuckled at Ariza's present – trying to mock him for being a bookworm. 

The last two were his father's and stepmother's to which he opened first. Finishing unwrapping it, a wad of notes which looked to be ryo.

He was quite delighted to finally have some money on him; this was quite helpful as it wasn't just a bit but a lot. 

After he finished unwrapping his fathers, another wad of cash was in his hand and an advanced scroll on chakra control.

Akio had quite a feeling as it welled up in his heart; he couldn't describe it but liked it. He seemed to take quite a liking to this father of his even though it wasn't his real one. Just because he didn't feel attached to the father of this body, didn't mean he never felt gratitude.

'I like this guy the more I come to know him.'  

The things he did for him were countless: teaching him, showing his mistakes, and putting him before himself. 

This guy was a pretty good father and felt grateful to have such a person in his life. 

—-

Akio was heading outside just after celebrating his birthday with the family. Now, he was going to celebrate it with someone else. 

Walking through the streets of Konoha, he saw a restaurant and stood there – waiting for someone. 

Not a short while later – a kid with blonde hair and blue eyes walked over – and another person… a girl with red hair was beside him. 

"Yo Minato and Kushina," Akio smiled – fist-bumped Minato and hugged Kushina. 

"Ah! We all couldn't wait to celebrate your birthday," Kushina's loud voice reverberated, gaining some states from people passing by. 

Akio raised a brow. "We 'all' what do you mean?" 

Minato and Kushina deeply looked at each other and smirked. 

Minato chuckled and softly spoke, "Well.. we invited Choza and Shikaku; we asked Inoichi but he has stuff to do so… there's now an all."

Akio rolled his eyes at this. "You never told me you were bringing more people… but of course you were – you're always extra." 

Minato just smiled. "Come on… you need some friends man."

It was true, Akio barely had a social life due to specific reasons. Minato thought of him as a kid too clever for his own good, so he found it hard to click with others – or so he thought. 

Truthfully, Akio only said this because they were kids… only Minato was an anomaly due to his genius intellect which gave him insight. He didn't even want to be with Kushina so why would he want to hang out with them? 

Conversing with such people was so hard and tiring. Just dealing with Kushina's antics was frustrating – it's like she's a programmed bot always doing the same thing. Speaking the same way, expressions were the same – talking exactly like she was programmed to.'

Over this time, Akio formed a closer relationship with Minato and his friends. Ever since they met for the first time – both of them took a liking to each other and decided to hang out. 

"He's right ya know!" Kushina jumped in to which Akio just sighed and accepted it. 

"Fine, fine," he gave up. 

After a certain amount of time, the pair – Choza and Shikaku came. 

One with his hands in his pockets and a droopy bored look spoke, "Yo.." 

He handed a present to Akio with his usual bored antics whilst Choza chomped on his chips

Bits of chip pieces fell out of his mouth. "Yeah, I got you one too. Make sure you open it later though… I'm starving." 

Minato chuckled at him and just signalled everyone to get in the restaurant. 

—-

Everyone sat around the table, talking and conversing whilst Akio just glanced at this scene. He passionately smiled as he ate with his friends… taking in the moment right now. 

It was one of the times when he truly felt happy in this world… a moment where he never had to think about other things and just relax – something he could hardly ever do. 

'Maybe I'll just enjoy this for the time being.' 

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