Chapter 5: Chapter #05: Orphanage
Shin pondered what could those light motes be. Why are they healing his injuries? And that dark energy. It felt cold to the senses. But after those light particles appeared it balanced out.
Fast healing.
'So, is that my special power?'.
`I can't remember any type of reference that was responsible for healing.
Let me see what was medical jutsu?.
I don't think that the anime gave a clear explanation.
It was related to light style or shadow style. I think.
But I don't think that those types of Ninjutsu can be understood by me at this moment. I haven't even unlocked my chakra yet'
'Hmm. Let's first get out of this Hospital. Then I can ponder it over`.
At 7 pm in the evening, Shin was finally allowed to be released from the hospital. The orphanage care boy Dai, came to pick him up from the hospital.
Dai and Shin finally signed the discharge form and stepped out of the hospital. However, despite Shin's recovery, he still wasn't able to move at a normal pace due to weakness.
Watching Shin's efforts to walk faster, Dai looked at him with a mix of worry and exasperation. "Slow down, you little pipsqueak! You nearly gave me a heart attack, and poor Emi was in a frenzy. Do you have any idea how fast I sprinted to the emergency room after you fell?"
Feeling a twinge of embarrassment, Shin apologized, "Sorry, big brother Dai."
Dai playfully pointed at Shin`s nose and pinched it. "Oww!"
"Sorry isn't going to cut it this time. You better treat Aunt Emi better from now on. She was a wreck worrying about you."
Shin rubbed his stretched ear, wincing. "Oww, oww, oww!"
"Okay, okay! I'm sorry. I promise to be good," Shin pleaded, hoping to alleviate the discomfort.
As they approached the orphanage, darkness had already descended upon them. Shin noticed a giant statue by the front gate and couldn't help but ask, "When did the orphanage install a massive statue?"
Dai made a gesture with his fingers, mimicking a camera shutter. "Alright, alright! I'll be nice. I'll go greet her."
A formidable woman stood near the entrance of the orphanage, her presence emanating strength and authority.
"Thank you, Gran... Aunt Emi," Shin quickly corrected himself, realizing his slip of the tongue.
"Good, you`re back. You know the drill. Get a shower, Get changed, and eat dinner on the table. It's already prepared". Hulking Emi turned, ground shivering as she moved.
"YES!, ol.... Aunt Emi."
'I gotta watch that. don't want to destroy the legend before it begins'
Shin went into his room, which was an exact replica of the memories he inherited from the previous owner of his body.
"It's like Deja vou" he muttered. 'The whole experience of receiving memories from another entity is weird'.
Surprisingly, there weren't many orphans in the orphanage at this time—only a total of 16. Each trio of orphans was assigned to a single room.
Having joined the orphanage just six months ago, Shin was still unaware of his family background. So, until any new arrivals, he had the room all to himself. He quickly undressed, grabbed the second set of his three pairs of clothing, and headed for the bath.
As the warm water cascaded down on him, Shin's mind started buzzing with plans. "Alright, before I can strategize my training, I need to nail down the timeline details," he thought to himself. "Based on the boy's memories, it seems the Nine-Tails attack hasn't occurred in the village yet. That means Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, is currently in office."
"Maybe the attack will happen soon," he mused, soap bubbles popping around him.
Furrowing his brow, Shin continued his mental calculations. "To figure out the exact timeline, I need information about Kushina's pregnancy or perhaps even Kakashi's age. Darn it! Minato was only Hokage for about a year in the anime, right? So his appointment must have happened only about three months ago. That means there's still some time until the Nine-Tails attack—about nine to eleven months."
Realizing he had a good thirteen years before the main Naruto events or the actual Anime plotline began, and possibly even seventeen or eighteen years before the Fourth Great Ninja War erupted, Shin couldn't help but let a mischievous smile creep onto his face. "I need to gain as much power as I can secretly during this time. After all, you never know when a stray rock might come crashing down on the orphanage during the attack."
He exited the shower, wore the clothes, and went to the common dining hall. It was a spacious room with beige-coloured walls. There were six small tables in the room. Some round and some square with each table surrounded by 5 wooden chairs.
"Hmm, quaint," Shin muttered to himself, surveying the humble dining hall. "At least they didn't use cardboard boxes as tables."
Although the orphanage received a daily stipend from the Village treasury, it was just enough to cover the living costs. There weren't any funds for furniture. So most of the stuff inside the orphanage was donated by charitable citizens or picked up from generous giveaways.
Shin received a plate of Curry and Rice from Dai, who had fetched it from the kitchen.
Shin asked, "Where is everybody? I haven`t seen Akiko and Hiro since I got back from the hospital"
"The other children have already eaten," Dai replied. "They tried to wait for you, but we were late. So, Fa... Aunt Emi made them have dinner, and now they're fast asleep."
Shin was amused. 'Even you can't stop saying it. Looks like it's contagious and yet you want me to be nice'
'Ah, no matter It's not like I have childish tendencies so it won't be so bad from now on with the Sumo woman'
'Ah, Delicious'. Dai said euphorically.
'Why did I feel as though I had eaten that bite'
He finished his dinner with Dai and went towards his room.
Shin finished his dinner with Dai and made his way back to his room. As he settled into his sheets on the ground, his mind buzzed with thoughts of unlocking his chakra.
'But why hasn't my chakra activated already?' Shin pondered. "I've been through severe mental and physical duress these past three days. It should have unlocked by now, shouldn't it?"
'What was the definition again?' he questioned himself. "The combination of physical and spiritual energy creates chakra. Maybe there's an imbalance in my body. Due to the soul transference, my spiritual energy has increased, but my physical body is still in a weakened state."
"My consciousness or soul is like an overenthusiastic factory, churning out spiritual energy," Shin continued. "But my poor cells are slacking off, not producing the physical energy I need. No wonder I've been feeling so lazy. I thought it was just my usual mood!"
"Maybe," Shin hypothesized, "If I start doing physical exercises tomorrow, I can wake up my muscles and cells. Hopefully, that will kickstart the production of physical energy and unlock my chakra'
Feeling exhausted from the mental and physical strain he had endured, Shin turned over on his bed and drifted off into a much-needed sleep. Despite having a plan in mind for unlocking his chakra, he couldn't shake off the weariness that lingered from before.