AN: Much like how this arc is named down time its really just a few chapters winding down from the movie before moving into another one where the events after pick up fairly fast as the story comes to its close.

Chapter Title: How Long Til It's Over?
Down time part 3

It's been a week since Naruto left with Jiraiya off to train and write smut- or whatever Jiraiya actually does with his time.

I was starting something pretty important today though, or at least I'd say so, Ume was going to start giving me proper lessons as to her actual Kenjutsu style as well as the village standard so that I could master it properly and begin my steps towards becoming an instructor. I'll still be taking missions though, at least until I start working properly because otherwise I'm paying my parents board at my own will, and Ume said I had to pay her for the lessons to teach me to make me ready for it because it did take time out of her day to do it after all.

"Aunty?" I was confused watching said woman tie up her dark hair as she walked over to a Bokken rack amber eyes blazing like an inferno.

"Alright, first lesson Nephew/student of mine!" she threw me one of the wooden swords taking one for herself and looked me dead in the eyes. "I've been teaching you how to wield a sword for as long as you can probably remember- which I'm grateful you did continue by the way- Now that you want to become an instructor though it matters a great deal that you start to learn, understand and become the embodiment of the tenants relating to Bushido and other styles."

"Okay."

"Unlike when I had you learning on the side of my actual classes, I'll start with something you might like- its a book written by a famous swordsman from the warring states period before the villages were formed." She paused for dramatic effect. "The Book Of Five Rings!" Ume happily pulled said book out of her Kimono top.

What?

"Huh? Do you know it already or something?" She said, looking somewhat disheartened by the prospect.

"I- I..." how? What did this mean?- Musashi existed here?

"Come on Takezou. Answer me." her expression was slowly becoming a frown.

"I- ah no I haven't read it before I'd heard of it before just never seen it in person and all the stores I visited never had copies." I responded, which was the truth, it was hard to come by them, or at least of normal martial arts books- this was an entirely different ball game.

"Yeah I can understand why, this is an original print copy that I got when I was a little girl. They don't print them anymore either- which is probably why you've never seen it."

"Is this what we're starting with then?" I asked only to get laughed at.

"Amaterasu no! That would be stupid, no this is what you're working towards! What we're starting is something simple." she stepped to the left of where she was putting the book back in her Kimono. "Nah what we're learning about is how to keep a conversation while fighting as well as just how to pick out exactly what is wrong with how someone moves and how to correct that. So… dodge-" she swung at me and training began.

I brought the bokken up blocking the overhead strike.

I had a feeling this first part was just an excuse for her to spar me again if I had to be honest, I had no doubt she'd actually start teaching me properly after she broke something, be that my body, the bokken or the stuff around us.

After about five minutes of her kicking my shit in, we stopped and while I was recovering she started talking again.

"So tell me what do you think was wrong with your style and how you did? Can you pick how you fight apart for me so that we will have a basis to work off of." She put her own bokken in one of the straps on the hakama waiting for me.

With that we continued to do something similar for the next couple hours until Ume decided to mix it up and slowly change the elements of how we did it.

Dad came by around the time when we were finishing up and he walked back home with me, he had originally come over to ask Uncle Matsuda about something but found out what I was up to and stuck around to watch the end of it.

"You look pretty happy with yourself, huh?" Dad's voice broke whatever thoughts I was having bringing my mind forth to where his smile was.

"Heh, yeah..." I couldn't wait to continue the next lesson, sparring and actual practical skills? What else could I want?

"This is what you've wanted isn't it?" Nobuyuki asked- I never really used his name did I? I used mums and basically everyone else's, but never his…

"I guess so, it is nice to finally not have to worry about being a Ninja too much." and that was the truth, I only took small missions with Hinata and Sensei, but otherwise our team was kinda broken up seeing as Sasuke was gone and of our remaining members Hinata was Chuunin, I was never really going to stay a Shinobi and Sensei was in a position where he would either have to take up another team or continue along with ours for as long as he could get away with it.

"Well, don't forget about your old man then, will you?" he said, sounding somewhat distant.

"I never would, just because we don't as much time to hang out anymore doesn't mean I'll forget you." I stated firmly, I wouldn't and couldn't forget him. "Do you want to go and train right now Dad?" He stared at me for a moment.

"Sure why not? What, thinking you can beat me now? Must have gained a ton of confidence for you to want this." He laughed lightly putting his single arm around my shoulders as we changed directions.

Normally you needed to reserve a training ground for use, unless it was one that had been designated for a Jonin and their genin team. Nobuyuki already knew where team ten's training grounds were so we were on our way there. The walk there was nice enough though. He was asking me about what I talked to my grandparents about back when I had been taken there during the Exams seeing as he never actually got to hear about it. I told him about what Koutetsu talked about relating to the blades and our relationship with them, like I said though it was nice to really talk with him for once and really sit back, we never really got a chance to talk. Be it my schedule or just never really deciding to go out of our ways for it.

Stepping into the clearing where I had spent a year or so training with my team up until this point, I still couldn't remember how old I was, I think I graduated at twelve, which meant my birthday was either before or during the Chunin Exam- which I already knew because of the party we had. But it's also been like eighteen months since we became Ninja if I had to guess… so I was fourteen then? And that meant that my sister was… four? Or five? I should probably ask when we get back home huh?

[Musashi-Dono Was Real]

A few days later when I was back with my aunt doing lessons I could still feel the beat down Dad gave me in the spar, for all the training I had and fights I'd experienced I wasn't anything next to him and the man still only had One Arm! I guess that's why he's a Jonin… retired or not it was scary.

For the lessons though we always skipped a day so that I could put together any questions I had about how to teach or how to work things and such. Well that and so Ume could focus on her Dojo and family properly without worrying about what we were meant to be doing that day, teaching wasn't easy after all and she had gotten some papers and things done up for me so I had homework. I think she had gone to the academy to see some of the teachers there about what they did as well.

So far with the learning how to teach people martial arts and just how to be analytical about all the faults of my or anyone else's use of stances and whatnot has been fun, sure we've only had a few lessons, but it was enjoyable.

I've been going to Kyudo on the weekends too and looking forward to having a filled week of shit that isn't ninja related for once.

Y'know if I had done this all before becoming a Shinobi and doing all those missions and the exams I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much, because there wouldn't be anything to compare it to, whereas now I have more than enough to compare. It beats that sex worker protection D rank we did, I still can't beleive we had to do that.

Also all those times I got hit in the head training must've done more damage than I realised because my sister was only three don't know why I thought she was nearly five… maybe it was because she could talk enough that I just assumed? And I mean I've noticed kids of a similar age group in the ninja households do tend to grow up faster for some reason, maybe it was that, who knows?

I was walking at the moment, I didn't really know where exactly, but I didn't really have a goal in mind, heh… kinda like this life so far huh?

Surrounded by a dense amount of foliage I guessed I was in a park, my feet carried me along a dirt path that winded around through trees opening up to a small area where a large stone staircase was. With trees overhanging above the several flights of stairs heading up a hill, deciding to keep going I began to realise as I moved my feet up that something was off- sure it could be any number of normal simple things, but I couldn't place it. What I knew though was that I was interested in finding out what was at the top of the stairs, I kind of hoped that it was something simple and completely inane and I wouldn't get anything from it. Why? You might ask, that would be because it was nice to reflect, and I know I do that alot, but it was a necessary part of my life- how else would I find myself?

Certainly not from swinging a sword or loosing arrows from a bow while chanting to myself and engulfing myself in philosophies. No, definitely not from those, they were what helped me stay together and bind what I already had.

Who was I, if not a person who did everything he could to push my ideas where I could?

Reaching the final point of the incline and my head peering over the stairs I was impressed to see a beautiful Shinto shrine stood with Sakura and Plum blossom trees surrounding it and the premises, all of them being accentuated by the sun that hung high above in the sky, its light making everything look almost fantasy like or ethereal even. There was a dirt and stone path that lead up to the main shrine building as well as the other buildings I assumed where either where the priests and priestess' lived and whatnot, I noticed a few priestesses in the background cleaning the buildings, a Priest was talking to a younger looking girl dressed as a priestess next to a well- they being the closest drew my immediate attention.

I knew though once I started approaching them that I was looking forward to talking to them for the next hour or so, or even just as long as I could get away with.

The time I ended up spending at the shrine was probably far longer than any normal person would have spent there.

I asked about just about anything I could trying to get all the answers to my questions I could, not to mention the fact that I ended up just talking about the gods of Shintoism and the stories surrounding them with the Main Priest- "Hayato Gouzen" a pretty nice guy.

His daughter saw her opportunity to escape and ditched after my first few questions and all.

Again I really did spend an exuberant amount of time there talking and just taking in the sight of the Shrine itself seeing as there weren't any down in the village proper at all and this was the first time I was seeing Shrine of this size, let alone in the village at this point.

AN: