Before I had realized how quickly time flew, we were already midway through November, a month and a half since my moving out of the orphanage and about seven weeks prior to my joining of the civilian side of the academy.
In that time, I had kept my impressive growth rate and managed to improve myself all over the board, having increased my stamina to the point where running for an hour straight was no longer an issue, and while I hadn't yet reached the point of holding two leaves while doing something else, I could keep a single object stuck to my body for about fifty-five minutes before collapsing in exhaustion.
I didn't really have any measuring stick to know for sure how impressive that was or at what age the real Naruto had managed the same feat, but I still considered it a good sign of my progress.
I had also reached the point where I could do forty push-ups in one sitting, but I was determined to pull a Rock Lee and achieve a thousand before my graduation.
I had made a mental note to look into weights once I reached that point and needed to increase the difficulty of my workouts because training became too time-consuming to see any improvement.
Speaking of which, I had found during one of my excursions into the village a training ground where two rows of a dozen stakes were planted into the ground and attached by a rope at about shin height for an adult and knee-height for me.
I had understood it was a footwork running course and had immediately incorporated it into my routine, starting every morning with stretches and a dozen or so runs through the holes while holding a leaf stuck to the back of my neck.
I had discovered that sweating was an additional difficulty when it came to sticking things to my skin, but I welcomed the challenge, happy to improve even further.
Honestly, I could probably start tree walking now if I wanted to, but I had show restraint so far, preferring to take my time and perfect what I could do already before moving onto the next step.
Naturally, the fact I was scared of heights and terrified of slipping and breaking my neck in a moment of careless played no part in my decision.
No part at all...
Another benefit of my dogged assiduity to my training was that I could now keep up the Transformation Technique for about half an hour and even move while holding it, though doing too sudden of a movement or being subjected to a moderate breeze was enough to make me drop the act.
I had so far kept my attempts minimal and not changed my shape too much, barely adding or removing a few centimeters to my height and width, focusing more on subtle changes like modifying my haircut and facial features.
I had attempted doing the Clone Technique and Substitution one, but the result had been somewhat mitigated, my Clone looking green and dead to the world, while the act of replacing myself with a log had left me dizzily vomiting my breakfast on the floor and swearing off any more training until I was slightly older at least.
I hadn't even considered attempting the Body Flicker, however, knowing it would leave me even more lightheaded than the Substitution and knowing for a fact that I was clumsy enough to run head first into a tree and die if I forced the issue.
There were already a few techniques I refused to test on myself before having a clone work out the kinks out, just like the Great Fireball, which I hoped to witness at some point, knowing that with my luck in life, I would probably end up liquefying my own lungs before getting anywhere near close to a success with it.
Still, all pessimism aside, today was the very first time I would be breaking from my routine since establishing it, besides the few times Kaori had asked me to deliver clothes to a customer of hers, and there was good reason for the change, as yesterday evening, I had finally managed to finish mentally leafing through every single book Hiruzen and the Konoha academies had provided me, for both civilian and shinobi curriculum, meaning I had, at four years of age, already completed my theoretical education and had only to worry about the practical side of things from now on, or at least until I graduated and received the clearance required to read more of the restricted chakra manipulation scrolls.
I had already wanted to visit the establishment for a few days now, so the timing couldn't have been better and it was quite happily that I had made my way into Konoha's house of books with my own appearance, having decided not to disguise myself both to see what kind of reception I should expect, as well as avoid needlessly attracting any suspicion onto myself.
The building was a three story one with shelves and books filling every available space with all of it open to the public, the Shinobi Archive and all confidential data stored somewhere underground and only accessible through a chakra barrier only open for Genin and above.
Luckily for me, nobody paid much attention to me as I entered, and while I considered approaching the bored teenager whom took up the role of librarian to ask for a card, I had in the end decided against it as I did not need to borrow any book, seeing as only perusing any tome directly from the shelves was more than enough to allow me to study it thoroughly at a later date in the comfort of my home.
Browsing the different sections of the library, I avoided the fiction and romance books, which surprisingly took up most of the space, and walked up the stairs to try my luck on the above floors.
While I would not pass up the chance to scan every book I could find about traps, weaponry and other non-chakra related martial arts, my interests lay in more domestic matters, such as the art of music, sculpting, wood crafting and more generally urbanism of all kind.
It might not look immediately useful at first, but with the amount of chakra and the potential work force I would have at my disposition at all times meant I could probably form a construction crew of my own and take up the construction and maintenance of roads, hospitals and homes all over the Fire Country.
I had no doubt in my mind that having a soldier capable of single-handedly providing an underground shelter, a fortified base or even a refreshing oasis would be an asset to whatever team or war platoon I found myself allocated to in the future.
The fact it would make me look absolutely badass and allow me to flex like Hashirama had done by creating all the forests around Konoha was a bonus I wouldn't deny.
Who knew, perhaps I could even sprout an oasis or two between the borders of Suna and Iwa in the future to have them jump at each other's throats in an attempt to control them, while leaving Konoha alone for time.
More than that, however, I was curious to read a few philosophy books as well as the 'Tales of a Gutsy Shinobi' by Jiraya or even his smut, to see if his self-proclaimed reputation as a literary genius was deserved or not.
I had access to a few dozen stories from my previous world which I could easily transcribe and propagate in the Elemental Nations, after all...
Actually, now that I thought about it, I would be writing down and trying to publish stories from my world no matter what. It was barely a time investment from my part and would result in free money in case of success as well as helping me propagate worthwhile values, without incurring any negative consequence from my part if it resulted in economical failure.
In the end, I had spent the entire day in the library scanning things I found interesting, as despite it taking about forty seconds to flip through a whole book, there were enough shelves to keep me occupied for hours and I knew it would take a clone a few more days in order to get my hands on everything Konoha had to offer their civilians.
I probably would never have enough free time to assimilate everything, but I was better off having it stored and not use it, rather than needing it later and not having it.
At least, from this point onwards, I would never find myself bored with nothing to do, which was a great plus in my books.
I had a pep to my steps as I made my way back home that evening, stomach growling, determined to be ready for tree-walking and water-walking training by the time the academy started.
Naruto had managed both in about three days each, but I was confident in my ability to surpass him in a week, and master fully both exercises in a month.
My time would be somewhat limited once I started my studies at the academy, but I was determined to make time for myself.
My improvements had been prodigious so far, but this was only the beginning.