Chapter 3:
Note: from this point on, anything in bolded letters is said in English
The promised 5 months passed like nothing, between trips with my parents, learning to read and write, growing up and enjoying being a kid again. I couldn't physically train yet due to my age, so I was left with a lot of free time.
While planning for the future, the main problem to solve is Obito. Obito is the catalyst for much of the atrocities following the 3rd Great Shinobi war. Akatsuki turning into his pawn, the Nine-tails attack, Kirigakure's most dangerous period ever, not to mention the 4th Great Shinobi war. He even took part in the Uchiha Massacre.
Obito was a nice kid at heart, he was just caught up in the wrong circumstances at the wrong time in the wrong era. To avoid this, I would have to find a way to make sure Rin doesn't die. Rin dying is what makes Obito become Tobi. This means that the Kannabi Bridge mission needs to succeed without Obito getting trapped under rocks and kidnapped, and that Rin needs to survive this war. I just needed to find a way to warn them of their future turmoil as vaguely as possible… If only that were easy, avoiding suspicion while trying to warn people of their deaths.
That will have to wait, though. None of them would take a 2 year old seriously, hell, they probably won't take an academy student seriously, either. I would still need to try. For the sake of my family.
I should probably start logging everything I remembered about Naruto as soon as my fingers were good enough to write. I don't think I've forgotten anything major just yet, but better safe than sorry.
—-
Tou-san had been using his free time to drill me on chakra manipulation. He worked as an all-purpose handyman. He received contracts whenever something needed fixing, building, all the like. I wondered why he wasn't receiving missions, but I didn't feel like prying. He isn't always home, but he is a good dad.
"... Daisuke. You have to concentrate. You can't just make a concentrated face!" tou-san reminded me, trying to keep a straight face. "Don't concentrate on manipulating your chakra, that will only distract you. Empty your mind of all thoughts. Feel your chakra. You won't get anywhere trying to use chakra before you even know how it feels. Manipulating your chakra requires an intimate understanding of your chakra." He whispered to me slowly, making sure I could hear every word.
That makes sense. I had to learn the basics of anything before advancing, even if the basics in my case was simply becoming familiar with my own chakra. That's why I couldn't manipulate it before, why I hadn't made much progress. I hadn't even thought of that! I must've moved it by fluke before. That's how people learn new skills, though. First by fluke, then by practice and finally by muscle memory. I suppose I skipped out on the practice part.
I meditated for as long as I needed to, concentrating and clearing my thoughts, tou-san watching me patiently. My chakra felt warm and thick, vaguely like blood. I couldn't stop there, though. Tou-san told me to concentrate. Scrunching up my eyebrows, I continued to concentrate on my chakra, paying close attention to its flow. Eventually I noticed the direction of its flow. Its flow was like a river, flowing at a constant speed, flowing through each tenketsu.
So that's how it is! People don't manipulate their chakra directly, they divert the flow of their chakra! Chakra control must then logically be one's skill at allowing precise bursts of chakra to flow into specific tenketsu in our bodies.
From there my concentration quickly broke. Too much thinking, I mused. Tou-san looked very pleased with me. He must've seen how deep I got into meditation. "Tou-chan!" I cheered. "I figured it out! You don't manipulate your chakra, you manipulate its flow!" I exclaimed excitedly. My Japanese had gotten much better during those five months.
Tou-san looked at me with surprise. "That's incredible, kiddo! You can already tell that much?" he asked with a look of surprise and pride at the same time. I must be more conscious of my chakra since I hadn't had it back on Earth.
Kaa-san walked in as I was jumping for joy with a bright smile. "My little sunshine is so talented! What do you say about a celebratory dinner tonight as a family? She offered, "This is something worth celebrating!" she added.
"Can I have dango, kaa-chan?" I asked hopefully. She beamed at me with a bright smile "As much as you want, Daisuke-chan!"
—-
Another year passed where I was coached by my parents on chakra control. We hadn't started training, of course. Training at such a young age is dangerous. About 2 months before I turned 3, they got me started on the leaf sticking exercise. They only allowed me to do it when they were able to watch me, apparently babies have such small chakra reserves that I could risk chakra exhaustion or death, even doing such a simple activity.
"Listen, kiddo." tou-san said sternly. I gave him a look of attention. "Chakra is produced in our bodies and circulates around our chakra coils. There is a limited amount of chakra that each person has, that's why your kaa-chan and I are very particular about supervision." he resumed, looking at me as if to make sure I'm paying attention.
I nodded and then paused, before raising my hand. "What's your question, kiddo?" he asked me patiently. "Tou-chan, how do we get more chakra?" I questioned, trying to see if there was another method I hadn't already known of.
"That's a good question. Chakra is made up of our mental and physical energy merging together naturally in our chakra systems. To increase how much chakra we have, we have to grow our mental or physical energy. Physical energy can be trained through physical training. Mental energy can be trained through things like studying and meditation. This means that as we grow older, we will naturally gain more chakra. Each person's chakra is limited based on their genetics." tou-san clarified.
Mental energy, huh? For a kid, I suppose that would just mean that natural process of growing up and learning new things. I had already skipped a lot of that process, though. I wonder if my chakra pool is higher than average at my age because of that?
In the first place, how did tou-san know all of this? From what I understood, this is knowledge that not a lot of people have so casually. Hell, I'm not sure if I knew that while watching Naruto on Earth. How did a genin have this degree of knowledge on chakra? A mystery for another day, I suppose.
After nodding to tou-san's explanation, I worked on the leaf exercise again. He and Kaa-chan watched me carefully as I carefully directed a steady flow of chakra to my hand, attempting to infuse the leaf with enough chakra to make it stick without it exploding. After botching many attempts at trying to keep the leaf on my head without making it explode or fall down, Kaa-chan suggested that I should try to gauge how much chakra the leaf could handle, saying "You don't learn to walk without crawling first, sweetie."
All of my previous attempts hadn't exactly worked, but I was close. My last few attempts had a leaf that stayed together for a few seconds. All I had to do now was lower the chakra flow into my hand. Squeezing my eyelids shut, beads of sweat forming on my forehead, I carefully allowed less chakra than usual to flow into the leaf.
After what felt like 5 minutes of suspense, nothing happened. The leaf didn't explode.
"I did it! Did you see that, Kaa-chan, Tou-chan?! I finally did it!" I screamed in delight, uncaring for our poor neighbors. My parents snickered to themselves as they saw me excitedly run to the wall and stick the leaf to the wall.
"Great job, Daisuke. Now all you need to do is stick it to your forehead." said tou-san, grinning at me after I'd tired myself out, breathing for dear life on the floor. "Y-yes, tou… chan" I replied in between breaths, trying to catch my breath. I caught my parents smiling at each other with pride written all over their faces.
—-
Another year passed and my parents listened to my request and got me notebooks and pencils for my 4th birthday. It's about time that I started logging my memories of Naruto before I'd forget everything. I'd no doubt already forgotten plenty of minor details, but my memory of major characters and details still remained more-or-less fresh, since I'd been thinking a lot during the last 3 years of consciousness.
It seemed like a no-brainer to write everything in English. I don't doubt that someone could decode English after a long time, but it would be very hard and seemingly without merit.
While I was in the middle of finishing my log of Naruto, writing under the Akatsuki section about Sasori of the Red Sand, kaa-chan came into my room.
"Daisuke-chan, tou-chan and I have something to tell you." she said with no humor in her voice. I nodded silently before following kaa-san into the living room, where tou-san was sitting down, waiting for me.
"What is it?" I questioned, looking up into their eyes. Tou-san slid his gaze over to kaa-san before they nodded at each other.
"Daisuke," he started "... it is our firm belief that you should be able to do anything you want to do." he continued. "We don't know where your interest in chakra came from, but you already know what it means to be a user of chakra. What we are asking is, do you want to become a shinobi?" he said, somewhat grimly.
"Yes," I said without any hesitation. Fixing my steely gaze at them. I can't back down here.
Kaa-san grimaced a little "Why, Daisuke-chan? The life of a shinobi is not easy - take it from us. We are both inactive genin." She paused for a few seconds, thinking "I won't deny you from becoming a shinobi if that's what you truly want, but how do I know that this isn't a childish whim?" she asked lightly, voice giving a completely different feel than her eyes, which were demanding an answer.
"I want to protect our family. I want to protect this life we have. I want to protect the village that enables this peaceful life." I explained without diverting my eyes. It was the truth, with no manipulation.
Silence followed for a little while, my parents both thinking. It felt tense. If they refused, I would train in secret somehow, but I didn't want to do that. I wanted my parents' support. I wanted to become strong with their guidance. I wanted them to be proud of me. I clenched my hands tightly as I waited for a response.
Kaa-san frowned at me while tou-san stepped forward, patting my head, "We wanted you to be a civilian who would live a life without conflict," he started, voice full of remorse "but if this is what you want…" He looked me in the eyes as he came down to my level. "If you really want to become a shinobi, then we will support you with everything we have," he added, fixing a steely gaze into my eyes "and we will work you to the bone." he finished.
"This kid's trying to steal my role." He huffed with humor. I smiled at him. His face then became serious.
Tou-san grabbed my shoulders and shook me a little, "You are not allowed to die." he declared quietly. Tears pricking my eyes, "Understood, tou-chan." I agreed.
Moving closer to my worried, yet supporting parents, I hugged them.
—-
The conversation I had with my parents was something I hadn't expected at all. I didn't expect them to outright ask me whether I wanted to become a shinobi, I half-expected to have to beg them around age 5 to attend the academy next year. Seeing how they acted towards my decision only deepened my love for them. They trusted my decision enough that they went against their own wishes to support me.
Since then, over the course of 5 months, tou-san and kaa-san started drilling me relentlessly on academy curriculum and basic chakra theory, all the while making me practice chakra control. Walking on trees wasn't possible just yet, but I could hold several leaves in different parts of my body at once, and when I was really trying, I could stick my hand to surfaces for a few seconds. I wasn't at the age I could train physically yet, but kaa-san started teaching me taijutsu katas and how to handle kunai.
Those 5 months after the shinobi talk passed by almost too quickly. I'd managed to almost finish the log of what I remembered from Naruto by then. I was allowed by my parents to practice taijutsu katas without supervision, so I was in my room going through the katas my mother taught me.
My mother's taijutsu kata was very interesting, with a lot of emphasis on flexibility and counter attacks. I would probably have to modify it to suit myself at some point, though. It feels like there's something missing in this style.
Speaking of which, I'd basically mastered the leaf exercise and my parents instructed me to stick multiple leaves on different areas of my body for practice. They'd told me it would be too difficult on my chakra reserves if I started on tree walking, and I agreed. No thank you, not risking that, as cool as being Spider-Man would be, I should probably be at an age where I'm not risking death.
Some time later while I was practicing, kaa-san ran into the room and hugged me tightly, "Guess what, Daisuke-chan?!" she asked, picking me up and spinning me around. "W-what?" I asked, still wondering when I'll stop getting picked up all the time. I was in the middle of something!
I pushed down what might have been a frustrated sigh as I noticed how happy kaa-san looked. She looked completely ecstatic.
"The doctors said that I'm pregnant! You're gonna be a big brother!" she informed me, hugging me tightly. A big brother? Me? I wasn't a big brother on Earth, I never had a younger sibling. Tears threatened to escape my eyes as I hugged kaa-san back.
"When are they being born, kaa-chan?" I wondered, hugging kaa-san tightly. "I became pregnant 2 months ago, so in 7 more months. "I'm gonna be the best big brother ever!" I declared, voice slightly distorted by my wide smile.
"That's right, sweetheart! I'm sure you will. How about we go out to buy some clothes for our new baby girl?" she offered, shaking from excitement with the idea of having a daughter. "Okay, Kaa-chan" I said, causing kaa-san to beam with excitement, her eyes somehow shining despite their black color.
—-
Ever since Kaa-chan told me that we were having another family member, I bumped up my training just a little. Me and kaa-san started going to the park more in our free time, because in her words, "My growing little boy won't have enough space in his room to practice taijutsu soon enough!" It'd been 3 months since kaa-san had gotten pregnant, I'd been growing steadily.
As I was going through the taijutsu katas that kaa-san had introduced me to, I heard a vaguely familiar voice yelling in the distance.
"Oooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuu" yelled the unfamiliar voice, becoming louder and louder. I turned towards the source of the screaming and saw a boy with hair down to his shoulders wearing a red scarf and a sleeved green jumpsuit running towards me.
He stopped right in front of me, digging his heels in to lose enough speed for him not to hit me. Frozen, I gazed at him with my mouth wide open. "Such perseverance, such determination, such dedication, such YOUTH!" he chanted excitedly. Is this really… "I am Might Guy! What's your name, youthful one?" he asked, in his typical nice guy pose.
I stared at him, bewildered, "Um… I'm Uchiha Daisuke." I answered him unsurely. Guy was a lot more… eccentric in person than in the anime. Gai regarded me with what looked like fire in his eyes. "Yosh, Daisuke-kun! I have decided that we are now friends! And if someone as young as yourself is practicing with such dedication, how can I not train at least two times harder?! If I can't train with as much dedication as you, Daisuke-kun, then I'll make 100 laps around this playground on my bare hands!" he exclaimed, immediately moving into the pushup position.
Someone as young as me? Really? As far as I knew, Guy looks like he may be 8 at most. We hardly even have an age difference! "W-well Might-san-" I said before being interrupted, "Guy! Call me Guy!" he demanded, still doing pushups. "Then, Guy. I suppose I could be friends with you." I said with a slightly awkward smile. "Great, Daisuke-kun! I must go and finish my training, but I will see you again!" he declared before running off at what seemed to be impossible speed for someone his age.
Huh, that just happened. I guess I've made my first friend here. Finishing my practice before walking back to kaa-san, she grinned at me playfully, "My cute little son has finally made a friend!" she announced loud enough for anyone around to hear it, trying to embarrass me on purpose. "It's not a big deal, kaa-chan. Everybody has friends!" I complained, cheeks a little red with embarrassment. Great, now other people are looking at me.
"Besides, there's no rush to make friends. I can make friends in the academy, right?" I huffed. She was blowing this out of proportion. We continued home, chatting idly until we reached our apartment.
"His name was Guy-kun, right? We should invite him for dinner sometime." kaa-san bent down at me and squeezed my cheeks as I made a face. "Don't make that kind of face! I just want to meet this boy!" she scolded. "I don't even know where he lives or where he trains…" I muttered. How was I even supposed to get in contact with Guy again? "Maybe he will find you?" Kaa-chan suggested.
—-
And find me he did. Two days later, Guy showed up to my apartment, much to my parents' amusement. He'd interrupted our breakfast, but kaa-san and tou-san didn't seem to mind. "Come, Daisuke-kun! We have much to do today! Let us practice together!" he said, holding his right hand out.
My gaze flickered to tou-san and kaa-san, who smiled at me and nodded. Looks like I have permission. "Wait, Guy. Let me finish my breakfast!" I said, running to the table to scarf down the food as quickly as I could. "My apologies, Daisuke-kun! It seems that I arrived early! It is important to eat to fuel our youth!" he yelled once again, somehow sounding apologetic while being so loud. I looked at him to nod before turning to the rest of my food and finishing it.
Tou-san handed me a water bottle and gave me some pocket change. "Don't get lost, kiddo," he paused, "and don't make too much trouble." he finished, ruffling my hair. I sent him a challenging grin before running off with Guy. "See you soon, Tou-chan! Kaa-chan!"
As Guy and I were walking to the park, Guy said. "Yosh, Daisuke-kun! Today, we will run 100 laps around the playground! If we can not do that, we will run 200 the next day" he announced. I smiled at him before nodding. Strength training wasn't completely safe at my age, but physical activity is recommended for every growing child. As long as I wasn't malnourished or dehydrating, I should be able to run laps.
We got to the park and the first thing Guy did was lead me to a tall, well-built man who had a sleeveless jumpsuit much like Guy did. "Hello, youthful children! Are you guy's new friend?" he asked, smiling at me with a glint in his teeth. "Yes, um, Might-san?" I answered unsurely. Guy's father seemed to accept it with a nod. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Uchiha Daisuke," I said politely, bringing my hand out. ", and you are?" I asked with respect.
"Oh, forgive my rudeness. I am Might Duy, Guy's father!" he bent down as he shook my hand. Guy was waiting patiently, before turning to me and his father, "Yosh, tou-san! Daisuke-kun and I have training to do!" he said, grabbing my wrist and walking away from his father. I waved hesitantly at Duy as we stopped at the playground. "First, Daisuke-kun, we will…"
As Guy instructed me on how we are going to train, I told him that I cannot do strength training yet, since my parents and I were concerned about my health. He accepted the answer and training began.
—-
The training… technically went well. As I hadn't physically trained in this body before, I wasn't used to this kind of exertion. After practicing taijutsu katas with Guy for 30 minutes, we got started on the laps.
I knew endurance was probably the most important trait for a shinobi to have, so I took the laps seriously. The playground wasn't crazy big - 1 lap was only about 50 or 60 meters, but I was a scrawny 4 and a half year old.
As I bent on my knees on the 34th lap, Guy came up to me, "Come on, Daisuke-kun! Keep going!" He encouraged me, patting me on the back. "I… can't… keep up, … Guy." I said roughly, trying to catch my breath. I hadn't felt this exhausted since my last life, it was a feeling I hadn't missed at all.
Sweat beading down my forehead, Guy looked me straight in the eyes. "Daisuke-kun, never say that you can't do something!" Guy said, pointing to himself. "But-" I said, before being interrupted. "I used to think I couldn't do anything. I failed the academy entrance exam the first time, Daisuke-kun," he then looked up to his father, who was watching them with pride in his eyes. "But tou-san told me to never doubt myself! If you can't do 100 laps, keep going anyway! If you can't run, walk! If you can't walk, crawl!" he said, probably repeating a lesson his father had taught him.
"Whether you can or cannot do something doesn't matter! If you have the energy to think about that, you may as well use it to do your best! That's how we get stronger!" he said, holding his hand out. "Let me help you up, Daisuke-kun," he said, smiling at me.
I took his hand, smiling, before getting up. "Okay, Guy. Let's do this". I said with determination in my voice. "Thank you, Guy." I muttered, feeling grateful. Guy just gave me a thumbs up as we continued.
—-
"Come on, Uchiha Daisuke-kun! Just a little more!" said Duy, watching me barely cross the finish line we'd agreed on 2 hours ago. After I managed to cross 100 laps, I nearly fell, but Duy picked me up and placed me on a nearby bench. He handed me my water bottle wordlessly. I must've looked like I just reached an oasis in the desert, I chugged the water as quickly as I could.
My legs were burning, they felt wobbly like jelly. I'd walked the last 37 laps, and yet my body, not used to this kind of exercise, did not like the training one bit. Countless deep breaths gasped from me as father and son watched me with a smile on their faces. My throat hurt from breathing and my body was sluggish from using so much energy. Physically, I felt like shit, but I was really hyped mentally. I'd done it, I'd kept up with Guy, even if this was one of his easier training days.
"Are you hungry?" Gai asked, looking concerned but also pumped. "Y-yes." I responded quickly, feeling no shame at all as my stomach rumbled. Luckily for me, we wouldn't have to go to a restaurant and wait for food. Duy had packed lunch, and let me have some. After eating lunch, Duy and Guy took me home, and I was too tired to actually talk to my parents. "I'm home!" I said hurriedly, before racing to the couch and falling asleep immediately.
—-
That's the end for this chapter, It's a bit longer than the other ones. If anyone has suggestions, feel free to comment or review. Thanks for reading!
