I thought I would get two chapters out this week but I probably won't. I ended up mostly just taking the break, but I will try to upload this one on Sunday, we'll see.
-looks like i only managed a monday upload, woopsies?
***Chapter edited on May 19th 2024
—-
I woke up with a bright smile and a great mood. It was my birthday today, but it wasn't just any birthday. It was the first birthday where I celebrated with people other than my parents. Before today, I didn't really have any friends but Gai, and to be honest I never even thought to invite him to celebrate with me until Kaa-san reminded me a few months back that I could, indeed, have people over. Who could've known. This year's birthday also marked the first birthday where Izumi was around.
It was a great day to be me.
Before today, I told Gai and Hayate that they didn't have to bother bringing me any presents, but Gai insisted, explaining that it was 'nonsense' and 'entirely self-serving' to not bring a gift to such an occasion. He further clarified that he wouldn't dare 'mock the celebration of one's Youth'. It was funny to hear him so adamant about something other than training, and I did make a mental note to definitely bring a gift to any celebration Gai invited me to. Hayate also insisted on bringing a gift, though it probably had to do with the fact that we weren't friends for too long and he felt bad for appearing empty-handed.
Than plan before celebrating was simply to go to the academy, train as a group after classes ended to buy time to Kaa-san to prepare everything, and then go to my house. Nothing too special, really. Today was the first day of bukijutsu class, which was designed to give all of us a general education on ninja tools. We didn't have anything too special, nothing like learning kenjutsu or how to use ninja wire, but we needed to have a grasp on how to use both kunai and shuriken. After that, additional weaponry like senbon, fuma shuriken and the aforementioned ninja wire could be taught to anybody who had the interest.
My parents had already taught me the basics of using kunai, like how to properly wield it and basic technique for throwing, but it wasn't something that we focused on. On top of that, I had no experience in shurikenjutsu at all. Weird for an Uchiha, I know, but it wasn't seen by them as a priority. They expected me to simply learn at the academy or during my regular training regimen.
I may have been very solid in chakra control and taijutsu for my age, but considering the lack of proper training I had received for bukijutsu, I was on an untrained civilian's level. Except for wielding kunai to some degree, maybe, but throwing… Let's not talk about it. I was never good at throwing anything in my past life, so the idea was making me a little anxious.
Anyway, Hayashi-sensei told us about the graduation conditions today. Contrary to popular belief in the Naruto fandom, the requirements weren't simply to be able to use the academy 3. They changed yearly, to ensure each new Genin had all their bases covered. If academy students heard from their senpais about the test, they might solely focus on those specific requirements, after all.
So yes, the academy's tests weren't always the same. I had already theorized this before hearing the news. Naruto tried to graduate three times and failed. On his third try, he was even surprised to hear that the graduation test would include the clone jutsu. Rock Lee managed to graduate even though he couldn't do a single one of the academy three either. This meant that the exams could include any of the curriculum I would go through and there may very well be a test on our shurikenjutsu in the future. What that meant for me was that I would have to keep even uninteresting skills up to par with the class's average.
We went outside of the academy for the first bukijutsu lesson, close to our sparring area from before. Hayashi-sensei gave us wooden shuriken and kunai. "I need everyone's attention! I'm giving each of you a set of practice kunai and practice shuriken. You will take care of them. Today, I will present proper throwing form. Try to mimic me. You will all have thirty minutes to practice the proper form before we move on to the actual throwing." he explained to his whining students, pointing to the targets. The targets were logs with the classic red and white circular targets, a bull's eye in the middle.
Most of the students were seemingly unhappy about being given fake weapons, but I was just thankful that even Konoha's academy felt apprehensive about giving real weapons to six and seven year olds. Not that I was actually praising my village's practice, I mean, we still employed child soldiers.
Besides, how could those kids even complain about this? Not only were we being given an excellent opportunity to practice, but we actually had something to throw. I half-guessed that we would spend a couple of weeks without even fake weapons. The time we spent before any taijutsu sparring was boring as hell, and I would hate to have a repeat of that. Looking down at the wooden ninja tools I had been given, I frowned. Maybe this body would have better hand-eye-coordination than my last.
Hayate shoulder-bumped me, grabbing my attention. I glanced over to him and was met with a mischievous grin. The picture of confidence.. "How about a competition? I can definitely hit more bullseye's than you, birthday boy." He smirked challengingly. Considering his confidence, I was guessing that he had already had some practice at home with throwing.
Nah. I wasn't gonna have any of this nay-saying on my birthday of all days. I didn't have much practice with shuriken, but damn it, I couldn't refuse a bet. I've always had pretty good beginner's luck, anyway. "What's on the table?" I whispered to him, eying my surroundings suspiciously like the world's youngest drug dealer.
"I don't want to take too much from you on your birthday," he thought for a second, "An order of dango, simple as. Deal?" he offered with an air of supremacy. Oh, this rat and his cockiness. This was so on. Maybe I wasn't so experience, but I was still an Uchiha. My eyesight might just get me a win here. I could totally bullshit a victory out of this. "You're on!" I told him with a nasty smile.
—-
My face fell into despair as I watched my kunai and shuriken tumble pathetically one by one.
I was wrong. About a possible victory, that is. Maybe the Uchiha side took over with some kind of clan kid arrogance, but damn, my accuracy in throwing was not that much better than in my first life. Where it was terrible. Jesus Christ, this was embarrassing.
It was true that I had greater eyesight and hand-eye coordination than before, but it really looked like my accuracy would need a lot of work. I wasn't some sort of idiot who would think that I could survive in the shinobi world with restricted use of shuriken and kunai. Utterly missing the bull's eye for the final time and with only about 6 of my 10 projectiles even hitting the target, not even close to the bull's eye, my head fell in embarrassment. Even many of the civilian kids were better than me.
Hayate looked downright evil at that moment, wearing a shit-eating grin looking as if had just found a $100 bill on the road. Damn it, I got in over my head. Hayate stepped up next and he hit the target with every throw, landing 6 bull's eyes. What kind of training did he have at home? I sighed in defeat and decided to wallow in my misery.
"I'm sorry for being too good," he mocked me. It was clear now that he didn't even care about the fact that I owed him dessert. "Can it, Hayate. You'll get your dango…" I groaned in frustration. I was a bit below average in shuriken throwing. My kunai throwing was better. It was where I hit 4 of the 6 times on the target, which I'd say was about average… for the civilian-born students. I mean, I guess I was civilian-born, but I hated to be compared with average after all of the praise I had been getting from Hayashi-sensei and my parents.
All of the clan kids always at least hit the target, Uchiha Shodo and Hyuuga were the best out of them, hitting 8 and 10 bull's eyes respectively. Anko was also surprisingly good, too. It was surprising to see the level of skill that some people possessed already. Spoiled clan kids, I tell you.
Hayashi-sensei then told us that he recommended us to have a success rate of at least 85% rate for hitting a bull's eye on the target before becoming a Genin. It wouldn't necessarily be a requirement when graduating, but when faced against an enemy shinobi, it would be a disaster if you missed at a bad moment. He recommended that we practiced every day, as it was important to master the fundamentals.
Since our bukijutsu class was the last class of the day, much like our sparring and taijutsu class, I left the classroom, Hayate trailing behind me.
As we stepped outside the gates, I turned to Hayate hesitantly, "So… listen, Hayate. Gai's a great dude, super strong, too, but," I thought of the right word, "he's a bit eccentric, okay? You'll see what I mean when you meet him." I informed Hayate, ensuring he knew what he was in for. "He takes training very seriously. He won't let you stop until you really can't go on. I mean it." I explained further.
Honestly, Hayate lucked out with the fact that it was my birthday today, because we were ending earlier today. I remembered the first day, and by God did everything hurt. Hayate wouldn't be in any actual danger, knowing Gai, but the first few sessions of training were really tough on me, and Hayate likely wouldn't be used to the intensity we trained at.
Hayate sighed, "You're being dramatic. I bet he's fi-" he told me before being cut short by the son of the eternal genin running towards us. "Happy birthday, Daisuke-kun!" he shouted from a distance, gradually coming closer. I grimaced, seeing his arms ready to tackle me in a hug. I braced my lower body for what would be an undoubtedly excessively powerful show of affection.
I made an 'oof' sound in response to the air being pushed out of me. Gai patted me on the back, tears running down his eyes and giving me an earful about Youth and congratulations. He finally looked down to see me taking deep breaths. "My apologies! I simply could not resist a wholehearted congratulation!" he justified himself before letting go.
I chuckled, "N-no problem, I kinda expected this sort of greeting," I admitted with an amused smile. "You know me so well!" Gai laughed before finally noticing the bewildered Hayate. "And who is this Youthful boy?" Hayate cleared the bewilderment off his face, "Ah. I'm Gekko Hayate, Daisuke's friend. I was invited to train with the two of you," he said carefully, clearly less sure of his decision. Even if he regretted his choice to come with us, he wouldn't be let off now that Gai was aware of Hayate's initial intentions.
Stars filled Gai's eyes as he thrust his arm forward in a handshake. "Is that so?!" he asked excitedly, "What great news! We must not waste anymore time! Let us go!" he decided quickly, facing away quickly. "Yosh! Follow me, you two!" he ordered. We were making a bit of a scene, so I tried to hurry Gai up a bit. I was always embarrassed by excessive attention.
The place where Gai and I had been training changed from a playground a long time ago. There were plenty of training grounds around Konoha for shinobi to use, though civilians weren't allowed to use them. Thankfully, there were designated training grounds for people like civilians and academy students - they weren't as big, but for two 6 year olds and a 10 year old, it was more than enough.
It was a nice place, really. Plenty of grass to break your fall (thank you Gai). Lots of trees to hide behind while being attacked (thank you Gai). Not to mention-, you know what, maybe I Gai should hold back a little more.
As we arrived, Gai immediately got us started on the normal routine we had built up. My own routine slowly changed as I started diversifying my training more. There were newer skills I had to keep up with, so things changed ever so slightly. Now, we shortened the laps and strength training to some degree to give ourselves time to work on our respective skills. It was a sort of free-time period. I filled that time with chakra control exercises like tree-walking, hand seals practice and throwing practice. Eventually, I would practice with jutsu and nature manipulation, but for now I was still trying to get a feel for that with rocks and stones. Progress was steady but not absurdly quickly, though changing the basic shape of a regular hand-sized rock was already an easy feat for me.
Of course, actual ninjutsu would require much more proficiency.
Gai believed that it was best to spar while we were already drained, so we always sparred with each other at the end of our training. Normally, a day of training lasted between four and six hours for me and Gai, but today it would only last about three hours, since we were heading back to my house earlier.
—-
Hayate was actually doing quite well, to be honest. Much better than my first day, at least. He had obviously had some kind of training regimen already, considering his decent stamina. Not that it was quite up to par with Gai's standards, though."This… sucks.." Hayate muttered after we finally finished our laps. We only did about half of the usual today, so Gai wasn't even fazed, while I was a bit winded..
"You would've had to do this at some point, y'know,." I shrugged, giving him a pat on the back. "Your future Sensei would have eaten you alive if you hadn't started with proper conditioning. How will you run missions when you can barely run?" I asked slyly. That's right, this was payback from before. Screw you and your throwing.
"Correct indeed, my friend! Endurance is of utmost importance! Do not fret, Hayate-kun, for as long as you train several times harder, you will catch up! Your future self will surely be pleased with the results!" Gai explained innocently, not taking a jab at the poor boy. Hayate's eyes widened as the words 'several times harder' registered in his mind. "... Right, Gai-san. I'll be sure to train harder in private…" he muttered.
"In private? Whatever could you mean?" Gai asked, shocked by the idea that a normal person wouldn't agree to his idea of training. To be fair, Gai's pretty lucky that I need to get stronger and that I like him. Who else but Kakashi would willingly train with him? "Okay, what's next?" Hayate asked me, dutifully ignoring Gai's question.
"Normally we would do strength training for an hour or two, but we only have two hours left before we have to go home." I hummed thoughtfully, "Gai and I decided that we would work on only explosive strength today, since it's less time-consuming. After that we'll work on individual skills briefly and move on to sparring."
Gai's Strong Fist style of taijutsu relied on a high degree of explosive movement, so it was something we worked on a lot. It would probably also benefit Hayate's kenjutsu significantly. The speed I had gained from Gai's regimen was enough to give Hyuuga Momoku a challenge, despite the difference between our skills.
The rest of the training was marginally easier for Hayate. While his endurance was a bit lacking for our standards, he didn't slack off on his strength training, keeping up with the regiment we set. Fast-paced lunges, pushups, squats, and sprints did require a foundation in endurance, of course, but it wasn't as demanding as the running we did. He kept up with my exercises fine, but Gai was another beast. After that, we got to sparring. After some convincing, Gai agreed to allow Hayate to spar with me first. We both had the same reason for wanting to spar Hayate first: he would be more tired after the first spar. Gai's enjoyment of fighting had rubbed off on me, apparently. He relented after I pulled out my trump card: "C'mon, it's my birthday!"
"Any rules?" Hayate asked neutrally, taking the bag he brought with him. "Yeah. No explicitly fatal strikes, like in the neck or back of the head." I replied, looking at his bag curiously. Ah, that must be where he packed his bokken. Exciting. Hayate took the practice sword and fell into a kenjutsu stance, the Gekko family kenjutsu style, probably. I took on the stance of my own taijutsu style.
Fighting Hayate was going to be fairly difficult. He had the advantage in range, and I was inexperienced in fighting against kenjutsu. I was unfamiliar with his style, which was a bad match up with these odds. My plan was to get in close, keeping my guard up and avoiding strikes as they came. Narrowing my eyes, I shot at Hayate as Gai shouted "Go!" from the distance. I tried to slide into his guard on his left but fell short as he saw it coming, leaned back and swung his bokken cleanly, stopping my advance. I narrowly dodged the swing by maneuvering the slide into a roll, making sure to get to my feet and back off before Hayate could follow up.
I would need to be less predictable. I approached Hayate cautiously, baiting a few strikes from Hayate as I closed in. I was slowly getting closer. He got impatient and stepped in, swinging his bokken in a diagonal cross from his right. I stepped in, holding my left arm to block the attack. I hissed as the blow left behind a painful numbness, but I was finally inside his guard. I leaned towards him, swinging my arm from below towards his solar plexus. The boy's eyes widened as he hopped backwards, hoping to get out of my range.
Following him with my superior speed, I pivoted to the side with a sidestep and drove my left towards his head. He hastily repositioned his bokken to block the blow. Perfect. I dug in with my feet to stop my momentum midway, using the moment of shock to kick at his hand with my right leg. The weapon clanked loudly on the ground as he lost his grip.
Hayate was now disarmed. He knew better to bend down and pick it up, raising his guard to his face. Instead of targeting his head, I took the opportunity to step in and elbow his side as hard as I could. He doubled over in pain, and while his guard was still up, a gap appeared through it as he eased up on its tightness. My fist stopped right before hitting his chin, emulating Momoku's sportsmanship.
Hayate put his hands up in a pained smile and gave up the spar. "Wow, that was vicious…" he said, voice shaky from adrenaline. "I had to be aggressive to get past that bokken." I responded, thinking of advice to give him. "You knew to keep me away, but your swings were too linear, even if they were very fast," I explained. Truthfully, it was a fairly difficult feat to avoid a barrage of those swings. Sure, his swings were linear, but they were fast and precise. If he had pressed his range advantage a bit more, or struck at a more painful area, I might have been stopped in my tracks. "You should probably remember that your weapon is attached to your arm, as well," I commented jokingly.
"My parents tell me that, too. It's hard to put it into practice, but sparring with you more often might help me." he admitted with a thoughtful frown. He rubbed his side, "That aside, that punch hurt, man. I'll have to be more careful next time." Hayate huffed in annoyance. He reached towards his bag, ready to pack his bokken back up. Gai appeared in an instant.
"Where do you think you're going, Hayate-kun?" he asked slowly, enunciating his words. Hayate's eyes widened in horror. "Sparring is not quite over yet," he added with a nod. "Would anybody care to spar with me now? He asked. Right, it was his turn now. The guy was like Goku if he heard you were strong.
As soon as Hayate opened his mouth to refuse, Gai dragged him to go sparring. "Yosh, Hayate-kun it is!" he exclaimed immediately. I could only look on in pity as Hayate held his hand out, helplessly pleading with me to do something. Ah… I, too, remember trying to get out of a spar with Gai. There was nothing I could do for the poor soul.
He was simply going to have to get used to this.
The spar between Hayate and Gai went much the same way as mine, except that Gai outperforms me in taijutsu so he actually lost faster. Hayate did make a greater effort to keep the training maniac away at the start, and was actually making some headway in his attempts, but it all came to an end when Gai got serious and started overpowering him with sheer strength and speed.
If Hayate took that approach against me, who knows who would have won?
But alas, his opponent was Konoha's future Green Beast of Prey. Not only was he older than the two of us, but his rate of improvement had actually been greater than mine. If I had to guess, he likely outpaced most Genin our age at his level. He was a true genius of hard work, and a genuine genius when it came to fighting. He had great fighting instincts.
A cheery and satisfied Gai and a beaten up and bitter Hayate came towards me after their spar in what was a funny sight to behold. Misery was fun to see, but alas, it was time to head to my house for my birthday party. We were all pretty tired. Hayate looked downright exhausted.
"Do you train with anybody else, Gai? I mean, with your skills there's no way I'm the only one you spar with regularly…" I asked with a glance. Was it possible that Dai spared with him at home or in their free time? He made an 'o' with his mouth.
"Rather sharp of you, my dear friend. I do indeed regularly spar with somebody other than you! My eternal rival! He is a boy of great skill!" he explained eagerly, before having a lightbulb moment mid speech. "Ah, I should bring you to one of our many bouts! It is truly a sight to behold!" he said with anticipation.
His eternal rival… Oh my, Kakashi? I didn't exactly forget about Kakashi, but it slipped my mind. I didn't know he was challenging Kakashi at this age, either. I didn't know how strong Kakashi would be now, but if I had any guess, Gai was probably pushing himself quite hard to compete with him. If I remember correctly, Kakashi had already become a Genin by the age of 6 or so.
"A boy of great skill? I would love to come along," I hummed with interest. "Yosh! It is a plan!" he declared, pumping his fist. "Now, I am sure the two of you are beyond curious about the fateful day in which the two of us met! It all began at the tender age of four…"
—-
Eventually, we made it home. It wasn't quite the long walk, sure, but it sure felt long. "... I admit it, Daisuke. He's eccentric." Hayate relented with a whisper. Gai had spent the duration of our way back explaining in dramatic detail the fateful meeting between two esteemed rivals. I found it funny, to be honest, but Hayate was done. I opened the door, giving the typical "I'm home!" yell before stepping in with my two friends.
My two soon-to-be shinobi friends bowed politely as Kaa-san appeared behind to door to greet us. Hayate's bow was stiff with nervousness. The fool. Kaa-san was the opposite of strict. "Hi there boys! Come on in, Gai-kun, and…?" she hummed, asking for his name. "My name is Gekko Hayate, Uchiha-san. I-it's nice to meet you." he responded politely, smiling nervously. Kaa-san's smile grew fonder, "It's nice to meet you too, Hayate-kun. Come on in, boys!"
Entering the living room, I saw that my mom went all out with decorations. There was a big sign saying "Happy birthday, Daisuke!" with balloons floating around. The smell of wonderful home cooked food hit all of our noses at once and my mouth started watering. "You must be hungry! How about you all chat around the table while I finish preparing the food?" Kaa-san suggested to us. She was already putting on an apron, knowing we wouldn't refuse.
"Your mom's nice." Hayate commented as we took our seats, suddenly energized. The prospect of food had seemingly cured him of his earlier fatigue. I nodded back, "I know," I agreed proudly. Kaa-san was the best second mom I could have ever had. Huh, that was a weird thought. A few moments later Tou-san came in carrying a drowsy Izumi. She was likely still on her nap by the time we got in. "Hey, kiddo. I imagine you've had a productive day on training," he remarked, looking me up and down for traces of fatigue. I nodded to him, then looked at Izumi. She still looked drowsy from waking up.
"Gai, Hayate, meet my Tou-san and my sister Izumi." I told them, looking between my family and my friends. My friends gave him a handshake in greeting. "It is great to finally meet the father of my oh so Youthful friend!" Gai said with a wide grin. Tou-san raised his eyebrow for a second before shrugging. "Nice to meet you too, kid." he said amusedly.
As they were introducing themselves, I took Izumi from Tou-san's hands and sat back down at the table. I smiled down at the yawning girl, "Did you sleep well?" I whispered to Izumi. She blinked at me tiredly. She was just so cute. I poked at her cheeks. "Try to wake up, okay? It's my birthday!" I informed her with a mock tone of offense. She sat up on my lap, snapping herself out of her sleepiness.
Impressive.
Chakra definitely affected the mental and physical development of people here. There's no way you would get that coherent of a response from a 7 month old baby from a kid back on Earth. I remember when my cousin was newborn and she didn't really process information until she was like 18 months old. Obviously I don't mean it literally, but damn. The concept explains prodigies like Itachi and Kakashi operating on such high mental levels at such low ages.
Kaa-san glanced over her shoulder as she heard me. I was never subtle about speaking in English to Izumi, and I suspected that both Kaa-san and Tou-san were curious about what I was even saying to my sister. I had been doing it for too long to simply dismiss it as a baby-speak gibberish thing.
Everytime my parents looked at me questioningly was kind of awkward, but I learned to ignore it. Maybe it was rude to not offer an explanation to them, but what should I even tell them? Should I tell them the truth? It wasn't an easy answer to come to. I was too scared of the chance Kaa-san and Tou-san would treat me differently. I still wanted to be the same Daisuke that they had raised. The son they love.
My thought process was interrupted by Kaa-san bringing a mountain of food on the table. An actual main course along with cake.
The rest of my birthday party was a lot of fun. After we ate, my parents got to know Hayate and Gai. I thought that maybe such a low key birthday party would be boring to them, but the two seemed happy to be here. It made me glad I brought them here. We ate the cake Kaa-san made for me; a Japanese variation of sponge cake, topped with a caramelized syrup, which had my taste buds dancing in my mouth. The only thing missing was a "Happy birthday to you" song, which was sadly missing in a world without English.
A real shame. I wouldn't mind a "Hapi basudei tsu yu" song.
Eventually, we got around to opening my presents. The two of my friends had brought gifts, of course, and along with my parents' contribution, I actually had a decent haul. I opened gifts from Tou-san and Kaa-san first. From them, I received generic and yet much appreciated gifts. Socks, underwear, books, some outdoor pants. All good stuff.
I looked over the last three gifts, and I could tell they were a bit more special based on the wrapping and the general shape. I grabbed the one made by Gai that had "From Maito Gai" written on it in poor handwriting. It was heavy. "I'll open this one first." I said to my parents' and friends expectant eyes.
Gai perked up, still chewing on some leftover dessert, "Hapffghi Birff'ay," He chewed and swallowed the food, "My apologies," he mumbled with a sheepish smile, "I sincerely hope that you will enjoy my gift!" the eccentric boy shouted hopefully at me, undeterred. I unwrapped the gift and found training weights similar to the ones I remembered Lee wore. "You have been getting stronger, Daisuke-kun! Soon you will be strong enough to train with weights, just like me! You can adjust their weight with chakra, too!" he told me, explaining his gift. He looked ecstatic to be giving me it.
Man, he had been using weights this whole time? I was still losing to him in races even while he was being slowed down by them…
I couldn't complain further though. It was a great gift that would really help my training, and coming from Gai, it was very thoughtful. This was really good. I didn't think I could handle the weights just yet; I didn't want to hurt myself prematurely, but it would prove very useful in the future. "Thanks, Gai. I'll be using these soon enough." I said gratefully. He gave me a thumbs up.
Next, I glanced over to another gift. There was no name tag, but I assumed that it was from Hayate. Kaa-san wouldn't have left an empty name tag. The gift had a shape I couldn't quite discern yet. I sent him a glance, "Yeah, that one's mine," he confirmed with a nod. I picked it up expectantly. Opening the gift, it looked to be a shinobi's pouch. "I noticed that you didn't bring any shinobi gear to the academy, so I decided to get you a pouch." the kenjutsu novice stated before pausing, "Just so you know, I left some real shuriken inside, since you're still practicing with those dodgy wooden ones. Happy birthday." Pshh, my wooden ones were fine.
"Thanks, Hayate. I appreciate it." I told him in all seriousness. He seemed nervous, about whether I liked it or not, but there was no reason for him to worry about that. I didn't have a pouch yet, nor did I have any shuriken. It would be better to train with metal ones to get used to their weight. A great gift, especially considering how last minute it is.
The last gift once again came from my parents, evident by the tag attached to their gift. The tag was covered in stars and hearts, which I knew I could thank Kaa-san for. I looked up to her anticipated face, "We packed two presents together, cause these ones are special!" she explained, thrusting her hands forward, "Now, open it!"
…Right.
The shape of the wrapping was odd, but I chalked it up to the fact that my parents had stuffed two things into one section of wrapping paper. I opened the gift to find a scroll and some clothes? "Considering your progress in the academy, it would look bad if you kept going in regular clothes, wouldn't it?" Tou-san said, slightly smiling, "Granted, you'll probably need another set as you grow, so this set is a size larger." he continued. The whole set of clothes included sandals, dark blue pants, a belt, a mesh shirt and a black t-shirt to go over the mesh shirt. They were really cool, to be honest. I felt eager to put it on right then and there, as if it were a Halloween costume, but I managed to resist myself. "These are awesome, Tou-chan! Thanks!"
There was still the scroll.
"Come on, Daisuke-chan! Did you forget about the scroll already?!" Kaaa-san pouted at me impatiently. I sighed, reading the text on the scroll. Fire Style? "Did you know it was a rite of passage for Uchiha children to learn the Fireball jutsu?" Kaa-san had a nostalgic look in her eyes as she smiled at me gently. I gaped, "No way," I gasped out in wonder. This gift is so cool! "Yes way, sweetie! I can see those stars in your eyes!" she cheered.
A voice at the back of my mind argued that maybe I was too young, but a much louder for screamed at me to learn it. Besides, if Kaa-san was giving me the okay, then I'll trust her judgment. Breathing fire, the dream of any growing boy. Kaa-san had to rain on my parade, by telling me that she would only teach me after reaching the second year of the Academy.
Talk about the Carrot and Stick!
Anyway, the scroll apparently contained general instructions on the Fire Style nature transformation and didn't have any information on the Fireball Jutsu, so it was left to the parent to properly teach the jutsu. It reminded me of those episodes where Itachi and Sasuke learned it. Kaa-san must've felt nostalgic remembering the tradition. That makes me wonder about her parents, or rather, my grandparents. Isn't it weird that I haven't met them yet?
With the presents given, I expressed my gratitude, "Guys, thank you so much for coming! Thank you for these amazing gifts!" I thanked them with a joyous tone. "I am glad to be of service!" Gai said, smiling and giving a thumbs up. "It's the least I could do." Hayate said politely, looking away.
Kaa-san laughed, "You have cute friends, but it's a shame you didn't bring more of them along! When I was your age, I had thiiiis many friends!" Kaa-san taunted me, expressing the sheer quantity by spreading her hands as far as she could. "That right?" I deadpanned with a sigh.
After celebrating some more, we eventually sent Gai and Hayate off when I would have to go to sleep.
—-
A few months had passed since my 6th birthday. Actually, the second year of the academy was gonna start soon. It was August. The first year in the academy had taught me a lot and brought me a friend, so I was satisfied with it. Also, Izumi had just turned into a 1 year old. Funnily enough, the first of my parents to be called by their names was Tou-san, which was a devastating blow to Kaa-san's pride. I suspect she'll never recover.
As far as progress goes, my body was growing steadily stronger, and my chakra control was better than ever. I had obtained a better grasp over all of the skills that I had set out to learn, and while Gai still criticized my offense and decisiveness in battle, I was still improving on that front. Most importantly, as the results of my training with Gai began to take hold, my physical energy started growing rapidly. Pair that up with tree walking and my surplus of mental energy, and you get the picture. My chakra reserves were starting to grow, and quickly at that, though I suspected that my reserves weren't much bigger than an academy graduate's level. Regardless, the timing for learning the Fireball jutsu was looking to be fine.
Coming home from training one day, Tou-san and Kaa-san awaited me at the table with gruesome expressions. It was then that they told me about the outbreak of a new war. It was the Third Great Shinobi War.
—-
Notes:That's the end of that chapter. It was a little bit rushed because I wanted to upload it on Monday morning (like 3 am lol). I had 1 or 2 more scenes to put here but to be honest I just wanted to go to sleep. The next chapter should be longer, especially since a lot is happening with the war.
Also, I'm not amazing at writing slice of life, so tell me if the birthday scenes lacked anything or felt repetitive or anything.
Also #2, I forgot to google Izumi's birthday before I chose it, but this AU version of Izumi is born on August 5th and Daisuke's birthday is on March 17th. Very stupid of me tbh. Doesn't make much of a difference story-wise, thankfully.
*** Yo. No real changes were made here, except that I left out the awkward part where Gai and Hayate questioned Daisuke's use of English. In this case, they didn't hear it, being distracted while making small talk with Kichiro. Apart from that, I simply revised how things were phrased and a decent amount of dialogue was improved. Hope you enjoy.