Chapter edited on the 10th of September 2024
No need to keep original notes as they were meant for people who were reading chapter by chapter.
—-
"Let's see…" Hayashi-sensei hummed to himself, looking thoughtfully at a clipboard. He was determining who would fight next at taijutsu practice. His lips formed an 'o' as if he spotted something interesting. He smiled as he announced the combatants for the next taijutsu bout. "Next up – Uchiha Daisuke and Uchiha Shodo," he said, ushering us forward.
The class chorused a dramatic 'oooooh' in response. I've never really cared for attention, so I couldn't help but huff a deep sigh. I understood why he made that face a second ago now, but I would prefer to avoid being the topic of any gossip. I looked back at Hayate, only to see that he didn't look sympathetic at all, he instead only looked excited, fixing me with an expectant gaze.
I sighed to myself again, shaking my head this time. I didn't delay my entrance onto the sparring area since I knew I would get yelled at. Despite my apprehension towards the bout, I wasn't nervous at all about losing. Looking down on Uchiha Shodo would be stupid, but I have seen his fights before. I knew he was skilled, but I also knew he wasn't anything like Gai.
My classmates didn't regard me too highly, and clearly expected my defeat, judging from the scattered jeering I could pick up. Because of my previous bout with Hyuuga Momoku, I wasn't seen as anything special. Momoku seemingly appreciated the battle, but as I had lost as everyone else had, I didn't have a reputation amongst my class.
I eyed Shodo from across the sparring arena before the match began. The Uchiha had the stereotype of being reserved, and the stereotype held up because in most cases it was true. They were arrogant, sure, but they had a certain stoicism that differed from the Hyuuga. Shodo seemed to belong to the smaller number of Uchiha who did not care to keep up a stoic front. He was smirking at me arrogantly from the other side of the arena, sure of his imminent victory.
His mouth twisted into an even uglier grin, "I asked around about you at the compound, you know?" jeered Shodo, hostility and pride seeping into his voice. "I heard something about a coward amongst us – an Uchiha kunoichi who retired from active duty and left the clan to marry a mere lowborn civilian, and that they had a child together." He pointed at me. "That you?" he asked.
A wave of hot anger flooded my body. The thought that he would dare denounce my mother left me angrier than I had ever been in this short life. I glared at him from across the arena. He was going to regret it. I brought up my stance to beckon him to battle as his grin swelled further. He erupted into laughter. "You might be half-Uchiha, but you're still the son of a coward! Bring it on!" He taunted with a sharp scream.
A shinobi couldn't fall to taunts. They couldn't let themselves get worked up, as it affected rational judgment and promoted tunnel vision – both of which were detrimental to a shinobi's combat capabilities and their mission efficiency. In my head, I knew that a brat's taunt should never get the better of me. If anything, Shodo was doing this on purpose.
But alas, I wasn't a shinobi yet.
Shodo took up arms in the Uchiha's taijutsu stance. Sensei raised his free hand as he opened his mouth.
"3… 2… 1…" he counted, before shooting his arm down in a swift arch. "Begin!"
As the fight began, I immediately charged up to him, leaving my defense up to my instincts. I reached up in a short moment, surprising him with the speed I had built up with Gai. His eyes glued to me as I pulled my fist back, stepping in to send a punch flying towards his head with my right fist. His eyes widened as he swayed his head, narrowly dodging this blow. I followed up by stepping in closer to his guard and aiming a left punch towards his side. He twisted inwards and flexed his right arm, taking the blow with a sturdy guard. I raised my leg to kick at his exposed left side, but he kicked at my balancing leg, forcing me to hop backwards to avoid losing balance.
Despite what he had previously said about me and his attitude, the boy was wary of me. He must have been careful after seeing my fight with Momoku. It would explain his taunts from earlier. The thought calmed me down to some extent.
Deciding to try his hand at offense, he ran towards me as I hopped back, hoping to take advantage of my retreat. His charge fell into a sweep kick as he tried to knock my balance once again, but I was able to hope over the kick. He recovered quickly from his lowered position with a springing jump in my direction, using the momentum to drive a punch towards my chin.
He was viciously aiming to knock me out. His attacks were blows meant to end a fight quickly. If my balance was shaken, he could take the opportunity and drive me closer to defeat. He continued with an onslaught of these high-risk high-reward attacks, forcing me to focus on defense. As expected of an Uchiha – he was proficient at taijutsu. It wasn't easy enough for me to idly dodge, I had to remain focused.
His taijutsu was good, but he didn't have the finesse of Hyuuga Momoku or the strength of Gai. Shodo was a good opponent, but I was used to fighting better. I wasn't especially used to the Uchiha's taijutsu style, but aggression was something I had experience against. Punches flew past my face as I became more and more used to his habits. Gradually, I was able to dodge without significant difficulty. I could see it – he had a tell. A bad habit.
Before he threw wider and more powerful attacks, he braced his core and rounded his shoulders for just a moment, as if preparing himself. Habits like these had to be beaten out of you through experience and sparring.
The cheering from the sidelines was starting to get annoying, and while I may have calmed down, he still had to go down for what he said. After I dodged a few more run-of-the-mill attacks, he squared his body for an instant. It was the instant I had been waiting for. He spun into a 360 kick, aiming to force as much power and speed as possible across a wide area. I could see his thought process – I kept dodging his more compact blows, so if he switched up his style with a wider kick, I might just miscalculate and take a bad hit. Raising my left thigh and arm, I took the kick head on. The attack stopped immediately as it hit my guard. The force from the kick was fairly impressive, but once again, I was used to more. I watched his expression become panicked as I grabbed onto his ankle with my left arm.
I dropped my leg to stabilize my footing as I pulled him towards me using my grip on his leg. He couldn't react before my fist met his nose. Blood spurted out from his nose as his head recoiled back, but I wouldn't let him recover. I drove another punch into his temple, but before I could follow up with another punch, he raised his guard and successfully defended against a third punch. With greater strength than I thought he had, he forced me to abandon my grip on his leg as he swung his leg down, regaining his balance. I hesitated, thinking he would counterattack me, but he took the opportunity to make distance.
His stance tightened into a more defensive form. Shodo looked worse for the wear, breathing uneven as blood lazily dripped down his face. The impact to his temple left him dizzy and disoriented.
He wasn't used to being defensive, though. The Uchiha's style had some bearing on defense, but mostly in the form of counterattack and dodging. Pair that with Shodo's inexperience, and it was easy to find holes within his desperate stance. My own brand of taijutsu favored defense as a result of Gai's overwhelming aggression and the strength advantage he held over me, so I felt fairly confident in my assumption.
Taking a move from Gai's arsenal, I decided to attempt a bastardized version of a flying spin kick. It was a technique that I found myself on the receiving end of fairly often, and it was a nightmare to block. Moving out of the way was the best way to avoid the force it could dish out, but in Shodo's case, dodging wasn't an option at the moment.
The technique used the momentum I would produce from leaping into air and twisting my hips to create an extraordinary amount of force in a flying kick. It was a technique that made great use of the focus on Gai's training regiment – the development of fast-twitch muscle fibers. Gai's version was vastly superior to mine, but I didn't need his strength.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he watched me for my next move. He was determined to guard against my next attack to recover from my punches from earlier. I leaped at him with speed he might have expected, but could do nothing against. I twisted my hips in midair and spun my right leg around and smashed it into his guard, sending him skidding backwards.
He may have blocked the attack, but it was obvious that it was more than he bargained for. He hissed in pain as he strained to keep his left arm up. After all of my time with Gai, I hit hard if given the chance. I kept attacking his left side with relentless attacks, giving him no chance to step away. As I threw a punch at his elbow, his arm dropped just enough for his chin to open for an instant. I stepped directly in front of him, shoving his arm away and planting an uppercut onto his chin with a force that snapped his head back.
As my punch hit its mark Shodo shot backwards and landed harshly on his back, trying to regain equilibrium with one hand on his head. Hayashi-sensei took a serious look at Shodo and decided that continuing was probably a bad idea, and stopped the bout before he had the chance to get himself more injured.
For me, this strategy was only one I could use on those inferior to me in strength. There was a time I foolishly tried to push my own aggression on Gai, and while it was seemingly driving him back for a moment, the boy caught my fist mid combination and pummeled me into oblivion in true Gai fashion, stating that my offensive was too linear and uninspired.
Frustration filled Shodo's bruised up face as he jeered at sensei that he could keep going, but as he hurriedly tried to stand up, he found that he couldn't make it to his feet. Most of the class had assumed I would lose to Shodo, so they were left speechless. We formed a Seal of Reconciliation a few seconds later, officially ending the spar.
I walked back over to Hayate who looked pleased with my performance and victory. I was happy to see that my training was paying off, and that I had beaten the shit out of Shodo. Especially that part. "That was an insane fight, Daisuke. The asshole deserved it!" Hayate said with childish excitement, congratulating me.
I sighed at his over enthusiasm. "Come on, don't be humble." he teased, patting my back. "With how thoroughly you beat Shodo, you can't stay humble fore-" Hayate was interrupted before he could finish.
"Hayate, I won't repeat myself again! Get moving!" Hayashi-sensei said, yelling at the distracted boy. A comically large vein was bulging on his forehead as he shot the two of us a frustrated look. During our chit chat, we had completely missed who was fighting next.
I sent Hayate off by pushing him closer to the arena as revenge for earlier, flashing him a thumbs up with a smirk as he turned his head back at me. He glared at me before facing his opponent, Mitarashi Anko.
"Prepare 'ta lose, shrimp!" she said, her voice booming with confidence. She stuck a tongue out at Hayate, who scowled right back at her. They both got in a stance, eager to fight. I didn't know who would win here, all things considered. I had seen Anko fight before, but she had won against all of her opponents so easily that it was hard to tell how good she was. I knew that Anko had the potential to become a Tokubetsu Jounin, and was favored by Orochimaru as his student, but Hayate was also a Tokubetsu Jounin in the future, so I couldn't write him off so easily.
As sensei signaled for the match to start, the purple-haired menace sped towards Hayate, wildly grinning. As the fighting began, I noticed very quickly that Anko was very agile. She didn't seem to be faster than me or Gai in a foot race, but she was a level above me in mobility and flexibility. The way she dodged attacks had a certain level of finesse, and her attacks appeared to be sharper and more precise than the rest of our peers.
Hayate was crumby at taijutsu in comparison. The boy wasn't necessarily bad at it, but as a practitioner of kenjutsu, his own brand of taijutsu was under-developed in comparison to Anko's. He was able to evade her blows, even if it looked like he was struggling, but when he tried to strike back or retaliate in any way, she easily dismantled his efforts with a skillful weave and returned the favor twofold with her superior speed.
Anko kneeled down and shot her leg towards his head in a high kick, forcing Hayate to weave his head back hurriedly, but as he attempted to avoid her kick, she redirected her leg and scored a devastating blow squarely across his chin, in a move reminiscent of high level Taekwondo. She was flexible… like a snake. Hayate stumbled backwards, dazed, allowing her to stand up from her lowered position without a problem.
He held up his arms to block any subsequent attack, but the girl continued with her offensive, grabbing the back of his head and slamming his face into her knee. Before he could recover, she threw her full body's weight into an overhead punch. Before he knew it, Hayate was laying on his back, seeing stars. Before he could stand up, a wooden kunai pressed against his neck. "... I give up," he said shakily, to which Sensei announced the end of the match in Anko's favor.
Her fighting style was brutal, punishing people for mistakes they made in the midst of combat. While she carefully observed her opponents in battle and created her own initiative, I preferred to keep a rigid defense, and while taking advantage of their own shortcomings to take initiative. Our styles differed on a fundamental level.
No match thus far had ended so dramatically. I could see why Orochimaru had taken interest in Anko's ability. She clearly had a natural predisposition towards fighting, with a high level of finesse for people in our age group.
After the two formed the Seal of Reconciliation, Hayate shakily stood up and stumbled towards me, still feeling the effects of the fight. He held his cheek, a pensive frown sitting on his face, "I never want to fight Mitarashi ever again…" he mumbled.
I couldn't blame him.
—-
Today I had some time on my hands. Gai was busy on a mission and I needed a rest day to allow my body some time to heal itself. I was pretty sore, since the last 6 days I had been training especially hard, the previous taijutsu bouts lighting a fire under me. Gai noticed the discrepancy between my upper body strength and we started work on correcting that, punching training dummies for hours. He also upped our strength training regimen in hopes of balancing out my physique a little more.
After I told kaa-san that I had no plans for the day, she gave me some allowance to go take Izumi outside to have fun while she rested at home. She had looked fairly drained in the past few days, so I figured I should give her some time to rest.
I found myself outside with the cause of kaa-san's lack of energy. "Hey, wanna go to the park?" I asked while carrying her. She could walk, but she was still a toddler. She frowned at me and shook her head. She usually was fine with just playing at the park. What was I doing when I was her age?
We went shopping, we went to the park, sometimes we went to visit old friends of kaa-san or tou-san. Apart from that… sweets. I have a pretty big sweet tooth and I frequently nagged at my parents to get me something sweet. Maybe I caused them some trouble, but who could resist sugar?
"How about we get something tasty?" her eyes widened at that, "Candee?" she blabbed. I chuckled at her funny pronunciation. "That's right, Izumi, but don't tell kaa-chan." I bargained with a rebellious grin, wagging my finger from side to side. She nodded with a serious gaze, not realizing how cute the expression was.
I hadn't had dango for a little while now, so what better way was there to spend some time with my sister? My favorite dango shop was a good 20 minutes walk from our apartment, so I idly mumbled about stories from Earth. She was disappointed to hear that the Pirate King's treasure was a mystery. "I think it's the friendship they made along the way," I explained with a cheeky grin.
Maybe I should pass more things from Earth onto her. Fun things like foreign recipes and stories for her to tell her others. I wasn't an amazing chef back on Earth, but I was taught plenty by my own mother back home. Along with what I knew how to cook well, I also knew the basics for a lot of recipes and could probably get better at them with plenty of practice. Yeah, that sounds nice.
Arriving at the Dango shop, I took a seat and ordered two portions of mitarashi dango. Anything that Izumi couldn't finish, I bravely resolved to eat myself. As much as I was taking Izumi out for some delicious treats, I was also treating myself. Recently, I was making a lot of headway in my training, after all. My grasp over Fireball Jutsu was getting better, and Gai deemed me just barely strong enough to not hold back in sparring anymore. I disagreed with his assessment, personally, considering the bruises that littered my arms after a day of training.
Waiting for the dango to be finished, I rocked Izumi on my lap while we were seated, humming Don't Stop Me Now by Queen. Sometimes I wish I could listen to those songs again. Izumi was happily humming with me, mumbling gibberish and out of sync. Ooh, maybe I could figure out how to use genjutsu to play songs from my memory.
Finishing that thought, I noticed three familiar people stepping in, A spikey-haired genin with sunglasses, a genin with serious eyes and brown short hair and a loud girl with her hair tied in a short purple ponytail. Wait, Aoba, Raidou together with… Anko?
Before I could snap out of my confusion Aoba and Raidou were already walking towards me with recognition in their eyes. "Well, if it isn't our hero! What're you doing here?" said Raidou as he looked down at Izumi curiously. "I'm here to treat my little sister to some dango." I said to Raidou, answering his question before he asked it.
I looked down at Izumi, "Go on Izumi, say hi to Raidou-san, Aoba-san and,..." I said to her quietly, glancing at my classmate who was staring at me with reluctant interest, "Mitarashi-san." Izumi squealed in glee as she flapped her arms in a cute wave.
Aoba looked between me and Anko, "You know Anko-chan?". I nodded at him in response, "We're in the same class in the academy, but we don't talk very much." I didn't know Anko knew Raidou-san and Aoba-san personally, though. "What a coincidence though, that you guys know her as well.
"Anko-chan's like a sister to us, although she's more mean than a sister should be." Aoba taunted, giving a pointed look at Anko who glared back at him. "Shut up! I thought you were getting me dango!" Aoba smirked at me while pointing at Anko, "See what I mean? Not cute at all."
Raidou walked towards the counter, "Shush, you two. I'm getting our dango," he sighed in exasperation, pacifying the girl . She calmed down and stared at my sister curiously. "I didn't know you had a sister," I frowned, of course she hadn't heard. I hadn't spoken to her since the first day of school, courtesy of her refusing to talk to me after that day. "You take her for dango often? She asked neutrally.
"Actually this is the first time, since she didn't feel like going to the park. My mother's a bit tired at the moment, so I'm taking this little one out so she can get some shut-eye for once." I explained, smiling at Izumi. Anko stared at me for a bit longer before responding, "What about your clan? One of your relatives coulda taken care of her, right?" she asked rudely.
I found her question insensitive, but I had no reason to be offended. "My family is separate from the Uchiha compound," I clarified, "Tou-san's fighting in the war, so he can't pitch in for now." Anko widened her eyes in surprise.
"Lemme get this straight – you aren't a part of the Uchiha clan?" she asked again. I scrunched my eyebrows at her in confusion. Where did she get that impression from? Aoba tilted his head at Anko, "Don't you think you're asking too many questions?" He scolded her, but she ignored him. I sighed, "Kaa-san was, but I may as well be civilian-born,"
Raidou came back at the same time as the worker who was bringing us our dango.
As I was eating my dango and carefully helping Izumi eat hers, Anko gazed at me, seemingly contemplating something important, before she shrugged, "I can't hate someone who likes dango," she said as if it were a matter-of-fact statement. My mind flashed to an image of a certain sumo-loving Chiyo, eliciting a chuckle out me.
Anko shouted in irritation, " 'Is there something on my face?!" I shook my head as my laughter died down. She's definitely got a few screws loose.
We spent the next few hours chatting over dango. It was a nice break from the activities I was usually up to – training, mostly. Making some more friends would probably benefit me and give some balance to my life. I wasn't too social in my past life – I could count the number of close friends I had on two hands, but it was enough for me to enjoy myself in between my responsibilities.
Eventually I had to leave so I could get home on time. She had asked me to return by a certain time, and I didn't want to worry her by staying out for longer.
As I was leaving, Anko stopped me while I was at the door to the dango shop. "Wait up, Uchih-" he paused, clearing her throat, "Daisuke!" I stopped and turned around to face her. "What's wrong?" I asked. She shoved a mitarashi dango stick right up to my face.
"Yer mom's feeling tired, right? Give her this when ya get back home!" she said with a genuine smile. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that earlier. I went to a dango shop and didn't even think to bring some back home. To think that Anko had a thoughtful bone in her body… It was a surprise.
I genuinely smiled at her, accepting the dango. "Thanks, Anko, I'm sure she'll appreciate it." I said, expressing my gratitude. "Of course she will," she responded, before waving me off.
Maybe Anko and I would be getting along better from now on.
—-
As our progression through the academy's curriculum progressed, we were picking up the pace rather quickly, sacrificing general curriculum for military training. More often than not, we learned about chakra, taijutsu, bukijutsu, shinobi history, and even shinobi politics. On top of that, the academy had begun officially teaching us hand seals.
More than half of us already had some background on our hand seals skill, myself included, but I've been stuck at a certain speed level with my hand seals with little improvement for a while. I saw the class as a good opportunity to catch up on that. On top of hand seals, we would go more into hand mobility exercises to improve our efficiency with military hand signs.
The most important lessons that they were imparting us were probably taijutsu training and chakra control. We were expected to learn at least one of the academy 3 during this year. Many of us had gotten a headstart but civilian-born students have been dropping out since the start of the war, partly due to the increasing difficulty and partly because their parents were reluctant to send them to war.
My progress in chakra control was steadily rising as well. Previously I had learned how to tree-walk, which I was still practicing diligently, as it had great value in strengthening my core muscles. Combining the process of growing up and the training I had been undergoing, I was confident that I had more than enough physical energy to mold enough chakra for water-walking.
Kaa-san had been skeptical about allowing me to take that step, citing the dangers of chakra exhaustion, but my reserves were relatively larger than those in my age group. I was able to convince her to supervise my learning of the technique after she used her Sharingan to be sure of my sufficient chakra levels.
Water walking was definitely harder than tree walking, that much was clear from my first few attempts, but my high proficiency with tree walking made the process of water walking much easier. The major difficulty was in the constant movement of the water. In case of any ripples or splashes, I had to carefully adjust the output of chakra through the tenketsu in my feet to ensure I kept my balance. While this part of the exercise was indeed difficult, part of the difficulty of tree walking, which was bracing your core against your own body's weight, no longer existed. It offset part of the difficulty, though water walking still required more concentration by far.
I knew my own experiences with chakra control undersold how difficult it was for others, but I had a knack. My theory is that it has something to do with my hyper awareness of the chakra in my body. Having once had a body with chakra completely absent from it, I could feel the clear difference between not having and having chakra.
All that being said, the only person in my own academy class who I couldn't yet defeat was Hyuuga Momoku. Though I hadn't gotten to fight Anko yet, I had seen how my other classmates had fared against the pale-eyed boy, and it painted a clear image.
I had been given a head start.
Training with Gai from an early age, having worked with my chakra from an early age, and having been reincarnated in this world had given me a head start. An advantage. I didn't honestly believe I was more talented than many of those around me, but watching much of the class struggling to endure the academy's physical conditioning for the first time was painful to watch, but also gratifying to some extent.
—-
It was a pleasant evening, with kaa-san, Izumi and I enjoying dinner together. A homey atmosphere was in the air as me and kaa-san exchanged stories and gentle words, the smell of her cooking filling the room. The normalcy of the moment made the sound of the door opening all the more sudden. In an instant, both kaa-san and I knew exactly what the sound meant. We rushed from the dinner table to the front door, taking Izumi with us.
"Kichiro!"
"Tou-chan!"
Without delay, we greeted tou-san, who we had not seen in what felt like ages. It was already December, almost 4 months since he originally left for his deployment to war. Tou-san's uniform was covered in dirt, dust and dried blood. There were rips all over it. He had cuts over his hands and smelled terrible. His appearance made it obvious that he came straight here as soon as he could.
Worst of all, though, was his face. He had terribly dark eyebags from his evident lack of sleep. His eyes were unfocused, an unreadable expression on his face. At that moment, I wondered what he had seen during his time at war. I felt guilty just looking at him: while I was safe in the village enjoying the company of my family and friends, he was out on the field fighting for Konoha.
Despite all of this, the biggest emotion I felt was relief. Wrapping my arms around tou-san's waist, I hugged him tightly, holding back tears. My own feelings were clear, but he shouldn't have to see his son crying as soon as he came home. Optimism was on the forefront of my mind, because I couldn't bear the thought of the worst happening to him.
"Tou-chan, you made it back!" I practically screamed at him. Tou-san looked down at me, ruffling my hair as his lips formed a fond smile. Kaa-san raised Izumi closer to him. He gently grabbed his daughter and carefully hugged her. "Oto-cha!" she squealed happily, not really understanding much other than the fact that her father was home.
Kaa-san gently took Izumi from tou-san. "Welcome home, honey! How about you go take a shower and sleep? We can talk later." kaa-san said softly, gently asking him to rest. Tou-san's eyes shone with something like gratitude as he nodded, walking to the bathroom. Kaa-san went to get him a change of clothes and a towel.
As much as I wanted to have a conversation with tou-san, what he needed most right now was a shower and a lot of sleep. He looked like he hadn't slept properly in months, and that's probably exactly what happened. The frontlines were known for poor conditions and high workload.
Hopefully he was okay.
—-
Kaa-san woke us up with the smell of breakfast in the morning, god bless her soul. We had all gone to sleep very early since tou-san came home at around 7, and my still-growing body saw fit that I slept nearly 12 hours, waking up just in time to get ready for the academy. Tou-san was still in bed, as expected.
Before leaving for the academy, tou-san got up and asked that I come home and skip training today, and I agreed without any fuss. I wasn't about to deny my father the chance to see his kid as much as he could, especially since I didn't know when he was being sent back out.
Gai initially scolded me for skipping out on training before I explained the occasion, to which he tearfully apologized for his 'insolence', exclaiming that the Youthful reunion between father and son should never be interrupted. He quickly regained his vigor after I threw Hayate under the bus and reminded the training demon of his availability, who happened to be walking out of the academy doors with me when Gai met up with me. Heh.
There was a certain evil satisfaction that I could enjoy from watching somebody else on the receiving end of Gai's training tendencies. I saluted at Hayate silently with tears in my eyes as the young swordsman was dragged off, glaring daggers at me. "Have fun, you guys!" I shouted to annoy and encourage each of them respectively.
I was looking forward to being able to sit down and spend time with tou-san. In the morning, I was told that tou-san would be with us for the better part of a month, meaning I would have a decent amount of time to spend with him. I would have preferred if his break were longer, but apparently the fact that he was given so much time off was because he was likely going to be sent off for ever longer next time.
As promised, I arrived home earlier, much to the excitement of Izumi and kaa-san. The family were all dressed for a casual winter outing, including tou-san. While he was still clearly dealing with exhaustion from his deployment, the difference between him now and before was night and day.
His face was washed, the only evidence of war left behind were a few fading scars and cuts. His eyebags remained, but were less pronounced as his face had regained some much-needed color. Replacing his distant expression from yesterday was a fond and subdued gaze. His hair was slightly lighter in color, having been properly washed, and was brushed back, no longer messy and uncontrolled.
It was a great relief.
"Put your backpack away, Daisuke-chan! We're going on a picnic!" she said, trying to get me to hurry up and put away my things. Izumi screeched something along the words of "Huhrrey!" as I speed-walked to my room to put my stuff away. I thought it was unusual that we were going out on a picnic during winter, if it would help tou-san relax, then I didn't mind. I got back to the door and greeted tou-san with a hug before we left.
Izumi and kaa-san were beaming in excitement on the way. Despite it being winter, today wasn't a bad day for a picnic. The Fire Country's climate was very warm. During the summer temperatures ranged between 30 and 40 degrees, and winter temperatures rarely went below freezing. The country wasn't dry and hot like Wind Country, instead boasting a mildly humid climate. Today, there was no snowfall. It was definitely a bit chilly, but nothing a jacket couldn't protect against. Kaa-san had packed some warm soup and rice balls.
We found a nice plot in a park not so far from home to have a picnic together. We spent two hours relaxing and enjoying each others' presence. Tou-san seemed to grow less tense by the minute, even though he was silently listening to me and kaa-san's conversation for the most part.
He was not as vocal as I remembered.
There was no doubt that he was relaxed, but he was also constantly lost in thought, only speaking when spoken to. Kaa-san and I often found him staring blankly at us, completely distracted. I didn't mind that he was spacing out but I was worried about the contents of said thoughts. Was he alright? Could I say anything to distract him, to help him?
I snapped my hand in front of his unfocused gaze to get his attention. He blinked and tilted his head in confusion. "Oh, sorry, kiddo. What's wrong?" he asked, sounding guilty. "Let's go on a walk!" I chirped in response. He shrugged in indifference and we got up.
Tou-san and I treaded side by side in a comfortable silence. I thought a walk would be good for him since he was spacing out, and I also wanted to ask him about his deployment. I wanted to take a chance to talk to him about this without kaa-san or Izumi in earshot. Before I could get the first word, tou-san turned to me.
"We were naive, kiddo, your kaa-chan and I both." He sighed, the two of us already a good distance away from the picnic. "If I've taken even a single lesson from this war, it's that I was wrong about letting you become a shinobi." I frowned at his words, about to argue back, before I was cut off, "Your words, your expression – if I try to stop you here, it won't be enough to set you off of your path, will it?" he asked, a tired smile on his face.
"I.." I murmured quietly, tugging at his sleeves. Tou-san smiled sadly at me and ruffled my hair. "If I have no choice in the matter, then I'm making the next best choice," he stated, his face hardening with determination. "I know you want to try to console me, to 'cheer me up', but I'm going to hijack this little chat." he continued.
I blinked up at him, confused. Yes, I wanted to console him, to cheer him up. This outing was supposed to be for him. To welcome him back home, to reintroduce normalcy, to calm his nerves. If that was the case, then why was he lecturing me now?
"To be frank, Daisuke, after coming back from war, I can hardly agree to send the current you out there," he criticized me with a serious tone. I straightened up unconsciously. "In the little time I'm here, you're going to be worked to the bone," he explained strictly. "And while we're at it, I'm going to teach you to use two Earth release ninjutsu." he finished.
The conversation had not at all gone how I expected. I wanted to learn about the war, cheer him up and enjoy some alone time with my father, but now I found myself nodding stiffly at his demands. My father, he wasn't some fragile old man, ruined by war. He was a soldier who had fought to return home. He wasn't spaced out because he was having war flashbacks or something, he was thinking of me. What would happen to me after graduating from the academy, and how to prevent me from being underprepared as a genin. Even while dealing with his own troubles, he was thinking of how to protect his kid.
I needed to get my head out of my own ass. I wasn't a therapist or a scout, I was the child of a shinobi and an academy student, and more importantly, I was a 7 year old boy, reincarnated or not.
Tou-san wasted no time in explaining the jutsu he would teach me. The first one was the Hidden Mole jutsu, and the second one was the Mud Wall jutsu. They were both jutsu I remembered from canon, and I understood tou-san's reasoning for learning these two jutsu. Both techniques weren't offensive, but rather defensive and evasive.
The Hidden Mole jutsu would allow me to soften to ground and burrow through it, like a mole. It would be useful for things like ambushes or for the Headhunter jutsu, but more importantly for tou-san, it doubled as a move to allow for escape.
The Mud Wall jutsu was a versatile jutsu that could be used to create a wall, which could be used in a variety of circumstances, but most importantly defend myself and squad members from projectile attacks, such as Fire Release jutsu or shuriken.
After our short chat, we went back to kaa-san and Izumi to enjoy the rest of the picnic. The rest of our day was pleasant, but what my conversation with tou-san had lingered in my mind. I was excited about learning jutsu, but another, more bitter thought kept my mind distracted.
Tou-san… did he not believe in me anymore?
–
For most, the initial learning curve for acquiring elemental ninjutsu was Nature transformation. Typically, even for simpler, D-ranked ninjutsu, one had to undergo a fairly lengthy period of learning how to wield an element.
For me, however, that reality was different.
I wasn't sure if it was because of my prior experience of learning how to use Fire Release, if it was because of my practice with manipulating a rock in my free time, or if it was because of my perceived talent in chakra control, but molding Earth Release chakra was nearly immediate. The process had been significantly faster than learning how to create Fire Release chakra. According to Tou-san, I had inherited his powerful affinity with Earth Release.
Back when he was closer to my age, despite a fairly powerful affinity with Earth Release, his limiting factor had been chakra control, but for whatever reason, chakra control was second nature for me. The family had long since known I was good with chakra control, but kaa-san and tou-san both had no idea where it had come from. My mother, apparently, also wasn't the greatest at chakra control.
Naturally, I had my own theories.
Regardless, since wielding Earth Release chakra had come so quickly, it took less than an hour from me to sink into the ground for the first time. My first use of the jutsu was incomplete – I hadn't softened the ground enough, leaving only my lower body submerged, but to even learn an incomplete version of the jutsu so quickly was a good sign.
Over the course of the rest of the day, I had managed to grasp how to properly use the jutsu. Using the jutsu was one thing, but properly making use of a jutsu was another thing, so over the next two days, I used the jutsu in a more practical setting. I needed to get used to moving around quickly and efficiently, I needed to get used to the limited amount of air without panicking, as well as becoming more aware of my surroundings while underground.
After those three days had passed, tou-san was happy enough with the progress that we moved onto the next jutsu. That wasn't to say that I had actually mastered the Hidden Mole jutsu, but it actually meant that he estimated that I would need more time to grasp the next jutsu. Earth Style: Mud Wall jutsu was supposedly a more difficult ordeal.
The Mud Wall was a B-ranked jutsu, two whole ranks above the Hidden Mole jutsu. Most genin didn't learn B-ranked jutsu, and I wasn't even a shinobi yet, but it was a versatile jutsu that tou-san had wanted me to learn no matter what. Not only was it much harder to perform, but it was more exhausting on my chakra reserves. My reserves were robust for my age, but if I felt my reserves were too low, I was to stop for the day immediately.
Even with my previous experience in Earth Release and my chakra control, my Mud Walls always had some kind of structural error. At first, it was the fact that I couldn't get it to reach a significant size, but even after I managed to correct that error, tou-san was very adamant that I make it strong enough. The concern was understandable, of course, but habits in jutsu casting were very tedious to fix. Tou-san relentlessly attacked each wall I created to test their strength, and while it was great practice, watching my creations get destroyed so easily was a bummer.
So, that was my life during the month tou-san was back from deployment. Academy, training with Gai, and then Earth Release practice with tou-san. Doing Gai's training regimen and then emptying my chakra reserves with tou-san's prescribed training was exhausting to say the least, though it helped to elevate my chakra reserves. As the days passed, my chakra visibly became stronger. I could cast more and more jutsu without being exhausted.
I did end up creating a wall that could withstand enough damage to satisfy tou-san by the end of the month, by the way. It turns out that the secret to making a sturdier Earth Jutsu took more than just a high concentration of chakra. It took a mix of several factors: control in the creation of the jutsu, density of the earth used, quantity of chakra used, and how long the caster took to cast it.
Creating a proper Mud Wall was not as simple as it seemed. There was a specific concentration and power that your control needed to accomplish that. Being exhausted both mentally and physically did not help with that revelation, in fact, it probably made me take longer to find that answer.
Past the relentless training, I was grateful. I saw off tou-san with a heavy heart as he was redeployed to the frontlines.
Hopefully I will see him again soon.
—-
general summary of changes made with recent edit
The fight scenes have the same outcomes, but the actual fighting is a little bit different in an attempt to make them more entertaining and dynamic
The majority of Daisuke's internal monologue is changed to be a little more natural sounding, especially considering my old habit of using "I'd" in every odd sentence
I wasn't very sure with my direction regarding Anko, so at this point in the series, I painted a weird picture where Anko had a non-existent grudge against Daisuke. I tried to make it less of a focus…
I did my best to make the scene with Anko less awkward, but I am working with my own horrible writing (especially from the start of the series), so bare with me
I slightly expanded on the small section where I described Daisuke's recent growth in terms of his shinobi skills, and I moved it to separate it from where Kichiro gets home
The original scene with Kichirou and Daisuke during the picnic was… I don't even know. I couldn't read it without cringing. I don't know if the scene is actually better, but I rewrote it to make it more bearable to read (at least for me)
I rewrote about 60% of the little month time skip where Daisuke learned the two Earth Jutsu
If you can't tell what I'm doing for Daisuke's abilities, I'm trying to make it clear that his chakra control and reserves are what he excels at. This may seem generic to some of you, but I have a specific idea for how Daisuke is going to be as a shinobi and I think it's somewhat unique. And no, he will not go into genjutsu or medical ninjutsu to a significant degree. His chakra control is very proficient, but rather than focusing on the usual chakra control jutsus, his focus will be ninjutsu
To clear up ages for everyone at the moment:
-Daisuke: born 11 years before Naruto's birth (Birthday March 17th), right now he's 7 years old and the time is close to early January.
-Izumi: born 5 years after Daisuke, she is currently 2 years old (Birthday August 5th)
-Gai, Obito, Kakashi and Rin are all 10 years old right now
-For those curious, Kichiro and Hazuki are around the ages of 25-26, but their ages are not relevant for the story at the moment.