"Nagato, take a seat at the table, please. Konan, come on. You and Yahiko need to rest." Sensei spoke the moment we entered the shack, to which she wanted to speak before looking at me as I cleared my throat and shook my head.
"It's okay. You two are traumatized and need the rest."
"…Urgh, fine!" She grumbled as she walked towards her room while Sensei placed Yahiko in his, the man walking out with a frown as we looked at each other before he let out a soft sigh and placed one of the chairs next to mine.
"Asleep?" He asked as he sat down and I looked at the rooms before smiling in amusement as I saw Konan's beige chakra leaned against the door.
"Konan, back to bed."
"Why~?" She whined but did as I asked as she went and laid down on her bed, to which I waited for a few seconds before nodding at Sensei as I saw her chakra slowing down a bit to show her being asleep.
"So, what happened?" He asked and I frowned slightly at his question before answering.
"Well, we were going our separate wa-!"
"No, not that. What happened for it to get to the point that you wanted to kill him? Not just that, but brutally too?" He asked and I sighed as I sat back while clenching and unclenching my hands repeatedly.
"When I saw the guy about to…kill them, I…I didn't see Yahiko and Konan. I saw flashes of my mom and dad being stabbed in front of me…and I just…I guess I just lost sight of what was happening."
"Trauma, huh? Yeah, that's always a bitch. Don't copy that." I was amused at his attempt to stop me from copying him cussing as we both stayed silent, looking at the door to the outside before he sighed and scratched his head.
"To be honest, I can't say that I don't have my fair share of PTSD, but what I can say is that you should perhaps figure out a way to deal with it or else you might snap at the wrong person."
"You don't behave like someone with trauma." I spoke and he simply gave me an amused smirk as he shrugged and stood up.
"You guys just don't see it. The times I go out to get food are also the times I find a way to get rid of the stress. All you need to know is that I try my best to make sure that you guys don't get affected by it, understood?"
"Understood." I nodded and he smiled as he ruffled my hair before placing the chair back in its spot.
"Sensei?" I asked and he hummed as he looked at me, with me hesitating a few times before taking a deep breath and asking the question.
"Do you think that perhaps I could start training against you? I mean like actual combat training? The only reason I won is because of a fluke since I caught him from behind, but…but I don't know if that would work next time." He looked at me for a while before I smiled as he smiled softly and nodded.
"Of course. Like I said, I'm kicking all of your training up a gear so get ready for tomorrow is going to be a painful day for all three of you. Although, knowing you, you might just enjoy the extra work."
"Hehe~" My only response was a sheepish chuckle and he rolled his eyes as he walked to his room, but I stayed seated for a few more seconds before taking a deep breath and walking over to my room.
"It's okay, boy. Just some talking with Sensei." I said as the white-furred ninja hound lifted his head from where he was lying at the foot of my bed, rubbing his head softly before I fell face first onto my bed.
Before I could even roll over, the mental exhaustion hit me and I felt myself drifting off into the depths of unconsciousness.
"With the attack of yesterday, I have to discovered that I have been taking it easy on you three. In my attempt to give you all a semblance of a childhood, I have also heavily neglected preparing you all to survive on your own when I leave one day. Therefore, I shall no longer take it easy on you all."
"What are we training first, sensei?" Konan asked with a curious look before all three of us stood up straight as the man gave us a stern yet amused stare.
"Oh, training is only occurring once a week from now on. The other five days of the week, we are doing nothing but combat simulations of you three against me individually and as a team! The only rule is that I will not stop even if you give up! If you can move, you can fight! If you can crawl, you can fight! If you're still conscious, you can force your body to fight. The only way you're not fighting is if you are knocked out or injured to the point that you can't continue! If that happens, battles will stop for the day and it will be Nagato's job to make sure that you all are fully rested and healed for training the next day! If you're not, the injured one will be forced to take the day off while the other two will have my full attention for the day! Is that understood?!"
"Yes, Sensei!"
'Oh, THIS is most definitely Jiraiya of the Sannin right here, a war-forged shinobi of Konoha!' I thought with wide eyes as we all shouted in agreement, Konan looking just as worried as I did while Yahiko looked ecstatic to have his training be raised.
"Good! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He intoned while making the signature hand sign for the jutsu, the three of us watching as the clone appeared in a puff of smoke before Sensei said down while pointing for Yahiko and Konan to sat down with him.
"Nagato, you're up first! Twenty meters away with five meters of space between you and the clone! You are free to use any and all means of combat to destroy the clone, but the clone can do the same to you too. You two, come sit down." He spoke and I nodded as I followed the clone while we walked ten meters away, feeling my heartbeat increasing with every step.
As we reached the twenty mark, both the clone and I took a few steps back until we were roughly five meters away from each other, taking a few deep breaths to stop my pounding heart before shaking my head and my limbs to get myself loose for the fight.
"Start!"
"Fire Style: Flame Bombs!" Unlike Sensei's version that used oil, mine was the pure change in chakra nature as I fuelled chakra to my mouth while simultaneously changing it into fire itself, blowing out a torrent of flames that made the air around me crackle from the heat.
However, the clone had another idea as he spat out a curtain of oil, my eyes widening as I cut off the jutsu and leapt out of the way just as the oil caught fire and splattered across the floor with a loud hiss.
Neither the clone and I wasted any time as we rushed towards the other the moment I landed, but I soon myself way out of my league as I attempted a sliding kick.
The keyword being attempted as he quickly slid into me while wrapping his legs around my own, my eyes widening as the clone heaved and threw me up into the air.
"Wind Style: Breakthrough!" However, I was not done as I weaved a quick few hand signs before blowing out a burst of wind that sent me flying back towards the clone, chakra flowing to my hands right before I condensed them into the form of vibrating scalpels.
"Oh shit!" I heard the clone exclaim as I swung at his head with a spinning slice, to which he quickly ducked under it while kicking me away with a grunt.
Rolling across the ground to mitigate the impact, I flipped over before charging at the clone more, but this time as he went to grab me, I slid through his legs while aiming for his legs.
Unfortunately, the clone saw right through it and flipped over the attack with a spin while going through hand signs, to which I spun and leapt away right as a ball of flaming oil impacted the area where I previously stood.
With a few rapid flips, I weaved and maneuvered around the barrage of oil balls he shot at me, making sure to keep my eyes on him no matter what before I grinned as I ducked under a ball when an idea came to mind.
A clone appeared next to me in a puff of smoke with a smirk on his face, both of us already knowing what we wanted to do as I went through a few quick hand signs while he did the same.
"Fire Style: Flame Bomb Barrage!/ Wind Style: Breakthrough!" The clone and I chanted respectively as he spat out a barrage of volleyball-sized fire balls while I blew out a weak gust of wind strong enough to accelerate and empower the fireballs but weak enough to not snuff them out.
I watched in glee as the clones' eyes widened before it was obscured by a barrage of explosions going off one after the other, the clone dispelling after having used all of its chakra in that one jutsu while I took a deep breath as I felt the chakra exhaustion beginning to sink in.
However, I cursed as the ground in front of me cracked and shattered outwards, revealing the clone leaping from it with a fist pulled back and I quickly raised a chakra scalpel in front of me right as he threw a punch at my face.
The clone was quick to catch on that as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward towards him, right into a knee that knocked the wind out of me before my vision spun as his knee slammed into my chin.
I think he felt sorry for me as I stumbled backwards before a pained gasp escaped my lips as I felt a shin impacting my side and forced me to fold over it.
The force of the attack sent me ragdolling off to the side, but I quickly flipped over to my feet with a stagger right as the clone appeared in front of him, with him looking surprised as I slid to a stop before launching myself at him.
A stab to his hand was pushed to the side right as my other hand came around to slice at his neck, the clone leaning back and I used the momentum of my swings to land a heel kick to his side.
Or so I thought as the clone spun over my kick with a barrel roll while landing his own kick into my temple, the kick making me spin through the air before a stomp to my chest had me cratering the ground and feeling spittle fly from my mouth.
"Good work. Now, sleep." I barely heard his words as I tried to stand up, but the last thing I saw was the clone spinning before everything went dark.
When I came to, it was to the sight of Yahiko catching a nasty hook to the face, Sensei easily catching the knocked out boy and lifting him over his shoulder before I blinked as I saw Konan lying next to me while also being knocked out.
"Huh, guess that's that Uzumaki healing right there considering it's barely been half an hour since I knocked you out." I turned to Sensei as he spoke up, looking over to see the man walking over before placing down Yahiko next to me.
"Right, time for you to heal them."
"…You know, sensei, I didn't say anything, but you know that I can't heal internal stuff, right? Scraps and perhaps moderately deep cuts are the only things I can do as I haven't had much chance to heal anyone with actual bad injuries."
"You can see far with the Rinnegan, right?" He asked and I realized where he was going with it as I sighed and scratched the back of my head.
"Sensei, just because I have telescopic vision doesn't mean I can see into people's bodies."
"Well, let me ask you this. Can you see their chakra?" He asked and I gave him a deadpan stare while staring at him.
"Really?"
"Right, stupid question. Well, let me ask this another way. If you can see their chakra, can you see the spot where their chakra is flowing the weakest right now?" He asked and I frowned as I looked down before blinking as I saw dark grey spots on Konan's beige chakra and dim orange spots on Yahiko's yellow chakra.
"Okay, I see what you mean. The spots are where the body is injured most hence the change in chakra colour, right?"
"Correct! So, by focusing your healing chakra to those spots…"
"I will restore the chakra to normal and along with that, heal their wounds. You know, you got a good eye for this, sensei. Also, how have I not seen this up until now?" I muttered with a frown before looking up as Sensei ruffled my hair, the man giving me a grin as he sat back down in front of us.
"You tend to focus on learning and experimenting with many jutsu that you can't do instead of refining and fully mastering the few that you can do. So, get to it." He spoke and I nodded as I knelt in between my two unconscious friends, holding a hand on the chest of each of them while closing my eyes and feeling for my own chakra.
If the Chakra Scalpel is the epitome of destruction in medical ninjutsu, then the Mystical Palm Jutsu is the epitome of restoration.
What you need to understand is that this jutsu is very delicate but also very precise. Focus the chakra you need only for that injury and no more into the palm of your hand before slowly inserting your chakra into your patient's body.
Direct this chakra throughout the person's bloodstream to speed up the recovery of their cells while also making sure that your chakra doesn't go rampant and burn them up from the inside out.
'You know, having a full-on idiot proof manual from Tsunade is very handy.' I thought with a strained smirk as I continued to fuel a small yet still potent amount of my chakra into their bodies, making sure to do it slowly and direct it towards one injured area at a time in order to make sure I didn't kill them.
I don't know how long it took, but I did have an aching headache when I was done with my training, falling backwards and taking deep breaths as I felt the rain cooling off my boiling headache before smiling happily as I saw both Yahiko and Konan waking up with groans and moans of pain.
"W-What…what happened…and why do I feel so energized?" Konan was the first to ask that as she sat up and I cleared my throat to draw their attention as I sat up as well.
"Just a bit of healing to get you two back on your feet. A little added bonus is that I now know how to heal us all back to full health if we do need it."
"Wait, what about the match?!" Yahiko asked frantically before looking over at Sensei as he hummed and shook his head.
"You got your ass knocked out by a punch, Nagato by a kick and Konan from one of my wind-enhanced oil bullets. Thanks for the idea by the way, Nagato."
"…You thief." I spoke with a frown and he simply giggled maniacally before we watched as he stood up.
"Anyway, like I said, time for you three to get up and take me on. I'll give you guys thirty seconds to come up with a plan." We watched as Sensei walked away for a few paces before turning around to face us with his hands in his pockets.
"Wait, he was being serious about that?" Yahiko asked, to which Konan just sighed as I rubbed my temples before rolling over to my feet.
"All right, here's the plan. Konan, you want support or to help him on the front lines?" I asked and she just raised an eyebrow before standing up and showing her decision by pushing Yahiko and I in front of her.
"Guess we have our answer. Yahiko, I'll take point and you support me with hit and run tactics from his blindspot."
"Got it!" He agreed and I raised an eyebrow in surprise as I looked at him.
"That's a first. Usually, you would try to argue to be at the lead."
"Well, you lasted the longest between us three in a fight against him so you're the better one to keep his attention away from us. Also, you heal the fastest so it is the best idea to put you at the front."
"…Sensei, can I use Yahiko as a club?!"
"If it's a teamwork strategy, then sure! Also, ten seconds!" He shouted back and Yahiko paled as I turned to give him a cryptic smirk.
"Uh, you know what? I want to fight sensei."
"Nope! No takebacks!" I shouted as I rushed towards Sensei with a grin, hearing Yahiko shout as he raced after me before I watched as six shuriken made out of rigid paper flew past us and curved through the air towards Sensei right as he smirked and cracked his knuckles.
'Well, at least, this is going to be a collective ass-whooping for us all.'
"Three years have passed since I met you three…and I am glad to say that you three are the strongest nine, ten and eleven year olds that I have met in my life." Sensei spoke with a grin as we stood at the bridge that led away from Ame and back to the battlefields.
I just smiled as I nodded, dressed in a black kimono top with a fishnet-shirt underneath it, a pair of dark grey baggy pants with both it and the top having streaks of dark green running along the edges and a pair of grey shinobi sandals to finish off the outfit.
Yahiko and Konan were dressed in the same outfit as Sensei had decided to buy all three in bulk along with a nice headband that I could use to tie up my long hair into a low ponytail.
Did it get in the way? Sometimes, but when I have a jutsu to grow out or shorten my hair, I didn't care much to change it from the style it was.
"We're glad to have been your students for the past three years, Sensei." Yahiko spoke with a smile and it was a nice change to see him acting more calm…even though he, Konan and I were only nine, ten and eleven years old respectively with me being older than Konan by a few months.
"Thank you for the three years, Sensei. We shall cherish it for as long as we live."
"What they said. You didn't have to, but we appreciate the effort nonetheless." Konan and I spoke respectively and the white-haired man nodded before turning to walk away.
"I'm glad to hear it and if we do meet in the future, I want to hear stories of what you three have been up to, okay? Or else, it's another three years of training with me, understood?"
"Yes, sensei!" We barked out with one final smile and salute before the man vanished, but not to my eyes as I watched his red chakra racing away in the distance.
"So…what now?" Yahiko asked as we turned to each other, to which Konan shrugged before I raised an eyebrow as the two of them looked at me.
"What?"
"Well, you're kind of the eldest and the strategist between us."
"As well as being the leader since you usually make the calls during training." Konan added, giggling at Yahiko's grumble while I frowned and scratched the back of my head.
What do we do now to be honest? We're definitely not strong enough to take on Hanzo and his team and I don't think we are strong enough to face off against Jonin level shinobi even though Sensei said that we could potentially beat one if we worked together as a team.
'What was the usual plan in the canon universe they had? Wasn't it to restore order to Amegakure? That…does sound like a good plan and if we end the war early, we could start on repairing and strengthening the country to be strong enough to fight against the Five Great Villages. Yeah, that's a good plan for now.'
"We could get strong enough to become the next rulers of Amegakure." I spoke up and both turned to me with shocked looks before Konan shook her head as Yahiko snorted.
"Sounds like a good plan, but just one problem. Hanzo and his men would eat us alive if we tried that shit."
"I know, idiot. I meant like we do it over the course of the next decade or so. We take our time gathering support as we defeat and rescue villages from other shinobi and when the time comes and if we're strong enough, we take out Hanzo or we form a non-aggression pact with him to show him that we mean to support his rule."
"That…does sound much better than what I initially thought. Yahiko?" Konan asked and Yahiko grinned and nodded.
"If it means peace comes to Amegakure, then I'm all for it." He spoke as he place a hand in the middle and both Konan and I looked at each other before back at him.
"Come on~"
"Urgh, fine~" I muttered as I placed my hand on top of his and Konan looked around in embarrassment before hesitantly doing the same.
"On three, we shout 'Rescue Ame', okay?!"
"Nope, not doing that! / Agreed." Konan and I spoke respectively as we took our hands off and walked away, Yahiko whining as he followed us as we head back to our home.
"Come on~ It'll be fun!"
A/N: And the training arc is finally done~! Next chapter, the start of the journey to rule Ame!
To help you all understand, the Ame trio are powerful and skilled, both on their own and with a team, but right now, all three of them would lose to an experienced Jonin that takes them seriously one on one.
Nagato could hedge out a win, but that would require some thinking ahead and making traps to make sure he wins. Yahiko and Konan on the other hand at this point can take on a chunin and have a fifty/ fifty chance of winning.
Just to explain, the shinobi and kunoichi of this time are war-forged veterans so they're always on guard and they try their best to win as fast as they can to not waste any chakra, hence why I said that a victory would be very hard, but it could be achieved.
And another thing! He has been training with the Summoning Jutsu, but due to having seen the tendencies of Manda, he doesn't want to summon any big snakes and risk having to deal with it on his own.
That's also why he hasn't learned any snake-based jutsu. That and the ridiculous gagging up bodies & snakes that comes with it.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!