CHAPTER 25

Standing with closed eyes under a tree, concentrating on the imminent fall of leaves, is not the easiest of tasks, and if the first few times there is a proper interest in the new training, then after repeated failures day after day, patience begins to run out little by little. Yuske was only helped by the realization that this was a very important stage of training for him, from which he found the persistence to complete his own design while feeling the gradual ease of controlling his own chakra.

The youth had to sacrifice a good dozen of trees for this training, leaving them bare of leaves.

Yuske had acquired such a strong sensitivity over the weeks of practicing this technique that there was no need to wait for a leaf to fall on an exposed patch of skin - he could even attach leaves to himself through his clothes, the faintest tactile sensation from the object was enough. Apparently, that goes for a light layer of clothing, without being extreme in the form of tests with winter clothing.

After a couple of transformations into a 'man of leaves' it was decided to consider training with this technique a success, and never to return to it again, or else there might be rumors spreading around Konoha. In addition, the need to camouflage never ceased, from which it was necessary to look for secluded places.

The good thing was that everything took place in the village, where they cherished the woody environment, so there was no shortage of trees.

To be honest, there were many more ideas for training, but some of them were dismissed as pointless, while others required special conditions, such as a large expanse of space and the absence of prying eyes. A good example of the second was an attempt to mimic the Sand ninja technique with the use of chakra threads. "Why the need for space and the absence of prying eyes?" you may ask, but before answering this question it is worth remembering the basics of the learning process.

Learning is best accomplished when there is an example to work from, but unfortunately in this case there was no such option. The anime didn't show how ninja puppeteers trained, and Yuske had no idea where to start other than to gather chakra on his finger and attach a small stone the size of a fingernail to it, and then slowly try to break the distance between his finger and the stone.

The moment the stone flew off his finger like a bullet and almost pierced the wall in the room was the moment that he decided to leave this kind of trainings until better times.

This experience certainly gave Yuske some thoughts, and one of them he liked a little too much, but for time being he decided to refrain from experimenting with advanced techniques. He needed to concentrate on improving his basic skills while remembering that even if he wanted to move on to something high-level, there would be an obstacle in the form of small reserves of chakra.

Yuske had no idea how to explain to his mother about the hole in the wall, if the speed of the throw of the stone was a little higher, the good news it was not, and only a small dent on the wall was a reminder of the experiments made.

If Yoshida Hana had known that her son was planning and already playing with murderous matter, she would have had a couple of dramas with a tragic outcome.

 Leaving aside the passion for researching techniques, as well as the desire to get his hands on something deadly, Yuske still had another good reason to jump into grueling training right now. He needed to try and arm himself with something.

Soon, in about three months, one of the most important events of the shinobi world was about to take place, namely the birth of the ill-fated blond protagonist. For the ignorant it is but a joyous event, but for the rest of the people it is a sad omen, with one misguided fool's attempt at his own justice.

Yuske recalled that the said tragic events were to occur closer to the end of this year, particularly in the fall, which would leave a good portion of the village in misery.

- I shouldn't interfere, though who am I kidding, I don't even have much of a way to make a significant impact on the events themselves. – Yuske decided that it would be foolish of him to try to interfere with the course of things on his part.

Regardless of the measures taken on his part, he felt that they would, at any rate, lead to nothing but trouble. Some might say, "Maybe he should warn someone in authority," while others might be foolish enough to directly intervene in a fight against Obito or Nine-Tails. Those are obvious simpletons or the ones who don't understand how the butterfly effect actually works.

With the slightest interference in major events, one will have to put up with the consequences in the form of things that didn't happen in the original. Even a one second delay in events can lead to a completely different future, and that's like voluntarily throwing away one of his major advantages in this world.

Muttering to himself while simultaneously planning his course of actions, Yuske did not stop throwing another kunai at the makeshift target on the tree. In a shinobi village, no one would be surprised to see a six year old child training in his backyard.

He didn't even have to talk to his parents about starting his trainings, because his interest in this profession was rather obvious, and they quietly accepted this fact. Yuske was glad that there were no dramatic scenes, and he was even taken seriously in some regards, particularly the attendance at Shinobi Academy. His parents' acceptance of his wishes, as well as reaching the age of six, allowed him to stop hiding everything, and now he could do some of his daily workouts in the open. Though it was still forbidden to demonstrate training in something that couldn't be known to children, or something that almost no one in this world knew about.