CHAPTER 6

* Planning my future training must be done with the utmost care. First, I need to find out where I can train at all. The backyard will suffice for typical physical workouts, but I'm sure there will be something I can't show to others, which means a secluded place will be needed. On the other hand, how far would they let me go at this age? Besides, I'll need to find out some things from my parents, though that can wait until I'm five or six, because right now I can't throw a shuriken or kunai with all my desire. – After gaining some understanding of the strange power at hand, Yuske began to plan his course of actions.

The boy still couldn't be convinced that a kunai or shuriken would be of any significance in this world, but training with them would accomplish other goals.

There is some use in the utilization of throwing weapons only if there is a need to eliminate useless cannon fodder, while not wasting such a valuable resource as chakra. But that wasn't the reason why Yuske needed training with such a weapon. The very reason was the desire to accomplish two specific objectives.

First, it is necessary to let it appear that he is very interested in becoming a ninja and that this game is much more interesting to him than searching for peers and actively spending time with them, which is done by the lion's share of children his age up to the genin years.

Secondly, and most importantly, the foundation for the future is being set. Running, jumping, and such activities in the backyard will help build endurance, strengthen specific body parts, and develop motor skills. Of equal importance was the training of one's own arms as one of the most important parts of a shinobi's physique.

Throwing weapons would help him with that, but he was already inclined to think that the heavier and more practical kunai should still be the one preferred.

The kunai can be used as a melee weapon of last resort, something you can't do with a shuriken. Frequent throwing of the kunai will help develop the entire muscular component of the arms without serious strain.

He believed that one should act on Bruce Lee's instructions: to practice one technique a thousand times than to have thousands of techniques without any mastery of them. The constant use of the hands, performing various throwing movements should make it possible to acquire such habituation that no clumsy actions will ever be committed in the future.

Yuske was convinced that the foundation for a shinobi in the first place was perfect control over one's own body. Intuition, while being a rather difficult factor to determine, is also a component of the body.

Many neglect the need to acquire throwing skills at a level that makes it possible to hit targets using an intuitive understanding of projectile's flight, without long calculations of trajectory and velocity.

It was hard for Yuske to judge what techniques he would master in the future, for that would at least require figuring out what he had, namely the nature of his chakra. But almost all long and medium ranged combat techniques required good coordination and throwing proficiency. Accordingly, training with throwing weapons will be the basis for the future use of ninjutsu.

A ninja who has enough chakra to use S rank jutsus non-stop, but can't hit a target with them, is unlikely to make it to chunin rank.

- Yuske-kun, I'm back. Don't go out in the rain, stay here or go inside, dinner will be ready soon. — Without waiting for a response from her son Yoshida Hana entered the house, leaving the door open, not wasting a second of doubt about the safety of Konoha. There would be no response from the boy as such, though if you asked her - she would confidently brush off the insignificance of such an occurrence, accepting her son with all his oddities.

Recently, Yuske had stopped addressing her and her husband like he used to, but that didn't bother her, he had always been a shy one, but at the same time stubborn, which made him even cuter.

She had no experience with motherhood either, but even if she had years of it, she couldn't change her son, as a recent visit to Leaf Hospital and a consultation with a child behavior specialist made clear. The child psychiatrist told her that at this age you can influence children only by satisfying their interest, answering the questions they keep asking, but if the child has already decided something for himself, it will be extremely difficult to change his mind. The only thing left to do is to wait for him to realize everything himself, making mistakes and gaining his own personal life experience.

She, as a mother, was uncomfortable with the fact of her child's desire to become a ninja, even as a resident of Leaf who was used to integrating with shinobi of varying caliber every day. To fail to notice the boy's interest in this profession did not require particularly ingenious skills of deduction. Frequent questions, inquiries, and interest in the shinobi occupation made this fact obvious to everyone, and the little devil's eyes sparkled every time he learned something new about ninjas.

The only cheering of the soul was the calm from the wars and the confidence in the Leaf itself. Even the recently ended Second Shinobi World War did not affect the village's quiet and peaceful ways, for the village leadership made the wise decision to wage it in other small countries territories. With this, they not only guaranteed the safety of their residents by utilizing all of their resources, but also followed the First Hokage's wish for a safe place for the growing generation.

As a mother, Yoshida Hana wanted to believe that this was the last war, and with each passing year, the shinobi profession would only get safer and the missions would be without bloody outcome. On the other hand, even in times of peace, having personal power, even if it were small, would guarantee greater security for her son than if he were a mere civilian without the ability to protect himself.