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While the mood was very high and cheerful as both Mito and Haru spent their afternoon together chatting and drinking tea with snacks, suddenly the atmosphere abruptly shifted when an annoyed figure came inside.

Mito was the first to notice the low mood emanating from Nawaki. Haru also noticed it, but with grandma here, it wasn't his place to cheer up this little monkey, so he continued to eat his snack peacefully.

Mito noticed his action from the corner of her eye, and her mouth couldn't help but twitch at his obvious action.

In the end, she had a lot of experience cheering up her grandson who was easy to lose his temper.

Mito took Nawaki's hand and sat him beside her. She then turned and took most of the snacks from beside Haru and gave them to Nawaki.

Food was the best source to improve low mood and was also one of the best weapons all grandmothers around the world use in such situations.

Now it was Haru's turn to be unhappy. The amount of his snacks had shrunk a lot, so he focused his attention back to Nawaki and decided to find joy in his friend's misfortune.

It took some time, but the food eventually worked its magic, and Nawaki's mood improved noticeably.

Mito noticed the change and decided to strike up a conversation. "Did you have any missions today?" she asked.

Nawaki, remembering the enjoyable time he had spent outside the village, became unhappy again and replied weakly, "Orochimaru-sensei gave me some individual lessons today."

Mito noticed his mood fluctuate again, and she understood that those lessons were likely the cause. "Well, Orochimaru is a highly skilled ninja.

If he's giving you individual lessons, it means he acknowledges your strength and potential. You're doing great," she said, trying to boost his confidence.

Mito's encouraging words sparked confidence in Nawaki. "Yeah," he replied, "Sensei also emphasized the need for me to keep improving."

Mito nodded earnestly, boosting his spirits even further. After a little coaxing, Nawaki finally shared the reason. "Today, Sensei taught me about chakra nature," he said.

As if to show Mito, Nawaki took out a piece of chakra paper from his pocket and infused it with his chakra. Both Mito and Haru watched closely as the paper crumbled.

'Earth, interesting,' Haru thought. He then glanced at Mito, who didn't seem surprised. 'She should have tested him when he was young,'

Mito smiled, finally understanding the reason for Nawaki's frustration. "Did Orochimaru teach you nature transformation?" she asked.

Nawaki nodded, but didn't offer any further explanation, as he had been lost halfway through Orochimaru's explanation.

Mito then asked, "Is this why you were upset?"

Nawaki nodded and replied, "Yeah, it's very complicated. I didn't understand anything."

This time, both Mito and Haru refrained from making fun of him. Instead, Mito patted him on the back and said, "You don't need to feel bad, Nawaki. Nature transformation is hard, it's an advanced form of chakra control.

Since Orochimaru started to teach you this, it means that you already have very good chakra control.

Plus, this is the skill that all jonin have. While it's difficult, it's not impossible to learn. You will get the hang of it after some training, I'm sure."

Nawaki felt the assurance from Mito's tone, and his confidence was up again. He straightened his back and replied, "Yeah, all that beating I took from Tsunade wasn't a waste."

Then he turned to Haru who hadn't said anything so far and asked, "Do you know about nature transformation, Haru?"

'Haru's chakra control was always better than mine; he should know this,' he thought, looked at Haru suspiciously.

Haru noticed Nawaki's suspicious gaze but ignored it. "Yeah," he said simply.

Suddenly, as if triggered, Nawaki jumped on Haru and said, "You traitor! Then why didn't you teach me then? I looked super stupid in front of Orochimaru-sensei."

Haru pushed Nawaki's face away and said, "Didn't you hear Grandma say you need chakra control? In the past, you couldn't learn it even if you wanted to. Plus, you didn't ask me why I should teach you.

Finally,Orochimaru-san would have figured out your stupidity sooner or later. It doesn't matter if I taught you this or not."

Nawaki shrugged off Haru's teasing and persisted, "Then you have to help me train. I want to surprise Sensei."

Haru looked at Nawaki with disgust and said, "I already gave you a cheat code. Why are you still bothering me?"

With a disregard for Haru's tone, Nawaki shook his hand again and asked with excitement in his eyes, "Can I use shadow clone to practice this?"

Haru felt like smacking this idiot, but in the end, he sighed and nodded. "Yeah, you can use shadow clones to train this."

As Nawaki celebrated with excitement, as though he had already mastered the technique, Haru observed him and pondered, 'He's following in Naruto's footsteps, and with that third copy, it'll be intriguing to see them together.'

As the thought crossed Haru's mind, he felt goosebumps rise on his skin. 'No, no,' he said, shaking his head. 'Then it would be too much Naruto."

After celebrating for a while, Nawaki's curiosity got the better of him, and he continued to pester Haru, who was finally taking a well-deserved break. "Hey, Haru," he asked. "What's your chakra nature?"

Haru let out a deep sigh.'I was having such a good time,' he thought. 'Why did Orochimaru have to be a good teacher today?'

Seeing Nawaki eagerly waiting for an answer, he relented. "Water," he said.

At this, Nawaki's smile grew wider. "That means you're weaker than me," he said, excited to have an advantage over Haru at last.

Both Haru and Mito looked at him with a sense of resignation. They shared a moment of eye contact, and the same thought crossed their minds: 'Poor Orochimaru.'

Noticing the pity in their eyes, Nawaki asked, "Did I say something wrong? Isn't water strong against fire and weak against earth?"

Mito took it upon herself to explain, "That's true, but weaknesses only appear when elements of the same strength clash.

Also, a shinobi typically learns more than one nature transformation. Most jonin would learn two or more. The Third Hokage, for example, knows all five nature transformations."

"If you want to be Hokage, you have to master all of them or at least four. Work hard, Nawaki," Haru continued, delivering another blow to Nawaki's spirit.

Nawaki's dream was nearly shattered by the mere thought of mastering all those complicated chakra natures.

He looked at Mito and Haru with eyes filled with despair and asked, "How hard is it to master all nature transformations?" His voice cracking,

Mito thought for a while before responding, "The only person I know of who has achieved it is the Third Hokage."

At this point, Nawaki was close to tears. He turned his focus to Haru and asked, "Have you already learned your nature transformation?" Haru nodded his head and replied, "Yeah, why?"

Nawaki mustered his courage and asked, "Do you think it will be difficult for me?"

Haru thought for a while before he replied, "You should be able to learn one or two, but I don't know about the rest."

Seeing Nawaki's eyes filled with tears, Mito had enough fun, so she stopped the teasing and reassured Nawaki, "Don't listen to Haru. He's just teasing you.

You don't need to learn all nature transformation to be the Hokage. All the other village Kage didn't learn all of them. You can be strong with other ways. Don't worry."

Nawaki turned to Haru, rolled up his sleeve as if he was going to fight. Haru just raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you sure?"

Just this one question was enough to deflate all of Nawaki's momentum, and he said angrily, "Haru, you bastard. Are you trying to intimidate me?"

Even if his voice was loud, his actions spoke louder, as his sleeve was rolled down again.

Haru nodded his head, not feeling any shame for bullying his brother

Nawaki observed Haru's expression for a while before tentatively asking, "Can you help me train, Haru?"

Haru stopped him in his tracks immediately. "No, I can't. I'm very busy, plus you already have Orochimaru teaching you.

He is the student of the Third Hokage and should be able to teach you alone.

Plus, I don't know much about earth nature transformation. Now that you are a ninja, you should start learning to be independent."

While Haru really didn't want to add Nawaki's training to his schedule, he didn't lie. Orochimaru is far more suitable for teaching Nawaki. Of all the elements, Haru is not well-versed in earth nature transformation.

Nawaki nodded at Haru, but he still felt a little uneasy. Since the age of five, he and Haru had been inseparable from one another. But since graduation, it started to change as both of them chose their own way and separated, trying to achieve their own dreams.

Mito observed the duo's interaction and sighed in her heart. From a bystander's view, she could see clearly that Haru was trying to create some distance between himself and Nawaki.

But she didn't stop it; on the contrary, she hoped it would happen. While Nawaki relying on Haru as a family member didn't pose any issues, his identity as the future head of the clan meant that he needed to be independent.

He couldn't always depend on Haru for everything like he did all those years.

Haru, even though he was a little younger than Nawaki, was always more like the big brother,thanks to his early maturity at the start and then to his strength later on.

After a while, Haru took his leave. Nawaki still felt disappointed that Haru couldn't help him, so Mito cleared her throat and said, "Haru has a water nature. He shouldn't have started the earth element yet."

Nawaki nodded, then, as if struck by lightning, he asked in shock, "Wait, does that mean that Haru should already know more than one nature transformation?"

While Mito didn't know for sure, to motivate Nawaki, she said, "He should. Haru is very smart; it wouldn't surprise me if he had."

And it worked. While Nawaki was always the weaker between the two, it didn't mean that he accepted the status quo. He always worked hard to improve, especially since he knew specifically that Haru had learned multiple nature transformations.

He looked at Mito and said determinedly, "Grandma, is Haru going to be busy for a long time?" he asked.

Mito replied hesitantly, "Yeah, he should be busy for the next couple of months. Why?"

Nawaki replied, "I will use that time and try to catch up, then I will surprise him with my new strength. Let's see his face then." As if to prove his determination, he exited and went straight out to start his training.

Mito looked at his back and sighed. "I hope Nawaki can try to be more independent, or Haru is going to need to be more strict with him in the future." That was the last thing she wanted to see.

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update: Hey guys, sorry about yesterday. My laptop suddenly stopped working for some reason, but I'm happy to report that it's up and running again today! Unfortunately, I find it hard to write properly on my phone. Whenever I try, I end up getting distracted and scrolling through TikTok and Instagram for hours without getting any writing done. Let's hope this won't happen again.