Chalter 22: Don's be a one trick pony

"Have I made a mistake Grandpa? Why are you punishing me?" Ken said with tears in his eyes as soon as he heard that he was being sent to the academy.

Hiruzen panicked seeing this. His grandson never really cried except when he trained Taijutsu sometimes.

"No Ken, You did not offend me. I am just sending you to the academy because you are pretty talented, you can learn new things in the academy. Also, you can make new friends in the academy." Hiruzen said politely

"You are already teaching me things. Why do I have to go to the academy for that? They would be teaching geography, history, physics, and chemistry which is kinda not necessary to survive on a battlefield. Worst of all they would be teaching MATHS?" Ken said in a tone that said he was scared.

"These things are necessary for Daily life Ken. Academy teachers would make these subjects interesting for you." Hiruzen said

"I don't need to make new friends. There would be just small kids there. They would be pretty annoying." Ken said

'You are a kid too!' Hiruzen screamed in his mind.

"Besides I don't need new friends. I already have Mukai as my friend. Mukai, are not you my friend?" Ken said with a smile that sent shivers down Mukai's spine.

Mukai knew what that smile meant 'Answer Yes or I would melt your skin and bones.'

"Yes, Hokage sama. Me and Ken are pretty good friends." Mukai said

"Ken, you need to have friends your age. In the academy, You would be able to build a connection with other shinobi clans. So you are going to join the academy and that's final." Hiruzen ignored Mukai as he told Ken his final decision seriously.

Ken tumbled on the ground with shock written on his face.His puppy dog eye jutsu failed him for the first time.

'That's fine, I could just use a shadow clone to attend the academy.' Ken thought smugly

"If you are thinking about sending a shadow clone to the academy instead of going yourself then drop that idea. You will have to attend the academy yourself." Hiruzen knew his grandson's thoughts and shenanigans by now.

"I have already taught you everything I know about Lava release including all its forms. Ice release is also formed similarly to Molten lava but you use water and wind chakra natures instead of Earth and Fire. There are no forms of ice release as far as I know."

"I have nothing else to teach you as I have taught you the basics of how to learn ninjutsu. You can take any ninjutsu up to B rank that you want from my library but you would have to learn them yourself. It's time for you to carve your own ninja path."

"It does not mean that you can't come to me for advice, tips or even help for a jutsu. I would gladly guide you, Ken." Hiruzen said with a smile.

"You also have to choose some other things to learn and master Ken. A good shinobi is not one that shines like a moon in just one aspect of being a shinobi. A good shinobi is one that shines in multiple aspects of a shinobi like stars in the night sky." Hiruzen said

"You don't want to be a one-trick pony who can only use ninjutsu and occasionally taijutsu. There are various areas where a shinobi focuses. They are Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Medical Ninjutsu, Sensory, Barrier Ninjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu, Bukijutsu, Shurinkenjutsu, Poison arts, Puppetry and clan secret techniques/kekkei Genkais."

"Along with them, a shinobi is expected to have interrogation skills, leadership skills, setting up traps skills, Information gathering skills, strategy making skills and tracking skills."

"A jonin of Konoha has to be at least a master in two of the 'jutsu' categories while having at least two above-mentioned skills."

"While an elite jonin has to be a master of at least three of the 'jutsu' categories while having leadership skills and one more skill."

"You are clearly going to focus and master Ninjutsu along with your kekkei genkais. But I would still recommend you to master at least another of two 'jutsu' categories."

"I personally would suggest Genjutsu and Fuinjutsu. You clearly have talent in Genjutsu since your illusionary clone jutsu was pretty good. As for fuinjutsu, it's a very rare but important and powerful skill to have. Mastering fuinjutsu would help you master barrier arts and trap-making skills as well. Every Hokage including me has been a grandmaster fuinjutsu master so you can guess the importance and power of fuinjutsu."

"The reason that I would not recommend you Medical ninjutsu is that despite good chakra control at your age, it is still not suited for Medical ninjutsu. Yes, you can become a medical ninjutsu with your chakra control but you would not progress much in it. You will likely have the skills of a chunin medical nin at best even if you practice medical ninjutsu for years. It can change in the future as you grow up but it's unlikely."

"Sensory would be hard for you since you are not a natural-born sensor. Your chakra control is not good for puppetry either.

Bukijutsu and Shurinkenjutsu are something that you would learn in the academy." Hiruzen lectured Ken about the importance of having more number of skills under his belt.

'What he is saying is correct. Ninjutsu and my kekkei Genkais won't help me when I am out of chakra or if the enemy catches me off guard and I don't even get the time to form hand seals. My average talent in Taijutsu and shurinkenjutsu gives me a weakness in close combat which the enemy can exploit.' Ken thought

---------------

Thankyou @Joseph Hollon and @terrance smith for becoming a pat*ron.

You can support my work on pat*reon.

Read the next 35+ chapters on my pat*reon

http://pat*reon.com/Pikachu6