2
--Yr 54—24, Nov--
Kiyoshi was lying flat on his stomach staring intently at the flowers in front of his view, he could feel how lively they were. It was refreshing. His small hand gently ran across the petal of the flower which he knew to be a buttercup. They are as if raindrops became joy- as if they are the gold at the end of a rainbow.
Their colours shinning brightly on a sunny day. Both the flowers and sun competing, showing their vivid colours.
He was two years old. If he were to be more specific about it or perhaps another way to say his age. He was 2 years, 0 months and 26 days old… or 24 months and 26 days old, or perhaps one would rather days- he was 756 days old, which didn't sound a lot but it was.
He was one when they tried explaining that his father, wasn't actually his father. Though he got the gist of it, even if he had some trouble following the words, some of them were unfamiliar. In summary, he was his stepdad, he wasn't sure what happened to his actual father, but he wasn't there, this father was so that was fine.
Life was… well alright, it would be amazing if his father wasn't always dragging him around the farm, which his mother approved of, something about learning. If they think he was planning on becoming a farmer they were dead wrong, that was beyond boring.
He was in the world of Naruto, he wasn't going to play civilian when he could be a 'Shinobi', which he had yet to voice out.
Once he had turned the age of two, he was able to easily convince his mother to start teaching him things, such as writing and reading which didn't take long for him to understand. Although the reading part was much easier… writing was a whole different challenge.
He had to remember the words to have to write them, but with reading… it was easier because all he had to do was recognise the words which he did, and then pronounce them.
His mother was a decent teacher, while he preferred his father to teach him. His voice was engaging, nor did he shy from showing him more advanced things not caring he was just a toddler.
He couldn't help but force himself to study hard to perfect his writing since his mother had promised to teach him 'fuinjutsu' after begging the poor lady for months. She had told him; that his writing needs to be near perfection before she could teach him.
Right, his writing… he didn't' blame her, he too that his writing was simply atrocious. He wasn't exactly what someone would call knowledgeable about the Naruto world… perhaps someone more familiar and well profound on this world would be a better fit in his role here.
Though with fuinjutsu, he was aware it needed precision. He saw it as a work of art. One you could make your own, and perfect.
He couldn't help but think it obvious that his mother was an Uzumaki, at first it didn't register to him that she in fact could be. He didn't realise it sooner seeing as he never saw anyone use chakra or anything that subjected 'abnormal'.
After a while, he realised it was most likely the case, with her blood-red hair and her talent and understanding of fuinjutsu.
She didn't seem all surprised to see her son working day and night practising, she found out that giving the boy a challenge was an easier way of having a quiet house- she could see how intelligent her son was.
He contently asked the question and bothered both his father and mother to read to him. He listened, he was so attentive, following the words carefully on the page as he listened to them read. At some moments he would stop them, pronouncing the words himself, and when there was one he wasn't familiar with he would have them explain it to him.
It was very early in the morning, the only reason he had woken up as early as he did was that he ended up sleeping earlier than usual, which Aika was thankful for, seeing as most nights her son always made a fuss about her sleeping next to him.
He couldn't help but enjoy her presence- when he was only a year old, he figured out that he was a sensor from his understanding of what he had seen in Naruto.
He found both his mother and father's chakra signatures to be calming, they were both very distinct and different from each other.
While his mother's chakra felt like a storm on a rampage- Which he found was oddly refreshing. His father's chakra felt lighter, there was less of it compared to his mother- it was peaceful.
He yawned, as he stood. His arms rose into the arm, above his head, he stood as tall as he could, standing on the tips of his toes, stretching his whole body. A pleasant groaned passed his lips, just as his body relaxed, collapsing into a boneless, ungraceful heap.
He finally looked away from the flowers in front of him after growing bored, he got up and dusted the dirt off his shorts and entered the house, walking through it he found himself coming to a stop when he met the hazel eyes.
His father, "Tou-chan!" he greeted the man, who smiled brightly at him. He hated how childish his voice sounded. "Morning, Kiyoshi. Di you sleep well, or perhaps you're tired from staying up late reading again?" the man mused.
Kiyoshi smiled awkwardly, his hands held each other behind his back and he rocked back heels then forth on his toes, a continuous motion. "Possibly…" he responded.
"How'd you know?" he asked his father, "Well, the light shining from under your room, was a rather interesting hint."
--Yr 54—25, Nov--
"Kaa-chan?" Kiyoshi called out from beside his mother as he was stood on the chair watching her cut the potatoes.
She hummed in response; her attention still settled on what was in front of her. Kiyoshi couldn't help but grunt in annoyance after not being given her full attention, but nonetheless still spoke.
"I did my writing for the day; can you teach me fuinjutsu now?" He eagerly asked, there wasn't a day he could go without asking- he couldn't help it, he was born in an anime, he wasn't going to take it for granted.
She sighed knowing that was what he was going to ask, she could understand his fascination with it, children were little balls of curiosity.
She stopped moving her hands and turned towards her son, staring at his pleading eyes, "Let me see it then" she softly responded.
Kiyoshi jumped off the chair, something Akio had gotten used to. He rushed to the coffee table where his paper was rested and grabbed it in a rush to show her.
"Here!" he called out loudly in excitement hoping this was finally the moment she would teach him fuinjutsu.
She took the page that was filled with repeated words and looked intently at the strokes, she couldn't help but be impressed- it wasn't good enough to start fuinjutsu, but it was better than what you'd expect to form a 2-year-old.
She could tell he had gotten his hyperactive personality from her side, although it wasn't often, he acted as such. She knows she was worse when she was his age.
"You still need some more practice, Oshi-chan" her verdict finally came.
Kiyoshi couldn't help but slump down in sadness, a faint cloud of gloominess hovered over his head. He had tried so hard to perfect his writing.
If he had been more familiar with kanji in his past, this all would have been much more of a breeze to go through, but he truly is learning all this from the very start, very different from speaking.
Speaking seemed easier, as it honestly just sounded like English, it was as though his body automatically translated the words he heard to English, the same with himself speaking.
"I can help you with chakra exercises" He heard her speak again, no longer feeling down but staring at her with wide eyes. Chakra exercises? What had brought this up? His suspicion arose as he realised maybe he wasn't as stealthy as he thought himself to be. Often when he was alone he would meditate, trying to comprehend using charka, having no idea how to access it.
"Ch- chakra?" he mumbled out feigning confusion, knowing his neither his parents have yet to speak of chakra to him yet.
She smiled softly, yet it held a lot of emotions behind them, ones she was hiding. He was finding it hard to see the truth behind the smile, it was obvious she had forced it.
She hummed.
"How do you think I was able to use fuinjutsu" she spoke again, and she washed her hands, he just shrugged his shoulders dumbly.
She started to walk toward the garden and Kiyoshi followed her lead. His small legs struggled to keep up with her long strides.
They were seated on the grass in the garden, the light breeze felt nice on his arms. He found it strange his mother had brought them out into the garden. She had never seemed like the type to willingly go outside if it wasn't necessarily needed.
She proceeded to explain chakra to her son, "Chakra is a form of energy that lives within every one of us." She started.
"What about other stuff like plants" Kiyoshi interrupted; he knew he could feel something from them, was it normal?
"I suppose, other living organisms have an energy of their own, but not many people would be able to sense it unless they trained hard enough." She answered.
He stayed quiet as she spoke.
"Chakra is a combination of two types of energy, spiritual energy and physical energy. It allows us, humans, to do extraordinary things, but not everyone uses it."
"Why?" Kiyoshi asked. Why wouldn't anyone want to use chakra, he started to remember how there were citizens who truly didn't use charka, it's not like you have to use it for fighting they could just use it to help with everyday tasks, right?
Once again, she hummed, "That's a good question, I'm not too sure, but then again everyone is different and not many people have a lot of chakra to use since using it takes a lot of energy and can have some consequences."
Kiyoshi slightly frowned and asked, "Do I have a lot of chakra?" he asked, hoping she would say yes.
She began to chuckle lightly at the question, "Yes, quiet a lot" she answered, which Kiyoshi grinned at, 'Nice'.
"Charka is essential to perform the most basics of Jutsu's. To use our chakra, we use it through various methods, the most common of which is hand seals, I'm sure you've seen your father use some at some point." She started and he listened intently.
"Using hand seals makes it easier to manipulate our chakra to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise. It allows others to be able to accurately do what they wish to do."
Once she saw how interested Kiyoshi was, she continued, "Chakra is not ordinarily visible to the eye unless highly concentrated or manifested in large amounts is used."
"We can't see chakra? Ohh never mind, we can only see it if there is a lot of it in use, right?" he pondered, she nodded with a small smile as he took in what was told to him.
"Everyone's chakra is different from one another, each one of us has our own unique chakra signature which sensor type ninjas will be able to detect." She spoke.
"Do you know any sensor ninjas?" he asked, maybe if she did then they could help him with it.
"No, I don't have any sensor friends" she answered in a daze, 'maybe I shouldn't have asked that, I don't even think she even has friends…'
"Ano, Kaa-chan?" He spoke up again bringing her back to reality, "hmm?" she answered.
"You said we all have our unique chakra types. Does that mean even family? Families should have similar chakra, right? since we are all from the same kin in some way and form." he asked.
"Yes, your correct with that assumption, you're too curious and smart for your own good" she mumbled out pinching his cheeks.
"Ow!" he yelled as he rubbed his cheeks with a pout which she found amusing, "Our chakra signatures are passed down genetically, you know what that means right?" she asked him not wanting to have to explain it.
"Umm, that I get my chakra from kaa-chan and tou-san?" He mumbled out feigning confusion. 'How much is a 2-year-old even supposed to know, it's not like I've heard people yelling about genetics and stuff.'
"That's good enough" she mumbled. "Yes, everyone's chakra is unique, but they can be similar to that of their relatives allowing others to decipher who's who. Just even the colour of their chakra makes their signature unique."
"Colour?" he questioned, 'we have different coloured chakra? Maybe I should have paid more attention when I actually watched the show, but then again it's not like I watched that much of it just random episodes, and a few youtube videos.'
"Yes, we all have our unique colours, but they are only usually seen with those with special eyes." 'Special eyes? What is she saying? Does she mean dōjutsu? is that her way of dumbing it down for me? Although the only ones I'm familiar with are the ones Sasuke had, the Sharingan it was called wasn't it? And then there was the one that girl with lilac eyes had- what clan was it again?'
Having enough of getting an explanation of what chakra is, he spoke again, "How do I use chakra?" he impatiently asked standing up from where he was seated, not as if it made him any taller.
After she had taught him how to unlock his chakra, she had given him a gist on how to help control it by teaching him the leaf exercise. He practised and practised, his father found it amusing to watch him do it, not being too familiar with chakra himself, but not interested enough to use it himself. He made sure to meditate, hoping that help to circulate his chakra, allowing him to easily control the quantity he wished to use.
He couldn't help but wonder if it was normal to be learning how to unlock chakra at the age of 2… it made him question a few things, if anything he felt like his mother was rushing him a bit to learn a bit more.
It took him a few tries to get it right, at first, he couldn't do it right, and his mother explained to him that he was using too much chakra, but even after being told that he still couldn't get it right.
She explained to him that it was normal for him not to be able to do so on his first try after seeing his frustration.
'Hyūga! That's the clan name' he found himself randomly remembering.
--Yr 54—30, Dec--
After a while, Kiyoshi could confidently say his writing had indeed gotten better, and he no longer struggled as much as before- there was still a lot to learn but what he knew at the moment, he was sure that it was more than what an average 2-year-old should know which was good enough for him.
After another year, he found himself perfecting the leaf technique with the help of his mother. He had already started to learn more about fuinjutsu from his mother.
He had expected it to be harder than what it was, but maybe it was just because he was only learning the fundamental basics of it- he also assumed it was due to his supposedly Uzumaki genes.
He was currently walking through the house with 5 leaves attached to his body, three were situated on his face the other two leaves were on each of his knees, not only was he balancing leaves on his body but also a rock.
The rock was on the palm of his hand which was faced downwards to the floor, doing this technique had just become a hobby for him, an everyday occurrence- anything he could find when he was bored, he would use it as a way to help control his chakra, since he knew he had a lot from his mother's explanation.
It was already late in the night, so he was expected to head to bed now, which he was doing.
"Kiyoshi!" he heard his mother's voice, echoing through the hallway, he sighed, putting the stuff away. He headed towards his room, his mother meeting him there, she smiled kindly, "Thank you, actually listening to this time" she told him lightly, he frowned.
"Why are you saying it like that? Like I don't listen…" he muttered, as she tucked him in bed, she gave him a knowing look and he forced himself not to roll his eyes.
"I'm not tired you know," he told her truthfully. His eyes were as light as they could come, blinking easily refusing to have them closed for too long, longing to look around. She hummed like she always did, running her hand through his hair.
"And what shall I do about that? Perhaps a song?" she asked, he had a thoughtful look on his face at that response.
"What about, a story?" he asked, unsurely.
"A story?" she mused, a small amused smile on her face. He nodded, "About… how you met, um my other tou-chan?" he hesitantly asked, he saw how she was slightly tense, trying to hide her emotions from him.
She smiled, trying to hide all of the emotions behind it.
"… If that's what you want. I really don't know where to start. We were fifteen when we first met, he was a shinobi of Konoha, while I was a civilian of Uzushiogakure. Are paths were not meant to cross, yet they did, and they crossed again, and we spoke for the first time. Our second time we laid eyes on each other. It was a lake we met, on the outskirts of Uzu, a peaceful place. That first time we spoke, we talked for what seemed like hours yet we had yet to learn each other's names…" she started, and he listened, interested.
"I went home feeling happy like I finally met someone who actually understood me. Though I couldn't help but scold myself for thinking such a thing. Since of course I knew nothing of him other than what was told, we barely knew each other, and I longed to know more so I went the next day at the exact same time, hoping he was still in Uzu and had yet to go back home, and there he was, sat at the lake, his legs in the water. That was when we learnt each other's names." She paused for a second, her eyes looking out the window, a small smile playing on her lips, reminiscing the past.
"Is he dead?" Kiyoshi bluntly asked, quite curious, she didn't react the question, only turning to him, nodding. "He passed before you were born, never getting to learn about our little creation," she told him, pinching his cheek.
"What was his name?" he asked her, ignoring the pinching. He found himself getting tired, his eye lips getting heavy. He stopped himself from yawning.
"Satoshi, Senju Satoshi. You look like him. You have his nose" she said, and her finger tapped the tip of his nose. His eyes slightly widened at the word 'Senju' which was a word he was familiar with from Naruto.
It was a clan.
"You have his eyes, both in shape and colour. You have his blue eyes, It was the very first thing I noticed about him when first meeting him, they were the most interesting shade, holding so much depth. They're beautiful. Though, you have my smile, well Dasiuke-kun seems to think so. You also have my red hair… and perhaps that thirst for knowledge came from your father, there was still so much I wanted to learn about him. We were eighteen when we last saw each other when we said our final goodbyes…"
"I suppose you can say, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here today. Alive that is" she whispered.
He wanted to ask more, but all he could do was curse his toddler body for forcing sleep to take his consciousness away.