Chapter 6

A goal plays an incredibly important role in every person's life. It differs from simple dreams by several key parameters. These parameters are as follows: a goal must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. In the absence of these elements, we are not dealing with a goal but merely with wishes or dreams.

For me personally, the goal became mastering the Substitution Technique and the Transformation Technique so that my teacher could teach me additional methods. I believe that I will be ready to take the exam when I can perform these techniques without much difficulty. I am confident that I can achieve this in a relatively short period. The deadline I set for myself is two weeks from the conversation with Ichigo-sensei.

With these convictions, I gained excellent motivation for self-improvement on the path to achieving my goal. Practicing the Transformation Technique did not require much preparation. I just needed to train in front of a mirror and closely monitor my chakra level so that it would not deplete prematurely. I planned to transform into my teacher, as this would be the best indicator of my progress.

As for the Substitution Technique, it was best practiced outdoors, as home conditions are not the best platform for this. This technique has several variations, but I decided to focus on the most basic one—substitution with a pre-prepared log. For this, I needed to place the log on the "battlefield" in advance and use it as necessary. Finding a suitable log was not difficult; the rest depended on the skill of execution.

Every day I devoted more than seven hours to each of these techniques, while also attending taijutsu training with Ichigo-sensei. The first lesson was very informative for me because the teacher possessed the art of precise and productive criticism.

"Sensei," I addressed the teacher.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a short guy in an orange suit with an unusual mask on his forehead. He quickly ran somewhere. Strange.

"I thought you weren't coming," he smirked. "Anyway, we have an hour for training. I will try to impart as much taijutsu knowledge as possible before the graduation exam. I'll tell you right away: you won't become a master, not even close, but you'll be better than you were before."

"Yes, I am ready to learn, sensei," I said.

"Then attack."

And I attacked. I closed in very quickly and immediately tried to sweep. The teacher blocked it easily and almost effortlessly, allowing him to start his own attack. Since he moved slightly faster than me, I could only react if I gave it my all. I had no problems with that, so I gave it my all.

Blocking his hand, I slid to the side, ignoring the slight numbness, and tried to strike again. This time the blow was simple and direct, like a stick. Ichigo-sensei caught my fist and immediately started his move.

I spun around his hand. The attempt to hit him with my leg failed because my movement was too fast. With a light smack, I hit the ground. The landing knocked the wind out of me, making my teeth click.

"Ugh," I rolled over and got up. My back hurt a bit, but not enough to keep me from continuing the sparring.

"I'm coming!" the sensei exhaled and jumped close. The next blow was supposed to be a knee strike right to my chest. Since the sensei moved slightly faster than me, I tensed to protect myself. I crossed my arms, where his knee strike landed. Simultaneously, I started to jump back, which allowed me to miss most of the blow and take only the end of it. It was still painful, but not as much as it could have been.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I shot my body forward. The teacher easily blocked my strike, stepped in, and then pushed me aside, forcing me to change stance. Stepping over my own leg, I tried to somehow use the situation, but that's what he needed.

He grabbed my leg and then swept it with one move, driving me into the ground and twisting my arm, just like I did to that girl from Nara during our training sparring. After a few seconds, he let me go, allowing me to get up and dust myself off.

"What do you think, Ichigo-sensei?" I asked, interested in his opinion of my skills.

"Not bad for an Academy student," he nodded. "I'd even say it's a decent level for a novice genin. Your tutor has indeed helped you become a fighter, but it's still not enough. The first thing I noticed is that you don't have even a small battle plan. You try to do everything by instinct. Leave that to taijutsu masters... You, like most other shinobi, need to assess your opponent, note their strengths and weaknesses, and then weave them into your battle plan. Second... you rely too much on direct strikes and punches. This could cost you your life if you face someone even moderately skilled in genjutsu. And third, you lack sharpness. We'll work on all of that."

"Alright, Ichigo-sensei," I nodded.

The Academy teacher truly dedicated himself to improving my taijutsu, because every day for a whole hour, we sparred, quickly analyzed the mistakes I made, studied new combinations or katas, and then sparred again, where I had to apply the new moves and techniques.

This was beneficial for me because I felt my strength and skills growing. With this, I consistently took second place in sparring, losing only to Neji Hyuga, who simply overwhelmed me with his skills. But I think my time will come. I believe I can catch up to him and surpass him.

After two weeks, I was already confidently transforming into the sensei. It turned out quite well because I even managed to fool one of the Academy teachers. It was the junior class teacher, Umino Iruka.

"Ichiho," he said in surprise when he saw me approaching his office. "I didn't expect you to be interested in my students."

"Hehe," I chuckled, trying to imitate the sensei. "Iruka, how are you doing?"

As soon as I said that, I immediately wanted to smack myself on the head, hard enough to make it spin. The question itself wasn't bad... but it was completely stupid and didn't fit Ichigo-sensei's style at all.

Iruka-sensei instantly realized something was off. He simply took and lightly patted me on the shoulder. The technique held for another second, but then it dissolved in smoke. Umino held onto me, waiting for the smoke to clear.

"Not a bad Transformation Technique, student," he praised. "Worthy of a graduate, I'd say. But you need to study the target of your transformation better."

"Sorry, sensei," I replied, looking away to show my shame. In reality, I didn't feel ashamed at all; on the contrary, I was happy.

"It's alright," he chuckled and released me. "I won't punish you. You're free to go."

"Thank you," I said and quickly left.

I had no desire to test another teacher's patience. Especially Iruka-sensei's. The Shinobi Academy isn't just a big building where classes don't intersect. They do intersect, albeit not very often. Children might not be very attentive, but I immediately noticed that Iruka's class had many children from influential families in Konoha.

Living in the village for some time, it was impossible not to learn some information about the relationships between clans and other important figures. I'm sure ninety-nine percent of the information is unknown to me, but even that one percent already means a lot. Overall, Iruka is likely someone important or completely and uncompromisingly loyal to Konoha. But okay, I won't dwell on that too much.

Setting myself one final test, I checked the Illusionary Clone Technique, the Substitution Technique, and the Transformation Technique. Only by being personally satisfied with the results could I go to the teacher and demonstrate my skills. He should acknowledge them after the demonstration.

I planned to demonstrate them after an hour of sparring.

"Ichigo-sensei," I addressed him when he once again floored me. "I would like to demonstrate the Academy techniques to you."

"Do you think you're ready?" he asked.

"I think so."

"Then show me," he nodded and sat down on a small stump.

I formed the hand seals and first created the illusionary clones. This technique was particularly good for me, so I decided to start with the best. Making a few movements and having the clones mimic me, I watched intently for the teacher's reaction.

He... did nothing at all. He just nodded, confirming that I had passed this technique. Dispelling the clones, I prepared for the next technique. The next one was the Transformation Technique.

Forming the seals and releasing my chakra, I allowed it to transform me into an almost perfect copy of the sensei. I even made a few facial expressions he likes to make. I had to practice in front of a mirror, but I think the result was worth it. He picked up a small stone and threw it at me. The first stone was small and didn't affect me at all. It couldn't break my transformation. The second one was no longer a stone, but a rock... and it simply shattered my transformation, leaving only clouds of smoke behind.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad," he said. "Umino Iruka has already told me about your achievements, so I was prepared for this."

"Yes, sensei," I replied. Well, what else was there to say? "And now the last technique: the Substitution Technique."

I formed two seals and let the technique activate. Chakra covered my body, and then there was a jump that I couldn't quite grasp. One moment I was in one place, and the next second I was in another. The process was strange and unclear. Where I had stood before, there was smoke hiding a wooden log.

Ichigo approached the log and examined it closely. After that, he turned to me and began to applaud.

"A wonderful result for two weeks," he said. "Right now, you could be promoted to genin. But I think you want something else... don't you?"

"Yes, sensei, you promised to teach me some techniques," I reminded him of his promise.

"Right," he nodded. "And I will teach you something. Tomorrow after sparring, we'll start with that."

"Thank you, sensei," I nodded, barely restraining the urge to hug him. Actually, no... I didn't want to hug him, but I was grateful.

Returning home, I felt elated, as if a small sun was burning inside me, radiating warmth and joy. This emotional state was so infectious that, as soon as I stepped through the door, I immediately noticed how my mother's face transformed. Her smile became brighter, as if illuminated by soft sunlight, and there was a spark in her eyes that seemed to rewind time, making her momentarily younger.

"What makes you so happy?" my father asked.

"Sensei said he might give me extra training in ninjutsu," I replied. "My days of hard training have really paid off."

"You're not going to just relax now, are you?" he asked.

"Of course not," I replied, which brought me back down to earth a bit. Yes, I need to keep training because Academy techniques are simple and the weakest, barely helpful in facing strong shinobi. So, there's nothing surprising about that.

"By the way, many kids your age are already becoming chunin, and some even jonin," my father decided to encourage me a bit more. Of course, I understand that this comparison isn't very accurate. Most students my age are just graduating from the Academy, and true geniuses become full-fledged chunin and jonin.

"Why do you have to be like that," my mother waved her head. "Let him enjoy his success a little."

"Hmm," he grunted and simply waved his hand, returning to what he had been doing before.

I went back to my room, quickly tidied myself up, and collapsed onto the bed. I didn't feel like sleeping yet, but I did feel like training. To pass the time, I started moving a leaf across my body again, marveling at how much easier and simpler it had become. Over the two weeks of intensive technique training, a positive side effect was a sharp improvement in my chakra control.

Suddenly releasing chakra from a tenketsu in my hand, I felt the energy flow through the air around me. The leaf I held in my hand seemed to come to life from this energy: it soared into the air, spinning in an invisible vortex of chakra. I felt every vein and edge vibrate like a tiny helicopter, slowly descending back onto my body. Catching it with the chakra flow, I intensified my concentration and continued moving the leaf across my body. It smoothly glided from my shoulder to my forearm, like a dancer on the water's surface, leaving behind a feeling of a light, barely noticeable touch. This moment was another confirmation for me of how much my chakra control had improved.

The next day began just like all the previous ones: warm-up, light training to shake off the remnants of sleep, chakra control practice, breakfast, and heading to the Academy. My achievements in shinobi techniques weren't widely known. In fact, no one except the teacher knew or only suspected. The thing is, when I demonstrated my techniques to him, there was no one else in the Academy.

And, of course, I didn't show off when we were doing control exercises or practicing techniques. I don't see the point in putting myself in a better light compared to other students. I don't have a desire to glorify myself yet. I also didn't want to turn other students against me. I still have to work with many of them, whether in a team or a pair. Why ruin relationships?

The only skill where I still lagged behind most was throwing kunai and shuriken. I trained, but for some reason, my skills lagged behind many clan members. Maybe I'm missing something when I throw weapons. Something so small that it's not immediately noticeable.

Building friendly relationships with classmates was difficult because they didn't really understand what friendly relationships were. Honestly, I had problems with this too. But I still tried. There were fewer and fewer topics for conversation each week because the time most of them spent on entertainment, I spent on training. My results and success suggested that I would have a better chance of surviving during a war because I would simply have more refined skills, better chakra control, and even better technique execution. That's one side of it. On the other hand, if there's a war, strong shinobi will be hunted.

In general, this story is a double-edged sword that always ends with one thing—death.

After classes, I waited for Ichigo-sensei again. Our sparring went quite well because I remembered and absorbed everything he tried to convey to me.

"So, what can I say," Ichigo-sensei began when I got up after the last sparring, "your skills are growing. You just need to keep up the same pace and gain experience."

That was true. Although I still think my skills are not good enough. Neji will still beat me unless there's some qualitative leap in my abilities and strength. But nothing like that is on the horizon.

"Yesterday after your demonstration of the Academy techniques, I was thinking about what exactly I can teach you," Ichigo-sensei began. "Starting to teach you elemental techniques now would not be particularly effective because even the few dozen weeks of study left won't be enough to bring you to a relative mastery of even one. So I will offer you two techniques. One is the surface walking technique. The second is a genjutsu technique. I will teach you the Mist Genjutsu."

"Excellent," I said. "I'm ready to start right now."

"Don't rush," he said. A scroll appeared in his hand, which he handed to me. "This scroll contains the description of the surface walking technique. I advise you to study it first. When you can successfully demonstrate it to me, then we'll start the genjutsu training. Deal?"

"Understood, Ichigo-sensei," I replied and extended my hand. He looked at it strangely and did nothing. Right... there's no such method of sealing agreements in this world. Handshakes aren't particularly popular here. "Sorry."

"It's nothing," he chuckled. "See you tomorrow."

I returned home and immediately began studying the scroll. The surface walking technique teaches how to move vertically, on the ceiling, on the ground, and on the water's surface using chakra. I immediately understood the importance of this technique. The ability to move not only on the ground is an important addition to the skills and capabilities of any shinobi.