Clan Training (Please Bookmark)

After Uchiha Kiyoshi got up today, completed his daily exercise, and finished breakfast, he did not read.

Instead, after making some preparations, he headed to the training grounds behind the Uchiha Clan compound.

There were only four months left until the Ninja Academy opened. Today was the day the Uchiha Clan gave six-year-old children preliminary training.

As a major clan, the Uchiha Clan began its preliminary training one or even two months earlier than the other ninja clans.

It was not that the other ninja clans did not want to start early. Rather, early training was not merely meant to let the clan's younger generation extract Chakra ahead of time; more importantly, it was meant to build a solid foundation for them.

How did they build that foundation? By spending money! Massive amounts of training every day, paired with a medicinal bath once a day—the expenses were no small sum.

Take the daily medicinal bath, for example. Although it could not compare to the baths used by children who had begun training one or two years earlier, a single portion still cost five thousand ryo! And the clan supplied all of it for free!

Uchiha Kiyoshi received subsidies from both the village and the clan, yet he only got eight thousand ryo a month! Even though he cooked most of his meals at home, with additional expenses included, he still spent at least three thousand ryo every month!

Over four years, Uchiha Kiyoshi had only saved two hundred thousand ryo.

The clan's training would continue until one month before the Ninja Academy opened—three months in total, or ninety days. At five thousand ryo per daily medicinal bath, that came to four hundred and fifty thousand ryo!

That was more than twice what Uchiha Kiyoshi had saved over four years!

Although a large portion of the medicinal ingredients was gathered by the clan itself, that was still money! It would be worth money if sold! There might be some discounts from buying the other ingredients in bulk, but the savings would not be all that great.

And that was only the cost of medicinal baths for each child. There were all kinds of other expenses as well.

Every year, there were more than a dozen children of the right age. All told, the clan's training program cost over twenty million ryo!

Smaller ninja clans simply could not afford to spend that much money just to start training a few months earlier.

Uchiha Kiyoshi marveled at the clan's generosity as he walked toward his destination.

Before long, Uchiha Kiyoshi spotted the gathering place from afar. Many children his age were already waiting there.

There was still half an hour before the clan's appointed time, so Uchiha Kiyoshi was in no hurry and strolled over at a leisurely pace.

Though he looked so lazy and relaxed now, this was one of the rare times he had been able to unwind over the past few years. Naturally, he intended to enjoy it.

The other children were playing together. Some did invite Uchiha Kiyoshi over when they saw him arrive, but he turned them down.

Uchiha Kiyoshi really had no way to play with a bunch of little brats. Wasn't that childish?

Nor was he worried that anyone would find his behavior suspicious. There were plenty of precocious children in the Ninja World. Ever since his parents died four years ago, Uchiha Kiyoshi had always acted mature for his age, and no one had suspected anything.

Just before the appointed time, two ninjas wearing clothes emblazoned with the Uchiha Clan crest, resembling ping-pong paddles, and Konoha Headbands arrived before Uchiha Kiyoshi and the others.

One of the taller ninjas had them line up, counted their numbers, and then began his instruction.

He first introduced himself.

"Hello, I am the ninja assigned by the clan to guide you this time. My name is Uchiha Ryu, a Jonin. I will be teaching you Chakra cultivation and Kunai throwing for the next three months. The one beside me is Uchiha Shin, a Special Jonin. Like me, he will be responsible for guiding you, though he will focus more on taijutsu instruction."

As he spoke, Uchiha Ryu pointed to the shorter ninja beside him.

Uchiha Shin also introduced the area he would be responsible for to the little brats before him.

"All right, little brats. We do not need any troublesome self-introductions. Let's get straight into today's main lesson."

Since they were all from the same clan, Uchiha Ryu could recognize them anyway, so he did not ask them to introduce themselves. He was not interested in that sort of thing.

"All right, the first thing we will learn today is Chakra extraction."

After calming the excited group of little brats below, Uchiha Ryu continued.

"As ninjas, the most important thing is Chakra. The amount of Chakra directly determines how many Ninjutsu a ninja can use, and it also affects the power of Ninjutsu. So from now on, you must all train your Chakra diligently and increase your Chakra reserves as much as possible."

Seeing the confused looks on the children's faces, Uchiha Ryu patiently explained.

"...All right, after hearing this much, you should understand the importance of Chakra, yes? Next, I will explain the method of extracting Chakra."

Under the burning gazes of the children, Uchiha Ryu did not waste time and slowly explained the key points of Chakra extraction.

"Chakra is a form of energy created through the fusion of Physical Energy and Spiritual Energy. It is indispensable for ninjas using Ninjutsu.

When extracting Chakra, you must control the ratio between Physical Energy and Spiritual Energy. This ratio is generally different for each person. Only by finding the proper ratio can you fuse them into Chakra.

Next, I will explain how to sense Physical Energy and Spiritual Energy..."

Perhaps seeing that the children below were still rather confused, Uchiha Ryu let them ask questions as he explained and answered them one by one. In this way, the children gradually gained a basic understanding of the Physical Energy and Spiritual Energy Uchiha Ryu had discussed, as well as how to sense them.

Seeing that they had finally understood, Uchiha Ryu let out a sigh of relief. Honestly, this truly tested a ninja's fundamentals. It was like teaching math to a child—without a certain level of skill, it was impossible to teach properly. An ordinary ninja might not necessarily have done better than Uchiha Ryu.

Uchiha Ryu nodded in satisfaction.

"Very good. It seems you all understand the basics of Physical Energy and Spiritual Energy. Next, I will explain how to fuse Chakra."

"Of course, although extracting Chakra seems difficult, once you successfully fuse it for the first time, your body will remember that ratio. After that, extracting Chakra will not require so much effort."

After another long explanation, Uchiha Ryu finally relaxed when the children nodded.

"Finally finished. The rest should not be so difficult to explain."

After reassuring himself inwardly, Uchiha Ryu turned his gaze toward Uchiha Shin beside him.

"We will officially begin learning Kunai throwing tomorrow. Next, you will train in taijutsu. I'll leave that to Uchiha Shin."

After Uchiha Ryu finished speaking, some of the children immediately deflated at the mention of taijutsu training. Of course, others were full of energy and confidence.

Seeing this, Uchiha Shin did not indulge the discouraged children. He directly intimidated them with force and made them begin taijutsu training.

"Taijutsu refers to combat techniques that involve using Chakra to strengthen the body before fighting, or simply using a powerful body to fight.

There are no shortcuts in taijutsu training. It requires diligent practice day after day.

The most important things in taijutsu are physical fitness and combat experience.

For the next three months, you will undergo a great deal of physical training every day, as well as a great deal of sparring. Of course, the clan will provide medicinal baths to ensure your bodies do not suffer lasting damage.

All right, for today's first lesson, you will begin with physical training.

Each of you will run twenty laps around the training grounds. As for those who fail to finish... heh heh, I am sure you will not want to experience the punishment."

How could a group of six-year-olds withstand Uchiha Shin's intimidation? They all resolved to complete the task no matter what.

Besides, the Uchiha Clan's training grounds were smaller than Konoha's training grounds. One lap was five kilometers, and twenty laps were only one hundred kilometers. Not that hard to finish... right? Heh heh... not hard, right...

Some more attentive children carefully did the math. Sure enough, they got quite a shock once they calculated it. One hundred kilometers? Was he joking?

Unfortunately, once Uchiha Shin announced the start, they had no choice but to run no matter how unwilling they were.

Throughout the process, Uchiha Kiyoshi kept a low profile. He had actually understood Uchiha Ryu's instructions after hearing them once, but he still listened carefully to the rest of Uchiha Ryu's explanations. Explanations from different angles could always deepen his understanding.

As for the task Uchiha Shin had given them, Uchiha Kiyoshi was not particularly worried.

After training continuously for four years, Uchiha Kiyoshi's physical fitness could be said to be the best among everyone present. He was still capable of running one hundred kilometers in a day.

Instead, Uchiha Kiyoshi was rather pleased. Since Uchiha Shin dared assign a one-hundred-kilometer task to a group of six-year-olds who had barely trained, or trained very little, that meant the medicinal baths provided by the Uchiha Clan were surely even more effective than he had imagined.

At Uchiha Shin's command, several energetic children were the first to dash out. Compared with the others, they were clearly in a league of their own. The remaining children also desperately chased after those in front.

Uchiha Kiyoshi did not blindly accelerate. Instead, he tried to maintain a steady pace, keeping his speed at around seventy to eighty percent of his maximum.

Even so, Uchiha Kiyoshi did not fall behind and remained in roughly the same group as the few children desperately chasing from behind.

Uchiha Kiyoshi's choice was indeed correct. The other children had only run two or three laps before they had no choice but to slow down, panting heavily. Uchiha Kiyoshi, on the other hand, was only somewhat tired. His speed remained unaffected, and his breathing was still relatively steady.

Seeing this, Uchiha Shin secretly praised him. He knows to maintain a steady pace from the very beginning. A smart child.

As time passed and the number of laps increased, Uchiha Kiyoshi gradually began to pant, sweat pouring down his entire body. Still, he gritted his teeth and continued running at the same pace.

Uchiha Kiyoshi knew that to improve his physical fitness, he had to break through his limits again and again. But that would inevitably damage his body. Under normal circumstances, before mastering Medical Ninjutsu, he could not afford the high medical expenses.

So this special training was an opportunity for him. With the medicinal baths supplied by the clan, Uchiha Kiyoshi intended to train his body properly over these three months.

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