A Small Dream

"Ninjas are symbols of strength, but they also bear responsibility. While we possess strength, we must protect the people who matter to us."

With her arms folded across her chest, Tsunade instilled her understanding of ninjas into Uchiha Chen.

"A ninja without conviction cannot control their own strength, nor can they grow into someone capable of standing on their own."

"So, Chen, what is your wish? As your teacher, I need to know that."

Tsunade pushed up the nonexistent glasses on her face as she asked.

By now, she was completely immersed in the role of a teacher.

Huh? Role-playing!

As expected of Princess Tsunade. She was really good at role-playing.

Of course, asking about one's dreams had always been a traditional part of Konoha Village.

The main purpose of this segment was to understand these future ninjas better, so children with problems could be properly guided in time.

Of course, the final result usually ended up being a slap in the face.

Other than the protagonist, it seemed that few people who spoke of their dreams ever achieved them.

Tsunade was also curious about Uchiha Chen's dream. After all, the thought process of a genius was always somewhat different from everyone else's.

More importantly, as a child of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Chen's personality was rather out of place compared to most of the clan.

Uchiha Chen's father had been the Third Hokage Old Man's teammate and Second Grandfather's disciple.

There was that connection between them.

Tsunade wanted to guide this child of the Uchiha Clan properly.

"A dream?" Uchiha Chen raised his head at a forty-five-degree angle, revealing a melancholy expression. He watched the white clouds drift through the sky as the breeze brushed against his handsome Windbreaker, making his black hair curl slightly. Just as he was about to strike a dashing pose—

The biggest problem with his new teacher was probably her lack of patience.

So Tsunade reached out, messed up Uchiha Chen's hair, and urged him impatiently.

"Just say it already! Stop dragging it out. You're even more girly than Orochimaru."

Orochimaru: "??? That's called being composed, okay!"

Speaking of dreams, Uchiha Chen could not help feeling a little emotional. As a seasoned veteran who had transmigrated here many years ago, he had already integrated into life here. Yet Uchiha Chen still retained clear traces of his past.

Maybe he was occasionally a little out of sync, a little unreliable, and liked making harmless jokes, but he truly cherished the friends around him.

After thinking for a moment, Uchiha Chen said, "I want to casually become a ninja someday and casually earn some money. Then I'll marry a woman who's neither pretty nor ugly and have two children. The first will be a girl, and the second will be a boy."

"Once my eldest daughter gets married and my son can stand on his own, I'll retire from being a ninja. After that, I'll live a leisurely, secluded life playing Shogi or Go every day, then die of old age before my wife does. That's the kind of life I want."

Uchiha Chen repeated Shikamaru's famous ideal. He knew such a life was impossible.

There were far too many dangers in the future.

Thump. Tsunade punched Uchiha Chen on the head.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were some washed-up middle-aged man writing a novel. You're even better at putting on airs than Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya: "??? That's called being an artistic young man!"

"Can't you have some ambition of your own? Who are you trying to fool?"

In Tsunade's eyes, Uchiha Chen was clearly just brushing her off.

"Tch, what a shallow woman. When you reach my mental age, you'll understand how extravagant those things are." Uchiha Chen spoke disdainfully.

"Fine. Then have you never considered becoming Hokage?" Tsunade asked.

"Huh? Isn't that Nawaki's life goal? If I become Hokage, where would Nawaki get his chance? Wouldn't that leave him without a goal in life?"

"Uh... you really do think about your friends." Tsunade curled her lips.

Of course. Did she think the dream of becoming Hokage was that easy to achieve?

As the First Hokage's grandson, Nawaki bragged the loudest, so he died at twelve. Obito was also aiming to become Hokage—just look at how miserable his life became. He was gone before long. Minato was the protagonist's father, so his fate was a little tougher. He became Hokage, then died not long afterward.

So the position of Hokage was probably cursed.

Uchiha Madara? Could it have been him? After all, as the first young man to chase the dream of becoming Hokage, his position had been taken by the First Hokage and Second Hokage. One could imagine just how deep his resentment was.

The Third Hokage had long known that the position was no good, so he had always kept his good buddy Danzo in mind and refused to let Danzo become Hokage.

That was why Danzo had lived safely into his sixties or seventies. But Danzo refused to listen. Once he became Hokage, he immediately met a violent death in the streets.

After their heart-to-heart chat and idle banter, Tsunade began formally teaching Uchiha Chen.

"This is the Senju Clan's Training Ground. Usually, no one else comes here. For the next week, you'll be living here."

"Of course, whether it's fresh water or food, you'll need to earn it through your performance. If I'm not satisfied, then sorry, I'll cut off your supplies."

"The truly important thing for a ninja—the most important thing, of course—is strength. Strength is what gives us the power to survive. Therefore, for a ninja, it is very important to accurately understand their own strength."

Tsunade paused before continuing to Uchiha Chen, "During this training, I won't teach you much Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, or Taijutsu. But what I will give you is the most basic thing: precision in Chakra control."

"You should have felt it too. When you fought my Shadow Clone, you struggled greatly, even though you were clearly quite good at Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Shuriken, and Genjutsu."

"That is because your Chakra control precision is still not good enough. A ninja must precisely control every bit of their Chakra.

Don't think you can afford not to care just because you have a large amount of Chakra. There will always be someone with more Chakra than you."

"So when that happens, what ninjas compete in is their ability to control their Chakra. The more precise your Chakra control is, the less Chakra you consume when using Ninjutsu of the same power."

"And your mastery of a Ninjutsu is also related to Chakra control.

Whether it's the advanced techniques of Chakra nature transformation or Chakra shape transformation in the future, none of them can be separated from Chakra control."

"I know you have talent in Genjutsu. I'm not a Genjutsu ninja, but I also know that Genjutsu places extremely high demands on Chakra control."

"If your Chakra control precision is strong, then the power of your Genjutsu will be greatly enhanced, and your margin for error will be considerably larger."

"Most importantly, if your Chakra control is strong enough, then no matter what level of ninja your opponent is, it will be difficult for them to detect traces of Genjutsu."

Uchiha Chen nodded. In his view, Chakra control was indeed extremely important.

The amount of Chakra one had was greatly related to one's physique. Clans like the Uzumaki Clan and Senju Clan were born with massive Chakra reserves.

But Chakra control was different. It could be improved through constant practice.

Tsunade was quite qualified as a teacher, aside from her impatience, bad temper, gambling habit, laziness, and her tendency to frighten Uchiha Chen for no reason. In every other respect, Tsunade was quite good.

Uchiha Chen felt comfortable around Tsunade. He did not sense the later air of decadence she had in the manga.

In the original story, Tsunade, one of the Konoha Sannin, gradually became negative toward life only after experiencing Nawaki and Dan's deaths, followed by so much slaughter.

Then, after developing hemophobia, she left the village she had lived in for decades with Shizune, alone.

If there had still been something in the village worth staying for, Tsunade would never have left no matter what.

The current Tsunade also enjoyed gambling, but it was merely an interest.

The future Tsunade, however, treated it as a way to escape reality.

"Chen, what are you thinking about?" Tsunade's voice pulled Uchiha Chen back to his senses.

"Nothing." Uchiha Chen shook his head. "I was just wondering what kind of dream you have, Teacher."

"Me..." Tsunade's eyes were filled with unmistakable nostalgia, even carrying a faint smile. Yet after a long while, she still shook her head.

"Just a very small dream."