Specialized Guidance 2

Aside from him and the Third Elder, there probably would not be a third person who knew about this.

"Let this child become a genius in everyone else's eyes. Geniuses have never been scarce in the ninja world!"

"While I cannot say for certain whether this child will one day stand at the pinnacle of the ninja world, if it is merely a matter of sheltering the sky above the Uchiha Clan, he can absolutely do it!"

"Of that, I am utterly convinced!"

Such a grave tone, such a certain assessment—and he had unwavering faith in a child who was only five? At the time, Uchiha Izumi had thought the Third Elder he respected most had gone mad!

It was not until he saw Uchiha Katsuo still diligently training his body in the darkness, illuminated only by the soft glow of the campfire, that he felt this boy truly was an unusual outlier!

"Izumi-sensei, you can just call me Katsuo from now on..."

Katsuo scratched his head and smiled. Adding an honorific after his name always sounded incredibly awkward to him.

Uchiha Izumi was clearly stunned for a moment, but then nodded. Though he found Katsuo's words strange, he did not ask further.

"I saw you doing push-ups and similar exercises earlier. Are you training your body?"

Katsuo nodded.

"Yeah. Since I do not know any taijutsu, I can only do these ordinary exercises if I want to improve my physique... Izumi-sensei, do you know any good training methods? The kind with good results that work quickly!"

"A training method with good results that works quickly?"

Uchiha Izumi shook his head.

"I have no such method. The path of training must be taken step by step. You cannot dream of reaching the heavens in a single leap. Otherwise, you will destroy your foundation, leaving behind only lingering injuries and hidden damage. In the future, you will lack the strength to continue, and regret it beyond measure!"

After this stern and earnest warning, Uchiha Izumi asked curiously,

"How much time do you train every day?"

He first needed to understand Katsuo's training routine.

After thinking for a moment, Katsuo answered,

"Seven hours for school, four hours for cooking and other trivial matters, and five hours for sleep. That leaves only a mere eight hours for training!"

"Only eight hours..."

Uchiha Izumi was utterly shocked. What was this kid even thinking? He was only five! He should at least leave some time to play house or something...

By Katsuo's calculations, excluding eating, sleeping, and missions, Uchiha Izumi himself had less than an hour left each day to train...

He could not help asking,

"You work this hard... for what exactly? You are only... five!"

Uchiha Izumi did not understand why Katsuo was pushing himself so desperately, what he was pursuing, or what reason had driven him to work so crazily hard.

He did not believe a five-year-old child could train this desperately without any reason at all!

Was it because he was mature and sensible? Then was Uchiha Izumi, in his twenties, not mature enough? Yet he still only trained an hour a day... and often, after becoming overly exhausted from missions, he had no intention of training at all!

"..."

Katsuo fell silent.

He shifted his gaze away from Uchiha Izumi, raised his head to look at the starry sky, and murmured softly,

"What I want to do is very difficult. Even if I obtain the ultimate power of this world, I may not necessarily be able to accomplish it..."

"But I will do it, and I must do it! No matter how difficult it is!"

Katsuo looked at Uchiha Izumi again.

"Izumi-sensei, I need your help!"

Uchiha Izumi still had many questions he wanted to ask. For example, what exactly was it that Katsuo wanted to do? And what was this ultimate power he spoke of?

But when all those questions reached his lips, they became four words instead.

"My pleasure!"

Suppressing his curiosity, Uchiha Izumi asked seriously,

"You train and exercise for so long every day, while sleeping so little. When you wake up each day, do you feel exhausted and stiff all over?"

Though Uchiha Izumi phrased it as a question, his tone was certain. He had been through it himself and knew that training as desperately as Katsuo did came with serious drawbacks and risks!

However, Katsuo's answer left him embarrassed...

"No. When I wake up every day, I do not have the symptoms Izumi-sensei mentioned. I actually feel pretty good. I am just hungry... Every morning when I wake up, I feel especially hungry!"

"Hungry? You are sure that little sleep is enough to support such intense daily exertion? And you do not feel tired?"

Uchiha Izumi thought Katsuo was putting up a brave front. How could such a lifestyle possibly not be exhausting? It would easily accumulate hidden injuries and lasting damage. Fatigue could pile up, gradually forming terrible chronic ailments over time and affecting his future strength and achievements!

Katsuo was clearly taken aback, then smiled as he explained,

"I understand what you mean, Izumi-sensei, but I truly do not feel tired. I divide my daily training into three periods: morning training after waking up, training during the lunch break, and exercise after dinner at night. Eight hours across three periods, rather than all at once, so I do not feel particularly tired..."

"Then you use class time to rest and sleep? That would be sacrificing the greater for the lesser, not worth the loss. Much of the knowledge and experience taught at the Ninja Academy is extremely valuable, especially in your class. You need to take it seriously..."

Uchiha Izumi said sternly, but Katsuo's next words once again shattered his understanding.

"How could I possibly sleep during class..."

"The things taught at school are indeed very important, but the amount of knowledge taught every day is too limited, and there is far too much filler..."

"Filler? What filler?" Uchiha Izumi asked in confusion.

"..."

"I mean there is too much nonsense. Entire classes on companions and harmonious partnership education, entire classes on the Will of Fire, entire classes on teacher-student interaction, entire classes on the principles of being a person..."

Katsuo frowned as he complained. The Ninja Academy's education was practically brainwashing. More than ninety percent of every day's lessons were about being loyal to Konoha and emotional bonds, while the truly useful material was pitifully scarce!

For the less than ten percent of useful material, Katsuo could only patiently keep listening...

"Uh..."

"This is the filler you meant?"

After understanding what Katsuo meant, Uchiha Izumi did not rebuke him for disagreeing with that education. Instead, he burst out laughing and praised Katsuo for being different. The word "filler" was quite fitting!

Compared to the ninja knowledge and experience taught at school, all that emotional brainwashing truly was nothing more than useless "filler education" to an unusual child with mature thoughts like Katsuo!

But as he laughed, Uchiha Izumi suddenly froze. He realized... he had gone off-topic again!

"Damn it, is that what I meant? I wanted to ask you this: even if your physical training is not all crammed together, and your body can indeed handle it, what about your mind?"

"With only five hours of sleep, how can you possibly remain in such good mental condition? Enough for class and study, enough for training, enough to support nineteen hours of exertion a day? Especially at your age, how is that possible?"

Uchiha Izumi blurted out all his doubts in one breath. His understanding of the world for over twenty years would not allow itself to be shattered so easily.

"Is it impossible?"

Katsuo asked with a smile.

Uchiha Izumi had just been about to shout, "Absolutely impossible," when the Third Elder's introduction of Katsuo surfaced in his mind.

A five-year-old child with Double Tomoe, who can use ninjutsu and genjutsu...

"Double Tomoe, genjutsu..."

Uchiha Izumi murmured.

The Sharingan represented Yin Release, the manifestation of spiritual power!

Genjutsu, moreover, was a spiritual attack launched through Chakra!

All the signs showed that Katsuo truly possessed spiritual power far beyond that of children his age...

"All right, I understand!"

Uchiha Izumi took a deep breath, abandoning his plan to remind Katsuo to balance work and rest.

"I will teach you for an hour every day. You can choose a fixed time."

Katsuo thought for a moment. "At the same time we met today."

Uchiha Izumi nodded.

"For the near future, I will guide you in how to train your body. Your current physical condition is far too poor."

Katsuo nodded at this. He and Uchiha Izumi were of the same mind.

Uchiha Izumi was secretly surprised. Katsuo was extraordinarily easy to get along with. He had no strange ideas, nor did he possess the childish immaturity and arrogance of other children.

If it had been another child his age receiving Uchiha Izumi's guidance, he was certain most brats would have clamored to learn powerful ninjutsu. At the very least, they would have wanted to learn so-called "taijutsu."

They would never be like Katsuo, patiently tempering their foundation and understanding what truly mattered—that the body was the foundation!

"Taijutsu, taijutsu—the body is the foundation. Only with a good body can you perform techniques!"

"Calling it taijutsu sounds nice, but it is really just a combination of physical strength, speed, and reaction ability, along with a few special techniques. That is the essence of taijutsu!"

As soon as Uchiha Izumi began teaching, he directly explained the key point of taijutsu. He also wanted Katsuo to understand through this that a strong body was the essence, and that he should not become fixated on techniques.

Like a sponge, Katsuo rapidly absorbed this knowledge. He listened with rapt attention, and his meticulous seriousness made Uchiha Izumi quietly praise him.

Their pleasant exchange came to an end. Uchiha Izumi had stayed far longer than an hour that night. Katsuo lay in his tent with his eyes open, savoring the knowledge Uchiha Izumi had imparted. A satisfied smile appeared on his lips.

The road ahead finally had a direction!