Learning and Cultivation Make Me Happy

After returning home, Higashino Makoto first went to the bathroom to wash up, then sat properly at the dining table, ready to eat.

The dishes were already set on the table. Though the flavors and styles were quite different from his previous life, he'd gotten used to it—no big deal, as long as it wasn't some moldy, lumpy mess.

Across the table sat his birth mother in this world, a pretty young woman with long brown hair.

Her name was Higashino Megumi. She was a commoner without a surname before marriage—just called Megumi—and took her husband's surname, Higashino, after they wed.

His father in this life was named Higashino Jiro, an ordinary-looking but tall and capable Konoha Chunin. He wasn't home right now, away on a village mission for some time.

Yes, Higashino Makoto wasn't an orphan in the Naruto World. Lucky him—both parents were alive, so he didn't get the Omnipotent Magic buff.

And his current looks took entirely after his mother. At barely four years old, he already shared a five or six out of ten resemblance with her, which made him believe that as long as he didn't grow up ugly, he'd probably turn out Handsome.

Of course, he might also end up a Little Feminine Boy.

Probably not, since he was sure no one in his family had blood from the Land of Water's Yuki Clan, and his Previous Life wasn't a Proctologist.

Higashino Megumi was only twenty when she gave birth, now twenty-three. Higashino Jiro was about the same age—they were even Classmates.

Very young. So young that Higashino Makoto's mental age was over a decade older than theirs.

But now, he had to call them Father and Mother.

He had no shame about that. He hadn't transmigrated into someone else's son—he'd been reborn directly into Higashino Megumi's womb. This couple were truly his biological Parents in this life, the ones who gave birth to him and raised him.

Calling them Mom and Dad was no problem. Li Sen from his Previous Life wasn't the type to be ungrateful or pretentious.

During the meal, Higashino Megumi asked curiously, "Makoto, I remember you've been training this early every day since you were three. Is it hard?"

"Not hard, Mother. Actually, I find it fun. I like the feeling of Becoming Stronger."

"Why do you want to Become Stronger so badly?"

"This is Konoha. I'm going to be a ninja someday. Do I need a reason to want to Become Stronger?"

"Don't you?"

"Do I? Well, I hope to become a Powerful Ninja and protect you and Father in the future." Facing his Birth Mother, Higashino Makoto didn't spout Political Correctness like he did outside—no talk of protecting the village or Comrades.

"Makoto, thank you." Higashino Megumi smiled, reached over, and ruffled his head, a bit pleased. "But you've got it backwards. It should be your Father and me protecting you.

More than that, I'm glad that when you talk big, you finally sound like a kid your age. You know, you've always been way too mature.

You're not even four yet. How do I put it? It makes me feel like I've failed as a mother. I remember you never even wet the bed.

When you were a baby, you'd just yell to remind me to take you to the bathroom. I never even got a chance to change your diaper. That's not what everyone said it would be like—I don't feel like being a mother was hard at all."

Faced with his mother's long string of complaints, Higashino Makoto felt a bit helpless and could only tease her: "Oh, so it seems my not wetting the bed really disappointed you, Mrs. Higashino."

"Bam!" Higashino Megumi punched him on the head. "Call me Mother! Where did you learn that from, you Bastard?"

"Okay, Mrs. Higashino. I learned it from Uncle Kuroda downstairs."

"Bam!" "I said call me Mother!"

"No problem, Mrs. Higashino."

"Bam!"

After breakfast, Higashino Megumi went to the bedroom to change clothes and hurriedly prepared to leave.

Before heading out, she instructed, "Makoto, Mother's going to work. Take care of yourself. If anything comes up, come find me at the hospital."

"Okay, I understand, Mother."

Like her husband Higashino Jiro, Higashino Megumi was also a ninja. In fact, her rank was half a step above his—she was a Special Jonin specializing in Medical Ninjutsu, currently working at Konoha Hospital.

Back in the day, Princess Tsunade of Konoha, grieving the deaths of her younger brother Nawaki and many Comrades, proposed that the village strengthen Medical Ninja training and assign them to ninja teams to reduce mortality in wars or missions.

Though that policy hadn't been implemented yet, and her boyfriend Dan Katō died soon after, Konoha officially put her proposal into practice after the war ended.

Higashino Megumi was a beneficiary of that policy.

Her combat talent as a ninja was limited, but she had a knack for Medical Ninjutsu.

Medical Ninjutsu required superb Chakra Control, and women had a natural advantage there.

After giving birth to Higashino Makoto, Higashino Megumi took over two years off—partly to care for her son, partly to study and improve herself.

Once Higashino Makoto said he could take care of himself, she went back to work at the hospital. Since Medical Ninja were relatively rare and hard to train, no matter how many they cultivated, there were never enough hands.

Luckily, Higashino had always been mature, letting the couple feel comfortable leaving him home alone, even saving them the cost of a babysitter.

Like any other day, Higashino Megumi went straight to work. After washing the dishes, Higashino Makoto picked up his books and studied diligently at home.

Children in the Shinobi World generally matured early, let alone a reborn soul like him with an adult mind.

Around age two, with his mother's help, Higashino Makoto had completed his basic literacy in the shinobi world's script, then started reading all kinds of books about it.

To live well in this world, you first had to understand it.

That mainly meant the geography and history of the Shinobi World.

Geography was easy. Whether in his home study or the Konoha library, there were plenty of unclassified materials introducing the various countries, big and small.

As for history, there was little recorded. It seemed few in the Shinobi World bothered to document it, especially the thousand-year Warring States period, which was almost a blank slate.

No telling how much effort a certain black-clad Filial Son had put into that.

Perhaps some records can be found in ancient clans like the Senju, Uchiha, or Hyuga, or among the noble families of the various countries' Daimyo.

But that was clearly not something he could go borrow and read right now.

Fortunately, Higashino Makoto's goal wasn't to become a geographer or historian. The shinobi world geography knowledge currently available to him in the open had already given him a basic understanding of the large and small nations in this world.

As for history, with the boost of his memories from his Previous Life, he probably had a clearer grasp of the thousand-year outline of the Shinobi World than ninety-nine percent of people in this world. That was enough.

He had completed all of the above learning tasks before he turned three.

After turning three, he began the Second Stage of training and study, mainly divided into three directions.

First, he started daily physical exercise, with his Parents designing the regimen based on their experience, while he monitored his own endurance and increased the workload at intervals.

Second, he studied the Basic Knowledge of Chakra and the human body, as well as practiced Hand Seals, to prepare for later Chakra refinement and jutsu training.

Third, he learned several natural science subjects, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, ciphers, and so on.

Yes, ninjas had to study these subjects. Just look at the content of the questions Naruto faced in his first Chunin Exam—though the knowledge involved in that test was only required for chunin and above.

A qualified ninja didn't have to be a polymath, but they at least needed a basic understanding of this knowledge. Naruto, that Hot Blooded Idiot who only knew how to fight, was an exception.

The Ninja Academy's curriculum also included those subjects, but it didn't require students to delve too deeply into them.

This was Konoha, the military stronghold of the Land of Fire. Its main mission was still to train combat personnel.

Combat Power was the primary measure of a ninja.

Students who were weeded out for lacking combat talent would then choose necessary subjects to specialize in based on their interests and aptitudes.

They could become the various types of talent Konoha needed—sealing, code development and decryption, basic scientific research, medical work, and so on—but they wouldn't become frontline combat personnel.

Although Tsunade insisted that Medical Ninjas also needed Combat Power, not everyone was like her, blessed with the bloodlines of the Senju and Uzumaki, broad in chest and terrifying in punching power, both healer and damage dealer.

Higashino Makoto's goal was the same. Like with geography and history, he only did preliminary study and had no intention of becoming an expert in these fields.

He learned these things only to serve his goal of becoming a more well-rounded ninja.

As of now, Higashino Makoto was about to turn four. His preliminary study of the above subjects was nearing its end, and the next stage's goal was to strive to become a ninja.

This was his study plan for the past two years. Every single day, without a moment of laziness, his self-discipline was terrifying.

The driving force behind that discipline came from his experience in his Previous Life. Once, he too had been a bright Seedling from childhood, always taking first place in every exam.

Unfortunately, a lazy and playful nature had ruined his future, ruined his life.

Since he had been given a chance to live again, he absolutely would not repeat the old path he had walked as Li Sen.

Now, Higashino Makoto only wanted to say: Learning makes me happy, and training is even more boundless joy.