The Allure of Ninjutsu

The first time he encountered an extraordinary power like Chakra, Kaede became so immersed in the joy of steadily accumulating strength that he couldn't pull himself away. He didn't come to until dinnertime.

He drew a bucket of water from the little well, washed his handsome face, which had grown a bit oily, then strolled back to his room for dinner.

He had no idea how much Chakra he'd refined that day, or whether it was more or less than other ninja. After all, he had no one to compare himself to, and he hadn't learned any Ninjutsu.

If he knew even one of the Three Basic Techniques, he could at least make a rough estimate of his Chakra reserves.

"Alas, a genius like me, and I still can't do anything."

During the four years he'd been growing up, there was no way his doting parents would teach him Ninjutsu or Taijutsu, so he could only figure things out for himself and practice in secret.

Ninjutsu was out of the question. Without Chakra, all his efforts would be wasted. As for Ninjutsu, the only thing he'd managed to learn so far was all twelve Hand Seals.

Only Taijutsu, a skill that was easy to learn but hard to master, could be practiced with the little knowledge he had.

Even then, he'd made little progress.

Powerful Taijutsu users all had a few things in common: they needed not only a strong physique, but also a talent for Chakra and relentless dedication to achieve anything.

Take Might Guy, who ran laps around the village and the Ninja Academy, sometimes doing thousands of frog jumps or running laps. Without an exceptionally strong body and a decent Chakra constitution to support him, there was no way he could do it.

Guy's Chakra reserves were low, but that was only compared to ninja who specialized in Ninjutsu. For Taijutsu users, Chakra was mainly useful for protecting the body.

Of course, all of that was just the baseless speculation of someone who couldn't stick with it.

"Taijutsu really isn't something just anyone can practice."

With his little body, even without Chakra, running ten laps around the yard left him seeing stars and struggling to breathe.

"Looks like I can only focus on Ninjutsu. If I want to achieve anything with Taijutsu, well... that's practically inhuman."

He still remembered Rock Lee's "declaration of a hard-working genius." It had gotten his blood pumping like crazy, hadn't it? But by the end, it turned out... he'd become just another face in the crowd!

The pinnacle of Taijutsu was probably Gai, furiously opening the Eight Gates and releasing red steam before unleashing the mightiest technique, Night Guy. He kicked his way to the finale, missing by a billion miles, but paid for it with his life—the last blaze of his youth.

That was the pinnacle of Taijutsu, and no more.

So...

Eyes were still much better!

"Kaede, what are you dawdling for? Come eat."

"Coming."

He could tell from his mother's tone that something was off. It sounded like she was suppressing her anger.

"Oho..."

"My dear father, have you already been given a talking-to?"

A little devil with horns in his heart was grinning wickedly.

Pretending nothing was wrong, Kaede sat formally at the low wooden table and began eating without looking around. Only once did he happen to glance at his father at the head of the table.

"Ah... What's that? My handsome father, why is there a red handprint on your face? Heh heh..."

The wicked laughter rose inside him again.

Mingye noticed Kaede sneaking a glance at his face and glared at him in mock anger.

Kaede's mouth twitched. He almost laughed out loud.

No one said a word during the meal, yet the family was filled with joy.

Until, at last—

"Good boy. Since you've chosen to become a ninja, Mom won't stop you anymore. But you have to promise me one thing. If you're going to become a ninja, then you have to become a powerful one, like the former clan leader and the First. Then Mom can stop worrying."

Xiang stroked Kaede's tender cheek, her eyes red and glistening with tears. Her husband was a ninja. Every time he went on a mission or to the battlefield, she worried he wouldn't come back—or that he'd return as a corpse, or that she'd hear he'd been killed.

Now her son was about to follow in his father's footsteps. As a mother who loved her child deeply, it felt as if her heart were being stabbed again and again by Senbon.

"Mother, Kaede won't let you down."

He bowed solemnly before his mother, his little face full of earnestness. He understood why she wanted him to take Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju as his models. In her eyes, powerful ninja like them were at least less likely to lose their lives on the battlefield.

"Pfft—"

Xiang burst out laughing, cheered up by her son's comical expression.

"Hmph! You two are always ganging up on me and tricking me. Keep this up, and there'll be no dinner tomorrow. No! You won't get dinner ever again!"

"Xiang, there won't be a next time. I promise."

Mingye hurriedly tried to set things right.

Kaede watched his parents flirt with each other in silence. This was the warm, loving family he'd always had.

"God of Shinobi, huh? That doesn't seem like such an impossible goal. If I'm going to do it, I'll become the true god of the Shinobi World."

For once, he had a goal.

When you had a cheat-like life, there was no need to explain.

In his view, only by becoming a true Deity could he put an end to the endless wars in the ninja world and bring peace to the Shinobi World. Then he'd never have to worry about his parents, family, friends, or even his future lover and children getting caught up in the raging wars and dying violent deaths.

The next morning, Mingye picked Kaede up while he was still sleeping groggily.

"Starting today, you must hold yourself to the rules of the ninja and make becoming a powerful ninja your lifelong goal. Until you enter the Ninja Academy at six, set your sights on becoming a Genin and work hard, my son.

Your wise and mighty father will be here to spur you on."

Kaede opened his eyes and stared at his father, who was brimming with enthusiasm. He scratched his head and picked his nose. Looking down, he saw he wasn't wearing shoes and his feet were cold. He looked up and, thankfully, saw that his pants were still on.

"Smack!"

"Thud~"

Mingye, his face dark, slapped Kaede onto the wooden floor by the door.

"Get fired up! Show some enthusiasm!"

"Come on, don't make such a fuss. Mom will get on your case again in a minute."

Kaede stretched and yawned, finally waking up.

"Um, Dad, I've got a question! How do you know if you have a lot of Chakra or not?"

Seeing Kaede ask a question about being a ninja, Mingye finally let him off the hook and prepared to teach him.

Kaede's lazy disposition was still their fault for spoiling him from childhood.

"Chakra reserves aren't divided into clearly defined levels. Usually, they're judged by strength. For example, Jonin generally surpass Genin in both strength and Chakra reserves.

"A ninja's Chakra reserves aren't fixed. They're necessarily connected to your body and soul, and the two of them determine your upper limit.

"Generally speaking, once a ninja starts refining Chakra, their reserves increase with each refinement. They reach their maximum at thirty, and after that, their Chakra reserves stop growing.

"In fact, many ninja reach their limit before turning thirty. Refining Chakra no longer makes a noticeable difference, so they put more of their effort into studying Ninjutsu."

Mingye patiently explained the basics of being a ninja to Kaede. This was the kind of knowledge taught at the Ninja Academy.

"But then I still can't tell whether my Chakra reserves are high or low right now."

He understood everything his father said, but... it still didn't solve the problem he was trying to figure out: how much Chakra he had.

"To find out how much Chakra you have, you can count how many times you can use a Ninjutsu. Standard techniques all consume the same amount of Chakra. Take Fire Style: Fireball, for example. An ordinary Genin can cast it about ten times before running out of Chakra."

"But I don't exactly look like I can use Fire Style: Fireball right now, do I?"

Didn't his father know he had a Lightning nature? Using Fire Style under those circumstances would be much less effective, and it would consume more Chakra too. More importantly, he didn't know how to use it...

"That's why I prepared Lightning Release: Ground Run for you. Just like Fire Style: Fireball, it can be used to test your Chakra reserves."

"Poof!"

A cloud of white smoke appeared, then dissipated.

Mingye took a scroll about the length of his hand out of a sealing scroll and tossed it to Kaede.

"This is a scroll for Lightning Release: Ground Run. Take a look at it yourself first, and ask me if there's anything you don't understand."