Water Walking Training

The Third Hokage listened in silence as a thin wisp of smoke curled from his pipe.

His gaze was deep and thoughtful. After a moment, he nodded.

"Mm, I understand. You've worked hard. You may go."

The Anbu Ninja vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.

The office fell quiet again, with only the faint crackle of tobacco burning in the pipe.

The Third Hokage slowly exhaled a smoke ring, his thoughts churning.

"Uchiha Amada... Another genius?"

He murmured under his breath, his tone carrying a mixture of emotion and reflection.

As Hokage, he had seen too many geniuses rise and fall.

Geniuses from the Uchiha Clan were especially numerous.

Amada's performance had clearly gone beyond the level of an ordinary Genin.

The Third Hokage assessed him silently.

"Perhaps keeping him in Kushina's squad is a waste of his talents."

"But there's no need to rush into making changes just yet."

He murmured to himself.

"Let him train with Kushina's team a while longer. That might be for the best. A true genius needs more than strength; he also needs to mature as a person."

In the days that followed, Amada's life returned to normal.

Together with Asuma and Kurenai, he continued taking on those tedious D-rank missions—

pulling weeds, picking up trash, finding lost pets, and even babysitting for villagers.

Though the missions were utterly unchallenging, Amada didn't complain much.

On the contrary, he was happy to take it easy, since that gave him more time to focus on training.

Kushina repeatedly petitioned the Third Hokage, hoping to take on more challenging C-rank missions

so her team could get more real combat experience.

But each time, the Third Hokage turned her down, saying there were "no suitable missions."

Amada didn't mind.

He used his free time to begin following his own training plan.

One morning, he went alone to a small pond on the outskirts of the village.

The water was crystal clear, its surface smooth as a mirror, reflecting the trees and sky around it.

Amada stood at the water's edge and took a deep breath. Then he slowly raised a foot and stepped onto the surface.

"Chakra control comes down to balance and stability..."

He murmured under his breath, recalling the scene from the original story in which Ebisu taught Naruto to practice Water Walking.

At first, his steps wobbled, and ripples spread across the water with each movement.

But he soon found his footing. He distributed chakra evenly across the soles of his feet, and his body gradually steadied.

After a few days of practice, he could stand on the water with ease and even walk across it.

Amada felt a quiet sense of wonder.

Ever since awakening the Sharingan, he had noticed a significant improvement in his ability to sense and control chakra.

Whether releasing ninjutsu or using Taijutsu, everything came more easily to him than before.

After finishing his training that day, Amada sprang from the pond back onto the bank.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

He looked up at the sky and realized it was almost time to meet for the mission, so he hurried toward the village.

By the time Amada reached the mission meeting point, Asuma and Kurenai had just arrived too.

The three stood at the village mission center, waiting and waiting, but Kushina was nowhere to be seen.

Asuma crossed his arms and couldn't help grumbling.

"Teacher Kushina's always the last to show up. Honestly, she's a Jonin—how can she be even less punctual than us?"

Kurenai smiled faintly and spoke up for Kushina in a gentle tone.

"Maybe something important held her up. She's a Jonin, after all, and her missions keep her busy. It's understandable if she's late once in a while."

Amada couldn't resist teasing her.

"Kurenai's right. It's not as if our teacher overslept, right?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a familiar voice drifted lazily from behind them.

"What are you saying about me now?"

The three stiffened, their expressions freezing in place.

They slowly turned around. Kushina stood there with her hands on her hips, watching them with a half-smile.

Asuma hurriedly waved his hands, his face breaking into an awkward grin.

"N-no! We just noticed you hadn't arrived yet and thought you... uh, overslept."

Kushina's face flushed slightly, but she quickly regained her composure.

She cleared her throat and said sternly, putting on an air of authority.

"Why would I oversleep? I'm a Jonin. I have an excellent sense of time!"

But a hint of guilt showed through.

In fact, she really had overslept that morning.

Her alarm had gone off several times, but she hadn't woken up.

She had only rushed over at the very last minute.

Amada noticed that something was off with Kushina but didn't call her out.

He smiled and said,

"Teacher's right. We were just overthinking it."

Kushina stood at the counter where missions were handed out, flipping through a stack of scrolls. Her brows furrowed more and more with each one.

Every mission on the scrolls was D-rank.

She sighed, feeling helpless and frustrated.

She and her students had done far too many of these utterly unchallenging missions lately, and she was growing sick of them.

"Is there really not one decent mission?"

Kushina couldn't help complaining, her voice tinged with annoyance.

She looked up at the Third Hokage, who sat behind his desk, her eyes shining with anticipation.

"Old man Third, can't you give us another C-rank mission? Keep this up, and my students will turn into professional weed pullers!"

The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his chair. Hearing Kushina's complaint, he looked up.

He rubbed his temples, inwardly grimacing.

If he didn't grant Kushina's request today, she would pester him all day until he gave in.

With that in mind, he sighed helplessly, pulled a mission scroll from his desk, and handed it over.

"Very well. Since you're so determined, I do have a C-rank mission. But I should warn you: it's a long-distance assignment. You'll need to escort a merchant's daughter to a neighboring country. The mission itself isn't complicated, but the journey is long, and I'm a little concerned."

Kushina's eyes lit up at once.

She practically snatched the mission scroll from the Third Hokage's hand.

She quickly skimmed the details, then smiled with satisfaction.

"An escort mission? That's perfect for us! Lord Third, my Kushina Squad will take it!"

The Third Hokage looked at Kushina's eager expression, feeling both helpless and a little worried.

He paused to think, then finally nodded.

"Very well. Since you insist, the mission is yours."

Kushina waved her hand, brimming with confidence.

"Don't worry, Lord Third! With me around, nothing will go wrong!"

With that, she turned and hurried out of the Hokage's office, an excited smile on her face.

The Third Hokage watched her go and murmured under his breath.

"With Anbu following them, there shouldn't be any major problems."