Specialization

In the middle of the Training Ground, Taiichi and Kakashi stood facing each other, forming Seal of Confrontation, and the competition began.

Taiichi launched the first attack, stepping forward and immediately unleashing a straight slash. Compared to the Hatake Style Kenjutsu, which focuses on surprise attacks and assassinations, Taiichi's current swordsmanship is more majestic and domineering.

Because of the different scenarios in which they are used, Hatake Style Kenjutsu is more adept at hit-and-run tactics and assassinations. This is because Sakumo- Senior frequently carried out such missions, and the circumstances prompted his swordsmanship to develop primarily in this direction.

Taiichi's swordsmanship is often used in direct combat, so he is more adept at this.

However, this does not mean that there is nothing Taiichi can learn from the Hatake Style Kenjutsu. On the contrary, there is much he can learn, since his swordsmanship foundation is built upon the Hatake Style Kenjutsu.

Facing Taiichi's straight slash, Kakashi met it head-on, his Short Sword skillfully meeting the tip of Taiichi's blade and deflecting the attack. Using the momentum, Short Sword at Taiichi's neck.

Feeling the subtle force from the blade and seeing the slashing edge coming towards him, Taiichi remained calm. He sheathed his sword and blocked Kakashi's attack, then, taking advantage of the moment when the two passed each other, he slashed at Kakashi's ribs.

The move was fast and urgent, forcing Kakashi to retreat repeatedly. Taiichi naturally wouldn't let this opportunity pass, turning around and stepping forward to follow up, slashing and thrusting with his Short Sword, forcing Kakashi to retreat and defend continuously.

It wasn't until Taiichi launched dozens of attacks that Kakashi managed to stabilize the situation, at which point it was Kakashi's turn to counterattack.

Kakashi used his body to constantly move around Taiichi's side, his Short Sword thrusting out like a venomous snake, always targeting Taiichi's weak points. This was the sharpness of the Hatake Swordsmanship.

Taiichi and Kakashi's Short Sword clashed from time to time, while they also learned various exquisite sword techniques from the Hatake Style Kenjutsu. After all, how could one person's self-exploration compare to the teaching of a master?

Meanwhile, Kakashi was increasingly alarmed as the fight progressed. Although the two were evenly matched, Kakashi could clearly sense that Taiichi was still holding back, while he himself had already given his all.

Kakashi never expected Taiichi to improve so much, which made him wonder if he had been slacking off lately.

"Kakashi, you're distracted!" With these words, Kakashi felt a sharp pain in his wrist, and the Short Sword in his hand fell to the ground. Then he saw the blade already pressed against his neck.

"I lost." Kakashi was quite composed. He had initially thought his father's assessment of Taiichi was an exaggeration, but this match showed him Taiichi's strength.

The contest ended, Taiichi sheathed his sword and returned home.

"Kakashi, you're really strong. I learned a lot from sparring with you."

This is no polite remark; the panel's prompts clearly state this.

[Swordsmanship practice, skill Advanced Swordsmanship experience +100]

"Taiichi, don't say that. Compared to you, I feel like I've wasted a lot of time lately."

"Haha, maybe it's because I'm a year older than you, so I'm a bit stronger and faster," Taiichi chuckled. "Besides, my swordsmanship is now more suited to head-on combat."

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully, it was unclear whether he agreed with Taiichi's statement.

The two then trained together until evening before returning home. During this time, they had several friendly sparring sessions, all of which ended in Kakashi's defeat. However, this did not defeat Kakashi's confidence; instead, it gave him even greater motivation.

At that moment, Taiichi seemed to see Might Guy's shadow appear behind Kakashi, giving him a thumbs up, revealing his big white teeth, and laughing loudly.

Back at home, Taiichi pondered his next training plan. He didn't need to worry about Taijutsu, but he still needed to carefully plan his Ninjutsu.

Among the Five Basic Nature Transformations, fire, wind, and water are his strengths, but none are particularly outstanding. Taiichi is now considering whether he should specialize in one of them first and improve the power of that one Ninjutsu.

After all, the same Ninjutsu can be used in different ways by different people. Some people's Great Fireball is only one meter in size, but Madara Uchiha's Great Fireball can be as big as a house; ordinary people's Wind Style can only cut down a big tree, but Danzo's Vacuum Serial Waves can cut through Susanoo.

All of this boils down to a ninja's proficiency in Ninjutsu and their understanding of Chakra Nature Transformation.

Taiichi's no need to worry about Taiichi's proficiency in Ninjutsu; for him, it's just a matter of practice.

On the contrary, his Chakra Nature Transformation is something that has become very difficult to improve through practice alone. Although he has already reached level 8 in the Nature Transformation of wind, fire, and water, it is extremely difficult to advance further.

This forced Taiichi to focus his energy on improving one of his attributes first, in order to achieve a rapid increase in strength. After all, war was just around the corner, and he didn't have much time left to steadily improve his strength.

After careful consideration, Taiichi made a decision: he would first improve his Fire Nature Transformation. After all, Konoha had the most ninjas skilled in Fire Release Ninjutsu, and the records and information about Fire Style were also the most detailed, which could provide Taiichi with a lot of reference and guidance.

Many ninjas know Fire Style, and their understanding of Fire Nature Transformation varies. However, in Taiichi's view, the most important manifestation of Fire Nature Transformation is high temperature, and everything else is trivial.

Extreme high temperatures, temperatures capable of instantly incinerating everything, are Taiichi's pursuit of Fire Nature Transformation, and are also one of his goals.

Of course, to achieve this, Taiichi needs to learn more Fire Release Ninjutsu, refer to their strengths and weaknesses, and also consult more people. Otherwise, even with the support of his stats, the speed of learning in isolation will be very slow.

When Taiichi thought about learning more Ninjutsu, he immediately thought of his master, Tsunade. Last time, he was tricked by Jiraiya into using his mission record to exchange for Ninjutsu. Looking back, he was really stupid. Tsunade had a teacher, not just an ordinary ninja who could only rely on himself.

Thinking of this, Taiichi immediately got up, picked up paper and pen, and began to write a letter.

First came a string of mushy greetings, then an explanation of his recent situation, and finally, his request: that his master could provide him with some Fire Release Ninjutsu, not asking for high quality, just plenty of it.

After drying the ink and reading it carefully again, Taiyi found no problems and the emotions expressed were sincere. He nodded Taiichi satisfaction and then used Summoning Technique to summon a small Katsuyu.

"I'm sorry to trouble you again, Katsuyu!"

"Yes, Taiichi."

After completing all this, Taiichi reflected on his short-term goals and, finding nothing missing, arranged his next training plan.

After finishing his thoughts, Taiichi completed all his training for the day, lay comfortably on his bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

The training continued for four days. Taiichi put aside all his affairs and appeared at the hospital again. Today was the day that Yohei and Saori were to be discharged from the hospital, and Taiichi wanted to come and welcome them back to the team after their recovery.

Taiichi entered the ward expecting to see the two's families, but to his surprise, the large ward contained only the two of them.

Gekko Sora and Nakamura Rei, who sustained less severe injuries, had already been discharged from the hospital, and Sakumo- Senior left the hospital the very next day.

As for their families, needless to say, aside from coming to take care of them for a day on the day of their admission, Yohei's father left a message afterwards.

"You've become a fully-fledged ninja."

She left the hospital without looking back. Seeing this, Saori's father also left, leaving the two of them alone in the hospital to recuperate.

"Haha, your father is really funny, just leaving you two at the hospital like that."

"They only saw that we had external injuries and would be fine in a couple of days, so they left with peace of mind," Yohei added, defending his father.

"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. Have you packed all your things? We need to get ready to be discharged." Taiichi asked the two of them again to confirm.

"Alright, alright, it's all packed up already. I never want to stay in this hospital again. I can't do this, I can't do that, I'm going crazy!"

"Haha, Yohei, if you hadn't been chatting with that nurse over there, the head nurse wouldn't have been so strict with you." Saori chuckled as she exposed Yohei's secret.

"I was just bored!" Yohei muttered to himself.

"Oh, is that so? No wonder people were giving me strange looks when I came here. Turns out it was because of you!" Taiichi joked.

The group chatted and laughed as they completed the formalities and left the hospital.

"Come on, let's go to my house. It's your first day out of the hospital, and I'll personally cook you a nice meal. I guarantee it will be delicious and perfect for your recovery."

"Really? Taiichi, I don't even remember the last time I ate a meal cooked by you personally?" Yohei exclaimed dramatically, his eyes wide.

Saori, standing beside her, also looked on with delight, clearly very much looking forward to it.

The three chatted about all sorts of things on their way to Taiichi's house. Taiichi did not disappoint them and prepared a medicinal meal that was very suitable for people recovering from serious injuries. It was not only delicious, but also helped the two recover.

Yohei and Saori clearly felt Taiichi's concern for them. Without saying much, they turned their gratitude into appetite and devoured all the food on the table.

After the meal, the three of them lay back on the tatami mats to quietly digest their food.

"What do you think is the situation at Cheng's family now?" Yohei suddenly asked, voicing his thoughts.

Everyone fell silent, remaining speechless for a long time.

"This is what it means to be a ninja. From the moment you become a ninja, you must understand that you need to be vigilant at all times, because the slightest carelessness can mean your death," Taiichi remarked.

Yohei sat up and looked at Taiichi with a serious expression.

"Taiichi, if there were no conflicts in this world, would there still be these struggles between people?"

Hearing Yohei's question, Taiichi looked at Yohei with a face full of surprise, and even Saori next to him sat up straight. No one expected that Yohei would ask such a question.

"No conflict? That's much harder than world peace!" Taiichi looked up at the ceiling, his gaze seemingly reaching through the room to the distant sky.

"Do you know the Sage of Six Paths?" Taiichi asked.

"Yes, there are records of this in the clan. Legend has it that the Ninjutsu Sect was founded, Chakra was passed down from the Sage of Six Paths."

Taiichi withdrew his gaze and looked at Yohei. He was surprised that Yohei, who was usually so carefree, even knew about such an ethereal legend. He truly deserved to be a ninja from a great clan.

"Legend has it that the Sage of Six Paths originally spread Chakra to eliminate all kinds of conflicts in the world, so that people could connect with each other, understand one another, and ultimately create a better world."

"That's great, so why did it fail later?" Yohei asked, puzzled, clearly not understanding the key point.

"Yohei, do you have a secret?" Taiichi stared into Yohei's eyes.

"Yes, who doesn't have secrets?" Yohei replied matter-of-factly.

At this moment, Saori had figured everything out and revealed a knowing expression.

Seeing Saori's expression, Taiichi smiled. "Look, Saori has figured it out, but you still can't," Taiichi gave Yohei a disdainful look, instantly dispelling the previous sorrowful atmosphere.

"Let Saori tell you!" Taiichi winked at Saori.

Yohei scratched his head and looked at Saori with a thirst for knowledge.

Saori felt a little embarrassed at this moment, but she still mustered up her courage and, imitating Taiichi's approach, asked Yohei, "Would you be willing to tell us all your secrets? Remember, all of them!"

"Uh~ Of course not, there are many things I can't tell others!" Yohei said embarrassedly, as if he had done something shameful.

"Even you're unwilling to share all your secrets with us, let alone those in high positions of power, and those who harbor hatred towards each other!" Saori hit the nail on the head, pointing out the key issue.

Yohei fell silent, pondering Saori's words carefully. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how reasonable she was, and the less he had to say anything.

"Human hearts are inherently selfish!" Taiichi then remarked. "Rather than hoping for a world without conflict, it's better to look forward to a more promising future of world peace."

"After all, if the world were truly at peace, then the greatest conflicts would disappear, and world strife would be greatly reduced."

"Will the world really be at peace?" Saori asked, voicing the doubt that had been lingering in her mind, a doubt that also shared with Yohei.

"Ah~ Haha, you shouldn't be asking me that, you should be asking the Hokage-sama." Taiichi looked at the two waiting for his answer, "I'm younger than you two, how could I know the answer to such a question?"

"But I believe that day will come. If another ninja stronger than the First Hokage could appear, then at least the world would be at peace while he is alive." Taiichi said, expressing his thoughts and resolving to become that kind of ninja.

"I really hope that day will come soon!" Yohei exclaimed sincerely.

"Then we have to work hard. Maybe we'll be the ones who find out who's so amazing?" Taiichi encouraged the two of them.

The three looked at each other and smiled.

"Whether or not we can become that kind of person, we definitely need to work harder now," Yohei sighed.

"Yes, this mission was really dangerous. I don't realize it usually, but now that I'm actually in trouble, I realize how weak I am," Saori said softly, her voice trembling.

So what are your plans?

"My father asked me to go back for some special training. I've now awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and there are many Sharingan techniques I need to learn." As he spoke, Yohei opened his scarlet Sharingan, the three Tomoe slowly rotating in his eyes.

"Me too. My father is going to give me special training when I get back, especially my Sealing Jutsu, which haven't been very effective in the missions." Saori looked apologetic. She felt pressured because she had always been so ineffective in the missions.

"It's great that you all have your own plans, but individual training is important, and you can't forget teamwork," Taiichi reminded everyone.

"Well then, since we have a long enough break this time, how about we get together once a week for a day of training to help the team gel and see how everyone is improving?"

Yohei and Saori both readily agreed, since they were a team and understanding each other's abilities was a necessary step.

Having finalized everything, Taiichi saw off his two teammates and then resumed his training.

That evening, Taiichi, who was practicing his Taijutsu, suddenly felt a summons. Carefully sensing the frequency of the summons, Taiichi knew, according to his previous agreement with the Katsuyu, that it must be a reply from Tsunade.

Thinking of the contents of the letter he had sent to Tsunade, Taiichi felt a surge of joy and couldn't wait to begin Hand Seals for the Summoning Jutsu.