Wuji and Fu (Part 2)

Seven days later, in the morning, Ye Wuji was in the practice courtyard, swinging a katana. Although Ye Wuji had never practiced any martial arts, and while there were many legends of martial arts on Earth in his previous life, he had never had the chance to see them. However, having spent so many years on the internet, he knew a thing or two about rigorous training. Since Ukyo never intentionally avoided him while teaching Yuta, Ye Wuji had also picked up some basic training methods.

Currently, Ye Wuji's routine consisted of five hundred sword swings followed by five hundred kunai throws. While it didn't seem like much, it was far from easy to maintain complete focus during every single swing and every single throw.

Just as Ye Wuji was finishing his sword practice, a female voice drifted over from the side. "Oh my, the little guy is quite diligent." Ye Wuji stopped and looked toward the edge of the courtyard, where a female ninja was leaning against a window, watching him.

"It's the ninja sister! What are you doing here?" Ye Wuji tossed his sword aside and walked toward her.

"Just here to see you. What, not happy to see me, little brat?" As she spoke, her hand reached out and tapped Ye Wuji on the head.

"Seriously, you always tap my head." Ye Wuji reached up to swat her hand away.

"Such a temper for a little guy." The female ninja didn't mind being blocked and watched Ye Wuji with a smile. This ninja was none other than Fu.

In fact, Fu had been here for two or three days already, and the other ninjas who had been monitoring Ye Wuji had already been withdrawn. Normally, they wouldn't have pulled back so quickly; for someone not specifically flagged, standard surveillance usually lasted about a week, and at most, no more than a month. Of course, sometimes there would be a gap of a few days before someone else was sent to monitor them.

Because of the Takikage's orders, Fu couldn't easily leave the village, and she didn't have any friends within it. Her mother, being the Takikage, couldn't spend all her time with her, and her younger sister, Mai, was busy training. After three days had passed, Fu finally remembered this little guy, Ye Wuji—this cute little fellow—and decided to look up his file.

Upon seeing that the Anbu had been monitoring Ye Wuji, she inquired about the reason and discovered it was because she had placed him inside the Sacred Tree, which had led to another argument with the Takikage that ultimately went nowhere.

However, Fu later came up with a solution: she would take over the surveillance of Ye Wuji herself. After seven days of watching him without discovering anything suspicious, she had the other ninjas withdraw. Since she intended to visit him anyway, she took responsibility for the remaining surveillance.

The Takikage had no objections to this; it was good for Fu to have something to do. Furthermore, after reviewing the reports from the Anbu who had monitored Ye Wuji, the Takikage had essentially cleared him of suspicion.

Today, Fu was just feeling a bit bored, which was why she had shown herself.

"By the way, ninja sister, you saved me last time, and I haven't properly thanked you yet. Also, my name is Ye Wuji. What is your name, sister?" Ye Wuji asked. Although he seemed to have heard someone call her name during their last encounter, he had been too nervous about the Hero Water to pay much attention.

"Fu. Got it? My name is Fu. From now on, you must call me Big Sister Fu, don't you forget."

"En, I won't forget. By the way, Big Sister Fu, you're a ninja, right? And you seem like a very powerful one. I wonder if you could teach me how to train?" Ye Wuji looked at Fu with expectant eyes. Even though he felt his expression was normal, considering his current age—a six-year-old boy with a head of white hair—he looked quite adorable.

In reality, Ye Wuji's reasoning was simple: if he could get such a powerful female ninja to teach him a few tricks, it would be great. If nothing else, the fact that she could trade blows with Kakuzu was proof enough of her skill. As for the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, who had taught him ninjutsu before, he had only taught him the basics, and at that age, the Fourth didn't have any special techniques to pass on. As for the things Yahiko had given him, Ye Wuji wasn't in a position to study them yet; for one, they were quite advanced, and he hadn't even mastered the basics, and for another, he lacked the proper conditions to practice them, as many of the Fuma clan's applications of chakra required specific tools.

That was why Ye Wuji wanted this female ninja to teach him; it would also help deflect suspicion. Since he was just a child, it would be a shame not to take advantage of a child's natural talent.

"Of course, Big Sister is very powerful. But why do you want to learn from me? That Uncle Ukyo of yours is also a very capable guy, you know. You could learn from him." Fu boasted about her own strength without a hint of modesty.

"Uncle Ukyo is very busy, and he has to spend his time teaching Yuta. He doesn't have time to teach me," Ye Wuji said, lowering his head.

"Oh?" Fu looked at the Ye Wuji before her, thinking that even a kid this small already knew about competition. It seemed he was just a little brat who couldn't stand being outdone by that boy named Yuta. Having investigated Ye Wuji's background, Fu knew the situation; in her eyes, this kid was just feeling resentful because he hadn't been taken on as an apprentice by Ukyo.

"How about it, Big Sister Fu?" Seeing that Fu didn't react, Ye Wuji worried she might refuse, so he asked again.

"Sure." Fu nodded.

"Really? That's great!" Upon hearing her agreement, Ye Wuji, despite his adult mind, couldn't help but cheer.

"Of course it's real. But you have to tell me why you want to train so hard. That way, I'll know how to teach you." Fu looked at Ye Wuji, wondering how the child would answer, and began to smile as she waited.

Ye Wuji looked at the inexplicably smiling Fu, unsure of what she found funny. However, he wasn't surprised by the question; characters in Naruto were always asking each other that. Now, it was just someone else asking him. Ye Wuji lowered his head and thought for a moment—thinking of the old director back on Earth, his parents in this world whom he had never met, the trio of Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato, the sacrifice of the Fourth, the suffering of jinchuriki like Naruto and Gaara, as well as Haku, Kimimaro, and the others.

He cycled through the characters of the Naruto world, both good and bad, in his mind. Then, he looked up and said loudly, "To protect those I love, and those who love me."

Fu was stunned. She truly hadn't expected this to be Ye Wuji's answer; it caught her completely off guard. Looking at the determination on Ye Wuji's face, she felt a stir in her heart and smiled. "Alright, for this period of time, I will be the one to train you. But don't you dare complain; my requirements are very strict."

"No problem, the stricter the better," Ye Wuji nodded.

"Then, show me everything you know."

"En." Ye Wuji nodded and returned to the center of the yard, demonstrating everything he had learned during this time. Of course, he didn't show anything that shouldn't be exposed, such as the Three Basic Techniques or the Water Clone Technique.

Once he finished, he looked at Fu, hoping for a good evaluation.

Fu walked over to Ye Wuji, looking at him with a threatening expression. Ye Wuji felt a chill run down his spine, thinking, Is my training that bad? That can't be right, the Fourth said I was learning quite well.

Just as Ye Wuji wondered what she was going to say, Fu suddenly kicked him. Before he could even react, he was sent flying and landed hard on the ground.

Ye Wuji clutched his stomach, wincing in pain as he looked at Fu, confused. Fu walked over to him, and just as he thought she might pull him up, she unleashed a flurry of kicks. By the time she stopped, Ye Wuji was lying on the ground, unable to move.

Ye Wuji felt pain all over his body, but he knew this was likely Fu's training method; after all, he only felt pain—if she had really wanted to deal with him, she could have killed him with a single kick.

"Do you know why I beat you?" Fu stood over him, looking down.

"I don't know. But I assume it's for my own good, otherwise you could have just killed me," Ye Wuji replied.

"Very smart. There are smart kids like you, but not many who are as young and as clever as you. Still, I find the environment you grew up in quite strange. Perhaps your parents protected you too well.

"You know, all your practice is quite good—very standard. But it's standard like a showpiece. Your parents died in the war, yet looking at your reactions, you don't show any of the instincts of someone who has lived through war. Do you think these things are just a game? The way you look at them, it's like you're playing a game. If it's just a game, why bother training at all?"

Bang! Fu kicked Ye Wuji in the stomach again. "Forget it. No matter how smart you are, you're still just a child who doesn't understand the meaning of these things. As you grow up, you'll slowly understand. From the way I kicked you just now, you should know how to cultivate chakra, but that's the strange part. Do you know why? You're afraid of getting hurt. You might be able to endure some accidental injuries, but you actively avoid things that could hurt you."

"Is avoiding injury wrong?" Ye Wuji asked, struggling through the pain.

"It seems I was wrong. Avoiding injury is correct; all ninjas must avoid injury. Oh, how do I put this? Seriously, I don't even know how to express it. Fine, let me put it another way. You've never been hurt before. I can tell by the way you hold your weapons—your vigilance is insufficient. Yes, that's it. As a ninja, you must maintain vigilance, and you have absolutely no sense of battlefield awareness. Also, your habits after being hit are very strange, as if you've never been injured in your life. You don't seem to worry about getting hurt at all. That's it. I'm very curious how you developed such a mindset and such habits, but from now on, you are to discard them.

"Alright, that's enough for today. Think about what I said. I'll come back tomorrow." With that, Fu vanished.

Ye Wuji finally understood why Fu had suddenly attacked him. Although her explanation was a bit messy and she struggled to find the right words, he understood the core issue: he was a transmigrator from Earth. Even though life on Earth hadn't been perfect, he never had to worry about someone suddenly attacking him or being killed at any moment.

After arriving in the Naruto world, those old reactions remained. Even when he practiced with the Fourth, nothing had been discovered because he only maintained vigilance when he consciously decided to—not as a constant state of being. This was a common trait for someone from a peaceful era, but in the world of Naruto, such a personality wouldn't form. This was a world where war could break out at any moment, so everyone possessed a natural, constant vigilance.

In short, it was a side effect of living in peace for too long, which was why Fu had beaten him to teach him a lesson.

As Ye Wuji struggled to adapt to the pain, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. I took that beating for nothing. But asking someone who lived on Earth for twenty years to change those habits overnight is just too hard. As for the training, having watched Naruto for so long, it's normal to be influenced by the show. Back then, I never looked at the power of the ninjutsu, only how cool the special effects looked.

Fortunately, Fu had shown restraint; although it was painful, she hadn't broken any bones.

The next day, Fu brought a diagram of the human body, much like a biology chart from school. This lesson was about identifying various parts of the body, their vulnerabilities, how to strike for maximum impact, how to kill without making a sound, and so on. Of course, after Fu left, she beat Ye Wuji up again.

Perhaps seeing that Ye Wuji could cultivate chakra on his own, she didn't bother teaching him that, focusing instead on methods of striking people. Another week passed, and Ye Wuji had memorized most of the human anatomy, and during the process of Fu beating him, he had even managed to dodge a few times—though that was likely because Fu was going easy on him.