Taking a Master

The next morning, Shiro received a message from the Anbu, asking him to go to the Hokage Office Building.

After saying goodbye to Mizuki last night, Shiro returned without any major incidents, such as the Uchiha people looking down on Shiro, thinking he was unworthy of Mizuki, challenging him, and Shiro successfully proving them wrong—the kind of predictable, happy events.

Everything went smoothly. Where in this world are there so many idiots? Especially the disciples of large families, who receive elite education from a young age, their minds are beyond the reach of ordinary people. Moreover, the larger the family, the stricter its rules.

Therefore, Shiro has never encountered anything like this before. Of course, this may be related to Shiro's C-rank luck; a C-rank is clearly not good enough to be a protagonist.

Therefore, without the protagonist's aura of reduced intelligence, no one would provoke Shiro for no reason.

Finally, amidst Shiro own wild thoughts, Shiro arrived at the Hokage Office Building.

"Lord Hokage"

"Shiro, you've arrived. I actually have two things to tell you today. Shiro, you've made many contributions to the village recently, so the village has decided to reward you with a Herb Garden in the south of the village as part of your Emiya Family's estate."

"Oh, and don't forget to register your clan emblem later."

"Thank you very much, Lord Hokage!"

"Haha, it's nothing, you deserve it. Besides, this isn't for you, it's for the Emiya Family."

That being said, this was actually for Shiro, and it was already a very generous gift, even though a Herb Garden might not seem like much.

But that was for the family. Now, what kind of the Emiya Family is there? He's the only ninja in his family, which is only because Shiro's ancestors were a ninja clan.

Furthermore, Shiro explained Magecraft as a family secret technique, and he also demonstrated sufficient talent; otherwise, it wouldn't have been so easy to obtain.

Therefore, this was a huge sum of money for Shiro.

"The second thing, think about it. Never mind, I said it's not appropriate. Go to Training Ground 7 and find Sakumo, he's more suitable."

"Lord Sakumo? Then I shall take my leave, Lord Hokage."

"Okay, go ahead."

"What does Sakumo want with me? Does he want me to join the Anbu?" As he walked, Shiro couldn't help but guess, remembering that Sakumo seemed to be the head of the Anbu.

But then Shiro thought about it again and realized that this didn't make sense. Although Shiro barely possessed the strength of Special Jonin, that was only under full power, and his achievements were still insufficient.

He thought about it for a long time but still couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it. He figured he'd find out when he saw Sakumo anyway.

Shiro did consider the possibility that Sakumo wanted to take him as an apprentice, but Shiro immediately abandoned the idea.

Who is Sakumo? He's the White Fang of Konoha! He's also a legendary figure who can be abandoned without punishment simply by encountering him!

How could such an important person possibly look down on him?

However, Shiro was actually blinded by his own situation. He knew his own circumstances very well. His martial arts skills were basically borrowed. Anyone could be as good as Shiro if they were willing to work hard. Therefore, Shiro did not think he was particularly talented.

However, others were unaware of this, which led to an information error, and thus caused Shiro to make the wrong judgment.

A little while later, Shiro arrived at the No. 7 training ground, and sure enough, Sakumo was already waiting there.

"Lord Sakumo," Shiro bowed first.

"Hmm, did the Lord Hokage tell you why you were brought here?"

"No, the Lord Hokage said it's more appropriate for you to tell me."

"Okay, then I'll get straight to it. Emiya Shiro, would you like to become my disciple?"

"Huh?! Disciple?" Shiro looked at Sakumo in surprise, but quickly realized what he meant. "I'm willing, Sakumo, um, Master."

Although Shiro was not yet clear about the specific reasons, Sakumo was not Pot King Danzo, so he could agree to it without worry.

Seeing that Shiro Sakumo agreed, Sakumo's stern face finally relaxed, and he said with a smile, "You must be very curious as to why I would take you as my apprentice, right?"

"Hmm, my talent shouldn't be considered very good."

"Ha, just as your captain said, you lack confidence."

"You've spoken with him?"

"Of course, if I'm going to take you on as my apprentice, I'll naturally need to get to know you."

"Oh."

"Hehe, let me tell you about your strengths first. First, you have a solid foundation in Ninjutsu theory, which is evident from your ability to recreate your secret technique."

"Secondly, your combat skills are exceptional, far surpassing those of your peers. Thirdly, Chakra."

"These three points are enough. Plus, he's a nice person and polite."

"Hmm? Captain Nakamura would say I'm polite?"

"Haha, no, I noticed that last night."

"Yesterday, last night? Master, you were here the whole time?" Shiro asked in surprise.

"Yes, I always need to assess my disciple's character, right? Overall, he did quite well, but his vigilance was too low. Even in the village, he should have maintained a degree of caution."

"But I've noticed you have almost no vigilance in the village. It's good that you have confidence in the village, but you must not let your guard down because of that!"

"Yes, Master."

"Yes, remember to keep that in mind. Take your time with that. Let's talk about something else first."

"I don't know much about your training plan yet, so it hasn't been finalized. However, I heard from Elder Mito that your foundation is rather weak, and some of your movements are not very fluid, is that right?"

Upon hearing Sakumo's words, Shiro finally understood what he was lacking.

Shiro's combat experience is mostly gained through Projection Noble Phantasm. Although some of it involves basic elements, Shiro usually lets the system help him filter out and forget those parts.

Because basic training is actually very tedious and lengthy, and the memorization of those basic training exercises is not very useful to Shiro, Shiro has always somewhat neglected this issue.

Ultimately, the foundation, simply put, is the body's muscle memory. Simply acquiring mental memory is useless if your body still can't react.

There are no shortcuts; it's all about constant practice so that your body memorizes these basic movements, allowing you to react faster.

This is why some ninjas shout out their Ninjutsu. If they lack the talent, then this is the only way; they rely on their body's Instinct memory, and their hands will form Hand Seals when they say the name. (This is the explanation from Baidu; I've modified it to refer to some ninjas.)

However, ninjas who do this usually don't achieve much; their weaknesses are too obvious.

In order to master the Mind's Eye more quickly, Shiro has always absorbed combat experience in battle. Although this method is highly efficient, the consequence is that his foundation is not solid enough.

"Looks like you know now."

"Yes, it's all thanks to Master's reminder."

"Ha, you would have figured it out sooner or later even without my reminder. Alright, let's have a match and let me see your true strength!"

"Yes, Master!"

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