Conversation

Hatake Sakumo left three days later.

Before leaving, he did something Bai Ye had never expected.

"Clean up. I'm taking you out to eat tonight."

Bai Ye was squatting by the edge of the training ground, wiping down his wooden sword. He looked up with an expression like he had just heard Teacher Aoki say, "Theory class is canceled today."

"...Going out to eat?"

"Mm."

"You're paying?"

Hatake Sakumo looked down at him. "Do you think I'd make a six-year-old pay?"

Bai Ye thought about it and decided that made sense.

"Where?"

"Barbecue."

Bai Ye thought about it again. "Expensive."

"I'm paying."

"...Okay."

The corner of Hatake Sakumo's mouth twitched. He had discovered something about talking to Bai Ye: the boy's language system switched extremely smoothly between three modes—"okay," "mm," and silence.

That evening, at a barbecue restaurant in Konoha.

Bai Ye sat by the window. Before him was a plate of meat sizzling in oil. Holding his chopsticks, he watched the meat change from red to brown on the grill, from raw to cooked. Fat burst in the high heat with soft crackling sounds, and the scent of meat rose from the iron plate.

It smelled good.

Very good.

Bai Ye picked up a slice, blew on it, put it in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

Then his chopsticks never stopped moving again.

"Doesn't your aunt make meat for you?" Sakumo asked.

"She does."

"Then why are you eating like you haven't had food in three days?"

"My aunt's cooking isn't as good as this."

Sakumo smiled.

By the third plate, Bai Ye's chopsticks slowed. He noticed that Hatake Sakumo had barely touched his food. The man sat across from him, his silver-white hair faintly gleaming beneath the lights. His short sword rested against the edge of the table, blade inward and hilt outward—a position that allowed him to draw it at any moment.

"You're not eating?" Bai Ye asked.

"Not hungry."

Bai Ye looked down at the empty plates in front of him, then at the nearly untouched bowl and chopsticks before Hatake Sakumo. He was silent for a second.

"You brought me here because you have something to say."

Hatake Sakumo looked at Bai Ye, and something more appeared in his gaze. This child always noticed things others did not. From the first night he had seen him at the training ground, Hatake Sakumo had realized it—his powers of observation were not what a six-year-old should possess. They were more like a blade that had been sharpened for too long, instinctively sensing everything around it.

"Mm," Sakumo said.

Bai Ye set down his chopsticks.

"About what?"

"About you."

Hatake Sakumo lifted his teacup and took a sip. The tea was cold, but the cold tea at this barbecue restaurant had a particular bitterness. After the bitterness passed, a trace of sweetness rose in the throat.

"Bai Ye."

"Mm."

"Do you know about your talent with the sword?"

Bai Ye thought for a moment. "A little."

"How much?"

"Better than Minato. Better than Fugaku." He paused. "Maybe better than you too."

Hatake Sakumo nearly choked on his tea.

"You're pretty direct."

"You asked."

Sakumo set down his teacup. "You're right. Your talent with the sword is indeed better than all of ours, but not in the sense that you learn quickly."

Bai Ye looked at him.

"The way you learn is different," Sakumo said. "Minato learns through imitation. He can do something after watching it once, and master it after doing it a few times. That is his talent. Fugaku learns through iteration. He keeps trying, becoming more precise each time than he was before. That is his talent."

"What about me?"

"You understand."

Bai Ye said nothing.

"You aren't learning the sword. You're talking to it." Sakumo's gaze fell on the wooden sword at Bai Ye's waist, its hilt polished bright from use. "When others learn swordsmanship, they learn how to use a sword. You learn what a sword is. Those are completely different paths."

Bai Ye lowered his head and looked at the wooden sword at his waist. Several more marks had appeared on its hilt. He held this wooden sword in his hand and swung it hundreds of times nearly every day.

"The vast majority of people who learn the sword need a teacher to teach them move by move—how to slash, how to block, how to step, how to adjust their angle. They need to break down every motion and practice it over and over until their muscles remember." Sakumo drew a line across the tabletop with his finger. "That is one path."

"I don't need that?" Bai Ye asked.

"You do, but what you need is not learning. It is enlightenment." Sakumo drew another line on the table with his finger. "Others learn one move at a time. If you thoroughly understand one move, ten more can grow from it on their own. This is not a gap that diligence can make up. It is talent."

Bai Ye was silent for a while. "Why tell me this now?"

"Because now you can understand it."

Bai Ye considered the meaning of those words, then nodded.

"Besides your talent with the sword, you have one more thing," Sakumo said.

"Lightning attribute purity."

Sakumo fell silent for a second, then smiled.

"High-purity Lightning attribute chakra means three things." He raised one finger. "First, ninjutsu power. With the same Lightning Release ninjutsu, yours will be stronger than someone with lower purity."

He raised a second finger. "Second, casting speed. The higher the purity, the faster the chakra refinement and nature transformation. For the same ninjutsu, you will form hand seals faster than others."

He raised a third finger. "Third, chakra control. You have already experienced this. Tree climbing and water walking are essentially tests of fine chakra control. High-purity chakra is easier to control."

"Those two talents will determine your future path." Sakumo took a sip of tea, his expression turning serious. "I brought you here today because I wanted to tell you this."

Bai Ye sat up straighter.

"A ninja's combat system can roughly be divided into several directions." Sakumo began drawing on the table with his fingers. Trails of tea formed clear lines along the wood grain, one after another, like the branches of a tree.

"Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, sealing techniques, medical ninjutsu, puppet techniques, summoning techniques, and bloodline limits."

"No ninja can master everything. Even Lord Third, known as the Professor of Ninjutsu, has mastered over a thousand ninjutsu across all five attributes, but his genjutsu is inferior to the Kurama Clan's, his taijutsu is inferior to Might Duy's, and his sealing techniques are inferior to the Uzumaki Clan's."

Bai Ye nodded.

"So you can only choose a few directions and specialize in them."

Bai Ye looked down at the "web" on the tabletop.

"Ninjutsu," he said first.

"That is essential. With Lightning attribute purity this high, not learning ninjutsu would be a waste," Sakumo said. "But it will not be your main focus. Ninjutsu will be your long-range method and mid-range suppression method, not your core."

Bai Ye nodded.

"Taijutsu."

"Taijutsu is the foundation of all combat. Whether you use ninjutsu, a sword, or genjutsu, if your body is not strong enough, none of it matters." Sakumo said, "Your taijutsu foundation is solid. Combined with more than half a year of swordsmanship practice, your physical condition and way of exerting force are both better than those of children your age."

"Swordsmanship."

"Your core." Sakumo's tone became firm on that word. "Your swordsmanship insight is your greatest advantage, and that advantage must be maximized. Your sword is your sharpest weapon."

Bai Ye looked down at the wooden sword at his waist.

"Body Flicker Technique."

"Speed is one of a ninja's most important traits. Against an opponent around your level, as long as you are faster than him, you can win. Against someone stronger than you, as long as you are faster than him, you can survive."

Bai Ye remembered that.

"Four directions," he said. "Ninjutsu, taijutsu, swordsmanship, and the Body Flicker Technique."

"What about genjutsu?"

Hatake Sakumo thought for a moment. "The Uchiha Clan is naturally skilled in genjutsu, and the Sharingan is the pinnacle of genjutsu. But the conditions for awakening the Sharingan are too unpredictable. Some people never awaken it in their entire lives. Some awaken it suddenly at the brink of life and death. Some do not even know how their eyes awakened." He looked at Bai Ye. "If you awaken the Sharingan one day, it will not be too late to consider genjutsu then. But before that, do not scatter your energy in an unpredictable direction."

Bai Ye thought about it and nodded.

"Sealing techniques, medical ninjutsu, puppet techniques, and the like do not fit your combat system. You do not need to worry about them."

"Understood."

Sakumo took out two scrolls from his clothes and placed them on the table.

The scrolls were not large, around the length of a palm. Their shafts were made of dark wood, and intricate sealing patterns were carved across their surfaces. The patterns gave off a faint glow beneath the lights.

"I exchanged merit for two ninjutsu."

Bai Ye's hand stopped.

He knew what merit was. Every ninja mission earned merit. S-rank missions granted the most merit, while D-rank missions granted the least. Merit could be exchanged for ninjutsu, ninja tools, even land and property. These were clearly not low-level ninjutsu. The merit required would not be a small amount. He did not know exactly how much, but he knew it had to be a lot.

"...Why?"

"Because you're my disciple." Sakumo's tone was calm, as though he were stating something obvious. "And your combat system needs long-range attack methods. With the Body Flicker Technique and swordsmanship, you already have a foundation for close combat and mid-range combat. But when you face enemies who will not let you get close, you need something that can hit them."

When his finger touched the sealing pattern on the surface of the scroll, Bai Ye could sense the power sealed within. Lightning attribute chakra resonated faintly with his own chakra.

"The first." Sakumo pointed to the scroll on the left. "Lightning Release: Lightning Tiger Kill. A-rank. A form transformation Lightning Release ninjutsu. It concentrates Lightning Release chakra in the palm to form tiger-shaped lightning. It can pursue enemies from a distance or tear into them at close range. It is powerful, fast, and allows you to freely control the direction of attack."

"The second." Sakumo pointed to the scroll on the right. "Lightning Release: False Darkness. B-rank, but more powerful than most A-rank ninjutsu. It highly compresses Lightning Release chakra into a sharp lightning spear with extremely strong piercing power."

Bai Ye looked down at the two scrolls.

Lightning Tiger Kill: form transformation, pursuit and tearing.

False Darkness: nature transformation, compression and penetration.

One pursued, one pierced. One was flexible, one was deadly.

"Of course, both of these ninjutsu have high chakra requirements. An ordinary genin who has just graduated from the Ninja Academy can probably only cast them one to three times. But based on my observations, with your chakra purity, once you become a genin, you should be able to cast them five times. Still, you only learned chakra refinement recently, so there is no need to rush into learning these two ninjutsu. Focus on swordsmanship and the Body Flicker Technique first."

He pushed the two scrolls before Bai Ye, then turned over the barbecue on the grill. The movement was as casual as if he were in his own kitchen.

"Your combat system can be summed up in two words."

Bai Ye looked at him.

"Fast. Precise."

Sakumo picked up a slice of perfectly grilled meat with his chopsticks and placed it in Bai Ye's bowl.

"Fast is your Body Flicker Technique. Train it until you are faster than everyone else—so fast that when you arrive, the enemy has not even reacted before your sword reaches them."

"Precise is your prediction and swordsmanship. Prediction lets you know where to strike, and strike the same place every time: the weakest point."

He set down his chopsticks and looked at Bai Ye.

"Fast and precise together are your way of fighting. Before the enemy can react, find his most vulnerable point and kill with a single strike. You do not need flashy moves. You do not need unnecessary actions. One strike is enough."

Bai Ye looked down at the slice of meat in his bowl.

"One more thing."

"Mm?"

"A sword."

Bai Ye looked down at the wooden sword at his waist.

"The wooden sword was left to you by your father. Keep it safe, but you cannot use a wooden sword in real combat," Sakumo said. "You need a real sword."

"What kind of sword?"

"A sword forged from chakra-conductive metal," Sakumo said. "Like my White Fang. This metal can conduct chakra. If you infuse Lightning Release chakra into the blade, its sharpness and penetrating power will greatly increase. With your Lightning attribute purity so high, a chakra-conductive sword will be even more effective for you than an ordinary sword."

Bai Ye was silent for a moment.

Chakra-conductive metal was rare. There were only a few weapons forged from it in all of Konoha.

"Do I... need merit to exchange for that?"

"You can't afford it."

"...Oh."

Sakumo saw the flash of disappointment on his face. Although Bai Ye's expression barely changed, Sakumo noticed it. "I'm not telling you to exchange for one now. Once you become a chuunin and save enough merit, go exchange for one yourself."

"Eat." Sakumo picked up his chopsticks. "The meat's getting cold."

Bai Ye lowered his head and discovered that Sakumo had already placed four or five slices of meat into his bowl. He had been listening and remembering the entire time, and had not moved his chopsticks at all.

He carefully put the scrolls into his ninja tool pouch, fastened the button twice, then picked up his chopsticks.

The scent of barbecue once again filled his entire mind.