8 Arc 1 - My first ninja technique is awesome!

I'm tired.

I walk over to my opponent's corpse and sit next to her.

"My first battle..."

That's what it was: a battle.

A fight to the death between two powerful opponents.

I can't help but smile a little.

"I won my first battle!"

Sure I had that encounter with the wolf pack but that wasn't a real battle.

Sabertooth.

A giant sabertooth. This cat is about two meters tall, from head to feet it is more than three meters long. She is big!

This new information changes things. Nowhere in the books did George RR Martin even mention sabertooths, the only big cats mentioned in the books are lions and shadowcats, which live north of the Wall.

There are only two options.

1 - The fauna of Westeros is much more varied and dangerous than Martin said.

2 - This beast is not native to Westeros.

The cat may be from another part of this world, perhaps from Ulthos or Sothoryos. It may have been captured in the wild and brought here to be sold as a trophy to some noble.

In any case, there is something that bothers me.

"Her speed, stamina, and agility..."

I know that there are cats that can move very fast, cheetahs can reach 110 km/h. But this cat is too big to be so fast.

The first time I hit her I wasn't channeling chakra, I barely moved her a few inches. Yesterday I sent a pretty big wolf flying a dozen meters with a kick. Not only that, my blow crushed its skull. The Sabertooth, while sensing my kick and urging her to take me seriously, wasn't much affected by my blow.

And her agility, the way she dodged my spear before...

"But that's not the scariest thing of all. What's scarier is her intelligence-"

I know that there are very intelligent animals, I have seen videos of monkeys playing video games, of dogs changing the TV channel... But those golden eyes contained an intelligence far superior to any other I have seen in animals before.

"This world is more interesting than I expected."

I get up from the ground and look at the corpse of my opponent.

And I am in a dilemma.

The practical part of my brain tells me to take the body and sell it. The fur of this beast must be quite expensive, the color is very beautiful and it is quite thick. Perfect for a winter cloak. The fangs and claws should also sell for a good price. There may even be people who eat its meat.

A part of me sees the Sabertooth's corpse as a pile of gold.

But most of my being is sickened by the very thought of selling my opponent's corpse.

The cat earned my respect.

I have a strange fondness for the cat. Selling her body feels wrong. My opponent deserves better.

"..."

I know that is what I have to do. It is the right thing to do.

I picked up the cat's corpse.

"It's heavy but not as heavy as I expected..."

Which says a lot about my strength. This cat weighs at least 400 kilos. And I'm able to charge it without having to increase my strength with chakra. The Senju are frighteningly OP...

I move a few hundred meters away from the place of our battle. I stopped in a clearing and left the body under a big red tree, red maple.

I break a branch from another tree and start digging under the maple. I channel chakra to increase my strength and speed. I want to finish as soon as possible. Once the hole is about three meters deep and big enough for my opponent to fit in, I stop.

I put the corpse inside the hole and covered it with soil.

I take a rock and write something on the bark of the maple.

"I" The number one in Roman numerals. Sabertooth was my first opponent, the first being that earned my respect in this world. Perseverance and determination. Admirable traits, to think I'd see them on a beast...

The sun is already setting.

I went back to the river, on my way back I caught a rabbit.

When I get to the river I wash my hands and face, removing all the dirt.

I light a fire and cook the rabbit after skinning it.

While the meat is cooking I try the Leaf Concentration exercise again. Just like before the leaf flies away.

I look at the dark sky tiredly.

"How am I going to use jutsus if I can't complete even the most basic of training?"

I look at the stars almost expecting one to start talking and give me all the answers I crave. Leaf

Concentration is a very basic exercise, small children learn it at the Academy to familiarize themselves with their chakra and to learn how to stay focused.

The Academy!

That 's it!

Children learn it at the Academy! The Academy was founded many generations after Riku Senju's era. Most of the training methods used by the shinobi in the Academy are quite new, many created by Tobirama.

Riku learned to use chakra using other methods, this body is programmed in a certain way! That is why this exercise is so difficult for me.

After eating all the rabbit- I was very hungry! I approach a fairly large tree.

There is a chakra control exercise that is very, very old: Tree Climbing. At the age of twelve Riku should have mastered this exercise, and hopefully his muscle memory will help me learn it faster.

I have to concentrate my chakra on my feet and keep the flow steady. Too little chakra and my feet won't stick to the bark of the tree, too much chakra and it will be pushed away from the tree.

I placed one foot on the tree, I focused on my chakra.

I pull a little on the leg keeping the chakra flowing.

It's stuck to the tree!

I lift my other leg and place it on the tree concentrating the flow of my chakra.

"Yes!"

I am standing horizontal to the ground, standing on a tree as if it were the ground!

"Ah!"

Shit.

I fell to the ground on my back.

I lost focus and didn't keep the flow of chakra steady.

With a giant smile on my face I get up from the ground and try again.

Over and over again until I manage to walk on the trunk of the tree until I reach the top. It took me many attempts but after several hours of hard training I am sitting on the highest branch of the tree admiring the view.

This technique is amazing!

Its uses are endless. I am not going to limit myself to dominating it using my feet, I am going to learn to use this technique using all the parts of my body!

This chakra control exercise is the ninja equivalent of Spiderman's superpower. I can use it not only to climb surfaces but also to grab things with my feet or improve my grip with my hands. Sasuke was able to attract a kunai Naruto threw his direction to his feet and then throw it at an enemy by kicking the kunai while releasing his chakra's hold on the kunai.

"I'm tired!"

I climb down from the tree and lay down next to my campfire.

Tonight, sleep comes quickly.

***

When I open my eyes the sun is already shining in the sky.

I got up later today.

Between the great distance I ran, fighting the giant cat and my night training I used up a lot of energy.

But it's not too late either, the sun is not yet high in the sky. I'd say it's 10 in the morning.

Wasting no time I dove into the river and caught a fish for breakfast.

After eating I continue my journey.

Today I will find a town or a village, I am sure.

Those guys from yesterday came in a small boat. I met them at noon, assuming they left their home at dawn and knowing that the boats do not move very fast I would say that less than 100 kilometers from my current position I will find a village or town.

And I'm right!

Before long I see the village in the distance. It's quite small from what I can see, I think there are about a hundred buildings. But considering that the world I find myself in is very medieval, I think that saying that the village is small is wrong. Most settlements on this world are fairly small, with the exception of the capitals or large city-states of Essos.

As I approach the village I think about what name I should use.

I will not change the name of my clan: I am very proud to be a Senju!

I think of several options, cool and powerful names:

Caesar. Arcturus. Octavian. ikarus

Or more Asian names, more typical of Narutoverse:

Syaoran. Hikaru. Kiyoshi. Raiden.