Chapter 5 – War and Peace

Chapter 5 – War and Peace

The Land of Fire

Come on, come on, oh my dear paws safe our ass, otherwise I feel that this time the old bastard will not be satisfied only with the usual scolding about the shameful behaviour of the future head of the clan.

- Wait, you little shit, how dare you do this to my new poem! For such a crime against art, I will skin you! – hmm and not even a small sign of fatigue on his face, grandfather wasn't even out of breath, although we've been running here for 3 laps already.

You will probably ask what was the reason for this behaviour from a seemingly unshakable like a mountain top veteran? Well, let's say I acted like a real Shinobi and hit the enemy when he least expected it. Grandfather turned out to be not only a fan of poetry, but also dabbled in writing himself and sometimes he even shared them with public. Although I'll be honest, in part it reminded me of sitting around a campfire with drinking alcohol. So today my grandfather decided to read a particularly boring poem. It was beyond my strength to tolerate this turbidity and I decided to add a few corrections. Okay, I won't lie, there were more than just few corrections, I replaced his second half of the poem with rubai Omar Khayyam with a special emphasis on wine and women.

Uh-huh and now imagine that you listened to a poem about self-discipline and self-control from respectable old man, but suddenly he began to propagandize you towards drinking wine and flirting with ladies. Grandfather realized that this was not at all like his poetic verses only at the very end and it took him a few minutes to reboot his server. And the grateful audience couldn't hold back their laughter and had a good time. Some ladies started trolling him by throwing such greasy- provocative comments to my grandfather that even the experienced Casanovas of my past world would have started to blush.

It didn't take Grandfather much time to find the culprit and rush in pursuit of me. But then my training helped me to break out into the operational space, and when I calmly turned into the first form, the old bastard had to use the chakra. And now the clan members can see a magnificent picture of the clan elder chasing a small bear.

- Stop and take your punishment like a man. I'll just break your skull, you defiler of poetry! - Grandfather shouted at the top of his lungs. Then he turned into a bear and with a sharp leap shortened the distance and the last thing I saw was his huge paws. Mdash; "Run Forrest! Run!" I'm not going to get this achievement yet.

The last thought in my head was that thanks to my sacrifice, a new trend in poetry would come to this world. So it's not a shame to suffer for this.

And another year passed at such a measured pace. All I did was train and learn to control my inner beast. Plus, I developed my calligraphy and drawing skills, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that I have achieved good results.

Now I'm sitting here and drawing a portrait of my grandfather. In retaliation for the night that the clan called the phenomenon of the old lovelace to the world, he forced me to draw portraits of all members of the clan. Now it's finally his turn and I decided that one portrait would be too small. This man carries an incredible burden of responsibility and at the same time manages to helps me to grow into decent person. So I can't do with a simple portrait here. Therefore, I decided to draw a picture of two hypostases, a man of war and a man of peace, inspiration came to me when I saw my grandfather enjoying the warm sun rays sitting on a small bench and polishing his armor. On one side there will be a younger version of my grandfather in armor sitting on the left half of a small boulder. In front of him will stretch the battlefield littered with weapons and torn banners against the background of a bloody sunset. Despite his fatigue, there will be a slight smile on his young face. On the other side, the grandfather will be sitting in his current form, but instead of armor, he will wear an usual clothes. His grey hair will be braided into several braids decorated with rings with clan signs. A serene face will be turned to the warm rays of the rising sun. And in his hands, instead of a sword, there will be a brush and a small scroll. And in front of him will stretch a green field full of life. Almost like that little piece of paradise that I saw before coming to this world. I hope Grandpa likes it.

A few days later, when I gave up on everything except the painting, I made the last stroke. Now the picture was ready. It remains only to present. So it remains only to find the grandfather. Finally I found him near the same place where inspiration came to me.

- Grandfather. Are you busy? - I asked, my throat suddenly went dry. Prepared speech was suddenly erased from my head.

- Yes, a little bear. Is there something you wanted to show me? - Grandpa said softly with a warm smile.

I couldn't find the right words and just unfolded the picture in front of him and placed it on a small stand that I took with me.

Grandfather's eyes widened sharply and he walked stiffly to the painting and just looked. So a few minutes passed and grandfather said only one phrase– thank you. I decided that he wants to be alone and make sense of everything he saw in the picture. In the late afternoon, I returned to him and I saw him drinking sake and playing some kind of cheerful melody on the shamisen. I saw that the bright fire of love for life was burning in his soul again and all that burden of responsibility that was pressing on his shoulders had disappeared somewhere and he was having fun to the fullest. Looking around, I saw that I was not the only one looking at the happy grandfather. Several members of the clan quietly sat down on the neighbouring benches and enjoyed the music and smiled at the sight of the happy elder. I will try to give them more reasons for such happy moments in the future. And even when I went to bed, the smile did not leave my face and that cheerful melody was still playing in my head.

This year I spent not only fooling around and having fun at the expense of my grandfather's nerves, but also in constant training to improve my first form and taijutsu. Now I could turn into the first form in a short enough time and maintain it for a long enough time. Although at first a sharp aggravation of feelings made me suffer, gradually I learned to deal with it, and there the brain began to cope with the increased information load. And taijutsu training revealed that I had a strong talent in it, so I grasped everything on the fly, which resulted in the fact that my grandfather decided to focus on fighting at an extremely close distance in my training.

After seeing my overall progress, they started teaching me a special clan style of combat. Our kekkai genkai allows us to withstand much more damage, while we ourselves can simply trample the enemy. Based on this, our style focuses on the complete suppression of the enemy, even at the cost of taking damage. Which is quite logical at first glance, why constantly dodge if you can just withstand the enemy's attack and forcing him to open up for a fatal blow, and the first form, so to speak, makes it difficult to evade attacks. The clan style also teaches wrestling, because even a punch saturated with chakra will leave only a bruise on a thick bear carcass, and we can catch the enemy in the grip and not give him a chance to retreat. And the enemy caught in the bear hug will already feel how his bones begin to break in the bear's paws. Plus, this style forces us to use not only our muscles, but also improved sensory organs so that we just don't get overwhelmed by numerous enemies. You have to be ready for a surprise attack from behind while you break the enemy in the grip or deliver a finishing blow, and the ability to withstand a lot of damage does not mean that you are invulnerable. When they showed me the sparring of two veterans, I had a feeling that I got into a super-heavyweight MMA fight. In the first half, there was mostly an exchange of blows. Punches were inflicted only with fists, while palms and elbows were used to repel blows and cause injuries due to hard blocks. In the second half there was a struggle, the most surprising thing was that only a minimum of throws were used, while the emphasis was on grabbing and painful kansetsu-waza techniques. And when they moved into the first form, fangs and claws were added to the fists, which made the sparring even more brutal. If they ask me how I would describe our style, I would say the following – fortitude, cruelty and efficiency.

Fortunately, in my previous life I was sent to the judo section, so I was not a green leaf beginner at all, so it was easier for me to train it than other children. I even started to enjoy working in this style. There was something primal about him that made him enjoy the opportunity to completely suppress the enemy and not let him leave. I think that's how predators at the top of the food chain hierarchy feel. If there were no special problems with mastering the style, then there was a problem of self-control because grandfather saw that I was letting my beast break out. And the loss of control in battle is a guaranteed death, if not enemies my own clansmen will try to kill me, because I will not only start killing everyone in my path, but I can make their inner beast awaken. And instead of a shinobi squad, we will get a gang of bloodthirsty madmen. And this resulted in a decrease in the number of training sparring sessions and an increase in the amount of meditation and work on controlling the inner beast.

Unfortunately, our style has its own big drawback. It is very good when we fight in human form, but it is not particularly effective in the first form because of a completely different physique and only in the second form it begins to really shine. And achieving the second form requires a long training and preparation, and not everyone can maintain it for a long time. So the clan has a highly effective style, but with high user requirements.

So another year has passed and I was getting ready to celebrate my eighth birthday in the company of my grandfather when we heard a strange crack. Going outside, the first thing we saw was a small snake of cracks in the centre of the barrier above our heads.

The barrier is weakening. We have less than a year left before he disappears. - Grandfather's voice was full of anxiety. – I'm sorry, grandchild, but I need to go and start preparing for the end of our isolation.

- I understand Grandfather. Don't worry- I answered him with a smile, but my head was full of questions about what awaits me and my clan in the nearest future. The only thing that remains for me to do is to use the remaining year to the maximum and meet the dangers of the outside world fully prepared