4 Growing up, Part I
2 AND A HALF WEEKS! That's how long it took me to identify all my limbs. These weeks were horrible, like living on a potent hallucinogen that would never wear off.
Supposedly, Kabuto figured out how to move his body after Tsunade changed the way his body was wired. After having to do something similar, there is no way he could do that. There is no way it could be possible. I understand that Orochimaru's helper must be special, but that is just madness.
Something else I never really appreciated was my depth perception. Blurry vision is bad, but the lack of depth perception is brutal. I'm constantly surprised by Ashita's touch; it happens every damn time. On the bright side, it should prevent me from being startled once I become a shinobi. For now, though, it's annoying as hell.
There is also a mist-like substance in the air. I can't tell what it is due to my underdeveloped eyes, but I think it is the Natural Energy I wished to see.
Once my eyes can focus better, I can try and manipulate it. It shouldn't be physical, so it'll be safe for my infantile body to do. I expect it to be pretty strenuous on my mind, though. Practicing this should massively benefit my spiritual development but leave me super unbalanced. I'll need to work my ass off with Guy and Lee to fix that.
It should be fun to mess around with those two, but I hope I can keep up. Learning the inner gates would be pretty cool.
Another thing I picked up was the language. Unfortunately, I will have to learn Japanese seriously this time since my auto-translate ability didn't follow me into my body. At least I won't have to start from scratch; I did a year of Japanese on Duolingo in my last life.
If only I didn't give up on it…
-
Ashita placed Kane back into his basket. His head and feet nearly touched the edges of the little basket he had been in since they returned from the hospital. He has been acting strange for a baby. He startles visibly whenever he is touched, and he seldom cries.
He has two distinct cries: one small, which means he needs to be fed, and another, which is extremely loud, which means he needs to be changed. But besides those two reasons, he is extremely quiet; he just sits there wiggling around with a frowny face. It's like he is trying to figure out some great mystery.
It is very fun to watch.
- - -
It's been three months since my birth, and my vision has drastically improved. My depth perception has also gotten better, but it's still imperfect. The biggest improvement has been my motor control; I can finally move around! I am still weak physically, but that is expected of a baby.
I could see color after the first two months and finally figured out what the green mist was. It was Natural Energy, as I suspected. After tinkering around with the ability to see the energy, I discovered something that feels like a second set of eyelids. They aren't physical, but the energy becomes visible once they 'open' and when 'closed' it disappears.
I've had some small success in making it move, but I am nowhere near proficient. It just randomly moves when I want it to. The process is harder than anticipated, but diligent practice will make it easier. There is no way I would ignore an ability just because it isn't easy to use.
I've also found that learning the language is much easier when immersed in it. I still think in English, but small things have transitioned to Japanese.
I got my crib, too - not a house; a baby's crib - it's small, but a step towards independence. It's large enough for me to crawl around but not far before needing to turn around. I know pushing my body isn't good at this age, but I have to do something to appease my ever-growing cabin fever.
The main way I keep myself sane is by constantly exhausting my mental strength. Playing with Natural Energy is fun, but I can only do that for so long before I start to get antsy.
I can't wait to be big enough to potty train myself. Soiling myself daily has been the biggest blow to my psyche. No matter how warm and mushy it feels, it still grosses me out; every. Damn. Time.
-
Kushina was atop a large stool looking into a wooden crib. Inside, her little brother was fast asleep. This wasn't the first time she visited him like this; she came here every night. Ashita watched the duo while leaning on the doorway; she had a complicated expression.
Watching Kushina on her daily visit was adorable; how she spoke about her day never ceased to warm her heart. It was like she thought the babe could understand her. But a small part of her mind always stamped out those warm feelings. She was afraid that Kushina would hold her mother's death against him. She hates that small seed of doubt, but it just won't disappear.
She would never act upon this doubt, but she always closely watched them when they were together. Besides dissuading her paranoia, this also showed her many adorable scenes like the one before her. Kushina is such a good big sister.
Perhaps it was just the life of a shinobi which made her always expect the worst.
- - -
Another three months later, I was a lean, mean, crawling machine. I finally had the strength to move, and there was no way I would not use it.
Kushina or Ashita was always on my tail. It was fun to have them chase me, but it was annoying to have them picking me up and scrutinizing everything I did. It's my fault they do this, of course. I have a bad habit of exploring places I know a baby should not go. I may have the mind of an adult, but that does not mean I am immune to the whims of my body.
At least, that's my excuse…
I was pulled out of the fireplace the other day. It wasn't lit - I'm not dumb, just small - and Kushina and Ashita flipped out. I was white from all the ash; it was nice and soft but not as tasty as expected. Not that I expected it to taste good. *ahem*
There was also that time when I found Ashita's stash of kunai…
I am starting to see why they follow me around now.
Now, life in Uzushiogakure (or Uzushio) is as you would expect. It's full of red hair, people constantly saying 'You Know,' and good vibes. Then there were the seals. Sealing arts (or Fuinjutsu) is as prevalent here as the leaves are in Konohagakure (or Konoha). They are used in everything from cooking, clothing, buildings, security, etc.
It didn't take long for me to understand why they were annihilated. They could easily turn the five great villages into the six if they wanted. If they just focused more on combat-applicable seals instead of lifestyle seals, they could be a force to be afraid of instead of a force to be wary of.
Thinking of its future destruction, I decided to try to prevent it if I could. It's worth the risk, even if I had to reveal my skills. It would be too big of a waste to let them be wiped out like the Uchiha. Besides, what is the point of having power if I can't do what I want?
Other than exploring, I spend my days crawling around to my heart's content and practicing my manipulation of the ambient Natural Energy. It is still a useless skill, but I at least have some modicum of control over it. I've gone from being satisfied with any movement to being able to control it purposefully. It goes left when I want it to go left and right when I want it to go right.
Currently, the only use of Natural Energy in combat I could use is to flood my opponent with it and turn them to stone. This should kill them, but I haven't tried it yet, and the show didn't show much in-depth about it.
Eventually, I will have the Chakra reserves to use Senjutsu (or Sage Mode), but that is way too far in the future.
In the past months I've been alive, I maintained diligent practice and never had any impact on my physical condition. It takes great focus and mental strength, but that is it. Hopefully, I'll discover a new way to use Natural Energy, but it's just endless practice for now.
I don't hate it, but I can't say I like it either.
On the bright side, I am finally big enough to potty train! This has been a great relief to my adult ego; the lack of a bidet is sad, but you won't hear me complain.
Ashita was surprised by my actions, but who cares? I refuse to wear diapers any longer! I, a grown-ass man, REFUSE to poop my pants!
Kushina has gotten excited to play with me, but I have little stamina and got tired easily. I'll need to work on that soon. I want to be able to walk on my own by the time I turn one.
Who cares if that makes me a freak? I am tired of being a useless baby. Besides, I may be an Uzumaki, but that doesn't mean diddly-squat in the coming ninja wars.
I'll need every advantage I can get.
- - -
9 months after being born, I had an exciting discovery.
Over the last month, I had gotten comfortable with the amount of Natural Energy I had been working with, so I began to increase the quantity. As the temperature began to change into the colder season, I had an idea.
Since Natural Energy seems to be everywhere in a gaseous form, can it be condensed to another state? All gasses can be condensed hypothetically so long as there is enough pressure. Couldn't Natural Energy do the same?
It gave me many headaches in the first few weeks of practice, but I finally succeeded. The energy solidified for a single second before I passed out from overexertion.
In the following week, I began to attempt to condense the room full of energy into solid form every night. It took another week before I had enough strength to maintain this pressure and do anything with the solid.
I learned it dissipated once I lost my concentration. It floated in the air and could be controlled at will. My most important discovery was that this solidified Natural Energy could affect solid matter.
At the time, I was too tired to celebrate or think of all the numerous applications. But the next day was amazing. I was daydreaming about petrifying Senbons, Shuriken, Kunai and short swords. I haven't tested if the solidified energy becomes visible to other people, but it wouldn't make sense if the invisible energy stopped being visible in high concentrations.
I had images of myself eradicating armies Minato-style go through my head. Instead of corpses, I was surrounded by statues of people who had all turned to stone after being hit with my invisible energy weapons. I wasn't considering how difficult it would be to do this, but a boy can dream, can't he?
The mental strength needed for that would be insane, but that's a problem for future me. Now, though, I can start my mischief. I can do all kinds of things without being caught; I can't wait to see what mischief I can cause.
- - -
A full year has passed, and I've finally turned 1. Learning to walk was much, much harder than expected. I couldn't do it before the new year, but still figured it out before my birthday.
Incorporating the condensation of Natural Energy into my daily training drastically reduced the time spent on it. With the remaining day, I spent my time working on speaking Japanese and beginning to work on seals.
Kushina likes to tote me around with her alongside Ashita as the chaperone. I've met most of Kushina's friends and seen much of the village. Most of the kids she plays with are around her age, but after a few weeks, they started to act strange around me.
Sure, I may have pulled a few mean pranks on some kids who were mean to Kushina, but they shouldn't be smart enough to tie that to me.
There have also been rumours of a ghost around the village, courtesy of myself *evil laughter*.
Nothing bad has happened, just lots of people tripping and things moving when they aren't looking. Things like doors closing independently without the wind, pots and pans banging, and my favourite, skilled shinobi hitting their heads on invisible objects.
It took a while to prevent myself from passing out quickly after making a construct, but now I can maintain one for several seconds without getting a horrible headache. My hypothesis that the energy remains invisible was correct; I had a great time messing with people for a few weeks.
The reactions of the shinobi were incredible, and having people question whether or not ghosts are real has been incredibly amusing. Unfortunately, my fun was short-lived since the village guards began to petrol in full force, and I didn't want to mess with them too much. Of course, that didn't mean I left them alone completely. I'd occasionally trip them, but never often enough that I could be caught.
For my birthday, I received a scroll for practising calligraphy. It is supposed to be the first step in learning Fuinjutsu. I had never tried it before, but it's really fun. It's finicky, but I find it relaxing, and we can all do it together as a family. Since I started to ask, it's become a nightly routine after dinner.
Hopefully, I will be able to start making basic seals soon. It is supposed to be like chakra control for a Hyuga or shuriken skills for a Uchiha; sealing should come innately to me.
A/N:
Should I use the Japanese or English versions for locations and jutsu? Vote by comment below!
Uzushiogakure or Senjutsu (Japanese)
Uzushio or Sage Mode (English)
