2 Chapter 2: Progress

Two weeks passed and I made incredible progress. Since I did nothing but train my chakra control improved by a lot. My old best time of 2 minutes and 45 seconds was beaten multiple times and my new record sits around 15 minutes. I also started meditating after the other orphans and I had to go to bed.

I didn't have any concern about my physical condition either, as I already noticed that my endurance made some progress. I'll start doing body exercises soon, including some calisthenics I knew from my former world. Calisthenics is a more effective way to build muscle than just simple weight exercises without the proper equipment and should help with body control, which was a skill you could hardly resist to hone in a ninja like setting.

I woke up expecting the day to be like every other day. Although I didn't feel boredom of having the same day everyday I still didn't enjoy this lifestyle. Thus, the message the caretekers had for us was something I really was glad to hear.

"Today is the day of the month were we'll leave the orphanage and head to the city! Everyone who wants to go, should sign in on the list."

Naturally every child signed up for the trip, even I myself couldn't resist this precious opportunity. Of course, I had ulterior motives. As we visited the city it turns out that we each got a little allowance of 15 ryo. 1 ryu equals around 1 dollar. That means we'll each get an allowance of 15 dollars each month, which is a fair amount. Looking at the other children, I could read from their faces, that they were going to spend it on sweets and toys.

[A/N: Originally 1 Ryu equals 10 yen, but I decided to use a 1:1 approach with dollars, since I know nothing about yen]

"You are allowed to go on your own now, but we'll meet again here in an hour again." The caretaker said.

With that information the kids ran into every direction. I myself however recalled seeing a bookstore on our way. As I reached the store and entered an old lady welcomed me. The store had many books of a variety of topics. I looked at the section called theory. As expected I found some books on chakra theory and training. I looked at the prices and thought that the books are relatively cheap. Only 6 Ryu. It was way less than expected, but this way I was able to buy two books.

Chakra Theory Part 1: About Chakra and Jutsus

Training to become a Genin

I was skeptical at first, but the second book was addressed to students of the academy trying to become a Genin rather than Genin themselves. I bought the books and the old lady smiled at him saying that he has a strong will of fire trying to become a ninja at such a young age.

As I realized that a lot of time passed since I left I decided to go back to the meeting point. As I figured most of the other kids had blown their Ryu for sweets and had nothing left. Upon returning home I decided to take a look at the books rather than train my leaf concentration.

I managed to finish them both at one day. What I took from the first was the theory to strengthen myself with chakra as well as the theory for walking on walls or even water.

In the second book on how to become a Genin, there was a higher focus on basic survival training, but it also had information on some basic Jutsus. That would be the academic three, body replacement Jutsu, the clone Jutsu, as well as the transformation Jutsu. In addition there was also the body-flicker Jutsu to train. It only briefly explained them so I'll probably have to visit the library to get access to the proper scrolls of the Jutsus with longer and better explanations after I entered the academy. Unfortunately I won't be able to practice the Jutsus anytime soon.

On the next morning I tried strengthening my body with chakra. I started by letting my chakra flow through all my body parts from my chest through the stomach to the legs and arms. As I tried to walk slowly forward, I stumbled and fell as I had too few chakra too actually strengthen my body. After I stood up I tried to strengthen only my legs and feet and as I started running I immediately felt just how much faster I was now. I was able to jump way higher too. I jumped over the fence surrounding our playground in one go. That means that I'll be able to go into the city alone from now on. But I still only get allowance if I go into the city with the other kids once a month.

[3rd Person]

Over the next few months until his fifth birthday Soma improved his chakra control via the leaf concentration to a level where he could rival those of chunin. It doesn't mean he's as strong as them. He couldn't even beat a Genin now, as he didn't learn any Jutsus and had a small pool of chakra.

About his chakra: He didn't know yet how big his pool of chakra was, as he had nothing to compare it to. But he read about it in Chakra Theory 2: About the Chakra Pathway System. Chakra was comparable to height. It grows over time and gets more efficient the more you train it. However, the size of one's innate chakra pool can't be changed through sheer training. That said, you are able to raise the amounts of Jutsus used by adding extra handsigns. That was apparently why Kakashi used so many more and fast handsigns as he had a small pool of chakra since birth.

Soma didn't buy many books since my first visit in the city since he was able to regularly visit the city. The books he bought nonetheless were:

Chakra Theory 2: About the Chakra Pathway System

Chakra Theory 3: About Affinities and Kekkei Genkai

The handsigns encyclopedia

Soma practiced and memorized all of the handsigns over the past few months and also managed to channel the chakra with each handsign subconsciously, which was a step any ninja had to take in order to call himself a full fledged ninja. Soma figured, that he was ready to learn some real Jutsus now.

He also was able to walk on walls and on water freely. It was an easy task, really. You just had to be able concentrate your chakra on the areas that touched the surface you want to walk or stay on. He started by only staying at a wall and would then go on to walk on it. The next step was to do it the same process on water. Although Soma first thought that walking on water would prove to be the most difficult it was actually the easiest, as the other two messed with your head and blood circulation. Speaking of the devil, after he mastered walking on water I started to train to be able to just hold myself on the ceiling.

It proved to be way more difficult than standing horizontally at the wall, since you just had to apply more force with your Chakra against the wall than the force of gravity had to oppose it. But standing on the ceiling was a way different thing to handle. You had to apply the same force or more than gravity to be able to stand there, but couldn't apply to much force since it would push your feet into the ceiling making you unable to walk. After he figured out the perfect amount of force to apply to himself Soma had to face the next problem. When he stood too long with his head pointing down the blood flowed into his head not allowing him not think easily. But he figured that he wouldn't have to walk over head that much anyway and since he was able to walk like that for more than a minute his training should be sufficient.

Today was apparently his 5th birthday since the caretakers confronted him with a cake on his way down to the breakfast. And with 'confronted' he really meant confronted. The young caretaker that tried him to open up to her since he joined the orphanage held the cake having a confident look in her eyes. 'Surely he'll open up to me if I bring him cake. Surely!' As Soma saw her expression he thought 'Oh, apparently the caretaker isn't even able to accept the rejection of a little kid.' 

"Happy Birthday Yatora! This cake's for you!"

He thought about the offer short, but then saw that there was nothing exposing the idea. He might even enjoy a piece of cake. At the table he was given the honor to slice the cake. He accepted and cut the cake into pieces. All the kids got a thin piece of cake while Soma got a normal sized one. He took one bite with the young caretaker closely watching. As he put the cake into his mouth and was blown away by the flavor. He subconsciously started to smile, as he really enjoyed it, which made the caretaker happy. It was the first time for her to actually see Soma showing any emotions. Soma was really blown away. He initially had declined every sweets in this life as he thought that he wouldn't feel anything anyways. 

"Soma!" The caretaker wanted to expand her progress and decided to announce something Soma already expected. Over the past few months some children already had their birthday. "Since it's your birthday we decided to fulfill one of your wishes the next time we go to the city. What do you say?" "That's amazing." Soma said enjoying to finally be able to get something he wanted and had a slight smile on his lips. 

Soma already decided what he wanted. In 'Chakra Theory 3: About Affinities and Kekkei Genkai' it was mentioned that everyone has a chakra affinity for one of the elemental releases. To decide on his on going path and what kind of ninja he would want to be, it was very important to know his own chakra nature. To check the nature of your chakra you had to focus your chakra on something called a chakra paper. Depending on the reaction it revealed your nature. I would prefer it to be wind or lightning release. However it is most likely to be fire release since it's the most seen in the village with the will of fire.

As for why he wants it to be wind or lightning the most, the reason is actually very simple and also has something with to do with the gift he wants to choose. He already had decided on the gift a long time ago. He currently has saved 45 Ryo. Which will make him able to buy a chakra paper for 50 Ryu the next time they go to the city. The gift he wants however is a so called Bokken, the wood version of a traditionell katana in his size sitting comfortably at 95 Ryu for his size. Honestly, he was surprised by the price and expected it to be much lower. A wooden sword for kids would he estimated at only 25 Dollar or Ryu. But it seems that weapons were valuated much higher in this world than in his old world. The obvious reason for him wanting a sword was his desire to learn Kenjutsu, the art of the sword in combination with Jutsus. That was also the reason of his wish to have a wind or lightning affinity since they go best with weapons.

Even if he wouldn't have one of those affinities he could still decide to train one of them additionally. He would then just decide to train the one that goes best with the one he has natural. That said, he really didn't want his affinity to be earth. There was no real advantage of having earth. It could just do what the other elements could do, but worse and didn't really pair up with any of the other elements if you're not blessed with having an earth related Kekkei Genkai. 

After around two weeks, they were finally going to the city again. "And are you excited? Do you already know what you want? You know, the upper limit is a whopping 100 Ryu." Sawada said. She was the young caretaker that couldn't handle rejection, but after her efforts, Soma finally decided to remember her name.

"I want a wooden sword." Soma replied coldly, which couldn't disturb Sawada's good mood.

"Oh, so you want to be a ninja from this young age. Do you already know where to buy it?" 

"I know a shop. It's called Sushizaki's. I went there the last months to check out if he had any wooden weapons."

"Oh, and why a sword of all things?"

"My Father used one in his time as a shinobi."

"Oh." Sawada said dispirited, thinking she had just ruined everything. To speak about his dead father had to do something with a little kid.

Of course the story was a lie. Soma had no knowledge about what type of ninja his father was. He only knew that he died on a mission. However there was a reason he wanted to learn the art of the sword. It wasn't just to look like a cool samurai, although it still played a role in his decision. A sword is essentially just an extension of your own arm that is very light with high mobility unlike an axe. More reach also just means an advantage in close combat and Taijutsu fights. And it is something to show. He will be able to practice his Jutsus in secret during his times in academia, while he could go on and be the sword guy in the academia. This way he could go as average and be specialized in one thing to be considered valuable, but not get abducted by the guy called Danzo Shimura, while training to become powerful. In the fan fictions I read he sounded scary as hell. 

"We're here." Soma said looking at the shop. 

"Oh, I heard that Konoha's best shinobis go here. I just didn't know the name."

They entered. There were a few customers. Most of them were in there ninja uniform. The green vest you obtain after you successfully pass the Chunin exam and long black sleeves and trousers. Some were clothed civil, but from the aura they emitted you could easily guess that they were ninjas too.

"You're here again, little guy." It was the shop owner, a retired shinobi named Tomioka Sushizaki. He was one of Konoha's most known blacksmiths and a nice old man with a soft spot for kids with passion. "Are you finally able to buy your little sword?" He asked as he saw that I didn't came alone this time.

"I am. This is one of my orphanage's caretaker. Her name's Sawada." They shortly greeted each other.

"You can consider yourself lucky having a child like him, no doubt about it. If he has such a passion at such a young age, he surely will be a known ninja in no time."

"Do you really think so? Then I hope that he won't forget about me." She jokingly said, but I took it serious. Sawada was the first person that accepted me in this world despite my missing emotions.

"Of course he won't. He's a good boy." The blacksmith chuckled. I really enjoyed the presence of the two. Sawada was something like family for Soma. The last days he even talked a little bit with her. But she was nothing like a motherly figure. She gave him more the big sister vibes.

Although Soma told her, that he visited the blacksmith the last two months when they were in the city together. What he didn't tell her was that he also visited two times every week for more than a month by now. The old guy talked about weapons without stopping just like a waterfall. It was very interesting and he was also a kenjutsu master so I heard some stories about his past. Apparently he fought a guy named Fugaku Uchiha once in the past and bragged about that he trained with him. Soma didn't know who that was, but he sounded strong, badass and was apparently the head of the Uchiha clan, as well as the father of one of the two main characters, Sasuke Uchiha. Over the past month Soma grew really fond of Tomioka, as he enjoyed listening to his stories.

"Hey, look here Yatora. This is a bokken I made especially for you. It has a higher quality than normal wooden training swords."

"But won't that cost more? I don't have that much."

"Don't worry. I made this for you. It costs the same. I see it as an investment into the future. You just have to promise me that you're going to buy all your swords from me, once you're a famous shinobi." Tomioka smiled. He really had a soft side for ambitious little kids that share his passion.

"What do you say now?" Sawada said friendly, but it sounded more like a threat.

"Thank you, Tomioka."

Sawada gave Soma the 100 Ryu bill, to let him learn to pay with high amounts of money. Until now he only had 1 Ryu coins, so he never got any change. He was used to it from his old world, but Sawada couldn't know that. He got his 5 Ryu change and they were about to leave the store, as Tomioka said one more thing. 

"Hey, little guy. We train our kenjutsu at the park across the street every week day between 6 and 7 30 in the evening. You are free to watch, but I can't promise you any training since your only 5 years of age."

I looked inquiringly at Sawada. Under normal circumstances, he would be able to go there alone in secret. Sadly Sawada was listening so he couldn't accept the offer right now on his own. That and it was a really bad time. They were eating at 6. That was no time he could escape the eyes of the caretakers.

"I look what I can do." Sawada said, but in her she had one thing on her mind. 'If it's what he wants, I'll definitely manage to persuade the others.'

After they left, Soma was allowed to keep the change, but didn't get an additional 15 Ryu, which was completely fine by him. He was now in possession of a wooden katana and had exactly 50 Ryu which was enough to by himself a chakra paper. However, he wouldn't want to buy that in the presence of Sawada. After they collected the other kids, they returned to the orphanage, while Yatora enjoyed the envious looks of the other children a little. 

Afterall, he was now in possession of a sword.