Breaking Down/Passage of Time

*That afternoon

Tora was returning to the hokage office after his training with Anko. He had been put through the wringer by Anko during their training. For hours he had to learn the basic survival skills required of a ninja such as stealth, tracking, orienteering, and trapping in a forest full of dangerous beasts that he had to avoid or fight. While doing so, Anko would also repeatedly try to ambush him to train his awareness and perception. Though Tora was not a sensing type ninja, Anko said he had to at least be able to detect an opponent who was only doing the basic amount of camouflage.

The only fortunate thing was that Lady Shizune was accompanying them and would heal many of the cuts, bruises, bites, he received. Though this did nothing for the fatigue and pain Tora felt after enduring so many. By the end of their training, Tora was basically the walking dead.

Once he arrived at the hokage office, he found an exhausted looking Naruto asleep on a nearby sofa while two familiar women were staring daggers at each other while Hiruzen was trying his best to avoid being dragged into their confrontation.

Too tired to bow or care what they were talking about, he greeted them, he opted to kneel instead since he could rest more if he was on one knee.

"Good afternoon Lady Tsunade and Lady Mikoto..." The two were surprised by his sudden appearance since they were busy arguing and turned to him. It was at this point he remembered something.

"Lady Mikoto, I would like to thank you for allowing my clan to help with the Konoha police force. Many of our shinobi needed the employment and are grateful for the opportunity." Tora was very thankful for what Lady Mikoto did for his clan. He was initially worried that they would have difficulty finding work, however this was solved by the integration of the Konoha police force with the rest of the village which Mikoto suggested.

Seeing this, Lady Mikoto's hard face softened.

"Stand-up child, it would not do the Hoshi clan good for their prodigy to be kneeling so low. I only did what was best for the village, your clan's abilities will help our security greatly." Mikoto said in soft voice.

Once Tora stood up, he turned to Tsunade.

"Thank you Lady Tsunade for taking the time to train me in the future. I will do my best not to waste your time." As much as it would hurt and be painful, Tora realized that no path to strength was easy. He was also aware that Sannin level ninjas wouldn't just pick-up disciples willy nilly, and it was a rare opportunity to learn medical ninjutsu from her directly. He wasn't Naruto, Sakura, or Sasuke who could become disciples due to plot reasons; thus, he was sincerely thankful to Tsunade for agreeing to teach him in the future.

Tsunade, seeing this, was also moved by the child's sincere gratitude and she unclenched her fist which was previously about to start shaking while she was arguing with Mikoto.

"Don't worry to much about it kid, just give your all during our lessons in the future. I heard you've been through a lot recently... I know what its feels like to lose a lot of people you care about... Make sure you do your best so you can avoid having to feel this feeling again." Tsunade said, perhaps projecting her own feelings in her statement.

Tora wasn't sure when, but tears started to form and fall down his face. Maybe it was the exhaustion coupled with the words from the women in front of him, but the strong and unflappable facade he was trying to show all throughout his time in the Elemental Nations finally cracked.

All the pressure he felt of having to be a shinobi, clan heir, and eventually prevent Black Zetsu/Kaguya's plan finally hit him. He looked down at the floor and a flood of tears started falling.

It was at this moment he finally let himself grieve over the deaths of his grandfather and clansmen. It was at this point, he allowed himself to be human.

Hiruzen, Tsunade, and Mikoto saw this and felt something tug at their heart. Though they knew that this was something they should have been used and desensitized to as ninja. There was something about the crying boy in front of them who was desperately trying to get stronger after experiencing tragedy that reached their feelings.

Hiruzen, letting out a thoughtful breath from his pipe, looks over at Mikoto and Tsunade.

"We should stop for now, let's continue our discussion at a later date."

The two women nodded at this in agreement. After Tora was able to compose himself, he woke up the sleeping Naruto to tell him that he was going to get dinner and ask if he wanted to come along. Naruto happily agreed.

Once he got home he hugged his mother and father tightly before bathing and heading to bed. When he finally laid down he started thinking of everything that happened so far during his time in the elemental nations. He thought of the many ups and downs he had despite being only at a very young age. Then he thought of the goddess who brought him here and gave him a 2nd chance of living his life.

'Goddess?' He suddenly called out in his mind. They did not speak to each other as much during the past weeks. It was mainly due to Tora being focused on training, but there was now a subconscious awkwardness around them after what had happened to Hoshikagure.

'...Yes Tora?' The goddess replied.

'Thank you for this 2nd life. I'll do my best not to waste it this time.' Tora said in a sincere tone.

'No problem, Tora. I know I said that I wanted you to entertain me. But truthfully I just want you to live your life how you see fit. Now rest, I'm sure your going to have a time ahead of you.' Goddess then said in a caring voice.

It was then that Tora's consciousness faded.

*Months pass

Tora was standing in front of the Konoha Academy. He had already registered and was only waiting for the opening ceremony to start. While waiting he decided to open up his status and look at his progress in training.

[Status]

Name: Tora

Age: 5

[Fighting Strength]: Genin --> Peak Genin/Low Chunin

[Attributes]

[Notice: Aside from Chakra Reserves and Control, Ninja ranks will no longer be used to desribe other physical attributes once the host reaches above C (Chunin level). This is due to the large variation of builds that can arise from different statistical allocations. Continued use of ninja ranks may only cause confusion and be misleading when comparing certain ninja. ]

Vigor: C- (Low Chunin) --> C (Chunin)

Endurance: D (Genin) --> D+ (Peak Genin)

Strength : D+ (Peak Genin) --> C- (Low Chunin)

Dexterity: F (Academy Student) --> F+ (Peak Academy Student)

Chakra: C- (Low Chunin) --> C (Chunin)

Chakra Control: D- (Low Genin) --> D+ (Peak Genin)

[Skills]

Taijutsu: D (Genin) --> D+ (Peak Genin)

Kenjutsu: D+ (Peak Genin) --> C- (Low Chunin)

Ninjutsu: F (Academy Student) --> F+ (Peak Academy Student)

Genjutsu: N/A (Unable to Use)

Genjutsu Defense: F+ (Peak Academy Student)

Shurikenjutsu: F (Academy Student) --> F+ (Peak Academy Student)

[Jutsu/Jutsu Series Known]

Mystic Peacock Series: C- (Somewhat Skilled User) --> C (Skilled User)

Starscourge Series (Gravity and Heavenly body Jutsu): D (Novice User) --> C- (Somewhat Skilled User)

Shadow Clone/Multi-shadowclone Jutsu: F (Just Learned) --> D (Novice User)

Scarlet Rot Release: F (Just Learned) --> D (Novice User)

Medical Jutsu Series: F (Just Learned) --> D (Novice User)

Chakra Strengthening Jutsu: F (Just Learned)

Tora had made good progress these past months. What took him a year of training previously, he was able to accomplish in a few months due to the tutorship of various experts. He had begun carefully using the shadow clone jutsu to supplement his training, though he would only summon one due to his current chakra reserves.

Though he was starting to get worried, goddess informed him that the hill to climb for strength got steeper as he got stronger; the difficulty curve was "Exponential" not "Linear" was what she stated. He would need to work harder and smarter if he wanted to progress enough before the main story started at around academy graduation in 7 years.

He had thought of graduating after one year and joining the genin corps or anbu. But he felt he could do more if he stayed at the academy for just a bit longer and built stronger relationships with the important characters like the Konoha 12. This would help him when he tried to do the "fixing kunoichi" quest in the future.

While he was in thought, a voice called out to him.

"Hey Tora!" Naruto came running up to him.

"Hey Naruto wait up." Another voice came after.

Behind him was the future edgy boy, but current bro-con Sasuke.

Apparently, to protect Naruto from the discrimination of the villagers, Tsunade decided to adopt him into the Senju clan. Tora thought this had something to do with her grandma Mito being an Uzumaki, with both the Senju and Uzumaki nearing extinction, and Naruto being the son of the fourth hokage. Additionally, he vaguely had this memory of Tsunade seeing her younger brother Nawaki when she saw Naruto in the anime, this likely caused the soft spot she had for him.

Almost none of the clan heads fought her over this and believed it was the best situation to control the jinchuriki and provide the son of Minato a good home. Mikoto however, did not let Tsunade have Naruto so easily. She argued that Tsunade would have difficulty raising Naruto due to having no time, especially if the rumors and speculations of her becoming the next hokage were true. Instead she suggested she adopt Naruto, since even if she or Fugaku was not present, he would have brothers such as Sasuke and Itachi. This was actually the argument they were having when Tora entered the kage office months ago.

In the end, they were able to reach a compromise. Naruto would be adopted by Tsunade but would live parts of the year at Mikoto's house, especially if Tsunade was busy and unable to go home. Thus Naruto and Sasuke were able to meet at a much earlier time. Though they still had a competitive, albeit less toxic, rivalry going on.

"What's up Naruto, hey Sasuke." Tora returned Naruto's greeting.

"Hey." Sasuke nodded.

"Are you guys ready to head in?" Tora asked.

"Yup!" Both Naruto and Sasuke answered.

"Alright, let's head in. Race you to the opening ceremony." Tora then took off running with a smirk, with Naruto and Sasuke following close behind.

Tora felt that the dark clouds in the future of the story, was getting a little bit brighter.

Author's Corner

Hey guys!

Another chapter for today. You may have noticed that this chapter was a bit more sappy than usual. It came to my attention while I was rereading the previous chapters that it felt that Tora was being a bit too "okay" with everything that happened in his life recently, and I was concerned that it might read like he was a sociopath or didn't care about his village/family.

Thus, I wrote this chapter to show that Tora was still very much hurt and depressed about losing his relatives and his village, and that he was only acting tough since he thought it was easier to cope that way.

By the way, I'll probably time skip a few years to when Tora graduates early. It feels we've spent a long period of time at this point and we should progress the story now.

Thanks for Reading!