6 6

--Yr 54—24, Jan--

The first book he had read in the library was an interesting one, though he hadn't finished it. He read what he could before moving to the next book, then the next, then the next. None of which he finished only reading a few things, skimming the texts and jumping from chapter to chapter.

Those books he looked into he borrowed them, having them in the bag the librarian was kind enough to give him. It was somewhat late not having been to the book shop yet, he was far too hungry and tried to simply go to the book shop now after finishing his time in the library.

It wasn't exactly fun being in the body he was in.

Nature Transformations, on the other hand, were self-explanatory and not at all perplexing. It was a method of altering the nature of one's chakra into one of the fundamental components, which was utilized to boost attack power against raw chakra. Nature Transformations, on the other hand, were self-explanatory and not at all perplexing. It was a method of altering the nature of one's chakra into one of the fundamental components, which was utilized to boost attack power against raw chakra.

There was, of course, water, wind, lightning and Earth.

If he had to rank them, he'd put Lightning and Wind at the top, occupying the first and second spots, respectively. It made sense to choose those two because lightning can pierce through any defence due to its penetrating power, whilst wind can cut through anything due to its continual power and ability to divert the direction of other things.

Water is the versatility of constructions; being able to generate water from scratch was useful if one was powerful enough.

The field is altered by Earth, which develops defence and boosts bodily resistance.

Then there was fire... which he ranked last, in his opinion- Oh dear, a large flame was heading straight for him... Oh, look how sluggish it's coming—it didn't have quite as much of a surprise factor as the others. Even yet, the elements are intended to be 'equal' at the end of the day.

Then again if he were to rank them to his personal preference, it would go like this.

1 - Lightning

2 - Wind

3 - Earth

4 - Water

5 - Fire

He navigated the village's streets. With his hands jammed inside the pockets of his shorts, his right hand clutching the cash he was given, and the bag provided to him still strapped on his back, he continued on his trip of seeking something to eat, giving no sign to the Anbu that he was aware of their current positions.

All he could think about was how he was going to avoid them in the future... chakra suppression? He navigated the village's streets. With his hands jammed inside the pockets of his shorts, his right hand clutching the cash he was given, and the bag provided to him still strapped on his back, he continued on his trip of seeking something to eat, with no sign of the Anbu that he knew of their positions.

All he could think about was how he was going to avoid them in the future... chakra suppression?

It shouldn't be too hard, he was still learning fuinjutsu and would continue to do so. He thought deeply as he continued walking down the streets, careful not to bump into anyone as they passed.

He finally came to a stop when he spotted a food stall after smelling the aroma that seemingly called out for him, it was small in shape, the front of the shop opened completely, it was practically an open area with pillars holding up the roof covering the sitting area.

With long strides, he made his way towards the shop making his way to the stools that were situated in front of the counter. 'Slightly' struggling he finally sat up on the stool and took the closest menu that was spread across the counter.

The shop was close to empty, with just another customer not too far away from where Kiyoshi was seated, he himself was staring down at the menu in his hands.

Looking up he could see two workers behind the counter moving around the cooking area.

Kiyoshi looked back down at the menu and stared intently at it as he scanned through everything written there before he stopped at the section labelled 'Soba' and began wondering what it was.

He dragged his finger across the different types of Soba, 'Zaru Soba', 'Kitsune Soba', Oroshi Soba' and finally his finger landed on the last name on the list, that being 'Tempura Soba'.

He huffed lightly wondering what to get, he was more interested in the 'Soba' section seeing as he hadn't heard of it before and was feeling like drifting from his comfort zone, instead of having something more recognizable by the name such as ramen.

Before he knew it there was a man standing in front of him behind the counter, as Kiyoshi looked up, he met eyes with the man who had his brow raised seeing the young child that was seated there.

The man seemed to be at least in his mid-30s if Kiyoshi had to guess, his eyes were droopy, and his back slightly slouched over as he stared at Kiyoshi.

After a few seconds of silence, the man spoke, sounding as laid back as he looked "Where are your parent's kids?"

"Parents? Ah, they're dead" Kiyoshi responded nonchalantly as he looked back to the menu.

"Can I get this? The Tempura Soba?" he asked as his finger pointed towards the name.

The man was still shaken at how casually the 'toddler' had told him his parents were dead, but nonetheless answered the child, "I guess you can… well, um do you have money?"

"Of course, I do, why would I order if I didn't have money on me- anyway, is the Tempura good?" Kiyoshi spoke again, answering the man and asking another question.

"…Alright, yeah the Tempura is good, I guess. Hot or cold?" the man spoke again as he leaned his arms against the counter in boredom

"… Um hot, I guess? Oh, and can I get some water with that… please- are you not going to write this down or something?" Kiyoshi asked the man who was casually leaning against the counter looking down at the menu that Kiyoshi had in his hands.

The man chuckled, "Kid you ordered Tempura Soba and water, unless you're planning on adding ten more things to your order then no I don't need to write this down." Once he spoke, he pushed himself away from the counter.

As he heard the man speak Kiyoshi chuckled dryly at the answer.

Sighing the man spoke again, "That'll be-" the man had his hand held out as he was speaking only to be cut off by Kiyoshi slamming the cash onto his empty palm, before even allowing him to complete his sentence.

The man looked toward Kiyoshi's face, which showed that the kid was impatient, "Why are you still standing there- I mean, you can keep the change" Kiyoshi said to the man with a nod, hoping he would finally start making the food, he was starving. It would have been smart to have breakfast.

Unexpectantly the man burst out into laughter, catching the attention of a few pedestrians passing by the shop, while Kiyoshi had both his brows raised wondering what was wrong with the man.

The man placed the cash on the counter and slide it to Kiyoshi, "On the house kid" he spoke again before a snort passed his lips as he moved towards the kitchen area.

"Oh, thanks… do you happen to have a pen and paper?" Kiyoshi decided to ask seeing as he might have to wait for a bit, he might as well make a list of the things he needed to do or could do.

The man turned his head not bothering to ask, 'what for'. The white apron the man had wrapped around him, it had a pocket area in the middle of it which he proceeded to stick his hand in and take out a small notebook and a pen.

Ripping a page off the notebook, he then placed it in front of Kiyoshi with a pen.

"Thank you" Kiyoshi automatically spoke out as he gave it to him.

The man waved his hand lazily in response before going back to work.

As time went on, Kiyoshi waited for the food to be ready while he held the pen in his small hand his eyes still on the piece of paper trying to figure out what to write. Perhaps finally write out a proper schedule, he could do that with Kano.

He wouldn't say he was there for long, perhaps an hour or so.

He pushed the bowls that covered the counter he was sitting in, so he could rest his arms on the counter. He never would have imagined that he would be so fulfilled with just-food.

He now had a favourite food and that was Soba.

The man on the opposite side of the counter chuckled, "Ah, not going to ask for more again?" he asked in amusement as his hands gestured towards the three empty bowls that he had pushed aside not too long ago.

Kiyoshi sighed as his hands moved from the table and patted his stomach as he leaned back, "I'm full, but just know I'll definitely be coming back tomorrow, good sir" he responded with a satisfied smile.

The man snorted, "Ito" he responded.

Kiyoshi's gaze moved towards him with a raised brow, "Ito?" he responded back slightly confused.

"My name kid" he stated back to the child's confusion as he leaned forward to grab the empty dishes.

"Oh, well, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Ito-san. I'm Suisha Kiyoshi.'"

"Right" the man spoke as he rolled his eyes, "You can drop the formalities" he casually said.

Which was the first time Kiyoshi had heard someone say that being in this world. Did he mean the horrifics? Perhaps so…

Kiyoshi jumped off the stool he was sitting in with the note had been writing on in his hand, as he landed on the ground, he stuffed the note into his pocket the one that didn't contain the money he had been given by Kano earlier.

He continued along through the now busier street compared to how busy it was when he had only arrived at the small restaurant.

He could still feel their presence, the Anbu that is. He wondered if he could escape them, it shouldn't be too hard seeing as Naruto of all people was able to do it.

He glanced around the clattered street and took sneaky glances at each of their locations with escaping in mind.

He had stopped walking and was now standing at the side of the street leaning up against a building. He dropped his bag, taking them off his shoulders, and placed it on the floor, as the Anbu themselves stopped within the shadows their lurked in.

All he had to do was act natural, he wasn't stopping for no reason at all. He stretched, massaging his shoulders as he did.

What was the worst that could happen if he did manage to lose them? If he did run, then they would figure out that he was able to detect their location and eventually figure out he was a sensor but then again, he could just play it off as just not knowing anything of the sort.

He picked the bag, well it was more so a satchel, but a bag was a bag.

He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, opening his eyes he let the breath out and waited not a second later before he bolted through the streets, weaving and dodging each person that blocked his path.

It took a few seconds before the Anbu themselves began to move.

He had no idea where he was going, he just let his legs take him as far away from them as possible. He should be heading back to the apartment but running away from the Anbu seemed more exciting than having to stuff his face in another book or practising his chakra control.

He turned his head back, only to bump into someone, "Watch it!" an old man grunted out with narrowed eyes.

Kiyoshi steadied himself as he nearly fell to the ground, he looked up to the man without a word and ran, "Oi!" he heard the man shout again. He was too out of breath to say a thing, nor was he planning on wasting his breath apologising.

His head facing front once again he took a sharp turn to his left, which led him to an alleyway, as he got further into the alleyway he stopped completely, "Um..." he whispered under his breath, in slight disgust. His right arm shot up to his face and covered his nose to stop the terrible smell that encroached his nostrils.

The alleyway was a lot darker than Kiyoshi would have wanted, with the roof of both buildings on either side handing off covering the sins ray, leaving both ends of the alleyway the only source of light, and it didn't help that the alleyway seemed necessarily longer than it needed to be in this moment in time.

'Maybe I should just head back' he thought as he continued to look down the sketchy alleyway that had a few rats roaming about, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go through it seeing as it smelled rotten, the vermin that roamed it and how narrow it was.

He looked back once again, a smirk appeared on his face, he could still feel their chakra, but it was different from how it usually was, it felt a bit disoriented and with that, he just knew then they had lost him.

With his arm still covering his nose, he ran through the alleyway deciding that there was no point in stopping now.

Each stride he took got him closer to the other end of the narrow street, his red hair flying backwards as the air hit it as he ran.

The light on the other side got closer and closer until he was finally standing in it taking deep breaths as he removed his hand from his face, his hand gripping the wall of the building on his right that helped make the alleyway.

Looking straight ahead he was faced with a rundown fence that had a few gaps in it, a few feet away from him. He glanced both left and right, seeing barely anyone other than the old man that seemed to be relaxing on the chair he was sitting on near a shop that seemed to be closed on his right.

He pushed himself away from the alleyway with the hand he had rested on the wall and walked towards the old man. He had many wrinkles all over his face, just proving his old age.

It was obvious that no one barely made their way around this side of town, but then again, he did run pretty far from his recollection.

He was sitting in the chair with his arms crossed over, a hat on his head, slightly tilted forward covering his eyes, most likely from the sun that was blaring down at them where they were.

There were a few green glass bottles scattered around the man.

As Kiyoshi got closer to the man, he cleared his throat to attain the old man's attention. The man removed his arms from where they were, taking one hand he pushed his hat up and took one glance in Kiyoshi's direction with narrowed eyes, then he scoffed.

"Go away, I've got no money to give ye" he mumbled before tilting his hat back to its previous position and resting his arms in between each other once again.

Immediately the man had spoken, Kiyoshi had an offended look on his face, and straight away he looked down at his clothes, his hands patting himself down as he looked down to his shirt then shorts, wondering if he looked like a 'beggar'.

…Which he did, his brows furrowed as he began to think of when his clothes decided to get dirty, with the dark spots smudged all over.

He sighed, then looked back up to the man, once again he cleared his throat and spoke straight after, making the man shift his hat upwards again as the child spoke.

"I'm not here looking for money, I just want to know where we are," Kiyoshi spoke, making sure his voice was loud and clear for the man to hear to prevent a misunderstanding.

The man's lips thinned to a line, as he let silence take over, yet to respond to the child.

After a few seconds Kiyoshi grew tired of the man's gaze and silence, he spoke again shifting his weight from one foot to another where he was stood in, "…Um, what part of the village are we in?" Kiyoshi spoke again, silently wondering if he should just walk away seeing as the man did indeed look a bit 'sketchy' just as the alleyway did.

"Ah… Gurīn" the old man replied sluggishly, just as he shifted his hat once again back to covering his eyes, leaving Kiyoshi to his own demise, the man's response made Kiyoshi realise… he was drunk, and he could now smell the alcohol of the man- he now knows what the glass bottles contained.

He stepped away from the old man, allowing him his peace and quiet and decided to wander around the new area and get himself familiar with it. He glanced to his right, which had the fence in view.

He continued on walking down the way he was going, his finger tapping the side of his leg impatiently, he huffed as he looked towards the fence once again, this time he stopped walking.

He looked onwards once again, there was nothing worth looking at, with the many shabby shops and the few people he spotted standing around with torn clothes being worn.

"Fuck it" he mumbled under his breath as he bolted towards the rundown fence and made his way towards one of the many gaps that filled the long fence, making his way through it, he used both of his hands to grab each side of the fence.

"Ow" he let out a yelp, finally stumbling out of the gap, pushing himself off the ground he had fallen onto, he looked at his hand that he felt the pain emerge from- it was a splitter.

With full concentration he yanked the splinter out of the wound it inflicted and immediately stuck the bloodied finger in his mouth, looking up at his surrounding, he was now in a forest, or in front of one, with it being a few feet away from him.

Taking his finger out of his mouth, he glanced back to the fence, sensing his surrounding area feeling nothing, he couldn't even feel the chakra of the Anbu that were supposed to be following him.

He bit his lip in thought, "Just a little wander wouldn't hurt" he whispered to himself as his right foot took the lead on his 'adventure' adventuring forward into the forest, his left leg not too far behind as he took off.

--

He was laid on the floor staring up at the darkening sky, that was brighter only a few hours ago. There was no doubt that he had been there in the forest he had found for at least 2 hours, but not long enough to see the moonset.

He was breathing deeply, in and out, catching his breath after his 'vigorous' training.

After a while of wandering the forest, he decided it was a good chance to try the tree walking exercise, on the first attempt he had been cocky and assumed it would come easy to him and went straight for it expecting success but was rewarded with failure.

Once he failed, he sat one in deep thought and thought it through, all he had to do was distribute his chakra towards his feet, he had been practising attaching things to his body for a long time now so all he had to do was think of it in the same light and think of it as attaching the tree to himself instead of him attaching himself to the tree.

He a few calms breathes to wish him luck he had tried again, for his second attempt, his hands clenched together, he took one step onto the tree as he lifted the other in the air, it was unsteady at first, but with more concentration, he was able to steady himself before he took another step with his other foot.

He was ecstatic with himself, he had done it on his second try and continued practising making sure he had perfected it, attempting the technique on many different trees, which then lead to him jumping from one tree to another.

Although he did manage to fall from a tree which landed him a large bruise on his left arm which he landed on, which thankfully didn't break.

He sat up where he was laying, and stuck out his left arm, turning it to view the bruise he had gotten not too long ago.

His brows furrowed in confusion as he turned and lifted his arm only to fail to locate the bruise.

He then lifted his right arm and did the same only to see no bruise on it leaving him-

"It didn't take too long for it to heal, did it?" a voice sounded out loud from just above Kiyoshi in a tree in front of him.

He let out a loud scream from the voice, his heart pounding loudly against his ribcage, he managed to shuffle his body backwards only making his clothes dirtier than they already were.

As he ended up baking himself up against a tree, he heard the very voice chuckle.

He looked up to see a man, he assumed. He was wearing a mask, a white one, one that had no holes, for neither the eyes nor his mouth, it was just a blank mask, with his dark hair hanging off it covering the top of the mask. His clothing was nothing out of the ordinary, with him just wearing a grey shirt and a pair of black shorts.

The man was sitting on a tree branch, his back rested on the bark of the tree looking down at him.

After a few seconds Kiyoshi found his voice again, this time not to scream but speak.

Gathering his courage, he stood up from where he was as he lingered his gaze on the man above him and spoke, "Thank you for your observation… though I'd like to know who you are."

The man tilted his head at the question, "Ah, it's been a while since I was asked that… well I'm not much of an anybody really, so I suppose I'm just no one. I'm a ghost that has yet to have his spirit set free."

Kiyoshi narrowed his eyes at the man, well more so at his response, "Huh? I'm not interested in metaphors, I meant… what's your name or perhaps which village you're associated with seeing as I cant see a headband."

"Name? well, I suppose if you need one, you can call me Yūrei and for an association? What makes you think I'm a shinobi?"

Kiyoshi decided not to answer the last bit.

"Doesn't that just mean ghost? Did you name yourself that or is that your birth given name?" Kiyoshi questioned further, his heart rate finally stabilising itself.

The man just shrugged his shoulder at the question.

"…Well, um I should go. You came out of nowhere and had me screaming for no reason, people probably heard it as well." Kiyoshi decided to end with and leave.

Before he could move the man spoke again, "No one heard he scream."

"…Um, the way you said that makes me feel like you're some creep, which you technically are… just don't offer me any sweets, yeah?." Kiyoshi responded, slightly amused.

Running was a dumb idea- could he really outrun this guy? Who obviously has more experience than him… and longer legs? Besides he was curious about this person.

After the silence prolonged longer than needed, the man leaned forward, his hand on the mask, his body silently trembling before a loud laugh erupted from him.

Kiyoshi let out his breath and began breathing, dumbfounded by what he was seeing.

"You know, you have a very different response than he did," Yūrei spoke out as his laughter settled down.

"…What do you mean?" Kiyoshi responded, pronouncing each word slowly.

"Satoshi" came the man's simple response.

Kiyoshi didn't respond straight away not allowing his emotions to betray him. Senju Satoshi, his father. He said Satoshi, did that mean he was aware of who Kiyoshi was?

"Oh? Who is he?" Kiyoshi responded carefully, the man didn't look at all interested in the conversation, with how Kiysohi observed his body language. "Your father of course. Like father like son, people say…" Yūrei responded as he hummed after. It was a familiar tune, one he had heard his mother hum once before.

"How… that tune. How do you know it?" Kiyoshi simply asked, had the man known his mother as well?

The man shrugged again, "I know a lot of things, one of those things being you are the son of Senju Satoshi and Uzumaki Akia. You are Senju Kiyoshi are you not?"

Kiyoshi didn't exactly react, he wasn't even sure how to react.

"You know who I am then? You know of my parents- I was under the impression that no one knew my father was a 'Senju' so therefore you shouldn't have called me Senju Kiyoshi but rather Suisha Kiyoshi. You said you know a lot of things… how much is a lot of things?" Kiyoshi asked finally stopping and standing his ground, his narrowed eyes directed at the masked man.

The man swung his feet over the branch and let them dangle below him instead of being rested on the branch, "Well, you're an attentive one, aren't you? Definitely different from your father… and for knowing a lot of things, well I mean as I said, 'A lot'… interesting enough as it is, it seems to me that this village perceives you as a weapon carved and shaped by this very village that sees themselves as your saviour, with you now in debt." The man's feet swung back and forth as he finished speaking.

"I'll never be in debt to this village, Yūrei-san. How do you know what you know?"

The man leaned slightly forward on the branch he was sitting in, with both his hands gripping the branch on either side of him "I notice you don't seem too surprised by the facts I just shared with you… You already knew this." He stated.

Deep down he knew it, it wasn't that long he figured out the 'weapon' situation.

They would walk past each other time and time again without speaking a word to each other. They weren't the usual 'happy couple', he didn't even think he could even have considered them a 'couple' at all.

"So, what if I knew this! The question should be how 'do you' know all this? Who are you really?!" Kiyoshi spoke, his voice loud and aggravated.

The man jumps down in one swift movement, Kiyoshi jerking his body backwards at the sudden movement of the man who was now standing in front of him, looking down just as he did when he was higher up.

His throat started to feel dry as he saw the man take a step forward, getting closer and closer to where he stood which each step taken.

"Like I've said… I'm Yūrei, I must be off now. Perhaps I can answer some of your questions next time" the man's hand lifted up into the air, startling Kiyoshi. With a moment to spare he shut his eyes tightly not knowing what to expect from the man, only to flinch when he felt a hand on his head.

Slowly but surely his pried his eyes open and the man ruffled his hair, confusing him.

He pushed his hand off his head and the man snorted, "…I suppose in some ways you act like him." He heard the man whisper but didn't comment on it, knowing who 'him' is.

"Since you won't answer what I've asked you… can I ask one thing?" Kiyoshi settled with.

The man nodded, "When you said no one would have heard my scream… what did you mean by that?"

"Ah, well fuinjutsu" he responded nonchalantly.

"…Fuinjutsu?" Kiyoshi echoed back.

The man nodded again, "It comes in all shapes and forms, you've just got to love fuinjutsu, I have many seals surrounding this forest all ready to be used in any way possible-"

He cut himself short as his head whipped over to his right, Kiyoshi's left. He stared off into the distance, only for trees to be seen when Kiyoshi looked over in the direction as well.

He then continued speaking, "-I think you should be heading back now, it seems as though there are some people looking for you."

The man took some steps backwards and Kiyoshi stretched his arm out for the man, "Wait!"

With both his middle and index finger taken out from his right hand, Yūrei brought them to the top of his forehead and said his final words, "Baibai." With that said he disappeared without a trace to be seen.

Kiyoshi slowly dropped his hand back to his side, and noticed something strange, as he dropped his hand down it brushed against the side of his shorts, where his pocket is.

He looked down in confusion as he stuffed his hand into his pocket, knowing something was in it and he definitely wasn't the one to put it there. His brows furrowed as he stared at it, he looked up knowing he was alone, staring at the spot the man had been stood, then back at the object in his hand.

The symbol on it. It was the Senju clan's symbol, that much he knew. It was a bracelet, it was obviously made from leather. It looked worn out. It was wide, and too big for Kiyoshi himself to wear, putting it on his small wrist was like him using a hula hoop.

The symbol was neatly carved into the rustic brown leather, he traced the symbol, before holding it tightly. How had he put it there? There was no doubt about that man's talent, then again compared to Kiyoshi… Kiyoshi needed years to compare.

"Who are you?" Kiyoshi muttered under his breath as he stared at the empty spot, his grip tight around the bracelet.

After some time of being in the forest, after that strange encounter, which he wasn't sure what to make of this 'I know everything' man he made his way out.

Just as he left the forest, everything felt different, he looked back to the green scenery, wondering if it was because of the 'fuinjutsu' the man was using.

He then stopped walking completely and stared up at the sky, which was now darker than it had been only some seconds ago. His brows furrowed at the aspect, was this really the result of fuinjutsu? Within the forest, it had been lighter, but obviously, it was later than he would have assumed.

He sighed and continued on walking. As he went towards the fence with his hand in his pocket, holding on to the bracelet that he wanted to question the man about… He was curious about it.

As he made his way out through the fence, the same gab he had entered through, he felt a familiar chakra nearby, although not just on trace but also the Anbu that he had lost earlier and another, it was Kano. It was obvious they were who were looking for him, maybe if they had a sensor, they would have found him much faster.

Within a second, he felt all the chakra signatures head towards him, and with another second to spare he was then surrounded by all the chakra signatures he had sensed. He was stood in place slightly taken aback at the sudden appearance.

He was faced with an annoyed Kano who had landed right in front of him, Kiyoshi gulped knowing he was of course in trouble, "Um?" was the first thing that came out of Kiyoshi's mouth.

"Where were you!" Kano hissed at him before nearing him only to grab onto his shoulders as he crouched down.

"I was on a walk!" Came Kiyoshi's loud reply, trying to defend himself.

"A walk!? For six hours? You were supposed to get something to eat then come back, you left at 10am, it's 8pm now!" Kano's voice was loud, recking his head with how close the man was... it just wasn't necessary.

"No? I thought I was out for only three…" Kiyoshi responded.

Kano sighed, his frustration clear as day, he let go of Kiyoshi, standing back up from the crouched position and rubbed the bridge of his nose, before brushing his hand down his face. He then looked towards the others and with his hand made a signal which had the other 'guests' disappear leaving only another with Kano and Kiyoshi.

"You were obviously doing more than having a walk with how filthy your clothes are" Kano grunted out before crouching to the floor again, this time his back turned to him.

"Sorry, Kano-san. I really didn't realise I was out longer than just three hours. I don't wish to be a bother to you nor worry you. I was training, that's why my clothes are in such a state."

Kano simply sighed, "Alright."

--Yr 54—26, Jan—

"Again" Kano demanded as Kiyoshi landed back onto the floor for the fifth time within the fifteen minutes, he began his training.

He took heavy breaths and looked up at Kano from where he had fallen, "I'm trying!" he couldn't help but snap, he was frustrated with having to do the same thing over and over again, he was starting to get blisters.

At the moment they were situated on a training ground, training ground 2 from what Kiyoshi had observed when the man had first taken him there.

The man had taught him the 'basics' of Taekwondo, of course, it only took him seconds to perfect it, seeing as he had in fact taken Taekwondo in his previous life. On perfecting the basics, Kano was impressed, so much so that he decided to teach him a specific type of style to perfect.

He had only taught Kiyoshi a few days ago and now he expected Kiyoshi to have learned it as fast as he was with everything else but was disappointed. The man was expecting too much from him, he was barely even three!

He hated the style the man had given him to learn, it just wasn't his way of style, it was strange and complex in a way, but then again, he was more used to the type of style he had been used to in his previous life, one he thought suited him.

He pushed himself off the ground and stalked over to where Kano stood with his hard eyes staring down at Kiyoshi seemingly not impressed.

"I can't do the style you taught me" Kiyoshi stated.

"I realised" came Kano's dry response.

"It's my fault for expecting so much" the man added, as he sighed in frustration, with a shake of his head.

"Let me make a style of my own, one that I will perfect within the week, one that suits me more than that style you had me practising." Kiyoshi finally asked, he thought maybe he would get the hang this 'style', but he had yet to understand the use of it, how the movements worked together.

The man crossed his arms as his brow raised at the child's request, "A week?"

Kiyoshi nodded his head, "Just a week" he said again, holding up one finger to represent the week.

A sigh escaped the man's lips as of hearing the child speak, he then parted his lips to speak "If you don't perfect your 'style' within a week like you said you would, then you'll have to continue with the one I taught you, I don't care if you're staying up late to perfect it."

"One week" Kano stated, before shunning away leaving nothing behind.

'I'll have it perfected within the day' he thought with a smirk. All that was needed was his new body to get used to the movements, allowing his body to move seamlessly- one with himself.

--

He was laid on the ground of the training ground staring up at the blue sky. He was stupid for thinking he could actually have his body copy the moments of his past life. This body of his was too weak, too small, there was so much for him to understand.

He knew for starters he needed to get his body in shape, with that in mind, he decided he would go for runs every morning to help with the process of increasing his stamina.

As he laid there still, he could barely feel his muscles, if he did move them, he would feel them, only for them to hurt, they ached.

For the past week or so he couldn't help but think things through, what was really his plan for this life? Each time he asked himself that he couldn't answer it, nor even give a simple answer.

Before maybe he would have said getting revenge, but what really was 'revenge'? would they even want him to do so, even if he did get revenge what would that revenge even consist of? Realistically he couldn't kill every living person in Kumo- it was stupid…

He let out a heavy breath as he sat up, on the ground, having his back hunched over his legs, staring down at the dirt between the gap of his legs.

He lifted his hands and stared at them. His mind clouded, in confusion.

"You're sad" stated a voice, one familiar to Kiyoshi- it was Yūrei.

Kiyoshi turned to his right where he heard the voice come from, looking up at the man, he made no sudden movements at his sudden appearance. He furrowed his brows at the masked man, "I'm not sad" he stated, wondering why he assumed so.

The man was stood at least 2 meters away from him before he took slow steps to where he stood.

Kiyoshi followed the man with his eyes as he moved closer and was stood on his right side before crouching down.

The man's head faced downwards to the ground; it was obvious he was staring at it even if he had a mask to cover his face.

Kiyoshi reluctantly looked down to see what the man was supposedly staring at, it was there at his side, a small plant, a clover if he was to be specific.

It was wilting. He watched at the man's handheld the clover's petals with such gentleness, holding the droopy plant.

The man then looked up catching Kiyoshi's eyes, "This is why I can tell you're sad, that and your chakra was leaking out."

"-What does a plant have to do with anything?!" Kiyoshi snapped, before pushing himself up. Whenever he had the chance, he would look around for Yūrei but failed every time to find him, since he failed to find him at the forest and here, he was coming out ofnowheree again to tell him he was 'sad' because of a plant.

As he got up, he noticed how the clover began to wither even more than before, losing the colour it had left.

"You have the Mokuton. It's strange but here it is- your chakra was flaring up, even if you didn't realise it, and the earth around you could feel your sadness- it's mourning with you-"

The man stood up and turned around before stretching out his arms towards a patch of grass that surrounded the training ground- they were all withering just as the clover was.

"-they're all mourning with you."

"… I don't understand, I didn't ask- tell them or even want them to- and I'm not mourning nor am I sad! Where have you been anyways? I was looking for you I had more questions, I want to know who you really are- and why are you here right now… there's much more I want to ask, like how you now my father and if you knew my mother." he spoke all in one breath.

He took a few calming breaths, "…Sorry" he whispered apology under his breath, feeling the need to do so.

He looked around again staring at the lack of colours in the plants, he spun slowly in a circle taking in his surroundings, he couldn't feel the anbu that had been stationed around the area.

As he continued spinning, he finally stopped facing Yurei, "So are you an Kumo-nin?"

The man shook his head no, "…Alright, so I'm guessing you shouldn't even be in this village right now… unless you snuck in, and do you have seals surrounding us like in the forest?"

"No, I shouldn't be in the village, if you call walking in undetected as sneaking in then yes, I snuck in and yes I have seals surrounding this training ground. The Anbu that were set to watch you are currently watching a different version of you practising kicks." The masked man responded.

"Yūrei?"

The man hummed, "How do you know so much?" Kiyoshi asked carefully, wondering if he knew he had lived a previous life before this one.

The man tilted his head at the question.

"You know my father's a Senju, that I am a Senju- you even know I have the Mokuton and you obviously know more than I do about it seeing as you're stating that this is because of my chakra" Kiyoshi spoke again his arms gesturing to the plants.

"Does it really matter?" he responded.

"…Yes, it does. What do you even want from me? What are you gaining from talking to me, showing me how you know so many things?"

"Nothing." He replied again.

Kiyoshi stared up at the man with narrowed eyes after hearing the simple reply.

"Then will you answer my questions? Do you know about the attack on my village?"

"It depends on what you will do with the information you want on that."

"I won't be going on a killing rampage if that's what you're thinking," Kiyoshi responded again, waiting for an answer.

Yuri stayed silent, he could feel the man's intense gaze from behind the mask.

After the uncomfortable span of silence, the man finally spoke.

"Why not? Wouldn't killing the people that took the lives of many innocent lives, be something you want to do? You would be cutting down the root of problems, preventing such a thing to happen to others. Peace is inevitable but to reach it by all means violence must be used along the way."

Kiyoshi only stared, while Yūrei leaned down towards Kiyoshi, "There's much for you to learn if you think killing makes you worse than them."

His brows furrowed, he never said that "I never said-"

Before anything else could be said he felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck, inducing the darkness that felt similar in every way but death.

The moment he woke up again he was back in the apartment, where Kano had told him he had passed out. Kiyoshi refrained from rolling his eyes, when it was mentioned it was from his training- unless being attacked from behind was considered 'training' then yes it was from training. What was Yurei thinking? What was the point in that?

Though when he did wake up, he found something, well a seal. It was fuinjutsu.