Chapter 25: Moving Forward (2)

Following his fathers request Keitaro sat down quietly and waited patiently for Kuma to get his thoughts in order. Once he had, Kuma cleared his throat before talking.

"I should first apologize to both you and your brother. I haven't been myself for a little while and the two of you have been having to pick up the slack in my place….But things are going to change for the better from here on out. I can promise you that."

Keitaro noticed that Kuma had clenched his fist as he spoke and silently nodded. With the most important thing out of the way Kuma visible relaxed as he continued to speak.

"Tsume was here earlier to talk to me about my current predicament and to help me with what to do moving forward. As you know before I received my injury I had just been promoted to Jōnin, which was a good thing since I received Jōnin class compensation for retiring due to injury.

Of course, while it is a good lump sum of money, it will eventually run out, which is why I've been speaking with Tsume in regards to becoming a breeder for the clan. My limited medical experience actually works in my favor as not many of the current breeders are able to use practical medical ninjutsu when it come to handling the hounds."

Keitaro wasn't too surprised to hear that as he had already did some research on his own in regards to the clan. 

Given the fact that anyone who dedicated the time and energy that would need to be spent if they wished to be able to utilize medical ninjutsu up to certain standard, would opt to simply become an Iryō-nin, a job which paid more and has a higher ceiling for promotion than being a simple breeder, it would stand to reason that anyone willingly choosing to become a breeder instead, would be viewed favorably within the clan.

Kuma sighed as he continued to speak.

"Right now the only breeders that can use medical ninjutsu are the retired medical-nin and they aren't always available as they tend to teach classes at the hospital for the trainees. So while for most people with medical experience, becoming a high class breeder specialized in medical ninjutsu wouldn't be worth it, for me it couldn't be better."

Kuma looked off to the side and chuckled and when he continued, his melancholy could be felt.

"Even if I improve further as a medical-nin, I won't have the mobility or the stamina needed to hold that position in the clan or at the hospital. Plus with my age and the fact that I'm already retired, not many will be willing to invest in me like they would with a young shinobi fresh from the academy. Luckly the clan is willing to acknowledge and support my study of medical ninjutsu so that I can become a high class breeder.

In a sad twist of fate I have to rely on the very same clan that I've scorned all this time in order to go further."

He chuckled at himself before turning to face Keitaro.

"Tsume already organized everything for me and I'll be able to start working from next week. Of course I won't be doing anything too strenuous until I'm able to walk again, but for now I won't be cooped up at home like before.

I also managed to get permission from her that would allow me to bring you with me to work."

Keitaro was about to say something but Kuma raised his hand to placate him. Once he was sure that Keitaro wasn't going to interrupt him he went on.

"I know that it might seem unfair. The other kids get to roam free most of the time until they start training with the clan or have to attend the academy, and you aren't going to be allowed that luxury moving forward, but this is an opportunity that I need you to grab a hold of.

A lot of the books and scrolls that I will gain access to, along with the training manuals to certain Jutsu won't be made available to you easily. But, by tagging along with me, you'll gain access to all sorts of knowledge by proxy. That means that you can begin systematic and structured training in medical ninjutsu before you even enter the academy. Particularly, the theory aspects of medical ninjutsu which are the most time consuming.

I've already told both you and your brother that one of the things I want you both to be trained in is medical ninjutsu. Most shinobi don't bother with it simply because to them its not important.

They simply rely on basic first aid training when dealing with field wounds and that's that as far as they are concerned; but I can tell you this, there were countless times where I was able to save my own life and the life of my fellow shinobi simply because I had a rudimentary understanding of medical ninjutsu.

In fact, one of the techniques that I was able to develop and have made use of over the years stems from my limited knowledge and training in medical ninjutsu. A technique that will not only expedite your physical training in the future, but can also be used in battle to catch a second wind.

Besides every thing I've already mentioned, the real benefits that you will receive are much more tangible. Not only will you gain a better understanding of your own body which will be good for your future Taijutsu practice, but your chakra control will increase immensely while training as a Iryō-nin. There are only positives to this and while some of the other members of the clan might be displeased at the fact that I'm essentially twisting the rules for my families benefit, I can use the fact that I'm injured as a shield from them for a while. 

Though it will mean I have to swallow my pride for a bit, I don't mind if you and your brother can benefit from it."

Keitaro could only sigh at his father's insistence. 

In all honesty it sounded like a pretty good deal and since he had already told his father that he had unlocked his chakra while he had been in the hospital it made sense that he was trying to find ways for him to increase his chakra training.

Kuma had already forbade him from any serious physical training until the age of five. When he had asked why, he was told that while it was possible to begin training form an earlier age it was possible that it could cause the child to have a stunted growth or debilitating injuries. The main reason why the academy accepted children from the age of seven was because by seven, most children would have be able to truly begin with heavy physical training without much worry of debilitating injury or deformation due to stunted growth in some way.

Even simple chakra training, something that most clan children began focusing on around the age of three, could have devastating effects if not done correctly. Injuring your chakra network, while not fatal, could cause you to be bed ridden for days at a time and in the worse case scenario you might even cripple yourself by completely destroying the chakra channels throughout your body. While such an injury wasn't necessarily life threatening, It would completely cut of any chance of utilizing chakra in the future. The only medical-nin known to the village capable of handle such injuries was Lady Tsunade the slug sage of the legendary Sanin. Sadly she hadn't been seen in years, which meant that a broken chakra network was the same as a permanent injury.

When Keitaro had been told about the dangers of practicing with chakra, he had immediately broken out into a cold sweat at the memory of him messing around with it on the play ground while playing with the other kids. The realization that he could very well have caused his arm or leg to implode from the inside out was a harrowing thought, and he was glad to have told his dad about his chakra awakening as soon as he had.

Keitaro didn't bother trying to refute his fathers words, simply accepting everything in stride as he made plans for himself on what he was going to focus on in the near future. 

"It's okay dad I don't really mind it all that much. Besides, if I'm with you I get to learn some stuff that I could use in the future." 

"I really am blessed with amazing kids." 

The radiant smile on Kumas face was a startling but welcomed change and Keitaro wondered just how much of his slump had been because he was injured and not because he wouldn't be able to assist in his and his brothers training as he would have liked.

"Regardless though, I'm not going to be taking you with me every day. I still need you to have days where you get to focus on others things as well. Things may have been looking dire for a while but they should start looking up. Now all we have to do is keep pushing on."

Kuma sighed and fiddled with his fingers before broaching another topic that had come up during Tsume's visit.

"Another thing I need to talk to you about is that I've agreed for you to start training with the clan once you turn five years old. I was planning to over see your training myself and was planning to let you begin training in the clans techniques once you received your own ninken like your brother did. Sadly that isn't going to be possible so while I will still help you out from time to time, your main training is going to be handled by the clan.

Now there are a few techniques that I'm willing to pass on to both you and your brother but both of you are going to have to think long and hard about whether or not you are going to be able to handle learning two different things at once. The Inuzuka Clan have coined their unique combat style called the Imitation Beast Ninja arts. It comprises several techniques based on their ninken and focuses highly on Taijutsu. Though they can utilize elemental jutsu, they usually only use it when forced to and will usually fall back on their Taijutsu mastery.

The problem with that is that the Techniques that I have made and practice could possible conflict with the clans techniques, since they are also based on Taijutsu and Bukijutsu. It will be a lot harder for you to learn my jutsu simply because I can't demonstrate them for you and can only really try my best to teach them to you. Even then I think that if you two manage to not only learn both styles but also manage to incorporate them into one style unique to you both, then your strength is bound to soar.

Yet it will require a lot of dedication, time and effort and there is no guarantee that you will be able to merge the two styles in the first place, which means you could end up wasting a lot of time on a technique that is practically useless to you.

That's not something that can be decided on lightly, so once I speak with your brother when he returns from the academy we will see how things go moving forward."

Kuma sighed and though he tried his best not to let it show, Keitaro was fully aware of how much it meant for Kuma to effective allow them to reject his own techniques in favor of the clans. Even in the clan, though they used the same base combat styles, individuals families and linages would often times develop and pass down unique techniques and ways to elevate the clans techniques to new heights.

It was practically impossible for parents not to pass on their techniques and knowledge to their children as it was tradition to do so in all shinobi families. Over time these techniques might change and become something new, but at there root was the passed on knowledge of past generations.

Yet Kuma was willing to let his techniques waste away simply for convenience sake. Even though both Keitaro and Kentaro had shown considerable talent so far, there was no guarantee that they'd be able to keep up with the work load of true shinobi training, so it was simply better to lessen their work load as much as possible.

Keitaro noted all of this down in his mind and swore to himself that even if it turned out to be useless for him in the future he was going to make sure his fathers techniques were elevated to the greatest of heights.

He watched as Kuma, now finished talking, turned towards the doorway and rolled himself off to his new room to rest for the evening. They had had to relocate him to the ground floor as his chair wouldn't allow him to traverse the stairs.

Just before he rolled out of sight though he paused and pointed towards a package that was sitting int the chair that Tsume had been sitting in.

"I remember that you had asked for some scrolls to practice writing with so I asked Tsume to bring some scrolls, ink and brushed for you. I guess calligraphy is another thing I guess you should continue to work on while your training." And with that he was gone

Keitaro silently watched as his father left. He really wanted to see his father bounce back from the rut he had found himself in and was truly grateful that he found a place among the clan to settle for now. Still that didn't mean that he was going to simply continue coasting through as he had before.

That sleepless night in the shelter had allowed him to wake up from the happy little bubble he had been content to live in. Even though he had acknowledged that this world was dangerous and that there were going to be times when he might be in danger, he had mistakenly believed that things would have worked themselves out naturally simply because they had done so in the manga.

He had though that as long as he kept his distance from certain troublesome people and avoided getting the attention of certain vile characters, that he'd be able to live a comfortable life while playing around as a shinobi.

He hadn't been too concerned in all honesty about the dangers that were very much still bound to affect him and his family and had been much too relaxed about all of it. He was ashamed that it had taken his family members, that he genuinely loved and cared for, being placed in danger for him to realize that his thoughts had been much to naïve.

Still, it was better late than never.

He picked up the glass of juice that his father had drunk at some point and time and turned towards the kitchen. He was going to need to make a plan on how he was going to get stronger and if that meant he had to cross a few people in the process to do so, then so be it. He grabbed the weighty package form off the chair and made his way up to his room. He had a lot of things that he needed to note down while he still remembered them.