Uzushiogakure

(Konoha year 52)

"I was surprised when mom said you had begun your training. At least you are taking it seriously," said Satoshi.

I lowered my arms down but kept my guard up, in case he tried it again. "You've been gone a week and that's how you greet me?" I retorted.

"I was checking your progress, your reaction is good but not much else. You need to use your other senses, if you're not planning to become a chakra sensor," he said.

"It hasn't been long since I started. I barely learned to walk on trees!"

"That's good then, you reached the minimum requirement to begin trying to enhance your body and senses. It's best to start now, that way you don't die when you become a shinobi," he remarked.

"I do? That's news to me, how do I start?" I asked.

"Figure it out yourself. I've got better things to do than train a little kid," he scoffed.

He began walking away towards the kitchen before saying, "Oh right, mom said there was a clan meeting today so she and Yumi would be gone for a while."

I didn't answer. I was aware of what to expect from him, but still I was annoyed. From what I remembered from my memories, I knew that he was pretentious. Being the son of the Hokage really inflated his ego, and everyone sucking up to him to get on his good side only made it worse.

Still though he gave me the idea of enhancing my body, I already knew I would be able to do it but I thought I would have to learn water walking before starting it.

I decided to eat later to avoid being around him, so I headed to my room. A grin appeared on my face, 'Time to enhance my body. I can't wait!'

Entering my room I decided that the best place to start would be enhancing my ears. I would be able to notice any changes easier, and give me ideas on how to enhance my muscle, eyes, and nose later. I found a spot on the floor, sat down, I closed my eyes, and took a few deep breaths.

After relaxing my body I began focusing on what I was hearing. Which wasn't much. I was indoors and in a big empty house, the most I heard was the creaking of wood from either the house settling or Satoshi walking. I couldn't tell for sure, but soon I began pushing chakra into my ears. I couldn't hear much, actually I felt my ear get clogged from the chakra.

I definitely wasn't doing it right, 'maybe I'm covering the eardrum, I should focus on specific spots instead of the whole ear'. I continued again slowly trying different areas. I didn't notice a change for a while until suddenly one of the creaks from the wood floor suddenly changed into loud crunching. I reacted by covering my ears with my hands but it didn't stop.

I realized my mistake and ended the chakra stream going to my ears. 'Wow, what was that? That couldn't have been the house'. Trying again I began pushing chakra to the same place only with less chakra. The crunching came back, much quieter and more manageable than before. I kept focus for a while trying to figure out its origin. After a minute I heard a voice, "Great I ran out of chips."

I knew that voice, it was Satoshi. That crunching was him eating chips. 'He had gone to the kitchen and yet I could still hear him clearly'. I thought.

I was surprised with how much its chakra enhanced my senses, with more practice it could increase further as well. It was definitely worthwhile to pursue enhancing myself.

I switched the chakra from my ears to my nose, again trying different areas until it had a reaction. Soon I was smelling a coffee, more specifically a cold pot of coffee left over from the morning.

'This is great! This will definitely be a useful skill, though I wonder if I can enhance my tongue or maybe my skin. If I do that I might be able to discern poison or recreate the spatial awareness used by Inosuke from Demon Slayer.

I didn't have any food to try enhancing my tongue so I tried on my skin. I had more trouble with this step, trying to encompass my skin with chakra was difficult. It required a lot of chakra due to the amount of skin I have. Enhancing one part of my body was a lot easier than my whole body, it required a lot more concentration.

I moved my focus on just my hand, stretching it out with an open palm. I began pushing chakra to my skin. I could feel a small breeze, due to being in a closed room. I closed my eyes but I still couldn't see like Inosuke did.

'I can't feel any feedback like him, is it because it's such a small area I'm using or can I not replicate it? I shouldn't give up so soon, it probably just takes time to grasp the technique'.

Giving up on it for now I decided to eat. I hadn't eaten since the morning, luckily Satoshi wasn't in the kitchen anymore. I saw that Yumi had left a dish out for me, it was fish with a side of rice. I sat down to eat, then took a bath. Coming out of my room after changing I saw that Hiruzen was actually home early today.

Recently, he had been working late and leaving early. I only knew he slept at the house because of the blanket and pillow he left on the couch. I remembered seeing it every morning when I left to train.

"Hey dad, you're home early."

"Yeah, the village has kept me busy. It looks like it will be like that for a while, so I left early today. I don't know when I'll next get a day to relax, so better get some rest now." He sighed in exhaustion.

Intrigued by what he said, I decided to get some information from him. 'I've been closed off from what's been happening around the village or outside of it. I'm curious about what's been happening'.

"What's been keeping you so busy? You've been absent more than usual?" I asked.

He sighed in thought before continuing, "There has been tension with some of the other villages. I was hoping to stay out of conflict but they attacked our ally. We have sent reinforcements, but the news doesn't look good. Uzushiogakure, the allies we have had since Konoha was founded, was wiped out completely."