Chapter 2: Four Years of Change

So, Uchiha Kiyoshi refused to enter the orphanage and started living on his own with the village's assistance and the help of his clan.

In the blink of an eye, four years passed.

During these four years, besides becoming somewhat "unsociable" in terms of personality, Uchiha Kiyoshi didn't stand out too much in front of outsiders. Everything was within the norm.

This is the persona Uchiha Kiyoshi has set for himself—a person who became unsociable after being affected by the death of his parents, even developing a slight fear of death.

Hmm, Uchiha Kiyoshi hasn't had the chance to reveal this fear of death yet, but it will happen soon. In just a little while, he will be going to the ninja academy, and after introducing himself, this persona will be established.

Although he wasn't an actor or had any experience in acting in his past life, Uchiha Kiyoshi isn't afraid of messing up his performance. After all, to some extent, he's playing himself.

Of course, Uchiha Kiyoshi himself wouldn't admit this.

During these four years, Uchiha Kiyoshi also managed to figure out the current timeline he's in.

It is currently the 28th year of Konoha, after the first Great Ninja War and before the start of the second Great Ninja War. For Uchiha Kiyoshi, this can be considered good news.

At least he doesn't have to worry about the clan being wiped out. Moreover, according to the current situation, he can at least graduate normally and even cultivate his skills for a few years before the war erupts.

With perfect timing for development, Uchiha Kiyoshi won't let this opportunity slip by.

After multiple revisions, Uchiha Kiyoshi has also made preliminary plans for himself.

Of course, during these four years, Uchiha Kiyoshi hasn't wasted his time. Although he hasn't refined chakra, he has been diligent in physical training and hasn't neglected it at all.

Yes, Uchiha Kiyoshi hasn't started refining chakra!

But it's not his fault, really.

Although it's true that children in the ninja world develop quickly for some unknown reason, it's not necessary to refine chakra as early as possible.

Usually, it's around the age of six when they can start attempting to refine chakra without causing any harm to their bodies. After all, the ninja academies have set the enrollment age at six for a reason.

As for why ninja from certain clans can practice chakra refinement earlier?

Those clans have their own set of traditions. Through special baths, they can ensure that refining chakra at an early age won't harm their bodies. The baths even improve their physical qualities, giving them an advantage over their peers.

Although Uchiha Kiyoshi is a member of the Uchiha clan and could enjoy these baths to refine chakra early, he lacks the money! Even among the various ninja clans, only those with high status can afford the baths for their members. This is because the cost of these baths is quite high, and ordinary families can't afford them.

However, even though the major ninja clans can't afford the baths for every member to start refining chakra at the age of five or even four, they do allow them to start training in the half-year period before entering the ninja academy.

Usually, the clans gather the eligible children a couple of months before the start of the academy and provide them with training, guided by chunin or even jonin from the clan. In addition to teaching them chakra refinement, they also teach them some unique techniques of their own clan, such as the Uchiha clan's throwing jutsu.

That's the point, it significantly sets apart the common ninjas.

This is not just a two-month difference. You should know that the ninjas are taught in advance. Although it's not one-on-one, every child of suitable age receives sufficient guidance, and usually within less than half the time, which is about a month, they can successfully refine their chakra.

This is much more efficient than ninja schools! You see, in the first semester of the first grade at the ninja school, there's only one teaching objective, which is to instruct students in refining chakra! Some students may not even be able to successfully refine their chakra in six months. The difference in teaching efficiency is quite evident!

In other words, ninja from the shinobi clan sometimes have half a year more time to train compared to civilian ninjas of the same period!

During these four years, since he couldn't refine chakra, Uchiha Kiyoshi focused most of his energy on physical training.

With his background knowledge in medicine from his previous life, Uchiha Kiyoshi maximized his physical fitness as long as he could ensure his body wouldn't be damaged.

Now, Uchiha Kiyoshi can do a hundred push-ups in one go and jump with full force to a height of three to four meters! Besides that, Uchiha Kiyoshi also made time to read a lot of books.

It's an inevitable situation since he couldn't refine chakra all the time, and physical training couldn't be carried out continuously. Uchiha Kiyoshi naturally had to find something to do.

And for Uchiha Kiyoshi, who had good learning abilities and even ranked in the top ten universities nationwide in his previous life, studying was a good choice.

Being a prominent clan, the Uchiha family's heritage can be considered extremely rich. Within the Uchiha clan, there is a dedicated information room established for the clan members, similar to a library in the previous life.

Although it doesn't contain ninja scrolls or various secret techniques, many fundamental knowledge can be found there, which is sufficient for Uchiha Kiyoshi.

During these four years, Uchiha Kiyoshi spent about half of his time reading scrolls in the information room.

Uchiha Kiyoshi read a variety of materials, starting with medical knowledge.

After all, there are differences between this world and his previous life. Uchiha Kiyoshi naturally wanted to study the medical knowledge of this world and lay a good foundation for his future practice of medical ninjutsu.

That's right, Uchiha Kiyoshi wants to practice medical ninjutsu. As everyone knows, a ninja who can't heal themselves is not a good ninja. Uchiha Kiyoshi naturally wants to learn medical ninjutsu, and he's also very aware that in the future, he will definitely follow in the footsteps of Orochimaru and enter the field of research. For research purposes, medical ninjutsu cannot be avoided, so it's a good thing for Uchiha Kiyoshi to master it early.

Apart from medical ninjutsu, most of the materials Uchiha Kiyoshi read were related to sealing techniques.

Being a large clan that has continued since the Warring States period and even existed during the legendary era of the Shinobi Clan, the Uchiha clan has a long history. Although they can't compete with the Uzumaki clan in sealing techniques, they provide a solid foundation for Uchiha Kiyoshi as a beginner.

It's well known that the strongest power system in the ninja world is not ninjutsu or senjutsu but sealing techniques. It seems that in the entire ninja world, sealing techniques have the highest priority. Haven't you seen how Kaguya Otsutsuki, the progenitor of chakra, was sealed within the moon for a thousand years? And the Flying Thunder God technique of Minato Namikaze also relies heavily on sealing techniques! Moreover, the ability to successfully practice the Flying Thunder God technique greatly benefited Minato Namikaze through the use of sealing techniques.

Fully aware of the importance of sealing techniques, Uchiha Kiyoshi naturally wants to lay a solid foundation in this area as well.

With his exceptional learning ability, Uchiha Kiyoshi not only acquired medical knowledge and the basics of sealing techniques but also studied some other subjects.

However, most of them were basic ninja knowledge.

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