Chapter 11: Expectations

A gentle breeze blew, causing the vines wrapped around the courtyard fence to sway softly, producing a rustling sound.

The faded red thread hanging under the eaves made the wind chimes sway slightly, with the pale yellow slender bamboo tubes and various shells weaving a delicate and melodious tune.

Bright sunlight sneaked through the window lattice, illuminating the room like a mischievous girl with feet, bypassing the elegant cabinet, leaping onto the wooden table, and pausing briefly on the pile of thick scrolls, documents, and notes.

Then it advanced onto the floor, reached the sofa, and spread to the handsome sleeping face, gently stroking his lightly furrowed brows.

The golden glow danced in the breeze, brushing past his side profile, leaving a shy kiss and a faint warmth.

"Ugh!" Uchiha Toshirou suddenly awoke, sat up from the sofa, glanced at the scattered notes on the table, and pinched his temples to wake himself up fully.

Most of the scrolls and books on the table introduced techniques for refining, consolidating, and controlling chakra. In the past two months, whenever he had spare time in his training, he would browse through them. Whenever he came across a profound insight or had any doubts or hypotheses, he would record them in a specially prepared notebook. He firmly believed that a good memory is not as reliable as a bad pen.

He stood up and gathered the scattered documents and notes on the table. After washing his face with cold water in the bathroom to refresh himself, he returned to the living room.

"Toshirou! Are you home? We came to play with you!" At this moment, Uchiha Ryuka's loud voice came from the courtyard outside, accompanied by the chattering of other children.

Yes, it was "Toshirou" instead of "Toshirou." With the game of Werewolf spreading among the children in the clan, as the inventor of the game and often playing roles like the backstabber wolf or charger wolf, he had earned this nickname from his amazed peers.

"Stop giving people random nicknames that make no sense, you idiot!" As the game spread among the Uchiha children, Toshirou noticed an interesting pattern. For some reason, everyone tacitly agreed not to spread the game outside, only playing it within the Uchiha compound, giving them a subtle sense of superiority over others.

"Not today! Someone is going to deliver the items we ordered earlier, and no one can be absent from the house when they arrive!"

"Is that so?" Uchiha Ryuka seemed disappointed, but then suddenly thought of something and perked up again. "Why don't we play at your house today, Toshirou?"

"No way!" Toshirou decisively rejected Ryuka's proposal again. Letting this group of kids play indoors for an entire afternoon would surely leave the place in a mess, and it would be up to him and Uchiha Mikasa to clean it up.

After politely dismissing his new friends, Toshirou didn't return to the main house but went into the building on the left side. This ancestral home had a unique layout. The central part was the living space for the family, including the bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bathroom, and dining room. To the right was an open dojo used for the children's training.

In one of the boxes inside, Toshirou had found a set of crimson armor with a Sengoku (Warring States) style. There were no explosive tags or poison, presumably preemptively removed for safety.

Toshirou carefully maintained the weapons, using a cloth and oil he took from the storage cabinet. This was a task assigned to him by Uchiha Mikasa. Seeing his precocious nature, Mikasa thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to familiarize him early on with the tools used by ninjas in missions and battles. She taught him the methods of maintaining the weapons and, after supervising him once, passed the task on to him.

Half an hour later, after finishing his work, Toshirou picked up a small wooden sword and headed to the dojo.

Holding his breath and focusing his mind, Toshirou gripped the sword with both hands, his eyes locked on the target dummy's head, neck, heart, kidneys, and other vital areas.

"Ha!" With a loud shout, Toshirou slashed the sword with all his might at the dummy's face, producing a dull thud as the wooden sword collided with the wooden dummy. 

Feeling the shock reverberating back from the hilt and the tingling in his palms, he didn't stop. Instead, he moved faster, attacking the dummy's vital points with slashing, stabbing, and hacking motions.

A full burst of energy quickly leads to exhaustion. In just ten minutes, the storm-like sounds of the wooden sword striking the dummy started to slow down and gradually faded away.

After 30 minutes, Toshirou, gasping for breath and drenched in sweat, had to stop and cease his training.

Back in the living room, Toshirou drank some pre-prepared salt water, then vigorously bit into an apple, resting on the sofa.

Thoughts of the various books and materials he had read over the past few months, as well as memories from watching the Naruto anime in his previous life, filled his mind. Chakra, the source of ninja power, is formed by the combination of mental energy and physical energy. In scientific terms, mental energy originates from the brain. 

As one's knowledge, experience, age, and spiritual breakthroughs grow, so does mental energy. Physical energy is enhanced through relentless physical training, recovering from injuries, food intake, and pushing one's limits, among other methods.

There should also be corresponding techniques for Yin and Yang Release. However, after searching through all the books at home, he found nothing. Helpless, Toshirou decided to focus on rigorous training to improve himself.

"Hmm! The clan's secret archives should contain methods for Yin and Yang Release. Though it's not the best time to mention it now, I'll definitely need to find a way to acquire them in the future..." In the Uchiha clan, at least the methods for Yin Release should certainly exist.

(End of Chapter)