Chapter 22

Hidden Leaf Village.

Uchiha Training Grounds.

At the speed the enormous ball of fire was streaking at him, it seemed that Izuna wouldn't be able to manage a counterattack in time.

However, letting out a smirk, he immediately made several hand signs at a speed three times than normal.

He had built up a large amount of Chakra and poured every ounce of it into the jutsu.

"Water Style! Water Dragon Bullet!!"

A surging mist of water rose beneath him, whirled, and manifested in the form of an enormous Water-Dragon.

The threatening, gigantic dragon made of water roared and flew towards the incoming huge ball of fire.

'What?'

It was his mother's turn to be astonished, looking at the great amount of water Izuna created out of nothing.

'And he's just six...'

It was her first time seeing him use this jutsu, and without a shread of doubt, it left her bewildered.

Akane's eyes flashed a tint of appreciation, unable to conceal her surprise.

'You aren't even a Chunin yet, but can already do something like this. You really are your father's son, huh?'

She felt extremely proud of her young boy, who was capable of doing something like this, at such a young age.

Booom!!

The giant ball of flames and the enormous Water Dragon collided in the air, setting off a huge explosion as both of the techniques canceled out each other.

Swish!!

Their impact created a sea of white mist, all around.

'Hm? Where is he?'

While being on guard from any kind of unexpected and sudden attack inside the mist, Akane's face was hardened.

It happened then.

Whoosh!!

Izuna suddenly appeared before her with a Kunai in his hand, his hand flew towards her.

However...

Clang!!

Akane, having already sensed his sneak attack before, let out a smirk and easily deflected Izuna's sneak attack.

But that wasn't the end of it as after defecting his attack, she threw her kunai at him, who had stumbled to the ground.

"Huh?"

That was when she saw Izuna let out a smirk as he burst out with white smoke, disappearing.

'A Shadow clone!'

The real Izuna appeared behind her.

And before Akane could sense his aura and whirl around, the smaller boy had a kunai at her throat.

The utterly stunned Akane couldn't close her slack jaw as the mist all around them vanished, revealing Izuna pointing a Kunai at her back.

When Izuna displayed the combat prowess that exceeded her imagination, her eyes became extra round. Slowly shaking her head with a proud smile on her face, she turned towards him.

"I win, mother."

"Haha, yes, I can see that. Ahh, I'm so proud of you my son."

She chuckled with happiness as she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a peck on the forehead.

In the end, they sparred seventeen times. The result was nine wins for Izuna and eight for his mother.

"I've already said it many times, but you really make me proud, son. You're are at the Jonin level already."

"Uh-hmm. But I've still got a long way to go, mother."

His mother nodded earnestly, the faint smile on her face grew more distinct.

And as it turned out, it had been a long and thrilling spar, the look of exhaustion was visible on his face.

"Eh-whew....."

An exhausted sigh escaped from his mouth. His still rather young body was completely beat after the long training sessions.

'To think, my mother is this strong!'

He only carried a vague expectation of her strength, but it turned out to be something far exceeding his expectations.

'On top of that, all of her techniques are extremely well-refined.'

Although he didn't know how much stronger would she turn out to be once she used her Sharingan; even without those eyes, she was by far one of the strongest he ever met.

Izuna took a look around him.

The area of more than 200 meters was in pretty bad shape, with countless pits and craters along with deep fissures.

From that scene alone, it wasn't difficult to tell what had happened here.

With this, their long session of the spar was over, when suddenly Izuna felt someone approaching them.

'Huh?'

However, after noticing the familiar Chakra signature, he sighed in relief and sat down on a nearby boulder.

"Nice work noticing my Chakra!"

It was none other than his father, Akio Uchiha. He appeared with an afterimage and patted his shoulder, looking down at him with a soft smile.

"Well, you deliberately released it, so there wasn't much to it. Only natural I was able to feel it."

"So it's only natural, huh?"

"Yeah."

A tint of appreciation and proudness flashed in his parents' eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by him, inwardly felt happy.

"Hmm... I saw your spar with your mother. You've grown a lot stronger in such a short amount of time, hm?"

Akio's eyes gleamed red, looking at his son. The Sharingan. Looking at the flickering large blue flame, the smile on his face grew wider.

"But it is still far from enough for you to be taking things easy."

"Hm-hmm."

Izuna nodded his head. He did understand what his father meant; he was well aware of the perilous dangers lurking in the Shinobi World.

But in any case, he knew that he just had to continue training and get stronger.

"Whew... That was refreshing!"

Izuna stood up after taking a swig of water and motioned to another canteen from his Ninja backpack.

"Do you want some, mother?"

Akane nodded her head, and before tilting the canteen, took a refreshed swig.

"We should be getting back."

"Okay."

Izuna nodded in agreement as after his training session, now all he wanted was to have some rest.

Thus, the family of three made their way back to the Uchiha compound. With Izuna walking a little ahead of his parents.

While returning, Akane suddenly remembered something, and turning towards her husband, raised her eyebrows in question.

"Now that I think about it, you said you had something important to talk to him, right?"

"R-right, yeah. And that's why I came here, to begin with. But I think it would be better to talk after a short break, don't you think?"

Akane nodded silently and after a while raised a question.

"Is it may be related to-?"

Akio cut her off in between.

"Hmm... Just as you guessed, it is."

A long silence followed his remark and it was now that she asked with concern.

"But wouldn't it be better for him to have some time? I mean, he's just six."

Glancing at the back of his son, he spoke with an understanding smile.

"I understand how you feel, but he's a Ninja now. And not just any Ninja... He's a rather strong one."

"It's precisely because he attracted the attention of people in the village and higher-ups of the village that the Clan came to this decision; a testament of his skills."

Her husband's words pushed through her ears as he quietly shook off her head and just sighed.

"Sigh... I presume it'll be fine if you are saying so. And now looking back, he has always been mature for his age."

"Yes, that's also why I agreed on it. He'd gain the experience he needs to have as a Shinobi."

Their shadows stood side by side in the afternoon sun.

"Haha, I can't wait to see how big our son would get in the future."

While his parents talked between themselves, Izuna was lost in his thoughts.

'Whew... I guess there's no reason for me to break a sweat anymore, at least for today.'

Exhaling an exhausted sigh, Izuna thought to himself as he had enough training for today.

'Training with mother really forced my back into it.'

Pretty much the whole day, he just trained with his mother, gaining a lot of experience during their training.

The corner of his lips curled into a satisfied smile.

"I guess that my case is a unique one, isn't it."

Izuna muttered to himself.

He had spent a long time training with his mother, but his Chakra reserves were probably 25% still remaining.

The six-year-old Izuna had the chakra reserves that of rivaling an Elite Jonin.

It was indeed such a wondrous thing for him to have this much Chakra at such a young age.

'I do wonder....'

When he thought about the reserves he would've in the upcoming future, it made his eyes widen in surprise.

Would it be comparable to tailed beasts or close to it? Probably? He didn't know, but at the rate, it was increasing, possibly?

In any case, he really was happy to have the chance to opt for this perk and be born with it.

And after walking a few-minute distance from the training grounds, the family of three soon arrived at their house.

"Hmm... Since I've some unfinished business to take care of, I'll be leaving. But make sure to come and meet me in the evening, all right Izuna?"

His father patted his shoulders.

"Uh?"

"Mm... Understood, father."

Izuna nodded his head, and quietly thought, seeing the departing back of his father.

'Hmm... I wonder what's this about?'