Time Skip (I)

It has been a little over 4 years since Rai came back from Konoha. Rai just turned 12 a few days back. He now stands at 175 cm and his body somewhat looks like a mini Escanor.

(AN: Without the humongous upper body. More balanced version).

These 4 years were not very eventful with nothing of note happening in the village. Though, he had a tough time explaining to his family about how he has so much chakra and about Yoru's origins. There was no way he could let anyone know about the system or about the fact that he is a reincarnator. Rai had to make a web of lies that were quite ludicrous to be honest before they eventually accepted things for what they are. After that, he was heavily praised for bagging a few Sharingans as well as a Byakugan from Konoha. Father was so chuffed that he was drinking and boisterously laughing for a few days.

Rai has been training himself with the same repetitive routine every day. But a few months down the line, he was getting frustrated at the lack of progress that he is making. His CQC was at a standstill with him not making much more progress. It was like it's waiting for the opportune moment before he can improve again. Rai started taking on more missions in order to find some sort of inspiration or a eureka moment in order go past this bottleneck that he finds himself at.

It was only around 9 months after he came back from Konoha that he took a break. It was more like he had to take it since his father had done it again. He got drunk and got a woman pregnant. Déjà vu much. Grandpa being a stickler for discipline and honor really blew up this time around.

He let it slide the last time since we were at the cusp of war and that mother died at childbirth but seeing the same thing happening again really pissed him off. Safe to say, Father was beaten black and blue for days before grandpa's rage was placated. Father eventually ended up marrying the woman, she was a Jonin from the Yotsuki Clan, Yotsuki Hana. Just like that Rai had a little sister now, she was named Eri. A cute bundle of joy with light brown skin and whitish blonde hair.

(AN: The Yotsuki Clan is the only clan that i know about from Kumo. There's literally nothing else about the Kumo clans.)

Rai did a little bit of soul searching after things relatively calmed down. It was then that Rai came to the realization that ever since he was like 3 years old, he has been relentlessly training, chasing after strength for a war that is 10 years away. Rai asks himself if it is even his job alone to ensure that he can take care of everything.

'I'm pretty sure that even if I don't get involved too much, Naruto and Sasuke would probably take care of it, they are after all the incarnations of Ashura and Indra. I have been busting my ass every day for over 5 years now. Do I really have to keep doing things this way for a decade more?'

'I have a new life here, and all I've done is stay cooped up in the training ground or getting my ass whooped during spars. I've hardly seen with my own eyes what this world has to offer, I don't even have anyone I can call a real friend. Now that I think about, isn't that kind of bad. Sure, I am quite close with family and am also on amiable terms with Darui, Cee and Samui. But, that is the end of it.'

'I have to relax a little, this is not how I want to spend my second chance at life. I mean, I know strength is a necessity to survive here in this dog eat dog world but being overly psyched about things and desperately wanting power is also not helping.'

'Ok. From now on I'll take things slower, need to take a break in between trainings from now on so that I can unwind and relax.'

(AN: I kinda had to bring in an OC since I have noticed that MC doesn't really have many people to interact with. I mean there are a few but felt like I need to bring in another dynamic to his interpersonal relationships. So, yea a Semi Sis-con.)

This put the brakes on Rai's relentless training and he spent quite a lot of time with little Eri. He still trains but now also spends his time exploring the village and the surroundings and speak to people whenever he gets the chance. Turns out he was quite famous throughout the village but people always thought of him as a stuck up, haughty and power driven person. It took a long time before people realized that he wasn't any of those things and he was just a training maniac.

Surprisingly, it was this change in mindset that got Rai past his so called bottleneck. It was quite simple really, he had been so focused on gaining strength that he became somewhat narrow-minded. Rai was holding himself back by putting limitations on himself.

'I wonder if this is how Orochimaru felt. So, fixated on strength and achieving immortality that he was willing to cross any moral lines to achieve it. I also completely understand his fixation on the Sharingan now. Those magic eyeballs respond to high emotional fluctuations. The despair that someone with a Sharingan faces almost always comes back in the form of power. Those things are seriously hacked items.'

On a side note, the eyeballs that Rai acquired from Konoha has been put to good use. The eyes have been transplanted to father's ANBU guards. It was kept completely secret as well, no reason to allow anyone to know yet. Rai was asked if he wanted it to be transplanted as well, but he rejected it. Rai decided that if he wanted the Sharingan, he'll just get the bloodline from the system, that way he can get the complete bloodline and not a chakra sucking pair of eyes that are impossible to turn off. As for the Byakugan, Rai didn't even consider it, he already has Observation Haki that makes the Byakugan obsolete. Unless, he can figure out how to unlock the Tenseigan, he isn't really interested.

Rai continued this way for over a year with him making real progress in combat proficiency. He has been training with Scáthach for close to 5 years now (2.5 years X 2). He is now able to dodge most attacks but is still unable to land a solid hit. Everything he throws at her is always dodged, blocked or deflected. Eventually his CQC proficiency rose up to SS rank. It was then that finally Scáthach decided that his progress was adequate and began to teach him how to use different weapons as well as Primordial Rune Magic.

Learning to use weapons was kind of straight forward. Scáthach instructed Rai in the use of all weapons, Sword, Daggers, Bow, Spear, and Staff, literally anything that can be classified as a weapon. And unlike the previous sparring method, this was proper instructions. Rai took Weapons Mastery like a fish to water but the same could not be said about Rune craft.

Primordial Runes consist of 24 alphabets which are supposedly of Nordic Origin. These runes are supposedly what Odin learnt from Yggdrasil after he sacrificed his eye and hung himself from a branch of Yggdrasil after being pierced by his spear. He survived like that for 9 days before he learnt of the runes and attained the knowledge and wisdom that deemed him worthy of him being called the All-Father.

Runes are a form of language that was used by the old gods and hence every alphabet is imbued with meanings and power. Rai had a horrible time even picking up Japanese which he was in close contact with, let's not even talk about the runic language. Rai has barely learnt the alphabets and the general meanings, imbuing the specific meaning necessary as well as using them in the form of spells is a long way away. Safe to say, getting any headway with Runes will take a very long time. This kind of training persisted for the 4 years after Rai came back from Konoha.

(AN: Runes are hard man. I've spent hours watching videos and reading up on Runes. I'm still unsure on how to use them. I've got all the symbols and meanings but how to use them efficiently is beyond me. If you have any ideas please let me know.)

Rai also spent some time on figuring out how to fly. It took some time to figure out since he had not seen anyone capable of using it, he doesn't know if this is how it is supposed to be but seeing that he is able to float and also able to travel at unbelievable speeds now, he just let it slide.