IGNORE THE TRASH CAN: JUMP TO VOLUME 2 FIRST CHAPTER

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The sound of the birds chirping in the morning was the first call to wake up for the vast majority of the people living in Konoha, the morning sun and the fresh breeze being the second, but for the unfortunate neighbors of Okabe, the call to wake up happened much earlier as he had to wake up very early in the morning to practice his swordplay.

His new home in Konoha was a quite good one when compared to what he had before his parents were murdered since, after that event, he was always hitting the road with his grandpa to avoid being easily tracked down.

It was like a small mansion with a private courtyard with everything one would ever need to practice in peace, such as a beautiful artificial lake which he had no idea how it worked because apparently, it was artificial despite the many fish swimming in it.

Other than that, there were many shinobi tools and practice targets, like haystack dolls or aiming targets.

But... even after a month he hadn't tried the aiming targets, he honestly had no interest in learning how to throw kunais nor their ninjutsu way, for better or for worse, despite liking and finding it amazing how hand seals were capable of giving birth to giant fireballs, he had to admit that the samurai way he learned from childhood always felt better and somewhat stronger.

You channel your chakra and simply release it into the world by mimicking the natural aspects, besides, pure chakra had the ability to perfectly fit against any kind of nature transformation, he couldn't really understand why shinobi would train chakra transformation unless it was to use for very specific situations, such as igniting something, although he had to admit he would never be able to mimic the shinobi way of concealment, the books he read clearly proved that when it came to ambushes, the samurai were clearly many levels bellow.

After all, they couldn't travel underground to surprise their opponents, nor transform into someone else or an object, the shinobi relied a lot on surprise attacks, using substitution jutsus and smoke clouds to affect their opponent's sensory abilities and catch them off guard.

This explained why the only information they had on their books was to avoid samurai unless you were a Jonin, samurais physical prowess were clearly above that of the shinobi, as the standard for them was to practice their chakra control and bodies to the extreme, using the chakra pathways to enhance speed, strength and overall agility.

Other than that, smoke clouds and substitution jutsus won't really work with them, since samurais were taught very early to always sharpen their senses, after all, for someone who relied mostly on his sword, the ability to know the enemies location and movements was essential.

It was like his grandpa used to say... 'In a battle between true samurais, a single movement can determine the winner.'

There were no flashy movements against samurai, just pure ability, and the lethality of the blade.

But if he were to say this was all that there was to samurai he would be lying, after all, he did witness how the strongest ones went further than simply swordplay, but still, their style was still different than what he saw on the anime, he just had to see for himself if what he saw there would be translated to real life in some other way or would remain the same, because if it did remain the same when compared to the anime.

The biggest difference between high-level samurai and shinobi is what they can do with chakra, as he never saw someone capable of creating energy barriers around a mansion like Orochimaru did in his fight against the Third Hokage, or making objects such as scrolls that could hold an infinite number of weapons... But samurai's offensive power couldn't be underestimated, he was pretty sure he never saw someone doing what his grandpa was capable of in the anime, there was even a time he cut through an entire mountain, and that for him is the true essence of what samurai can do, they can cut through anything and nothing can stop their blades.

As he finished his last sequence of vertical slashes, Okabe sheathed his 'Hikari' and turned back with a smile on his face.

"Yo, Minato-san."

"Haha! Your senses are really sharp, aren't they, Okabe." Minato was sitting behind him under the shadow of a tree next to the entrance of his new house, the headband with the leaf symbol seemed to shine and resonate with his smile as if his identity as a shinobi, a ninja from Konoha, was more than just part of him, it mixed with his identity somehow.

Okabe wasn't really someone who could read another with cold sharp eyes and understand their very nature, but what he learned of the Will Of Fire, totally matched with the vision he had of Minato, he was a bright man, very willing to make new friends no matter their origins, who was always looking at the bright side of things whenever he could.

For him, Minato was the closest thing he probably had of a sibling, or maybe an uncle in all of his life. With his help, from the very moment he had arrived, life had been easier. It was thanks to him that he managed to get all of this, after all. A new home was pretty much Minato's gift to him, and that made it a lot more special considering that this was the main thing he lost over the years.

"Hehehe! My grandpa trained me a lot, after all, I just wished he was here with me."

Minato lowered his head, clearly, he didn't know how to comfort him. "You shouldn't worry so much, Osaki was a great man, when he fought in the past, he could react instantly to anything I did, it's difficult to believe that someone would be able to take him down."

"I know... grandpa is the strongest person I know, his sword could cut through mountains, and my eyes couldn't follow his movements, but those guys... there was something wrong about them, they seemed... just as strong as him, sigh..."

Okabe went inside his house while Minato followed him inside.

"You're here to ask why I stopped attending the classes?" He filled two cups with water and gave one to him.

"Yes, the Hokage wanted to know why you decided to stop."

Okabe thought about the two weeks he spent there and smiled, Obito, Rin, and the others were all good company to have around, be he felt too out of place, besides...

"This doesn't feel right, I do not wish to abandon the way of samurai, even if you tell me that ninjutsu would make me stronger, the truth is that it would rather make me weaker by forcing me to divide my attention between two different branches of how to use chakra, besides, I'm sure I can make do just with a few things that don't require me to learn handseals, such as wall walking and its variation, as well as that technique mentioned in one of the history books, Hachimon."

Minato blinked his eyes and after a few seconds with both of them looking at each other he started laughing.

"Eh? Did I say something weird?"

"No, hahaha!" Minato shook his head as he laughed at the same time. "I just think it's funny that we think in similar ways when it comes to combat, I also prefer a more direct approach, focusing more on speed than flashy techniques which require countless handseals."

"Eeeh!? Really?!"

"Yup, one day I will show you the technique that my sensei helped me perfect while I was part of his team, people don't know but I took a lot of inspiration from samurais when I created it, the idea of using a technique that only required chakra was what led me to it, although I must admit it still has room for improvement."

Okabe couldn't help but look at with wide eyes, to think that Minato, a Jonin who could fight against his grandpa would agree with him.

"But be honest with me, it isn't just that, or is it?" Minato took a sip of the cup of water and looked at Okabe, waiting for an answer.

He gulped and lowered his head as he clenched his fist. In the end, he decided to tell the truth. "I... I want to go back to the Land Of Iron, I need to tell Mifune-ojichan who were the ones hunting us down, the Shinigami are a group of ronin banned from the Land Of Iron... If I go back then maybe... Maybe it will help to track them down!"

Minato watched as Okabe hit the table with anger on his face and tears falling down his eyes.

"I thought I would be able to overcome grandpa's death... But I just can't! How will I ever achieve my goals if I can't even avenge him, avenge my family! Those bastards! I want to kill them all! All of those guys who hunt down my clan till I became the last!"

Minato sighed and nodded, he could understand him more than he thought, after all, he was very close to someone who went through very similar feelings in the past.

"Say... Okabe... would you like to meet a friend of mine? You probably didn't hear of her yet, but she is known by the village as Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, haha..."

Seeing Minato scratching the back of his neck as he tried his best to not make the situation too gloomy made Okabe laugh slightly and calm down, he cleaned the tears off his face and nodded.

"I think so, if she's as cool as Minato-san, then it will be even better."

"Then let's go to my home, I'm sure you'll like her!"