Chapter 5

And finally, the long-awaited day has come - today my mom and I are going to visit my Grandpa Uzumaki! In preparation for this, I've thoroughly prepared for the journey.

The sets of kunai and shuriken given to me beforehand, a jacket sized for me resembling those worn by Chunin, and the beloved shirt from Grandpa, as well as a field kit of medical supplies, all helped me with this. However, what other gifts can you expect a child from the Nara clan - strategists, medics, and assassins? Perhaps only a set for playing shogi, but I received that earlier.

Despite our clan being a clan of hereditary professional assassins, the training of youth (starting from the age of three) is set up very properly. From childhood, all future shinobi and kunoichi are instilled with a very healthy outlook on life, strangely called "the philosophy of survival" here.

Its essence is simple - death is a natural cycle of life and is not something unnatural. Just as predators fight for territory in the cycle of nature and the weak perish, shinobi act in a similar manner. To this, we add gods, reincarnation, and a bit of philosophy.

Of course, this is a simplified version, but the fact that children's minds are prepared for future losses and killings in the chosen profession cannot fail to command respect. If you think about it sensibly, it is for this reason that members of clans are the best shinobi in terms of intellect, unlike those who went to study at the academy without any initial foundational principles influencing a child's overall growth.

Take the Sannin for example - two out of three have their quirks, and the last one decided to drown her sorrow over her destroyed clan and family in sake and gambling dens.

Or the brightest example - Naruto himself and Sakura, if the former always relied on natural charisma and the bonuses of being a jinchuriki rather than skills, then the latter, no matter how she tried, was not suited for the chosen profession until Tsunade took her under her wing. And they were lucky enough to live long enough, gaining experience and getting more or less normal teachers.

If we recall the impending war, it is the ordinary citizens who will be expendable as in the Second World War and in the Third, simply because more prepared shinobi can wriggle out of many troubles where others will lose their heads, and not fall into black despair over it.

It is also worth not forgetting the transmission of accumulated experience from veterans to the young generation. The leaders of the Nara's training sessions are mostly in a respectable age for assassins, after three or four decades of service.

I think the quite idiotic idea of "peace in the whole world" that Jiraiya was enthusiastic about and infected Minato with at the time, and then Naruto, has the same roots.

All three grew up in an orphanage, and that definitely left its mark. If you think sensibly, through the wars, shinobi undergo a natural selection of the strongest, and trying to remove the foundation of the current world system, both military and financial, would only occur to an idiot or an idealist.

However, these two words don't differ much in meaning. It has always surprised me that the Fourth, who practically single-handedly ended the Third World War, can maintain such a naive view of the world. Or did the war affect him so much?

"Ryu! Are you ready soon?" Sayu peeked into the room fully equipped.

"Yes, Ka-chan, I'm ready!" After checking the attachments of the pouch with kunai and shuriken one last time, I was convinced of my readiness.

"Then let's go, the hired teams are already waiting at the quarter gates."

Nodding, I ran out of my room to the exit following my mom. We lived in a small one-story house on the outskirts of the main complex of clan buildings.

Generally, although I hadn't ventured out of the Nara's territory into Konoha itself yet, I had the opportunity to appreciate the architectural style of the clan, as over a considerable territory of several hectares, one could walk calmly without fearing anything.

And despite Konoha's positioning as a city, the extensive lands belonging to the clans (I was curious about the others too!) actually looked like country estates with cottages, except for the almost palatial residences of the clan heads. Of course, this doesn't apply to the Hyuga and Uchiha due to their habit of living cohesively.