5 So It Begins

"Honey, let's get ready to go to Arita's apartment so you can play with Chojuro," Yura said, grabbing her jacket from the armoire. Zitsukani looked at his mother. He wanted to stay alone, but what mother would leave a 1-year-old alone? "Ok," he said, opening his mouth with a cute baby voice. Grabbing his hand, they walked out the door and travelled through the all-too-familiar hallway, and knocked on the all-too-familiar door. This had been his life for the past year, nothing more, and nothing less. If not for the gossip from his mother's work, he would be a missing-nin baby.

It was not that he didn't care for his mother, but reprogramming over twenty years of independence couldn't be done in one year. Getting cleaned was already embarrassing enough. After a few seconds, Arita, a blue-haired woman, opened the door. Seeing her every day, Zitsukani could already tell something was wrong. "Yura, can you come in for a moment?" Arita's voice sounded choked. Furrowing her brows slightly, Yura pulled Zitsukani into the apartment. "What's wrong? Is everything ok?" Looking at her friend's appearance, she began to worry.

Looking at Chojuro playing with a piece of string on the bed, Zitsukani walked over while still listening to the conversation. "I stopped getting letters from Okura two weeks ago, I fear the worst," Arita said, unable to complete her sentence. Tears started to stream down her face. Yura instantly pulled her into a hug and began rubbing her back. For some reason, both women started to cry.

Looking at the two of them, Zitsukani felt slightly confused. You know, most of the ninjas in Naruto have parents, but you never saw them. Looking at his crying mom, he felt the same burning pain in his chest. The bond between a mother and child was scary. Seeing the oblivious Chojuro, he wondered how his presence would affect his future. Would he still become the sixth Mizukage? That was too far into the future to even think about. All he knew about the second year of the war was that Akatsuki was formed, which meant Yahiko was still alive.

Clenching his tiny fist, he took a deep breath. "Everyone is getting stronger," he whispered to himself. Releasing his fist, a smile formed on his face. "But just because you started early doesn't mean I'll fall behind." Trying to steel his resolve, he wondered how he could become strong like the ninjas he had read about. Chojuro looked at him with snot dripping from his nose, unsure what all those words meant. Shaking his head, Zitsukani grabbed Chojuro's shirt and cleaned his nose. At least if this guy did somehow remain a strong shinobi, he could hold this over his head.

"I have to work now too. The money has stopped coming in," Arita said, picking up the conversation again. Hearing this, Zitsukani's ears twitched. "Don't worry about that. You can come work with me at the restaurant. The boss was just saying how he needs more help," Yura said. Arita's eyes brightened, but soon dimmed again. "What about the kids?"

Yura frowned, forgetting the crucial point of the problem. "I met someone at work the other day. She said she was looking for kids to train, to get them ready for the academy. She seemed nice enough, and when I go to work today, I can write her and ask the boss about your job

Amita frowned, her eyebrows sinking further and further. Looking over, she saw Zitsukani fixing Chojuro's shirt, causing her face to ease a little. "These are difficult times, and no matter what they need to grow up strong. Ok, let's do It." Releasing a breath, her shoulders dropped slightly and the tension in her shoulders relaxed.

"Ok, I'll go make the arrangements." Yura nodded her head slowly before leaving the apartment.

Watching her leave, Arita walked to the bed and laid down while covering her eyes with her right forearm.

Zitsukani heard soft cries, but what was important was what his mother was doing. Had his birth changed anything? Was his mother ever meant to have a child? But she was already pregnant when he died, so his death couldn't have caused her pregnancy. If he was correct, his character creation had matched him with parents who could give him his desired outcome.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm down. This was harder than he thought. Being around someone with a great destiny was troublesome, especially if you didn't want to change it yet. Whatever happened to this kid, it would take him to the top, and Zitsukani wanted to ride his coattails for a while.

Sitting on the ground, he began to stretch. He didn't know if exercising would damage his body, but stretching would definitely help him in the future.

Chojuro tapped his shoulder. "Play," he said.

Looking at the kid, Zitsukani thought for a moment. "Okay."

Chojuro sat in front of him and handed him one end of a string. This was the only thing they ever played with, as they had no toys or games. Grabbing the string, he began to focus his chakra into his hand. After a year of practice, he could distribute chakra to different parts of his body without using hand seals.

As he molded his chakra and trained, Chojuro tried to pull the string from him. "Heh hehe hehehe," Zitsukani laughed, grinning broadly. Because he was using chakra, Chojuro wasn't even able to budge his hand.

Forming the Seal of Confrontation, Zitsukani tried to pour chakra into the string, but he could barely extend it a few centimeters. "I wonder how much chakra a normal person has," he mumbled to himself. He knew that everyone had a maximum chakra, a point where no amount of practice would increase their base amount. The question was, did he have a limit?

Using both hands, Chojuro began to shake the string, completely breaking the chakra that Zitsukani had put into it. "It's harder than I thought," he said, smacking his lips.

Putting more chakra into the string, Zitsukani tried to extend his control, but after a few minutes, he began to run out of chakra. Controlling chakra in the body didn't use a lot, but trying to pour it into a foreign object and failing used a lot. What he was trying to do was a watered-down version of puppet strings, but puppet jutsu was not so easy to achieve.

As his chakra ran out, Chojuro ripped the string from his hand. "I win! I win!" he shouted, jumping to his feet in excitement.

All the noise caused Arita to sit up. Seeing her son celebrating caused a smile to form on her face. "Chocho, mommy is going to start working soon, so you and Zitsu will be playing with someone else too from now on, okay?"

"Mom play, Cho like play!" Chojuro ran over and grabbed his mother's leg while jumping up and down.

Zitsukani felt exhaustion wash over him. Chakra depletion didn't knock him out anymore, but it did sap his energy. Closing his eyes, he looked at his menu: [Health 100] [Chakra 135] [Stamina 101]. Over the year, he had learned that looking at his menu didn't pause the world. The more chakra he had, the faster it increased, and his stamina had barely risen.

The only thing that didn't move was his health, so he started to believe that everyone had 100 hit points. No matter what, if someone's head got cut off, they would die unless they had a special jutsu or body composition, and he had neither. In all the fan fiction he had read, the characters always had a Kekkei Genkai, but he had none of that, at least not yet. There was some interesting stuff in the Ninjutsu perk tree that he was eager to explore.

Opening his eyes, he continued to stretch. He knew that laying a solid foundation was crucial for his future. Even if he couldn't level up, he planned to have the best foundation possible. Chojuro continued to bother him, but he convinced him to stretch with him. And like that, hours passed.

Standing up, he looked at the door because this was the time his mom usually returned. Sure enough, not even two minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Arita opened the door, revealing Yura's figure. Next to her was an old woman with a face full of wrinkles. Her hair was pure white and tied up in a bun. She was wearing a black kimono with blue trim and blue sandals. Zitsukani frowned because he had no idea who this woman was.

"Arita, this is Madame Yan, an elder from the city council," Yura explained.

"Madame Yan, please come in," Arita said as she stepped aside.

Clasping her hands behind her back, Madame Yan walked inside. She didn't say any words but just watched the children. Yura and Arita looked at her back with bated breath. Their children's future hung on her decision. Zitsukani looked at the woman, unsure of what to think because his chakra was empty, and he looked slightly haggard. Chojuro looked between the old lady and his mom, trying to figure out who this new person was.

"They are both okay," Madame Yan finally opened her mouth, revealing a kind elderly voice. "We will leave for the training camp today, and you can only see them once a month. Are you okay with that?" She turned to look at Yura and Arita.

Looking at their children for a moment, they both nodded their heads. "Okay."

Hearing the answer, a small smile formed on Zitsukani's face.