Swords! Yes!

Once dinner was over, I got a pleasant surprise from the good ol' system.

[Ding. 15% Taijutsu progress detected.]

[Skill: Flash step, unlocked.]

[Skill: Academy Taijutsu, unlocked.]

Knowledge of how to perform flash step with chakra filled my head. Sadly, it was only the basics. I would have to master it on my own.

'Huh, so that's what happens when I hit 15%. Nice.' I decided to check my status as well.

[Taijutsu

Skills: [Flash Step, lvl 1] [Academy Taijutsu, lvl 1].

Progress: 15%]

'I guess I get levels now. That'll be fun to grind. Just like the old days when video games were a thing.'

After checking my stats, I head out to my usual clearing.

"It's about time I tried this," I say to myself. "Tree-walking time."

I vaguely remember how they were taught in Naruto. Something about too much chakra would blast you off and too little would make you slip.

I walked up to the biggest tree in the clearing, which was probably 50 feet tall. I put my foot on the tree trunk and pushed a tiny amount of chakra to the base of my foot. I slowly increased the amount until I felt my foot stick before I repeated the process on the other foot.

Then, I started walking. Or, that's what I would like to say. This actually takes a lot more concentration than I thought, so when I took my first step, I used too much chakra and launched myself onto the ground.

"Damn, I guess this is still going to take some time. Well, there's no time like the present."

I continued for about two hours, which was when my mom set curfew. I ended up getting maybe 10 steps up the tree. 'Eh, that's good enough for today. There's always tomorrow.'

And with that thought, I headed to bed with my head full of plans for the future.

//////// 1 year later ////////

I was proud of my progress this year.

[Taijutsu

Skills: [Flash step, lvl 7], [Academy Taijutsu, lvl 5 (max)].

Progress: 21%]

[Chakra

Skills: [Leaf-sticking, lvl 5 (max)] (A/N: I forgot to add the leaf-sticking earlier) [Tree-walking, lvl 10 (max)]

Progress: 30%]

I figured out that skills max out at different levels based on their difficulty, like academy taijutsu and the leaf-sticking exercise being easy to master. While tree-walking was twice as hard and God knows how long flash step will take, considering the level people like Yoruichi could reach with it in the original anime.

Speaking of flash step, I was proud of my progress. It was about half as fast as the average shunshin (Body Flicker) but without any of the disadvantages. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make footholds in the sky like they could in the anime. I don't know if I ever will, to be honest, since chakra works differently than spiritual energy. Soon, though, I was broken out of my thoughts.

"Alright, listen up!" Yamanaka-sensei said, "Today's a little different. Starting today, you all will be able to choose a weapon or two to learn. We won't provide real swords or fuma shurikens, but there will be a couple of instructors who have taken off from active duty to teach you the basics. If any of you are interested, talk to me after class."

I've been waiting for this. Seeing my kenjutsu progress sit at 0% for so long because I couldn't get my hands on a sword was… Frustrating, to say the least.

So after waiting another 4 hours for the lecture to be over, in which I learned nothing because I wasn't listening, it was finally done.

"Sensei," I called out.

"Hm?"

"I am interested in learning kenjutsu."

"Ah, good. Tomorrow, meet at the academy training grounds after your taijutsu class. I will inform them to bring an extra practice blade with them. Also, this class is for all kids your age and higher, so you might end up competing against some older kids. Is that alright?"

"Heh, that makes it even better."

He sighed at my response. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you. Now get out. You're going to be late for lunch."

"Yes, sensei."

//////// Tomorrow evening ////////

After another boring time in the academy, it was finally time to learn swords. I head over to the training ground and saw a small group of kids, including Uchiha Ayame. She was still a little cold, but after getting closer to her, I don't think she means to come across as rude or arrogant. Cold is just her temperament, I guess.

I also noticed who I assume to be our temporary sensei; a huge, bear-like man with a multitude of scars covering his hands and forearms. There were a couple on his face but they were relatively small and not very noticeable due to his spikey, dark brown beard and hair that looked like he hadn't cut it in years.

Then he spoke and sounded like a bear as well with how deep and grizzled his voice was. " I'm Fukumoto Takeshi. You brats will refer to me as sensei. Now, I heard you brats want to learn kenjutsu. Well, most of you won't after today, because if you can't handle my training, I'll kick you out."

"That's not fair! How are we supposed to learn like that?"

He glared at the kid who spoke up, some older kid I don't care about. "Another word out of you and you won't even get to start training before I kick your ass out. I'm not here to baby you; I'm here to teach you a valuable skill that could potentially save the life of you and your comrades in the field."

That cowed the kid from before, as he had to look away from our sensei's intense stare.

"Now, before we get started, over there," he pointed to a bucket filled with… wooden knives? "Are the swords you're going to be using. Go over and grab one."

We all did. It was a wooden knife with a 'blade' just under 1 foot long.

"You're going to be using those tantos instead of the more traditional katana since none of you are big enough to use a katana effectively."

Then he got us to spread out, about four feet away from each other.

"Alright, brats. I'm going to demonstrate the correct way to hold it. Then, I'm going to show you how to position your feet. And finally, I'll show you the most basic moves; a slash and a stab. Now, watch carefully," he said.

And so I did. For the next 20 minutes, we learned footwork and the proper grip. After that, he demonstrated a slash and a stab.

"Everyone saw that? Good. Now, I want each of you to do one thousand stabs and one thousand slashes before you leave."

There was a slight outrage at that, "That'll take forever! Why so many repetitions?" The same kid that spoke up earlier said.

"If you don't like it, leave," Fukumoto stated simply.

"Che. This was stupid anyway," and the loudmouth kid left, followed by two more who looked about the same level of annoyed.

"Alright, now that the weaklings are gone, get started!"

""Yes, sensei,"" we all said.

And that's how the next hour and a half went, with all of us completing our 1000 thousand repetitions. Some with more difficulty than others, but finishing all the same.

I was only barely winded, which is something our sensei noticed.

"Brat, you've got a strong physique. Do one thousand more," he said

Well, I'm not one for turning down more training.

30 minutes later, I was breathing heavily.

"Hmph, not bad. You've got some talent for the blade."

"Thanks, sensei," I said in between breaths.

Fukumoto looked at me appraisingly, "Meet me here at 7:00 am on the academy's off day. I'll teach you a thing or two," he offered/ordered.

"Yes! I mean, uh, yes, sensei." He looked at me a little longer, before gathering up the wooden tantos that the kids who left early dropped. Then he left, and I was by myself again.

"Shit! I'm late for dinner. Mom's gonna be so mad."

I rushed to dinner, just to find Ayame, Isamu, and my mom, Ayaka, already eating.

"What took you so long? There's not much left," Isamu commented through his mouthful of food.

"You assholes took everything!"

"Language!" My mom yelled.

Isamu swallowed, before looking at me smugly, "Well, you shouldn't have been so late. You knew we were going to be here tonight, anyways."

He had a point.

"Whatever," I grunted as I sat down to eat the small amount of scraps that were left.

/////// After dinner ////////

After Isamu and Ayame left, I headed up to my room to sleep. Before going to bed though, I checked my status on kenjutsu.

[Kenjutsu

Skills: [Tanto-wielding, lvl 2]

Progress: 4%]

"4%!? I guess I am talented like sensei said. That's gotta be the most progress I've made in a single day before."

'Well, I guess I'll have to add kenjutsu to my training routine. Gosh, my schedule is filling up so fast.' With that final thought, I laid down in bed.

'I have a long day tomorrow.'

(A/N: Hello people. I'm just gunna say now that I know barely anything about swords and have only done some basic google searches about them. So don't expect super realistic sword fights. I'm gonna try and wrap up the academy arc in the next two chapters, but we'll see. Leave a review please, I really need some constructive criticism as this is my first story.)