With a Home

"I would be lying if I said that was the super motivational and passionate answer I was expecting," Sakumo said, "but it's not totally terrible for a response. If nothing else, the desire to "not die" is a reasonable desire to have. Well, to begin with, that question was one of curiosity rather than one of some deep underlying meaning."

Katsu listened while nodding his head vigorously. The idea of not dying was something quite attractive to him, so having his opinion validated in this way was enticing to say the least.

"With that out of the way, I'd like to work on a foundation with which we'll build off of during future sessions, whenever those may be."

"What did you have in mind, Sakumo?" Katsu wondered.

Sakumo narrowed his eyes. "Just Sakumo?"

"Right. What did you have in mind, Sakumo-sensei?" Katsu asked eagerly, excited to finally have someone to personally call sensei.

Having heard what he wanted, Sakumo nodded approvingly, "To begin with…"

Sakumo stood and retrieved a dummy target from the corner of the courtyard. It was made of wood and had a five-ringed target painted in the middle consisting of alternating red and white stripes. Various cuts and gouges could be seen throughout the target, all mostly hovering around its center.

Sitting the dummy down a dozen meters from Katsu, he retrieved a handful of leaves from the oak tree that sat in another corner of the courtyard.

'What exactly is he planning?' Katsu pondered.

Sakumo returned to Katsu and said, "I'm assuming you're familiar with the leaf concentration exercise?"

"Yes, it was one of the first things we learned in the academy," Katsu said.

'Well, I'm not exactly the one who learned it. Thanks past me,' he thought immediately after.

"Good. We're going to be doing something that builds off of that exercise. In this exercise, you'll mainly work to improve your concentration and chakra control while also increasing your proficiency in weapon handling."

Sakumo dropped the large pile of leaves in front of Katsu and handed him five shuriken.

"Start by sticking one leaf anywhere on your body, then throw the shuriken at the target while maintaining control over the leaf. If the leaf falls, then retrieve all of the shuriken and start over. If any of your shuriken miss the target, then retrieve all of them and start over."

'I think I get it now,' Katsu thought in understanding, 'But why so many leaves?'

"Once you've landed all five shuriken while maintaining control over the leaf, you'll add another leaf and throw all five shuriken again. You'll keep repeating this process until all of the leaves are stuck to your body."

Katsu glanced down at the pile of leaves. 'He can't be serious, right? There's gotta be at least two dozen leaves in there!'

"Furthermore, if I feel you're breezing through this exercise too easily, I'll push the dummy further away and or increase the amount of shuriken you need to throw."

Katsu was certainly surprised by the difficulty of the challenge, but he was not discouraged. Threat of death is a great motivator, and he intended to impress himself upon Sakumo by completing this exercise.

Sakumo walked a couple meters past Katsu and stabbed a kunai into the ground. "You'll stand here, exactly fifteen meters away from the target."

Katsu did as he was told and stood by the kunai after grabbing one of the leaves from the pile.

"You may begin when you're ready," Sakumo said.

Nodding, Katsu took off his shirt and pinned the leaf to his stomach. Naturally, his torso had the most surface area to work with, moved the least amount when in a throwing motion, and was were many of the tenketsu (chakra nodes) were located, making it an optimal location for passing the exercise.

Completing the exercise while maintaining a single leaf was easy enough given his current capabilities. The second and third leaf were similarly simple given a few attempts.

At a basic level, it's like learning to do two contradictory actions with either hands simultaneously. It may be difficult at first, but the brain will eventually learn to disassociate the two actions — for some faster than others.

Of course, since this exercise required the manipulation of chakra, it was a far more mentally taxing task.

After he succeeded with the fourth leaf, Sakumo pushed the dummy back five meters and let Katsu continue.

Occasionally, Sakumo would intervene to help correct Katsu's throwing form along with offering other tips that were more than helpful in improving his abilities.

After an hour into the exercise, and on Katsu's eighth leaf, Sakumo left Ayaka in charge of supervising his training while he played with Kakashi somewhere else in the compound.

It wasn't until Katsu had made it to fifteen leaves — nearly five hours after having began the exercise — did Sakumo return.

By now, it had been a couple hours past noon, and Katsu was exhausted. As simple as throwing some shuriken may sound, doing it constantly for five hours is considerably draining, especially for a six-year-old.

"I see you've made it through most of the leaves," Sakumo said to Katsu, who was kneeing on the floor with his arms laid limp by his sides.

"I can't feel my arms, Sakumo-sensei," he said dryly.

"That's good then, because now comes the fun part!"

"Are you going to make me balance on a wooden pole while you throw kunai at me?" Katsu asked sarcastically.

"That's not a bad idea, but no. We're going to be sparring, and if we can, correct any bad habits you may have formed. In addition, I'd like to improve upon whatever they taught you at the academy so that it's a bit more specialized and suited for you."

"Oh, that sounds far more reasonable," Katsu said as he dragged himself up.

"Here," Sakumo said as he tossed a small bag to him.

Catching the bag, Katsu removed one of the items from it — a small brown pill.

"A food pill? Thanks sensei, but don't these have negative effects in the long run?"

"I told you, didn't I?" Sakumo asked, "I've only been given a few days off, so we're going to make them count."

Katsu looked at him with gratitude as he consumed a food pill. Feeling a burst of energy course through his body and revitalize his arms, he prepared himself to spar with Sakumo.

And so they sparred for the remainder of the day, with the occasional break for snacks and refreshments, courtesy of Ayaka.

Like when Katsu had been throwing shuriken, Sakumo assisted him in correcting his taijutsu, slowly making the necessary adjustments and perfecting his technique.

Katsu felt like he'd made more progress in this single day than he did during the entirety of the previous year at the academy. Having an elite jonin as your sensei was truly an unfair advantage. It was no wonder the civilian kids were outclassed so heavily by clan kids.

Katsu had begun the day by being mentally battered, and now he was physically battered as well. He now lay on the soft grass of the inner courtyard, gazing at the sky which had been painted over in a deep-orange. He didn't want to move, both because the sky was so entrancing and it hurt to do so.

"You gonna sleep there, kid?" Sakumo asked as he sat a short distance away.

"I'm used to sleeping outside," Katsu said.

For a moment, Sakumo gazed at his new disciple with some pity. "You don't have a home, do you Katsu?"

'I did…' he thought.

"I do not," he said, keeping his eyes fixated on the slowly-drifting clouds above him.

Sakumo looked at the vibrancy of the late-afternoon sky as well. "I see…"

At this moment, Kakashi slammed open one of the sliding doors and took off running straight into Sakumo's embrace.

"Look at my little man go!" Sakumo said excitedly.

"My god, he's actually sprinting," Katsu said with disbelief.

Katsu enjoyed the scenic view for a few more minutes before picking himself off of the ground and moving towards the exit of the interior courtyard.

"Have a great day, Sakumo-sensei, but I have class tomorrow morning and need to get some rest," he said as he waved goodbye.

"Where do you think you're going, Katsu?" Sakumo asked sternly.

"Ah, well… home?" Katsu responded, realizing the contradictory nature of what he'd just said.

"My memory's not that bad, kid. But more importantly, how are you supposed to help take care of Kakashi if you live in the wilderness?" Sakumo said as a smile crept up on his face.

"A-Are you saying?" Katsu stuttered.

"Of course you stay here kid. There's more than enough room in this ghost town of a compound. Besides, how could I let my own disciple be homeless? Do you think that poorly of me, Katsu?"

"No, Sakumo-sensei! I just didn't want to intrude on your personal life is all," Katsu said.

The thing Katsu feared the most was accidentally crossing the line — a personal boundary — and being permanently dismissed. He'd only known Sakumo for so long, and didn't know where his line was. Besides, it was rude to just assume he could live in the compound without asking permission.

'Though I suppose Sakumo-sensei's the type of man to do such a thing,' Katsu thought, 'He is too kind.'

"Haha, well I appreciate your respect for my privacy, but it is unnecessary. You will live here from now on," Sakumo said without offering any room for refusal.

"Yes! Thank you, sensei! I am in your debt!" Katsu bowed and said in earnest.

"Well, you can pay me back by "not dying" after you graduate. Do that, kid, and we'll be even."

"I will survive, sensei!" he said, raising himself from a bow.

"But first…" Sakumo began.

"Yes, sensei?"

"Take a bath. You stink," he said with his eyes closed and a frown.

"Ah- ah. I didn't realize. Right away, sensei," Katsu began to move towards the main building before freezing, "…where is the bath exactly?"

~~~~~

Katsu had taken a bath and eaten dinner with Sakumo, Kakashi, and Ayaka. Considering how he'd spent the last couple weeks, it was beyond pleasant.

He was finally able to eat something other than unseasoned venison, rabbit, or squirrel. He was finally able to thoroughly cleanse himself, rather than simply letting a river glide across his body, taking some dirt and sweat along with it. He was finally able to enjoy the softness of a bed and warmth of a blanket — a vast improvement over the pricking of grass and waning heat of a dying campfire.

'Thank you, Sakumo-sensei,' Katsu thought before drifting off to sleep, letting the anxiety of war fade and warmth of a home embrace him in its place, if only for a night.