Success!!!

Aki Raiden's hands clung to the jagged rock, his fingers aching as he tried to steady himself. His breaths were shallow and rapid, a mixture of exertion and fear coursing through him.

The task before him was daunting—he wasn't just climbing a mountain; he was attempting to conquer the unforgiving terrain that had been shaped by Cloud ninjas to be nearly impossible to scale.

The mountain was a fearsome challenge, its surface was smoothed and steepened by the Cloud ninja for generations, ensuring any enemy ninja with intent to invade would face hell. There were no ledges, no places to rest—just sheer rock faces stretching endlessly upwards.

Aki's hands and feet were imbued with chakra, desperately trying to keep himself attached to the mountain.

He was only one-tenth of the way up when his focus faltered. The chakra supporting his grip vanished, and before he could react, his hand slipped from the rock he was reaching for.

"AAAHHHHHH!" Aki's scream echoed off the cliffs as he plummeted downwards.

He crashed into the water below, but instead of the hard impact he expected, the water cushioned his fall, bouncing him back up slightly like a rubber platform. Before he could fully grasp what had happened, two strong arms caught him in mid-air.

"Gotcha!" Haruka's voice was calm, but there was a hint of concern in her eyes as she held him securely. She had expected him to struggle, but this was a rough start, even by Cloud Village standards.

Aki's heart was still pounding in his chest, and for a moment, all he could do was cling to her. The fall had reignited his fear of heights, and the adrenaline rush left him trembling slightly.

"You okay, little Aki?" Haruka asked softly, her tone gentle as she slowly lowered him back onto the water's surface.

Aki nodded, swallowing hard as he tried to regain his composure. "I-I'm fine," he stammered, though the slight quiver in his voice betrayed him. "I just… wasn't ready."

Haruka knelt down to be at eye level with him, her hands resting on his shoulders. "Oh?" hearing he's fine she smiled devilishly "Again." She continued in a stern tone.

Aki took a deep breath, nodding again. His fear was still there, gnawing at the edges of his mind, but he couldn't let it control him. Not here, not in front of Haruka, and not if he wanted to learn Jutsu or unlock Rinne-Sharringan.

"Let's try again," he said with determination as he readied himself.

Haruka smiled, "That's the spirit," she said, putting him down. "Remember, control your chakra flow. Don't let it overwhelm you. Small, steady streams. You're not just holding onto the mountain—you're becoming part of it."

Aki nodded, this time more confidently. He closed his eyes, focusing inward, trying to visualize his chakra like Haruka had described. It wasn't a flood, not anymore. It was a calm, steady river, flowing just enough to keep him connected to the mountain.

He opened his eyes and began to climb again. This time, his grip was stronger and more secure. He moved slowly, deliberately, each step measured as he focused on maintaining his chakra flow.

The climb was grueling. The mountain offered no reprieve, it had a steep and smooth surface. Cloud ninjas had smoothed out the mountain in case of any future invasions.

Truly, climbing such a mountain with no outcroppings to rest upon made this challenge even harder. A single moment of distraction would be the moment of his fall… literally.

This defense mechanism not only enhanced the village's already natural defense but also forced cloud ninjas to improve chakra control and focus.

Aki's progress was slow, there were moments he almost lost focus, and felt his grip slipping or his chakra wavering. But each time he forced himself to refocus, pushing forward.

But just as he felt he got better and felt momentary pride, his chakra wavered and he fell. But this time he did not reach the water level no he was caught midway by a Haruka running to the top.

"Training is over for today" Haruka had already spent most of her day with him, neglecting her duties which she could not afford anymore.

Dropping him home she left for the Raikage's office in the central mountain.

Despite his exhaustion, Aki was far from ready to call it a day. He contemplated continuing his chakra control training but knew attempting mountain alone would be reckless.

"I'd totally drown"

Even Naruto the only other ninja with as trashy control as his, started with climbing trees contribution of Kakashi sensei.

One can argue Naruto was already at Chunin level when he started running on water. So, the solid or flat surfaces came first and now that he had some free time it was time for some self-training.

"Byakugan," activating his vision he started to try shadow clone jutsu again.

Aki's chakra control was much higher than in the morning, but it was still trash, with no success. Disappointed he went to the wall and started climbing.

It was much easier than the mountain, he easily jumped over. 'I guess, I should try walking on the wall with my feet only.'

Daringly he put his feet on the wall and using Byakugan he perfected the roughness in his control, once confident he picked up his 2nd foot.

Thud…

He fell with his back crashing into the floor followed by a low groan, "Hahahaha" Aki laughed involuntarily at his dumb approach.

'This can work'

Although he fell really badly, it felt possible. Aki got excited and tried climbing with his feet till late at night. A didn't come home today neither did Haruka, who was practically his nanny.

Time to try the jutsu once again, he took out the scroll Haruka gave him in the morning, read it again and just to make sure he wasn't doing anything wrong.

Making the hand signs and observing changes with Byakugan he shouted like your normal anime character, "Shadow clone jutsu."

Poof!

Exact replica of himself appeared beside him,

"Who are you?"

"I'm Aki" both of them answered at the same time, "Yeah, let's drop the act" Aki sighed and his clone disappeared.

"Once more" Aki was really excited, he was just 3 and had mastered the shadow clone jutsu. The one jutsu that carried Naruto all the way.

Rasengan is not far… Aki felt a surge of confidence. If he was at Ninja Academy, he could already graduate, minus the theory… but being a moderner would make that a breeze.

'Just how old was Minato or Itachi when they graduated? Hehe I'm only 3 and already surpassed them'

A/N: Stop cat might bite your tongue.

Anyway, his first priority is chakra control as it can be trained and he wants to unlock Rinne-Sharringan. Infinite Tsukuyomi and that Dimension summoning Kekkei mora are too cool.

'I wouldn't cast that genjutsu… as I don't wanna destroy the world, but summoning dimensions should be enough.'

Aki got excited just thinking about it… and for a kid, excitement is stamina. He ran towards the wall and tried climbing again.

Totally forgot about trying shadow clone jutsu again.

Thud… falling sounds continued till midnight when he fell asleep by exhaustion.

Aki's eyes fluttered open very early in the morning, last night's excitement had yet to go down. His body had no sign of pain from last night's training.

But there was a deep satisfaction in his eyes as the memory of successful shadow clone jutsu was still fresh in his mind, in his excitement he immediately tried.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu"

Poof!

A clone of himself appeared but it looked sick and soon turned to smoke, disappointment immediately painted his eyes.

But not letting it get to him, he once again shouted recalling the instructions once again weaving the hand signs, "Shadow Clone Jutsu"

Poof!

Exact replica of himself appeared this time "Success" both shouted and did a high-five jump.

He dispelled the clone and headed out of the room, as it was nearing the time, he and Haruka had decided to train.

Reaching the edge of the railings, he waited, and in a few minutes, Haruka arrived with 2 more kunoichi in tow.

"This is Kaela" Haruka introduced the Kunoichi on the right who was totally a looker. She did see the stunned look on Aki's face but she decided to ignore it.

Kaela is a tall, fair-skinned woman with a curvaceous figure who generally wears a stoic, aloof expression on her face. She has blue eyes and straight, shoulder-length blonde hair cut in an asymmetrical bob style.

Calling her blonde Hinata wasn't wrong... the Naruto girl that became over popular... she was more useless than Sakura.

Hinata's role was just: once she saw Naruto, Hinata would faint blushing.

Yeah, she almost sacrificed herself in 4th great Ninja War for Naruto and later married but she was still useless.

( A/N: STOP!!! fandom would cancel us both.)

Anyways, back to the scene at hand.

"And this is Haibara Nii" Haruka pointed at the one on the right, "Both of them will be joining us today"

Haibara had long, straight, blonde, hair bound with taut bandages and dark eyes and she wore red lipstick. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves, and a chain of blue beads wound around her left hand.l

"So cute!" Haibara went in like a tiger and grabbed Aki bringing him to her embrace and hugging tightly.

"Hi," was all Kaela offered before going into silence mode.

"Haibara will help with your taijutsu training and Kaela would cook for us" Haruka explained further, "Let's go"

A/N: wiki doesn't say if she can cook… so I say she can 😉.

Saying her words she "stole" Aki from Haibara and Jumped down leaving both Jonin stunned and soon followed.

Training with 3 top beauties in the village was about to begin.