Chapter – 20 Tree Climbing Exercise & Water Walking Exercise(?)

A few days later, training Field Twenty-Seven

"Alright… here goes nothing!" muttered Sasuke as he looked at the thick tree trunk before him, then suddenly ran up on the tree trunk and started climbing the tree at a fast pace without stopping. In the past few days, he has continuously performed the Tree Climbing Exercise to improve his Chakra Control further, as a result, compared to his first attempt when he step-by-step climbed the tree while consciously controlling his Chakra, now he is able to subconsciously perform these actions while rapidly climbing trees.

Tree Climbing Skill is something Uchiha Sasuke had only mastered during the Land of Waves Arc, but the current him has already mastered that skill, so in a way, it can be said that the current Sasuke is several years ahead of his canonical self, granted that that version of Uchiha Sasuke had better mastery of Taijutsu, Bukijutsu, and Ninjutsu, but it doesn't matter since he feels that before the end of this year, he would be able catch up to his Genin-self, and can improve further from then on.

With that in mind, Sasuke decided to focus on the next step of the Tree Climbing Exercise, which is to stand on extremely thinner branches. The Charka control requirements for standing and walking on thinner branches are much stricter.

The moment, the sole of Sasuke's foot touched the branch, it trembled slightly as a few dried leaves fell on the ground. The branch he is trying to stand on is thinner than the soles of his feet, however, by the time Sasuke's second foot was placed on it, it had already stopped trembling. While making sure that his feet were perfectly stuck to the branch, Sasuke controlled his strength and stood upside down on this branch as his hair fell downward due to gravity.

"Now… to move to a different tree…" mumbled Sasuke as he folded his knees a little while gathering more Chakra on the sole of his feet, then released all of it at once in the form of a burst, as a result, he ended up being pushed away from the branch and moved toward a different tree, the only problem is that the direction is not the direction he wanted to move to. Mid-air, Sasuke changed his posture using a backflip to adjust the center of gravity and landed on the trunk of a tree. 

Aside from improving his Chakra control, he is also trying to lay the foundation for the Body Flicker Jutsu. Of course, Body Flicker Jutsu is still something far into the future, so there's no reason not to practice it, in any case, he already knows the theory behind the Body Flicker Jutsu. Stopping on the thick trunk, Sasuke once again moved to the thinner branch and tried to repeat the same. He gently stepped on the thinner branch with his hind feet, then, he quickly jumped and smoothly landed on the next branch a few meters away.

The feeling of success is always somewhat exhilarating. Sasuke chuckled lightly, then looked to the left before jumping sideways on a thinner branch and balancing himself on it to not fall off, and continued to repeat the same action for a while. Soon, he got used to the feeling and started to jump from branch to branch while maintaining perfect balance.

It was only after he had perfectly adapted to subconsciously controlling Chakra while jumping from branch to branch did, he stopped. He jumped down from the top of the tree and after performing several backflips he safely landed on the ground.

"Now… let's try the weighted tree climbing exercise…" mumbled Sasuke as he looked at the small rock boulder on the side, picked it up, and while carrying the stone in his arms, he started to carry out the same Tree Climbing Exercise. There's not much difference between a simple Tree Climbing Exercise and a Weighted Tree Climbing Exercise, it's just that because of the addition of extra weight, the difficulty increases so the Chakra Control has to be further optimized to not fall off the tree.

.

.

After carrying out the weighted tree climbing exercise, Sasuke went to the Konoha Hot Spring. 

Coming to this facility has become a routine for him, and to make things easier he almost always comes to this facility at a fixed time. 

Of course, there is a very good reason for him to come to the Konoha Hot Spring at a fixed time, and that is to ensure that the Root Anbu keeping watch over him has no qualms in regard to joining him in the bath. If his timings are always different, then it would be weird for her to join in the bath every time, as she might think that this can raise suspicions, but if the timing is almost always the same, then there's no problem as she can use the excuse that she comes to the Hot Spring at the same time too. This approach has worked perfectly so far as the Root Anbu has accompanied him in the Mixed-gender Bath ever since that day, and Sasuke obviously wants to make sure that she joins him today too, after all, today is the day he is going to make his move on her.

After making sure that the Chakra of the Root Anbu was not too far away, Sasuke smiled lightly and entered the facility. The same Onee-san greeted him at the reception, "Ara~ if it isn't Uchiha Sasuke-kun, you seem very exhausted today…" She leaned forward on the table, pressing her hooters on it, and brought her face very close to it as she whispered in a teasing tone, "Do you want Onee-san to give you a special massage before the bath? It will definitely relieve all the exhaustion and make you feel refreshed like never before…"

And just like every other time, Sasuke shot her down coldly, "Buzz off…"

The Onee-san pouted dissatisfiedly and said, "If you keep up this behavior, then you'll never find yourself a girlfriend!" She was trying to pull off the legendary pout in order to act cute, it's a pity that she is a middle-aged woman and not an Onee-san, moreover, she isn't beautiful enough either, which made Sasuke all the more disgusted, "Rather than worrying about my personal affairs, you should focus on yourself, if you keep acting in that manner, you'll never find yourself a husband, remain single forever, and die alone!"

Immediately, ten thousand points of damage were done to the woman, as an arrow shot through her heart, and she continued to murmur to herself in shock and despair, "No husband, single forever, & die alone…?!"

Sasuke did not care about the stunned woman and went to the mixed-gender Hot Spring.

A few moments after Sasuke left the reception, another person walked into the reception. Noting the familiar face, the Onee-san's expression immediately reverted back to normal, and she greeted the girl with a smile, "Ara~ if it isn't Kyōka-chan… are you going to go to the mixed gender Bath?"

The girl named Kyōka nodded lightly, "Yes."

Onee-san smiled knowingly, "I see…" and as she started to take out towels for Kyōka to use, she couldn't help but ask, "Say, Kyōka-chan… do you like that boy?"

Kyōka tilted her head in confusion, "Like? What do you mean?" This was a term foreign to her. She hasn't heard anyone speak about like and love ever since she left the Ninja Academy.

Onee-san observed Kyōka's expression thoughtfully, then shook her head, "It seems I guessed wrong… forget what I just said." Then she passed the basket to her, "Here you go… enjoy your bath."

"Hmm…" nodded Kyōka as she took the basket passed to her and then went toward the mixed-gender bath.

Looking at the disappearing back of Kyōka, Onee-san smiled to herself, 'It seems she doesn't realize it.' From her perspective, Kyōka definitely likes the boy, otherwise, it's strange for her to always appear at the reception shortly after the boy goes in and use the same mixed-gender bath that the boy uses.

.

.

Inside the Mixed Gender Bath

Once again inside the Bathhouse, Sasuke was sitting on the wooden stool and cleaning his body. It's customary to do so before entering the Hot Water. As he started to apply shampoo, the gate of the mixed bath opened, and wrapped in a towel, Kyōka walked in and made her way toward the washing area.

"Konnichiwa…" greeted Sasuke without raising his head.

Kyōka answered lightly, "Konnichiwa…" then removed the towel and sat down on the wooden stool beside Sasuke.

It is said that sharing a bath together brings people closer and is good for skinship, and having bathed side by side for many days, the two have become bathing acquaintances of sorts, and are used to seeing each other naked.

Nothing was said after the initial greeting and the two continued with their business. Sasuke was already cleansing his body, meanwhile, Kyōka also began cleaning her body. After washing his hair, Sasuke started to wash his body. He took out a soap bar and started to apply it to his body. Soon, his body was covered in foam and became slippery, as a result, the soap bar in his hand slipped off by mistake and went to Kyōka. Sasuke hurriedly warned as he turned his head, "Ahh… be careful…"

But there was no need for him to warm as Kyōka had already caught the soap bar and returned it to Sasuke, "Here you go."

"Thank you," muttered Sasuke gratefully as he took back the soap bar and continued to apply it on his body while thinking to himself, 'I see… so she is right-handed, and her reaction time is also very good…' Later, he scrubbed his body and then washed off the foam using water. Once he was certain that his body was clean, Sasuke got up and moved to the warm water of the Hot Spring where he was soon joined by Kyōka who remained quiet and enjoyed the bath. 

Of course, unlike other times, today Sasuke wasn't just sitting and relaxing, he had a different plan in his mind. He wrapped a small towel around his waist to cover his little brother, then stood up. 

Kyōka looked at him curiously from the side. Being the person responsible for keeping watch over the boy for the past four months, she has become accustomed to watching him, and wondered, 'What is he going to do?'

Without speaking much, Sasuke walked to the edge of the hot spring and started to focus Chakra on the soles of his feet. 

Looking at Sasuke's actions, Kyōka had already made a guess, "Water Surface Walking Exercise?"

Konoha Hot Spring is often used by ninjas to carry out basic Chakra training exercises, therefore, it is nothing strange for Sasuke to carry out the Water Surface Walking Exercise.

There are various stages of the preliminary Charka Control Exercise. Sasuke is already quite advanced when it comes to Leaf Control, and he has also made rapid progress in Tree Climbing, the next Chakra Control Exercise for him is Water Walking, and that's what he is going to do today, of course, there's a reason why he is carrying out the Water Surface Walking Exercise at such a time.

Under Kyōka's watch, once Sasuke was certain about the quantity of Chakra he emitted from the bottom of his feet, he slowly lifted his left leg and put it on the surface of the water. As you would expect, he did not succeed immediately as his feet started to submerge into the water. 

"I used less Chakra, huh?" mumbled Sasuke as he increased the Chakra output until his foot did not submerge into the water, then further increased the output little by little as he lifted his other foot off of the rocky surface and put it on the surface of the water alongside his other foot.

Splash!

He made a mistake and fell into the water. "Eh? I see… now I have the idea for the right supply…" muttered Sasuke with a confident smile as he stood up, and once again tried to stand up the surface of the water. Just as he had predicted earlier, this time he was able to stand on it without any problem.

"My Chakra control is already quite good, huh?" Sasuke smiled as he stepped forward on the surface of the water while continuously adjusting the output of Chakra emitted on the soles of his feet. Soon after getting a hang of Water Surface Walking, Sasuke smirked, "Now for the main part…" and attempted to glide on the surface of the water.

After a person gains sufficient proficiency in Water Surface Walking, they can effortlessly skate across the water surface, like an ice skater, instead of just walking or running. With that in mind, Sasuke started to attempt to skate on the water surface all while Kyōka kept looking at his progress, 'It's really surprising… to be able to succeed in just two to three attempts…'

Unaware of Kyōka's thoughts, Sasuke kept trying to skate on the Water Surface, and after another ten minutes passed, he made his first glide, "Yosha!" He smirked as he got used to the feeling and slowly but steadily started to glide on it, albeit with some difficulty.

Before long, Sasuke was already skating on the Surface of the Water as if skating on the surface of Ice, and he tried to increase his speed by increasing the Chakra output, which backfired as he ended up using too much Chakra and lost control of his movement, and coincidentally, he happened to be passing by Kyōka, as a result, he flew off at a speed faster than Kyōka could react and ended up colliding with her, thud!

Splash! Poof! Large amounts of water splashed as Sasuke happened to fall on top of Kyōka after the collision obstructing her vision from the white smoke that suddenly appeared, additionally, Kyōka's head also collided with the rock as their line of sight coincided. Shing! A flash of crimson appeared in her mind for a very short moment as her eyes became dazed before returning to normal and then intense pain kicked in her head making her confused. Resisting the pain in her head, Kyōka questioned, "Aahh! What happened all of a sudden?"

"I am sorry… I lost control…" apologized Sasuke in a guilty tone while staring into her eyes with his black pupils. Then he quickly got off of her chest, and helped her up, "There you go…"

"Thank you…" muttered Kyōka a little dazed and stroking her head. There was a light bump in her head.

Noting her somewhat dazed expression and not noticing the third presence in the bath, Sasuke's lips arched ever so slightly for a brief moment before returning back to normal, and he asked, "Does it hurt badly?"

Kyōka shook her head, "Not too badly, I will be alright in a few minutes…" For a ninja, this level of injury wasn't much, she could deal with much worse pain without batting an eye.

"Thank goodness," Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief, and then the two of them returned back to the hot water. This time, Sasuke did not attempt to skate on the surface of the water, just enjoyed the warmth of the water while silently sitting beside Kyōka. After a while, both got up and decided to leave. As an apology for his mistake earlier, Sasuke treated Kyōka with cold coffee, and then the two went their separate ways.

On his way to his apartment, Sasuke smiled to himself, 'Well, that takes care of the main problem… Now, I have more leeway to what I can do.' He had used a Genjutsu on Kyōka to alter her perception to a certain degree as a result, she wouldn't be able to see or sense the extra presence of Uchiha Sasuke until and unless he allowed it. To Kyōka, there would be only one Uchiha Sasuke, other presences would never come onto her radar and the best part is that he can even control which presence he wants her to see and sense.

.

.

.

As always, drop your power stones, comments as well as reviews, and also if you like the story so far, then make sure to add the book to your library for constant updates of new Chapters.