__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________
The chapter got you itching for more? Read ahead and get exclusive content before anyone else? Join me on Patr -e-on! Your support would mean the world to me.
( | p@treon.com/FictionGoat | )
Read over 20+ chapters in advance.
. . . .
__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________
Two weeks had passed since Kaito began training under Hitori, and in that time, he had finally learned the Mystical Palm Jutsu. It had taken countless attempts, and a ridiculous amount of concentration, but he had finally reached the point where he could perform it without exhausting himself.
At first, maintaining the precise chakra control felt like trying to balance on a tightrope, but now, it was almost second nature. He was getting used to the sensation, the way his chakra flowed smoothly, and for the first time in a while, he felt satisfied with his progress.
He collapsed to the floor, catching himself with his palms outstretched. He lowered himself until his core was almost touching the ground, then jerked back up in one fluid motion. He then repeated the same process over and over, until his arms burned and he struggled to come back up.
"Just a little more," he grunted, his arms shaking as he pushed through the last few reps of his push-ups.
With one final push, his muscles burned, and he collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily. Sweat dripped from his face, soaking into the wooden floorboards beneath him. After a moment, he forced himself up onto his legs.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he stared at his reflection in the cracked mirror against the wall. His body had changed, his endurance had improved, but he still felt like he wasn't strong enough. Not yet.
As he reached for a towel, he let out a sigh. He glanced down at his roughened hands, a small smile creeping across his face. "Should I give it a try...?" he mumbled to himself.
Taking a deep breath in, he focused his chakra into his palms, watching as a faint green aura slowly coated them. He exhaled, steadying his thoughts, then hovered his hands along his arms and over his body.
If his theory was correct, he could use the Mystical Palm Jutsu not just for healing but to accelerate muscle fiber repair. In theory, this could help him grow stronger at a faster rate. The idea sounded almost too good to be true, but there was only one way to find out.
He clenched his fist tightly. 'Well, the soreness is gone...' he thought, rolling his shoulder as he made his way to the bathroom. The mirror greeted him with a reflection that made his eyes widen slightly. It wasn't a drastic change, but it was there.
His muscles were more defined, just a bit bigger, but noticeable enough. Before his arms were like twigs, now had a bit more muscle to it, the faint lines of toned muscle standing out against his skin. His chest looked bigger, his shoulders broader. Even his posture seemed different—more solid, more balanced.
A satisfied grin stretched across his face. Weeks of training, pushing himself past exhaustion, were finally paying off. He flexed once, testing the strength in his arm, and let out a small chuckle. "Not bad," he muttered to himself. "Not bad at all. "
He stepped out of the bathroom, rubbing the back of his head, unsure of what to do next. He glanced around the small apartment, his eyes landing on the scattered books piled on the low wooden table. With nothing better to do, he walked over and sat down, flipping open one of the thick books
After weeks of studying, he was finally confident that he had memorized the entire human anatomy book. Every muscle, every bone, every nerve—etched into his mind. With a sigh, he set the book aside and reached for another—the one about poisons. He didn't have a specific intent when grabbing the book before, it was more out of curiosity than anything else.
As he skimmed through the symptoms, antidotes, and lethal doses, he couldn't help but wonder how often this knowledge would come in handy—or how soon he'd need it. Maybe, just maybe, this book was worth more than he initially thought.
Now that he was really thinking about it, poison was one of the most underrated tools in the Naruto world. There were toxins that could disrupt chakra control, or even paralyze and kill an opponent within just seconds.
Kaito couldn't understand why more people didn't take advantage of it. But he didn't complain, the fewer shinobi's using poison, the bigger the edge he had in battle. If he laced his weapons with the right toxins, he could completely cripple an opponent before they even realized what was happening. Off the top of his head, he could already think of at least ten different deadly poisons he could create to add to his arsenal.
But that's where his lack of money became a roadblock to his ideas. If only he were as rich as Kakuzu, the motion getter member of the Akatsuki.
Still, he knew of a few flowers that could serve as the foundation for his poisons. The problem was, he wasn't sure if they even existed in this world or where to find them. He could try going to the Yamanaka flower shop and asking them, but even thinking about going there made him uneasy. At any moment, they could pry into his mind, and that was a risk he wasn't willing to take.
It wasn't that they would necessarily do it, but the risk was there, and Kaito wasn't willing to take that chance. So, he was back at square one. If he was truly going down the path of poison, he needed something versatile—something with range, undetectable yet lethal.
'Wasn't there some kind of poison bug the Aburame clan used?' Kaito racked his brain, trying to recall the name, but it escaped him. However, he did remember that one of their insects could destroy an enemy's cells upon contact, which is stupidly OP if he could get his hands on it. That alone made it worth looking into.
But he wasn't an Aburame, and he had no natural ability to control these insects. Their power didn't come from a kekkei genkai, so in theory, there had to be another way to command them. But how? He wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of letting thousands of bugs live inside him, feeding off his chakra. So that was a hard pass for him.
For now, it was just an idea, something to consider later when he had more time to research. Trying to become an Aburame knockoff? Yeah, that was definitely off the table... at least for now.
' Speaking of weapons... ' He thought, then moving over to his closet he opened it and grabbed his bag. Zipping opening his bag, he grabbed the one rusted kunai and two rusted shirukens.
He was a bit hesitant at first, unsure whether to train his shurikenjutsu and kunai handling skills. But he knew it was better to get used to handling the weapon now rather than later. Even so, he wished he had someone to guide him, someone who could teach him properly.
There was always Hitori, but when he had asked, [ "Oh no... no, weapons are not my specialty. Why do you think I'm in the medical field?" ] Hitori had said with a chuckle, waving off the idea. It made sense, but it didn't make things any easier for him.
He felt a twinge of disappointment, but he pushed it aside. If no one was going to teach him, then he'd just have to figure it out himself. With a quiet sigh, he picked up the bag, carefully placing the kunai and shuriken back inside before slinging it over his shoulder.
He then changed into his training clothes, tightened the straps on his gear, and stepped out the door and headed towards the training grounds.
. . . .
___________________________
__________________________________________
Kaito made his way toward the last training ground—his go-to spot. It was quiet, secluded, and peaceful to train at. Honestly, it might as well have been his second home, considering how much time he spent there.
Thinking about it, he barely spent any time at his actual home. Between work and training, it felt more like a place to sleep than anything else. These days, his focus was almost entirely on refining his chakra control and honing his medical ninjutsu—because, at this point, that was all he could do.
Even then, he wished he could accelerate his training somewhat. ' I should probably try to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It would make everything so much faster, ' he thought to himself. The technique was notoriously useful, which would allow him to train multiple times over in a short time span.
He didn't know all the hand signs yet, but he had a solid foundation. He knew the first hand sign as it was etched into his memory—of course it was. Naruto used that jutsu constantly, spamming clones every time he had the chance to. As a kid obsessed with Naruto, there was no way he wouldn't have memorized at least some of the hand signs for it.
It was like every kid dreaming of becoming a Super Saiyan—just standing there, screaming at the top of their lungs, hoping their hair would suddenly turn yellow.
But then again, he could've just tried all the other two hand signs for the Shadow Clone Jutsu and see which one worked. Still, he wanted to hold off on attempting it, knowing that he probably didn't have enough chakra to pull it off in the first place.
Even though his chakra reserves had expanded, they still weren't nearly enough for him to pull off the Shadow Clone justu. For now, he had to settle for learning the basic Clone justu.As he walked through the training grounds, Kaito adjusted his backpack, feeling the weight of the supplies he had packed for training.
"Should I just wing it and see what happens?" he thought to himself. He didn't have a structured plan for learning Shurikenjutsu—he figured he would just test out some moves, see what felt right, and adjust from there. Trial and error seemed like the best approach for now.
"Kaito! Is that you?"
A sudden girlish voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he turned to see a girl standing a few feet away. She had long brown hair with bangs framing her face and deep onyx eyes, a small mole sitting just beneath her right eye. Her outfit was practical yet distinct—a long-sleeved, high-collared purple shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol emblazoned on the back, baggy blue pants, a shuriken holster strapped to her right leg, a red armband on her left arm, and a long purple fingerless glove that stretched nearly the length of her forearm.
Kaito's eye twitched, but he quickly masked it with a neutral expression. He hadn't expected to run into Izumi here, but it wasn't entirely surprising. She was probably just training. That meant there was an opportunity. If he could convince her to train with him, he could learn from her and go from there.
"Izumi, hi..." Kaito said awkwardly. 'The fact that she knows my name means the Kaito before me had some sort of relationship with her... definitely not a good one, for sure.'
Izumi ran up to Kaito with a bright smile. "What are you doing here? I've never seen you around this part of the training grounds before." She tilted her head to the side, resting a finger on her cheek.
"I was just going to practice my shurikenjutsu," Kaito replied. "I'm not exactly great at it, but I figured I should give it a try."
Izumi paused for a moment, then smiled. "If that's the case, I can teach you a thing or two. I don't have anything better to do anyway."
'Hell yes! Learning from an Uchiha—well, half-Uchiha—is probably the best thing that could happen to me.' There was no way he was turning this down.
Trying to keep his excitement in check, Kaito gave a stiff nod. "Yeah... sure."
Izumi grinned. "Alright, follow me."
She walked past him with an easy confidence, and Kaito quickly turned to follow, as she led him toward her training ground.
' If I could befriend Izumi, maybe I'd have a chance to meet Itachi. The guy was probably the most talented Uchiha of his time. If it weren't for his chakra disease, he might've been even stronger than Madara. Honestly, he was so overpowered that the plot had to nerf him. '
Speaking of his chakra disease, ' how exactly did he get it? It definitely wasn't during the Uchiha massacre—he took out the entire clan without showing any signs of it. So it must have developed later, probably from overusing the Mangekyō while he was in the Akatsuki. I'll have to look into that when I get the chance. '
Adjusting the straps on his backpack, he followed Izumi to an open training ground.
_________________________________
________________________________________________________
Leave a review and comment!
Read over 20+ chapters in advance, on P@treon.