As I walked back through the streets I realized that there was no one out and about, this was a sign that it was extremely late in the night.
Arriving back home, I went to look at the time and to my astonishment it was two in the morning!
If I started swinging the sword around nine in the evening and it's two in the morning right now then that means that I was practicing for five hours straight!
Thinking back to that time I can't remember much. All that I saw was the sword and the direct area around me. I should ask my mother about this, she's pretty much the only person I can trust right now since I know she has the best intentions in mind for me.
As I looked around the house calling out for my mother I realized she still wasn't back home.
I shrugged and got ready for bed then went too sleep.
—-
The next day I woke up and my mother was at the house for the first time in the morning since I came to this world. She was in the back yard doing some type of advanced exercise.
I came outside and greeted her, after exchanging some pleasantries I started talking about the things I came out here for.
"Mom, I started training yesterday to become a ninja."
My mother stopped her work out abruptly and said in a reprimanding and concerned voice "Rajin, you should've come to me first I don't want you hurting yourself by accident." After the lecture she then softened and said "But I'm glad you took the initiative to start your training. That makes me very happy, Rajin."
I smiled and said "I'm sorry mom I was just so excited to get started, but I wanted to ask you about something."
She nodded, giving me the signal to inquire about what I wanted to know.
"First, I was hoping you could help me in my training, I've read some books in the past few days about the different topics I should know going into training but after some thinking, getting trained by an actual ninja would probably be better than any book."
Rika's eyes widened a bit and said "That was very insightful Rajin, you're right, getting training from a real ninja who has experience is better than any book, also when did you start reading consistently I don't remember you ever doing that?"
Damn I got too caught up in the questioning and forgot that I have to be acting like a kid in front of her.
I came up with a quick excuse "I'm about to be six and I'm gonna enter the academy, I want to be just like Itachi who graduated early, I just wanna be a ninja already mom." I gave a sufficiently childish reason although those won't last forever if I keep messing up.
She chuckled a bit and said "You might not be like that Uchiha so don't get discouraged if you don't graduate early okay? And as for me training you I would be very happy to do that Rajin. I'll come up with what to teach you today and we can start tomorrow okay?"
I nodded my head and purposefully became a little downcast, hanging my head.
My mother instantly asked what was wrong when she saw this sight.
I said "Mom… Yesterday I got a book about using chakra and I practiced what was in the book. When I tried to mold my chakra I couldn't do it at all. No matter how I tried."
My mothers eyes shot and she titled her head a bit in a concerned way "Rajin, are you absolutely sure about this, come here let me check."
I walked over to her and she gave me instructions on how to mold my chakra correctly. It was mostly like what the book said to do but it was much more insightful and didn't take nearly as much time to get to the threshold of molding my chakra in the most basic way.
When I got to the point where it was time to mold my chakra I once again reached the same wall. No matter what I did I couldn't get to the point of molding my chakra, even with my mothers help.
"Goodness.." My mother said in a tone that had a mix of pity and sadness for her child.
"Rajin.. If you really can't mold chakra then you will have a significantly harder time becoming a ninja. Even in terms of graduating from the academy you need to be able to perform a perfect clone jutsu and substitution jutsu, if you can't mold chakra then you won't be able to do either. I don't wanna shoot down your dream of becoming a ninja but you should rethink it a bit. There are paths of the ninja you can go down but those are filled with much more strife and training, are you prepared for that reality Rajin?"
I paused before I answered. She made valid points, not being able to cast jutsu as a ninja will make my path as a ninja much harder than it would've been. The chance of me dying on missions increased substantially. Even then, if there's just a one percent chance of me becoming a successful ninja in this world, I will grasp that chance and make it a reality.
"Yes." I said with a resolute stare. "Becoming a strong ninja is all I've ever wanted, mom. I want to be able to protect and provide for you too when I grow up so you don't have to work as hard."
My mom gave me a sad smile, she knows she's been absent in my life a lot ever since my father died. She nodded her head and said "Very well Rajin, if this is the path you really want to go down then I will help you the best I can." She came up to me and hugged me and I hugged her back.
She went back and asked me "Was there anything else?"
I nodded my head "Yesterday when I was training I decided that I want to mainly use katana's or swords to fight so I grabbed your practice sword. When I got to the point of practicing with it something really weird happened. When I started swinging the sword it felt like minutes passed but before I knew it was already really late, it was like I time traveled! Do you know what that might've been?"
My mom stared at me blankly then suddenly said "Raijin, are you absolutely sure that's what happened, I need you to be honest okay sweetie, did that really happen in the way you said it did."
I was a little taken aback and I nodded my head quickly, surprised by her reaction.
She let out a little laugh and then put her hand on her head as if she was thinking about something. After around a minute I asked if she was okay.
She nodded her head slowly and said "What you experienced, if you truly did experience what you said, is said to be called a "sword trance"."
I looked at her in a weird manner and said truthly "I've never heard of that before. What is it?" genuine surprise etching my face since I've truly never heard of something like in all of Naruto.
She spoke and said "That's natural that you've never heard of it, even I only ever heard it in passing while I was on a mission in the Land of Iron. Sword trance is a state swordsmen enter when they enter a complete state of absolute focus and tranquility. In this state they can overcome questions and difficulties they've had with the sword for years, instantly progressing them forward in their training by years or in some rare cases, decades. There is one common saying in the Land of Iron that everyone knows about people who enter sword trance - The one who enters sword trance will become an important figure in the future. The reason for this is because a swords man will be extremely lucky to even enter a swords trance. In a given generation only three or four people will ever enter one, and people who enter it more than once in their life occur once every multiple generations. For example, the current general of the Land of Iron Mifune has entered a sword trance once in his life. So Rajin, all of this is too say you may be even more talented in the sword then Mifine, obviously he is much more skilled then you at this point but if you're able to enter a sword trance at your age you will most definitely surpass him one day if you train diligently."
My mouth was fully agape.
I was that talented, seriously? I should've done kendo in my pass life for fuck's sake I would've became famous.