Kaito woke up early.
Today, there are no academy classes, so he can focus on training for today.
The sun hadn't fully risen, but the sky was already pale with light. The orphanage was quiet. He dressed quickly, grabbed his academy pouch, and stepped outside.
The village was waking up.
The Hidden Leaf was built into the landscape: stone and wood woven through hills, trees, and winding paths. The buildings were stacked and sloped, with curved rooftops and faded banners fluttering in the morning breeze. Shops were opening. Vendors were setting out crates. Shinobi moved quietly through the streets, some in uniform, others in casual gear.
The Hokage Monument loomed in the distance, four carved faces watching over the village from the mountain wall. Below it, the administrative buildings stood tall, surrounded by patrol routes and messenger hawks.
To the east were the shinobi training fields, wide, open spaces marked with wooden posts, dummies, and large fields. Most were restricted. Only licensed genin and above could enter without supervision. Kaito passed them without slowing.
He kept walking.
Past the academy. Past the market district. Past the residential blocks.
Then, as he turned a corner near the Uchiha district, he saw them.
A tall boy with dark hair and calm eyes: Itachi Uchiha. Beside him, a gentle-looking woman was holding a baby wrapped in a pale blue cloth. The baby's tiny hand clutched Itachi's sleeve.
That must be Sasuke, Kaito realized.
His heart froze for a moment, heart thudding.
Itachi. Sasuke. Mikoto.
Three names he'd only heard in passing, now walking right in front of him.
He felt a rush of excitement. So many important people in one moment. But he didn't show it. He kept his face neutral, his pace steady.
What was I supposed to do? Run up and talk to them? I've never met them before. And besides…
He glanced at the forest beyond the buildings of the village.
I have something more important to do.
Throwing that encounter out of his head, Kaito kept walking...
The terrain shifted: less stone, more green. Trees thickened. The path narrowed.
Eventually, he found it.
A break in the foliage. A narrow trail leading down a slope.
At the bottom was a small clearing.
Flat ground. Soft dirt. Surrounded by trees.
And beside it a river.
Clear blue water flowed from a waterfall just above, spilling down a moss-covered hill and into the stream. The sound was steady, clean. The air was cool. Mist hung lightly over the surface.
Kaito stepped forward.
No signs. No barriers. No footprints.
It was quiet.
He looked around once more.
Then he nodded to himself.
This is it.
His training place.
From now on.
Kaito realized that he wouldn't really be able to train that well at the orphanage because there are many other kids, and sometimes he gets disturbed. So, with the permission of the matron, he went out to find a place to train.
Konoha is extraordinarily large with miles of buildings for its residents and even more space for nature, like waterfalls, hills, mountains, lakes, etc. Beyond that are the village's walls that surround dozens of miles. He heard Takeshi-sensei say that these walls had many seals from the various Seal Masters and Grandmasters in the village. These seals made the wall strong enough to even handle many A-Rank Jutsus at once!
Kaito dropped his pouch and stepped into the center of the clearing.
He started with taijutsu.
Basic stretches. Footwork drills. Shadow sparring. His punches were sharp, his kicks steady. He moved across the flat ground in a rhythm, warming up his body and getting his blood flowing. After twenty minutes, he stopped and pulled up the panel.
__________________________________________
[Konoha Taijustu +1]
[Konoha Taijustu: Entry (50/100)]
Ninjustu:
[(E) Transformation Jutsu: Entry (0/100)]
[(E) Clone Jutsu: Entry (0/100)]
[(E) Substitution Jutsu: Entry (0/100)]
__________________________________________
Before unlocking his chakra, Kaito had been practicing the basic hand signs of the three jutsu to prepare for today!
He looked down at them and felt a rush of excitement. He hadn't started any of them yet. He didn't think too hard—just chose one.
Clone Jutsu.
He ran through the hand signs in his head: Ram → Snake → Tiger. He visualized the chakra flow, then performed the signs.
"Clone Jutsu!"
A puff of smoke.
The clone collapsed instantly. Pale, limp, and lifeless. Its limbs were twisted, its eyes dull. It looked exactly like the pathetic clone Naruto made during his graduation exam.
Kaito stared at it for a second, then reset.
He tried again.
The clone got a little better. More stable. More solid. But it was still hard to make a perfect copy.
[(E) Clone Jutsu: Entry (3/100)]
After using the clone jutsu twice, he ran out of chakra.
What the hell, Kaito thought. My 8 points of chakra can only allow me to use the clone jutsu twice before I run out of all of my chakra...
This means that each clone jutsu takes 4 chakra points. Of course, that will change with mastery and increased chakra control. Well, now he can try the meditation technique to recover his chakra. Just like that he felt the two mysterious energies: one surging throughout his body and the other through his mind. He willed them to combine and enter his chakra point.
8 minutes later, he recovered all of his chakra. Meaning that he could only recover 1 chakra point per minute.
Silence permeated Kaito...
The only good thing is that this recovery speed also increases with chakra control, mastery, and strength. With his panel, Kaito will only recover his chakra faster in the future.
Then, he goes through the other 2 E-Rank Jutsus: Transformation Technique and Substitution Jutsu.
Both of them take 3 chakra points to use, which is lower than the clone jutsu, but Kaito can still only use it twice if he has a full tank of Chakra.
Thinking of this, Kaito put Increasing his Chakra at the top of his priority list.
But for now, Kaito continued to practice and recover his chakra. 3 hours passed and as the sun started setting over Konoha, he decided to stop and take a rest. He was mentally tired from using jutsus and focusing on meditation to recover his chakra for hours on end.
Laying on the ground, looking up at the orange-red sky, Kaito looked at his panel.
__________________________________________________________
Name: Kaito Arata
Age: 6
Chakra: 10
Rank: Lower Academy Level
Taijutsu:
[Konoha Taijustu: Entry (50/100)]
Ninjustu:
[(E) Clone Jutsu: Entry (9/100)]
[(E) Transformation Jutsu: Entry (7/100)]
[(E) Substitution Jutsu: Entry (8/100)]
__________________________________________________________
Kaito smiled as he looked at his panel. Not only did he increase his chakra by two points through continuous drainings of his chakra to practice the jutsus, he also entered the lower academy level. In fact, he should've been at the middle Academy level, but his chakra still does not meet the standard. To reach the middle Academy level, your chakra has to reach 20 points, you have to have entered the lower entry level of all 3 E-Rank Jutsus, and your Taijustu has to enter the middle Entry level. Kaito has reached the standard for everything except for his chakra.
You have to know that this is amazing. Other people, have to practice and read and understand the E-Rank Jutsu Analog booklets for days before they can actually even succeed in completing the jutsu, but he did it all on his first try. Kaito smiled, finally feeling that there was hope to reach the top...