The next few days were silent; the entire caravan was grim, but they were finally heading home, they had protected the merchandise during the attack, and they were able to trade without difficulty in the land of Waterfall. Kudo was quite excited to see it; all that water and the massiveness of waterbodies brought with it new heights of imagination about the limits of water nature.
Water nature is not the most destructive, doesn't have great mobility, and doesn't have great single-target jutsus. Water like earth nature is vast but hard to manipulate into precision attacks. This was a road that Kudo would have to pave for himself.
A couple of hours later, the massive Konoha gates fell into view, and a quiet sigh escaped the entire group.
Fujiwara said his goodbyes to the Tanehiko family, and both parties went their way, except that silence reigned between Kudo and his mother. Getting back home, Kudo did some chores and, as the sun set, went to sleep to deal with travel fatigue. The next day, "Don't wait up," Kudo said, leaving the house. His mother sighed and went about her way. It was time to get something to do; she was educated and was one of the top students from the civilian side of the academy, and spending time indoors was getting to her. Kudo rushed along the streets of Konoha; there was vigor in his steps as he fast approached the academy.
"Knock-Knock." Subtle knocks resounded in the teacher's common office. Kudo came in and saw that Iruka was absent, and he turned to a figure he recognized, "Mibu-sensei, where can I find Iruka-sensei?"Manabi looked up from the pile of papers, "Kudo, nice seeing you here. Iruka went on a mission. What do you need?" She had bags underneath her eyes. Kudo flashed her a concerned look, "I wanted to learn how to be a sensor over the next 3 weeks left during vacation. Can you help find me a teacher, Mibu sensei?" All he got was a look of passion from Manabi. "Great timing! I happen to be a sensor myself, and if I were to help the young generation, surely, I won't need to do paperwork!" Manabi stood up joyfully, "I will teach you how to be a sensor. Let me write it up, then we can esc- I mean get out of here."
Kudo watched her as she went up a floor, 'I'm her get out of jail free card.' He thought but he didn't mind it if he had a teacher, it was fine to him.She came down a few minutes later, "Let's go." Kudo followed behind her, and they soon went to a building he didn't recognize. "Where are we?" he asked, eying the place. "We are at the training hall for sensors, unlike regular training, being a sensor relies heavily on sharp senses, an environment capable of stimulating those can shorten the learning curve. I will tell you this: it will take more than 3 weeks be a sensor, so be prepared." She led him inside, and after documenting him as a trainee, they went deeper underground.
"The training is split into three phases: phase 1 to sharpen your senses to the absolute limit of your current physicality, which, in turn, will sharpen and develop a miniature and constant chakra field around the body.
Phase 2 is the expansion of the chakra field into a sort of chakra field domain that will allow you to sense approaching enemies. This phase also focuses on having an efficient chakra field with no blind spots, or you are dead. Phase 3, instead of releasing a chakra field, you must learn how to withdraw it so enemies cannot sense your approach, most high-level shinobi while not sensors have learned this technique therefore never let your guard down, being a sensor doesn't not make you omniscient. Let down your guard, and you will die." Her words were said staring at him with a direct gaze, a death stare. Calming himself, he nodded, "I understand."
"Good then, let me see what I am working with. We will start with lower intensity, then advance to harder levels; the main task is to dodge projectiles. Not only will you learn to predict attacks, but when I take each of your senses one by one, you must learn which parts of the body to sacrifice if you cannot completely block or escape an attack."Kudo was starting to see massive differences between his instructors; his Hatake instructor had homed in on fundamentals, Uchiha Ito had homed in on awareness and creative thinking to eliminate enemies in the most efficient and effective way possible. Iruka again focussed on fundamentals but heightened those fundamentals to create an all-round capable shinobi. Akiko Kurama was about eliminating enemies with the least amount of effort, but at grave risk; should a target escape the genjutsu, then close combat capabilities were a must. Mibu Manabi, it seems, would enhance his awareness and tactical thinking.
"All right, we are here, the lower levels have small rooms to stimulate your instincts, and we will start with dummy wood weapons, then blunt steel weapons, and finally normal weapons." Shoving him in there, "Just dodge for as long as possible." She shouted as the door closed. Kudo found himself in a dark room with no light, his sight useless, and an uncomfortable feeling settled into his bones. He moved around taking size of the room gauging his evasive space. "Click." After the sound, "Woosh-woosh." Multiple projectiles were launched from the walls; it started with pairs of weapons from each wall, even from the ground. With his sharp hearing, it didn't take much to dodge the attacks. With another sound, 8 projectiles were launched.
Outside, seeing him dodge, 'He hasn't learned the body flicker jutsu. That is good, at least this way he will develop beyond those who know the jutsu.'Without the body flicker jutsu, Kudo's physique was weaker, and he had to use all his body's muscles, reflexes, and senses when dodging, but by the time 8 projectiles were being launched from each wall, he started to get hit, but Manabi didn't stop it. Wooden weapons would hurt too badly, but they still hurt, plus they got faster with each pair added into the mix, all the way to 16 projectiles. The number of projectiles sometimes differed across the walls, so his estimations were off, and he took hits.
Two hours later,
A boy with purple marks was seen walking in Konoha, Kudo, sore from every limb, and limped home.