The midday sun poured down through a quilt of soft white clouds, casting golden dapples across the playground part sequestered for training, behind the Konoha orphanage.
The field was small and uneven, with patches of grass that had grown wild from disuse and a smattering of gnarled trees at its edge. Crickets chirped in the warm breeze, and the scent of warm bark and fresh leaves lingered in the air.
Satoru stood near one of the larger trees, his back straight, a single foot planted vertically on the bark. He exhaled slowly through his nose as he raised the other foot and pressed it firmly against the trunk. Chakra flared in his soles; subtle and refined, and with a determined grunt, he began walking up the tree trunk, defying gravity.
"Thup."
"Thup."
"Thup."
Each step echoed softly in the clearing, as the young boy, only five years old but with the steady calm of someone far older, made his way halfway up before gently pushing himself off and flipping to the ground with practised ease.
A soft thud followed as he landed, brushing a few leaves off his tunic. His hair was slightly tousled, and his dark eyes sparkled, not from exertion, but from satisfaction. Around his neck, the faint breeze fluttered the edge of his shirt.
Behind him, on a stone slab under the sparse shade of a willow tree, sat two other children.
"I'm hungry," Ito groaned dramatically, flopping backwards onto the grass.
Satoru turned, quirking an eyebrow. "Didn't we just have breakfast, like… an hour ago?"
Ayano, seated beside Ito with a leaf flat on her forehead, rolled her eyes. "Exactly an hour and twelve minutes ago."
Ito rubbed his belly as if it were a drum. "Well, maybe you two aren't using as much chakra as I am."
"That's impossible," Satoru deadpanned. " I am sure I am using at least twice the chakra you are using. Besides, you haven't even managed to make the leaf move."
"Still counts as effort," Ito said defensively, puffing his cheeks. "My tummy says so."
Satoru watched him for a moment, studying the boy's round cheeks and sturdy frame. Ito was not fat, per se; he was more like stocky and solid, with a thick neck and stubby fingers. "Are you sure you're not secretly from the Akimichi clan?"
"Huh?" Ito sat up, blinking. "What's an Akimichi?"
"You know, the Akimichi clan. They are big, strong, always hungry, always eating, always talking about how chakra control makes them hungrier?"
Ito furrowed his brow.
"I do not know. I've always been here for as long as I can remember. I don't even remember my parents."
Satoru hummed thoughtfully, nodding. 'Hmm. Well, that does not rule it out. He might still be related to them one way or another.'
Ayano snorted in response while Ito huffed. "Well, if you're done being weird, can you show us the leaf thing again? Maybe I'll finally get it this time."
"Yeah," Ayano added, her expression still composed, but her voice betraying her curiosity. "I think I was close just now, but then it slipped off."
Satoru smiled faintly and stepped toward them, brushing the grass from his knees. He bent down and picked up a fresh green leaf, letting it rest on the tip of his index finger.
"Alright, watch closely."
With a deep breath, he closed his eyes. A subtle ripple of chakra surged through his fingertip, flowing into the leaf.
"Fwip!"
The leaf trembled once, and then became perfectly still. It was as if it was magnetised in place, balanced and alive. Glowing with invisible chakra.
"The trick," he began calmly, opening his eyes again, "is to stop thinking about making it stay. That's the mistake even I made at first."
'Though I started training my chakra control way before they did.' He silently thought.
Ayano leaned forward. "So… what do we do instead?"
"You have to think about not making it fall." Satoru passed the leaf to Ito, then picked another for Ayano.
"That's the difference. You don't hold it in place by force. You match your chakra to the leaf's weight, to its natural resistance. Think of it like whispering to the leaf and asking it to stay."
Ito blinked. "Whispering to leaves?"
Satoru shrugged. "It's chakra. This stuff doesn't have to make sense, it just has to work."
With a bit of scepticism but newfound curiosity, Ayano returned to her practice, leaf on forehead. Ito followed, muttering something about leaves not having ears.
The training resumed in near silence, broken only by the rustle of branches above and the occasional fwip of a leaf sliding off and fluttering to the ground.
Satoru watched them quietly, arms crossed.
Ayano was progressing well; her chakra control had a natural finesse to it, likely due to her calm demeanour and precision-focused mind. Ito, on the other hand, was struggling but determined. He clenched his jaw every time the leaf fell off, glaring at it like it had personally offended him.
Minutes passed.
Then finally—
"Ha!" Ito shouted, jumping to his feet as the leaf stayed flat on his head. "It's staying! Look, look! It is actually staying!"
Ayano sat straighter, her own leaf now motionless across her brow. "Me too," she whispered, awe in her tone.
"It's… working."
Satoru allowed himself a smile. "Congrats. You're both officially beginners now."
Ito puffed his chest. "We're so good, we should move to the next level now. What was it again? The thing you were doing just a few moments ago, tree walking, right?"
Ayano nodded, her eyes shining with excitement. "Yes, we saw you doing it earlier. That looked amazing."
But Satoru shook his head, smirking. "Not so fast."
He stooped down and plucked five more leaves, holding them between his fingers like cards. "Before you move on, you need to be able to do the same thing, but with more than one leaf."
Ayano tilted her head. "More?"
Satoru sat cross-legged and placed three leaves across his arms and forehead. With a focused breath, he pushed chakra evenly into all three. A moment passed, then two, and the leaves stuck firm, unmoving despite the wind.
"This is about control, not flashiness," he said, meeting their eyes. "If you can't keep a consistent chakra flow across more than one point, you will never make it halfway up a tree. Chakra gets scattered if your control is weak."
Ito frowned, but his competitive fire was reignited. "Okay. Let's do it."
"Yes," Ayano added, a small but eager smile tugging at her lips.
Satoru nodded, watching them settle into position again, more confident this time. He let his thoughts wander for a moment as they practiced.
'They're progressing faster than I expected, he thought. Especially Ayano. She could probably make a decent sensor-nin if she keeps this up. Ito... maybe a frontliner with medical support. That chakra hunger thing could actually be useful in a fight if he gets creative.'
He closed his eyes and leaned back on his palms, the bark of the tree behind him warm from the sun.
'And me?'
He exhaled slowly.
'I've got to stay ahead. I have to. No matter what.'
=====
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