'Hopefully, I still have some time to train before I face him.'
Hikaru thought to himself as he made his way back to the classroom to collect his backpack before leaving the academy. With his current abilities, he couldn't fight Inuzuka Seiji just yet. He could afford to lose in a fight, but not at the hands of a bullying kid who had hurt him.
At least he had to defeat him first to ease his mind, making the subsequent loss of the fight much more manageable if both of them had to fight again later.
This is, after all, only a sparring fight, not a life-and-death match. There was no need to continue harboring frustration towards a mere child forever.
Hikaru finds Konoha village unusually crowded today after walking out of the academy. As he strolled through the town's center, he observed a large number of people walking in the streets.
While Hikaru was walking slowly toward his home, enjoying the liveliness around the village, a voice called out behind him, "Hikaru-san, wait for me." When he turned his back and saw that it was Kajiwara Ryōta, he stood still and waited for him.
Once he comes close, Hikaru then asks curiously, "What's up?"
Ryōta, panting as he stopped, said with a look of expectation, "You said earlier that we could spar each other; did you really mean it?"
"Of course! I mean it," Hikaru confirmed with a smile. "We should get together sometime to train together; it should be fun."
"I'm up for anything." Ryōta said excitedly, "As long as you allow me to train with you."
Hikaru feels somewhat embarrassed, massaging his head, thinking Ryōta isn't as timid as he thought. "Why wouldn't I? Training by myself has been boring so far."
Looking at Ryōta's beaming face, Hikaru couldn't help but add, "How about eating something first before training together?"
"Sure! But meals are expensive these days; how about a food street snack that has become popular recently?" Ryōta agreed and suggested the food that he liked.
"Which one?" Hikaru inquired, scratching his cheek and wondering which street foods he was talking about.
"The meat skewers from one of the food stalls in the market," Ryōta said, gulping down his saliva. "It's deliciously tasty and cheap."
"Oh!" Hikaru exclaimed, immediately recognizing the food he was referring to. It was indeed his sister food stall, which sells specialty barbecue snacks he recommends.
"Let's try it then," Hikaru said, smiling, changing his direction, and starting to walk toward the market area.
Ryōta hurriedly followed him and said, "You won't forget it; it is that good!"
Each stall in the food market has a variety of foods. The atmosphere was lively, as many people gathered to enjoy the foods for dinner or purchase what they were lacking for their families.
One food stall caught their eye when they arrived at the market. There are many civilians and ninjas waiting in front of the stall to buy food and snacks.
Muranaka Ayako, busy with her work, caught sight of her little brother; she then quickly spoke out loud, "Hikaru-kun, come and help quickly!"
"Coming! O-nee Chan." Hikaru casually replied, raising one hand and waving to acknowledge his sister's request.
Ryōta, dumbfounded, widens his mouth after hearing the conversation and discovers that the girl who makes the street snack foods he enjoys is related to Hikaru.
On their way to the stall, Ryōta heavily advertised the street snack foods he enjoys, only to discover that it was Hikaru's family business.
"Why didn't you tell me early?" Ryōta asked in a painful voice.
Hikaru finds his expression amusing and responds, "Well, you never ask."
He then immediately walked toward the stall and started helping his sister with the customer.
Twenty minutes later, when Hikaru notices that it is almost Ryōta's queue in line, he turns to his sister Ayako and inquires, "O-nee Chan, can I have ten of the barbecue meat sticks for me? I'm hungry."
Ayako looked at her brother with a smile on her face and said, "That'll cost two thousand ryo."
Hikaru, stunned by the price, asked curiously, "Why are they so expansive?"
"The cost will double exclusively for you," said Ayako as she smirked and teased. "For others, it only costs half as much."
"HAHAHA..."
Ryōta burst out laughing upon hearing his sister tease Hikaru. He believed that Hikaru deserved this as a form of retaliation for his early actions.
Hikaru looked at his sister with a deadpan expression before introducing her to Ryōta briefly. He then took the meat skewers and turned toward Ryōta, signaling with his head, "Make the payment first; it'll only cost us a thousand ryo, and then we'll split it."
Ryōta hurriedly agreed with Hikaru, grabbed his money, and made a payment with a blissful expression.
Ayako gave Ryōta a light smile as she accepted the money and looked at Hikaru, then said, "Smart boy."
Turning her look toward Ryōta, Ayako then asked, "Are you friends from the same class as Hikaru?"
"Yeah," Ryōta replied with a shy face while rubbing his head.
"Since you are his friend, here is another set of barbecue meat sticks for you, free of charge." Ayako continues to speak as she hands him another five barbecue sticks. Hikaru simply rolls his eyes at her behavior.
Ryōta's eyes were glowing as bright as the sun, and he said, "Thank you!, Ayako-san."
Ayako only nodded her head with a smile before turning toward Hikaru and reminding him, "Don't come home late, Hikaru-kun."
"Alright, we're leaving." Hikaru splits the barbecue meat sticks on his hand with Ryōta before waving good-bye to his sister and walking away toward the training ground.
It was the same one that Hikaru used to go to every day—the forty-third training ground near his house.
After finishing their food snacks and resting for a while to digest, Hikaru could feel his nose running as he sniffed. As he sat near the tree, the weather was turning colder. He then calculated the time he thought was appropriate for the evening training session.
A few moments later, Hikaru then suggests doing a small-run exercise before engaging in taijutsu sparring.
As they spoke while doing exercise, Hikaru gained a deep understanding of Ryōta's character and came to regard him as his first friend. He was timid in a way, but very determined.
Despite losing his family, Ryōta did not live in an orphanage like Hikaru thought he did, but lived with his grandparents on the outskirts, not far from his home.
Ryōta holds high expectations from his family to carry on their legacy, so he tries to seek out a friend or someone to help him along the way.
Hikaru is willing to assist him, seeing it as mutually beneficial. He has grown weary of training alone for some time now. He might find motivation to train now, but it won't last long. He knew in his heart that motivation would die down later if he were training alone.
Gaining someone to train with helps a lot.
After an hour of running around the training ground, both took a break for a bit before deciding to spar with one another.
The academy taught both standard Academy Taijutsu styles; Hikaru outperformed Ryōta in sparring due to his speed and reflex; Ryōta's only advantage against him was his strength due to his bigger body, but the main purpose of sparring was to learn from each other and avoid mistakes.
While sparring with one another, Hikaru gained a better understanding of the academy taijutsu style, and his moves started to become more fluid by a little. Half an hour later, Hikaru decided to stop because he could see that Ryōta was too worn out to continue.
Hikaru expressed his thoughts after both finishing the spar: "You're lacking in chakra control."
Looking at Ryōta's puzzle expression, he added, "You're not incoperating chakra efficiently enough in your body, which makes you slower when moving."
Pondering for a few moments more, Hikaru asks, "Have you practiced the leaf concentration training that Koji sensei has taught?"
"Not as much," Ryōta said, shaking his head as he answered.
"Then I suggested you focus on this from now on," said Hikaru, taking a seat nearby to rest and further emphasizing its importance. "Although it is a basic exercise, it is the foundation for all Shinobi skills. It is beneficial for Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and other disciplines. You shouldn't overlook it."
After hearing Hikaru's suggestion, Ryōta committed it to his heart, thinking that he would prioritize this training in his plan.
"Thanks, Hikaru'san, for helping." Ryōta expressed his thanks from the bottom of his heart.
"No problem; I only repeat what Koji sensei has taught us," Hikaru replied as he turned his head toward Ryōta. "It's getting late; how about we do this again next time?
"Yeah, of course!" Ryōta smiled widely as he spoke.
"You can go back first; I'm taking a bit more rest since my house is just nearby," Hikaru said as he pointed out the direction to his home.
Ryōta nodded his head and said, "Alright, see you tomorrow morning, Hikaru-san."
After waving good-bye and seeing Ryōta further away, Hikaru then began to analyze his taijutsu performance today and what he had learned in the last half-hours and what weaknesses he could improve on for awhile before deciding to also head back home.
Seeing that his sister hadn't come back yet, Hikaru went on showering and taking care of his business. After finishing everything, he sat at his room table and read numerous notes and plans about the Fūinjutsu (sealing technique) he had to learn.
Hikaru has completed the introduction to Kanji and is now looking for resources for the following lesson, per the advice of his mother.
Learning Kanji wasn't difficult, as it was almost the same as his previous life. Reading through the book is just a process of relearning the basics and cross-checking to see if there is anything different.
Writing kanji is easy; the art of calligraphy, though, was no joke at all. He has never been proficient at writing with a brush in his hand, and he had to use it to write kangji for sealing.
Kanji is different from Hiragana and Katakana; the letter bears a striking resemblance to the Chinese character.
Writing requires complete focus to avoid mistakes, especially on the seal paper. Each stroke must be precise with the amount of chakra input to prevent waste or a faulty seal.
Hikaru is a complete newbie on this subject, and he could only start little by little.
His mother's advice on how to learn the sealing technique was very profound. She refrained from immediately imparting a sealing technique scroll to him; instead, she guided him step-by-step through the process, which he later converted into a well-planned, systematic learning trail for him.
She recommended numerous books to strengthen his foundation along the way, enabling him to understand the meaning of each stroke, the structure of the sealing, its composition and decomposition, how to apply chakra into the seal, how they work, and their various applications.
This way, not only can he easily learn a sealing technique, but he also has high hopes of developing a new one. Alternatively, he could gain insight into enemy sealing techniques and learn how to reverse engineer or solve them.
The most important point is that the sealing technique requires a lot of talent to understand the complexity of each technique and how to use it, as well as the precise output of chakra required to actually perform it—a skill his mother still struggles with.
Because of this, she was only considered a fūinjutsu master during her peak career, but she was far from becoming a grandmaster.
There is one seal in Hikaru's mind that he would like to be able to recreate first: a weight-training seal to help with his physical exercise. It bears a resemblance to Might Guy or Rock Lee training with a weight cloth.
Hikaru has a novel idea to make the weight adjustable using a sealing technique.
Although Hikaru doesn't need the seal now, he set it as his first goal after surveying the village shops and finding no one selling them.
Hikaru spent an entire night grinding until his eyes became sleepy. Feeling worn out from today's event, Hikaru turns off the lamb on the table before calling it a day and heading to sleep.