That was when the idea of sending a shadow clone to the Academy during the day occurred to him - while the shadow clone acted as him in the Academy, 'learning' useless Jutsu, the real Katsuro spent his time practicing real Jutsu. Katsuro noticed being Senju was a massive advantage - their scrolls were priceless. He had learnt Water Style Jutsus from Tobirama's scrolls, and even Jutsus from Hashirama's. But even then, Katsuro wasn't satisfied.
The previous Hokages' Jutsus were powerful and proven to be effective in combat, but they were also famous. He needed Jutsus that no one had ever seen before, Jutsus that no one had a counter to. What could he do? The boy's wondering was interrupted by the rain, looking up at the storm and the clouds he suddenly paused.
Lightning.
Where had he seen lightning being used before? As he closed his eyes, he weirdly thought of a man with white hair, a face covering, and surrounded by electric blue. Katsuro shook his head out of the odd thoughts. But began to practice and develop lightning style Jutsus, unknowingly drawing inspiration from his dreams.
Finally, after hours of development carried by his genius and inspiration, he achieved success, "Lightning Style: Chidori!" The name had just popped to his head, probably inspired by the sound of the Jutsu. Katsuro pumped his smoking fist in the air in triumph - the tree he'd struck was successfully blown to pieces, and Katsuro's mind raced, first he would have to overcome the problem of what seemed to be a tunnel vision effect but was excited as he thought of all the new possibilities - 'Chidori Senbon, Lightning Blade, Lightning Enhancement, Lightning Transf-' "OW!"
"Stop blowing up my trees!" Granny Mito screamed at him as she chased Katsuro, around the forest, hitting him with her broomstick.
Additionally, Katsuro was struggling to improve with Kenjutsu, reading about how to wield a sword was easy enough, but learning how to use one effectively? That was a whole different story, and Granny Mito agreed.
"There is a man who may teach you. His name is Hatake Sakumo."
"The Whi- the Jonin? He would teach me?" The White Fang? Why was I about to say that?
"Probably not."
"Thanks a lot, you useless Granny!"
Katsuro quickly exited the room as a kunai was lobbed at his head, grinning to himself.
As much as he liked to poke fun at Granny Mito, useless was the last word he would describe her with. Of course a Jonin wouldn't teach any odd person their craft, especially not for free. Sakumo was renowned throughout the village as strong even among Elite Jonin but he was especially renowned for his duty, and honour. There wasn't much Katsuro could do with the Jonin's sense of duty, but his honour? Katsuro's grin widened.
"Hatake Sakumo, I, Senju Katsuro, challenge you to a duel."
The White Fang's eyes widened, before letting out a chuckle.
"How old are you, kid? What reason could you possibly have to duel me?", he asked, his tone kind, and his eyes full of mirth.
"I'm old enough," Katsuro retorted with no small amount of attitude, "Also, I have a condition. If I manage to make you draw your sword or use anything other than basic Jutsu in this duel, you must teach me everything you know about Kenjutsu."
Sakumo's eyes narrowed now, and he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could Katsuro spoke again.
"So, do you accept my duel? Or are you scared that you're gonna lose to a 7 year old?"
Sakumo was silent for a moment, staring at Katsuro. Although he didn't show it, Katsuro was becoming uncomfortable under his gaze - this man's stare told him all he needed to know about his skill as a shinobi - he hadn't earned his nickname for no reason. Suddenly, Sakumo laughed again.
"I, Hatake Sakumo, accept your duel, … sorry kiddo, what was your name again?"
Katsuro drew a kunai in his left hand and a short sword in his right, crouched slowly, getting into a battle ready stance.
"My name is Senju Katsuro, son of Senju Hana and Senju Raito. And I promise, next time, you won't forget it!"
Katsuro lunged at the White Fang and threw the kunai, closing the distance at a rate he guessed the Jonin wouldn't expect. As expected, there was a look of surprise on Sakumo's face, but also as expected, he easily sidestepped the downward slash of his sword and dodged the kunai.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
10 Katsuros surrounded the Jonin, who chuckled.
"Cute, but not enough."
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!" x10
This time, Sakumo, really was surprised, becoming a blur as he tried to dodge the 10 water bullets. He accepted the duel on a whim, but now it seemed to actually be worth it. A talent like this who could use a B rank Jutsu so freely like this at just 7 years old was not seen every day.
'Isn't this the Second Hokage's Jutsu? And he's doing it 10 times at once? Just how much chakra does this 7 year old kid have?!'
The Katsuros expected the White Fang to dodge the Water Dragon Bullets however, and a Shadow Clone was quick to act.
"Lightning Style: Chidori!"
Sakumo was surprised by this new Jutsu, and was even more surprised when the clone struck the water on the ground, spiking it with electricity, and causing the White Fang to leap in the air. The clones, expecting this, jumped up to bind him, but the experienced Jonin easily dispatched 3 of them, and then used Substitution Jutsu to escape with a log, as the Shadow Clones attempted to strike him with their swords. Despite the White Fang, having had to move around a lot, he remained scratchless, and not even out of breath.
Katsuro hadn't given up, however, and the Shadow Clones in the air coordinated themselves.
Does this kid never give up? Sakumo thought to himself, as they pushed off each other mid air, and each threw a kunai. Sakumo started calculating as he moved to dodge the kunai - '5 kunai from 5 clones in the air, 1 clone on the ground, I destroyed 3 - wait, where's the last one!?!'
But as he heard the popping noise behind him he was too late to dodge - as the original Katsuro emerged from the grey smoke.
"Water Style: Water Severing Wave!"
Hatake Sakumo had no time to even register his surprise. Could he dodge the massive wave? No. Could he use a Jutsu in time to escape? No. He had no choice but to block the attack with his sword. The White Fang had lost.
"I WON!" yelled 6 Shadow Clones, before popping into grey smoke, leaving only the original Katsuro, heaving and huffing and puffing with exertion.
"So?" he asked the older Jonin.
Sakumo was silent for a long time, staring at the child before him. 7 years old, still in the Academy.
"How did you learn those Water Style Jutsus?"
"Senju scrolls from their archives."
"I mean who taught you."
"I taught myself."
Sakumo was silent again. In truth, he had already known the child. His father, Senju Raito, was a Jonin like himself, and they had often shared missions. Sakumo was away from the village on a mission when Raito died, and he was sorry to hear of his passing. This child, however, bore striking physical similarities to his father - particularly, their green eyes.
"Training starts at 5:00am, here, tomorrow. If you're late by a second on any day, it is cancelled. If you don't put in 120% effort, it is cancelled. If you can't keep up, it is cancelled. Do you agree to my terms?"
Katsuro beamed at the Jonin - "Yes, thank you so much!", before running back off to his home.
Sakumo sighed. This was probably going to be a lot of effort, and take up a lot of time, but he had a feeling he wouldn't regret it.
"Hm. Maybe I should reconsider not having kids."
Sakumo's style of Kenjutsu luckily was based around lightning style, which enabled Katsuro to learn it quickly and even make his own adaptations. Despite the agreement being about Kenjutsu, Sakumo taught Katsuro as a master would, including his signature shunpo - a movement technique unlike the typical body flicker, also enhanced by lightning style nature transformation.
Katsuro's days continued, practising Kenjutsu, movement and Ninjutsu with Sakumo alongside his own practice and continued his Fuinjutsu training with Mito. His motive behind this was discovering that Mito was the Nine Tails' Jinchuriki. I hated that conversation …
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