What was called training turned out to be nothing more than a common thrashing from his mother.
The only difference was that Inuzuka Ryoto was permitted to strike back, and even his companion, Smarty, was not spared—Rin had thrashed her as well. A suspicion crept into Ryoto's mind: could his vindictive mother have orchestrated this intentionally?
His training uniform was long reduced to tatters, his face was swollen with bruises, and his body was covered in bleeding scrapes. Under the gentle glow of healing ninjutsu, his mother, wearing a tender expression, treated his wounds and asked softly:
"Does it hurt? My son, your mother isn't hitting you on purpose. This is all for your own good. Training is simply like this. Just don't hold any anger toward me."
Smarty, with her tail tucked between her legs, whimpered piteously. Ryoto sniffled, and a stream of blood immediately gushed from his nose. He had no desire to speak. He was exhausted. To hell with it all.
"What do you want for dinner tonight? Mother will make anything."
Ryoto remained silent. It was his last bastion of defiance.
"Speak!" Rin's tenderness vanished after three seconds, and she smacked her son on the back of the head.
"I want yakiniku! Let's go eat in town!"
"Woof!" Smarty barked in agreement, as if to say, me too!
"Very well, yakiniku it is."
"And I want a drink, too!" Ryoto ventured.
Rin pierced him with her gaze.
"Mom, you must have misheard. I'll have juice."
After changing their clothes, they left the dojo. The clan members who had been watching from the shadows had already dispersed. It was just a normal training session, nothing secret.
Holding Ryoto's hand, Rin led him down the street of eateries under the light of the setting sun. Along the way, she greeted familiar ninja with a friendly smile.
They ate, returned home, and went to bed.
…
The following day, Rin woke Ryoto again. They walked down the street, not toward the Academy, but to the dojo.
And again, a thorough thrashing!
For the entire day!
…
After lunch, returning from school with her backpack on, Nohara Rin walked home with a sad expression.
Why isn't Ryoto-kun coming to school? Does he not like it?
She walked on, resentfully kicking pebbles on the road.
…
On the third day, Ryoto awoke with the first rays of dawn. His companion, Smarty, was curled up in a corner, fast asleep. Tears glistened on her eyelids, and her body twitched from time to time—who knew what she was dreaming of.
Ryoto understood the feeling. The sense of powerlessness, when no matter how hard you try, you cannot fight back, and all you can do is endure the blows. After taking enough of a beating, Ryoto began to understand something. His mother knew how to "listen to the bridge." In other words, she could sense his power. The moment he moved, she already knew what technique he was about to use. As for his taijutsu, his mother assessed it as "brute force." He still had much to learn, but…
Ryoto looked at his mother as she entered the room.
"You're up early today."
"Mom, I want to go to school," Ryoto said, looking at Rin with wide eyes. It was just too painful; he needed a couple of days to recover.
"Giving up already?" Rin smirked. "There's no school today; it's Saturday. No one is going, so you're coming with me to the dojo."
"Mom!" Ryoto whined. "I want to rest today!"
"Once you become a ninja, you'll have all the time in the world to rest."
Do mothers in the shinobi world really use tricks like that, too? Realizing he couldn't change Rin's mind, Ryoto gave up. He stood, threw off the blanket, and began to dress.
"By the way, who else have you used this on?" Rin asked.
"Hakura and Kuroko, Tamago, Kenshin, Kurogane, Masao, Zato… that's all," Ryoto blurted out.
Rin nodded with understanding.
As mother and son left the house, they were joined by Tamago and her two brothers. The trio, still unaware of what awaited them, hopped cheerfully behind Rin. But first, they headed not to the dojo, but to the ninken kennels. At Ryoto's direction, Masao and Zato were brought out.
Smarty smirked with schadenfreude. She wasn't stupid and understood: the more dogs there were to get a beating, the less she would receive.
Ryoto sighed.
Don't blame your big brother for being cruel. To make it in this world, you have to be ruthless.
The weekend passed in a flurry of cheerful beatings.
…
A new week, Monday.
In the morning, Rin began to climb the stairs to the second floor. The moment her foot touched the wooden step, Ryoto instantly awoke. Noticing this, Rin smiled in satisfaction. With hearing that was too acute, daily life could become a real ordeal.
The constant noise from all directions puts a strain on the mind and body. Especially the mechanical hum of a running television—if members of the Inuzuka Clan or their ninken listened to it for too long, they would develop nervous exhaustion. Usually, suppressing the acuteness of their hearing was a good solution.
Ryoto had been doing just that.
But over the last few days of intense training, he had learned to filter and purposefully perceive different sources of sound. Now, he could ignore most of the meaningless noises of daily life without deactivating his heightened hearing.
Rin went upstairs, opened the door, and saw Ryoto sitting on the bed with a vacant gaze, staring at the ceiling like a broken doll. The corners of her lips twitched involuntarily.
Rin, that little rascal is playing you! Don't you dare feel sorry for him! All his physical signs are normal!
"Do you want to go to school today?" she asked.
At these words, Ryoto's eyes lit up. He looked at Rin and nodded desperately.
"And you won't skip anymore?" Rin continued.
Ryoto shook his head furiously.
"Eat first, then you can go to school."
His sister, Smarty, was still sound asleep. Sleeping just as soundly on the floor of the room were Masao and Zato. They were utterly exhausted. Yes, Rin had brought them home to be Ryoto's ninken.
Ryoto's eyes lit up. He jumped out of bed, dressed nimbly, washed his face, and went to the living room for breakfast. In truth, Rin also needed to get to work. She had already taken too many days off. A little longer, and someone else would take her place as squad leader.
While reading the newspaper, Rin placed a new backpack on the table and said, "When you come back, don't forget to pick up your textbooks."
"Okay, Mom."
After breakfast, Ryoto grabbed the backpack and ran out of the house. Once he was beyond the clan's territory, he stopped and began to walk at a leisurely pace.
What a punishment… I knew being a genius wouldn't be so easy. Now there's pressure on me. By the way, is Mom following me by any chance?
Ryoto, plagued by suspicion, headed toward the Academy.
…
In the Inuzuka Clan house, Rin sorted through her accumulated work, her thoughts on Ryoto. There was no need to worry about his training. The boy was a quick study and had already surpassed most of the students at the Academy. He could graduate right now if he wanted to. He went to school mainly to make friends his own age. Since childhood, the boy had played alone, and as he grew older, he only interacted with ninken. In reality, his personality was very withdrawn.
Rin was a little worried.
Besides, she couldn't teach Ryoto forever. Soon, there would be nothing left for him to learn from her, and she needed to focus on her own training. Since reaching the peak of her abilities, the warm-up of the past few days had allowed Rin to feel a long-forgotten sense of progress. Did this mean her talent had broken through its limits?
Rin eagerly awaited her own future growth.
So, who can I entrust Ryoto's training to? she wondered.