"Show you?"
"Heh, with my strength, why should I prove anything to you?"
"Since when do the strong need to explain themselves to weaklings?"
"If you don't even have the courage to take this step, then I suggest you go home and be a good little baby instead!"
Isamu sneered coldly, his eyes filled with disdain.
⸻
Hearing that, Senba clenched his fists tightly.
Telling him to go home and be a "good little baby" was obvious mockery.
He was no weakling.
⸻
This kid's pretty patient.
Seeing Senba holding himself back despite his anger, Isamu's lips curled slightly upward.
Then he continued provoking him.
"What's wrong, kid?"
"Not convinced?"
"What I said is the truth."
"Someone like you is nothing more than an existence I could erase with a single wave of my hand."
"And you still want me to prove my strength to you?"
"You're not qualified!"
⸻
"Have you said enough?!"
Senba gritted his teeth and practically forced the words out.
⸻
"I'm not finished yet."
"If you want my respect, then show me your strength first, kid!"
The moment the words fell, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun within Isamu's eyes.
A genjutsu was instantly cast on Senba.
⸻
Seeing Senba suddenly freeze in place with dull eyes, Isamu calmly stepped forward and moved him against a nearby tree.
⸻
"Isamu, aren't you worried about giving him psychological trauma by doing this?"
White Zetsu poked his head out from the tree trunk while looking at Senba leaning against it.
"After all, he is your son."
⸻
"He's not as fragile as you think."
"Besides, this allows him to clearly understand his own strength and position."
"Always being ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth is not a good thing."
As he spoke, Isamu gently brushed Senba's hair into place and straightened his wrinkled clothes.
Looking at the child before him, memories of his own childhood surfaced involuntarily.
He had also grown up without parents by his side.
He had also trained alone.
The only difference was that he at least had his grandmother.
Senba still had Uzumaki Mito now—
But given her condition, she likely didn't have many years left.
Eventually, the child would still have to walk alone.
While hardship could temper a person, it could also twist their mentality if no one guided them properly.
That was precisely why Isamu appeared beside him so early.
Teaching him Ninjutsu was only one purpose.
The more important reason was to guide Senba slowly and make sure he didn't lose himself.
⸻
"Even so," White Zetsu muttered,
"he's still just a child."
"And he grew up peacefully in Konoha Village."
"You don't really need to push him this hard. You could just teach him slowly."
⸻
"Oh?"
Isamu glanced at White Zetsu with surprise.
"I didn't expect you to start caring about people."
"That's pretty unexpected."
Then he shook his head calmly.
"As the saying goes: if you don't work hard while young, you'll regret it when you're older."
"If the foundation isn't built early, then it'll be too late to make up for it later."
White Zetsu had followed him for many years now.
More and more traces of humanity had begun appearing in him.
Honestly, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
⸻
Meanwhile, inside the genjutsu—
Senba was desperately fighting against Isamu.
Being young and inexperienced, he hadn't even realized he had already fallen into an illusion.
He used every method he could think of.
He even unleashed the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.
But no matter what he did, he still couldn't defeat his opponent.
Even so, Senba's pride absolutely refused to let him surrender.
The two continued battling endlessly within the illusion.
Hours seemed to pass.
Yet in reality—
Only ten minutes had gone by.
⸻
Watching Senba's constantly changing expression, Isamu judged that it was enough.
He immediately injected Chakra into Senba's body and released the genjutsu.
⸻
"Kid."
"After fighting me for so long, you probably think you're pretty impressive now, huh?"
Isamu sighed helplessly inside the illusion.
"What a pity."
⸻
"What's there to pity?"
"The fact that I could fight you for that long already proves I'm not weak!"
"And you're a grown Anbu Ninja fighting a five-year-old for so long!"
"You should be the embarrassed one!"
"The fact that I lasted that long means I already won!"
Senba spoke proudly.
At his age, fighting a real Ninja for that long was absolutely something to be proud of.
⸻
Hearing that, Isamu simply shook his head helplessly and pointed around them.
"How ignorant."
"Kid, look around carefully."
"Do you really think the person fighting you was me?"
The moment he finished speaking—
Isamu vanished instantly.
⸻
"Nani?!"
"What's going on?!"
Senba's eyes widened in shock.
Then the entire surrounding world suddenly began distorting violently.
A bright white light flashed before his eyes.
⸻
Senba abruptly opened his eyes.
Still leaning against the tree, he stared blankly at Isamu and the forest around him.
Seeing him wake up, Isamu smiled faintly.
"You're finally awake."
⸻
"Th-This…"
"What exactly happened?"
Senba sat on the ground completely bewildered.
⸻
"Heh. Confused?"
"You were trapped inside my genjutsu from the very beginning."
"Everything about that fight was fake."
"Understand now?"
Isamu spoke calmly while looking down at him.
⸻
"So that's what happened…"
"A genjutsu that manipulates the five senses and drags people into an illusion…"
Senba had heard Uzumaki Mito talk about genjutsu before, but this was his first time personally experiencing one.
And he had suffered a crushing defeat immediately.
He originally thought he already possessed the strength to fight real Ninja.
In the end—
He hadn't even touched the corner of the other party's clothes.
The clown had been himself all along.
Thinking about it, Senba couldn't help feeling discouraged.
The gap between him and Sani was simply too massive.
At this point, he finally understood.
This entire thing had been Sani's way of proving his strength.
And with strength like this—
Perhaps there truly was nothing wrong with becoming his apprentice.
⸻
Thinking that, Senba immediately stood up, walked over, and knelt on one knee before Isamu.
"Please accept me as your disciple!"
⸻
Seeing Senba like this, Isamu nodded inwardly in satisfaction.
Now this was the proper attitude.
This world truly worshipped strength.
Without power, not even children would respect you.
Reality was cruelly straightforward.
⸻
"What are you doing?"
"Get up immediately."
"As a person, you kneel only to heaven, earth, and your parents."
"How can you kneel so casually?"
Isamu spoke seriously.
⸻
Hearing those words, Senba became even more convinced he had chosen correctly.
The man before him truly was different from everyone else.
Instead of standing up, he lowered his head even further.
"My mother once told me…"
"A teacher for one day is a father for life."
"So I didn't kneel incorrectly."
⸻
A teacher for one day is a father for life…
Tsunade really did educate him well.
As for the spoiled personality and lack of manners—
That was probably Uzumaki Mito's doing.
Smiling faintly, Isamu nodded repeatedly.
"Good."
"Very good."
"Very, very good."
⸻
After giving three loud kowtows, Senba officially completed the apprenticeship ceremony.
From that day onward, he formally began training under Isamu.
⸻
Another half year passed.
Uzumaki Mito understood clearly that her body could no longer suppress the Nine-Tails for much longer.
After discussing matters with Konoha's higher-ups, she brought back the next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki candidate from the Land of Whirlpools—
Uzumaki Kushina.
The future mother of Naruto Uzumaki.
However, Uzumaki Mito did not immediately transfer the Nine-Tails into her.
Instead, she personally taught Kushina how to become a qualified Jinchuriki while also sending her to the Ninja Academy in hopes that she could form precious bonds of her own.
Coincidentally—
Kushina and Senba ended up in the same class.
From then on, there was an additional red-haired girl accompanying Senba on his walks to and from school every day.