The courtyard was not very large, belonging to a single-person courtyard. Coming in from the main gate, there was a small path leading to the house inside, with various things placed on both sides of the path. Through the visual prowess of the Mangekyo, Jokichi could see very clearly even at night.
On the left was a lawn with a stone table and stone chairs placed on it. Behind it was a small patch of green bamboo, and further inside was a small pool. A rockery was placed in the pool, and a shishi-odoshi was set up to the side. The water in the pool was designed to flow backward from behind the rockery, then flow down from the front, and finally fall into the shishi-odoshi, making the bamboo tube strike and emit a soft clacking sound.
To the right of the path was flat ground with three targets set up on it. Further away, near the wall, there were many stone locks and other exercise equipment. Obviously, this empty space was the usual place for training.
Walking a dozen meters further along the path, there was a Japanese-style house. Built on wooden pilings, it had a corridor and paper sliding doors. Jokichi took a rough look; the house was about 200 square meters.
He unhurriedly stepped onto the corridor, then slid open the paper door, and saw the environment inside. The floor was tatami, very spacious, without furniture, only a sword stand placed in the center against the innermost wall, with three katana placed on it. It looked like a dojo for training.
There was a sliding door on each side wall, presumably dividing the house into two rooms. Jokichi looked inside the two rooms. On the left was the kitchen, with all kinds of kitchen utensils like a refrigerator and rice cooker, and a door leading to the backyard. On the right was the bedroom, the floor was tatami, with a desk and a closet. There was no bed, but there were several quilts in the closet, presumably for sleeping on the floor on the tatami.
It was already very late now, Jokichi had a cold himself, and had been busy all day without eating anything, so he was extremely sleepy at this moment. Therefore, he only took a rough look at the environment, then took a quilt out of the closet, spread it on the tatami, and fell into a deep sleep.
...
The night passed silently.
Early the next morning, Jokichi's biological clock woke him up on time. His cold had already healed, at least he was not dizzy, nor did he have a runny nose anymore. However, his stomach was rumbling.
Jokichi patted his belly, found a clean set of clothes in the closet to change into, and then went to the bathroom next to the kitchen to wash up. Things like toothbrush, toothpaste, and towels had also been prepared by the people sent by the Third Hokage. However, there was no food in the kitchen refrigerator, so Jokichi could only go outside to eat breakfast.
Of course, he could also buy ingredients and cook them himself. But he had been hungry all night, so naturally, he would not waste time going to buy ingredients to cook himself.
After finishing washing up, Jokichi opened the door and left. Following the path all the way to the street, the tranquility was instantly replaced by all kinds of noisy sounds. Neighbors greeting each other, vendors opening their doors to do business, although it was early morning, the streets had already become very crowded.
"As expected of the most prosperous area of the village."
Jokichi sighed in admiration and blended into the crowd. He ordered a lot of dango at a dango shop, with all kinds of flavors, eating one skewer in one bite, gorging himself, making others stare blankly. Could it be that this dango is not a dessert, but some kind of meat?
Jokichi ignored the gazes of others and just kept annihilating the food in his hands. Although eating too much of this dango stuff would make one sick of it, having starved for a day and a night, he could not care so much and only wanted to fill his stomach earlier.
Half an hour later, Jokichi stroked his bulging belly and leaned back against his chair with a satisfied face. On the table, it was filled with empty plates.
"I am full, I am full!"
Jokichi smiled in complete satisfaction, then paid the bill and left. He did not train at all yesterday, so he had to double it to make up for it today.
However, just as he walked out the shop door, he heard a silver bell-like voice of surprise and doubt from behind.
"Eh! It is you, the one who came to buy flowers that day!"
Hearing the voice, he looked back. He saw Yamanaka Ino, wearing purple-themed clothes, looking at him with a face full of pleasant surprise.
Jokichi looked left and right, pointed at himself, and asked in confusion, "Are you referring to me?"
"Yes, it is you." Yamanaka Ino nodded and said, "What a coincidence, I did not expect to meet you again so soon. My name is Yamanaka Ino, what about you?"
"My name is Sakakura Jokichi, is there anything?"
"Nothing much, I was just going to help out at my mom's flower shop, and after seeing an acquaintance on the way, I came up to say hello."
An acquaintance...
Jokichi's mouth twitched, saying to himself: Is there an acquaintance whose name you do not even know?
But since the other party said so, he could not reach out and hit a smiling person, right!
"Is that so." Jokichi paused and smiled, "I recently moved to live on this street, so we should see each other often in the future!"
"Really, then it is truly destiny!" Yamanaka Ino happily narrowed her eyes into slits, like crescent moons.
"I still have to go train, see you later!" Jokichi waved at her, then turned and ran towards the 39th Training Ground.
He was familiar with that place and did not want to change places.
Meanwhile, Yamanaka Ino looked at Jokichi's departing back and let her imagination run wild.
Training?
Is Jokichi preparing to be a ninja?
We look about the same age, will we be in the same class?
If so, I hope we get assigned to the same team, that way I can see him every day.
Come to think of it, when I first met Jokichi, I only thought he was delicate-looking at first glance, but the more I look at that face, the more appealing it gets, so handsome!
...
Jokichi did not know that Yamanaka Ino was infatuated with him. He arrived at the 39th Training Ground and began a new day of training. The training was still Taijutsu physical exercise and ninja tool practice. The process was dull and tasteless, with nothing much to say about it.
Jokichi himself felt bored. His foundation was already built very well now. Continuing this kind of exercise, he could only progress slowly like Rock Lee. Even if he had the Sage Body and could endure higher intensity training, progressing faster than Rock Lee, it was still far too slow compared to practicing Ninjutsu.
If he learned Ninjutsu at this time, his combat power would have a leaping improvement. Unfortunately, no one was teaching him right now. He could only carry out Taijutsu and ninja tool mastery exercises day after day, beginning a long-term slow accumulation.
However, he was not in a hurry. As long as he showed enough potential during his time at the Ninja Academy, after graduation, the Third Hokage would definitely arrange a formidable teacher for him.
Moreover, although progressing slowly with this kind of practice, that was also relatively speaking. Although the exercise of constitution and Taijutsu skills had entered the stage of accumulating bit by bit, he had only practiced his ninja tool mastery for about a month, and had not grasped its essence at all.
And this thing called ninja tool mastery focuses on practice makes perfect; the more you practice, the more formidable you become. Although it could not be compared with learning Ninjutsu, it could still bring a very high increase in combat power.
Furthermore, the day-after-day basic training would allow him to lay a deeper foundation, and when the time came, learning other things would become very easy. Not to mention he also had his cheat.
Just like that, Jokichi resumed his boring daily routine of training, eating, and sleeping every day.
Time flew by like a white horse passing a crevice. Time came to December, the weather became further colder, and Konoha put on a layer of new white clothes.
On this day, it was snowing in the sky.
Jokichi was still training at the 39th Training Ground. He was currently doing push-ups bare-chested, counting for himself as he did them.
In the white world, there were only the sounds of his counting and panting.
Suddenly, a shout came from afar, breaking the tranquility.
"Jokichi, Jokichi..."