"Rei, sharpen your senses. Free your mind of all worldly thoughts and focus on locating your lunch."
My father, Taiga, said it in that calm, serious 'sensei' voice he used whenever he wanted to sound wise. As if hiding my food in the forest was some sacred ninja tradition passed down through generations.
I wanted to rant about him hiding my lunch every day, but decided against it. He told me something along the lines of 'Practice makes perfect' the first time I told him about how pointless it was. And that lecture was almost an hour long. It took me much less time to find my lunch from where he had hidden them.
Still… I couldn't complain too much. His weird lessons were working.
I had already sensed where the lunch was hidden — even before he started talking. And I hadn't even used my nose yet.
My mom always used this smoky pepper blend in her cooking, and with how ridiculously sensitive the noses in the Inuzuka clan were, hiding anything familiar from us was a losing battle. So, I usually give myself some restrictions during these kinds of training.
I made a quick mental note of the direction, crouched low, and bolted into the forest.
The wind rushed past my ears as I dashed between trees. My feet barely touched the dirt. With my senses sharpened, I could feel everything — the soft crunch of leaves underfoot, the way the breeze curled around tree trunks, the subtle rustle of disturbed grass.
I didn't need my eyes.
As a challenge, I closed them.
The world was still there — clearer than ever. The wind sang. The forest spoke in hushed tones. My world became sound and instinct. It was a melody only I could hear.
Then the melody snapped.
A sharp disruption — the hiss of metal cutting through air.
Kunai trap.
Three projectiles tore toward me fast, but I dropped my stance, lowering my center of gravity. The kunai zipped over my head and stabbed harmlessly into bark behind me.
I didn't slow down.
Instead, I pushed forward. The sound faced another disruption just as I was about to grab my lunch. The movements were even faster than the kunai before.
My mind raced.
I was moving at too high a speed to jump back. Stopping my current momentum and shifting directions will make me vulnerable for a few moments.
Most traps weren't just one kunai. I'd seen this before — a two-part setup. One to disorient your movement and follow up is the real trap, the one meant to harm you. I wasn't going to fall for that.
Leaving myself vulnerable even for a moment was the equivalent of death. So, I pressed forward as I reached into my sleeve — fingers already gripping the kunai I kept hidden there.
My eyes were closed as my hands moved exactly where the kunai was.
Common sense said I should look. See what I was up against. But lately, common sense and I hadn't been on speaking terms.
There was a rush in ignoring logic — a high that came with risking everything for the perfect moment. My heart pounded, not from fear, but from exhilaration.
The kunai reached me and clashed with my own. The deflection rang out in a sharp, satisfying clang — and the blade veered off to my left.
Just as I predicted, a second volley tore through the space where I would've been had I retreated.
Five kunai successfully dodged.
I grinned, let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding, and opened my eyes. The forest greeted me in full color again.
I have been training since five in the morning and I was practically starving. So, with quick movements I opened my lunch box and a smiley face made of ketchup greeted me.
My mom, Sayuri, has made the same lunch for the last couple of years since I had started my ninja training. And, surprisingly, I was not tired by it yet. Besides, who doesn't like ketchup.
With the return of my sense of smell, my senses became sharper like never before. I could practically see my father reviewing the first kunai trap. He might one of the loudest people I knew, but when he wanted to, Taiga Inuzuka could disappear like a ghost.
After reviewing the traps, he disappeared and reappeared behind me with his trademark 'pat on the back'. I just somehow knew that 'pat' can break a tree.
I grunted with discomfort as I spoke,
"Dad, can you not do that every day? I think the pain receptors in my back muscle has stopped working."
"Ha ha ha ha! I see that you haven't lost your smart mouth yet. Besides, good job on those traps. Your senses are probably even sharper than Kaho. And you haven't bonded with a niken(ninja dog) yet." My father spoke with a huge grin on his face.
"My elder sister has just as good senses as me. She just turns her brain off most of the time to actually notice anything. Besides, aren't we going in the afternoon to bond with my niken?" I asked.
"Yes. Are you sure you don't want to go there beforehand to understand each of their specialty?" My father asked.
"Nope, not at all." I replied while I shook my head. Taking a pause to swallow my sandwich I answered, "I'm going to bond with them for the rest of my life. This decision can't be made by logic alone. I just think that I will somehow just know whom to choose just as soon as I go there. I just know that there will be a connection."
"You know that you're not going there to choose your wife, right?" He asked in a sheepish voice.
"Agh! What a weird thing to say to your son! You know that I just turned five, right?"
"I know that. It's just that sometimes it's easy to forget with how young you still are. Have I ever told you that you are quite matured for your age?"
I rolled my eyes at that, "Yes, you have. Repeatedly."
He laughed at my expression, shaking the entire forest. "That expression is so much like your mom."
I rolled my eyes again, changing the topic. "Are we the only ones going there today?"
"Sayuri has a busy day today and Kaho is out on a mission."
"What about brother?"
"Kuro? He practically lives there now-a-days. His training period is almost over. He's going be a full-time vet starting next month."
"Really? That's good to hear."
Although I was conversing with my father, my mind was already elsewhere. I was thinking about my progress as a shinobi. Mainly my progress with chakra.
Chakra is something that is created by combining both spiritual energy and physical energy. It is what truly determines how powerful you are in this world. Without any Kekkei Genkai, chakra was all I had to become stronger. I've been having my physical training for the last two years. And I was already quite capable.
I haven't yet learned all the basic jutsus you need to learn for graduating Ninja Academy. But I've already started to learn chakra control from my mom. She used to be a medical nin before Kaho was born. Although she works in the local clinic now, she still had enough practice with chakra control to at least guide me towards the right direction.
I personally think her chakra reserves are even more than my father's. After all, her grandmother used to be from Senju clan. Although the bloodline has been diluted through generations, it still gave a boost to her chakra reserve. I just hope that I can get even a bit of that Senju magic in the future.
I sighed mentally thinking about the future. Kurama's attack is going to come any day now. I've been thinking about that for quite a while now. I had to do a few subtle 'nudges' to keep my family from harm. My dad is going on a mission within a couple of weeks and Kaho is already out of the village. Shiro and mom were non-combatants, so they did not have much risk of joining the battle.
It was all I could do to keep them safe. After all I'm just a five-year-old kid. And this issue was way above my pay-grade.
"Dad, I had a request." I interrupted my father and his long speech about responsibility.
"What is it?" He asked inquisitively.
"I want to get started in the Ninja academy."
I looked at my father to see his expression. Getting admitted in Ninja academy at five was not exactly the norm after the war. And my father had a bit of a tendency to be overprotective. So, I was pretty worried about his rejection.
Surprisingly, my father's grin just became wider hearing that.
"So, you've finally decided to go to the academy. It's actually quite nice to have a prodigy in the family."
"I'm not a prodigy. I'm just kinda smart." I said bitterly as I remembered the true prodigies of this world.
"Oh, yes. How can I forget? There is another prodigy in Uchiha clan. He's the same age as you. What was his name? I forgot."
"Itachi Uchiha."
"Yes, him-him. He's your age and he's also joining the ninja academy this year. You could be like rivals or something."
"Maybe. I guess I can play the role of a rival till his sharingan is awakened. After that I don't know what will happen." I said with disdain. Agh! Bloody Uchiha clan and their overpowered sharingan.
"Don't sell yourself short, Rei. Also, you don't know the true capabilities of a Inuzuka with their ninken by their side."
That I really did not know. I knew that they could be quite useful for tracking and sensing. But in true battle—I really did not know how much a ninken can do.
"Speaking of ninken, where is Sadaharu?"
"He went home to get another set of clothes for you. You don't want to go to the choosing with those clothes, do you?"
I grunted at that. What I needed was not just another set of clothes, rather a proper shower and rest. But the sun was already setting and I didn't want to delay it any more.
So, forcing myself to move, I closed my lunch box and stood up.