Without waking the deeply asleep Ryan, Natsuhoshi quietly placed the lunchbox beside him, then turned and left without a sound. Her free time was limited. Between taking care of her own son and personally training Ryan, she also had to take on occasional low-difficulty, time-efficient missions. After all, Star Village's manpower was stretched thin. If even the jonin were idle, the village's daily expenses would quickly spiral out of control.
More than half a month passed in the blink of an eye. Through relentless daily training, Ryan's mastery of the Peacock Secret Technique had taken a significant leap. He could now materialize chakra beasts for offensive attacks. However, flight still eluded him.
The flight aspect of the Peacock Technique wasn't as simple as it looked. It wasn't just about shaping chakra into wings—you needed precise control of chakra output. And Ryan's control… was still far from adequate.
Under Natsuhoshi's guidance, Ryan came to realize that climbing trees and walking on water to improve chakra control weren't some hidden ninja secrets. Everyone knew about them. The question wasn't knowing how—it was whether you could do it. Some genius ninja mastered tree-walking in a week. Others might take a year and still fail. It all came down to talent.
Ryan had taken five full days just to barely complete the tree-walking phase. That wasn't because he lacked discipline, but because of his small frame. At six and a half years old, achieving that much was already extraordinary.
Morning.
A quiet pond, still and mirror-like.
Wearing nothing but shorts, Ryan stood shirtless on the water's surface. His once-scrawny frame had started to show signs of lean, youthful muscle. Ripples spread beneath his bare feet as he focused intently on controlling the chakra flowing steadily beneath him.
One step...
Two steps...
Three, four...
Nine steps—
Splash!
With a sharp sound, Ryan plummeted into the pond, sending up a huge spray of water.
He swam to the shore, frustration etched on his face.
"Pfft—still no good! Only made it nine steps this time!" he muttered, spitting out a mouthful of pond water and shaking droplets from his hair. "I've gotta keep the chakra output under each foot exactly right… it's too damn tricky!"
After days of practice, Ryan's chakra control was getting more refined, but maintaining it steadily enough for water-walking was still a challenge. Once he could cross still waters without falling, the next step would be moving rivers—that's when the training could be considered complete.
"Huh?" Ryan looked up. A small purple speck was approaching from the sky.
He instantly recognized it—Natsuhoshi.
"Why's she here at this hour?" Ryan wondered aloud, puzzled.
His eyes gleamed with admiration as he watched her approach, gliding effortlessly on her chakra wings. Moments later, she landed gracefully atop the pond, not even disturbing the water's surface—prompting Ryan to roll his eyes in envy.
Ripples gently spread under her feet as she dispelled the glowing purple wings. Stepping to the shore, Natsuhoshi's face lacked its usual warm smile. After a moment of hesitation, she looked at Ryan, who was dripping wet and staring up at her in confusion.
"Ryan… there's something I need to tell you."
Ryan blinked. "What is it?"
"…It's about your father and younger brother," Natsuhoshi said, her expression complicated. Honestly, she had no fondness for Ryan's father—the man had been a complete scumbag. But she had no choice but to inform him now.
The moment she spoke, a flood of childhood memories surged through Ryan's mind—memories of pain and fear. His face darkened. "What happened to them?"
Natsuhoshi didn't sugarcoat it. That man had left Ryan with nothing but trauma, so she spoke plainly:
"Your father took your brother to gather herbs near the back mountains. Normally, wolves don't appear during the day, but it seems they've been starving lately. They were attacked… and not even their bodies were recovered."
"…Dead, huh."
Ryan's expression turned oddly conflicted. He wasn't sad. In truth, there was only one regret—that he never got to punish that short, fat bastard with his own hands.
At the same time, it felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest. A quiet, unexplainable lightness washed over him.
As for the younger brother he'd never met since arriving in this world, Ryan sighed. He held no resentment toward the boy. It just wasn't meant to be. Fate had decided they weren't destined to be brothers.
After a long silence, Ryan accompanied Natsuhoshi to the memorial mound built in honor of the two. Of course, he was there more to pay respects to his unseen little brother—not to mourn that so-called "father."
Time flowed on. Under Natsuhoshi's continued care and guidance, Ryan's growth accelerated. By the time he turned seven, he had finally completed the water-walking training.
Due to his young age and physical limits, even though Ryan's chakra control had reached an excellent level, Natsuhoshi only began teaching him basic wind, lightning, and fire-style jutsu. She also deepened his training in the Peacock Secret Technique. Advanced ninjutsu would have to wait—for now, they'd be wasted on him.
Of course, Ryan didn't neglect taijutsu either.
He understood its importance clearly. True strength wasn't just about flashy ninjutsu. Take Madara Uchiha, for example. Even without his Sharingan, his taijutsu alone had decimated wave after wave of Allied Shinobi Forces. That alone proved how terrifying physical prowess could be.
Ryan knew that even if he didn't specialize in taijutsu, he still needed to ensure he wouldn't get completely outclassed in close combat. Otherwise, against someone like Might Guy, he'd be toast—unable to land a hit while getting thrashed himself.
To avoid that humiliating fate, Ryan made taijutsu one of his core disciplines.
Late afternoon. The summer sun hung low in the sky.
On a wide grassy field, Ryan stood tall, his now-toned figure bathed in the golden glow of sunset. His shadow stretched long across the ground.
"Peacock Secret Technique – Feathered Beast Manifestation!"
He clasped his hands together and formed the seal. Instantly, a solid mass of brilliant purple chakra surged from his back, rapidly stretching upward, taking form in midair.
The beast roared to life—sharp fangs, wild eyes, and a fierce aura.
"ROAR!"
The chakra beast's snarl echoed like a lion's growl, shaking the air.
Ryan's gaze locked onto a massive boulder over a meter tall. The chakra beast launched forward with a mighty burst, baring its teeth as it dove straight toward its target like a predator hunting prey.
BOOM!
The boulder shattered on impact, fragments scattering across the field.
That one strike had completely destroyed it.
And this power… had come from a seven-year-old.
"Wings!"
Ryan's hands shifted into a new seal. The beast retracted instantly into his back, reshaping into a mass of chakra—then unfurled again, spreading into two pairs of glowing purple wings.
The wings shimmered with light and flapped once.
Ryan lifted off the ground—finally taking flight, soaring into the sky.
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