The Demon Grandfather Awakens
Here's an extra chapter I was able to finish today. Please tell me if I made any mistakes.
Other than that, enjoy.
[2750 words]
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Chapter 1
The Demon Instructor Awakens
{Masahiro's POV}
I stood there laughing my head off at Arata's answer. He's willing to do so much work just to laze around. The thing is he gave such a similar answer to mine when I was his age and because of that, my stuck up sensei chewed me out for being unmotivated.
Once I stopped laughing, I just looked at him, taking in all his details. His well-proportioned face (which of course is inherited from me), complemented his unkempt loose hair that had long strands that hung over his face. His black eyes shimmering with intelligence. This child truly is my pride.
This reminds of the time when he was first born. During that time, I was too caught up thinking as to why he awakened the sharingan so early. At that time, the only plausible theory I could conclude was that he had died or had experienced a loss which affected his mental state. That would mean that he has memories of another life. It was a ridiculous theory, however, it was the most plausible one. So to conclude my investigation, I went to Arata's cot, more specifically, I went to check on my grandchild's eyes. It was an ability of mine that I've told no one about, whenever I looked into someone's eyes I could gauge their emotions and what intentions they had towards me. It's an ability I suspect that Arata inherited from me, due to how fast he can get a grasp on people's emotions.
Diverging from that, upon reaching his cot and looking into his eyes, all the doubt I had was replaced with guilt. All that I could within his eyes was turmoil and a starved need for affection.
At that moment, I noticed my ugly thoughts, thoughts that a parent should not have.
Have I really forgotten how to be a parent? Did I just doubt my own grandson?
He might have memories of another life, but so what, he is still my grandchild and it is my responsibility and duty to give him unadulterated affection in place of Izumi, the affection he so obviously requires at this moment.
From that moment on, I did my duty as a parent, and that was one of the best decisions I've made in my life. Arata brought me so much happiness, happiness that I've long since lost after the death of Izumi and my wife. His eyes were devoid of any malicious intentions, all I could see from his eyes was the happiness of having a parent. All he wanted in return for giving me so much happiness was for me to be a parent to him, and so, I did my best to be a parent to him.
The moment I noticed how precious he was to me, was the day he said ''Jii-san''. I have never shed so many tears of joy before in my life before that day. Those words truly made realise the treasure I have within my hands. For me to experience so much joy before my death, I really am lucky. Even if my daughter's life was lost, she still left the world a treasure, a treasure I vow to nurture.
After that day, I was with him whenever I had free time. I saw his first steps. I saw his first time reading. I saw his first time eating without help. I saw and experienced so many lovely moments, however, such moments weren't made to last forever. My health finally started deteriorating. It meant that his training had to begin early. It was hard to swallow the fact that I was going to leave him. But he was a smart child and if he really had memories of a past life then he most likely knew how to survive. These facts gave me some reassurance and I was able to begin his training.
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{Arata's POV}
My grandfather calmed his laughter and got ready to begin my training. He once again opted to go back to his serious face.
'' Arata, your first lesson will be to learn about death'' He started
''Death is something that you should not enjoy, however, it is something that you should accept, everyone and anyone can die at any moment. Us shinobi live with death and we embrace it but we do not get used to it nor should we enjoy it. We must reach a balance with this aspect of life, once we do, then we can continue on with the shinobi life. People who do not reach this balance, will always lead themselves down a path filled with blood and thorns.'' He calmly stated
''But, the one thing you must not do is to fear death. You must not die at all costs but you cannot fear it. Like I said a balance must be reached and the key to this balance is acceptance. Accept that it will appear before you at any moment. Once you do, you can live your lazy life without worry without the guilt of people you have killed weighing down on you too much.''
''This lesson is a lesson that has been passed down our specific family from parent to child. So be sure to remember it and teach it to your children if they choose this way of life''
'' Yes, sensei'' I responded
'' Good, now onto the next part of the lesson'' he let his face slack back into his unique grin.
'' Death can come in many forms, it can come in the form of a random person next to you or a senbon laying beside you, anyone and anything can hold the aspect of death, and so, as to not let people take advantage of our moment of weakness, we hide our emotions behind a mask'' he said as his silly grin morphed back into his stoic face.
''Different shinobis have different masks. Us uchiha prefer to use an emotionless face as most of us are emotional, so we use this face as it is the easiest to maintain in the face of death and danger. This will be your first task for you, Arata. Create a mask that no one can see through. Once you do, I will teach you how to break down a shinobi's emotions behind their mask''
'' Yes, sensei'' I repeated
'' Now, onto the physical part of the lesson, we will first unlock your chakra'' He said as he stood up and sat behind me and put his hands on my back.
''I will spread my chakra through your chakra pathways, once I do you will feel the core of your chakra. You will notice that chakra is a balance between two energies, Yang and Yin, the more you have of the two the bigger the balance. This balance is critical when forming jutsus, something you will learn later on'' he informed as he spread his chakra throughout my body.
His chakra was powerful and fast, different from the chakra I experienced from the midwife after my birth, hers was calming and regenerating. His chakra stirred something deep inside the pit of my something. I noticed that inside, there was a ball of energy. Two energies were spinning calmly and slowly in there, displaying the balance that they have reached. However beside the blue energy was a large amount of dark energy alone and quiet, unhindered by the blue energy.
''Hmmm, that's weird, you do have a decent amount of chakra for a child your age, however not enough to achieve the basic requirements of opening your sharingan'' Grandfather said quietly.
''Sensei, for some reason, there is a large ball of dark energy beside my chakra. Do you know what it is?'' I asked, hoping to provide an answer to his earlier confusion.
'' Oh, let me check then'' he answered, as he further spread his chakra through my stomach. As I waited, his brows rose slightly expressing his mild shock.
'' Don't touch that energy until you learn genjutsu, do you understand'' he said hurriedly
'' Yes, sensei, but what is it?'' I asked.
''My boy, you have a large amount of excess yin energy, it is quite unusual to see so much. Even the Nara clan dont have this much. Yin energy is what we utilise to create genjutsus, a specialty of the Uchihas. This is what most likely helped you overcome the basic requirements to open your sharingan'' He responded.
Ah, that's quite nice to have. Genjutsu can come quite a long way. An obvious fact, when you see how Itachi utilised his. There is a lot you can do with genjutsu, especially when you have talent for it. Sorry, Itachi, imma steal your jutsus.
(Author: Meh it's his fault for not being born earlier.)
''Now, Arata, slowly spread your chakra through your chakra pathways and circulate it. Once you finish spreading it throughout your whole body, repeat it as many times as you can'' he instructed.
Doing as he said, I circulated my chakra slowly at first and then increased its circulation each rotation. After thirty minutes, I finally fell down, exhausted from the exercise.
'' Good, you lasted quite long, it looks like your chakra control is rather exceptional, it makes up for your average chakra amount, no worries though, your amount of chakra will increase through this way. So continue this exercise alone, once your chakra has been fully restored, FULLY, understand'' he ordered
'' Of course, sensei'' I replied
'' Now onto your sharingan, I will spread my chakra to your eyes, just follow how your sharingan activates. However, you are not allowed to use your sharingan during our training unless told so''
Once he finished talking, he spread his chakra throughout my body once again, however, this time it followed a different course. The chakra moved from the pit of my stomach upwards, through the chakra pathways gathered around my spine. It continued upwards until it reached a junction where the pathways of the spine split to the brain and to the eyes. The chakra followed the eye pathway and once it reached there, it started to rotate around my eyes, activating an energy that was dormant in my eyes. The energy in my eyes started to move erratically, a movement that caused the spinning of the tomoe of the sharingan. It eventually calmed down, giving me access to its powers.Once the energy calmed down, I could see the room in much more detail and any movement that occurred in the room, I was able to easily follow.
Once my grandfather stopped outputting his chakra, my sharingan slowly closed, causing the energy in my eyes to go back to being in its dormant state.
''Good, now, you've experienced opening your sharingan, practice it in your own time. Let's move onto your body'' He said as he rummaged through his pockets.
I stood up and waited for him to finish.
'' Here you go, it's a schedule of your body training so you don't forget. Now start with stretching that i'm doing and then do your schedule on your paper. Come back once you've finished''
I followed his stretching, etching each movement into my mind and then continued on with my training.
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{2 hours later}
Damn, that demon never let me have a break. My muscles feel like they're drowning with how much lactic acid I've built up.
'' Take a ten minute break and stretch your body to break down the buildup of lactic acid in your body'' he informed as he continued on with his own training.
After ten minutes, grandfather stopped his training and stood up.
''let's check your aptitude with different weapons and then we'll go on to shurikenjutsu''
He told me as he went to a room and opened a door revealing a large weaponry filled to the brim with weapons.
''lets begin with kenjutsu'' he said as he picked up two standard bokutos, throwing one my way.
Picking it up, Iit immediately felt snug on my hand. It felt natural in my hands, like it was supposed to be with me the whole time. It felt like an extra limb I've forgotten about.
''Now follow my movements and then repeat it alone, i'll keep an eye on any mistakes and point them out'' he informed me as he got into his stance.
''The Uchiha kenjutsu has multiple forms, however, mine specializes in iaijutsu, a form of kenjutsu that mainly focuses on speed. I incorporate my affinity for lightning into my iaijutsu, speeding up the draw of my katana from its sheath. However, you will only begin with the basic stances. The first technique is the low crouching posture named iai-goshi. The second is the standing posture named tachi-ai. Try these and repeat them and then we will move onto other forms of kenjutsu''
He recounted as he spread his feet apart and slowly crouched. He tensed his muscles and gripped his bokuto and then quickly drew his sword and returned it into its initial position. His draw technique was so fast that the sound only came a few seconds after he drew his sword as a sharp cutting noise resounded in the dojo. He then returned to a standing posture, and tensed his lower body more than in the iai-goshi stance, however he had less power built up in his upper body. He quickly did an upward slash and once again, the sound only came after a few seconds.
'' Now you've seen me do it, try it yourself''
I copied his iai-goshi stance,however, his stance felt awkward to me so I adjusted myself until I felt comfortable enough to draw my bokuto. While I was adjusting my body, I moved into a position that clicked everything together. It was similar to a 'eureka' moment, and following the momentum of this moment, I slowly drew my bokuto. Each movement I made throughout the stance felt smooth and tranquil, I continued to ride my momentum of the iai-goshi stance and continued on with the tachi-ai stance. Once again, somehow I drew my sword while perfectly utilising my muscles to perform the stance. Each movement filled me with peace, a peace that oozed out of my movements.I repeated the two stances again and again. Even I could tell that this wasn't natural, for me to be so adept in this sword art wasn't something natural.
It seemed that my grandfather had the same opinion as he stared slack-jawed, a mesmerised expression spread on his face.
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{Masahiro's POV}
I watched as my grandson got into stance, but something was weird, he was changing and adjusting my stance. Each time he adjusted his stance, I felt it. He was perfecting my stance to a stance that was suitable to his body, his body was relaxing the muscles that weren't needed for his young body that were used in my body, while experimenting with his other muscles trying to reach a suitable position. Looking at the confused expression on Arata's face, I surmised that it was an unconscious effort from his body.
However, what truly stupefied me was the execution. It couldn't be called a stance anymore, it was a dance, a dance that exuded serenity and peace. Each movement was fast yet peaceful, powerful yet quiet. No wasteful movements were present in his stances, each movement flowed into the next.
His talent with iaijutsu...it couldn't be comprehended. This wasn't a case where he was one in a million. No. I can feel it. No one can do what he does. He truly fits the saying of a god given talent.
Even I found it unfair, He was able to easily reach my level, a level that most could not reach. A level I spent my whole life perfecting. I'm perfectly justified to have this jealousy, as all my hard work was just trashed by a four year old. I really do feel like crying.
But my excitement easily dispelled my jealousy. My years as a swordsman wondered what he could achieve. What heights he could reach and techniques we could come up with. My old bones were shivering with excitement. A large grin rose on my face. I can't wait to experiment on all the failed ideas I couldn't achieve due to my lack of talent. He owes me that much for trashing all my years of hard work in a few minutes.