Chapter 9: Taijutsu

Chapter 9: Taijutsu

"Now that you're done bothering me, shoo." Naido-sensei waved me away dismissively, not even sparing me a glance.

Surprisingly, the only thing he had given me was a set of Buddha beads to wear beneath my shinobi attire.

I, however, remained standing, unfazed.

Naido-sensei sighed, finally looking at me. "What do you want now, Shikomu?"

A small smile crept onto my face.

"Sensei, could you please teach me Taijutsu?"

For the first time, the monk's lips curled into a smirk of his own as he gracefully hopped down from the tree.

"Sure," he said, rolling his shoulders as he stretched. "As long as it's not more jutsu."

"I did realize that you guys would be considered dead last, even in basic Taijutsu," Naido-sensei said bluntly. "You flinch when a punch is thrown at you, you fail to analyze your situation, and you don't pay attention to your surroundings or the battlefield."

He continued listing flaw after flaw, pointing out every mistake I had made.

Yeah, well, no shit, Sherlock. For us players, this was just a game—most people had never been in a real fight before.

Of course, I kept those thoughts to myself.

Don't want to go and piss off a high-ranking Shinobi.

"You know what? I'm feeling generous," Naido-sensei said with a smirk. "I'll even throw in Shuriken Jutsu training. Basic first aid too—consider it a recap of what you should have already learned in the academy."

[Player Matthew, Elite-Jounin NPC Naido has initiated a quest for you.]

[Basic Player Package]

[Rank: D

Description: A true shinobi must master the fundamentals. The game is designed so that only those who seek knowledge shall receive it. Naido-sensei has agreed to teach you a crash course on essential ninja skills that every shinobi should already know.

Reward:

Gain the foundational skills of a true Konoha ShinobiImproved relationship with your Sensei

EXP: None]

I guess I know what I am doing for the next week.

…

For the next week, my training continued.

Each morning, I focused on weaving hand signs faster. Since players weren't naturally proficient in it, we had to train this skill just like any other aspect of being a shinobi.

After that, I joined my squad for our daily missions, which lasted until noon. If Naido-sensei had any intention of fostering teamwork, he certainly didn't show it—he simply stood back and watched as the three of us awkwardly communicated with each other.

By now, I could create three clones at once, so I took full advantage of that. Most of the time, I had two of them practice my elemental Jutsu while I stayed with Naido-sensei. Just like in the anime, when my clones dispersed, their experiences and memories flowed back to me.

I had no idea how the game managed to pull that off, but honestly, I wasn't eager to find out the complicated mechanics behind it.

To mimic Rock Lee's training, I started wearing ankle weights throughout the day. Under Naido-sensei's recommendation, I gradually increased the weight and even expanded it to other parts of my body. Surprisingly, he approved of the method and even offered to pay for the weights himself.

What a generous man. Seems like he's only stingy when it comes to Jutsu.

At night, I often had dinner with Naruto. Conversations with him were always entertaining, and now that he was going on missions, he could actually afford his own food most of the time.

Despite spending four hours a day together as a squad, we still hadn't grown any closer. Kazuto and Ayumi seemed to view this as just another part of the game, training only during those designated hours before going off on their own.

The two of them finally mastered the three academy Jutsu five days after I did—likely due to their lack of extra training and the buffs I had.

Ayumi had been dropping hints that she wanted to start C-rank missions, but Naido-sensei always brushed off the topic without giving a real answer.

I didn't push the issue. While it would be nice to take on higher-ranked missions for better rewards, I was content grinding as I was. It might be tedious, but in the long run, it would pay off.

Any gamer knew, the ones who put in the boring 40-hour grind for that one extra strength stat were the ones who dominated later on.

…

(Dinner time, 1 more week later. 2 weeks has passed in game time since the initiation of Elemental nations)

"So then Kakashi-sensei makes me pluck more weeds out than Sasuke. Just because I fell down and lost all of our progress." Naruto ranted as usual.

"You know Naruto, you sound like you deserve it this time." I told him as I continued to eat.

"Yeah you're right. I probably did. But that didn't stop me from taking the weed Sasuke removed and putting it in my basket. HAHA." Naruto said, as he continued to laugh with a goofy smile.

"Next time you should just swap baskets with him. It's less work."

"WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?"

"Here's your ramen boys!" Teuchi said as he put the ramen bowls in front of us.

While Naruto and I did eat at other places, we made sure to come back and eat at Ichiraku as much as we could since he loved it so much. 

"The dweebs here Sakura. Just like you said he would be." Naruto and I heard an emo voice. Turning to my side, I could see a teenager in blue and another one in red join the ramen shop.

We weren't the only customers, but most didn't sit next to Naruto due to their prejudice.

"He is always here. Sasuke-Kun." Sakura said. She then turned towards Naruto and said in an annoyed tone, "Naruto, why didn't you wait for us! Kakashi-sensei said we should eat together once a week for team bonding, but you got up and left!" 

"Eh? Was that meant to be today? I am sorry Sakura but I already had plans with Shikomu here." Naruto explained.

Sasuke's gaze briefly flickered toward me as I slurped my ramen. I could tell he was sizing me up, not that I minded.

I wasn't exactly an imposing figure, but I definitely stood out more than most Genin. My dark brown hair was slightly long, framing my face in a way that made me look a little older than I was. 

Thanks to my bloodline, my physique was already well-built for my age, something that set me apart from my peers who hadn't put in the same level of effort.

At 160 cm, I stood a solid 10 cm taller than Sasuke, which was noticeable when we were this close. My brown eyes were sharp, and my jawline was well-defined, giving me a presence that people often took a second glance at.

Despite that, I wasn't interested in whatever silent challenge Sasuke was trying to throw my way. 

Did not want to talk to the edge lord right now.

Naruto, meanwhile, was still trying to explain himself to Sakura, who was clearly not buying it.

"You seriously didn't hear him say it was today?" she said, crossing her arms.

"I swear I didn't!" Naruto waved his hands frantically. "Besides, Shikomu and I always eat ramen on this day of the week. It's tradition now!"

Sasuke eventually just took a seat.

"Whatever," he muttered. "Just don't complain later when Kakashi makes you do extra work."

I simply shook my head and continued eating.

"1 Miso-ramen please…ah wait. You guys are here too." I heard a voice from my other side and turned around.

I had to look up a little, since he was much taller than me, but the man with white hair and a mask sat right beside me.

"You must be Shikomu. I heard about you from Naido. He speaks highly of you." He talked to me as he sat right beside me.

"I am surprised Sensei talked nicely about me. I had to bug him nonstop to reply to my questions… Also you must be Narutos sensei, Kakashi sensei."

"Kakashi-sensei. You know Shikomu's monk sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Monk huh. So he is still doing that…" Kakashi said as he turned towards us to look at us during the conversation.

Sakura and Sasuke also sat down right then and ordered their ramen.

"Kakashi sensei, I thought you would look at the other side of the village for Naruto." Sakura asked.

"Well I was about to…but it seemed like destiny told me to come in this direction for some reason." He said with a completely straight face. Not that we could tell with his mask on.

…

[Status Panel of Player Mathew

Name: Shikomu Senju 

Titles: 

Konoha Shinobi, (Training speed in Konoha increases by 100%)

Prince of Konoha, (All NPCs tend to favour you)

Inheritor of Nature, (Your Physique and Chakra require half the EXP to progress. You also have no 'limit.')

Ninja Rank: Genin

(Access to Genin level missions) 

Physical Stat: Low- Chunin (20/150)

Chakra Amount: Low-Chunin (30/150)

Chakra Control: Advanced

Elemental Chakra Control:

Water- Beginner

Earth- Beginner 

Ninjutsu:

D- Academy 3 (Mastered)

D- Body Flicker Jutsu (150/200)

C- Muddy Capture (300/300)

C- Piercing Torrent (300/300)

A- Shadow Clone Jutsu (100/1000)

Genjutsu: -Nil-

Taijutsu: -Nil-]

(Authors note: MC Dumped 50 EXP points that he has earned, each onto the C-rank jutsus to max them out.)

...

Authors note:

I realise I accidentally use Mathew and Michael a lot. To clarify, MC name hence forth is Mathew. If I typed it in wrong please let me know.

Also, if we reach 150 power stones within 24 hours of this upload, I will upload one extra chapter tomorrow.

You can read some chapters ahead if you want to on my p#treon.com/Fat_Cultivator