Chapter 13: Training Begins

"He will go through sage training before yours!"

"Like hell, he will! He needs to understand his bloodline before advancing to the sage training!"

Asuka hissed as Ryu stood firm. This was one of the moments where Asuka lost her prestige as the alpha member of the family as the stubborn husband rejected her suggestions completely.

"He will go through sage training, first. He still has a lot of time before he starts his bloodline training. Either way, we do not have the capital to kickstart the advantages of his bloodline.

Besides, you should rest more. Our baby girl is coming soon."

Ryu let out a happy smile as he immediately lost all his dignity and knelt near the seated Asuka and placed his hand on her inflated stomach with a kind and gentle gaze.

"I guess, you're right."

Asuka muttered with a smile as she ruffled through Ryu's short hair while he placed his ears on her stomach, wishing to communicate with his daughter as soon as possible.

Click

The door was suddenly clicked open as Eio walked inside.

"I'm home."

He raised his voice and let his words travel through the hall while Ryu stood up and craned his neck out of the dining room.

"Eio, you came back early. We were just talking about you."

He nodded slightly and walked towards Ryu, who kept his signature smile on his face, beckoning Eio to walk quicker.

Looking at his mother sitting on the chair while gently touching her stomach, Eio couldn't help but smile unconsciously.

"Hehe, Eio-chan! You want to hear her kicks?"

Asuka grinned and extended her hand, touching Eio's smooth cheek.

Eio nodded with a smile and placed the side of his face on her stomach. Aside from the light heartbeats that he could hear from his extraordinary senses, he could also feel a light tap from the inside.

Eio had to admit that even after resolving that he would look into the future and accept Ryu and Asuka as his parents, he realised that it was far harder than simply stating. Every time he looked at Ryu's goofy smile, he would be reminded of a certain figure who succumbed to his heart's virus while Asuka's domineering attitude regarding the household affairs made him recall a certain woman who had to cope up with all the extremities going around her. Of course, Eio severely wished that this time around, his mother wouldn't be so freaked out about his studies.

The baby sister he was expecting, on the other hand, made it easier for him to accept the fact that soon, he would genuinely become an elder brother. Something he wasn't in his past life. He was a mentor, warrior and someone's beloved, but he was never an Elder Brother.

This change allowed him to slowly get more accustomed to this new world around him. Allowing him to truly see things for what they are.

"She will be wonderful, mom."

Eio whispered as he closed his eyes and kept his face on her stomach. A light smile etched on the faces of the parents when they heard his comments while Eio slowly stood up and showed one of his rare and genuine smiles.

"So? What's for dinner?"

He asked while rubbing his stomach while Ryu's expression suddenly crumbled. With Asuka needing more and more rest, Ryu took tye responsibility of cooking food or bringing take-outs for dinner. But today, he was quite occupied with planning Eio's training regime and forgot to bring something for dinner.

"Yeah, darling. I am hungry, too."

Asuka was too happy and satisfied to notice the change in expression. To her, satisfaction only came when her family was together while happiness flowed from her body when Eio smiled happily. Being shinobis of the highest calibre, it wasn't hard for Ryu and Asuka to notice Eio's tendencies to distance himself from others.

The situation might've been alarming if he only did this to both of them but after a round of investigation, they found out that such was their son's attitude. Though they tried to talk to him and cheer him on many occasions, the results evidenced their failure in completing the task.

"Well then... just give me 30 minutes."

Before waiting for Asuka's reply, Ryu took off like a wind while Eio couldn't help but sigh at the clear similarity.

***

"It is really troubling. At one point, I wish to eradicate the rights of the Council of Elders but then I realise that this village... my home won't be any different than other villages who still live in the past phase of the war."

Minato sighed sadly and tapped on his desk while the old professor— Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in one of the seats in front of Minato and looked at the image placed on his desk. It was a framed family picture of Minato, a pregnant Kushina and a blonde kid with blue eyes belonging to his father and facial features belonging to his mother.

"Many people... every single shinobi think that being a hokage is one of the most glorious position. Only the Hokage himself understands the responsibility burdening his shoulders. Rise and demise of Village based on a single and impulsive action does sound quite enticing.

But only those with the mental fortitude to curb their desires and truly put the village before anything else can accomplish the task.

Only they can honour the role of being a Hokage."

Sarutobi smoked his pipe as his elderly figure looked even lonelier. His wrinkles growing more evident as the time passed on while his clear eyes getting more and more confused.

"Sometimes I wonder. Was I really a good Hokage?"

Hiruzen slowly recalled the moments of his own weaknesses. His past mistakes that still haunted his old self.

"I think you are an inspiration."

Minato broke the silence as he let out a genuine smile before looking at Hiruzen.

"There are times when I feel that I am not fulfilling the role of Hokage. But every night, my heart feels right when I look at my boy sleeping soundly. Somehow, somewhere, each of the Hokage has done things wrong. Even the First Hokage and Second Hokage aren't exempted of this fact.

And yet here we are, trying to slowly overcome our past. I believe that the new era does not need old ghosts still stuck in war. I believe that this village does not need me, a war hero, but a shinobi with his heart beating for the village."

Hiruzen nodded slowly as he asked with one of his rare smiles that implied that he was quite speechless.

"Then what do you suggest we do? We can't take their home away from them. Their contributions are what led us to survive the war in the first place."

"And that is why I am helpless." Minato sighed.

"And that is why this village needs a shinobi of differing opinions... new opinions that can open the eyes of old men of the past that the new generation does not need their ideals enforced on them anymore.

And that is why this era would be far more complicated than the previous one. Unlike the clash of power in the warring era, there will be a clash of ideals in this one. And we need to be prepared. Prepared to defend the village when it needs us. But some things still have to be straightened out."

His voice took a grave turn while Hiruzen sighed sadly.

***

The next day turned out to be slightly gloomier as a clueless Eio and a steady Ryu walked out of their house and made their way towards the training ground 3 of the village. Seeing his father in his regular clothes made Eio raise his brows as he broke the silence.

"Dad? Don't you have to go to your job?", since it was past 6 in the morning, Eio was quite curious as to why the punctual shinobi hadn't left for his patrolling duty.

"I am allowed to take 7 paid leaves during the duration of a year. And today, I wish to discuss something important with you."

None initiated after that as Eio slowly found that his usually boisterous dad was really serious. From his experiences, Eio could feel Ryu slowly focusing his intent as his back started to feel sharper under his vision. The father-son duo reached the training ground in fifteen minutes due to its convenient location and Ryu finally turned back and looked at Eio with his eyes glowing brightly.

It wasn't a figurative speech but Eio found Ryu's eyes glowing brighter and brighter as time passed on until all the violet glow converged into his pupils and thus, slowly formed a flowery pattern on his iris, making him look extremely different. But the strange transformation was just a start, as Eio observed with stunned eyes, he found out that the pattern on his eyes was slowly rotating, enthralling Eio.

But as if this transformation was not enough, Ryu took a deep breath while a surge of particular, yet, familiar energy slowly flowed around the father-son duo and quickly converged into Ryu's body. As Eio's brows furrowed due to the familiarity of this energy, he found violet markings appearing on Ryu's face.

Starting from his eyes, forehead and the jaws. But the pattern did not stop as Eio felt Ryu's pressure increasing as time passed on and he could even see the thick curvy violet markings stretching to his hands and toes visible from his sandals.

"Eio, before I try and explain anything, sit down cross-legged and close your eyes."

Confused, Eio still did as he was asked to and slowly sat on the ground while he still couldn't put his finger on the familiarity of the energy revolving around Ryu. Closing his eyes, Eio waited for further direction while he found this situation oddly familiar once again. Gazing at his son finally taking a meditative stance, Ryu crouched in front of him and extended his left index finger, tapping on Eio's forehead.

Suddenly, Eio felt a surge of energy different from the mellow energy structure already formed within his body. This energy was more... he didn't know what the word was, but he sure as hell knew that he was acquainted with this kind of energy in his past life. It's just that this particular energy entering his body feels more... polluted.

Yeah, this is the word Eio wanted to describe this energy with. But as the time went on, he finally understood the reason of the strange familiarity paradox.

'Ki...'

The gears in his mind turned and he finally started to comprehend the facts. In his past life, he was all too familiar with the concept of Ki. He had his own Ki within his body, nurturing him while he trained and slowly nurtured the life energy within him. But this energy pouring into his body wasn't biological.

In the clearest meaning, this energy wasn't created by a living organism. While Eio wasn't sure about its origin, he knew that this was a chance of a lifetime. While he had to train extraordinarily hard to even produce a strand of Ki before training in the ways of Zenkai, if that was even possible, considering that he might not even be a saiyan anymore.

Breathing sharply, that Ryu conceived as Eio being fearful of the sudden invasion of alien energy, he spoke out, trying to calm his son.

"Eio, try to feel this energy. You don't have to feel afraid as the nature energy would simply phase out of your body. But take this chance and clear your mind. Try to remember the feeling."

This was precisely why Eio felt the situation all the more urgent. Since this influx of energy did not belong to him, his body wouldn't be holding any of this 'nature energy'. While Eio was sure that his father would instill more of the nature energy if asked, he still wanted to take this single chance and establish his own Ki circuit by using Ryu's energy as a medium to excite his life energy.

Taking deep breath, he started recalling his previous experiences and focused on the area right above his navel where the strange biological energy could be felt from and slowly, his body's cell started to thrum rhythmically, his eyebrows creased into a deep frown while Ryu considered cutting the connection of his nature energy when suddenly, he started feeling Eio absorbing more of his sage energy.

Calmly placing his right hand on his son's small shoulder, Ryu spoke once again.

"Don't be anxious. You don't have to absorb this energy. Try to think of simply reading this energy."

Although it was extremely wrong of Ryu to make his child train at such a young age, he understood that if he really wanted Eio to learn the true Sage Art, he needed to start at a young age. Only at a young age can someone try to truly connect with the nature and feel the nature energy that currently revolves in his body. Meanwhile, his rotating eyes kept on looking at the area in front of Eio, his objective unknown.

Eio nodded as he only needed a very tiny impact on his body to finally awaken his Ki and then, he started concentrating on Ryu's words and seriously felt out the flow of energy. The 'polluted' Ki felt awfully mellow, but still more violent than the biological energy within his abdomen. Every time he tried to meditate on the energy, he would feel a presence interfering with his deductions.

Eio did not understand the implications of such an enigma, but continued to concentrate as long as the flow of energy lasted. Since he couldn't convert the energy into his own Ki, he might as well carefully understand it's composition, but in the end, the results were minimal. As he opened his eyes, he found his Father's eyes boring into his, waiting for answers.

"I am sorry, Dad. I didn't feel anything special." Eio replied while gazing into Ryu's eyes that had already returned normal. Although a flash of disappointment could be seen the moment he spoke up, Ryu nodded once again and ruffled his head, smiling lightly.

"Don't mind it. From now on, you will meditate in your bedroom for an hour after you wake up. Now, I think that we should officially start your training." Ryu sat in front of Eio before continuing.

With that, Eio was slowly told about Chakra, the biological energy floating within his body as he was also told about the prowess that Shinobis like him are capable of due to possessing Chakra. Not only that, but Ryu also taught him how to feel his chakra, although he already knew it, and showed him the precise manner of meditation and chakra training to slowly gain mastery over the energy flowing within his body.

"— As chakra moves through your chakra coils, you will have to consciously control it while regular meditation and physical training will also increase your chakra."

Ryu nodded and then smiled widely.

"Even though your chakra coils are thicker than average shinobi and your chakra reserve is commendable for a child, there are many out there far more talented than you. If you, by any chance, happen to face them, only your hard work can determine the difference between the both of you.

Do you understand?"

Ryu was conscious that this particular lesson may be forgotten by his little stud as he grows up, after all, even Ryu himself did not remember much of the training he went through. He was quite grateful for the clan record for this, though.

Eio nodded seriously.

"I think so."

"Good, since we are already out, let me show you the most basic training and bodyweight exercises that I used to perform when I was at your age."

Eio nodded as he was introduced to quite a few exercises that he wasn't aware of. But soon, Ryu ended the session and dropped Eio home before informing him that he will be bringing breakfast from outside, too.