Konoha’s White Fang Shines

Chapter 2: Vacation Training

Konoha boasted the most complete shinobi village system on the entire continent. At the Academy, except for sixth-year students—who graduate and move on—everyone else got a short vacation.

The break lasted only a month, but for Genma, it was hardly time to rest.

He hadn't allowed himself to grow lazy for a long while; every single day of his life was scheduled to the brim, and the vacation was no exception.

Yet on the first morning of his break, he didn't wake up naturally, nor did anyone come to call him.

Because the person who wanted to wake him was stopped at the door. Blocking the doorway was Genma's mother, Ayabu Riya, and the one being blocked was Genma's father, Shiranui Hideyoshi.

"Hey, Hideyoshi—why won't you let the kid enjoy his break? How come you don't push yourself this hard?"

Riya shot a fierce glare at Hideyoshi. Even though she was technically throwing a tantrum, her graceful, serene face and bright, doe-like eyes turned her scolding into more of a playful admonition.

When Hideyoshi saw how lovely his wife looked, he stood there wide-eyed, obediently taking a few steps back.

"Uh… Riya, this is all because the kid himself asked for it. If we don't wake him up, he might complain to us later."

Riya didn't buy it, even though Hideyoshi was trying to look like he was on her side. She just tilted her head, crossed her arms, and said, "Hmph, like he'd complain to me—he'd only blame you."

That statement was, in fact, the truth, so Hideyoshi couldn't argue. In this household, after all, he had the lowest status.

Just as Hideyoshi stood there awkwardly with one foot half-lifted, Riya approached and gave him a nudge.

"Hey, don't try to play dumb with me. Last night, Genma was talking in his sleep again—he was even shouting. You didn't hear it?"

Over the years, though Genma was diligent and well-behaved, he had a few small quirks.

One of them was that he talked in his sleep. Genma himself never noticed a thing, but as his parents, Hideyoshi and Riya could detect it immediately.

Last night, Genma was talking in his sleep again; the two of them had woken up to it.

But this time, it seemed to involve him again, so Hideyoshi could only put on a pained look.

"I did hear it, yeah… but isn't it normal?"

After all these years together, Hideyoshi's attempts at shirking responsibility were still unconvincing.

"He clearly yelled something like, 'Don't use senbon, don't use senbon!' I heard it; are you telling me you didn't?"

Riya looked displeased and glared at Hideyoshi, huffing all the while.

"C'mon, honey, Genma's learning sword skills now. How could it have anything to do with the senbon I keep in my mouth?"

Hideyoshi was feeling pretty bummed out. The senbon that had been passed down in his family for generations was apparently not very popular with his son.

Riya knew that as well. But with so much time gone by, the fact that Genma was still muttering about it in his sleep was bound to be unusual.

"Have you been secretly teaching him how to use senbon?"

She eyed Hideyoshi carefully, intent on spotting any trace of guilt in his expression.

"No way! No way! He's already learning enough. I wouldn't make him learn something else too."

"All right, then. I'll believe you for now. I'm going to make breakfast. Meanwhile, don't wake him up."

With that, Riya walked off to the kitchen, leaving Hideyoshi standing outside Genma's room.

And at that moment, Genma stretched and got out of bed.

"Wow, you sure picked the perfect time to wake up, you little brat~"

Hideyoshi's face turned from green to black in an instant, clenching the senbon in his mouth so hard it almost pointed up.

"Well, isn't that normal? My master's been training my five senses nonstop. With all the racket outside my door, I was bound to wake up."

"Yeah, well, I was about to go wake you, and your mom scolded me. Now how do we make this right?"

"Huh? How's that my fault? I was just sleeping. Aren't you being a bit unfair~?"

"No way, you brat! Why are you so down on my family's heirloom senbon? Spit it out—what's the problem?"

Genma had just finished washing up and was about to head out for his morning run, but Hideyoshi blocked him.

"Wow, you're all worked up so early in the day, Dad. You need to take care of yourself~"

"Hmph, I'm perfectly healthy. Now hurry and tell me what's going on!"

Rubbing the back of his head, Genma pondered a bit.

"Right, so I was talking in my sleep again? I remember dreaming about defeating countless enemies with my sword, and then picking up a senbon and clenching it in my teeth. I wanted to throw it away, but for some reason, I couldn't."

"So that's it, huh? You brat… senbon aren't so bad! You bit down on one in your sleep and still wanted to throw it away? Next time, clamp down tight!" Hideyoshi roared with anger, grabbed Genma's ear, and started twisting it.

"Wah! Domestic abuse!" Genma managed to yelp a bit before Hideyoshi, afraid of Riya hearing them, covered his son's mouth.

"Mmmf! Mmmf!" Genma tapped on Hideyoshi's iron grip, signaling him to let go.

"If I let go, you'd better not start yelling again," Hideyoshi warned fiercely.

Just to escape his father's "devilish" clutches, Genma nodded obediently.

"By the way, Dad, I'm getting older now—why not give me a little brother or sister? We've got plenty of money, y'know~"

"Give you a sibling? What kind of thoughts are rattling around in that head of yours?" Hideyoshi responded angrily, clawing at Genma's hair in exasperation.

"I'm being serious! I've already thought up names. If it's a girl, we can call her Shiranui Mai. If it's a boy, we can call him Shiranui Si-Huo ('don't know if he'll live or die'). Awesome, right?" Genma flashed a brilliant smile, revealing white teeth. As soon as Hideyoshi was caught off-guard, Genma darted outside his father's blockade.

"You brat! You really don't know if you'll live or die—I'll show you what it means not to know life from death! Stop right there!"

But Genma had no intention of stopping. As soon as he was out the door, he shot into the woods.

After he finished his morning run and ate the breakfast his mother made, Genma shouldered his sword, said goodbye to his parents, and went on his way.

In the world of Naruto, a transmigrator like him having both parents alive was pretty uncommon.

After all, most transmigrators became protagonists, and protagonists usually got "cheats," which typically went hand in hand with being orphans.

Although Genma still hadn't found any tangible "cheat" in all these years, he felt genuinely happy to have such parents. Compared to some theoretical power boost, happiness was far more important.

But this world was cursed: once you step onto the path of the ninja, a peaceful end is a rare thing.

Still, if Genma had arrived as an orphan, with no one and nothing to rely on, that would have been unbearable in its own way.

Aside from the loneliness factor—if a cheat turned out to be weak and took time to develop, dodging the village's dark undercurrents would be a nightmare.

Having parents and a clan made him feel he had someone to lean on, giving him some confidence.

His parents fully supported his decisions too—whether it was learning his clan's so-called "sage techniques" or even that period of time he trained with Might Duy. As long as he outwardly showed determination and explained his reasons, they never opposed him strongly.

Never mind Might Duy; that mysterious sage inheritance must have seemed even more worrisome, but they still agreed.

Today was another day to train in that sage technique. Of course, it was way too soon for him to sense natural energy and combine it with his chakra in a 1:2 ratio or anything like that.

Before long, Genma arrived at a tavern he visited frequently. Familiar with the place, he headed straight to the backyard.

There, a slender man with long, jet-black hair and a delicate face sat polishing a long sword.

"You're here. How's your sword practice coming along?"

This man was taciturn, meticulous in everything he did, and his thick eyebrows gave him an even more serious air.

He was Genma's current master—the head of the Drunken Immortal style, Lockster.

Genma dared not slack off. He quickly replied, "I've more or less grasped the final form."

"In that case, take your sword and that final form of yours and go…cut vegetables."

Lockster didn't even bother to glance at Genma. He just pointed at a few large baskets and a big wooden rack.

The rack was fitted with rows of iron rings that could hold cucumbers or other long produce in a vertical line.

Genma moved some long vegetables into the iron rings and began his sword training.

Slash after slash—albeit slowly—he aimed for precision with every cut, ensuring the slices were uniform in thickness.

Naturally, this couldn't keep up with the tavern's vegetable demand. Around noon, after Lockster had come and gone from the backyard a few times, he finally turned to Genma and said:

"That's enough for now. Finish the rest quickly—slice as fast as you can."

Sensing that Lockster was in a bit of a rush, Genma nodded, said nothing, and grabbed several vegetables at once. In one swift series of motions, he sliced them into thin pieces that fell into an empty basket.

In under half an hour, he'd finished cutting all the vegetables from several large baskets.

Lockster observed all of this. Once Genma was done, he led him into the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen, on a specially prepared small table, there was an assortment of dishes.

All of these dishes, of course, were prepared for Genma—but not as a reward for his training. They were part of another type of training.

Genma was already used to Lockster's eclectic training methods, so he picked up the bowl nearest to his left and first took a sniff.

This particular training was designed to hone his sense of smell and taste, supposedly in order to sharpen his body's intuitive responses.

Genma understood the logic behind it. After all, you can't see the fusion of energies with the naked eye; though you might feel the changes, there's no way to know if those changes are good or bad without a more refined sense.

Taking in the aroma of the first bowl, Genma paused for a moment, then declared, "This dish must be made of radish and leafy greens."

After that, he picked up his chopsticks to have a taste.

Scooping out a piece about the size of a small pellet, he chewed a bit and continued, "The seasonings used are regular soy sauce, salt, Sichuan pepper, and seafood sauce."

After he finished reporting his conclusions, Lockster was already gone from Genma's side. That made no difference, though—each dish had a hidden slip of paper underneath it listing its true ingredients.

Genma opened the slip and confirmed that the list matched his predictions. He beamed with satisfaction.

When Lockster had first proposed this training, Genma had been full of doubt, but now he had succeeded in doing what once seemed impossible.

He recalled how he used to spend an entire week trying to memorize a single ingredient purely by taste. Looking back, he felt at ease.

Suffer through hardship now to excel beyond others later. With this ability alone, he figured he could've shown off a bit in his original world.

Suppressing his excitement, he moved on to the next dish. Allegedly, his current level was still only rudimentary. At more advanced stages, he'd have to identify the exact quantity of each ingredient, the order in which they were added, and the way each had been prepared.

Of course, that would also require culinary skills. Genma was already learning enough as it was; he had no need to become a master chef.