There were approximately 3 days until the beginning of the Shinjit tournament.
Kyoto was naturally walking back to the stone infrastructure that he called his temporary home.
As he opened the door wide, a sight for bizarre eyes unveiled before him.
"Eh?"
Before Kyoto was the humble scene of Kai sitting down. Next to Kai was a small child.
It was a girl with purplish-red hair, no older than 6. She had bruises and a pale complexion. Kai was making ice sculptures using his kekkei Genkai. He made horses, shapes, and all kinds of wonders. The girl watched shyly. She was dressed in expensive yet simple attire. She wore a t-shirt and shorts but they were both of a high-quality far unfit for a child.
Kai looked up modestly.
"Afternoon."
Kai then went back to making ice sculptures for the girl as if nothing had happened.
Kyoto coughed out blatantly.
"Are you... not going to talk about the girl?"
A fixation of puzzlement was plastered on Kyoto's face.
Kai's eyebrows raised slightly.
"What do you mean?"
Kyoto felt like bursting out in the obviousness of the situation.
"Ahem. Don't you think this is all a bit... sketchy?"
Kai shook his head slowly.
Kyoto sighed.
"You just picked a tiny girl off the streets? What about her parents? And you took her home?"
Kai tilted his head dumbfounded.
"I'll have you know that the last thing she wants to know is the whereabouts of her parents."
Kai showcased the girl off like a figurine, lifting her up and swinging her around. She giggled lightly.
"How do you think she got these bruises?"
Kyoto's face irked.
"Does she speak?"
The girl nodded.
Kyoto's face deadpanned.
"There's no way we have the budget for someone else Kai."
Kai's face became emotional and red.
"Just let me help someone. Alright?"
He muttered lowly.
"It's the least I could do."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
Kyoto ignored the obscurity of the situation and shook his head. He remembered what he had come to ask in the first place.
"You haven't been hearing someone's voice in your head by any chance? Right?"
Kai's face malfunctioned.
"O-of course not."
Kai left in a hurry.
"One minute, I've got something to do. Take care of Shina for me."
Kai scurried to the outside of the house. Leaving Kyoto and the girl all alone.
Kyoto looked down in suspicion.
"So your name's Shina?"
The girl nodded absentminded.
Kyoto's eyebrows furrowed.
"Anything... special about you?"
The girl did some extremely tedious hand signs.
Kyoto showed a spark of interest.
'Ninjutsu at this age, eh?"
Soon a cluster of bright pink beaming crystals stagnated on Kyoto's right shoulder.
Kyoto nodded in satisfaction.
"Crystal Release?"
Kyoto amplified his left hand with a bit of chakra and just like that, he shattered the crystal's with a bit of force, a bit too much in fact.
The crystals were extremely brittle and even rather poorly formed.
Kyoto noticed that the girl had a rather... unnatural level of chakra around her through his sensory status.
Had she been blessed?
Or was there something else going on?
Kyoto's eyes darkened to a weak extent.
He looked straight into Shina's eyes.
"What's your lineage? Your full name?"
Shina's mouth opened frustratingly slowly.
"Shina. Otou-san used to say that we were Uzumaki."
A bell tolled in Kyoto's head.
The Uzumaki had mixed with the crystal-release bloodline?
All Uzumaki were deadly shinobi due to their unheavenly chakra pools but now one had been gifted a kekkei Genkai from the grace of the gods?
Kyoto breathed in slowly.
"What's your dad? What does he look like?"
Shina pictured her father in a complicated manner.
"Otou-san has red hair, Otou-san also has really pretty robes. Oh. Otou-san can also make the best crystals."
Kyoto sighed, his hands tugging at his hair.
"And he's reeaallly strong. You might get in trouble if you help me."
The girl spoke flatly and innocently.
There was a full-grown Uzumaki with crystal release out there?
The Uzumaki spreading too far could wreak havoc within the ninja world. Kyoto looked at the open door with an irked face.
"Kai. Just who have you saved?"
Kai was currently having an inner battle with himself. He had just left the stone infrastructure due to the intervening of a certain hissing voice.
Merely a few seconds ago, something had struck his right ear.
"Don't reveal me."
Kai walked outside in uncertainty.
"Why would I not reveal you?"
"You've not helped me even once."
The voice pierced both his ears at once.
"That's because you've never accepted it."
Kai sighed.
"It doesn't matter. Since my chakra levels are barely above average I'll never be a powerful shinobi."
The voice hissed into his ears once more.
"Your chakra isn't half-bad. It's comparable to Elite-Jonins, your only disadvantage is that you're only at your peak near huge water bodies. You're also quite weak physically which cripples your combat potential."
Kai grunted.
"It doesn't matter, I'm still revealing you."
The voice hissed in amusement.
"Sure, go ahead. I hope you enjoy my revealing present. Many wish to know how a retired Jonin and his wife died that night."
Kai's eyes shook.
"You-. You saw that?"
The voice swung around Kai.
"Who knows."
And then it retreated back into the heaven-seal.
As Kai re-entered the stone-infrastructure Kyoto began complaining to him. Kai ignored it all, slowly inhaling a ghastly breath of smoke.
"Kyoto."
"Please train me."
Kai bowed without remorse for his crippled pride.
Kyoto looked at Kai in surprise.
"Sure, I guess."
The two stepped outside, and the girl followed silently.
Kyoto rubbed his hands together, it was chilly.
Kai cleared his throat.
"What must I do to become strong?"
Kyoto breathed in.
"First, I want you to do 50 pushups per day. If you can't do 50 go till you can't do anymore."
"Next, you should run around the tallest structure you can see and make sure you are somewhat distant from it."
Kai nodded hesitantly.
"What's after that?"
Kyoto shrugged slyly.
"I'll be getting some jutsus to aid your Yuki Clan abilities."
Kai shouted out, confused.
"How? We're broke?"
Kyoto walked off in amusement.
"That doesn't sound like push-ups to me."
Kai ran out for Kyoto but received a tug from Shina.
She pointed at the ground.
"50."
Kai sighed.
The ground was cold and moist.
His arms ached as he pushed himself up and down. His entire back felt like cold-sturdy iron.
Shina watched in enlightenment.
Kai stopped at 14. His body's energy had rapidly deteriorated. He had never worked out before. Since he had been on the run for a while, any enemies he met would just get frozen over. Of course, one day his enemies took him down with them. Had Kyoto not appeared then would he have ultimately died?
Kyoto shrugged in his mind. The answer was probably.
Kai cooled himself down with an ice cube generated from his right hand. It cooled him slightly.
Shina looked at him bluntly.
"14."
Kai's breaths were hoarse.
"Yeah. Yeah. I got it."
Kai dipped back down achieving 7 more. By now his arms shook at the slightest force used through them.
Kai gave up.
"No... more."
Shina's face loomed over him. Barely. She was quite short.
"Run."
She spoke like a machine.
Realizing that he couldn't leave the girl on her own, Kai picked her up onto his shoulders.
She made them ache and burn but Kai shook it off.
His legs immediately began propelling themselves forward.
Kai's breaths burned but he kept on moving forwards.
Until the noon transformed into night.
Kai was on the last stretch. He had fallen, gotten up, and shook off the aches many times.
As he felt strength slipping from his body, a hiss struck his left ear. Shina was being piggy-backed.
"Want some help?"
Kai muttered darkly.
"Screw off."
The voice retreated. It seemed to enjoy using any chance it got to corrupt Kai.
After a few exhausting minutes, Kai reached the door and collapsed.
As he had done many times in the last hour.
Kai had stretched his boundaries and looped around to do a strong 2.5 km run.
As Kai returned he bought a dozen Gyoza out of instinct. Although they were running out of Ryo swiftly, the tournament would soon begin and Kai and Kyoto would be able to start earning once again.
As Kai handed a few Gyoza to Shina, he wondered about the whereabouts of Kyoto.
"He said he'd get me a jutsu or two. But Jutsu's aren't sold anywhere?"
Kai was left to wallow in his uncertainty.
Through his run, he had seen rich men's felicity and poor men's stubbles but he had not seen a single animal.
Did the village hidden in the grass have some sort of issue?
Kai shook off his thoughts as he lay down on the cold stone floor. His thoughts rising mindlessly into the atmosphere.
It was only when he woke up in a brain-lit stupor that he saw Kyoto at the door, seeming to have just returned.
With a nasty smirk and a poorly managed ninjutsu scroll in his right hand. The sun lit up his figure from behind, causing him to inhale the look of a dark silhouette.
"I got it."