[A/N : I made a mistake in the last chapter by mentioning Might Duy in the same class as the MC. I just wanted to clarify that Mc is of the same generation as Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, Fugaku Uchiha, and Mikoto Uchiha.]
[Sorry for the error.]
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[Tatsumi POV]
By the time all the sparring matches were over, it was already 3 p.m. I immediately went back home as soon as Kiyoshi sensei gave us his permission.
"I am home!" I shouted as soon as I entered my house.
"Welcome back!" Mom greeted me at the door and gave me a long hug.
"How was your first day?" she asked
"Good. We had sparring matches today right after a few classes on history and geography." I said.
"Oh? Did you win, son?" Dad asked
"No. I was up against Minato." I answered with a dejected tone.
It isn't a good feeling when you disappoint your father, especially when it's about a fight.
"Ah, that genius kid you were telling us about."
"Yeah. He isn't much stronger than me, but he is still better overall." I walked close to the fridge and opened it in search of food. "Mom, I am hungry. Is there anything left to eat?"
"No, we were thinking about going out to eat."
"Sweet," I said
"Come on, we will pick up Natsu on the way." Dad said
"Okay," I said and followed them out the house
Natsu was playing in the park near our house with her friends. Unlike me, she was an outgoing person, as a child should be.
In my case, I didn't want to befriend 6-year-old kids because, even if I was their age, it was weird. I am not saying that I am very mature. No, sometimes I behave even more childishly than Natsu, but it is still very weird because I have 19 years worth of memories of my past life.
Even if there is no such thing as being a minor in this world and children can do anything and you can do anything to children, I still have my morals, and on the off chance this is different from the Naruto world I am familiar with, I do not want the FBI, or rather the ANBU, to pull up on my house.
"Natsu! Let's go!" Mom yelled from the entrance of the park and called Natsu.
Natsu saw her, and she ran towards us and gave Mom and Dad a big hug.
Again, I am the only one deprived of this treatment. I don't even know why. I am the one who adores her the most in our family.
"How come you are so early?" Natsu asked Mom and Dad, who usually pick her up an hour later.
"Well, we are going out for lunch to celebrate your big brother's first day at the Ninja Academy." Mom told Natsu
"I want to go for Yakiniku." Natsu said
"Hey! I should be the one to decide where we go to eat." I told Natsu while lightly pinching her cheek.
She slapped my hand away, making me gasp in shock. "We are already going out to celebrate for you. Isn't that enough? What more do you need?" She asked haughtily and folded her hands in front of her chest.
"Do you want me to repeat what I did to you on your 4th birthday?" I asked with a pure smile on my face, which would put even angels to shame.
"...Sorry. We can go eat whatever you want," she said as she looked down on the ground
"Great! Let's eat some Yakiniku." I said to Mom and Dad
"What?! Then why even argue about it?!" Natsu yelled in the middle of the street, pulling everyone's attention towards us.
"Of course it's just to annoy you." I said it with a wide grin on my face.
I regretted doing that as she jumped on me and bit my leg.
"Aaahhh! Mom! Natsu's become an animal! Help!" I yelled
***
After Mom calmed Natsu down, we went for a nice lunch and later to the market.
Now it was 6 p.m., and I went to my usual training spot.
No matter what, I can't skip my daily training.
I have created a rule to train for at least 3 hours daily.
The training isn't very complicated. I first start with physical conditioning exercises, which are basically 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometre run.
I will increase this later, but for now, this much is enough. I actually started off with only 20 reps for each and only one kilometre run. I have increased it to this much in 2 years.
Anyway, the real training starts after this. It usually takes me about an hour to finish the physical conditioning. Then, I train my swordsmanship, and after that, I train my chakra control.
I originally didn't plan on learning how to wield a sword. One day, while just touring the market, I came across a smithy.
*Flashback*
I went in there just for fun. I started just looking around the shop when an attendant came to me to ask the purpose of my visit.
I bluffed him and said that I was looking for a nice sword. He then spent around 30 minutes introducing different swords to me. It was a fun way to waste my time and annoy the hell out of a stranger.
But one sword caught my attention.
It was kept in a corner among many other swords, but most of them were broken. This was the only one that was sheathed.
I don't know why, but I wanted to test that sword out. I walked towards it, picked it up, and unsheathed it.
The shiny blade of the sword had no flaw in it. It's blade felt sharp enough to cut through steel.
Most of all, it felt perfect in my grip. More than just being perfect, I felt that I just had to get this sword. I felt complete just holding it. Of course, it was too big for me right now, but even then, I couldn't shake the feeling that this sword was meant to be in my hands.
I had no idea why such an amazing sword was kept in this pile of garbage. But I figured I could get a discount on it if it was considered a 'flawed' sword by it's maker.
"Hey! Drop that sword!" The attendant yelled at me, but instead of anger, his voice was filled with concern.
He ran towards me.
"Why? Is this reserved for someone else?" I asked
He, in turn, just took the sword away from me.
"No. It's not reserved for anyone," he said after calming down and sheathing the sword back.
"Why are you being so hysterical, then?" I asked
"Haah, this sword is cursed," he said with a sigh. Judging from his expression, he seemed to be reminiscing. Bad memories, I guess.
"What do you mean cursed?" I asked
"He means that it is cursed."
Another voice came to my ears. This one belonged to an old, ripped man walking towards us with his upper body exposed for others to see.
'Damn! This old man is big as hell!' was what I thought at that time
"You care to explain?" I asked, ignoring his pecs, who were staring at me.
"Everyone who has wielded this sword in the past has suffered misfortune," he answered
"Did they die?" I asked
"Yes. None of the previous wielders of this sword lived a long life. In fact, they died in their first battle with this sword as their companion." He said, "So don't think about taking this sword. You will only get yourself killed. There were many great swordsmen who ignored the legend following this sword and ended up losing their lives."
"There are many other swords here that you can buy and use," the attendant said to me.
"Were you the one who made this sword, old man?" I asked
"No. It was crafted by my great-great-grandfather. He was a legendary swordsmith, and this was his final work. A true masterpiece of a weapon. It pains me to see it becoming a curse." He said that and went back inside along with the sword.
I looked at a few other swords and then went back home.
After that day, I couldn't sleep at night. It wasn't a haunting dream, but an uncomfortable feeling that wouldn't go away.
I slept, but I kept waking up because I kept getting the same feeling as when I held that sword, and it kept waking me up.
I was terrified of the story that the old man told me, but I just have to obtain that sword. I will keep feeling restless until I do.
After a week of such torture, I couldn't resist anymore and went back to that shop the first thing in the morning and took all of my saved allowance in a pouch.
This was the first time in either of my lives that I begged someone for something.
"Did you not understand me, boy?! You will die if you take that sword."
"But I have to get it!" I exclaimed
"....Why?"
"It called me." I hesitated to tell him the actual reason because it was such a cringy line, but it was true. Now that I have held it once, I know for sure that that sword was made for me.
I lifted my head up to look at the old man in front of me.
He had his jaw open and was looking at me with wide eyes.
"My boy, is that really true?"
"Yes," I replied immediately
"I see. Come in," he said after staring at me for almost a minute.
I followed him and entered his shop with him.
"If what you have said is really true, then I have no reason to stop you. What happened to you is something that happens very rarely. But before I hand this sword over to you, I want to confirm if what you said is true."
"How do I do that? How do I prove to you that that sword is mine?" I asked him
"It is very simple. Release your chakra. As much as you can." He unsheathed the sword and held it in front of me.
I immediately poured out as much chakra as I could into all of my surroundings. At the rate at which I was exhausting my chakra, I might only be able to keep this up for a minute.
But it didn't even take 5 seconds for the sword in front of me to start humming and vibrating as if wanting to come closer to me.
"Amazing!! Stop boy! The sword is yours!" The old man's voice entered my ears, and I stopped releasing my chakra.
"This is the first time I am witnessing it myself! The sword truly chose you to be it's wielder."
"What? I thought the only sword who could do that was Samehada, one of the swords carried by the seven swordsmen of the mist." I said
"Mugenjin isn't very different from Samehada! Both of them were the final works of two amazing swordsmiths." The old man exclaimed. He was practically jumping around like a kid. "Sometimes, a sword or any weapon actually, when created and treated with love, begins to have its own ego."
"Wait. What's Mugenjin?" I asked
[A/N : 'Mugenjin' means 'Hailing from the abyss' or 'Hailing from infinity']
"That is the name of this fine sword. No, that is the name of your sword." He said this as he sheathed the sword and then gave it to me.
"Mugenjin belongs to you now. But I should warn you. Since it chose you, Mugenjin is putting it's trust in you. If you fail to uphold that trust, then this sword will indeed become the cause of your demise."
I was so busy basking in the feeling of holding Mugenjin that I couldn't even hear the old man's praise for me.
As soon as I held it, the uncomfortable feeling went away.
This sword was made for me, and I was born to be it's master.
I think that it's fate that I met it.
The fact that the sword was still in the possession of this man even after having so many wielders in history is baffling to me.
Even if it is a cursed sword, people still take what they can.
The sword was forged during the warring-states era. The fact that it came back to this old man is itself a work of fate.
That is what I believe.
*Flashback ends*
That is the reason why I started learning Kenjutsu (Swordsmanship)
I have progressed a lot in my swordsmanship.
If I had used swords in my spar against Minato, then I would have easily defeated him.
"Well then, let's get started, Mugenjin," I said
In response, Mugenjin released a humming sound as if agreeing, causing me to smirk.
"First Movement : Horizontal Slash!"