Within the Uchiha clan territory.
Fugaku, who had long left the Shinobi Tavern, was strolling down a dark street hand in hand with Mikoto Uchiha.
Both were busy with work during the day, and in the evenings, Fugaku had to play cards for the family's rise, leaving them with little time to be together.
Mikoto's voice echoed in the silent street.
"...Then Kushina and I rushed to that new coffee shop with the coupon."
"But when we got there, the staff told us that the coupon for two lattes for 0.01 ryo was a printing mistake. It was so frustrating..."
Mikoto, in the middle of her complaint, noticed that Fugaku was being absent-minded and unresponsive.
Her eyebrows furrowed, and a dangerous gleam appeared in her eyes.
Then she put on a kind smile and whispered in Fugaku's ear, "Fu~ga~ku, are you listening?"
Fugaku shivered and snapped back to reality.
Seeing Mikoto's narrowed eyes, he couldn't help but inwardly groan.
The world only knew him for his fierce reputation, but they had no idea that the gentle and elegant Mikoto could be terrifying when angry.
Just like a graceful cat showing its sharp claws...
Luckily, Fugaku had been paying attention to Mikoto since she was five and knew her temper well.
With a regretful face, he said, "Sorry, I was thinking about some work issues."
In truth, although he was holding Mikoto's hand, his mind was on Natsuhiko.
Not long ago, after agreeing to use a shadow clone to pick up and drop off Natsuhiko, Natsuhiko promised to add a particular function to his belt as a gift of gratitude.
Recalling Natsuhiko's various ingenious inventions, Fugaku, who typically lacked material desires, couldn't help but look forward to it.
However, he hadn't lied.
The belt, despite having dozens of functions, was essentially a body camera, so calling it a work issue was accurate.
Mikoto, upon hearing Fugaku's words, turned her head away and pouted, "Work, work, what's more important, work or me?"
Despite this tricky question, Fugaku was secretly pleased.
He knew that when Mikoto acted like this, it meant she wasn't as angry anymore, and with a bit of coaxing, everything would be fine.
After all, when he made Mikoto cry as a child, he followed the same process to calm her down.
He even suspected that she had pretended to cry back then.
Looking around to make sure no one was nearby, Fugaku wore a rare apologetic smile and started saying some sweet, albeit cheesy, words.
Anyone who knew him would be shocked at this sight.
No wonder they could only date late at night.
Luckily, Mikoto loved this side of him, the brutal captain who was gentle only to her, and she soon calmed down.
However, just then, Fugaku suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking a bit puzzled.
His shadow clone had just dropped Natsuhiko home and dispersed.
"What's wrong, Fugaku?" Mikoto asked, noticing his odd expression.
"Nothing," Fugaku shook his head slightly.
He decided not to tell Mikoto about having to pick up and drop off a man every day.
Fugaku then recalled Natsuhiko asking him to buy breakfast, feeling speechless.
Having already agreed to use a shadow clone for transportation, bringing breakfast didn't seem like a big deal.
However, Fugaku's daily breakfast at home was rice with miso soup, which didn't seem appropriate for Natsuhiko, and he wasn't familiar with outside breakfast options.
In his usual thorough manner, Fugaku suddenly had an idea and asked Mikoto, "By the way, you enjoy breakfast outside. Which place do you think has the best breakfast?"
Mikoto was slightly surprised; then, her heart felt warm.
Was Fugaku finally becoming thoughtful?
He even thought about buying breakfast to make her happy.
Mikoto pointed her slender finger to her chin, thinking, "Hmm... I like several places, but recently, I've been into the pancakes from that bakery near the village entrance. I think the blueberry ones are the best."
"The bakery near the village entrance, blueberry pancakes, right?" Fugaku repeated a few times.
Seeing Fugaku earnestly memorising her preference, Mikoto couldn't help but smile sweetly and, holding his arm, continued walking forward.
Little did she know that the following day, she was hungry all morning and never received the anticipated breakfast.
Meanwhile, in a large house within the Uchiha territory.
Uchiha Gan, Uchiha Bun, and Uchiha Cui, who had appeared earlier at Natsuhiko's door, were kneeling in front of a gloomy middle-aged man.
"So, Fugaku was there too."
"I intended for you to gauge Natsuhiko Amou's abilities, to see if he is qualified to be Sho's whetstone."
Uchiha Setsuna sneered after hearing their report.
"But no matter, there will be other opportunities. I refuse to believe Fugaku can protect him forever..."
Meanwhile, at Natsuhiko's home.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight..."
Accompanied by cheerful music and Might Duy's distinctive voice,
Natsuhiko was doing radio callisthenics in his front yard.
Yes, radio calisthenics.
This was a regimen Natsuhiko developed recently, combining his breakthroughs in sensory formations and the knowledge of the Eight Gates to expand his meridian system and compensate for his average chakra talent.
In terms of cultivation levels, he was at the fourth level of Qi Refinement, slightly better than Ebisu.
Given his post-puberty, near-fixed meridians, he needed more effort than students to achieve similar improvements.
However, knowing he might need to demonstrate chakra movement in meridians during future classes,
Natsuhiko worked tirelessly to avoid being outdone by his students.
Despite his age, he had to work hard to strengthen his physique.
Fortunately, compared to students, he had an advantage.
Careful observation would reveal that Natsuhiko's callisthenics movements were mighty and fierce, different from what students learned.
This was an initial version of radio callisthenics developed with Might Duy. It combined the Eight Gates body-strengthening techniques with meridian expansion theory.
With Natsuhiko's high-level guidance on meridian expansion, Might Duy could simplify the Eight Gates body techniques, eliminating redundant and erroneous parts.
The initial version of radio callisthenics was not weaker than the original Eight Gates body techniques. Still, it was even more powerful in practice, channelling energy throughout the body into a single point.
Natsuhiko called it the "Killer Radio Calisthenics."
However, due to the high meridian requirements, it wasn't suitable for most academy students' fragile meridians.
Currently, only Guy is qualified to learn it.
Natsuhiko and Might Duy created a simplified version to keep it confidential and protect the students' developing bodies.
The training effectiveness was thus reduced.
But Natsuhiko and Might Duy left a hidden pathway.
If students mastered the simplified version, they could eventually understand the essence of the Killer Radio Calisthenics...
Of course, they could also learn it by enrolling in Might Duy's advanced taijutsu class.
With this enhanced callisthenics regimen, Natsuhiko's meridian expansion pace barely kept up with his students, though daily hard training was still essential.
Two small figures were also in the front yard.
Number One was sitting on a small stool, wearing a scouter, monitoring Natsuhiko's workout like in class.
"Main body, your spleen meridian's Chongmen and Fusha points' chakra flow has slowed. You're not doing the movements correctly."
He yawned slightly.
"Got it." Natsuhiko focused on controlling the corresponding muscle groups...
"Alright, it's normal now. Keep it up," Number One advised.
Meanwhile, Number Two reported today's research progress besides Natsuhiko.
"Since our research on the Shadow Clone Jutsu hit a bottleneck, today's focus was on further simplifying and enhancing the sensory formation's precision."
"We also simulated the meridian movement for static exercises with the prototype, eliminating 4,523 schemes. We expect to complete it before the class starts in a few months."
"Thank you for your hard work," Natsuhiko said, continuing his callisthenics. By the way, where's Number Three? Has he finished washing the training uniforms yet?"
Number Two shrugged, "Didn't you tell him to practice water release while washing? And to develop the 'Drum Washing Machine Jutsu'?"
"I saw him finish washing, but with little progress in practice, so I told him to clean the toilets next. It would be good practice."
"..."
Are you a devil?
Natsuhiko thought.
He concluded that Number Two's mischievous nature resulted from an error in the sealing sphere formation, which was definitely not his fault.
Number Two shrugged again, "Speaking of which, it's your fault for only mastering Earth Release."
"And only knowing Earth Release: Head-Hunter Jutsu!"
"That's the only D-rank elemental jutsu, almost excluded from the Earth Release category."
"What will you say if students ask about it?"
"Stop scolding me."
Natsuhiko sighed, "Looks like Number Three will have to bear the brunt."
Number One and Number Two nodded in agreement.
With meridian expansion, elemental nature development, and the nearly successful third version of the energy-saving shadow clone jutsu...
Feeling overwhelmed by the growing list of training tasks, Natsuhiko sighed.
Time flew, and soon it was late November...
(End of Chapter)
Chapter 117 is up on my Patreon.
Chapter 97 is free on my Patreon.