“I'm ready.” Chen Yue’s voice rang out.
He wasn't just ready, he was practically bursting with anticipation.
“Then let's begin!”
The old man nodded, assuming a stance. He formally began teaching Chen Yue the twenty-four basic movements of the Muye Flow Body Technique, one move at a time.
The old man taught, the child learned, and soon an hour passed.
As the long, deep bell rang again, Chen Yue’s first morning of pre-ninja training came to an end.
Following this was a one and a half-hour break (from 11 AM to 2 PM) for rest, lunch, and a nap.
As a child, he still needed to get enough rest. Otherwise, it would have a negative impact on his physical development.
Starting at 2 PM, he would run twenty laps of 4000 meters as a warm-up, and then continue with learning the twenty-four basic body techniques until 6 PM when the sun set.
It took Chen Yue ten days to master these twenty-four basic movements and to become proficient in linking them together to the satisfaction of Uchiha Huohe.
From then on, his morning training, besides the warm-up run and the horse stance before breakfast, consisted of sparring with Uchiha Huohe using the twenty-four basic body techniques he had mastered.
In the old man's words, the goal was to transform rigid routines into flexible skills that could be used in combat.
In the afternoon, he started throwing training shuriken and kunai, and practicing kunai fighting.
The throwing training for shuriken and kunai was simple; it mainly focused on training eyesight, accuracy, and power techniques.
Kunai fighting, on the other hand, was a derivative of unarmed combat. Once the basic body techniques were mastered, learning kunai fighting was quite easy.
Therefore, it only took him three days to earn his great-grandfather’s approval for this stage of training.
Once the basic throwing techniques and kunai fighting were mastered, they were incorporated into his morning sparring sessions. In the afternoon, he began his basic swordsmanship training.
Even though it was only the basics, swordsmanship was more challenging than kunai and shuriken.
Furthermore, Uchiha Huohe had much higher expectations for swordsmanship compared to shuriken throwing and kunai fighting.
Therefore, despite the foundation he had built, it took him another ten days.
This was thanks to his own enthusiasm for learning. After all, besides being a fan of Naruto, he was also a fan of another popular manga series, Bleach.
So, compared to unarmed combat, shuriken throwing, or kunai fighting, Chen Yue preferred to fight with a 'sword'.
He dedicated himself completely to learning swordsmanship for his bright future.
Furthermore, it seemed he also had natural talent for swordsmanship. The old man, who rarely praised him after he began body technique training, actually said he was naturally gifted with the sword.
He could even feel the depth of the old man’s swordsmanship instruction increasing.
This was why Chen Yue was so enthusiastic about learning, why he was praised for his natural talent, and why it still took him a full ten days to earn the old man's approval.
From the time he began body technique training until he finally mastered the basics of swordsmanship, shuriken, and kunai use, meeting the old man's standards, Chen Yue spent a total of twenty-three days.
Of course, this didn't mean that he was now a powerful ninja.
The old man's standards were clearly aimed at a four-year-old child.
The requirements for a gifted child were higher, but it was still just the standard for a child.
He had only just mastered some basic body techniques. To truly become a powerful ninja, he would need to continue training tirelessly day after day, without end.
He would also need to increase the difficulty of his training as his body developed, learn more advanced skills, and constantly spar with different opponents to gain valuable combat experience.
At this point, his twenty-three days of training were only the very basics of the basics.
On the twenty-fourth day, after he mastered the basic body techniques, including kunai, shuriken, and swordsmanship, Chen Yue finally started learning ninjutsu.
He continued sparring in the morning, but this time he incorporated swordsmanship into the mix. In the afternoon, he studied the basics of ninjutsu.
These included the twelve basic hand signs, 'Zi Chou Yin Mao Chen Si Wu Wei Shen You Xu Hai,' as well as the three basic jutsu.
Despite being just basic three basic jutsu, and the majority of his time being spent on the tedious practice of hand seals, his passion for learning was even greater than when he initially learned swordsmanship.
Even though the old man had told him about the importance of body techniques for most ninjas in the real world, he was still more drawn to ninjutsu.
After all, ninjas who use ninjutsu are the 'true' ninjas, right?
………………