"I'm home." Taking off his shoes, he saw his mother as she walked through the passage leading into the dining area and sitting area, and gave her a hug. Kudo went into the kitchen, grabbing an apple.
"I'm not gonna disappear, you know." Ina chuckled, "How was your day?" Ina took a seat by the kitchen table, "It was ok, Mom." Kudo munched on an apple. "Now that you are on vacation, I was hoping to go on a trip, a week at most," Ina said, shifting uncomfortably. It was something the Tanehiko household did once a year; this year, however, Murata would be absent. Kudo had thought that his mother wouldn't be interested, but he nodded in approval. "Yeah, let's do it. I would love to go."
"Ok then, I will go prepare for the journey. We will leave on Monday." His mother said and left.
Today was Friday, so in two days' time, 'Not enough time to learn about being a sensor, but I can at least refine my ninjutsu and taijutsu. As for genjutsu, I need to improve against rank C genjutsu and for genjutsu, I only have the D-rank genjutsu: Swallowing Dark Ocean. It was the only one decent enough.'Kudo left for the village training grounds; his own was too small, and he couldn't train destructively because his mother had to pay for repairs.
At the office site,
"Good morning, I am here to rent a training ground." Kudo said immediately to the clerk at the office.
Confirming his identity, "What type of training ground would you prefer?"
"What type? What do you mean?" Kudo asked, puzzled.
"I'm referring to which nature of jutsus will you be practicing? If earth-based, then a rockier area is needed, and if wind-based, a more open area is needed. So, what type of jutsus will you be working on?" The clerk patiently explained.
"Ohh, water-based jutsus with some lightning ones," Kudo answered with understanding.
"Alright, training ground 7 is suitable, and how long will you be renting it for?" "3 days."
"That will cost 480 ryo."He paid with ryo bills, received instructions, and left for the assigned area.
Reaching the training ground 7, a scenic view of a small lake and shallow ponds came into view. 'This is perfect.' Kudo thought and, after surveying if someone was spying on him, he got to work.'Water style: Water bullet.' A ball of water fiercely shot through the air, tearing it with reckless abandon. The ball of water was about 4 cups. Since learning the jutsu, he had reduced the amount from 10 cups worth to just 4 cups. The result was a faster water bullet, and he could harden it much more easily for penetration into targets instead of just splashing on impact.
"Boom!" A tree exploded after the water bullet pierced through and hit more trees in succession.
"Roughly 20 meters, not bad." He moved closer to the lake, 'Lightning style: Chasing serpent' Lightning surged from his hands, dividing into two as two lightning serpents arced around the lake before merging and diving into the water, causing flashes of whiteness in the water. It took 2 seconds. 'I need more practice, it's a bit slow.' Taking off running, he ran into the little forest, running across tree branches, he threw shuriken, some aimed straight, while some arched, targeting trees not in his line of sight.
Standing on a tree branch, he backflipped, drawing another set of shuriken with lightning sparks flowing on their surfaces, and he threw them again. He used the lightning jutsu electric shock on the shuriken. "THWACK!" The shuriken landed next to the earlier set.
"Hoo" Taking a deep breath, he made the Tora hand seal and leapt into the air once more, 'Water style: Water Bullet Barrage' A dozen water bullets pierced into the trees right above where the shuriken had struck.
Free-falling towards the ground, he switched to the Snake hand seal, "Lightning style: Chasing serpents!"
A dozen lighting serpents arced in the air, striking the trees embedded with shuriken. Landing softly, "Not bad, but I can do better." Kudo left, setting up traps.
Half an hour later,
"Set." He rushed into the forest, deliberately triggering the traps, "Woosh!" Shuriken and kunai furiously tore the air, aiming at him. Drawing in a mouthful of air, he shot out short bursts of piercing strings of water.
"Clank!" Like solid steel, the strings of water hit the shuriken and Kunai, throwing them off target. Making the Boar hand seal, a thin veil of water, the frontal shuriken, but some were still headed towards him from the sides and behind him. Landing on a tree branch, he front somersaulted into the air, twisting his body. Two shuriken wailed past him, sandwiching him in between for a millisecond. Upside down, his hands rotated him, then, pushing off, he landed on the side of a tree.
He immediately rushed up, shuriken striking where he had just stepped, missing him by a fraction of a second. Back flipping into the air, he shot a dozen water bullets, redirecting the remaining shuriken. Landing on his feet, just as he was about to relax, he abruptly dodged, leaning back, as a shuriken passed by his face, almost maiming him. His heart pounded, "Hoo, that was close. Mom will kill me if I hurt myself." "And now, clean up." Kudo sighed and began to work.
Unknown to him, in the Hokage's office; Hiruzen had watched the whole sequence of Kudo's training, and it left him intrigued, for civilian academy students, not many were this capable; his level rivalled the Uchiha and Hyuga kids, as their clan forced their kids to excel, especially in clan techniques like the gentle fist. "A promising seed." He muttered, but his thoughtful expression was ruined as he recalled something. "Danzo! I would have wrung your neck a long time ago." Hiruzen shouted, his Anbu guards surprised by the hokage's shout. Redoubling on security, no one had gotten in, but recalling the Uchiha mess, they kept to themselves.
Back in the office; "So, he is the one." Recalling Danzo's feud with a civilian merchant over an academy student and the death of said merchant, "You better hope he doesn't turn into another Orochimaru or else your path to hokage is permanently closed, I will make sure of it myself!"