[Entry: Muscle Memory (White)][Requirement: Repeat a tedious training exercise to establish a subconscious habit.][Progress: (Completed).][Effect: After repeating a large number of actions, your muscles gradually change and become accustomed to those movements; these actions can then be executed reflexively without conscious thought.Your muscle memory is increased by 10% compared to an ordinary person.At present, incorrect muscle memory cannot be erased.][Note: Further advancement possible.]
Feeling the drain of chakra through his body, Uchiha Kiyoshi climbed three more steps and reached the tree's crown.
The forest was lush and green; birds chirped here and there.
"Seems repeating any tedious training will do… and my innate talent isn't bad either," Kiyoshi thought.
Uchiha were generally elites—he had Uchiha blood running through him too, so his aptitude couldn't be that poor.
This tree was much shorter than the one Team Seven trained on; reaching the top didn't take much effort.
"Kiyoshi, did you ever do training like this back in the Land of Lightning?"Nohara Rin asked softly.
"No."Kiyoshi climbed down from the crown and took a breath.
He carried the consciousness of an adult, which let him focus more than a kid like Obito—and that focus came at the cost of greater exhaustion.
His muscles ached all over.
"You have obtained the Entry: [Tree-Climber (White)]."
[Entry: Tree-Climber (White)][Requirement: Walk to the top of a trunk using only your feet.][Progress: (Completed).][Effect: On special terrain, your chakra-control technique becomes more proficient; chakra consumption for tree-walking is reduced by 10%.][Note: Further advancement possible.]
Kiyoshi blinked in mild surprise.
He hadn't expected that completing such a task would count as unlocking an entry.
"Now it seems entries not only trigger from actions I perform, but also respond to a category of abstract tasks," Kiyoshi mused, gaining a deeper understanding of the entry panel.
Muscle Memory, Reading Absorption, and Basic Memory had all been triggered by his body alone—seemingly unrelated to the external world.
"If I graduate early, or become top of the year, could that trigger conditions and cause an advancement?" he wondered.
Of course, his current position drew too much attention—he wouldn't make a scene even if it were possible.
Advancement would require a certain level of power before showing off more talents to seize benefits.
"No way—you must be hiding something!"Obito gaped, refusing to believe Kiyoshi's aptitude was actually that good.
If so, Obito's days as dead-last would continue.
"Believe it or not, that's up to you, Obito," Kiyoshi said evenly.
Young Obito seemed kind on the surface, but at heart he was the type to go to extremes for love—so single-mindedly devoted that he'd do anything for his goal.
Obito's turning point had been the death of Nohara Rin. He wanted to drag the world into an eternal illusion of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, believing that would be the "true" reality. For that plan he would not hesitate to harm even his master's child.
On the day Naruto was born, he became an orphan partly because of Obito's influence.It was worth remembering that Minato and Kushina had been kind to Obito.
A person like Obito—whose disappointment led to revenge on everyone—wasn't someone Kiyoshi wanted to bother befriending.
"All right, Obito."Rin noticed Obito's hostility toward Kiyoshi and, considering Kiyoshi's situation, smoothed things over gently.
"It's getting late—we should head back."
"Okay. See you tomorrow, Nohara Rin," Kiyoshi said politely.
Then he walked toward the exit.
Watching Kiyoshi's retreating figure, Rin murmured to herself, "Completely different from the crude rumors about the Land of Lightning."
Rin's impression of Kiyoshi was favorable. He wasn't quarrelsome like Obito, nor sarcastically cold like Kakashi.
"Hey, Rin—don't you think that guy's chakra is pretty cold?""Chakra alone can't define a person," she replied.
…
On the way home, Kiyoshi observed the bustling street crowd.
The Land of Fire's geography was blessed; Konoha sat near its central region. Apart from the difficult mountain roads on the outskirts, the climate was pleasant.
Living here felt far better than the Land of Lightning, Kiyoshi thought.
Yet ease could also rot a shinobi's spirit.
He shook his head and withdrew his gaze.
The Third Shinobi World War—coming in just a few years—loomed like a heavy mountain over him.
Once he became a shinobi, he would almost certainly be sent to war.
If he wanted his chances of survival to increase, he had to raise his strength sufficiently during this interval.
Smack.
Someone bumped into Kiyoshi.
"Sorry."The pedestrian hurried away.
"It's fine."Kiyoshi kept walking home as if nothing had happened.
His hand, which had been at his side, closed briefly around the foreign object that had made contact before he picked up his pace.
This was the second time.
A spy from Kumogakure!
Information was the lifeblood of shinobi, so the great villages were constantly infiltrating one another.
New spies always slipped in periodically, were discovered, and then infiltration continued in cycles—counterintelligence vs. espionage.
…
At the Naka Shrine, Fugaku rubbed his brow. The clan members had filed out; only Mikoto remained.
"Root's people have arrived. If Kiyoshi shows no issues, you'll need to pay extra attention to him," Fugaku said, glancing at Mikoto.
Mikoto's face carried the gentle warmth of a Yamato woman, but paired with the green flak jacket she looked businesslike and capable.
"Don't worry, Fugaku," Mikoto replied, nodding.
She understood what Fugaku implied.
If Kiyoshi were a spy, his fate needed no further comment. But if not, they must strengthen his sense of belonging to the clan.
A child brought in from outside carried foreign impressions. They needed to give him ties—bonds—to the Uchiha family.
…
Back at his lodgings, Kiyoshi didn't immediately remove the object from his hand. Instead he tucked it into a small pouch on the left side of his pants.
Calmly, he opened the books he'd brought back from the Academy and resumed studying.
The entries Reading Absorption and Basic Memory still needed more progress to complete.
After a while, he noticed his fatigue fading; the soreness he felt upon returning had diminished.
"A Yotsuki clan gift."
Kiyoshi understood.
The Uchiha naturally held abundant chakra; combined with the Yotsuki clan's hereditary bodily talent, he recovered quickly.
The Land of Lightning was full of towering peaks and lingering mists.
According to The Book of Formations, that land had originally been the Yotsuki clan's territory.