It took half an hour to finally return home in the dark. Jokichi felt as if he had lost all his strength, lying like a corpse on the bed. After resting for a while and recovering some stamina, he took out Akimichi Choza's hair.
"Forge Giant's Bracelet."
[Ding! Giant's Bracelet forged successfully]
A quaint gray stone bracelet appeared in his hand, and the information of the bracelet appeared on his retina.
"Giant's Bracelet: The wearer can change the size of their body or a specific part at will. The extent of the change depends on the chakra consumed and the body's endurance."
Eh! It is not the ability to store food fat and convert it into chakra!
Jokichi was slightly disappointed. Although the ability to grow larger or smaller was also a very powerful ability, he would definitely obtain blood from Uchiha Sasuke later to forge another part of the Sage Crystal and obtain the Sharingan or even the Rinnegan. At that time, with Susanoo, the ability to change body size would pale in comparison.
However— "Being able to change a certain part at will, hehe..." Jokichi's imagination ran wild, and a smile that should not belong to this age appeared on his face. Night gradually deepened, and Jokichi fell into a deep sleep, drool flowing from the corner of his mouth, with a lewd smile on his face.
...
A night passed. The next day, before the sky cleared, Jokichi woke up early. He looked out the window; the clouds on the horizon were fiery red, as if they were burning.
"Today is also a good day!" Jokichi patted his face, and after feeling less sleepy, he went to the bathroom to wash up, then changed clothes and went out for morning training with simple seasonings. From today on, he would solve his meals in the wild.
It was still the 39th Training Ground. Jokichi jogged all the way here, did some leg presses and other warm-up exercises, and began a new day of training. Everything was no different from usual. He did not soar to the sky just because his body transformed into a Sage Body; what changed was only the training volume, which was more than ten times stronger. Moreover, because of his abundant chakra, the training of Ninjutsu was also put on the schedule.
Transformation Technique, Clone Technique, Substitution Technique... Although they were only basic ninja techniques, they were very practical, even being used frequently by Kage-level ninja. However, Ninjutsu training did not go smoothly. Jokichi considered himself not clever, but definitely not stupid. Yet there were many parts of the Ninjutsu scrolls left by his parents that he could not understand, especially some professional terminology he had never heard of when watching anime in his past life, which he could not comprehend.
He did not know how other transmigrators became self-taught geniuses without any foundation or anyone to teach them; he just felt he was dragging down the reputation of transmigrators. But he would never admit that his understanding was on the same level as Uzumaki Naruto's.
"I just have no one to teach me. If someone taught me, I would definitely understand immediately. I am not like Uzumaki Naruto, who needs others to demonstrate before he understands. Yeah! It must be like this." Jokichi comforted himself.
However, although there were many places on the scroll he could not understand, he could guess what he did not understand! He practiced and experimented according to his guesses. Anyway, with plenty of chakra and fast recovery, he was not afraid of consumption, and any injuries would heal immediately. Jokichi's current body was almost no different from being immortal. Even if his heart was pierced, he would recover immediately. To completely kill him, one would have to destroy his brain instantly to make him lose consciousness. Jokichi did not believe that practicing the Three Basic Jutsu could make someone explode on the spot.
Thus, Jokichi's new daily routine began. Morning training, then buying buns on the street for breakfast, training Taijutsu in the forest in the morning, going out to hunt for lunch at noon, and practicing Ninjutsu in the afternoon. Although the content of his training increased, it did not mean the training intensity decreased; on the contrary, it became higher. Because Jokichi had to complete a previous day's worth of training in half the time. Only Jokichi, who possessed the Perfect Sage Body, the Ring of Kurama, and the Hot-Blooded Headband all at once, could complete it. Even Uzumaki Naruto or Rock Lee would not be able to do it.
Time flew by like a white horse passing a crevice. Soon two months passed, and the time came to September 3, Year 53. Today was Sakakura Jokichi's 5th birthday. However, Jokichi had always been alone. To him, even having a birthday was no different from usual, at most adding some extra food during a meal. This indifferent way of life was something even the heavens could not bear, and sent him a gift.
On this day, Jokichi came to the 39th Training Ground to train as usual. After these two months of training, his progress was obvious. Especially in terms of physical fitness, he could now run on eaves and trees like a real ninja, and he had completely mastered the Three Basic Jutsu. Although he still could not understand many parts of the scrolls, he knew how to perform them through practice. With a rich harvest, his motivation was naturally stronger.
Jokichi buried his head in training and lost himself in it, not even looking for prey for lunch. By the time he came to his senses, it was already dusk. Jokichi stood by the shimmering river, gazing at the afterglow about to fall below the horizon, gently wiping the sweat from his forehead with a satisfied smile on his face.
Suddenly, a black object rushed down the river. Jokichi glanced at it casually, not caring at all. Although the upper reaches of this river were not in a place with many people in Konoha, human objects could occasionally be seen being washed down here and then flowing into the Forest of Death. Presumably, people lived further upstream at the source!
However, as the black object approached with the current, Jokichi saw its original appearance clearly. His black eyes involuntarily tightened and then widened.
"This is..." Without time to think, Jokichi jumped into the water to stop the black object and then dragged it ashore.
This was a person. He looked like a youth of fifteen or sixteen, with an ordinary appearance, eyes tightly closed, and bloodstains flowing down his cheeks from the corners of his eyes. He wore a Konoha forehead protector and the black tight-fitting clothes of the Anbu. Jokichi turned the body over and took a look, and sure enough, he found the Uchiha clan crest on the back of the clothes.
Seeing this, Jokichi turned the body back over and fell into silence. Uchiha Shisui. This was a person who had to make a choice between the village and the clan. After inner struggling, he chose the village, but in the end, he was cruelly betrayed by the person he trusted. Jokichi had never experienced war, so he could not understand the thirst for peace that these people had, and therefore would not presumptuously judge whether his choice was right or wrong.
However, even though his eyes were gouged out and he committed suicide by jumping into the river with tears of blood, dying a tragic death, he still had a smile on his face. He did not regret doing so. Even if he failed and was betrayed by someone he trusted, he did not regret it. If given the chance to choose again, even knowing he would be betrayed, he would still choose the same path. Such a person is both foolish and naive, yet very lovable, making people unable to help but like him.
"Sigh! I probably will not be able to be like you for the rest of my life!" Jokichi could not help but sigh. He was not a selfish person, but he was not a great person either. He was just an ordinary person who only wanted to master his own destiny and protect the people around him, never thinking about unrelated people. Perhaps it is precisely because there are people like him everywhere in this world that wars continue to break out. However, what of it? Everyone has their own path. Jokichi did not want to criticize the paths of others, nor did he want to be criticized.