Morning had arrived, and I was already prepared to head to my training session, so without further ado, I left for the training ground I'd been using with Tetsu.

When I got there, the place looked different — filled with test dummies that were apparently reinforced with Konohagakure ninja vests.

'What is this guy planning now?' I thought, slightly disheartened.

Look, don't get me wrong — Tetsu-sensei is incredibly powerful and full of tricks up his sleeve, some of which I can't even imagine — but... I've been doing the same training for about a month, so being suspicious of this one isn't exactly unreasonable.

"Oh, Riku! Good morning! I was just finishing up some adjustments for your new training," Tetsu said, visibly excited.

"And what do you have for me today, sensei?"

"Hehe." He scratched his nose. "Today, you're going to work on improving your hand-to-hand combat, like I told you. But... you can still use your mokuton! I want you to learn hand-to-hand mokuton techniques."

"Hmmm..." I muttered, thinking of techniques I could use. Then, with a spark of insight, I remembered Obito.

The Uchiha had a few hand-to-hand techniques that he used shortly after Madara regenerated his body using mokuton.

"Come on, I was hoping you'd be more excited," Tetsu said, snapping me back to reality.

"I can think of a few things I could try. Do you have any suggestions?" I asked.

"That doton jutsu of yours — 'Stone Skin,' right? It's a very effective technique, especially for defense. We can use the same principle for your new techniques: shape the mokuton around your hands to help you," he said.

"Right, but wouldn't it be more efficient to just make a staff or something?" I asked, scratching my head.

"Where's the fun in that? Use your creativity. Train what you can do with mokuton, and maybe no one will be able to beat you in a fight."

Tetsu seemed confident in his words, and in a way, he was right. There's no point in having such a versatile technique and limiting myself to just a few jutsu or a single fighting style.

"Alright, let's get started then," I said.

*

I warmed up for a few minutes to avoid injury, and as soon as I finished, Tetsu walked over to one of the training dummies and called me over.

"Come on. Before we start, I want to see how you handle your mokuton. Shape your chakra around your fist and form a layer of armor."

I nodded and began to concentrate. I followed the same principles as Stone Skin but applied them to mokuton. One of the most interesting aspects of my kekkei genkai is that I can turn my body into wood, so it wasn't too hard to create armor over my fist.

"Great. Now punch the training dummy," Tetsu said, stepping back.

"This one's on me," I said, a smile forming on my face.

I aimed for the ninja vest protecting the dummy's chest, and the impact was strong enough to break the support it was mounted on, causing it to crash to the ground.

"That was it? If so, this training is going to be ridiculously easy." I looked at Tetsu, hoping for a bit more of a challenge.

"Just as I thought..." he said, glancing at the dummy lying on the floor before turning back to me.

"Thought what?" I asked, confused, until he pointed at my fist and I followed his gaze.

"Your punches are strong, no doubt about that. But when it comes to sustained force, that's where the flaw lies. The wood you produce isn't as durable as it seems."

After he said that, I started to pay more attention to my fist, and I noticed several cracks in the wood.

"I thought I had overdone my attack in the last training session, but I used relatively little force — just enough so you wouldn't be cut in half. Unlike what happened to your clones and the stakes," Tetsu continued.

"That explains why I had trouble defending against some techniques... How can I fix this?" I asked, disappointed that I had never noticed this flaw.

"You need to condense the chakra you use to create your techniques. If you use a natural creation, like a tree in the forest, it may not be a real problem. But when it comes from you, it needs to be even more resistant than a natural object.

Otherwise, you'll be at a disadvantage on the battlefield forever."

"Condense my chakra... merge my chakra... in the end, all I need is to understand how to use my chakra better," I thought aloud.

"Merge? What are you talking about?" Tetsu asked.

"Oh, I just thought out loud," I said, scratching my head.

"But you know, sensei, have you ever heard of senjutsu?"

"Senjutsu? I think I've heard that word before. What is it?"

"Never mind, I'll explain it to you later. I need to try what you're telling me," I said, changing the subject.

*

I trained for a few hours on condensing my chakra and strengthening my techniques, but I knew it would take a while before I could do it perfectly — even though I had achieved significant results.

Right after lunch, I remembered the conversation I had with Shisui the night before, so I decided to look for Itachi to try to find out what had happened to him.

Thinking for a few seconds about where he might be, the dango shop came to mind, so I went there.

The place was quiet. A few people came and went to buy their favorite sweets, but nothing else.

I walked around the place and its surroundings looking for Itachi, but to no avail.

I left with some sweets to satisfy my hunger and started heading towards the place where we trained before facing Danzou. There he was, practicing his shurikenjutsu against some trees, throwing shurikens and kunais at each other.

He was throwing shurikens and kunais in rapid succession, striking them into nearby trees.

'Seeing this in person will always be extremely impressive.'

Shortly after I finally appeared, Itachi stopped moving and training, his instincts clearly noticing my presence. Then he turned around, waiting for me to approach him.

"What's up?" I said, coming closer to him.

"Riku, how has your time been?"

"Ah, you know, training hard and trying to get stronger for the chunin exam.

By the way, did you notice before that my techniques were weak?"

Itachi nodded.

"Yes, I did."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" I asked, a little surprised and annoyed.

"I thought it was something to do with mokuton. I don't know all the jutsu..." he replied calmly.

I paused for a few seconds; there was no way he could have known that. Putting that aside, I began to notice that he was really distant, as if he were talking to me without being there.

"What are you thinking about?"

Itachi came back to the present and was a little surprised by my question. Then, after a few seconds, he sighed, as if giving up on hiding.

"Ah... this may sound crazy, but I saw Madara Uchiha walking around the village."

'Madara?! But he's dead... wait...'

"Did you talk to him? What did he look like?" I asked.

"I couldn't see his face because of the mask he was wearing, but his hair, his clothes, and of course, the Sharingan, could only belong to him," Itachi said, trying to justify himself.

'Obito Uchiha... and I'm still talking about him today.'

"What was he doing when you found him?"

"He was spying, plotting something," Itachi replied, still pensive.

I started walking away.

"Wait! What are you going to do?" Itachi asked, stepping between me and the exit.

"Tell the Hokage. What else could I do?" I said.

'I can't let anything bad happen. Without the massacre, what is he planning?'

"Riku, the Hokage won't believe us without proof. Besides, Madara disappeared without a trace. Do you really think telling them will change anything? We can go after him and find out for ourselves."

"So that's why you're so thoughtful, huh? You want to do things on your own, again," I said.

Itachi just stared at me, serious and resolute.

"Urgh, fine. We can try to find out what he wants to do, but we need to think of a plan first, and we also need to be careful. If it really is Madara, he could be extremely dangerous."

'It's not enough to get out of one extremely bad situation only to get involved in another...'

Itachi was now focused, and I had figured out why he was acting strange. The next steps were still unclear, but I would do anything to avoid a conflict that couldn't be resolved.

Obito Uchiha had finally shown himself.

....

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