It was already dusk, and the sun had half sunk below the horizon.
When Jokichi and Naruto arrived at Yakiniku Q, it was already overcrowded.
Most were family groups of adults bringing five or six-year-old children.
Passing the entrance examination and becoming a student of the Ninja Academy...
This meant becoming a ninja reserve and officially stepping into the realm of becoming a ninja.
Although it did not guarantee becoming an official ninja, having obtained the qualification to become a ninja and stepping onto the starting line was something worth celebrating.
As parents, everyone wanted to celebrate for their children and encourage them in passing.
Fortunately, the sky was not completely dark yet, and there was still a while before dinner time, so there were still empty seats inside.
The two casually found an empty seat, sat down, and ordered food.
During this time, Naruto kept boasting, or rather, fantasizing.
He believed that becoming a student of the Ninja Academy represented his official first step towards becoming Hokage, and his future days at the academy would be dazzling.
In short, he fantasized himself as the male protagonist of a satisfying novel, patting his chest and guaranteeing to Jokichi that he would cover him at school from now on.
To this, Jokichi just glanced at him and did not speak.
He could not bear to shatter Naruto's daydreams.
Although after becoming a ninja, Naruto indeed transformed into a dragon upon meeting the wind and clouds, soaring into the sky.
But, as far as life in the Ninja Academy was concerned...
Sigh!
One could only say that ideals are beautiful, but reality is cruel.
...
Coming out of Yakiniku Q, the moon was already hanging high in the sky.
The silver light sprinkled on the earth, bringing a soft veil to the village.
At the shop entrance, Jokichi bid farewell to Naruto.
"Tomorrow is the first day of school, so do not be late again."
"Rest assured, I am Uzumaki Naruto, I will absolutely not drop the ball." Naruto patted his chest and guaranteed.
It is precisely because you are Uzumaki Naruto that I am not reassured!
Jokichi rolled his eyes, did not say much, and just waved his hand as he turned to leave.
He did not go straight home, but took a walk on the street.
Because he did not eat lunch, he ate a lot of barbecue, and now his stomach was still a bit stuffed.
He wanted to walk on the street to digest a bit.
The commercial street was bustling with people coming and going in an endless stream.
The remote alleys were completely silent.
Jokichi strolled through the streets and alleys of Konoha, watching the naturally revealed cheers and laughter of the people, feeling an unprecedented tranquility.
The annihilation of Danzo and Root did not bring any changes to the village.
At least on the surface, it was so.
No, there were still changes.
The Uchiha of the Police Force were easier to get along with than before.
Their words and actions were natural, no longer unintentionally revealing arrogance like before.
The villagers' public opinion of the Police Force had improved a lot.
However, the time had been short, and wanting to completely gain the villagers' trust still required the polishing of time.
...
Jokichi walked on the street for a while, and feeling that the food in his stomach was almost digested, he went home.
He pushed open the courtyard gate and closed it.
Passing by the target in the courtyard, he casually threw three shuriken.
In the dark night, only the sounds of "thud, thud, thud" could be heard, and the three shuriken were accurately nailed to the center of the target without fail.
Jokichi smiled and did not retrieve the shuriken, walking straight into the dojo.
He took out his longsword and started practicing from the most basic sword swings.
Gradually, the moves changed, going from simple to complex, and afterwards, his body followed the sword, dancing out bursts of sword light.
Under the lamplight, the glint and flash of cold steel could be seen, and the wind howled shrilly.
The spacious and silent dojo was permeated with killing intent everywhere.
Ten minutes later.
The longsword rotated, cutting like a fan.
Jokichi flipped his hand and gripped it, freezing the sword form.
The wind stopped and the waves calmed; Jokichi slowly sheathed his sword, looking very handsome.
The next second.
"Poof!"
The tatami a meter away tore apart, splitting open a long gash.
His calm expression instantly collapsed.
"A three-meter-long sword mark... there is still a long way to go before I can completely retract and release it at will!" Jokichi felt somewhat helpless.
After fusing the Weapon Soul, Jokichi's progress in practicing ninja tools advanced at a tremendous pace.
For shuriken, in one month, he could hit a target around five meters away a hundred times out of a hundred.
For close-quarters combat with a kunai, he knew it the moment he gripped it, as if his body harbored this instinct.
Only this swordsmanship, although his progress was godly fast, learning it had no end, and he could never reach a degree he was satisfied with.
Jokichi had already given up kunai practice, and even drastically shortened his shuriken practice time, concentrating wholeheartedly on the sword.
But he still could not reach his expectations.
The reason he valued swordsmanship so much was that among the ninjutsu training Itachi gave him, there was an advanced technique called Chakra Flow.
It required controlling the shape and nature transformation of chakra, adhering the nature of chakra to weapons to achieve various enhancements in power.
Many people in the anime knew this technique.
Shisui, Sasuke, Killer Bee, Danzo, Asuma...
But because of their chakra, these people could not constantly use this technique, or could only imbue it on small weapons.
But Jokichi's chakra was astonishingly plentiful.
Ever since becoming a Perfect Sage Body, his chakra grew drastically every day, and as time went by, the magnitude of growth became larger and larger.
Now, he already possessed one percent of the chakra of the Ring of Kurama.
Jokichi felt that his future chakra volume would at worst be on the same level as the First Hokage, allowing him to constantly imbue chakra on his weapons during combat.
It would bring him a huge boost in combat power.
But the premise of this was that his swordsmanship must be superb.
Otherwise, even holding a weapon of immense power, it would be in vain if he could not hit anyone.
Considering the enemies he had to face in the future, his swordsmanship at worst could not be lower than Mifune's; otherwise, facing those big shots, it would just be flashy acrobatics.
After pondering slightly, Jokichi sat cross-legged on the tatami.
He took out a scroll and pen, and then took out some items from the system space and placed them to the side.
After school started, most of his time would be spent in the academy learning ninja knowledge.
His training time would be drastically shortened. If he did not make a good training plan, it would have a huge impact on his future growth.
After all, although Itachi's training plan was very professional.
But he also could not have predicted that Jokichi's talent in weapons would become so sharp.
If he really trained according to Itachi's plan, he would have to wait until graduating from the Ninja Academy to begin basic ninjutsu training.
Jokichi first counted the items he obtained these days, and then made rectifications based on Itachi's training plan.
896 crystals containing Sage bloodline, 70 damaged Sage crystals, 28 broken Sage crystals, 98 Mangekyo.
This was what Itachi sent over, the hair or blood belonging to everyone in the Uchiha clan.
It took Jokichi a month to forge them all.
At first, Jokichi thought the system's forging had no limits, but after forging dozens of crystals, his body collapsed from exhaustion.
It was then he realized that forging items consumed the owner's stamina.
However, in the past he only forged one or two items, and being a Sage Body himself, he just did not feel it.
But after finishing forging, he did not find the bodily tissues of Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Mikoto, and Uchiha Sasuke.