The Nara clan welcomed its new member quite warmly. In total, about a hundred people lived in the clan, but they were often visited by representatives of the Akimichi and Yamanaka clans, so the total number of people in the settlement was slightly inflated. Sensoma had never been in such large settlements in this life.
The local kids turned out to be surprisingly clever, so they quickly adopted the new game and got hooked on it for long periods.
Shikogeru announced that he would begin training Sensoma along with his younger son, Shikonada. Shikonada reminded Sensoma of a ninth-grade student who had enough ability to graduate from university but, after his studies, joined the army and then went straight to work. He explained his actions as simple laziness to bother with it all.
However, almost all the men in the clan were like that. The women, on the other hand, turned out to be very active, sometimes aggressive furies, often chasing their husbands and children around the settlement. This amused the reincarnated man. They tried not to bother him, and there was no reason to. The local bullies quickly figured out, after a couple of fights, that although the little one looked weak, he loved to fight back, so they left him alone.
In chess, which the Nara had taken such a liking to, Sensoma became the champion, and in Shogi, he was second only to the five best players, among whom was Shikogeru. By the age of six, the boy had become a full-fledged resident of the village, although he had not been accepted into the Nara clan. On the other hand, if he were to marry a girl from the clan in the future, he would immediately become family to the entire settlement.
The boy lived in Shikogeru's house, who treated the child not as a son, but certainly as a nephew. The clan head's wife, Mayuri, was a kind woman with a gentle character, for a clan wife. She treated the orphan with special care, constantly comparing him to her own son and holding him up as an example. Sensoma returned Mayuri-san's affection, having recognized in her the features of his mother from his past life.
"That's wrong, Sensoma," Mayuri suddenly appeared behind the boy, who was writing his dictation.
Upon turning six, Shikogeru began giving the child various school-like tasks. Shikonada had not yet reached training age—he was only five—so no one was going to train Sensoma either. At least, not in shinobi techniques. But the boy received a basic education, albeit with some difficulty. Writing and reading in this local gibberish turned out to be even more difficult than speaking.
"This is written as 'love'," Mayuri instructed him. "And you are writing something incomprehensible. You have to do it like this,"—a skillful, practiced flick of the hand, and the word, looking more like a stylish drawing, appeared on the paper.
"Thank you, Mayuri-san," the former teacher nodded, smiling. "This language is so difficult!"
"But it's your native language!" Nara laughed.
"My native language is the one I think in," Sensoma said quietly, thinking he wouldn't be heard. He was.
"And which one is that?"
"Ahem..."—what Russian wouldn't play a prank on someone who doesn't know the language?—"Well, for example, the word 'blyat'."
"How interesting," Mayuri smiled broadly, thinking the child was just playing. "Any more?"
Three days later, the wife of the Nara clan head was telling off every passerby with a variety of colorful phrases that the former Russian intellectual could dredge up, cursing at her husband and children, and generally, it seemed, living her life to the fullest.
The reincarnated one laughed tirelessly for a couple of days straight. When he secretly told the woman the real meanings of these words, she thoroughly spanked him for even uttering such filth in the presence of adults, and for the joke as well.
However, when it came to family quarrels, Mayuri did not hesitate to use the very words the boy had suggested. They turned out to be very convenient, even if they were incomprehensible.
The eldest son in the family was named Shikokura, and it was he who was to inherit the position of clan head. Sensoma even wandered around the village in search of other silly names but was later blessed with the information that only the names of children from the head's family began with "Shiko." The rest were not honored with such a terrible fate. Twirling a finger at his temple, the child went to draw a new kanji—it was, for once, a difficult one.
Shikokura treated his new housemate with extreme curiosity. This "young man," as Sensoma called him both to his face and behind his back, was distinguished by an enviable persistence for a Nara and even had the beginnings of diligence, which greatly surprised the former teacher. At twelve, Shikokura possessed several powerful clan techniques and had already distinguished himself in a couple of battles. It must be said that Sensoma, who showed great interest in battles, more than once made the clan heir blush by admiring his actions and asking for every little detail about clashes with the enemy.
"And this is for you, Sensoma-kun!" Shikokura smiled broadly (which was also atypical for a Nara) upon coming home one day.
"It can't be, is it...?" the little adult marveled, jumping up to his housemate.
"Dad noticed a long time ago, but he doesn't have the time," Nara sighed. "So, I found them myself. Wear them carefully..."
"Yeah, thanks!"
Young Sensoma was extremely excited about his gift, which was a pair of comfortable and light glasses with good lenses. Getting such things in times of war was quite difficult, but the heir to one of the three powerful Ino-Shika-Cho clans could do even more than that. It wasn't that the reincarnated one really had serious vision problems—people with chakra were much better than common folk in this regard too—but there were deviations from the norm, and the man had gotten used to these round things over thirty years, and even the years of his new life hadn't erased the memory.
"And they're also very convenient to throw in someone's face!" the boy thought with satisfaction, trying them on.
He stood in his small room in front of the mirror, spinning around and striking poses to enjoy his magnificence and youth. Youth? Right, how had he not noticed...
The reincarnated one even sat down on the edge of the bed, pondering his situation. The fact was that not only had the body of a forty-three-year-old man become that of a child—his mind had also undergone changes! Whether it was hormones or simply the new opportunities that had opened up, but now the former teacher was behaving like a child (admittedly, more like a fourteen-year-old than a six-year-old, but still...).
Sensoma pondered. Was this a bad thing? Not to say that it was... no, not bad at all. Why not live through youth again, but without the stupid mistakes? That's even great!
Having come to these thoughts, the child calmed down and ran outside to play with the children—active games kept his body in shape, and his love for fighting scared even the most notorious hooligans, so they were afraid to approach his circle of friends.
There were not many chosen ones: Shikonada and his older brother, their close friends Raiko and Toru, and a quartet of representatives from friendly clans—Inori Yamanaka (a girl, Shikokura's age), Chori Akimichi (a plump boy, a year younger than the Nara clan heir), Kiru Yamanaka (a boy, Shikonada's age), and his peer, Iwami Akimichi. As it was explained to Sensoma, the clans teach their children to be together from childhood, and later (from the age of ten) the kids begin to perform light errands together and, at times, participate in battles. Like Shikokura.
Other children rarely joined such a serious (by children's standards) group, and always for a short time. After all, the children of the head were no joke, let alone the children of three heads at once...
Everyone just marveled, watching how calmly Sensoma—an orphan boy taken in by the Nara head—interacted with such distinguished offspring.
Shikogeru himself just chuckled in response to the silent (for now) reproaches of his clan regarding his treatment of Sensoma. The boy was liked by the no-longer-young warrior; there was something purely "Nara-like" in him, but at the same time, another side was felt, one not inherent to his clan. The child was smart, hardworking, and resourceful—an ideal for any father. True, the Nara clan head was no naive fool, so he never thought of identifying the orphan with his son. A ward—yes, a student—we'll see, his own child—never. In this, he was strict.
"So, Sensoma, you've more or less learned to write," Shikogeru scratched the back of his head, trying to decipher his ward's terrible handwriting. Normally, the latter used a short stick to draw clear lines, but today's task required speed. "You're the worst with a brush..."
"Don't grumble, Shikogeru-sama," Sensoma leaned back in his chair, pleased with the result. "I've told you a thousand times—get a pen, and life will get better."
"I don't have time," the man grumbled his eternal answer. In reality, he was frankly too lazy to go so far (to the next street! to the store!) just to get a pen for the only person in the house who wrote so poorly with a brush. "And anyway, that's not what we're talking about. You passed the test..."
"Yes!" the child pumped his fist.
"So yes," Shikogeru exhaled hopelessly. "Starting next week, I'll begin training you. Shikonada is almost ready too—I'll train him up early. I heard the Uchiha and Senju are having some special disputes—I hope things don't go badly for all of us..."
"Uchiha Izuna..." Sensoma muttered thoughtfully.
He remembered that shinobi well—one of the two who had killed his parents and given him a life in the orphanage. He didn't know the Tomura clan's business with the Uchiha clan, but he supposed his relatives had simply crossed one of the two strongest shinobi clans in the world somehow. It just happened that way, and neither his parents nor their killers were to blame.
But that didn't justify the murder, so the former teacher still hoped to one day learn of the deaths of those two. Or at least one of them...
"Rejoice," Shikogeru smirked, knowing his ward's history well. "Izuna was killed by Tobirama Senju in a fair fight. Madara is in mourning. A new battle is coming..."
No jubilation or joy was reflected on Sensoma's face. The boy simply nodded, accepting his "enemy's" death as a matter of course. In this respect, he was an excellent shinobi—his composure and self-control sometimes did credit to even skilled warriors!
"In a week, if nothing changes," Shikogeru repeated. "And before that, you'll take a couple of tests."
Sensoma wasn't afraid of tests, as he had already, out of foolishness, passed one such test.
As is known, the Yamanaka clan specializes in entering a person's mind. This is very useful both for identifying enemies and for assessing allies. Of course, they couldn't compare with the fuinjutsu of the Uzumaki clan, but the Yamanaka had enough power to determine a child's development potential and predispositions. However, the news from the friendly clan did not please the Nara head.
"Perhaps the worst potential I've ever seen," Inoichi Yamanaka, the current head of the clan and a friend of Shikogeru, rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. "He has chakra, that's undeniable, but it's terribly small... God, sometimes ordinary people have that much!"
"But there was a surge..."
"And it passed. I really don't know why, but the boy opened his chakra Coil with only the reserves of an average civilian. He can use it, but it's simply not enough. Best-case scenario, he'll be at the level of a ten-year-old clan mediocrity. And that's in the best case!"
"But is there anything at all?" Shikogeru asked grimly, clearly disappointed by his future student's low potential as a fighter.
"Earth Release is a rarity, small but present chakra reserves, and, strangely enough, excellent control. In perspective, of course. For now, he can only circulate it through his body and accumulate it where needed. You can't become a great warrior with such data..."
"Yeah," the Nara head smirked crookedly. "But a strategist on the battlefield..."
"With that, everything is fine," his old friend shrugged. "It's even surprising—you have some special knack for smart guys. The child is smarter than adults, even from your clan. Psychological age—about twenty, mental age, or wisdom—about fifty, analytical mind—a genius. I don't know how things will work out for him in the world of shinobi, but he could be taken into the Three Clans' analysis department right now."
"Anything else?"
"N-no..." Yamanaka faltered, clearly remembering something. "He has some strange dreams. I don't know, I didn't dig deep, but it's as if he's living another life there. Or has already lived it. It's not very normal for children to turn into adults in their dreams..."
"You've been working too hard," his friend smiled (normally now). "You said it yourself—he has about fifty years of wisdom?"
"You're right," Inoichi returned his smile. "Well then, shall we go to my place? Dinner's on tonight..."
"Are you inviting me?"
"I insist!"
A week later, Sensoma learned about his problem from Shikogeru's story. The man hid nothing from the child, telling the truth directly and even somewhat bluntly. Needless to say, he had grown attached to the boy and wanted to make a warrior out of him, but: "The legless can't run with the able-bodied..."
But Sensoma surprised his benefactor again, merely shrugging and stating that it would be too boring otherwise. Of course, the reincarnated one didn't fully understand the dangers of the shinobi world, but he rightly assumed that he already had enough of an advantage over his peers. If he had high chakra by local standards, the battles would be completely worthless—just empty pressure with power.
And then the training began...
The head of the Nara clan pushed his students so hard that they returned home not on their own feet, but on their backs. Each other's backs. In turns: after all, that was also part of the training.
Physical development, spiritual enrichment, meditation, chakra work, puzzles, dictations, tests, sparring, runs, and much, much more were poured onto the children in just one week! Shikonada howled mournfully and grumbled at his father without a break, though he understood that in a world of wars, such training was a guarantee of survival, and an unreliable one at that. Sensoma, on the other hand, trained additionally after the sessions (not physically, though, there were still problems with that). Mostly, he thought about his weakness and ways to overcome it.
Two options came to mind...
The first was an external chakra storage unit that would serve his main (internal) one like a battery. For example, in the heat of battle, the reincarnated one feels his chakra reserves running low and activates the "battery." It gives him a certain amount of the needed energy, and voila—Sensoma is back in action! Judging from the small amount of theory he knew about chakra and its Coil, the external storage could not be larger than five internal ones. In other words, if it worked out, he could increase his reserves up to four times, which was already substantial.
The problem with this method was that its implementation required knowing too much in areas concerning the "spiritual" component of chakra. The former teacher did not yet have such knowledge or its source, but the plan remained viable, even if it was "on the shelf."
The second option was the "physical" component of the special energy flowing through a shinobi's body. Theoretically, there should be a way to increase the influx of the "physical" component of chakra by removing the limitations on the human body. In the twenty-first century, even civilians knew that people didn't use one hundred percent of their capabilities, but they had no means of removing the limiters. Chakra was a universal tool, and with its help, such a technique could be invented. Of course, it would be life-threatening, but Sensoma was sure the risks could be covered, and the power granted by the technique should be great.
However, the problem with this technique was even more global than the previous one, because here one needed to know the anatomy of a shinobi and the principles of how the "physical" component of chakra worked, which "ninja" used less than the spiritual one, for the most part. A dead end everywhere you look, but it was too early to despair—shinobi training had only been going on for a week.
But it only lasted a week, freezing in uncertainty when Shikogeru and other adult and combat-ready members of the clan set out on a mission. More precisely, to a battle.
The eternal confrontation between the Senju and Uchiha clans was approaching its climax, causing all related clans, villages, and countries to be forced to join. Hashirama Senju—one of the two strongest men in the world—was going to found a village, a huge settlement where several clans and even (!) ordinary people would live together! Madara Uchiha—his eternal and equal rival—was only going to take revenge on the killer of his younger brother, Hashirama's younger brother, Tobirama Senju.
Sensoma spent a long time trying to understand this seemingly out-of-place Santa Barbara until rumors reached him that Hashirama and Madara had been friends in childhood. It just so happened that these two greatest shinobi of their time were first friends and then became enemies. It just so happened that both had younger brothers, but one lost his in one of the many battles started by the Uchiha themselves.
"Shakespeare is a genius!" Sensoma thought, strolling through the deserted Nara settlement. "His stories exist in all worlds and concern all types of people... I wonder if they'll have the brains to die together?"
They had more brains than that, so in the decisive battle, both "Gods of Shinobi," as they were nicknamed in the world, survived. And they vowed to create a village—the dream of Senju Hashirama and, as it turned out, Madara Uchiha as well. With his power and authority, Hashirama managed to agree with the Daimyo of the Land of Fire—the strongest and most extensive country on the continent—for his clan and its allies to establish their own joint settlement and serve their country.
By the way, the ruler of Fire had almost no choice, because in case of refusal, Hashirama and Madara, holding hands, would have gone to another country and organized their toy house of cards there. And they would have become friends with everyone against the Land of Fire.
So, the village was to be.
Shikogeru, who had fought with the clan on the side of the Sarutobi clan—a powerful and large clan that supported the Senju but maintained neutrality more than actively participating in the war—returned with a bandaged head and news. The main news for the settlement was the move.
The Nara clan supported the idea of a common settlement...
"Well... that's kind of stupid," Sensoma drawled for what was probably the hundredth time when he was alone with his benefactor. "It's a dictatorship, isn't it? 'Be friends, or I'll make you!'. Senju Hashirama is using his increased power to acquire even more power as a result! Can't you see that, Shikogeru-san?!" The reincarnated one didn't believe in such an alliance. It was shaky and soft, like a little hut made of cookies. Two sworn enemies made peace and are building a utopia—how sweet. What's next? Hashirama will go around collecting those terrible tailed beasts from all over the world and then distribute them to his enemies? "To be fair!". Not funny...
"The Nara clan has always been loyal to most of its neighbors," his teacher sighed for probably the hundredth time, moving his knight on the board. "Our trio is confirmation that the idea might just work out."
"But to go under a tyrant?" the orphan didn't understand.
"Hashirama Senju is a God of Shinobi, but not a tyrant," the man shook his head. "Believe me, you'll understand when you see him. As for Madara, yes, he is a tyrant, but he is also driven, first and foremost, by ideals. Otherwise, he would have let the Senju kill him."
"In what sense?"
"In the last battle between Hashirama and Madara, the former won. But he didn't want to kill his old friend. So, the latter proposed a way out—kill himself or his own younger brother, for the sake of the alliance of the two clans. For the sake of the future Village Hidden in the Leaves... Hashirama didn't hesitate—he handed over all authority to his brother and aimed a kunai at himself. Uchiha stopped him. Surprising, but a fact..."
The rest of the game passed in silence, and only the rare joyful exclamations of Shikogeru, who was confidently taking the game, broke it.
"Were you distracted by thoughts of politics, Sensoma?" he asked, slightly offended, at the end of the game, having guessed his ward's thoughts. "That's not sporting!"
"Alas," the boy threw up his hands. "I am not a politician. I cannot understand or accept what you have told me. Perhaps you are right—I will only understand when I see it with my own eyes. Still, their alliance, your story, is a savagery in this savage world..."
"Our world is a foolish place," Nara smiled understandingly. "The main thing is to be ready to accept it."
"Speaking of which," the child ran to his room but quickly returned with a notebook. "Teacher, I've come up with something! Or rather, I have ideas for two new techniques—take a look!"
"Sensoma," Shikogeru began instructively and wearily (he was always excellent at this). "I've been fighting and getting tired all week..."
"—...And then it can be used for medical purposes!.." the restless boy cheerfully broadcasted.
"Fifty years old?" Shikogeru laughed to himself. "Not this time, Inoichi!"
However, after a couple of minutes, the clan head fell silent, and after ten, he wanted to smash the heads of all the clan's analysts for not coming up with such monstrous techniques first! Then the impulse subsided, but the interest remained. Sensoma Tomura was a genius, and that was indisputable. Plunge him headfirst into analytical work, and the Nara clan in the next generation would be able to fly to the moon!
But the child so wants to be on the front lines...
Three months later, the Nara clan, along with the Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Sarutobi clans, moved to the newly-building Konoha. The joint village was being built at a frantic pace, but the builders still couldn't keep up with the shinobi arriving at the first Hidden Village in the world. The Land of Earth also began to create its own village, but Konoha is rightly called the first.
The Village Hidden in the Leaves...
Young Sensoma liked it here more than on the flat, well-trodden, and blood-soaked fields where large clans used to mainly build their settlements—it was easier to defend. The nascent Konoha already smelled of life and warmth. It seemed that even ordinary people treated shinobi with respect, not fear.
This was alien to the reincarnated one, and so he was determined to find out what the secret of this atmosphere was.
The questions vanished as soon as the orphan met them...
Gods in the flesh and the two strongest men on the planet were walking through the developing village and discussing something important.
"And I'm telling you, the Uzumaki have no place in the village," insisted the man, familiar from his childhood memories, who had grown up over the years. "They are as strong as devils! What do you call them—the Red-Haired Demons? Very fitting, by the way!"
"Ahahahaha," his companion laughed, slightly guiltily—a tall and well-built man with long brown hair (even longer than the Uchiha's!). "Sorry, Madara, but my wife will definitely live here. And if her family wants to as well..."
"God, you could be put to work in the fields, Hashirama," Madara grumbled, turning away. "However, I have nothing against your family. Anymore..."
Just then, an Uchiha boy of about thirteen walked past them. The former teacher's trained eye caught the melancholy in the famous Uchiha's gaze. His companion also understood what was wrong.
"I'm sorry that..." he began.
"Enough," his childhood friend interrupted him rudely. "We've already decided everything. Besides, you wouldn't claim that..."
The second of the Gods of Shinobi couldn't finish, because before him, like a ghostly reminder, stood a boy—an exact copy of the one who had attacked Izuna about five years ago. Not tall, but not short either, with a handsome (if one can say that about a seven-year-old boy) face and a sturdy build. His intelligent face shone even more with intellect due to the perfectly appropriate glasses in this case.
"Are you lost, boy?" the one destined to become the First Hokage—the ruler of the village—smiled cheerfully. "What clan are you from?"
Madara stared wide-eyed at the small gift from the past and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Izuna had left the child alive and then given him to an orphanage. He had even visited him a couple of times, but due to the youth's lack of promise as a shinobi, the decision was made to give up all hope for him. And now, this thin thread of the past, connected to his younger brother, stood before the Uchiha in his new home, in his dream—the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
"Tomura," the child stated seriously and calmly, looking Madara in the eye. "I am Sensoma of the Tomura clan."