Uchiha Tatsumi sat alone on the training ground.
A clump of chakra slowly formed in his palm.
With careful concentration, he manipulated the chakra and divided it into five smaller streams. Each stream flowed precisely into one of the five kunai holes set before him.
He let out a soft sigh.
He had successfully completed the fourth stage of chakra control.
In the Naruto manga, chakra control is often depicted through basic exercises like tree climbing and water walking. But those are only the beginning—sufficient for genin, but crude for fine control.
Tatsumi had already mastered those early techniques long ago.
He'd since taken to refining his chakra control by adjusting output levels for minor jutsu. It was a subtle but effective method to increase precision.
He used to think his chakra control was already impressive.
That was until Tsunade showed him otherwise.
With her guidance, Tatsumi learned to separate a large chakra mass into smaller threads, directing them into narrow kunai holes with exacting precision.
Now, when he performed the same ninjutsu, he used far less chakra. Even his genjutsu—his specialty—became more subtle, more difficult to detect.
But today, he was beginning the next stage of his training.
He summoned another orb of chakra in his palm.
Then, he took out a single leaf.
He gently inserted the leaf into the chakra orb.
It crumbled almost immediately under the seemingly soft shimmer of chakra.
Failed.
Tatsumi focused again, steadying his output. He gently placed a new leaf on his left hand and lowered the chakra ball onto it.
This time, the leaf spun a little within the orb before being torn apart by unstable chakra flow.
After more than half an hour, the ground was littered with broken leaves. Yet, the chakra orb in his hand now spun smoothly, balanced, and quiet.
Uchiha Tatsumi finally smiled.
He hadn't succeeded fully, but he'd made rapid progress.
This training was all about controlling the direction of chakra flow.
Normally, chakra within the body behaves like chaotic energy, moving with irregular Brownian motion. It's unruly and hard to align.
Controlling chakra in a single direction—guiding its movement—requires mastery far beyond basic control. Only those with extreme precision can stabilize such flow into a unified vector.
In truth, this stage of chakra control was the foundational theory behind the Rasengan.
Tatsumi didn't know exactly how Minato Namikaze—Watergate—developed the Rasengan, but he could imagine.
Most likely, it came from mastering chakra control at this level, then observing the Tailed Beast Ball's rotation and compression to inspire his breakthrough.
Of course, learning the Rasengan and creating the Rasengan are two very different things.
A genius might master an A-rank jutsu quickly. Naruto and Sasuke both accomplished such feats in the original timeline. But learning a technique isn't the same as growing through the process.
Developing a new jutsu from scratch is transformative.
It took Minato three years to create the Rasengan. In that time, he refined chakra shape transformation and elevated his control to a new level.
That developmental journey made him strong—not just the jutsu itself.
Tatsumi understood this.
To simply recreate the Rasengan now, following the original method, would teach him little.
It might earn him an A-rank technique and a reputation for talent, but it wouldn't bring meaningful growth.
Besides, his current chakra reserves weren't nearly enough to sustain the Rasengan anyway.
He was only six years old, after all.
By the time Tatsumi finished his training for the day, it was nearly six in the evening. He'd started around eleven that morning.
As he gazed up at the sky, the sun was beginning to dip past the ragged clouds. Konoha's unique sunset bathed the village in a warm, golden hue.
Tatsumi stood, brushing dust off his cloak.
Time to pack up.
For the past few days, he had been staying at Tsunade's estate.
Of course, they weren't living together. Her home was spacious, with several guest rooms in the courtyard.
Still, Tatsumi moved cautiously as he made his way back. His senses were on high alert.
Tsunade had launched dozens of sneak attacks on him during his stay—some outright, others absurdly cunning.
One time, a patch of grass beside the path turned out to be a henge'd clone.
Another time, she had slipped a minor explosive tag into his blanket. It wasn't dangerous, just startling. But still.
She called it "training his ninja instincts."
Rope Tree had grown up like this?
No wonder Tatsumi always felt something… off about the guy.
At first glance, Rope Tree seemed like a typical cheerful boy. But beneath that sunny demeanor lay the subtle signs of a childhood filled with trauma—and pranks.
Maybe he'd been pranked stupid.
Tsunade claimed she was being a diligent teacher.
But from Tatsumi's perspective, she was just messing with him to relieve boredom.
And yet, the effects were undeniable.
Thanks to Tsunade's constant sneak attacks and intense sparring, Tatsumi's trap sense and awareness had skyrocketed. His ninja points were rising steadily.
He wasn't sure how much his raw strength had improved in just a week, but his chakra precision, his shamelessness... and especially his ability to run away—those were top-tier now.
---
Uchiha Tatsumi crept back to his room, silently sliding open the door.
He let out a sigh of relief.
No signs of Tsunade.
Occasionally, she wouldn't return at night. She claimed it gave him time to "rest and reflect."
In reality, it meant only one thing—she had gone gambling with some money she'd probably hustled from a poor sucker.
Tatsumi had once kept a bit of pocket money tucked away.
But on his first night here, Tsunade had rifled through his things while he slept and confiscated it.
Then she left a tiny explosive tag under his pillow as a "thank you."
Tatsumi couldn't wait for this madness to be over.