A good and restorative night’s rest was something of a rare gift in shinobie life. The first task of the morning was to visit the guest rooms where the prisoners were kept. They remained suspended in a deep stasis. A quick visual inspection confirmed that their vital signs were stable and their physical condition had not deteriorated in the slightest. Their faces, peaceful and unnaturally still, bore no sign of discomfort or distress.

  After a moment, I quietly checked on the children. I slipped into their room to make sure they were safe and sound. A protective glance assured me of their well-being; they were still in a deep and peaceful sleep. They had a big day yesterday and deserved to sleep in a little. With a quiet sigh of relief, I returned to the captured snow shinobi.

  I prepared a small ceramic bowl and carefully measured out the special chakra conductive ink. The ritual was both intricate and somewhat invasive. I had to first draw a small amount of their own blood to introduce a critical flaw in their individual chakra networks. This would be the key to inhibiting their control. With a practiced hand, I began to perform the earthbound sealing ritual. A faint, luminous script of glowing symbols snaked across their skin as I carefully sealed away roughly two-thirds of their chakra. It was not enough to render them useless, but it was a substantial reduction in their power. The purpose was to make any escape attempt a nearly impossible feat, not to cripple them forever.

  With the jutsu completed on all six of them, I then crafted small leather chokers. Each was designed with a simple chakra matrix that would resonate with my own energy signatures, while simultaneously and actively rejecting their own. This was a failsafe. Later today, I will place powerful fuinjutsu wards around the entire manor grounds. Should any of the shinobi attempt to leave the protected area, the wards would instantly trigger the chokers, causing them to tighten with a gentle but firm pressure until the ninjas succumbed to unconsciousness. My hope was that I would be close enough to intervene before they completely passed out or worse.

  Once my work on all six prisoners was finished, I stepped out into the crisp morning air, taking a much needed moment to relax and just enjoy the garden view. The rising sun’s light bathed the dew kissed flower petals in a warm golden glow. A beautiful sight to begin the day with. I patiently waited for the manor staff to begin their day and go about waking the children for breakfast.

  ***

  Once my team had finished breakfast, their little bodies were like tightly coiled springs, brimming with a youthful and boundless energy. I instructed the staff to prepare three large water basins for them. These were heavy, cumbersome containers, and when the kids stood inside them, the cold water's surface reached just below their knees. The polished metal of the basins gleamed in the morning sun.

  Back in the heart of the Hidden Leaf Village, I would have had them use the shadow clone jutsu to accelerate this learning process. But out here, far from home, I was a lot more cautious. I preferred to keep our specific training methods a secret from any who might be watching. It was a matter of both security and caution. The children dutifully crouched on all fours as the basins were slowly filled. I knelt down beside them, my voice gentle but firm as I instructed them to reach out and truly feel the water with their chakra. Using both their hands and their feet made the task less daunting; the even distribution of their weight was a physical foundation for their mental concentration. Plus, as any shinobi knows, chakra control comes most naturally through the hands. It is the most responsive part of our physical form.

  For hours, their concentration was absolute. Slowly, their bodies began to rise. A tiny bit higher, then a little bit more. Over the course of what felt like an eternity, but was really about three and a half hours, they reached a true breakthrough. Their small forms floated effortlessly on the water's surface, a testament to their focus and discipline. After a short but well-earned break, I had them line up and begin jumping from one water basin to another. This part of the training was pure fun for them; they treated it like a competitive game. The smiles on their faces were a welcome change. Soon, the simple jumps turned into a lively game of water hopscotch. They balanced themselves on all fours, and eventually, their skill progressed to where they were using only one leg at a time to walk on the water’s surface, a true mastery of the basic technique.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Thanks to all their prior practice with chakra control, they grasped the water walking technique with remarkable speed. It took less than eight hours of more or less focused work for them to be able to use it with a high degree of confidence and effectiveness. By the time they were done, it was late afternoon, and I was more than ready to share a well-earned late lunch with them. After the meal, I gave them the rest of the day off to rest and recover. While they were resting inside, I went out to secure the estate with my protective wards, making sure our home was a sanctuary against any unwanted visitors or escapees trying to leave early.

  The children were completely exhausted but also very happy, and they decided to spend the remainder of the day indoors. Tomorrow, I will take them to the beach. We will have them train on the real ocean water. It should be a little more difficult due to the constant motion of the waves and the salt in the water, but it will be a much more realistic field exercise. Once they can use the water walking technique on the unforgiving waves of the ocean, they should be able to use it almost anywhere. Only truly extreme conditions, like a heavy storm, should give them any real significant problems.

  After that, the next step is to train them underwater. Using the water walking technique underwater allows a user to propel themselves incredibly swiftly, like a human torpedo. It is not a standard application of the jutsu, but it is an incredibly useful one that can give them a crucial advantage in the field. The technique is often monopolized by mist shinobi, but the benefit of my constant research is access to foreign, but basic techniques. If a mist ninja ever tries to take advantage of my pupils while in open water, they would be in for a surprise.

  ***

  The process of warding the entire mansion’s estate was not particularly difficult, nor was it terribly time consuming. It was a well practiced routine. Thanks to my past as one of the Guardian Twelve, I had a highly refined system in place to get the work done as efficiently as possible. I began by creating a shadow clone and two mud clones, and with our numbers bolstered, we set out to get to work immediately. I probably should have done this work yesterday, but I suppose living a somewhat peaceful life has made me a little spoiled, and I had procrastinated on my work.

  The Sly Mind Affect Technique was a personal favorite of mine. It was a brilliant tool for several reasons. Not only was it a cheap and easy technique to use in terms of chakra expenditure, but it was also incredibly effective and completely non-lethal. The genjutsu was subtle, a barely there illusion that was designed to be overlooked. Even experienced and powerful ninja or those with excellent observational skills could fall for it. It was not until they started to notice repeating landmarks or the unsettling feeling that they hadn't gotten any closer to their destination that they would realize something was wrong.

  Even in its most basic form, the jutsu is effective against even some Jonin-level ninja. With the simple version of the ward, I can easily waste an hour of a highly skilled ninja's time, sending them in circles and confusing them with illusory paths. Of course, it does lose effectiveness if the enemy ninja knows to look out for genjutsu ahead of time. Much like my experience in the land of tea, an ANBU assassination squad that knew I was in the area knew enough to be wary of such tricks and would probably move more cautiously.

  It was similar wards to these that led to my most notable success during the Third Great Ninja War. I was able to effortlessly discover any enemy intrusions into my area of influence. Once I knew they were there, I could organize an ambush and exhaust the enemy combatants before I even needed to draw a kunai from my pouch. With a few extra tricks, I could even convince them that they had discovered an injured ninja trying to hide. For hours, I would have them hunt an imaginary injured shinobi who was always just out of their grasp, always just around the next corner and was only getting lucky making it this far.

  So many ninja have a horrible habit of being bloodthirsty. So many of the Mist ninja liked to think of themselves as sharks, which was fair, because I also treated them like they were sharks. All I needed was some chum in the water and a little bit of bait. Once they took the bait, they would swim themselves into complete exhaustion, making the final confrontation easy.

  Using my Earth Style ninjutsu, I conjured a few stone totems scattered across the forest surrounding the mansion grounds. These would resonate with my chakra, silently telling me if they could detect the unique energy signature from anyone or anything in the surrounding area. Once it did, it would activate a predesigned effect and immediately notify me of the detection. To the untrained outside observer, this might not seem that amazing of an idea. But since genjutsu works by injecting your own chakra into someone's mind, I had a highly effective way of discovering other ninjas in the area, as long as I had the home court advantage.

  I didn't think anyone was gonna try to attack me or my team while staying at the mansion, but if they tried, they be in for a rude awakening. Finishing up my tasks, I decided to do a quick perimeter check and then follow my students example of relaxing inside the mansion for the rest of the day. The Land of Snow has the potential to be more hectic than I would prefer, and my personal mindset is to enjoy life's finer moments while they're available.