Nagato and Kosuke had eaten and when they left Maruki's restaurant, they said goodbye. 

"Thanks for the food, I can't thank you enough" Nagato said. 

"Don't worry, I know you needed it, and about the village and all these problems... we are the future of the village, we will make a difference and no one else will suffer the evils of war" Kosuke replied. 

Nagato smiled slightly, thanked him once more and left. 

It was already evening, Kosuke knew about the challenges that awaited Nagato in his yet to come story, but afraid of creating catastrophic changes in the history of the ninja world, he tried to make the change by another means. 

In Hanzõ's quarters Kosuke's current home 

"I'm afraid of how changing Nagato's trajectory might affect the history of Amegakure, but one thing I know I can do is help this village suffer less from the damage of war over the years, after Hanzõ is killed, Akatsuki will take over, at first it won't be too bad, I don't think Hanzõ would be able to generate growth for the village, the only problem will be Obito coming after Nagato's eyes... my goodness... I'll have to be stronger than Obito..." Kosuke said to himself, desperate and afraid. 

Kosuke arrived home, rested and went to bed early so as not to miss the next day of training. 

The next day in the training camp 

Inara and Kosuke meet and greet each other. 

"Today, we'll start training you to control your inner chakra. No matter how strong you are, if you can't control your energy, you will never be able to use it" Inara said. 

"But since I can see that you are still at the very beginning, let's start with something easier, follow me" Inara said. 

"Yes Sensei" Kosuke said. 

Kosuke and Inara walk to a lake around a rocky valley, the lake looks similar to the valley at the end of Konoha, smaller but with a similar depth. 

Kosuke observes the depth of the valley at the very edge. 

"It's very deep..." Kosuke thinks, feeling dizzy as he observes the valley from close up. 

Inara says without any introduction. 

"Control your chakra in your feet, clear your mind and focus on your chakra flow." 

"What?" Kosuke exclaims. 

"The first lesson starts now." 

Inara pushes Kosuke into the valley, Kosuke despairs. 

"AHHHHHhhhhh ! ! !" 

*Splash 

Kosuke sinks a few meters into the water and starts swimming quickly. 

"Arghh" Kosuke says, taking a deep breath as he reaches the surface. 

"CAN YOU STOP THAT?" Kosuke exclaims. 

Masterfully, Inara falls to the surface of the water above her and says. 

"I'm not your friend, I'm your teacher, for your age you're already behind as a shinobi, these times are almost like a cold war, you must have seen the results in our village, you must improve and quickly." 

Kosuke resents the pain in Nagato's eyes as he recounts his traumas of the war, Kosuke breaks the silence but this time with determination. 

"How do I control my chakra flow so that I can walk on water?" Kosuke asks. 

"Hm..." Inara sighs. 

"Our chakra works like one of the forces of nature, we have basic formations that you should know, such as water, earth, wind, lightning, fire and yin and yang, our internal energy known as chakra acts as a junction of yin and yang, but to explain it in a more literal and simple way to understand, your chakra is formed by the junction of your mental energy and physical energy" Says Inara. 

"The function of your chakra, which is concentrated under your feet, acts as a negative energy, serving both to expel what is around you, and to attract or in a way cling to something, why do you think I can make this jump here without tiring a bit?" 

Inara jumps to the top of the valley. 

"Wow..." Kosuke says impressed. 

Inara masterfully makes her way back to the surface. 

"Uff" Inara sighs slightly. 

"In this case, I exaggerated my height to show you, but as you can see, I used chakra not only to propel myself upwards, but also to land, both to keep me above the water and to cushion my fall" Inara says. 

"Maybe someday you'll be so strong that you won't need to use your chakra in this way, but many things like this become commonplace with determination, you'll do them when you just want to" Inara says. 

"But remember, never use your strength thoughtlessly, any thoughtless expenditure of energy can cause damage at a crucial moment on the battlefield" says Inara. 

Kosuke listens attentively to Inara's advice and agrees. 

Kosuke closes his eyes and concentrates on his feet. 

... ... 

Kosuke feels his submerged feet being lifted above the water. He opens his eyes and says excitedly. 

"SENSEI! ! !" Kosuke says with a smile on his face. 

"AHN ?" Kosuke exclaims. 

Inara was sleeping near the valley wall with what looked like a pillow made of water. 

Kosuke approaches quietly and shouts. 

"SENSEI! ! !" 

"WHAT ! ?" says Inara uncomfortable. 

"YOU HAVE TO TRAIN ME, you slacker" Kosuke says indignantly. 

"Oh yeah... as soon as you can get up, let me know..." says Inara after turning around and starting to doze off. 

"ZzZzZzZzZzZzZz" 

Inara snored and whistled and seemed to be in a deep sleep. 

Kosuke looked angry. 

Hours later 

After a few hours, Kosuke felt that he could keep his feet with a significant concentration of chakra. 

The only problem was to keep this balance when he opened his eyes; even the slightest distraction would cause him to completely lose control and drown again. 

... ... 

After several attempts. 

... ... 

"Ahhhh" Kosuke mumbled. 

"At the slightest distraction, I lose my balance, how can you do that at any time? It's like walking on a tightrope while doing the dishes, I don't know" Kosuke thinks. 

Kosuke spent the whole night trying to improve his balance... but failed. 

After hours and hours of exhaustion, Kosuke thinks. 

"Puff... Puff... Puff..." Kosuke sighs and holds on to a rock in the valley to rest. 

"I... will... make it..." Kosuke says, gradually losing consciousness and falling into the lake. 

Inara, watching the situation out of the corner of her eye, pretended to be asleep, but when he realized that Kosuke had trained himself to exhaustion, Inara came to his rescue just as Kosuke was about to drown. 

Inara watches as Kosuke faints in her arms and says. 

"That's good for today Kosuke, you showed determination." Inara thinks, secretly proud. 

 //
 
Author note 
 
10 chapters ahead at patreon.com/persima