Professional... otaku?

(Progress)²

Dix finished the tree climbing exercise the next day. He knew he had to practice more and consolidate his chakra control even more, but for now that was good enough. Naruto finished this training in the 'Land of the Waves' story arc, when he was around 12 years old, while Dix at this point of time has not long passed his 4th birthday. This made Dix feel really good, he could see the fruits of his work and his great progress. The next step was completing the water surface walking training which would help him practice his chakra control out of his body. While he wanted to start right away, he realized he doesn't really use chakra that way so he put it on hold for a time.

The most important thing he had to improve on now was his body. He was already on his way but this was a time consuming process, so he just had to be patient and build up his physical strength over time. He noticed his extensive training, while it hardens his muscles and builds up his stamina, it also help his muscles to take in and use chakra more efficiently, and refined his already existing chakra.

There was one crucial thing he lacked the most and was heavily burdened by. He had no one to teach him. He almost reached to the point he wanted to by raw stats, now he had to learn techniques and jutsus. But... he was still 4 years old. Most kids only play and run around not caring about anything in the world while their parents provide for them. There was no one out there to teach a stupid little kids that had a hard time not shitting their pants. Only if he had some sort of relatives that are ninjas or something... Usually clans, like the Uchihas start training their kids at a really young age, around when Dix was then, but they would only get to learn basic chakra control and hand-to-hand combat at best. Event the militaristic and proud Hyuga clan starts actually training their young ones to ninja combat at the age of 6-7. Dix had no way to find a suitable teacher when he was 4.

The second best option would be finding data trough public libraries. The most basic techniques and chakra related knowledge are usually available for the public, as the society in this world is advanced enough for public libraries to exist, and such basic knowledge had no actual value so they were easily accessible. The one problem Dix had was that he's still just... 4 years old. Once again. Usually kids can't really read or write at this age.

But actually this wasn't much of an issue, because Dix already foreseen this problem. In the orphanage there were classes for basic knowledge for kids who would otherwise land on the street if left as they were. Getting them basic education helped everyone, so these lessons were readily accessible for anyone and Dix was the last one they would've barred away from... anything. As long as he was quiet and would keep to himself in the back of the classroom, nobody even looked at him. They thought he is just quirky and wants to be around, so they let him stay, while in reality there was a time when Dix held back a bit on chakra cultivation and used most of his time to attend most of the classes possible, even those for older kids. Thus with his dedication and boosted brain capacity he was able to finish the basic education in about one and a half year, which usually took around 3-4 for normal children. All the while he kept on practicing and training his body.

So when he faced the problem of his lacking knowledge, he was able to rely on the libraries. There he found scrolls explaining the nature of chakra, which he already knew about. He found other interesting data, such as history and arts, theories and dissertations on different techniques. He even found some books writing about ideologies and culture. But that didn't really interest him, even though he decided to read as much as possible in the future. After a bit of search he found his target, there was a section with many bookshelves packed to the brim with different basic and low level techniques and jutsus.

He started rummaging trough them with high fervor and found better and better skills every minute. He took out a few and tried to memorize them. His boosted brain was able to soak up most of the required knowledge and theoretical background he needed to study a specific jutsu. He found most of the basic ones they are taught in the Academy, like body transformation, clone technique and replacement jutsu. He even found a few scrolls about how to properly throw kunais and shurikens, how to properly handle specific hand-to-hand combat scenarios etc. These were all the basics and Dix felt like these are useless.