"Finally!" Takezushi couldn't help but cheer as he witnessed a shadow clone successfully materialize. It had been weeks since he started practicing this Jutsu and after thousands of failures, he had finally embarked on the road of exponential mastery of all Ninja Arts. In these weeks, everything in his Status had slightly upgraded, but the change wasn't anything boast-worthy. After all, it would only get harder for him to get stronger the more powerful he became; normally… Now that he had succeeded in creating a shadow clone, it was anyone's guess as to how quickly he would cultivate his strength.

High-fiving his shadow clone in celebration of its successful creation, Takezushi smirked as he looked at the clone and both their eyes shone in agreement; they had already thought up a plan for how best to use this first clone. The evening was already coming to a close, so the clone returned to the wooden cabin as this was around the time the real Takezushi would come back from his "playtime."

When the clone returned home, it found Aiko already preparing dinner. Treating the clone as if it were her actual son — there was no difference in its appearance when compared to the true body, after all — Aiko smiled as she said, "Zushi, Welcome back!" She finished cooking their dinner for the day, brought and set up the table.

After all the improvement Takezushi had shown when it came to working on the farmland, their wooden cabin had been significantly furnished. With a bed, a table, a couple chairs, and enough food for both Takezushi and Aiko to eat three times a day, this was only possible because of the value Takezushi had displayed towards the people that owned his family in North Korea. His bottomless stamina and unusual strength allowed him to do more than ten regular people would be capable of by himself.

However, this was far from the end goal Takezushi had in mind. Sure, this lifestyle could be considered heavenly when compared to how it was a year ago, when he had awakened his quirk. But, it was still a "shithole" to him and escaping to a first world country was still the ideal outcome he was striving to achieve. Alas, it would take many months or even years to gain the strength to actually pull of an escape and perhaps additional years on top of that to gain the confidence or devise a plan that would all but guarantee success.

"Don't push yourself too hard… I can still help you out in the field, you know." Aiko said, and as she expected, Takezushi — or his clone, rather — fervently rejected the notion, saying, "Nonsense! You still haven't recovered from all those years of malnourishment." The clone stopped eating when it took in a quarter of the food Aiko had prepared for him and said, "I'm more than content with doing all the work while you take a good and long rest."

With that out of the way, the two engaged in a bit of small talk until it was time to sleep, and that was just the plan Takezushi had for his clone. With the clone accumulating sleep for him while he trained in the outskirts of the farmland, he could essentially negate the need to ever sleep. Thus, for the next two months, Takezushi acclimated to truly endless training as his shadow slept for him during the night and did his farm work as he dedicated himself to molding more Chakra while also increasing his level of Control.

To mold chakra, he needed to cultivate physical energy and spiritual energy and for control, he used a technique called the "Leaf Concentration Exercise." Training his control to the point of being able to stick dozens or even hundreds of leafs on his body by affixing them in place through the various chakra coils in his body, Takezushi continued using this method until he could easily hold up 361 leaves onto his body; it was the same number of chakra coils his body possessed.

It took many weeks and without his Byakugan it would be nigh-impossible to achieve his intended goal of mastering basic chakra control with all 361 chakra coils. But in the end, Takezushi achieved it, and he achieved it much faster than he would have had as his proficiency in creating shadow clones had risen to the point where he could consistently create three shadow clones.

Speaking about his Byakugan, Takezushi had long since gained the power to activate his Byagugan and gain the ability to increase his field of view to the point of almost being able to see in every direction at once. Aside from the small gap in his field of view, just a few millimeters above his first thoracic vertebra on the back of his neck, he could just about see in every direction and for just over a hundred meters, too.

At first, his Byakugan could barely see past a couple dozen meters and would strain his eyes to the point of bleeding if he kept it activated for a few minutes. But after his strength and ability with chakra improved, the strain in his eyes from using the ability significantly lessen and could sustain activation for over an hour. Takezushi occasionally activated the ocular power as its x-ray-like power to see through solid objects like the forest foliage and farmland gave him assurance that he was never being spied upon.

…

As Takezushi continued his silent yet steady cultivation of power, less-than-wanted occurrences happened to his mother. Usually, they occurred in the station set up for slaves to get their daily payout. Just over five kilometers away from the wooden cabin that she called her home, in the station where she would get her and her son's daily meals, a tall man had been gradually increased the rate of harassment he directed at her.

It began about two months after Takezushi's quirk awakened. "Mhmm… Aiko was it? Looks like all the extra food hasn't gone to waste," the man said, though, without the dubious look in his eyes or the unsettling tone of his voice, it merely sounded like a compliment. It was to be expected, however, as Aiko even while still malnourished had quite an attractive look. With the extra food, Takezushi was steadily but surely securing for their small family of two, her emaciated and skeletal look was beginning to look better. Sadly, the better fed she was and the healthier she got, the more annoying and suggestive the harassment she received from the head of the station.

Four months in Takezushi's quirk awakening, the man jeered, "Damn, for a filthy Jap, you sure are nice to look at..."

Three months later, Aiko had escaped the realm of malnourishment and could only be considered somewhat underweight. Naturally, the man at the station didn't stop with his xenophobic and misogynistic comments, continuing, "Che! Silly bitch… Why don't you accompany me in the afternoon? I could do more for you than your husband ever did and if you lift my spirits enough, maybe I'll throw in an extra bone for you?"

"I'm… flattered, but no thanks… I'm a loyal wife..." Even though she smiled and courtly faced the ground as she spoke, in all honesty, it was difficult for her to contain her disgust for the man.

"Heh, whatever bitch! I'm doing this for your own good. After all… your boy seems to have reached the limits of his awakened power. For the past couple of weeks, you've earned roughly the same amount of payout. At this rate, you'll only be able to barely sustain yourselves. But all that could be changed if you'd just take my offer."

"..." Retaining her silence, Aiko bowed before leaving for her home as she had every other day. Though in her lack of response it lit a fire of fury in the man running the station. 'Hmph! Have it your way, you worthless savage...'

That would have been the end of it as the man himself was a slave as well; albeit a slave with better treatment as a natural-born North Korean. Alas, Aiko continued to become more beautiful and enticing as time passed. It also didn't help that she continued to spend time managing the farm even when Takezushi could do all the work and then some. With the days passing and her weight returning to normal, Aiko's constitution that had been tempered by the fieldwork turn her into a relatively fit woman.

With the months passing, she gradually moved on to model-level attractiveness and she wasn't bogged down by her age. She had given birth to Takezushi when she was twenty-one, thus as a twenty-six-year-old, she was in the height of her youth.

Takezushi only saw his mother's change as her becoming healthy again, but the man at the station along with most other men that might have been in the station at the same time as Aiko couldn't help but sigh at her beauty. Though, if it only ended with sighs and lamentation all would be fine. Sadly, this wasn't a fantastical utopia and everyone wasn't a good-natured person.

In this hellhole where everyone was a slave and the men were consumed with work from dawn till dusk, it was hardly a surprise that they wanted a way to vent their pent up frustrations. Some slaves were brought into the country with their families as Takezushi had and others had found "love" with other pre-existing slaves. But there were still tons of men with nothing but their hands and their imagination to find some level of comfort after working 10+ hours a day. Then there were unscrupulous men who didn't care if they had a wife as the sight of "fresh" and "tender meat" was dangling right in front of them.