Carrying a Bag of Rice Up Several Floors

The next day

Before dawn—more precisely, at one in the morning—Xiao Yun was woken by Rock Lee. A day of training had begun!

"Rock Lee, are you crazy? It's one in the morning. Even dogs haven't woken up yet!"

Xiao Yun rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"Junior Brother, if Might Guy hadn't gone easy on you because it's your first day here, we would've started training long ago!"

Rock Lee had already begun warming up for the day's training.

One-Finger Zen Push-Ups, standing frog jumps of ten meters, 36,000-degree midair spins... Xiao Yun was dumbfounded. This guy's physical fitness was absurd. If he were on Blue Star, sweeping the gold medals in Olympic Games gymnastics and long jump would be no problem at all.

Especially Rock Lee's final One-Character Horse Split, that waist-thrusting motion. That speed, that power... if he had a woman in his arms... tsk tsk, wouldn't she be crying "No, no!" from beginning to end?

"Rock Lee, what's this move called? It's insane!"

Xiao Yun's eyes gleamed, and a trace of drool slipped from the corner of his mouth.

"This move is called Sea King's Sorrow. It's one of the basic body-tempering exercises for training waist strength. What I do is nothing—you haven't seen Might Guy use it. Every time he does, he punches a bunch of holes into the wooden post."

Rock Lee's eyes brimmed with incomparable admiration.

Sea King's Sorrow?

The name was rather fitting. Even the Sea King himself would surely be troubled by it.

"Rock Lee, teach me, will you?"

The corners of Xiao Yun's mouth curled into a strange arc. If he learned this move... hehehe!

"Xiao-sang, don't be so impatient."

At that moment, a voice sounded behind them. A figure gradually emerged from the darkness. Might Guy walked up to them carrying three bags of rice on his shoulders.

"Have you two students, overflowing with the vigor of youth, been waiting long? A new day—youth, burst forth!"

Might Guy let out a shout, then performed a set of indescribably awkward movements. How should he put it? Anyone who had watched Dragon Ball would know that Frieza had a Ginyu Force under his command, and the moves were roughly like the poses they made before setting out.

"Long live youth! Youth is invincible!"

Rock Lee responded by performing the exact same set of movements.

Then the two embraced, gazing at each other with shared excitement. "A new day—let's do our best!"

Xiao Yun felt a chill run down his spine, goosebumps rising all over his body. Holy crap, was he going to have to perform that over-the-top routine in the future too?

"Might Guy, now that Junior Brother Xiao is here, shouldn't we make some slight changes to our Dance of Youth?"

Rock Lee said excitedly.

"As expected of my disciple, you've thought it through! Let your teacher give it some thought."

Might Guy looked at Rock Lee with satisfaction.

"Don't! Might Guy, Senior Brother Lee, the two of you can dance by yourselves!"

Xiao Yun hurriedly waved his hands in refusal.

Might Guy smiled and did not force the issue. Then he said, "Xiao-sang, today you'll begin with the basics. The training exercise is called Carrying a Bag of Rice Up Several Floors. You'd better be mentally prepared!"

Carrying a Bag of Rice Up Several Floors?

Xiao Yun furrowed his brow. What the hell was that?

"Carrying a Bag of Rice Up Several Floors! I never expected to train this today. How exciting!"

Excited light flashed in Rock Lee's eyes.

The three arrived at the foot of a mountain. By the bright moonlight, Xiao Yun looked up and saw that the mountain soared into the clouds. Apart from some weeds around the base, it was completely bare.

It looked like a giant dick standing between heaven and earth.

"Xiao Yun, today's training is very simple—testing the limits of the physical body. Each person will carry a bag of rice up the mountain. Every ten meters counts as one floor, hence the name: Carrying a Bag of Rice Up Several Floors."

Might Guy said with a smile.

"That simple?"

Xiao Yun looked at the two of them doubtfully.

"Junior Brother, don't underestimate this training. The bag of rice we'll be carrying isn't ordinary rice."

Rock Lee smiled mysteriously.

"Then what kind of rice is it?"

The confusion on Xiao Yun's face deepened.

"This is rice that can destroy the Chakra in the human body. As long as you carry it for more than three minutes, the Chakra in your body will slowly be broken down. Rock Lee, tell your junior brother—how many floors can we carry one bag of rice up?"

Might Guy said seriously.

"I can carry one bag of rice up three floors, while Might Guy can carry one up five floors. Many Konoha ninja can't even carry one bag up two floors. But Might Guy, isn't it too harsh to arrange such grueling training for Junior Brother right away?"

Rock Lee looked at Might Guy in confusion.

Might Guy smiled faintly and said only one thing: "Training begins."

The three each shouldered a bag of rice and began climbing toward the mountaintop.

"Holy shit! Is this really rice? Why is it so heavy?"

Xiao Yun felt as though he was carrying not rice, but a sack of iron.

And just as Might Guy had said, the rice really did break down the Chakra in his body. Chakra was the source of a ninja's power; without it, he could only rely on his own physical strength to climb upward.

What was even stranger was that the mountain's gravitational field was clearly much stronger than elsewhere.

And the higher they climbed, the more gravity seemed to multiply!

This wasn't scientific! A gravitational field could change too?

Where was Newton?

Stop lying around and come explain this!

By then, Might Guy had already climbed roughly twenty meters, while Rock Lee had climbed ten. Both were drenched in sweat.

"Hmm!?"

Might Guy turned back, only to see that although Xiao Yun had climbed about the same distance as Rock Lee, his expression was utterly calm...