Although Moriyue felt that Yugito Nii might have tricked him, he could find no proof and could only move around with four huge iron rings on him.
Perhaps Yugito Nii had not lied to him. At first, the iron rings had restrained him so thoroughly that he could barely walk, but as he kept trying, he really was able to move slowly. His body seemed to be gradually adapting to the weight.
"Come on, put a little more strength into it. You're almost there."
"Faster. You're still not fast enough. Draw out your potential. Come on, faster."
"Use your waist. Brace yourself with your hands, then push."
Yugito Nii's voice was as calm as ever, though it seemed to carry some other emotion.
Moriyue felt like he was about to die. His sweat-soaked body continued to rise and fall, his breathing grew ragged, and he was starting to lose his grip.
"I can't do it anymore. I can't hold on. I've reached my limit." Moriyue exhaled, and all the strength in his body poured out like floodwaters through an opened sluice gate. He collapsed helplessly onto the ground, not wanting to move at all.
"Mmm, 218. You've improved." Yugito Nii looked at Moriyue sprawled on the ground like a salted fish and nodded in satisfaction. Doing more than two hundred push-ups while carrying that weight meant he was improving faster than she had expected.
Moriyue had been training with Yugito Nii for nearly a month. During that time, he had only undergone physical training. In Yugito Nii's words, "Your path of training is different from that of ordinary shinobi. Pure ninjutsu will be difficult for you to master, but Nintaijutsu should be easier. Once you've trained enough, I'll teach it to you."
Over that month, Moriyue had thrown himself fully into training. The gossip around him had diminished considerably after his previous death-defying display, but Kumogakure as a whole still did not think highly of him. They simply did not say it to his face.
"You don't need to care about what those people say. There are people with no ambition everywhere. Rather than thinking about improving themselves, they slander others. People like that won't get far." Yugito Nii hopped down from Moriyue's back. She had originally wanted to add a little more weight for him, but her small frame simply did not make much difference.
Moriyue knew Yugito Nii was concerned about him, so he nodded. He had not cared much to begin with.
"So, can I learn swordsmanship now? And other forbidden jutsu? I think I could try learning about other forbidden jutsu. Maybe I can find a way to ease the side effects of the Life-Burning Forbidden Jutsu." Moriyue removed the iron rings binding him and immediately felt much lighter. With a light jump, he felt as though he could fly.
After this period of training, distinct muscles had formed across Moriyue's body, lean and refined rather than bulky. The tissues and blood vessels within him had also mostly recovered after he went so long without using forbidden jutsu. For the past few days, Moriyue had felt better than ever. After all, he no longer had to endure that unbearable pain every moment.
Yugito Nii's gaze dimmed. She had also been happy during this time. Moriyue had likewise been shunned by those around him, and that had given her a strange sense of resonance. She had already come to see him as a friend. But he practiced the Life-Burning Forbidden Jutsu and could die at any moment. Wanting to break the jutsu's side effects was harder than reaching the heavens.
"All right, we'll start in a while. But don't get your hopes up too much when it comes to forbidden jutsu. They are called forbidden jutsu because great power and severe side effects coexist. If their side effects could be broken, they would no longer be called forbidden jutsu."
Yugito Nii gave Moriyue a warning in advance, tossed him a towel, then took out two katanas and led him out of the training room.
Moriyue nodded. He had no interest in breaking the side effects of forbidden jutsu. What interested him were other forbidden jutsu and how to develop them. Relying on the Dog Talisman's immortality, he could train in forbidden jutsu without restraint. The more of them, the better. The forbidden jutsu others avoided like the plague had become treasures in Moriyue's eyes.
Taking the katana Yugito Nii handed him, Moriyue found that it felt completely different from the first time he had held one. The impossibly heavy katana now felt like a cotton swab in his hand.
Slash, chop, sweep, hack, lift, intercept—single-handedly flowing through them all.
Thrust, slide, twist, deflect, tap, draw—without the slightest effort.
During this time, he had not merely trained brute strength. Yugito Nii was an excellent teacher. Not only had she taught Moriyue how to train, she had also taught him every theory and technique of swordsmanship Kumogakure had compiled over the years.
Who knew where Yugito Nii had learned that damned cramming method of education? She had even organized the swordsmanship theory into an exam paper. Moriyue had not expected that he would still have to study after coming here.
Each preoccupied with their own thoughts, the two arrived at a place Moriyue knew very well. It was a square rock platform more than ten meters above the ground, somewhat like a boxer's ring.
This time was different from when he had been with Darui. Moriyue did not rely on anyone's help and climbed directly onto the high platform with his own strength. His fingertips gripped the cracks in the rock like pickaxes. Light as a swallow, he concentrated all his strength into his arms and the soles of his feet, springing upward like an ape that had lived in a deep valley for years.
He landed steadily atop the stone platform with a backflip, then looked at the familiar-looking crater in its center. History truly had a way of repeating itself.
Yugito Nii was already waiting for him on the other side of the platform. The view from up high was excellent. A gentle breeze brushed past her, lifting her long beige hair slightly. She held her katana in one hand, her figure like a swallow among the clouds.
"Come attack me. You can best feel each other's resolve in battle."
Yugito Nii casually thrust out her blade. There was nothing flashy about the strike, only blistering speed. The swiftness of Lightning Release Chakra infused her sword, making the thrust seem to pierce through the clouds.
Moriyue reacted just as swiftly. Gripping the hilt with both hands, he abruptly stepped back and shifted his center of gravity toward the rear right. At the same time, he leaned his body forward, angling the blade behind him. Borrowing the force of his forward lean, he slashed diagonally upward from below.
Clang! Clang! The blades collided, and Moriyue's powerful strike knocked Yugito Nii's katana aside. After that simple exchange, the two continued to clash. For a time, the entire rock platform rang with the low chime of metal striking metal, sounding from afar somewhat like a phoenix's cry.
Darui, who had been loafing around and napping on a nearby stone platform with one hand over the back of his head, was awakened by the noise. Looking utterly dead inside, he sat up and gazed at the two fighting in the distance before lying back down again.
"Sure enough, handing that kid over to her was the right choice. Being a teacher is such a pain..."
Satisfied with his wise decision, he shifted into a more comfortable position and went back to sleep.
At Yugito Nii's rate of training, that kid would probably soon become a warrior capable of standing on his own.
Before you continue