Effortful Cultivation!

Effortful Cultivation!

With the Uchiha family's compensation of one hundred thousand ryo, Aoba had genuinely enjoyed a period of good living. Not only did he have enough meat every day to replenish the energy he expended, but he had also bought all the training equipment he currently needed.

The only problem was that his medicinal-material consumption was simply too high. One hundred thousand ryo seemed like a lot, but a single medicinal bath cost him at least five thousand!

At that rate, one hundred thousand ryo could support him for at most twenty days—and that was under ideal circumstances.

Because of this, Aoba couldn't help but begin to suspect that the medicinal bath contained in the [Navy Body Tempering Method - Foundation] probably wasn't something that could be widely implemented. How could those low-ranking navy soldiers possibly afford it? And if Navy Headquarters footed the bill, the military expenditure for a single year would absolutely be astronomical!

Perhaps this supporting medicinal bath was only prepared for the children of wealthy families, military second-generation heirs, or extraordinarily talented geniuses with immense potential.

The high cost even made Aoba consider abandoning his earlier plan of "lying low at the Ninja Academy for five or six years."

After all, he hadn't genuinely come to Konoha to act as some kind of spy. In his original vision, remaining an ordinary, middle-to-low-ranking ninja would be best. That way, he wouldn't come into contact with any important intelligence or missions, nor would anyone pay too much attention to him.

He had even considered whether he should remain a Genin forever. After all, wasn't there a saying that Konoha's Genin were the strongest, with strength surpassing the Kage Level?

He wanted to become a Genin stronger than even the Kage Level powerhouses.

That way, when he went on to complete the Death-Seeking Missions issued by that damn system, his ability to protect himself would also increase greatly!

After all, before Naruto's generation of prodigies had risen to prominence, who would pay any attention to a Genin?

In a secluded area far from Konoha's residential district, Aoba was enthusiastically pummeling a wooden post from every direction!

Don't misunderstand—he was only practicing the techniques of [White Strike].

After all, LV0 [White Strike] had only instilled the corresponding training knowledge in him. As for how to use it and apply it in actual combat, he still had to work hard on his own.

Of course, things would be different if he had more skill cards.

As for this secluded empty lot, he had only discovered this excellent training ground after searching the surrounding area for a long time.

Almost no one came here normally. This meant that, under ordinary circumstances, no one would disturb him, which also reduced the risk of exposing [White Strike].

Although this martial art would eventually become known to others, he could delay that day for as long as possible. When people asked him about it in the future, he could reveal "a little of his talent" at an appropriate time. After all, martial arts had evolved from various movements and techniques passed down by their predecessors. The movements used in martial arts battles were diverse and carried strong individual characteristics. Even with an ordinary Konoha Whirlwind, different people would perform it differently.

That way, he could completely attribute it to his own talent. He could simply claim that he had practiced randomly, and after practicing for long enough, he had developed his own style.

"Geniuses" always had privileges. Just think of the forbidden techniques developed by the Second Hokage—they were terrifying. He could even accomplish something like "bringing the dead back to life."

Compared with those astonishing predecessors, developing a martial art that differed from Gentle Fist and Strong Fist and placed greater emphasis on technique wasn't a big deal. In any case, there weren't many people who truly valued martial arts and regarded it as their life.

The sounds of thud, thud, thud... rang out incessantly from the center of the empty lot.

Sweat poured off Aoba as he followed the knowledge in his mind and practiced the movements mechanically.

There was no helping it. His foundation was poor, and the so-called "genius" image was merely a facade he had created. On top of that, despite having lived two lives, he had never come into contact with this kind of combat before. Thus, he could only choose this clumsy method: first let his muscles mechanically memorize the routines, movements, and techniques, then slowly break them down and absorb them into his body until they became an instinct for facing enemies.

If he could train to that level, he felt that even if he couldn't max out his [White Strike] level, he could still raise it to a very high degree.

It had to be said that he truly had no talent, especially when it came to martial arts.

After practicing for more than half a month, [White Strike] was still at LV0, showing no improvement at all. Or perhaps that damn system simply didn't acknowledge its host's efforts.

Aoba, however, felt that possibility made little sense. He didn't want to rely on that damn system forever, so he had to prove that this path was viable—that diligence could make up for a lack of talent!

People like Rock Lee and Might Guy had already proven that this principle wasn't empty rhetoric!

Therefore, he attributed the complete lack of change in his level to the fact that he hadn't worked hard enough!

If he hadn't had only one life, he really would have wanted to court death once, just to see whether the damn system would self-destruct if the mission failed—and whether its self-destruction would implicate him afterward...

Thus, the thud, thud, thud... that rang out today lasted an hour longer than yesterday's.

By the time Aoba returned home, his scarred arms hanging limply at his sides, he was so exhausted that after collapsing onto his bed, he truly didn't want to move at all.

But in order to live well in this unfamiliar world, he gritted his teeth and stood back up. He began skillfully boiling water, then tossed packet after packet of medicinal materials into the bathtub he had bought.

Once the water boiled, he adjusted its temperature to forty-five degrees. Of course, he only estimated it, deciding that it was probably around that temperature.

Only then did he immerse his entire body in the bath and begin enjoying the process of relaxing his muscles, promoting blood circulation, inducing perspiration, easing pain, eliminating fatigue, and replenishing his body's depleted energy.

The medicinal bath in the [Navy Body Tempering Method - Foundation] was not some extraordinarily mystical formula. It was impossible to wash away impurities, reshape his body, and undergo a complete transformation after only a few baths.

Perhaps the damn system really did possess things like that, but at least this medicinal bath didn't. It couldn't accomplish such feats.

What it could do was replenish, to the greatest extent possible, the deficiencies caused by high-intensity training. At the same time, it treated hidden injuries and made every cell brim with vitality and energy!

A healthy and vigorous body was undoubtedly one of the best foundations for laying a strong base.

Combined with the effects that his LV3 [Inferior Self-Healing Body] could occasionally produce, this meant that although Aoba was no genius, he possessed an even better physical foundation than one.

As long as he persisted for a long time, Aoba was absolutely certain that his body would gradually become more and more perfect!

The only imperfection was that the process of soaking in the medicinal bath wasn't particularly comfortable. Instead, it brought a stinging pain, as if countless needles were pricking him.

This was a normal reaction as his body absorbed the medicinal effects. It would be fine once the effects had dispersed.

By the time the needle-like sensation gradually weakened and finally vanished, more than half an hour had passed. Only then did Aoba emerge from the bath, refreshed and invigorated.

But soon, his little face fell...