Encounter

Encounter

After Orochimaru kicked him out of the laboratory, Xu Yue felt rather helpless.

Earning favorability was quite difficult.

He had racked his brains and completed that insanely difficult mission. Even counting all the time he had spent deliberately catering to Orochimaru's personality beforehand, he had only accumulated 30 points.

Still, the favorability was indeed incredibly useful.

One point had bought him the Three Body Techniques and Chakra Refining Technique, five points had bought him the C-rank ninjutsu Great Fireball Technique, and a full 30 points had bought him the learning scroll for Wood Style: Wood Clone.

It was not something he learned directly, either. It was a scroll that still required him to spend Reincarnation Points to learn afterward!

And just like that, his favorability had been overdrawn.

Fortunately, Reincarnation Space was not just a cold set of data. It was not as though favorability would refuse to budge. Only because Xu Yue had stubbornly pressed the matter, and because Orochimaru wanted to see the effects of Wood Style as well, had he been allowed to overdraw several points.

Given Orochimaru's status as one of the Sannin, obtaining such a scroll probably required a suitable pretext as well.

Of course, this overdraft did not lower the cap, nor did it mean Orochimaru's attitude had become especially terrible. It simply meant that until Xu Yue gained new favorability, Orochimaru would not teach him anything else.

As a result, Xu Yue had been unable to add his name to the Summoning Scroll of one of the three great sacred lands, which he had been coveting.

Favorability had become -6/30.

Still, his main goal had already been achieved. He had obtained everything he could get, and he still had more than ten days to train properly.

Well, although the benefits he had gained were immense, Xu Yue currently could not even beat a genin—no, he probably could not even beat a Ninja Academy student.

Not only was his raw strength completely inferior, but once combat experience and the like were factored in, the gap was truly enormous...

Chakra was undoubtedly a crucial element in Naruto. While it was not the most important factor, every powerful person definitely possessed a great deal of Chakra.

Even Kakashi, famous for having little Chakra, had still been able to create so many Shadow Clones as a deterrent at the end of the Land of Waves arc.

As the most fundamental of fundamentals, the Chakra Refining Technique was not some meditation method where one sat cross-legged and circulated energy. Rather, it was fully integrated into one's everyday training.

It could train the body or train the mind, then use special breathing and meditation techniques to draw out the strength of the body and mental power.

This produced a special power refined from the fusion of physical cells and spiritual energy.

Xu Yue had arrived in Konoha as an orphan and had not even attended Ninja Academy. He had merely been registered in passing.

Even without Orochimaru deliberately concealing Xu Yue's identity, no one would have cared whether he had vanished for over two months or whether he had lived or died on his own.

He was in a state where no one paid him any attention at all.

Postwar Konoha was not a charity. They might take some care of local orphans who did not wish to become ninja, but an orphan from outside the village who was unwilling to enter Ninja Academy and undergo cannon-fodder training? They could not be bothered with him at all. Giving him something to eat could already be considered merciful.

After obtaining what he wanted most and accomplishing his goal, Xu Yue had actually considered entering Ninja Academy to quickly build up his foundations. Unfortunately, his initial refusal had cut off that path for him.

Besides, with the most basic training methods Orochimaru had taught him, he did not feel particularly compelled to insist on it. At the very least, it was not worth spending favorability to have Orochimaru force him in...

The Second Shinobi World War had entered its final phase. The Land of Fire's status as one of the victors had already been confirmed, and the remaining minor skirmishes were merely final efforts to reduce losses at the negotiating table.

Konoha had also become the first place in the Ninja War to return to peace, and the first to gradually recover and prosper.

A faint sense of joy over the approaching end of the war, along with prosperity, had begun to appear throughout the streets and alleys.

The gradually reopening shops, increasingly dense crowds, and passing carriages all represented the foundation of this strongest ninja village.

Yet in one corner of prosperous Konoha, beside a small river far from the bustle, a tiny figure was sprinting across the water's surface at high speed as though walking on level ground.

With one final leap and roll, he landed steadily on the bank.

The droplets splashed up by his run fell onto his face, bringing a burst of coolness.

It was Xu Yue, who had already completed his tree-climbing and water-walking training.

This was the basic training method explained most clearly in the original story. Even though Xu Yue possessed a Beginner Sage Body, his total Chakra reserves had still been limited when he first began refining Chakra.

However, combined with his already quite impressive mental control, he had completed both tree-climbing and water-walking training within three days.

Even while mastering control, he had also begun training in the Rasengan, another ninjutsu explained with exceptional clarity.

Uh, the biggest obstacle to training the Rasengan was that he was short on money. He simply could not obtain many balloons, and could only beg for a few by acting cute amid the celebratory atmosphere of the war's imminent end.

But it was nowhere near enough.

"Training really is boring, but it is also the foundation required to become strong. I'm already so far behind in terms of time within Reincarnation Space, so I can't afford to slack off anymore."

Relying on the traits of his Beginner Sage Body to rapidly recover the Chakra he had nearly exhausted, Xu Yue sat on a stone by the riverbank and rested for a while.

Just then, his hearing, enhanced by both his physique and Chakra, faintly picked up some shouting. The voice gradually grew clearer.

"...If I can't complete one thousand frog jumps, I'll have to challenge Kakashi!"

That familiar tone, those chuunibyou words... He must have run into the man who nearly kicked the ending out of existence. What a coincidence.

Xu Yue slowly rose from the rock. Facing the river breeze and allowing the strands of hair before his eyes to sway, he quietly looked in the direction the voice had come from.

At this point, Might Guy had only entered Ninja Academy after a make-up exam. He was also the school's standard bottom-ranked student and was not well regarded. Considering the intensity of his training, it made sense that he had gradually trained his way to this secluded place.

Soon, a five- or six-year-old boy with thick eyebrows and a slightly comical appearance, utterly lacking the cuteness of a little handsome boy, came hopping toward him again and again.

Who knew how long he had been training before this? With Xu Yue's eyesight, enhanced even without activating his Sharingan, he could clearly see the sweat falling with every jump, as well as the trembling muscles that the boy forcibly kept under control.

Kids in Naruto really were monsters. Even with physical abilities twice those of an adult, the other new Reincarnators of this batch probably did not have this kind of aptitude. Their bodies would collapse before they even finished the training.

"I hadn't intended to come looking for you with so little time left, but since we've run into each other, I naturally can't waste the opportunity. Training with someone overflowing with passion should improve efficiency too."

Xu Yue leaped down from the bluestone, and his movement caught Might Guy's attention.

"Hey, thick brows. Watching you train has made me feel a little restless too. Want to do it together?"

Knowing Might Guy's personality, Xu Yue naturally put on the most suitable expression.

Being too aloof would not work, but if he acted overly friendly and started talking about things like "youth" and "passion," getting stuck to by him would be somewhat troublesome. This degree was just right.

Unfortunately, Xu Yue had clearly underestimated Might Guy's current circumstances. The degree of exclusion suffered by that father-and-son pair, who could treat even others' mockery as encouragement, had only been the tip of the iceberg in the anime.

Xu Yue's appearance made him the first person besides Kakashi to look at Might Guy normally, and even the first person willing to train alongside him.

The wide-eyed look that made his thick brows even more conspicuous, along with his sudden, fully revived excitement, gave Xu Yue a faint sense of ominous regret in an instant...

"Oh! My hot blood is surging! This is youth! This is a companion on the road of youth! Let us work hard together for youth!"

Pfft~ I finished sorting out the contract today, but there was nowhere to print it. There are so few print shops these days. I'll just use the office printer at work next Monday. I can even save a few bucks~

I'll probably mail the contract next Monday, so the status has not been changed yet and I still can't accept tips~

Also, please keep supporting me in every way. Help me get into the top ten new fantasy novels first~

Love you all, kiss kiss, mwah mwah~