Returning to Training

"How did I end up here?"

After eating his fill, Gu Qi had been wandering aimlessly down the road.

He hadn't expected to wander all the way to the entrance of the Hyuga Clan compound.

"Strange. How did I end up here? Could it be because of that little girl from the Branch Family?"

Gu Qi shook his head, and the image of the tiny girl suddenly came to mind.

"No, no! Three years at the very least, death penalty at worst... Bah, she's just a child." Gu Qi shook his head hard, trying to banish those impure thoughts.

He glanced around guiltily. Seeing no one nearby, he hurried away.

"Was that him? Did he come looking for me?"

Just after Gu Qi left, the Hyuga girl he had saved twice happened to catch sight of him.

She wanted to chase after him, but was too shy. In the end, she could only watch in frustration as Gu Qi disappeared around the corner.

"Lightning Release: Earth Flow!"

"Gu Qi, you're amazing! You can use ninjutsu now!"

A week later, after experimenting and studying the Ninjutsu Scroll, Gu Qi had finally learned the Lightning Release Ninjutsu Kakashi had taught him.

It was his first time learning a technique, and even though it was only a Rank C ninjutsu, it had still taken him a whole week.

But now that he had some experience, Gu Qi was sure he'd be able to learn new techniques much more efficiently.

"Naruto, if you keep training hard, you'll become an excellent ninja too," Gu Qi told Naruto, who stood beside him looking envious.

"No way. I'm going to catch up to you, Gu Qi! I'm heading home. I'm going to train hard today!"

Gu Qi opened his mouth, then watched Naruto disappear from sight with a helpless look. "What a hothead."

"Oh well, it's getting late. I should head home too."

After gathering his things, Gu Qi whistled cheerfully as he prepared to leave the forest.

"Thwack! Thwack!"

"Huh?" Gu Qi had been about to leave, but the sounds coming from nearby made him stop in his tracks.

"Sounds like they're coming from the south. Is someone training here?" Gu Qi murmured.

Curious, he pushed aside the branches in front of him and headed toward the source of the sounds.

"Two people? And a Gunbai? I didn't expect to run into members of the Uchiha Clan here!"

When Gu Qi emerged from the forest, he finally got a clear look at the figures practicing.

"Who's there?"

Just as Gu Qi tried to get a better look at their faces, the boy his age seemed to notice him.

Without a moment's hesitation, the other boy threw a wooden Kunai at him.

Gu Qi stayed calm and simply tilted his head, dodging the attack.

"Sorry, I was just curious about who was training here. I hope I didn't disturb you." Gu Qi picked up the Kunai the boy had thrown and tossed it back.

The Kunai traced a graceful arc through the air, landing precisely in the empty space between the boy's feet and embedding itself in the ground.

"Sasuke, don't be so reckless next time. What if you hurt someone?"

The young man beside the boy gently scolded him, then picked the Kunai out of the ground and apologized to Gu Qi. "I'm sorry. My little brother doesn't know any better. Let me apologize on his behalf."

Gu Qi couldn't help taking another look at him. His little brother was named Sasuke, and he was clearly doted on. Gu Qi immediately recognized him: Itachi!

But Gu Qi had already met too many famous people in this world, so he didn't show much surprise.

"It's fine. Kids can be thoughtless. I'm a generous man, so I won't hold it against him," Gu Qi said with a cheeky grin.

Sasuke pursed his lips in dissatisfaction. "What? He's the same age as me!"

Itachi patted Sasuke on the head and smiled at Gu Qi. "You're from the Hatake Clan, right? Hello, I'm Uchiha Itachi, and this is my younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke."

"Hatake Gu Qi, elder of the Hatake Clan," Gu Qi said, rubbing his nose and shamelessly introducing himself.

Itachi chuckled. "Pleased to meet you, Elder Gu Qi."

"Hmph!" Sasuke snorted disdainfully.

Itachi smiled and asked, "Gu Qi, do you train here often?"

Gu Qi didn't hide the truth. "Yes. I started training here over two months ago."

"Then those broken trees must be your work, right? I didn't realize you were so strong," Itachi praised.

Gu Qi rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed. He was surprised to be praised by Uchiha Itachi.

"I didn't expect you to get shy, Gu Qi. You're quite adorable," Itachi said, narrowing his eyes.

"Hmph!" Seeing his brother chatting so happily with Gu Qi, Sasuke grew jealous.

Noticing that Sasuke was jealous, Itachi ruffled his hair to comfort him. "Of course, our Sasuke is amazing too!"

After reassuring Sasuke, Itachi turned to Gu Qi. "Are you heading home now?"

Gu Qi nodded. "I've trained enough for today, so I was just about to head back."

"Then be careful on your way home, Gu Qi," Itachi reminded him.

"Thanks. See you!"

With that, Gu Qi left without looking back.

Even though the other two were Itachi and Sasuke, Gu Qi would rather get home and fill his stomach.

"Brother, let's head back too!" Sasuke tugged at Itachi's sleeve.

"Sure!"

After taking one more look at Gu Qi's retreating figure, Itachi led Sasuke away in the opposite direction.

Once home, Gu Qi took out his notes on the Electromagnetic Shield technique, copied onto a scroll, and began studying them carefully.

Though Gu Qi had been busy learning ninjutsu these past few days, he hadn't neglected his studies of new knowledge.

Over the past week, he had come up with a few ideas for turning the Electromagnetic Shield into a ninjutsu.

Now all he had to do was put those ideas into practice.

"It's a shame I don't have any Chakra Metal. Otherwise, I could forge equipment to create an Electromagnetic Shield." Gu Qi couldn't help sighing.

Chakra Metal was a type of metal that could transmit chakra with great efficiency.

Ordinary Kunai and Shuriken could also be infused with chakra, but they wasted a great deal of it and were nowhere near as effective as Chakra Metal.

That made Chakra Metal extremely rare and exorbitantly expensive.

With the little money Gu Qi had, he probably couldn't even afford a scrap of Chakra Metal.

"Alas!" Since he couldn't buy Chakra Metal, Gu Qi would have to create the Electromagnetic Shield himself.

Putting aside his distracting thoughts, Gu Qi began studying the scroll intently.

Although he had already memorized the entire Electromagnetic Shield technical material while copying it onto the scroll, he still read through it carefully.

"Electromagnetic confinement sounds simple enough. I didn't expect it to be so difficult to achieve."

Electromagnetic confinement was the core of the Electromagnetic Shield. Without specialized equipment, it was difficult to accomplish by feel alone.

So Gu Qi could only use simple testing equipment to keep adjusting the Lightning Release Chakra's frequency and transmission speed, experimenting little by little.

"Alas, another failure."

Gu Qi stared at the Lightning Release Chakra as it collapsed and couldn't help sighing again.

He had already lost track of how many times he'd failed. A whole week had passed, and he had tested it over a thousand times, only to fail every time.

After steadying himself, Gu Qi ate a piece of dried meat and began another round of experiments.

"Adjust the chakra frequency. Adjust its transmission speed..."

"Huh? It didn't collapse!" Gu Qi had already given up hope, but to his surprise, the electromagnetic field in front of him hadn't disappeared.

He quickly cleared his mind, focusing on memorizing the sensation as he used the testing device beside him to record the chakra's frequency.

But maintaining the electromagnetic field for long was extremely chakra-consuming for Gu Qi at his current level.

When his chakra was nearly exhausted, Gu Qi hurriedly ate another piece of dried meat and continued maintaining the field.

From evening until dawn the next day, Gu Qi managed to keep the electromagnetic field in front of him going all night, relying on dried meat to sustain himself.

With the data he'd gathered that night, Gu Qi was sure it wouldn't be long before he completed the Electromagnetic Shield.

Only after his chakra had been completely exhausted once more did Gu Qi collapse to the floor.