The next morning, Gu Qi got up early and started running laps around the village.
This was the training plan Might Guy had drawn up for him before leaving the day before.
According to Guy's instructions, Gu Qi had to run one lap around the village every morning to warm up, then do ten thousand frog jumps to strengthen his legs.
After that, he had to punch trees to build strength in his arms and legs.
Guy said this was to help Gu Qi build a solid foundation. So for the next year, Gu Qi would have to do this every day.
Also, to improve Gu Qi's agility, Might Guy had specifically told him to wear weights during training.
He would start with five kilograms.
So Gu Qi had a one-kilogram weight on each of his four limbs and one on his body.
"Hey, Gu Qi! You're training so early!"
Konoha wasn't a huge village, but it wasn't small, either. As Gu Qi ran, he bumped into quite a few familiar faces.
When they heard that Gu Qi was training in Taijutsu with Might Guy, they all gave him sympathetic looks.
"Come on, Gu Qi!"
By the time Gu Qi had run a lap around the village, it was already eight in the morning.
And he had started running at six.
"Looks like the weights are affecting me quite a bit," Gu Qi muttered.
Compared to yesterday, it had taken him a full half hour longer today.
After finishing his warm-up, Gu Qi started doing frog jumps.
As the clueless onlookers watched with smiles, Gu Qi began hopping around the village.
After the frog jumps came the tree-punching.
By the time he had finished all that, it was lunchtime.
When he got home, Gu Qi fed the three exhausted Ninja Dogs some jerky and Secret Brew, then started practicing the Rasengan.
"Wait, did I forget something?" Gu Qi wondered, turning the water balloon over in his hands.
Suddenly, inspiration struck. "Right! I forgot about water-walking training."
Gu Qi remembered that water-walking was the next step after tree-climbing training.
He looked at the water balloon in his hand, thought for a moment, then set it aside and left with a few pieces of jerky.
He went to a waterfall in the village and set down his backpack.
Then Gu Qi gathered chakra in the soles of his feet, ready to begin water-walking training.
Tree-climbing trained chakra control, while water-walking trained the ability to maintain a steady flow of chakra.
To learn the Rasengan, Gu Qi had to master both types of chakra control.
He stepped into the river, continuously supplying chakra as he went.
Unlike tree-climbing, which used chakra to cling to a tree trunk, water-walking required him to release an opposing force so he could walk and run across the surface.
"Huh? Why is this so easy?" After taking several steps, Gu Qi realized he was managing it without any trouble.
Could it be? Am I really a genius? he couldn't help wondering.
Gu Qi had never been sure how talented he was.
That wasn't his fault; he had no one to compare himself with.
Among people his age, Gu Qi was Invincible.
But compared to Kakashi at the same age, he seemed to fall short. That was mainly because Kakashi had never told Gu Qi how amazing he had been back then.
Gu Qi spent the entire afternoon practicing water-walking, gradually improving until he could do it with ease.
When he got home that evening, the first thing Gu Qi did was shake awake the three Ninja Dogs, who were fast asleep.
When he saw the three dogs gazing at him pitifully, Gu Qi said firmly, "No more sleeping. Otherwise, you won't be able to sleep tonight, and then I'll be the one who suffers."
Intimidated by Gu Qi, and tempted by the delicious food in front of them, the three Ninja Dogs obediently got up.
"All right, eat up, then go play in the yard. And remember, don't relieve yourselves just anywhere," Gu Qi instructed.
After the three Ninja Dogs went downstairs, Gu Qi took out his Elementary Mathematics textbook and started reading—a rare thing for him.
He hadn't studied in a long time, ever since he had started turning the Electromagnetic Shield into a ninjutsu.
Now that he finally had some time, Gu Qi didn't dare slack off.
Without a cheat, Gu Qi could only cling to the system to survive in this world.
The next day at noon, after finishing his morning Taijutsu training, Gu Qi took out a water balloon and began practicing the Rasengan.
As an A-rank ninjutsu, the Rasengan was incredibly powerful and required no Hand Seals. Most importantly, it was extremely difficult to learn.
The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had been inspired by the Tailed Beast Bomb to create the technique, and it had taken him three years to develop it.
Gu Qi didn't think his talent could match that of the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze, a shinobi acknowledged by all.
Holding the water balloon, Gu Qi directed his chakra to spin continuously in one direction.
The Rasengan worked by concentrating chakra in a small area and making it spin at high speed, generating tremendous force that could tear through an enemy's defenses.
Only someone with exceptional chakra control could use the technique at will.
The water inside the balloon in Gu Qi's hand spun around, now to the left, now to the right.
But when Gu Qi tried to make it spin in both directions at once, he failed.
Should I learn from Naruto and use both hands?
Gu Qi was actually a bit of a perfectionist. He still hoped to use the Rasengan with one hand.
"I refuse to believe it!" Gu Qi kept pouring in chakra and trying again, but in the end, he still failed.
"So I really am no genius," Gu Qi sighed.
By the time he had finished an entire piece of jerky, he still hadn't managed to burst the water balloon.
But Gu Qi had no intention of giving up. If one day wasn't enough, he would try for a week. If a week wasn't enough, he would try for a month.
One day, he would definitely master the technique.
The next day, it poured with rain, but Gu Qi still completed the exercises Guy had assigned him.
When he got home, Gu Qi took a hot bath with the three Ninja Dogs, then continued practicing the first stage of the Rasengan.
He still hadn't succeeded by nightfall.
"This won't do. It's taking too much time. Looks like I need to learn the Shadow Clone Technique," Gu Qi thought. He couldn't keep wasting time like this.
So Gu Qi took out the scroll again and studied the cheat-like ninjutsu, the Shadow Clone Technique.
The Shadow Clone Technique was basically an upgraded version of the Clone Technique. It divided the user's chakra equally among the clones.
That turned what had been a mere illusion into an independent person.
For Gu Qi, who had already learned the Clone Technique, this was very easy.
It took him just one night to learn how to use it.
Another day passed, and Gu Qi once again completed the inhuman training Guy had assigned him.
At noon, Gu Qi created a Shadow Clone.
"Practice chakra control and study your books, got it?" Gu Qi ordered the clone.
"Got it~" the clone replied lazily.
"Hey, hey, hey. Could you at least try not to be so lazy?" Gu Qi said, deeply annoyed.
"Got it~"
Looking at the slovenly clone, Gu Qi couldn't help rolling his eyes.
Saye and the other two Ninja Dogs beside Gu Qi saw another Gu Qi appear and looked confused.
They kept glancing from the Shadow Clone to Gu Qi, unsure what to do.
Gu Qi glanced at the three dogs and sent them out to play in the yard, then went back to practicing the Rasengan.
His failure the night before had dealt Gu Qi a serious blow.
So today, he decided to follow the anime and use both hands to complete the first stage, just like Naruto.
Gu Qi held the water balloon in his left hand and placed his right hand over it.
Then Gu Qi sent chakra through his left hand, making it spin to the left, while his right hand fed in chakra to make it spin to the right.
Under the force of the two opposing currents, the water balloon immediately became uneven.
With a pop, the balloon finally couldn't withstand Gu Qi's abuse any longer and burst to express its displeasure.
"Yes! I did it!" Gu Qi cried happily.
He might have copied Naruto's idea, but he was still thrilled to make it work.
Gu Qi spent the whole evening following this method, repeatedly tormenting water balloons.
He wanted to get used to the feeling and reinforce the technique. Besides, he had bought so many water balloons that it would be a waste not to use them.
By the time all the water balloons had burst, night had fallen.
Gu Qi found the clone and dispelled it. A moment later, a flood of memories poured into his mind.
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