Soon, the scroll was tossed back to him.
Kazama Kaguya took one look at it, and his already addled brain spun even more.
He saw that several new lines had been added to the scroll.
21:00–23:00, develop ninjutsu.
23:00–23:30, midnight snack.
[Note: Kazama Kaguya will prepare all four meals each day. If they taste bad, make them again. The schedule will be pushed back accordingly.]
"Did I commit some unforgivable sin?"
Staring at the packed training schedule, Kazama Kaguya's eyes went dull. He wished he could take back what he'd said.
It was all his fault for running his mouth. Now, on top of training, he had to moonlight as a cook and wait on this lord and master.
Unfortunately, Kisame Hoshigaki didn't give him a chance to take it back.
He gave a cold laugh. "The option you gave me clearly said, 'Teach you with all my heart and soul for three months.'"
"What? You think I'm not trying hard enough? If you think you can train twenty-four hours a day, I don't mind revising the schedule."
Twenty-four hours?
At those words, Kazama Kaguya shuddered and hurriedly shook his head. "That's enough, that's enough. Thank you, Teacher Kisame, for all your hard work. This schedule is already more than thorough."
"Since you approve, let's get started."
Kisame Hoshigaki rolled up the scroll, glanced around, then fished a large boulder out of the river.
He took out a Kunai, infused it with chakra, and quickly carved the boulder into a rectangular block.
After weighing it in his hand, he tossed it at Kazama Kaguya's feet.
Boom!
The stone block slammed down, shaking the ground and opening several cracks in it.
"This is your weight-training equipment. It's only a little past six, so you've got two hours. Quit dawdling and get started."
"Uh..."
Kazama Kaguya looked at the slick stone block, then at the cracked ground. In a small voice, he said:
"Teacher Kisame, this thing weighs at least two hundred kilos. I'm a child right now. If you make me do this, I'll stop growing."
"Stop growing?"
Kisame Hoshigaki looked at the boy's now-young body and waved his hand dismissively. "That's your problem to worry about. It has nothing to do with me."
"I..." Kazama Kaguya ranted to himself.
But when he saw Kisame Hoshigaki's cold gaze, he swallowed every word.
"Fate sure has a way of coming around. What goes around comes around!"
He sighed and struggled to lift the boulder, then started his grueling workout.
The stone bent his back beneath its weight.
The noble Otsutsuki had finally bowed his head before Kisame Hoshigaki.
From the corner of his eye, he caught Kisame Hoshigaki struggling to suppress a grin, his eyes narrowing into crescent moons. He couldn't help sighing.
"Having something you want is a weakness. The boomerang of Talk no Jutsu: Strike Weakness Technique finally hit me."
"What a mess..."
The sun rose, bringing a fresh, vibrant morning.
Bathed in golden rays, Kazama Kaguya began his grueling training regimen.
During his weighted workout, the young Otsutsuki carried the boulder as he frog-jumped, climbed mountains, and waded through water. He was drenched in sweat the whole way, his back never once straightening.
Whenever he tried to stop for a brief rest, Kisame Hoshigaki would Body Flicker in front of him and say things like, "Men can be useless too," and "The weak always need looking after," mocking him relentlessly.
During Taijutsu sparring, Kisame Hoshigaki showed even less mercy.
The two chased and fought through the primeval forest, relying purely on physical strength and reaction speed.
Kazama Kaguya used everything he had, from Shikotsumyaku to his Byakugan abilities, holding back only his All-Killing Ash Bones, yet he was still beaten black and blue.
Kisame Hoshigaki also had plenty of experience as an assassin. Using the incredibly fast Body Flicker of an elite Jonin, he targeted places that weren't fatal but hurt like hell.
It hurt, but it worked.
After just one morning, Kazama Kaguya could clearly feel his combat instincts and judgment improving.
During ninjutsu instruction, even one small mistake often earned Kazama Kaguya a merciless scolding.
Kisame Hoshigaki was frighteningly strict about his ninjutsu training.
While learning a new Water Release technique, he was made to use Water Release Ninjutsu against a waterfall for several hours straight. The power had to match Kisame Hoshigaki's instructions exactly.
If Kisame wanted a ten-meter-wide water sphere, Kazama Kaguya wasn't allowed to produce one that was 9.9 meters wide.
According to Kisame, with Kazama Kaguya's chakra reserves, his ninjutsu would become frighteningly powerful in the future. If he didn't want to accidentally injure his allies, he'd better learn to control every bit of his strength precisely.
Besides, this kind of fine control was just as important for Taijutsu training.
And since he had Yang Release Chakra, he would definitely be learning Medical Ninjutsu in the future, and Medical Ninjutsu required the most precise control of all.
"Some people succeed because of the details; others fail because of them."
"The strong have always been masters of fine control."
Those were Kisame Hoshigaki's exact words.
During transformation training, Kazama Kaguya dragged his exhausted body and mind through an intensive review of all kinds of ninjutsu theory.
Whether it was shape transformation or nature transformation, theory was the first thing he needed to understand.
By then, he was already utterly exhausted, his eyelids drooping against his will.
But Kisame Hoshigaki didn't see it that way.
The moment his attention wandered, a ball of icy seawater would wrap around his head, leaving him choking and sniffling.
It was a simple, practical, and effective use of the Water Prison Technique.
As for developing ninjutsu, Kazama Kaguya had an IQ of 4, but his knowledge of ninjutsu was far behind.
Most of the time, he just listened to Kisame Hoshigaki bragging about his experience developing his Shark Flow Release techniques.
But the thing that pushed Kazama Kaguya closest to the brink was having to prepare four meals a day.
Already exhausted in body and mind, he still had to prepare ingredients and cook something that wasn't too awful, all to keep Kisame Hoshigaki's sharp tongue at bay.
It wasn't until 23:30, when the midnight snack was over, that Kisame Hoshigaki finally left, picking his teeth like a lord.
After just the first day, Kazama Kaguya's legs were trembling, and he was completely spent.
His fifteen units of chakra had nearly been drained, and he had lost more sweat than he could count.
He felt as if a cow had trampled a toad. Every part of his body felt wrong, aching and sore.
"Keep this up, and an Otsutsuki will die. Sigh, I shouldn't have tricked him so badly back then."
As the cool midnight breeze blew over him, Kazama Kaguya was exhausted in body and mind.
He dragged his battered body back to the tent and collapsed into bed without a word.
Within minutes, loud snores rose and fell.
In a nearby tree, Kisame Hoshigaki listened quietly to Kazama Kaguya's snores, a complex expression in his eyes.
"Did I go a little too far?" he wondered.
But as soon as he recalled how Kazama Kaguya had tricked him, his fresh pang of guilt vanished.
He snorted. "A guy with a bellyful of tricks deserves a little hardship. As long as he doesn't die, I'll train him until he drops."
As he spoke, he began forming Hand Seals.
Soon, a Water Clone appeared.
Kisame Hoshigaki glanced at the tent and said coldly, "Keep him safe."
After saying that, he seemed to feel he'd shown a little too much concern for someone, so he added:
"At five tomorrow morning, if he isn't up, throw him into the Water Prison with the tent."
With that, he Body Flickered away.
The Water Clone stayed where it was and curled its lip in disdain. "Hmph, the original..."
Before you continue