Sasuke Doubts Life

Seeing the kid lying motionless on the water for so long, Tsunade thought something had happened to him. Then he suddenly asked, "Just now... what were your Physical Strength and Speed scores?"

Only then did Tsunade remember that her Mysterious Clone had introduced Wu Yu to the "Eight Ninja Parameters."

"Probably... both 5," Tsunade said.

She had only acted casually, so naturally she had not used her full strength.

A score of 5 to 6 was at the Chunin level.

If 6 represented an elite Chunin, then 5 was an ordinary Chunin.

And an ordinary Chunin's numbers were already this absurd.

Wu Yu said, "Physical Strength 2, Speed 2, Stamina and Chakra Reserves 2... Dear Auntie, my body is so weak. Do you have any way to improve it?"

"..."

Tsunade said evenly, "A person's physical aptitude is something they are born with. Even if you force it to develop with medicine, you would only be draining the potential you already possess."

Wu Yu said speechlessly, "So you mean my body is so mediocre that there's barely anything to drain in the first place?"

Tsunade did not answer. Instead, she asked, "Tell me, how is chakra refined?"

"By extracting physical energy from the human body's 130 trillion cells, then combining it with spiritual energy gained through training and accumulated experience, chakra can be refined..." Wu Yu instinctively recited the textbook answer from the Ninja Academy.

"The spiritual energy that makes up half of chakra exists precisely for this reason!"

Tsunade barked, "The courage to face hardship, the determination to overcome pain, the patience to endure loneliness—all the spiritual will that lets one persist without giving up can make a ninja's chakra even stronger!"

With a splash, Wu Yu pushed himself up from the water.

Tsunade extended a finger and lightly tapped Wu Yu's chest. "The Stamina and Chakra Reserves parameter refers more to physical stamina, to the total amount of chakra—but chakra has not only quantity, but also quality. Quality. Tough chakra forged through hardship can easily crush chakra ten or even a hundred times its volume. Remember that."

So it was all about mindset...

Then again, chakra could even return from the world of the dead to the living world without relying on a physical body. Could anything be more mystical than that?

"I understand, Master," Wu Yu said.

"What did you call me?" Tsunade smiled.

"I understand, Auntie," Wu Yu said.

Tsunade smiled, lifted Wu Yu's chin, and lightly kissed his forehead before turning and walking away across the water.

You say I have no sense of propriety, but aren't you an old flirt yourself?

Wu Yu touched his forehead and called after Tsunade's retreating figure, "Oh, right! How do you test Yin Release and Yang Release chakra attributes? Chakra Paper can't test them at all!"

Without even turning her head, Tsunade waved a hand. "Genin squad assignments are tomorrow. Ask your Jonin team leader!"

Her lingering words rippled across the water as Tsunade vanished with a whoosh. That was definitely more than Speed 5!

The red Slug swallowed the two large scrolls back into its stomach for safekeeping, then vanished in a puff of smoke as well.

"I forgot to ask the Slug—was Hashirama's thing really Sage Mode from Shikkotsu Forest?"

Wu Yu had a heap of questions accumulated from his days as a Naruto reader, but none of that had anything to do with his current efforts in training. Better to keep his feet on the ground and continue building from the basics.

Sasuke Uchiha opened his eyes at six in the morning. He thought he had gotten up quite early, but when he went downstairs and found no sign of Wu Yu anywhere, he realized there were people even more hardworking than himself.

Having graduated, he no longer needed to attend school, and with the Genin squad assignment briefing not until tomorrow, he had nothing to do today.

After washing up and getting ready, Sasuke made some rice balls to bring along, took his ninja tool pouch, and headed to the small training ground in the backyard. Starting with basic ninja tools such as Shuriken, Kunai, and wire, he trained his ninja skills one by one.

He practiced Taijutsu against a wooden post with heavy thuds...

Imagining that damned Itachi Uchiha before him, he fiercely spat out the Great Fireball Technique, reducing him to ashes...

This was more or less all the training Sasuke Uchiha could do on his own.

After practicing all morning, he panted wearily as he bit into a rice ball. Then he suddenly thought of the Fire Release and Lightning Nature Transformation chakra attributes he had tested yesterday, as well as the nature transformation training Wu Yu had mentioned...

How was one supposed to train Lightning Nature Transformation?

Sasuke quickly finished eating and returned to the apartment, where he discovered that the extra rice balls and sushi had not been touched.

"Did he go back to his own home?"

Sasuke went out to look around. Before long, he heard movement in the old residential district. When he reached the pond, he saw two figures battling each other atop the water.

One of them was Wu Yu. The other was a stranger—wearing a forehead protector from another ninja village, presumably another one of Wu Yu's so-called Mysterious Clones.

Wu Yu was clearly at a disadvantage, completely suppressed in Taijutsu by the unfamiliar ninja.

"Pfft!" The stranger slashed a bloody wound diagonally across Wu Yu's chest and abdomen with a Kunai, deep enough to expose bone. Wu Yu's expression twisted as he kicked backward, sending the other man's Kunai flying.

Impressive Taijutsu, Sasuke thought.

The blood-dripping Kunai spun through the air.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Wu Yu, covered in blood, and the unfamiliar ninja formed Seals at the same time.

Plop. The Kunai fell into the water.

Wind Release: Breakthrough!

The unfamiliar ninja spat out a gale. The wind pressure forced the water's surface downward, even crushing Wu Yu himself beneath the water... When the gale passed, Wu Yu suddenly sprang out from beneath the rolling waves, seized the unfamiliar ninja by the shoulder, and unleashed the Fire Release Chakra he had condensed through hand seals straight into his face!

Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!

"Ahhhhh..." Even standing on the pond's bank, Sasuke Uchiha could hear the other man's screams as he was scorched by the blazing fire.

This was just training. Did it really have to be this brutal?

Sasuke Uchiha stared wide-eyed. Soon, he saw the unfamiliar ninja's Mysterious Clone dispel with a "poof" amid the flames. Wu Yu, having finished breathing fire, could no longer hold himself up and dropped to his knees on the wavering, heat-steaming water.

Even from afar, Sasuke could see that Wu Yu's chest was a bloody, mangled mess. He lay sprawled over the water's surface, coughing up blood repeatedly. Then he looked toward Sasuke on the bank, raised his burned arm and pointed behind Sasuke, before he too vanished into a puff of white smoke with a "poof."

"..." Sasuke Uchiha turned around stiffly. Sure enough, Wu Yu was standing behind him.

This was Wu Yu's real body.

Probably... right?

At the same time, Wu Yu received the memories of his Shadow Clone, as well as the memories from the Mysterious Clone's observer perspective while it had fought the Shadow Clone to the death. The former could serve as genuine training experience, while the latter could be used as training reference from an observer's perspective.

Then he noticed the complicated look in Sasuke's eyes...

Wu Yu weighed the props he had just found in his hand and smiled. "Want to train together? I happened to find a few little tools. They should help with your Lightning Nature Transformation training."

Sasuke ignored him and pointed toward the middle of the water where the fight had just taken place. "You've already learned Fire Release?"

"Yeah. Honestly, it wasn't that hard." Wu Yu smiled. "My hardware specs might be pretty average, but when it comes to software, I've got a little confidence."

"You can even walk on water..." Sasuke Uchiha said with a complicated expression. "At your level, you already seem like a qualified ninja. How did you get sent back to the Ninja Academy to repeat your studies twice?"

Was becoming a Genin really this difficult? Was I actually qualified to become a ninja? I...

Sasuke began to question his life.