Training

Early the next morning, Houka got up bright and early. He made breakfast for three, ate his own portion, then grabbed the other two and ran over to Uchiha Obito's house next door.

"Obito, are you up yet?!"

"Hehe, so it's Houka. Come on in." An elderly woman came out of the house, bent over and smiling warmly at him.

She was Uchiha Obito's grandmother.

"Grandma." Houka smiled and handed her the breakfast.

"Hehe, thank you so much, Houka."

The old woman saw how considerate he was, and a happy smile spread across her face.

As Houka stepped inside Obito's house, he looked around and found that it was quite similar to his own.

"Houka, sit for a while. I'll go wake Obito." The old woman smiled.

"No need, Grandma. I just wanted to ask if you have any equipment, like a punching bag, that could help me build my stamina." Houka got straight to the point.

The old woman tilted her head and thought for a moment, then nodded. "Ah, I remember. Obito's father couldn't awaken his eyes when he was young, so he trained in Taijutsu all the time. Later, after he awakened them, he threw all that equipment away. I couldn't bear to see it go to waste, so I secretly collected it. It should be in the little shed in the backyard."

It was called a little shed, but it looked more like a doghouse. Houka stuck his upper body inside and rummaged around for a long while before finally pulling out a pile of assorted equipment.

There were leg weights, weighted sandbags, iron blocks, bandages—quite a lot of stuff.

"Houka, are you going to train in Taijutsu?" The old woman sighed beside him. "Our families have always been neighbors, and even our fates are so similar. Awakening the Sharingan is just so difficult."

Of course, Houka wasn't going to tell her that he had already awakened his eyes. He smiled and said, "Grandma, Taijutsu trained to its highest level is no weaker than the Sharingan."

In the final battle of the original story, Might Guy opened the last of the Eight Inner Gates, the Gate of Death. The explosive power of his attack had even made Six Paths Madara, who had awakened the Rinnegan, cry out "Yamete, yamete!" He had almost KO'd him!

"Houka, you're still young. You must be careful not to hurt yourself when training in Taijutsu." The old woman was truly kind and gentle, nothing like someone from the Uchiha Clan.

"I understand. Thank you, Grandma."

After thanking her, Houka struggled to carry the equipment home and began strapping it on.

He tied one-kilogram sandbags to each leg to train his leg muscles.

Then he tied half-kilogram sandbags to his arms to train those muscles.

As soon as he put them on, he noticed the difference. Walking felt as though gravity had grown stronger, and forming Hand Seals became even more difficult. His hands felt stiff.

"This is only the beginning. I'll get used to it soon!"

Houka wasn't about to give up so easily. He wore the weights from dawn till dusk, trying to get used to them as quickly as possible.

Thud!

"Ugh, that hurts!"

After falling from the tree yet again, Houka rubbed his backside and struggled to his feet.

With the weights strapped on, climbing a tree—which used to be easy—now felt unfamiliar. He couldn't maintain his balance with Chakra at all.

As for Water Walking, that was even more out of the question.

"Maybe I'm trying to run before I can walk?"

By rights, since he had awakened his eyes, he should focus on developing his Sharingan. With it, he could surely reach the peak of life.

But when he thought of the monsters from the Fourth Shinobi World War, could he really get by with only the Sharingan?

As he pondered, Houka's gaze gradually grew firm. Since he had come to this world, he couldn't let his life pass by in mediocrity. Even if he couldn't reach the summit in this life, he would die on the road leading there!

Over the next few days, Houka stopped practicing tree climbing and Water Walking, though he continued refining Chakra and practicing Hand Seals. Instead, he started training his body, sweating it out in the courtyard every day. Push-ups, sit-ups, squats—he threw himself into every exercise he could think of.

With such intense training, his body inevitably struggled to keep up. On top of that, his daily meals were only enough to fill his stomach, so Houka grew thinner and thinner.

"Houka, you're training way too hard. Your body won't be able to take it!" Seeing him grow thinner by the day, Obito felt worried for him.

"It's fine. I'll get used to it."

Houka was cooking. As he spoke, he picked up the iron pan and gave it a few shakes to spread the heat more evenly.

He still had weights strapped to his arms, yet acted as though they weren't there. His skinny arms had already begun to show wiry muscles.

After lunch, Houka sent the chattering Uchiha Obito away and continued his training.

After several days of intense training, Houka had grown used to the weights. He started climbing trees and practicing Water Walking again, getting accustomed to the extra weight. This gave him ever better control over his body, and his Chakra became more responsive.

Tap, tap, tap.

Houka walked across the small pond. Ripples spread beneath his feet, reflecting his blurry little face.

Then he began forming Hand Seals.

Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger!

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A violent force gathered in Houka's throat. Inspiration struck, and he blew forward.

Boom!

A basketball-sized fireball shot from his mouth, flying straight toward a dead tree trunk ahead.

Crack, crack!

The moment it hit the trunk, the fireball exploded with a roar, blasting the tree into pieces.

Houka's eyes widened. He could hardly believe it.

The last time he had practiced this technique had been a few days ago, and he had failed every time. He never expected to succeed on the first try now!

Feeling the power within his body, Houka seemed to understand something.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, Houka's legs gave way and he fell straight into the small pond. His focus had slipped, causing a slight change in the Chakra beneath his feet and throwing off his balance.

"Ugh, I still need to get more proficient."

Houka climbed out of the pond, hurriedly took a bath, then started adding more weight!

Before, he had worn one-kilogram weights on each leg. Now he raised them to two kilograms, doubling the load.

The same went for his arms: he increased the weights from half a kilogram to one kilogram.

The doubled load made all four limbs feel heavy. Then they grew stiff, and even his blood seemed to be having trouble circulating.

Houka didn't hesitate. He immediately began running laps around the courtyard. Before long, his blood was pumping throughout his body.

"I'm exhausted."

After running for a little over ten minutes, Houka was panting.

"No, I have to run for another ten minutes!"

Houka gritted his teeth and pressed on, determination shining in his eyes.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes...

At last, the ten minutes were up.

Thump!

Houka collapsed onto the ground—or rather, the weights on his hands and feet dragged him down. Sweat quickly soaked the weeds beneath him.

"Huff, huff... Why do the weights feel heavier and heavier..."

The world spun around him. Houka's vision went black, and he passed out on the spot. (To be continued...)