First Encounter with Haku

While Kakashi taught the three youngsters to improve their chakra control by climbing trees, Jimo also began his own training.

Kakashi remarked that Jimo's chakra control had even surpassed his own. After all, he himself certainly couldn't precisely control a Chakra Jade to shatter Zabuza's water dragon from such a distance.

Moreover, Jimo had learned the tree-climbing method long ago.

"Brother Jimo, can you teach me how to get stronger?" Tazuna's grandson gathered his courage and came to Jimo.

They'd had an unpleasant incident earlier while Kakashi was resting. But after seeing Jimo trounce the dozen or so men Gato had sent, the boy changed his opinion of them.

Or rather, he changed his opinion of Jimo alone.

"You're still too young, Inari. Training too early will stunt your growth!" Jimo ruffled Inari's head. Unlike the dead-eyed kid from the original story, Inari's cheeks were soft and chubby.

Clearly well-fed by Tazuna and Tsunami.

Jimo pulled out a few coins and had Inari help buy food for lunch, while he himself went to a waterfall.

"This world has no gravity chamber, and I can't find enough weights to make Master Roshi's shell," Jimo said, stripping off his clothes as he looked at the cascading waterfall. He dove straight in.

By now, he had developed the Kamehameha—Little Goku's Self-Taught Version into the Kamehameha—Beginner Version on his own.

He'd also advanced the Afterimage Fist into the Double Afterimage Fist.

But it wasn't enough. Far from enough. From his fight with Zabuza's clone, he could tell his strength, though considerable, was only a bit greater than an average adult's.

Jimo trained his body under the pounding water, and even Sakura, who brought him lunch, called him a "freak."

"This kid's taijutsu talent... it'd be good to send him to train under Gai," Kakashi muttered, sitting in a tree while teaching the three youngsters and watching Jimo in the distance.

Training continued all day, but Jimo still felt he was falling behind schedule. So he told everyone he wouldn't return to Tazuna's house and would just camp here.

Kakashi could sense that Jimo's chakra reserves had increased terrifyingly during this period of training.

So he advised Jimo not to push his potential too hard, had Naruto and the others bring him a tent and sleeping bag, then led the team back.

An average chunin would struggle to threaten Jimo now.

The next morning, Jimo hadn't yet woken from the previous day's exhaustion.

He heard rustling sounds outside his tent.

Opening the tent, he saw a woman with hair flowing like a waterfall crouching nearby, gathering medicinal herbs.

The woman turned back, saw the waking Jimo, and froze for a moment.

"Yo, morning!" Jimo rubbed his eyes and put on the clothes that had been drying by the campfire all night.

"How can you sleep here? Aren't you afraid of the wild animals?" The woman's smile was gentle, as if it could melt frost.

"Nope! The wild animals here are all my friends..." Jimo clapped his hands, and two gray wolves darted out of the forest.

"Big Gray, Second Gray, catch any prey?"

The two wolves wagged their tails as if they understood.

"None? Then come eat breakfast with me!"

Jimo went to the river, and a single Chakra Jade exploded in the water, sending plenty of fresh fish leaping onto the bank.

"Why does this system keep unlocking skills that look useless..." Jimo muttered to himself.

After perfecting the Kamehameha, the system had sent him a gift pack, and among a pile of junk skills and items, he'd chosen "Chopper's Translation."

So last night before bed, he'd subdued everything in this forest, from black bears to rabbits.

Jimo skewered the fish on branches and set them to roast by the fire, then started washing up nearby.

"What are you doing here, big sister? Not many people come this way."

"I'm gathering medicinal herbs!" The woman said, showing Jimo the herbs in her basket.

"That sounds tough..."

"So does your training, getting up this early."

Jimo split into several shadow clones to help her collect herbs, leaving the woman stunned.

After a while, she thanked him and hurriedly left.

Deep in the forest, Zabuza's hideout.

"You saw that brat?" Zabuza lay in bed, waiting for Haku to apply his medicine.

"I did. He's a very interesting little one."

"Do you think you can hold him off?" Zabuza turned his head to ask.

"I... will do my best..." Haku thought of Jimo's terrifying chakra reserves and his physical strength that could move freely under a waterfall's pounding, and could only answer that way.

"Is that so... He's gotten stronger again in this time... Konoha's genin are all monsters..."

Because of Jimo's interference, Zabuza's injuries were far more severe than originally, while Kakashi completed his recovery training earlier than expected.

Seeing Jimo temper his body under the waterfall's pressure and achieve a qualitative leap in chakra reserves, Kakashi joined the training too.

"Jimo... is this how you usually train...?" Kakashi sat with difficulty under the waterfall, condensing his chakra. He found that this method indeed allowed his chakra to grow slowly.

At the same time, Jimo's freakishness refreshed his understanding... This kid was just like Gai—a complete physical freak... No, he was even more of a freak than Gai.

Naruto and Sasuke were also curious about this training method and joined in, but as soon as they dove into the waterfall, the powerful current pinned them against the rocks, nearly suffocating them.

If Kakashi and Jimo hadn't noticed in time, the two would have been the first ninjas killed by a waterfall.

Inari watched everyone, his perception of them already completely different.

Although Jimo didn't teach Inari ninjutsu, he did teach him the Turtle Hermit Fist.

"Remember, what I'm teaching you is just the basics! Exercise well, study well, play well, eat well, rest well! That's my motto! Live a truly fulfilling life! Your strength is meant to protect the things you cherish, not to use violence or oppress others!"

Jimo passed on the tenets of the Turtle Hermit School to Inari and helped him successfully find his sense of qi.

From now on, his training would depend on his own self-discipline.

In the following days, just as Jimo had said, he stopped training entirely. He spent his time either playing with Inari and teaching him the basics, helping Tazuna at the construction site, or accompanying Lady Tsunami on shopping trips.

In short, he never went back to train in the jungle.