Zhengyi's Gym

In fact, one small matter is enough to reveal the unfairness of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Recently, a major event occurred in Konoha: twelve-year-old Kakashi became the youngest Jonin in Konoha's history, and the newspapers were plastered with propaganda about this genius.

They also took the opportunity to promote Kakashi's teacher, Minato Namikaze, the most outstanding Jonin of Konoha's younger generation.

Yet Zhengyi, who had rendered meritorious service on Konoha's northeastern front, was left out in the cold.

The newspapers rarely mentioned his great achievements.

Orochimaru, sitting in his office, felt that even if he had some friction with his student, the fact that his student had achieved such a great feat without receiving a single commendation was truly unjustifiable, so he went to find Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Regarding this, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood by the window and explained earnestly, "Orochimaru, this teacher has his own considerations."

"Zhengyi is still too young; heavily promoting his excellence would only be detrimental to him."

"The Seven Ninja Swordsmen established by Kirigakure have as their primary mission the assassination of geniuses from various ninja villages while they are still young. The leaders of other villages are also narrow-minded. You should remember the incident where Kushina was abducted by the Cloud Ninja, right?"

"If Minato hadn't discovered it and followed them, perhaps..."

"Therefore, only a genius who successfully survives their growth period is a true genius."

"Is that so?" Orochimaru felt that what his teacher said made a lot of sense.

Yet he always felt something was not quite right.

But the logic was indeed sound.

Orochimaru did not want his student to be assassinated either.

Just like Nawaki, who had died in vain after stumbling into an enemy trap.

The fragility of life, indeed.

Since Zhengyi liked fitness, Orochimaru personally rewarded him with a gym. For those he deemed valuable, he was like this—never stingy with rewards.

The equipment inside was all designed by Orochimaru based on human biomechanics.

The Lat Pulldown Machine for the back, the Pec Deck Machine for the chest, the Smith Machine...

These machines could deeply exercise every part of the body.

The most formidable, however, was the Gravity Chamber Orochimaru invented for Zhengyi; it maintained 1.2 times the gravity of Earth, which was already the limit of current ninja world technology.

At that time, Orochimaru firmly believed that merit deserved reward.

On the day the gym opened, ahem, Zhengyi also started a side business. He posted flyers all over the streets and alleys of Konoha, encouraging Konoha ninjas to come and sign up for memberships.

498 Ryo a month, and it included bathing.

The main selling point was affordability, a way to earn some extra cash.

Orochimaru didn't interfere. Seeing that bathing at the gym was inconvenient, he even took two hours out of his schedule to build a water heater.

Currently, in Konoha, one had to use firewood or Fire Style to heat water for bathing.

The water heater he created could produce hot water simply by inputting chakra or plugging it in.

The opening of Zhengyi's Gym became quite convenient for the public.

Most villagers didn't like fitness, and they couldn't handle the heavy-weight equipment the ninjas used. Instead, they mostly bought monthly passes just to use the gym's showers; 498 a month for bathing was a truly tempting price.

With Zhengyi's being the only gym in all of Konoha, the customer traffic was easy to imagine.

Ever since he was provoked by Zhengyi that day, Obito had been working hard, harder, and hardest. On the battlefield, he fought bravely, and in private, he trained diligently.

Hearing that a gym had opened in Konoha where one could build muscle, he rushed over to grind as soon as he was pulled off the front lines.

He came secretly, behind everyone's back, and was even prepared to buy an annual pass.

But the gym owner...

"Why is it you?" Obito turned to leave the moment he stepped inside.

"Hey, hey, don't be like that." Seeing this, Zhengyi hurriedly went out to pull him back.

"Obito, speak with your conscience—how has this brother treated you?" Zhengyi was prepared to have a heart-to-heart with Obito.

"You?" Obito looked at him with disdain, feeling a bit aggrieved, "I only remember that day when I said Rin liked collecting seashells, and someone sent her a whole barrel."

"Yes, yes." Zhengyi felt a bit ashamed. Before Obito turned to the dark side, he was so naive, and yet he had bullied him.

Madara bullied him, and Black Zetsu bullied him too.

From the perspective of Obito's brother, this muddled fool had indeed been played for a lifetime.

"Obito-chan." Zhengyi patted Obito's shoulder solemnly.

"Act normal." Obito felt goosebumps rising all over his skin.

"Sigh." Zhengyi didn't know what else to say. The plan targeting Obito was set by Lord Madara; how could he, a mere Chunin, be a match for that person?

"Take care of yourself."

Zhengyi gifted Obito a weekly pass.

Strictly speaking, Obito belonged to Minato's faction and was their political rival; by giving him a weekly pass, he was aiding the enemy.

But...

Perhaps it was out of guilt.

Zhengyi was just that kind-hearted.

Then, a week later, Obito realized he couldn't live without the gym and signed up for an annual membership.

Minato did not take Obito with him every time he deployed for battle.

He didn't even take Kakashi.

Seeing both his students immersed in the gym, he grew curious about what kind of magic the place held.

But the Ninja War required his presence everywhere.

Minato was like a firefighter, shuttling between various battlefields, with absolutely no time to go in and take a look.

Today, Konoha's battle against Iwagakure had gone poorly, leaving only four survivors in the squad.

After Minato appeared, he utilized the Flying Thunder God technique to kill fifty ninjas in one breath, including the Iwagakure jonin Higashishinin.

Minato's might shook Iwagakure! The high command of Iwagakure discussed withdrawing their troops to avoid his sharp edge.

Ōnoki was naturally unwilling to give up the fruits of their labor, but... the fear of the Flying Thunder God user appearing once again led him to issue an order: anyone who encountered the Yellow Flash could immediately abandon their mission and flee, and the village would not hold them accountable.

It was evident that this single feat had truly displayed the backbone of Konoha.

"Flying Thunder God Technique? What kind of ninjutsu is this? Did Jonin Minato invent it?"

"It must be him! Aside from Jonin Minato, it seems we have no other ninja in Konoha so proficient with the Flying Thunder God."

"Shikouyi! Is it the Yellow Flash?!"

In an instant, all of Konoha was in an uproar.

Every street and alley was discussing the illustrious Minato Namikaze featured in the newspapers.

In the past, people only knew Minato was strong and excellent, but they had no idea he could kill fifty Rock Ninja in one go.

Furthermore, according to the newspaper's publicity, the only reason he killed fifty Rock Ninja was because there were only fifty Rock Ninja on the battlefield that day; killing fifty was far from Minato's limit.

"What's all that noise outside?"

Inside the gym, Zhengyi and Obito were pumping iron. Obito felt impatient, as his focus had been disrupted.

Kakashi was occupying a machine while reading a book—that's right, he was the one who had bought a membership just to use the showers.

The gym's business was booming; whenever male ninjas returned from the battlefield and had downtime, they would come to "torture" themselves to secrete dopamine in their brains, making the equipment hard to come by.

A group of people stared at Kakashi, as if they wanted to kill him with their glares.

Yet, Kakashi remained as steady as an old dog. He was close friends with the gym owner; this was the power of connections, something they couldn't compete with.

"Has it begun?" Zhengyi put down his equipment. From the moment Minato was hyped up as the Yellow Flash, the gears of fate began to turn.

It was from this point on that Teacher Orochimaru would gradually fall behind, eventually biting the dust.