Qingyu steeled himself and walked over to the wall. He gathered chakra in the soles of his feet and tried to step onto it...
GOOGLE SEARCH TWKAN
Smack.
Qingyu slid down and landed on his butt, grimacing in pain.
He even felt like his tailbone had shifted out of place. And that fall had made the patient in the next bed pull the curtain shut even faster.
Damn it, had they never heard of bonds?
Patient in the next bed: You can lie to yourself, but don't lie to your buddies.
"Your chakra output is unstable," Tobirama analyzed in his mind.
"The chakra layer on the soles of your feet is off by more than 20%, resulting in uneven adhesion."
"Your posture is way too ugly!" Izuna said disdainfully.
"We Uchiha walk on walls with grace. What kind of look is that?"
Qingyu got back to his feet, close to tears. "Could you two teachers give me some constructive advice?"
"Try again," Shisui encouraged him.
"Imagine there's an invisible layer of glue between your soles and the wall. You need to control its stickiness... Not too sticky, but not too loose, either."
Qingyu took a deep breath and tried again.
This time he lasted two seconds before sliding down again.
"Progress!" Shisui clapped. "You went from 1.2 seconds to 2.1!"
Qingyu: "..." Even saying that much progress out loud was embarrassing. He couldn't even last three seconds...
For the next half hour, muffled smacks kept echoing through the hospital room.
In the next bed, the patient woke up. He looked over blearily, then quietly pulled the curtain shut too, pretending he didn't exist.
Sigh, the Uchiha kids sure got up to some wild stuff!
Qingyu: ???
Finally, on his twenty-seventh attempt, Qingyu managed to walk three meters along the wall. His posture was as twisted as a crab's, but at least he didn't fall.
"Congratulations!" Shisui handed him a canteen.
"Take a five-minute break, then we'll move on to the next exercise."
Qingyu slumped to the floor, panting. "There's... there's more?"
"Of course." Shisui pulled a small box out of his ninja tool pouch.
Inside... were a bunch of wooden blocks about the size of soybeans?
"Exercise two: fine chakra control."
Shisui picked up a wooden block. "Use chakra to make it float and keep it steady. The goal is to control three blocks at once and keep them floating for ten seconds."
Qingyu looked at the little wooden blocks and felt a headache coming on.
Why was this training starting to feel more and more like some kind of "psychic power development course"? Wasn't this supposed to be the ninja world?
He wasn't Eleven, the telekinetic master with a nosebleed.
He was an Uchiha!
Even if he hadn't awakened his Sharingan yet...
[Ping!]
[System Notice: Special training scenario detected]
[Time-Limited Mission Triggered: Devil Instructor in the Ward]
[Mission Objective: Complete three special hospital-room training exercises under Shisui's guidance (chakra adhesion walking, fine chakra control, tactical simulations)]
[Mission Rewards: Depending on completion, unlock "Chakra Control +5%" or "Gain 1 random Ninjutsu Insight from Shisui"]
[Failure Penalty: Shisui's Favorability -1 (He'll still smile at you, but your training load might double~)]
Qingyu looked at the system notice and gritted his teeth.
Bring it on!
For the next two hours, the hospital room became Qingyu's personal training ground.
Fine chakra control made his eyes spin... Those damn wooden blocks seemed to have minds of their own.
One moment they were flying around; the next, they were hitting the floor. Just when he finally managed to get all three floating, they collided with each other and fell.
"Your chakra threads are too thick," Tobirama coached in real time.
"They need to be fine and supple. Imagine using a strand of hair to lift something."
"Keeping three separate streams of chakra under control at once," Izuna said, unusually reasonable for once. "It's definitely a little tricky. It took me... uh... three days when I trained."
Qingyu: "..." That was less comforting than saying nothing.
Besides, it was questionable whether it had really taken him only three days.
At last, just before lunch, Qingyu managed to finish the second exercise... The three wooden blocks shook like crazy while floating, but at least he kept them up for ten seconds.
"Very good!" Shisui put the blocks away.
"That wraps up this morning's training. This afternoon, we'll do tactical simulations."
Qingyu collapsed onto the bed, relieved.
Lunch was the hospital's standard fare, just as bland as ever.
But Qingyu was too exhausted to complain... He felt completely drained, and even eating was mechanical.
After lunch, Shisui really did start the tactical simulations.
He drew a diagram on a whiteboard in the hospital room... Yes, somehow he'd gotten hold of a small whiteboard.
"Let's say your opponent is Kankuro." Shisui drew a stick figure and labeled it "Puppeteer."
"His strengths are mid- to long-range control, versatile puppets, poison, and hidden mechanisms. Your strengths are..."
He drew another stick figure on the other side. "Elemental advantages, agility, and..."
He paused and looked at Qingyu with a grin.
"Those weird little inventions of yours."
Qingyu gave an awkward laugh. "Shisui, I call that tactical innovation..."
"It's the same thing." Shisui continued drawing.
"Here's the question: If Kankuro opens by sending out Crow and Black Ant to attack you from both sides, how do you respond?"
Qingyu fell into thought.
In his mind, the two teachers joined the discussion as well:
"Take one of them out first," Izuna said decisively.
"Focus your attacks on Crow. It's fast but poorly defended. Smother its joints with Water Release, then burn it with Fire Release."
"Too risky," Tobirama countered.
"When facing two puppets at once, it's safer to spread out your attacks. Use Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire to bombard them and force them back, then create mist with Water Release to disrupt their vision."
"Too cautious! You have to take risks on the battlefield!"
"Reckless risks are just a fancy way to get yourself killed..."
"Teachers," Qingyu said meekly, raising his hand. "Can I share my idea?"
The voices in his head fell silent.
Qingyu took a deep breath and looked at the whiteboard. "I... might not attack the puppets directly."
Shisui raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Puppets are tools. Their controller is the person operating them." Qingyu pointed at the stick figure representing Kankuro on the whiteboard.
"If I can get past the puppets and attack Kankuro directly... or at least force him to move and disrupt his control..."
Shisui's eyes lit up. "Interesting! Go on."
"Kankuro needs to concentrate to control his puppets, and he isn't very fast on his feet." As Qingyu spoke, his thinking grew clearer.
"I could start by using Steam-Kill Shuriken to create a smokescreen and block his vision, then use a Shadow Clone to feint at the puppets while the real me circles around and launches a surprise attack..."
"But how will you know where he is?" Shisui asked. "You won't be able to see through the smoke, either."
Qingyu paused, then suddenly remembered the new [Byakugan Insight Youth Version] he'd acquired.
"I... can sense chakra," he said cautiously.
"My range isn't very large, but it should be enough to find him."
Shisui stared at him for a few seconds, then smiled. "Good! That's a much smarter approach than simply charging headfirst at the puppets."
He erased the whiteboard and drew again. "Next scenario: What if your opponent is Temari?"
The tactical simulations continued until three in the afternoon.
Qingyu felt like his brain's CPU was overheating again, but he'd gained a lot from it.
Shisui lived up to his reputation as the genius known as Body Flicker Shisui. His tactical ideas were wild but remarkably practical, and he came up with angles Qingyu had never considered.
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