Suffering Is Suffering

Carrying two cushions, Yuki Yuichi quickly returned to the training ground.

Upon seeing him, Kakashi Hatake stopped his sword practice, while Sarutobi Asuma and Uchiha Obito also ceased their handiwork and gathered around.

Yuki Yuichi glanced over and noticed that only Might Guy was still focused on his frog jumps, his eyes oblivious to the outside world.

"Yuichi, what are you carrying?" Uchiha Obito looked at the two flat, rolled-up bags in his hands and asked curiously, "Is it something good to eat?"

"That clearly doesn't look like food, does it?" Sarutobi Asuma patted him on the shoulder from the side, speechless. "It looks like something meant for training, right?"

Sarutobi Asuma looked at Yuki Yuichi with uncertainty.

"These are buffer cushions." Yuki Yuichi didn't speak, but Kakashi Hatake provided the answer for them.

"Huh, Copy Ninja, you actually know what these are."

Yuki Yuichi looked at Kakashi Hatake in surprise; he had assumed that since they hadn't started practicing tree-climbing or water-walking yet, they wouldn't be aware of them.

After all, since they were vacuum-sealed, they didn't look much like the real thing, so he hadn't expected Kakashi Hatake to recognize them.

Hearing Yuki Yuichi's words, Kakashi Hatake glanced at him; he had these at home, and he had even gone to buy them with his father.

Naturally, he knew what they were.

"So, why did you buy these?"

"To train chakra control, of course." Yuki Yuichi didn't hesitate; this wasn't a secret, so there was no harm in saying it.

"Tree-climbing and water-walking can effectively train chakra control, and these techniques can be applied in many places."

"For example, when standing on water or walls, you can ignore obstacles and walk vertically on walls or trees, or run across the surface of the water, and so on."

"This is information I gathered from other ninjas."

"Furthermore, once your chakra control improves, the difficulty of learning ninjutsu will decrease, and you'll be able to manipulate the chakra within your body more precisely."

"It can be said to be killing many birds with one stone."

"Sugoi!" Hearing this, Uchiha Obito's eyes lit up, and Sarutobi Asuma beside him was the same.

Although one was from the Uchiha clan and the other was the son of the Hokage, no one had ever told them about this.

Now that they heard it, they were naturally incredibly tempted.

Seeing their expressions, Yuki Yuichi revealed a mysterious smile. "I bought two."

As he spoke, he shook the buffer cushions in his hands.

"We can treat it as a joint purchase and use them together."

"How about it?" Yuki Yuichi asked, looking at Uchiha Obito.

Might Guy walked over at this moment, heard his words, scratched his head, and raised his hand. "Um... I want to join too."

"No problem!"

Sarutobi Asuma looked at the two cushions in his hands and nodded as well.

His pocket money wasn't much, and since he was at odds with his old man, his already meager allowance was even smaller.

This worked out perfectly; everyone could chip in and use them for training together.

Kakashi Hatake glanced at the group and shook his head. "I won't participate."

"I have some at home."

"That's fine." Yuki Yuichi nodded, not finding it too strange.

He had only thought to pull in Kakashi Hatake and Sarutobi Asuma if he could.

"So, there are five of us now. These buffer cushions cost five thousand ryo each, so that's two thousand ryo per person."

"Any problems with that?"

"No problem!" Uchiha Obito said nonchalantly, not even looking at the cushions in his hands. "I'll bring you the money tomorrow!"

Sarutobi Asuma and Might Guy both chimed in, "Me too."

"Me too!"

After settling things with everyone, Yuki Yuichi placed the buffer cushions under a tree and tore open the plastic packaging.

The previously shriveled cushions seemed to absorb the air, slowly expanding and becoming soft.

"Sugoi!"

Seeing this, Uchiha Obito and Might Guy exclaimed in surprise.

They had never seen anything vacuum-sealed before.

"It looks like I need to work even harder!"

"Even the buffer cushions are so tenacious; my youth cannot fade either!" Might Guy shouted and ran off to train again.

Watching his retreating figure, Yuki Yuichi fell silent.

So, how exactly did you link buffer cushions to youth?

"I'm going to train too." Sarutobi Asuma glanced at the cushions on the ground and said, "Let's just train separately."

"Wait until you and Kurenai have mastered the tree-climbing training, then we shall proceed with our own."

Sarutobi Asuma's words met with Uchiha Obito's full agreement. "That's right. Even though we're all splitting the cost, you two started training first. Besides, if you hadn't explained it to us, we wouldn't even know this kind of training was possible!"

"So, you two go ahead and train first!"

Uchiha Obito might look reckless and unreliable, but he certainly proved dependable when it mattered most.

Sarutobi Asuma patted him on the shoulder and, without waiting for Yuki Yuichi to speak, slung an arm around him and walked away.

"Let's have a contest to see who can master the ninjutsu first!"

"I definitely won't lose to you!"

"Impossible, I'm the one who will win!"

"Then let's put it to the test!"

Yuhi Kurenai walked over to Yuki Yuichi's side, looked toward Sarutobi Asuma and Uchiha Obito, and offered a smile. "They have a really good relationship, don't they?"

"Uh..." Yuki Yuichi paused, his thoughts drifting to Nohara Rin, then glancing at Kakashi Hatake, who was busy practicing his sword swings.

At this moment, Nohara Rin had yet to show any signs of affection for Kakashi Hatake.

Although Uchiha Obito didn't quite get along with him, it was still within the realm of normalcy.

But things might get chaotic in the future.

Yuki Yuichi rubbed his chin, thinking to himself, Could it be that Nohara Rin saw what the Copy Ninja looks like under his mask?

With that thought, Yuki Yuichi shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it any further.

"Let's start training!"

As he spoke, he turned his gaze toward the two cushioning pads placed at the base of the large tree.

He vaguely remembered that in the original story, some people had ended up covered in bruises and injuries while practicing tree climbing.

Did they really not know to set up a cushion?

Even if they lacked the resources, placing something soft underneath would have sufficed.

Could it be that they wanted to temper themselves through hardship and pain?

Yuki Yuichi had always believed that hardship was just hardship; hardship did not bring success.

Hardship was not worth pursuing, and one only tempered their will because hardship was unavoidable...

Once you learn to endure suffering and become willing to suffer, you are destined to suffer for a lifetime.

Yuki Yuichi thought this to himself, but his movements didn't falter in the slightest as he stepped onto the tree trunk once more.

This time, he prepared to focus on the flow of chakra in his feet.

Uncle Shinku had said that chakra possessed both repulsive and attractive properties, though he didn't know how chakra, generated by the combination of physical energy and spiritual energy, could have such properties.

Still, Yuki Yuichi could only follow that line of reasoning.