Hardship Was Just Hardship

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

When he saw Yuichi, Kakashi Hatake stopped swinging his sword. Sarutobi Asuma and Uchiha Obito also stopped what they were doing and gathered around.

Yuichi glanced over. Only Might Guy was still hopping like a frog, completely absorbed and oblivious to everything around him.

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

"That obviously doesn't look like food." Sarutobi Asuma patted him on the shoulder and said helplessly, "Looks like it's something for training?"

Sarutobi Asuma looked at Yuki Yuichi, uncertain.

"They're crash mats." Yuki Yuichi hadn't said a word, but Kakashi Hatake answered for him.

"Huh, Copy Ninja, you actually know what those are?"

Yuki Yuichi looked at Kakashi Hatake in surprise. He'd thought they wouldn't know about them since they hadn't started practicing tree climbing or Water Walking yet.

After all, they were vacuum-packed, so they didn't look much like the actual thing. He hadn't expected Kakashi Hatake to know what they were.

At Yuichi's words, Kakashi Hatake glanced at him. They had one at home, and he'd bought it with his father.

Of course he knew what it was.

"So why did you buy them?"

"To train our chakra control, of course." Yuki Yuichi answered without hesitation. It wasn't a secret, so he might as well tell them.

"Tree climbing and Water Walking are effective ways to train chakra control, and those two techniques can also be used in all sorts of situations."

"For example, when you're standing on water or a wall, you can ignore obstacles and walk straight up walls or trees. You can also run across the surface of the water, and so on."

"This is something I heard from other shinobi."

"And once your chakra control improves, ninjutsu become easier to learn, and you can control the chakra in your body more precisely."

"It's a win all around."

"Awesome!" Uchiha Obito's eyes lit up at that, and Sarutobi Asuma looked just as excited.

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

Now that they'd heard about it, they were naturally eager to try.

Seeing their reaction, Yuki Yuichi gave them a mysterious smile. "I bought two."

As he spoke, he shook the crash mats in his hands.

"We can split the cost and share them."

"What do you think?" Yuki Yuichi asked, looking at Uchiha Obito.

Might Guy came over just then. Hearing him, he scratched his head and raised his hand. "Um... I'd like to join too."

"No problem!"

Sarutobi Asuma looked at the two mats in Yuichi's hands and nodded as well.

He didn't have much allowance, and he was currently at odds with his father, so the little he got was even less than usual.

This worked out perfectly. They could all chip in and share the mats for training.

Kakashi Hatake glanced at them and shook his head. "I'll pass."

"I have one at home."

"Sounds good." Yuki Yuichi nodded, not particularly surprised.

He'd only invited Kakashi Hatake and Sarutobi Asuma on the off chance one of them would join.

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

"Is that all right?"

"No problem!" Uchiha Obito said cheerfully, barely glancing at the mats in Yuichi's hands. "I'll bring you the money tomorrow!"

Sarutobi Asuma and Might Guy chimed in one after the other. "Me too."

"Same here!"

After settling things with everyone, Yuki Yuichi set the mats beneath a tree and tore open the plastic wrapping.

The deflated mats seemed to soak up the air, slowly growing bigger and softer.

"Awesome!"

Uchiha Obito and Might Guy exclaimed in surprise when they saw it.

They'd never seen anything vacuum-packed before.

"Looks like I'll have to work even harder!"

"If even a crash mat can persevere, then my youth can't fade either!" Might Guy shouted, then ran off to train again.

Watching him go, Yuki Yuichi fell silent.

How did he even connect a crash mat to youth?

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

"Once you and Kurenai have learned tree climbing, we'll take our turn."

Sarutobi Asuma's suggestion had Uchiha Obito nodding in agreement. "That's right. We may have chipped in together, but you two are training first. And if you hadn't explained it to us, we still wouldn't know we could train this way!"

"So you two go first!"

Uchiha Obito seemed reckless and unreliable, but when it mattered, he could be pretty dependable.

Sarutobi Asuma patted him on the shoulder, then led him away before Yuki Yuichi could say anything.

"Let's see who can master their jutsu first!"

"I definitely won't lose to you!"

"No way. I'm the one who'll win!"

"Then let's find out!"

Yuhi Kurenai walked over to Yuki Yuichi and looked at Sarutobi Asuma and Uchiha Obito, smiling. "Those two are close."

"Uh..." Yuki Yuichi paused, thinking of Nohara Rin, then glanced at Kakashi Hatake, who was practicing his sword swings.

Nohara Rin hadn't shown any interest in Kakashi Hatake yet.

Uchiha Obito and he didn't get along particularly well, but things were still within normal bounds.

But later, things might get chaotic.

Yuki Yuichi stroked his chin, thinking to himself, Could Nohara Rin have seen what's under Copy Ninja's mask?

He shook his head and stopped himself from dwelling on it.

"Let's start training!"

As he spoke, he looked at the two crash mats beneath the big tree.

He vaguely remembered someone in the original story getting covered in bruises while practicing tree climbing.

Had it never occurred to them to use a crash mat?

Even if they didn't have one, they could have put something soft underneath.

Were they trying to temper themselves through hardship and pain?

Yuki Yuichi had always believed that hardship was just hardship. It didn't lead to success.

Hardship wasn't worth pursuing. You endured it to strengthen your will because there was no way around it...

Once you learned to endure hardship and willingly accepted it, you'd spend your whole life suffering.

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

This time, he planned to feel the flow of chakra in his feet.

Uncle Shinku had said that chakra had two properties: repulsion and attraction. Yuichi didn't know how chakra, formed from the combination of physical energy from the body's cells and spiritual energy, could have properties like repulsion and attraction.

But Yuki Yuichi could only follow that line of thought.