Chakra Control and Extraction

"Big Brother Yi Xiang, why do we have to bring that guy along for training?"

"What? Do you dislike Sasuke? If that's the case, let's go train somewhere else."

Yi Xiang, who was walking about half a step ahead of Naruto, suddenly turned around, appearing as if he were about to head toward a different training ground.

"Ah?!"

Naruto let out a startled cry, then hurriedly accelerated to stop in front of Yi Xiang, scratching his head with a "haha" laugh:

"Big Brother Yi Xiang, I... I didn't mean it like that. I'm just worried he'll act recklessly and not know how to pull his punches."

Seeing Yi Xiang consider his feelings so decisively, Naruto's initial reluctance suddenly turned into joy, and he thought to himself, That guy seems to have always been alone in everything he does, just like me. But I'm luckier than him, because I met Big Brother Yi Xiang.

Little rascal, still trying to act awkward with me. Yi Xiang felt a surge of pride, but he replied with an expressionless face:

"Don't worry. I'm the man who easily defeated Sasuke and took him in as my little brother, after all."

The sun scorched the earth mercilessly, the ground reflecting a dazzling glare; the two felt as if they were trapped inside a furnace.

Because of this, Yi Xiang and Naruto tried their best to stick to the shaded areas as they traveled.

When the two could finally see their destination, they were surprised to spot Sasuke already standing on the branch of a large brown tree beside the training ground.

Upon reaching him, Yi Xiang smiled at Sasuke and spoke first:

"Not bad, Sasuke. Naruto and I were ten minutes early for our agreed time, yet we still arrived at least three minutes after you."

Sasuke jumped down, landing steadily in front of the two.

"That's because you two walk too slowly. Compared to you, I just walked a little faster than an average person."

Yi Xiang didn't deny that he might have been walking too leisurely, and he continued striding in a certain direction.

"Heh... very good, full of spirit. Then follow me."

Before long, for some reason, Yi Xiang's pace became so fast that Naruto could only see Sasuke's figure from afar. If he hadn't been so familiar with this path, he would have been left behind long ago.

Sasuke also felt a sense of unease; although he could see Yi Xiang, the distance between them was slowly widening. He could only grit his teeth and rely on his sheer willpower to keep accelerating.

Beside a small stream on the outskirts of Konoha, Yi Xiang, who had arrived far ahead, pressed his hands against his thighs and began to pant heavily, sweat dripping from his face like raindrops.

"To keep up appearances... this whole way was... a full-on hundred-meter sprint. My lungs, my lungs feel like they're about to smoke."

Yi Xiang mocked himself while gasping for air, but he didn't regret doing it.

Can a big brother not care about his image? Otherwise, where would my authority as a big brother be?

Nearly a minute later, the sound of footsteps echoed through the woods.

Yi Xiang, who had been sitting down to rest, immediately stood up, quickly wiped the remaining sweat from his face with the back of his hand, and checked his reflection in the stream to tidy his clothes.

Sasuke, who had been persistent the whole way, finally crossed the lush, dense forest. When he caught sight of Yi Xiang, his eyes showed a hint of surprise, but just as he was about to let out a sigh of relief, he suddenly felt his strength drain away and collapsed onto the ground.

At this moment, Yi Xiang, who was standing on the surface of the stream doing chest-expansion exercises, seemed to notice Sasuke's arrival only then, and turned to look at him.

"Not bad speed, you caught up to me quite quickly."

Sasuke wanted to respond, but wisely chose to remain silent.

After catching his breath for a while, Sasuke stood up and looked around with a puzzled expression. "Is the purpose of coming here to practice walking on water?"

"Sasuke, don't forget you should be calling me Big Brother. As for the purpose of coming here, you're only half right."

Seeming to see that Sasuke didn't have the patience to listen to him play coy, Yi Xiang added:

"The ones who need to practice are you two. You will practice tree-climbing, and Naruto will practice water-treading."

"This training method helps ninjas improve their chakra extraction efficiency, allowing them to gather the necessary chakra to specific parts of the body and maintain a certain amount."

"Furthermore, it is crucial for improving a ninja's adaptability in complex environments."

Yi Xiang immediately demonstrated tree-climbing for Sasuke just as he had done for Naruto.

Feeling that his recovered chakra was sufficient, Sasuke quickly took out a kunai and began to try.

To no surprise of Yi Xiang, Sasuke only managed to walk four steps up the tree before turning and landing, leaving a small crack in the brown bark.

At this moment, footsteps sounded in the woods again, and Naruto, who had been lagging behind, dashed out in a single bound.

Yi Xiang looked at Naruto, who had arrived quite late, and noticed that although he was panting heavily and looked exhausted, he said with a touch of helplessness:

"Naruto, still trying to fool me? Once you realized I was heading in this direction, the destination was obvious. After all, we haven't spent all that time fishing for nothing. You must have sprinted the last fifty or sixty meters."

Seeing that he couldn't hide it from Yi Xiang, Naruto simply stopped acting, immediately returning to his energetic self before flashing a slightly embarrassed, silly grin at Yi Xiang.

"Alright, you've come at the right time. You should have fully mastered tree-climbing by now; demonstrate it once here."

Noticing that Sasuke nearby had clearly just started his tree-climbing practice, Naruto wouldn't miss this rare opportunity to show off and immediately walked over to a large tree.

Whether intentional or not, this tree was the closest one to where Sasuke was training. Sasuke continued to try, but his peripheral vision was secretly fixed on Naruto.

Naruto did not disappoint Yi Xiang; in fact, Yi Xiang was slightly surprised, as Naruto walked steadily upside down to the very top of the tree and hung firmly from the trunk.

Seeing this, Sasuke's expression showed a hint of surprise, which quickly shifted into one of intense focus. If that dead-last can do it, I definitely can too. It's just going to take some time.

Naruto, surprised not to see Sasuke, stubbornly showed off a few more times.

Yi Xiang found it amusing and immediately called out, "Naruto, that's enough. I know you've mastered it; let's move on to the next stage of training."

Yi Xiang turned and stepped onto the surface of the stream to demonstrate for Naruto, explaining, "The principle of water walking is to use chakra to form a repulsive force, allowing a ninja to stand on the water's surface."

"Furthermore, due to the instability and fluidity of water, walking on it is more challenging than climbing trees."

"Therefore, Naruto, you will need to spend more time and energy practicing this. I believe you will master it soon; I'll come back later to check on you."

After saying this, Yi Xiang walked toward the forest, showing no intention of staying to train together.

"Hey, dead-last, that... is he always like this? Can he get stronger without training?"

Once Yi Xiang had entered the forest, Sasuke asked with a mix of curiosity and doubt.

"Bastard, if you call me dead-last again, see if I don't beat you into the ground!"

Naruto glared at Sasuke indignantly before adding, "I rarely see Big Brother Yi Xiang train, but he is very strong. Every time, I get defeated by his Fire Style ninjutsu."

Meanwhile, as Yi Xiang approached at a steady pace, he finally located the source of the sound he had heard on the way here. That familiar voice grew clearer and clearer as it drew closer.