The Three-Legged Golden Crow said his previous disciple had completed this training in three days. Yashui had managed it in just one.
"Yashui, today's training is much like yesterday's," the Three-Legged Golden Crow said. "Just like yesterday, you need to make this rice wine boil."
"I already know how to do that." After speaking, Yashui sat down and began refining chakra.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Two feathers skimmed past Yashui's face.
The Three-Legged Golden Crow looked at Yashui with displeasure. "Don't get carried away just because you did well yesterday. You only managed to complete the training because of the Third Hokage's guidance!"
Yashui lowered his head. At that moment, he really had felt a bit smug.
"Also, a disciple should listen to his master. You can't start training before I've finished explaining." The Three-Legged Golden Crow continued, "Today, you still need to make the rice wine boil. But there's a difference: you can't spend a long time refining chakra first. I want you to make the rice wine boil while refining chakra."
"But..." Yashui thought this training sounded impossible. To achieve what the Three-Legged Golden Crow had described, he would have to refine chakra as quickly as he used it!
Yesterday, he had spent more than ten minutes refining enough chakra to boil the rice wine in one go. Today, he had to refine that same amount in less than a minute.
So he wouldn't waste time taking the wrong approach like yesterday, Yashui asked, "This training is meant to improve my chakra refinement speed, right?"
"You catch on quickly." The Three-Legged Golden Crow lay back down. "I'll take a nap. Call me when you manage it."
"Here's a hint: the fastest person to complete this training took half a month. It's nothing like the last exercise. There's no trick to it. You'll have to improve your strength through hard work before you can manage it."
After hearing the Three-Legged Golden Crow's words, Yashui didn't dare slack off.
Yashui figured he certainly wasn't the most talented disciple the Three-Legged Golden Crow had ever taken. If the fastest person had needed half a month to complete this training, then he might need twenty days, thirty days, or even longer.
Day after day, Yashui began his arduous path of cultivation.
The second exercise was much harder than the first. It felt as though he was back on the first day, with nothing to rely on but brute force.
Naruto had been right in the original story: there were no shortcuts to becoming stronger. Yashui might have used a little trick for the first exercise, but the second required him to tough it out through sheer effort.
And so, three days passed.
That day, while Yashui was training, his Sharingan opened on its own again, without his permission.
"Kid, I don't like that look in your eyes. Turn off your Sharingan." Even without looking at Yashui, the Three-Legged Golden Crow knew it had opened.
"I can't," Yashui replied.
After hearing Yashui's answer, the Three-Legged Golden Crow finally glanced at his Sharingan.
"There are two forces in your eyes that aren't yours, and they're fighting over them." The Three-Legged Golden Crow was puzzled. "One of them... I think I've seen it before..."
"What is it?" Yashui asked quickly. He knew there were two forces inside him: one was his own, and the other belonged to the original Yashui.
But he had no idea what this third force was. Both last time and this time, the Three-Legged Golden Crow had said there were three forces inside Yashui.
"Master, what's the third force?" Yashui asked impatiently.
"No, it's nothing. It won't affect you much for now. Use up all your chakra as quickly as you can, and stop supplying chakra to the Sharingan." The Three-Legged Golden Crow's eyes clearly told Yashui that he knew where the third force came from.
Yashui figured the Three-Legged Golden Crow wouldn't have taken him on as a disciple just to harm him. So he followed the Three-Legged Golden Crow's instructions and poured all his chakra into the rice wine.
After he had used up all his chakra, the Sharingan remained open.
Yashui panicked. He had run out of chakra, but his Sharingan was still working. Didn't that mean the chakra powering it wasn't coming from him?
All along, even though he possessed the Sharingan, he hadn't been the one using it! The thought sent a chill through Yashui.
"Yashui, do you know what the Sharingan's greatest strength is?" At this tense moment, the Three-Legged Golden Crow calmly asked him this basic question.
"G-Genjutsu?" Yashui answered weakly. He wasn't in the mood to answer questions just then.
"Exactly. But that's an incomparable ability possessed only by the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Yours has only two tomoe, so it gives you no boost to your genjutsu or resistance to genjutsu." The Three-Legged Golden Crow murmured, "Genjutsu: Evening Ten Thousand Feathers!"
Yashui and the Three-Legged Golden Crow met each other's eyes. In an instant, Yashui was pulled into the Three-Legged Golden Crow's genjutsu world.
In that world, the sun was setting, and feathers drifted down from the sky like snow.
Yashui wandered around the world, curious. Suddenly, a feather landed softly on his arm.
"Fizz, fizz..." The spot where the feather touched Yashui's arm sizzled like meat in a frying pan.
"Ah!" Yashui hurriedly flicked the feather away. By the time it was gone, the smell of roasting meat was rising from the spot on his arm.
To avoid the feathers falling from the sky, Yashui traveled a long way, searching for somewhere without any.
After walking for a long time, Yashui finally reached a place where no feathers fell. But by then, he had been hungry for days. If he didn't eat soon, he would probably starve to death in this godforsaken place.
At last, Yashui could no longer resist the smell of the meat on his arm. He began eating his own flesh. He ate the spot the feather had touched, chewing until he could see his bone.
After a good meal, he forgot the pain in his arm. He even thought his flesh tasted delicious.
Before long, Yashui was hungry again. To find food, he returned to the place where the feathers fell. This time, he offered his other arm.
Then came his feet, thighs, abs, and internal organs... In the end, he had eaten everything off his body... and finally fainted from hunger.
At the Hundred Bird Nest, Yashui collapsed the moment his eyes met the Three-Legged Golden Crow's.
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