"Then I'll repair your genjutsu trap." The Three-Legged Golden Crow glared at Yashui. "It's fixed. Can your body still manage to show me your Fire Style?"
"No problem." Yashui hated some of the things he inexplicably learned whenever he opened his Sharingan. But those things always helped him at crucial moments.
Still, Yashui didn't want to rely on a power he could barely control. He'd rather gain strength through his own training. Maybe he was diligent now, but he was afraid that one day he'd grow lazy because getting stronger this way was so quick and easy.
Yashui formed the hand seals for the Great Fireball Technique, then blew a huge fireball into the distance.
The fireball was over five meters wide, already far more powerful than Sasuke's had been when he first appeared.
Even Yashui hadn't expected this result. He'd only trained to refine and release chakra faster, yet that alone had brought a C-rank Fire Style technique to this level.
"Fire Style is the best way to test a ninja's strength. Its power doesn't depend so much on the rank of the technique as on the strength of the ninja using it. You're already more than twice as strong as you were a month ago." The Three-Legged Golden Crow was delighted as he watched.
"As for your next training, you'll have to practice at home on your own," the Three-Legged Golden Crow said.
"What's the next training?" Yashui asked.
"What I've had you train so far is the most basic of the basics. You've now mastered the techniques for refining chakra and controlling its output, so next you'll learn chakra control." The Three-Legged Golden Crow took a sip of rice wine. "The next exercise isn't something we birds train in, but you humans have to. That's tree climbing."
Yashui had heard of this exercise. It was a required lesson for every ninja.
"You can figure out the details yourself. This old man's going to take a nap." The Three-Legged Golden Crow turned away and closed his eyes.
The Three-Legged Golden Crow's teaching style really was unique. He didn't like lecturing; he preferred letting his students figure things out for themselves.
"Okay, goodbye, Master. I'll come back once I've finished." Yashui formed a seal and returned to Konoha.
There were only four days left until the Ninja Academy graduation exam. The exam was incredibly easy, and anyone could pass without much effort. Besides, after the Three-Legged Golden Crow's instruction, Yashui had grown much stronger.
He couldn't say just how strong he'd become, but at least he was now strong enough to be a competent Genin.
Yashui wasn't satisfied. He had to keep training. He felt that he needed to be strong enough to stand up to Konoha's Anbu.
Konoha was still lacking in some areas. For example, its training grounds only had a few local trees, all just a few meters tall. Taller trees were hard to find in the village.
That didn't mean shorter trees wouldn't work. Maybe Yashui was overthinking it, but he worried that if they weren't tall enough, he wouldn't be able to train.
After thinking it over, Yashui decided to climb the cliff carved with the faces of the past Hokage.
To avoid drawing attention, Yashui found a secluded place to train. Tree climbing really wasn't easy. In the anime, it seemed like anyone could do it later on, but even getting started was difficult.
Yashui looked up at the sheer cliff and pulled a Kunai from his ninja pouch. He sprinted toward it, using his momentum to run up the rock. But after only a few steps, he fell.
Before landing, Yashui marked the cliff with his Kunai. It had felt like he'd climbed quite high, but from the ground, he could see he'd only made it a little over two meters.
"I remember Naruto and Sasuke both completed this training in a single day. I may not be a genius, but I'm not bad either. I can do it!" Yashui set himself a goal, and his drive to climb surged.
With his training in chakra refinement and output speed as a foundation, Yashui made steady progress. At least now he no longer had to stop halfway to refine more chakra.
Aside from a few mistakes at the beginning, once Yashui got some experience, his progress became unstoppable. In a little over half a day, he reached the top of the cliff.
Yashui couldn't see any special technique to this exercise. All he had to do was send enough chakra into the soles of his feet to support his body.
"That's it?" Yashui stood at the top of the cliff, looking down over all of Konoha. Was this training a little too easy?
Ever since he'd started training with the Three-Legged Golden Crow a month ago, Yashui had never done anything this easy.
He sat on the cliffside and wondered, Had he really gotten that much stronger?
"Hey, kid! How did you get up here?" Suddenly, someone called out from behind him.
Yashui was so startled that he nearly fell off the cliff. If he lost his balance and went over, that would be quite the disaster.
After steadying his heartbeat, Yashui turned to look at the man standing before him.
A green, form-fitting outfit filled Yashui's vision.
Good heavens! That wasn't a person—it was a kappa that had gained human form!
Frightened by the man's appearance, Yashui stumbled backward and accidentally fell off the cliff. This time... he was really done for.
"Wait! My summoning beast is a bird, so why would I die?" Yashui said, then bit his finger. "Ninja Art: Summoning Technique!"
An eagle appeared beneath Yashui. It muttered, "The Uchiha Clan, after all this time?"
"Sorry... I nearly fell to my death before calling you out." Yashui scratched his head and quickly apologized to the eagle.
"Never mind. Are young people these days always so disrespectful to their summoning beasts?" The eagle broke into a cold sweat. "You're really terrible. You managed to fall off a cliff in the middle of training."
"Heh, heh, heh..." Yashui plastered on a smile, but inwardly he cursed the kappa who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Do you need anything else? If not, I'm going back." The eagle carried Yashui to the ground and asked, then dismissed the summoning without waiting for an answer.
"Was that your summoning beast just now? What a powerful creature." The man in the green outfit had somehow followed them down. Yashui hadn't sensed him at all.
Yashui took a closer look and realized the man before him was none other than Might Guy, the one who had nearly kicked his way into a series finale!
As expected of a Jonin. He'd come down from such a high cliff without making a sound, and he didn't even have a bead of sweat on him.
"Did you use that same method to climb the cliff, young man?" Might Guy glanced at the cliff and praised him. "To have signed a contract with such a powerful summoning beast at such a young age is truly impressive."
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