Learning to Climb Trees

After confirming that his eyes were fine, Yashui headed to the Uchiha training ground.

Sure enough, Sasuke was training there.

The training ground belonged to the Uchiha Clan. Although Yashui was also an Uchiha, he was officially part of the Sarutobi Clan. If he wanted to train here, he would have to get permission from the current head of the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke Uchiha.

But Sasuke was completely absorbed in his training. This didn't seem like a good time to bother him. Yashui wouldn't have liked being interrupted while training, either.

Sasuke's training was simple. Apart from the physical conditioning he did every day, he practiced Shurikenjutsu. He kept throwing shuriken at targets in the same spot, which never moved.

Sasuke practiced Shurikenjutsu over and over, like a machine mindlessly repeating the same mechanical motions.

Yashui knew that the spot and the targets had been left by Uchiha Itachi. Sasuke had kept up this training, perhaps because he missed the Uchiha Clan of the past and hated Uchiha Itachi.

Watching Sasuke train like this made Yashui's eyes ache faintly again.

"Ah..." Yashui cried out in pain. It seemed to have grown a little worse. Whenever anything involved the Uchiha Clan, something strange happened to his eyes.

"What? You're here, Sarutobi?" Sasuke had spotted Yashui.

Yashui quickly composed himself and put on a smile. "I heard the Uchiha Clan's training ground was pretty big, so I thought I'd come over and borrow a little space to train."

"Do whatever you want. Just don't get in the way of my training." Sasuke's tone was unbearably arrogant. When he'd finished speaking, he turned back to practicing with his shuriken.

No wonder Sasuke's progress at the Ninja Academy was so slow. He spent every day practicing something so pointless. Had he never considered that, in the entire Naruto series, nobody had ever been killed by a shuriken?

Forget shuriken. Take Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi, the techniques Sasuke would eventually become best known for. Seriously, even Amaterasu, the ultimate physical attack, never seemed to burn anyone to death.

Yashui didn't feel like talking to Sasuke while he trained like this. Sasuke was already top of his class, and the glory of being number one had blinded him, making it difficult for him to improve. Sasuke could train this way for ten years and still make less progress than he would in half a year under Kakashi.

Leaving Sasuke alone, Yashui wandered around the training ground by himself.

The Uchiha Clan's training ground was much larger than any of the others in Konoha. It also had plenty of trees imported from countries like the Land of Rivers and the Land of Grass. But they hadn't been pruned in a long time, and some of the ornamental trees had grown completely out of shape.

"This should do." Yashui looked at the tree in front of him. It was the tallest one in the entire training ground.

Yashui stepped lightly onto it without a running start. His earlier training on the cliff had taught him how to climb trees easily without one.

On his first step, Yashui used too much chakra. His foot left a faint mark on the tree.

On his second step, Yashui learned from his first attempt and tried not to use too much force. But he still failed to create enough adhesion and fell from the tree.

Undeterred, Yashui repeated the process.

After training for a while, Yashui completed the exercise. Although he'd gone down the wrong track when climbing the cliff, his overall training method had been sound. The experience he'd gained there could be applied to climbing trees, too. The two weren't much different.

At its core, tree-climbing training was simply about controlling how much chakra adhered to the soles of your feet. All he had to do was keep making adjustments until he found the right amount. After that, he just needed to get his body to remember the feeling.

Now Yashui could easily walk all the way to the top of the tree without damaging it.

But he wasn't satisfied with that. Once he'd found the right amount, he began using even less chakra. That would help him conserve it.

Striving for perfection took much longer than simply completing the task. Yashui had spent about half a day reaching his initial goal. Then he spent another four hours experimenting.

The results were worth it. Yashui finally mastered the technique of walking on trees while using the least amount of chakra possible.

It wasn't until he finished experimenting that he noticed it was completely dark. He'd been so absorbed in his training that he'd lost track of time.

"Grandpa must be worried." Yashui pictured the Third Hokage's kindly face. Last time, he hadn't told anyone where he was going, and the Sarutobi family had searched everywhere for him. He'd better hurry home this time. Who knew what they might do otherwise?

Yashui left the Uchiha Clan's training ground. When he did, he saw Sasuke still practicing. Sasuke was a very hardworking kid, even more so than Yashui.

He needed to let someone know he was leaving, so Yashui left a note before heading home. He didn't want to disturb Sasuke while he was absorbed in his training.

After getting home, Yashui ate dinner and took a bath. He realized he didn't feel especially tired.

A month of intense training had greatly improved Yashui's endurance. He smiled. Ninja missions could sometimes require long stretches without rest, so the more endurance, the better.

With nothing to do that evening, Yashui decided to find something to occupy himself. Come to think of it, he still hadn't had a proper chat with Konohamaru since arriving in this world.

Yashui gently knocked on Konohamaru's door, planning to stop by and spend some time with him.

"Come in," Konohamaru's childish voice called from inside.

Yashui opened the door and saw that Konohamaru was still doing push-ups, even at this late hour. His head was covered in sweat, and somehow those small, tender arms of his could manage dozens of push-ups in a row.

"You're working this hard. Does your family know?" Yashui admired Konohamaru. Maybe, without Naruto, Konohamaru really could have become the Seventh after Kakashi. Yashui thought that if he were that young, he wouldn't have Konohamaru's determination to keep training.

"Big Brother Yashui." Konohamaru stopped to wipe the sweat from his body. "I don't want to show everyone how hard I'm working. Hard work isn't for other people to see."

Those words left a deep impression on Yashui. How could a little blond kid say something like that? Plenty of adults couldn't even understand it. Yashui had seen every kind of awful person in his previous life, and he knew how precious Konohamaru's character was.