Learn to Climb Trees

After confirming that his eyes were back to normal, Yashui headed to the Uchiha training grounds.

Sure enough, Sasuke was training right there.

This training ground belonged to the Uchiha Clan. Although Yashui was also of the Uchiha bloodline, he was nominally a member of the Sarutobi Clan. To train here, he naturally had to greet the current head of the Uchiha Clan—Sasuke Uchiha.

However, Sasuke was currently training with such focus that it didn't seem like the right time to disturb him. If it were Yashui, he wouldn't like being interrupted during training either.

Sasuke's training routine was simple: aside from the mandatory daily physical conditioning, it was just shurikenjutsu. Sasuke kept firing at a target that never changed its position.

Sasuke repeated this shuriken practice over and over again. It was as if he were a machine capable only of repeating mechanical movements, persisting in this aimless cycle.

Yashui knew that this spot and this target had been left behind by Uchiha Itachi. The fact that Sasuke kept up this specific training suggested he was likely mourning the past Uchiha Clan and harboring hatred for Uchiha Itachi.

Seeing Sasuke train like this, Yashui's eyes began to throb with a faint, dull pain.

"Ah..." Yashui cried out in pain; the sensation seemed to have intensified slightly. Every time he involved himself with the Uchiha Clan, his eyes would show some sort of abnormality.

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

Yashui quickly adjusted his demeanor, putting on a smile as he said, "I heard the Uchiha Clan's training grounds were quite spacious, so I wanted to come over and borrow some space to train."

"Suit yourself. Just don't get in the way of my training." Sasuke's tone was incredibly arrogant; after saying this, he turned back to his shuriken practice.

It was no wonder Sasuke's progress at the Ninja Academy was so slow. It turned out he spent every day practicing such meaningless things. Not to mention, throughout the entire Naruto series, one could hardly recall anyone ever being killed by a shuriken.

Setting aside shuriken, let's look at the techniques Sasuke would eventually master: Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi. In the manga, one rarely saw anyone actually burned to death by the "strongest physical attack," Amaterasu.

Yashui didn't want to say much more to Sasuke while he trained like this. Sasuke was already the top student in his class, and the glory of that rank had blinded him, making it very difficult for him to improve. Even if Sasuke trained like this for ten years, it wouldn't be as effective as spending half a year under Kakashi.

Ignoring Sasuke, Yashui wandered around the training grounds on his own.

The scale of the Uchiha Clan's training grounds was far larger than any other in Konoha. There were many trees imported from countries like the Land of Rivers and the Land of Grass. However, these trees hadn't been pruned in a long time, and some species intended for landscaping had grown into unrecognizable shapes.

"This one will do." Yashui looked at the tree in front of him; it was the tallest one in the entire training ground.

Yashui stepped onto it lightly; he didn't use a running start. The training on the rock wall earlier had taught him how to climb trees easily without needing a head start.

On the first step, Yashui's chakra control was a bit too excessive, leaving a slight footprint on the tree.

On the second step, Yashui applied the lesson from the first, not daring to use too much force. As a result, he failed to form enough adhesion and fell from the tree.

Yashui didn't get discouraged and began repeating the steps he had just taken.

After training for a while, Yashui completed the exercise. In truth, although he had fallen into a misconception while climbing the rock wall earlier, the general training method was sound. The experience gained from the rock wall could be directly applied to tree climbing. The difference between the two wasn't significant.

At the end of the day, tree-climbing training was just about mastering the amount of chakra to adhere to the soles of one's feet. As long as one adjusted through constant trial and error to find the optimal level, all that remained was to let the body memorize the sensation.

Now, Yashui could easily walk to the very top of the tree without damaging the bark.

But Yashui wasn't satisfied with just that. He began to reduce his chakra supply even further beyond the necessary amount. He did this to conserve chakra.

Striving for perfection took much longer than simply completing the task. It had taken Yashui the better part of a day to meet his initial training goal, but this new attempt took him over four hours.

The result was quite good; Yashui had finally mastered the technique of walking on trees using the absolute minimum amount of chakra.

By the time he finished his attempts, Yashui noticed that the sky had turned completely dark. He had been too absorbed in his training.

Grandfather must be worried. Yashui thought of the Third Hokage's kind face. Last time, when Yashui hadn't told them where he was going, the Sarutobi family had searched everywhere for him. This time, Yashui needed to get home quickly, or who knew what the Sarutobi family might do.

Yashui left the Uchiha training grounds. As he departed, he saw that Sasuke was still training. Sasuke was a very hardworking child. In terms of sheer diligence, he was far more hardworking than Yashui.

One should offer a greeting before leaving, so Yashui left a note before heading home. He didn't want to disturb Sasuke, who was immersed in his own world of training.

After returning home and finishing dinner, Yashui took a shower. He found that he didn't feel too tired.

A month of high-intensity training had significantly increased Yashui's stamina. Yashui smiled; ninja missions might require long periods without rest, so having more stamina was always better.

With nothing to do in the evening, Yashui looked for something to occupy his time. Come to think of it, since arriving in this world, he hadn't really interacted much with Konohamaru.

Yashui knocked gently on Konohamaru's door, intending to go play with him.

"Come in." Konohamaru's youthful voice rang out from inside.

Opening the door, Yashui saw Konohamaru still doing push-ups late into the night. He was drenched in sweat, yet with those small, tender arms, he was managing to do dozens of push-ups in a row.

Does his family know he's working this hard? Yashui felt a sense of admiration for Konohamaru. Perhaps if Naruto hadn't been there, Konohamaru really could have become the Seventh Hokage after Kakashi. Yashui thought that if he were that age, he certainly wouldn't have had the perseverance to keep training like Konohamaru.

"Big Brother Yashui." Konohamaru stopped to wipe the sweat from his body. "I don't want to show everyone my hard work. Effort isn't meant to be seen by others."

These words left a deep impression on Yashui; a mere child could say something like this. Many adults might not even understand such a sentiment. Yashui had seen all sorts of disgusting people in his past life, and he knew just how precious Konohamaru's character truly was.