Ready to Make His Move

Two months later, at Training Ground 77 in Konoha.

A boy of about seven or eight, with two crossed knife scars on his chin, faced a large tree more than ten meters away and rapidly formed Hand Seals with practiced ease.

Then he spread his arms, tilted his head slightly upward, and puffed out his little cheeks until they looked like a toad's. He fired more than a dozen invisible bullets of air from his mouth!

"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!" A dense volley of sharp sounds rang out.

More than a dozen deep holes appeared in the trunk of the large tree, which was wide enough for a man to wrap his arms around. Wood chips flew through the air.

"Are you a monster or something?! We've only just started learning the Three Basic Jutsu, and you've already mastered a C-rank Wind Release Ninjutsu!" cried a boy nearby, his face painted with two stripes as he struggled to do push-ups.

"He really is a genius. It's only been two months, and he's already learned Chakra Nature Transformation." On the other side, a pale-skinned, black-haired boy with shoulder-length hair practiced throwing shuriken at a target. He smiled as he commented.

"Heh... You two are amazing too. You've already managed to extract chakra." The scarred boy's lips curved up slightly, pleased with the damage he had caused.

Nearby, a bowl-cut boy wearing terrifyingly heavy weights crouched on a wooden post and kept doing squat jumps. He muttered, "A thousand squat jumps in twenty minutes. If I can't do it, then I'll do two thousand push-ups..."

They were Xian Yu, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Might Duy.

Knowing that a strong body was the foundation of future strength, Xian Yu had started organizing his friends for extreme training early on.

Knowing that Jiraiya and Orochimaru had limited means, Xian Yu had also prepared ample supplies of precious medicines for them both. Some treated muscle strains, some replenished the body, and others were specially made for scrapes and sprains, among many others.

Fortunately, Xian Yu had money now. Spending a few hundred thousand a month on medicines to aid their training was just an investment in the future.

With a strong physical foundation and a healthy constitution, and with their minds continually trained and tempered, their chakra reserves would grow every year as they got older, like they were riding a rocket. When they practiced various ninjutsu in the future, having plenty of chakra to spend would naturally make things twice as easy.

On the other hand, if their bodies were weak and their foundations poor, they'd be finished by the time they reached adulthood. They'd have the same ceiling as Mizuki.

After all, chakra was extracted by combining spiritual and physical energy. Physical strength was the vessel, and it was crucial.

For the past two months, Spirit Rice had completely replaced Xian Yu's usual meals.

Xian Yu was still not even six, yet he was already about as tall as a seven- or eight-year-old. He was clearly the tallest among them.

Not only that, his chakra reserves were now three times what they had been before. That was why he'd been able to master a C-rank Wind Release so quickly.

This was thanks to his intense training, the nourishment from Spirit Rice, and the restorative effects of large quantities of precious medicinal herbs.

After all, reality was different from the anime he'd watched in his previous life. If someone in reality trained as recklessly as Might Duy, Might Guy, or Rock Lee, and came from a civilian family with no money for medicine or proper nourishment, they'd have been dead long ago.

It wasn't a question of whether they had enough willpower. If their bodies broke down and they wrecked their health, could sheer determination serve as medicine?

After experiencing the benefits of Spirit Rice, Xian Yu now pushed his body to its limits every day just as hard as Might Duy did. Because he had Spirit Rice! Because he had plenty of precious herbs to support his training, he could afford to push himself to the brink.

He'd been in the Naruto World for more than five years. It was only after meeting Might Duy that Xian Yu realized the Guy family probably had some hidden Ōtsutsuki bloodline.

He'd seen Might Duy with his own eyes after a frenzied training session that was practically self-torture. Several of Duy's muscles had been badly strained, and yet what happened?

He hadn't used any medicine to treat his injuries or replenish his body, and he hadn't eaten any supplements. He'd simply eaten his fill of plain food, slept, and bounced back the next day as if nothing had happened...

Maybe it was because of this unusual constitution that none of the family could learn to use chakra.

Just then, a blonde girl and a white-haired boy walked over from outside the training ground.

"Xian Yu, you're improving so quickly! Want to spar with me?" The blonde girl, her hair tied back with a ribbon, approached with shining eyes, looking eager for a fight.

"Uh... If you want to spar, Lady Tsunade, maybe you should find Jiraiya instead... He can take a beating..." Xian Yu's mouth twitched. He quickly changed the subject. "By the way, Hiruko, have you made any progress with that thing I mentioned last time?"

The two of them were Tsunade and Hiruko, who had transferred into their class a month earlier.

The white-haired boy seemed a little shy. He wore a white robe, had his hair tied into a ponytail, and lowered his head as he said softly, "There are still a few key problems I haven't solved. I'm thinking of ways to deal with them."

"Mm, that's fine. Don't rush. Just tell me if you need any materials." Xian Yu smiled warmly.

Hiruko wasn't actually lacking in talent. At the very least, he was more talented than Xian Yu had been before he started eating Spirit Rice.

More importantly, he was persistent and liked to think things through and study them. Like Orochimaru, he had a reliable, mature, and levelheaded personality. A natural researcher!

In the anime from Xian Yu's previous life, things had gone wrong for Hiruko mainly because he'd "chosen the wrong friends."

After all, not everyone could be friends with the future Sannin.

The fact that he'd been able to spend time with the Sannin from the beginning also showed, to some degree, that he himself was excellent.

And yet the Third Hokage, whom he admired, couldn't care less about him.

He watched his close friends grow stronger one by one, becoming famous and commanding respect, while no matter how hard he worked, the gap between them only grew wider and wider. In the end, all he could do was look up at them.

Anyone would feel resentful in that situation.

And then... his mindset collapsed.

"I've more or less mastered my ninjutsu, so I'm heading out. Keep up the good work!" Xian Yu took off as soon as he finished speaking.

He had to run. He was honestly a little afraid of Tsunade, that violent girl.

That time, Jiraiya was the peeping tom who'd brought it on himself. Xian Yu had just happened to be passing by, but she'd still treated him like an accomplice.

Lately, she'd kept finding excuses to beat him up...

Have you ever been cornered by a cute little girl who then punched through the wall behind you and buried you under the rubble?

I have... Xian Yu: 〒▽〒

When he got home, Xian Yu went straight to the bathroom and sat down cross-legged.

This was where he pushed his body to its limits every day.

Uh... Don't get the wrong idea.

A few minutes after he sat down cross-legged, faint lightning began to crackle across his exposed skin, sparks flickering. Sweat broke out on his forehead, and a pained expression crossed his face.

"I never imagined the Five Thunders Method could be used like this. It has an effect similar to tempering the body with lightning, pushing the body's potential to the limit at the cellular level. It's much more efficient than training with weights."

Ever since he'd accidentally discovered this ability a week ago, Xian Yu had made a point of pushing himself until he couldn't move every day.

This kind of training was dangerous, but the Spirit Rice supplied enough nutrients to replenish his body and chakra. Afterwards, he soaked in a medicated bath made with the Shimura Clan's secret formula for strengthening the body, so it was fine.

The advantage of this training method wasn't just that it pushed his physical endurance more efficiently. It also trained his chakra control, while constantly consuming chakra.

As his physical strength improved and his chakra was repeatedly consumed, then naturally restored, the rate at which Xian Yu's chakra reserves grew was practically rocket-like!

At his current rate of progress, he was confident he could keep pace with the most talented people of his generation.

People like the Sannin, or Hatake Sakumo, who was six this year, had skipped a grade into the third year, and would graduate next year.

In other words, with Spirit Rice and the Five Thunders Body-Forging Technique, he was confident that when the White Fang of Konoha made a name for himself in the Shinobi World, and when the Sannin became famous across the land, there'd also be a place for Shimura Xian Yu in the shinobi world!

"This feeling is amazing. Is this what a strong person's confidence feels like? I've finally escaped that helplessness, that oppression of having the same ceiling as Mizuki!"

After one minute and thirteen seconds, his chakra ran out. Xian Yu clenched his teeth and struggled to his feet, then climbed into the tub of medicinal bathwater that had been prepared beside the bathtub.

"Four seconds longer than last week. Not bad." His whole body submerged in the medicinal bath, he felt the extreme fatigue in his cells gradually fade. Resting his head on the pillow by the tub, Xian Yu fell asleep.