Training

"Time to eat." Minato came over to Ye Wuji with a bowl of porridge in his hands, his voice carrying a hint of appeasement.

"Mm." Ye Wuji sat up in bed and looked at Minato with a trace of resentment in his eyes. It was all because of this guy that he'd been stuck in bed for another two days.

After extracting chakra that time, Ye Wuji had passed out. By the time he woke up, it was already the afternoon of the following day. Only then did he learn from Minato that extracting chakra wasn't something that could be done in one go. Even in Konoha, few people managed it in a single day. After all, it was difficult to expect a child to concentrate all day and night. Generally speaking, it took about seven days, though some took longer to extract chakra—sometimes as long as a year.

For most people, it took about seven days from learning how to extract chakra to actually managing it. Most of them came from families with ninja, so they already knew what to do.

Put that way, chakra extraction seemed simple enough. And in a way, it was: anyone with a little perseverance and some knowledge of the process could manage it. But chakra came from two sources: the energy produced by the body's cells and a person's spiritual energy. Spiritual energy depended on one's mental strength. As a result, extracting chakra drained the body of a tremendous amount of energy, which had to be replenished from outside. In other words, chakra extraction—and becoming a ninja—wasn't something poor people could afford.

From that, Ye Wuji figured it was probably much like martial arts in his previous life. He'd often heard the saying, "The poor study, the rich practice martial arts." It probably meant the same thing.

The other factor, spiritual energy, determined whether someone could control that power. But that part wasn't much of a problem. Any normal person could basically manage it, unless they were a bit dim—like Lee and Guy. They could extract chakra, but their spiritual energy was insufficient for them to control it properly. That made it seem as if they couldn't use ninjutsu, when in fact they could. They just couldn't control their chakra well enough to perform the techniques. With enough effort, they could still manage some basic ones.

Ye Wuji remembered Naruto's graduation exam, which had tested the Clone Technique. Lee had been able to graduate, proving he could use it. Still, these were basic techniques, which was why Lee and Guy focused on Taijutsu. Chakra could strengthen the body, after all. If they had chakra but couldn't perform ninjutsu, they might as well use it to strengthen themselves. Otherwise, there'd be no explaining how Lee and Guy could be so strong later on without chakra—which would be ridiculous. Besides, only a few people in all of Naruto seemed to specialize in Taijutsu. If someone could become that strong without chakra, there'd be far more of them. And surely Lee and Guy weren't the only ones with perseverance.

Put simply, extracting chakra for the first time was dangerous. In large ninja villages, whether at the academy or in ninja families, someone always supervised those who were extracting chakra. Otherwise, things could easily go wrong. Like what had happened to Ye Wuji: without Minato there, even if he'd managed to extract chakra, the sudden loss of so much energy from his body could have put him in danger. At worst, he might have starved to death from the lack of energy; at the very least, his body could have suffered serious damage.

Minato only explained all this after Ye Wuji woke up. Of course, he'd only mentioned the dangers and a few other things he needed to know.

Ye Wuji was lucky Minato had been there for him. Minato was Jiraiya's student, one of the Sannin, and held a high position in Konoha. That was why he'd had access to medicinal herbs that were so good for the body. He'd used them to make porridge for Ye Wuji, replenishing his energy. Thanks to that, Ye Wuji had suffered no lasting harm.

Still, Ye Wuji's body had belonged to a civilian before, so even with Minato taking such good care of him, he'd been bedridden for two whole days.

These dangers only applied when someone first began extracting chakra. Once they had chakra, the process wasn't nearly as dangerous.

So Ye Wuji now understood that being a ninja cost money. You needed money to nourish your body, extract chakra more effectively, and train better.

That was why he'd complained to Minato as soon as he woke up. If he'd waited a few more days and let Minato nurse him back to health, his body would have been in better shape, and he wouldn't have been in such danger.

Besides, Minato's failure to explain things clearly at first had nearly made Ye Wuji lose heart and give up.

So for the past two days, Ye Wuji had stayed in bed and barely spoken to Minato. Minato had assumed it was just a child throwing a tantrum.

Even so, when Minato saw the look in Ye Wuji's eyes, he awkwardly scratched his head and said, "Don't look at me like that. I already apologized, didn't I? It was my first time teaching someone. I thought you'd know some of the basics, and I forgot you hadn't grown up in Konoha. Haha." Minato laughed a few times.

Seeing the dignified Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, apologizing to him so earnestly, Ye Wuji found it hard to stay angry. After all, Minato might have forgotten to explain things, but that was exactly why Ye Wuji had managed to extract chakra. If Minato had explained everything from the start, Ye Wuji wouldn't have been so determined to take a desperate gamble. When people had a way out, they thought differently.

After they ate, Ye Wuji still hadn't fully recovered, so Minato decided they'd wait until he was better before continuing his training.

"Clang! Clang!" Ye Wuji knocked away the incoming kunai with the one in his hand, then darted behind a large tree. He wore a simple, tight-fitting outfit, his eyes sweeping constantly from side to side.

Starting on the third day, Minato had put Ye Wuji through rigorous training. Every morning, he worked on chakra; every afternoon, he trained his stamina and practiced stealth, among other things. In the evenings, Minato taught him about Medical Ninjutsu. Minato only knew a little about first aid and some simple healing techniques using chakra. He wasn't an expert in the field; he'd learned what he knew from Tsunade, another of the Sannin.

After about half a month, Ye Wuji's body had changed completely. Whether from the nourishment or the chakra, he'd grown quite a bit taller. With his head of snow-white hair, he looked handsome—or, more accurately, like a cute little boy.

At first, Ye Wuji had wondered if he could use the exercise methods he'd learned on Earth. They'd been proven effective by many people there and researched by plenty of experts. Unfortunately, after seeing Minato's training, he gave up on the idea. The basic exercises were much the same as on Earth, but the knowledge he'd brought with him was useless at the higher levels. Only later did he realize that this world wasn't like the feudal society he'd known before. It was practically a high-powered martial world. Methods that worked on ordinary people were completely useless here.

So Ye Wuji put those thoughts aside, along with his pride as a transmigrator. Most of what he knew from Earth had been self-taught, much of it from the internet. As for school, that was a joke. Even if a school had accepted him, he wouldn't have had the money to attend.

After about a week of training, the schedule changed. Ye Wuji still practiced chakra every morning, but in the afternoons, he began sparring with Minato.

Only when he fought Minato did Ye Wuji discover the biggest difference between himself and people of this era. Here, neither adults nor children seemed to shy away from killing. In the era Ye Wuji came from, the world had plenty of dark corners, but as an ordinary person, he'd never encountered them himself. He'd only read about them online.

That difference meant people of this era had developed a highly effective system of combat. Ye Wuji, on the other hand, had only ever talked a good game. He'd imagined how he'd fight if he could use ninjutsu, but reality was another matter. In his first fight with Minato, Ye Wuji had still been standing there stunned when Minato's kunai was already at his throat.

Only then did Ye Wuji realize just how poor his combat instincts were. That was why Minato later changed the training regimen. He'd seen from the start that Ye Wuji was lacking in that area—not just lacking, but practically clueless.

This was their fifteenth day of sparring. Ye Wuji had trained for seven days beforehand, then spent the next eight days working on his combat instincts under Minato. As Minato put it, Ye Wuji's guard was far too low, and that mattered more than how good his ninjutsu was. For Minato and the others, even when facing a close friend, they could react in an instant. It was practically instinct.

That was why they spent far more time training combat than ninjutsu. Sometimes, while Ye Wuji was sleeping, Minato would sneak up on him. If he failed, he had to hang upside down from a tree for half an hour.

Thanks to Minato's targeted training, Ye Wuji could now last a few rounds against him. Ye Wuji knew that in a real fight, rather than a training match, Minato might take him out in a single move. Still, he was happy just to last a few rounds.

Hidden behind the tree, Ye Wuji scanned his surroundings. Just as he turned his head, a kunai came flying at him. He spotted it but didn't have time to react before it struck him. "Poof!" The instant it hit, Ye Wuji vanished in a puff of smoke.

At that moment, Minato was watching from a concealed spot in a tree. He didn't seem surprised to see Ye Wuji disappear. "The Clone Technique?" he murmured. "At least you're finally getting the hang of it. My training hasn't been wasted. At this rate, I can probably head back soon."

As Minato spoke to himself, the sound of something whistling through the air came from nearby. Three kunai flew toward him in a triangular formation.

"Not bad. You found me?" Minato murmured. Then he vanished, and the three kunai flew past him.

"No wonder he's the Fourth Hokage. He's this fast at such a young age. Does that mean he's already developing the Flying Thunder God Technique at this point?" Ye Wuji was hiding in a nearby thicket, watching Minato disappear without a hint of surprise. In his mind, missing was only to be expected; hitting Minato would have been the real surprise. Still, he was astonished by the speed at which Minato vanished. After so many days of training with him, Ye Wuji was no longer a complete novice, yet Minato's speed still left him stunned.

Ye Wuji was sure that had been Minato's real body, not a clone or anything like that. Even so, he hadn't been able to see how Minato had moved.

After looking around and finding nothing, Ye Wuji sensed something was wrong and decided to move. But just as he was about to, a hand landed on his shoulder. Then Minato hurled him out of the tree.

As he fell, Ye Wuji saw Minato standing above him. He flipped in midair and landed on the ground, then put away the kunai in his hand. As he fell, he couldn't help thinking that he'd only learned the Transformation Technique so far, even though it was the simplest of the Three Basic Techniques. If he'd learned the Substitution Technique, he might have escaped just now.

Speaking of the Three Basic Techniques, why had Ye Wuji only managed to learn the Clone Technique? It brought tears to his eyes. With the experience of two lifetimes, his spiritual energy wasn't lacking. He didn't have much chakra, but after several days of training, he had a fair amount. He had the two things needed to perform ninjutsu, so why was he still learning so slowly?

Whenever he thought about it, Ye Wuji wanted to cry. It was all because of the hand signs. Apart from extracting chakra, he'd spent the past few days practicing them. The Twelve Zodiac Hand Signs had seemed easy at first. The signs themselves were simple, but performing them during a technique was another matter. He could make the signs, but far too slowly. Ninjutsu required not only chakra, but also fast hand signs. He was always too slow, and so far only the Clone Technique was quick enough for him to perform within the time limit. Thinking of Itachi's pace—six signs in one second—brought tears to his eyes.

He kept failing at the Substitution Technique because he took too long. Since it was a life-saving technique, it had to be performed quickly. People like the Fourth Hokage could even perform it without hand signs.

Ye Wuji's hands had become badly swollen from practicing hand signs these past few days. Fortunately, the Fourth Hokage knew some Medical Ninjutsu; otherwise, Ye Wuji couldn't have kept up with the pace of his training.

Standing below, Ye Wuji looked up at Minato and said, "You do this every time, Big Brother Minato. You're cheating, using your speed to pick on me."

Ye Wuji didn't think much of calling Minato "Big Brother." His mind might have been older than Minato's, but his body was younger. He'd originally wanted Minato to take him as a student, but Minato had said he wasn't in a position to take on students right now. He could, however, accept Ye Wuji as his younger brother. He'd also promised that when they met his teacher, he'd ask him to take Ye Wuji as a student. Ye Wuji thought becoming Jiraiya's student, one of the Sannin, sounded pretty good, so he didn't insist.

With a whoosh, Minato appeared in front of Ye Wuji and rapped him on the head. "Don't be ridiculous. In a ninja fight, do you expect your opponent to go easy on you? What have I been teaching you?"

"Hehe." Ye Wuji chuckled, thinking, Is there anyone in the entire ninja world faster than you?

But he kept that thought to himself.

"All right, that's enough for today. Let's head back. I'll have a surprise for you tomorrow." With that, Minato left first.

Is he leaving? Ye Wuji was no fool. Minato had stayed with him for half a month, which was probably the limit. It was about time for him to return to Konoha.