Bad Good

Night fell.

Inside the room.

Naruto walked out of the bathroom, drying his hair. Shirtless, he habitually met his own gaze in the mirror.

Dripping beads of water slid from his damp, golden bangs down a jawline that had become significantly more defined. The person in the mirror had a calm expression, standing silently in the unlit room, lost in thought.

Under the moonlight, his muscles cast sharp shadows, outlining distinct blocks. Naruto's once-slender frame was no longer thin; his entire body seemed covered in a thin, powerful armor. His physique had become full without being bulky, possessing both agility and explosive power.

He pulled on his pajamas. As expected, the shoulder seams felt tighter, and the fabric across his chest was stretched taut, leaving the hem around his waist hanging somewhat loose. In just half a month, bolstered by Naruto's monstrous endurance, recovery rate, and self-abusive training intensity, his body had already burst through its old frame.

Yet, there was no self-satisfaction in Naruto's eyes. After all, compared to the masterful taijutsu of Madara Uchiha, who fought like a rose on the battlefield, he still had a long way to go.

Not to mention that kick from Might Guy, which was enough to distort space itself.

Even in the brief moments of mental vacancy after a shower, Naruto's mind remained haunted by thoughts related to growing stronger.

Behind him, dense quantitative charts covered most of the bedroom wall. These were the daily records of his body's various metrics: [Maximum one-minute shuttle run count], [Mixed aerobic intensity change for one lap around Konoha], [Maximum weight for weighted squats], [Maximum reps for weighted two-finger push-ups]...

These numbers changed every day, and Naruto plotted them onto line graphs to summarize his progress and adjust his plans accordingly.

To Naruto, training wasn't just about honing his flesh; it was like solving a math problem. Compared to rough physical intuition, he trusted the precision of numbers more.

"...Using stones for weight training is still too crude. I need to have specialized weights made like Rock Lee, so I can utilize my daily time even while using my main body..."

Lost in thought, Naruto drifted to the window. In the evening breeze, the windowsill that used to be empty now held a touch of swaying light blue.

These were the Nigella given to him by Ino.

Before handing them over, after giving him a long list of instructions on how to care for flowers, Ino had threatened him quite blusteringly, ordering him to take good care of them or he would be dead meat.

"If you can't even protect a bunch of flowers, don't bother being a ninja," Ino had said.

"Pfft."

Naruto didn't know why he suddenly chuckled when recalling that line.

Perhaps it was because Ino looked quite cute when she tried to act tough.

How had he never noticed that before?

His constantly taut nerves seemed to relax for a moment. Naruto reached out a finger and gently touched the soft petals of the Nigella. The moonlight flickered, adding a touch of vitality to the quiet house.

"Growing a bunch of flowers is actually pretty nice."

Naruto's lips curled upward. He turned on the lights and began to prepare dinner and his training meal for tomorrow—he had been so focused on training today that he forgot to send a Shadow Clone back early to prepare.

Rinsing the rice, washing the pot, drying the bottom, pouring oil, adding chicken, drizzling soy sauce, then tossing in the broccoli...

Naruto performed these simple steps with meticulous care. Every meal had to be balanced with carbohydrates, protein, and fiber, not even skipping the post-meal fruit for vitamins.

The reason he prepared so diligently was, on one hand, for his training—as the saying goes, training is three parts, eating is seven. Plus, Naruto had a selfish desire to grow taller, so nutritional intake was vital.

On the other hand, it was because the current Naruto knew what his mother had told him before she passed away.

So, he had to listen to his mother.

Eat well.

Time marched forward as it always did.

A month later.

The notification for when to take the ninja photos and hold the class assignment meeting still hadn't arrived.

By now, Naruto was fairly certain that the plot he knew had undergone some kind of change.

Although this shift wasn't enough to make Naruto anxious, it undoubtedly brought him a sense of crisis, to varying degrees.

After all, he had thought it over and over, and he felt that his own butterfly-effect flapping shouldn't have been enough to influence the plot yet—theoretically, the original story was just beginning. If it really was because of him, the efficiency of this impact was too high; it simply didn't make sense.

Therefore, after ruling out the most obvious reason—which didn't hold up under objective analysis—Naruto could only arrive at another conclusion that seemed far-fetched, yet more plausible.

That was, someone or something other than himself had influenced the world, causing the plot to deviate.

This conclusion was later verified when Naruto probed Ino for information.

There was no help for it; given Naruto's current social standing, aside from the Third Hokage and Iruka Umino, he could only fish for information from Ino, the young lady of the Yamanaka Clan.

According to Ino, she heard from her father that the Third Hokage had recently pulled many jonin-level combatants away for missions, meaning the designated jonin instructors for their village were currently all away. Thus, the newly graduated genin had to wait until the jonin returned to the village.

As for whether it was one mission or several, or the specific details, Ino didn't know.

So, the content of this mysterious mission must be the reason for the plot change.

This was undoubtedly bad news for Naruto.

Although Naruto had no obsession with keeping the plot unchanged, as a pragmatist, he had hoped to use his foresight to secure more benefits and a stable environment for growth within a controllable range. He planned to wait until he was fully prepared before making large-scale changes to the original future...

But now, it seemed this idea of his was destined to die in the cradle.

The sense of security he had subconsciously held due to "knowing the future" was gone, replaced by a nameless anger at "knowing a change had occurred but being unable to do anything about it." This drove Naruto to increase his training intensity to terrifying levels this month. He strictly limited the time spent on sleep, eating, and bodily functions to nine hours, using the remaining fifteen hours entirely for training.

However.

It wasn't just bad things happening during this period; in fact, looking solely at Uzumaki Naruto, quite a few good things had occurred.

First was Ino.

Ever since the day they met, this girl had been using the excuse of "checking to see if you're actually taking care of your flowers" to harass him at the training grounds every single day—Naruto suspected she was just bored.

He even secretly wondered for a time if Ino suspected him of having a three-minute attention span and intermittent motivation, and was only hanging around to see when he would give up.

However, even if that were the case, Naruto didn't feel offended. On the contrary, he quite cherished this opportunity to interact with another human being.

After all, chatting with a beautiful girl always makes one feel pleasant in body and mind—Naruto admitted honestly.

Second was Kurama.

Driven by a sense of crisis, Naruto visited Kurama again, requesting that he release chakra to interfere with his own chakra circulation.

This certainly wasn't because Naruto had lost his mind; rather, he wanted to use this to improve the precision of his chakra control.

Just as adding weights can promote physical training, by the same logic, if he could still release ninjutsu normally under Kurama's interference, then in normal times without such interference, his ability to control chakra would inevitably be greatly enhanced.

Extrapolating from that, the release speed and power of his ninjutsu would also be improved.

Ultimately, the Nine-Tails agreed to this request.

This was certainly not because the Nine-Tails had a sudden change of heart or had come to recognize Naruto; rather, it was because Naruto promised the Nine-Tails that if he assisted in his training, he would definitely find an opportunity to beat up Shukaku later, guaranteeing the Nine-Tails would feel satisfied—and if it wasn't satisfied, he would just keep beating him.

The Nine-Tails figured that releasing chakra didn't cost him any effort, and since he was locked up with nothing to do anyway, causing a bit of trouble for Shukaku in the future sounded nice, so he simply agreed.

—Of course, the Nine-Tails would never admit that part of the reason he agreed was because he felt it would be very troublesome if he refused this brat... This brat was such a stubborn, shameless rascal that he would absolutely do something like coming over every day to curse at a fox.

It wasn't that he couldn't win a verbal fight, but he was at his age, and constantly bickering was quite undignified; he would just consider it an adult not holding a grudge against a child.

Naruto naturally didn't know that the Nine-Tails was secretly cursing him in his heart. He was actually surprised at how easily the Nine-Tails had agreed, convinced it must have been swayed by his personal charm and moral standards.

Finally, there was this.

After a month of consecutive encounters, one day Might Guy and Rock Lee suddenly declared that their youth had been recognized by him (?), and enthusiastically invited him to join the Konoha Green Spandex Enthusiasts Alliance, offering to bestow upon him the title of the Blue-Gold Beast of Konoha...

Then Naruto politely declined, and the two of them hugged each other and wailed (?).

However, ever since that time, although their schedules were different, the three of them would occasionally get together as periodic training partners. Sometimes Naruto would even train with Team 10, and he received much instruction from Might Guy regarding taijutsu, so he began to address him as Guy-sensei, just like Might Guy's three disciples.

"...Therefore, Konoha-Style Taijutsu does not rely solely on physical strength; the ability and timing of instantaneous chakra mobilization are also very important. For example, if you are fighting on sandy ground and your chakra mobilization is unskilled, failing to coordinate with the moment of exertion, it is very easy for your taijutsu attacks to become soft and powerless, or even for you to miss your footing and fall..."

"You must know that fighting and daily travel are two different states. The difficulty of handling chakra during a fight is worlds apart compared to the latter. That is why tree-climbing and water-walking training may look profound, but in reality, they are just the most basic entry-level exercises."

In the early morning, during a break in their group training, Might Guy took the opportunity to pass on some experience beyond the textbooks to his disciples.

And mixed in among Rock Lee, Neji, and Tenten was a guy with messy hair and patches on his clothes.

"I see, as expected of Guy-sensei!"

"Lee, don't be so loud, you're disturbing the neighbors..."

Tenten complained helplessly, then turned her head to say to Naruto:

"By the way, Naruto, your new weights are finished. You can go to my shop to pick them up later."

"Mm, thank you, Tenten-senpai."

Naruto nodded in thanks, his tone gentle: "Sorry for the trouble. The village living allowance has been issued, so I will bring it over along with the money for the ninja tools I bought on credit before."

"Sigh, it's fine, no rush." Tenten waved her hand, "Anyway, I just modified Rock Lee's old weights, and the ninja tools you took were old ones too, so there wasn't much cost at all."

"You can wait until your jonin instructor returns to the village and you start taking missions for pay before you pay me back. For now, take the money to buy some new clothes and get a haircut while you're at it."

"Heh."

Naruto smiled and didn't respond. Seeing this, Tenten could only sigh.

After spending these days together, she had come to understand Naruto's temperament.

This junior of hers was good in every way: independent, polite, disciplined, as hardworking in training as Rock Lee, and a genius in ninjutsu just like Neji. But he was overly serious when it came to accepting kindness from others—as if someone helping him meant they were suffering a loss. If he could refuse, he would, and if he couldn't, he would insist on repaying it as soon as possible.

She had originally agreed to give him a discount, but this guy absolutely refused, insisting on paying the full price. He even secretly used the Transformation Technique to go to her shop to inquire about the real price, ruining her attempt to offer a lower rate when he caught her on the spot.

Really... he was just an orphan, and it was hard enough for him to take care of himself, yet he was still so concerned about whether he owed others?

Uzumaki Naruto, you guy...

Sigh, forget it.

This awkward personality was also part of Naruto's charm; it wasn't as if just anyone could be accepted into their Team 10 training sessions.

Thinking of this, Tenten suddenly patted Naruto on the back: "You guy, you must live a good life in the future!"

Naruto looked confused.

"Oh, right, Naruto."

At this moment, Might Guy spoke up as well, though his tone carried a hint of embarrassment:

"That... regarding the training proposal for the Mixed-Oxygen Method you created, I have already signed both of our names to it and submitted it to the Hokage this morning."