The next day, Lihuo woke early. Today was the first day of his "training plan."
He changed into the familiar black Uchiha Clan short-sleeved training uniform and carefully wrapped his elbows and knees in bandages. Full of energy, Lihuo looked at himself in the mirror.
As expected, Uchiha Sasuke had a knack for putting together an outfit. More importantly, yours truly was handsome—at least half as handsome as the esteemed readers.
After his usual round of admiring himself, Lihuo set off toward the Uchiha Ninja Tool Shop with a spring in his step.
As he walked, Lihuo couldn't help grumbling to himself.
"The Uchiha really are a clan with an absurdly strong sense of pride in their name."
"Every Uchiha on the street has the clan crest printed on their clothes."
"Later on, Uchiha Sasuke and Itachi stopped wearing the crest on their clothes, but wasn't whipping out the Sharingan wherever they went proof enough that they were Uchiha?"
Lost in thought, Lihuo arrived at the biggest Uchiha Ninja Tool Shop.
Why not go to a ninja tool shop in Konoha? Because, of course, his own clan's goods came with a guarantee of quality and a fair price.
Uchiha didn't cheat Uchiha.
When he walked into the shop, Lihuo had expected to face someone as arrogant as Uchiha Aotian.
But to his surprise, the sales clerk was a young woman, bright and beautiful.
"Hello there, little one. What do you need from our ninja tool shop?"
Her unexpected warmth caught Lihuo off guard.
"Oh my, our little ninja looks a bit flustered. Judging by your age, you're still at the Ninja Academy, right?"
"Are you here to buy Kunai for practice?"
Lihuo came back to his senses.
"Yeah. I need some Kunai and Shuriken for practice, as well as some weights. And lastly, I need a standard field kit."
The young saleswoman seemed surprised by how clearly Lihuo suddenly spoke. She paused for a moment, then smiled and said,
"Sure. We have practice Kunai and Shuriken, as well as weights that should suit you."
"But a standard Uchiha Clan field kit includes Explosive Tags and Military Ration Pills."
"Explosive Tags are too dangerous for children who don't know how to handle them, and eating too many Military Ration Pills is bad for your health. We can't sell them to kids."
Lihuo suddenly felt a little detached.
It was a strange feeling. Back when he watched Naruto, those paper-thin characters had their own emotions and motivations, but they'd never felt real.
Yet just a few words from the young saleswoman before him had made this world feel real to Lihuo.
In his memories, aside from Obito, the other Uchiha had helped him in one way or another.
In a sense, Lihuo had been raised by the combined kindness of his Uchiha clansmen.
"I never thought about what kind of feelings Itachi must have had when he slaughtered these innocent Uchiha civilians."
"They weren't even qualified to be ninja. They just wanted to live peaceful, ordinary lives."
"Did they deserve to be killed just because their surname was Uchiha?"
Coming back to himself,
Lihuo looked at the kind young woman in front of him and felt even more keenly how important strength was.
He truly didn't want anything to ruin the beauty before his eyes.
"That'll be 48,000 yen."
The saleswoman before him suddenly didn't seem quite so beautiful.
Wincing at the cost, Lihuo pulled out his wallet and took the brand-new Kunai and Shuriken.
The moment he put on the weights, he could feel how much heavier his body had become.
"Good thing I earned 60,000 yen from Obito and Aotian. I can't just keep living off the family's savings."
With the saleswoman counting the money behind him, Lihuo left the shop and headed straight for the Konoha Training Ground.
Did the Uchiha not have a training ground? Of course they did. The Uchiha Clan training ground was well-equipped and beautiful.
But Lihuo had chosen the Konoha Training Ground, where anyone could go, because he wanted to meet his future training partner, Might Guy.
By the time he reached the training ground, Lihuo was already drenched in sweat. Because of the weights, every step took far more effort for a six-year-old child like him than it would for an ordinary person.
"Good! Time to start training."
Lihuo didn't have a systematic Taijutsu training method. He hadn't found anything about Taijutsu training in the scrolls his parents had left behind.
And Uchiha Style Taijutsu was so obscure that hardly anyone in the Shinobi World—or even the clan—had heard of it.
After all, the Uchiha Clan needed Taijutsu the least. As long as their physical abilities were strong enough, they only had to take one look to dismantle ordinary Taijutsu. (See Sasuke's self-developed Lion Combo.)
It really was a case of, "You have no chance of winning before these eyes."
So Lihuo had no way to get a Taijutsu training method. His solution was to start by training his body.
Only with a strong enough physique could he hope to practice Taijutsu.
As for learning Taijutsu, he could get access to it by earning head pats from Might Guy and Might Duy.
Konoha Strong Fist Style! With my chakra reserves so low right now, Taijutsu is the only way for me to improve my strength.
There was no time to waste. Lihuo began training, pushing himself to his limits.
He did warm-up exercises in the morning, practiced throwing Kunai at noon, and trained in Taijutsu without stopping all afternoon.
At night, Lihuo replenished the energy his body needed and treated the injuries he'd picked up during training.
Time flew by, and nine days passed in the blink of an eye.
Over those nine days, Lihuo became a regular at the ninja tool shop. It wasn't just because his training wore out his equipment; the shop also sold bandages and medicinal liquor for bruises.
He also grew familiar with the young saleswoman.
During those nine days, Obito would come by to hang out with Lihuo every so often, but Lihuo always dragged him into forced training, much to Obito's dismay.
Besides Obito, Aotian also came by one evening. He saw Lihuo's body, covered in wounds from his high-intensity training.
He left without a word. When he returned, he brought a basket of fruit, then left without a word again.
Only Aotian's lackeys knew that from that day on, Aotian dragged them into forced training every afternoon.
Over those nine days, Lihuo trained so intensely that his spending on equipment and medical expenses skyrocketed.
So he came up with a "rock, paper, scissors—the loser lets me pat his head" scheme and earned a hefty sum from the Uchiha kids.
Everything had gone smoothly. Then, on the evening of the ninth day,
just as Lihuo was doing the last set of his push-ups, an enthusiastic voice rang out from a corner of the training ground.
"Keep going, Guy! Just 2,000 more kicks! Let your youth burn!"
"Yeah, Dad! I can feel my youth burning!"
Lihuo smiled faintly. It seemed the person he'd been waiting for had finally arrived.
But Lihuo didn't go over right away. He first stuck with it and finished his last set of exercises.
"Dad, there's an Uchiha training over there."
Might Duy heard his son and looked over at Lihuo, too.
Lihuo drew on his inherited fearlessness and walked over to Might Guy and his father.
"Hello. I saw you training, and your youth moved me."
"Could I join you and train together?"
When Guy heard the word "youth," he grew especially excited.
Ever since he and his father had started training, people had always mocked them.
"Two weirdly dressed guys with thick eyebrows—what's the point of practicing only Taijutsu?"
"Haha, exactly. He's a perennial Genin. What could he ever accomplish besides practicing Taijutsu?"
But today, he'd heard an "Uchiha genius" acknowledge their youth.
Guy was so overwhelmed with emotion that he could hardly express it. He looked at Duy expectantly, hoping his father would agree.
Duy's eyes were also filled with tears. But Duy was an adult, a ninja who was rough around the edges yet thoughtful. He'd seen plenty of deceit and scheming.
"What if someone put this child up to pretending to befriend me, when he really wants to learn our forbidden technique, the Eight Inner Gates?"
"And he's from the Uchiha Clan..."
But when Duy saw Lihuo's filthy clothes and took a closer look at the boy,
he noticed that Lihuo was drenched in sweat, and his bandages and clothes bore clear signs of training. He was also wearing weights. It was obvious he hadn't just started training a day or two ago.
Duy thought it over for a moment, then grinned, showing his gleaming teeth.
"Great! Uchiha boy, join us and let your youth bloom!"
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