Flaws in Strength

Hatake Sakumo was somewhat surprised as well. After steadying himself, he could not help but shake his head and smile softly. How long had it been since someone had driven him back with a sword?

"That move was quite good."

With a smile, Hatake Sakumo offered his calm assessment, a trace of surprise in his voice.

Seeing this, Ryōken felt a little awkward, both shocked and unsatisfied.

This move was a sword technique Ryōken had created by combining the traits of Fearless Advance with swordsmanship—the Sword Drawing Technique.

The sword left its sheath like thunder, its burst of speed so great that it was impossible to guard against.

Once the sword light flashed, death followed.

However, it was still in its rough initial stages and far from perfected.

No matter how he thought about it, he only knew a few moves, and none of them would have been of much use right now.

So he had used this technique that was not yet fully developed. There happened to be a Kage-level expert available to test it on—why waste the opportunity?

Seeing Ryōken still looking dissatisfied, Hatake Sakumo could not help but laugh. Being able to knock him back was already incredible, wasn't it?

"Alright. I only wanted to see what you were capable of, and I've seen enough now."

Hatake Sakumo nodded and sheathed his short blade.

His expression became serious.

"Your swordsmanship is quite good. For a swordsman, valuing offense is instinctive, yet you can use defensive sword techniques as well. That is very good."

"A swordsman must press forward sharply, but that does not mean attacking without defending. When there is a vast gap in strength, defensive sword techniques may be your only chance to turn the tide."

"But your shortcomings are also obvious. Your destructive power is far too weak."

At this point, Hatake Sakumo pondered briefly before continuing.

"Also, your techniques are too limited. It seems... you haven't learned any ninjutsu at all?"

He looked at Ryōken in surprise, somewhat puzzled.

Ryōken felt awkward too. He had only extracted chakra a month ago. All of his current strength came from the League of Legends System's skills and inheritances.

Naturally, he could only fight with the same few moves. Ryōken was quite helpless about it.

Seeing the helpless look on Ryōken's face, Hatake Sakumo understood. He assumed Ryōken had been unable to learn ninjutsu because of his status.

A trace of sympathy appeared in his eyes before he said, "Still, it isn't too late to learn now. Once your swordsmanship is strong enough, you can break ten thousand techniques with a single sword."

"However, while you are still weak, the many varied forms of ninjutsu are also excellent tools."

Ryōken nodded repeatedly, deeply agreeing. He said directly, "So next comes ninjutsu training? Are we going to start with tree climbing and water walking?"

Ryōken was eager to try. He really wanted to know how talented he was at chakra control.

"You even know about tree climbing and water walking?"

Hatake Sakumo looked slightly surprised. It seemed Ryōken had learned something at the Academy after all. He nodded and continued.

"Something similar. But my disciple, Hatake Sakumo's disciple, cannot use such methods. I just don't know whether you can endure it."

A strange, sinister smile appeared on his face, making Ryōken shiver.

However, when he thought of the approaching Second Shinobi World War, determination filled Ryōken's eyes. He said calmly, "Let's begin!"

The words were simple, yet resolute and without hesitation, revealing an unyielding will—the will to grow stronger.

Hatake Sakumo was somewhat surprised. Though he did not understand why Ryōken was working so hard to become stronger, he was pleased. Talent was important, but will was even more important.

And Ryōken undoubtedly already possessed the qualifications to walk the path of the strong.

Hatake Sakumo led Ryōken through the back mountains. Before long, they arrived at a valley.

Under the sunlight, a massive waterfall resembled a silver dragon as it thundered down from the mountaintop, its roar echoing throughout the valley.

Standing beneath the waterfall, Ryōken looked up at the towering cascade pouring down and could not help feeling a chill run down his spine.

Only now did he realize how naive his earlier thought of training beneath a waterfall had been.

The power of nature was simply not something he could contend with at his current level.

In the clearing behind Ryōken stood dozens of wooden posts. Two meters above them hung another fifteen logs, each tied to a tree trunk at one end. When a fierce gust blew through, they immediately crashed together in a chaotic mass.

Hatake Sakumo appeared before Ryōken like a ghost. Looking at the dozens of posts, he nodded in satisfaction. Then, with a rather ill-intentioned look in his eyes, he pointed at them and said with a smile, "This is where the Hatake Clan trains chakra. From now on, you will train on them every day. I will control those logs to strike at you. You may only dodge with your body and cannot use any other methods. If you fall off the posts, you are out."

Hearing this, Ryōken nodded. His delicate young face showed a hint of eagerness. He was quite confident in his agility.

"Want to give it a try?"

Seeing Ryōken's expression, Hatake Sakumo smiled strangely.

"Sure."

Ryōken shrugged, pushed off the ground, and leaped onto a wooden post. Standing with his hands behind his back, he looked somewhat like a master. He gestured at Hatake Sakumo and said calmly, "Come on. Let me see just how grueling the Hatake Clan's exclusive training method is!"

"You've got guts. Let's see how many logs you can last against."

Hatake Sakumo nodded with a smile, then jumped onto a tree trunk. With a wave of his hand, one of the fifteen hanging logs suddenly swung toward Ryōken.

Before the log even reached him, its faint oppressive force had already arrived. Ryōken's expression tightened slightly as he stared at the incoming log. He suddenly lowered his body and bent over, allowing the log to skim past him at an angle.

Before he could straighten up, another log came crashing toward him. Ryōken pushed off with his feet, intending to leap away from the post, but his expression abruptly changed. It felt as though something beneath his soles had glued him in place.

For a moment, he could not rise. Fortunately, Ryōken reacted quickly. Chakra surged through him and dispelled the adhesive force. He leaped toward another wooden post.

But just as Ryōken's toes landed, the post suddenly felt slick beneath his feet. Caught completely off guard, Ryōken flailed wildly, unable to steady himself.

At that moment, another log came crashing in. Ryōken could only watch helplessly as the thick wooden log struck him hard and sent him flying.

Hatake Sakumo looked at Ryōken, who lay on the ground groaning, with an amused smile. "Well?"

"What the hell is with those posts? One moment they're sticky, the next they're slippery?"

Ryōken rubbed his still-aching chest and complained bitterly.

"Those posts are coated with specially made liquids. Every time you jump, you must control your chakra precisely and adjust according to how sticky or slippery they are. Otherwise, you will be knocked out."

Hatake Sakumo smiled faintly. Seemingly recalling his own training back then, he looked rather pleased by Ryōken's misery.

"These things are used to train your chakra control and physical agility. Of course, if you get hit often enough, your ability to take blows will improve considerably too."

Turning around, he pointed at the posts and said with a smile, "Stop lying there. You still have a long time to train today."

Ryōken gritted his teeth, got to his feet, and began round after round of training on the wooden posts.

Time passed, and evening arrived in the blink of an eye.

After an entire afternoon, Ryōken's already somewhat muscular body had gained quite a few bruises and wounds.

He got back up once more, intending to begin the next round of training.

Suddenly, Hatake Sakumo smiled faintly. "We'll stop here for today. This was only a warm-up to let you understand it. The real training begins tomorrow."

As he spoke, he took out two unremarkable iron plates and tossed them onto the ground. With a thunderous boom, the earth itself seemed to tremble, and Ryōken's heart skipped a beat.

He recognized them immediately. They were the weighted ninja tools Rock Lee carried in the original story.

Although he had long known that weighted ninja tools were highly advanced in this world, seeing them with his own eyes still shocked him.

Those two inconspicuous chunks of iron were actually so heavy.

Ryōken swallowed with difficulty, pointed at the weights, and asked nervously, "Sensei, I'm not going to have to wear those while dodging the logs tomorrow, am I?"

Hatake Sakumo placed both hands behind his head and smiled. "What do you think?"

He shrugged, then added seriously, "From today onward, you must wear these weights at all times—while sleeping, walking, or training!"

With no other choice, Ryōken stepped forward and picked up the two weights. His hands immediately sank under their weight. Swallowing hard, he fastened them onto his body.

Fortunately, after a month of training and with his resilient physique, Ryōken's physical strength had roughly reached the level of a Chunin.

The further one progressed, the harder it became to improve physical strength. Ryōken had only reached his current level through all manner of life-risking extreme training.

Therefore, although wearing these two weights was somewhat difficult, he could still endure it.

But when he thought about training with them tomorrow, Ryōken felt a headache coming on.

Seeing Ryōken's conflicted expression, Hatake Sakumo seemed to think it was not ugly enough. He slowly added, "They are specially made. The iron plates naturally suppress the flow of chakra."

Hearing this, Ryōken immediately sensed his chakra. Sure enough, it had already become sluggish.

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly. They really left no stone unturned.

But this is exactly the kind of training I want.

With that thought, determination appeared in Ryōken's eyes, and he calmed down.

Seeing this, Hatake Sakumo nodded inwardly and said with a smile, "Of course, when you remove those weights, you will naturally feel their benefits."