Training

The next day.

At five in the morning, the sky was shrouded in mist, and the sun had yet to rise.

Uzumaki Menma, who was sleeping soundly, was suddenly hauled out of bed.

Uzumaki Menma groggily opened his eyes and saw Yamanaka Fu staring at him expressionlessly.

Uzumaki Menma jolted in fright. "Uncle Yamanaka, what are you doing?"

Yamanaka Fu said sternly, "By Lord Danzo's order, I will be responsible for Young Master Menma's training from today onward."

Uzumaki Menma glanced at the alarm clock, his scalp tingling. "It's only five in the morning. Is there really a need to start this early?"

"There is."

Yamanaka Fu set Uzumaki Menma down on the floor.

"You have ten minutes to get dressed and wash up. I'll wait outside."

With that, Yamanaka Fu left Uzumaki Menma's room.

Uzumaki Menma began getting dressed and washing up with a dark expression.

He had known training would begin today, but who knew it would start this early?

After washing up, Uzumaki Menma left his room.

Yamanaka Fu was waiting outside the door.

When he saw Uzumaki Menma emerge, he merely said, "Follow me," before walking ahead on his own.

Once they arrived at Root's training ground,

Yamanaka Fu skipped all pleasantries and immediately began explaining Chakra to Uzumaki Menma.

"Chakra is an energy produced by the perfect fusion of the various energies controlled by the human body. It is the source of power for the substances used to perform ninjutsu, taijutsu, and Illusion Techniques, a product of spiritual energy and physical energy mixed in equal measure."

Yamanaka Fu began demonstrating directly for Uzumaki Menma, forming hand seals.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"

Yamanaka Fu spat out a small jet of water from his mouth, striking the ground.

"This is a basic Water Release ninjutsu performed through Chakra."

All of Uzumaki Menma's drowsiness vanished. He wished he could learn ninjutsu immediately.

Uzumaki Menma asked excitedly, "Uncle Yamanaka, are you teaching me that Water Release ninjutsu today?"

Yamanaka Fu shook his head. "No. That was only to demonstrate how Chakra is used. You don't have Chakra yet, so you can't learn ninjutsu. You must begin by extracting Chakra."

"Uncle Yamanaka, I'm ready! Teach me quickly!"

Uzumaki Menma was already impatient.

Yamanaka Fu nodded. "Then start your physical training now."

Uzumaki Menma asked in confusion, "Weren't you going to teach me how to extract Chakra? Why do I need physical training?"

"I just told you that Chakra is the product of spiritual energy and physical energy mixed in equal measure. Your physical condition is not sufficient yet, so you cannot fuse it with your spiritual energy and extract Chakra. That is why you must begin with physical training.

"Today's training objective is physical conditioning, along with learning the twelve hand seal gestures. All right, begin."

One hour later.

Uzumaki Menma lay sprawled on the ground in exhaustion, begging, "Uncle Yamanaka, I can't do this anymore. I have to rest for a while, or someone's going to die!"

Yamanaka Fu shouted sternly, "Since you still have the strength to beg, you still have the strength to train. Continue!"

Uzumaki Menma pretended not to hear him and continued lying on the ground to rest.

Yamanaka Fu formed hand seals. "Water Release: Water Whip!"

A whip formed from water appeared in Yamanaka Fu's hand, and he lashed the ground beside Uzumaki Menma.

A deep whip mark appeared in the earth.

Uzumaki Menma sprang to his feet in fright.

Yamanaka Fu threatened, "You may stop only when I tell you to stop! If you slack off again, the next whip will land on you."

Seeing that Yamanaka Fu was not joking, Uzumaki Menma could only continue training.

Another hour passed.

Uzumaki Menma's legs had begun trembling uncontrollably, and his clothes were soaked through with sweat.

"All right, you may rest for thirty minutes."

Uzumaki Menma immediately collapsed onto the ground.

Uzumaki Menma protested, "Uncle Yamanaka, if this training keeps up, even if I don't die, I'll lose a layer of skin! I'm still growing. What if I end up too short?"

"That will not happen. You underestimate a ninja's physique. Do you know how old the youngest person to become a ninja was?"

"How old?"

"A genius from Konoha graduated from the Ninja Academy and became a Genin at five. He became a Chunin at six and was promoted to Jonin at twelve. You are Lord Danzo's grandson, so you ought to surpass that genius!"

I'm not his biological grandson!

Uzumaki Menma complained inwardly.

Besides, why was he being compared with that person? That person was a genius, while he was not.

Then Uzumaki Menma reconsidered. He seemed to be a genius too.

In the Limited Tsukuyomi, he had even destroyed Konoha.

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Yamanaka Fu clapped his hands. "All right, break time is over. It's time for the next training session."

Uzumaki Menma sighed and reluctantly rose from the ground.

"Next is hand seal training."

At the mention of hand seal training, Uzumaki Menma breathed a sigh of relief.

Learning hand seals could not possibly be that tiring, right?

Another two hours passed.

All ten of Uzumaki Menma's fingers trembled constantly, utterly refusing to obey him.

"Today's training ends here. Tomorrow morning at five, I hope to see you at the training ground instead of having to go to your room and drag you out."

After saying that, Yamanaka Fu used the Body Flicker Technique and left the training ground.

Uzumaki Menma had originally thought rather well of Yamanaka Fu. He seemed like a very easygoing person.

Once, Uzumaki Menma had caught Yamanaka Fu eating a banana, and he had even shared one with him.

But now...

Watching Yamanaka Fu leave, Uzumaki Menma shouted in frustration, "Devil!"

Uzumaki Menma limped away from the training ground at an agonizingly slow pace.

After leaving, Yamanaka Fu headed straight for Danzo's office.

When Danzo saw Yamanaka Fu return, he asked, "How did the training go?"

Yamanaka Fu reported truthfully, "It went very smoothly. At first, I estimated that one hour would be Young Master Menma's limit for physical training, but Young Master Menma endured for a full two hours. His constitution is quite good. However, Young Master Menma only trains properly when forced to. The moment there is an opening, he thinks about slacking off."

A chilling smile curled across Danzo's lips. "Then continue. As long as you catch him slacking off, double the training time until he no longer dares to slack off! Doesn't he want to go out and play? Then he needs to understand that if he wants to go out and play, he must train obediently!"

"Yes!"

At that moment, Uzumaki Menma had finally made his way to Root's entrance.

In truth, Uzumaki Menma had no strength left at all, but after finally completing his training, he would not accept staying inside instead of going out to play!

He had endured such harsh training precisely so that he could go out and play.

If he finished his training but did not go out, would that not be a huge loss?

Even taking a stroll outside would do. At least then today's training would not have been for nothing.