A Month of Training

On the third day after the preliminaries ended, Takuma got the match schedule for the official rounds.

His opponent hadn't been decided yet, but with his current strength, he'd be outmatched no matter who he faced.

He'd beaten Tsurugi Misumi by taking advantage of Neo Sunglasses' ability to counter Soft Body Modification. That had been a crafty win, and he couldn't count on being so lucky against someone else.

Takuma sat in the backyard of his family's bookstore, spread out a sheet of paper, and began making a training plan.

First, he needed to master Water Release: Water Formation Wall and Earth Style: Earth Wall.

They were basic techniques of the Senju Clan, passed down to him by his father. They were excellent for keeping him alive, but his proficiency still had a long way to go.

Second, he needed to develop practical applications for the Cursed Seal.

The Cursed Seal's first form greatly increased his speed and strength, but its side effects were too obvious. He needed to find a way to activate it that he could control.

Third, he needed to train his chakra vision while wearing the Neo Sunglasses.

The glasses let him see the flow of chakra. Combined with Spider-Sense, they could boost his combat awareness by several levels.

Fourth, he needed to improve his accuracy with thrown ninja tools.

Tenten had told him his Shuriken trajectories were too erratic. If he couldn't hit vital spots in a real fight, he might as well be throwing them away.

"Writing your will?"

Takuma looked up. Tenten had stuck her head out of a second-floor window at the ninja tool shop. She was holding a blunt Shuriken.

"I'm writing a training plan." Takuma turned the paper around to show her. "Can you check whether the ninja tool section makes sense?"

Tenten narrowed her eyes and studied it for a few seconds. Then she climbed straight out the window and landed beside Takuma.

She snatched the paper from him, frowned as she read it from top to bottom, then pulled a pen from her ninja tool pouch and briskly added several lines.

"Throw Shuriken at least two hundred times a day, half at fixed targets and half at moving ones. You rely too much on your wrist to control the trajectory. Your shoulders and waist aren't coordinating with it at all."

Without looking up, she continued writing. "Practice throwing Explosive Tags a hundred times on their own. Use Smoke Tags instead of live ones, but make sure they weigh exactly the same. Also, I'll ask Neji to watch your throwing angles. His Byakugan can see the deviation in every single trajectory. He'll judge them much more accurately than I can with the naked eye."

"Neji?" Takuma paused. "Do you think he'll agree?"

"Guy's always with Lee, helping him with his rehabilitation. Neji doesn't have anything to do on his own."

"You're putting so much effort into this that I almost feel bad if I don't give it everything I've got," Takuma said.

Tenten raised her head. Her expression was so serious it couldn't be a joke. "You'd better give it everything you've got. I don't want to see anything like what happened in the Forest of Death again."

During the days Takuma had been unconscious, suffering under the Cursed Seal, Tenten had waited outside the bookstore every day for news. He'd heard about it later from his father.

"Got it." Takuma took the revised training plan, folded it, and put it in his pocket. "Starting tomorrow, I'm training like my life depends on it."

At five the next morning, Takuma was jolted awake by a deafening pounding on the door.

"Get up! Training!"

Takuma rolled over, still wrapped in his blanket, and wondered if he was dreaming.

Then the door was shoved open. Might Guy stood in the doorway, his green jumpsuit blazing in the morning light, his teeth shining brightly enough to use as a mirror.

"Mori Takuma! Tenten told me you need Taijutsu training! Youth doesn't allow for sleeping in! Right now, this very instant—run ten laps around Konoha on your hands!"

Takuma rolled out of bed and got dressed faster than he ever had in his life.

He didn't dare slack off. He'd seen for himself how Guy trained Lee.

His judgment turned out to be exactly right.

Ten laps on his hands were only the warm-up.

Next came five hundred kicks against a wooden post, three hundred push-ups, two hundred sit-ups, and then one-on-one Taijutsu sparring.

It sounded like sparring, but in reality, Guy just threw Takuma around while he gave him a thumbs-up afterward and said, "Your breakfall has improved by 0.3 centimeters since last time!"

"Guy, I have a question." Takuma lay face-down on the training ground, his cheek pressed against the dirt. His voice was as weak as a mosquito's. "How has Rock Lee managed to survive training under you?"

"Lee!" Guy clasped his hands at his waist, tears streaming from his eyes. "He built all his Taijutsu through sweat and blood! Every time I fall down, he still has to do five hundred more push-ups! That's youth!"

Takuma buried his face in the dirt again.

He silently bowed three times to Rock Lee in his heart, paying homage to a true master.

After the morning's Taijutsu training ended, Neji arrived at the training ground right on time.

Neji Hyuga stood in the shade of a tree with his arms crossed and his Byakugan activated.

"Tenten asked me to help you with your throwing angles," Neji said, his voice flat.

Takuma didn't waste any time. He pulled out a stack of Smoke Tags and started throwing them at the targets.

The moment the Smoke Tag left his hand, Takuma knew he was in trouble.

The tag's angle was way off. A crosswind caught it and sent it veering straight toward Tenten, who stood nearby.

Tenten reacted instantly, turning her head to dodge. The Smoke Tag skimmed past her hair and struck a tree trunk, bursting into a cloud of white smoke.

Neji used the Body Flicker Technique to appear in front of Takuma. He slapped Takuma's wrist, knocking the remaining tags out of his hand and onto the ground.

"There's a fundamental problem with the way you throw," Neji said, pulling his hand back. His tone was still cool, but his eyes had grown more intent. "Before every throw, you unconsciously gather chakra and concentrate your strength in your wrist. Throwing Explosive Tags doesn't require chakra infusion. That habit actually interferes with your body's natural coordination. Your wrist trembles when you mold chakra, and the tremor becomes more pronounced at the moment you release the tag."

Takuma paused, then looked down at his hand.

He did have that bad habit. Before using any ninja tool, he unconsciously gathered chakra—a muscle memory left over from training with the Chakra-Conducting Kunai.

That habit helped when he used a Chakra-Conducting Kunai, but with ordinary ninja tools, it only got in the way.

"Get rid of that bad habit." Neji turned and walked back to the shade.

Tenten went over to Takuma and lowered her voice. "Neji doesn't mince words, but the fact that he came to help you means he actually—"

"I can hear you," Neji called from the shade.

Tenten stuck out her tongue and ducked her head.

By evening, the day's training had finally ended.

Takuma slumped on a wooden post by the training ground, every muscle in his body protesting.

Tenten pulled a rice ball from her ninja tool pouch and handed it to him, then sat down beside him.

"That's just how he is." Tenten braced her hands against the post and gazed up at the sunset. "Neji's been locked up in a cage since he was little. He believes there's no changing your fate. That's why he looks down on anyone who doesn't give it their all."

Takuma chewed his rice ball without saying anything.

He knew about Neji's situation. The Caged Bird wasn't something he could do anything about.