Youth Is Burning

By noon, the rabbit-catching mission had come to an end. Naruto walked at the front carrying three plump rabbits, proudly thumping his chest as he claimed the greatest credit for tracking them down. Sakura rolled her eyes beside him and retorted that if she had not calculated their route and sealed off their escape with shuriken, the three rabbits would have vanished into the woods long ago. Uchiha Rin walked behind them, his fingertips resting lightly against the sword sheath at his waist, his steps so steady that he did not sway in the slightest. Chikura Blade gently bumped against his leg with each step, producing faint, muffled taps, its warmth vaguely seeping through the fabric.

The path back to the village passed along the edge of the Seventh Training Ground. After only a few steps, forceful shouts rang out from the woods, crisp and rhythmic, as though someone were chanting a slogan.

"Youth is passion! Passion is burning! Burning is—"

"Yes, Guy-sensei!"

The three stopped. Naruto curiously grabbed the roadside bushes and peered inside. Sakura leaned over as well, while Uchiha Rin paused before turning to look.

In the clearing of the training ground, two figures in green jumpsuits—one tall, one short—were training. The adult man stood upside down, supporting himself on only two index fingers, his body ramrod straight, the thick eyebrows over his forehead especially striking beneath the sun. Beside him, the boy was doing one-handed push-ups. Each time he lowered himself, he let out a muffled shout, sweat striking the ground and spreading into tiny wet marks.

"That's Jonin Might Guy." Sakura lowered her voice, sounding both impressed and helpless. "They say he's very strong, but... his style is rather unusual."

"The shorter one is Rock Lee, from our class." Naruto added quietly. "I heard he can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu at all, but his taijutsu is amazing. He's Guy-sensei's top disciple."

Uchiha Rin's gaze settled on Rock Lee. The boy's movements were as precise as if measured by a ruler. The lines of his arm muscles were taut, and every descent was incomparably steady, without the slightest hint of going through the motions. Sunlight fell over his sweat-damp hair, dazzlingly bright.

He suddenly recalled what Kakashi had said that morning—Konoha was not as peaceful as it appeared.

He had Chikura Blade, but his foundation in close-quarters combat was far too weak. If he truly encountered danger, the blade's sharpness and the basic Three Body Techniques would definitely not be enough.

At that moment, Guy suddenly flipped over and landed firmly on the ground. His piercing gaze swept toward the bushes, and his booming voice rang out. "Young people over there! Youth has no need to hide! Come out!"

The three exchanged looks and could only awkwardly emerge from behind the trees. When Guy saw who they were, he flashed a mouthful of gleaming white teeth, his smile as brilliant as sunshine. "Oh! Kakashi's students! So, would you like to experience the training of youth?"

Naruto hurriedly waved his hands and shrank backward. Sakura also smiled as she took half a step back, making it obvious that she had no intention of suffering through this.

Only Uchiha Rin remained where he was. He looked at the pure determination in Rock Lee's eyes, then raised his gaze to the undisguised sense of strength radiating from Guy and asked, "How do you train taijutsu?"

Guy's eyes lit up at once.

Over the next half month, Team 7's days were calm and routine. Every morning, they handled D-rank missions under Kakashi's lead—weeding, searching for cats, delivering letters, helping farmers move goods, all trivial chores. Kakashi continued to arrive fashionably late, and he remained lazy throughout their missions, never saying a single unnecessary word. Only when his gaze occasionally fell upon Chikura Blade at Uchiha Rin's waist would it linger for half a second longer.

The real tempering began in the predawn hours each day.

Every day, just after the Hour of the Tiger, Uchiha Rin would arrive at the training ground on time.

At first, Guy did not immediately set his training volume according to Rock Lee's standards. Five laps of slow running around the village, one hundred and fifty push-ups, two hundred sit-ups, and two hundred sets of squats—this was the starting regimen Guy had tailored for freshly graduated genin, yet it was already close to grinding Uchiha Rin down to his limit.

After the first lap, his breathing began to grow heavy. By the fourth, it felt as if his lungs had been filled with scorching wind, burning painfully, while his legs weighed as much as lead. Rock Lee remained half a step ahead of him, his pace steady and breathing even, with barely any sweat on him.

Uchiha Rin gritted his teeth. He did not call for a stop, nor did he slow down. He forced himself through all five laps.

By the hundredth push-up, his arms had begun trembling uncontrollably, sweat dripping from his jaw onto the ground. Rock Lee had long since finished his own set and was practicing punches against the wall. When he noticed Uchiha Rin's shaking arms from the corner of his eye, he said nothing, merely slowing his own punches in silence.

Guy crouched beside him, his voice booming but not urging him on. "Young man, rest if you can't hold on! Youth is all about knowing when to push and when to ease up!"

Uchiha Rin did not answer. He merely gritted his teeth and lowered his arms again.

One hundred and one.

One hundred and two.

He mechanically repeated the motion, the soreness spreading from his arm muscles to his shoulders and back. By the end, he was relying almost entirely on willpower. When he reached one hundred and fifty, his arms gave out and he collapsed onto the ground, his chest heaving violently, without even the strength to lift a hand.

Rock Lee walked over and handed him a canteen, his voice carrying the clear brightness of youth. "You can endure more than I expected."

Uchiha Rin took the canteen and gulped down two large mouthfuls. Cool water slid down his throat, suppressing the burning ache in his lungs. He wiped the sweat from his chin and said only three words. "Add more tomorrow."

Rock Lee froze for a moment, then broke into a wide grin and nodded firmly. "Okay!"

The days passed, and the training volume steadily increased. After one week, Uchiha Rin could easily complete the basic regimen of five laps and three hundred push-ups. After two weeks, he could keep up with seventy percent of Rock Lee's training intensity. Though every session left him feeling as if his whole body had fallen apart, he recovered faster with each passing day.

He could clearly feel the changes in his body. It was not merely the visible growth of muscle, but something deeper—greater endurance, steadier punches, nearly ten percent more explosive power in his wrist when wielding his blade, and even slightly sharper dynamic vision as his physical condition improved.

And these changes were by no means solely the result of training.

He still injected chakra into Chikura Blade once every night before bed. Each time, the blade steadily stored it, its warm pulse growing clearer day by day. On the night of the seventh day, just as he finished filling it with chakra, the blade suddenly gave off a faint tremor, as though something dormant had awakened.

The next instant, a stream of pure, gentle chakra flowed backward from the hilt, spreading through the meridians in his arm and throughout his entire body.

That chakra was far purer than his own. Like warm water flowing over parched earth, it seeped thread by thread into his muscle fibers and the gaps in his bones. The muscle soreness and meridian strain caused by his daytime training rapidly faded beneath that warm current, replaced by a tingling sensation of growth—his cells were being nourished and strengthened, and even his own chakra capacity increased by a trace.

What concerned him even more was that the cold, restless force settled in his lower abdomen actually shrank obediently into a ball when the warm current swept over it. Even the occasional stabbing pain that usually surfaced vanished completely.

The process lasted a full ten minutes.

When the final wisp of chakra merged into his body, Chikura Blade became still once more. The pale blue patterns on the blade dimmed, as though it had completed a round of tempering.

Uchiha Rin rose to his feet and clenched his fist.

The strength was real. It was not some fleeting, hollow boost from a temporary burst, but power that had grown from his flesh and blood—power that truly belonged to him.

He lowered his head and looked at the short blade in his palm. Its surface quietly reflected the oil lamp's light, docile as though waiting for the next infusion.

"First cycle," he murmured.

Once every seven days, it would purify and feed chakra back to him.

He raised his eyes to the deep night outside the window, his fingertips lightly tapping the sheath.

He was looking forward to seeing just how far Chikura Blade would take him in the near future.