Taijutsu Had No Future

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had served longer than any other Hokage.

The villagers loved him as Hokage because Shimura Danzō took the blame for everything.

As Danzo put it, Hiruzen Sarutobi had spent his whole life basking in the sunlight.

Yet this same Hokage had betrayed Hashirama Senju's original purpose in founding the Shinobi Village, sending children onto the battlefield as cannon fodder.

Whenever war broke out during Hiruzen Sarutobi's tenure, the Ninja Academy dispensed with graduation exams. Children were forced to graduate at nine.

Kazan looked at the other children in the classroom.

Among them were the current generation of Ino-Shika-Cho, Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, and several other children of prominent families.

They had their families behind them and belonged to the Hokage's faction, so they had some assurance of survival. A civilian ninja like Kazan had no such protection.

The capable squad leaders were assigned to those Shinobi Clan heirs. The rest got leaders of middling ability.

Better to rely on myself than anyone else. What's the point of worrying about it?

Kazan turned to look out the window.

With Garp's Template and Garp's training memories, he knew he could go far. If he made it through the Third Shinobi World War alive, he would be in the clear.

But although he had trained since he was four, Kazan had made no substantial progress yet.

His body was not strong enough to practice the Six Powers, and he had not awakened the Three Types of Haki either.

His Fist Bone techniques looked impressive, but without Haki behind them, they had no real power.

He was nowhere near strong enough to blow apart Hachinosu with a single punch!

Still, my physique is much better than Guy's.

The fighters in Garp's world might not match the Six Paths level fighters in the Shinobi World when it came to stacking powers, but they could all take a beating.

Kuzan and Akainu had fought for ten days and nights before their duel produced a winner.

So even Might Guy, who devoted himself to Taijutsu, could not match Kazan's physical condition.

At noon, the students sat down to eat.

The excited children gathered together, and talk inevitably turned to their former classmate, Kakashi Hatake.

"I heard from my dad that Kakashi just completed an A-Rank mission with his squad leader."

"Seriously?"

"It's true. I hate to admit it, but Kakashi really is amazing."

The children from ninja families could only marvel.

Kakashi had made history at the Ninja Academy by graduating early at five. He was famous throughout Konoha.

If word came tomorrow that he had become a Jonin, they probably would not be all that surprised.

"Kazan, try this."

Kazan got along with everyone. He had little in common with the kids, but he did not disappear into some unknown corner of the school to eat alone like Jing Uchiha.

The reason was simple: someone was willing to feed him.

Along with Garp's Template, Kazan had inherited Garp's enormous appetite.

The other children brought small lunch boxes and were full after a few bites. Not Kazan. He needed dozens of rice balls just to fill his stomach.

"Ahh!"

Kazan eyed the meat Kurenai Yuhi held out with her chopsticks, opened his mouth, and swallowed it in one bite.

"Thanks, Kurenai."

"You're welcome. I can't eat all this by myself."

Kurenai Yuhi looked at the chopsticks Kazan had bitten, blushed a little, then licked their tips.

Not far away, Asuma Sarutobi saw it and immediately blew up.

"Hey, Kazan! Quit sitting with the girls every time you eat. Come eat with us once in a while. Anyone who didn't know you would think you were a girl!"

The other kids burst out laughing.

"No, it's not Kazan's fault... I was the one who came to him..."

Kurenai Yuhi spoke up for Kazan before he could say a word.

Kazan did not have the delicate good looks of the Uchiha or Kakashi, but his round, boyish face made him look full of energy.

And with a maturity that did not fit his age... Well, Kurenai Yuhi thought Kazan was different from the other boys.

Kazan shot Asuma a look and let him make of it what he would. Then his hands went to work, left, right, right, left, and he polished off dozens of rice balls in no time.

"Here."

"Thanks."

Kazan took the water Kurenai Yuhi handed him, gulped it down, then got up and left the classroom.

"Going to train again?"

"Yeah. My fists still aren't hard enough or fast enough."

He works so hard.

Kurenai Yuhi watched Kazan leave before turning her attention to her own lunch.

She had given most of it to Kazan, but she had a small appetite. There was still enough to fill her up.

"Tch. All that guy does, day after day, is punch things. Can someone who only knows how to throw punches become a good ninja?"

Asuma complained to his friends.

Ninja fought mainly with Ninjutsu. How far could anyone get on Taijutsu alone?

Just look at Might Guy. At one point, he could not even get into the Ninja Academy.

"I can't let that pass." Asuka Hyuga stood up.

The Hyuga Clan's Secret Technique was the Gentle Fist. Used with their Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan, it had made them a renowned ninja family throughout the Shinobi World.

And the Gentle Fist was, in a sense, a form of Taijutsu.

"Let's settle this with a duel, Hokage's son!"

Asuka Hyuga was firm. Asuma might be the Third Hokage's son, but the Hyuga Clan did not fear him.

That was how the Uchiha and Hyuga were. They looked at everyone else as beneath them.

"Fine! Meet me on the training ground!" Asuma was already angry, and now that someone had stepped up, he accepted at once.

Those damned Uchiha and Hyuga needed a beating, or they would start thinking Konoha belonged to them.

Kazan knew nothing about any of this. He had found a deserted spot and begun his daily training.

He followed the daily training regimen of the Navy Elite Camp.

Two thousand push-ups, a hundred trips up and down a rope, two hundred laps of running, and combat practice.

He felt his body could take more. With Garp's Template, he always tried to push past his limits after completing the set routine.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

His fists hammered the wooden post, every punch thrown with all his strength.

Even the toughest wood warped under his relentless blows, then splintered.

After who knew how many punches, his fist blew the entire post apart.

Kazan drew a breath, hauled over a fresh post he had prepared, and kept punching.

Compared with Garp training on mountains, Kazan's wooden posts were child's play.

Only when the bell rang did Kazan stop. He washed up quickly, changed his clothes, and went back to class.

When will my body finally be strong enough to practice the Six Powers?

And I need to find a way to get the Shadow Clone Technique.

The Shinobi World had a training exploit: the Shadow Clone Technique and the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

The Second Hokage had created the technique by imitating the First's Wood Clone.

It could create solid clones that could fight.

But its greatest value lay in what happened when a clone was dispelled or destroyed: its memories returned to the original, along with its pain and fatigue.

If Kazan's mind and will were strong enough, he could even train in all Six Powers at the same time!