Eternal Dream

Cangyue's gaze rested on the last line of the notification.

A moment later, the words quietly dispersed, then gathered again.

[White trait: Eternal Dream]

[Origin: I cultivate within dreams, dreaming through eternity]

[Effect: Once equipped, the host will continue training while asleep, slowly improving physical fitness, chakra, and proficiency in related abilities]

[Upgrade method: Expand the influence of Dream Training, increasing the number of practitioners and tangible results]

Cangyue pushed aside his stray thoughts and focused on the trait.

"Equip."

As the thought settled, the white trait glowed faintly.

[Eternal Dream equipped]

An extremely faint warmth spread from the depths of his consciousness.

Unlike when the system directly improved his swordsmanship, no flood of insights rushed into his mind this time, nor did his body change instantly.

Cangyue could only vaguely sense that his body had acquired a new instinct.

Even when he fell asleep, his body would never completely stop refining and circulating chakra or assimilating his existing abilities.

The improvement was not fast.

In fact, it could be called very slow.

But it required no extra time from Cangyue.

As long as he slept, he could train.

The Dream Training he had made up had actually become real.

"Cangyue!"

Naruto's voice came from overhead.

"Hurry up and get me down first!"

Cangyue looked up.

Naruto was still hanging upside down beneath the branch, his feet firmly attached to the bark and his body swaying gently in the wind.

The sight had been rather impressive moments ago, but after he had hung there for a while, he was starting to look more and more like some kind of air-dried food.

Cangyue stepped aside.

"Release your chakra."

"Huh?"

Naruto lowered his head to look at the ground.

"I'm so high up! If I release it, I'll fall!"

"Iruka-sensei will catch you," Cangyue said.

Hearing that, Naruto immediately looked at Iruka.

A vein twitched at Iruka's temple.

"Don't you two make decisions for me!"

Despite his words, he still walked beneath the tree.

Only then did Naruto disperse the chakra beneath his feet and drop from the branch.

Iruka caught him by the collar, absorbed the force of his fall, and set him safely on the ground.

The moment Naruto landed, he eagerly rushed over to Kiba.

"Did you see that?"

"I really learned Tree Climbing!"

Holding Akamaru, Kiba still kept glancing at the footprints Naruto had left behind.

With the evidence right in front of him, he could no longer insist it was a scam.

But believing Naruto had learned Tree Climbing by sleeping was just as impossible.

"You must've done some other training."

Kiba said defiantly, "Getting stronger just by sleeping? Nothing's that easy!"

"It was Dream Training!"

Naruto pointed at Cangyue.

"Cangyue trains by sleeping too!"

At his words, everyone turned to Cangyue again.

Cangyue did not answer.

He was just thinking of testing Eternal Dream's effects.

Since it only worked when he was asleep, there was no point wasting time standing around.

Cangyue walked to the edge of the training ground and reached for the Flame and Thunder Swords.

Both swords left their sheaths at once, tracing streaks of red and blue in the sunlight.

Gojō Ryūsen's gaze sharpened slightly.

Sasuke also instinctively looked toward the blades.

Both thought Cangyue was about to demonstrate something.

Instead, Cangyue turned the hilts and drove the Flame and Thunder Swords into the soil in a cross, leaving only the two sheaths slanting above the ground.

Then, under everyone's gaze, he lay down on the grass, adjusted his position, rested his head on the overlapping sheaths, and closed his eyes.

From drawing his swords to lying down, he did it all in one fluid motion.

The training ground fell silent for a moment.

The corner of Kiba's mouth twitched.

Sakura could not help asking, "Why did he suddenly go to sleep?"

With his hands in his pockets, Shikamaru looked at Cangyue beneath the tree.

"He's probably answering Kiba's question."

"By sleeping?"

"Because no matter how much he says, it's better to just show us by sleeping."

Shikamaru yawned.

Although it was strange behavior, it certainly fit Cangyue's usual style.

He never offered explanations.

Whether everyone believed him seemed to have nothing to do with him either.

Naruto, meanwhile, looked as though he had suddenly understood.

"I get it!"

"Cangyue must've seen what I just did and gained some new insight, so he has to enter his dreams and train right away!"

Sasuke glanced at him.

"How did you figure that out?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Naruto looked completely confident.

"Cangyue used to go straight to sleep after fights too, and then he'd wake up stronger."

Sasuke did not argue.

He had also witnessed that downpour at the Riverbank firsthand.

Cangyue had indeed suddenly drawn his sword after waking up, parting the curtain of rain with his sword intent.

Once could still be explained as a coincidence.

But what if it happened again?

Sasuke looked beneath the tree, his gaze gradually growing serious.

Iruka's expression, however, grew darker and darker.

He did not care whether Cangyue had gained some new insight. All he knew was that this was an outdoor training class.

Naruto had just finished wasting time, and now Cangyue had fallen asleep in front of all the students.

At this rate, they might as well turn today's training class into a nap break.

"Cangyue."

Iruka called out.

There was no response.

Cangyue's breathing had already become slow and steady.

With Eternal Dream active, he fell asleep far faster than before.

His consciousness gradually sank, and his body relaxed completely.

His chakra, however, did not fall dormant with it.

It continued circulating slowly through his chakra pathways, nourishing his body bit by bit while steadily sorting through the swordsmanship insights he had accumulated during the day.

Standing some distance away, Gojō Ryūsen's expression shifted slightly.

A ninja's chakra did not vanish into thin air once they fell asleep, but its active circulation usually came to a gradual stop.

Unless they deliberately maintained some secret technique, it was difficult to sustain a regular cycle once they were fully asleep.

Cangyue was different.

His chakra flowed more steadily than when he was awake.

There was not the slightest stagnation, nor any sign of it going out of control.

It was as though his body had already grown accustomed to training on its own while asleep.

For the first time, Gojō Ryūsen's certainty about "training in dreams" truly wavered.

Could it be that this wasn't an excuse Cangyue used to conceal his training method?

"Cangyue!"

Iruka called again.

Cangyue still did not stir.

Iruka bent down and picked up a piece of chalk that someone had brought to the training ground.

This was his usual weapon against students who fell asleep in class.

Iruka flicked his finger.

The chalk streaked through the air, heading straight for Cangyue's forehead.

Just as it was about to hit, Cangyue suddenly tilted his head slightly.

Whoosh!

The chalk flew past his temple and landed in the grass.

Iruka froze.

Naruto's eyes, however, lit up.

"Did you see that!"

"Cangyue can dodge even in his sleep!"

Kiba curled his lip.

"It must've been a coincidence."

Those words sounded somewhat familiar.

Not long ago, when Naruto had run up the tree, he had likewise thought Naruto had only succeeded by chance.

Iruka did not jump to a conclusion either.

Cangyue's head movement had been very natural, more like he had been uncomfortable in his sleep and happened to shift position.

He picked up two more pieces of chalk and flicked them one after the other.

The first flew toward Cangyue's left shoulder.

Cangyue rolled over, and the chalk grazed the edge of his clothing.

The second followed close behind, aimed at the back of his head.

Cangyue happened to raise an arm to cushion his head, and the chalk struck a sheath, snapping in two.

The skepticism on Kiba's face gradually turned to uncertainty.

Once was a coincidence.

But three times in a row?

"Akamaru."

Kiba lifted 5G down from the top of his head.

"Go see if he's really asleep."

After landing, Akamaru ran over to Cangyue and circled him, sniffing.

Cangyue's breathing was steady, his muscles relaxed.

He showed no defensive reaction to Akamaru's approach either.

Akamaru ran back to Kiba and gave two quiet barks.

Kiba understood what he meant.

"He's really asleep?"

Akamaru nodded.

Naruto immediately looked even more pleased with himself.

"I told you ages ago! You really can train by sleeping!"

This time, Sakura did not immediately argue.

She still felt that Dream Training could not be as simple as Naruto claimed.

But Cangyue was indeed asleep, and he had indeed dodged the chalk.

Surely what had happened right before their eyes could not be an illusion too.

Iruka pinched the last piece of chalk, his expression turning more serious.

He had held back on his previous throws.

This time, he snapped his wrist with sudden force.

The chalk gave a faint whistle as it shot straight toward the space between Cangyue's eyebrows.

It was more than twice as fast as before.

Sasuke watched Cangyue's right hand closely.

Gojō Ryūsen's gaze settled on the chakra circulating steadily inside Cangyue.

The chalk reached him in an instant.

Cangyue neither tilted his head nor rolled over.

Just as the chalk came within an inch of his forehead, his right hand suddenly rose.

His index and middle fingers closed together in midair.

Snap.

The speeding chalk stopped firmly between his two fingers.

Cangyue's eyes remained closed.

After catching the chalk, his right hand naturally settled back in front of his chest, as though he had merely shooed away a bug disturbing his pleasant dreams.

His breathing did not change in the slightest.

The training ground fell utterly silent.

Iruka still held his throwing pose.

He had taught many students and seen plenty who pretended to sleep in class.

But when someone pretending to sleep came under attack, their muscles would always tense beforehand, and their chakra would fluctuate.

Cangyue's had not.

He had been genuinely asleep the entire time.

Kiba looked down at Akamaru.

Akamaru nodded in confirmation once again.

Sakura stared at the chalk between Cangyue's fingers, at a loss for how to explain it.

Naruto, however, had no such concerns.

"This is Dream Training!"

"Once I learn this move, I'll be able to practice dodging while sleeping in class!"

Iruka whipped his head around.

"Don't you dare!"

Naruto shrank back and immediately shut his mouth.

Gojō Ryūsen paid no attention to their bickering.

He stared at Cangyue, the astonishment in his eyes growing stronger.

Some ninja who had survived countless brushes with death could instinctively dodge attacks in their sleep.

But the chalk carried no killing intent.

Nor had Iruka intended to hurt Cangyue.

That meant killing intent was not what Cangyue had sensed.

Perhaps it was the movement of air.

Perhaps it was sound.

Or perhaps, even after he fell asleep, a part of his consciousness continued watching his surroundings.

Gojō Ryūsen suddenly recalled what Cangyue had said at the Riverbank.

I train within my dreams.

At the time, it had sounded utterly absurd.

Now, it seemed the absurd thing was not those words, but their insistence on using the common sense of waking people to judge the dreams Cangyue saw.

[Valor Points +10]

[Valor Points +10]

[Valor Points +10]

[Valor Points +10]

System notifications sounded in his consciousness.

Cangyue was jolted awake.

He slowly opened his eyes and found everyone on the training ground staring at him.

Iruka still had his hand raised in a throwing pose.

Naruto's face was full of excitement.

Kiba and Sakura wore complicated expressions.

Sasuke looked thoughtful.

Gojō Ryūsen looked as though he were seeing him in an entirely new light.

Cangyue looked down.

His right hand was raised in front of his chest, with a piece of chalk still caught between his index and middle fingers.

What happened?

I only wanted to test the trait's effect.

How did I end up with a piece of chalk in my hand after taking a nap?

Cangyue's thoughts raced, but his expression betrayed nothing.

At a time like this, I absolutely cannot ask.

If I ask, my image as a master will fall apart.

He surveyed everyone's expressions, then glanced at the chalk between his fingers, piecing together a rough idea of what had happened.

Cangyue casually relaxed his two fingers.

The chalk fell onto the grass.

He settled back down with the sword sheath beneath his head, his tone as matter-of-fact as if he were stating something self-evident.

"The body sleeps, but the mind does not."

Gojō Ryūsen's pupils contracted slightly.

Just as I thought.

Cangyue was not relying on ordinary Sensory Ninjutsu. He maintained an alert consciousness independent of his body even while asleep.

This so-called Dream Training had never been mere sleep.

He continued tempering his will within his dreams.

As though he had finally gotten the proof he had been waiting for, Naruto turned to Kiba with a broad grin.

"Did you hear that?"

"The body sleeps, but the mind does not!"

Kiba stared at the chalk on the ground, at a loss for words.

Cangyue closed his eyes again.

The system panel quietly unfolded in the depths of his consciousness.

[Total Valor Points: 1066]

[Available Valor Points: 511]

[White trait: Eternal Dream]

This feature really was impressive. His boasts had actually become reality.

After school, Cangyue walked out through the school gates with the Flame and Thunder Swords on his back.

At a street corner, Sasuke silently fell in behind him, keeping some distance.