Training in "Ki"

The next day, Itō Yuying ate a simple breakfast and headed toward yesterday's forest with light steps.

He began another day of training: running while dragging a rock, doing push-ups, lifting a log, doing frog jumps, and running lap after lap around the forest. Before long, sweat soaked his clothes. He had kept up this sort of training for over half a year, repeating these exercises every day, and his body had gradually grown stronger. Just as he was running forward with a log raised and a rock dragging behind him-

He heard a ding. The system, which had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. "Congratulations, host, on completing the first step: strengthening your body."

Itō Yuying paused, then opened the system interface. It showed that the first step, strengthening his body, was complete and asked whether he wanted to claim his rewards. With a thought, Itō Yuying selected yes. "Congratulations, host. You have received three Senzu Beans, three Hoi-Poi Capsules, and one adjustable, 500-jin Goku weighted Battle Suit."

Itō Yuying looked them over, delighted. "These are all useful things. Three more lifesavers-Senzu Beans. The Hoi-Poi Capsules are really handy too." Without chakra, he could not use sealing scrolls, and besides, he could not afford them. With the Hoi-Poi Capsules, he could store lots of things. "Hee... hee, I'm so happy." Itō Yuying gazed at his rewards in delight.

Goku's weighted Battle Suit, 500 jin and adjustable. Nice, nice. Once he claimed them, the rewards appeared in his hands. After changing into the reddish-orange Battle Suit, he adjusted its weight. Let's start with 100 jin to settle my nerves. Once he finished adjusting it, he tried to take a step, only to topple to the ground, unable to budge. Ugh, how embarrassing.

"I'm a real man who's spent over half a year running with a log raised and a rock dragging behind me. How can I not even handle 100 jin? Am I just an ordinary person?" Itō Yuying said dejectedly. He lowered his head for a closer look. It turned out that the shoes weighed 100 jin, the pants weighed 100 jin, the top weighed 100 jin, and the pair of wristbands weighed 100 jin-a total of 400 jin. He hurriedly lowered the settings, adjusted them to a suitable weight, and started training again.

I knew it. How could a real man who works as hard as I do fail to handle even 100 jin?

Toward evening, Itō Yuying prepared to go home early. He planned to study the method for training "Ki" carefully. The system had just notified him that he could begin training his Ki.

Itō Yuying was so happy today that even the log and rock he normally trained with had lost their appeal. He decided to treat himself. With heavy steps, he shuffled toward the center of the village, planning to buy plenty of supplies to take home, because he did not intend to go out for the next few days.

He arrived at Konoha's shopping street. Konoha was already bustling by this time, with an endless stream of buyers and sellers and vendors calling out their wares. All sorts of colorful signs had lit up, making a lovely sight. There were plenty of pedestrians on the road. Itō Yuying walked along the street, looking left and right like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world. As he continued looking around, he suddenly spotted a familiar figure.

He had silvery-white hair, wore close-fitting clothes, and carried a short blade on his back. His eyes were sharp, and he had a distinctive air about him. It was Hatake Sakumo, the future White Fang of Konoha, a man so fast that anyone who encountered him was permitted to abandon their mission. Who knew how many lives the White Fang short blade on his back had taken? Anyone who escaped from him and returned to their village would even receive a commendation, because escaping from him was itself proof of ability.

He's Kakashi's daddy. In the end, he abandoned a mission for his comrades and got screwed over by that old cabbage stump Danzo, then chose suicide. Sigh... his resolve was too weak. What a shame. He looked only about ten or so now. Hatake Sakumo also glanced at Itō Yuying, gave him a faint smile, and walked past.

Hey... hey, hey, what the hell? That's it? I was all ready for a beautiful encounter. Why did you just leave? Do I look that much like a random passerby to you? Or were you so awed by my handsome appearance that you didn't dare strike up a conversation?

"Can you shut your mouth, you damn homo? You're making me sick," the system said, its face covered in dark lines. "Don't you have a single germ of humor? Hmph, boring." After finishing his shopping, Itō Yuying slowly shuffled home. He still had not adjusted to the weight.

But when Itō Yuying and Hatake Sakumo passed each other, although Hatake Sakumo showed no outward change, he was deeply surprised. He's already started training at such a young age? He really does work hard. Looks like I need to work even harder myself.

After returning home and eating, Itō Yuying opened the system panel and began following the method for training "Ki." He sat cross-legged, quieted his mind, and sensed the energy hidden within his body. Little by little, from his limbs and bones down to every hair and every cell, he slowly drew it out. Quiet your mind, quiet your mind. Relax, relax. Don't strain. Slowly draw out that latent energy. He felt the cells inside him slowly expand and contract, over and over. One hour, five hours, ten hours, fifteen hours, one day, three days, five days, ten days, thirty days, fifty days. At that moment, Itō Yuying suddenly felt his mind lighten, and his surroundings instantly fell silent. The birds calling in the trees outside, the cicadas chirping, passersby talking, the sound of bees beating their wings, fish swishing their tails in the stream, ants crawling on the ground, earthworms wriggling underground, and the expressions and movements of everyone in the village, as well as people doing those shameless things at home in broad daylight-Pah, shameless bastards.

He turned his awareness inward. Is this Ki? How amazing. I can sense anything that breathes. The countless trillions upon trillions of cells and hairs on Itō Yuying's body were all taking great breaths. The special energy of the surrounding people, animals, plants, birds, insects, mountains, rivers, and earth stimulated the activity of each of his cells bit by bit. The energy hidden within his body slowly gathered, and a golden ball of light gradually appeared between his hands, flickering. Itō Yuying opened his eyes and looked at it, murmuring, "Is this Ki? It's just like that golden ball of light when Gohan taught his girlfriend Ki in Dragon Ball. Haha, I did it! That was so hard. This feeling is amazing."

He tilted his head up toward the roof and sang softly, "How, how lonely it is to be invincible. How it is to be invincible..." Halfway through the song, his stomach began to rumble. For more than fifty days, he had not gone out except when necessary to eat or use the toilet, nor had he eaten a proper, filling meal. Only when he was unbearably hungry had he grabbed a casual bite. Even I admire my own dedication to getting stronger. He would never admit that he was afraid of dying.

Hurry up and cook, eat and drink my fill, then lie down in bed for a lovely sleep. Tomorrow, I'll practice the Flight Technique. This was the training plan he had decided on long ago. Flying-it was a skill he had wanted for ages. There were simply too few people in the Hokage world who could fly.

As he thought about it, before long, he was snoring like thunder. In his dreams, he soared through the sky, looking down on the whole world. "Wahahaha!" He recited Nagato's classic lines: "How many floors must a sack of rice be carried? A sack of rice must be carried to the second floor."

In reality, the drool from Itō Yuying's mouth had already soaked his quilt.