Five years later

The next day, Itō Yuying slowly flew over. Looking at the three people on the training ground, he said, "You're here awfully early!"

"The three of us didn't go home last night." Itō Yuying gave them a puzzled look, and Jiraiya went on to explain what had happened yesterday. Itō Yuying didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Looks like this was my fault! Should I talk to the teacher?" "No need. We can handle it ourselves. It just caught us off guard, and we got a little flustered."

"All right. Let me know whenever you need anything." "Okay!" the three answered together.

"I'll go train first. Once everyone arrives, come get me. We'll have a short meeting." "Yes!" Might Guy answered loudly.

Then the three went off to train on their own.

Half an hour passed before Might Duy came to get Itō Yuying. "Yuying, everyone's here." "Oh, all right." Itō Yuying came out of the Gravity Chamber and walked over to the others. "Yesterday, I told you all about the meeting at the Hokage Building, so you know what's going on. Our Elite Training Base will officially open in five years. Whether our results are good or bad, we'll have to show them. The village has invested far too much in this base. And with a bunch of kids like us put in charge, there are bound to be plenty of people who aren't convinced. That's why I'm preparing special training for you all. Five years from now, we'll give those who doubt us a huge surprise."

"For these five years, none of you are allowed to go home. Tell me beforehand if anything comes up. In a little while, I'll give you the training plan for these five years. I'll train you personally, step by step, so prepare yourselves."

"Yes!" everyone answered loudly, without any questions.

Time flew. Spring passed and autumn came, and five years went by in the blink of an eye. They had all grown much taller. Now fourteen, Itō Yuying stood before them and said, "Five years have passed, and a lot has happened. I'm very satisfied with everyone's progress. Even Lord Hokage is incredibly envious and has come to me for advice many times."

"In another ten days, our base will officially open. When the time comes, everyone will have to demonstrate their abilities. Don't let up. This is only the beginning."

"All right, I now officially declare that our five years of special training have come to a successful end. We'll go home and rest for a few days. Gather here in eight days. Dismissed!" "Woohoo!" Everyone cheered loudly. Over these five years, they felt as though they had died countless times, only to be saved by Senzu Beans again and again. Itō Yuying's training was truly ruthless, truly twisted! Even Tsunade had had her hands and feet crippled no fewer than five hundred times, her face disfigured over a hundred and eighty times, and her chest pierced more than two thousand times. There had also been over three hundred occasions when they had almost failed to save her. And hers were the lightest injuries among them. Might Duy and Hatake Sakumo had suffered so badly that even Tobirama Senju had come to plead for mercy. Uchiha Hanyue had been so frightened that he awakened his Mangekyō on the spot. Jiraiya had wet his pants outright, and Orochimaru and Hyuga Yeyang were still dazed.

To train them, Itō Yuying had made a bottomless pit in one corner of the training ground. Down at the bottom, boiling, fiery-red lava was clearly visible. To demonstrate the Protective Light Shield, Itō Yuying had personally descended into the lava, frightening Tsunade into loud sobs. Only when they saw Itō Yuying come back up safely did everyone relax. Then their terrible luck began. Itō Yuying kicked them down one by one, leaving not a single patch of uninjured flesh on any of them. Hatake Sakumo's and Might Duy's flesh had burned away, exposing their bones. Without Senzu Beans, they would have died hundreds of times already.

Thinking back on those five years, everyone trembled all over. Jiraiya felt the urge to urinate coming on again.

"All right, does everyone want to train a little more?" Before Itō Yuying could finish, they all gathered their ki and flew home. Watching the figures flying away through the sky, Itō Yuying nodded in satisfaction.

Now, whenever Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō saw Itō Yuying, they steered clear of him. He was truly a monster! Once, the two of them had witnessed Itō Yuying pierce straight through the abdomens of Tsunade, Jiraiya, Hatake Sakumo, Might Duy, and Orochimaru. Blood sprayed out as though it cost nothing. In the end, he had even stepped on Might Duy's hand, crushing it until the white bones were exposed.

With physical and verbal attacks combined, he tormented them until they were hovering between life and death.

In the end, a few Senzu Beans fixed everything. And so it went, endless beatings followed by endless recoveries. Uchiha Hanyue awakened his Mangekyō in a rage. When he first awakened those eyes, he was extremely arrogant, declaring that he would knock Itō Yuying flat in three minutes and make him feel pain. Then Uchiha Hanyue had his limbs cut off, leaving blood all over the ground, and both his eyes gouged out. The Susanoo defense he was so proud of was shattered with a single punch. After that, Uchiha Hanyue no longer dared activate his eyes in front of Itō Yuying. For several days afterward, his eyes hurt whenever he saw him.

Those five years of special training had truly given Tobirama Senju, Shimura Danzō, and Hiruzen Sarutobi a terrible fright. Whenever Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō thought about it, they shuddered.

The benefit, however, was that their strength was now on an entirely different level. They had learned several of Itō Yuying's moves, and their use of ki had already surpassed that of Tobirama Senju, Shimura Danzō, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the others. They could be called extremely formidable.

Itō Yuying slowly flew toward home. "Ah, I can finally get some proper rest. I'll have Grandpa make me twenty pots of meat. I'm going to eat for three days and three nights!" Then he turned and flew toward his grandfather's house. "My dear Grandpa, your beloved grandson is here!"

Yiteng Yue heard Itō Yuying's voice from far away. Delight spread across his face, and he swiftly opened the door, moving even faster than the Body Flicker Technique. As soon as he opened it, he saw Itō Yuying standing in the doorway. Smiling, Yiteng Yue patted his shoulder. "You've grown taller. Come on in! Grandpa will make you a seafood feast." Itō Yuying was speechless. "I don't want any more kelp." Yiteng Yue looked a little embarrassed. "All right, all right. I'll have your grandma buy you some meat. Come, come, chat with Grandpa."

At the Konoha Academy, the upper-year students were talking. "Have you heard? The Konoha Elite Training Base will start accepting students in ten days." "Yeah, I heard too." "My dad said the ninja who come out of there are the elite of the elite, the strongest of the strong. He even told me to sign up! Hiashi, Hizashi, you two brothers are definitely going to sign up, right?" The two young boys looked thoroughly haughty. "Hmph, of course. Yeyang from our clan is training with Yuying! As their juniors, naturally we have to go."

"I heard Uchiha Fugaku from the class next door is signing up too." "Yeah, he's the top student in the school. He'll definitely get in." Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga immediately grew unhappy when they heard that. The two of them were geniuses of their clan. Someone from the mere Uchiha Clan certainly couldn't be their match.

In the next classroom, Uchiha Fugaku was surrounded by a group of people. "Fugaku, you're the top student in the whole school. Getting selected should be practically guaranteed." Uchiha Fugaku said, "That's hard to say. I heard from Hanyue that the assessment is extremely strict. Even I'm not confident." "But isn't your Hanyue an instructor at the base? Surely he can turn a blind eye?" "That's impossible. Lord Yuying handles all the selections."

A child from the Sarutobi Clan nearby said, "I overheard Uncle Hiruzen Sarutobi talking with my family. Apparently, Lord Itō Yuying is terrifying when he trains people. Those instructors were beaten so badly they barely looked human. It scared Uncle Hiruzen so much that he stayed away from the training ground for months." All the children couldn't help shuddering when they heard that. Uchiha Fugaku said, "If you want to become stronger, you have to pay the price. I believe I can stick it out."