"998! 999! 1000!" At noon, Sōkyū Hatake finished the sword-swinging task assigned by the system, drenched in sweat. By then, his hands felt as though they no longer belonged to him, and he kept panting.
"Is this body still too weak after all?" Sōkyū Hatake collapsed on the ground and looked at his hands.
At that point, even getting his hands to move a little more was difficult.
He forced himself to stand up and did some stretches.
Although his body always felt free of fatigue the following day-he did not know whether that was the system's doing-he still needed to stretch to avoid leaving any hidden injuries.
After stretching, Sōkyū Hatake went to the kitchen and started making himself lunch.
Most of it was meat, an idea Sōkyū Hatake had gotten from the characters in Pirate King.
The stronger someone was, the more outrageous their appetite became.
So Sōkyū Hatake, too, wanted to forge himself into someone capable of anything.
As he wolfed down the meat, his body seemed to recover rapidly, though he did not know whether he was imagining it.
"Looks like this method works." Sōkyū Hatake shook his hands. They did not seem quite so tired anymore.
After a short rest, Sōkyū Hatake began the system's second task.
One thousand frog jumps!
Soon, Sōkyū Hatake arrived at the training ground. Frog jumps were an exercise for developing the thigh muscles and hip strength: stand with the feet apart in a half squat, lean the upper body slightly forward, and hold both arms behind the body in the ready position. Push off hard with both legs, fully extending the hips, knees, and ankles while swinging both arms forward quickly to jump forward and upward, then land on the whole of both feet, bending the knees to cushion the impact and swinging the arms back into the ready position.
Soon, Sōkyū Hatake completed his first frog jump.
Huh?
After completing just one jump, Sōkyū Hatake immediately looked at the system, but the task progress still read 0/1000.
Could it be that I applied force in the wrong places just now?
Since this was the first time the system had issued a frog-jump task, Sōkyū Hatake did not dwell on it. Instead, he kept adjusting his posture, movements, and where he applied force, and soon tried again.
"Why hasn't he come yet?" Not far from Hokage Rock, Shimura Danzō crouched beneath a bush, his eyes fixed on Hokage Rock.
It was noon. According to the schedule provided by Root, Sōkyū Hatake should have arrived long ago, but for some reason, he had yet to appear.
At noon, the blazing sun was directly overhead, and the surroundings were as hot as a steamer, offering no special treatment whatsoever to an elderly man like Shimura Danzō.
"Lord Danzo, according to the previous data... Sōkyū Hatake... should have arrived long ago..." The Root ninja's voice grew quieter and quieter, seemingly tinged with great fear.
"Then why hasn't he come yet?" Shimura Danzō asked without sorrow or joy. Although he meant nothing else by it, the Root ninja's forehead was already covered in cold sweat.
"I'll go check at once." The Root ninja swallowed and hurried out of the bushes. The most pressing matter now was to find out exactly where Sōkyū Hatake was...
"799! 800! Hah, hah, hah!" Sōkyū Hatake flopped straight onto the training ground. His legs felt as heavy as lead and kept trembling.
It seemed as though his legs could no longer muster any strength at all.
[Please keep up your efforts, host. Only 200 frog jumps remain before you receive the task reward and a check-in opportunity.]
Looking at the system's "friendly" reminder, Sōkyū Hatake wanted nothing more than to curse.
But the Root ninja keeping watch outside was even closer to breaking down than Sōkyū Hatake.
Hadn't this child only practiced swinging his sword before? What was this bizarre jumping?
Could it be a training method exclusive to the Hatake Clan?
At that thought, the Root ninja hurriedly began watching Sōkyū Hatake's frog jumps closely, but... there did not seem to be much to them.
After having his companion return to report, he concealed himself in a large tree outside the Hatake Clan compound. He could endure this, but he could not endure failing in his duties!
But... with people coming and going, the Root ninja could only suppress his presence as much as possible while continuing to stare at Sōkyū Hatake without blinking.
"999! 1000! Fucking finished!" Sōkyū Hatake looked as though he had just been fished out of the water, and the muscles in his legs kept twitching uncontrollably.
A thousand frog jumps might not have been difficult for Kakashi and the others, but for Sōkyū Hatake, who was only four, they were like a nightmare.
Fortunately, that nightmare was over now!
[Ding!] [Congratulations on completing the task, host!] [Sword swings: 1000/1000, frog jumps: 1000/1000!] [Task reward: Six Powers-Soru (beginner level)]
As he looked at the system's notifications, Sōkyū Hatake felt a warm current appear in his legs, and he began committing each point of force application to memory.
He remembered that this was one of the Six Powers: by stamping on the ground dozens of times at high speed in an instant (0.36 seconds), the user generated an explosive reaction force to move at high speed, appearing to vanish before an enemy's eyes.
That was the principle behind Soru.
When he had completed the system task just now, Sōkyū Hatake's legs seemed to have been healed. Although they were still very tired, they no longer felt as though they were shaking like a sieve.
"May as well try this out..." Sōkyū Hatake struggled to his feet. The exhaustion was more mental now.
His feet stamped on the ground dozens of times in rapid succession. The next second, Sōkyū Hatake appeared on the left side of the training ground and slammed into a post.
"Damn it! I still haven't mastered where to apply force?" Sōkyū Hatake said, clutching his head. Even at only beginner level, was it still too difficult for him after all?
Meanwhile, in the large tree outside the Hatake Clan compound, the Root ninja's mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg.
Could that be the Body Flicker Technique? No, I didn't sense any chakra fluctuations.
In other words... that was Taijutsu? Write it down, write it down. When I show this to Lord Danzo later, I might even be able to redeem myself through this achievement.
The Root ninja felt that he had discovered why Konoha's White Fang was so powerful!
Before you continue