Naruto on the march

Training ground.

Smack!

Thud!

"Got you!"

Seizing his chance, Naruto flipped into a sideways kick aimed at Yecheng's chest.

"Not quite."

Yecheng casually caught his kick, then gave him a forceful twist, sending him spinning two and a half times through the air before he landed on the ground in a daze.

Yecheng nodded to himself.

Having Naruto learn offensive and defensive routines in Taijutsu class simply wouldn't get them into his head.

Only by fighting and sparring with him, letting him learn in combat, could he absorb and digest them at a relatively fast pace.

That counted as a different sort of talent. He relied more on his body than his brain.

His muscles had replaced his brain, so to speak.

After his eyes spun for a while, Naruto finally came to his senses.

"Ah, Yecheng, you're really strong. And this isn't even your real body, is it?"

Naruto scratched his hair as he spoke with a grin.

"Oh? You can actually see through my Shadow Clone Technique?"

Yecheng was a little surprised.

"It's not really seeing through it. I just get this feeling."

Naruto scratched his head, desperately searching his vocabulary, but couldn't find a precise word to express it.

Intuition?

Or the Uzumaki Clan's Mind's Eye of the Kagura?

Or perhaps the Nine-Tails Demon Fox's Emotion Sensing?

As expected of the Child of Destiny. He really is special.

After scratching his head for ages, Naruto finally gave up and changed the subject.

"Yecheng, I want to become Hokage. I want to get stronger. Can you help me?"

Naruto looked at Yecheng expectantly, his gaze as clear and transparent as a university student's.

"..."

Yecheng thought over what he had to offer, and there really didn't seem to be anything suitable to teach him.

After all, his entire tactical framework was built around the Six Eyes' exceptionally precise chakra control.

Even in Taijutsu, he relied on the Six Eyes' powers of observation and Yang Release Chakra Mode, both of which required delicate work.

They really didn't mesh with Naruto's brute-force style.

"You can't?"

Naruto's emotions were straightforward and always showed on his face.

"It's not that I can't."

Yecheng chuckled and handed him a grilled fish, stuffing his mouth.

"My style doesn't suit you. I was just thinking about who would make a good teacher for you."

"Really?"

Naruto accepted the grilled fish, blew on it twice, and started eating.

At those words, he immediately looked at Yecheng with sparkling eyes.

"Yes, and I've already thought of someone."

"Really?!"

Naruto sprang to his feet in excitement, dancing with joy and crying, "Woo-hoo! Yay!"

Watching him, Yecheng felt amused too.

Yecheng had settled on Naruto's teacher almost instantly.

The youth guy, Might Guy!

Where did Naruto's strengths lie?

Thanks to his Uzumaki Clan bloodline and his status as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto had vast chakra reserves, strong physical recovery, and a sturdy body that could take a beating. Those were all his strengths.

Putting those traits together, it wasn't hard to see that, of the three paths of ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and genjutsu, Taijutsu was actually the best direction for Naruto's development.

And that path also offered a route to the heavens in the form of the Eight Gates, so its ceiling wasn't low.

Of course, Naruto's enormous chakra reserves certainly couldn't go to waste, so learning some ninjutsu alongside it was necessary.

The Rasengan series of ninjutsu in the original story grew more powerful the more chakra was poured into them, making them well suited to Naruto in the first place.

But as for the Rasengan, he could leave teaching that technique to Jiraiya later.

"C'mon, I'll take you to him."

Once they had finished their grilled fish, Yecheng patted Naruto on the shoulder. "You'll definitely like him."

"Yay! Let's hurry!"

Naruto impatiently tugged Yecheng's arm and headed forward.

"Okay, okay. Do you even know where he is? You just keep dragging me along."

"I don't, but I know you definitely do, Yecheng! Come on!"

Besides Naruto being suited to Taijutsu, Might Guy himself was an incredibly cheerful sun, and would presumably be able to dispel at least some of the gloom in Naruto's heart.

Loneliness was a terrifying thing.

Yet Naruto had been fighting that monster for many years.

But people couldn't defeat loneliness.

Naruto had even thought several times that he had been born to destroy everyone who bullied and ostracized him.

He had to find some way to connect with others, to form bonds.

Only then could he escape that terrifying abyss.

That was also why he cherished his bonds ten thousand times more than ordinary people did.

In the original story, Naruto had kept trying to connect with others by playing the fool and pulling pranks. It was foolish and ridiculous, but he truly had no other way.

He was still young and didn't know what he should do.

But at least he still had a choice.

Gaara, who was in the same position but had it even worse, had experienced several assassination attempts from childhood, even involving the person closest to him.

He had no room to choose.

Gaara's only way of connecting with others was, incredibly, through killing, forming those twisted, perverse bonds to resist the loneliness that had accompanied him since birth.

That was also why, during the original story's Chunin Ninja Exams arc, when Naruto met Gaara and first heard about his "way of fighting," he was so frightened that he trembled all over, enough for Sasuke and Sakura beside him to notice something was wrong.

To Naruto at the time, if he hadn't formed bonds with his companions, Gaara would have been his fate.

He saw himself in Gaara. He was Gaara, and Gaara was him.

But he was a coward who had escaped the abyss of loneliness, while Gaara was a true warrior who had fought it for over a decade!

Only he truly understood what kind of terror that was.

No matter how many times Yecheng thought of these things, he felt so nauseated he wanted to vomit.

The Shinobi World is too twisted.

This hell has to be overturned!

This isn't a world people can survive in at all!

It wasn't as though Yecheng couldn't understand the thinking of the Shinobi World's most devoted lover: create a false world where everyone lived in the dream best suited to them. Dreaming like that would surely feel wonderful.

But dreams were ultimately dreams, and the world was ultimately material. People still had to keep their feet on the ground and do what they ought to do, what they wanted to do.

Not to mention that Infinite Tsukuyomi was utterly unreliable, even worse than the biological batteries in The Matrix.

This had nothing to do with right or wrong. It was simply a contest between paths, settled only by who remained standing and who lay flat.

"Ten thousand and seventy-nine... ten thousand and eighty... ten thousand and eighty-one..."

At a training ground, Might Guy, wearing a green leotard and a ninja vest, was doing one-finger push-ups in a handstand.

Yecheng's eyelid twitched at the sight. Even a ninja shouldn't abuse his body like that.

It seemed the training requirements for the Eight Gates really were too extreme.

"Hey, Uncle Might. Still training this late?"

Upon seeing him, Yecheng greeted him first.

"You're...?"

Might Guy looked at Yecheng with a puzzled expression.

He wasn't good at remembering people to begin with, and Yecheng had never displayed anything special in front of him before, so he merely found him familiar.

"I'm Yecheng, and he's Naruto."

He chuckled. "Naruto has heard about you for a long time, Uncle Might. He's always wanted to learn Taijutsu from you."

"Oh-ho?"

Hearing that, Might Guy immediately grew excited. "In other words, Naruto, you want to burn with youth alongside me too?"

As he spoke, he raised his right thumb, and the teeth revealed by his broad grin even flashed.

"...Huh? Burn... with youth...?"

Naruto pulled Yecheng aside, deeply skeptical. "Yecheng, is this teacher you picked reliable?"

Yecheng also raised a thumb and grinned, showing his teeth with a flash.

"Absolutely no problem!"

Naruto: (≖`´≖)

Is there really no problem?

Inside the Hokage Office.

On a sudden whim, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, decided to use his crystal ball to see how Naruto was doing.

Yet, in the crystal ball, he actually saw Might Guy!

Naruto was following behind him as they ran around the village together.

"Naruto, keep going! Just a little farther and we'll reach the finish!"

"Big-Browed Uncle, I... I can't..."

"No, you can! You definitely can! Our youth is at its peak! There's nothing we can't do! Awoo!"

"Damn it! Awoo! I'll show you!!!"

Guy's words seemed to have fired Naruto up. Another surge of strength welled up in his body, sustaining him as he continued training.

Hiruzen Sarutobi: (≖`灬´≖)

What's going on?

How did these two get together?

Still...

Might Guy was a civilian ninja, not a member of any ninja clan, nor did he belong to any faction. And his personality...

Never mind. I'll let Naruto spend some time with him.

The next day.

Yecheng arrived at the training ground early in the morning as usual.

Today's training plan was to first complete the Subjugation of [Nue], then continue developing Yang Release Chakra Mode.

With Danzo's threat drawing closer by the day, he had to speed up his improvement too.

The Subjugation of [Nue] was somewhat perilous, but fortunately, Yecheng had already used the Six Eyes to learn Sasuke Uchiha's Manipulated Shurikenjutsu.

Using shuriken and wire, he finally restricted Nue's range of movement, then burned him away with a single Fire Release: Fire Dragon Technique, successfully completing the Subjugation.

With that, Yecheng could now be called a Flying Ninja. The ability to fly was extremely rare in the Shinobi World.

As for Yang Release Chakra Mode, it was still under development.

Yecheng could already use monster strength chakra in two of his limbs simultaneously, which was enough to prove that his current direction was correct.

The Ninja Academy.

Today's subject of discussion was Naruto.

For no other reason than that Naruto had come to school wearing a green full-body leotard.

Yecheng: (一`´一;)

At the sight, Yecheng immediately smacked his forehead.

I told you to train in Taijutsu with the youth guy, not learn his fashion sense too!

"Yecheng-kun, what's wrong?"

Sitting beside him, Hinata asked curiously when she saw his reaction.

From her perspective, Naruto had merely changed his clothes, yet it had provoked such a strong reaction from Yecheng-kun.

She was already considering whether she should change her style of dress before coming to school tomorrow too.

Yecheng-kun seemed to really like the jinbei I wore last time.

At the thought of their last outing together, Hinata's little face immediately flushed again.

We had so much fun last time. The goldfish Yecheng-kun scooped for me are still in the pond, lively as ever.

I wonder when I'll get to go out with Yecheng-kun again. I can't wait.

"No, it's nothing."

Yecheng waved a hand. "Speaking of which, Hinata, are you still getting enough to eat at home?"

"Huh? Mm, I eat my fill every day..."

Hinata spoke softly.

Although she was happy to have enough to eat every day, that seemed to mean she couldn't go out to eat with Yecheng-kun, which didn't seem so good after all.

"That's good, then."

Yecheng smiled and patted her head.

"I'm planning to invite everyone to a barbecue by the river this weekend. Would you like to come?"

"Yes!"

Hearing that, Hinata hurriedly answered.

Then, feeling she had spoken too loudly, she quickly lowered her voice and gathered her courage. "Yecheng-kun, I want to go... I want to play with you."

"Mm."

Yecheng nodded without saying much else.

Although she was still a little shy, Hinata had clearly improved a great deal and could now express what was on her mind.

Although she could currently only manage that with Yecheng, if things continued this way, he believed Hinata's disposition would gradually improve as well.

Sitting in another row, Ino saw the two chatting so intimately, and an overwhelming sense of crisis immediately welled up inside her.

She hurried to go over and strike up a conversation with Yecheng.

However, another blond reached Yecheng before she did.

"Yecheng, what do you think? Uncle Might picked this out especially for me!"

Naruto pointed his thumb at his leotard and grinned, baring his teeth, which even gave a little gleam.

"Fantastic!"

Yecheng also grinned, baring his teeth with a little gleam.

Another Precious Beast, damn it!

"I knew you'd understand, Yecheng!"

Yecheng's approval made Naruto very happy, and he said with a grin, "Yesterday, I ran a hundred laps around the village with Uncle Might. I feel stronger than ever!

Yecheng, I might beat you today!"

"Oh, really? Then I'll be looking forward to it."

Yecheng smiled on the outside while silently grumbling to himself.

Naruto was only six, yet he could already run a hundred laps around the village. That stamina was simply inhuman.

Even the Uzumaki Clan wasn't that ridiculous!

You tsundere Nine-Tails, just keep spoiling him!

As for beating me?

All I can say is, keep trying. Forcing me to use Yang Release Chakra Mode would count as a victory.

That afternoon.

This Taijutsu class was rather special: it was actually a Joint Class for their first-year class and the second-year class.

"Mizuki is sick today, so I'll be covering his class this time."

Iruka gave an explanation.

Yet he had no idea that Mizuki was quietly observing the situation from the shadows at that very moment.

Hmph, damn you, Iruka. How dare you show off your students in front of me? Today, I'll have Neji teach them a proper lesson and show you the gap between you and me!

Mizuki seethed inwardly.

On the surface, he and Iruka appeared to get along very well, but in reality, he merely took pleasure in Iruka's suffering.

Long ago, when he saw Iruka playing the fool to amuse everyone, he had been able to derive a perverse pleasure from it.

The more misfortune Iruka suffered, the happier he was!

That was why he had remained friends with Iruka.

But everything had changed recently.