Konoha: I Have a Gravity Training Room

Self-Introduction

Choji's behavior made everyone smile.

Still, Xia Mu understood Choji's personality fairly well.

The chubby boy was gentle and kind, with an extraordinary obsession with food. As long as you did not call him a fat pig or steal his food, he could befriend you peacefully.

But this last strip of dried sweet potato did not belong to Choji yet.

Xia Mu drew the paper packet back and said with a smile, "Choji, this is the last one. You want to eat it, and so do I. Shikamaru and Shino probably want some too, so I can't just give it to you. How about this? Let's play rock-paper-scissors. Whoever wins gets to decide what to do with this strip of dried sweet potato. Sound good?"

Shikamaru looked utterly helpless. "What a drag. It's just one strip of dried sweet potato."

But Choji's face was full of fighting spirit. "It's the last snack! I won't give it up to anyone. I accept your challenge!"

"Then I'll join too."

It was apparently Shino's first time making friends, so he was probably not used to such a fast pace. Still, he decisively joined in. After all, playing games with newly made friends was a very nice experience for him.

The four gathered together and began playing rock-paper-scissors.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

"Ha! My scissors won!"

Xia Mu grinned as he held up two fingers in a scissors gesture, declaring his victory. Choji, meanwhile, looked utterly defeated, apparently not expecting to lose.

"Then, according to our agreement, I'll decide what to do with this last strip of dried sweet potato."

As Xia Mu spoke, he pulled out a kunai from his waist and swiftly divided the dried sweet potato into four pieces. "There, now everyone gets some. Friends should know how to share."

Choji's expression instantly brightened. He quickly snatched up a piece of dried sweet potato and happily popped it into his mouth.

Shikamaru and Shino exchanged a glance, then took their own portions and ate them. It might have seemed childish, but the four of them had unknowingly grown much closer.

Then, naturally, they started chatting.

Choji mostly asked where the dried sweet potato had been bought. Xia Mu said he had made it himself and even shared the recipe. It was simple and rather boring, yet they still chatted with great enthusiasm.

At that moment, a commotion suddenly broke out in the classroom.

Sasuke Uchiha walked in with that adorably handsome face of his. His cool expression immediately drew screams from the girls.

Shikamaru curled his lip in displeasure. "Women are such a drag!"

Xia Mu and Shino exchanged a look at that, both shrugging. Whether they were troublesome or not aside, they were certainly noisy. They were only six years old and already liked handsome boys. They were really maturing early.

Besides, Sasuke really was quite arrogant. Xia Mu wondered if he had learned it from his amazing older brother.

The next second, a blond-haired boy suddenly rushed into the classroom and shouted, "Naruto Uzumaki has arrived! Everyone, we'll be classmates from now on, so take care of me, dattebayo!"

He instantly drew the entire class's attention. Many recognized Naruto's identity, and even those who did not could tell from the whisker marks on his face. At once, whispers spread through the classroom. Quite a few people even openly said things like "demon fox," "disgusting," and "damn it."

Even though Naruto was used to such scenes, he was still extremely embarrassed. The smile on his face was almost impossible to maintain.

He had probably been looking forward to the start of school, thinking he could make friends with children his own age. Yet it was still the same as before. Could he really make friends?

Could he really earn other people's recognition?

Fortunately, Iruka arrived at that moment and told everyone to find their seats.

However, as Iruka watched Naruto's somewhat lonely back, a complicated emotion flashed through his eyes. There was resentment too. After all, his closest family had died on the Night of the Nine-Tails, and Naruto was the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki. How could he not resent him?

But Iruka was a very gentle person. He knew it was not Naruto's fault, which was why his feelings were so complicated.

"Ahem, students, I'll be in charge of this class from now on."

Iruka smiled warmly. "Let's introduce ourselves now. I'll demonstrate first. My name is Umino Iruka. I like Ichiraku Ramen, and there's nothing I particularly dislike. My dream is to become an excellent teacher. All right, now it's your turn. Who wants to go first?"

Naruto immediately raised his hand. "Me first, me first! My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like Ichiraku Ramen too, and I hate waiting those few minutes for the noodles. My dream is to become Hokage, dattebayo!"

The moment they heard Naruto's words, the classmates who had been dismissive immediately erupted.

A mere demon fox actually dared to claim he wanted to become Hokage? He did not know his place at all!

Kiba Inuzuka immediately shouted, "You want to be Hokage? The one who'll become Hokage in the future should be me, the great Kiba Inuzuka! You little blondie probably won't even graduate from the Ninja Academy!"

The other students also began shouting that their dream was to become Hokage, making the classroom incredibly lively.

Iruka had a headache and hurriedly stopped them in a loud voice. "All right, all right. I know everyone has the great dream of becoming Hokage. Let's go in order first and listen to the other students' introductions. I'll call on people. Sasuke Uchiha, introduce yourself."

Whoosh! Everyone's gaze landed on Sasuke, and all the girls had hearts in their eyes.

Oh, except Hinata Hyuga. That girl had been secretly glancing at the little blondie this whole time.

Sasuke stood up and said with an arrogant expression, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like dango, I hate idiots, and my dream is to become an outstanding ninja like my older brother."

"Wow! Sasuke-kun is so handsome!"

"Sasuke-kun, I like you!"

"Sasuke-kun..."

The girls could not help screaming, while all the boys looked displeased.

Naruto especially narrowed his eyes like a fox and glared at Sasuke. "What's with these girls? I, Naruto, am handsome too, so why are they screaming over this Sasuke guy? He's only so-so, and he's so stuck-up. He looks so soft that he'd definitely go down with one punch, dattebayo!"

Sasuke seemed to sense a particularly intense gaze. He turned back and met Naruto's eyes. Then both of them snorted and turned away.

Indra and Asura's bond began anew at that moment!

Next came the other students' introductions:

"My name is Ino Yamanaka. My family owns the Yamanaka Flower Shop. I like all kinds of flowers too, and my dream is to become everyone's favorite."

"What a drag! My name is Shikamaru Nara. I like sleeping, I hate trouble, and I don't have any dreams."

"My name is Choji Akimichi. I like eating the most. I hate wasting food, I hate people calling me fat, and my dream is to be able to eat and drink my fill every day without having to work in the future."

"M-My name is Hinata Hyuga. I... I..." Her stammering voice was very quiet, but adorable.

"My name is Sakura. I like..."

Sakura secretly glanced at Sasuke.

"My dream is..."

Sakura secretly glanced at Sasuke again.

When Naruto saw Sakura, his eyes immediately lit up. He probably remembered having seen this girl before, and unlike everyone else, she did not look at him with disgust.

For a moment, Naruto was completely smitten.

However, seeing the beautiful Sakura repeatedly look toward Sasuke, Naruto felt like his lungs were about to explode from anger.

One-Handed Seals and the Rasengan

Shino introduced himself as well, saying little more than that he liked bugs.

But Shino's appearance and hobby obviously made many people keep their distance. Moreover, his presence was so weak that the classmates quickly forgot about him again.

Seeing this, Xia Mu patted his deskmate's shoulder in consolation.

Then he stood and introduced himself. "My name is Xia Mu. There's nothing I particularly like, and I don't seem to dislike anything either. As for my dream, I haven't thought of one yet. That's all."

So all they learned was his name!

Everyone was somewhat speechless, but since he did not want to say more, they could not force him.

Besides, Xia Mu was merely somewhat delicate-looking and did not stand out much. Like Shino, he was more or less ignored.

Xia Mu was keeping a low profile for now, so it was enough to brush through self-introductions. All he wanted next was to study properly, occasionally build good relationships with his friends, and avoid getting involved in troublesome matters.

After the introductions ended, they began handing out textbooks.

Just as Xia Mu had guessed, the textbooks mostly covered the Will of Fire, Konoha's history, the Shinobi World's history and geography, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and basic compulsory ninja courses.

Of course, there were also Outdoor Classes, where they taught basic taijutsu, kunai and shuriken throwing, the Rope Escape Technique, trap-setting practice, sparring between students, and so on. Those were the most important classes. After all, the Ninja Academy existed to train ninjas. For a true ninja, book knowledge was not the most important thing. They had to know how to fight.

Once the textbooks had been distributed, class began.

The first lesson: literacy!

That was right, literacy!

In these chaotic times, literacy rates were not high. Especially among a group of five- and six-year-old children, many of whom were orphans, plenty could not recognize many words at all.

If they wanted to train ninjas, they naturally had to teach them to read first.

However, literacy classes would not take up much time. The other courses were tightly scheduled too, and Outdoor Classes were what could not be delayed most of all.

In short, Xia Mu's school life had begun.

After school that afternoon, Xia Mu said goodbye to Shino, Shikamaru, and Choji. Once home, he quickly cooked and ate, then waited for seven o'clock.

Today was the first day of the month, the day the Special Laboratory State would activate.

The moment it was seven, Xia Mu focused his thoughts and entered the training room.

The training room looked no different, but he had a strange feeling, as though his strength could be endless and he could neither die nor be destroyed. He did not know whether it was simply a psychological effect.

Xia Mu did not waste any time. He directly brought up the countdown, which showed ten hours remaining.

Then he began studying One-Handed Seals.

Taking the Transformation Jutsu as an example, Xia Mu was already familiar with the flow and changes of Chakra in his body when forming seals with both hands. Now, he tried using one-handed seals to manipulate Chakra, striving to replicate the state of two-handed seals.

Ten minutes later, Xia Mu was drenched in sweat.

One-handed seals differed greatly from two-handed seals. First, the fingers moved differently, and he also had to constantly monitor the state of the Chakra in his body. It was extremely mentally exhausting.

Fortunately, he was still full of energy. That was clearly the effect of the Special Laboratory State.

He calmed himself and continued trying. He did not fear injury or depletion, and had absolutely no worries to hold him back. That was his greatest advantage.

Then an hour passed.

Xia Mu formed several seals with his right hand. With a bang, he transformed into Shino.

"So I succeeded? The Special Laboratory State really is amazing. I don't need to worry about depletion or safety, and with my decent talent and the foundation I already had in fine Chakra control, I learned One-Handed Seals so quickly. Next, I need to become familiar with them. And not just with my right hand—I need to become proficient with my left hand too."

Another hour passed. Xia Mu scratched his head. It seemed he had underestimated his own talent.

Including the previous time, it had taken only two hours to not only develop One-Handed Seals successfully, but also become extremely proficient with both hands, as though he had been born knowing how to do it.

"What now? I'm already extremely proficient with One-Handed Seals, so continuing to practice is pointless. But there are still eight hours before the Special Laboratory State ends. I can't just waste them, can I? I really should prepare more research projects so I can make full use of the Special Laboratory. So what should I do next?"

Xia Mu thought for quite a while before finally making a decision.

He would train the Rasengan!

Now that he had transmigrated into Naruto, and there was nothing else to learn besides the Three Basic Jutsu, what else could he do if not make Rasengan?

Besides, the original story had explained the Rasengan's training method in considerable detail. It clearly described how to train at every stage. And now, in a state where he did not fear Chakra depletion or injury, why wait to make Rasengan?

With a thought from Xia Mu, a water-filled balloon appeared in his hand. He began condensing Chakra inside it.

The first step was to gather Chakra and make it spin and compress within the water balloon without breaking it. The second was to make the spinning Chakra erupt and completely destroy the balloon. The third was to replace the water balloon with a rubber ball and destroy that in the same way.

The steps were simple, but not easy to accomplish.

Fortunately, Xia Mu's comprehension was genuinely good. Combined with his special current state, his training should yield twice the result with half the effort.

Very soon, with five minutes left before the Special Laboratory State ended, Xia Mu successfully condensed a Rasengan in his palm. He pressed the sphere against a tree trunk, instantly blasting a round hole through the thick wood.

"Ha! Success! At least I didn't waste tonight's ten hours!"

Xia Mu was overjoyed. He played around with the Rasengan for a while longer, and only felt a trace of exhaustion once he exited the Special Laboratory State.

It was already five in the morning, and roosters could even be heard crowing outside. Xia Mu could not help yawning. Pulling an all-nighter was truly difficult for a six-year-old child.

He had been so excited while training that he had not noticed it, but now that it was over, all the exhaustion came rushing in.

He left the training room and immediately began making breakfast. By the time he finished eating, it was already fully light outside. He had no time to catch up on sleep, so he went straight to school.

There was no one in the classroom early that morning, so he immediately lay down on his desk and fell asleep.

He did not know how much time had passed.

"Hey, Xia Mu, wake up. The teacher is about to start class." Shino nudged Xia Mu.

"Mm, I'm awake."

Xia Mu said he was awake, but he did not get up.

The next second, his heart suddenly tightened. He instinctively raised a hand and caught the flying chalkboard eraser between two fingers. For a moment, he felt the entire class's gaze fall on him, and even Iruka was somewhat stunned.

"Oh! Pretty sharp reflexes for a sleepyhead!" Iruka said with an amused smile.

"Uh, well, I trained too late last night, so I got sleepy. When I caught the chalkboard eraser just now, I thought I was still training. Iruka-sensei, how about I go stand outside?" Xia Mu asked in a negotiating tone.