Heading upstream all the way, Uya soon found an excellent place to train.
On one side was a forest, and on the other were hills of rock, with a clear river flowing through the area.
"Great! This is the place."
Setting aside the dry rations he had brought, Uya walked up to a massive rock face, stretched his limbs, then abruptly threw a punch.
He did not put much strength into it deliberately, but the power of tremors still surged with his punch.
Buzz!!
Cracks appeared in the air. Although Uya had aimed his punch at the rock face, he had actually still struck the air.
Boom!!
The rock face took the impact of Uya's punch, but since he had not deliberately tried to destroy it with his full strength, only a tiny, insignificant crack appeared.
"Good. Keep going!"
Seeing this, Uya nodded in satisfaction, drew back his left fist, and swung his right.
His fists alternated continuously, striking the rock face with repeated, trembling booms.
Although Uya could use the air itself as a training post for his punches, the air was not a target against which to exert force.
Having a target to exert force against produced an entirely different effect from having none.
As he kept punching the rock face, Uya's body trembled continuously, first his skin and muscles, then his blood and bones.
His entire body remained under these continuous tremors.
This was Uya's first time using the power of tremors without interruption. When his entire body began vibrating along with it, the tingling sensation made him feel as though he were floating on air.
This was the first time training had actually felt comfortable!
Had I known it would be like this, I should have trained this way from the start.
Feeling that refreshing, thoroughly invigorating sensation throughout his body, Uya grumbled inwardly, then continued training even more earnestly.
Punch after punch.
His heart beat powerfully, and the blood throughout his body surged with the tremors, flowing through every part of him.
All his bones and flesh were vibrating.
These tremors further tempered his flesh and bones.
The results were even better than Uya had imagined!
After he had opened the first gate of the True Eight Gates Released Formation, the strength of his heart and the first gate's chakra had nourished and strengthened each other, then fed back into the blood flowing throughout his body. Even if he slept every day, his physique would continue growing stronger.
If he trained on top of that, he would achieve twice the results with half the effort!
In taijutsu, one month of his training could equal two months of someone else's!
And now, Uya had never expected that not only would the first gate of the True Eight Gates Released Formation increase his training speed, but the power of tremors itself could also aid his training!
With the two combined, his physique improved by leaps and bounds.
He had originally thought that three months would barely be enough to meet the requirements for opening the second gate of the Eight Gates Released Formation.
Now, it seemed that just two months would be more than enough.
But Uya did not let his delight go to his head. Since the True Eight Gates Released Formation opened the gates permanently in reverse order, he needed time to adapt whenever he opened a gate.
Moreover, the more gates he opened, the longer he would need to stabilize, and the stronger his physique would have to be to open the next one.
The further he went, the harder it became. In that respect, it was no different from the ordinary Eight Gates Released Formation.
"Huff!!"
He threw another punch, finally shattering a chunk off the rock face with the tremors. Only then did Uya gasp heavily and abruptly retreat.
At that moment, his whole body was incredibly sore and tingly, with a languid feeling coming from all his bones and flesh.
He flopped onto his back on the ground.
Sweat mixed with dirt, making Uya's clothes filthy almost instantly.
But Uya could not be bothered to care, and simply lay there with a comfortable expression.
After the power of tremors had passed through his entire body, it left him thoroughly invigorated, with a pleasant tingling sensation.
It was far more comfortable than the grueling push-ups and other exercises he had done before.
As his body gradually recovered and the tingling faded, Uya could feel almost unmistakably that his strength had increased by a noticeable amount!
It was almost inconceivable.
To be able to feel his strength increasing directly-what a terrifying rate of improvement was that?!
"It must be because this was my first time training like this, and I shook the impurities out of my entire body. That's why the improvement was so great."
Amid his delight, Uya quickly found the reason as well.
Sure enough, when he continued training afterward, the improvement was not as staggering as the first time.
But he still achieved twice the results with half the effort!
The day passed quickly. Uya dragged his exhausted body home, and this time, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
The next day, Uya took his dry rations again and went to train in the hills behind the village.
Although training here, away from the village, was unsafe, people generally did not come here.
Besides, although he called it far away, this place was actually not very far from the village.
In the blink of an eye, over a month passed, and visible muscle definition appeared on Uya's body.
He still looked slender overall, yet he was full of strength. For a child who was not even nine, this was already almost inconceivable.
Over that month and more, Uya's physique improved at a speed that would have shocked anyone.
Especially during the first week, his growth had practically come in leaps and bounds. Only afterward did it gradually enter a slower phase.
Boom!!
He threw a punch, and the air burst with a hum. Dense cracks suddenly spread across the rock face before Uya, before a hole was blasted straight through it!
"Whew! The power of my punch should now completely surpass C-rank ninjutsu. Even a combined C-rank ninjutsu made from Wind Release and Fire Style should be something I can smash with one punch."
Looking in satisfaction at the destruction caused by his full-strength punch, Uya nodded, though a trace of anticipation appeared in his eyes.
This power was still slightly inferior to the B-rank ninjutsu Uchiha Kan had used that day.
But as long as he opened the second gate of the True Eight Gates Released Formation, he could definitely shatter B-rank ninjutsu!
At this point, one month remained until his duel to the death with Uchiha Kan.
During the time he had spent training, the entire village had been calm.
Or rather, everything concerning him had been completely calm.
He did not know whether Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo, and the Uchiha Clan were holding one another in check or what, but no one had come to interfere with him, as though they had completely forgotten him.
But Uya knew clearly that this was not neglect. They were contending with one another, in a state of tension that had yet to erupt.
Of course, that was only one reason. There was a second reason everyone had gradually stopped paying attention to Uya.
That was... the Second Shinobi World War had already begun to bare its fangs!
The entire shinobi world was already filled with the tension of an approaching storm.