Two days later.
On the training grounds, the sound of whooshing air echoed continuously in the early morning.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!!
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!!
After a long while, the sound stopped. Sakura and Rock Lee, drenched in sweat, went to the side to rest, replaced by an energised Naruto and Sasuke.
A short while later, the whooshing sound started up again. But this time, it hadn't been going for long when an ecstatic voice suddenly erupted from the field.
"Hahahaha! I can finally dodge nine stones!"
Naruto stood with his hands on his hips, laughing triumphantly.
Ever since he had managed to dodge eight stones during their first training session, he had been unable to make any further progress, stuck firmly at the ninth stone.
Sasuke had been in the same boat. But just now, he had successfully dodged nine stones, breaking through the barrier one step ahead of Sasuke, and he was absolutely thrilled.
"Hehe, Sasuke, did you see me dodge that? Did you see?"
"If you didn't, I can show you again."
Perhaps feeling that laughing all by himself was no fun, he sauntered over to the expressionless Sasuke and, in a deliberately annoying tone, began to poke at his nerves.
However, Sasuke treated him like thin air, completely ignoring him.
"Tch, no fun."
Seeing that his taunts had no effect, Naruto lost interest and turned to Sakura and Rock Lee, who were resting on the side, giving them a big "V" for victory sign.
After his gaze shifted away, Sasuke's eyes hardened, and he thought to himself, 'Naruto, I will not lose to you!'
Some time later, everyone was completely exhausted from round after round of stone-dodging practice, lying on the ground, not moving a muscle.
As they lay there, Rock Lee suddenly spoke up. "In the past, when Guy-sensei was away, I always trained in taijutsu by myself."
"While training alone is fine, it can get lonely, and there's no one to compare myself with. Being able to train with all of you now... I feel so incredibly happy!"
Hearing his sudden, heartfelt words, Naruto and the others were a bit taken aback and were about to say something in response. But the words died in their throats.
After finishing his speech, Rock Lee, whose body should have been utterly exhausted, suddenly shot up from the ground as if he had been injected with adrenaline.
With tears in his eyes, he raised his fist and declared with soaring spirits, "Alright! To honour this happiness, I have decided to do an extra five hundred handstand push-ups!"
Without waiting for the dumbfounded reactions of the others, he immediately began doing handstand push-ups on the spot. "1, 2, 3..."
Seeing him actually start the extra training, Naruto, who had been a bit confused, was instantly energised.
He took a deep breath and also shot up from the ground. He was the man who was going to become Hokage; how could he allow someone to work harder than him!
"Alright! I'm doing extra training too! I'm going to do six hundred handstand push-ups!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he gritted his teeth and, following Lee's example, began doing handstand push-ups.
"Sasuke, you're not going to..."
Sakura had been staring, dumbfounded, as first Lee and then Naruto began their extra training.
But a moment later, her attention was drawn to Sasuke. She saw that he, too, was unsteadily getting to his feet, preparing to join the extra session.
She knew that earlier, because Naruto had surpassed him in the training results, Sasuke had asked Goku to put him through two extra rounds after the others had started resting.
By the time he had finished, he had been so exhausted he could barely stand. How could he possibly have the strength for more training now?
At this thought, Sakura was about to stop him, to tell him to rest and not push himself too hard, but a large hand suddenly reached out and stopped her.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Goku said to her with a cheerful smile.
Hearing this, Sakura abandoned her thought of stopping Sasuke and silently watched as he struggled to join the others.
After a moment, she pursed her lips as if she had made a decision, and she too got up and began the extra training.
Goku stood to the side, watching them with a smile, as if he were seeing a younger Gohan training just as hard in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
Under the blazing sun, the four of them cast long shadows. Beads of sweat dripped from their bodies like a torrential downpour, gradually forming four small puddles on the ground.
"84, 85, 86..."
"72, 73, 74..."
"40... 41... 42..."
"37, 38, 39..."
The sounds of their counting rose and fell in a rhythmic sequence, like beautiful notes being played on a piano, composing a passionate and inspiring symphony of hard work.
Another two days passed.
Today, the training grounds were filled with the sound of bomb-like explosions and the cracking of trees as they snapped and fell.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura each held a hand out in front of them, their eyes focused intently on their palms.
In a few moments, ki began to gather rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, it condensed into an apple-sized energy blast.
After forming the energy blasts, their expressions turned serious. They each aimed at a target and forcefully threw the blasts.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—
The energy blasts shot through the air, leaving three white trails behind them. They flew with the speed of lightning, as if guided by a precision system, straight towards their targets.
And then, BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
While two of the energy blasts hit their targets dead on and exploded, one veered off course as it approached its target, grazing it and crashing into something else before detonating.
"Aaargh! I failed again!" Seeing this, Naruto grabbed his hair in frustration and jumped up and down on the spot.
Ever since they had learned the ki blast technique the day before, he, Sasuke, and Sakura had been practising it relentlessly.
But for some reason, the ki blasts he threw would often veer off course just as they were about to hit their target.
Sasuke and Sakura had only had this problem at the very beginning and had already overcome it.
He had asked Goku for advice, and Goku answered that his control over his ki was poor, which was why he couldn't maintain control over the ki blast at a distance, causing it to deviate.
The only way to solve this problem was to improve his ki control. To that end, he had practised countless times. He had made some progress, but he was still just a little bit off.
On the field, after a few seconds of frustration, Naruto calmed himself down and cheered himself on.
"I'm the man who's going to become Hokage! A failure is just a failure. I'll definitely succeed next time!"
He then put his hands behind his head and walked to the side of the field to rest. The repeated practice had consumed a large amount of his ki, and he wouldn't be able to continue without a break.
Arriving at the side, he looked at Rock Lee, who was doing frog jumps around a tree.
"Hey, thick-eyebrows, are you sure you don't want to train in ki? You said you didn't have much talent for chakra training, but chakra and ki are two different things. Maybe you have much talent for ki."
Over the past few days, Rock Lee had become a close part of their group, so they had naturally learned that he was a special kind of ninja who could only use taijutsu, not ninjutsu or genjutsu.
The reason for this was his lack of talent in controlling chakra, which made it impossible for him to use it to perform those techniques.
They had therefore invited him to join their ki training, an idea which Goku had also supported.
But to their surprise, Rock Lee had refused, saying that since his talent for controlling one type of energy was poor, his talent for controlling another would likely be inadequate as well, and training in it would be a waste of time.
They had tried to persuade him several times, but he had remained firm.
Now, hearing Naruto's renewed attempt at persuasion, Rock Lee stopped his frog jumps, a hint of hesitation on his face.
But it was quickly replaced by a firm shake of his head. It wasn't that the thought of training in ki had never crossed his mind, but he believed that doing so would mean accepting Goku as his teacher.
In his heart, he had only one teacher: Guy-sensei, the man who had painstakingly taught him and guided him on his path in life.
He already saw Guy-sensei as a father figure. Without his teacher's permission and support, he would never have made the decision to accept another person as his teacher!
Just as he refused and was about to continue his frog jumps, a passionate and excited voice echoed from the distance, growing louder and clearer with each passing moment.
"BURN, FLAMES OF YOUTH!!"
"MY YOUTH HAS NO END!!"
"AH, YOUTH! THIS IS YOUTH!!"