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One day later, the sun shone brightly.
On the training grounds, Might Guy spoke to Rock Lee with tears in his eyes.
"Lee, you must learn this well! This is your opportunity! In the past, you couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, so you specialised in taijutsu.
I have always believed that even with only taijutsu, you could shine brightly and become a powerful ninja!
Now, this new training method can make your taijutsu shine even brighter. This is the greatest opportunity of your life, and you must seize it!"
After he had woken up, he had learned a great deal from Kakashi, including the new ki-based training method that Goku had introduced.
This method was completely different from their chakra-based training; it was entirely new, yet intimately connected to taijutsu.
Anyone who could sense ki and learn to control it could use it to enhance their physical abilities, making it a godsend for taijutsu specialists.
For someone like Lee, who could only use taijutsu, it was the greatest blessing imaginable.
Therefore, after learning that Lee had been given the chance to train in ki but had refused, he had immediately sought him out to ask why.
When he discovered the reason for Lee's refusal, he was moved to tears and praised him for being a truly wonderful student.
He then gave him a loving "iron fist" and told him to follow his own heart more in the future, instead of letting his master make all the decisions for him.
After that, he took Lee to see Goku and asked Goku to take him on as a student.
With Goku's agreement, the scene now unfolded, with Guy giving his heartfelt instructions to Lee.
"Yes! Guy-sensei! I will work my hardest and burn brightly with the flames of youth!" Listening to his teacher's earnest words, Rock Lee was moved to tears as well.
"Lee!"
"Guy-sensei!"
"Waaaaah!!"
The two of them embraced tightly, tears streaming down their faces as if they were free.
"Hahaha..."
Goku, still not quite used to this sight, rubbed his head and laughed awkwardly.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were also not used to it, their eyes twitching uncontrollably.
After the two separated, Goku clapped his hands. "Alright, let's begin today's training."
"Yeah! I'm going to be the hardest worker today, too!" Naruto declared, full of energy as he pumped his fist.
"When it comes to hard work, I'm not afraid of anyone!" Rock Lee said with a thumbs-up upon hearing Naruto's declaration.
"Tch, a couple of idiots," Sasuke said dismissively, crossing his arms, though he was secretly vowing to himself that he would be number one.
"..."
Sakura, who was well-acquainted with the hyper-competitive nature of these three, was speechless and sighed internally.
With everyone else being so competitive, what could she do but join in? And so, the following scene unfolded:
Goku was in the lead, holding a giant boulder, while behind him, Naruto, Sasuke, and Rock Lee were lined up, each refusing to give an inch, having their own large rocks and keeping pace. Sakura followed silently behind them.
Though she was at the back, she did not fall behind.
It is worth noting that all four were now wearing weighted wrist guards and leg bands, including Rock Lee, who hadn't had the money to buy the wrist guards initially.
"Lee, take these and train hard. Your teacher is waiting for the day you shine!"
As he ran, Lee recalled the scene from a short while ago when Might Guy had handed him the weighted wrist guards and vest.
After learning that he was missing these two items, Guy immediately went out and purchased them for him, leaving him in tears.
'Guy-sensei, I will train my hardest! I will prove that hard work can surpass genius!' Lee thought to himself, a fiercely burning flame of determination in his eyes.
"Aaaah—!"
He suddenly accelerated, actually overtaking Goku and moving to the very front.
"Damn it! Thick-eyebrows, don't you think you can pass me!" Seeing this, Naruto's eyes narrowed. With a yell, he also sped up, chasing after Lee.
Although Sasuke said nothing, he also quickened his pace, charging forward side-by-side with Naruto.
"Wait, you guys..."
Among the four, only Sakura was left bewildered, staring at the three of them who had instantly pulled away, a million questions in her mind.
Who am I? Where am I? Am I supposed to follow them?
A moment later, watching the three of them get farther and farther away, she silently gave up the idea of keeping up and chose to continue following Goku's pace.
I'm tired. To hell with it. Let them be as competitive as they want. I need to complete my own training.
At the end of the day's training, Naruto, Sasuke, and Rock Lee were so exhausted that they were lying on the ground like puddles of mud, not moving a muscle.
"I... I was the hardest worker today. N-no objections, right?" Naruto said, his eyelids barely able to stay open, yet still insisting on getting the last word in.
"Heh, I... I don't think so. The hardest worker... was me!" Lee retorted.
"Tch, you two... i-idiots. I was number one!" This time, Sasuke did not remain silent, joining the argument.
"You guys!!"
Hearing his claim being challenged, Naruto sat bolt upright as if he had received a final burst of energy, glaring at the other two.
As if on cue, Sasuke and Rock Lee also sat up at the same instant, glaring back at each other.
Zzzt... Zzzt...
For a moment, it seemed as if sparks were flying from their eyes, clashing violently in the air between them!
But just as quickly, as if they had reached a silent consensus, the three of them closed their eyes, their bodies slumped over, and they collapsed back onto the ground.
Three thunderous snores erupted in unison.
Smack!
Sakura, who had witnessed this whole scene, slapped her forehead. "You guys are really something else..."
Although she was also very tired, because she hadn't pushed herself to the insane, suicidal degree that the other three had, she hadn't reached the point of passing out.
"Haha."
On a grill, a large, several-meter-long fish was sizzling. Goku tore off a large piece of meat and, while eating, looked at the scene with a smile.
In the days that followed, the four of them continued to improve under Goku's training.
Rock Lee also learned how to use ki and officially joined the ki training regimen.
It is worth noting that it took Lee even longer than Naruto to sense his ki—a full six hours, twice as long as Naruto.
But he was not discouraged and threw himself into the hard work.
He firmly believed that as long as he worked twice as hard and trained twice as much as a genius, he could definitely surpass them!
And while they were training so diligently, the leaders of every major power in the shinobi world had received an intelligence report.
The report was about the traces of a battle involving an unknown powerhouse that had suddenly appeared within the Land of Fire.
The sheer scale of the battle traces and the immense power they displayed had shaken all of them to the core!
"Akatsuchi, what are your thoughts on this report?"
In the Tsuchikage's office in Iwagakure, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, asked his disciple.
Akatsuchi thought for a moment, then replied with a grave expression, "The power is terrifying."
"Whether it's the thousand-meter-long trench that was ploughed through the ground, or the crater that's over three hundred meters wide, they both exceed the maximum power of any attack I could ever unleash."
"Especially that crater... I can't believe a human could leave such a scar!"
Hearing his disciple's answer, Onoki's gaze grew distant as he stared into the distance and sighed.
"No. There was once a man in the shinobi world who could unleash such an attack. But that man... is no longer of this world."
"Could it be that now, in this age, another human with power rivalling his has appeared?"
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