For the entire day, Gisei was once again rubbed against the dirt by Anna Takemoto.
He was starting to suspect that Anna wasn't actually a woman at all, because she clearly had no concept of "gentleness" or "holding back."
He was already beaten black and blue yesterday, and after getting thrashed again today, he genuinely feared he might die if he didn't take a break.
When he told Shuichi Takemoto that he needed two days off, the old man just looked at him with a deadpan expression.
"It's only been a few days, and you have the nerve to ask for a rest?"
"...I feel like my skeleton is about to fall apart."
"The human body has no limits; that is just your illusion."
"I... just this once. I swear I won't rest ever again after this."
"Once leads to twice. A month is a very tight schedule. If you don't want to put in the work, you can always go back to the Ninja Academy."
Gisei wanted to come up with more excuses, but Shuichi was already losing patience.
"If you dare not to show up tomorrow, I'll go to your house and drag you out myself. And for the record, the word 'rest' doesn't exist in my vocabulary."
Gisei started taking deep breaths, telling himself not to be impulsive.
But he really couldn't hold it back. This grandfather-granddaughter duo didn't treat people like humans. One treated people like machines, the other treated them like punching bags. Sooner or later, they were going to work him to death.
"You old geezer..."
BANG!
Gisei smashed through two large trees and landed on the ground, spitting blood.
After dragging him back, Shuichi tossed him over to Anna.
"Send him home."
Anna didn't even dare to breathe too loudly. She hoisted Gisei onto her back and ran, moving very fast.
"If you want to die, do it on your own time. Don't drag me into it. People who make Grandpa angry all end up like this."
Gisei was still conscious. His lips moved a few times, but no sound came out.
Old geezer, I'm adding this to the debt.
After carrying him home, Anna didn't leave immediately. She waited until Eisawa returned before saying goodbye.
Seeing his miserable state, Eisawa's mouth twitched as he sat down by the bed.
"How did you end up like this?"
"That old geezer isn't human. I just asked for two days of rest, and he beat me half to death."
Eisawa: "..."
"It seems I've been too easy on you. It's only the third day and you already want to rest. If you keep going like this..."
There was no need to finish the sentence; Gisei understood what he meant.
Eisawa had never forced him to do anything, always letting him live freely. Gisei didn't think it was bad; on the contrary, he enjoyed the leisure. But taking that lazy attitude to Shuichi Takemoto? It would be strange if the old man didn't beat the hell out of him.
"Rest well. Remember this lesson and show Uncle Shuichi some respect."
Left alone in the room, Gisei stared at the ceiling in a daze.
Did he really lack perseverance?
Recalling how he used to cry from pain after hitting a wooden stake just twice as a child, Gisei sighed.
Sure enough, his life had been too comfortable.
Anna must have suffered a lot to gain that kind of strength. It was impossible for him to beat her without suffering a little himself.
Overnight.
After eating, Gisei found a sturdy wooden stick to use as a cane and limped his way back to training.
He didn't think Shuichi would let him lie around just because of a severe injury.
He met Anna halfway there.
"Did your grandfather send you?"
Anna didn't speak. She just crouched down in front of him.
"What for?"
"To carry you."
Gisei really wanted to throw away the stick and let her carry him, but a man's dignity wouldn't allow it.
"I can walk by myself."
Anna didn't insist. She stood up and walked beside him.
"Do you hate my grandfather?"
"Yeah."
"Actually, Grandpa doesn't like you either. He says it's hard for someone like you to achieve anything great."
"Then why does he still train me? Wouldn't doing a half-assed job be enough?"
"Grandpa isn't that kind of person. If he promises something, he will definitely do it. Either don't do it, or do it well—that's what Grandpa always says."
"So I should thank him?"
"Do you think Grandpa does it for your gratitude?"
Gisei didn't speak, and his face remained expressionless.
"You don't understand my grandfather. He hates people with weak characters more than anything."
"I heard from my father that Grandpa's father committed suicide using your family's secret technique. He had an older sister who did the same. So... can you understand my grandfather's pain?"
Gisei stopped walking.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I don't want you to hold a grudge against Grandpa."
"I know."
On the training ground, Shuichi watched Gisei limping toward him, a faint smile appearing on his face.
"Finally looking a bit like a man."
Gisei didn't say a word. He threw away the stick and turned to Anna.
"Come on."
Another day of training ended.
Gisei forced his battered body to walk home. He didn't rest the moment he got back; instead, he began chakra cultivation meditation.
Feeling his body recover slightly, he went out to practice his Lightning Body Flicker.
He hadn't told Shuichi about the Lightning Body Flicker, even though he had originally intended to ask for help perfecting it. He wanted to figure it out himself—not to prove anything to anyone else, but for his own self-respect.
Weak character? Gisei knew very well he wasn't weak.
He was just selfish.
...
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
On the training ground, Gisei and Anna were fighting intensely.
Shuichi smiled from the sidelines.
Over this half-month, Gisei had made massive progress. From having zero resistance at the start to standing his ground, and now fighting to a stalemate where it was hard to tell who was winning.
If it were just the graduation exam, taijutsu alone would be no problem.
Moreover, Shuichi could feel that Gisei's chakra levels had almost doubled in just two weeks. Next, he just needed to teach him one or two ninjutsu, and he would be ready to graduate.
After training ended, Gisei bowed to Shuichi before taking his leave.
Since that day, he had been unusually respectful to the old man. No special reason—just pure respect.
The strong deserve respect.
He didn't go directly home but walked to an empty lot nearby to continue practicing the Lightning Body Flicker.
He could now control the direction and landing point after the Body Flicker, and could even execute attacking moves immediately after.
But the subsequent training was the real difficulty.
Previous training had used static shuriken as targets. If he wanted to use this technique in actual combat, he had to make the shuriken move.
He needed to create a state similar to the Flying Thunder God.
The Flying Thunder God involved throwing a kunai and teleporting to the formula. His Body Flicker Technique also involved throwing a shuriken, except his shuriken had two steel wires attached.
Over the last two weeks, Gisei had discovered the limitations of his Lightning Body Flicker. Small range, high consumption, not suitable for prolonged battles.
With his current chakra, five Lightning Body Flickers were his limit.
This was only possible because his chakra amount had doubled. Before, he could barely manage two.
It was strange to say, but ever since his injury healed, his chakra had been increasing almost every day. With this growth momentum, he would probably have the chakra reserves of a Chunin in less than a year.
This was the result of hard work.
Gisei held the shuriken in his hand. Lightning Release chakra lit up, and he threw it.
"Ninja Art: Body Flicker Technique!"
Electric light flashed like a bolt from the blue, disappearing in an instant!
Gisei's figure reappeared, the shuriken landing not far in front of him.
He frowned in thought.
The Lightning Body Flicker was very successful, but there was a deviation in the landing point.
This happened because the speed was simply too fast. Even if his consciousness could keep up with the lightning, his body couldn't.
To solve this...
Gisei smiled bitterly. "Do I really have to rely on prediction?"
He stuck wooden sticks one by one into the ground of the empty lot, then began to practice again.
When his chakra was finally exhausted, he turned to look at the leaning wooden sticks and sighed.
Either too early or too late. Trying to perfectly predict the speed of lightning was simply unrealistic.
Speaking of which, was this Lightning Body Flicker considered Ninjutsu or Nintaijutsu?
Gisei didn't even understand it himself. He clearly wanted to use conductivity for the Body Flicker, but in the end, it turned into the traction force of lightning. To this day, he didn't know what this traction force actually was.
...
Shuichi started teaching him ninjutsu.
Anna didn't have Lightning or Water attributes, so she didn't have to accompany them anymore.
In just half a month, thanks to his insane talent for learning ninjutsu, Gisei mastered a total of eight techniques from Shuichi.
Five C-rank: two Water Release, three Lightning Release.
Three B-rank: one Water Release, two Lightning Release.
Actually, after learning so many, Gisei realized that knowing a ton of ninjutsu didn't have huge benefits. At most, it just gave him a few more options to deal with enemies.
The fundamental issue was still the amount of chakra.
Right now, using one B-rank plus a C-rank ninjutsu would drain him dry. Knowing more techniques was useless if he didn't have the juice to use them.
After finishing today's training, Gisei bowed to Shuichi but didn't leave immediately.
Regardless of his opinion of the old man, he still had to thank Shuichi for his dedication over the last month.
"Grandpa Shuichi, tomorrow is the graduation exam. Thank you very much for everything you've taught me this month."
Shuichi sighed lightly, helped him up, and said, "I know. Seeing your results this month... I feel I've really gotten old."
"The future belongs to your era, Gisei. Are you really not going to reconsider joining the Hospital?"
Is he still not giving up on using me as a tool?
"Actually, there are many reasons for joining the Hospital, but I also have my own stubbornness."
With those words, Gisei turned and walked away.
Shuichi stood in place. Only when Gisei's figure had completely disappeared did he speak.
"Come out."
A middle-aged man walked out from the shadows, accompanied by Anna.
"Masamasa, what do you think?"
Masamasa Takemoto, Shuichi's son and the head of the Takemoto family.
"Very good."
"Then arrange for Anna to enter the Hospital. If he still refuses to join after coming of age, force him."
"Understood."
The two men decided these matters in a few words, never once asking for Anna's opinion.
No expression could be seen on Anna's face because this was a result she had expected long ago.
She hadn't thought of resisting, either. Born into a ninja clan, this was simply fate.