In the evening, Ryuma went to a weapons shop and purchased a weight seal with a maximum capacity of 500 kg.
He then went to the training grounds and channeled some chakra into the seal. He stopped when "100 kg" appeared on it, then placed it on his back.
"Wow, it feels like my body weight has suddenly increased," Ryuma said. "Now, let's start the first exercise."
Ryuma began doing push-ups.
'Damn, it's so heavy,' He thought.
After doing just ten push ups, his hands started shaking, at fifteen, his breathing became uneven and his pace slowed significantly, at twenty, his body betrayed him and he collapsed.
"Ugh, I can't even handle 100 kg. How the heck will I ever reach 3,000 kg? It's impossible. Wait..." An idea came to his mind.
'Can I use chakra?' he wondered, searching for any mention of it in the scroll. He finally found a single line:
"The use of chakra during exercise is strictly prohibited."
Ryuma sighed. "Figures. It's supposed to increase your physical strength. I guess I have no other choice if I want to become stronger."
He resumed his push-ups, thinking about Keiko for motivation.
The sun went down a few hours later, leaving him completely drenched in sweat.
As he started the walk home, he muttered, "I just want to go home... I can barely walk. This is hell."
Ryuma reached his house and knocked. His mother opened the door, her eyes widening.
"Ryuma, what happened? You look like you took a bath in sweat," she said.
"Ah, I just... trained too much. I'm hungry. Is dinner ready?" Ryuma asked hesitantly.
"Go take a bath right now, young man! No dinner until you are clean," she yelled.
Ryuma groaned. "Seriously..."
At night, he began his mental training again. He created a shadow clone, sat in the lotus position, and started meditating.
Whenever he fell asleep, the clone would wake him up. The clone vanished after a few hours, leaving him with only two or three hours of sleep.
He continued his daily exercises for a week. He would feel sleepy all day, come drenched in sweat every night, complain about the exercise being too difficult, but never gave up
At the seventh day, he had reached 300KG, he still had a long way to go but the progress was visible.
He finally decided to try a technique listed in the scroll.
'Hatake Style: Dual Crescent Moons.'
Concentrating his chakra into his sword, he unleashed a forward slash. Two large, crescent-shaped arcs of chakra were released from his blade.
They effortlessly cut through the trees in front of him and left a deep gouge in the mountain ahead.
The next second, Ryuma's whole body felt drained of energy. He collapsed to the ground, his consciousness fading a few seconds later before he completely passed out.
When he woke up, it was already night. He stood up, though his vision was still a little blurry.
'Damn, what is this headache?' he thought.
"Congratulations, kid. You survived," a familiar voice called from behind.
Ryuma looked back and saw Kakashi standing there.
"I saw that technique; it was awesome. I can see that you trained really hard over the last few days. Let's talk," Kakashi said, sitting down beside him.
"What's your goal, kid? Why do you need strength?" Kakashi asked.
"Why? Because I don't want to lose anyone. My friend almost died because I was too weak, and I can't let that happen again. No matter what I have to do, I will become stronger. I'll become someone she can be proud of when she wakes up."
"You don't want to lose anyone, huh? That brings back memories. Listen, kid, this world is cruel. No matter how powerful you become, there is no guarantee that you can protect those close to you. What if you don't reach there in time? What if something unexpected happens? What if you are still not strong enough?"
Ryuma replied, "I know, but I can't hide like a coward just because I'm afraid of what might happen. I won't be able to do anything if I just think about the negatives."
Kakashi smiled softly behind his mask and stood up. He tossed a scroll to Ryuma and said, "These are the rest of the techniques. Remember their cost and use them wisely. See you later, then."
Kakashi then flickered away.