Chapter 57: Training Plan
Looking at the girl's figure dispersing the sand ball with a wave of her hand, Gaara lowered his head in pain!
Why, why do you get to be saved? Why would such a powerful ninja come to save a waste like you without hesitation? Why am I not the one who receives salvation?
So I want to kill you.
Because I hate everything you have! I hate the person who protects you like a father!
But this time, you were saved again, because your friends are protecting you.
So much hate, so much pain!
Why does my heart hurt even more than when it was filled with hatred!
Gaara cried out in agony in his heart, his body hunched over, unable to extricate himself for a long time.
He trembled and curled into a ball.
After a long while, he finally regained his composure but could no longer muster any killing intent.
He turned to leave, listless.
But the girl suddenly called out to him, "Wait! You're just leaving like that?"
Gaara's footsteps paused. He stopped, wanting to hear what the girl who had defeated him would say.
"You made a mess of sand all over the room, and you're just going to leave without cleaning it up? Are you expecting us to be your janitors?" she said righteously.
Gaara was stunned. His just-calmed heart suddenly twitched violently. A taste he had never experienced before welled up in his heart, and he didn't know how to describe it.
It was neither a negative emotion like hatred or jealousy, nor a positive one like joy or excitement.
Janitors...? Hinata felt that Sakura's words were completely treating the cruel and powerful Gaara as a janitor.
No one knew what Gaara was feeling at that moment. The three people present only saw Gaara pause for a moment, and then the sand in the room flowed back into the gourd behind Gaara like bees returning to their hive.
The moment Gaara turned and walked out the door, the girl's final words reached his ears.
"Gaara, you should be glad. I have a friend who, just like you, has a much bigger monster inside him. If it had been him here today instead of me, you definitely wouldn't have been able to walk out of this room unharmed!"
A Jinchuriki...? A hundred thoughts spun in Gaara's mind, but his footsteps did not pause for a moment.
The next morning. Sunny, with a gentle breeze.
The outskirts of Konoha.
Under the rising sun, a green river flowed, like a silk ribbon leisurely passing through the green fields on both banks, its surface glittering in the sunlight.
The light green water, the silk-like waves, meandered through low bushes and shallow stone beaches, gentle and lingering, with clear green waves winding gracefully.
The sounds of birds and insects came from the fragrant and verdant foliage. Amidst the clusters of flowers, swallows and orioles chirped, and bees and butterflies fluttered.
The scenery was particularly beautiful.
On the deserted fields, the tranquil scenery was suddenly broken by a youth's impatient, loud complaint.
"Aaargh, that damn Kakashi-sensei is too biased! He called us here to practice and then just left. He's going to be giving Sasuke individual instruction for a whole month and completely ignoring us!"
The youth, with six fox-whisker-like marks on his face, listlessly kicked the pebbles on the stone beach, squinting his eyes and speaking in a loud, frustrated voice.
It was Uzumaki Naruto, who had advanced to the third round of the Chunin Exams.
Four or five days of the one-month training period given before the third exam had already passed.
For the first two days, Kakashi had given Naruto and Sakura some guidance on their training. But in the last two days, he had suddenly become busy, and even their daily meetings were rushed, let alone any guidance on training.
Yesterday, Sakura had gone to visit the sick with the other girls and hadn't sparred with Naruto. Naruto had spent the whole day at the training ground throwing kunai by himself and was feeling terrible.
He was strongly hoping that Kakashi would teach him something new.
However, today, Kakashi was even more outrageous. He had called the two of them to the riverbank, told them to practice on their own, and then had slipped away by himself.
And he even said things like "I've already arranged your training," "Someone will come to guide your training in my place soon," and "I never have to worry about Sakura's training."
"Hmph, he's lying to us again!"
Naruto angrily picked up a stone and skipped it across the water, but the round stone showed him no face at all, plunging into the river and sinking, not skipping even once.
Haha! A clear, unconcealed laugh came from the side. The pink-haired girl sitting on a large rock nearby sat up straight, looking at Naruto with a smile filling her eyes.
With a light movement of her foot, a quick lift and kick, a flat stone lying on the beach was flicked into the air by the girl and then volleyed out—
Swish! The stone spun wildly in the air, shooting over a hundred meters along the direction of the river.
Then, at a flat angle of twenty degrees, it skimmed across the water's surface. Smack! The high-speed rotating stone bounced up under the effect of the water's surface tension, tracing a short, low arc in the air, leaping a distance of several dozen meters like a nimble rabbit before falling. The moment it touched the water's surface, it seemed to leap up again as if startled, fell, leaped, fell, leaped...
It was not until several hundred meters away that it lost all its kinetic energy and sank into the water.
The girl in the light blue, simple clothes proudly wagged a finger at Naruto.
"Tsk tsk tsk, Naruto, see that? Now that's how you skip a stone!"
Naruto snorted irritably. "Tch, you're cheating, Sakura-chan! Without using chakra, you definitely couldn't get it as far as me!"
"Forget it, let's not worry about that for now!" Sakura jumped down from the rock and stretched. "Let's think about what we're going to practice today, otherwise another day will just pass by with nothing to do!"
Rustle. Sakura took out a rolled-up Konoha Ninja Training Outline from her pocket—
Taijutsu Training:
Ninja Tool Manipulation, Kunai Throwing Enhancement, Flexibility Practice, Stamina Training, Basic Taijutsu (Fists and Kicks), Upper Body Strength Special Training, Speed Special Training, Balance Special Training, Intermediate Taijutsu (Fists and Kicks) (Shadow Leaf Dance, Konoha Hurricane, etc.), Taijutsu-type Body Flicker...
Ninjutsu Training:
Hand Seal Training, Primary Chakra Control Training (i.e., Tree Climbing), Standard Application of the Three Basic Academy Techniques, Low-Level Ninjutsu Practice (Wind Style, Water Style), Intermediate Chakra Control Training (i.e., Water Walking), Advanced Application of the Substitution Jutsu, Advanced Application of the Clone Jutsu, Combination Ninjutsu, Compound Ninjutsu, High-Level Ninjutsu Practice (Wind Style, Water Style), Chakra Affinity Development, Chakra Affinity Enhancement, Chakra Shape Transformation Practice, Ninjutsu-type Body Flicker...
Combat Training:
Tracking and Searching for the Enemy, Survival Training, Reconnaissance and Counter-Reconnaissance, Trap Making, Taijutsu Confrontation, Ninjutsu Confrontation, Comprehensive Battle, Water Surface Combat...
The entire sheet was densely filled with writing, with various marks made in tiny characters.
"If you complete all these exercises, you'll have the qualifications to be promoted to Jonin or even become Hokage!"
Naruto's face wrinkled at the sight of the large block of text.
But the phrase "qualification to become Hokage" made him force himself to read on, counting on his fingers. "Sakura-chan, there are so many exercises, we definitely can't finish them all today!"
"You idiot!" The bonk she had received from Hinata yesterday was passed on smoothly by Sakura. Hmm, felt good!
"Don't say such stupid things. Of course, we're just going to pick one to practice!"
"Tsk, forget it, I'll choose! Since we're at the river, we might as well practice water walking. If we make good progress, we can even practice water surface combat!"
"What? Another chakra control exercise?" Naruto said unhappily with a long face.
"Of course, who else's chakra control skills are so terrible!" Sakura rolled her eyes. "But this exercise isn't as physically demanding as tree climbing, so you can use shadow clones to speed up the training. Besides, you already have the foundation from tree climbing, so you'll learn this quickly! And then comes your favorite combat practice!"
"...Alright," Naruto pouted. Although he was a bit unconvinced, after thinking about it, he ultimately submitted to the girl's tyrannical power.
Actually, Naruto's chakra control ability was no longer as bad as before.
As his teammate, Sakura saw it clearly.
Before the Land of Waves mission, Naruto's chakra control was basically at zero. Although Sakura had tried to teach him, Naruto had never taken these tedious exercises, which didn't show immediate results, to heart, so naturally, there was no effect.
The life-or-death battles in the Land of Waves mission had made Naruto realize the benefits of being able to freely control chakra in a fight. For the intuitive Naruto, you could explain a grand theory to him ten thousand times and he might not remember it, but a technique he used once in a real battle, he would probably never forget for the rest of his life.
Chakra control was just like that.
From then on, Naruto began to pay attention to the skills of chakra control. Although he hadn't undergone any specialized training for it since then, in his daily training, battles, and sparring, and under the influence of the chakra control master, Haruno Sakura, his chakra control skills still maintained a steady upward trend.
In the battle with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, Naruto had not been placed under the Five Elements Seal as in the original story, so his chakra was not in chaos and difficult to control due to a conflicting seal.
A small butterfly effect meant that today, Naruto's water walking training could be completed smoothly even without Jiraiya's help.
In fact, Naruto's practice went even more smoothly than Sakura had expected.
After watching Sakura's demonstration, the first time he stepped onto the water surface, although Naruto and his dozens of shadow clones were wobbling unsteadily, not a single one of them sank.
As the first shadow clone that stood steadily on the water surface was dispelled by Naruto, his understanding of the water walking technique deepened. Before long, he could stand steadily on the water surface.
"Hey, water walking is actually this simple? I thought it would take a long time to learn!"
Sakura smiled slightly. This was just the beginning.
He was still a long way from being able to apply it freely in a fierce battle.
However, the following skills could be learned in actual combat!
With a light leap, the girl jumped onto the river surface. Under her exquisite chakra control, she didn't even make a ripple when she landed on the water.
"Water surface combat training begins! Naruto, you'd better be careful!"
Chakra was surging with excitement!
Looking at the battle-ready Naruto and his shadow clones, the battle intent in the girl's eyes began to burn fiercely!
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