The training of foundation building and Chakra Pathway Stabilization lasted for about ten days.
The day after Naruto successfully completed his training, Hinata finished hers, followed by Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Ino.
Choji was the last to finish. After all, Choji's physique was the largest, making the difficulty much greater for him than for the others.
Under several trees next to the training ground, various devices were installed, from which countless paper cranes hung, swaying and spinning up and down.
Naruto stood in a horse stance, his fists rapidly striking the paper cranes flying in front of him.
"Sensei, I think we can speed it up a bit more."
As he spoke, Naruto occasionally caught the traces of the paper cranes with quick movements.
"Alright." Shinji nodded and threw a stone towards the device on Naruto's tree.
The small mechanism was hit, and its speed increased again.
"This training is to improve your continuous striking and reaction abilities, so you cannot use any Ninjutsu or Kekkei Genkai to train."
"The ultimate goal is to hit over one hundred and fifty paper cranes within one minute."
Sasuke gritted his teeth upon hearing this. If he activated his Sharingan, this number would be easily achievable with good practice. But now, relying purely on his eyesight and punching speed made him a bit uncomfortable.
After all, having a cheat code but not being allowed to use it is different from not having one at all.
Hinata, on the other hand, was different. She felt that Shinji's training was very unlike her own Gentle Fist style. However, she felt that perhaps after Shinji's training, when she used Gentle Fist again, she might be able to unleash a different kind of power.
Shinji saw Shikamaru's striking motion and immediately pointed out his mistake. "Shikamaru, the driving force for your punch comes from the elbow, not the fist."
"Your arm should be relaxed, your fist firm but not tight. You only need to clench it at the moment of impact with the paper crane, pushing through your wrist to generate power."
"Yes, sensei." Shikamaru listened to Shinji's instructions, adjusting his movements.
As expected, the number of targets hit increased, and his speed was much faster.
Shinji nodded with satisfaction. "Good, just grasp this feeling and continue to deepen it."
Fortunately, Naruto and the others' physical fitness had significantly improved through this period of training, allowing them to self-regulate such movements.
Once the foundational training was complete, he could lead them in specialized breakthroughs.
—
A few more days passed.
During a break, everyone except Naruto and Hinata, were all rubbing their sore arms, resting under a large tree.
Shikamaru looked at Naruto, who seemed perfectly fine, and couldn't help but say enviously, "Naruto, your body is really good. No matter how much you train, you recover quickly."
Naruto didn't feel much about it, as Hinata was similar to him. "Really? But isn't Hinata the same?"
Hinata shook her head and said, "No, Naruto-kun, it's just that I've always specialized in the Taijutsu path, so I'm more used to this kind of thing."
The Hyuga had to practice Gentle Fist from a young age. This kind of monotonous punching, to be honest, was quite draining.
Sasuke, beside her, asked curiously, "Hinata, how do you manage to restrain yourself from activating your Byakugan?"
He hadn't been able to restrain himself these past few days. Once he activated his Sharingan, Shinji would immediately appear behind him and kick him out of the area.
Hinata said, "Hmm, maybe it's a matter of habit, Sasuke-kun. I think if you just don't think about it, it'll be fine."
"After all, you were able to complete the training before you activated your eyes, weren't you?"
Sasuke was stunned upon hearing this.
That's right. Before he activated his Sharingan, he was still able to complete the training.
However, ever since his Sharingan was activated, he would subconsciously try to solve everything using his Sharingan.
This was just like what Shinji had warned him about not relying too much on his Sharingan not long ago.
"Hehe, you idiot Sasuke, you better hurry up, or else there's an assessment tomorrow. I'll definitely leave you far behind then." Naruto chuckled.
"Tch, once I get used to it, I'll definitely be faster than you." Sasuke pouted, saying disdainfully.
With that, he got up, ready to continue training.
"Alright, let's keep training." Shikamaru also got up.
After all, the assessment was tomorrow.
—
Shinji nodded and announced Naruto's score, "Naruto's score is one hundred and seventy, good, he passed."
"Yay!" Naruto jumped up, as he was once again the first to complete the training.
"Hinata's score is one hundred and seventy-one." Shinji was surprised by the feedback from his Shadow Clone.
He praised Hinata, "Very good, Hinata."
"Thank you, sensei." Hinata replied, blushing.
"The rest of you all need to continue training. None of you reached over one hundred and fifty."
"Yes, sensei." Shikamaru and the others responded in unison.
"Naruto, Hinata, follow me."
Shinji led Naruto and Hinata to another part of the training ground.
Shinji formed hand signs and slammed his hands to the ground.
Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!
A towering earth wall emerged from the ground, appearing in front of Naruto and Hinata.
Shinji then turned to retrieve the pre-prepared straw mats, hanging them separately on the earth wall and soaking them with Water Release.
After everything was done, he finally turned to Naruto and Hinata, saying, "Next is the Shield Breaking Trial. Both of you need to condense Chakra onto your fist and penetrate these ten layers of soaked straw mats.
"Oh, and the Chakra needs to be condensed within this range."
Shinji said, extending his hand, condensing a thin layer of Chakra on it, then striking quickly with a clenched fist towards the straw mats. He was so fast that it left afterimages. The straw mats were easily penetrated.
Shinji retracted his posture and asked, "Do you see any difference?"
Naruto scratched his head and said, "Sensei, your breathing rhythm was different at that instant, and even though it was a thin layer of Chakra, why did it produce such a large burst of power?"
Hinata slowly closed her Byakugan. In her vision, the highly compressed Chakra on Shinji's fist just now was not small.
Just as Naruto said, the breathing rhythm was very different.
"Good, when punching, you must inhale to gather strength, hold your breath to explode, and exhale to chain attacks, synchronizing your Chakra output rhythm."
Shinji nodded and said, "And this is the Crescent Moon Breathing, the supporting method for Eternal Fist."