Dawn came too fast.
Sasuke woke to pounding on his door. Kabuto's voice filtered through.
"Five AM, Sasuke-kun. Time to begin."
He dressed quickly. Standard training clothes—nothing fancy. Met Kabuto outside.
"Ready?" Kabuto asked pleasantly.
"As I'll ever be."
"Good. Follow me."
They headed to a training ground on the surface. Open area, surrounded by forest. A few other Sound shinobi were already there, doing their own exercises.
"We'll start with conditioning," Kabuto explained. "Running, calisthenics, stamina building. Your body needs to be strong enough to handle advanced techniques."
"I've done conditioning before."
"Not like this." Kabuto smiled. "Ten laps around the perimeter. Full sprint. Go."
The perimeter was huge. Had to be at least a kilometer per lap.
Sasuke started running.
By lap three, his legs were burning. By lap five, his lungs screamed. By lap seven, he was seriously questioning his life choices.
But he didn't stop.
The other shinobi watched with varying degrees of interest. Some smirked. Others looked impressed. Most just ignored him.
Lap ten. Sasuke crossed the finish line and immediately bent over, gasping.
"Not bad," Kabuto observed. "Thirty-two minutes. Most new recruits take forty-five."
"Great," Sasuke managed between breaths.
"Now. Pushups. Two hundred. Then sit-ups. Then squats. Then we move to chakra control."
This was going to be a long day.