By the waterfall, a boy stood 1.7 meters tall, his muscular upper body exposed, skin a healthy wheat color. His face still held traces of youth, but his eyes burned with unwavering determination.
This boy was, naturally, Naruto Uzumaki.
Two years had passed in the blink of an eye. Naruto was now nine years old.
At this moment, he was practicing the third form of Heavenly Ascension Fist: Ten Thousand Buddhas Ascend to Heaven. With this technique, a single strike could unleash thousands of ascending punches in an instant—hence the name.
The technique was magnificent. Even if ten thousand Buddhas actually descended, he could send them all cheerfully skyward with one punch.
Of course, the current Naruto couldn't quite manage ten thousand simultaneous strikes. That would require perfecting the Iron Body and achieving complete physical sanctification.
Still thinking about his progress, Naruto's gaze fell on a massive boulder five meters high and three to four meters wide.
With each breath, air rushed into his lungs like a miniature hurricane. When he exhaled forcefully, the water before him rippled and churned.
After completing his breathing cycle, Naruto began activating his transformation.
Crack. Pop. Stretch.
His body gradually expanded. In moments, he'd grown to three meters tall. The momentum didn't stop—he continued growing until he matched the boulder's height at five meters, then stabilized.
At this stage, the Iron Body running at full strength could reach five meters in height.
"Thousand Buddhas Ascend to Heaven!"
Naruto roared. His fists became a blur as they bombarded the boulder.
Boom. Boom. BOOM.
In an instant, Naruto threw thousands of punches at the massive stone. Countless fragments exploded outward—some shooting into the water with great splashes, others striking nearby boulders and creating sparks, still others flying across the riverbed into the forest to shatter tree trunks.
CRASH... RUMBLE...
When the technique concluded, Naruto retracted his fists and released a long breath. He looked down to find the five-meter boulder had completely vanished, reduced to rubble and small stones scattered across the ground.
Next, Naruto approached another massive boulder. This one weighed approximately... well, it was tremendously heavy. He took a deep breath, planted both feet firmly, lowered his center of gravity into a horse stance, and wrapped his arms around the stone.
With a low growl, the muscles in his arms suddenly swelled. The expansion continued along his shoulders, back, thighs, and calves. For a moment, Naruto's entire body seemed to grow even larger, the visual effect incredibly striking.
The instant his muscles reached full expansion, Naruto pushed off with his calves. Power gathered in his hands as he lifted the boulder.
Higher than his head.
The waterfall's roar continued as spray splashed across Naruto's body, sliding down his muscular frame. Sunlight streamed from above. With the massive boulder raised overhead, light particles dancing across his form, Naruto resembled a god.
A moment later, he hurled the stone forward. It crashed into the water with an enormous splash.
Looking at himself, satisfaction crossed Naruto's face.
Two years of training had finally allowed him to achieve his first major milestone—reaching tremendous physical strength within the timeframe he'd set. With the System's guidance and his own relentless effort, he'd accomplished this goal.
Thinking back on the hardships of the past two years, Naruto couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.
But the goal had been achieved.
And not only that—he'd mastered all three forms of Heavenly Ascension Fist completely. In terms of movement techniques, he'd reached the peak of the second level: Instantaneous Movement, allowing him to cross vast distances in the blink of an eye.
As for the third level, Shrinking Earth, the System had explained that it required perfect unity of body, energy, and spirit—the ability to affect the surrounding environment itself. Only then could he achieve that level.
Unifying body, energy, and spirit was extraordinarily difficult. Once accomplished, not only could he exert even more tremendous force, split rivers with a palm strike, shatter mountain peaks with a fist, and tear open the earth with a stomp—
Moreover, every movement would contain unified power, allowing him to exert ten times his normal strength.
Two years ago, Naruto had mastered the Protective Retraction Technique, eliminating his first vulnerable area.
A few months ago, he'd also removed the final weak point—his posterior—through Hundred Refinements: Posterior Defense.
In other words, the current Naruto had no weaknesses whatsoever.
Lowering his head, he spotted a sharp stone jutting from the ground, its edge glinting coldly in the sunlight. Without hesitation, Naruto stepped forward and sat down hard directly on the point.
The sharp stone shattered instantly.
Naruto's expression remained completely relaxed.
This was the result of Hundred Refinements training.
Ripples appeared in the air. Sasuke's figure materialized on the shore.
Two years had also transformed Sasuke through desperate training. He'd learned Flying Thunder God from the techniques Naruto's father had passed down. When he'd first mastered it, Sasuke had challenged Naruto again.
His thinking: Even if I can't beat Naruto, at least I can outrun him, right?
Unfortunately, by that time Naruto had reached the second level of Heavenly Steps—Instantaneous Movement—matching Flying Thunder God's speed. Needless to say, Sasuke had been thoroughly beaten.
And had very sincerely admitted his mistake.
Naruto understood this pattern well. Sasuke would apologize with apparent sincerity, but the moment he felt the metaphorical skies had cleared and the rain had stopped, he'd challenge again. The cycle never ended.
Therefore, over the past two years, Naruto had found various excuses to beat up Sasuke regularly. Not surprisingly, this proved highly effective—Sasuke's Sharingan had evolved to dual tomoe in both eyes.
However, despite benefiting from Naruto's physical training methods and medicinal formulas, despite his chakra reserves now approaching Kage level, Sasuke's Rasengan remained incomplete—just one step away from mastery.
So close, yet the final breakthrough eluded him.
"Naruto, Hinata's here. She's looking for you."
Sasuke stared at the five-meter-tall Naruto with a complicated expression. Over the past two years, Sasuke's own height had reached 1.5 meters, but compared to the monstrous Naruto, there was no comparison.
Naruto stood, released his Iron Body transformation, and returned to his normal height of 1.7 meters. He walked to shore, retrieved his clothes, and dressed. Then he noticed Sasuke's bruised and swollen face.
There was a perfectly good reason for that, of course.
"Oh, Hinata's here?" Naruto's face brightened with genuine pleasure.
"I'll head over then. By the way, Sasuke—don't push yourself so hard in training. Taking a break might actually be more effective. Try relaxing for a couple days. Maybe that'll help you complete the Rasengan."
With that advice delivered, Naruto activated Heavenly Steps and vanished.
Sasuke watched Naruto's fading form, turning the words over in his mind.
Indeed, over the past two years, he'd carried two mountains on his shoulders—Itachi, the mountain of blood debt and hatred, and his friend Naruto, an even larger mountain. Sasuke had poured every ounce of energy into training, unwilling to let a single moment pass unused.
Maybe Naruto was right. Maybe he should go outside and relax.
He remembered that recently, Sakura and Ino had been constantly inviting him on outings. Perhaps next time they asked, he should actually accept.