Monday morning.
"Hah!"
Naruto gave a soft grunt, laboriously stuffing the toothbrush into his mouth. The usually effortless act of brushing his teeth now felt as strenuous as lifting weights. The seemingly ordinary orange cloth wristbands on his wrists tugged at his arms like heavy dumbbells.
[Turtle Hermit Style Weight Bracers (Equipped)]
"So heavy..."
Naruto finished brushing his teeth hastily and headed outside. With every step, the old wooden floorboards let out a soft creak.
"Is this how the strong in other worlds train? Even a pair of wristbands is this insane."
Naruto wiped the sweat from his forehead. Under the equipment's special effect, the 40-kilogram weight seemed to be distributed evenly across his entire body. Although he wasn't quite used to it, it was barely within an acceptable range. He immediately began adjusting his breathing, attempting to maintain the rhythm of "Total Concentration Breathing" throughout.
He discovered that when the rhythm of his breathing synchronized with the points where he exerted force against gravity, the sense of heaviness would lessen slightly. This made him realize that these wristbands were not only a whetstone for his physique but also the ultimate test of his mastery over the Breathing Technique.
Moreover, Naruto felt a faint sense of excitement in his heart. For he could clearly perceive that under the state of weighted training, his muscles were constantly tearing and reconstructing. Furthermore, even the cultivation speed of his Breathing Technique had increased significantly. This feeling of becoming stronger every second was truly addictive.
On the way to school.
"Hey, Naruto!"
Inuzuka Kiba's voice came from behind. He ran over with Akamaru, sizing Naruto up with a suspicious look:
"Why are you walking so slowly today, like an eighty-year-old man?"
From Kiba's perspective, Naruto's movements today were stiff, pausing with every step. He had completely lost the agility he showed while running a few days ago.
"Could it be... you overexerted yourself training in secret and haven't recovered yet?"
Inuzuka Kiba observed Naruto for a while before finally reaching a conclusion.
"Hehe, I knew it. How could a dead last suddenly become strong? Turns out you've been pushing yourself too hard in secret."
Naruto glanced at Kiba, offered no explanation, and smiled:
"Yeah, my body feels a bit heavy."
"Tch, boring. I'm planning to challenge you in today's practical combat class, so don't let me down!"
Inuzuka Kiba patted Naruto's shoulder twice and ran off with Akamaru. Naruto continued to make his way to school slowly. When he walked into the classroom, his blood was pumping and his face was flushed, looking like he had overtrained. Then, Naruto sat down beside Nara Shikamaru.
Having decided to make Uchiha Sasuke his first target, he didn't act rashly. Instead, he casually asked Shikamaru beside him.
"Hey, Shikamaru, let me ask you something."
"Ah... what a drag, what is it?" Shikamaru looked up and asked lazily.
"Look over there."
As he spoke, Naruto pointed in Sasuke's direction. There, Haruno Sakura was showing her usual affection to Sasuke, while Sasuke remained cold as ever.
"That Uchiha Sasuke, why does he always look like someone owes him tens of thousands of Ryo? Did something happen to his family?"
Shikamaru sighed, thinking Naruto was asking this because of surging hormones again. So without much thought, he replied casually:
"You didn't know? I heard the Uchiha clan was massacred when we were in the first grade. He's the only survivor left of the entire clan."
"That's probably why he's like that... Sigh, what a troublesome and pathetic life."
Shikamaru shook his head and sighed, then rolled over to continue sleeping. Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded in silence.
Massacred... this also fully explained why Sasuke always lacked a sense of security. Such a deep-seated blood feud is likely something no normal person could easily move past.
Naruto felt another surge of sympathy for Sasuke in his heart.
"I'll ask Teacher Aizen later how I should help Sasuke out of such a predicament."
Just then, Iruka-sensei walked into the classroom.
"Alright, that's enough chatting!" Iruka-sensei clapped his hands and said. "Everyone, gather at the training ground. We're having a Taijutsu class today."
At the training ground.
Watching the pairs of students sparring, Naruto couldn't help but yawn. He hadn't thought much of it before. But now, he only felt that their upper bodies were weak, their stances unstable, their footwork loose, their reactions dull, and they even missed with their Shuriken. For a moment, Naruto felt it was somewhat unbelievable that he used to be unable to even beat them.
"Next group, Uzumaki Naruto versus..."
"Teacher, I want to challenge Naruto!" Inuzuka Kiba spoke up quickly, jumping out impatiently.
Iruka-sensei glanced at Naruto upon hearing this, and seeing Naruto nod, he announced:
"Very well, next group: Uzumaki Naruto versus Inuzuka Kiba."
Naruto walked slowly to the center of the field. Opposite him, Inuzuka Kiba was raring to go, while the young Akamaru stood off to the side barking. He formed the Seal of Confrontation with his hands and didn't stay quiet either:
"Naruto, don't think just because you beat me in running that I'll lose in actual combat!"
Inuzuka Kiba was full of confidence as he took an offensive stance:
"Today, I'll show you the results of my training! Since you're not in top form today, I'll go easy on you."
Naruto pushed up his glasses; he didn't take a standard Taijutsu stance, but just stood there loosely. It wasn't that he was being arrogant; it was just that the wristbands were too heavy. So he didn't want to make any movements that would waste energy. Of course, in Inuzuka Kiba's eyes, this was blatant arrogance and provocation.
"Damn it! You're looking down on me."
Kiba gave a low shout, Chakra exploding from his feet as he lunged forward like a cheetah. He was very fast. If it were the old Naruto, he probably could only barely defend himself before getting beaten black and blue. But now, with the enhancement of the Breathing Technique, Naruto's overall physical functions, including dynamic vision, had increased.
Inuzuka Kiba's movements were clearly discernible to him. However, although Naruto saw the movements clearly and his brain issued the command to dodge... his body couldn't keep up. The forty-kilogram weight significantly reduced his agility.
Since he couldn't dodge, he wouldn't. Inuzuka Kiba's punch landed squarely on Naruto's blocking arms.
"I hit him!" Inuzuka Kiba was delighted, and the surrounding classmates let out a gasp.
However, a second later, Kiba's smile froze on his face. "Why is he... so hard?"
Kiba felt as if he hadn't hit a human body, but rather a cloth-wrapped iron post. The recoil made his hand go numb. Having taken a punch head-on, Naruto remained motionless, his body not even swaying. While the weight slowed his speed, it also provided a stable base.
"Is that it?"
Naruto looked at Kiba, who was right in front of him, and took a deep breath.
Water Breathing: Total Concentration!
Although he hadn't maxed out his proficiency yet, the intensity was still impressive. Especially considering Naruto's physique was already far superior to his peers. Naruto gathered his strength into his right arm and threw a powerful, heavy punch.
"Not good!"
Inuzuka Kiba instinctively sensed danger and tried to retreat, but it was too late. Naruto didn't use any fancy moves; it was just a simple, full-power straight punch.
Whoosh—
The wind pressure generated by the punch actually made a whistling sound. Naruto stopped his fist an inch from the tip of Inuzuka Kiba's nose. But the terrifying wind from the punch blew his hair into a mess. Kiba stared blankly at the fist in front of him, cold sweat sliding down his forehead. For a split second, he seemed to see his late great-grandmother.
"Thank you for the match."
Naruto withdrew his fist and formed the Seal of Reconciliation. Then he turned slowly and walked back to the crowd with heavy steps. And where he had just stood, two deep footprints remained on the ground.
A commotion broke out in the surroundings.
"What just happened?"
"Was Inuzuka Kiba scared stiff?"
Some saw Naruto's overwhelming dominance, while others were still confused about what had occurred. The previously indifferent Sasuke was startled, looking at Naruto not far away.
"What's going on? Why does he have such monstrous strength?"
Sasuke recalled Naruto's movements and keenly noticed the sluggishness in his actions.
"Could it be... that guy is wearing weights?"
An astounding hypothesis emerged in Sasuke's mind, and he suddenly found it hard to believe.
"This dead last... is actually doing this level of training behind our backs?!"
A strong sense of crisis suddenly gripped Sasuke's heart.