The rhythmic pounding on the riverside villa's front door began before the sun even had the decency to rise.
For one desperate second, Kenji considered using Hiraishin to disappear somewhere quiet and steal another hour of sleep.
Then the pounding came again.
"KENJI! THE SUNRISE OF YOUTH WILL NOT WAIT!"
Teleporting away would only make Guy return tomorrow with more enthusiasm and possibly a battering ram.
With a heavy sigh, Kenji dragged himself out of bed and opened the front door. Lee stood behind Guy in full training clothes, smiling as though waking people before sunrise was an act of kindness.
Ten minutes later, Kenji was running the full morning circuit. His lungs burned, and his boots struck the dirt in increasingly heavy steps. He could have made the circuit easier in half a dozen ways, but that would defeat the entire reason he had agreed to train with Guy.
A week earlier, his breathing had fallen apart long before the final turn. Today, he reached it before the burning in his lungs forced his mouth open.
Unfortunately, Lee was still literally running circles around him.
"You are doing excellently, Kenji!" Lee shouted, jogging backwards with zero effort while Kenji fought for air. "Push through the burn! Embrace the morning!"
Kenji glared at him, too out of breath to formulate a proper insult.
Guy watched from a branch above and gave Kenji an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Apparently, the glare Kenji sent him counted as youthful progress.
Near the end of the dirt track, Tenten sat comfortably on a stump, clicking a stopwatch as they passed. Neji stood beside Tenten, watching Kenji's final lap.
"His left leg weakens first," he said. "That is when his stride becomes uneven."
Kenji crossed the makeshift finish line and planted his hands on his knees. His lungs were burning and his left calf felt filled with wet sand, but he remained upright.
Tenten clicked her stopwatch. "Better than yesterday."
Kenji had just enough breath to feel proud before Guy pointed toward the squat line.
The run had only been the first half.
By the time Kenji forced himself through the two-thousandth squat, the sun was beginning to clear the trees. His legs shook when he straightened, but he did not fall.
By the time the sun fully broke over the treeline, Sasuke walked into the clearing. He looked rested, focused, and immediately stepped onto the sparring field for his scheduled speed benchmark.
Kakashi leaned against a tree, his eye curving into a lazy smile. He held up three fingers. "Three bursts of Swift Step, Sasuke. No more."
Sasuke frowned. "Three?"
"Three," Kakashi confirmed. "I want to see how you move when the bursts are gone."
Kakashi dropped his hand. Lee moved.
Sasuke used his first Swift Step immediately. He vanished from the path of Lee's opening kick and reappeared several paces to the right—farther than he had intended.
Lee changed direction without slowing and reached him before Sasuke had properly set his feet. A kick struck Sasuke's guard and drove him backward across the dirt.
Sasuke tried the second burst to enter Lee's guard. Lee read the straight approach, shifted aside, and swept his legs out from under him.
Sasuke rolled back to his feet. Kakashi raised one finger.
One burst remained.
Lee came forward again. This time, Sasuke stopped trying to match his clean taijutsu. When Lee lifted his leg for a high kick, Sasuke scraped his sandal through the loose dirt and threw the spray toward his face.
Lee turned his head.
Sasuke threw a kunai past Lee's right shoulder. Lee's eyes followed it for the fraction of a second Sasuke needed.
Sasuke used his final Swift Step low to the left.
He appeared inside Lee's reach and drove his elbow into Lee's ribs. It was not powerful enough to injure him, but it landed cleanly and forced him back one step.
Lee's face lit up.
"Excellent adaptation, Sasuke!" he shouted, raising one fist. "A magnificent strike!"
Sasuke's expression soured immediately. Being congratulated that enthusiastically somehow made the small success feel insulting.
He dropped back into his stance.
"Shut up and fight. Another round."
Once Kakashi took over the next round, Kenji limped toward an empty side of the clearing with a marked kunai in hand.
For once, the gacha was not the answer. He already owned more techniques than most jonin. The problem was making them work together without breaking his own nose in the process.
Kenji pressed a thread of Bungee Gum against the ring of the marked kunai. He threw it toward the tree line, waited until it crossed the clearing, then jerked the gum sideways.
The kunai changed direction sharply.
Kenji activated Hiraishin.
He reappeared beside the moving kunai while it was still cutting sideways through the air.
His feet touched down facing the direction he had thrown it. The rest of his body followed the kunai's sudden turn.
A tree trunk filled his vision.
Thud.
Kenji struck the bark face-first and slid down several inches before his boots found the ground.
"Magnificent commitment, Kenji!" Guy called from across the field.
Sasuke looked over and released one short bark of laughter. The instant Kenji turned toward him, Sasuke's face became blank.
"I didn't laugh."
Kenji rubbed his bruised nose. The trick had worked. His timing had not.
Kenji pulled a strip of bark from his hair and retrieved the marked kunai.
He reset his grip and faced the tree again.
"Again," he said. "This time the tree loses."
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