Until midnight, an exhausted Naruto Uzumaki watched the leaf fly a little further away before falling into a deep sleep.
The next day, during school, he kept muttering softly.
"Explode, explode, explode..."
"Naruto, what have you been muttering about all through class? I saw the teacher staring at you several times." During the break, Choji Akimichi asked while eating snacks.
Naruto Uzumaki: "Hehe, I'm practicing the secret move Boss taught me. Just wait, it won't be long before I can beat Kiba."
Not far away, Kiba Inuzuka obviously didn't believe it: "Naruto, don't talk big. You're still far from beating me."
"Hmph! Just you wait!" Naruto Uzumaki was full of confidence: "When I win all your snacks in a while, don't go crying."
Three days later, Musashi, who had just finished dinner, was dragged by Naruto to see the results of his training.
"Explode!"
With a soft shout from Naruto Uzumaki, the leaf placed on the sole of his foot was fiercely pushed out by a burst of chakra, flying more than a foot away.
Naruto Uzumaki looked at Musashi excitedly.
"How was it, Boss? Did I do it?"
"Can I proceed to the next stage of training?"
Musashi nodded: "Not bad, Naruto. Your progress is a bit faster than I imagined."
"Very impressive."
"In that case, I'll start teaching you the next stage of training."
Taking Naruto to a clearing, Musashi said: "Here, run in place."
Hearing this, Naruto Uzumaki began to lift his legs continuously in place, mimicking a running posture.
"Then, use the chakra release technique you've been practicing these past few days. Follow your rhythm and release it at the ball of your foot. Don't release it across the whole sole, as it will affect your balance while moving."
"Remember, explode the moment your foot lands. Not too early, not too late."
"Also, the intensity of the chakra release must be stable and consistent, not too forceful."
Naruto Uzumaki repeated the movements according to Musashi's instructions.
After three days of practice, he was already familiar with releasing chakra from the soles of his feet.
As time went on, the chakra exploding from his soles gradually kept up with the rhythm.
"Boss, I did it. What's next?" Naruto Uzumaki asked.
Musashi: "Next? There is no next. This is it. The rest is just continuous practice."
"Stabilize your chakra output first. Once you get familiar with it, it will become easier and easier."
Naruto Uzumaki: "But Boss, it doesn't feel very effective?"
The feeling of chakra exploding at the sole of his foot felt like someone slapping the bottom of his foot the moment he landed.
Is this the secret move Boss taught?
It doesn't seem as cool as I imagined.
"What other effect do you want?" Musashi said: "Isn't it enough to help you beat Kiba?"
"Here, familiarize yourself with the movements, then try running the race route once."
Hearing this, Naruto Uzumaki found his stopwatch.
He went to the spot where he raced with everyone before.
As he pressed the stopwatch, his body exerted force and ran towards the target.
While running, he split his attention to control the chakra output under his feet.
The target tree grew closer and closer in his vision. As the kunai in his hand nailed into the trunk, Naruto Uzumaki raised his hand to look at the stopwatch.
His eyes were filled with disbelief.
"3 minutes 33 seconds."
"I did it! I really did it!"
"Yeah!"
He ran quickly towards Musashi.
"Boss! I did it! I caught up to Kiba's record!"
"Boss, you're amazing!"
Musashi smiled.
"Naruto, don't celebrate too early."
"At this level, it's still possible for Kiba to surpass you."
"In the run just now, there were a few things you didn't do well."
"First, your chakra control is lacking. The depth and force of each step were different; I could tell just by looking at your body posture."
"Second, the amount of chakra output was wrong. You should distribute your chakra evenly for every step. Just now, you were okay in the first half, but in the second half, your chakra couldn't keep up."
"Third, the rhythm was off. Your running rhythm was very fast, but the frequency of running in place and the chakra explosion hadn't synced up yet."
"You still need to practice diligently."
"When your use of chakra explosions while running becomes second nature, Kiba definitely won't be able to catch up to you."
Naruto Uzumaki listened with excitement.
As if he could already see the beautiful scene of Kiba Inuzuka unable to catch up to him no matter what.
He jumped up fiercely and hugged Musashi: "Boss! I will definitely do it!"
"En, I believe in you."
"After all, it is vibrant youth."
---
The sunshine was just right.
On the streets of Konoha, Naruto Uzumaki walked proudly in front.
Several little munchkins of the same size followed beside him.
Kiba Inuzuka, with paint on his face, was still muttering non-stop.
"Impossible, impossible."
"How did Naruto improve so quickly all of a sudden?"
"He actually surpassed me, damn it."
Naruto Uzumaki in front heard it, turned his head, and smiled so widely his throat was visible.
"Hahahahaha~ Kiba, I told you, Boss taught me a secret move, I can definitely beat you."
"No crying allowed."
"Tch~" Kiba Inuzuka said: "I'm not a little kid, I won't cry. Just wait, in a few days, I'll be number one again."
Naruto Uzumaki laughed: "Bragging, bragging! Hehe, I'll be waiting for you."
Seeing Choji Akimichi eyeing the snacks in his hand enviously, Naruto Uzumaki directly put a pile of snacks into his hands.
Compared to snacks, beating Kiba was the reason that made him happiest.
Besides, he couldn't bear to watch Choji looking so eagerly.
Choji Akimichi was moved: "Naruto, thank you, you're so nice."
"Aiya, don't be so polite." Naruto Uzumaki scratched his head in embarrassment.
His proud look made Kiba even more unhappy.
"Tch, I must beat you!"
Shikamaru Nara said lazily: "Kiba, Naruto's improvement is really big. Originally you were much faster than him, now Naruto is much faster than you."
"If you don't understand Naruto's secret move, the probability of you winning against him isn't high."
Hearing this, Kiba Inuzuka immediately became worried.
After a long while, he asked somewhat shamefully: "N...Naruto, what exactly is the secret move your boss taught you?"
Just asking once. If Naruto doesn't tell me, I won't ask again.
"Ah? Well..." Naruto scratched his head.
As expected, Naruto won't tell me about secret moves. Kiba Inuzuka thought.
"The secret move? It's a chakra technique Boss taught me. I'll tell you later."
Kiba Inuzuka looked up in surprise: "Really?"
Shikamaru Nara said: "Naruto, are you going to teach your secret move to Kiba? What if he surpasses you again?"
Naruto Uzumaki: "Haha, so what if he surpasses me? Then I'll just learn even more powerful secret moves from Boss."
Naruto Uzumaki smiled.
Compared to victory, he valued the friendship between them more.
While they were chatting and laughing, a burst of little girls' screams suddenly came from ahead.
Rising one after another.
Looking up, a familiar figure stood coolly on the street.
Naruto Uzumaki, who was originally happy, lost control of his facial features.
"U... chi... ha... Sa... su... ke."