#31 - Chapter 31: Card is a unit of measurement for collecting money and doing things

"Why are you following me?" Naruto asked, stopping in his tracks as he sensed Sasuke behind him.

"I want to train with you!"

Sasuke clenched his fist, his tone serious. "I want to get stronger. I don't want to always be standing behind you!"

"If you want to train, you can go to Kakashi."

Naruto turned around to look at Sasuke, speaking plainly, "I'm not a teacher, I don't teach students."

"I can pay!" Sasuke said.

Naruto might not be a teacher, but he was definitely stronger than Kakashi!

That's why Sasuke would rather pay Naruto to train him than go to Kakashi.

If he was going to learn, then naturally he would learn from the strongest!

"......"

"It's not about the money, it's just that..."

"Five thousand ryo a day."

Naruto looked at the dark night sky and said, "Five thousand ryo a night."

"Okay!"

Seeing Sasuke agree so readily, Naruto held out his hand. "Pay up first."

"......"

Sasuke took out his wallet and tossed it to Naruto, who caught it and immediately stuffed it into his own pocket!

"Come with me."

"......"

Sasuke stood there dumbfounded for a moment before belatedly following Naruto.

Naruto led Sasuke to a tree and then walked straight up it.

"There are many ways for a ninja to get stronger, but the most common are only two. One is learning powerful ninjutsu and genjutsu, and the other is training your taijutsu!"

"But taijutsu training isn't something that can be done overnight, and as for ninjutsu... I don't really have anything I can teach you. So what I can teach you is how to learn ninjutsu faster."

"You should know that a ninja's activation of ninjutsu is closely related to chakra, right?"

Sasuke nodded. "I know. Chakra is the energy used by ninjas when using ninjutsu. Its essence is the collection of physical and spiritual energy drawn from the cells within the human body."

"Ninjas use hand seals to stimulate chakra energy to release ninjutsu."

"......"

He was speaking so eloquently, but Naruto didn't understand any of it.

But it didn't matter, the textbook rules weren't important.

It was like how someone who can fix a motorcycle doesn't necessarily know how the textbook describes the motorcycle's creation, evolution, and the names of its components.

Anyway, you'll learn if you watch the master a few more times and try a few more times.

"Cough cough, that's right!"

Naruto coughed to cover up his embarrassment. "To use ninjutsu better and learn new ninjutsu, you need strong chakra control."

Sasuke frowned.

He didn't think his chakra control was weak. After all, he could easily perform C-rank ninjutsu.

Naruto saw through Sasuke's thoughts at a glance and said, "Do you think your chakra control is good and you have no problem performing any of the ninjutsu you've learned?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto and didn't speak, waiting for Naruto to continue.

"That's because you haven't realized you can do better!"

Naruto said casually, "For example, the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu you use. If the chakra required to perform this ninjutsu is 0.01 Ka..."

"0.01 Ka?" Sasuke was puzzled by the unfamiliar unit of measurement and couldn't help but interrupt Naruto.

"It's a common unit of measurement, don't worry about it."

Naruto brushed it off and continued, "If the normal chakra consumption for performing the Fireball Jutsu is 0.01, then someone who hasn't mastered chakra well will consume 0.02 Ka, or even more, when performing this ninjutsu!"

"Of course, the more chakra consumed, the more powerful a ninjutsu will be to some extent. But you don't need to consume 0.02 Ka of chakra every time you release the Fireball Jutsu."

"When dealing with weaker opponents or making feints, releasing 0.01 Ka of the Fireball Jutsu is enough. But if you still use 0.02 Ka of the Fireball Jutsu in this situation, you are simply wasting your chakra!"

"For a ninja, chakra is his power. The chakra you waste is equivalent to wasting your own power."

"Understand?"

Naruto didn't remember how Kakashi originally taught Sasuke and the others. He could only use his own understanding to fool Sasuke.

Anyway, it was just to improve the style of his teaching. That was roughly the idea.

"Then how can I improve my chakra control?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto held up two fingers. "Two ways. One is to gather chakra in your feet like I just did and practice tree climbing!"

"The other is also to gather chakra in your feet, but you need to practice on a water surface!"

"The latter is more difficult than the former. You should learn to climb trees first."

After receiving Naruto's guidance, Sasuke began to practice tree climbing.

Concentrate chakra in the soles of his feet, climb the tree... fall!

Climb the tree... fall again!

Again and again!

"This isn't so easy to learn. If you're not doing well at the beginning, you can try gathering chakra on your feet and then rushing up in one breath."

"Try sprinting to the top of the tree first, and then try walking up!"

After receiving guidance, Sasuke got up and fought again!

Sprinting again and again, falling again and again...

Soon, the night passed like this. Sasuke's stamina was basically exhausted, and he was lying on the ground panting.

Naruto looked at the sky gradually turning white, opened Sasuke's wallet and counted, "A total of six thousand two hundred ryo. I took five thousand ryo, and I'll return the rest to you."

As he spoke, Naruto threw the wallet back to Sasuke and put the five thousand ryo into his own money bag.

Sasuke lay on the ground without moving, letting the money bag fall on his chest.

"Get up, let's go back." Naruto came up to Sasuke and kicked him.

"You go back first, I'll practice a little longer," Sasuke said.

"Too much is as bad as too little."

Naruto picked up Sasuke and stuffed the money bag into his clothes. "And what if an enemy attacks at this time? Will you have the strength to fight back or escape when you're exhausted?"

After the Zabuza incident, Naruto was more careful about his companions' safety.

Although in the original story, Sasuke and Naruto weren't ambushed and killed while training, Zabuza in the original story was seriously injured and unable to move, but that's not the case now!

Sasuke thought what Naruto said made sense, so he struggled to stand up.

"I'll walk myself."

He, who always wanted to be strong, didn't want to be carried back by Naruto like this.

If Sakura and Kakashi saw this, they would probably think he had been beaten up by Naruto!

"Oh, training all night?"

Naruto and Sasuke had just returned when Kakashi suddenly popped up, teasing Sasuke and Naruto, who were covered in wounds.

"I'm going to rest first."

Exhausted, Sasuke didn't have the energy to pay attention to Kakashi and walked straight to his house.

Seeing this, Naruto shrugged and said, "Paid to work."

......