Shigure showed a pained expression. Even though his ninjutsu talent had always been poor, that didn't mean he was destined to become a gigolo!
With a heart full of resentment, Shigure returned to his room. But instead of resting, he threw himself into intense training once again.
One hundred twenty-six, one hundred twenty-seven...
Two hundred thirty-one, two hundred thirty-two...
He counted silently in his mind, sweat beginning to soak his entire body.
The floor beneath him was wet with sweat, leaving water stains all over it.
His arms felt stiff and heavy, barely able to support his own weight anymore.
But in Shigure's mind, he could vividly see scenes of the Ninja World War once again—along with memories of his ordinary former life, and how he had died in an accident.
His arms had gone numb; he couldn't feel a thing.
Now, he had to rely purely on his willpower to push past his body's limits.
The last time, Shigure had only managed 276 push-ups at most.
This time, gritting his teeth, he pushed himself to 320.
But his arms had completely lost feeling.
He struggled to reach 350, but collapsed at 345.
He fell powerlessly to the floor, gasping for air.
But this time, Shigure had surpassed what he accomplished previously.
That could be considered breaking through his physical limits.
"Nice… Next time, the goal is to add another hundred. Without training like this, it's impossible to catch up to Guy and the others from the original story."
Though his arms were stiff and numb, there was no trace of sadness in Shigure's eyes. On the contrary, he looked even more determined.
After resting briefly, he barely managed to stand and started squatting again.
"I'll do a hundred more squats than I did last time!"
Having set that goal for himself, Shigure began squatting up and down repeatedly.
He had no idea how much sweat he had shed.
In the end, Shigure did 160 more squats than before—surpassing the target he had set.
Eventually, he had no strength left in his body. Shigure stood up one final time, then collapsed directly onto his bed and fell asleep.
Until the next day.
Because he often trained to the extreme like this, even if he was utterly exhausted the day before, he could still recover the next day.
After all, this was a world of ninjas. Though Shigure had great difficulty refining chakra and his ninjutsu talent was poor, his body still contained chakra.
"Seems like after pushing through two limits yesterday, my physical condition improved a little."
Shigure clenched his fists and felt that his strength had slightly increased. He couldn't help but smile faintly with joy.
It would be amazing if I could break through like that every day.
Of course, this might also be thanks to having recently obtained the Gura Gura no Mi and a Shock Release Kekkei Genkai, which provided some feedback effects to his physical strength.
The power of the Shock Release Kekkei Genkai allowed him to create vibrations that could produce shockwaves in the air by punching, or strike space itself—causing tremors that shattered the ground and generated tsunamis.
"Let's try the air shockwave again."
Shigure's face lit up with excitement. He clenched his fist, bent his arm, and suddenly punched to the side.
Buzz!
A slightly brighter white light appeared, then suddenly exploded into the air.
Shigure had punched the air, but it looked like he was punching a mirror.
Crack!!
That "mirror" shattered, and the space seemed to collapse under the force of his punch.
However, the cracks weren't visible—it only spread a little outward, forming several fine fissures before stopping.
"Just as I thought, the power of the air shockwave increased."
Shigure pulled his fist back, satisfied.
Right now, the shockwaves from his punches should be enough to block any kunai or shuriken imbued with chakra nature transformations.
"Unfortunately, the range still isn't very far."
What frustrated Shigure a little was that the range of his air shockwave was limited—barely reaching a meter.
Of course, that was related to his overall power.
If the shockwave grew stronger, its range would naturally expand.
But for now, his fists were only useful in close combat.
Still, that didn't mean he was helpless in long-range attacks.
Shigure took out a kunai and gripped it tightly.
Buzz!
A faint white glow suddenly appeared at the tip of the kunai.
Then, Shigure suddenly threw the kunai at a large tree in the distance.
Crack!!
The kunai stabbed deep into the tree trunk. At the same time, a shockwave burst out and slightly damaged the surrounding bark.
"Even though some of the shockwave's power is lost during a ranged attack, it's still enough."
"Normal Genin and Chunin haven't even learned to add chakra nature to their kunai to boost penetration."
Walking over and pulling out the kunai, Shigure examined the result.
He nodded in satisfaction.
Thinking there was a practical exam today, Shigure decided not to train that morning so he could conserve his strength.
So after breakfast, Shigure headed to the Ninja Academy.
The Ninja Academy had been founded by the Second Hokage as a training institution for shinobi. It had only existed for about ten years, so many aspects were far less refined compared to the original story.
At this time, the Senju Clan had only just started to decline and hadn't disappeared yet.
The Uchiha Clan was still in its prime.
As for the Hyuga Clan, they had taken a step back.
But for someone like Shigure, regardless of which clan he came from, he could only watch from the sidelines.
Let alone being from another village—even though he was born in Konoha, when facing giants like the Senju, Uchiha, or even Hyuga, all he could do was admire them from afar.
"Shigure, you're here."
As soon as he entered the classroom, Shigure heard Kushina greet him.
She was probably the only person who would.
The other students either ignored Shigure entirely or gave him disgusted looks before turning away like he didn't exist.
"Yeah."
Shigure smiled at Kushina, walked to his seat, and sat down.
Kushina looked at him with slight surprise. "Didn't you bring the ointment I gave you last night?"
"Uh… I guess I forgot."
"How can you be so careless? What if you get hurt later?"
Kushina puffed her cheeks and glared at him slightly annoyed.
Shigure: "…"
Oi!
Why are you assuming I'll get hurt?!
Can't you have a little faith in me?