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It was noticeably harder for him to move faster, and he could feel the pressure building on his body. But it was actually working, and Naruto smiled at the thought. He was running through his unique fighting techniques, sweat dripping from his forehead. After two straight hours of gravity training, he finally landed on the ground with a huff.
"Well, at least my academy day went fine," he muttered. "But to be honest, I don't think I'll be staying in the academy for much longer."
After all, those people were weak—much weaker than even an average civilian. Then again, they were just kids. He was a kid too, but far stronger than them. Maybe he could graduate early. Yeah, that was definitely a possibility.
But that wasn't all that was on his mind. He remembered the fight with his brother. Manma had used that power—mostly chakra—but Naruto still didn't understand exactly what it was. Both Manma and Mito had it, and their powers felt oddly similar.
Naruto looked down at his own body. He didn't feel that same energy inside him. Instead, he possessed something different—something far greater. Could his power be an evolution of theirs? He shook his head. No, it was completely different from chakra.
Still, he hadn't given it a name.
He sat down, closed his eyes, and began focusing his energy, feeling it swirl throughout his body. What should he call this power?
Then, suddenly, a word came to him from deep within his mind—as if something was calling out to him: Ki.
"Ki..." Naruto whispered, opening his eyes and looking around.
Yes. That name suited this power perfectly.
From now on, he would call it his Ki.
Naruto brought his hands together and focused his energy, trying to channel it outside his body. He had never done anything like this before. The energy began to swirl in his palms, and to his surprise, it started forming a small, glowing sphere in front of him.
Something instinctively told him to push it.
Naruto nodded, focused, and released the attack. The energy blast shot from his hand like a missile, soaring out of the forest toward a remote section of the village.
Boom!
An explosion shook the ground as a part of the area was completely destroyed by the blast.
Naruto stood still, smoke rising from his hand, a small smile on his face. That had only been a beta-phase Ki blast—yet the destruction was already immense.
"Well," he muttered, "looks like I have other things to practice too."
He smiled at the thought but knew it was time to leave for now.
Far away,
Menma had just been released from the hospital. He was walking angrily, fists clenched, when he noticed that Mito was also nearby. Menma ignored her, but Mito began to follow him.
"So... how are you feeling, Menma?" she asked gently.
Menma stopped. "Great. What do you think I'm feeling?"
"I'm… I'm alright," Mito said quietly. "I know you lost to Naruto-niisan, but still, you shouldn't be this angry."
"I'm not angry," Menma snapped.
"You're acting like it," Mito replied.
Menma scoffed. "We've been training under four elite shinobi—two of the Sannin and two legendary figures. Our father is the Hokage, a double-S-rank shinobi. And yet, Naruto, who was trained by none of them, came out of nowhere and defeated us. He beat me like it was nothing. Even when I used that power—"
He clenched his fists.
"Our father always said that both of us have it. But he… Naruto doesn't. Do you hear me? He doesn't have it!"
He shouted the last part, making Mito flinch slightly.
Menma shook his head. "Do you think…"
He spoke more softly now.
"Do you think Father and Mother—and even our godparents—are training only us because we're weak?"
Mito shook her head. "No. We've easily defeated every other shinobi in the academy. But we didn't defeat him… did we?"
Silence fell between them.
Their brother—there was always something about him. A feeling. A pressure in the air whenever he was around. Power. An aura of dominance. Something deep inside them always told them to keep their distance. To not provoke him.
Because if they did… nothing would be left of them.
That presence made both of them feel—though they never said it out loud—inferior to Naruto. And that angered them. It made them feel jealous, even with all the attention they were getting from their parents. There was always that look in his eyes—like they were weak, like they didn't matter. No recognition, no approval.
Deep down, they wanted that recognition from their brother. Even if they were angry, even if they acted like they didn't care, they did. They wanted this heavy feeling of inferiority in their bodies to disappear. But no matter what they did, no matter how hard they trained...
It was always there.
Menma clenched his fists, jaw tight. "No matter what… I'm going to train even harder. I'll ask Pervy Sage to teach me more."
Mito nodded. "Yeah… I'll ask him too. I won't accept this. I won't stay behind."
Menma looked at her in surprise for a moment, but then nodded. Both of them smiled at each other, and turned back toward home. They had made up their minds.
No matter what—
They would earn their brother's recognition.
Far away, Naruto walked north, his expression calm. He had decided to pay a visit to Guy-sensei, who was still training near a cliffside, surrounded by trees. Naruto stepped into view and called out politely.
"Hello, Guy-sensei."
Guy turned around and beamed. "Yosh! Naruto! Your flames of youth are burning as brightly as ever! What can I do for you, my youthful friend?!"
Naruto chuckled softly. He was starting to get used to Guy's humor. To be honest, he didn't have many friends in the village. He wasn't close to his godparents like his siblings were. He wasn't even that close to his father or mother.
The only person he talked to regularly was Guy. And strangely enough… he liked Guy's energy. It was warm. Honest.
Well—he wasn't going to wear that green spandex anytime soon, but the red-and-black one Guy showed him once… now that was kind of intriguing. Still, he shook the thought away.
"Well, Guy-sensei," Naruto said, "if you don't mind… I'd like to join your training today."
Guy gave him a sparkling thumbs-up. "Of course, Naruto! Let us push past our limits!"
The two of them dropped to the ground and began doing push-ups side by side.
Naruto exhaled slowly and said, "Today was my first day at the academy."