“Naruto!!!”
“Your youth is burning so fiercely!
The Third Hokage truly didn’t misjudge you!”
“Lee has already done 300 push-ups for you.
Next up, 500 sit-ups!”
“Right here on the Hokage Rock!
Let’s work hard together!”
“I’ll go get lunch for you two.
By the time I return, I hope you’ve already shed enough sweat to fill the air with the spirit of youth!”
“Goooooo!!!”
Guy took off again, his legs spinning like wheels of fire.
Lee struggled to his feet.
His entire body was exhausted, yet his eyes were filled with excitement.
“Thank you, Naruto!”
Lee extended his hand with an utterly sincere expression.
“Thank you for letting me meet Guy-sensei!”
“Guy-sensei taught me what true youth is!”
“So this is what youth is supposed to feel like!
Hard work and sweat!”
“Thank you!”
Naruto reached out his hand, only to be immediately pulled into a vigorous handshake by Lee.
The master and disciple were incredibly compatible.
Naruto forced a smile.
At least he had helped bring two people together.
But then…
“Lee, you met Guy-sensei later than I did, so you’ll have to work twice as hard from now on.”
Naruto patted Lee on the shoulder.
“Do my share too!”
Lee’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Can I?
Really, Naruto?”
“…Of course.
Helping each other is also part of youth.”
“Thank you!”
With tears of gratitude in his eyes, Lee immediately began doing sit-ups at full speed.
Naruto nodded in satisfaction.
Youth, huh?
How could anyone grow without being tricked a little?
“Keep going, Lee!”
Naruto sat atop the Hokage Rock and gazed into the distance.
Below him were the carved faces of Konoha’s successive Hokage.
From the farthest to the nearest, he was currently sitting right on top of the Fourth Hokage’s head.
He had to admit…
Looking down at Konoha from this angle gave him a completely different feeling.
Naruto raised his hand in front of his eyes and slowly clenched his fist.
It felt as though everything was within his grasp.
“If I just keep checking in like this, maybe I can even survive all the way to the Boruto era…”
Naruto smiled and shook his head.
The prophesied savior was already gone.
The ending of the Fourth Great Ninja War was supposed to be Infinite Tsukuyomi.
So what Boruto era was there going to be?
Lazing around was something he took seriously.
Previously, he hadn’t come to the Hokage Rock, so he had never discovered this special check-in location.
Ten minutes a day.
One month of consecutive check-ins would grant him a Hokage Template.
Originally, he had thought that with the Ninja Academy and the Eight Trigrams Sealing Space, even if he checked in for ten years, he would at least be able to survive under Pain.
He could then desperately hang on until Infinite Tsukuyomi.
But now…
Pain probably wouldn’t be enough to threaten him by then.
Since that was the case…
There was even less reason for him to worry.
When the time came, he could simply lie down and enter Infinite Tsukuyomi, securing his place in the final round through sheer strength.
“With my physique by then, I might be able to dream for several decades longer than everyone else.”
Naruto smiled confidently.
And speaking of Infinite Tsukuyomi…
If he was sleeping inside it, would he be able to check in too?
“Ding!
Successful act of lazing around.”
“Salted-Fish Treasury received 30 Lazing Points.”
…
The day’s training continued throughout the afternoon.
By the time Naruto returned home, it was already eight o’clock.
He was certainly nowhere near as insane as the two bowl-haired maniacs, but even so, the amount of exercise he’d done was still far beyond reasonable.
He returned home, took a shower, and went straight to sleep.
This time, when he entered the Eight Trigrams Sealing Space, the Nine-Tails was awake.
It was glaring at him with murderous intensity.
“Sorry.
I might have been a little noisy today.”
“I disturbed your rest.
I’m really sorry.”
Naruto apologized instantly, then began materializing a large bed, a blanket, and a pair of earplugs.
The Nine-Tails didn’t argue with him.
Perhaps it had slowly gotten used to lazing around too…
At any rate, after Naruto fell asleep, he didn’t hear even the faintest trace of the roar that had once shaken his soul.
The communication between jinchuriki and tailed beast was steadily approaching zero.
The next day was Saturday.
Early in the morning, Guy came knocking on Naruto’s door.
Before eight o’clock, there was no chance of waking Naruto.
His consciousness was still inside the Eight Trigrams Sealing Space.
But when Naruto finally woke up, he discovered that he was already being dragged along by Lee…
Literally dragged.
Guy had found a huge wooden board.
Naruto lay on it, sleeping soundly, while Lee pulled him forward at full speed.
It was nothing short of demonic training.
After pushing himself to the point of exhaustion, Lee finally managed to drag Naruto all the way to Konoha’s highest point—the top of the Hokage Rock.
Lee’s reward was a green, skin-tight one-piece training suit.
As for Naruto, he would only be able to receive his after overcoming the challenge of waking up early.
Naruto was deeply grateful.
He would definitely work hard at checking in until that green jumpsuit remained sealed away until Konoha’s destruction!
Time flew by.
Following the Third Hokage’s instructions, Guy trained Naruto while also taking on another disciple.
Just as Naruto had predicted, during this entire month, Guy focused solely on having the two of them perform various exercises to strengthen their bodies.
He hadn’t yet begun teaching them actual taijutsu techniques.
Naruto checked in every day.
During the daytime, he checked in at the Ninja Academy and the Hokage Rock.
At night, he checked in inside the Eight Trigrams Sealing Space.
Weekends were a little more miserable.
When Guy wasn’t on a mission, he would take the two of them to the outskirts of Konoha for an entire day of endurance training.
When he was sent on a mission, he would instead assign them a training regimen to follow.
Naruto naturally refused.
Youth needed rest too.
And a salted fish’s youth required even more sleep.
Monday through Friday was already exhausting enough.
Why shouldn’t he be allowed to sleep on weekends?
So he would often show up, symbolically do a few exercises, and then hand his youth over to Lee.
Lee was extremely grateful.
Carrying Naruto’s share of youth on his shoulders made him feel as though he had gained even more strength for his training.
And just like that…
Before anyone realized it, an entire month had passed.