Kane and his sister sat in the kitchen, quickly eating breakfast. A few minutes before, they had changed into their usual attire, trading their dirty training clothes for their usual attire.
The two seemed satisfied with how the morning's training went. Still, they weren't exactly looking forward to doing it again tomorrow.
Hatake Sakumo, or Sakumo-sensei as we are supposed to call him now, was a kind man but ruthless regarding his passion. It was no surprise that he and Kakashi were so strong.
Off the bat, he had us run. A typical warm-up; nothing abnormal. But then he set a goal for us to complete 10,000 swings with the wooden training sword he provided.
That was when our hardship began.
Not only did he want us to do 10,000 swings, but they had to be perfect to count.
By the end of the three hours spent with him, the two siblings were convinced he must have a sharingan somehow.
If they breathed wrong, shifted their feet, transferred their weight incorrectly, adjusted their grip, or had their edge out of alignment on the swing, he would notice, correct their form and start counting again from 0.
Not only was this constant repetition monotonous, but it was exhausting. After you finish a few hundred strikes, even though Sensei's count never exceeded 3, your mind would wander.
Sakumo-sensei could somehow sense this the second it happened. The second he did, he would smack their forearms with his sword just hard enough to bring their attention back to the task.
The worst part was his accuracy. As if to emphasize the importance of consistency, accuracy and control, he would strike just hard enough to cause pain but never with enough force to make us drop the sword.
He always hit in the exact same spot, no matter how we shifted at the last second.
Needless to say, both children's forearms had dark blue bruises. This would have caused problems for them if the two had been from any other clan. Still, their Uzumaki vitality ensured they would be fine in two days—at least they would if they didn't experience the same treatment again tomorrow.
When Mito walked into the room, the two kids had just finished scraping the last bits of rice out of their bowls.
"Are you ready to go, Kane? Your sensei is here. He gave me this-"
Mito pulled out a bright green bodysuit and neon orange leg warmers from behind her back.
"Your new training clothes!"
Kane was torn internally upon seeing this.
On one hand, knowing he would be training under Might Duy was great news. But those training clothes…
They're hideous.
He looked from the clothes to Mito's face and then his sisters; both seemed to be making a poker face to hold back their laughter. Only one of them was significantly worse at it than the other.
He considered not wearing the clothes, but then Duy would make a fuss and probably keep bothering him about it.
On the other hand, if he did wear it, he would be automatically in his good books.
After staring at the ugly garment for nearly a minute, he resigned himself to the laughs he was sure to get and accepted the garments.
He walked out of the room, accompanied by his sister's laughter.
-
Dressing quickly so as not to keep Duy waiting, he was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the outfit was.
The fabric was thicker than he thought it would be, yet it was also really breathable.
After putting on the leg warmers, he jumped around a little bit. Satisfied with how they felt yet disgusted with how they looked, he returned to the kitchen to find out where he was to meet his sensei.
Unfortunately for him, the whole family was there at this time.
Tsunade, Nawaki, and Ashita had joined his sister and their Grandmother. After a solid minute of their laughter at the expense of Kane's new attire, he was finally released from his torment and told where Duy was waiting for him.
-
Outside the compound a man in a near identical outfit to Kane's was in a handstand doing pushups.
Despite being upside down, he was obviously tall, hairy, and well-built. He had a large nose and black hair on his wrists and arms. His eyebrows were abnormally thick, and so were his mustache and goatee. He had high cheekbones and a strong stubble as if he hadn't shaved in a few days. Tied tightly around his neck was a roughly knit yellow scarf that looked homemade.
"872. 873. 874. 875."
Hearing the sound of footsteps, he shifted his weight to one side and picked up the opposite hand.
He smiled brightly when he saw a little boy with messy red hair wearing a Bright green training suit and leg warmers.
'Looks like my student's youth shines as bright as mine.' he thought.
Dropping out of his handstand, he greeted his small student with youthful vigour and his signature pose.
"YOU MUST BE KANE! ARE YOU READY TO LET YOUR YOUTH SHINE BRIGHTLY!"
'So cringe… I can't believe he can do that with a straight face.' Kane thought to himself.
Kane still greeted him enthusiastically, but it paled to Duy's greeting.
"It is great to meet you, Duy-sensei! I am ready to train!"
"HAHAHAHA! THAT'S THE RIGHT ATTITUDE TO HAVE! COME! LET US WARM UP WITH 50 LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE!"
Kane's eye twitched at that. More running, just what he wanted.
Without waiting for his response, Might Duy did a backflip and landed on his hands. The madman was clearly planning on running all 50 on his hands.
"READY WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG KANE!"
'Fuck it. Don't fight the madness.'
"Let's go Duy-sensei!"
-
In the end, Kane ran too slow for Duy. After ensuring Kane knew the route by running alongside him, Duy sped up and left him in the dust.
He began to lap him.
Not once.
Not twice.
But 5 times.
By the time Kane finished his 10th lap around the village, a feat he was only able to accomplish by abusing his Nature Energy reinvigoration, Duy let him know that he was done with the warm-up.
Next, they stretched for 30 minutes. That was something Kane quickly discovered to be far worse than being caught distracted by Sakumo-sensei.
Duy's sense of what 'flexible' meant was severely warped because, in Kane's mind, being able to rest your heels and elbows on the floor is highly abnormal.
Meanwhile in Duy's, it was just something a 'youthful person' should be able to do.
After stretching- something that absolutely didn't make Kane cry at all- Duy demonstrated how to throw a punch and make a fist.
After getting an okay from his Sensei, Kane was instructed to punch.
Punch a tree.
Punch a tree repeatedly.
Punch a tree repeatedly, as hard as he could.
Twenty times.
With both hands.
Watching a character like Rock Lee train like this was badass and cool. He had always wanted to be strong enough to break wood with a punch; what boy wouldn't?
But most do not have the dedication or drive to do it. Why? Because it hurts—a lot.
A lot, a lot.
Needless to say Kane's language became much more colourful after his knuckles got a taste of the tall pine tree Duy selected for him.
Upon finishing the punches and successfully shredding his knuckles, Kane began a set of upper body exercises that Duy picked out especially for him.
They were simple; the first one he called Jumpers. Kane knew them as burpees, something dreaded by all people.
Then there were situps, pullups and pushups. Yes, the madman added pushups twice.
"But why Duy-sensei? Won't I be doing them with the jumpers?" he asked, fully abusing the cuteness factor his young age was supposed to give him.
"BECAUSE IT'S TIME TO LET YOUR YOUTH SHINE. NOW, SINCE YOU ONLY DID 10 LAPS TODAY, YOU ONLY NEED TO DO 100 OF EACH! AFTERWARDS YOU ARE DONE FOR THE DAY! TOMORROW WE GET TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN! LETS SHOW THEM OUT YOUTH, YOUNG KANE!"
"Yes, sensei," Kane whined pitifully. At this point, the only reason he was able to move was his innate Uzumaku vitality and the constant infusion of Nature Energy into his body.
As Duy-sensei began to count, only one thought went through his head.
'I'm going to die.'