The following day, at dawn.
The sky had barely begun to lighten when the Seventh Training Ground already welcomed the day's trainees.
Uchiha Min, Uchiha Tetsu, and Uchiha Kai stood perfectly straight.
When Uchiha Shinsuke appeared at the training ground right on time, all three bodies snapped taut in an instant.
"Squad Leader!"
"Mm."
Uchiha Shinsuke gave a nod.
"It seems all of you have a good sense of time, well done."
Without a single word to spare, Uchiha Shinsuke went straight to the point.
"Today's training is divided into two parts."
"Morning: basic physical conditioning and chakra control."
"Afternoon: individual specialty reinforcement and squad coordination drills."
"Before we begin, report your respective chakra natures."
Uchiha Min stepped forward first.
"Reporting, Squad Leader: my chakra nature is fire, with no other natures."
Uchiha Tetsu pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Reporting, Squad Leader: my chakra nature is also fire, and I specialize in genjutsu."
Last, Uchiha Kai scratched the back of his head and said with a touch of embarrassment.
"Reporting, Squad Leader: I... I also only have fire nature."
True to form for the Uchiha, fire nature was standard issue.
"Good."
"The morning's training is straightforward."
Uchiha Shinsuke paused.
"Everyone runs fifty laps of the training ground carrying twenty kilograms of weight! Anyone who doesn't finish gets no lunch!"
"What?!"
A cry of dismay escaped Uchiha Kai before he could stop himself.
Twenty kilograms of weight!
Fifty laps!
That training load was several times over what they endured during the Guard's ordinary training!
Uchiha Min and Uchiha Tetsu's expressions also changed drastically.
Uchiha Shinsuke cast Kai a cold glance.
"Any complaints?"
"N... no!"
Kai jolted to attention and instantly swallowed every protest back down, shaking his head quickly and obediently picking up the heavy weighted vest from the ground to put on.
"Begin!"
At Shinsuke's single command, the three set off with heavy steps and the hellish run began.
Uchiha Shinsuke was not idle either.
While supervising the three in their training, he was also conducting his own cultivation work.
His main focus was on developing the newly acquired lightning style ninjutsu and fusing the fire style and lightning style chakra natures together.
'Chidori...'
Uchiha Shinsuke extended his right hand, palm facing up.
Crackle!
A dazzling cluster of blue lightning rapidly gathered and compressed in Uchiha Shinsuke's palm, emitting a piercing shriek!
The wild lightning style chakra shifted continuously through shapes under Uchiha Shinsuke's precise control, striving to achieve the ultimate penetrating force.
However, the precision of chakra control required for this level of nature transformation was abnormally high.
Pop!
With a soft sound, the lightning light in Uchiha Shinsuke's palm suddenly collapsed and scattered.
'Still not quite there.'
Uchiha Shinsuke frowned slightly.
Although the system had directly granted him lightning style chakra nature mastery and a vast body of knowledge covering lightning style ninjutsu, the Chidori was an A-rank technique and could not be achieved all at once.
It demanded that the user possess an extremely high degree of chakra control, as well as a body capable of bearing the terrifying physical strain that came with high-speed thrusting.
'It seems that alongside fusing the chakra natures, reinforcing the body's physical condition absolutely cannot be neglected either.'
Uchiha Shinsuke drew a deep breath and attempted to gather the lightning style chakra once more.
Time passed minute by minute and second by second.
On the track, the three sets of footsteps grew heavier and heavier.
By the time the midday sun had turned scorching, the three of them, looking as though they had been hauled out of water, had barely managed to complete all fifty laps.
Kai was the last to cross the finish line, his legs giving way as he collapsed to the ground and lay gasping for air like a dead dog.
"Rest for ten minutes, then proceed to chakra control training."
Uchiha Shinsuke's cold voice sounded again.
With nothing to do but hold back tears, the three dragged their nearly falling-apart bodies to the shade of some trees and leaned on each other to rest.
"The Squad Leader... is a demon..." Kai groaned feebly, convinced he was already a broken man.
"Quiet."
Min shot him a sharp look.
"Do you want to spend the rest of your life as an ordinary genin that everyone looks down on?"
Kai shrank his neck down and did not dare say another word.
Ten minutes later, chakra control training began.
Tree climbing and water walking.
The most basic of drills, yet also the most demanding of fundamentals.
Attempting fine chakra control after physical conditioning had been pushed to its absolute limit caused the difficulty to multiply exponentially!
Uchiha Shinsuke stood nearby watching with cold detachment, and only occasionally spoke to offer a pointer or two.
In the afternoon, Uchiha Shinsuke designed a training plan for the three of them based on their individual characteristics, one that could only be described as brutal.
When the three saw their training assignments, their faces went green.
This was beyond brutal: it was outright self-torture!
But looking at Uchiha Shinsuke's gaze that brooked no argument, they could only clench their teeth and throw themselves into the next round of suffering.
While guiding the squad members, Uchiha Shinsuke did not let up on developing his own abilities either.
He stood at the center of the training ground, both hands flying through hand seals at a speed that blurred them from sight!
Two chakra natures were forcibly drawn from within him by a relentless will, compressed and fused together before him!
The crimson flames and the wild electric arcs repelled each other, yet were forcibly kneaded together, forming a highly unstable energy sphere!
Boom!
A ball of energy laced with crimson flames and dazzling blue lightning erupted from his hands and slammed hard into the training dummy in the distance!
The dummy, made from a special material, could not hold together for even one second before it was blown to pieces in an instant!
"That's some impressive power!"
A flash of delight crossed Uchiha Shinsuke's eyes.
The power of this combination ninjutsu was already approaching the upper limit of a B-rank technique!
"I'll call it... the Lightning Flame Bullet."
Uchiha Shinsuke casually gave the newly developed ninjutsu a name.
Though it was still rough and its stability needed improvement, this was undeniably a solid start!
Min, Tetsu, and Kai, who had been grinding through their training with their heads down, were startled by the massive explosion and stopped what they were doing without exception, staring in alarm toward the source of the blast.
When they saw the dummy blown to pieces and still crackling with black smoke and arcing electricity, every one of them was left wide-eyed with their minds completely blank.
'Monster!'
The same thought surfaced in all three minds simultaneously.
With such a powerful squad leader, they as squad members absolutely could not drag him down!
The three exchanged a glance and each saw a blazing fighting spirit burning in the other's eyes!
"Aaaargh!"
Kai let out a roar, gripped his blade with both hands, and with every ounce of strength left in his body, drove it down hard into the wooden post once more!
Min and Tetsu also clenched their teeth and threw themselves back into the hellish training.
The high-intensity training continued for the entire day.
When night fell, Min, Tetsu, and Kai all but crawled out of the training ground, without the strength to lift even a single finger.
Uchiha Shinsuke watched their battered retreating figures and gave a satisfied nod.