Early the next morning, Sora temporarily set aside his writing. After breakfast, he headed to the Fourth Training Ground.
Today was his scheduled training session with Might Guy.
The purpose of making money was to grow stronger—he wasn't about to lose sight of that goal.
"Morning, Guy." As soon as he arrived, Sora saw Guy already training hard.
Casually circling around him once, Sora scooped up three white cards lying on the ground without a hint of guilt.
Then with a thud, he dropped down beside Guy and began doing push-ups.
Guy was long used to Sora's strange behavior. He gave a brief greeting and resumed his silent training.
"System, open status panel."
Casually doing one-handed push-ups, Sora checked his stats.
Over the past few days, he hadn't gotten many cards, so he hadn't bothered checking. But today, he was surprisingly lucky—three white cards in a row.
[Host: Sora]
[Strength: 25]
[Speed: 25]
[Constitution: 22]
[Spirit: 25]
[Chakra: 1010]
[Talent: Spatial Talent LV3]
[Skills: Basic Shuriken LV2, Basic Taijutsu LV3, Chakra Extraction Technique LV1, Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu LV5, Konoha Whirlwind LV4]
"Not bad—strength and constitution both improved, even my chakra increased. But I'm still sorely lacking in techniques."
He only had one jutsu, and it wasn't even powerful enough to burn anyone. Useless!
Time flew during training. Before he knew it, Sora had finished 500 push-ups, a 5-kilometer run, and 1000 squats.
By now, the sky had dimmed—Kushina's dinner was probably nearly ready. Sora waved to Guy, "Guy, I'm heading back!"
"Alright! I'm heading home too—see you tomorrow!"
As he spoke, Guy walked away on his hands toward the other end of the training ground—his home was that way.
Watching Guy's departure, Sora couldn't help but admire him. "Truly hardworking... no wonder he became so powerful."
As darkness deepened, Sora didn't linger and darted into the forest, heading home.
He'd taken this route many times and was very familiar with it.
After the first time, he'd stopped imagining himself as a protagonist—he didn't expect any assassins to show up.
But fate loves a slap in the face.
Whoosh!
Just before reaching the exit, a shuriken gleaming with a dark, ominous light suddenly flew toward Sora's throat.
Squelch!
The sound of piercing flesh rang out. In that split second, Sora reacted instinctively and dodged—avoiding a fatal blow. Instead, the shuriken sank into his shoulder.
"Hah!" With a shout, Sora ignored the pain and kicked the attacker in the gut, launching him backward.
Landing quickly, Sora dashed toward a clearing for better footing.
"A Konoha brat dodged my attack? Not bad."
The attacker no longer hid in the shadows. He stepped into view confidently, as if certain Sora couldn't escape.
With a donkey-like face, a hooked nose, beady eyes, and dressed in dark clothes, the man looked like a villain straight out of a story.
Sora cursed internally, but his words came out calm: "Who are you? Which village are you from?"
Even as he spoke, Sora was quietly scanning the area.
They were too far from the village center. Even if he called for help, no one would arrive in time.
Minato was definitely out of the question—he had no idea any of this was happening.
That wasn't the worst part. His shoulder wound was bleeding heavily.
At this rate, he'd lose too much blood in five minutes—and within ten, he could bleed to death even without the enemy touching him again!
"Heh, you think I'll tell you? Trying to stall for time? Too bad you're the one running out of it."
The masked man sneered, looking at Sora like he was some clueless fool.
Their earlier scuffle hadn't made much noise—there was less than a 1% chance Konoha would notice.
And this kid? Probably just a ninja academy student. Not even worth calling an enemy. With that wound, he was nothing to worry about.
"Screw this! Aren't villains in novels supposed to monologue and give the protagonist time to fight back? Why isn't this guy following the script?!"
Sora cursed in his head, though his heart was sinking fast.
The attacker's seemingly casual stance was perfectly placed to block any escape route.
"Time to end this," the man declared, charging forward at high speed.
Though not quite as fast as Kakashi or Guy, he was still at least over half their speed.
"Damn it—time to risk it all!"
Gritting his teeth, Sora ignored the pain in his shoulder and began forming hand signs.
The attacker wasn't using jutsu to avoid attracting attention.
Judging from his performance so far, Sora guessed he was an elite Chunin. There was no way he could escape.
His only chance was to create enough noise to attract help from Konoha.
Though the pain in his shoulder disrupted his concentration, the Great Fireball Jutsu wasn't a difficult technique.
Just before the enemy reached him, Sora completed the signs.
"Fire Style—Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A fireball the size of a basketball burst from his mouth, hurtling toward the enemy.
But Sora didn't even look—he was already forming hand signs again.
The only reason he couldn't beat this guy was because he had too few techniques. But when it came to chakra? The guy didn't stand a chance!
Just a measly Fireball Jutsu? Sora could launch a hundred of them!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Fireball after fireball flew at the attacker, forcing him to retreat again and again.
"Thank goodness he's not a Jonin. If he had Body Flicker, I wouldn't even have time to make a single hand sign!"
Once he forced the enemy back, Sora finally breathed a sigh of relief—but his hands didn't stop moving.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosions rang out one after another. Though not huge, they were loud enough to catch attention.
At the very least, Might Guy—who wasn't far—should hear it.
Sora felt another wave of relief.
Now he just had to survive the enemy's possible desperate retaliation.
"Damn it!" the masked man cursed, realizing his cover was blown.
"Earth Style—Earth Wall!"
Rumble!
A wall of earth shot up, blocking three fireballs in a row.
"Earth Style—Earth Dragon Bullet!"
From behind the wall, the man twisted his fingers furiously, summoning a menacing, mud-colored dragon that surged toward Sora.
"Die—!"
At that exact moment, Sora launched another fireball—one he had been preparing all along.
The fireball screamed toward the man's face.
He wanted to dodge, but the Earth Dragon Bullet technique required him to stay put and maintain hand signs—he couldn't move.
Boom!
The fireball slammed into his head, detonating on impact and knocking him unconscious instantly.
But Sora didn't feel any joy.
Because the Earth Dragon Bullet, cast just before the attacker blacked out, was now only one meter away from hitting him.