Naruto: The Earthquake Shinobi

Yoru's face twitched with an expression of helplessness. Even if his talent in ninjutsu had been terrible before, wasn't calling him a freeloader way too much?!

With a stomach full of grievances, Yoru returned to his room. But instead of resting, he threw himself into another round of intense training.

"One hundred twenty-six… One hundred twenty-seven…"

"Two hundred thirty-one… Two hundred thirty-two…"

Sweat poured from his body like rain, soaking the floor beneath him.

His arms felt heavier and stiffer, as if they could no longer support his body. But in his mind, he could see scenes of the Great Ninja War unfolding before him. He saw his past life—ordinary, unremarkable, and ultimately ending in an unexpected death.

His arms had long since gone numb.

Now, he was relying purely on willpower, forcing every ounce of strength from his body, determined to shatter his own limits.

The last time he had only managed to do two hundred seventy-six push-ups.

This time, clenching his teeth, he stubbornly pushed himself to three hundred twenty.

But by then, his arms were completely numb.

He tried to push on, aiming for three hundred fifty, but in the end, his strength gave out at three hundred forty-five.

Collapsed onto the ground, his chest heaved violently as he gasped for breath.

But even so, he had surpassed his previous limit by a wide margin.

"A good start… Next time, I'll push for another hundred."

He muttered to himself, his eyes filled with determination.

He knew that if he wanted to reach the level of characters like Might Guy in the original story, he had to train this hard—if not harder.

After resting briefly, he forced himself up again and started on squats.

"Another hundred more than last time!"

Setting his goal, he began squatting and standing back up over and over again.

He had no idea how much sweat he had lost.

By the time he finished, he had done one hundred sixty more squats than before, surpassing even his original target.

Exhausted beyond measure, Yoru barely managed to stagger to his bed before collapsing onto it. Within moments, he was fast asleep.

The Next Morning

Since he had been training to his limits daily, his body had adapted somewhat. Even after pushing himself so hard, he still recovered fairly well by the next morning.

After all, this was the world of ninjas. Even if his chakra control was weak and his talent in ninjutsu was terrible, he still possessed chakra within him.

"It looks like breaking my limits last night made my body even stronger."

Clenching his fist, he felt a subtle increase in his strength, a small but undeniable improvement.

If only he could break through his limits every day.

Of course, another possibility was that his newly acquired Tremor-Tremor Fruit, which granted him the Vibration Release Kekkei Genkai, was subtly reinforcing his body.

The power of the Vibration Release Kekkei Genkai allowed him to generate shockwaves, capable of striking the air itself, shaking the very earth, or even causing massive tsunamis.

"Let's test the power of my shockwaves again."

Excitement flashed in his eyes as he clenched his fist and swung it at the air beside him.

Buzz!

A faint white glow flickered before exploding outward.

Even though his punch had struck empty air, it was as if he had slammed his fist into an invisible mirror.

Crack!

The "mirror" shattered. The effect resembled fractures spreading through space itself—thin, jagged cracks rippling outward for a brief moment before stopping.

"As expected, my shockwave's power has increased."

Retracting his fist, Yoru nodded in satisfaction.

It seemed that any physical attack that wasn't enhanced with chakra nature transformation could now be stopped by his shockwave punches.

"But it's a shame… the range is still too short."

The only downside was that his shockwaves didn't travel far, barely reaching a meter ahead.

Of course, this was tied to power.

If his shockwaves became stronger, their range would naturally increase.

For now, his punches were still limited to close combat.

However, when it came to long-range attacks, he had another option.

Taking out a kunai, Yoru gripped it tightly.

Buzz!

A faint white glow spread over the blade.

Then, with a sudden motion, he hurled the kunai toward a distant tree.

Crack!

The kunai embedded itself deeply into the tree trunk. The moment it made contact, the shockwave burst forth, shaking the surrounding area and shattering a layer of the tree's bark.

"Using kunai like this loses some power, but it still works well enough."

"Most Genin and even Chunin can't apply chakra nature transformation to their weapons to enhance their piercing power."

Walking over, Yoru retrieved his kunai and examined the damage.

Satisfied, he nodded to himself.

Remembering that today was a combat assessment, he decided against doing extra training in the morning. It was better to preserve his stamina for the exam.

After finishing breakfast, Yoru headed to the Ninja Academy.

The academy had been founded by Tobirama Senju as a formal institution for training ninjas. At this point in time, the academy had only been around for about ten years, and many aspects were far less developed than in the original storyline.

Right now, the Senju Clan was just beginning to decline but had not yet vanished completely.

Meanwhile, the Uchiha Clan was at its peak.

As for the Hyuga Clan, they were still overshadowed by the Senju and Uchiha.

Of course, for someone like Yoru, all of this was just something to observe from the sidelines.

He was an outsider, not even a native of Konoha. Even if he had been born here, those clans were far beyond his reach.

As he walked into the classroom, a cheerful voice called out.

"Yoru, you're here!"

Looking over, he saw Kushina Uzumaki waving at him.

She was probably the only one in the entire class who would greet him so enthusiastically.

The other students either ignored him completely or glanced at him with mild disdain before turning away.

"Yeah."

Yoru smiled slightly and took his seat.

Kushina looked at him in surprise and asked, "Did you forget to bring the ointment I gave you yesterday?"

"Uh… I guess I did."

"How can you be so careless?! What if you get hurt during the assessment?"

She puffed up her cheeks in frustration, glaring at him in disapproval.

Yoru: "…"

What the hell?!

Why does it sound like she's already certain I'll get beaten up?!

Can't she have a little more faith in me?!