Training Ground Guy was, in Shingen's professional opinion as someone who'd orchestrated corporate takeovers and contract killings, the most aggressively *enthusiastic* place he'd ever seen.
The signs were the first clue:
**"YOUTH AND PASSION THIS WAY!" →**
**"THE SPRINGTIME OF LIFE AWAITS!" ↑**
**"WINNERS TRAIN HERE!" ← (with a poorly drawn thumbs-up)**
"This is a joke, right?" Shingen asked, staring at the fluorescent green paint that seemed to assault his retinas. "Someone's pranking us. This can't be real."
"Oh, it's real," Tenten said with the weary tone of someone who'd accepted her fate. "Guy-sensei is… unique."
"UNIQUE?" A voice *boomed* from somewhere above them. "UNIQUE IS TOO SMALL A WORD FOR THE POWER OF YOUTH!"
A figure descended from the trees—not jumped, not fell, but *descended* as if gravity was merely a polite suggestion—and landed with a pose so dramatic it should have been physically impossible.
Might Guy stood before them in a green jumpsuit that matched the signs, his orange leg warmers somehow making the outfit *worse*, his bowl-cut hair gleaming in the sunlight, and his smile so bright it could probably be seen from the moon.
"WELCOME, MY YOUTHFUL STUDENTS!" He struck another pose, this one with his thumb extended and teeth literally *sparkling*. "I am Might Guy, and I will be your guide on this GLORIOUS journey toward ULTIMATE STRENGTH!"
Shingen felt his eye twitch. This was his instructor. This walking fashion crime who spoke exclusively in capital letters.
*The same man who fought Madara Uchiha*, he reminded himself. *The same man who opened the Eighth Gate and nearly killed a god. Do not underestimate the green spandex monster.*
"GUY-SENSEI!" Rock Lee's eyes were literally *shining* with tears of joy. "I KNEW you would be our instructor! This is the GREATEST day of my life!"
"LEE!" Guy matched his energy perfectly, striking the same pose. "My BEAUTIFUL STUDENT! Together, we shall guide these two new flowers of youth toward—"
"If you two start crying and hugging, I'm requesting a transfer," Tenten interrupted, her expression suggesting this was a regular occurrence.
Guy's grin somehow widened. "Ah, Tenten! Your practical nature balances Lee's passion perfectly! And you—" He turned to Shingen, studying him with eyes that were suddenly sharp despite the ridiculous presentation. "Yamazaki Shingen. Second in your class. Exceptional tactical scores, above-average chakra control, mediocre taijutsu, and a reputation for being… how did Iruka-sensei put it? 'Concerningly manipulative for an eleven-year-old.'"
"I prefer 'strategically persuasive,'" Shingen said blandly.
"HA! I like you already!" Guy's thumb went up again. "You think like a shinobi should—using every advantage, no matter how unconventional! But tell me, young Shingen—what do you think is the MOST IMPORTANT quality for a ninja?"
A test. Obviously a test.
Shingen could give the expected answer: teamwork, determination, loyalty. He could play the idealist, match Guy's energy, try to win approval.
Or he could be honest.
"Survival," he said flatly. "Everything else is secondary. You can't complete missions if you're dead. Can't protect comrades if you're dead. Can't improve if you're dead. The most important quality is being ruthlessly committed to staying alive."
Silence fell over the training ground.
Tenten looked shocked. Lee looked horrified. Guy's expression was unreadable.
Then the jonin *laughed*—not mocking, but genuine, delighted laughter.
"EXCELLENT! You understand the foundation upon which all other qualities are built!" Guy dropped into a casual stance, his demeanor shifting from theatrical to serious. "Many young shinobi confuse idealism with capability. They think wanting to protect people is enough. But you're right—dead shinobi protect no one. The first rule is survival. Everything else comes after."
He clapped his hands together. "Which brings us to YOUR first test! Unlike other teams, you won't have a bell test or survival exercise. No, no—that's too ordinary for MY team!"
"Oh no," Tenten muttered.
"Instead, we're going to run!"
"…Run?" Shingen asked carefully.
"RUN!" Guy's grin returned, manic and terrifying. "A full circuit around Konoha's walls! Twenty-three kilometers of YOUTHFUL exercise! And to make it interesting—" He produced three weighted vests, each emblazoned with the word YOUTH in aggressive green letters. "You'll wear these! Fifteen kilograms each!"
"That's insane," Tenten said. "We just graduated. We're not conditioned for—"
"Which is EXACTLY why we're starting NOW!" Guy tossed her a vest. "In my experience, there are two types of students: those who complain about the difficulty, and those who surpass it! Which type are YOU?"
Lee already had his vest on, bouncing with enthusiasm. "This will be EXCELLENT training! Tenten, Shingen, together we can—"
"No," Guy interrupted. "Not together. This is an *individual* test. You'll each run alone, take your own pace, handle your own limits. I want to see how you respond to adversity when there's no one to rely on but yourself."
He handed Shingen a vest. It was heavier than expected, the weight distribution awkward.
"You'll start at ten-minute intervals. Lee goes first, Tenten second, Shingen last. Your goal is simple: complete the circuit before sunset. That gives you approximately six hours." Guy's expression turned serious. "This isn't about speed. It's about perseverance. About understanding your limits and pushing just *beyond* them. Fail to complete the circuit, and we repeat it tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that, until you succeed."
"And if we succeed?" Shingen asked.
"Then we move on to the REAL training!" Guy's grin was terrifying. "Now! LEE! BEGIN!"
Rock Lee took off like he'd been *launched*, his weighted vest apparently no impediment to his ridiculous speed.
"That kid's not human," Tenten muttered, strapping on her vest. "He's been training with Guy-sensei for a year already. This is his second genin team assignment—his first team disbanded after his teammates couldn't handle the training."
"Couldn't handle it how?"
"One quit to become a merchant. The other requested permanent desk duty." She stretched, testing the vest's weight. "Guy-sensei's methods get results, but they're brutal. Fair warning."
Ten minutes passed. Guy signaled Tenten, who took off at a steady pace—not Lee's breakneck speed, but sustainable, intelligent.
Shingen spent the ten minutes doing his own stretches, activating his Enhanced Perception to map his body's current state. The vest would throw off his balance, stress his lower back and knees, fatigue his shoulders.
*Twenty-three kilometers*, he calculated. *With fifteen extra kilograms. At my current conditioning, I can maintain maybe five kilometers per hour with this weight. That's four to five hours minimum, assuming no breaks.*
It would hurt. Possibly injure him if he pushed too hard.
But Guy was watching, evaluating, forming first impressions that would define their entire relationship.
*Show weakness now, and he'll see me as fragile. Show arrogance, and he'll push harder to break it. Show calculation…*
"Your turn," Guy said, and Shingen noticed the jonin was studying him with those deceptively sharp eyes. "Any questions before you begin?"
"Just one. Are we allowed to use chakra enhancement?"
"For what purpose?"
"Physical augmentation. Using chakra to reinforce muscles, reduce fatigue."
Guy's grin softened into something approving. "That's a chunin-level technique, difficult to maintain consistently. But yes—using your abilities to overcome challenges is always permitted. However—" His expression turned serious. "Be careful. Chakra enhancement while exhausted can cause permanent damage to your coils if done incorrectly. Better to fail than to cripple yourself."
"Noted." Shingen adjusted his vest, took a deep breath, and activated his Sharingan.
Just for a second. Just long enough to map Guy's chakra network, see how a jonin-level ninja reinforced their body, copy the basic pattern.
Then he shut it off before Guy could notice the flash of red.
"Ready when you are, sensei."
"Then GO! And remember—this is not about defeating others! This is about defeating YOURSELF!"
Shingen ran.
-----
The first five kilometers were manageable. Shingen maintained a steady pace, his Combat Precognition helping him optimize his stride, minimize wasted energy. The weighted vest was brutal, but he'd experienced pain before—both in this life and his previous one.
Pain was just information.
At kilometer seven, his legs started screaming. The vest felt like it had doubled in weight, each step a conscious effort.
*This is where most people quit*, he thought. *Where the body says 'enough' and the mind agrees.*
Marcus Chen had never quit anything in his life. He'd died in a prison cell, still scheming, still calculating, still refusing to accept defeat even as cancer ate him from the inside.
Shingen Yamazaki inherited that stubbornness.
He pushed through kilometer eight, then nine, his breathing becoming ragged. Sweat soaked through his clothes. His vision narrowed to the path ahead.
At kilometer ten—halfway—he allowed himself thirty seconds to rest, hands on knees, gasping.
*Chakra enhancement*, he thought. *Now or never.*
He'd copied Guy's technique, but copying and mastering were different things. The chakra had to flow evenly through his muscles, reinforcing without overwhelming, a delicate balance that required concentration he barely had.
Shingen placed his hands together, focused his chakra, and *pushed*.
The effect was immediate and *wrong*. His left leg suddenly had too much chakra, his right too little. His balance shifted dangerously, and he nearly fell.
*Adjust. Redistribute. Even it out.*
He corrected, the chakra flow becoming slightly more stable. Not perfect—not even *good*—but enough to take the edge off his exhaustion.
Kilometer eleven passed. Twelve. Thirteen.
His chakra was depleting faster than his stamina, the enhancement technique eating through his reserves. He'd have to drop it soon or risk complete exhaustion.
At kilometer fifteen, he released the technique, feeling the full weight of fatigue crash back into his body. His legs felt like lead. His lungs burned. Every step was agony.
*Five more kilometers. Just five more.*
He thought about Marcus Chen, dying alone, his empire crumbled, his wealth inaccessible.
He thought about this second chance, this impossible gift of reincarnation and a power system that rewarded effort.
He thought about the Sharingan hidden behind amber eyes, the techniques he'd mastered, the timeline he'd already disrupted.
*I didn't survive terminal cancer and reincarnation just to fail at a fucking jog.*
Kilometer sixteen. Seventeen.
His vision was tunneling now, his body moving on autopilot. This wasn't strategic anymore—this was pure spite, the same quality that had let Marcus Chen hold onto a building ledge for twenty minutes to avoid Triad enforcers.
Kilometer eighteen. Nineteen.
*Almost there. Don't stop. Can't stop.*
Kilometer twenty.
He could see the training ground entrance ahead, could see Guy standing there with that ridiculous grin, could see Tenten collapsed on the ground and Lee doing *fucking pushups* because of course he was.
Kilometer twenty-one. Twenty-two.
His legs buckled. Shingen hit the ground hard, tasted dirt and blood. For a moment, he considered just *staying down*, letting the exhaustion take him.
Then he remembered: the system rewarded significant actions.
Finishing this would be significant.
He forced himself up—not to standing, that was impossible, but to his hands and knees. Started *crawling*.
"SHINGEN!" Guy's voice seemed to come from very far away. "You can stop! You've proven—"
"One more kilometer," Shingen gasped. "Just one more."
He crawled. Meter by meter, his body screaming protest, his mind focused on a single objective:
*Finish. Must finish. Will not fail.*
Kilometer twenty-three.
He collapsed at Guy's feet, the weighted vest feeling like it had fused with his spine, every muscle in his body staging a simultaneous rebellion.
**[Significant Action Complete: Complete Training Ground Guy's Entrance Test]**
**[Reward: 1,500 GP]**
**[Achievement Unlocked: Perseverance Beyond Reason]**
**[Reward: 1,000 GP]**
**[New Skill Acquired: Enhanced Endurance (Rare)]**
**[Effect: Increased stamina and fatigue resistance. Your body adapts more quickly to physical stress.]**
**[Current GP: 14,397]**
Shingen started laughing—breathless, pained laughter that probably sounded unhinged.
"What's so funny?" Tenten asked from where she lay recovering.
"Everything," Shingen managed. "Absolutely everything."
Guy crouched beside him, his expression softer than before. "You used chakra enhancement around kilometer ten. I could see your network flaring. It was poorly executed—you nearly injured yourself—but the fact that you attempted a chunin-level technique on your first day shows impressive initiative."
"Did… did I pass?"
"Lee finished in three hours, forty minutes. Tenten in four hours, ten minutes. You took five hours, fifty-three minutes and had to crawl the last kilometer." Guy's grin returned. "And yes. You passed. Because you *finished*. Many genin would have quit. Would have accepted failure. But you three—" He stood, addressing all of them. "You three understand what it means to be MY students!"
"Does being your student always involve torture?" Tenten groaned.
"Not torture! TRAINING!" Guy produced three bottles of water and what looked like nutrition pills. "Here. Recovery supplements. Take them, rest for thirty minutes, then we begin basic exercises."
"*Begin*?" Shingen croaked. "That wasn't the actual training?"
"That was the WARMUP! Now we assess your current capabilities and design individualized training regimens!" Guy's enthusiasm was physically painful. "Lee will continue his taijutsu mastery! Tenten will integrate her weapon skills with close combat! And Shingen—" His eyes gleamed. "We're going to turn that clever mind into something truly dangerous."
Shingen drank the water, took the pills, and realized with absolute certainty that the next few months were going to be *hell*.
But hell forged weapons.
And Shingen Yamazaki needed to become the sharpest blade in the village.
"Sensei," Lee said, his voice serious despite his usual enthusiasm. "May I ask why our team is structured this way? Most genin teams have balanced skillsets—a sensor, a fighter, a support. But we're all combat-oriented."
"An EXCELLENT question!" Guy struck a pose. "Most teams are balanced because most missions require versatility. But some teams—special teams—are designed for a specific purpose. You three are my *assault team*. When the village needs enemies neutralized quickly and decisively, when subtle infiltration has failed and overwhelming force is required—that's when they call on US!"
"So we're the blunt instrument," Tenten said.
"We're the HAMMER that shatters obstacles!" Guy corrected. "And I'm going to make sure you three hit HARD enough to break anything in your path!"
Shingen's tactical mind was already spinning with implications. An assault team meant high-risk missions, direct combat, likely more danger than average genin faced.
But danger meant opportunity. Meant experience. Meant *growth*.
"When do we start real missions?" he asked.
"After you complete basic team training! I need to see how you work together, understand your limits, develop your synergy!" Guy's grin turned slightly manic. "We have TWO WEEKS before I submit our team for mission rotation! Two weeks to transform you from graduates into TRUE SHINOBI!"
"Two weeks?" Tenten sat up despite her exhaustion. "Guy-sensei, most teams train for a month before—"
"Most teams are not MY team! Most teams do not have the BURNING PASSION and YOUTHFUL DETERMINATION to succeed! But you three—" He looked at each of them in turn. "You three are SPECIAL! I can see it! Feel it! You will become LEGENDS!"
Rock Lee was crying again, overwhelmed with emotion.
Tenten looked resigned to her fate.
And Shingen—Shingen felt that old, familiar excitement building. The same feeling he'd gotten before executing a particularly complex con, before manipulating corporate boards, before orchestrating takedowns.
The feeling of a *challenge*.
"Two weeks," he said, forcing himself to sit up despite his body's protests. "What's the training schedule?"
Guy's smile was terrifying and beautiful. "EXCELLENT question! Tomorrow, we start at dawn—"
"How early is dawn?" Tenten interrupted.
"FIVE AM! We run ten kilometers as warmup, then practice basic formations, then individual skill development, then team exercises, then strength training, then—"
Shingen tuned out the rest, his mind already working on how to optimize his performance, how to leverage his Sharingan without revealing it, how to position himself within this team dynamic.
Lee was the honest, passionate idealist—easy to predict, impossible to truly manipulate, but his loyalty once earned was absolute.
Tenten was practical, skilled, and clearly the most mentally stable of them. She'd be the balance, the voice of reason when Guy's enthusiasm pushed them too far.
And Guy himself—a jonin-level monster wrapped in green spandex, whose ridiculous presentation hid one of the most dangerous shinobi in the village.
*This team is insane*, Shingen thought. *Absolutely insane.*
*I love it.*
"Sensei," he said, interrupting Guy's lecture about the importance of proper stretching. "One more question."
"YES?"
"In two weeks, when we start taking missions—what's our first assignment likely to be?"
Guy's expression turned thoughtful. "Probably D-rank. Standard for new genin teams. Catching cats, weeding gardens, helping with construction. Boring, but necessary for team building."
"And after that?"
"After we prove our capabilities with D-ranks, we move to C-ranks. Escort missions, minor threats, low-level combat. That's when things get INTERESTING."
*C-rank missions*, Shingen's memory whispered. *The Wave Country arc started as a C-rank mission. Turned into A-rank when Zabuza showed up.*
Team Seven would probably get that mission—they were the Hokage's grandson's team, protagonist plot armor would draw them to major events.
But Team Eleven—the assault specialists, the hammer that shattered obstacles…
They'd get different missions. Possibly more dangerous ones.
*Perfect.*
"Can't wait, sensei," Shingen said with genuine enthusiasm.
And he meant it.
Because Marcus Chen had died powerless and frustrated.
But Shingen Yamazaki was about to become something *monstrous*.
And the village had no idea what was coming.