"You know," Sabuko said, glancing over at Takos, "I could've just used my shadow clones to carry my stuff. You didn't need to help. I left my folks' place with light luggage, after all."
It was midday, and the two of them were heading toward Sabuko's new apartment with his clothes bundled in their arms.
"Shut up," Takos spat. "I need to see what kinda apartment you mighty ninja get."
"Sure, sure..."
Takos narrowed his eyes as Sabuko faced forward and kept walking.
"You're..." He cleared his throat, his voice dropping a notch. "You're not Sabuko."
Sabuko stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly rolled his eyes, then turned to stare flatly at Takos.
"'Ever since you got that amnesia,'" Sabuko began, pitching his voice into a whiny impression, "'you started acting different.'"
"Wait, I—"
"'All of a sudden you care about ninjutsu. You're not a piece of shit anymore. And you're stronger than me. Ahhh, ahhh, are you an imposter or something?'" Sabuko rolled his eyes a second time for good measure.
"I GET IT! SHEESH!" Takos snapped, his face flushing red. "Damn me if I ever care about you again!"
Sabuko turned back around with a heavy sigh and kept walking.
Takos looked off to the side, kicking at a pebble. "Just don't get killed, or imma piss on your grave."
Sabuko let out a quiet chuckle, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth where Takos couldn't see it.
"I'd have to suck as much as you for that to happen."
"YOU BASTARD!!!" Takos roared, sprinting after him.
---- LATER ----
'So, this is my new place, huh.' Sabuko looked up at the building.
'I can finally start jerking off in peace. Haaaah... What bliss.' he thought, closing his eyes with a warm, peaceful smile.
'I can start experimenting with Shadow Clones, get the transformation down, and...'
'Oh, right.' Sabuko's eyes snapped open and narrowed.
'There's still the issue of sustained transformation I haven't solved yet. Specifically, pulling it off without constant chakra drain or needing to focus on it the whole time.'
He took a deep breath.
'Alright. First, I'll master a seamless transformation while pushing my clone count even higher.'
Exhale.
'Then, I'll look for a way to turn it into a permanent, Tsunade-style transformation that doesn't constantly drain chakra, just without needing her crazy forehead seal to fuel it.' He unlocked his front door and stepped inside.
'Tall order, for sure... Still, between now and the Chūnin Exams, I've got LOTS of time to myself, so I can quite literally fuck around and experiment.'
'Finally,' Sabuko smirked as the door clicked shut behind him. 'Some alone time—'
"AN APARTMENT ALL FOR YOURSELF!?" A voice roared behind him, "HOW YOUTHFULLY MATURE!!!"
'NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!'
The green beast materialized behind Sabuko like a hurricane, his calloused hands immediately squeezing Sabuko's biceps, calves, and quads like a butcher inspecting meat.
"SABUKO. MY STUDENT..." Guy's voice dropped by at least ten octaves.
Sabuko swallowed hard, a cold shudder running down his spine.
"YOU... NEGLECTED... YOUR TRAINING?" Guy whispered, horrified. "You used my suspension... to... slack off...?"
'Oh no.'
"G-GUY-SENSEI, I CAN EXP—"
"I'M SO DISAPPOINTED!!!!!!!" Guy bawled, thick rivers of tears erupting from his eyes as his fist connected with Sabuko's face and launched him across the room.
"BLEURGHUIEHNBETH!" Sabuko gargled, cratering into the drywall.
"MY STUDENT! MY STUDENT... I'M SO SAD! I AM SO SAD!!!"
"G-... Guy-sensei," Sabuko wheezed, clearing his throat as he scrambled back to his feet on shaky legs.
"I-I WAS DOING MISSIONS! HAHA! I WASN'T NEGLECTING ANYTHING!" He forced a crooked, bloody smile while wiping a crimson streak from his nose.
Guy kept sobbing openly. "It saddens your youthful teacher so much!!! ESPECIALLY..."
In the space of a blink, Guy was directly in Sabuko's face, moving fast enough to look like he'd teleported.
'!!!'
"Since you broke... your youthful promise to your sensei."
'PROMISE..?! What prom—'
'!!!'
Every drop of blood drained from Sabuko's face as the memory hit him.
---- CHAPTER 22 -----
"IF IT... makes you happy," Sabuko had cut him off, "I'll do all the endurance... exercises with you... AFTER I BECOME A GENIN!" He'd growled as he looked up into Guy's eyes.
"MEN HONOR THEIR PROMISES!" He took Sabuko's hand into both of his. "YOU'VE PROMISED TO SURRENDER YOUR BODY TO ENDURANCE TRAINING!"
---- BACK TO THE PRESENT ----
'That was like twelve chapters ago, couldn't you have just let it go!?'
Guy clamped an iron grip around his wrist and began dragging him straight out of his brand-new apartment.
Tears streamed down Sabuko's face too as he went completely limp, surrendering to the inevitable.
'Remember me.'
Guy stuck true to his word. From that day onward, Sabuko did zero combat training.
Instead, he ran, and ran, and ran some more. And once he was done running, he ran in weighted clothes, followed by even more running in heavier weighted clothes.
They only trained in the early hours of the morning, since Guy had to return to his actual team afterward, though that hardly made it any easier on Sabuko's screaming lungs.
"Hm?" Guy-sensei tilted his head one morning as he watched Sabuko form a hand seal, pop eight shadow clones into existence, and send them sprinting off toward the village.
"My student, what are you doing?"
He stepped closer, folding his muscular arms across his chest.
"Shadow Clones do indeed increase the efficiency of one's training, especially when it comes to ninjutsu or refining taijutsu technique," Guy started.
"However, they do very little for stamina conditioning or promoting muscle growth! You will simply exhaust your mind and chakra reserves for no reason."
"Oh, it's not for that, Guy-sensei," Sabuko said, shaking his head as he caught his breath.
"Eh?"
"I figured I'd send them into the village to run some errands while I'm stuck out here," Sabuko explained.
"Two of them are going to clean my apartment, and three are going to see if they can snag some easy D-rank fetch missions for extra cash. The other three are heading to the library to study."
'Specifically, to study the Transformation Technique,' Sabuko added silently, looking down at his hands.
'I need to understand the ins and outs of that jutsu all the way through. Both for my ultimate dream...'
'...And for the Chūnin Exams. Who knows what kind of bullshit I'll have to deal with in there.' He swallowed hard as the image of Gaara of the Sand flashed across his mind, sending a violent shiver down his spine.
'Seriously hope I don't have to deal with that psycho kid.' His fist clenched tightly at his side as the memory of the Third Hokage's canon funeral surfaced right behind it.
'Or that pale child predator, Orochimaru.'
Meanwhile...
Somewhere far away, in a dimly lit underground lair, Orochimaru suddenly sneezed.
He paused, wiping his nose with a pale sleeve before turning a slow, triumphant smirk toward his right-hand man.
"You see, Kabuto? Sneezing without a cold is undeniable proof that someone is speaking of me... which means my plans are moving in the exact right direction."
Back in the present...
Guy's teeth practically blinded Sabuko in the morning sun.
"I SEE!! HOW YOUTHFULLY BRILLIANT!" Guy boomed. "NOW, LET'S RUN!!"
Sabuko sighed and nodded, strapping the heavy weights around his wrists and ankles before jogging after Guy.
'This is pure hell all over again,' Sabuko thought, already panting as his muscles burned. 'Still, that fight with those Mist ninja took everything out of me, even though it was over in minutes. It took way too many hits to bring them down, and I desperately need the stamina and dexterity to dodge senbon needles and thrown kunai in the future.'
His mind drifted back to his recent brawl with Takos.
'That, and my raw physical strength really is pathetic. A regular twelve-year-old nearly shook me off like an annoying fly, and it took six of my clones piling on top of him just to keep him pinned down.'
Sabuko let out a dry cough, his chest heaving as he fought to keep pace.
'And then there's the Forest of Death. That's the part I'm worried about the most...'
An image of the Sound ninja flashed through his head, and his blood ran cold.
'FUCK! RIGHT! GENJUTSU!' Sabuko's eyes flew wide open.
'I know fuck all about how illusions actually work! I need to have one of the library clones read up on genjutsu defense immediately so I don't get my brain fried.'
'So... so much work left to do.'
He lifted his heavy head, his eyes settling on Guy's broad, green-clad back jogging effortlessly ahead of him. A small, tired smile tugged at Sabuko's lips.
'Good thing I nabbed a damn good sensei.'