Chapter 153: Am I Just Trash?
Ishiro gave Shironeko a look of disdain and refused to answer her question. With the help of a shadow clone, he climbed back onto the stone spike and began his second attempt.
It didn't go much better than the first. He quickly fell off again.
Ishiro was speechless. The spike was only about a meter off the ground—if he had been training at Naruto's original height, it would have been a disaster.
Then came the third try, then the fourth. Ishiro kept falling, and Dan'go kept struggling to balance on the wooden board.
Although Dan'go hadn't succeeded yet either, even the densest observer could now see what was going on.
"Maybe… teacher just has worse talent in this area than Dan'go," Kawakita remarked, clearly the only one with no sense of tact.
Chiko Tomoe and Kajiyama Ri pretended not to hear, wearing serious expressions as if they were earnestly watching Ishiro's lesson.
Shironeko cast a scornful glance at Ishiro. Hmph, so much for acting proud. You're not even worthy of tying my Dan'go's shoes.
Ishiro heard Kawakita loud and clear and saw every one of Shironeko's expressions. But he didn't show a hint of embarrassment.
As long as he wasn't embarrassed—then it was everyone else who would feel awkward.
Half an hour passed, and Ishiro was still diligently undergoing what could only be described as "falling training." Meanwhile, the three students had resumed their own daily drills. Shironeko, however, remained intensely focused on Dan'go.
After thirty minutes, Dan'go still hadn't fallen once. Not only that, but it was slowly getting the hang of the balance, and the wobbling was decreasing.
A little while later, as Ishiro once again fell off—board and all—he suddenly heard a wave of cheering. Turning his head, he was stunned.
Dan'go was now sitting steadily atop the board, which no longer swayed at all.
As Shironeko cried out joyfully, the three students rushed over, circling around Dan'go in excitement.
Ishiro quietly picked up the wooden board and walked to a corner of the camp. There, he created a new spike with Earth Release and silently resumed his training, back facing everyone.
Watching his back, the three students felt a certain sadness… but they also really wanted to laugh.
They tried to hold it in, but Shironeko laughed freely. "Haha! That's what you get for acting all high and mighty, Ishiro! Eat your humble pie!"
Now that one spike was vacant, Kawakita found a wooden board somewhere and, with Kajiyama Ri's help, tried to mimic Ishiro and Dan'go's stance.
As Kajiyama let go, Kawakita immediately began swaying, and before long, he fell.
Silence.
Not because he fell, but because… he'd lasted longer than Ishiro.
Everyone—Shironeko, Chiko Tomoe, Kajiyama Ri, and even the fallen Kawakita—turned to look at Ishiro's corner.
He seemed to be slowly turning his body around. Clearly, he had seen Kawakita's attempt.
"Hahahahaha!"
This time, all four of them burst into laughter. There's no greater pain than comparison. Everyone had thought this training would be incredibly difficult… but now it seemed the real issue was Ishiro's own poor talent.
Kajiyama Ri, Chiko Tomoe, and even Shironeko took turns trying it out.
Everyone fell quickly, but each of them lasted longer than Ishiro.
Each time someone fell, the crowd cheered loudly. Ishiro heard it all, but pretended not to.
By the afternoon, this training method had become a game across the entire camp.
All the ninjas who weren't out on missions had tried it. While Ishiro's performance wasn't the worst, it was certainly one of the worst.
He didn't join everyone for dinner that night. Instead, he sent a shadow clone to fetch his meal.
After all, the number one trending topic in the camp now was the "training" Ishiro had come up with.
If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad. But Shironeko had broadcasted Ishiro's score across the camp.
Now, everyone measured their own results using "Ishiro units." Conversations sounded like this:
"Bro, I lasted 3 'Ishiros.' What about you?"
"Ha, I did 5 Ishiros!"
"Only 5? I managed a full 9 Ishiros!"
"Wow, 9? That's amazing!"
"Of course! I'm a genius!"
No one got angry at these boasts. Everyone believed they were geniuses, just varying degrees—big genius or little genius. Even those who scored worse than Ishiro didn't feel embarrassed. After all, they were being compared to an elite jōnin.
Ishiro felt like he was being emotionally bludgeoned with every overheard conversation.
He suddenly felt a strange kinship with Kakashi from the original story. Both of them were elite jōnin, and both had their chakra levels turned into units of measurement.
Only difference was… Kakashi didn't know people did that. Which somehow made Ishiro feel even worse.
After dinner, Shironeko approached Ishiro. "So, Ishiro, what's Dan'go's next step? We're not gonna wait until you master it, right? Who knows how long that'll take."
Ishiro took a deep breath and said nothing. Instead, he used Earth Release to raise a stone spike one hundred meters high—the limit of his current ability.
Then, without a word, he resumed his "falling" training.
Despite being "trash," Ishiro did feel some progress.
"I can probably last 2 Ishiros now."
"…Tch. Two times, not two Ishiros." He felt ashamed of himself for even using that term.
Shironeko looked up at the sky-piercing spike, skeptical. She thought Ishiro was just trying to get back at her—but had no proof.
As if reading her mind, Ishiro—now falling off the board yet again—dusted himself off, picked up the board, and said coolly, "You'd better ask Captain Shiden to watch over Dan'go."
Then he turned and walked off, ignoring her completely.
"Hmph." Shironeko snorted and went to find Shiden. She had to admit—at that height, she couldn't guarantee Dan'go's safety.
Soon, under Shiden's watch, Dan'go began training again.
The high winds and erratic air currents made the spike training much harder than on the ground. Dan'go couldn't succeed immediately.
But because the spike was so tall, every ninja in camp could see it. No one could ignore it.
Each time Dan'go swayed up top, the camp fell silent, watching nervously.
Each time it fell, they let out a synchronized gasp.
And the commentary followed:
"Amazing! Dan'go-sama lasted 30 Ishiros at that height!"
"Yeah, I only got 4 on the ground. Dan'go-sama is incredible!"
Ishiro couldn't focus anymore. Like everyone else, he ended up just watching the show.
After catching Dan'go and sending it back up again, Shiden came over and said to Ishiro, "Where did you come up with this method? The whole camp is training like this now."
Ishiro's face darkened. This was the last thing he wanted to talk about.
Shiden, eyes still fixed on Dan'go, continued, "I've observed that some people are gaining better control over their bodies after training. It's not drastic, but it's noticeable."
Ishiro was stunned. He hadn't realized the training had any additional effects.
Before he could respond, Dan'go fell again. Shiden rushed to catch and reset him.
When Shiden returned, Ishiro had already come up with a story:
"I learned it from Konoha. One of the three great Sage Lands, Mount Myōboku, supposedly uses this method."
"It's said to increase the success rate of Sage Mode training, so I figured I'd let Dan'go try too."
"Dan'go might have it easier because of how much natural energy it's absorbed." He tried to salvage a bit of pride.
No one replied. Shiden was still focused on Dan'go. The three students looked even more anxious than Shironeko, as if they were its real owners.
"Hmph." Ishiro snorted and walked off. Better to go train more than keep losing face here.
This world isn't worth it!
The three students glanced at his retreating back… then looked at each other… and burst into quiet laughter, hands over their mouths.
In the days that followed, Ishiro did improve—but was still far from fully balancing.
He began to suspect his biggest issue was overthinking. In the original, Fukasaku had told Naruto: "You must clear your mind."
Ishiro's thoughts were always racing—he could never calm down. He suspected that without his initial natural energy encounter at the Evil God Cult, he wouldn't have improved at all. He might've spent a lifetime stuck at this level.
Finally, he decided to consult Shironeko and Dan'go. Though cat instincts and natural energy helped Dan'go, it might still have advice he could use.
Shironeko, proud as ever, was smug at first, but didn't give him any trouble. She dutifully translated between Ishiro and Dan'go.
After some communication, Ishiro's progress did speed up—slightly. But it still wasn't impressive.
Looking back, his Lightning training had stalled. Fire Release had gone nowhere. Sage Mode wasn't progressing either. Ishiro started to feel like all his good luck had been used up with the Porcelain Release breakthrough.
Add to that the intelligence leak when killing the Kumo ninja—he'd made a rookie mistake. His mind had become clouded.
The last time this happened was right before he committed to mastering Water Release. Back then, it had taken a push from Myousha of the Barrier Corps to realize it.
This time, at least, he noticed the instability in his heart on his own.
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