Several days later.
Morning.
Naruto walked alone towards the training ground for his daily practice.
Walking on the path to the training ground, Naruto saw many people with somewhat haggard faces, looking as if they hadn't rested for several days and nights.
Naruto knew these were all players who had been grinding Infinite Continent for the past few days.
If it weren't for Kushina Uzumaki's supervision, Naruto probably would have ended up the same way.
However, this situation was much better than at the beginning, as games also have their peak popularity.
If a new, fun, and novel game comes out, you might stay up several nights to play it, but after the initial hype, you'll gradually stop pulling all-nighters for gaming.
So many days had passed since the virtual helmet appeared, and the reason why so many people were still in a state of exhaustion was actually because the number of helmets was not enough for all Konoha Villagers to use.
At least for now, if you wanted to buy a virtual helmet, there were none in stock.
If you wanted to play, you could only go to an experience store, and the helmets in the experience store were also limited.
Once one group got exhausted, another group would replace them to continue playing, and then they would get exhausted too. This is why there were always people in the Village in this state of exhaustion.
Arriving at the training ground.
Lee was already there, starting his training.
His training content, besides daily running, hitting tree stumps, and other physical training, was catching goats.
But the problem was that no matter how hard he tried, he had never once caught Pleasant Goat and Boiling Goat.
Actually, what Lee didn't know was that every few days, Zephyr would have Grey Wolf come over and upgrade the two mechanical goats.
Now, the speed and combat ability of the two mechanical goats were no less than two Special Jonin, so it was perfectly normal for Lee not to catch them.
But in Lee's eyes, it wasn't that the goats had gotten stronger, but that he himself wasn't working hard enough.
Seeing such a diligent Lee, Naruto felt that he couldn't be too lazy either.
Immediately, Naruto also began his physical training.
Naruto had already mastered all Six Styles, it was just a matter of proficiency.
As for Lee, he had mastered Iron Body, Soru, and Paper Art.
To be precise, Zephyr had only taught him these three techniques for now, which were also the three techniques for escape and defense among the Six Styles.
As for Moonwalk? As long as Soru could be applied proficiently, learning Moonwalk actually wouldn't be difficult.
Moreover, through Zephyr's training of Lee, Naruto finally understood why so many Marines in Pirate King died while using Iron Body.
The reason was that all Marines first learned Iron Body and Soru.
The reason is that Marines who can learn Six Styles are considered excellent soldiers in the Marine who are worth cultivating.
The Marine attaches great importance to excellent soldiers, and prioritizing the learning of Iron Body and Soru is to hope they can survive better in confrontations with pirates.
Only by surviving battle after battle can excellent soldiers become Marine elites.
Therefore, Marines who have mastered Six Styles are actually most proficient in Iron Body.
When an enemy comes, what can he do? He can only use Iron Body to resist!
If he can withstand it, everyone is happy; if he can't, he just rolls his eyes and faints, which also counts as surviving (for strong fist fighters; if a Haki-imbued sword comes slashing, and the body is severed, then there's nothing that can be done).
As for why Naruto didn't learn and train in sequence like Lee, the reason, of course, was that Naruto had better aptitude and also the assistance of Nen Ability.
In addition to that, Zephyr would occasionally possess him to correct his mistakes.
This was also why Naruto could learn all Six Styles in a short period of time.
"Hi Naruto, you're finally here!"
After greeting him, Lee looked behind Naruto and then asked, "Naruto... Where's Zephyr-sensei?"
"Zephyr-sensei? He pulled an all-nighter playing Infinite Continent, so he's probably catching up on sleep now!"
Hearing "Infinite Continent," Lee's expression immediately became one of longing.
"Infinite Continent, ah, I really want to play it too! Recently, all my classmates have been talking about this game, even that aloof genius Neji is playing it."
"Oh, why don't you play?"
Naruto asked.
"I want to play too, but I can't afford that virtual helmet, and if I want to play at the experience store, I have to queue..."
"Instead of queuing and waiting there, I'd rather come here and train more!"
"Is that so? Come to my house in a bit, I'll give you a virtual helmet!"
Naruto had actually forgotten about Lee's situation.
Hearing Naruto's words, Lee was initially surprised, then he suppressed his desire and refused, "Naruto, you and Zephyr-sensei have already helped me so much. Not only have you provided me with training equipment, but you've also taught me so many things..."
Naruto could tell that Lee was a bit embarrassed.
"Don't worry, even the virtual helmet experience store is mine. I can have as many of these as I want. If you feel uncomfortable accepting something for nothing, you can just pay me back for the helmet slowly after you become a true Ninja!"
Hearing Naruto say this, Lee was so touched that he immediately burst into tears.
It wasn't because Naruto said he could pay later, but because he heard Naruto say that he could become a true Ninja.
Although Lee was already working very hard and had become a standout among his peers through his efforts, without Ninjutsu or Genjutsu talent, he was still not recognized by many people.
Many still considered him a good-for-nothing without Ninja talent, unable to become a Ninja.
Seeing Lee actually cry from being touched, Naruto was a bit speechless.
Naruto thought that before Lee officially became Might Guy's disciple, he shouldn't be the type of person who easily cried or was overly youthful.
But... now Naruto knew he was completely wrong. A person's true nature doesn't change; the only things that change are their hairstyle and clothing.
"Naruto... Thank you again for your recognition! Don't worry, when I become a Ninja, I will definitely pay you back for the helmet as soon as possible!"
Lee also genuinely wanted a virtual helmet.
After all, everyone in his class was talking about virtual games and such, even Tenten and Neji, who he had a relatively good relationship with, were discussing these things.
This made Lee feel like he was growing more and more distant from his classmates, and he didn't want that, so... he also wanted to play.
Most importantly, he heard that in the virtual game, one could fight against others, and it felt just like fighting in reality.