In the training ground.
Lee looked around and asked, "Hasn't Zephyr-sensei arrived?"
Hearing Lee's question, Neji also looked at Naruto. His purpose for coming this time was for Zephyr-sensei.
"Oh, he's been playing virtual games recently, so I came here to train by myself!"
"Oh? Zephyr-sensei is also playing virtual games? Which zone is he in?"
Hearing 'virtual games,' Lee's expression immediately became excited.
Unlike others, most people play virtual games for fun.
But Lee, he only seeks opponents in virtual games, challenging all sorts of monsters, beasts, and even players.
It's just that the zone he chose was the Martial Artist Zone, and there weren't many players, so recently he's been challenging beasts and monsters.
"Zephyr-sensei... he should be in the Martial Artist Zone, researching new taijutsu!"
Hearing that Zephyr-sensei was also in the Martial Artist Zone, Lee became even more excited!
Only Neji, hearing Naruto and Lee's conversation, looked a bit displeased.
As a member of the Hyuga branch family, he had no right to choose for himself.
He also wanted to go to the Martial Artist Zone to forge a different path in taijutsu.
But as a member of the branch family, the main family members ordered them to snatch wild boss monsters, and they couldn't refuse.
After all the snatching, the good items dropped by those wild boss monsters all fell into the hands of the main family, while the branch family could only pick up what the main family didn't want.
"What's Zephyr-sensei's game ID?"
Lee asked excitedly.
"It's Admiral Zephyr."
"I know, I'll add him when I get back!"
Neji, standing nearby, also heard Zephyr's ID. He also planned to add him and try it out when he got back.
Just then, Neji looked at Naruto and said, "Uzumaki Naruto, you're also Zephyr's disciple, right? Can we have a match?"
Naruto nodded upon hearing this, not refusing.
Soon, the two came to an open space.
As for Lee, he watched the two fight from a distance.
Lee had never defeated either Naruto or Neji. For Lee, both were his goals, so he would definitely watch this entire fight without blinking.
Neji adopted the Gentle Fist Art starting stance and said to Naruto.
"Let's begin!"
"Then I won't hold back!"
With that, Naruto stomped hard on the ground, instantly appearing beside Neji, then kicked out.
Neji knew that since Naruto, like Lee, was a disciple of Zephyr, his strength should not be underestimated, so he activated his Byakugan from the start.
Under the Byakugan's 359-degree panoramic view, Naruto could not surprise him with an attack from any angle.
Neji raised his arm to block.
But how could Naruto's kick be easily blocked by Neji?
Naruto's kick directly sent Neji sliding several meters sideways.
Feeling the sharp pain in his right arm, Neji knew that although his right arm wasn't broken, he couldn't use it temporarily.
"Such a powerful kick."
Neji put his unusable right hand behind his back.
Although he was in a sorry state in that last exchange, he absolutely couldn't lose his composure.
Lee, watching from the side, also became excited.
"As expected of Neji! I never take Naruto's punches or kicks so easily!"
Neji: ...
Neji didn't look at Lee, but at Naruto, who wasn't rushing to attack.
"You are very strong! I am not your opponent, but I will come back to challenge you!"
With that, Neji turned and left.
Neji knew that with only one hand, he couldn't continue fighting.
However, he also believed that if only he could master the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist Art: Rotation and Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, he would definitely be able to defeat Uzumaki Naruto.
Seeing Neji just leave like that, Lee wanted to go after him and bring him back, but Naruto grabbed him.
"Hey, aren't we doing today's training?"
"But Neji, he..."
When Neji turned back just now, Lee had also seen Neji's trembling right hand.
"Don't worry! I used a controlled amount of force, he's fine!"
Hearing Naruto say this, Lee finally relaxed and began his daily training with Naruto.
Daily training still consisted of running, push-ups, and sit-ups. Naturally, all of this was done with gravity wristbands.
The two trained until sunset, then each went home.
As soon as he arrived home, Naruto received a reply from Mecha Naruto.
Mecha Naruto had already found Itachi and Shisui.
Upon learning this news, Naruto put on his helmet, connected the brain-computer interface, and transferred his consciousness to Mecha Naruto.
At the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.
This place was no longer as dilapidated as before.
Under Itachi and Shisui's governance for over half a month, it had transformed from a broken, lifeless Village into a medium-sized Village with over a hundred people.
There were many half-built wooden houses in the Village, and outside these unfinished houses, many ragged people were sleeping on the ground.
Although they were dressed in tatters and looked emaciated, the smiles on their faces were very real.
The reason was none other than that they had finally found a place that could take them in.
Many of these people were refugees from the borders of the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain, living a life of not enough food or warm clothes, constantly on the move.
After arriving here, Itachi and Shisui gave them food and gathered them to start building houses.
Especially the children, only a few years old or teenagers, Itachi directly brought them into the already built houses and taught them knowledge as well as life skills.
He also selected a few children from among them who could extract Chakra and had Ninja potential.
Everything Itachi and Shisui did gave these refugees hope.
In the eyes of these people, Itachi and Shisui were like gods. Naturally, the red ideology that they didn't understand also took root in their hearts.
After Naruto controlled Mecha Naruto to walk around the Village, he couldn't help but sigh, "You guys are really capable! You've already established a Red Base here so quickly!"
Hearing Naruto's words, Itachi smiled and said, "Actually, we are just adhering to red ideology, treating these refugees with the value of equality for all."
"As people of the Ninja World, they shouldn't suffer such unfair treatment."
Itachi's words made Naruto nod, then he asked, "Speaking of which... where did you get the money to buy food?"
Hearing Naruto's words, Shisui smiled somewhat sheepishly and said, "There are quite a few wanted bandits, robbers, or bounty criminals along the border between the two countries... I took action a few times and earned quite a bit of funds."