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Inside Tazuna's house.
Munch, munch, munch!
Gulp, gulp, gulp!!
Crunch, crunch, crunch!
At the dinner table, Goku devoured the food before him like a ravenous beast. To his left, a mountain of empty plates and bowls formed a magnificent landscape.
Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded, as if they were witnessing a ghost who had starved to death.
Tazuna's face twitched as he looked at Kakashi. "About the cost of this meal..."
He was, after all, a poor man; otherwise, he wouldn't have lied about a B-rank mission being C-rank.
The amount of food Goku had just consumed was equivalent to several months' worth of his family's provisions, which had cost him a great deal of money.
Once this food was gone, he would have no money left to buy more.
"Mr. Tazuna, please don't worry about that. I will cover all the expenses," Kakashi promised, though he felt a sharp pain as he thought of his wallet.
After all, it was his idea to invite Goku to eat here. Besides, Goku had saved Naruto's life earlier; he couldn't possibly have the gall to ask their savior to pay for his own meal.
A long while later, Goku finally put down his bowl and chopsticks and let out a contented sigh. "Ah, I'm so full!"
"Goku, has it been a long time since you last ate?"
Across from him, Naruto gulped and asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"Yeah, it's been a really long time since I've had anything to eat," Goku said with a simple-minded grin, rubbing his round, full belly.
Phew!
Hearing this, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Although it still sounded incredible—after all, they had never seen someone who had been hungry for a long time eat so much in one sitting—it was a much more acceptable explanation than him eating like this for every single meal.
Little did they know that while Goku's usual appetite wasn't quite this large, it was still exaggerated to a degree they could scarcely imagine.
After the meal, Kakashi addressed his team.
"Although Zabuza has retreated, he said he would be back. The next time we meet, it will surely be a fierce battle. Therefore, from now on, we must remain vigilant and on high alert."
He knew that Zabuza had retreated because of Goku's presence, and Goku might leave at any moment.
Once Zabuza discovered Goku was gone, he would undoubtedly attack again. At that time, a desperate fight would be unavoidable.
After all, their opponent was the notoriously dangerous Demon of the Hidden Mist, whose skills were on par with his own.
Sasuke and Sakura listened intently, but Naruto was distracted.
He quietly sidled up to Goku and whispered, "Hey, Goku, how did you block that huge sword with just one finger? Can you teach me?"
The sight of Goku blocking the blade with a single finger had left a huge impact on him; he thought the move was both incredibly cool and powerful.
And so, the idea of teaching it from Goku was born. He would master this technique and then—
Defeat that annoying Sasuke! Shed his title as the dead-last! From then on, his life would be one of victory!
"Oh, that? I just covered my finger with ki, and that's how I blocked it." Goku, who had been lying on the floor looking bored, perked up at the question and sat up.
As he spoke, he held up his index finger to demonstrate. A translucent white aura instantly flared to life around it, causing Naruto's eyes to widen.
The speed at which Goku had blocked Zabuza's sword had been too fast, and Naruto had been too far away to notice the secret behind it.
Now, seeing it up close, he finally understood.
"Is that ki? What's ki?" Naruto scratched his head in confusion.
Ki? He didn't think he had ever learned about that at the Academy. He had learned about something else.
What was it called? Having often slept through class, he had completely forgotten that what his teachers had taught him was called chakra.
"Ki is the energy we have inside our bodies. We can make it stronger through training," Goku explained.
"Is that so?" Naruto pondered the explanation for a moment, then clapped his hands together.
"Goku, I want to learn about ki! Can you teach me? I... I can treat you to the best ramen!"
Fearing Goku might refuse, Naruto added what he considered to be the most sincere form of payment.
"Sure, no problem," Goku agreed without a second thought. In his perception, Naruto possessed great potential. If he were to train in ki, he would surely become quite powerful.
"Alright!!" Hearing Goku's agreement, Naruto jumped for joy, completely forgetting that Kakashi was still in the middle of explaining their plans.
"Naruto, what are you doing!" Before Kakashi could say anything, Sakura stood up, walked over to Naruto, and gave him a sharp knock on the head.
"Kakashi-sensei is talking about something important! It's bad enough that you're not listening, but you're also shouting and making a scene!"
"Ow, that hurts, Sakura," Naruto whined, rubbing his head.
"Hmph!" After rapping his head, Sakura crossed her arms and returned to her spot with a huff.
"Ahem, I've basically finished what I needed to say," Kakashi said with a cough.
He then looked at Naruto and asked, "Naruto, what were you and Mr. Goku talking about just now?"
While he had been speaking, he had kept a part of his attention on Naruto's side of the room.
But because they were speaking softly, and his own voice was making it hard to hear, he had only caught a few words. He thought he heard them mention something about "ki."
"Hehe, Kakashi-sensei, I'm not telling you yet. You'll find out in a little while," Naruto said with a grin, his hands behind his head.
No way! He couldn't just tell everyone that he was learning a new way to get stronger from Goku. At the very least, he had to wait until after he had beaten Sasuke.
Once he defeated that smug jerk, he would stand over him and ask who the real dead-last was.
Just imagining the scene was enough to make him tremble with excitement!
With that thought, he immediately pulled Goku to his feet and, without another word, dragged him out of the house.
'That Naruto...' Watching them leave, Kakashi's eye narrowed as a thought crossed his mind.
In the forest.
In a clearing, Naruto put his hands together with a serious expression. "Goku, please start teaching me how to train my ki right now."
Seeing Naruto's earnest desire to learn martial arts, Goku was reminded of his younger self training under Master Roshi and Kami.
He smiled with a touch of nostalgia, then sat down and spoke to Naruto with a solemn tone. "Are you really determined?"
"Uh-huh!" Naruto nodded vigorously.
"Really?"
"Really!"
"It's going to be very boring."
"I'm not afraid!" Naruto, thinking Goku was testing his resolve, puffed out his chest and declared firmly.
"Then sit down and close your eyes."
Naruto did as he was told. After closing his eyes, he asked, "What's next?"
"That's it."
???
Naruto's eyes snapped open, three question marks slowly appearing above his head.
"That's it?"
"Yeah, that's how I trained back in the day," Goku said with a blink, his face a picture of sincerity.
Seeing Goku's earnest expression, Naruto skeptically closed his eyes once more.
Caw... caw... caw...
After some time had passed, Naruto opened his eyes again, looking frantic. "Nothing's happening!"
At this, Goku frowned and stroked his chin, lost in thought. A moment later, as if remembering something, he smacked his right fist into his left palm.
"Ah, I remember now, there's one more thing! You have to calm your mind, feel the hidden energy within your body, and then guide it out."
(T/N: Please give me some power stone, I hope it can at least reach the top 100)
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