NIHM: Ch. 05

Unlike the muscular build of Pirate Kazuha with his bulging muscles, Ninja Kazuha's, despite his continuously increasing HP, did not develop exaggerated muscle mass. His only noticeable physical change was a significantly larger appetite.

After every training session, he had to consume large amounts of food. Sometimes, he even had to rely on Military Rations Pills to replenish the nutrients he burned through. Fortunately, his current wealth was abundant, so he didn't have to worry about being burdened by food and drink expenses.

Under this regime of eating more and training more, he grew noticeably taller, and his body became more proportionate and well-balanced. As his HP kept increasing, the benefits, ones that the Uchiha clan rarely experienced, gradually began to manifest: His taijutsu training progressed faster; his strength improved at a more noticeable rate; his recovery ability, stamina, and endurance were all advancing rapidly.

If he didn't already know the reason behind his HP increase, he might have suspected that he had Senju blood in him. Besides this, he would often review Pirate Kazuha's life experiences. Drawing from two experiences, he constantly strengthened his resolve and stimulated his own bloodline.

Finally, one day during training, his bloodline limit awakened. Unlike other Uchihas, the moment he awakened his Sharingan, he could use it with ease and without any strain. In fact, even when he wasn't using any ocular abilities, keeping the Sharingan active didn't consume chakra, almost as if his body was naturally built to sustain the power of those eyes.

This discovery suddenly made him consider a possibility: A way to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan without any side effects.

He remembered the original story well: The Sage of Six Paths awakened his eyes with no mention of side effects, and his three-tomoe Sharingan evolved directly into the Rinnegan.

Indra, after killing someone he cherished, awakened the Mangekyō as well, but also showed no side effects, and easily achieved full control.

What did this suggest? It suggested that Indra may have inherently possessed the capacity to bear the power of the Mangekyō. And the Sage of Six Paths' bloodline enabled him to awaken even higher-level powers in one step, namely, the Rinnegan.

According to Madara's theory of evolution, possessing the Sharingan was equivalent to having the foundation of the Sage's eyes.

A powerful HP stat might compensate for the Uchiha clan's natural lack of vital life force, and thus allowed someone to awaken a body constitution similar to the Senju clan.

Constantly enhancing both spiritual and physical vitality might be the true path to unlocking the hidden potential of the body.

The future looked promising!

But of course, the future was still in the future, life must still go on, step by step. For now, gaining strength through training remained the safer path.

Sasuke still had an older brother looking out for him, while Kazuha was just a complete outsider, a mere transmigrator, and arguably a failed one at that.

His only reliance was on himself. On the many versions of himself from different worlds. And so, he once again returned to his ordinary life at the Ninja Academy.

---

In the One Piece world, on Little Garden, after spending half a day recovering from his weakened state, he, together with Ninja Kazuha, figured out the function of their shared cheat-space, and sorted out the items and abilities they could share.

The shared HP system didn't bring him many benefits. Without Uchiha blood, even with years of physical training and a decently high HP stat, his growth was limited to what it was now.

However, the various taijutsu learned by Ninja Kazuha greatly helped him with his physical training. At the very least, he no longer had to train himself using Saitama's method anymore.

The combat techniques in the One Piece world were simple and brutal, convenient to use, sure, but extremely crude in nature.

The training methods were downright rough, some might even say brainless.

Eat like crazy, train like crazy, fight like crazy.

Those with talent would rise to the top; those without it, eight or nine out of ten, would burn themselves out.

Take the most well-known example: the Rokushiki. In any other world, they'd be considered borderline inhuman physical techniques.

In fact, no other world would even be able to handle such extreme training the way the One Piece world did. In contrast, while the training methods in the Naruto world weren't exactly refined, they were still far better.

At the very least, ninjas in the Naruto world trained more cautiously, and understood the importance of gradual progress.

After the two Kazuha from each world gained the ability to share their functions, Ninja Kazuha became aware of Pirate Kazuha's needs. As a result, while focusing on his own development, he quietly began paying attention to a Ninja Academy student a year below him, Rock Lee. 

Some would argue that his training style wasn't too far off from the One Piece world's "brainless" approach. And in a way, they wouldn't be wrong. After all, what kind of person voluntarily ran 500 laps around Konoha on his hands, with ankle weights heavier than most grown men could lift?

It was excessive. Ridiculous, even.

What made it feel "brainless" was the sheer amount of it all. Where most would stop after 50 pushups, he would keep going until his arms gave out, then start doing squats to make up for it.

But to Pirate Kazuha, this style of training was a gift.

He didn't need the chakra control exercises or delicate jutsu forms, those were useless to him. What he needed was grind, and Lee had grind in spades.

After a few "accidental" encounters, they became friends and occasionally trained together. Perhaps because of Kazuha's influence, or due to some arrangement from higher-ups, Lee met Guy earlier than in the original story.

Either way, it was a good outcome.

They both ended up learning from Guy's years of physical training experience. A man who reached jonin level through pure taijutsu and could fight Kakashi on equal footing, his training methods certainly had substance. And so, the once lone green figure running through the streets of Konoha quietly became three.

One day after class, Sasuke happened to see Kazuha in a green jumpsuit and froze for a moment, then turned his head away as if he hadn't seen anything. Even with his clan wiped out, the Uchiha pride and sense of dignity kept him from having the courage to greet his fellow clansman.

Kazuha could understand Sasuke's reaction. If not for the goal of helping Pirate Kazuha improve faster and more effectively, which would, in turn, lead to greater gains for himself, he wouldn't have done something so like this.

But compared to shame, the strength to protect himself and the safety of his life made his mindset extremely grounded.

And in the end, his sacrifices paid off. 

To be honest, the green jumpsuit didn't even look that bad anymore.

Maybe it was familiarity softening his judgment, or maybe he'd just grown numb to the stares. Or maybe, it was the simple fact that when your legs were burning, and you were halfway through your third lap on your hands, fashion became the least of your concerns.

Anyway, thanks to the physical training insights passed on by him, Pirate Kazuha absorbed the knowledge like a sponge and continued to surpass his previous limits.

One had to admit, the One Piece world really was a paradise for physical training. Even though Ninja Kazuha was continuously training his body, purely in terms of physical capabilities, he couldn't compare to Pirate Kazuha at all.

Even if their HP was approaching the same level, their physical attributes diverged significantly, likely due to the inherent differences in their worlds.