"Pant, pant."
In the sound of heavy panting, sweat had already soaked his clothes, and even dripped onto the ground.
Finally, Sora, whose legs had gone numb, stopped.
"Rest for ten minutes, then 100 push ups, 100 squats, a 5 kilometer long distance run."
That is right, Sora was practicing the training method from One Punch Man used by Saitama, and had also added practical combat moves like straight punches and side kicks.
However, because of his short legs, the long distance run was changed to 5 kilometers.
At the very beginning, Sora could not even complete half the amount in a day. After half a year, he successfully reached Teacher Saitama's training volume, and was even slowly increasing it.
"If only life could always be this peaceful."
Sora sat next to a straw training dummy, gazing at the blurry faces on the distant Hokage Rock, feeling a rare moment of daze.
But thinking about the upcoming Third Great Ninja War, the Nine-Tails Attack, the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Slacking off was impossible.
Just as he was about to continue training, Sora suddenly felt something in the woods behind the training ground inexplicably attracting him.
The feeling was strange. He could not tell if it was a pull or a summons, only that the thing was extremely important to him.
Driven by this feeling, Sora walked towards the woods.
The sky gradually darkened. Sora looked at the dim surroundings and gritted his teeth.
The strange sensation in his heart urged him to keep going. After walking for a while, Sora stopped by a small river. He saw a round, fruit like object slowly drifting down from upstream with the current.
The water in the small river flowed slowly, and that fruit like thing coincidentally drifted right to Sora's feet.
"This... this is."
His expression instantly became blank, Sora revealed a look as if he had seen a ghost.
Flustered, he crouched down and widened his eyes to look at the object by his feet. A fruit with a peculiar shape.
Sora carefully reached out his hand and picked up the fruit from the edge of the small river.
It was entirely blue purple, its surface covered in spiral patterns, the top had protrusions like dragon scales, and the whole fruit emitted a strange luster.
Isn't this. Kaido's Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu.
[Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon]
For anyone else in the Naruto world, they would not know what this was. They would probably treat it as a poisonous fruit and throw it away directly. But Sora was different. As a former anime enthusiast, Sora recognized almost at a glance what it was.
"A Devil Fruit. How could it appear in the Naruto world."
Sora stared dumbfounded at the Devil Fruit in his hand, which looked exactly like the one in the manga, completely unlike a fake.
"Could it just be a coincidence. Or some kind of poisonous wild fruit."
Various thoughts flashed through his mind.
But they were quickly dismissed. It was just too realistic. Every detail perfectly replicated its appearance in the original work.
"Has my cheat finally arrived. Is this reasonable."
He looked at the small river in front of him.
Thinking about the strange feeling he had just felt, looking at the fruit in his hand that looked exactly like it, Sora swallowed hard.
As a seasoned anime fan, his impression of this fruit was too deep. The foundation Kaido relied on to run rampant in the One Piece world, one of the top existences among the Mythical Zoan type Devil Fruits, possessing the power to control wind and rain, and overturn rivers and seas.
But why would it appear in the Naruto world. And in this completely inconspicuous small river.
Countless thoughts churned in his mind, but none could explain it.
He shook his head, forcibly pushing these chaotic thoughts out of his mind.
"Who cares why it's here."
"If I don't want to be cannon fodder, I'll risk it."
Sora gritted his teeth, brought the fruit to his mouth, and took a fierce bite.
Gag.
An indescribable stench instantly exploded in his mouth, rushing straight to his brain. The taste was indescribable, worse than eating crap.
He only felt his stomach churning violently. Sora quickly covered his mouth to stop himself from vomiting.
"This thing is even more disgusting than described in the manga."
Looking at the remaining fruit with a bite mark in his hand, gritting his teeth, Sora still furrowed his brows and ate the remaining part.
He was risking it.
Gag.
It was still a taste hard to swallow. Although it was mentioned in One Piece that only one bite of a Devil Fruit was needed to gain the corresponding ability, when it really came down to it, Sora chose to be cautious.
What if he missed out on part of the ability. He did not dare to gamble.
Gritting his teeth, he stuffed the crap. the Devil Fruit, all into his mouth, braced himself, chewed a couple of times, then turned pale and dry heaved.
"Damn, how did Kaido endure this back then. He was even smiling while eating it."
As the entire Devil Fruit went down his stomach, Sora collected himself and carefully perceived the changes in his body.
One second.... Two seconds....
Buzz....
A violent energy suddenly erupted from within his body.
Sora's pupils abruptly contracted. His brain felt like it had been struck hard by a giant hammer. The intense dizziness made him stagger a few steps, almost falling into the river.
Pressing hard on his temples, Sora only felt his blood boiling, his bones itching, and what felt like countless scales squirming beneath his skin.
Urgh.
Sora grunted, his body unable to bear it as he knelt on the ground, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Looking down at his body, he saw dense blue patterns appearing on his arms, like the reverse scale of dragon scales.
His originally neatly trimmed nails also became sharp, glinting coldly like dragon claws.
Moreover, Sora could feel that his vision had become much clearer even in this night.
Even more astonishing, the sore muscles from his earlier workout seemed infused with new vitality. The feeling of fatigue was swept away.
"Is this. the power of the Dragon Devil Fruit."
Sora raised his hand, looking in disbelief at his gradually dragonifying fingertips. He tried lightly swiping at a large tree next to him.
Swiish.
Three deep claw marks instantly appeared on the tree trunk next to him.
"Holy crap."
Sora was startled, quickly withdrawing his hand, his heart pounding wildly.
Sora tried making a fist and found his grip strength had increased by at least three times. The abrasions on his arms from his earlier workout were also healing at a relatively fast speed.
"Sure enough, it's the same ability as Kaido's."
Sora's breathing quickened, a flash of joy in his eyes.
"With this, why would I need chakra."
"I've hit the jackpot."
Sora couldn't help but grin. So what if his chakra was no good. So what if he couldn't learn ninjutsu.
With this Devil Fruit, he might still be able to carve a path for himself in this cruel Naruto world.
No matter how strong taijutsu is, it ultimately has limits. But the power of the Azure Dragon, can grow continuously with development, even reaching the legendary state of immortality.
But this ecstasy did not last long before it was suppressed by reason.
Sora suddenly became alert, looked around, and only relaxed after confirming no one was there.
"No, I can't celebrate too early."
"The Naruto world isn't One Piece. People here are too wary of unknown powers. If I'm discovered to have this ability that doesn't belong to ninjutsu or Kekkei Genkai, the consequences would be unthinkable."
"And there are people like Orochimaru and Danzo."
Sora recalled the Naruto anime he had watched before, especially that scene where Orochimaru stretched his neck. It made his scalp tingle just thinking about it.
Sss.
"I still need to lay low when necessary."
Sora couldn't help but shiver. He took a deep breath to calm his mood. After carefully cleaning up the traces by the river and on the tree, he silently returned to the orphanage.