Visceral Training Small Attainment
It was the day after Naruto had completed the Shadow Clone Technique. She had previously learned the Transformation Technique to an acceptable level too, and sent glasses to the library, hoping to catch up to the curriculum eventually. She had also sent her training obsessed version of herself to look for a taijutsu style, but she didn't have high hopes for that. She had also tasked glasses to look for her money problem, and the clone would also go to the academy in her place because she had problems paying attention and the clone didn't. She was also now on a much healthier diet, and that cost a lot more than a mountain of cup ramen she used to sustain herself on. And cultivation used a ton of energy, so she needed much more nutrients.
She heard her door slammed open and already knew who it was. "YOSH! I have failed with finding acceptable taijutsu for us, unfortunately. We are too flexible for a lot of the styles available, so it will look like we are too stiff and not made for it. And the ones that are good for us are restricted for higher rank ninjas and clan members! But I found something even more precious!" Naruto glanced up from the breakfast of instant ramen she was eating, she wanted eggs but currently did not have the money, so she figured she might as well finish off her instant ramen stash. She saw her clone holding up one of those shitty cultivation novels that had lots of young masters, terrible villains, and an underdog protagonist with a huge harem.
Naruto glared at it, before turning her glare to the clone. "And this is supposed to teach me what?"
Her clone struck a nice guy pose, before explaining. "Even though these novels are cringy, they still have good advice! Follow me, I'll show you!" And her clone grabbed her hand and dragged her out of her ratty apartment and to the middle of a training ground in the outskirts of Konoha.
Her clone skidded to a halt before a huge waterfall. She could barely hear anything under the thundering noise it was producing.
"YOSH! We shall cultivate our youthful energy by meditating under a waterfall! It will strengthen our body while we cultivate! And it will help with meditation!" She heard her clone yell.
"How did you find this place?" She couldn't help but ask.
"This was the second training ground. It was originally used by the Nidaime Hokage to practice with his Water Jutsu, but nowadays no one uses it." Her clone shouted back to her before it dispersed itself. She got the rush of memories, from her clone entering the library to looking for taijutsu and failing, before getting bored and looking at a map of Konoha for absolutely no reason, to finally just reading shitty cultivation novels from the fiction jutsu. She felt a tick mark grow on her forehead, he could have come back so much earlier but instead opted to actually read those shitty cultivation novels! She didn't even like reading!
The next stage of the body tempering realm she had to work on was the visceral training stage. The stage where she refined and strengthened the organs in her body. To achieve small attainment, she had to fill her heart with energy, the large attainment is her lungs and brain, and finally to achieve perfection is to strengthen the liver, kidney, stomach, and intestines. There are many benefits to this stage, like having a stronger heart, which will increase one's stamina greatly. It will also affect how well oxygen is used, while a stronger brain will increase perception and calculating speed. Stronger lungs give a much longer breath and allow her to have much more oxygen stored in her body.
"Well, no use ruining my favorite jumpsuit." She exclaims, before stripping the orange jumpsuit and putting it off to the side along with a towel her clone came with. This revealed a plain form-fitting black tank top and black biker shorts. Naruto did a couple of basic stretches, to prepare herself for sitting for a long while, before walking into the waterfall.
She expected it to hurt, especially because this was a very powerful waterfall, but much to her surprise she barely felt it, it was comparable to a toddler on her shoulders. She could only assume this was due to her perfect attainment in the flesh training stage.
She once again got into the lotus position and connected herself to the natural chakra in the air. But she noticed that unlike in her apartment, this area was practically oozing it. She drew it in like a man finding water after a week in the desert before she gently started to pour it into her heart.
It felt like someone had just jammed something into her heart, she quickly withdrew the energy, realizing she had put too much in. Once again, she only put a sliver in and let it start circulating inside her heart, mixing with her blood and strengthening the four chambers.
This time, it didn't hurt. In fact, it felt like heaven. She quickly became enamored with the feeling and bathed in it, totally forgetting the outside world. The rhythmic tapping of the waterfall against her didn't help either. It lulled her into a state of harmony, as she constantly sucked in the natural chakra around her.
If one approached her from the outside, they would notice as her heartbeat steadily declined, before stopping at around a resting heart rate of twenty-five beats per minute. Which would usually only be attained by most Jonin in their prime.
For Naruto, it suddenly felt slightly uncomfortable to put any more natural chakra into her heart, no matter the amount. She cut off the natural chakra and groggily opened her eyes. She slowly stood up and flexed her arms. She didn't really feel a difference, other than her breaths lasting much longer, even without cultivating her lungs. She could only guess this was due to the improved efficiency of her heart. Her shoulders also felt amazing, like a great burden was lifted off of them. She hadn't even realized how stiff they were apparently. The waterfall must have helped loosen her muscles too.
"This feels amazing," Naruto couldn't help but mutter. But she came to a sudden realization that the sun was about to set. She grumbled to herself that she really needed to stop zoning out while cultivating, before quickly grabbing the towel and drying herself off. She shoved herself back into her extra-large orange jumpsuit before sprinting back to her apartment.
Naruto quickly arrived and realized she wasn't even breathing hard. She grinned, cultivation really was a boon. If training produced results that she could see this easily before, she would already have taken the old man's hat.
She opened the door of her apartment, to suddenly be bombarded by a huge amount of killing intent. Glancing up she saw her clone standing in front of the doorway, tapping her foot and glaring while her hair floated and split into what looked suspiciously like nine-tails.
"Where have you been?" She asked menacingly. Naruto rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Well, it doesn't matter." Her clone said sharply. "Dinner is made, come on."
Naruto followed her clone to the table in the middle of her dining room, where a couple of plates were set out. They had steak, some green beans, and mashed potatoes. Naruto's mouth watered slightly. As much as she loved ramen, no one could resist a nice, juicy steak that melted in your mouth and flavor overwhelmed you. But suddenly she suspiciously glared at her clone.
"Ah, you must have two questions, but don't worry I can answer them. Yes, I can eat. We are practically you but instead of bleeding blood, we bleed chakra." To prove her point, she pricked her finger with the knife she was using to cut her steak, and Naruto watched in amazement as instead of blood come out of the wound, a mist-like substance colored a greenish-blue slowly seeped out. "And for the second, no I did not steal it. I made a bet with everyone that I could stay awake through the whole day, and of course, most kids thought it would be free money, you should've seen how proud Iruka looked while I was scraping in the cash." Her clone laughed to herself.
"Isn't that the same as stealing! You just took money from a bunch of academy students!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Mah, mah. Don't sweat the details. Just imagine it as revenge for all the insults you endured for being dead-last, plus it's their fault for having so little faith in you." Her clone claimed, waving it off as if it were nothing. "Besides we have much more important things to talk about, like our money problem. The money from the orphanage fund just doesn't cut it, especially without a new diet. Hell, it barely cut it before and all we ate was instant ramen! But we can also blame that on villagers not exactly... liking our presence. I can also assume that the dumbass other clone didn't find a taijutsu method. I know us best, and can definitely say that none in the library could fit us." The clone said, switching to a more serious tone as the playfulness in the air dissolved.
"Does this include doing anything illegal or would make Jiji mad?" Naruto asked.
"Well, it's not illegal. But at the same time, I can't say that our Jiji would approve." The clone responded.
Naruto glared slightly at it, "Alright spit it out, what is it."
The clone just sighed. "We could join an underground fighting ring. It would not only help us gain experience fighting, but we could also henge and bet on ourselves, or get money from winning the tournament." The clone spat out.
Naruto dwelled over this, it's not like underground fighting rings were illegal. They weren't even frowned upon in fact, but there was also the rule that whatever goes on there, stays there. You leave behind your identity on the surface, and for this reason, they were very appealing to her.
Underground tournaments were usually located in every hidden village. It was an unofficial way of knowing who was the strongest. It was usually split into five groups, civilian, Genin, Chunin, Jonin, and The Beyond. Of course, there was seldom a tournament at The Beyond the stage, the last one had been about Thirty years ago, but no one but frequenters of the place really knew what happened.
The thing about the arena was that everyone knew what it was, but no one except the people who actually went KNEW what it was. It was usually located on the outskirts of the villages, where people excavated huge arenas underground.
"Well, you can dwell over it, I'm going to disperse now, see ya later boss." Her clone said, before dispersing itself. Memories from its day at the academy came flooding into her mind, it was quite boring. Just the regular history, mathematics, and reading classes. Although Iruka-Sensei had mentioned they would start learning Jutsu and start Sparring soon. They also had chakra control lessons, but even a cloned version of herself had problems with it and they had significantly less chakra. She knew this was a problem she would have her whole life.
Naruto sighed as she put on her pajamas, an oversized buttoned white shirt, and a walrus sleeping cap. She mulled over her options, and what the future held for her, as she drifted into her dreams about large bowls of ramen and lots of fluffy stuffed animals, and maybe, just maybe, a family someday.