Naruto: I start with one door, and I can open it infinitely.

"Lin Chuan, let's train together!" Naruto saw Lin Chuan running by the river and ran over, panting, to keep up with him.

"Okay," Lin Chuan smiled when he saw Naruto coming over, but he didn't stop walking, making the snow crunch under his feet.

Since the winter break started, Naruto would come to see him from time to time. Seeing him training, he would train with him, which reduced his time for causing trouble.

During this period, Naruto's only friends were himself, Shikamaru, and Choji. Naruto would either come to see him or go to see Shikamaru and Choji.

When Naruto wasn't around, he could tell that Naruto was afraid of training, so he didn't dare to come to him because his life was really boring. He spent all day training and refining chakra, or practicing hand seals for ninjutsu.

How could a six-year-old Naruto possibly endure such hardship? If he didn't have the soul of an adult, he would have collapsed long ago from training a child like this, except for a few abnormal individuals like Lee.

"So early, Lin Chuan. Another day of youth. I'm late today, so I'll have to run five kilometers as punishment. I have to run ten kilometers in total. If I don't finish, I'll do two hundred squats." Xiao Li raised his hand, which was wrapped in white bandages, to greet Lin Chuan, who was running, and then joined in the five-kilometer jog.

"Li," Lin Chuan looked at Xiao Li, who was covered in white bandages, and gave a helpless bitter smile.

Ever since this workaholic discovered him training by the river, he's been competing with him. In the words of Teacher Li Kai, this is youth, this is friendship.

It's ridiculous to be bothered by this guy. He's more diligent in coming to see him than Naruto. He trains with him every day without fail. If he runs five kilometers, this guy runs ten kilometers. If he throws kunai three hundred times, this guy throws kunai six hundred times.

Even when he was asleep, Lee was still practicing extra. With that level of absurdity, even Shikamaru, who was known as the "Curly King" among the twelve Konoha 12, was speechless when he saw how curly Lee was.

And so, he and Xiao Li became good friends. When he asked Xiao Li why he didn't train with Teacher Kai, he learned that Xiao Li wanted to become Kai's apprentice, but Kai did not accept Xiao Li as an apprentice. However, Xiao Li still recognized Kai as his teacher.

Xiao Li was not discouraged by this incident. He inexplicably got fired up again, which made Lin Chuan's mouth twitch. He really couldn't understand this guy's enthusiasm. He was so excited even without becoming an apprentice. Like Kai, he was the type to be particularly self-indulgent.

"Good morning, you're all here," Shikamaru said, raising his hand to yawn. He looked at the three people jogging along the riverbank, looking rather listless.

Ever since he told his dad that the three of them often trained by the river, his dad also told him to get up early and come over, not to think that he could be lazy just because he was on vacation. When he heard that he also had to get up early to train, he was completely dumbfounded.

He only told his dad that this group of people were corrupt, but he didn't mean to be corrupt with them. What kind of good people would get up early in the morning, freezing to death in the dead of winter, and go for a run by the river?

"Yo, Shikamaru's here," Lin Chuan greeted as usual, raising his hand. Seeing Shikamaru's lazy appearance and the fact that he had to run with them in the freezing cold morning, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey hey," Shikamaru said listlessly as he joined the jog. They had actually run halfway, with only a little over two kilometers left.

Lin Chuan turned back at the bend in the river and ran back to his backyard, completing the morning's five kilometers.

Lazy Shikamaru really knows how to time things. He arrived late and only ran two kilometers, so he can go to Rin's house to warm himself by the fire and also try some wild fruits and grilled fish.

……

After the five-kilometer race, the four returned to the eaves of Lin Chuan's house in the backyard, where a charcoal brazier had been lit, prepared by Lin Chuan's mother.

"Lin Chuan, I'm still five kilometers away. You guys eat first, don't wait for me," Xiao Li followed the three to the backyard, but he hadn't finished his training. After giving them a heads-up, he turned around and continued running.

"Tsk, he's really going all out," Shikamaru remarked, impressed by Lee's dedication. He picked up the kettle on the charcoal fire, poured himself a cup of hot water, and used it as a hand warmer.

"Shikamaru, unlike you, he doesn't have a family secret technique or a Jonin father. Hard work is the best way out for ordinary ninjas. We were born in a great era, an era where hard work pays off," Lin Chuan poured a cup of hot water and smiled as he watched Lee walk away.

"It's not like something someone your age would say," Shikamaru glanced at Rin, noticing that this person was very different from the other children, just like himself.

But I had my father's guidance, which allowed me to understand many things from a young age and make me seem more mature than others. But who did the other person learn from?

"Haha, poor kids learn to be independent early," Lin Chuan chuckled awkwardly, thinking to himself that Shikamaru was indeed quite perceptive, not at all like a child. He could only change the subject and ask, "Shikamaru, Naruto, how many fish do you want to eat...?"

"Huff, huff," Naruto was blowing on his water glass to cool the hot water down when he heard Lin Chuan's question. He quickly replied, "I'll just eat one..."

"I won't eat," Shikamaru gently shook his head, slowly brought the water glass to his lips, and took a small sip of hot water.

"Then give me four," Lin Chuan said, pulling four kunai from his ninja tool bag and throwing them into the pond in the backyard.

Whoosh whoosh—

With several whooshing sounds, four kunai plunged into the pool and were instantly pulled out by Lin Chuan. In the sunlight, flashes of light could be vaguely seen; those were the steel wires tied to the kunai, with the kunai tied to the ends of the wires, which hit four palm-sized fish.

"Wow, Lin Chuan, you're amazing!" Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the four fish fly out. The fish in the pond were ones they had caught themselves; they usually kept them in the pond when they couldn't finish eating them.

"It's alright. If you practice with moving targets more, you can do it too," Lin Chuan chuckled, pulling the kunai back into his hand and flicking it at the snow. Four fish, pierced by the kunai, landed with a splash. Then he said to Naruto, "Naruto, clean the fish, put them on skewers, and grill them..."

"Alright, watch this," Naruto said, grabbing four fish and heading to the pond. He used a kunai to scrape off the scales and cut open the fish's bellies to clean out their internal organs.

Naruto only knew that the kunai throw was impressive, but he didn't have Shikamaru's insight. When Lin Chuan pulled four fish out of the pond, Shikamaru's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.

Even without throwing at a moving target, Shikamaru wasn't unable to hit it, but hitting four fish at the same time was something he knew he couldn't do, let alone as easily as Lin Chuan.

It seems Dad was right. Being around capable people helps you grow. Even if you want to slack off, you'll unconsciously become more hardworking.

After preparing the four raw fish, Lin Chuan brought over some roasted sweet potatoes and asked Shikamaru again, "Want some?"

"Have one," Shikamaru initially wanted to refuse, but he nodded slightly, tacitly agreeing to the idea of ​​having a meal together. He didn't want to appear out of place if everyone else ate.

The three chatted for a while longer. After the sweet potatoes were almost done roasting, and the four grilled fish were simply sprinkled with salt, Xiao Li came running up, panting, and collapsed into the snow.

"Tsk, he got dizzy after just ten kilometers. He probably overtrained again yesterday," Lin Chuan sighed, got up and walked into the snow to drag Xiao Li back. The guy was even carrying a weight. He threw Xiao Li on the wooden floor under the eaves and waited for Xiao Li to wake up on his own.

As the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes and roasted fish wafted out, the unconscious Xiao Li twitched his nose, instantly sprang to his feet, and followed the scent to the charcoal brazier, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"Here you go, this is your portion," Lin Chuan said, taking two roasted sweet potatoes from the charcoal grill with tongs and picking up two roasted fish from the skewers, then gently placing them on the plate in front of Xiao Li.

"This?" Xiao Li slurped and wiped the drool from his mouth, looking at the food in front of him with some hesitation. After all, he was living a rather frugal life, and being able to eat such a meal was already quite a feast for him.

"Hurry up and eat, we're friends," Lin Chuan smiled. The word "friends" had a powerful effect on these children, since they were a discriminated-against group and it was difficult for them to make friends.

Rock Lee lost to Gaara during the Chunin Exams, but that doesn't mean Lee was weak. It just means Gaara was too overpowered. With Lee's ability to open the Fifth Gate, he should at least be a Chunin. Later, when facing Kimimaro, a Jonin-level ninja, Lee was able to suppress him with taijutsu, showing that Lee's strength was quite good.

Befriending a ninja who is normally a Chunin and can unleash his full power at the Jonin level is beneficial to him, though it might be annoying at times.

Of course, this is also why Rock Lee was banned for over 600 episodes, and was only unbanned in Boruto. Everyone knows that Konoha has such a killing god who can fight to the death at any time.

"Lin Chuan, I, I," Xiao Li raised his hand to wipe the corner of his eye with a bandage. He was so touched by Lin Chuan, whom he had only known for a short time but who had treated him to many meals and who was such a good friend to him, without mocking him or calling him a good-for-nothing. He was so touched that he didn't know how to speak.

"Eat up, we have training this afternoon. These two are for Naruto, and this one is for Shikamaru," Lin Chuan said, picking up the other roasted sweet potatoes and roasted fish and placing them on Shikamaru's and Naruto's plates, as well as his own.

After finishing breakfast, he still had to refine his chakra and practice kunai throwing, so his day was still quite hectic.

"Tsk, so curly," Shikamaru sighed as he picked up a roasted sweet potato. He had only learned the meaning of the word "curly" from Lin Chuan. He had always thought that Lin Chuan was curly, but he would also criticize others for being curly. Every time he thought about it, he found it very funny!

"Whoosh, so hot, so delicious!" Naruto blew on the roasted sweet potato twice, not caring about anything else. He was so hungry that he didn't even peel the sweet potato before picking it up and eating it.

Fortunately, the sweet potatoes were roasted over an iron mesh, so they only got a little charcoal ash on them. You could just eat them skin and flesh together.

Gaa, gaa, gaa—

"Huh? Crows," Shikamaru heard cries coming from the branches of a tree in the backyard, and when he looked up, he saw several dark birds.

"Come on," Lin Chuan grabbed a handful of corn and threw it into the snow. How could he not subdue a summoning beast when he was using the cool summoning technique from the Naruto world?

Ever since he learned that there was a crow's nest in his backyard, he had the idea of ​​taming a few crow spirit beasts. It wasn't that he didn't want better spirit beasts, but he couldn't get in touch with the spirit beasts of the three holy lands, so he could only raise little crows.

When it comes to the coolest summoning beasts, apart from the summoning beasts of the three holy lands, the crow is the coolest. He has been envious for a long time, but unfortunately he doesn't have the Sharingan, otherwise he would be even cooler.

"You keep these crows?" Naruto exclaimed in surprise, not expecting Lin Chuan to keep birds.

"No, they live in my backyard, and I only feed them corn when I have time," Lin Chuan shook his head gently. Even though he liked crows very much, he didn't show it.

Once these crows grow up, he will need to learn summoning techniques and sign contracts with them to summon them. Space-time ninjutsu is not easy to learn, but it's all worth it for the sake of looking cool.

The crows ate corn, while the others ate sweet potatoes and grilled fish. After finishing their meal, they began their afternoon training. In addition to the training plan they had set beforehand, he now used any free time to familiarize himself with the hand seals for the Water Dragon Bullet and improve his hand seal speed.

He went to great lengths to become Maruboshi Kosuke's apprentice and to connect with Hiruzen Sarutobi's fellow disciples.

After all, he has no choice but to fight. He might be targeted by that cunning Danzo at any time. He needs to find a mentor who can protect him. This is the price of a commoner genius.

The reputation of being a genius is more beneficial than harmful to him, and it's the path he decided to take after weighing the pros and cons for a long time. In order to avoid being exposed as a genius, to pay off his mortgage, and to protect the Naruto Gate in his bedroom, he has no choice but to work harder and harder.

As time passed, the afternoon quickly came to an end. Shikamaru's mother came and called him away, followed by Rock Lee's mother.

Lee does have parents, but they are ordinary people. If Lee didn't have parents, he wouldn't have been able to attend the Ninja Academy and would have stayed in the Konoha Orphanage instead. This explains why Lee's ninja talent is so poor.

As the two left one after the other, only Lin Chuan and Naruto remained at the scene. Lin Chuan's mother also came to call Lin Chuan back for dinner, leaving Naruto all alone.

Seeing Naruto standing alone on the snow, Lin Chuan called out to him, "Let's go to my house for dinner!"

"Really?" Naruto's eyes lit up, and he smiled with undisguised delight.

"Of course," Lin Chuan chuckled. Now was the perfect time to build goodwill, so how could he possibly miss it?

This is the true thought that comes to mind for a child who has no elders to guide them. If they had elders to guide them, they wouldn't just go to other people's houses to eat; they would all go home on their own. Only Naruto could wander around outside for so long. If he were an ordinary orphan, he would have already gone to an orphanage.

"Xiao Chuan, why did you bring him back with you?" Lin Chuan's mother whispered in his ear when she saw Lin Chuan bring Naruto home.

"Go wash your hands first," Lin Chuan's father said, dismissing Lin Chuan and Naruto after they entered the kitchen. He then leaned closer to his wife and whispered, "Honey, don't say those things again. The Third Hokage gave instructions about the child, so don't worry..."

"But what if," Lin Chuan's mother wanted to say something more, but was glared at by Lin Chuan's father and could only leave dejectedly to prepare dinner in the kitchen.

"Sigh," Lin Chuan's father sighed softly, watching his wife leave. He turned back and looked at the endless snowfield alone. How could he not know that Naruto was the incarnation of the Nine-Tailed Fox, or even a Jinchuriki? Moreover, he was injured because of the Nine-Tailed Fox's rampage.

But just as his son said, Naruto's seal was very secure. Even if the sky fell, there would be a tall person to hold it up. In addition, with the Third Hokage's instructions, even if he didn't want to see his son associating with Naruto, he could only suppress his worries.

As a crippled Chunin, I have no influence over the decisions of the important figures; I can only take things one step at a time.