"CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA~"
Kurama lay happily sprawled on a soft cushion, humming an upbeat tune. He idly scratched at the thick fur on his exposed chest with his sharp claws, leisurely sipping a cold cola as he watched several figures in the clearing not far away, all of which showed just how incredibly good he was feeling today.
What a truly joyous occasion.
Kurama's sheer happiness had two main sources. First, absolutely no one had pestered him for training today, allowing him to finally relax in peace. Second, those two immensely irritating brats who constantly got on his nerves but were beyond his ability to control had finally been taught a brutal lesson.
"Hahaha, you two little brats, you've finally gotten what's coming to you!"
"Father truly has eyes! Serves you both right!"
Pointing a claw at Naruto and Kid Goku, whom Goku had cheerfully called out to test their level and who were now beaten black and blue, Kurama laughed heartily, shamelessly gloating at their shared misfortune.
This was truly a deeply satisfying sight for this fox.
Initially, only Naruto and Goku had been actively sparring. But when Kid Goku saw a fun fight breaking out, especially against a powerhouse like Goku, he enthusiastically clamored to join in.
So Goku had them both come at him together, and the final result was two battered figures with heavily swollen heads, grimacing in pain as they crouched on the dirt.
With their current level of strength, how could Naruto and Kid Goku possibly be a match for the adult Goku?
Even though Naruto's power had skyrocketed during the years Goku was away, it couldn't even begin to compare to Goku's growth by literal dimensional leaps.
In just six days on the spaceship, his power level had shot up from over 8,618 to an astounding 180,000. And that wasn't all, after fully healing from a serious, near-death injury, his base power level became three million.
Three million. This wasn't just casually cheating anymore, it was straight-up hacking.
What did a three million power level actually mean?
Take Frieza's strongest squad, the Ginyu Force. Among them, Burter, who proudly claimed to have the fastest speed in the universe, only had 68,000. Ginyu, who called himself the second strongest in the universe, only had 120,000.
Most outrageous of all, after officially transforming into a Super Saiyan, Goku's power level ballooned to 150 million.
This staggering fact made Naruto, who proudly thought he had at most a few hundred power level, feel utterly ashamed, he didn't even have a tiny fraction of his teacher's power.
Hold on, if Naruto actually had a fraction of that power level right now, he'd be laughing in his sleep.
"You can hold back two more degrees of strength."
Goku easily caught Kid Goku's flying fist with one casual hand. "Like this?"
How could they pass up this incredibly rare opportunity to spar with someone overwhelmingly stronger? Naruto and Kid Goku quickly recovered from the dirt and charged at Goku together.
With a light, effortless toss, he made them crash violently into each other, tumbling into a groaning pile.
"Death Beam!" Naruto leapt up quickly from the ground, firing a condensed red beam from his fingertip, the exact same move that had utterly dominated Kusagakure with unstoppable might.
"Oh?" Goku showed only slight surprise at the lethal technique, then casually flicked it aside with a single finger. "Your move is very similar to that Frieza's."
"But your ki control is still slightly lacking, wasting some of the energy."
After all, Naruto had only mimicked it entirely based on his rough impression of Frieza's technique from the show, so there was bound to be a noticeable gap from the original.
"But I think Tien Shinhan's and Mercenary Tao's moves are actually more suitable for you right now."
"Watch, like this!"
Saying this, Goku extended a finger, and a bright dark yellow beam burst brightly from the tip.
"This move is called the Dodon Ray."
Goku could perfectly mimic the Kamehameha at a mere glance back in the day, and could also easily imitate techniques like the Solar Flare. In theory, he could use other Z Fighters techniques too, but he simply preferred using the Kamehameha.
"Teach me!" Naruto stared at Goku with intensely burning eyes.
Before, due to their very young age, Goku hadn't taught them in deep detail, focusing mainly on building rock-solid foundations.
Now it was entirely different. Goku could teach vastly more in-depth knowledge. During their current sparring, Goku very carefully and patiently analyzed the combat shortcomings of both Naruto and Kid Goku for them.
He would then actively demonstrate by example and let them experience the corrections firsthand.
Even if this firsthand experience was rather painful, well, it was firsthand.
Goku could be said to have fully embodied the belief of 'teaching by both word and painful example.'
Asking Goku to work a regular, mundane job would be very difficult for him, but asking him to passionately develop a future sparring partner would make him far more enthusiastic.
Gohan and Uub (the human reincarnation of Majin Buu) were both personally taught by him, each more monstrously talented than the last. Though both had immense innate foundations, Goku's teaching ability was truly impressive when he tried.
Thankfully, the one residing inside Naruto was Goku and not Gohan, otherwise, it would have been truly hopeless. Recalling how Gohan awkwardly taught Videl to sense ki, he couldn't even explain it clearly at first. After all, that kid had his talent forcefully unlocked by Piccolo continuously throwing him into extremely dangerous places since childhood, which was entirely different from Goku, who trained step by step.
If Videl's own talent hadn't been genuinely exceptional, she probably wouldn't have understood a word of what he was talking about.
Naruto and Kid Goku were like two dry sponges, thirstily absorbing Goku's vast martial arts experience and knowledge. They struggled fiercely to make it their own.
Having a truly good teacher really made a massive difference. Naruto felt that just this short time sparring gave him far more than a month of self-study, especially regarding advanced ki application.
After all, Naruto's true talent lay entirely with ki.
"You two have pretty good strength, reaching this impressive level at such a young age." Naruto and Kid Goku were finally so exhausted they lay on the ground like dead dogs, while Goku stood casually with his hands on his hips, looking completely relaxed.
He was purely testing their strength, otherwise, this low level of fighting wouldn't even be enough for a morning warm-up.
First, he warmly affirmed the strength of both Kid Goku and Naruto.
Then Goku remembered something and scratched his head with a wide smile at Kid Goku. "You're me, so I forgot about that, hahahaha. But you're actually a little stronger than I was back then."
After all, Kid Goku hadn't been entirely idle during this period. He sparred with Kurama whenever he had free time. Though it was often entirely one-sided beatings, his strength still improved slightly.
His expression turned serious as he continued, "But you're both still lacking in the finer aspects. With a bit more focused training, there's still a lot of room for improvement."
The Android Saga Goku might not have been the ultimate martial arts grandmaster he became by the very end of Z, but he already possessed the unmistakable bearing of a true martial arts master.
Just from this single, grueling lesson, Naruto felt his deep understanding and application of ki had improved significantly compared to before. He was increasingly looking forward to exactly what he could learn from Goku.
He had to squeeze him completely dry! Take all his knowledge!
"Next, your primary training will be to carefully make up for those exact shortcomings. This can decisively push your strength to a much higher level."
As he spoke, Goku held up two fingers.
"And ultimately, you need to reach a state where..."
"...Your mind is completely at peace, and your body strikes faster than thought itself."
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