"Cough, cough, cough..."
Konoha, a small grove.
Two young figures were sparring.
One was a young ninja with dark circles under his eyes.
The other was a girl with beautiful purple hair.
Gekko Hayate and Uzuki Yugao.
Konoha's newly promoted Special Jonin.
He had become a Special Jonin at the age of fourteen.
Although he could not compare with a genius like Hatake Kakashi.
He was still one of the best among his peers.
The two had been practicing their lovey-dovey, flirting swordplay, but stopped when one of them—Gekko Hayate—began coughing violently.
"Hayate... are you all right?"
Uzuki Yugao, dignified and beautiful, anxiously supported Gekko Hayate.
He looked like a patient who might cough up his lungs at any moment, and his physical condition was clearly far from good.
There was a special group of people in the Shinobi World.
Their "strength" would reach its peak at around thirteen.
After that, it would begin to decline.
These geniuses who died young.
Were generally known as "Bloodline Disease patients."
Unfortunately.
Gekko Hayate was one of them.
The so-called "Bloodline Disease" referred to an existence at the very pinnacle of a clan's Kekkei Genkai.
But precisely because the Kekkei Genkai was too pure.
It led to a certain illness.
Some said it was punishment for "inbreeding."
After all, maintaining the concentration of a Kekkei Genkai inevitably required close-kin marriages.
Others said it was the curse of the Kekkei Genkai.
But no matter what...
Bloodline Disease was almost always incurable.
All patients could do was watch helplessly as their bodies broke down before finally dying, without any way to prevent it.
Gekko Hayate could say without hesitation.
Last year, when he was thirteen.
He could have instantly defeated every Special Jonin in Konoha.
Thirteen had been the peak of his strength.
After that,