Huh? Guy Actually Started Using His Brain!

"Has my Body Flicker speed... already reached its limit?"

"For now, the Body Flicker route is blocked, and Earth Release is progressing slowly too. Fire Release, sigh..."

At the edge of the training ground, Aoba sat expressionlessly beneath the shade of a tree. He held a copy of Konoha Flora and Fauna Records as cover, blue light flickering beneath his black sunglasses as he considered his next direction.

"Youth! It means sweating beneath the blazing sun!"

"Even if you're rejected a thousand times, you must rise for the thousand and first challenge!"

Not far away, Might Guy, dressed in a tight green jumpsuit, was doing fingertip push-ups while loudly shouting slogans so embarrassing they made one's toes curl.

During activity period, Guy was the only one who could keep training the entire time. Even adults could not endure exercising for that long, much less a group of children.

Of course, Guy was an exception.

Guy was also one of only two people from whom Aoba had collected abnormal data. The other was Kakashi.

For ordinary people, growth in strength was not a smooth upward curve. It was a repeating cycle of improvement, plateau, improvement, then another plateau, until the body began to decline.

But those two were different.

Their strength truly followed continuously rising curves. One rose quickly, while the other rose a little more slowly, but both climbed upward with unwavering certainty.

Talent really was that unreasonable.

Aoba's teeth hurt from sheer irritation.

It felt like even cheats could not beat talent.

Limited by his physical condition, his Body Flicker speed had reached the maximum his body could currently endure. Any faster, and he risked tearing the tendons in his legs.

Since a single route would not work, Aoba began considering whether he could combine them.

For example, Body Flicker plus clones? Plus Genjutsu?

"Nine hundred ninety-eight! Nine hundred ninety-nine! One thousand!"

Guy sprang up and gave Aoba a thumbs-up, his teeth gleaming white in the sunlight. "Aoba! Warm-up is over! Come, let us have a duel of youth!"

Aoba: "..."

You've been warming up all afternoon. Don't you need to rest?

Unable to muster the energy to complain, Aoba closed his book and sighed softly. "I refuse."

"Why?! Is it because my youth is not burning brightly enough?"

Guy clutched his head with both hands, his face full of shock.

"No. Class is about to end."

Just then, the dismissal bell rang. Aoba stood and brushed the dust from his pants.

"Then after school, we can—"

"No. I need to buy groceries."

Aoba cut him off directly.

"Oh! I see, buying groceries is also a form of training!"

Guy seemed to have discovered something. "Snatching the freshest beef from a crowded crowd is the ultimate test of dynamic vision and explosive power! Then let's see who buys the discounted beef first!"

Aoba's mouth twitched. Just how did this guy's brain work?

Ever since they had run into each other in the Forest of Death that day, Guy had challenged Aoba far more often. The perfunctory excuses Aoba had used to reject him before were becoming harder and harder to sustain.

It was clearly ridiculous, yet Guy had actually believed him. For a moment, Aoba's conscience even twinged.

Sure enough, things like conscience should just be thrown away.

The purpose of sparring was to learn from each other's strengths and compensate for weaknesses, progressing together. But Aoba did not need any of that.

He knew his own strengths and weaknesses, and he knew Guy's as well.

Fighting Guy would not help him grow. It would only expose his strength too early. Even if it was just part of it, what if it caught F4's attention? He did not want people keeping tabs on him every day.

Guy's strength was 17.3, while his was 15.8.

That was right. Although Aoba was three years older than Guy, he was not as strong, and Guy's strength was still constantly rising.

Guy's taijutsu data was also higher than Aoba's.

The Chip had analyzed all of it.

But if they truly fought, Guy still could not beat Aoba.

Even if Guy's base stats were better, Aoba had all of Guy's data and knew every move he could make. In an actual fight, Guy would only be suppressed by Aoba.

It was all about the information gap.

As for saying Chip assistance was cheating, no one seriously thought that, right?

This was Aoba's advantage. Guy's advantage was his absurdly powerful talent for taijutsu.

Not using one's advantages and instead abandoning strengths to expose weaknesses was what having a hole in one's brain looked like.

But Aoba was not left in peace for long. Guy seemed to have "seen through" Aoba's perfunctory responses, and the frequency of his challenges became even higher.

He also seemed determined not to give up until he achieved his goal.

Even at school, as long as class ended, he would emerge like a ghost from some inexplicable corner.

He followed Aoba to the restroom. He even slept with his head on the desk during lunch break, and whenever Aoba opened his eyes, those two thick eyebrows would be right in front of his face.

Aoba was numb. Being pestered by a hot-blooded idiot like this was even more suffocating than being watched by the Anbu.

At least the Anbu had some shame and knew to act secretly. Guy had absolutely none.

He was treating Aoba the way he treated Kakashi.

Damn~

Right, Kakashi!

"Guy."

This time, Aoba did not reject him outright. He looked at him seriously. "Although I know you want to become stronger, you've found the wrong person."

"No! My instincts tell me that you're very strong!"

Heh, his instincts were quite accurate.

"Kurenai. Yuhi Kurenai's taijutsu, and the weights on your legs."

Guy wore an expression as though he had seen through everything.

All right, he had been careless.

Aoba had indeed given Kurenai extra training. Her taijutsu had improved by leaps and bounds, and she had beaten quite a few classmates. Now, even Asuma had to go all out just to avoid losing too badly.

Everyone had actually noticed that, but Aoba had not expected Guy to notice as well.

As for the weights on his legs, he had indeed only put them on today.

Guy's face was filled with determination. "Aoba, you're a genius, but I will prove that hard work can surpass genius!"

A genius? Is it possible that you are one too...

Aoba grumbled inwardly.

After all, being acknowledged by the childhood Guy of Might, Aoba was quite pleased.

All right, it seemed Guy had entered his growth period and started using his brain.

Aoba rubbed his chin and decided to try another method.

Although Guy had grown a little smarter, he was still single-minded. If Aoba did not make things clear, it would only become more troublesome later.

"Guy, do you know why I don't want to fight you?"

Aoba's expression turned serious.

Guy froze for a moment, then shook his head. "Why?"

"Because my path is different from yours."

Aoba pointed to his head. "I'm a Genjutsu-type ninja. My taijutsu is for defense. It's defensive taijutsu."

"Defensive taijutsu!" Guy's eyes widened.

"That's right."

Aoba began making things up with a perfectly serious expression. "My taijutsu may look good, but it's actually all preparation for casting Genjutsu. My speed is for creating distance.

"My taijutsu is meant to let me defend effectively when my Genjutsu is broken. Kurenai's taijutsu was also taught by Uncle Shinku. Uncle Shinku is a Konohagakure jonin and a Genjutsu master!"

Without the slightest burden, Aoba gave Uncle Shinku the title of "Genjutsu master."

Guy nodded as if he half understood. "I see... defensive taijutsu for a Genjutsu-type ninja?"

"Right. So challenging me to a taijutsu duel is like asking a fish to climb a tree or a bird to swim."

Aoba patted Guy's shoulder and spoke earnestly. "Your opponent should be someone who also specializes in offensive taijutsu, or someone with exceptional ninjutsu talent, like... Kakashi."

"Kakashi? Can I really?"

Guy muttered the name. In his eyes, Kakashi's genius shone too brightly, and he could not bring himself to challenge him.

To put it bluntly, he was somewhat afraid.

After analyzing Guy's mindset, Aoba was speechless. Was the title of first place really that useful?

He was at least second in the class. Guy dared to keep challenging him, yet did not dare challenge Kakashi, who was first.

Did second place really have so little presence?!