In this unremarkable little forest.
A giant gear appeared before Dan. It was ancient and heavy, as if it had weathered countless vicissitudes of the world, turning slowly and mercilessly.
Never stopping.
Whoosh!
At a thought from Dan, Stand Power shot out in a streak of light, like a fine needle, and lodged itself in one of the gear's teeth.
Just like that, the Time Gear stopped.
The entire world turned gray, and everything in existence lost its original colors.
One second, two seconds.
Three seconds, four seconds.
A full five seconds later, with a sharp crack, the needle broke, and the Time Gear began turning again.
Finally.
Dan could stop time for five seconds.
Compared with the two seconds before, it might have sounded like an increase of only three seconds, but those three extra seconds made a world of difference.
After all,
in a ninja battle, even 0.1 seconds could be enough to decide life or death.
Now, when facing the likes of Obito or Danzo, even if they had Izanagi, Dan could try to pluck out their Sharingan during stopped time before punching them to death.
Just imagine.
With five seconds of stopped time, Dan's Taijutsu, and The World's full-power offense, how many people in the Ninja World could withstand him?
Drip, drip.
Something landed on Dan's Bamboo Hat.
He looked up and saw the sky darkening as countless raindrops fell.
It was time to go home.
He walked into the woods and strolled along the path through the rain, heading toward Konoha.
The rain grew heavier, beating against the leaves with a rustling sound.
The falling rain joined into streams, and countless streams formed a net. In the end, it was like a waterfall, pouring down from the sky in a vast sheet.
In the primeval forests of the Land of Fire,
a woman in a dark green trench coat and black high heels hurried through the rain.
Splash!
She stepped into a puddle, splattering mud onto her fair instep and dirtying her red-painted toes.
But Tsunade had no time to worry about that.
After Dan had choked her unconscious, it had taken two days for her to recover. The first thing she did afterward was track him down.
Earlier,
when Tsunade had fought Dan, she had sprinkled a colorless, odorless powder of her own making onto him. No one but her could detect it.
She was tracking him to find out his true identity.
But now that it was raining, if the powder's faint scent was washed away, Tsunade would lose his trail.
So she had to hurry.
Suddenly,
Tsunade came to a halt.
Because there was someone in the clearing ahead, standing with his back to her in the rain.
He was nearly two meters tall, wearing a Bamboo Hat and a cloak. Even standing still, his imposing frame exuded the weighty pressure of a mountain.
There was no doubt. It was that man.
The rain was pouring down, and Tsunade's golden hair and clothes were soaked through, clinging to her body and leaving her looking like a drowned rat.
But that man, despite standing in the rain, wasn't getting wet at all.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes. Looking closer, she realized:
Chakra was flowing out from the surface of his body, forming a barrier that bounced off every raindrop that fell on him without letting a single one through.
His entire body—from his hair and skin to his Bamboo Hat and cloak—had become like a lotus leaf.
As soon as a raindrop landed, it slid away, rolling off and even carrying the dust on his clothes with it.
His body was like a lotus leaf, pristine and immaculate.
The sight shocked Tsunade, and made her feel outclassed.
His use of Chakra had reached an exquisite level.
Or rather, he had woven a ninja's training into his everyday life. Even standing in the rain became an opportunity to practice Chakra control; he never let up, not for a second.
Someone like this was truly terrifying. No wonder he had built such a frighteningly muscular body.
This man was, of course, Uchiha Dan.
In the rain,
"Just what you'd expect from Tsunade, one of the Sannin. You managed to mark me for tracking without my noticing."
Dan spoke first, but didn't turn around.
"It was nothing more than a petty trick. Not worth mentioning."
Tsunade shook her head, her expression serious, and asked outright what she wanted to know. "Are you a Konoha ninja?"
"No."
Dan answered readily. He was indeed from Konoha, but he wasn't a ninja. He hadn't even graduated from his first year at the Ninja Academy.
Tsunade frowned at his answer and fell into thought.
She considered it, then pressed him further. "Then who are you, exactly? Why do you have the Uchiha's Sharingan, and how do you know the Akimichi Clan's Expansion Jutsu?"
"My name is Araki. I'm a bounty hunter," Dan replied.
Araki?
At the name, Tsunade knew it was probably an alias, not his real name, but she no longer cared.
Since she couldn't get an answer, she might as well fight him.
She stepped through the puddles toward Dan, determined to redeem herself in the coming battle.
Feeling Tsunade's undisguised fighting spirit,
"I have no interest in fighting you right now. Don't come any closer," Dan warned her.
At that, Tsunade raised her fist, her eyes blazing.
"What if I insist on fighting you?"
As she spoke, she had already reached a point just five meters from Dan, well within striking range.
Tsunade was highly competitive, especially when it came to fighting with her fists. In all her decades of life, she'd never feared or lost to anyone.
But two days ago, Dan had defeated her with a Rear Naked Choke, and she had lost utterly.
The more Tsunade thought about it, the angrier she became. She felt she hadn't fought at her best last time. If she couldn't fight Dan again and get her pride back, she would be miserable.
Faced with Tsunade's stubborn refusal to back down,
Dan sighed silently and decided to warn her. He silently recited those four words in his mind.
Za Warudo!
In an instant,
everything in existence turned gray. Countless raindrops froze in midair like strings of transparent beads, forming a wondrous sight no one had ever seen before.
Dan turned around.
Five meters away, Tsunade had her fist raised, her fighting spirit undimmed, the flames in her eyes unquenched even by the downpour.
Whoosh.
Dan lowered his center of gravity and lunged forward.
After smashing through countless raindrops, he reached out with his right hand, scooped Tsunade up around the waist, and carried her over his shoulder.
He sprinted twenty meters away.
Then,
he set Tsunade down like a statue, swiftly turned around, and sprinted back to where he had originally stood.
He completed the entire series of actions in less than five seconds.
Next,
time began to flow again.
"Take this!"
Tsunade shouted and was about to throw a punch, but suddenly froze in place.
She realized that the opponent who had been right in front of her had somehow moved twenty meters away in the blink of an eye.
No.
The other person hadn't moved at all. She was the one who had... moved backward.
Tsunade was stunned.
What... had just happened?
Had she fallen under his Genjutsu again?
Tsunade refused to believe it.
She shook her head hard to clear it, then started walking toward Dan again, cautiously.
This time, she focused completely, her nerves taut to the limit as she stayed ready for a Genjutsu attack.
Ten meters, eight meters, five meters.
Tsunade reached the same distance for the second time.
Then the same bizarre scene played out again—
Tsunade inexplicably found herself twenty meters away from Dan once more.
The man's back looked like a destination she could never reach. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get any closer...
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