"Hah!"
"Ha!"
"Long live youth!"
Before he even saw Guy, Yusuke could hear his shouts from far away as he trained.
As Yusuke drew closer, a startlingly green figure came into view: Guy, doing push-ups at a frankly inhuman speed.
Yusuke didn't interrupt him. He simply waited quietly at the side.
After completing a thousand push-ups, Guy suddenly appeared beside Yusuke using the Body Flicker Technique.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Guy grinned. "Yusuke, did you come to challenge me to a Taijutsu match? I've just finished warming up, so let's get started right now. Let's have a passionate, bone-crunching clash between two men!"
Unable to comment on Guy's suggestive choice of words, Yusuke shook his head. "No, I just happened to be passing by. I was about to go find Kakashi to discuss something with him."
Anyone else would have realized Yusuke was obviously lying.
Guy trained in a secluded spot, nowhere near the route to Kakashi. Besides, Yusuke had been waiting off to the side all along. It was clear he'd come to see Guy.
But the single-minded Guy believed him completely and asked curiously, "What do you need Kakashi for?"
Hook, line, and sinker!
Yusuke smirked to himself, but kept his face straight. "It's nothing. I've been a little busy lately, so I was going to ask Kakashi to help train my disciple in Taijutsu."
With that, Yusuke sighed. "You know how it is. Among our peers, aside from me, Kakashi's the only one with decent Taijutsu."
At Yusuke's words, Guy's big face suddenly loomed close, startling him.
"Yusuke, think again. There's someone whose Taijutsu is even better than Kakashi's." Guy stared intently at Yusuke with wide eyes.
"Is there?" Yusuke pretended to think it over, then shook his head. "No, I think Kakashi's the best."
"Me! Guy! My Taijutsu is definitely better than Kakashi's!" Guy pointed at his own face, emphasizing his words again and again.
Yusuke furrowed his brow and looked Guy up and down. "You're not bad, but I still think Kakashi's a safer bet."
"Don't worry, Yusuke. With me, Guy, on the job, I'll make sure your disciple's Taijutsu training is top-notch. If you're not satisfied, you can punish me however you like!" Guy thumped his chest.
"You're really sure?"
"Absolutely!"
"Ah, fine. I'll reluctantly take you up on it, then."
"Thank you so much, Yusuke!"
"Don't mention it. We're friends, after all."
After arranging his disciple's training schedule for the coming weeks, Yusuke devoted himself to developing a Cursed Seal at Orochimaru's research facility, one capable of containing a large quantity of Yin Release Chakra within the human body.
Before they knew it, a week had passed. During that time, Kabuto's ability to learn and understand ninjutsu had left Orochimaru deeply impressed.
At first, Kabuto had known only the most basic principles of ninjutsu. But as they developed the Cursed Seal, both Orochimaru and Yusuke deliberately guided him, and he learned and improved at an astonishing pace.
In just a week, Kabuto was already able to make meaningful contributions to the development of the forbidden jutsu.
"Yusuke, I have to admit, I'm quite jealous of Kabuto's talent. I wonder if you'd be willing to let him become my assistant?" Orochimaru asked Yusuke, admiration in his eyes as he looked at Kabuto.
Kabuto, who was helping with the work nearby, immediately felt a chill run down his spine. He looked anxiously at Yusuke.
Even after spending a week with the sinister Orochimaru, Kabuto still hadn't gotten used to him.
Whenever Orochimaru looked his way, Kabuto felt as though dozens of venomous snakes were wrapped around him. He would tense up and hardly dare to move.
"You're joking, Lord Orochimaru. It took me quite some time to find an assistant as suitable as Kabuto. I can't let you have him." Yusuke turned him down without hesitation.
Hearing Yusuke's refusal, Kabuto secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"What a shame." Orochimaru licked his lips.
"But today's the election for the Fourth Hokage. Is it really all right for you not to attend?" Yusuke asked, looking at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru waved a hand. "I have no chance of becoming Fourth Hokage. When it comes to tactics, neither Danzo nor I can match Teacher Sarutobi, so why waste any more time on it? Only developing forbidden jutsu excites me now!"
The Hokage election in Konoha wasn't decided by popular vote. It was an election held by Konoha's leadership, and only the village's top officials and a few prestigious shinobi clans had the right to participate.
As for ordinary people, only those who had reached jonin rank were eligible to vote.
In general, jonin were affiliated with one faction or another. So the so-called Hokage election was really a political struggle.
Orochimaru had never had the upper hand in the election, and Danzo, who supported his candidacy, had been sent out of the village by the Third Hokage at a crucial moment to negotiate with the Rain Ninja.
The Third Hokage had already secured the support of nearly every faction eligible to vote. It was fair to say Orochimaru had no chance of defeating Namikaze Minato, whom the Third Hokage had personally nominated.
"You're not even showing up for the election, despite being a candidate. Danzo's going to be embarrassed," Yusuke said.
Orochimaru looked at the scroll in his hand. "Yusuke, let's focus on our work. I'm eager to finish this jutsu, too. There's no need to waste time talking about irrelevant matters."
"Fair enough." Yusuke smiled and said no more, turning his attention back to the jutsu's development.
"By the way, Yusuke, if you were going to vote, who would you cast your ballot for?" Orochimaru suddenly asked, turning to look at him as if something had just occurred to him.
At that moment, Namikaze Minato won by an overwhelming margin in the Konoha High Command's vote for the Fourth Hokage.
Orochimaru himself hadn't shown up at all. Only Danzo was there, his face so gloomy it seemed he might drip water.
After the Third Hokage officially announced that Namikaze Minato had been elected Fourth Hokage, Konoha erupted in celebration. The villagers naturally had a much better impression of Namikaze Minato than they did of the sinister Orochimaru.
To help the Fourth Hokage secure his position, the Third Hokage did everything he could to assist him. After Minato took office, the Third Hokage helped him handle a great deal of official business and announced several policies that both won popular support and served the interests of various factions. This further boosted Minato's standing.
Over the following months, rumors about the Uchiha Clan began to spread throughout the village.
According to the rumors, the current "Flame Tachi," Uchiha Yusuke, was already stronger than the clan head, Uchiha Fugaku, and was the strongest member of the Uchiha Clan.
"Body Flicker Shisui," who had become a jonin at an even younger age than Uchiha Yusuke, was even more talented. He was the Uchiha's greatest prodigy and might well surpass Yusuke.
The Third Hokage had naturally arranged for these rumors to be spread. His aim was to have Shisui challenge and defeat Yusuke, then claim both titles—the "Uchiha's Strongest" and the "Uchiha's Greatest Prodigy"—and become the most renowned shinobi in the clan.
Uchiha Fugaku was deeply troubled by the rumors. He believed someone was trying to sow discord within the Uchiha Clan, making him, as clan head, resent Yusuke, while also driving a wedge between the clan's two prodigies, Yusuke and Shisui.
Itachi, Yusuke's disciple and Shisui's good friend, was just as worried about the rumors. He shared his father Uchiha Fugaku's view: someone was trying to divide the Uchiha Clan.
Yusuke, who had been busy developing forbidden jutsu, had heard the rumors but had no time to pay attention to them. The development of a Cursed Seal capable of containing Yin Release Chakra had reached its most critical stage!
"Yusuke, I think we've achieved the results we were hoping for." Orochimaru's sinister face was alight with fervor.
Yusuke's eyes were ringed with dark circles, but he could hardly contain his joy. Smiling with satisfaction, he said, "Exactly. In my view, this jutsu is already nearly perfect. It can contain an enormous amount of Yin Release Chakra, and it's very stable!"
"Yusuke, why don't you let me apply the Cursed Seal to you myself?" Orochimaru licked his lips and smiled.
Yusuke waved him off and took out a syringe. "No thanks. I'm not in the habit of letting men bite me."
The syringe contained a fusion solution developed using Hashirama Cells. Its powerful Yang Release Chakra, combined with a Sealing Jutsu, could form a Cursed Seal that perfectly contained Yin Release Chakra within the body, allowing its host to draw on it whenever he wanted.
There was no denying that Senju Hashirama's cells were the cornerstone of the shinobi world's scientific advances. Without Hashirama Cells, many forbidden jutsu simply couldn't be developed.
As for the Hashirama Cells in Orochimaru's possession, he had gotten them all from Danzo for free.
Yusuke took off his shirt, injected the fusion solution from the syringe into the left side of his chest, then swiftly formed a highly complex hand seal.
"Yin-Yang Seal!"
A Cursed Seal in the shape of a yin-yang symbol formed on the left side of Yusuke's chest, though it looked rather faint for now.
"How does it feel, Yusuke?" Orochimaru asked.
"The Cursed Seal worked perfectly. But it's empty for now. All that's left is to seal Yin Release Chakra inside it," Yusuke said, putting his shirt back on.
Orochimaru nodded with satisfaction. He didn't need to use the Cursed Seal right away. He would only need it after performing Living Corpse Reincarnation, when he went to repair the weakness in his soul.
"By the way, to thank you for your help this time, I have something rather interesting here. You can have it."
Yusuke pulled a scroll from his robes and tossed it to Orochimaru. "The unlocking hand seals are the same as before. Be careful not to use the wrong ones when you open it. This is the only one I have."
Yusuke used unlocking seals on all the scrolls in which he stored important items. If someone used the wrong seals, the scroll and everything inside it would be destroyed.
"Oh? Something even you find interesting?" Orochimaru took the scroll, looking intrigued.
As usual, thank you all for your support, whether it's tips, votes, comments, or character likes!
This chapter was supposed to be a face-slapping chapter... but the one getting slapped was the author...
Some readers previously asked if the author was going to take White Zetsu's corpse. The author replied that they weren't going to get into biological research for the time being...
But... as you can see now...
Slap! Slap!
Lastly, there'll be another update tonight!
(●`●)(●`●)
Before you continue