Rock and Steam

Destroying a person's physical body is simple; it is nothing more than causing them to lose their life.

A gentle slit of the throat, driving a kunai into the heart, or causing the brain to lose its ability to think—any of these can easily snatch away another's life.

Yet, to destroy the will of a man who possesses firm convictions and a tenacious spirit is not so easy.

After listening to Uchiha Yuji, having roughly understood his own situation, the battle between them had effectively come to an end.

That heroic spirit, that unparalleled self-confidence, the crushing power, and his utter contempt for him.

Kitsuchi slowly opened his tightly shut eyelids and lifted his head slightly to look forward.

The bright, clear moon hung behind Uchiha Yuji. The angle of the moonlight cast shadows that obscured his face, but the arrogant posture of his arms crossed over his chest, his slightly raised chin, and those chilling, blood-red tomoe eyes remained clear.

His eyes were filled with indifference.

Father, is this the feeling you had when you encountered Uchiha Madara back then?

His sturdy body still stood proudly, but if one looked closely, one could see his legs trembling slightly—not from excitement, but from a flicker of fear.

Looking even closer, one could see his pupils constantly quivering.

This indicated that his resolve to fight to the death had vanished; his will had been shaken.

If he were to be finished off with a clean strike, while it would end his life, his spirit would be carried along with his dead body back to Iwagakure, making the Iwa-nin even more resilient.

"That Kitsuchi should be finished," Hatake Sakumo said in a low voice as they sped along.

"Don't underestimate that man, Sakumo," Uchiha Yuji countered. "That guy is the son of Ōnoki. This level of humiliation doesn't mean much to him."

"Just as he said himself, he is a ninja who possesses the Will of Stone. This wavering is only brief, only temporary."

"He will struggle to his feet again, strive to improve himself, become stronger, and then be defeated by me once more."

Hatake Sakumo opened his mouth, but didn't say the words, The last part of your sentence was completely unnecessary.

Uchiha Yuji stroked his chin, pondering aloud, "By the way, the guy from the previous generation who rose up after being humiliated by our Uchiha ancestors was named Ōnoki."

Hatake Sakumo's eye twitched.

If Kitsuchi passed this intelligence up the chain of command and made Ōnoki recall the past, given the rumors about Ōnoki's personality in the Shinobi World, this would be doubling the hatred. He would likely go completely insane.

The battles to come would likely no longer be the small skirmishes they were now. The Iwa-nin defensive lines would definitely tighten, and they would likely no longer be facing just a lone powerhouse.

It would likely be the active Iwa-nin legions and a cleanup operation led by Ōnoki himself!

Are you kidding me! Playing for stakes this high?!

Aren't we here to conduct a blitzkrieg?

At the thought of this, Hatake Sakumo wanted to turn back and finish Kitsuchi off.

Uchiha Yuji seemed to have sensed his thoughts and chuckled, "If we went back now, we certainly wouldn't see him anymore. He should have already pulled himself together."

"So, is our plan changing again?"

Plans failing to keep up with changes is something ninjas encounter often, but this plan is changing way too fast! I just adjusted the plan, and you're already changing it again?

Uchiha Yuji smiled lightly, "Is it possible that our plan hasn't actually changed all that much?"

"Although there have been various changes along the way, the ultimate goal hasn't actually been modified."

Hatake Sakumo was stunned.

"The goal is to crush the Iwa-nin, right? That objective remains consistent."

"Iwagakure has no more than forty thousand resident ninjas. Ōnoki can send at most thirty thousand to fight us—a mere thirty thousand."

"A mere thirty thousand troops; that's still far from enough to deal with me."

"A mere thirty thousand, huh."

"You really dare to say that, Yuji-kun."

Whispering this to himself, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upward. Hatake Sakumo felt the blood in his body boiling, his heart beating faster than usual.

Such high spirits! Such fervent fighting will!

He couldn't lie to himself; at the thought of their group facing tens of thousands of enemies, the heroism and romance engraved in the DNA of a man couldn't help but surge.

However, Hatake Sakumo clearly understood his own limits. The protagonist of this war was not him, but this man who spoke of "a mere thirty thousand" so nonchalantly.

"I think I understand you a little bit now, Old Man."

Kitsuchi wiped the blood flowing down his cheek. His scorched skin still stung intensely, but this burning pain was nothing compared to the fire in his heart.

His stone-like face seemed as if it had been carved by a blade, appearing even more resolute.

"Stone is tenacious, unyielding. I, too, can overcome this humiliation and become stronger," he whispered, as if solidifying his own conviction.

"Kitsuchi, why are you here?" a familiar voice rang out quietly. "Shouldn't you still be defending the border in the direction of Takigakure?"

The person who arrived was one of the top combatants of Iwagakure, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki—Han.

His entire body was covered in crimson armor, with a coarse hemp tunic draped loosely over it. A mask covered the lower half of his face, and beneath his scarlet conical hat, his golden eyes looked at Kitsuchi with slight surprise.

"Is the state you're in because you ran into the group that annihilated Kannabi Bridge?"

"Is the enemy truly this strong?"

Kitsuchi was Ōnoki's son, and for him, as long as his abilities did not surpass Ōnoki's, he would always be referred to as: "As expected of the Tsuchikage's son."

However, Han, who had fought alongside him, knew very well just how immense the power was within this young man who didn't look so young anymore.

With an aura that seemed to transform him into a boulder standing firm against a mountain torrent, his sturdy physique and vast reserves of chakra allowed him to hold his own against Han for a short time.

Yet, a Kitsuchi as powerful as this was standing here now without sustaining many injuries, which meant the gap between them was immense; the opponent hadn't defeated Kitsuchi through a war of attrition.

Instead, a single person had crushed Kitsuchi with overwhelming combat prowess.

He had completely shattered his fighting spirit!

"It's an Uchiha. It seems the Uchiha clan has produced someone similar to Uchiha Madara once again," Kitsuchi said with a bitter smile. "The gap in strength is just too great."

"My apologies, I'm afraid I can't be of much help to you right now."

Han looked at Kitsuchi, whose tightly clenched fists could not stop trembling, and gave a slight nod to show he understood.