Diejian wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth with his thumb.
The rusty, metallic taste clung thickly to his nostrils.
He spat the blood pooled in his mouth onto the ground, then ground it beneath his foot.
The blood he had spat out and trampled mixed with the dirt, losing its original color.
The dark mud gave off a bone-chilling, swamp-like aura at first glance.
Gazing at it, Diejian felt it was like a profound darkness, radiating an irresistible pull.
Diejian consciously forced his gaze away from the mingled mess.
As he tried to look away from that color, which seemed ready to swallow him whole, his eyes were drawn to Juri's figure.
Juri was carefully licking Diejian's blood off her fist with her small tongue.
Her catlike eyes were fixed on him.
Were they the eyes of a beast facing its prey, or those of a woman with a perverse, seductive allure?
Diejian lowered his gaze, staring at Juri's thighs.
Her shorts, like the kind boys wore, exposed her skin.
Lit by pale blue flames, her skin was dazzling and deadly.
Diejian lowered his gaze even further.
She wore sandals on her bare feet.
Her pink toenails, which usually would have seemed cute, were now on the far side of the pale blue flames flickering and dancing.
But that was fine.
He lowered his gaze not to examine her skin closely, but to keep her Sharingan out of his sight.
If his gaze were ensnared by the poison of a woman, it would be no different from having his Sharingan trapped in a genjutsu.
The long-awaited clash had stirred Diejian's heart before he even realized it.
How much could this body, trained by Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, really accomplish?
He would use you, Uchiha Juri, to find out whether they would have a fierce battle or whether he could finish you off with ease—Diejian thought.
"Tsunade, Jiraiya. Take Orochimaru and stand back. I'm getting serious now."
He looked around. There was no one.
Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru had already gone to take shelter.
Looking at the empty Training Ground, where only Juri remained, Diejian felt a breeze sweep through his heart.
"Ha..." Diejian sighed.
In an instant, Diejian moved.
His real body leaped backward while the clones waiting on either side scattered, letting out a battle cry.
Diejian was a Jonin now, no longer a child who charged recklessly with nothing but brute strength. He was a ninja who knew how to use strategy.
He wouldn't make useless clones just to waste Chakra, nor would he be stupid enough to send his real body charging in while leaving a hard-won decoy unused.
Juri simply waited as Diejian's clones launched a pincer attack from both sides.
Thrust it and it became a spear; sweep it and it became a halberd; grip it and it became a long sword.
A staff technique that could shift at will—piercing a single point through both ends, cutting through space with a half-moon sweep, or using an entering step to strike first despite acting second. Mastered fully, it held the potential to overwhelm most opponents in battle.
But it was meaningless, Diejian decided.
Diejian, who had once lost to a Genin in the Chunin Ninja Exams because of his own carelessness, would almost certainly have died back then if Juri hadn't been there.
Of all those who had spent the past two years lying low as a Genin, Juri was the one Diejian rated most highly, without a doubt.
That was why Diejian wasn't careless in the slightest.
His real body retreated, preserving its strength.
First, he would use his clones to test the enemy and plan his strategy.
But he wasn't simply waiting to see what happened.
He had infused the clones with a substantial amount of Chakra, and his real body was ready to unleash a jutsu as well.
The best outcome was to defeat or restrain her; the next best was to injure her; at the very least, he had to force the enemy to reveal one of her trump cards.
That was what the clones were for.
He had to make effective use of them.
After making his opponent reveal her trump card, he would overwhelm her completely with a storm of attacks. That was Diejian's true specialty now.
His real body to the front and his clones to either side drew Juri's attention.
That was why the ground beneath her feet, where she would let her guard down, was Diejian's target.
Wood Release: Grass Knot.
Next came Wood Release: Silent Killing Bind.
This restraining jutsu sent trees and resin winding around the target's ankles, then crawling up their calves and thighs to bind their entire body and halt their movements.
The resin restraints combined elasticity with hardness.
Those caught could only wait silently to be killed.
That said, Juri was surrounded by flames right now, so the bindings might burn through.
But all he needed was to knock her down once. Just once was enough.
Then he could start attacking her with a string of new jutsu.
—The best was yet to come. Stay tuned.
Diejian's clones had brought Juri within Taijutsu range.
In other words, Juri had given up the staff's advantage—its reach—and chosen to close the distance and counterattack.
Certain of his victory, Diejian unleashed his jutsu.
But Diejian's plan fell through.
Juri leaped into the air, dodging the Grass Knot Technique.
Then she threw a Kunai at the ground, driving it into the earth.
A circular formula spread across the ground with the Kunai at its center. The resin reaching out after the airborne Juri caught fire, crumbled, and fell apart.
Uchiha Style Flame Seal Array—a simple Sealing Jutsu that only required her to infuse it with her own Chakra and block any Chakra trying to enter the circle.
That sealed off Diejian's ability to use Wood Release beneath Juri's feet.
"I saw that jutsu two years ago."
It had been the moment she was knocked out during Super Dimensional Ninja Kemari.
Even when her body was restrained, Juri's vision and ability to think hadn't been taken away.
There was no way Juri, now fired up to compete against Diejian, hadn't prepared for that surprise attack—the one that had even fooled Sakumo.
Diejian was a little surprised that she'd seen through him, but it was difficult to deal with two clones attacking from different directions while in midair.
Their target was her back and abdomen, the weak spots left uncovered by the flames.
"I knew you'd do that, if it were you..."
Juri's words made it sound as though she had already seen through Diejian's plan.
Twisting in midair, Juri struck one of the clones with a kick.
Moving with catlike agility, Juri's side muscles rippled.
A fierce kick with nowhere to plant her feet—in midair.
The beauty of her taut, trained muscles in motion was so striking it seemed visible even through her clothes.
The blade-like tip of her foot snapped upward, aiming for the Wood Clone.
But at the last instant, the clone dodged. It grabbed Juri's beautiful leg without caring that its body was being burned.
"Got you."
Diejian and Juri spoke at the same time.
Diejian's other clone attacked Juri from behind.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Juri, who should have been unable to move, twisted her body further, pivoting on the one leg the clone had grabbed.
Her leg whipped upward like a lash.
The clone's head, still clinging to Juri, was kicked away.
The Wood Clone's head shattered, and flames spread across it.
The fire blazed and spread.
Diejian's clone lost its color and crumbled into wood chips.
The other clone closed in on Juri's back.
Seeing this, Diejian's real body unleashed a new jutsu.
As he raised both arms, two "palms" appeared, as if to surround Juri.
It was as though he were declaring that if he couldn't attack one point beneath her feet, he would suppress the entire area around her.
Wood Release: Bringers of Darkness.
This Wood Release ninjutsu summoned wooden "palms" from the ground to attack the enemy.
Hashirama had once summoned countless "palms" and controlled them freely, but Diejian's current limit was "two."
This jutsu was highly versatile, a ninjutsu for both offense and defense. It could be used as a weapon to attack the enemy or as a shield to protect himself.
One less orthodox use was to bring the two palms together and restrain whatever was inside them.
Its intended use was to "crush."
He wouldn't go that far against Juri, but the outcome was already decided.
What a bore, Diejian thought.
A deafening crash.
From beyond the rising dust came the wail of breaking wood and the crackling shriek of sparks scattering through the air.
"You... monster..."
"You'd really do that to a woman..."
Juri emerged from the smoke like a wraith, Diejian's clone—now reverted to wood—impaled on the staff she held.
She had countered the attack from behind by gripping her staff in reverse.
The Bringers of Darkness, with a hole blasted through its palm, was burning fiercely and pitifully.
"How did you break free? That kind of strength wasn't something you could overcome by ordinary means."
"That just means my fist isn't 'ordinary.'"
As she spoke, Juri raised her fist before her face.
Deep within the pale blue flames, she grinned.
"You've got to be kidding."
Diejian could barely hide his surprise.
If he believed Juri and reasoned from what she'd said, it meant she had smashed through the defensive barrier with her bare hands.
That suggested her flames did more than provide an overwhelmingly powerful defense that burned everything they touched; they also greatly increased her strength.
Ordinary Fire Release probably couldn't break through those flames. She would just punch it away.
Wood Release—the strongest jutsu had just been broken.
He couldn't challenge her with Taijutsu either, since she was too hot to touch.
In a fight to the death, it would be another matter, but short of that, he had no options.
Juri surpassed him in every way: Taijutsu precision, the number of ninjutsu she could use, and the basic capabilities of a ninja. Yet Diejian still couldn't attack.
That had been the case just seconds ago...
"That idea of yours isn't bad."
Resin extended from around Diejian, winding around his body.
It coiled around his arms and legs, becoming one with them.
It was a way through he had only just thought of after seeing Juri wrapped in flames.
"Then I can touch you without a problem."
"It's admirable that you don't plan to touch a woman's soft skin with your bare hands. But what are you going to do? A clone can't stop my brute strength."
"Right. Testing you with clones looks pointless!"
As they spoke, the two of them charged forward. It was impossible to tell who moved first.
Diejian realized there was no point in testing her with clones anymore.
Juri, meanwhile, sensed that Diejian was charging at her in earnest.
Diejian pretended to collide with her head-on while hiding new wooden tendrils behind Juri.
He intended to restrain her with a surprise attack from behind.
It was a tactic that completely ignored the fact that Juri was enjoying the thrill of clashing with Diejian, but he felt no shame about it.
On top of that, he planned to distract Juri with a flashy jutsu so she wouldn't notice the Wood Release behind her.
"So in the end, it's still a clone!"
Juri shouted.
The Hand Seals Diejian formed were none other than those for the Shadow Clone Technique.
A Shadow Clone appeared in a puff of smoke and led the charge, while his real body stayed behind.
He'd said that testing her was pointless, but he hadn't said he wouldn't use clones to fight.
The Chakra cost was high, but among the different kinds of clones, Shadow Clones most closely matched the real body's abilities. Juri probably couldn't deal with them as easily as she had with the Wood Clones.
He had just solved their drawback—their tendency to disappear easily—by covering them with Wood Armor.
That unexpected benefit should prove immensely useful in the fight ahead.
Behind the Shadow Clone, Diejian continued forming Hand Seals.
The Shadow Clone made contact with Juri, and they began to fight.
As expected of the Sharingan, despite her basic abilities being inferior to Diejian's, she was using every ounce of her reflexes and dynamic vision to hold on.
But how long could that last? Silently, trees crept closer from behind Juri.
To control the trees created with Wood Release from a distance whenever he needed to, Diejian had kept feeding them Chakra.
He had noticed "that" just before he finished forming the Hand Seals, because "that" had touched the trees Diejian had made.
As for when it happened, probably when he used Bringers of Darkness to catch Juri.
So Diejian changed the target of the jutsu to "that."
The jutsu's name was Darkness Walk.
A genjutsu that robbed its target of light, destroying their sight and sense of perception.
Its simplicity meant it wouldn't devolve into a complex genjutsu battle; its plainness made it difficult to break through.
Once their vision was taken away, even the Sharingan, which excelled at genjutsu, would struggle to respond.
This was an extremely advanced ninjutsu conceived and developed by Tobirama during the Warring States era to deal with the Uchiha Clan.
Its original use was to "strike first."
An enemy deprived of sight in the initial strike, before the battle even began, would have no choice but to focus all their attention on Diejian, already closing in.
As a result, they would let their guard down against attacks from behind, allowing him to break through from there—that was the idea.
"Genjutsu: Darkness Walk."
"W-what? My eyes! My eyes!"
"It shouldn't hurt, in theory."
Juri, clutching her eyes, came rolling out from the shade of the trees, shouting.
It was a simple genjutsu that merely blacked out her vision.
There was no way it could hurt.
Diejian decided that the Shadow Clone Juri's frantic behavior was just the Uchiha Clan's characteristic fluster, since they placed such importance on their eyes.
He even felt a little sorry for her.
"I never thought you'd have a counter..."
Juri's Shadow Clone Technique.
It was one of her trump cards, taught to her by her older brother, Kagami.
Her real self's face twisted as if she'd swallowed a bitter bug. Her secretly prepared ace had been seen through.
"Great! Huh? No way!"
Juri spotted an opening in Diejian's Shadow Clone and thought the moment had come to go on the offensive, but it was a feint.
Her joy was gone in an instant. Sure enough, with her attention completely fixed on what was in front of her, Juri failed to notice the trees approaching from behind.
The moment the trees touched Juri, they climbed over her limbs at astonishing speed.
"Ah, ahhh! Ah—ugh, waaah!"
The trees climbed up her thighs, stomach, and chest, binding her. She seemed terribly uncomfortable.
But the sounds Juri made weren't just cries of distress.
Diejian deftly used the wood to restrain Juri's arms, pinning them above her head.
He bound her firmly and tightly so she couldn't form Hand Seals.
At the same time, the flames wrapped around Juri disappeared.
It seemed difficult to maintain both shape transformation and nature transformation in such a state of confusion.
"Ugh, I'll never endure this humiliation! Just kill me!"
"You're really getting into it, aren't you?"
Diejian gave Juri, who seemed surprisingly to be enjoying herself, a mild look.
"Anyway, it's really over now. That was pretty fun."
As if to deliver the finishing blow, Diejian reached out toward Juri with his palm.
The part of his arm below the elbow changed color, shifted shape, and transformed into wood.
Diejian deliberately made his wooden arm writhe and squirm, showing it to Juri.
Although it had turned into wood, it was still Diejian's arm.
It still felt the same.
Which meant...
"Ahhhhhh!"
"Geh heh heh heh!"
Juri was in a complete panic.
Diejian wore a broad, villainous grin.
The scar left on his cheek during the Chunin Ninja Exams only made him look more evil.
All right, he'd use Wood Release to tie her up like a bagworm and hang her from a nearby tree.
He'd wait for her to calm down, then buy her the soft-serve ice cream he'd promised.
His arm stretched toward Juri, the trees writhing—
A silvery figure stepped into their path.
"That's enough. You should stop now."
"Fire Release: Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
Someone shouted.
Juri, who should have been bound, suddenly spat out flames.
Diejian and someone else both uttered blank, bewildered words.
"Ah—!!"
"Whoa—!! Sakumo—!!"
The person who had stepped between Diejian and Juri was none other than Hatake Sakumo, who should have been away on a mission.
The spot where Sakumo had been struck by Diejian's wooden fist was then blasted away by the Fireball.
Diejian shouted Sakumo's name as the fireball sent him flying through the air, following him with his eyes.
After tracing a beautiful crescent through the air, Sakumo crashed to the ground and lay there twitching.
"White Fang's been taken down..."
A little farther away, the three who had been hiding the whole time gaped in shock as they stared at Sakumo, blown away by the fireball.
After escaping the Training Ground, the three had gone to ask Hiruzen for help and headed to the Hokage's residence.
On the way, they happened to run into Sakumo, who had just finished a mission, reported to the Second Hokage, and was coming out of the Hokage's residence.
Thinking it was a perfect opportunity, they begged Sakumo to stop the two from fighting.
He had just finished a somewhat grueling mission with Utatane Koharu and Kagami Uchiha, protecting an important person and fighting shinobi from another country. He had been on his way home to rest, exhausted, but Sakumo was a man of honor who valued his companions.
Sakumo readily agreed and headed to the Training Ground, dragging his tired body along. That was how it had happened.
And now this was the result.
His silver hair had been scorched and turned curly.
"Whoa..."
"That's awful," Diejian murmured.
He completely put aside the fact that he was the one who'd started this whole chain of events.
But Diejian wondered:
How had Juri been able to use a jutsu while bound?
Just then, he noticed Juri's Shadow Clone had disappeared.
He nodded as he understood.
Most likely, Juri's Shadow Clone had finished making the Hand Seals for Fireball Jutsu, then dispelled itself while still in that pose.
Since the Chakra and information had returned to her real self with the Hand Seals completed, Juri had been able to use Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu without making the Hand Seals herself.
He shouldn't have left it alone just because he'd taken away its vision. He should have dispelled it sooner.
At that point, Diejian looked around and finally realized what was happening.
The Training Ground had been left in ruins.
Trees stood everywhere, crackling as they burned. The ground was scorched black and pitted with craters.
Oh no, this is bad. Diejian panicked inwardly—then decided to pretend he hadn't seen anything, clutch Sakumo's "corpse," and call out his name.
Of course, Sakumo had only passed out.
"S-Sakumo. Who—who did this?!"
"Y-you..."
Sakumo regained consciousness and moved his trembling hand.
His shaking finger pointed toward Diejian's face.
Diejian's expression twitched for an instant, but he quickly returned to a solemn look.
Then he clasped Sakumo's weakly trembling hand.
At the same time, he curled Sakumo's extended index finger inward, making it into a fist.
He was destroying the evidence.
"Die... Diejian..."
"Who did this?! Who?! I'll never forgive them! I'll never forgive this!"
Diejian's wailing drowned out Sakumo's voice.
Sakumo seemed to give up in despair, his hand losing all strength.
His head tilted to one side, and he lost consciousness.
"His eyelids closed, and Sakumo's head drooped limply. Sakumo had entrusted his body to his dear friend as he passed away. Yet his expression seemed content, as if to say that his sacrifice had not been in vain. His final words were, 'I'm sorry for having such a useless friend.' Hatake Sakumo, deceased—"
"No way, Sakumo, you..."
Still bound, Juri shook her head and repeated, "Liar, liar."
It was hard to tell whether she was truly grieving or putting on an act.
With Juri, it was possible she really was.
The three watched solemnly and sighed. "That's awful."
★
That day, Konohagakure enjoyed clear skies as far as the eye could see.
The weather was warm, and the breeze flowing through the village was pleasantly cool.
Ina sipped her tea with a soft slurp.
The tea was just the right temperature, soothing her body and mind.
Before Ina, enjoying a moment of leisure at the teahouse, sat a plate piled with bite-sized pieces of Warabimochi.
Ina loved letting the cool Warabimochi, untouched by soybean flour, roll across her tongue.
Across from her, Sakumo held open a book in one hand and skimmed its pages.
It was the book Sakumo reportedly couldn't put down—a treasured volume Diejian had brought from home and given him as a present when he was promoted to Jonin.
Only Diejian and Sakumo knew what it was about, but since Sakumo had carried it around as a favorite book for so long, it must have been quite interesting.
Ina picked up a neat little piece from the half-eaten Warabimochi with a toothpick.
She dipped it lightly into the soybean flour provided alongside, coating just one spot in a pale, earthy yellow.
The Warabimochi trembled slightly on the toothpick.
Its moist texture whetted her appetite.
Ina offered it to the woman sitting beside her.
"Want some?"
"..."
There was no reply.
"I see." Ina answered briefly, then tossed it into her own mouth. "It's good." She smiled shyly with delight, her cheeks turning faintly pink.
Ina's cute demeanor was completely at odds with the mood.
Sakumo lifted his gaze from the book he'd been halfway through and stared at Ina in surprise.
"Um, Ina."
"What is it?"
"Nothing..."
As if unsure whether to say more, Sakumo turned his gaze toward the woman beside Ina.
In front of him was the figure of a woman slumped over the table, her head lowered.
Her glossy black hair was spread carelessly across the tabletop, and she lay motionless with her face buried in her folded arms.
Needless to say, it was Juri.
He'd seen a similar scene before.
It had been at the promotion celebration after the Chunin Selection Exam.
The difference from that time was that Diejian wasn't beside Sakumo.
And Sakumo had a bandage wrapped around his head.
The scuffle between Diejian and Juri at the Training Ground a few days ago was still fresh in his memory.
It had happened after Sakumo had returned from his mission and reported to the Second Hokage.
Just as Sakumo was thinking he ought to head home and rest, Tsunade appeared in front of him, looking frantic.
Apparently, Tsunade had been on her way to the Hokage's residence and figured Sakumo would do, so she grabbed him.
He was a little hurt by the "would do" part, but after hearing what had happened, his eyes sharpened, and he followed Tsunade—but his memories after that were hazy.
By the time he came to, he was lying in a hospital bed. When he opened his eyes, he saw Diejian with a swollen face and Ina with tears in her eyes beside him.
Diejian seemed to have been punished quite severely for wrecking the Training Ground.
This was Sakumo's first time seeing Juri since the incident, but judging by how dejected she looked, Ina and Kagami had probably given her a thorough scolding.
Then, supposedly, after some deep soul-searching, she had arranged this tea party.
"Apologize already!"
That was the crux of the matter.
Sakumo didn't remember what had happened, so he wasn't angry, but that was beside the point.
Kagami had also reminded him that some lines still needed to be drawn.
Sakumo could bury himself in a book despite Juri's gloomy mood, but it wasn't because he was used to the atmosphere she gave off.
It was because Ina had told him to.
So Sakumo was mostly focused on reading.
Ina had also told him to stay quiet, except to give Juri a chance to speak up.
"Sorry..."
"It's okay. I'm not angry."
After Ina had finished her warabimochi, they'd spent who knew how long just drinking tea.
Since this was Yamanaka Flower Shop—in other words, a teahouse on good terms with the Yamanaka Clan—it was fine. At an ordinary shop, they would've been kicked out long ago.
Though her face was still buried, Juri had indeed apologized.
Sakumo smiled wryly and shrugged.
Sakumo quietly watched Ina pat Juri's head, saying, "There, there."
Kagami had helped, so it had taken both of them, but to bring such a stubborn girl to heel and make her apologize—Ina was a terrifying woman.
After a while, Juri stopped crying and began wolfing down the taro yokan.
Bouncing back quickly was a good thing, but all in all, she was a woman with wild mood swings.
With Sakumo left out of the conversation, Ina and Juri grew more and more animated.
The conversation gradually shifted to girl talk, mostly complaints about Diejian, and Sakumo became a machine that could only nod along.
I want to go home already.
By the time the sun began to set, Sakumo was desperate to go home.
He searched for an opening, shifting restlessly and glancing around, wondering if he could slip away first.
Just then, Tsunade came rushing into view, looking flustered.
He was a little wary that some new trouble had cropped up, but the main culprit, Juri, was right here, while the other person involved, Diejian, had left the village on important business with the Second Hokage, Tobirama.
Surely there wouldn't be another problem so soon.
That was what he thought.
"Big Brother! Big Brother—!!"
The news Tsunade brought made Sakumo and the others tense up at once.
—A coup had broken out in Kumogakure.
In the chaos, the Second Hokage and Senju Diejian had gone missing.
The times foretold a sudden upheaval.
Before you continue