"Want to challenge Qingwu?"
Guang saw right through him and handed him a bottle of healing medicine. "Don't get too cocky. He's far more terrifying than you think."
"Careful, or you'll drive yourself to despair."
"Careful, or you'll despair."
"Careful of despair."
Guang's teasing, almost "affectionate" warning still echoed in his ears.
"Guang Sen Sen, do you really have that little faith in me?"
Sasuke tightened his grip on the little medicine bottle.
Its cool touch dampened the fire of defiance in his chest a little, but mostly, he was annoyed at being underestimated.
Careful of despair?
Sasuke scoffed inwardly. The word "despair" isn't in Sasuke Uchiha's dictionary! At least, not when I'm facing someone from the Hyuga Clan!
"The Uchiha are the strongest in the Ninja World." He curled his lip and casually stuffed the medicine into his ninja tools pouch.
He muttered something that even he thought sounded a little pompous. "Only by fighting the strong can you see the gap between you. Qingwu is the strongest among us, so of course I'd pick him."
The Kage of the major ninja villages: He's the strongest among us, too.
Sasuke Uchiha.
You ain't shit.
Qingwu smiled, sending a glance her way to open a line of communication.
Guang picked up on it.
The two exchanged smiles.
Qingwu: You're stirring things up?!
Guang: Huh?! I wanted some entertainment.
Qingwu: At my expense?!
Guang: Sasuke's.
Qingwu: Oh, that's fine, then.
Sasuke Uchiha paid no attention to any of this—or rather, he hadn't even noticed. How pitiful.
"That's right, I'm going to take Qingwu on!"
Without trading blows with a truly powerful opponent, how could he know just how strong his new Nintaijutsu was, combining Lightning Release Cell Stimulation, Steel Fist Taijutsu, and Chidori thrusts?
Surely he wasn't supposed to develop it