Shangguan Yue closed his eyes and probed with his spiritual sense. Good, no one has a particularly large chakra reserve. They should all be ordinary fodder.
Looking at the small blue auras around the dantian of the people below, Shangguan Yue relaxed. His eyes darted around as he shouted down at them.
"Enough. Stop arguing. I'll fight ten of you. Come up all at once."
"Ahhh! He's looking down on us! Move aside, I'll go first!"
"If that's how it is, don't blame us!"
Before long, exactly ten people had climbed onto the stage.
Senju Yunting frowned slightly, clearly displeased with Shangguan Yue's actions. He called out, too.
"Begin!"
Shangguan Yue didn't think much of it. Facing ten people, he wasn't intimidated in the least. He shouted,
"Void Step: Explosive Flash: Great Wind Slash!"
He spun around, swinging Longque with the back of the blade facing the others. In the ten children's eyes, Shangguan Yue simply vanished from where he stood.
The next second, he appeared right in front of them. Their figures blurred past one another, and Shangguan Yue reappeared behind them.
A small whirlwind sprang up in front of them. Their bodies were covered in countless cuts from wind blades, though the wounds were shallow.
Still, they'd lost the ability to move. The pressure from the wind around his blade had damaged their internal organs.
"Again. That wasn't enough."
"Void Step: Explosive Flash: Great Wind Slash!"
Shangguan Yue cut through them like vegetables, shattering the dreams of this group of children who were about five years old.
"Waaah!"
One after another, they ran home in tears.
Against children his own age, Shangguan Yue was overwhelmingly strong. The crude combination of two power systems was still not to be underestimated.
"As expected of the boy who defeated Nawaki. That Taijutsu should be his own invention—a very effective area attack.
"It's just that I can't make sense of how it works. I never thought that even with my years of experience, I'd be unable to understand it. It's as though it came naturally.
"Ah, I really am getting old."
Senju Yunting watched Shangguan Yue's moves, lost in thought.
"Kid, don't go. Let's have a go at each other."
"Elder Yunting, are you going to bully someone younger than you?
"If word gets out, it'll reflect badly on the Senju Clan.
"Besides, does winning or losing really matter? Can't we just have a friendly spar?"
"Munai, stand down."
"Elder..."
"I said, stand down!"
"Yes!"
"Elder Yunting, you've got some work to do on your authority."
"Kid, don't try to butter me up. Thanks for this. That's enough for today. You can go."
Shangguan Yue stared blankly. This old man's surprisingly reasonable. In that case, I won't hold back.
He turned and left without a moment's hesitation, as if he'd made up his mind about something.
After Shangguan Yue left, Senju Yunting's supporters gathered around him.
"Elder, is it really all right to just let him leave?"
"That's right, Elder. What will the other clans think of us?"
"Exactly. Our reputation's been ruined."
Everyone talked over one another, giving Senju Yunting a headache.
"Quiet. There are too many ears around. Come with me."
The group followed Senju Yunting to the Senju Ancestral Shrine. Senju Yunting sat cross-legged at the front.
The clansmen sat behind him in rows, forming a fan shape. They waited expectantly to hear what the Senju Clan's only remaining elder had to say.
Senju Yunting looked around before striking them with his opening words.
"Do you still think the Senju Clan has any glory? Any dignity?"
At his words, they wanted to argue back, but in the end, they fell silent. Thinking of everything that had happened over the past few years, they didn't know what to say.
"Why so quiet?
"Weren't you so impressive just now?
"Picking on a five-year-old—that's all you're capable of. Do you really think we can reclaim our dignity by taking it from a five-year-old?
"Stop basking in the glory of the past. We're nothing now—we can't withstand a single blow.
"The glory of the past belonged to our fallen kin.
"All we can do now is preserve what little pride we have left.
"Using Shangguan Yue to break the arrogance of our younger generation may help them live longer."
While the Senju Clan wallowed in self-pity, Shangguan Yue looked at his log and felt frustrated.
Cleared Senju Dungeon: Kindergarten Rating: Average Challenge attempts earned: 20
"That's way too few. It's nowhere near enough to get the things I want to drop.
"The stronger the ninja, the more abilities they have. Looks like I'll have to seek out life-or-death battles from now on. Otherwise, getting anything good is just wishful thinking.
"But the Senju Clan's new generation is really small. That doesn't make sense. What happened?"
Thinking back to the roughly thirty people he'd just faced, Shangguan Yue felt puzzled.
"The Senju produced Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, the First Hokage, and the Second. How did they end up like this?
"I don't get it. Forget it. I should go play with the adorable Senju Nawaki. This time, I'll have to think carefully about how to fight him.
"If I want good stuff, I'll need life-or-death battles. The Senju Bloodline is a branch of Kaguya Otsutsuki's bloodline.
"Thank goodness I watched so many Naruto explainers before. Otherwise, I wouldn't even know where to start evolving this bloodline.
"But the story doesn't start for ages. The little bit of plot I know won't be of any use."
As he thought, Shangguan Yue lay down on Tsunade's tatami again, and his consciousness entered the Balance of God.
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