Of Course

"Rumble—!"

The giant wooden serpent crashed down, completely swallowing Uchiha Yatsuhashi's figure.

"Brother Yatsuhashi!"

Staring at the clouds of dust filling the sky, Yukimi covered her mouth in horror.

But when the dust cleared, the gruesome scene she had imagined was nowhere to be seen.

Yatsuhashi's calm voice came from outside the laboratory.

"I'm fine."

As his voice rang out, a figure slowly emerged from the dust in the clearing beside the forest.

Yatsuhashi had returned.

"Ha ha ha! Good! Good! Good!"

Tenzō's wild laughter came from inside the laboratory.

Then he slowly approached Uchiha Yatsuhashi.

The Root cloak on his body snapped in the wind.

Tenzō's youthful face was twisted with excitement.

"That last move nearly fooled my eyes! But if that's all you've got, you still have a long way to go!"

Uchiha Yatsuhashi didn't reply. He simply watched the arrogant boy below him in silence.

Tenzō's figure was reflected in his dark eyes.

"Are you ready?" Yatsuhashi asked softly.

Tenzō froze. Before he could react, a terrifying pressure descended in an instant.

It wasn't the Body Flicker Technique, and he hadn't used Hand Seals. It was simply an explosive burst of speed.

Yatsuhashi vanished from where he stood.

The next second, he was right in front of Tenzō, his fist hurtling toward him with a fierce gust of wind.

"Bang!"

Wood chips flew everywhere.

But Tenzō's real body appeared several meters away, completely unharmed. He smirked and dusted himself off.

The one Yatsuhashi had struck was merely a clone.

Tenzō had used nothing but a piece of ordinary wood to take the blow for him.

Once he saw that Yatsuhashi had taken the bait, Tenzō, standing some distance away, formed Hand Seals and shouted.

"Wood Release: Tree Binding Eternal Burial!"

At once, the surrounding trees seemed to come alive.

Countless thick vines and roots, like giant serpents, instantly coiled around Yatsuhashi, pinning him in place.

They began dragging him downward with all their might, determined to bury him deep beneath the earth.

"Ha ha ha! Give up already!"

Tenzō laughed wildly, savoring his triumph.

But Yatsuhashi, wrapped in the trees, remained unfazed.

"Hah!"

With a low shout, the trees coiling around him seemed to meet an invisible, immense force.

They shattered piece by piece in an instant, turning into a shower of wood chips that rustled to the ground.

"H-How is this possible?!"

The smile froze on Tenzō's face.

Only then did he realize that this hadn't been some powerful ninjutsu. It was all the result of Yatsuhashi's sheer strength.

He could also clearly sense that the quality of the chakra inside Yatsuhashi was undergoing some kind of transformation.

Tenzō stared into Uchiha Yatsuhashi's blood-red Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Is this the power inside you that's kept me on guard?"

Before Yatsuhashi could reply, Tenzō gritted his teeth, formed Hand Seals, and aimed both palms at him.

"Wood Release: Cutting Technique!"

Countless wooden spikes shot from Tenzō's palms toward Yatsuhashi.

"Brother Yatsuhashi, look out!"

Yukimi, watching from a distance, couldn't help crying out again.

She knew how terrifying Tenzō's Cutting Technique was.

Then, overwhelmed with fear, Yukimi squeezed her eyes shut.

But the sound of spikes piercing flesh never came.

Uchiha Yatsuhashi dodged the wooden spikes with ease.

He closed the distance between them in a flash.

Tenzō watched in terror as Yatsuhashi darted through the rain of wooden spikes.

His movements were fluid and effortless.

Without a hint of wasted motion, Yatsuhashi was in front of Tenzō the very next second.

"Pfft!"

Yatsuhashi's fist slammed into Tenzō's stomach.

The tremendous force sent him flying.

He smashed through several tree trunks along the way before landing in the dirt, battered and dazed.

Watching this, Uchiha Yatsuhashi felt a pang of regret.

He's still just a kid, after all. Did I hit him too hard?

Using the unique eye technique of the Mangekyō Sharingan, [Return to Basics], Yatsuhashi had concentrated chakra in his fist and struck.

The chakra consumed by that blow was equivalent to what an ordinary Genin could muster.

Yet it had unleashed such astonishing destructive power.

So Yatsuhashi silently decided to name the move Genin Punch.

It was different from Might Guy's Eight Inner Gates.

The Eight Inner Gates relied on breaking through the body's eight restrictions to gain immense strength.

Uchiha Yatsuhashi's eye technique, [Return to Basics], simply consumed the chakra in his body.

The more chakra he consumed, the greater the strength he could exchange it for.

It was a purer, more efficient conversion.

He could also use chakra to undo ninjutsu that others had painstakingly created, restoring it to its original state.

Yatsuhashi had even imagined combining the boost from [Return to Basics] with the Eight Inner Gates.

By stepping on his left foot with his right, he wondered if he could unleash the kind of power that could destroy the heavens and the earth.

But that was still just an idea. He hadn't tried it yet.

"Cough... cough, cough..."

Tenzō climbed out of the crater.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but he still laughed defiantly. "Not bad! This is the kind of power that deserves my full effort!"

"Tenzō!"

Yukimi rushed over. Though she'd been worried about Yatsuhashi moments ago, now she stared anxiously at her younger brother.

"Why don't you stop? Didn't you say when you were little that Brother Yatsuhashi was the person who treated you best in the world?"

Tenzō wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He glanced at Yatsuhashi with a complicated look, then snorted. "You know that was a long time ago!"

"Now I bear the burden of a dark destiny! I'm the savior who'll rescue the Iburi Clan! Today, I'll show you my true power!"

Before he'd even finished speaking, his body began to turn indistinct, transforming into a cloud of smoke.

It was the Iburi Clan's innate ability to turn into smoke.

Tenzō was still shaken by Yatsuhashi's strength.

Last time, Yatsuhashi had struck him before he'd had a chance to turn into smoke.

This time, he immediately transformed his body into a cloud of smoke.

"The curse of the Iburi Clan makes us immune to all physical attacks!"

Tenzō's chilly voice came from within the smoke. "Now, let's see what you can do!"

The smoke surged toward Yatsuhashi like a tide.

Tenzō tried to use the Iburi Clan's unique Smoke Smothering Technique to enter his body.

Yatsuhashi simply stood in place, his Mangekyō quietly watching the cloud of smoke approach.

But when the smoke-form Tenzō came within three meters of Yatsuhashi, he was horrified to discover that his ability to turn into smoke was rapidly failing.

By the time he was just one step away from Uchiha Yatsuhashi, Tenzō had completely returned to solid form.

He even secretly kept trying to activate his innate ability to turn into smoke.

But to his horror, he discovered that the ability had disappeared.

As if it had never existed at all.

"Uh..."

Staring at Uchiha Yatsuhashi, who still stood before him without ever moving, Tenzō swallowed.

His body instinctively shrank back.

He couldn't help remembering the terrifying power of Yatsuhashi's punch.

"Hey, can we still make peace?"

Uchiha Yatsuhashi had never intended to get serious with Tenzō.

After all, he'd watched Tenzō and Yukimi grow up, little by little.

Yatsuhashi saw the fear in Tenzō's eyes, then glanced at Yukimi, who looked worried.

"Of course!"

Tenzō turned his head away. "...Hmph."

Though he still sounded a little unconvinced, the chakra raging around him quietly subsided.