"Yatsuhashi, youth waits for no one!"
At daybreak,
Anko headed to the Ninja Academy.
Although she was still a Chunin, she was already the head of a grade-level team at the school.
Naturally, she had many teaching responsibilities to shoulder.
After Anko said goodbye to Yatsuhashi,
the exhausted Yatsuhashi was just about to rest for a while.
The familiar chant soon rang out through the hospital room.
Yatsuhashi watched Might Guy dancing with youthful vigor in the hospital room, feeling helpless.
"Guy, I really can't today."
"Oh?"
Might Guy leaned closer, his thick black eyebrows nearly brushing Yatsuhashi's face.
He lifted Yatsuhashi's arm and lowered it again, examining his body.
Might Guy saw no obvious serious external injuries on Yatsuhashi.
"Strange. You don't have any obvious external injuries. Could you have suffered some kind of internal injury?"
"You can't say you can't when it comes to youth!"
The Fourth Hokage had issued a special gag order about what had happened the previous night.
So Might Guy and the others only knew that Yatsuhashi had been attacked in the village,
and had heard that he was unharmed.
The exaggerated scene of destruction from the battle
had been restored to its original state in just one night under the Wood Release Jonin Squad's direction.
It had caused no major stir in the village.
"Okay, okay, I get it."
Yatsuhashi got out of bed and followed Might Guy.
Together, they made their way to the training ground in the early morning.
Might Guy knew Yatsuhashi wasn't in good shape, so he didn't invite him to spar.
This time, he didn't go through his usual training routine.
Instead, he closed his eyes.
He repeatedly practiced the moves Yatsuhashi had used
during their last sparring session—the ones that had used softness to overcome strength.
"Hmm?"
Yatsuhashi watched Might Guy, eyes closed,
imitating his fist technique.
It wasn't a perfect copy,
but he had already captured some of its essence.
It was the only martial art Yatsuhashi had studied in college in his previous life: Military Boxing.
It combined grappling, throws, strikes, and defense.
Although Yatsuhashi hadn't grasped its essence back then,
ever since he had awakened his Mangekyo,
his Taijutsu fundamentals had improved tremendously.
His endurance, strength, and speed had all risen across the board,
carrying Yatsuhashi into a realm he had never reached before.
The Military Boxing he had once memorized by rote to pass an exam
had now led him to grasp many of its underlying truths.
That seemingly ordinary fist technique
had taken on a whole new life in Yatsuhashi's hands.
It was also what had given his strength an even greater edge.
"Guy, I'll spar with you!"
With that, Yatsuhashi attacked Might Guy.
This time was different from their last spar.
Yatsuhashi kept feeding Might Guy moves,
breaking down the essence of all sixteen forms of Military Boxing
into the most basic techniques,
and guiding Guy toward understanding them.
Yatsuhashi didn't attack very quickly.
The two were simply testing their skills,
holding back their strength but not their moves as they exchanged blows.
Unexpectedly, this process took even more out of them than their last spar.
Yatsuhashi had only demonstrated all sixteen forms of Military Boxing,
yet the two were already drenched in sweat, panting, and nearly exhausted.
"Yatsuhashi, you really are worthy of being my rival..."
Though Might Guy's expression was calm, his heart was in turmoil.
The fist technique Yatsuhashi had just shown him was truly exquisite.
It had opened his eyes.
Yatsuhashi sat on the ground to rest,
and waved a hand. "It's not as amazing as you make it sound."
Seeing this, Might Guy smiled. "Looks like you really did suffer quite a serious internal injury last night, Yatsuhashi!"
Might Guy stayed on the training ground, mulling it over by himself as he continued to grasp its mysteries.
Yatsuhashi watched him practice the moves again and again.
Even when he was exhausted, he refused to stop.
Might Guy's mind had already checked out, but his body still instinctively drove him to throw punches.
"This guy..."
Yatsuhashi watched Might Guy sweat as he trained and couldn't help exclaiming,
"His body's already reached its limit, yet it's still dancing. What kind of monster is he?"
Might Guy's talent for Taijutsu far surpassed Yatsuhashi's.
After practicing the moves just once,
Might Guy had already begun to get the hang of them,
completely absorbed as he continued to grasp their meaning.
Yatsuhashi grumbled inwardly.
If this didn't count as genius, then there could hardly be any geniuses in the world.
In the woods beside the training ground,
Jiraiya leaned against a tree stump. "So this is the guy Minato was talking about?"
He had seen every moment of Yatsuhashi feeding Might Guy moves.
Jiraiya was just as astonished.
Back then, he had received a message from Minato
saying the village had produced another promising ninja.
Minato had hoped Jiraiya would take Yatsuhashi on as a disciple
and teach him the Summoning Technique of Mount Myoboku as well.
Hearing that Minato was recommending a student to him
was what brought Jiraiya back to the village from his pursuit of Orochimaru.
After all, the Great Toad Sage had once told him about the Child of Prophecy.
But after seeing what had just happened,
Jiraiya felt a headache coming on. "Minato..."
"You sure know how to give a man a difficult problem!"
From what he could tell, Yatsuhashi was already an extraordinary Taijutsu master.
Even without using ninjutsu,
Jiraiya wasn't confident he could beat Yatsuhashi in Taijutsu.
How was he supposed to take Yatsuhashi on as a student?
"Forget it." Jiraiya stopped thinking about it.
He formed Hand Seals. "Summoning Technique!"
With a puff of white smoke,
the enormous Gamabunta appeared before Jiraiya.
"I'll leave it to you."
After hearing Jiraiya out, Gamabunta looked distinctly impatient.
"Hey, Jiraiya, why do you always make me do everything?"
Though he grumbled, Gamabunta still used his tongue to pick up the Summoning Scroll Jiraiya handed him.
Seeing that the matter Minato had entrusted to him was taken care of,
Jiraiya headed off to a tavern in the village, relieved.
"It's time I treated myself and relaxed a little."
"Hm?"
Yatsuhashi looked up. "Guy, watch out!"
"Boom!"
Gamabunta's enormous body dropped from the sky,
kicking up a cloud of dust as he landed.
Through the haze, his massive form came into view.
"Hey, you two!"
Gamabunta looked down disdainfully at the tiny humans below. "Which one of you is Uchiha Yatsuhashi?"
Might Guy stared at the giant toad,
then staggered back half a step, eyes wide with shock. "What a huge toad demon!"
"Kid!"
Gamabunta flew into a rage and brought his right hand down like a mountain.
"My name is Gamabunta! I'm no toad demon!"
Seeing the two easily dodge his attack,
Gamabunta snorted. "Not bad. Minato recommended you, but I still want to see what you can do!"
"But now I'm going to get serious!"
"Guy, I'll take it from here."
Yatsuhashi stopped Might Guy from preparing to activate the Eight Inner Gates.
He had already recognized Gamabunta, the toad of Mount Myoboku.
"I'm Uchiha Yatsuhashi."
Yatsuhashi openly stated his name.
"Oh?"
Gamabunta looked at Yatsuhashi. "You don't look as imposing as that thick-browed kid."
Yatsuhashi didn't know what Gamabunta was after, but since he wanted to see his strength,
Yatsuhashi decided to stop holding back.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan appeared in his eyes, slowly spinning.
"Hahaha, that's more like it!"
Gamabunta drew the short sword at his waist.
"Toad Short Sword Slash!"
The enormous short sword in Gamabunta's hand came slashing down at Yatsuhashi.
Yatsuhashi barely managed to dodge the ferocious strike,
but it left a trench several feet deep in the ground.
Its destructive power was every bit as great as an ordinary ninjutsu.
However, Gamabunta's attack didn't stop there.
"Water Release: Gunshot!"
Next, a huge ball of water shot from Gamabunta's mouth.
Yatsuhashi dodged and darted around the training ground, looking rather battered.
Seeing Yatsuhashi only defend and never counterattack,
Gamabunta looked more and more smug. "Can you do nothing but leap around and dodge?"
"Yatsuhashi?"
Might Guy, standing nearby, couldn't help asking.
He watched Gamabunta perform ninjutsu while talking to thin air.
"Is this your genjutsu?"
Yatsuhashi nodded. "It's a visual jutsu inherent to the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. I haven't mastered it very well yet."
He watched Gamabunta wreak havoc across the training ground.
Might Guy's heart tightened. That wasn't even his best?
"Hahaha! Jiraiya said you were pretty strong and told me to be careful."
Gamabunta threw his head back and laughed arrogantly. "You're nothing special!"
"Before me, Lord Gamabunta, the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan is nothing impressive!"
Seeing this, Yatsuhashi took the initiative and released his genjutsu.
Gamabunta, who had been laughing loudly in the training ground,
suddenly stopped.
He looked at Yatsuhashi and Might Guy, who hadn't moved a step the entire time.
The air fell silent.
"Ahem."
Gamabunta gave a couple of abrupt coughs,
then silently slid the short sword in his hand back into its sheath.
"Jiraiya sent me to sign you up for a summoning contract with Mount Myoboku."
"I see."
Yatsuhashi understood at once. Kakashi had mentioned it to him before.
He'd said Minato was looking for a powerful summoning beast for him.
Yatsuhashi had been happy to accept, of course.
After all, he'd always envied Kakashi's summoning beast, Pakkun.
Gamabunta pretended to be calm as he spat out the Summoning Scroll.
"Just sign your name here."
Not only was his tone calm,
but the arrogance he'd displayed earlier had quietly faded away, too.
"Sure."
As soon as he'd finished signing, Yatsuhashi eagerly performed the technique.
He already knew the Summoning Technique; all he'd lacked was a contracted summoning beast.
Now that he had a summoning beast from Mount Myoboku,
he immediately performed the technique.
"Poof!"
A small cloud of white smoke dissipated.
The one who appeared in front of Yatsuhashi wasn't Gamaken or Gamahiro.
Instead, it was a tiny yellow toad.
And one of its hind legs was missing,
leaving it with only one.
Gamakatsu looked around at the world curiously. "Ah! Is this the world outside Mount Myoboku?"
It was his first time leaving Mount Myoboku.
Gamakatsu soon noticed the enormous Gamabunta. "Lord Gamabunta, do you need my help?"
"Tch."
Gamabunta ignored the maimed Gamakatsu and lowered his head to speak to Yatsuhashi.
"The target summoned by the Summoning Technique depends on how much chakra you put into it.
"Put in more chakra next time, and you'll be able to summon me.
"If you only put in a little chakra during a battle, you might summon some other toad from Mount Myoboku at random."
After all, the Summoning Scroll was contracted to Mount Myoboku as a whole.
So the results of a summoning could vary.
"All right, see you next time, kid."
With Jiraiya's instructions taken care of,
Gamabunta vanished from the spot with a "poof."
Gamakatsu was about to disappear, too, but Yatsuhashi stopped him.
"I summoned you. Would you be willing to become my summoning beast?"
Gamakatsu hopped excitedly at first,
but then shrank back a little, self-conscious about his one incomplete hind leg.
"I... I'm not good at fighting."
"That's all right."
Yatsuhashi placed Gamakatsu on his shoulder. "Were you born with three legs?"
"Yeah."
Gamakatsu's voice grew noticeably downcast.
But it was his first time standing somewhere so high,
looking out at this unfamiliar world.
So he soon perked up again.
Seeing this, Might Guy also performed his Summoning Technique.
An old tortoise appeared before them.
Watching the slow-moving tortoise,
Gamakatsu, who had been born with a physical defect, finally stopped feeling self-conscious,
and the two summoning beasts happily played together on the training ground.
Before you continue