Kakashi could understand when people said they envied Naruto's ability to heal himself.
But hearing Yeyu say it, he couldn't help thinking he was being sarcastic.
Yeyu sighed. "It's not the same. Having a tough body doesn't mean you can heal quickly. Everyone wants their body to recover fast after getting hurt."
"After all, my body's just tougher than most. It's not like I can't get hurt."
Having inherited all of Akainu's power, Yeyu's physical strength and stamina in battle were on a monstrous level.
But he could still get hurt, and injuries still left scars.
After Akainu and Aokiji fought for ten days and nights, their bodies were covered in scars.
Yeyu was susceptible to the same thing.
Of course, given his physical strength and Armament Haki, actually injuring him was no easy feat.
At least, Yeyu hadn't encountered anyone capable of it yet.
Still, those words of his sounded like the sort of thing that would make people green with envy.
Kakashi looked exasperated. "Sometimes, the way you talk is really annoying."
Anyone who didn't know him would think Yeyu was showing off.
Yeyu hoisted Kakashi onto his back and released his Observation Haki.
He found Sasuke.
He headed to one of the bridge piers.
Sakura had really thought things through when it came to Sasuke.
She'd left him as far away from the battlefield as possible.
Otherwise, with a fight on that scale, Sasuke would have been killed.
He looked like a hedgehog, with steel needles stuck all over him.
"Did Naruto go berserk because he saw Sasuke like this?"
Kakashi, draped over Yeyu's shoulder, answered weakly, "Probably."
Naruto had gone berserk while fighting alongside Sasuke. Kakashi figured that seeing Sasuke in that state was the only thing that could have enraged Naruto.
But Naruto's rampage had nearly ended in disaster.
If Yeyu hadn't happened to pass by, Naruto would very likely have completely lost control, and the Nine-Tails would have broken free.
Then Konoha would have lost the Nine-Tails, and Kakashi's best-case scenario would have been spending the rest of his life in prison.
Yeyu reached out, and several arcs of electricity appeared in his hand.
They instantly split into countless finer arcs, winding around the steel needles lodged in Sasuke.
In almost an instant, the snake-like arcs yanked all the needles out.
Dozens of needles were pulled out at once. Even unconscious, Sasuke's body kept twitching from the pain.
Kakashi's mouth twitched. "Go easy on him. Don't kill Sasuke."
Yeyu smiled.
He said nothing.
After Anko gave Sasuke a quick bandage, she and Yeyu took the others back to Tazuna's village.
Once they had left, Gato finally emerged, drenched in sweat, from the mountain where he'd been hiding.
Dozens of his men followed behind him.
They'd arrived while Yeyu and Naruto were fighting.
They'd originally planned to intimidate Kakashi and the others into giving up on protecting Tazuna's bridge project.
But then they'd witnessed Yeyu fighting the rampaging Naruto.
The battle had been so cataclysmic that Gato no longer had the slightest will to resist.
He stared at the sea, still churning violently beside the ground that had been reduced to rubble, like broken tofu. For a long time, he couldn't calm down.
He swallowed. "Forget it. How many lives do I have to risk threatening that man?"
The samurai who had been so arrogant before were among the wandering swordsmen Gato had hired to protect him.
They'd even acted cocky in front of Zabuza.
Now, though, they fell silent. They didn't dare say a word.
That monstrous power belonged to two children from Konoha.
They were wandering swordsmen, not idiots.
No matter how much Gato paid, they wouldn't dare provoke Yeyu.
And they were even more afraid of Naruto.
He was a Jinchuriki. Yeyu had beaten him, but Yeyu was the only one who could.
If they went near him, Naruto would probably swat them to death in his rampage.
They'd be crushed as easily as flies.
Gato might have been arrogant, but he wasn't stupid.
After seeing that battle, he was already planning to move somewhere else. He didn't dare stay in the Land of Waves any longer.
After Yeyu and Anko brought Kakashi and the others back to Tazuna's house, they left.
They still had a mission to carry out.
Asama Sandayu had witnessed the entire battle.
He now felt that accepting this A-rank mission had been worth every bit of trouble.
With Yeyu there, Kazahana Koyuki couldn't possibly be in danger.
Was there anyone among the shinobi of the Land of Snow who could stand against Yeyu?
He'd thought before that Yeyu and Anko's team was led by Anko.
He'd assumed she was the one they relied on.
Now he understood. Yeyu was the team's undisputed main force.
He was a terrifyingly powerful warrior who had knocked out a rampaging Jinchuriki.
He'd done it with sheer strength, without a single flashy ninjutsu technique.
With nothing but direct, overwhelming physical power, he'd subdued a rampaging Jinchuriki capable of destroying an entire country.
The Tailed Beast Bomb, with an explosion powerful enough to destroy a small country, had been punched away by Yeyu.
He'd sent it flying with nothing but raw physical strength.
After Yeyu and Anko left,
Sakura was still in a daze as she looked after Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto at Tazuna's house.
Sitting in the room, she looked at the unconscious Sasuke and Naruto and Kakashi, whose bones were broken.
"Um, Kakashi-sensei, how is Yeyu so strong?"
She couldn't understand how someone who'd been so unremarkable at the Ninja Academy that she barely remembered him could have such terrifying power.
Did that mean all her outstanding performance at the Ninja Academy had been ridiculous?
Sakura was highly intelligent. She got perfect scores on the theory exams every time, and she was good in practical lessons, too.
She ranked just behind Sasuke in class.
It was only because her practical skills weren't as good as Sasuke's. In theory, she was first in the class.
Her practical ability was second only to Sasuke's.
Sasuke might seem like the weakest member of Team 7 now.
But back at the Ninja Academy, Sakura had been an exceptionally capable student.
That was clear from the Chunin Ninja Exams, when she solved every question that even Sasuke couldn't answer without any trouble—and got them all right.
But now, when she thought of how proud she'd been of her grades at the Ninja Academy, with a powerhouse like Yeyu right there beside her,
she felt ashamed.
It was like a student who'd just learned to throw shuriken boasting about their skills in front of a powerful shinobi.
Kakashi was silent for a long time.
He'd only learned how strong Yeyu was after Yeyu graduated.
"Sakura, everyone's different. Maybe Yeyu just got strong before you did. If you work a little harder..."
Kakashi couldn't bring himself to finish.
Lying took a lot of nerve.
Even after working in Anbu for years, he couldn't bring himself to make something like that up.
Seeing Kakashi fall silent, Sakura smiled bitterly. "Kakashi-sensei, even you think what you just said sounds ridiculous, don't you?"
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