The Eternal Genin

Toru clenched his fists into palms, taking a stance with one arm forward and one back. He lowered his body and stepped forward to attack.

Might Guy was caught off guard by Toru's sudden change in moves. He took several hits in quick succession and staggered backward several steps to create distance.

"This isn't the Hyuga Gentle Fist. It's the Uchiha Gentle Hand," Toru said.

Might Guy wore an enlightened expression.

In truth, Gentle Hand was a name Toru had made up on the spot. It was really just Gentle Fist.

Might Guy rallied himself and charged forward, raising his leg for a kick.

This flying side kick was heavy and powerful, strong enough to snap a large tree.

Leaf Strong Whirlwind!

This time, Toru did not take it head-on. Instead, he used softness to overcome strength, pressing one palm against Might Guy's leg and following its momentum to deflect the force. At the same time, his other palm struck Might Guy's body once more.

Might Guy lost his balance and staggered back with several muffled grunts before barely managing to steady himself.

Toru pressed his advantage, and the two engaged in close combat once more.

Gentle Fist was swift and adaptable, excelling at close-range exchanges, while Might Guy's movements were broad and forceful. With Toru pressed against him, he could not unleash his full power.

They traded blows without pause, each move coming faster than the last. Might Guy had no chance to break away and open up the distance.

Every time, Toru would close in on him again and land several palms on his body.

Might Guy only felt his movements becoming slower and more laborious, until he finally could no longer defend himself.

In an instant, Toru landed all his remaining palms on Might Guy. Every strike of the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms hit its mark, sealing more than half of Might Guy's chakra points and sending him flying. He could no longer rise.

Toru had won this taijutsu duel.

Might Guy lay flat on his back atop the rocky ground, struggling to push himself up with both hands.

Toru walked over and helped Might Guy to his feet, while also clearing the obstructed Chakra within his body.

As he treated him, Toru marveled inwardly at Might Guy's unusual physique. Even after taking the full Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms, the meridians in his body remained resilient. The marks left by the Gentle Fist even showed signs of healing already.

"As expected of Toru... You're stronger than me even in taijutsu..."

"I'll have to double tonight's training!"

Might Guy sighed, deciding that he would work twice as hard in his special training tonight.

Toru patted Might Guy on the shoulder. "Your taijutsu is strong. I acknowledge you."

"You haven't eaten lunch yet, have you? Come on, I'll take you out for barbecue."

Toru invited Might Guy to eat partly because he acknowledged Guy's strength, and partly because his Six Eyes had copied Guy's moves during their battle. This could be considered compensation.

Might Guy looked embarrassed and scratched his head. "I don't have much money..."

Toru waved it off carelessly. "It's fine. My treat."

Might Guy still felt somewhat embarrassed.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. We're classmates. If you don't come, you're disrespecting me," Toru said.

With that, Toru shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away.

Thinking Toru was angry, Might Guy hurried after him. "I'll go, I'll go."

And so, the two arrived at BBQ Q and enjoyed a hearty meal.

Might Guy had been embarrassed before they came, but the moment he entered the restaurant and smelled the barbecue, he started eating. His appetite was even larger than Uchiha Toru's, as though he had been starving for days.

They said Might Guy's father was an eternal genin, so his family was probably not well-off. Coupled with his year-round taijutsu training and enormous physical exertion, it was only natural that he had a large appetite. He probably could not afford meat very often.

Seeing this, Toru ordered several more plates of meat. It cost him quite a bit, but he had just completed a mission and had some spare money on hand.

Since grilling meat took time and both of them had such large appetites, the meal lasted more than an hour.

More than an hour later, the two were full and satisfied before finally getting up to leave the restaurant.

The moment they stepped outside, a figure caught their attention.

It was a man who looked remarkably like Guy. He had a dark, center-parted bowl cut and wore a green bodysuit with orange weighted leg wraps.

Perhaps the only difference was the yellow scarf around the man's neck.

The man was leaping about in the street, chasing a kitten ahead of him.

Toru recognized him at a glance as Might Guy's father, Might Duy. So the eternal genin really is doing cat-catching missions that only genin do.

Toru looked at Might Duy before them with great interest.

Might Guy, on the other hand, felt deeply embarrassed.

In his eyes, Uchiha Toru was Konoha's genius and would surely become a jonin in the future.

Yet his own father was only an insignificant genin, doing such humiliating low-level missions in the street.

Might Guy worried that Toru would mock his father.

Instead, Toru said something Guy never expected. "Guy, that's your father, isn't it?"

Might Guy nodded, and Toru smiled. "Your father is an interesting ninja. He's very strong."

"Interesting? Strong?" Might Guy looked at Toru. He thought Toru was mocking him, but Toru's expression seemed entirely sincere.

Toru nodded. "Yes. An interesting ninja."

With his Six Eyes, Toru had discovered that Might Duy was far from as simple as he appeared.

His body seemed to possess only genin-level Chakra, but the Six Eyes revealed abnormalities in Might Duy's meridians.

Judging from the traces in his meridians, Might Duy had once possessed at least jonin-level Chakra, which had caused some irreversible damage.

There were two possibilities.

One was that Might Duy had once been a jonin-level powerhouse, but had been injured for some reason and fallen to the level of a genin.

The other was that Might Duy truly was a genin, but possessed some secret technique that could temporarily raise his strength to the level of a jonin, causing the injuries and leaving behind such traces.

No matter which possibility was true, Might Duy was not the eternal genin the villagers spoke of.

Might Guy was somewhat confused. In his eyes, his father, Might Duy, really was an ordinary genin. Like himself, he had no talent for ninjutsu whatsoever.

Even in taijutsu talent, Might Duy was inferior to Might Guy. At the Ninja Academy, Might Guy could run five thousand laps around the field, while Might Duy could only run five hundred.

How could someone like Might Duy earn such an evaluation from Toru? Might Guy could not understand it.

After parting with Toru, Might Guy did not return home. Instead, he went to the Training Ground where he usually trained and began his special training.

He trained until nightfall, leaving the wooden training posts covered in deep dents from his blows.

Might Guy's hands fared no better. The bandages around them were soaked through with his blood and sweat.

Might Guy was drenched in sweat, yet he still declared, "Five thousand punches! If I can't do it, then two thousand squats!"

"My youth will not surrender!"

Half an hour later, Might Guy finally completed five thousand punches and sat down wearily to rest for a moment.

At that moment, Might Duy appeared in the Training Ground. When he saw Guy, he walked over while wiping the sweat from his forehead. "That cat was really hard to catch. It took me until this late."

Might Duy walked to Guy's side and froze when he saw the injuries on Guy's hands. He had not seen Guy train this desperately in a long time, to the point that he did not even care about injuring his hands.

"Guy, have you run into some kind of trouble?"

Might Duy asked with concern.

Although Guy believed his father could not really help him, he still told him about losing to Uchiha Toru in the field he excelled at most.

After listening, Might Duy's expression turned serious as well. He patted Might Guy on the shoulder and spoke earnestly. "It seems your path of youth has encountered a bottleneck."

"As your father, there is only one last thing I can do."

"Listen carefully. You must watch closely, Guy."

As he spoke, Might Duy walked to an open area nearby, as though he were about to demonstrate something.

Might Guy immediately remembered Toru's words—"Your father is an interesting ninja. He's very strong."

"Father... Isn't he an eternal genin?"