A Kick That Sent the Sickly Man Flying

Hayate Gekko's curved blade stabbed toward him with a howling gust of wind. Moon-white chakra trailed from the blade in a curved streak through the night breeze, making it look quite intimidating.

Chiba could not even be bothered to turn around.

Beneath the clothes on his back, the Wood Release meridian patterns on his skin flashed. A palm-sized wooden shield grew from between his shoulder blades, a thin sheet covered in dense tree-ring patterns.

Hayate Gekko's curved blade struck the wooden shield.

Crack.

It was not the shield that shattered. It was the blade.

The moment the moon-white chakra touched the shield's surface, Wood Release's absorptive properties instantly drained it dry. Without chakra reinforcement, the curved blade was just an ordinary piece of iron. A Chunin-level strike against the manifested Wood Release defense of a Perfect Sage Body was no different from smashing an egg against a city wall.

Cracks spread from the point of contact and raced across the blade. Within a third of a second, the entire weapon shattered into seven or eight uneven fragments of iron, clattering and bouncing across the stone.

Hayate Gekko's hand remained in the thrusting position, holding only a bare hilt. The web between his thumb and forefinger had split open from the backlash of the break.

His face was deathly pale beneath the moonlight, his lips an unhealthy bluish-purple from years of coughing. Yet a sickly jealousy and possessiveness burned in his eyes.

Chiba finally turned around. He looked at the gaunt man standing behind him, his gaze carrying a teasing amusement that made one's skin crawl.

"Hayate Gekko. Unofficial ANBU personnel. Second disciple of Konoha Style. Late-stage tuberculosis patient."

Chiba's tone was as casual and precise as if he were reading from a medical chart.

"You're coughing so hard you're practically about to cough up a lung. Instead of lying at home recovering in the middle of the night, you came up Hokage Rock to ambush me?"

Hayate Gekko's teeth ground audibly. His empty left hand clenched into a fist and rose to point at Chiba.

"Senju Chiba, don't think I don't know what you're doing! You seduced Yugao! You used despicable means to get close to her! Someone like you doesn't deserve to touch her!"

Chiba glanced down at the hand still around Yugao's waist, then looked up at Hayate Gekko's twisted face. He wore an expression so smug it begged to be punched.

"Brother Hayate, what is this? You've had a crush on her for over ten years and never dared confess, but the moment you see someone else get close, you jump out and lose your mind? What did they call this in the twenty-first century again? Oh, right. A simp having an episode."

"You!"

A violent coughing fit surged up in Hayate Gekko's chest. He bent over and coughed several times, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, but his legs still stubbornly refused to retreat.

Chiba released Yugao's waist and gently pushed her half a step aside before turning to face Hayate Gekko.

"Captain Yugao, step back a little. Don't let it splash on you."

Yugao had not yet understood what Chiba meant.

Chiba raised his right leg.

The movement was not fast—at least, it did not look fast. But the instant that leg rose, Hayate Gekko's body reacted defensively, crossing both arms over his chest.

It was useless.

Chiba's foot slammed solidly into Hayate Gekko's crossed arms. Wood Release chakra erupted from the sole of his foot, the force punching straight through the defense and crashing into his sternum.

A dull thud.

Hayate Gekko's body flew into the air like a baseball struck by a bat. The instant his feet left the ground, he sprayed out a massive mist of blood, red droplets scattering beneath the moonlight.

His body flew over forty meters before his back crashed into the rock wall on the side of Hokage Rock. The sound of stone shattering overlapped with the dull impact of a human body smashing into it.

Rubble and dust rained down from the impact site. Hayate Gekko was embedded in the rock wall, his limbs splayed at strange angles. Blood streamed from both the corners of his mouth and his nostrils, and his eyes were unfocused.

Chiba lowered his leg and dusted off the bit of grit that had gotten on his pant leg.

"Sickly runt, don't come out chasing girls. Go home and get your lungs healthy first."

Yugao stood where she was. Her violet eyes reflected Hayate Gekko's figure embedded in the rock wall. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and her fingertips trembled.

"Lord Chiba, you hit him too hard."

"Too hard?" Chiba turned to look at her. Moonlight slid over the side of his face, and his expression held an unquestionable certainty. "An unofficial Chunin-level operative launched an unauthorized sneak attack while I was accepting the Third Hokage's test mission. On a battlefield, he would've died eight hundred times over already. I only kicked him once and left him alive. That was already out of consideration for you."

Yugao opened her mouth, but could not find a rebuttal.

Chiba stepped forward and stopped in front of her. Less than half a meter separated them. Moonlight spilled over his shoulders, coating his outline in silver.

"Uzuki Yugao, your swordsmanship is good. Fourteen years of training have given you a solid foundation, and your mastery of Dance of the Crescent Moon ranks first among Konoha Style's current disciples."

Yugao looked up at his face. Pride instinctively welled up in her violet eyes at the praise.

"But you're wasting yourself in ANBU."

Her pride turned into confusion.

Chiba raised his right hand, held his index and middle fingers together, and gently tapped the web between the thumb and forefinger of Yugao's sword hand. The spot still bore a scrape from the earlier fight.

"The ultimate pursuit of Konoha Style is to surpass the speed limit of the blade itself. What you need is purer Wind Release chakra to complement your swordsmanship. ANBU cannot give you that, and neither can the Third Hokage."

Yugao's breath caught for a beat when his fingers touched her hand.

Chiba withdrew his hand and stepped back half a pace, leaving her room to breathe.

"Starting today, quit ANBU. Come work at my side as my personal sword attendant. I'll teach you true Senju Style swordsmanship and provide you with the finest Wind Release training resources."

Yugao's lips moved slightly. Moonlight fell across her unmasked face. In those deep violet eyes reflecting Chiba's figure, her pupils trembled.

Several chakra signatures came from the distant rock wall. Someone was hurrying over.

"The ANBU are coming to collect your fellow disciple. You don't need to answer me tonight. Think it over first." Chiba slipped his hands into his pockets, turned, and headed down from Hokage Rock with an unhurried gait.

After taking a few steps, he stopped and glanced back at Yugao.

"Oh, and don't pick up the mask. It doesn't suit you."