"Really?!"
"Yeah, really."
The woman was instantly amazed. She circled Tietou, who was warming himself up, looking him over from every angle as if he were some rare treasure.
"Hey, Mom! What are you doing?!"
"Nothing. I'm just checking whether you really got stronger."
"Ha! Could my master possibly be wrong?"
"Master? When did you take on a master?"
Tietou's eyes shifted as he cautiously watched Uchiha Gen's reaction. Yet Gen remained seated with his eyes closed, calmly resting, without the slightest response.
He had not actually taken him as his master, but since Gen had taught him these skills, what difference was there?
"Hmph... Sooner or later, he will be."
Seeing this, the woman understood her child's thoughts perfectly. Looking at Uchiha Gen's still exquisite face, she silently sighed.
How could a grass carp in a muddy pit compare to a carp that leapt through the Dragon Gate?
Day after day, year after year, life remained peaceful and undisturbed.
The little village was not particularly remote, yet it was difficult to find. Anyone coming in from outside had to cross two mountains. Although one of them had already collapsed, those who did not know that would see the outer mountain and turn back in discouragement. It truly had the air of a paradise hidden from the world.
Uchiha Gen had lived here for three years. What had begun as simply going with the flow and taking things as they came had gradually become a clarity of mind.
He... should leave.
"Master, Master! I finally learned how to look within myself!"
"...Good! Keep it up!"
Three years... It had taken him three years just to go from external training to internal training. By the time Tietou achieved Qi Body Clarity, it would probably be decades from now.
Over the