Chasing the Hokage's Son with a Brick-You Call This a Bond?

"Running?"

Ye sneered, the smile on his face widening.

The Peak Genin-level Chakra he had just fused with erupted without reservation.

Vast energy surged through his meridians, instantly filling the muscles in his legs.

"Bang!"

The bluestone slabs beneath his feet cracked on the spot, sending shards of stone flying.

Ye shot forward with the brick in hand, leaving behind an afterimage.

[Guard-Break Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +888!]

[Guard-Break Points from Kurenai Yuhi, +233!]

The two figures launched into an utterly absurd life-or-death sprint through Konoha's streets, one chasing the other.

In less than two seconds, Ye had closed to within ten meters behind Asuma.

Up ahead, Asuma ran as though his soul was about to leave his body, tears and snot streaming behind him in the wind.

His legs pumped like spinning wheels, and he had even flung off one of his shoes.

He looked back in despair.

In his sight, that cursed star was raising a red brick and pursuing him relentlessly.

Relying on his Chakra advantage, Ye clung to him like a shadow. Boosted by Chakra far beyond that of his peers, his voice rang out like a great bell, shaking half the street.

He shouted at the top of his lungs as he ran.

"Asuma! Why are you running?!"

"Didn't you say on the Training Ground that you wanted to defend Lord Hokage's dignity?! Didn't the Hokage's son swear never to back down?!"

"Stop! Let the brick in my hand have a fair duel with your proud forehead!"

"Don't dodge! Just one hit! It definitely won't go in!"

Every word struck straight at his heart. Every single word!

Asuma nearly broke down on the spot. A duel, my ass!

What kind of ninja dueled by slapping bricks onto someone's forehead?!

"Don't come any closer—aaah!"

Asuma shrieked in a cracking voice as he ran. In his panic, he crashed headfirst into a fruit stand by the roadside.

Dozens of apples rolled across the ground, startling the vendor into frantic chaos.

Ye lightly leaped up, stepped on the apples in midair, and landed smoothly three meters away, continuing to follow steadily behind him.

[Guard-Break Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +666!]

[Guard-Break Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +444!]

[Guard-Break Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +555!]

The system notifications chimed nonstop in the background, denser than firecrackers during New Year.

Listening to the Guard-Break Points ticking up in his mind, Ye completely let loose and ran with increasing vigor.

To maximize his Guard-Break Point gains, Ye was in no hurry to catch up.

He maintained a precisely oppressive distance of ten meters.

Whenever Asuma slowed down, the brick in Ye's hand would whistle through the air in a feigned throwing motion.

Forcing the Hokage's son to squeeze out even more strength and frantically speed up again.

"Isn't that Lord Hokage's son? Who's chasing him?!"

"Chasing the Hokage's son with a brick? Has that guy lost his mind?!"

Konoha's villagers stopped one after another, staring wide-eyed at this surreal scene.

Like a whirlwind, the two of them tore wildly past the corner of Third Street.

In the open area by that street corner.

Might Guy, dressed in his green jumpsuit, was doing one-handed push-ups while standing on his head.

He was carrying out his after-school hellish training of "Youth Handstand Walking Five Hundred Laps."

"Nine hundred and ninety-eight... nine hundred and ninety-nine..."

Suddenly, dense footsteps and miserable screams rang out.

Two afterimages flashed past with a whoosh, and the gust they kicked up nearly blew Guy over.

Guy struggled to turn his neck. From his inverted view, he recognized the tireless figure in the back, running with a brick in hand.

Uchiha Ye!

Guy froze.

Those steady, powerful strides, that relentless persistence, and those powerful shouts echoing through the streets!

In that instant, Guy's eyes reddened without warning.

Huge, burning tears flowed backward down his upside-down cheeks before crashing straight onto the ground.

"So... I completely misunderstood Ye!"

Guy flipped upright, clenching his fists tightly. His entire body trembled from overwhelming excitement.

"Not only could he let out those sighs in theory class that transcended the mundane world and struck straight at the soul!"

"After school, he was even doing such wild endurance pursuit training!"

"Was the brick in his hand his highest tribute to weighted training?!"

"He isn't a cold and heartless person! He possesses such hot-blooded, chasing youth too! This is the running of youth!"

Guy raised his head and looked at the sunset, already dyed orange-red. His green clothes seemed about to burst into flame.

He let out a roar that shook the soul.

"Burn, Ye!!"

"Burn, Might Guy!!!"

"How could I possibly be left out of such a blood-boiling moment?! Count me in!!!"

The instant his words fell, Guy's legs smashed through the stone slabs beneath him.

Like a crazed wild horse, he erupted with fierce fighting spirit and charged straight toward the sprinting group ahead, joining the chase.

Up ahead.

Asuma had already been close to his limit.

Hearing the earthshaking roar behind him, he struggled to glance back.

That one look sent his soul flying out of his body.

There were now two lunatics behind him instead of one.

The madman with the brick still wore an utterly benevolent smile.

Behind the madman followed a thick-browed watermelon-haired guy, his eyes gleaming with eerie green light.

His mouth was wide open, his fists were flying, and he was closing in at an utterly terrifying speed!

"Ahhh!!! Help!!!"

Asuma's vision went black, warmth spread beneath his crotch, and he was utterly swallowed by despair.

[Guard-Break Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +999!!!]

Under Konoha's setting sun.

The Hokage's son ran in front, the brick-wielding demon lord followed behind, and the wild green-skinned monster brought up the rear.

Accompanied by heart-rending screams, the three figures ran farther and farther toward Konoha's busiest Shopping Street.

Inside the nearby Hokage Building.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had been about to take a sip of tea to calm himself, watched the entire scene through the Crystal Ball.

An ANBU ninja knelt on one knee outside the door, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. He did not even dare breathe loudly as he waited for the highest order.

Meanwhile, Ye, running through Konoha's streets, looked at the wildly jumping numbers on the System Panel and smiled brilliantly.

His account balance was surging toward the one-hundred-thousand mark at an insane rate.

On Konoha's outskirts, in the dilapidated district at the end of Third Street.

The setting sun cast three long shadows across the uneven dirt road.

There were gradually fewer and fewer people, and only a few general stores with shuttered doors remained on either side of the run-down street.

Asuma ran in front.

His stride had deteriorated from his initial mad sprint into a stumbling drag.

His legs felt as heavy as if they had been filled with lead.

He panted continuously, his eyes bloodshot.

He had never suffered such humiliation in his life!

He was the Hokage's son!

Konoha's crown prince!

And now an Uchiha was chasing him through the streets with a brick like he was a dog!

Asuma ran while looking back.

In his sight, Ye leisurely followed ten meters away, tossing the rough red brick in his left hand as he walked with light steps.

Peak Genin-level Chakra circulated through his body. Ye had not even broken a sweat, and his relaxed expression said it all.

Ye was not looking at Asuma ahead of him at all.

His gaze was fixed on the System Panel before him, his brow slightly furrowed.

The string of high-value "+999" and "+666" notifications from the system had begun to change in an extremely strange way.

[Guard-Break Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +44!]

[Guard-Break Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +12!]

[Guard-Break Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +3!]

Ye's face immediately darkened.

What the hell, why was there inflation in reverse now?

It had gone from three-digit numbers at the start to single digits popping up now.

The Hokage's son's fear threshold had already been maxed out.

To him, the simple chase had shifted from "I'm going to die" to the numb resignation of "I can't get away anyway."

This brat had actually developed resistance to bricks?