The Leek Squeezed Dry of Its Last Bit of Value

Ye did not stop.

The moment Asuma saw those gold-plated Kunai, his psychological defenses came crashing down.

What kind of student casually pulled out a bunch of Kunai made of pure gold?!

Just how rich was this Uchiha?!

How insane was he?!

Asuma completely abandoned his dignity.

Tears and snot streamed down his face as he frantically pressed his hands together before his chest and repeatedly kowtowed to Ye.

Then he slammed his forehead directly against the ground, sobbing miserably.

"Don't come any closer! Bro! I'll call you bro! My real big brother!"

"I was wrong! I was really wrong! I had a loose mouth on the Training Ground!"

"Please, put down that brick! Put down the Kunai, Ye! Spare my life! I'll never do it again!"

Ye stopped and tilted his head.

He looked down at Asuma, listening to that heart-wrenching cry of "big brother."

"Brother?"

Ye chuckled.

"You called me that too soon."

If he did not keep running, then there was no more value left to squeeze out.

Ye did not waste words. He answered Asuma's plea with action.

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye bent his knees slightly and launched himself into the air without warning!

While airborne, Ye smoothly completed a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree spin and hung in the air.

He held the red brick behind his back with his left hand, while his right hand borrowed the violent rotational force from his waist and flung forward!

"Ahhh!!!"

Asuma clutched his head with both hands, shut his eyes, and let out a miserable howl.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Four crisp, rhythmic sounds of metal sinking into wood exploded beside Asuma's ears.

The agonizing pain he expected never came.

Asuma trembled as he opened his eyes and swallowed thickly.

The four Kunai looked as though they had been thrown by the world's greatest master of tracing human outlines.

They had neatly and perfectly "drawn" Asuma's silhouette onto the wall.

One was embedded in the dirt between his legs, less than half an inch from his vital parts.

One grazed past the outer sides of his arms and sank deeply into the wooden crate behind him.

One brushed along either side of his neck and nailed itself firmly into the wall.

The last one hovered almost directly above his head, cutting off a corner of his forehead protector.

Not one had touched his skin.

Yet every one of them had come close enough for him to feel the chill of the metal.

Perfectly orderly.

Perfectly symmetrical.

This required not only terrifying throwing skill, but an exceptionally cruel mentality!

Asuma's entire body went stiff for two full seconds.

Then his pupils dilated, his brain completely crashed, and even his ability to think was forcibly erased by that display.

His head lolled to one side, his Byakugan rolled back, and white foam appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Like a puddle of mud, he slid limply down the wall and passed out beneath it.

Ye landed steadily and dusted off his hands.

The system's voice rang through his mind one last time.

[ Ding! Guard-Break Points from Asuma Sarutobi: +0.01. ]

Ye stared at that number in silence for three seconds.

Zero point zero one.

Did I seriously squeeze him until he shut down?

He looked down at the unconscious Asuma, then at the System Panel, and let out a deep sigh.

The dignified son of the Hokage had actually been squeezed below single digits.

"He's done. This leek can't be harvested anymore today."

Ye looked down at the lonely "0.01" on the System Panel and sighed helplessly.

He had squeezed him until he shut down.

He stepped forward and briskly pulled the Kunai from the wall and the ground one by one.

With a thought, the Kunai turned into motes of light and vanished into his palm, safely returning to the System Space.

Then he crouched down and gave Asuma two moderate slaps to the face.

"Wake up. Stop playing dead."

Asuma's body jerked violently as he slowly came to.

The instant his pupils focused, he saw the face before him, backlit by the setting sun.

"Ahhh!!!"

As though electrocuted, he sprang straight up from the ground, scrambling backward on hands and feet until his back pressed tightly against the rough red-brick wall.

He kept retreating until the back of his head struck the corner of the wall with a bang, leaving him nowhere to go.

He clutched his head tightly with both hands, curled his body into a ball, and screamed hysterically in a voice filled with utter Zetsu-like despair.

"Don't come any closer! I really give up!"

Ye did not move.

Seeing Asuma look like a startled bird, he slowly put away that hair-raising smile from before.

The shift in expression was so smooth that it could have been a textbook demonstration of changing faces.

Ye lowered his voice and put on an expression of extreme sincerity and calm.

His tone was as gentle as though he were soothing a frightened little animal.

"Don't worry, Asuma. Today's spar ends here."

He paused and spread both hands, palms up, showing that he was unarmed.

"I Zetsu-ly will not attack you again."

Asuma's whole body stiffened.

Carefully, he moved his hands away from around his head just enough to leave a narrow gap and stared fixedly at Ye.

His voice still trembled. "Y-you... you really mean that?"

Ye nodded heavily, a brilliantly sunny smile spreading across his lips.

That smile was as clean as a clear April day in Konoha.

There was not the slightest hint of killing intent, as though the person who had chased him across half of Konoha with a brick simply did not exist.

The nerves Asuma had stretched to their limit finally snapped with a “pop”.

He exhaled a long breath of stale air, and his entire body went limp as though his bones had been pulled out, sliding back down the wall.

Only then did he realize that his shoes had somehow flown off while he was running.

The soles of his blister-covered feet burned with pain.

The muscles in his calves, swollen and aching to the point of nearly tearing apart, constantly reminded him how desperately he had run just moments ago.

Asuma laboriously raised his head and swept his gaze over Ye's entire body.

To his horror, he realized something.

After such an intense chase and so much Ninja Tools throwing, Uchiha Ye had not even broken a sweat.

Even the wrinkles in his clothes had not been disturbed.

Asuma laughed bitterly inside.

It's over.

Completely over.

He isn't even on the same level as me.

From beginning to end, I was just a dog being toyed with one-sidedly.

The last trace of resistance in him vanished like smoke.

Ye generously extended his right hand and pulled the limp Asuma up from the ground in one motion.

He thoughtfully brushed the dirt and gravel from Asuma's clothes.

His movements were natural, and his force was just right.

Only, those hands very precisely avoided the area around Asuma's crotch, where the color had noticeably darkened.

Ye sighed solemnly. "I guess the two of us really got acquainted through a fight."

Asuma opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but having no idea what to say.

His feelings were incredibly complicated right now.

Did he hate Ye?

He did.

Was he afraid?

Terrified.

But looking at Ye's overly sincere face, what he felt more than anything was the helplessness of having been completely conquered.

He swallowed all the words at his lips. Right now, he only wanted to go home and wash his pants.

Ding!

[ Guard-Break Points from Asuma Sarutobi: +0.01! ]

Ye's expression did not change.

Fine. Even a mosquito's leg was still meat.

Amid that strange silence, hurried footsteps came from the entrance of the alley.

"What a magnificent friendship!!!"

A thunderous roar exploded from the alley entrance.

Might Guy rushed in, drenched in sweat. Beneath his thick eyebrows, his round eyes stared fixedly at the moving scene of these former enemies becoming friends.

Uchiha Ye was gently dusting Asuma off, and although Asuma looked disheveled, he did not have a single external injury.

Two streams of hot tears instantly poured from Guy's eyes as he raised both fists to the sky and roared.

"A bond forged through life-and-death trials! A conversation of souls exchanged through fists! This is the purest youth!"

"Ye! You used your fists to make Asuma acknowledge your strength, then used your broad heart to accept your former opponent!"

"This friendship, where brutality and tenderness coexist, makes Might Guy's blood boil!"

The corners of Asuma's eyes began twitching wildly, and his lips trembled.

He almost smashed my skull open with a brick!

He almost used Kunai to confiscate my tools of the trade!

You blind, single-celled amoeba!

Asuma let out a miserable cry in his heart: You can keep this deadly youth to experience by yourself from now on!

I Zetsu-ly will not accompany you!