I Treated You as a True Friend, and You Made Me Wear Underwear Outside My Pants?

That offhand remark made Ye's eyelids twitch wildly.

Without any chakra enhancement, Guy had relied purely on honing his body day after day to force out this inhuman level of training.

Looking at the watermelon-headed boy smiling so earnestly before him, Ye could not help but admit that Guy was a true professional.

This only strengthened his resolve to mooch the Eight Gates from him.

"Fine."

Ye gritted his teeth and answered decisively, "Let's test the waters today."

Their taijutsu training officially began.

The two of them launched into a frenzied torture session on the training grounds.

They went from sparring with fists to weighted running, then pull-ups and push-ups, before finally moving on to handstand walking.

Relying on the chakra reserves of a Peak Genin, Ye forcibly kept pace with the terrifying drain on his stamina.

But under such intense strain, the muscle-tearing soreness still pierced straight to his core in wave after wave.

His sweat dried, then soaked him through again.

Before he knew it, the sky had already darkened.

Past eight o'clock that night, the two began their final torment—handstand walking.

Supporting himself with alternating hands, Ye trudged miserably behind Guy's backside.

Walking upside down the entire way, they left the bustling commercial district and headed into the outskirts of Konoha.

There were fewer and fewer houses around them, and the lights gradually disappeared as well.

Until the surroundings became so dark that they could not see their hands in front of their faces.

When the night wind blew, the already uneven dirt road became even more eerie.

Guy, who was walking ahead, shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Ye! Be careful! There are no streetlights here, and the ground is uneven. Don't sprain your wrist!"

In this pitch-black environment, the difficult handstand training instantly became a mine-clearing game.

One slip of the hand, and this gravel-covered dirt road would definitely leave someone disfigured on the spot.

Ye clenched his molars and felt his way through the rough sand and stones with his palms.

Their speed plummeted, and they were about to regress into crawling like turtles.

Just then, Ye caught sight of an abandoned old public restroom by the roadside.

Weeds grew thickly around it, its walls were peeling, and it was as dark as a haunted house.

An idea suddenly flashed through Ye's mind.

He pushed off with both hands, twisted at the waist, and landed steadily on his feet.

His thoughts swiftly entered the system space.

His right hand naturally slipped into his pocket.

That bizarre item he had kept buried at the bottom of his stash appeared in his palm.

[Extremely Blinding Glow-in-the-Dark Green Underwear: Put it on, and you will become the brightest source of light in the night. No matter how many pairs of pants you wear over it, nothing can stop its penetrating glow.]

Guy had just flipped back onto his feet and was about to ask why Ye had stopped.

But Ye had already swiftly and decisively stuffed the bundle of cloth into his hands.

Pointing at the abandoned public restroom ahead, Ye began to talk nonsense with a solemn expression.

"Guy, this is top-tier equipment I specially tailored for you. Go put it on over your jumpsuit."

Guy lowered his head and stared at the glowing green bundle of cloth, his brain short-circuiting for two seconds.

His mind was full of question marks: Why were underwear supposed to be worn outside?

What kind of bizarre outfit was this?

But his best friend's arrangements must have had some profound meaning!

Driven by his absurdly blind trust in Ye, Guy did not hesitate.

Holding the bundle of cloth in both hands, he strode valiantly into the pitch-black restroom.

Three seconds later.

Ye stood outside the restroom with his arms crossed.

A rustling sound of fabric rubbing together came from within.

The next second.

Without any warning.

The decrepit abandoned restroom seemed to be ignited by some mysterious force and trembled slightly.

A blinding fluorescent green light burst from every crack between its bricks and every shattered window!

The light savagely tore through the darkness and shot into the sky!

Within a radius of more than ten meters, everything was illuminated by that vibrant green light as brightly as day.

The gravel on the ground and the ants migrating through the grass were all visible with perfect clarity beneath the green glow.

Even the veins on leaves hanging from distant branches could be seen distinctly.

Ye instinctively narrowed his eyes and raised a hand to shield himself from the brutally intense light.

Seeing the absurd spectacle this piece of system junk had created, he clapped his hands in satisfaction.

Sure enough, with a little creative thinking, even system-produced trash could become a god-tier cheat.

This brightness would be more than enough to serve as a spotlight for Konoha's ANBU!

"Creak!"

The restroom's crumbling door was flung open.

Might Guy walked out with confident strides.

At that moment, he was an automatic, high-powered humanoid walking lamp.

Guy looked down at his glowing, cyberpunk-like skin, then at the dirt road ahead, which had been lit as brightly as day.

His eyes instantly turned red again.

"Ye!"

Guy let out a powerful roar that echoed wildly through Konoha's night sky.

"This equipment not only doesn't hinder movement, it even guides our youth through the darkness! It's too dazzling!"

He raised both fists high, and the fluorescent green glow across his body flashed even more violently as his muscles tensed.

"This is the light of youth!!!"

[Ding! Recognition Points from Might Guy: +500!]

The green light made Ye stumble backward repeatedly as he looked at the glowing watermelon head, who was so excited he looked ready to take off on the spot.

He could not help laughing as well.

Now that was thinking outside the box. The correct way to repurpose system junk was simply unbeatable.

"Come on, let's keep grinding."

Without another word, Ye flipped over, planted his hands on the ground, and resumed handstand walking.

Guy marched valiantly at the very front, his humanoid spotlight running at full power and blazing a green path ahead.

Ye followed behind, pushing forward under the powerful light.

His view was as clear as daytime, and he avoided every piece of gravel on the ground with ease.

His handstand walking speed instantly returned to its peak.

On the very first day of this exhausting taijutsu training, Ye had somehow managed to give it a creative twist.

As long as he kept grinding alongside this "Green-Light Spotlight" every day, obtaining the Eight Gates would only be a matter of time.

The Sarutobi compound, late at night.

When Hiruzen pushed open the door to his home, the hands of the clock had already passed ten.

The ceiling light in the entryway cast a warm glow, and three dishes and a soup sat on the dining table.

A layer of oil had congealed over the food, and the steam in the soup bowl had long since faded.

Asuma sat at the table with one hand propping up his chin.

The three large bumps on his forehead were covered with conspicuous cross-shaped bandages, while the cut on his lip had only just formed a dark red scab.

When he heard the door open, he did not even raise his eyes.

With his right hand, he lazily poked at the rice in his bowl with his chopsticks, his face full of impatience.

Biwako hurried out of the kitchen, took Hiruzen's Hokage robe and hung it on the rack, then lowered her voice to complain that he was late again.

Hiruzen rubbed his brow, changed into loose casual clothes, pulled out a chair, and sat down at the table.

He had just picked up his chopsticks.

Asuma finally lifted his eyelids, shot him a sidelong glance, and spoke with the resentment and barbs unique to a teenager.

"Oh, the busy man's back."

Biwako frowned and immediately scolded him. "Asuma, is that any way to speak to your father?"

Hiruzen chuckled and waved a hand, stopping his wife's rebuke. His tone was gentle. "It's fine. Let's eat."

The three began eating.

Only the soft clinking of bowls and chopsticks remained at the table, while the atmosphere sank into an awkward silence.

Hiruzen picked at his food slowly, his peripheral vision casually passing over the crisscrossing bandages on Asuma's face and his swollen bruises.

As well as the pants that were clearly newly changed.

A trace of complicated emotion flashed through his eyes, but he asked nothing.

The silence continued for half a minute.

Hiruzen set down his chopsticks, lifted his teacup, and took a sip of hot tea.

His tone was as casual as if he were discussing the weather.

"Asuma, I heard you have a classmate named Uchiha Ye?"

Asuma's hand paused noticeably as he picked up food.

A piece of fried egg at the tips of his chopsticks dropped back onto the plate with a plop.

His shoulders visibly tensed, and his back stiffened ramrod straight.

That single sentence instantly reminded him of some unpleasant things.