The raging river surged back in with a deafening roar, and a new lake was taking shape before their eyes.
"Wh... what is this..." The cigarette fell from Asuma's mouth, trailing wisps of smoke on the ground, but he never noticed.
Kurenai Yuhi was pale. She stared fixedly at the smooth walls of the crater, her body trembling slightly with lingering fear.
"That wasn't a kekkei tōta," she said softly, her voice carrying a trace of dreamlike bewilderment.
Asuma whipped his head toward her. "What are you saying? Uchiha Itachi said it himself. That was Dust Release..."
"No!" Kurenai Yuhi's voice grew emphatic. "A kekkei tōta is innate, a gift of the bloodline. But he... he used brute force to force three completely unrelated chakra nature transformations... together!"
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. "That wasn't a bloodline ability. It was something even more outrageous, more unreasonable than a bloodline ability... monstrous talent!"
Asuma fell silent.
He finally understood the source of that terror.
It wasn't inheriting some legendary power. It was creating a legend with his own hands!
Kurenai Yuhi suddenly gave a bitter smile, her self-mockery tinged with relief. "Asuma, I was thinking... maybe I should retire? Find somewhere to settle down, get married, have a child, and spend the rest of my life in peace. That doesn't sound so bad."
Being a ninja in the same era as a monster like that was simply too exhausting.
Just then, several figures arrived with the Body Flicker Technique.
"Asuma! Kurenai! Are you all right?"
Kakashi Hatake arrived belatedly with Might Guy and several jonin, but when they took in the sight before them, they all froze as though someone had cast a paralysis jutsu on them.
Might Guy's trademark fiery grin froze on his