Time flew by in the blink of an eye.
Yanbai still held the Hokage position, and no one dared question him.
Yanbai also trained his four disciples rigorously. They were already excellent, but that still wasn't enough.
These days, Yanbai's daily entertainment was watching Uchiha Fugaku and Senju Nawaki's "duels to a draw," which had been going on for years.
After becoming Yanbai's disciple, Fugaku had also joined the "Correction Army." Nawaki had originally had an edge over Fugaku in looks, but now they were both handsome in their own ways, making a winner truly difficult to determine.
Yanbai figured that if Fugaku ever lost, it would definitely be because Nawaki had "tanked" him into defeat.
Fugaku's attacks either failed to break through Nawaki's defenses or couldn't keep up with the speed of his escape;
Nawaki, meanwhile, had maxed out both escape and defense, but his offensive power was relatively weak. Perhaps because he practiced the "Escape Technique," the word "timid" barely began to describe how he fought.
Neither could do anything about the other.
Whatever techniques they actually used, this was how Yanbai saw it:
Fugaku: "Pickpocketing!"
Nawaki: "Impenetrable Defense!"
Fugaku: "Kill, kill, kill!"
Nawaki: "Dodge, dodge, dodge!"
Yanbai watched this scene like a comedy routine every day and enjoyed it immensely.
After several years of "tempering," Senju Nawaki was no weakling anymore. Still, if Yanbai had to make a comparison, he was probably on the level of Asuma Sarutobi in the original story-and an Asuma who had maxed out his escape skills while neglecting his offensive ones, at that.
Nawaki was better suited to gathering intelligence than charging in to attack.
To Yanbai, however, staying alive was probably victory enough. Outlive every enemy, and you would be invincible.
With that philosophy, Yanbai spent day after day in