My Wind Release Was Unusually Powerful

That afternoon, in the Small Grove in the hills behind Konoha.

A young man and woman sat on a bluestone beside the river, watching the rushing stream and exchanging looks.

This was the edge of Konoha. A little farther ahead lay the forbidden area outside the village, the Forest of Death.

It lay beyond Konoha's barrier, making it an excellent place to practice ninjutsu.

Of course, ninjutsu was not the only thing they could practice. Taijutsu... was an option too.

Oto Uchiha looked up at Zou Hyuga. "Are we doing it by the river today, or inside the Forest of Death...?"

Oto's wording was misleading. Zou filtered out the irrelevant information. "The Forest of Death. We're sparring with taijutsu today, but there's something I want to tell you. This isn't a good place for it."

"All right!" Oto nodded. Anywhere was fine. She did not mind.

"Have you got your kunai and shuriken ready? And your explosive tags?"

Before they left the protection of Konoha's barrier, Zou reminded her several times.

He had once wandered into the Forest of Death by accident and encountered a beast he could barely handle.

If he had not grabbed his kunai, activated his Byakugan, and delivered a fatal sliding strike, he probably... would have already returned to nature.

Oto nodded again, not annoyed in the slightest.

Practicing with Zou made her feel completely safe. He was like a big brother.

They climbed through the trees into the Forest of Death, having applied insect repellent beforehand. Only venomous snakes and wild beasts required their vigilance.

With his Byakugan activated, Zou stood at the rear, taking in everything within a kilometer.

The Byakugan did not have as many functions as the Sharingan, but it was simple, convenient, and consumed relatively little chakra.

With Zou's current chakra reserves, keeping it active for two or three hours was no problem.

Longer? He had never tested that. Going too long without blinking dried out his eyelids and made his eyes hurt.

After scanning their surroundings and finding nothing unusual, Zou deactivated his Byakugan and looked at Oto's back.

Peeping at a teammate with the Byakugan was very rude. He had stolen a few glances during the war, but all he could say was that the view was barely passable-even below the Uchiha Clan's average. It really was not worth it.

He pulled back his sleeve, revealing black markings that gave off a faint glow invisible to the naked eye.

Over the past few days, Zou had been studying the natural chakra he had discovered. After wreaking havoc on the underground population of lab mice, he had turned his research toward other animals.

Since money was tight, he could only look for quality specimens in the Forest of Death.

The beasts in the Forest of Death were intended for the Chunin Ninja Exams and were much fiercer than those outside.

He had been promoted directly to chunin without using any examination resources. Surely catching a few beasts was not unreasonable?

And according to his experimental data, the beasts in the Forest of Death were indeed far more resilient than lab mice.

The same dose of natural chakra would quickly kill a lab mouse, while a beast could endure it for some time. Some merely collapsed from exhaustion, their lives in no danger.

It all depended on how much chakra the animal possessed. Beasts on the verge of becoming summoning beasts would not burst from the natural chakra he infused into them.

For now, however, Zou had yet to find a summoning beast that could truly adapt to his chakra infusion.

Zou pulled his wandering thoughts back to the present. He and Oto had reached their destination.

It was a clearing inside the Forest of Death, relatively level and bordering a sizable lake.

Even large-scale ninjutsu would be difficult to detect from outside.

"Come on, let's begin!"

After forming the Seal of Confrontation, they took their places on opposite sides of the lake's surface, their expressions growing serious.

As former veteran genin and current chunin instructors, they had extremely solid foundations in chakra control.

They had dabbled in tree climbing, Water Walking, and even Medical Ninjutsu, reaching the average standard for ninja.

How was that average calculated? That was another matter entirely.

Standing on the water, Oto removed her goggles and activated her three tomoe. Holding a short sword in one hand, she silently drew a kunai with an explosive tag attached from inside her clothes.

Zou entered Sage Mode as well. His Sage Mode was pretty lousy and only enhanced his physical capabilities, but it could still prove useful in a spar.

Why would a fight between chunin require the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and Sage Mode?

It was simply a precaution. If they did not hone their combat skills in peacetime, what then?

Were they supposed to cram at the last minute when war broke out?

They would just perform a Spiral Ascension straight to the Pure Land to meet the God of Death!

After staring at each other for a while, their eyelids began to dry out. The instant they blinked, they chose to strike.

Whoosh!

Bang!

They vanished from the water's surface in an instant. As ripples slowly spread from where they had stood, they clashed.

They knew each other well, understood each other's fighting habits, and recognized the terrifying power hidden within seemingly ordinary attacks.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

As Oto formed hand seals, a massive fireball burst forth, rushing toward Zou over the lake's surface, which glowed red beneath it.

Several meters across and moving as fast as a thrown kunai, it was practically impossible to dodge.

Oto did not stop there. She hurled the kunai with explosive tags attached from between her fingers, using her Sharingan to cut off Zou's escape routes as he tried to evade.

Sparring meant giving it their all. Apart from the explosive tags they wasted in their fights, everything else was free.

Their chakra and stamina cost nothing, and if they were injured, they could heal each other.

Zou stood motionless. The massive Great Fireball Technique loomed ahead, explosive tags flashed on either side, and Oto would intercept him if he went underwater.

His only escape route was the lakeshore behind him.

But being forced ashore would mean losing this spar.

There was no time left to think. The Great Fireball had already reached him.

If it hit, his handsome face-one of Konoha's top three-might be disfigured.

Taking a deep breath, Zou assumed a Gentle Fist stance and shouted in a low voice, "Wind Release: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

An enormous palm imprint instantly took shape, drawing in the surrounding air to create a surge of wind pressure. It struck the Great Fireball Technique head-on, forcing it to spread in the opposite direction.

Flames swept across the lake, gradually dying out with a hiss.

Zou repeated the move, whipping up fierce winds that sent the kunai wobbling in midair.

Just as they fell onto the lake, the explosive tags detonated, throwing up a huge splash.

The spray could not obstruct the Byakugan. Zou saw three tomoe spinning rapidly beneath the water's surface-a sign that Oto was casting genjutsu.

Every Uchiha with three tomoe was a master of genjutsu, and Oto was no exception.

Zou stood rooted to the spot, not because of the genjutsu, but because Oto looked truly beautiful with her long hair soaked through.

Unfortunately, there was still something rather unfortunate about her.

That brief distraction was enough for Oto to rush up to Zou and settle the match.

The drawn blade gave off an eerie green glow. Zou swallowed. That was poison he had prepared himself. It was not fatal, but it could weaken the limbs, ulcerate the skin, and leave someone crippled.

Killing the enemy was not the only option on a battlefield. A cripple who could no longer fight would also burden the enemy's remaining forces. Even if ninja were cold and ruthless, abandoning a teammate would inevitably sow resentment.

"Zou, you lost!" Oto whispered beside his ear, her voice slightly breathless.

She had a wide variety of ninjutsu, and her combat skills surpassed those of most people her age, but her chakra reserves were only a fraction of Zou's. According to him, she had roughly one Kakashi's worth of chakra.

Her breath against his ear left Zou briefly dazed. He pressed his palm against Oto's forehead protector.

"Oto, I haven't lost. You should know how powerful my Wind Release Ninjutsu is."

Oto lowered her short sword and slid it back into its sheath. Pouting, she said, "That obviously isn't Wind Release, you ninjutsu idiot!"

"No, that is Wind Release Ninjutsu!" Zou looked utterly serious.

His talent for nature transformation techniques was terrible. Wind Release Ninjutsu was one of the few things he could take pride in and stubbornly cling to.

Unfortunately, Oto did not believe in that conviction of his.

Oto rolled her eyes and did not pursue the matter. She knew all too well that her teammate's brain occasionally went haywire.

For instance, he invented meaningless terms like "one Kakashi" and "one Asuma."

And he insisted that the taijutsu he used was Wind Release.

Still, Zou was the most cheerful ninja from the Hyuga Branch Family she had ever met.