"Hahaha, my precious grandson is here! Oh, come here and let Grandpa see if you've lost any weight! It's been two whole hours since I last saw you. Grandpa missed you to death! Oh, you heartless child! How could you be so cruel? Only coming to see Grandpa now!"
Watching Yiteng Yue put on his whole missing-his-grandson act, Itō Yuying was left speechless. Then he said, "Grandpa, I'm hungry," only to hear the door slam shut. From inside came, "You come here eight hundred times a day! Even if you're not tired of it, I am! Go home. Grandpa's going shopping with Grandma in a little while."
An autumn breeze swept past Itō Yuying, and he felt as though wind and rain were battering him all over.
Fine, I won't tell you, then. That'll save you worrying again. Last time he heard I was badly injured, he wiped away tears for days. I had to coax him for days before I finally cheered the old man up. I won't tell him this time. Then he went home to get his things ready.
The next day, Itō Yuying arrived at the Hokage Building. Tobirama Senju tossed him a scroll and said, "Inside are all the insights and experiences I've compiled on space-time. Study it carefully, learn it by heart, and memorize everything. Then burn it, understand?" "Yes, Teacher," Itō Yuying answered respectfully.
"Good. Spend the next two days wrapping up your affairs, then head to the battlefield! I've already chosen a battlefield suited to you. There are no enemies above semi-Kage level there. Work hard, don't act on impulse, and think before you do anything. On the battlefield, you must follow orders. Don't be reckless. If you can't win, run. You're still young. No one will blame you." Tobirama Senju went on like this for two hours without repeating himself, leaving Itō Yuying swaying on his feet.
"All right, go get ready! In three days, you'll head to the battlefield with the supply squad." "Yes!" Itō Yuying answered loudly.
"All right, off you go!"
"Okay."
Then Itō Yuying left the Hokage Building.
"Oh, Yuying's here!" His friends were all training at the training ground. Itō Yuying landed lightly, and Jiraiya and the others gathered around him. Hatake Sakumo asked, "I heard you're going to the battlefield. Is that true?"
"Yes," Itō Yuying answered. "Can I come with you?" "I want to go too!" "Me too!" Jiraiya, Tsunade, and the others all spoke up, asking to go.
"No, you're still too weak. Lord Hokage won't agree." "Why?" Tsunade demanded indignantly. "I'm going to find my second granduncle right now and make him agree!" Itō Yuying said, "All right, Tsunade, don't go. How about we have a match? All of you against me. If you can last ten minutes against me, I'll talk to Lord Hokage about taking you along."
"Okay!" the others answered in unison, all of them excited.
"All right, then let's get started!" Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya stood together. Hatake Sakumo, Hyuga Yeyang, and Uchiha Hanyue stood together.
Might Duy drew circles in a corner.
"Go!" The six charged Itō Yuying together. Itō Yuying reacted swiftly, dodging Tsunade's punch, then Hatake Sakumo's sword strike. Orochimaru's Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique left Itō Yuying scrambling, and Jiraiya threw a handful of dirt at him. "That's dirty!" Itō Yuying cried. Just as he turned his head and instinctively closed his eyes, he heard, "Eight Trigrams Twenty-Four Palms!" Every last strike landed on him. He spat out a mouthful of blood. Everyone else looked at Hyuga Yeyang. "You little rascal, that was ruthless!"
Itō Yuying felt he had been a little overconfident. Without using ki, he definitely couldn't beat them. He had just turned his head, preparing to unleash his ki, when he saw a pair of eyes with two tomoe. Then there was nothing after that. The instant he fell under the genjutsu, he seemed to hear, "Four Gates Open!"
Then everyone looked at Itō Yuying, sprawled on the ground like a dead dog, and exchanged glances.
Not far away, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō roared with laughter. "Oh, Yuying, Yuying, so even you have days like this!" They laughed until tears streamed down their faces. Hiruzen Sarutobi said solemnly, "Tsunade, don't go looking for Lord Hokage." Shimura Danzō followed with, "How about this? All of you come at me together. If you can last ten minutes against me, I'll talk to Lord Hokage about taking you along." Watching the two men imitate what Itō Yuying had said earlier, the other Anbu couldn't hold back their laughter either.
"Jiraiya, do you think we went a little too far, seven against one?" Tsunade asked. "No! Yuying told us to last ten minutes against him. I really went all out back there because I was afraid we wouldn't last ten minutes."
"Me too," Hyuga Yeyang said. "I even used the twenty palms I just learned. That was my trump card." "We could tell. Look, the blood at the corner of Yuying's mouth hasn't even dried yet!"
"Should we take Yuying to the hospital to get him checked?" Might Duy asked. "No need, right? They're only superficial injuries," Orochimaru said. "Jiraiya, go fetch a basin of water and splash Yuying awake!" "Oh, okay!" Jiraiya hurried to the river to fetch water.
Hatake Sakumo rubbed his chin. "And here I thought Yuying was so strong. Being this careless, won't he get the shit beaten out of him on the battlefield?" "Don't say that, Sakumo. If Yuying had gone all out, we wouldn't have lasted even ten seconds," Uchiha Hanyue explained on Itō Yuying's behalf.
"Yeah, that just shows how full of himself he's become." "Mm-hmm. This is good too. It'll teach him how high the sky really is."
A basin of cold water splashed Itō Yuying awake. Seeing everyone's teasing looks, he covered his face and fled. Behind him, Tsunade shouted, "Itō Yuying, don't forget to tell Lord Hokage to let us go to the battlefield too!" At that, Itō Yuying ran even faster.
Once home, Itō Yuying wrapped himself tightly in his blanket. He had utterly humiliated himself. This would definitely become a dark chapter in his history.
At the Hokage Building, Tobirama Senju burst into laughter after hearing Shimura Danzō and Hiruzen Sarutobi's vivid account. "That brat really has gotten too full of himself. He thought he could defeat them without using ki, and even held back. Didn't he stop to think that anyone training alongside him couldn't be ordinary? This is good. It'll teach him a lesson so he doesn't think he's invincible. Haha, now I'm really looking forward to seeing how he asks me to let his little friends go to the battlefield with him," Tobirama Senju said, laughing heartily. Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō laughed too. "Teacher, when our junior fellow student comes, could you let us sit in as well?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked with a laugh.
"Yes, yes, all right," Tobirama Senju said, nodding.
Another three days passed, with Itō Yuying staying shut inside his house. No matter who called him, he wouldn't come out.
On the fourth day, Itō Yuying flew to the Hokage Building. Seeing his bruised face, Tobirama Senju nearly burst out laughing again. Suppressing his laughter, he asked, "Yuying, why haven't you left for the front yet?" Itō Yuying hemmed and hawed for a long while before finally asking to have Tsunade and the others go to the front with him.
Tobirama Senju said sternly, "No. They're too weak. I acknowledge your strength, but theirs is far too lacking." Itō Yuying's face flushed bright red with embarrassment. He said quietly, "Teacher, they're actually really strong. I-I can't beat them that quickly, either. We had a little spar a few days ago, and I couldn't beat them. I lost terribly. I'm ashamed to face you! I promised them that if they could last ten minutes against me, I'd ask you to let them go to the battlefield. I-I got beaten flat in less than five minutes."
Seeing Itō Yuying's dejected state, Tobirama Senju found him both exasperating and amusing. "All right, I'll make the arrangements."
"All right, don't look so down. Everyone knows you didn't use your full strength. Let this be a lesson to you."
"Yes, I understand, Teacher. I'll head home, then."
"All right, off you go."
Before you continue