After Nagato gave him a merciless "beating from reality," Yahiko seemed to come to his senses a little.
He climbed out of the rubble, a fair portion of his inflated pride having dissipated.
In its place came a faint sense of defeat.
He felt that, as long as he avoided out-of-spec cheaters like Nagato in the future, he could still do as he pleased in Amegakure.
He walked dejectedly out of the training ground entrance and happened to run into Rin, who had just finished warming up and was returning to train.
Seeing the faint flames of light around Rin, Yahiko acted on impulse, and another clever idea popped into his head.
I can't beat Nagato, but surely I can beat Rin? She's a medical ninja, and she's young. She must lack combat experience.
His little scrap of confidence instantly perked back up.
"Rin!" Yahiko stopped her.
"Hm?" Rin looked at Yahiko in confusion. "What is it?"
Yahiko put on an act, assuming the air of an expert. "Let's spar."
Rin looked at his disheveled state and noticed the fighting spirit that had suddenly appeared in his eyes.
"All right." Rin nodded.
Five minutes later.
Yahiko lay sprawled on the ground, his face bruised and swollen, feeling as though every bone in his body was about to fall apart.
The flames of light around him flickered, then vanished completely, just like his confidence.
Rin stood beside him with her arms folded, looking down at Yahiko and shaking her head.
She had not used Uncle Pero's full power. She knew very well that this strength was not her own, and that she could only use it to keep making herself stronger.
Her grueling daily training was solely to better protect Obito and Kakashi.
Using only the most basic taijutsu, combined with some chakra she released, she had beaten Yahiko so thoroughly that he could not fight back at all.
Having studied the theory of medical ninjutsu, she could find Yahiko's weak points whenever he attacked, inflicting the greatest damage with the least effort.
"Your power is the same as mine. It's strong, but your mind is too unsettled."
With that, Rin walked away without looking back.
Losing to Nagato could be explained away as Nagato cheating.
But losing to Rin-a possibility that had never crossed his mind-completely destroyed his confidence.
He felt he ought to have a big red nose.
Dragging his heavy feet, he slowly walked through the grounds, only to spot a familiar figure at the other end of the training ground.
Obito Uchiha.
The person who had egged him on to challenge Nagato.
At the sight of Obito, he felt his confidence perk up yet again.
I can't beat Nagato, and I can't beat Rin, but surely I can beat this kid who hasn't gained any power at all!
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
"Obito." Yahiko strode toward him, staring at him with a hostile gaze.
"Uh... Yahiko, what happened to you?" Seeing Yahiko's bruised eyes and swollen nose, Obito felt a little uneasy.
"Cut the crap!" Flames of light instantly flared around Yahiko again.
"You were the one who egged me on to challenge Nagato and made me embarrass myself in front of everyone. You're the culprit, and I'm going to win my dignity back by beating you."
Yahiko pinned all the blame on Obito. Although he felt that doing so was wrong, for the sake of his fragile confidence-
He had to get back on his feet again.
Obito immediately grew anxious at that. "Hey, hey, hey! Don't do anything reckless!"
Yahiko said nothing. He only knew to throw punches.
Seeing that Yahiko was determined to beat him up, Obito could only grit his teeth.
His Mangekyō Sharingan spun sharply, and his body instantly became intangible.
Yahiko threw a fierce punch that passed straight through Obito's body and struck empty air. The wind from his fist plowed a shallow furrow in the ground.
"What?!" Yahiko's pupils contracted. "What kind of move is that?"
Yahiko noticed Obito's eyes spinning.
"Is it the Sharingan?!"
After an entire day of setbacks, his composure was beginning to crumble. How did even Obito have a move that was practically cheating?
Using his Sharingan, Obito repeatedly switched between tangible and intangible, tossing out a ninjutsu every so often. They did little damage, but were immensely insulting.
Obito's Fire Release had burned away most of the clothes on Yahiko's upper body.
He stood there yelling in fury. Had he known that this was what Obito's eyes could do, he would never have picked a fight with him.
He would have been better off letting Rin beat him up again. Being able to see Obito but unable to hit him drove Yahiko mad.
"Damn you, brat! Stop dodging if you've got the guts!"
"Bleh, bleh, bleh! Not listening unless you admit defeat." Obito kept switching between tangible and intangible, even finding time to make a face at Yahiko.
Before long, Yahiko was panting slightly, and the flames of light around him began to dim.
I can't let this go on. This kid's eyes are practically cheating.
Yahiko's brain, which had stalled after he gained his power, finally began working again.
Yahiko stopped attacking and closed his eyes. Using the powerful sensory abilities he had gained after becoming "Pero's jinchūriki," he sensed the abnormal fluctuations in space.
Now!
The instant Obito materialized to launch a ninjutsu, Yahiko's eyes snapped open.
He looked at Obito but did not attack him, instead throwing an anticipatory punch at the empty space beside him.
As Obito materialized after launching his ninjutsu, he had only just emerged from his intangible state when he saw a fist growing larger before his eyes.
His eyes shifted again as he tried to turn intangible, but he was a little too late.
With a dull thud, Obito fell to the ground, seeing stars, knocked out by a single punch.
"Huff... huff..." Yahiko braced his hands on his knees and gasped for breath. Although he had won, he felt no satisfaction at all.
Just then, slow applause rang out.
At some point, Kakuzu had appeared at the edge of the grounds. He walked over, clapping. "Brilliant. Truly brilliant."
His words carried mockery. "Kid, I think I understand now. Pero gave you the same power as Rin, but all you do is use it to amuse yourself. You have all that strength, yet you don't even know the basics of using it. You're not even as good as Rin."
Kakuzu's words struck Yahiko's heart like a sledgehammer, completely shattering the last scraps of his pride.
He stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly down at his hands.
Have I... really become stronger?
Nagato's words, Rin's words, Kakuzu's words, and that frustrating battle with Obito just now replayed in his mind, scene after scene.
He suddenly understood.
He realized that Pero had given him only power, while he himself was still the same kid he had been three days ago.
His mindset, his awareness, and his fighting skills were all still stuck in the past. He was merely a mortal holding a divine weapon. Nothing more.
"I... I understand now..." Yahiko smiled bitterly. His smile held relief, along with a resolve he had never possessed before.
He climbed up from the ground. He was still disheveled, and the bruises remained on his face, but his gaze had changed.
The restlessness and inflated pride had vanished, replaced by a firm will.
He walked up to Kakuzu, took a deep breath, and bowed. "Senior Kakuzu, please teach me how to fight and how to use ninjutsu."
Then he sought out Rin and spoke with the same sincerity. "Rin, please be my opponent and help me hone my taijutsu and combat awareness."
He had made up his mind.
Starting today, he would temporarily seal away this "gift" and keep it as his trump card.
He would return to the beginning and rely on himself, starting with the most basic ninjutsu and taijutsu, honing his will and skills anew, one step at a time.
The mere trickles of chakra that naturally leaked from the seal in his abdomen were enough to make his ninjutsu far more powerful than an ordinary person's.
Through his own sweat and effort, he would truly master this power.
Three crushing defeats in a row had finally helped him find a path that was truly his own.
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