Chapter 16 (Patreon)

“Huh? Then introduce me properly, Kurenai~” Anko grinned as she hooked her arm around Kurenai’s shoulder.

Kurenai immediately frowned and pushed her away.

“Don’t cling to me like that, Anko.”

“Hehe… but I kinda want a cute little kōhai like him around~”

“Go bother someone else.”

…

Half a day later.

Inside the Hokage Tower.

“What did you say?! Asuma was seriously injured by Yujiro?!”

Sarutobi Hiruzen abruptly looked up from the documents piled across his desk, his expression darkening the moment the ANBU finished reporting.

The room instantly became heavy.

Everyone in Konoha knew Asuma was the Third Hokage’s son.

And now that same son had been beaten badly enough to end up in the hospital.

“…Yujiro?” Namikaze Minato, standing nearby, looked slightly surprised as well.

But unlike Hiruzen, Minato’s first reaction was confusion rather than anger.

Yujiro was not someone who caused trouble for no reason.

If he had attacked Asuma…

Then Asuma had most likely done something first.

“Find out exactly what happened,” Hiruzen said in a low voice.

“Yes, Lord Hokage.”

The ANBU vanished immediately.

After the room fell silent again, Hiruzen slowly stood up and adjusted the Hokage robe on his shoulders.

“I’m going to the hospital.”

His tone remained calm, but the displeasure underneath was obvious.

“We’ll discuss the border situation later.”

With that, he turned and walked out of the office.

Minato remained standing there quietly.

His eyes drifted toward the intelligence reports scattered across the desk.

Reports from shinobi risking their lives at the border.

Requests for reinforcements.

Casualty lists.

For a moment, bitterness rose in Minato’s chest.

So many shinobi were bleeding for Konoha at this very moment.

They were someone’s sons too.

Someone’s husbands.

Someone’s fathers.

Yet the moment Asuma was injured, everything else was pushed aside.

Minato closed his eyes briefly.

Then his figure disappeared in a Body Flicker.

He needed to see what happened personally.

And if Hiruzen truly intended to pressure Yujiro over this…

Minato had already made his decision.

…

The back mountain behind Konoha.

“Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!”

Itachi quickly formed hand seals, flames erupting from his mouth in a massive wave of fire that roared toward Yujiro.

Yujiro calmly raised the black blade in his hand.

One slash.

A dark arc cut straight through the Great Fireball and split it apart instantly.

The flames scattered violently across the valley.

At the same moment—

“Lightning Style: Chidori!”

Kakashi moved.

Lightning screeched violently around his arm as he burst forward at high speed, the piercing sound of Chidori echoing through the forest.

Blue lightning illuminated the area.

Yujiro’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Now this was at least somewhat interesting.

Lightning chakra surged through the black blade in his hand.

Crackling blue currents instantly wrapped around the sword.

The next second—

Boom!!

The black blade collided directly against Chidori.

Lightning exploded outward.

The surrounding ground shattered from the impact.

“Ding. Congratulations to Host for breaking through physical limits. Unlock progress increased by 0.2%.”

“Current Limiter Unlock: First Stage — 91.2%.”

Yujiro remained standing exactly where he was.

Even as the rocks beneath his feet cracked apart, his body did not move an inch.

“…Not bad,” Yujiro said calmly.

“That actually felt a little decent.”

He flicked the blade lightly.

“Again.”

Kakashi instantly jumped backward over ten meters and landed against a tree branch while breathing heavily.

“…You monster.”

He wiped sweat from his forehead.

“Do you not run out of chakra at all?”

What Kakashi didn’t know was that Yujiro barely used chakra in the first place.

Most of his strength came purely from the power released by the Limiter.

The chakra consumption was almost negligible.

“I’m good. I’m absolutely good,” Kakashi said immediately after seeing Yujiro casually walking toward him with the blade.

He raised both hands without hesitation.

“I surrender.”

Yujiro glanced at him before shrugging slightly.

Nearby, Itachi was already sitting against a tree catching his breath as well.

Seeing that, Yujiro finally lowered the sword.

At his current level, he was already approaching the Second Stage of the Limiter.

The First Stage had nearly reached its peak.

In a normal state alone, Kakashi and Itachi together were already struggling to keep up.

Of course…

If both sides fought to the death, the result would still be uncertain.

Kakashi and Itachi each had their own trump cards.

And Yujiro did too.

Without saying anything else, Yujiro suddenly leapt down into the valley below.

Kakashi blinked.

“…What’s he doing now?”

Itachi stared quietly at Yujiro’s back.

“…Testing something.”

Down below, Yujiro slowly gripped the hilt of his black blade and faced a massive boulder in the distance.

The atmosphere suddenly became still.

Kakashi and Itachi instinctively focused their attention.

Yujiro exhaled softly.

Then—

He drew the blade.

One horizontal slash.

A red-black sword wave erupted forward, mixed with violent blue lightning.

Boom!!!

The gigantic boulder over twenty meters wide split apart instantly before exploding completely.

The shockwave blasted through the surrounding forest.

Trees within nearly two hundred meters were torn apart one after another.

The valley trembled violently.

Silence followed.

Kakashi and Itachi stared at the destruction with visible shock in their eyes.

Neither of them felt confident they could survive that attack head-on without serious injuries.

Yujiro slowly lowered the blade.

Wind chakra for cutting power.

Lightning chakra for destruction.

Combining both attributes together produced far greater power than expected.

“…Not bad.”

Then he casually added,

“I’ll call that…”

“One Sword Style: Black Flash Slash.”

Kakashi’s mouth twitched slightly.

“…That was a ‘slash’ to you?”

Even Itachi’s expression became strange for a moment.

That attack was already comparable to a top-class A-rank ninjutsu.

Yet Yujiro named it like some casual sword swing.

Yujiro tilted his head slightly.

“What?”

“…Nothing,” Kakashi answered immediately.

Then after hesitating for a moment, he scratched his cheek.

“Still… you should be careful with attacks like that.”

“You’re only five years old right now. Your chakra reserves shouldn’t support techniques on that level.”

“…True,” Yujiro nodded thoughtfully.

Then he calmly closed his eyes and did a rough mental calculation.

“Using that level of slash…”

“I can probably throw out around seventy or eighty a day before getting tired.”

Kakashi: “…”

Itachi: “…”