A few days later, Hyuga Yuu did what he always did—split into three shadow clones and assigned them their work.
One stayed underground to run experiments.
One went to the underground training room for ninjutsu practice.
The last one studied the various knowledge he'd collected.
Three clones was the optimal number he'd tested over years. Any more than that and the compounded fatigue would crash his efficiency the next day.
As for the real Yuu, he headed into the forest to train taijutsu.
Shadow clones could return experience, but they couldn't strengthen the body itself. If he wanted to open the next Gate, it had to be done by his own flesh and blood.
His method was copied straight from Gai's self-discipline regimen.
After all, this was the man who would one day nearly kick the story into its ending. His training philosophy clearly had merit.
Besides—Yuu wasn't about to shout it out loud like Gai did. No shame involved.
"Yuu! Your training has no soul!"
A booming yell hit at the same time as a slicing kick tore through the air.
Yuu reacted instantly. Palm and feet pushed at once—he slid several meters backward in a blink, narrowly avoiding the lethal arc of the strike.
"Gai," Yuu said coolly, eyeing the spot he'd just been standing, "announcing your attack isn't a good habit."
"On the battlefield, it'll get you killed."
Standing there was a man in a green skintight suit.
A menace in human form.
"Correct!" another voice rumbled approvingly. "Gai, burning with youth is good—but timing matters. You can't drop the ball in war."
From behind a tree stepped Might Dai—also in a tight suit, thick brows set in an expression so serious it almost convinced you he wasn't sprinting down the strangest lane imaginable.
If you ignored the matching outfits, he did look like he was earnestly teaching his son.
"I understand, Father!" Gai grinned, flashing a thumbs-up at Dai. "Youth does not allow failure!"
"Gai!" Dai's eyes shone with tears. "Well said! For youth, today we run ten laps around Konoha!"
"OH!"
Yuu stared at the pair with an indescribable expression and rubbed his forehead.
In Konoha, the two hardest people for him to communicate with were these two.
Too passionate.
But ironically, that also made them easy to deal with.
Yuu let a small smile form and asked, "Sensei… you didn't come just to 'train,' did you?"
"No." Dai wagged a finger. "We came exactly to train."
"You've been back almost half a year and I haven't seen you here once. I need to check whether your level has slipped—Gai!"
Gai flashed his dazzling white teeth and turned back toward Yuu, taking stance again.
"Let us have a hot-blooded battle!"
Yuu narrowed his eyes.
"Gai, I'm a tokubetsu jōnin right now. I already submitted my jōnin exam application to the Hokage not long ago."
"And the opponent you recognize—Kakashi—has been a jōnin for ages."
"You haven't kept pace with us. If you want to fight us, you should at least become a jōnin first."
Gai froze… then lowered his stance and nodded solemnly.
"You're right. Challenging a jōnin makes my blood boil, but without the proper rank, you won't acknowledge me!"
"Fine. I'll become a jōnin as quickly as possible. Then you must not refuse my challenge!"
"First, run ten laps around the village," Yuu said calmly. "No stopping. If you stop, it becomes twenty."
And just like that, Gai took off.
Dai went silent.
…He's really good at handling Gai.
"Dai-sensei," Yuu said as he stepped closer, voice carrying a rare apologetic edge. "Sorry. Some things happened inside the clan. I didn't want to drag you and Gai into it."
"Oh, the Hyuga deaths?" Dai scratched his head, glancing after his son. Confusion showed plainly on his face. "I heard from above it was foreign spies, wasn't it?"
Yuu shook his head.
"It's complicated. The Hokage personally intervened."
Dai immediately understood what that meant—don't ask—and his expression brightened again.
"You're about to be promoted to jōnin. You have to work even harder from now on!"
His tone made it clear he wasn't worried about Yuu failing.
A fifteen-year-old tokubetsu jōnin wasn't like Dai—an eternal genin. Dai knew Yuu would reach full jōnin sooner or later.
"It's because you taught me well," Yuu said with a smile.
"I'm a genin who can't even use ninjutsu," Dai said, shaking his head. "What could I possibly teach you?"
Then his eyes softened with pride.
"You and Gai… you've already surpassed me."
"Not in strength," Yuu replied.
Konoha had always been a place where the strongest "genin" were absurdly strong.
Especially the ones who stayed genin for years—those were monsters.
Right now, if Yuu talked purely about one-on-one threat level in Konoha, only four people could truly kill him:
Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Namikaze Minato… and Dai.
Everyone else—yes, even the Third Hokage, the so-called Professor—wasn't truly dangerous to him.
Because Yuu knew their cards.
And they didn't know his.
"If the chunin promotion exam didn't require overall competency in so many categories," Yuu said sincerely, "you wouldn't still be a genin."
He almost felt sorry for the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist—if they'd ever encountered Dai in the future, they'd be cursing their luck even as they died.
A man who could beat a Kage… listed as a genin.
Only Konoha would produce something that ridiculous.
"Hahaha!" Dai roared with laughter, teeth gleaming like Gai's. "Hearing praise from my student makes me happy, but I do have many shortcomings. The Eight Gates are a forbidden technique, after all."
He clapped Yuu's shoulder like he was hammering iron.
"Good luck on your jōnin exam. Don't lose because of carelessness. I'll prepare the best gift to celebrate!"
Yuu's gaze flicked—very briefly—to Dai's green suit.
He forced a smile.
"Thank you, Sensei."
Please don't let it be what I'm imagining.
"All right." Dai's expression turned sharp. "Enough chatting."
"You sent Gai away… because you wanted me to personally guide you, didn't you?"
He raised one hand behind his back and beckoned with the other, inviting battle.
"Come. Let's have a youthful, hot-blooded sparring match."
Yuu's eyes narrowed.
Green chakra flared around his body.
If he was going to become jōnin, there were things he didn't need to hide so deeply anymore.
As long as he kept it within a "controllable" range, the Third wouldn't act against a Hyuga Branch member—especially now that Minato was Hokage. Hiruzen wouldn't interfere in unnecessary matters.
"You can already open the Gate of Rest…?" Dai's tone went serious as green chakra burst around him too.
"Then this will be a truly hot-blooded battle."
They locked eyes—
And vanished at the same time.
The forest filled with violent impact sounds.
Even the shockwaves grazing tree trunks snapped them in half.
In moments, the woodland was wrecked beyond recognition.
Yuu kept his Byakugan active, seriously recording Dai's movements. With Dai deliberately "feeding" him exchanges, Yuu adjusted his angles again and again mid-fight—slowly absorbing what made Dai terrifying.
Dai wasn't just his Eight Gates teacher.
This man had trained taijutsu with the same stubborn consistency for decades.
The experience. The rhythm. The economy of motion.
Those were what Yuu truly needed to learn.
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