Chapter 10 — Work's Here!
"Grrr—"
Right on cue, a very clear rumble came from Might Duy's stomach, leaving him visibly embarrassed.
"Hahaha… I suppose even youth needs to eat."
Yami didn't mind at all and laughed openly.
"I feel like I really get along with you, senior. How about dinner together?"
"T-That's… that would be embarrassing…"
"I've got a Yakiniku Q discount coupon!"
After "setting up" Nawaki for a massive meal last time, Yami—now a rare big spender—had been thoughtfully given a 10% off coupon by the owner.
Seeing that Duy was genuinely hungry, Yami smoothly extended the invitation.
Yami understood very well that, by conventional standards, Might Duy was an 'incomplete' ninja—an outright anomaly within the system.
With no talent for ninjutsu or genjutsu and relying solely on taijutsu, no one was willing to team up with him.
And for a ninja who didn't produce anything tangible, no team meant no high-level missions, no decent pay.
Most of the time, Duy could only take unrestricted odd jobs, leaving his life rather tight financially.
Coupled with the extreme nutritional demands of taijutsu training, he was perpetually underfed.
Thus, half-pushed and half-pulled, Duy followed Yami into the barbecue restaurant.
"Boss, twenty servings of pork and twenty of beef to start."
The round-faced owner of Yakiniku Q immediately broke into a broad smile and agreed.
Before long, plates of meat were piled high on the table. As Yami grilled, he casually chatted with Duy.
Yami learned that Duy usually trained deep in that remote forest. At this stage, Duy was still somewhat shy—he hadn't yet reached the level where he could train completely oblivious to others' gazes.
With little reputation and a lingering sense of inferiority, he'd kept himself hidden, which was why Yami had taken such effort to find him.
That Yami had not only found that place but also trained alongside him for an entire afternoon left Duy deeply astonished.
After all, his training intensity was something even most jōnin couldn't endure for long.
That shared hardship forged instant camaraderie. The two even agreed to train together again the next day.
At the table, Yami's appetite—already enlarged since returning from the Land of Whirlpools—needed no explanation.
And as a pure taijutsu ninja, Duy's appetite was just as formidable.
After an afternoon of brutal training, the two tore through the grill like a storm, the scene downright ferocious.
At first, Duy held back a little. But as the conversation deepened, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Especially when Yami, caught up in the moment, subconsciously overlapped the man before him with Might Guy from his memories—and began quoting Guy's famous "youth speeches" from his past life:
"Effort will never betray you."
"Hard work can surpass genius."
"Burn, youth!"
It was as if lightning struck Duy on the spot.
His entire aura shifted. It was like he had finally found a kindred spirit, his eyes blazing with the fervor of "I would die for one who understands me."
The meal ended in total satisfaction. After settling the bill, Yami took his leave under Duy's reluctant gaze.
Even Yami felt he might have pushed things a bit too far—another minute and Duy might have dragged him off to continue "burning youth" into the night.
---
The Next Morning
"378… 379… 380…"
Yami was jolted awake by strange noises.
Opening the window, he saw Might Duy right in front of his house, drenched in sweat and doing endless squats.
Passing villagers all shot him odd looks—but Duy didn't seem to care in the slightest.
When he spotted Yami, Duy immediately stopped and shouted excitedly:
"My treasured friend! Last night I reflected on your words all night long and finally understood their true meaning!
Youth must be burned like this!"
"…Huh?"
"Just like now! Even the looks people give me make a warm current surge in my chest—this is my Youth Power!"
"..."
Yami was momentarily speechless.
As expected of the father of Konoha's greatest 'Blue beast'…
A few offhand remarks and it's like I opened his Ren and Du meridians.
And that so-called "warm current"…
Are you sure that's not just your blood rushing and your face burning from embarrassment?
At this point, Yami had no chance of going back to sleep.
He hastily washed up and quickly dragged the still-enthusiastic Duy—who was more than ready to continue his front-yard training exhibition—off to the training grounds.
From sunrise to sunset, aside from munching on a few rice balls Duy had brought, the two trained almost nonstop the entire day.
When it finally ended, Yami felt like every muscle in his body was wailing in protest.
This time, Duy declined Yami's dinner invitation. After a serious farewell and a promise to continue tomorrow, he left alone.
Looks like… the real grind has officially begun.
After returning home, Namikaze Yami hastily stuffed his aching stomach with food. Even as he washed up, his hands wouldn't stop trembling.
Days like this—"burning youth" incarnate—continued for roughly half a month.
Then, one noon, news finally arrived.
Yami knew it instantly.
The opportunity he had been waiting for had come.
As the intensity of the front-line war continued to rise, the number of ninja able to move freely within the village dwindled noticeably.
Rumors spread quietly at first, then louder by the day: Kumogakure, which had yet to formally enter the war, was growing restless—its ambitions barely contained, its forces probing the borders.
The gossip snowballed. Even casual conversations among villagers turned anxious, their worries drifting inevitably toward the front lines.
Even though Konoha had emerged as a victor from the First Shinobi World War, facing down three major ninja villages at once was no small thing. And if Kumogakure joined the fray, there was little doubt that Kirigakure would seize the chance to take a vicious bite out of Konoha while it could.
This uneasy tension persisted—
right up until Kumogakure dispatched envoys to Konoha.
Only then did the Hokage Tower announce that the Cloud Village had come to deliver an alliance proposal, intending to join hands with Konoha to bring the war to an end.
As allies bearing a treaty, the Kumogakure envoys were warmly welcomed by many villagers.
Some even felt that the dark clouds of war hanging over Konoha would finally disperse after this diplomatic mission.
Yami, however, was not optimistic in the slightest.
After all, he knew very well that the Third Shinobi World War was still waiting in the near future. If he had to describe the situation, only one supreme proverb came to mind:
"War may end—
but the end of war is never guaranteed."
Having said that, Yami felt as if he'd once again tapped into the wisdom of a past life. His head throbbed faintly—perhaps another ability of the Uzumaki physique was on the verge of awakening.
During this period, it wasn't uncommon to see dark-skinned ninja strolling through Konoha's streets, seemingly taking advantage of their stay as envoys to experience the local customs.
After finishing another full day of training with Might Duy, Yami once again arrived at the gates of the Ninja Academy—
and, with uncanny precision, intercepted Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina just as they exited.
"Yami-nii ."
"Yami-nii ."
Ever since Yami returned from his mission, whenever he felt like eating ramen, he would unfailingly appear at the academy gates.
Minato, seeing his clan-brother show up, immediately understood the situation—Yami was short a meal companion again—and sensibly followed along toward Ichiraku Ramen.
As for Kushina, she had already learned of Uzushiogakure's destruction from Uzumaki Mito. Because of that, she felt an unusual sense of closeness toward Yami—someone who carried a presence so similar to Mito herself.
With his two targets successfully "captured," Yami once again led them straight toward Ichiraku Ramen, as if this had become the most natural routine in the world.