Click.
Wearing his familiar green jumpsuit, Might Guy stepped out of his house with a steamed bun clenched between his teeth.
Warm sunlight spilled across his face, and even Guy—always overflowing with vitality—couldn't help but let out a satisfied hum as he stretched.
The flowers lining the street were already in full bloom. Just one glance was enough to lift anyone's spirits.
"As expected—mornings are the peak moment of YOUTH in full bloom!"
Guy took a deep breath, stuffed the bun into his mouth in two quick bites, and shouted indistinctly,
"Let us greet Konoha's morning sun and make sweat and petals dance together!"
With that, he swung his legs and sprinted toward the commercial district, kicking up dust—
—only to notice that more and more people were heading in the opposite direction. The once wide, open road was growing crowded.
"Huh?"
Guy stopped, scratched his head, then lightly jumped up onto a higher vantage point. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he looked toward the flow of people on the surrounding streets.
Like ants gathering into a tide, groups of three or five hurried toward Konoha's main gate.
"What's going on?"
Guy felt a flicker of curiosity—but only briefly. Soon after, he continued against the flow of people, heading toward the Hyūga clan compound.
Time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, two months had gone by.
During this period, Konoha remained peaceful and tranquil. The civilians were completely unaware of the skirmishes along the Land of Fire's borders.
It wasn't until the village leadership announced that Kumogakure would be visiting Konoha to sign a military alliance that the populace was finally shocked—then elated.
After all, wasn't this alliance just another way of saying the former enemy had come to rely on Konoha?
Faced with the former rival of a great shinobi war lowering its head, every citizen of Konoha felt a shared sense of pride.
Of course, a background-less chūnin like Might Guy knew nothing about the border conflicts.
And a man who trained himself into exhaustion every day naturally hadn't heard anything about Kumogakure's diplomatic visit either.
What Guy did know—
Was that his training partner, Hyūga Y Gin, had completely vanished over the past two months.
Every time Guy went to the Hyūga compound looking for him, he was stopped by Branch Family members wearing complicated expressions. Their attitude was strangely polite—almost respectful—as they informed him:
"Y Gin is in closed-door training. Please come back in two months."
Closed-door training?
How do you train taijutsu without leaving your room?
Guy knew full well that Y Gin's diligence and self-discipline rivaled his own, so his first instinct was that the kid was lying to him.
But the Branch Family member's expression hadn't seemed fake.
That made Guy wonder if something had happened within the Hyūga clan.
Now—
Two months had finally passed.
"Y Gin should be open for visitors today, right?"
With Kakashi constantly busy after joining ANBU, and Y Gin absent, Guy had nearly gone mad training alone.
The moment the agreed date arrived, he rushed over without hesitation.
When Guy reached the Hyūga compound, the guard on duty happened to be the same Branch Family member whom Y Gin had once beaten senseless.
This time, however—
The man didn't stop him.
Nor did he glare coldly.
Instead, he politely let Guy pass.
The attitude changed!
It really changed!
Y Gin must have done something huge behind the scenes!
"YU—N—KAWA—!"
Guy charged toward Y Gin's residence, shouting excitedly,
"Don't pretend you can't hear me, you bastard! Let me see what you've accomplished in the past two months! Today, I'm definitely making you shout 'As expected of Guy-senpai!'"
Previously, Y Gin's residence had always been protected by a barrier.
But now—
The barrier was gone.
Carried away by excitement, Guy didn't bother with formalities. Seeing the door unlatched, he strode inside naturally.
Yet the instant he crossed the threshold—
It felt as if he had passed through a thin membrane.
His body hair stood on end.
It wasn't killing intent.
Rather, the air itself seemed saturated with invisible electric charge, causing the hair on his skin to prickle faintly.
"This is…?"
Feeling a light numbing sensation across his body, Guy froze for a moment. Frowning, he carefully made his way toward Y Gin's training room.
The closer he got, the stronger the sensation became.
When he finally pushed the door open—
The air inside appeared faintly distorted.
Crackle—!
All conductive equipment had been removed from the room.
Seated cross-legged at the center was Hyūga Y Gin, his sharply defined upper body bare. Fine blue arcs of lightning danced across his skin, countless tiny electric serpents stretching and writhing through the air.
Hearing Guy enter, Y Gin slowly opened his eyes.
A trace of blue light flashed past the depths of his pure white Byakugan—and vanished.
Under Guy's astonished gaze, the lightning arcs gradually drew inward, like tamed snakes returning to their lair, disappearing into Y Gin's body.
"Guy-senpai," Y Gin asked calmly,
"Heading out to train?"
"..."
Guy snapped out of it, staring blankly at Y Gin's physique.
The power hidden beneath his skin was almost visible.
"Y Gin… you're using Lightning Release chakra to temper your body?!"
Disbelief spread across Guy's face, and he blurted out instinctively,
"Have you lost your mind?!"
Using Lightning Release to strengthen the body wasn't some secret technique—Kumogakure was famous for it.
The Third Raikage, hailed as possessing both the "strongest spear" and "strongest shield."
The Fourth Raikage, feared across the shinobi world as the "Blue Lightning" due to his speed.
But not just anyone could do this.
Mastery of Lightning Release chakra nature and form transformation alone was enough to stop most shinobi in their tracks—let alone complete knowledge of the body's complex chakra circulatory system.
Why were most Lightning Release techniques long-range?
Why were there so few Lightning Release techniques suitable for genin and chūnin?
Because Lightning Release chakra was unstable—arguably the most volatile of the five basic natures.
Chakra had to circulate through the body's pathways to activate jutsu.
Violent Lightning Release chakra was notoriously difficult to control.
One tiny mistake—
And the user's own body would be catastrophically damaged.
Thinking this far, Guy suddenly froze.
He realized something.
With the Byakugan, capable of seeing every chakra pathway—
Wasn't Hyūga Y Gin actually the perfect candidate for this kind of training?
"…!"
For a moment, Guy opened his mouth—
But no words came.
He fell into silence.
He could already imagine it.
A body tempered by Lightning Release chakra—
Y Gin's future progress in the Eight Gates would advance at terrifying speed.
And this was a path completely inaccessible to someone like Guy—who had almost no talent for ninjutsu.
That fleeting sense of frustration appeared—
Then vanished instantly, swallowed by boiling battle spirit and blazing passion.
Guy's gaze toward Y Gin changed again and again—
Until it finally became the same look he reserved for Hatake Kakashi.
"Y Gin."
Guy raised his thumb, eyes burning, teeth flashing brilliantly as he grinned.
"Congratulations."
There was no jealousy in his voice.
No bitterness.
Only sincere joy—for his friend, and for himself.
Joy at Y Gin's growth.
Joy at gaining another rival.
Yes.
From this moment on, in Guy's heart—
Hyūga Y Gin was no longer just someone clinging together for warmth.
No longer a junior he pitied or guided.
He had become—
Like Kakashi—
A truly respected rival.
And a true friend.
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