“Running away?” Yoru gave a cold snort, his smile deepening.
The peak-Genin chakra that had just fused into his body erupted all at once, without reservation.
The massive energy surged through his chakra pathways and flooded the muscles of his legs.
Bang!
The bluestone slab beneath his feet cracked, spraying gravel everywhere.
Brick in hand, Yoru blurred into an afterimage and took off.
［Emotional Damage Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +888!］
［Emotional Damage Points from Kurenai Yuhi, +233!］
One in front, one behind, the two figures began an absurd, high-stakes sprint through the streets of Konoha.
In less than two seconds, Yoru was locked on, under ten meters behind Asuma.
Up ahead, Asuma was running so hard his soul was nearly rattling out of his body; tears and snot streamed behind him in the wind like ribbons.
His legs churned like flaming wheels, so fast that one of his shoes flew off.
He glanced back in despair.
There, in his line of sight, was the bane of his existence — red brick in hand, chasing him relentlessly, refusing to let go.
Riding his overwhelming chakra advantage, Yoru followed like a shadow.
With reserves far beyond his peers, his voice boomed out like a temple bell, shaking half the street as he shouted at the top of his lungs mid-run.
“Asuma! Why are you running?!”
“Weren’t you going to defend Lord Hokage’s dignity back on the playground? What happened to the Hokage’s son never backing down?!”
“Stop! Let the brick in my hand have a fair duel with that proud forehead of yours!”
“Don’t hide — just one hit! I promise it won’t go all the way in!”
Every word was a knife to the heart.
Truly gut-wrenching!
Asuma nearly collapsed on the spot.
What kind of duel was this?!
What kind of ninja duels people by smacking them in the forehead with a brick?!
“Stay away from me, ahhhhh!”
Asuma screamed as he ran, his voice cracking.
In his panic he crashed headlong into a roadside fruit stand.
Dozens of apples rolled in every direction, sending the vendor into a frenzy.
Yoru leaped nimbly, springboarding off the apples in mid-air, landing with perfect smoothness three meters on, and kept following at a steady pace.
［Emotional Damage Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +666!］
［Emotional Damage Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +444!］
［Emotional Damage Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +555!］
The system kept dinging away in the background, denser than firecrackers at New Year.
To maximize the take, Yoru was in no hurry to catch up.
He maintained a precise, oppressive distance of exactly ten meters.
Whenever Asuma slowed, the brick in Yoru’s hand would whistle through a feigned throw, forcing the young master of the Hokage to squeeze out more stamina and frantically speed up again.
“Isn’t that Lord Hokage’s son? Who’s that chasing him?!”
“Chasing the Hokage’s young master with a brick? That guy must be insane!”
Konoha’s villagers stopped one after another, watching the surreal scene in stunned silence as the two swept past the corner of the Third District like a whirlwind.
In the open space by that very corner, Might Guy, in his green jumpsuit, was doing one-handed handstand push-ups.
He was in the middle of his daily after-school hell-training: “Five Hundred Laps of Youthful Handstand Walking.”
“Nine hundred ninety-eight… nine hundred ninety-nine…”
Suddenly — rapid footsteps and shrill screaming, closing fast.
Two afterimages flashed past, the wind in their wake nearly knocking Guy over.
Guy craned his neck with difficulty, and in his upside-down field of vision recognized the figure in the back, running tirelessly with a brick in hand.
Uchiha Yoru!
Guy froze.
That steady, powerful stride.
That unrelenting tenacity.
Those mighty shouts echoing down the street!
In that instant, Guy’s eyes reddened without warning.
Big, hot tears ran backward along his inverted cheeks and splashed onto the ground.
“So… I completely misjudged Yoru!”
Guy flipped upright and shot to his feet, fists clenched tight, his whole body trembling with sheer excitement.
“Not only can he unleash that soul-piercing, world-transcending sigh in theory class —”
“After school, he throws himself into this kind of wild pursuit training!”
“And the brick in his hand — is that his supreme tribute to weighted training?!”
“He is not cold and heartless! He too burns with this hot-blooded, striving youth! This — this is the running of youth!”
Guy looked up at the evening clouds already dyed orange-red, his green suit practically ablaze, and let out a soul-shaking roar.
“BURN!! YORU!!”
“BURN!! MIGHT GUY!!!”
“How could I be absent from such a hot-blooded moment! COUNT ME IN!!!”
The instant the words left his mouth, Guy’s legs shattered the flagstone beneath him.
Like a crazed stallion, his whole body erupting with fighting spirit, he charged straight in and joined the procession.
Up ahead, Asuma was at his limit.
Hearing that earth-shaking roar behind him, he strained to glance back.
One look, and his soul left his body entirely.
The lunatic behind him had become two.
The madman with the brick still wore that smile of weapons-grade friendliness.
And behind the madman, a thick-browed guy with a bowl cut was closing in at terrifying speed, eyes flashing an eerie green light, mouth wide open, fists pumping! This story is hosted at novelping . com.
“AH!!! HELP!!!”
Asuma’s vision went black, a warmth spread through his crotch, and despair swallowed him whole.
［Emotional Damage Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +999!!!］
Under the Konoha sunset: the Hokage’s young master in front, the Great Brick Demon King behind, and the wild green-skinned beast bringing up the rear.
Three figures, accompanied by heart-rending screams, ran on and on toward Konoha’s busiest commercial street.
In the Hokage Building not far away, Hiruzen Sarutobi — who had just been settling in for a soothing cup of tea — watched the entire scene through his crystal ball.
Outside the door, an Anbu knelt on one knee, cold sweat pouring down his forehead, not daring to breathe too loudly, awaiting the highest command.
Meanwhile, running through the streets of Konoha, Yoru watched the numbers leap wildly across his system panel and smiled radiantly.
His account balance was hurtling toward the hundred-thousand mark at an insane pace.
On the outskirts of Konoha, in the run-down neighborhood at the far end of the Third District, the sunset stretched three long shadows across the potholed dirt road.
The crowds had thinned; only a few shuttered corner shops lined the dilapidated street.
Asuma ran at the very front.
His pace had degraded from that initial mad sprint into a stumbling shuffle, his legs heavy as if poured full of lead.
He panted raggedly, eyes red.
Never in his life had he suffered such indignity!
He was the son of the Hokage!
The crown prince of Konoha!
And now he was being chased through the streets like a dog by an Uchiha with a brick!
He looked back as he ran.
Ten meters behind, Yoru followed at his leisure, weighing that rough red brick in his left hand, his steps light and easy.
With peak-Genin chakra circulating through his body, Yoru hadn’t broken a sweat.
His face was pure relaxation.
He wasn’t even looking at Asuma.
His eyes were fixed on the system panel before him, brows slightly furrowed.
The stream of high-value notifications — the +999s and +666s — had just begun to undergo a very strange change.
［Emotional Damage Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +44!］
［Emotional Damage Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +12!］
［Emotional Damage Points from Asuma Sarutobi, +3!］
Yoru’s face darkened instantly.
What the hell — inflation collapse?
From triple digits at the start, the payouts had shrunk to single digits.
The young master’s fear threshold had been maxed out.
For him, the simple chase had shifted from I’m going to die into the numb, given-up resignation of I can’t outrun him anyway.
This kid had actually built up a resistance to the brick?