Early the next morning, Uchiha Shisui arrived at the office with three clansmen, all reporting precisely on time.
“Advisor Kaeda.”
Arashi had no Sharingan, but he excelled at reading people.
Shisui was clearly still thinking about last night’s question regarding the Will of Fire, while Itachi quietly observed Arashi from the side.
Inabi and Tekka, however, looked openly unruly.
Despite Fugaku’s warning, traces of Uchiha arrogance still lingered on their faces.
Arashi had already expected this.
It was time to knock those two down a peg and let them taste a little hardship.
Of course, he personally did not yet possess the strength to do that.
“What are our duties, Advisor-sama?”
Once the formal greetings were finished, Shisui naturally spoke on behalf of the group as its highest-ranking member.
“You will remain by my side as my guard.”
Arashi smiled with narrowed eyes.
“As for these three, I found them a teacher.”
“A teacher?”
Inabi and Tekka looked even more disdainful.
“Who could possibly be qualified to teach an Uchiha—”
“YOUTH!”
Before they could finish, a series of passionate shouts rang out.
Two dark-green streaks charged toward the office, leaving clouds of dust in their wake.
A large man and a young boy with matching thick eyebrows struck exaggerated poses as they made their dazzling entrance.
“Advisor Kaeda, in answer to your invitation, I, Might Duy—”
“And I, Might Guy—”
“Have arrived!”
The absurd display left the Uchiha group staring in stunned silence.
Inabi and Tekka’s arrogant words died in their throats.
“Duy-san, I’m truly glad you came.”
Arashi stepped forward with a sincere smile and clasped Duy’s rough hands between his own.
“Having someone of your caliber assist me is a blessing from heaven.”
Others might not know Duy’s true strength, but Arashi certainly did.
Might Duy had trained the Eight Gates all the way to the Eighth Gate of Death.
At full strength, he could reduce the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist to only three survivors.
In the original timeline, that battle occurred during the Third Shinobi World War.
But Arashi wanted to learn this ultimate technique for shinobi without special bloodlines, so naturally, he could not allow Duy to sacrifice himself.
Just as he had done with Obito, Arashi monitored Guy’s team using his knowledge of the plot.
He arrived with reinforcements before Duy needed to open the Eighth Gate and rescued both father and son.
Duy and Guy were deeply grateful to the man who had saved them.
Unlike the rest of the village, Arashi never mocked Duy for remaining a genin throughout his career.
He treated him with sincere respect and even asked him to become his private instructor.
Duy was passionate and broad-minded, so the village’s ridicule rarely bothered him.
Even so, Arashi’s respect gave him the warmth of a great horse finally meeting someone capable of recognizing its worth.
He accepted the request without hesitation.
“Advisor Kaeda!”
Duy raised his thumb, and his dazzling teeth flashed brightly.
“Whenever you call, I will arrive at once!”
“The honor is mine.”
Arashi spoke from the heart before turning to introduce him.
“This is Might Duy, and beside him is his son, Might Guy.”
“Inabi, Tekka, Itachi—your current assignment is to train in taijutsu under Duy-san.”
“Of course, I’ll be joining you.”
“Wait, Advisor Kaeda.”
Inabi immediately objected.
“Unless I remember incorrectly, isn’t this man the eternal genin everyone in the village laughs at?”
“You want us to train under him?
That has to be a joke.”
“Exactly.”
Tekka joined in.
“We are proud members of the Uchiha clan and already chunin.
Becoming jonin is only a matter of time.”
“Being taught by a genin who cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu is an insult.”
Shisui’s expression immediately changed.
“Inabi, Tekka, enough!
A shinobi’s first duty is to obey orders.
Have you forgotten—”
Arashi raised a hand, stopping him.
“The proud Uchiha clan…”
He gave a soft, mocking laugh.
“Weakness and ignorance are not barriers to survival.
Arrogance is.”
“Your Sharingan is nothing remarkable.
Forget seeing the future—you cannot even recognize the strength of the man standing before you.”
“What did you say?!”
Inabi and Tekka instantly became furious.
Had Fugaku not ordered them never to disobey Arashi, they might already have drawn their weapons.
“Duy-san.”
Arashi ignored the two hotheaded youths and turned to Might Duy.
“I know you are a master who normally hides his strength, but could you make an exception and demonstrate it today?”
“As you can see, these two proud Uchiha will not accept your instruction unless you beat some respect into them.”
“A hidden master?
Me?”
Duy laughed loudly while scratching the back of his head.
“Advisor Kaeda flatters me far too much.”
“But since you’ve asked, I’ll have to show them the full force of my enthusiasm!”
He bent down, removed the weights around his legs, and casually tossed them aside.
Boom!
The ground trembled slightly, as though some enormous beast had stomped nearby.
Uchiha Shisui’s eyes widened.
From Arashi’s behavior, he had already guessed that Duy was hiding considerable strength.
He had not expected the man to be carrying such absurdly heavy weights.
“Advisor-sama…”
Before Shisui could continue, Arashi raised his hand again.
“A conflict between shinobi should be settled in a shinobi’s way.”
“Don’t worry.
Duy-san knows how to hold back.”
Arashi stepped away and cleared an area for the fight.
Shisui had no choice but to obey, while Itachi and Guy also retreated.
Itachi activated his one-tomoe Sharingan and focused intently on the center.
Guy excitedly raised his arms.
“Dad, do your best!”
The sight of Duy’s weights had shaken Inabi and Tekka, but as proud Uchiha, they could not show fear before the battle even began.
“That’s all?”
Inabi forced out a scoff.
“He’s merely a brute with more strength than average.”
Tekka steadied himself and reached toward his ninja pouch.
“No matter how powerful his taijutsu is, the Sharingan will reduce his movements to slow motion.”
“Inabi, circle around from the left.”
Both moved at the same time.
Yet before either took a full step, Might Duy vanished from their vision.
It was not the Body Flicker Technique.
He had formed no hand seals.
This was pure physical speed.
At the same moment, Duy’s booming voice rang out.
“First Gate, open!”
Duy disliked showing off, but he understood that Arashi wanted him to establish authority.
If these two proud Uchiha refused to acknowledge him, every future training session would become needlessly troublesome.
Since he had promised to do the job properly, he would not break his word.
That too was part of youth!
“What—”
Before Tekka could finish, sharp pain struck the back of his neck.
His vision went black, and his body pitched forward beyond his control.
He remained conscious, yet he could no longer move.
As he fell, he caught a glimpse of a green blur passing Inabi.
The young Uchiha flew through the air as though struck by a charging bull and crashed into the ground more than ten paces away.
His face was twisted in shock and pain.
Only two seconds had passed from beginning to end.
Inabi lay on the ground with his eyes wide open, the tomoe of his Sharingan still slowly rotating.
He had seen it.
He had seen Duy’s path, the instant his feet struck the ground, every contraction of his muscles, and even the direction of his fist.
The Sharingan had captured it all.
But Inabi’s body could not react.
His mind issued the command to dodge, yet the signal had not even reached his limbs before the blow struck.
It was just like Sasuke’s first encounter with Lee in the original story.
Sometimes, merely seeing an attack was not enough.
They had mocked Duy’s movements as slow before the Sharingan.
If he was moving in slow motion, then they had been standing completely still.
Tekka struggled to rise, but a powerful numbness spread from his spine throughout his body.
He could not even maintain a kneeling position.
Grinding his teeth, he looked up and saw Duy standing in his original spot as though he had never moved.
“Oh dear, I used a little too much force.”
Duy scratched his head and smiled apologetically.
“Are you two all right?
I’m not very good at holding back.”
Inabi and Tekka opened their mouths, but neither could utter a word.
They had not been given any opportunity to use the Uchiha clan’s famed Fire Release or genjutsu.
From the moment Duy vanished until they hit the ground, they did not even have enough time to complete a single hand seal.
“Your skill is remarkable, Duy-san.”
Shisui applauded sincerely.
“As expected of someone Advisor Kaeda values so highly.”
“You taught me an important lesson today.”
“Even without ninjutsu or genjutsu, taijutsu taken to its limits can produce astonishing results.”
Beside him, Itachi deactivated his Sharingan with a thoughtful expression.
Guy, meanwhile, had turned red with excitement and punched the air.
“YOUTH!”
Arashi smiled and approached Inabi and Tekka, patting both on the shoulder.
“Do you still consider training under Duy-san an insult?”
The two exchanged glances before lowering their proud heads.
“Duy-san, please forgive our disrespect.”
“Not at all!”
Duy raised his thumb, and his white teeth flashed once more.
“As long as you’re willing to shed sweat, I’m certain you’ll reach this level very soon!”
“Now, why don’t we begin by running one hundred laps around Konoha?”
Inabi and Tekka fell silent.
‘How many laps?!’
“I’ll be joining the training as well.”
Arashi smiled.
“Duy-san, would you mind giving me one of those green training suits?”
“Ohhh!”
Duy and Guy’s eyes lit up simultaneously.
“Advisor Kaeda, you have incredible taste!”
Other than those two, no one in Konoha had ever shown interest in the dark-green bodysuit.
Lee had not even been born yet.
“Do we have to wear one too?”
Inabi and Tekka looked utterly hopeless, as though asking whether they also had to die.
“That won’t be necessary.”
Arashi smiled.
“I only want to wear it because I think it looks impressive.
The rest of you may choose for yourselves.”
His words moved Duy and Guy to tears.
Like characters in a comedy manga, they shouted together at the top of their lungs.
“YOUTH!”
“Advisor Kaeda!”
Shisui hurried forward.
“If you leave to train, what will happen to the office’s work?”
“That’s simple.”
Arashi formed a hand seal and created a shadow clone.
“My clone will handle the office while my real body trains.”
“If an emergency causes the clone to disappear, Shisui, come and notify me immediately.”
“This…”
For once, Shisui did not know how to respond.
Itachi, however, could not suppress a small smile.
He had once sent a shadow clone to attend the Academy while his real body trained with Shisui.
Arashi’s method felt extremely familiar.
“Relax.
I’ve already dealt with most of the important work in advance.”
“There should be no serious trouble over the next few days.”
Arashi glanced toward the Hokage Rock.
The old men had probably already learned that he was cooperating with the Uchiha.
Now, all he had to do was wait for them to make their move.
Since he was waiting anyway, he might as well train at the same time.
In the shinobi world, strength was everything.
Even the greatest Talk-no-Jutsu user always struck his opponent with a Rasengan before beginning the speech.
“Well then…”
Arashi turned and began running beneath the morning sun.
“Duy-san, let’s go.”
“YOUTH!”
…