Chapter 52: A Flawless Blade

Chapter 52: A Flawless Slash

"It's so wonderful to go on a mission with Senior Yamato. We even get to stay in a comfortable house deep in the mountains."

"Totally!"

Tenten and Kazuha wandered around the newly constructed two-story wooden house, their faces filled with awe.

Chiba was also quite satisfied.

True to the Art of Three Rooms and Two Halls, aside from the lack of interior decoration, it looked no different from an ordinary wooden home.

Yamato stood off to the side, maintaining a silent facade.

To be honest, when he was first asked to build a house, he had wanted to refuse.

As a ninja, he had his own persistence and pursuits; using Wood Release to construct a house was practically an insult to the First Hokage's technique.

However.

Having a house in the wilderness was simply too convenient!

He forcefully suppressed a smile, though he quickly remembered that he was wearing a mask, so even if he smiled, no one would notice.

As long as he didn't make a sound, it would be fine.

"Senior Yamato, I have a small question."

"What question?"

Yamato turned his head, curiously sizing up the boy before him.

Yagyu Chiba.

Currently a blazing genius of Konoha. Anyone of a certain rank had heard Chiba's name and deeds.

Yamato was no exception.

This kid's question...

Surely it wouldn't be too difficult, right?

What if he couldn't answer?

A fierce internal battle raged within Yamato's mind.

"Your Wood Release seems somewhat different from the First Hokage's, doesn't it?"

"You're very observant. That's right, my Wood Release can only create ordinary, fragile wood, whereas the First Hokage's Wood Release could supposedly block swords and even actively absorb other people's chakra."

When speaking of the First Hokage, Yamato's tone was filled with deep reverence.

Most Konoha ninjas revered the First Hokage while simultaneously longing for the era when Konoha dominated the entire ninja world without rival.

Yamato was no exception.

"Even among Wood Release techniques, there are differences."

"..."

Lies do not hurt; the truth is a sharp blade.

Yamato's reply was excruciatingly difficult.

Chiba said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to disparage it. I was just wondering if we increased the chakra output, would it be possible to cause a qualitative change through a quantitative one?"

"Uh, this..."

Yamato was momentarily stunned.

He didn't think Chiba had any malicious intent, but he hadn't expected the boy to pose such a question.

Chakra volume?

Indeed.

Back in the day, the First Hokage possessed an astonishing amount of chakra, and he was also rumored to possess a highly unique constitution that allowed him to heal without hand seals, practically rendering him immortal.

The inferior nature of his own Wood Release might very well be related to chakra.

"I'm curious about it too, but that's probably impossible to achieve, right?"

"It's quite simple. Not long ago, I stripped a barrier technique from the Earth Prison Hall. As long as we reverse-engineer that barrier technique, turning absorption into conversion and concentrating the chakra, it should work," Chiba explained.

He had finished this barrier technique before leaving and had submitted it to the Third Hokage and Kitayama Osu, leaving them to ponder its subsequent applications.

Applying it to Wood Release followed the exact same principle, perhaps even simpler.

"Really?"

Simple?

This...

Yamato's eyes widened, completely at a loss for how to respond.

"Yes, currently I can manage to extract chakra from four people. If I add more jutsu ports, doubling it should be no problem—eight people. Though eight is still a bit few."

Chiba muttered on casually.

Yamato excitedly grabbed Chiba's hand and said, "No! Eight is already amazing! Please, you must help me!"

Chiba didn't understand the true value of Wood Release.

In present-day Konoha, lacking the Uzumaki clan who mastered the Adamantine Sealing Chains, Yamato was practically going bald from his terror of the Nine-Tails.

If Chiba could invent a technique that concentrated chakra...

At this thought, Yamato's cheeks twitched with excitement.

"So, you're willing to cooperate with me on this research?"

"Of course! Once Senior Kakashi wakes up, we'll run a test right away!"

Yamato answered with resolute determination.

Chiba clapped his hands: "If it works, that would be fantastic."

Kakashi had simply exhausted his stamina this time, and before losing consciousness, he had even taken a military ration pill.

Therefore.

Upon waking up, he didn't feel any headache, only a mild fatigue.

However.

"Senior Kakashi, you must be starving! Hurry up and eat a military ration pill to recover!"

Yamato handed over a specialized military ration pill designed to restore chakra.

Kakashi lowered his head and then raised it again, a single exposed eye revealing a mixture of confusion and scrutiny.

"Yamato, you?"

"Uh, just eat it first."

"..."

Kakashi ate it anyway.

He knew the person before him wasn't an imposter but the real Yamato, which made it all the more bewildering.

On one hand, he was showing concern over whether Kakashi was hungry, while on the other, he handed over a pill meant for chakra recovery rather than satisfying hunger. It was genuinely incomprehensible.

After swallowing the pill, Yamato recounted Chiba's idea.

Kakashi fell into a long contemplation.

"Feasible."

"Then we..."

"We'll talk about it after returning to the village. We still have the four ninja tools to deal with."

Kakashi sternly pointed downstairs.

The Four Great Ninja Tools held immense value, and the Artisan Village would certainly not let them go unpursued. However, once they were brought back to Konoha, they would have the room and time to bargain and negotiate.

Such experiments weren't matters of immediate urgency.

"Ahem, that's true either."

"By the way, where is that samurai?"

"Downstairs, practicing swordsmanship with Chiba-kun."

Yamato gestured toward the lower floor.

Kakashi sat up, found a place to wash up and get dressed, and finally emerged to praise the house once more, leaving Yamato speechless.

Downstairs, Chiba and Yuuichi were sparring.

"I'm not fighting anymore."

"Huh? You're stopping already?"

Chiba wore a look of disappointment.

Yuuichi felt even more stifled. After holding back for a moment, he said, "You're too smart. If I keep fighting you, you're going to learn my entire swordsmanship style."

"It's not that exaggerated."

Tenten chimed in from the side to help.

No matter what anyone said, Yuuichi stubbornly refused to continue.

Just moments ago, he had wanted to stop, but after being provoked by the two little girls, he had practiced a bit longer. Upon closer inspection, good grief, his underwear was practically about to be stolen away as well.

He looked at Kakashi and couldn't help saying, "As expected of the Copy Ninja's pupil; even this kind of capability runs in the family."

"???"

Kakashi's single eye registered a profound sense of utter bewilderment.

He relied on the Sharingan plus comprehension, whereas Chiba relied purely on sheer comprehension as a foundation—they weren't even on the same path.

How could anyone lump the two together?

"Mr. Yuuichi, my grasp of swordsmanship and timing falls far short of yours, but whether it's swordsmanship timing, muscle strength utilization, or coordination, there is still room for optimization."

"???"

Yuuichi stared at Chiba with a bizarre expression.

Good kid!

Not only did you secretly learn my skills, but now you're turning around and teaching me?

"Tenten, throw them at me."

"Okay."

Tenten used steel wires to manipulate a bunch of tree branches, launching a coordinated attack straight at Chiba.

Chiba stood there, unmoving.

The instant the branches closed in...

He leaned forward, gripped the hilt, and drew his blade.

Smooth as moving one's own arm, executed in a single flowing motion.

Blade light flashed, wood dust filled the air, and after a brief flurry of movement, the blade returned to its scabbard. Not a single leaf clung to Chiba's clothes.

"Did you use some kind of secret technique to enhance your strength? No wait, you utilized that enhancedized strength to its absolute limit! The positioning of the draw and the application of force were also ingenious. This... how did you do it?!"

Yuuichi stared in dumbfounded shock.

He had never witnessed Mifune-sama wield a sword, but he imagined that Mifune's Iaijutsu probably looked just about like this.

Kakashi, Yamato, and the others were also secretly startled.

The ANBU also trained in swordsmanship, so they naturally knew how to distinguish good swordsmanship from bad.

If they had to evaluate it in a single sentence—

"Flawless, impeccably perfect!"

"So there really are such geniuses in this world!"

Yuuichi wore a bitter expression.

He had spent his entire life studying and mastering the Way of the Sword, only to find that the results of his lifelong study fell short of the swordsmanship someone else could conceive within a single day of observation. The blow to his pride was simply too heavy.

"My little trick is nothing much. Look at the era when the First and Second Hokages and the various Kage vied for supremacy—that was truly an era where geniuses rose in swarms."

"..."

Yuuichi didn't know how to respond.

He had heard tales of the former glory of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

The Kage of the First and Second generations were either monsters or preternaturally brilliant geniuses, yet he dared say that even if Chiba had been born in that era, he would still stand at the absolute pinnacle.

Afterward, Chiba detailed the techniques of the Iaijutsu.

Yuuichi desperately didn't want to listen, but the sheer wealth of practical insights provided by the boy made it impossible for him to refuse.

As they exchanged insights, he cast aside his reluctance to share his secrets.

From swordsmanship to Bushido, the five individuals—excluding the ANBU ninja—enjoyed a pleasant conversation. By the end, even Kazuha asked several questions, which he answered one by one.

There is no banquet in the world that never ends.

By evening, Yuuichi declined the ANBU squad's offer of an escort, taking his blade and heading north.

This samurai had cut his way out of the Land of Iron, and now he was cutting his way back with a single sword.

He came alone, and he left alone.

A truly obstinate samurai.