Chapter 18: Dawn and Realizations
The sudden attack prompted Liumu to instantly activate Taotie's Gluttony. His initial instinct was to absorb the ninjutsu directly. But at that moment, he saw a green-clad figure hurtling toward him.
To a degree, Taotie's Gluttony was similar to the Preta Path of Pain's Six Paths—capable of absorbing incoming ninjutsu. However, Liumu didn't want too many people to know about this ability the mythical beast had left him. Konoha was in a complex, somewhat chaotic state right now. Having already caused significant trouble, he needed to be cautious.
Thus, before the figure arrived, Liumu immediately suppressed the faint crimson aura flickering across his skin.
Whoosh!
The newcomer grabbed Liumu around the waist and swiftly carried him out of the Great Fireball's blast radius.
"Who are you?!"
Seeing this, Uchiha Izumi shouted sharply. Her chakra was utterly depleted now; merely standing was a tremendous struggle.
"You're Liumu!"
The newcomer set Liumu down, raising his rough, square-jawed face into a wide smile. "I saw you at Guy's entrance ceremony."
Guy?
Liumu frowned momentarily, until the moonlight revealed the man's appearance and his simple, iconic green jumpsuit. He immediately recognized him.
"Might Dai… You're Guy's father?"
Might Dai gave a proud thumbs-up. "That's right!"
In his past life, Liumu hadn't known much about Might Dai. As a background character, Kishimoto hadn't given him much detail. His most glorious record was probably opening the Eight Gates and trading his life to take down four of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, reducing their number to three.
But as a career Genin, Might Dai's talent wasn't high. On the contrary, as a shinobi, he was the particularly untalented type. Yet, who would have thought such a man would privately master Konoha's forbidden technique, the Eight Gates, for over a decade?
Might Dai glanced at the now-unconscious Uchiha Izumi, then turned to Liumu with a puzzled expression. "It's so late. Why are you having a private duel out here?"
"Private duel?!"
Liumu immediately denied it. "No, no! It's just a friendly spar! How could good boys like us possibly duel privately?"
Private duels were taboo in Konoha, just as the Academy forbade student fights. If caught by the village patrol, they'd definitely be thrown into a confinement cell. Liumu didn't want that label.
"A spar?" Might Dai spread his hands, incredulous. "How did a 'spar' end up like this?" He pointed at the unconscious Izumi.
"Kids these days are pushing themselves too hard!" Might Dai's eyes suddenly lit up as if struck by inspiration. He grinned widely. "Even kids better than Guy are training this hard! When I get back, I'm doubling Guy's training load!"
Liumu wasn't very adept at dealing with people of such… 'pure' mentality. As Might Dai began psyching himself up, Liumu decided it was time to leave.
"Hey, where are you going? What about him?" Might Dai called after him.
"Leave him here. It's quite warm, and this spot is nice and cool," Liumu said nonchalantly, glancing at Uchiha Izumi on the ground. "Maybe he'll wake up in the middle of the night and decide to practice some taijutsu."
With that, Liumu vanished in a poof of smoke.
Might Dai scratched his head, looking down at Uchiha Izumi. "As expected of an Uchiha. Practicing ninjutsu until you pass out, and still planning to do taijutsu when you wake up… It seems the gap between Guy and a genius like this isn't just about talent."
Having said that, Might Dai secretly resolved to indeed double Guy's training after returning home.
"One times two is two… times two again… That's four times! Four times it is!"
...
...
...
Back home, Liumu lay down once more, but now a new concern began to gnaw at him.
From his memories, aside from the copying ability, the Uchiha clan's Sharingan could also cast extremely potent genjutsu once it evolved to the Three Tomoe stage.
Liumu's power came from the Saitama template—simple, direct, overwhelmingly physical. But in the shinobi world, this kind of ability had a fatal flaw: it offered no defense against genjutsu.
Uchiha Izumi had already awakened the Three Tomoe. She undoubtedly possessed some proficiency in illusionary techniques. While his victory tonight was assured, it was also somewhat fortunate. If she had opted for genjutsu instead of a direct Fire Release attack, the one suffering would undoubtedly have been Liumu.
"It seems I need to seriously address my own shortcomings."
Liumu considered his Temporal Training Chamber. It could transport his physical body, but he didn't know if he could activate it in time after being caught in a genjutsu. Moreover, opening the Chamber required completing specific system tasks—a restriction that felt incredibly limiting at a time like this.
...
The Next Day.
Sunlight peeked through the window. Liumu, having not slept all night, felt no drowsiness.
After a quick wash-up, he decided to find Master Jiraiya and ask him how to counter genjutsu.
"Come on, Guy! Just three more laps! You can do it!"
At the Konoha training grounds, Liumu stood on the embankment, watching the two figures running laps in the distance, a slight smile touching his lips.
Might Dai held a paper megaphone, running alongside Guy, constantly encouraging him. Watching Guy, whose back was already drenched in sweat, Liumu felt a sudden surge of admiration.
Geniuses existed, but genius wasn't everything.
Might Dai, Guy, and later, Rock Lee—none could be classified as geniuses. Yet, such people strangely inspired admiration, even from true prodigies.
If talent isn't enough, work hard. If hard work isn't enough, work harder. Even if the future isn't as bright as hoped, I believe that even a single moment of brilliance is enough to leave everyone in awe.
"Come on, Guy! Final lap! Push through!"
Little did Liumu know that Guy's daily training, originally a hundred laps, had quietly quadrupled to four hundred today, all because of his casual words the previous night.
"Work hard, the future Blue Beast of Konoha!"
Muttering this encouragement to himself, Liumu clenched his fist, turned, and left the training grounds.
As for where to find that old pervert Jiraiya… Liumu didn't even need to think. He knew exactly the kind of place he'd be. But…
Standing before the curtain bearing the character for 'Bath' or 'Hot Spring,' he ultimately chose not to enter.
After all, in his past life, he'd seen enough media to know that many such establishments in this culture were mixed-gender baths.
'Hmm… this isn't appropriate. Not appropriate at all.'
"Liumu? What are you doing here?"
A voice suddenly rang out from behind, startling Liumu just as his hand was about to touch the curtain. He turned to see Nohara Rin standing there, holding a bouquet of white lilies, looking at him with surprise.
"It really is you, Liumu! When did you return to the village?"
(End of Chapter)
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