"Haha! A ninja can have many teachers!" Guy's enthusiasm was undimmed by Kakashi's protest. His eyes remained fixed on Naruto with burning intensity. "What do you say, young man? Will you accept me as your sensei? I'll pass on my strongest taijutsu techniques to you!"
He didn't care about Kakashi's complaints. All that mattered was the boy standing before him.
Naruto was a perfect seedling. Guy could sense it—the way Naruto's body contained something vast and barely restrained, like a beast sleeping just beneath the surface. Once released, it would shake all of Konoha to its foundations.
No one, Guy thought with absolute certainty, is more qualified to learn the Eight Gates than this boy.
Naruto studied the man in front of him with equal interest.
When he'd first started training with Kakashi, his sensei had mentioned a friend with exceptional taijutsu skills. Someone who might be able to guide Naruto's development. At the time, Naruto had felt a flutter of hope—maybe, just maybe, he'd finally meet someone he could fight seriously.
But that hope had never materialized. Until now.
Every fight until this point had required extreme care. Not care about using his full strength—care about controlling it precisely enough that he didn't accidentally kill his friends.
It made for a particular kind of loneliness.
Not the loneliness of having no companions. Naruto had friends now, and he treasured them. But there was a loneliness that came from never being able to truly let loose. From always having to hold back, to calculate, to restrain.
His heart was invincible. And invincibility, paradoxically, created an emptiness that followed him everywhere.
He looked at Guy properly now—taking in the bowl-cut hair, the enormous eyebrows, the face radiating youthful energy. This was someone who'd lived with confidence and passion their entire life. Someone whose blood still ran hot despite whatever experiences life had thrown at them.
Most people's passion cooled with age. Kakashi-sensei was like that. His blood had grown cold, silent, temperature-less. He could still feel emotions, but never that burning intensity of youth.
Guy was different.
"Super Thick Eyebrows Sensei," Naruto said, testing the nickname, "you want me as your student. But are you stronger than Kakashi-sensei?"
Guy immediately crossed his arms over his chest, his eyebrows somehow rising even higher. His tone shifted to something between pride and theatrical loneliness. "That guy next to me? Kakashi? I have fifty-one wins to his fifty losses in our record!"
Kakashi's visible eye twitched, but he said nothing. That was just how Guy was.
"Oh." Naruto's expression became more interested.
He couldn't actually tell from that statement who was stronger. Friends didn't give their all when competing—holding back was the foundation of sparring. Going all-out meant no restraint, and no restraint meant life-or-death combat.
But Naruto didn't particularly care about the rivalry between them. What he cared about was whether Guy could actually do what Kakashi claimed. Whether this man in the ridiculous green jumpsuit could truly be as strong as advertised.
I want to find someone I can actually hit properly, Naruto thought. Someone who won't break.
"Super Thick Eyebrows Sensei, I heard from Kakashi that your taijutsu is the strongest in Konoha." Naruto's voice carried genuine respect. "I'm also focused on the body. In my view, the body is the source of all power. If your body is strong enough, nothing is unbreakable."
Guy let out a sharp gasp, his face transforming with surprise.
Not surprise at being called Konoha's strongest—he'd heard that before. Surprise at the philosophy. The body is everything. Strong enough, nothing is unbreakable.
Those words resonated in his chest like a gong.
"Naruto." Guy spoke the name with sudden solemnity, his playful tone vanishing. "You've just said what I've believed my entire life. The body is the cornerstone of all humanity. Only when the body is strong can a person be truly strong. The body represents infinite possibility. The body is eternal youth!"
His eyes shone with barely contained emotion. "Naruto, I like you more and more. I don't see you as just a junior anymore. You're someone walking the same path I am."
"Then, Super Thick Eyebrows Sensei—" Naruto's face lit up with eager anticipation. "Would you like to have a friendly exchange with me? To see whose body is stronger?"
"Yes!" Guy leaped backward, putting several meters between them. His body radiated fighting spirit, the air around him seeming to shimmer with intensity. "I'm also looking forward to seeing what you can do. Come! Let's have a duel worthy of our youth!"
Kakashi retreated into the tree line, a smile finally breaking through beneath his mask. Finally. These two are actually going to fight.
He'd been waiting for this moment.
"Guy-sensei, are you ready?" Naruto's expression became serious, all traces of his usual brightness fading into focus.
"Ready!" Guy dropped into a combat stance, his casual demeanor replaced by absolute concentration. "Come at me with everything you have, Naruto. Youth demands nothing less than sincerity!"
"Then I'm coming."
Naruto moved.
One moment he was standing still. The next, he was directly in front of Guy, his fist already in motion.
It looked simple. A straight punch, nothing fancy. But the air rippled around it like water disturbed by a stone.
The punch appeared light—almost gentle, like a child's weak jab. But Guy's experienced eyes saw past the surface. Under that deceptively simple strike, he perceived tremendous fighting spirit, the passion of youth refined to its essence, and power that exceeded normal human limits.
I have to take this seriously, Guy thought. Or it will destroy me.
"Gate of Opening—open! Gate of Healing—open!"
Steam erupted around Guy's body as he opened two of the Eight Gates. He roared, meeting Naruto's punch with one of his own.
No technique. No fancy footwork. Just pure collision.
BOOM!
The impact sent shockwaves radiating outward. The wind blast hit both fighters—Guy's bowl-cut hair stood straight up as if he'd been electrocuted, while Naruto's golden hair whipped backward, streaming like a banner.
Surprise flashed across Naruto's face.
He caught it.
Super Thick Eyebrows Sensei had actually caught his casual punch. Not by dodging, not by deflecting—by meeting it head-on with pure physical power, without sustaining injury.
It looked like a light jab, but that punch had carried over a thousand pounds of force. No one had ever taken one of his strikes so cleanly before.
Interesting.
Naruto threw another punch, this time with more force. He wanted to see where Guy's limits were.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
For several seconds, they exchanged rapid-fire blows without any flourish. The two circled while punching, their feet carving patterns in the ground. With each strike, Naruto increased the force incrementally.
Gradually, Guy began to feel a dull ache spreading through the bones of his hands.
"This is youth!"
Guy's shout echoed across the clearing. In his mind, he roared: "Gate of Life—open!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
With three Gates opened, Guy's power multiplied. The two combatants moved from the shore into the waterfall itself, trading blows under the cascade. Water exploded around each impact, creating temporary voids in the falling stream.
They fought back to shore, then crashed into the forest.
Wherever they passed, destruction followed. The wind from their strikes tore bark from trees. Water droplets hung suspended in the air like frozen rain. As they entered the tree line, massive trunks toppled in sequence, falling in the wake of their movement. Leaves danced through the air by the thousands, swirling around the two figures in a constant storm of green.
The sound of flesh striking flesh was dense as rainfall on stone.
"This is youth! HAHAHA!"
Guy's wild laughter rang through the flying leaves, echoing across the entire forest. The joy in his voice was unmistakable—pure, unrestrained, genuine.
He was having the time of his life.
Every exchange of blows brought him satisfaction. Every impact reinforced that he was alive, that his body was strong, that this moment was real and perfect.
From his perch in a tree, Kakashi watched Guy laughing with abandon. Then his gaze shifted to Naruto—whose face remained relaxed, almost serene, with only a hint of pleasant surprise in his eyes.
Guy is going all out, Kakashi observed. Using three Gates right from the start. And Naruto... Naruto looks like he's warming up.
The realization settled over him with strange certainty.
Naruto hasn't even begun to try yet.