Learning the Eight Gates was never serious to begin with. At this time, Emperor Guy had only recently become a Chunin and had yet to show his potential. As for his father, Might Duy, he had remained a Genin for many years. Many villagers looked down on his abilities, so much so that higher-ups had never assigned him any battlefield missions, and he had been doing only simple Genin-level tasks within the village.
The Eight Gates technique was indeed powerful, and Anya was even confident in mastering it completely—opening the eighth gate—but such a suicidal Taijutsu method wasn't what he pursued. It wasn't worth abandoning his sword training over; learning it would serve no purpose.
After waking up, Anya looked at his reflection in the mirror. Dark circles shadowed his tired, dazed eyes, his overall expression listless and sluggish. Once he put on the Anbu mask, though, things looked better—much better.
Stepping outside, Anya fixed his gaze in one direction and quickly vanished beyond his doorstep. Upon arrival, he knocked on the door, receiving no reply. After wandering around for quite some time, he finally pushed the door open. Looking around, the house and Grand Hall were spotlessly clean and freshly arranged. It seemed like Kurenai Yuhi and Red weren't home after all. That made sense—right after the war ended, they were probably both caught up in reconstruction duties.
Anya had come here specifically to heal Red. During the Konoha Defense War, Red had taken heavy injuries protecting a group of young ninja. Originally, Anya had assumed he would visit the hospital afterward for treatment, but days had passed and Red hadn't appeared once. Anya decided to check personally.
Since he hadn't found Red, perhaps he should ask Kurenai Yuhi instead. From something Konan once mentioned casually, he recalled that the two often trained together at the Training Field. Might as well go see if she's there.
True enough, upon arriving, Anya immediately spotted Kurenai Yuhi. Right now, her face showed determination as she held shuriken and continuously practiced her Taijutsu around wooden posts. A closer look revealed multiple cuts on her hands, yet she kept at it diligently, not even noticing Anya's approach.
Anya stopped silently and didn't disturb her practice. Standing a short distance behind her, he watched intently. This was the first time he'd seen Kurenai Yuhi train with such intensity, and he felt pleased.
Good—it seemed the recent Konoha Defense War had given her a sense of urgency. As he observed, memories of moments shared with Kurenai Yuhi surfaced slowly. Compared to Konan, who was around the same age, Kurenai Yuhi's life had been far more comfortable. Therefore, her desire for strength was significantly less intense than Konan's. She had already fallen far behind Konan, and even Kakashi, several years younger than her, had surpassed her by now. This gap was not only due to talent but more importantly, to personal effort. Anya always respected people who worked hard.
"Enough, Red. Don't push yourself anymore."
A loud shout interrupted Anya's thoughts.
From the distance came a boy roughly the same age as Kurenai Yuhi, rushing forward to stand before the wooden post, interrupting her relentless training.
"Asuma, move aside," Kurenai Yuhi halted, clearly displeased.
Shaking his head, Asuma gazed with concern at Kurenai Yuhi's bleeding hands. "Your hands are bleeding. You need medical attention. Continuing like this will only cause more harm."
"This isn't your concern."
Asuma felt a bitter pang upon hearing Kurenai Yuhi's cold words. Sighing, he suddenly turned his head and glared at Anya, who had been watching the scene unfold for a while. "Don't think I don't know who you are just because you're wearing a mask. She's already injured. Can't you see that?"
"Oh..." Kurenai Yuhi turned her head as well, following the direction Asuma was shouting toward. Just one glance was enough to recognize this Anbu member—it was definitely Anya. Thinking about how he had been standing silently behind her all along, she felt her eyes well up with tears and struggled to speak.
Anya walked forward and gently patted Kurenai Yuhi's shoulder, encouragingly saying, "Train hard."
Then, Anya prepared to turn and leave, believing there was nothing else needed to say. Injuries were bound to happen during training. This time, even though he'd been so close, he barely managed to save them. What would happen if danger struck again next time? On the battlefield of the Third Battle, fighting and death were inevitable.
"You bastard."
Seeing Anya approach and not only fail to stop Kurenai Yuhi from training but also make things worse, Asuma became furious. His face turned red with anger as he shouted out a curse and threw a punch straight at him.
"Bang!"
Anya's eyes turned icy cold. With a simple flick of his finger before Asuma could react, an arc of lightning sent him crashing onto the ground. The paralysis effect from the Lightning Release temporarily left him unable to rise.
"Figures," spat Asuma from the ground, "all of you in the Anbu must be heartless bastards. Just because she likes you, does that mean you can ignore her completely without ever considering her feelings?"
Kurenai Yuhi stepped forward anxiously, exclaiming, "Asuma, stop talking! You—"
"Let him talk." Anya interrupted Kurenai Yuhi, his masked gaze turning colder.
Asuma gritted his teeth and rose to his feet. He decided to say it all: "Fine, if you want me to talk, then I will! Did you carry Kurenai on your back to school when she was little? After that, did you ever take her shopping? Play with her? Go on missions together? Do you even know what she likes or dislikes? How dare you deserve her affection? You don't deserve it!"
Anya stood quietly listening until Asuma finished speaking, then calmly replied, "Whether I deserve it is not for you to judge."
"Haha!" Asuma laughed bitterly while getting to his feet. Pointing at Anya's mask, he continued, "If you've got guts, take off your mask and let me look into your eyes. Let me see if they hold even a hint of guilt. I really want to know why Kurenai likes you—what exactly does she see in you?"
Taking a deep breath, Anya shook his head slightly and responded, "Actually, I don't know."
"You don't know—that's your answer..."
"That's enough."
At some point, tears had streamed down Kurenai Yuhi's face. Now standing directly in front of Anya, she gently touched his large hand with her fingertips before tightly gripping it. Facing Asuma head-on, she said, "You don't know a damn thing! What we have has nothing to do with you! You have no right to lecture him. Moreover, I never want to see you again!"
"What?"
Asuma's body jolted as he looked at the intimate pair, a surge of rage rising from the soles of his feet straight to his head. His voice cracked with pain as he roared, "Fine! I'll go—and I won't ever come back!"
Anya stood silently, watching Asuma walk away, letting out a faint but meaningful sigh. At first, she had been annoyed when Asuma interrupted Kurenai Yuhi's training, so she gave him a quick reminder with a [Lightning Release]. But now, Asuma's later words exploded in Anya's heart like the deep resonance of morning bells and evening drums.
In a way, Asuma was right. Their relationship was destined to be one where Anya owed more. Right from the start, Anya hadn't taken love seriously. He'd never truly loved someone so much that they meant everything to him.
Perhaps… I really was wrong. Should I let go? As she gazed at the close-by figure of Kurenai Yuhi, Anya began to reflect...
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