"Going on missions with Yamato-senpai is amazing. We get a comfy house even in the middle of nowhere."
"For real!"
Tenten and Hazuki wandered around the newly built two-story wooden house, their faces full of awe.
Souma was satisfied as well.
As expected of the legendary Three-Room-Two-Living-Area no Jutsu—
aside from the lack of interior decoration, it looked no different from an ordinary wooden home.
Yamato stood off to the side, silent.
To be honest, when Souma first asked him to build a house, he'd wanted to refuse.
He was a ninja. He had principles, ideals.
Using Wood Release as a construction service felt like an insult to the First Hokage's jutsu.
But…
Having a proper house in the wilderness was just too damn nice.
He fought to keep the smile off his face, then suddenly remembered—
He was wearing a mask.
Even if he grinned like an idiot, no one would see it.
As long as he didn't laugh out loud, he was safe.
"Yamato-senpai, I have a small question," Souma said.
"What kind of question?"
Yamato turned, quietly studying the boy.
Yagyu Souma.
The name is burning hottest in Konoha right now.
Anyone of higher rank had heard of him—and of the trail of chaos and miracles he left behind.
Yamato was no exception.
And a kid like this…
The question probably wouldn't be simple.
What if he couldn't answer it?
What if he embarrassed himself?
Yamato was at war with himself inside.
"Your Wood Release seems a bit different from the First Hokage's," Souma said.
"…You're very observant. Yeah. My Wood Release can only make ordinary trees—not very durable."
Yamato's tone softened with nostalgia.
"The First Hokage's Wood Release was said to block blades… and even actively absorb his opponent's chakra."
Most of Konoha's shinobi revered the First.
They looked back at those days when Konoha dominated the ninja world with a kind of hungry longing.
Yamato was no different.
"Even Wood Release has tiers, huh," Souma said.
"…"
Lies don't hurt people.
The truth is the sharp blade.
Yamato's response came out awkward, strained.
Souma continued, "Sorry, I didn't mean to belittle you. I was just wondering—if you increased the amount of chakra, could quantity eventually change into quality?"
"Uh… that…"
Yamato blinked.
He didn't feel Souma had any malice. He just hadn't expected that kind of question.
Chakra volume, huh?
It was true—the First Hokage's chakra was monstrous.
And he supposedly had an extraordinarily special body, able to recover without hand seals, practically unkillable.
His own "inferior" Wood Release might very well be a problem of chakra.
"I've thought about that too… but that's not really achievable, is it?"
"It's simple," Souma said calmly.
"A while back I peeled a barrier jutsu out of Earth-Style: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness.
If we invert that concept, and turn 'absorption' into 'conversion and concentration,' we can aggregate everyone's chakra into one point."
This barrier technique, he'd already finished before leaving the village.
He'd handed the idea to the Third Hokage and Kitayama Nao at the hospital, letting them figure out the follow-up applications.
Using it on Wood Release was the same principle. If anything, it was even simpler.
"Seriously?" Yamato croaked.
Simple?
He stared, wide-eyed, completely at a loss.
"Mm. Right now I can draw chakra from four people at once," Souma mused.
"If we expand the 'output ports' of the jutsu, doubling it shouldn't be a problem. Eight people—
yeah, it's still a little on the low side."
He muttered half to himself like he was talking about something as trivial as picking vegetables.
Yamato grabbed Souma's hands, practically shaking:
"No! Eight is incredible already. Please—help me. I'm begging you!"
Souma didn't understand the value at all.
Konoha no longer had the Uzumaki with their Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Yamato lived in a constant cold sweat over the Nine-Tails.
If Souma could create a jutsu that concentrated chakra—
Just imagining it made his cheeks twitch from excitement.
"So you're willing to cooperate with my research?" Souma asked.
"Of course! As soon as Kakashi-senpai wakes up, we'll test it out!"
Yamato answered without hesitation.
Souma clapped his hands. "If this works, that'd be amazing."
Kakashi, this time, was only suffering from chakra exhaustion. He'd swallowed a soldier pill before blacking out.
So when he woke, he didn't have a splitting headache—just a heavy fatigue in his limbs.
However—
"Kakashi-senpai, you must be starving! Here, eat a soldier pill and get your chakra back!"
Yamato shoved a special chakra-recovery pill toward him.
Kakashi lowered his head, then raised it again, a single exposed eye filled with confusion and suspicion.
"Yamato… you…"
"Uh… just eat first," Yamato said stiffly.
"…"
Kakashi still swallowed it.
He knew this was definitely Yamato, not some enemy impostor. That only made it more confusing.
First he worried if Kakashi was hungry.
Then he handed him something that didn't help hunger at all—a soldier pill.
Impossible to read.
After Kakashi swallowed the pill, Yamato relayed Souma's idea.
Kakashi was silent for a long moment.
"…It could work."
"Then we—"
"We'll talk after we get back to the village," Kakashi cut him off.
"Where are the four ninja tools?"
He pointed downwards, expression firm.
The four great ninja tools were too valuable.
The Craftsmen Village would never just let them go. But once they were in Konoha, there'd at least be time and leverage for negotiations.
Those experiments wouldn't run away.
"Right… good point," Yamato coughed.
"Oh, right—the samurai?"
"He's downstairs sparring with Souma-kun," Yamato said, gesturing toward the lower floor.
Kakashi sat up, washed up, and changed clothes.
On the way out, he casually praised the house, leaving Yamato utterly speechless.
Downstairs, Souma and Yuichi were crossing blades.
"I'm done."
"Huh? That's it?" Souma looked genuinely disappointed.
Yuichi looked even more depressed. After holding it in for a while, he finally said,
"You're too clever. If I keep sparring with you, you'll steal all my techniques."
"How is that exaggerated?" Souma said.
Tenten chimed in from the side, "Not exaggerated at all."
Yuichi refused to swing even once more.
He'd already wanted to stop earlier. But those two girls had egged him on, and he'd weakly played along.
Then he carefully watched Souma's movements… and realized that if this continued, he wouldn't have a single secret left.
He turned to Kakashi, unable to hold back.
"As expected of the Copy Ninja's students. Even this kind of ability is inherited."
"?"
Kakashi's lone eye was full of question marks.
My copy is Sharingan + talent.
Souma's copying is pure, disgusting talent.
How was that comparable?
"Yuichi-san, your timing and sense of distance with the blade are far beyond me," Souma said sincerely.
"But both in terms of timing and muscle coordination, I can still see room for optimization."
"?"
Yuichi stared at him oddly.
So not only does this brat steal my techniques…
Does he even want to teach me now?
"Tenten, throw at me," Souma said.
"Got it."
Tenten manipulated several branches with steel wires, whipping them all at Souma at once.
Souma stood completely still.
At the instant the branches entered his strike zone—
He leaned forward, hand gripping his hilt.
Draw. Slash.
As fluid as breathing, as natural as lifting a finger.
A flash of steel. A flurry of splinters.
When the dust settled, Souma's blade was sheathed once more, not a leaf on his body.
"Did you use some kind of secret technique to boost your strength? No… you boosted your power and used it perfectly. The angle, the draw, the force…"
Yuichi's eyes widened.
"How… how did you do that?!"
He had never seen Lord Mifune's swordsmanship, but he imagined—
This was about what Mifune's iai would look like.
Kakashi, Yamato, and the ANBU in the back all felt a chill.
ANBU trained in kenjutsu as well.
It didn't take a genius to see the quality of that strike.
If they had to sum it up in one phrase—
Perfect. Flawless.
"So there really are such geniuses in this world…" Yuichi muttered bitterly.
He'd spent his whole life studying the sword.
And yet his hard-earned technique had been broken down, reconstructed, and surpassed in a single day by someone watching from the sidelines.
The blow to his pride was… monumental.
"What I have is nothing," Souma said casually.
"Back when the First and Second Hokage and all the other Kage were conquering the ninja world, that was an era thick with geniuses."
Yuichi had no idea how to respond.
He'd heard stories of the Five Great Nations' golden age.
The young Kage—each more brilliant and ruthless than the last.
But even if you dropped Souma into that era…
Yuichi was very sure—he would still be among the top.
After that, Souma carefully explained his understanding of iai's mechanics.
Yuichi really didn't want to listen.
But every sentence out of Souma's mouth was packed with insight; he simply couldn't tear himself away.
In the end, he stopped hoarding anything.
He stopped being stingy with advice.
From swordsmanship, the discussion drifted to bushidō itself.
Leaving the ANBU aside, the five of them—Souma, Tenten, Hazuki, Yuichi, and Kakashi—chatted happily.
Even Hazuki ended up asking several questions, all of which Yuichi answered patiently.
But every banquet must end.
By dusk, Yuichi firmly refused the ANBU's offer to escort him and instead turned north alone.
This samurai had cut his way out of the Iron Country.
Now he would cut his way back there with a sword in hand.
He came alone.
He was left alone.
A stubborn man of the sword.
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