"How the hell did this kid pick it up so fast?!" Panda Sage stared in disbelief, his paw frozen mid-swing as he was about to smack a bear.
"…No, wait. He hasn't fully learned it yet."
Panda Sage narrowed his eyes and carefully examined Yuki Seisui's condition, then shook his head.
"He's still missing the characteristics of our panda clan."
"Yeah, you're right." Panda Ming nodded after glancing over.
"He doesn't have dark circles."
Yuki remained still in a prayer-like stance, his hands pressed together. A white glow enveloped his body, and his golden eyes began to lose their shimmer. Just then, black-and-white markings slowly appeared under his lower eyelids.
These markings were unique to Sage Mode. The more complete one's Sage Mode, the subtler the changes.
Take Jiraiya, for example. When he entered Sage Mode, toad-like features emerged on his body, and his facial markings were large and obvious.
But Hashirama Senju and Naruto Uzumaki both achieved perfect Sage Mode, showing almost no physical changes.
When Hashirama entered Sage Mode, only facial markings appeared. Naruto, on the other hand, simply gained eye shadow and frog-like pupils.
Yuki hadn't yet mastered Sage Mode fully. The dark markings around his eyes started to stretch from the corners outward, forming dark circles. The markings continued spreading back to the area behind his ears, then down to his shoulders before finally stopping.
Feeling the change in his body, Yuki's golden eyes gleamed with flowing light.
"Sage Art: Water Severing Strike!"
A thick mist erupted around Yuki, obscuring visibility. Instinctively, Haru Uchiha activated her Sharingan and stepped back.
Minato, recognizing the activation of the "Rotating Mode," had already moved to a safe distance, he knew Yuki was about to test a new technique.
"Oh?" Panda Sage raised an eyebrow, his body suddenly growing in size. "This kid's technique is weird as hell."
Yuki ignored their commentary and focused his gaze on a bamboo stalk nearby.
This type of bamboo, tall and incredibly tough, was perfect for testing new jutsu.
With a sudden push, Yuki unleashed a surge of mist at breakneck speed, engulfing the bamboo.
The mist that once obscured vision condensed into flowing water, some wrapped around the bamboo, locking it in place, while the rest flowed and hovered protectively around Yuki.
"Damn, that's cool…" Minato muttered, eyes gleaming with admiration. "I want a move that badass too."
Haru widened her eyes, the Two-Tomoe of her Sharingan spinning. "This is Sage Mode…?"
She reached up to touch her own eyes. "Can the Mangekyo really compete with that?"
She'd always been confident in the Mangekyo Sharingan, but now, seeing the overwhelming power boost from Sage Mode, she started to doubt herself.
She knew the "Water Decapitation" technique, and it had never been this powerful or covered such a wide area before.
With a quiet exhale, Yuki vanished from his position and appeared instantly beside the bamboo stalk. A heartbeat later, he reappeared where he'd started, his blade already slowly sliding back into its sheath.
The final segment of the blade clicked into place, and with a calm voice, Yuki spoke a single word:
"Slash."
As the word left his lips, a clean cut appeared across the bamboo, which began to fall slowly along the perfectly straight line.
Panda Sage stared, stunned by how hard Yuki was flexing. He fell into deep thought.
Compared to this kid, he felt like a child in front of an adult.
His once-proud flexing techniques now felt like child's play.
Silently, Panda Sage committed Yuki's movements to memory, he'd be trying that next time.
"What's on your mind, boss?" Panda Ming passed over a fresh stalk of bamboo and noticed the Sage's thoughtful expression.
"What do you know? Go play somewhere else, kid."
"I'm fifteen!" Panda Ming protested indignantly.
"You're this short and you're calling yourself grown up?" Panda Sage grew in size again, towering over the much smaller Panda Ming.
"Ugh… you…" Panda Ming looked up at him, crushed emotionally.
"Sniff… sniff…"
"…Kuma, at least you still like me!" he muttered, scooping up the baby panda Kuma and trudging off. With the boss around, there was nothing left for him to do anyway. Might as well go find something to eat.
At that moment, Yuki still had some Sage Chakra left in him. Stroking his chin thoughtfully, he formed a seal with his hands.
"Sage Art: Water Bullet Barrage!"
He'd developed this technique a while ago but hadn't really used it much, now was the perfect opportunity.
As soon as he finished the hand seals, a large water orb formed in front of him, hovering and swirling midair.
"Pop! Pop! Pop!"
The orb split into several smaller bullets and shot at a rock in the distance.
Under everyone's watchful gaze, the water bullets pelted the rock, creating a small crater with each hit.
One after another, the mini bullets slammed into the target, unrelenting. Yuki even began splitting his attacks to target multiple rocks at once.
"Yuki's getting stronger every day!" Minato exclaimed with admiration. "I really need to work harder!"
"I'll practice Rasengan a hundred more times today! If I can't do that, then I'll go through a thousand cycles of hand seals!"
That was a tip he'd learned from Might Duy, it was surprisingly effective at motivating him.
Haru gave Minato a side-eye, suddenly remembering a certain green spandex-wearing, stubbly man… and couldn't help but shuffle a few steps away.
She respected Might Duy, sure, but if Minato started acting like him, she'd genuinely feel like he was trying to steal her man.
"I'll catch up to you too." Haru gripped her long sword, silently swearing to herself.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, she saw Yuki wobble unsteadily, still grinning and enjoying his Water Bullet Barrage, but suddenly he exited Sage Mode.
He was clearly about to collapse.
Haru rushed forward and caught him just in time.
"Are you okay?" she asked, worry in her voice.
"I'm fine… just overdid it on the chakra."
Sage Mode granted massive boosts in both power and range, but Yuki still couldn't generate Sage Chakra at will. He'd just pushed himself hard with both the Water Decapitation and Water Bullet Barrage.
His chakra had completely run dry. That's why he'd lost his balance.
Minato, seeing the two embrace, had just started stepping forward, then stopped and slowly pulled his foot back.
In a three-person team… someone's always the third wheel, right?
Panda Sage, now back to normal size, saw the situation from a short distance away. He glanced at the bamboo rats lying around, then grunted.
"What's all this drama for? So he ran out of chakra, big deal."
"You two act like someone just died."
"If you're gonna die, go die somewhere else! Don't do it here, it's bad luck!"
Hearing that, Minato nodded vigorously from the side.
Yuki and Haru looked at each other. Haru's face flushed bright red.
"I'm just glad you're okay…"
"I'm dying!" Yuki groaned, dramatically leaning into her arms.
"Tch…" Panda Sage clicked his tongue in exasperation and shouted into the distance, "Panda Ming! Hurry up and take these two back!"
"I can't stand this kind of crap!"
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95+ Advance Chapters Available on Patreon.com/Veltoria