Chapter 47: The Prime Suspect
"Now's the chance! Attack!"
"Haha, as expected, I won this battle."
"Of course! I'm going to be the strongest man in the ninja world!"
"Idiot, you can't say that! Are you planning to marry Kaguya Otsutsuki?"
Yamamoto Ryusei's shadow clones chattered amongst themselves as they rushed towards the immobilized Gamasen, heading straight for Uchiha Kagami. Seeing the prepared Kagami, the clones started talking over each other again.
"Kagami, stop pretending. You're out of chakra."
"Yeah, you used up all your chakra just to summon such a huge toad. You didn't even have enough chakra to open your Sharingan during the fight. That Phoenix Sage Fire Technique just now must have been all the chakra you recovered."
"That's right! Surrender quickly, and then let my Friendship-Breaking Face Punch make our friendship even stronger!"
Uchiha Kagami's face darkened. Who wants your Friendship-Breaking Face Punch? "Can you not hit the face?"
"Not hit the face? Look at Natsuki and the others, including Rōmaru and my main body, they're all bruised and swollen. If you're the only exception, that would be far too disharmonious."
Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others touched their own swollen cheeks and glared angrily at Ryusei. And whose fault do you think this is? But if Kagami was the only one who didn't get a beating, they would feel unbalanced. They quickly shouted loudly.
"That's right! If we're brothers, we should have swollen faces together!"
"Yeah, Kagami, don't even think about escaping! Ryusei, hit him!"
"It's fine if you don't hit the face. Then give him the Thousand Years of Death!"
The clan heads watched as their own children clamored for Ryusei to beat up Kagami and couldn't help but sigh. Ah, this is youth.
The moment Kagami heard the suggestion of the Thousand Years of Death, his face turned green. He drew a kunai. "I will never submit!"
Ryusei's shadow clone looked at the still-resisting Kagami and teased, "You still dare to resist? Brothers, let's get him together!"
Seven or eight shadow clones swarmed forward and ganged up on him, beating Kagami until his face was bruised and swollen, even bigger than Akimichi Torifu's.
One of the clones stood with his hands on his hips and laughed heartily. "I have finally achieved invincibility among my peers and suppressed the current generation! Hahahahaha..."
It took Gamasen a good while to recover from the shock of being violated. He saw the surrounding ninjas looking at him with a mixture of sympathy, disgust, concern, and the inability to look directly at him. He felt he could no longer face the world as a beast. He subconsciously wanted to dispel the summoning and return to Mount Myōboku. But then he shuddered at the thought. If he returned to Mount Myōboku in this state, the entire summoning world would know, and he would want to live even less. He tried to console himself: Be calm. As long as I'm not embarrassed, then the ones who are embarrassed are others. I cannot lose the prestige of Mount Myōboku.
Squelch...
Gamasen reached behind him and, enduring the pain, pulled out the half-spear shaft stuck in his rear. Seeing the red blood and the yellow, black-spotted unknown substance on the shaft, his face couldn't help but twitch. He then calmly tossed the wooden stick away.
Boom... The surrounding ninjas, seeing the giant wooden stick stained with the yellow unknown substance, jumped away in disgust. They couldn't help but think, Ryusei really did beat the crap out of him.
Gamasen cleared his throat, trying his best not to look at the surrounding ninjas, and struggled to maintain the dignity of Mount Myōboku. "Little brat Ryusei, you win this time. But I was careless. You won't be so lucky next time."
Yamamoto Ryusei, who was receiving Yang Release chakra treatment from Hashirama, replied, "Next time, I will defeat you fair and square."
Gamasen nodded and said in a booming voice, "Then I'll be waiting for you." He grabbed the spearhead and, with a poof, returned to Mount Myōboku, leaving only a cloud of smoke behind.
With Gamasen's disappearance, Ryusei's shadow clones and Uchiha Kagami fell from the sky. The clones dispelled themselves in mid-air, leaving only Kagami to fall clumsily.
Swoosh...
A middle-aged man in Uchiha clan attire leaped out from the crowd and caught Kagami. It was Uchiha Suizan, who had taken over as clan head after Madara's departure.
Kagami looked at his clan head and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry, Clan Head. I failed to defend the honor of the Uchiha. I lost."
Suizan was very satisfied with the youth before him. "You don't need to apologize. You performed very well. But when we return to the clan, you will honestly explain how you got your summoning beast. Let's go. First, let's go see how your friend is doing."
Suizan brought Kagami before Hashirama. "Greetings, Lord Hokage. How is this child's condition?"
Hashirama looked at Ryusei, who had already fallen asleep after his treatment. "After the treatment, most of his injuries have healed. It's just the broken arm that will need a month or two to mend."
Suizan said with guilt, "I am truly sorry. Kagami was too reckless."
Hashirama cut him off. "This was just a spar. It's not Kagami's fault. Ryusei was just too competitive. But it was truly a good battle."
"Indeed," Suizan nodded. "That child will surely become a pillar of Konoha, just like you, Lord Hokage."
Hyuga Tenjin, standing behind them, looked at the sleeping Ryusei and couldn't help but think, 'Will he be the next Hashirama Senju, or the next Madara Uchiha?'
Hashirama looked at the setting sun. "It's getting late. Everyone should disperse and go home to rest."
Everyone left excitedly. What they had seen today would keep many of them awake tonight. At the same time, Yamamoto Ryusei's name would resound throughout all of Konoha.
On the way back, Nara Shikakaze looked at his sullen son, Nara Shikamei, and asked, "What are your thoughts on today's events?"
Shikamei touched his swollen cheek. "Ryusei and Kagami are very strong. They've already left us far behind."
Shikakaze nodded. "That's right. Even I might not be a match for those two right now. But Shikamei, have you not yet realized your own problem?"
Shikamei was silent.
Shikakaze continued, "You are very intelligent. This is your strength, but it is also your weakness. Your intelligence allows you to use it to achieve victory through tactics, but it also limits your pursuit of strength. That's why you were so powerless against Yamamoto Ryusei, because he doesn't play tactical games with you like a normal ninja. He just crushes you with absolute strength. So, Shikamei, even playing with tactics requires strength. To move a thousand pounds with four ounces, you still need to have those four ounces."
Shikamei looked at his father. "Then, Father, have you also encountered someone much stronger than you?"
Shikakaze just nodded.
Shikamei asked eagerly, "Then how did you deal with it?"
Shikakaze said as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "That's why we are allies with the Yamanaka and Akimichi. When our three families unite, we are very powerful. And if even our three families combined can't win..." Shikakaze thought of Hashirama and Madara. "Then we can only join them."
Shikamei looked at his father, speechless. You're probably the only one who can make surrendering sound so fresh and refined.
Seeing his son's expression, Shikakaze's face flushed a little. He said with annoyance, "Starting tomorrow, your training volume is doubled."
"Fine," Shikamei replied, annoyed. He looked up at the sky and thought silently, 'Ryusei, Kagami, I will definitely catch up to you.'
"Our family doesn't have such a big dog," Inuzuka Ya said, slapping his son, Inuzuka Rō, hard. "What, are you not satisfied with Rōmaru?"
Rō gave a sheepish grin. "It's not that I'm not satisfied. I just think Kagami's summoning beast is very big and cool."
Inuzuka Ya sighed, seeing that his son's soul had been completely captivated by Kagami's toad. "Rō, giant summoning beasts are not easy to find. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so few of them. You should just honestly master your family's ninjutsu. Once you've mastered it, our Inuzuka clan will not be inferior to any other clan. Tomorrow, your training volume is doubled."
"Yes, sir," Rō said dejectedly.
Similar conversations took place in many families, and they all ended with the children's training volume being doubled.
Mount Myōboku
Gamasen, who had just returned, was recuperating in his cave. Sage Fukasaku saw his injuries and said, "How did you get hurt so badly? Was this enemy very troublesome?"
Gamasen, however, was smiling. "No, he was a very interesting enemy. Although he's a classmate of Kagami's and they're about the same age, his taijutsu is far beyond anyone his age. I'd say he's the strongest taijutsu user I've ever seen."
Fukasaku frowned. "Is it the Yamamoto Ryusei that Kagami mentioned last time?"
Gamasen nodded eagerly.
Fukasaku was speechless. "You didn't use ninjutsu again?"
Gamasen shook his head. "What's the fun in ninjutsu? It has to be fist-to-flesh to be exciting! Besides, he didn't use any ninjutsu. How could I be so shameless as to use it?"
Fukasaku shook his head. "Then just rest and recover."
On his way back, Fukasaku thought of the Great Toad Sage's words. Since he has already fought in the Great Toad Sage's dream, that means the blonde-haired, blue-eyed image was not caused by a transformation jutsu. Although the hair and eye color were wrong, Fukasaku still listed Yamamoto Ryusei as the prime suspect.