"You're right, reality has no 'ifs'."
Guy's voice brought Neji's thoughts back.
He looked up and saw Guy slowly straightening his back. In those eyes, always burning with passion, there was now bursting forth with unprecedented serious light.
"Then, it's time for me to get serious too, Neji!"
Guy clenched his fists, crossed them over his chest, and then slowly pulled them apart, assuming a starting stance completely different from before.
A vast, volcano-like, long-suppressed Chakra began to slowly awaken and rise within him.
"My father once said that in a duel between Taijutsu Ninja, no words are needed, no reasons. Fists are the best way to communicate."
The corner of Guy's mouth split into a brilliant smile.
"So, next, be careful."
"Eight Gates—"
He took a deep breath, his chest swelling like a bellows.
Inside his body, some invisible 'gates' were, one after another, violently thrown open.
"Gate of Opening, open!"
"Gate of Healing, open!"
"Gate of Life, open!"
"Gate of Pain, open!"
"Gate of Limit, open!"
"Gate of View…!"
Around Guy, pale green Chakra erupted violently!
The Chakra was so scorching that it heated and distorted the surrounding air.
The giant tree beneath his feet couldn't withstand this force, gradually cracking inch by inch.
"Open—!!"
As the final 'Open' fell, the pale green Chakra around Guy suddenly surged!
Its color changed from pale green to dark green, its quality and quantity rising to an entirely new level.
Terrifying air waves spread outward from him, blowing away all leaves and dust within a five-meter radius, revealing the bare branches below.
Eight Gates, the Sixth Gate, Gate of View!
At this moment, Guy, simply standing there, emanated an aura enough to make ordinary Jonin feel fear and their legs go weak.
"This is... the Eight Gates..." Neji's Byakugan stared intently at Guy.
In his 'field of vision', the Chakra inside Guy was like boiling magma, rushing and roaring through his meridians at unprecedented speed and with unprecedented fury.
The flow of Chakra was so large, its speed so fast. Each flow placed a tremendous burden on Guy's body… muscles, bones, internal organs all endured overload operation.
But correspondingly, it brought explosive amplification of power.
Speed, strength, reaction… an all-around leap.
"The Taijutsu forbidden technique that even Shura-sama praised highly..." Neji slowly exhaled, assuming the starting stance of the Gentle Fist Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
His eyes showed no fear, instead burning with fierce fighting spirit.
It was a scorching heat of yearning to climb, yearning to surpass when facing a higher mountain.
"I wonder how long this body of mine, enhanced by five genetic modification surgeries..."
Neji murmured to himself.
"Can hold out?"
The moment his voice fell, Guy moved.
With the Gate of View opened, Guy's speed had become so fast it exceeded the limits of visual capture.
One second he was twenty meters away, the next, his fist was already in front of Neji.
'So fast!'
Neji's white pupils suddenly contracted. He pushed his Byakugan abilities to their limit and barely managed to capture that faint green trajectory.
"Eight Trigrams Palms: Revolving Heaven!"
Without time to think, a large amount of Chakra gushed from Neji's Tenketsu throughout his body, and he spun like a top!
...
"Haah... haah..."
Deep within the sea of trees, Kakashi leaned against the thick trunk of a giant tree, slowly regulating his breathing.
His breath was very light, very slow. Each inhalation took in only the minimum amount of air, and each exhalation was controlled to last more than three seconds.
This was a breathing technique he had spent several years training after his encounter with the Iburi Clan, to maximally reduce his breathing frequency and reduce the risk of being invaded by the mist-based Kekkei Genkai.
His left hand held a kunai, held horizontally before him, while his right hand raised the forehead protector covering his left eye, revealing the crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan, scanning every inch of space around him, every shadow, every wisp of passing mist.
This was deep within the towering trees created by the Deep Forest Emergence.
Above was a canopy that blotted out the sun, sunlight casting a few pillars of light through the gaps. Beneath his feet were crisscrossing thick branches.
It was very quiet.
Quiet to the point of strangeness.
Ever since Yukimi used the Deep Forest Emergence, she had suddenly turned into mist and dissipated in the air, and he could no longer sense any presence.
But Kakashi knew she was nearby.
The Iburi Clan's Kekkei Genkai, Smoke Transformation, allowed them to transform their bodies into mist, perfectly fusing with the surrounding environment, undetectable by ordinary sensory Ninjutsu.
Moreover, this kind of mist was not a simple Genjutsu but had substantial offensive capabilities.
It could invade an enemy's body through the mouth and nose, destroying their internal organs from the inside, killing without a trace.
A few years ago, during the mission to pursue the traitor Orochimaru, Kakashi had fought against the Iburi Clan.
That battle had given him a hard time. His five internal organs felt like they were being smoked and burned, excruciatingly painful. If Yamato, who had come looking for Orochimaru, hadn't persuaded the Iburi Clan to spare his life on the grounds of 'needing intelligence', he would likely have died in that underground cave.
And today, he was facing Yukimi, who had been trained by the Land of Stars, awakened the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, and whose strength far exceeded her former self.
Rustle, rustle...
A gentle breeze blew, carrying a few withered leaves that rolled on the branches, making a faint sound.
A wisp of breeze carried a faint trace of mist, coming from the right, also carrying a slightly moist scent.
Kakashi's pupils suddenly contracted. The mist was very faint, merging with its surroundings, but under the Sharingan's dynamic vision, he could still see a slightly unnatural flow trajectory.
Almost the moment he sensed the abnormality, his body was already rolling to the left, and the kunai in his hand had already shot out, stabbing straight into that unnatural wisp of mist.
Shh—!
The kunai pierced through the mist, nailing into the tree trunk behind it with a dull thud.
The mist dispersed, but the dispersed mist did not disappear. Instead, it circled in the air and recondensed into a human form.
Yukimi, with short brown hair and a few freckles on her face, now stood on a branch five meters behind Kakashi's previous position, one hand on her hip, watching Kakashi with interest, a sly smile at the corner of her mouth.
"Oh dear, you spotted me?" Yukimi tilted her head, her tone casual as if she were taking a walk in her own backyard.
"As expected of Kakashi, such a fast reaction."
Kakashi slowly rose from the ground, his right hand pulling another kunai from his ninja tool pouch, his crimson Sharingan locking onto Yukimi, not daring to slack off in the slightest.
"The Iburi Clan's Smoke Transformation Kekkei Genkai, I've experienced it firsthand." Kakashi's voice still carried a trace of laziness, but the hand holding the kunai did not relax in the slightest.
"The feeling of my five internal organs being smoked and burned is not pleasant."
Rumble—!
Over a dozen large trees nearby were cut down, clearing a large area.
Kakashi's gaze passed over Yukimi, looking towards there. The battle between Asuma and Yusuke had entered a white-hot stage. Meanwhile, in the sea of trees on the other side, the Taijutsu duel between Guy and Neji was also earth-shattering.
"By the way, Kakashi, are you interested... in coming to develop our Land of Stars?" Yukimi suddenly invited Kakashi.
Kakashi's movement of gripping the kunai paused slightly.
He looked up, meeting Yukimi's eager, testing gaze.
"What do you mean?" Kakashi didn't understand.
"Just the literal meaning." Yukimi spread her hands, the freckles on her face, with her movement, looking very lively.
"The Land of Stars is in need of talent right now. Elite Jonin like you and Kinoe, with strong strength and rich experience, are in high demand no matter where you go. And our Land of Stars' benefits are very good, you know."
As she spoke, she even winked playfully.
Kakashi just looked at Yukimi with half-closed eyes.
"Why are you inviting me?" Kakashi spoke slowly, his voice lazy: "Our positions should be very clear, shouldn't they? Although we were once friends, at this moment, we are enemies."
"Positions?" Yukimi tilted her head: "Positions can change, Kakashi."
"Shura-sama gave us, the outcasts of the world, a home. He not only gave us strength and dignity, but also cured our Kekkei Genkai Disease." In her eyes, there flickered a light almost approaching piety.
"In the Land of Stars, there is no discrimination against Kekkei Genkai, no shackles of family background. As long as you are strong enough, as long as you are willing to give for this country, you will get corresponding rewards."
Yukimi looked at Kakashi very seriously and said: "I feel that you and Yamato should not be trapped in a decadent place like Konoha. You should have a broader stage, a leader more worthy of your loyalty."
Kakashi was silent for a moment.
Then, he slowly shook his head.
"Thank you for your kindness, Yukimi." Kakashi's voice was very soft, but very firm: "But Konoha is my home. Here, there are people I want to protect, and a will I want to inherit. So..."
He slowly raised his kunai, assuming a fighting stance.
"Please don't say such things anymore."
Yukimi looked at the firmness in Kakashi's eyes and sighed softly.
"As expected, I knew it would be like this." She shrugged, the smile on her face returning to its previous slyness: "What if I said I took a fancy to your handsomeness and wanted you to be my boyfriend? You definitely wouldn't believe that either, would you?"
The corner of Kakashi's mouth twitched slightly.
He did have a liking for this girl, who resembled Nohara Rin. In the darkest period of his life, during that brief one-day encounter, she had left him and Yamato with unforgettable memories of carefree, happy, and relaxed…
Making him and Yamato willing to risk concealing intelligence about the Iburi Clan and Yukimi.
But that was many years ago.
"So, I won't beat around the bush either." Yukimi tilted her head and smiled playfully, her tone becoming serious: "Actually, inviting you wasn't my personal idea, but..."
"Minato-sama's intention."