Yuuto had always liked that master and disciple pair, Might Guy and Rock Lee.
Rather than Naruto Uzumaki, who claimed to have nothing but had a Fourth Hokage dad, was the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths' son, had the Byakugan Princess crushing on him for over a decade, was personally taught by the Sannin Jiraiya, had the strongest Tailed Beast as a safety net, and the Sixth Hokage as a team leader.
Guy and Lee represented the limit of ordinary people in Naruto.
No bloodline, no Kekkei Genkai, not even Ninjutsu.
But when Might Guy chose to burn himself up, his fire was enough to illuminate the entire world.
But just like Might Guy failed to kick Madara Uchiha to death, Yuuto also failed to defeat Aomine.
The third quarter ended.
Score on the court: 80:87!
Having painstakingly erased the deficit, they were once again pulled 7 points apart by Teiko.
Back on the bench.
Yuuto sat heavily on the chair, covering his head with a towel, not wanting anyone to see his face.
Two years of effort, dozens of simulations, adding up to a full thirty-plus years, only to exchange it for such a result.
It was depressing.
He defeated the Emperor Eye, twisted the future.
Yet he was going to lose to that damned "talent." This was hard for him to accept.
He now realized that "there's always next time" was simply the biggest excuse in the world.
Lose this time, next time. Lose next time, there's another next time...
Exactly how many "next times" did he have to go through for it to end?
Yuuto was furious to the extreme.
The calm brought by the Dual Personality Shooter couldn't even suppress the mania of his Wildness and Red Eye mode.
Seeing him like this, his teammates didn't dare to speak aloud.
But in fact, Yuuto had never blamed them.
He remembered a post-game interview with Kobe vividly.
At that time, he had just lost a game. The Los Angeles media stormed into the locker room to find Kobe, trying to help him find a reason for the loss.
They asked Kobe if the back-to-back schedule affected his condition, if continuous play decreased his stamina... they arranged numerous reasons for Kobe.
The reporters tried to find a suitable excuse for the master of Los Angeles.
But there were none.
Kobe told them his stamina was fine. The reason for losing was simply "I couldn't make the shots." It was that simple.
Yes.
Losing has no excuses. Losing is losing.
There is no "if I had made those shots, the outcome would be different."
Just like Yuuto right now.
There is no "if I could enter the Zone, I could defeat Aomine."
The basketball court never had that many excuses.
But...
I fcking... I really fcking want the taste of victory!
At this moment, even the Dual Personality Shooter couldn't contain his impulse.
He sat on the bench without saying a word.
But the younger sister noticed that his fist was clenched tighter than ever before.
After so long, how could she not know what kind of person Yuuto was?
He viewed victory as more important than anything, and she understood the hardships he endured for victory.
Yuuto left almost all his spare time for basketball.
She hated the cheers of those Tokyo people, hated the numbers on the scoreboard, and hated God for making this person, who deserved to win the most, experience failure time and time again.
She wanted to do something for Yuuto but was powerless.
She could only get as close to him as possible, telling him that she was always by his side.
That was what she thought, and what she prepared to do.
However.
Just as she prepared to approach, she suddenly saw white steam beginning to pour from Yuuto's body.
"Wah..."
It's over, idiot Yuuto is so angry he's caught fire!
Others noticed this change too, standing up one after another, staring at Yuuto dumbfounded.
"Captain..."
"Yuuto..."
Haizaki and the others were all stupefied.
The current Yuuto—his body was like a furnace. His skin hadn't turned crimson, but white, steam-like gas was rising from him.
"Yuuto, what's wrong with you?" The old coach had never encountered such a thing.
He planned to take Yuuto to the hospital for a checkup.
Whether they played the game or not didn't matter anymore.
But Yuuto remained silent, sitting there motionless.
The break between quarters was short, only a few dozen seconds.
When the whistle sounded again, Yuuto finally woke as if from a dream. He pulled the towel off his head.
In that instant.
Sora and the others all widened their eyes.
Yuuto's originally ink-black short hair had, at some point, turned snow-white.
Hiss~
From his feet to his shoulders, that white steam grew even more vigorous.
Yuuto stood up and walked toward the court. seeing this, the others automatically cleared a path.
The current Yuuto gave off the feeling of a demon from the abyss.
Without Yuuto noticing...
His Red Eye Mode had secretly evolved into [Devilization].
...
Meanwhile.
Teiko on the other side was also ready. Akashi led his teammates onto the court.
Aomine unexpectedly entering the Zone exceeded their expectations.
But for Teiko, this was a good thing.
Akashi had already formulated the tactical policy.
In the fourth quarter, they would use the entire team's strength to support Aomine, establishing a defensive and offensive strategy with him as the core.
But as soon as they stepped onto the court...
He suddenly felt the temperature on the court rise abruptly.
Turning to look.
A demon with short snow-white hair, emitting shudder-inducing white steam from his body, appeared before them.
"Little Yuuto?"
"What happened to him..."
"Akashi!"
"It means it won't be that simple, right?"
Science could no longer explain such a change, but they had experienced many such things today...
"Let's watch and react!" Akashi told his teammates to get into position and focus on defense.
Homi Academy's ball.
"Although I don't know what happened, since it's come to this, it means just give the ball to you, right? Yuuto!" Haizaki stared at Yuuto.
The current Yuuto had a smile on his face.
The sudden white hair, the sudden rising steam, and being able to laugh in this situation...
It all made Yuuto look like an enigma, giving off an incredibly eerie feeling.
Snap!
The ball reached Yuuto's hands. He caught it one-handed without turning his head.
"Is it a bluff, or does he possess the ability to turn the tide again? The Emperor Eye will tell me the answer."
Akashi signaled Aomine to step back; he wanted to personally test what was different about Yuuto in this state.
"Come..."
Whoosh!
Before Akashi could even finish his word, his pupils contracted violently.
In a flash of lightning and thunder, Yuuto was already by his side with the ball.
So fast!
He was astounded. Although he knew in his heart that such a change in Yuuto wouldn't be the same as before and might come with some improvement...
But this improvement was far too shocking.
His Emperor Eye observed that the blood flow under Yuuto's skin was rushing through his body at a speed far exceeding that of a normal person.
Such a change, in the medical field, would be enough to trigger multiple conditions.
Such as high blood pressure, increased heart burden, difficulty breathing, chest tightness, dizziness, etc...
However.
Yuuto's heart also seemed far superior to normal humans, his body like a monster.
Even with blood flowing at such speed, it didn't burden his body. Instead, it was like he had taken a stimulant, gaining a massive boost.
"It's not over yet!" Akashi's eyes snapped open, the Emperor Eye's domain fully shrouding Yuuto. "I see your future!"
He turned to chase, simultaneously reaching out to steal the ball.
However.
With a SMACK, Yuuto's five fingers struck simultaneously. The basketball, imbued with immense kinetic energy, hit the floor and rebounded like a cannonball, smashing toward Akashi's face.
"What?!"
This wasn't a fake; this wasn't Aomine's streetball style of teasing others.
His Emperor Eye told him that if he didn't dodge, the bridge of his nose would really be broken by the ball.
It was too late for Akashi to intercept; he could only turn his head to dodge.
Then.
Yuuto spun around his other side like a whirlwind and regained control of the basketball.
Covered in white steam, he seemed shrouded in a layer of white mist—hazy and incomparably mysterious.
"Be careful, Inside!"
...
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