Chapter 45 - End
Palm strikes rained down on the Uchiha jonin like a relentless storm.
Why is the Hyuga clan's close-combat style considered the strongest? It's because of their Gentle Fist techniques and their Byakugan. Together, they allow a Hyuga to cut off the flow of chakra in an opponent's body and even target acupuncture points to cause debilitating effects.
In hand-to-hand combat, even slight numbness or physical stagnation could flip the outcome.
At first, the Uchiha jonin managed to block most of Ryosuke's attacks, preventing him from sealing his chakra points. But the aftereffects of the prolonged, high-intensity fight gradually caught up with him. His chakra reserves and stamina began to drain. His body, worn out, slowed just enough. Mentally, exhaustion crept in, again and again.
When he was about to give up—when Ryosuke's palm, coated in chakra, finally struck a vital point—this long, brutal battle, which had lasted nearly thirty minutes, finally came to an end.
Thick smoke billowed through the dense forest, a heavy silence settling over the battlefield.
Next to Ryosuke lay the motionless Uchiha jonin, sprawled across the forest floor.
"You're not decisive enough," Ryosuke muttered as he looked down at him, shaking his head. "If you were really fighting to the death, even if you'd run out of chakra and your limbs were broken, you'd still try to bite a chunk out of your enemy's flesh with your teeth, right?"
There was a trace of regret in his tone.
Maybe... we should've started this earlier.
This jonin had potential. Ryosuke wished he'd had more chakra and stamina left. That kind of pressure would've been perfect to sharpen himself further.
"Master Ryosuke, the target has been confirmed dead."
Souji's voice was respectful, more so than usual. He had used his Byakugan to make sure there was no movement—no heartbeat. The Uchiha jonin was gone for good.
"You guys clean up," Ryosuke said tiredly, closing his Byakugan and rubbing his aching eye sockets. "Use that storage scroll we bought back in Fire Nation. Store the three Uchiha corpses properly. And... don't do anything disrespectful to them."
"Understood," Souji and Hoshicai nodded in unison, vanishing into the smoke to extinguish the fire and retrieve the bodies.
Ryosuke sat down, recovering his spent chakra and reflecting on the battle.
Was the jonin strong?
Of course. Jonin are the elite—there aren't many of them in a village. The fact that one had shown up in this Uchiha ambush was unexpected, but not unmanageable.
After all, this was Ryosuke's plan from the start. Every possibility had been accounted for, including the chance that a seasoned jonin or a three-tomoe Sharingan user might appear.
Fighting may seem chaotic and complex—but at its core, it boils down to one thing:
Amplify your strengths. Cover your weaknesses.
In this battle, Ryosuke's biggest advantage was foreknowledge. They knew in advance the Uchiha would try to strike, which flipped them from prey into predators.
Their disadvantages?
Fewer numbers, inferior overall strength, and Ryosuke himself—a liability.
But during the course of the battle, those weaknesses were steadily neutralized. Bit by bit, Ryosuke shifted the odds in their favor.
There were three of them. But if you counted fairly, their side only had "two and a half" fighters—one of them was still technically a child.
Ryosuke knew his strength wasn't enough to face a fully capable chunin in a direct fight, let alone a jonin. Just this battle alone had shown him how hard it was to land a solid hit—even when the opponent was already drained and running on fumes.
His Kaiten was clumsy at best—not the invincible defense it was supposed to be. His Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms? Most of them had been blocked. If the jonin had any real chakra left, Ryosuke wouldn't have landed a single strike.
That's why, at the start, they focused everything on taking out the weakest Uchiha.
A quick, focused ambush.
One down.
That instantly shifted the balance.
Originally, Uchiha had 1 + 1 + 2 = 4 points of strength. Ryosuke's side had 1 + 1 + 0.5 = 2.5.
After eliminating one Uchiha, the difference shrank to just 0.5. And when Ryosuke vanished into hiding, his 0.5 strength transformed into a surprise weapon—an unpredictable variable. He had the evolved Byakugan, a trump card the Uchiha didn't know he possessed.
Suddenly, the tide turned.
Checkmate.
"The only pity... is that this is still just a ninja's fight," Ryosuke murmured to himself.
Tactics and planning would only get him so far. He knew what the future held—the world of Naruto would eventually reach godlike power levels. At that point, strategy meant little in the face of raw strength. No amount of clever planning could survive a clash between monsters.
The scale of battle would leave "ninja" fights behind.
And strategy? It would be trampled underfoot like an ant.
Still, this battle had value.
Every step counts.
After resting for a bit, Ryosuke stood. His chakra had recovered enough. A faint smile appeared on his face, but something inside him had shifted.
His hands had been stained with blood. He wasn't the same second-rate shinobi he used to be.
Now… he was a real ninja.
That was his current goal: to become a true shinobi.
As for those earth-shattering battles in the future?
He'd be ready when the time came.
He had no doubt about that.
Ryosuke turned to Souji and Hoshicai as they returned from their cleanup.
"You know what to do about... these eyes, right?" he asked calmly.
Souji and Hoshicai's expressions tightened.
"Don't tell anyone," Ryosuke continued, "not even your families."
"Yes, sir," they said in unison, bowing their heads.
There was no hesitation in their voices.
Only absolute submission.
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