Chapter 233 - Another Dao Appears

A small smile appeared on Lee's face while he was blocking yet another one of Yuna's attacks. Although Lee did enjoy fighting, his battles against Yuna were on a completely different level in that regard.

When he fought people like Naruto or Guy, the battles are always, to some degree, similar to the previous one he had with that person. However, against Yuna, that wasn't the case at all. At first glance, it might look like Yuna was using one fighting style that incorporated multiple weapons, but that wasn't the case at all. She had one or more fighting styles for every weapon and smoothly chained them together, resulting in a frankly ridiculous amount of possible combinations. Would a sword turn into another sword? Or maybe an ax? A Spear? One would never know.

At first, Lee was utterly overwhelmed by that, but he has gotten rather used to it by now.

Lee dodged another spear swipe and closed in on Yuna. Just like he expected, the spear changed forms yet again, but Lee dove in anyway. When he saw what Yuna's spear had changed into, however, his eyes widened, and he immediately retreated.

A small bloody gash appeared on his cheek while he frowned at the weapon Yuna was currently holding. A huge sword that was even bigger than Yuna herself.

Lee had realized that Yuna could, for some reason, use every weapon with more or less the same, very high, proficiency a long time ago. He also realized that the way the weapons Yuna created looked was almost always different. Sometimes a spear was a little longer, sometimes a little shorter, stuff like that. Additionally, Yuna's weapons were always plain weapons without any decorations.

All of that had one exception. The sword Yuna was currently holding. It always looked exactly the same. Unlike the other weapons that looked like they were cast from a mold, this sword looked like it was rigorously crafted.

And most importantly, Yuna's skills with it were utterly absurd. This wasn't the first time Yuna and Lee fought to a stand-still, but every time Yuna created the sword she was currently holding, things would go downhill for Lee.

Lee vanished from where he stood, and moments later, his fist shot towards Yuna. Yuna blocked Lee's fist with the flat side of her sword and gave it a minuscule twist to disperse the force. The next moment, Lee hastily bend backward to dodge the blade that was aiming for his neck. Although Yuna would obviously not kill him, but the moment Yuna had to stop her attack to save him, it was his loss.

Although it was only a single exchange that didn't even last a second, that single moment was already more stressful for him than the previous ten minutes of constant fighting.

A smirk appeared on Yuna's face as she pointed the tip of her sword at Lee.

"What's wrong, Lee? Intimidated?"

The pressure Lee felt grew some more, but despite that, the fire in his eyes started burning even more brilliantly while the smile on his face widened.

"Of course not. My youth is still burning brightly!"

"Haha, I knew you would say that! COME!!!"

The fight continued for another five minutes until Yuna stopped her sword just before cutting into Lee's neck.

After realizing that he had lost, Lee fell backward and landed on his butt while supporting his upper body with his arms.

"Haa~ I lost again."

"Hahaha, you did, but trust me when I say that you are getting stronger every time we fight."

Instead of answering Yuna's words, Lee only nodded his head. He was fully aware of that. He couldn't explain it himself, but after accepting Yuna's words regarding his dream and declaring it in front of everyone, he felt like he had become a new person. The weight of his weights that previously kept growing bigger at a slow pace was now increasing at a ridiculous rate. Whenever he raised the level of Yuna's "weight seals", he could barely move, but he would get used to it in a matter of weeks. Previously, such a significant increase would have taken him months to get used to.

After Yuna gave Lee a hand to help him stand up, Yuna let her gaze wander over the crowd. Or, to be more precise, over those people that were previously looking down on Lee.

The moment they saw Yuna's mocking facial expression, they immediately averted their eyes and looked away. Yuna chuckled when she saw that and resumed speaking.

"A lot of shinobi see those that are significantly stronger than them despite being the same age as some kind of unreachable geniuses. She is a genius, so it can't be helped that she is stronger. Only a genius like her could do that. I am not a genius, so I can't reach her level. A lot of you must have thought like that about me, right? And frankly, considering all the advantages I have had since birth, I can't blame you for thinking like that.

BUT, I think this fight demonstrated rather well that even those born without any incredible ability could reach very high. No Ninjutsu, no Genjutsu, just Taijutsu. Does a single person in this crowd dare to claim that he was born with worse conditions for becoming a shinobi than Lee? Furthermore, does a single person in this crowd, who is similar to Lee in age, think they could defeat Lee in a fight?"

Following Yuna's words, an oppressive silence descended onto the crowd. After letting everyone stew a little longer, a relaxed smile appeared on Yuna's face.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you; talent is not everything. Hard work trumps over lazy talent."

Seeing that at least a few people accepted her words, Yuna nodded in satisfaction. She was just about to end the gathering when a loud voice echoed over the training ground.

"GUY-SENSEI, ALTHOUGH I LOST YET AGAIN, MY YOUTH IS THIS BURNING BRIGHTLY!!!"

"YOSH!!! AS PUNISHMENT FOR LOSING, YOU WILL WALK 1000 ROUNDS AROUND KONOHA ON YOUR HANDS. AS YOUR YOUTHFUL SENSEI, I WILL NATURALLY GO THROUGH THE SAME PUNISHMENT!!!"

"GUY-SENSEI!!!"

"LEE!!!"

Before Yuna could understand what was going on, Lee and Guy started hugging, while the illusion of a sunset on an idyllic beach appeared behind them.

'What the hel… Kurama, why did you suddenly start flaring your chakra?'

[Are you an idiot?! It's, obviously, to get out of this Genjutsu!]

Yuna's face became deadpan when he heard Kurama's words.

'This is not a Genjutsu…'

[How is this not a Genjutsu? It's terrifying!]

Yuna couldn't help but chuckle a little when she heard Kurama's words.

'Well, I wouldn't exactly call it terrifying, but two men with extra thick eyebrows and a bowl cut that are hugging each other in front of a sunset while wearing extra-tight, green, spandex suits is indeed a sight to behold.'

[If this isn't a Genjutsu, then what is it?]

A mysterious smile appeared on Yuna's face before she answered Kurama's question.

'It's the Dao of Youth.'

[…]

'…'

[… Are you sh*tting me?]???eｗ??n????. c૦?