As evening descended, the Forest of Death, specifically Konohagakure's 44th training ground, was shrouded in twilight. Tsunade, Jiraiya, along with Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura had been waiting there for quite some time. The sky was gradually darkening.
Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura stood on the grass, feeling a bit anxious. It wasn't just Naruto, who hadn't seen Yoruha in three years, but even Sasuke and Sakura, who had met Yoruha frequently during that time, felt a twinge of nervousness.
This was like a grand exam after three years, and they were like students awaiting their teacher's assessment. It was even more nerve-wracking than when they participated in the Chunin Exams.
Tsunade and Jiraiya stood under a large tree at the edge of the forest. Tsunade crossed her arms and smiled, "I wonder how much he's improved over these three years." Jiraiya leaned against the tree, speaking nonchalantly, "Who knows? No one has ever seen him fight with his full strength."
"This generation is indeed much stronger than ours was," Tsunade mused. "At just sixteen, they already possess Kage-level strength. And there's one prodigy whose level is beyond comprehension."
"It feels like passing on the title of the Legendary Sannin to them would be an insult," Jiraiya chuckled self-deprecatingly. At Sasuke's age, the Sannin weren't as powerful. Not to mention Sasuke, even Sakura now had near-Kage-level strength, something Tsunade herself didn't possess at sixteen.
Jiraiya acknowledged that he didn't have Naruto's strength at sixteen. As for Orochimaru, he certainly didn't match Sasuke's current strength, who had already reached Kage-level and awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Sasuke's distinction from ordinary Uchiha clan members was that even with excessive use of his Mangekyo Sharingan, his vision wouldn't deteriorate.
This wasn't due to Indra's chakra but because of the Otsutsuki Urashiki within him. A spatial seal extracted Urashiki's ocular power for Sasuke's use, and combined with Sasuke's extraordinary regenerative abilities, it was akin to possessing the physical strength and healing capabilities of Hashirama.
Thus, even though his Mangekyo Sharingan was ordinary, it wouldn't lead to blindness from overuse, and he wouldn't need Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan. He could potentially upgrade to the Rinnegan on his own.
There was even the possibility of awakening the Rinne Sharingan. Such a Sasuke was certainly beyond Orochimaru's reach. Even the current Orochimaru wasn't his match, let alone the sixteen-year-old version. As the three stood on the grass, the sky turned completely dark, but they didn't feel impatient.
Just as the moon appeared in the sky, a figure suddenly materialized before them. It was Yoruha. Smiling at the trio, Yoruha said, "Long time no see!" Sasuke and Sakura weren't surprised.
They were used to it. But Naruto was stunned upon seeing Yoruha. "Y-Yoruha?"
He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe the person before him was Yoruha. Yoruha looked at Naruto and said, "Naruto, you've grown quite a bit."
At this moment, Naruto stood at 166 cm, taller than Sakura, who was 162 cm.
The Influence of Ōtsutsuki Urashiki. Naruto scratched his head a bit embarrassedly, "Not as tall as you, I didn't expect you to grow like this. What did you eat to get so tall? And you look so enviably good."
Naruto was quite envious of Yoruha's appearance. Originally, Naruto thought he had become much more handsome over the past three years. Who knew Sasuke would still be more handsome, and Yoruha was even more outrageous, seemingly on a different level altogether.
Yoruha didn't want to waste words and said, "Alright, let's catch up later. Let me first test how much you've improved over these three years." Naruto excitedly clapped a fist into his other palm, "I've been looking forward to this. I've grown a lot over these three years. You better be careful, or you might get defeated by me."
Yoruha just smiled without saying anything. Sasuke was eager to try; he had long wanted Yoruha to test the limits of his current strength. Sakura, on the other hand, was a bit nervous.
Even though Yoruha hadn't fought in front of her in these three years, Sakura believed that Yoruha must have grown much stronger over this time. Even three years ago, the three of them were no match for Yoruha. Let alone three years later.
But seeing Yoruha, Sakura clenched her fists, encouraging herself, "Sakura, don't drag everyone down."
In the distance, Jiraiya and Tsunade smiled, "Kakashi, where have you been? Why are you so late?" Kakashi appeared beside Jiraiya, looking at Yoruha in the distance, and explained, "I went with Yoruha to meet his teacher and chatted for a while."
Jiraiya and Tsunade naturally knew Yoruha had a teacher before. The two didn't say much. Watching the four in the distance, Kakashi looked gratified, "I wonder how Yoruha is now. Sasuke has mastered the Mangekyō Sharingan and can maintain Sage Mode for 10 minutes. Can he push Yoruha to use his full strength?"
Kakashi wasn't clear about Yoruha's strength, even less so than Tsunade and Jiraiya. A gentle breeze blew past Yoruha, who smiled and said, "Then let's begin. Let me see how much you've improved over these three years."
With that, Sasuke was the first to launch an attack. He activated his Mangekyō Sharingan right from the start. A petal-shaped pattern appeared in his eyes.
He began forming hand seals, "Sage Mode." Sasuke knew Yoruha's strength, so he revealed all his trump cards from the beginning. Hiding them in front of Yoruha was meaningless. After entering Sage Mode, a mysterious mask appeared on Sasuke's face.
"Amaterasu." As soon as Sasuke entered Sage Mode, he used one of the abilities of the Mangekyō Sharingan. In an instant, a black flame surrounded Yoruha. Sasuke wasn't pleased, instead frowning, "Did it hit?"
The black flames enveloped Yoruha. Sasuke was even a bit worried; after all, it was Amaterasu, the black flames that could incinerate anything.
Just as Sasuke was worried that Amaterasu would burn Yoruha, Yoruha stood there motionless, his expression calm, as if he hadn't noticed Amaterasu at all. The next moment, the flames surrounding Yoruha suddenly vanished. Sasuke was shocked, "Disappeared!?"
Sasuke was utterly stunned. That was Amaterasu, the flames that could burn anything, and they just extinguished or disappeared so easily. Yoruha then spoke, "Is this the ability of your Mangekyō Sharingan? The black flames seem to have some kind of rule, but I used a sealing technique to seal them away."
Hearing Yoruha's explanation, Sasuke's mouth twitched, "Sealed?! Is this the current you? You used to need both hands for ninjutsu, and now you don't even move to use a sealing technique?"
"You, are you even human?" Sasuke was dumbfounded. He could understand Yoruha using a sealing technique to seal his Amaterasu, but what he couldn't comprehend was that Yoruha didn't do anything, didn't even move, and just used a sealing technique.
Moreover, Sasuke relied on vision to release Amaterasu, which was fast and hard to defend against. Yet Yoruha released a sealing technique in an instant.
This was beyond Sasuke's understanding.
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