Even Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage known as "the fastest shinobi in history," or Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage famed for his "Yellow Flash" technique, couldn't have struck Richard's blind spot if they were alive.
And even if someone somehow managed to hit Richard before he could react, they'd quickly discover his physical defenses were equally formidable. While his current durability wasn't completely unbreakable, few people in the Naruto world could penetrate it.
Yugao knew Richard was better than her, but she'd never fully grasped just how vast the gap was. Now, after failing to land a single hit despite using both the Dance of the Crescent Moon and Moonlit Night techniques, she understood.
Kage level!
Richard's abilities had clearly reached that of a Kage-level ninja! This realization helped her understand why the Third Hokage had assigned her this mission—to slowly build trust with Richard rather than confronting him directly.
This approach was simply the most likely way to discover Richard's origins and intentions without angering him. Any other method would probably provoke his wrath, and with his power, he could bring unimaginable destruction to Konoha.
Unlike Yugao with her racing thoughts, Richard was simply enjoying this completely one-sided sparring match. Though Yugao's attire was unremarkable, there was something quite entertaining about crossing swords with a beautiful kunoichi.
Time passed quickly. Before they knew it, Richard and Yugao had been training for over half an hour. Though not an especially long session, it had clearly drained Yugao's chakra and stamina. She was breathing heavily, exhaustion evident on her delicate features.
Noticing her slowing movements, Richard decided to end the session. "Let's stop here for today."
"Agreed!" Yugao replied without hesitation. Though somewhat reluctant, she knew continuing would be pointless—she couldn't touch Richard regardless of her efforts.
Still, the sparring session had been enlightening. Compared to other shinobi, her Konoha-style swordsmanship was exceptional. But facing Richard, she felt like a child who'd just picked up a blade for the first time.
Sheathing her vibranium sword, Yugao approached Richard and asked, "Richard, did you learn your swordsmanship on your own, or did you inherit it from a specific school?"
"Partly self-taught, partly inherited," Richard replied.
"Which school?" Yugao's eyes brightened with interest.
"Shinra," Richard answered seriously.
Shinra?
Yugao frowned slightly, searching her memory for any mention of such a school. Though she didn't voice her confusion, Richard could read her thoughts from her expression alone.
She was clearly trying to use his swordsmanship lineage to confirm his origins—a reasonable approach. But Richard had no concerns about her discovering the truth. The "Shinra" he'd mentioned was entirely fabricated; no such school existed in this world.
Yet his answer wasn't completely baseless. Sephiroth had been meticulously trained by the Shinra Corporation, so describing his swordsmanship as "Shinra" wasn't entirely inaccurate.
After searching her memory, Yugao confirmed she'd never heard of Shinra swordsmanship. Still, she wasn't disappointed—perhaps others knew about this school. If they could discover who created Shinra and where it originated, they might deduce Richard's true origins. Even if no one had heard of it, they could slowly extract more information from Richard himself.
"You took time to practice with me—let me buy you a drink," Yugao offered.
A drink?
Richard looked at her with mild surprise. He'd expected Yugao to say goodbye and leave after their sparring. Her invitation was unexpected, though he understood she was trying to strengthen their connection to gather more information later.
"Alright," he nodded.
Leaving the partially-constructed park, Yugao didn't lead him to an izakaya as Richard had anticipated. Instead, she took him to a small shop nearby and purchased two cans of cold drinks from a vending machine.
Well, that's unexpected...
Looking at the beverage Yugao handed him, Richard accepted it calmly. "It's been a while since I've had one of these."
"I rarely drink them myself," Yugao replied seriously. "The sugar content is too high—drink too many and you'll gain weight."
She sat down on a bench near the shop and opened her drink. Seeing she intended to finish her beverage and depart, Richard joined her.
After exchanging some casual small talk, Yugao asked, "Richard, have you ever considered registering as a Konoha ninja? With your abilities, you'd quickly become an elite jōnin."
Though "elite jōnin" wasn't an official rank in the shinobi hierarchy—which formally consisted of trainee, genin, chūnin, special jōnin, jōnin, and kage—ninjas often differentiated between regular jōnin and elite jōnin.
Beyond even elite jōnin was another unofficial classification: S-class ninja.
S-class referred to shinobi stronger than ordinary jōnin who possessed unique abilities and were renowned throughout the ninja world. They could be elite jōnin within a village, like Kakashi "the Copy Ninja," or powerful shinobi who lived outside their village without having betrayed it, like Jiraiya and Tsunade. The designation also applied to traitors who'd abandoned their villages, such as Orochimaru and the Akatsuki members. Most S-class ninja possessed kage-level strength.
"I have no intention of registering as a Konoha ninja for now," Richard replied seriously. "My life may be somewhat monotonous, but I prefer it this way."
Becoming a Konoha ninja would mean accepting missions like Kakashi and others, and more importantly, submitting to the Hokage's authority. Richard had no desire to be controlled or to serve as someone's subordinate.
"If you registered," Yugao pressed, "perhaps we could work missions together in the future."
"We can discuss it later. I might change my mind eventually," Richard replied noncommittally.
Seeing his lack of interest in the topic, Yugao quickly changed the subject. They chatted for another half hour, finishing their drinks before parting ways toward their respective homes.
Time flew by, and before long, Konoha's Chunin Exam had begun.
Richard maintained his seemingly monotonous daily routine, but with one addition—sparring sessions with Yugao. Though she had initially approached him to complete her reconnaissance mission, after discovering that Richard's swordsmanship far surpassed both hers and Hayate's, she began visiting his Ninja Tool Shop every afternoon to invite him to the forest for training sessions.
In other words, she wanted Richard to teach her swordsmanship.
With nothing else occupying his time, Richard didn't refuse Yugao's invitations and became her unofficial swordsmanship instructor. Initially, he simply wanted to pass the time, but after noticing Yugao's genuine talent with the blade, he changed his approach and began teaching her several techniques he had created himself.
In the forest clearing, Richard held a wooden sword, explaining to Yugao the key points of executing "Tiger Hunt"—a technique he'd developed after integrating chakra into his swordplay.
While Tiger Hunt couldn't compare to his more advanced moves like Octaslash or Gravesong, for someone like Yugao, its power was comparable to the Dance of the Crescent Moon. As for difficulty, Richard considered Tiger Hunt relatively simple—a technique that could be learned at a glance.
But for Yugao, or indeed anyone else, mastering Tiger Hunt was no small challenge.
The technique itself was straightforward—just a single, decisive slash, reminiscent of a winter tiger delivering a fatal strike to its prey. But executing it with enough precision to kill an opponent instantly required perfect timing, with speed and strength calibrated exactly right.
Too fast or too slow, and you'd miss the critical moment for a killing blow. The strength behind the attack determined whether you could adjust the blade's trajectory mid-swing in response to your opponent's movements.
For Richard, Tiger Hunt could be performed flawlessly without chakra enhancement. But for Yugao, chakra control was essential—her physical attributes alone couldn't achieve the technique's full potential.
After listening to Richard's explanation, Yugao began practicing. Despite her proficiency with Konoha-style swordsmanship, this seemingly simple technique proved challenging. After more than a dozen attempts, she still couldn't execute Tiger Hunt perfectly—either her timing was off, her speed too slow, or her strikes too forceful.
Richard wasn't surprised by her struggle. After all, this was his creation. If it could be mastered easily, Tiger Hunt would hardly be worth teaching.
Though she couldn't perfect it immediately, Yugao noticed that through practice, her attack timing grew more precise. Her control over speed and force gradually improved as well. Recognizing these benefits, she trained with increased dedication. In her estimation, mastering Tiger Hunt would significantly enhance her Konoha-style swordsmanship.
Different sword styles certainly had their distinctive characteristics, but ultimately, mastery came down to control over speed, timing, strength, and attack angles. Perfect command of these elements allowed a swordsman to execute techniques at will, achieving a state of effortless flow.
As Yugao practiced with her vibranium blade, Richard stood nearby, his thoughts drifting to the ongoing Chunin Exam. When genin from other hidden villages had arrived in Konoha, he'd taken time to observe Gaara—or more precisely, he'd used his enhanced vision to secretly monitor the Sand ninja.
With his superhuman sight, Richard easily detected the One-Tail sealed within Gaara's body—or rather, the One-Tail's chakra signature. Though both Naruto and Gaara were jinchūriki, the sealing method used by Sunagakure differed dramatically from the technique the Fourth Hokage had employed to contain the Nine-Tails.
Richard, who had been studying sealing techniques since arriving in this world, quickly identified the differences. Minato Namikaze had used the Eight Trigrams Seal—composed of two Four Symbols Seals—to imprison the Yang half of the Nine-Tails within Naruto. This sophisticated seal not only contained the beast but also converted leaked Nine-Tails chakra into Naruto's own reserves.
The Sand Village's approach, by contrast, was far cruder and more brutal. They had essentially just forced the One-Tail into Gaara's body with minimal refinement or safeguards.
While this wasn't unique to Sunagakure—most villages except Konoha used similar methods—the critical difference was timing. Unlike Naruto and Gaara, most jinchūriki weren't sealed at birth but became vessels as adults, after developing sufficient strength and control.
Having become a jinchūriki as an infant, Gaara lacked the necessary resilience or ability to communicate with the beast imprisoned within him. He couldn't even properly control his own chakra during childhood, let alone establish a dialogue with the One-Tail.
The Fourth Kazekage's repeated assassination attempts, combined with the villagers' fear and hatred, had inevitably transformed Gaara into a mentally unstable individual with tremendous destructive power. His psychological state made communicating with the One-Tail impossible.
Worse still, fearing the beast might overtake his consciousness during sleep, Gaara had suffered from insomnia since childhood. The combination of psychological trauma and chronic sleep deprivation had set him firmly on a path of destruction