Chapter 14: Might Guy
Strictly speaking, Nan's former self had actually known Might Guy for quite some time.
Back then, Guy had always seen Kakashi as his rival—relentlessly pushing himself to catch up to the so-called genius.
Lacking any real talent of his own, Guy forced himself through brutal daily training, placing tremendous strain on his body.
He got injured so often from overtraining that he visited the hospital far more frequently than Kakashi ever did.
That's how Nan's previous self got to know him—and as a result, he actually became more familiar with Guy than with Kakashi.
If Kakashi had been a regular patient of his…
Then Guy was an extremely troublesome one.
He'd end up hospitalized time and time again from pushing himself too hard.
Many doctors—including Nan—had advised him repeatedly to ease up and prioritize his health.
But Guy was stubborn. He ignored every warning and continued his grueling regimen without compromise.
Eventually, Nan gave up trying to dissuade him.
Instead, he found himself deeply moved by Guy's sheer tenacity and iron will.
Now, with the memories of both lives, Nan knew very well that this same Might Guy would one day become the undisputed Taijutsu King of the Shinobi World, adored by fans everywhere as the "Emperor Guy."
And that success?
It couldn't be separated from the unshakable perseverance and fearless resolve Guy showed even now.
At this point in time, Guy had probably just been promoted to chūnin.
Nan even remembered that it was sometime shortly after this that Guy's father, Might Duy, sacrificed his life to protect the village—and passed on his spirit to his son.
He wasn't sure if Duy had already died in this timeline.
If not, and if the opportunity arose, Nan actually wouldn't mind stepping in to save him.
After all, Duy's fate wasn't tightly bound to the main storyline—it wouldn't interfere with Nan's meta-knowledge or create any major disruptions.
Both in his past life and now, Nan had always liked Guy as a character.
Unfortunately, Guy didn't seem to even notice him at all—his eyes were locked completely on Kakashi, relentlessly hounding him for a duel.
Kakashi, utterly exasperated by Guy's persistence, finally gave in and agreed to a challenge—but only if he got to choose the contest.
"Let's see who can blink faster," Kakashi said casually.
"How's that sound?"
"What!? I've been looking for you for three months, and this is the test you come up with? How boring!"
Guy was clearly disappointed. He had been yearning for a passionate, hot-blooded showdown—not a blinking contest.
"Now, now… it's not as pointless as it sounds," Kakashi countered, completely bullshitting.
"Blinking faster actually tests the strength of the muscles around the eyes.
And eye strength is very important for a ninja."
Nan rolled his eyes.
Kakashi was obviously just trying to brush Guy off with the dumbest idea possible.
As far as Nan knew, there was zero correlation between eye muscle speed and visual acuity.
Nobody with a working brain would fall for something like this.
…Except, perhaps, someone as earnest—and a bit simple—as Guy.
"I see… so it's a battle of eye strength!" Guy said, half-convinced.
"Though I've never heard of blinking speed being tied to vision…"
He wasn't completely buying it, but he wasn't entirely dismissing it either.
Even though Nan shared Guy's skepticism about Kakashi's nonsense, he also didn't want Guy wasting too much of their training time.
Seeing that Guy was wavering, Nan decided to throw in some fuel to help Kakashi out.
"Actually, blinking speed is related to ocular strength," Nan chimed in seriously.
Only then did Guy finally notice the person standing beside Kakashi—it was someone he recognized: Nan.
"Whoa! What a coincidence, Nan! What are you doing with Kakashi? You two know each other?"
Nan briefly explained to Guy that he and Kakashi were working together to develop a new ninjutsu technique.
"Ah, I see!" Guy nodded. Then his expression turned serious again.
"But Nan, do you really believe that blinking speed has anything to do with visual prowess?"
"Of course I do," Nan replied smoothly. "You know our Uchiha clan is famous for our dōjutsu bloodline, right?"
As he spoke, Nan activated his Sharingan—an ordinary three-tomoe version—and said to Guy:
"Usually, Uchiha train their eye techniques through intensive exercises. We use a method that's a lot like power-blinking to strengthen our ocular abilities.
Thanks to all my practice, I've already reached the three-tomoe level."
Guy's eyes widened in awe. Suddenly, everything made sense.
"So that's it!" he exclaimed.
In a flash, he fully believed Kakashi's ridiculous claim.
"Come on, Kakashi! Let's start right away!"
And just like that, under Nan's amused gaze, the two of them launched into a blinking contest of epic proportions.
As expected, the result was a complete and utter defeat for Guy.
"OH NO~~!!" Guy let out a dramatic wail.
He couldn't accept the reality that his visual prowess was inferior to Kakashi's.
But rather than give up, Guy doubled down.
"From now on, I'll practice blinking five thousand—no, fifty thousand times a day! I'll out-blink you!"
Watching Guy run off into the sunset, full of determination and passion, Nan couldn't help but feel a small pang of guilt.
"He… he's not actually going to do it, is he? Fifty thousand times… every day?"
But the guilt didn't last long.
"Anyway, this was all Kakashi's idea," Nan reassured himself. "I was just going along with it—I was basically forced into it."
He quickly convinced himself that the lie was a necessary evil in service of their training.
That tiny sense of guilt soon vanished without a trace.
Kakashi, for his part, was completely unbothered.
He had pulled stunts like this on Guy countless times already.
From that day forward, Guy began obsessively training his "eye power" every single day—blinking nonstop until his eyes turned red and swollen.
When other people saw him, they asked in confusion what on earth he was doing.
"I'm training my vision!" he would proudly declare.
Naturally, everyone looked at him like he'd lost his mind.
When they didn't believe him, he would argue back—insisting it was a method passed down personally by a genius from the Uchiha clan to awaken the Sharingan.
No one took him seriously.
They all assumed he had finally trained himself into madness.
Eventually, this bizarre "technique" made its way to another certain Uchiha—Obito, who was struggling in vain to awaken his own Sharingan.
And just like that… the urban legend of the "Blinking Maniacs of Konoha" began to spread.
By the time the whole story came back to Nan, he suddenly realized:
"Wait a second… maybe Kakashi wasn't entirely to blame after all. Maybe I… might've been more responsible than I thought…"
But that was a matter for another time.
With Guy now thoroughly occupied with his new "eyeblink training regimen," Nan and Kakashi were finally able to focus on their own training in peace.
Their progress skyrocketed.
Not long after, they completed the first phase of their new jutsu development.
They had successfully figured out how much Lightning Release chakra was needed to stimulate cellular activation.
Now, both of them were able to use Lightning Release to temporarily enhance their speed.
This breakthrough thrilled them—it confirmed their theoretical framework was solid.
The technique was viable, and the final stage of development was now in sight.
Just when they were preparing to push through and complete the technique in one final effort… news came that changed everything.
Kakashi had received a mission assignment. He would be leaving the village soon.
This meant their joint training project had to be put on hold.
Nan understood.
The village was still at war, and every battlefield needed capable shinobi.
Kakashi had probably been given two months of leave just to work on this new jutsu—his departure now was inevitable.
Still, it wasn't a major setback.
They had already planned for the second phase of the technique to be developed independently anyway.
They were just splitting up a bit earlier than expected.
Both of them were confident they could finish the jutsu on their own.
Kakashi even said he'd continue practicing during downtime on his mission—and he was determined to complete it before returning.
"Let's see who finishes it first," he challenged.
"No problem," Nan replied. "Just don't be too embarrassed if I finish first and you have nothing to show for it. You might not even have the face to come back and look me in the eye."
Kakashi said nothing, just stared at him silently.
The more he got to know Nan, the more he realized the guy had a sharper tongue than he let on.
It completely clashed with the reserved and gentle image Kakashi had once had of him.
He was used to it now—mostly—and he knew Nan didn't mean anything malicious.
Still… his words could sting sometimes.
Nan, on the other hand, laughed heartily at Kakashi's deadpan expression.