"Pfft!"
A struggled to stand, coughing up a mouthful of blood before collapsing back onto the ground.
He stared at Yuzuru Uchiha in disbelief. "You—you've mastered the Lightning Release Chakra Mode?!"
Yuzuru shrugged. "Is that so strange?"
A nearly spat blood again.
Strange? It was beyond strange!
In the entire Hidden Cloud Village, the only ones who had ever successfully mastered Lightning Release Chakra Mode were him and his father.
It wasn't that the technique was difficult to learn—it was that most bodies simply couldn't withstand the raging power of lightning coursing through them. It was a matter of innate physical toughness, something no amount of training could compensate for.
And yet, A clearly remembered Yuzuru failing in his previous attempt to learn it!
"A, I told you before, didn't I? My eyes can achieve anything."
When Yuzuru once again credited his Mangekyō Sharingan for this feat, A's mouth twitched.
Seriously? Whenever something unbelievable happened, this guy just blamed—no, credited—his eyes for it!
But he couldn't argue back…
After all, the Mangekyō Sharingan was indeed shrouded in mystery, with power after power defying all logic. Who could confidently say Yuzuru was bluffing?
A sighed heavily. "Even if those eyes let you master the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, aren't you a bit too strong?"
The fight had been short, but A had felt the overwhelming gap between them—power, speed, defense—Yuzuru surpassed him in every way.
And this was A, the man who had honed his body since childhood, taking over ten years to perfect his Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Yet in just two months, Yuzuru had mastered it effortlessly.
If A hadn't experienced it firsthand, he would never have believed it.
Wait… could getting married actually help with training Lightning Release Chakra Mode?
A sudden thought struck him, and the more he considered it, the more sense it seemed to make.
Why else had his father been nagging him to get married? Why else had Yuzuru suddenly achieved this level of mastery?
As A pondered this revelation, Sakumo Hatake—who had been watching—could only gape in shock.
The battle had been one-sided slaughter.
He'd seen it clearly.
Even with his Lightning Release Chakra Mode fully activated, A had been nothing more than a sandbag for Yuzuru.
Against Yuzuru's attacks, he couldn't even react.
That speed—
If A was lightning, then Yuzuru was light.
By the time you saw him, it was already too late.
Sakumo recalled how moments ago he'd thought Yuzuru sounded arrogant when he'd declared himself unmatched.
Now, he realized Yuzuru had said nothing wrong at all.
With that kind of power, being treated like roadkill by him wasn't even an insult—it was a fact of life.
While Sakumo was still dazed, Yuzuru approached A and held out a hand.
"A, are you hurt bad?"
A grabbed Yuzuru's hand, struggling to stand. He pointed at the bloodstain on the ground. "What do you think?!"
"You hit way too hard, damn it."
That single punch had sent him flying nearly a hundred meters!
If it had been anyone else, they'd be a smear on the ground by now.
"Wasn't on purpose," Yuzuru replied helplessly. "You know, stepping on an ant without crushing it is actually very difficult."
A's veins bulged. His fists creaked audibly as he clenched them.
Getting beaten to a pulp was bad enough—did he really have to listen to this smug commentary afterward?!
It was unbearable.
Absolutely unbearable.
"Alright, that's enough fun for today," Yuzuru said casually. "I've got training to do."
He turned and walked toward the deeper part of Cloud Lightning Gorge.
Mangekyō Sharingan combined with Lightning Release Chakra Mode…
Especially since his Dōjutsu Power was the double Kamui.
To put it bluntly, even if he were to face Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha at their peak—what could they possibly do against him?
——
——
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Thanks to Yuzuru's continued "efforts," Mikoto Uchiha's belly had begun to show. By his estimation, the child would be born around June.
Meanwhile, Kushina was still running missions with Karura.
One wielded the Uzumaki clan's powerful vitality; the other, the Magnet Release that controlled sand.
Together, they had gained quite the reputation across the ninja world—known respectively as the "Red Hot Habanero" and the "Sand Guardian."
Aside from that, one other thing was worth mentioning:
A, for reasons best known to himself, had finally "seen the light." Near the New Year, he'd impulsively married a kunoichi from the Hidden Cloud.
She was muscular, dark-skinned, and—somehow—looked surprisingly well-matched with A.
"Nope, can't think about it," Yuzuru muttered, shaking the image out of his mind and returning to the present.
He smiled as he watched Mikoto hanging clothes in the courtyard.
"Mikoto, you should rest more. You don't need to be doing laundry or cooking anymore," he said gently.
Mikoto smiled softly and shook her head. "It's fine. It feels nice to move around a little."
She touched her stomach tenderly. "Yuzuru, do you think it'll be a boy or a girl? I can feel it… this baby's going to be a gentle one."
Yuzuru chuckled. "I'll love them either way."
He pulled her close, enjoying the quiet moment together.
Then a loud, familiar voice boomed from outside the yard.
"Yuzuru! You home?"
Mikoto lifted her head from his shoulder, smiling. "Go on, dear. I'll be fine."
Yuzuru nodded and stepped outside—only to find A standing there looking gloomy and worn out.
"What's with that face?" Yuzuru asked. "You look exhausted. Who upset you?"
"Actually, you look kinda… drained."
A's face darkened further.
After his fight with Yuzuru months ago, he'd shared his "marriage helps training" theory with his father.
His father had enthusiastically confirmed it, swearing it was true.
But once A got married… he realized he'd been tricked.
Three months later, not only had his Lightning Release Chakra Mode failed to improve, he'd started waking up every morning with a sore back and stiff waist.
It was too late to undo it now.
With a sigh, he muttered, "Yuzuru, I want to clear my head. Come with me."
Yuzuru raised an eyebrow. "Why not bring Killer B?"
"That guy's annoying. Always rapping and giving me headaches."
Yuzuru thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. It's been a while since I stretched my legs anyway."
He smiled faintly. "Let's go find some fun out in the ninja world."