Chapter 82

"Never forget the power of..!" one hairy bulky man with a full green bodysuit exclaimed as he was walking on his hands

"Youth!" a small boy with bob-cut hair wearing the same full green bodysuit replied with enthusiasm as he was also walking on his hands

"LOUDER! NEVER FORGET THE POWER OF..!" the hairy man shouted as he kept a smile on his face showing his entire set of white teeth

"YOUTH!" the small boy replied with a shout as both of them picked up the pace and were literally running on their hands

"WELL SAID LITTLE GAI!" Dai exclaimed as he did the 'nice guy' thumbs up and was therefore standing on one hand but still running somehow

After a while, the joyful father and son pair entered the Senju compound and finally got up on their feet when they reached the training ground they used almost every single day.

"As lively as ever, Dai." I said as I came up to them which made both of them strike a pose side by side as they said "THAT'S THE POWER OF YOUTH!"

Keeping a smile on my face, I couldn't deny that Dai made the days livelier as he always started training extremely early in the morning and finished the day back to the house I gave him within the Senju compound ever since he arrived with his son in his arms twelve years ago.

Since the Senju Clan was one of the main Clan of Konoha, our compound was extremely vast, though nearly half of it was just a forest.

And the number of people living here was getting bigger and bigger.

Aside from Tsunade, Tsugumi, Konan, Shisui, Yugito Nii, Yukimi, Tenzō, Guren, Jūgo, Fū, and myself who lived in the largest mansion, though the kids would get their own house once they become adults and feel ready, there was Chizu who had her house not far from ours, Shuzo and his family who got a mansion a bit far from us, Dai and his son who had their house near the entrance, Pakura who had a house near the entrance of the forest while Sasori and even Orochimaru had houses within the forest not far from the underground lab entrance though they were rarely in them.

The lab couldn't be entered by anyone who wasn't marked by me anyway so the houses near the 'entrance' weren't giving a hint at all.

Aside from them, the Uzumaki Clan was located far deeper within the forest, surrounded by a barrier Fūinjutsu akin to the one they used for Uzushiogakure, though they were able to make it better.

Minato and Kushina had their house within the Uzumaki Clan area since Kushina was the Uzumaki Clan leader.

Lastly, the Fūma Clan lived at the eastern outskirts of the compound, the furthest place from the forest, while the Iburi Clan were settled at the western outskirts, at one 'end' of the forest but both outskirts were given an entrance so they wouldn't need to pass through the forest or near the other houses, thus leaving us the privacy we needed since, as I said, the compound was truly massive.

I guessed that in the canon the whole compound was left abandoned and the forest completely overtook the houses and even flat areas.

"Say, Yuichi-san, how about a spar?" Dai suddenly asked as he had a serious expression on his face and made me leave my thoughts

"Hm, sure, but why so abruptly?" I replied as I was eager to fight against him since he was the embodiment of a Taijutsu master

"I want my son to see what a spar between two great shinobi looks like and there is no better partner than you." Dai revealed as he patted his overjoyed son's back who had stars in his eyes

"Alright, why not." I said as I cracked my neck and took off my cloak, revealing my naked upper body

I may be a clone but my reflexes, speed, agility, and physical strength are the same as the original, though I cannot use more than the Fourth Gate or I would dispel from the drawback.

There was also some strong Ninjutsu I couldn't use as well as some of my Dōjutsu abilities, mostly from the Rinnegan, though the ability to discern things at a slower pace thanks to my eyes' natural abilities was still there.

'I will have to either avoid or redirect Dai's blow since I would get easily blown away, though I will reconstruct myself' I thought as my body was essentially made of wood

Moving within the training arena's marking, I made a wall of transparent crystal to separate Gai from us even if he was quite far away just in case our blows affected him.

"Ready?" Dai asked as he took off his weights around both his arms and legs and threw them away, making the ground sink as a loud sound resonated and surely woke up everyone in a large radius

"Whenever you are." I replied as I took a more defensive stance since I knew Dai too well

"Then... here I come!" Dai announced as he pressed his chest and activated the Fourth Gate right off the bat before darting on me while he began with a kick aimed at my upper body

Since the fight would be pretty much over if I was hit and because I was already using a defensive stance, I lowered my whole body by bending it backward and, right as Dai's leg started passing above me, I pressed my chest to open the Fourth Gate as well before grabbing Dai's leg with my two hands to throw him to the side.

Even though he wasn't in a state that allowed an easy recovery of his balance, he was capable of spinning his whole body while being sent away in the air to land on his feet as he purposely dug the ground with them to stop himself from getting sent further away.

One amazing thing with Dai was his insane speed after taking off his weights and using the Fourth Gate, a speed already tremendous enough to make the Sharingan useless... The reasons I could dodge his first kick were thanks to my defensive stance and the fact that I didn't underestimate the full green bodysuit hairy man in front of me.

Honestly, Gai did destroy Madara when he absorbed the Ten-Tails by activating the Eight Gates in the canon, and I was certain that Dai would be even more devastating if he did so, after all, he was the one who discovered the Eight Gates and while he died against the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist in the canon after using it, the man in front if he was not comparable at all.

In the canon, Dai stayed as a Genin all his life which prevented him to take on difficult missions against stronger shinobi, giving him a lack of experience that was even greater because he couldn't find anyone to spar with within Konoha.

He also lacked money and thus equipment, decent food, and housing because the payout of low-ranked missions was terrible.

He also took twenty whole years to master the Eight Gates, while Gai pretty much learned everything he needed to know on the get-go and could master it far more easily.

But right now? Well, not only was Dai a Jōnin since I tortured him for days just so he could pass the Ninjutsu and Genjutsu tests, but I gave him hints about his Kinjutsu, allowing him to master it far earlier, while we sparred and trained together a lot back when we were a team.

His fictional self and the real man in front of me were leagues away and I would without a doubt consider him the second strongest shinobi within Konoha at full power.

'And don't forget that he has the Four-Tails' I thought as my mind worked extremely quickly and not even a split of a second later did Dai dash towards me again

The moment he was right before me and seemingly sent a punch straight to my face, he spun on his feet and attacked me from the left by using both his elbow and feet.

I quickly used my left arm to push away his elbow before it could hit my face and used my right hand to intercept his feet before doing a nearly unnoticeable bounce which allowed me to use the strength of his blow to spin myself and redirect the damage away.

Since my legs were free, I took the opportunity and used one of my knees to strike the side of the leg I just blocked the strike from below, successfully hitting him but I had to fall back when he used his second arm to punch my face.

Making some distance, I covered my left fist with frostbite while Dai's right fist was covered in lava before both of us dashed towards the other and crashed fists first against each other.

The strength of our blows combined with the reaction between frostbite and lava suddenly created a massive explosion that destroyed the ground below us, generated a giant smoke cloud, and even blew away some trees further away.

"You're as incredible as ever, Yuichi-san!" Dai exclaimed while the smoke slowly dissipated and after tirelessly trying to hit each other even though the explosion covered the area

"The same can be said for you, Dai, but we should already stop since the commotion might make people think we are under attack somehow." I replied as the explosion was noticeable from afar within Konoha and someone I knew was coming our way

Dispelling the crystal wall that protected Gai, we heard the boy exclaim "That was so COOL!" as he had fire in his eyes while looking at us

But before any of us could say anything else, a figure appeared before me and hurriedly asked "Yuichi-sama, is everything alright?"

"Don't worry Chizu, I was only sparring with Dai." I said to the faithful girl who came here as soon as she noticed the commotion and surely... Well, smelled my presence with her senses

"Well, it was a good sparring session, albeit brief, Dai." I said as I repaired the ground and trees around the area before parting ways with Dai and his son while Chizu followed me two footsteps behind

"Ah, that's right, Chizu." I first said as the girl's ears perked up before adding "Tsugumi, Shisui, and Yukimi graduated from the Academy yesterday. I put the three of them in Team 8 and I want you to be their team leader and prepare them for the Chūnin exam planned at the end of the year."

"It would be an honor, Yuichi-sama." Chizu exclaimed as she stayed as polite as ever

While Shisui and Tsugumi were at the Academy for some years, Yukimi barely stayed for a few months but I purposely taught her in an accelerated fashion, and she didn't mind at all since she enjoyed learning pretty much anything.

And, since each Chūnin exam happened once a year during the last month, they missed the previous one but now had a lot of months to experience the life of a shinobi by taking missions while being led by Chizu.

Being the one who personally trained them most of the time, I wouldn't force them to do a bunch of D-ranked missions and would send them to C and B ranked instead, giving them a better opportunity to fight and gain real-time experience.

After all, sheltering them would only make them weaker, and, in case they face someone too strong for them, Chizu will be there and I also gave her something that would allow me to teleport right on them if someone unexpected like Black Zetsu tried something.

Also, this year's Chūnin exam will be quite special since a lot of known names from the canon will participate.

The age range between the Genin was also quite large, from Tenzō and Tsugumi who were seven years old up to one boy who will be sixteen before the exam.

Though most were above ten years old, the reason why many Konoha Genin teams participate this year was simply because the war ended, meaning that each team leader now had the time to take care of them.

Also, most of them didn't graduate early because Konoha wasn't in dire need of shinobi during the war.

Yes, Team Minato composed of Obito Uchiha, Nohara Rin, and Kakashi Hatake will be participating this year, and the same was true for Team Kushina composed of Maito Gai, Yugito Nii, and Mieko Uzumaki, a girl that showed quite an amount of talent.

'Nevertheless, let's think about that when the Chūnin exam will be right around the corner' I thought as we continued to walk and ended up encountering Shuzo and his children on our way

"Oh, Nee-chan, Ani- *cough* Yuichi-sama, nice to see you!" Shuzo exclaimed as he corrected himself midway since Chizu sent him a deadly stare that made his two young children hide behind him

"Aunty Chizu is scary!" the boy Seiji said as he was shivering behind his father's leg while his shy sister Chiaki only looked curiously at me, not caring about Chizu at all

Whatever that girl saw when she tasted Shuzo's blood was surely involving me one way or another... At least, that's the only reason I see for her curiousness whenever she saw me.

"You just fetched them from the Academy I suppose?" I asked as I laid one of my hands on Chizu's shoulder which calmed the girl

"Yeah." Shuzo replied with a smile as he ruffled his children's hair before adding "While Chiaki proved to be incredibly smart and attentive in class, Seiji falls asleep whenever the professor starts talking and I was even called for a meeting regarding him."

"But dad, the Academy is boring~" Seiji said as he started to pout and cross his arms

"What did you want to become when you're older already, Seiji?" I said as I approached the boy and crouched to meet his height

"I want to become a great shinobi! No, the greatest!" Seiji exclaimed with a massive enthusiasm while I only kindly smiled with my eyes closed before opening them as I said "I see, but to do so you should be at least capable of graduating quickly. You know, I graduated when I was only six, and now I have been the Hokage for years, that's the least you should do if you want to be an amazing shinobi."

After looking at me with a dumbfounded expression for a while, Seiji slammed his cheeks before taking his father's hand as he brought him towards their house, making Shuzo ask "W-What are you doing Seiji?"

"I need to get home as soon as possible and do my homework!" Seiji exclaimed as Shuzo was the dumbfounded one who exclaimed "Wait, since when do you have homework?" while Chiaki quickly followed them

Chuckling as I saw Shuzo struggling to be a father, it was soon followed by a sigh as I looked at Chizu who stayed cold even when her brother and his children were here.

"Are you alright, Yuichi-sama?" Chizu asked as she seemed worried only when it was involving me

'I am alright, but the same can't be said for you, Chizu' I thought before saying "No worries, Chizu, I'm doing fine."

"Twenty-two years." I suddenly exclaimed as Chizu tilted her head to the side while looking at me since it took her off guard

"For more than two decades you have faithfully followed me, listened to every single order I gave you, and correctly accomplished each one of them." I declared as she only replied "Yes?" confused by my words

"We already had such a conversion Chizu, but you truly need to start thinking about yourself." I explained as she answered "I only want to serve you until the end, Yuichi-sama!"

'Aah~ Whatever block she established inside her mind is preventing her from thinking about anything else aside from serving me...' I thought as I felt like she was suffering from a severe psychological syndrome after getting saved by me when she was on her deathbed

It was like a weird Stockholm syndrome in a way.

'Seems like I need to do it' I thought before saying "Chizu, look at me for a while."

The moment she did so, my eyes shone, and Chizu's mind would finally be unshackled, without making her less faithful, just more self-conscious.