Chapter 98: Test of Tetsuya 

Chapter 98: Test of Tetsuya 

Tetsuya dashed forward, closing the distance between us in an instant, and swung his spear diagonally across my chest. I shifted my weight back just enough to avoid a direct hit, the blade barely missing my clothes as I brought my fist forward in response. He met the strike with the shaft of his spear, redirecting the momentum smoothly. Then, ducking low, he brought one of his free hands around and aimed a punch straight toward my chest.

I bent my waist sharply, lowering my upper body until I was nearly horizontal with the ground, and used my hands to support my balance. From that position, I pivoted on one palm and launched a spinning kick aimed at the side of his neck. My foot made contact—it wasn't a full-force hit, but enough that I felt the resistance of bone and muscle. Still, he reacted mid-motion, rolling with the strike, rotating his body, and jumping backward into the air to avoid the follow-up.

I was still recovering, hands pressed against the ground as I tried to regain footing, when I felt a sudden gust of wind rushing toward me. Reacting quickly, I pushed chakra into my hands and used [Earth Style – Stone Fang Jutsu]. From my palms, a burst of hardened earth shot out, not as a projectile, but more as a reactive force to launch me backward and away from the incoming wind. The stones connected with the ground below, but the instant I moved, the earthen spikes were shattered violently, the wind pressure tearing them apart with ease.

I was now sliding along the dirt, feet skidding across loose stone, and all fours bracing against the momentum, when I saw Tetsuya lift his arm and casually hurl his spear in my direction. The motion was effortless, but the speed was something else entirely. As the spear tore through the air, I heard a sonic boom—a loud crack that told me it had already broken the sound barrier. And by the time I heard it, the weapon was already right in front of me.

There was no time to dodge. I clapped my hands together, trying to catch the incoming spear between my palms. The moment I did, the force was overwhelming. The spear impaled through both of my hands completely, the tip buried deep between them, stopping just before it reached my eyes.

For a moment, everything stilled.

With the weapon frozen in place, I found myself staring directly at it, and I couldn't help but notice the craftsmanship. The shaft was solid black, sleek and unadorned, but not plain—its surface held fine etchings that weren't decorative, but worn like patterns carved through years of use. The spearhead was a brilliant silver, shaped with sharp, clean lines, and carried an edge that looked like it hadn't dulled in centuries. It gave off an ancient, quiet weight—like it belonged to another era, one built on survival and brutal precision. It was imposing, not because of size or flash, but because of how little it tried to be anything else.

Right as I finished taking in the details of the spear, still caught for a moment in the sheer precision of its design, Tetsuya appeared directly in front of me. He didn't say anything. He simply stepped forward and twisted his body slightly, delivering a spinning kick aimed at the back end of the embedded spear, trying to use the force to drive the weapon straight through and finish what it had started. I dropped down instinctively, my back hitting the ground just in time, and the spear stopped right above my head, still impaled through my hands, but no longer advancing.

He landed lightly with his feet pressed against the shaft of the spear, maintaining perfect balance. His body bent slightly forward as he looked down at me, his hair shifting just enough to fall into view. His tone wasn't hostile when he finally spoke—more curious than anything.

"Who are you? I don't recognize you."

Without hesitation, I twisted my legs around and used my momentum to sweep his feet from under him. He lost his balance and fell, and in that opening, I yanked the spear free and rolled to my feet in one fluid motion. I jumped back a few meters, now holding his weapon in my hands, and met his gaze calmly.

"My name is nobody," I replied.

Tetsuya sat up and dusted off his cloak as if the moment hadn't been serious. He stood again without hurry and gave a light nod.

"Nice to meet you, Nobody," he said, and after a pause added, "Now that I think about it, you never did say why you were spying on me."

I kept my stance relaxed but ready. "Maybe I was just admiring the scenery. Happens to include some guy training aggressively in the middle of nowhere."

He tilted his head slightly, touching a few fingers to his temple in a thoughtful motion. "Huh. You might be right. Now… Can I have my spear back? I don't like it when other people handle it."

Before I could even respond, he raised his hand casually. The spear immediately tugged itself from my grip and returned to his outstretched palm with force and precision, as if it had simply decided where it belonged. He gave it a short twirl, testing the balance, then held it loosely in one hand.

"Is there any particular reason you were watching me?" he asked, voice even.

I exhaled lightly and answered, "I'm not sure if you've been told, but I recognized the craftsmanship on your spear. The person who made it told me to find you."

Tetsuya didn't react immediately, but his posture changed slightly. His shoulders relaxed and his grip on the spear shifted to something more neutral.

"The old man sent you?" he said after a short pause, his voice a little less formal than before. "Looks like I've got a guest, then."

That was all the confirmation I needed. The old man who had forged Tetsuya's weapon must have known something about me—something that made him believe I could learn from this man. 

Maybe it was the potential in my style, or something more specific. Either way, he had sent me here for a reason.

Tetsuya seemed to understand without needing further explanation. "So, I guess he sent you here to learn spear style."

I nodded once.

"Well, you're not the first," he said plainly.

That caught me off guard. I hadn't expected this to be a recurring situation. For a moment, I wondered just how ineffective the Land of Iron had been if people were able to get close to their supposed most valued craftsman so easily. But I kept those thoughts to myself.

"There were two others," Tetsuya added. "This was before he was being moved around a lot by the Shogun."

That explanation made more sense. The others must've been sent years ago, possibly under different circumstances. Still, I didn't know if that made things better or worse.

"It doesn't matter," Tetsuya said, turning the angle of the spear toward me with a calm, practiced motion. "None of them passed the first test."

I tensed slightly at that, unsure of what he meant exactly. "What's the first test?" I asked.

He smiled faintly, adjusted his stance, and responded without any hesitation.

"Give me an entertaining fight."

Tetsuya stood in place, his expression unchanged as he spoke in a calm tone.

"[Spear Style- Chained Whip]," he announced.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he swung his spear, and it transformed mid-motion. The once-solid shaft became flexible, bending unnaturally as it whipped through the air with sharp, controlled force. 

The air resistance from the swing formed a spiraling pressure that shot in my direction. I sidestepped without much effort, avoiding the strike as it split the space beside me with a loud crack.

Then his voice rang out again.

"[Spear Style- Lightning Spear]."

Electricity surged across the entire length of his weapon, wrapping it in a bright, pulsing aura. 

The lightning extended through his hands and to his feet, forming a continuous circuit that coated his entire body. 

Almost instantly, his speed increased. His movements turned sharper and more erratic as he darted through the battlefield in quick, silent bursts, closing the distance with every shift.

In response, I activated [Earth Style – Stone Avalanche Formation]. Chakra surged through my feet and spread out through the terrain beneath me. 

The earth rumbled as large stone slabs began to rise and tilt forward. A wave of debris and boulders formed in front of me, collapsing into an avalanche that rushed forward to meet him head-on.

Tetsuya didn't hesitate. He ran directly into the wave, spear-first. The lightning coating his weapon tore through the boulders on contact, reducing stone to fragments as he passed through them with ease.

 I felt a brief flicker of surprise—by elemental theory, earth should counter lightning—but the reality in front of me said otherwise. His spear was cutting through the terrain like it wasn't even there.

As he closed in, I slammed my foot into the ground and used [Earth Style – Mountain's Embrace]. The earth responded to my chakra instantly, rising around me in curved, shifting layers. 

It didn't form a fixed wall—instead, the stone reacted in real-time to pressure and movement. When I first got this Jutsu, I thought it was more of a nerfed version of Gara's sand.

 As his spear approached one side, the rock slid into place, intercepting the attack before it could connect.

The defense wasn't absolute, but it moved with me. I could feel the vibrations through the earth, and my body reacted to them instinctively, guiding the rock barrier wherever it was needed.

I didn't stop there, I decided if I potentially survived and this man trained me he would figure out I had this element…Also because this was a fight to the death with an Akatsuki member.

Holding back would be ridiculous.

I launched myself into the air, pulling chakra with me, and activated [Wood Style – Thorned Vortex Cannon]. Thick strands of wood burst from my body, twisting into a tightly packed drill. The spiral structure spun violently, forming a vortex that pulled the surrounding air inward. It gained speed rapidly, the rotation distorting the space around it until the core became nearly invisible.

As I reached the peak of my jump, the vortex expanded. The sharpened wood branches along its surface began to split apart, thorns forming along the edges. The drill spun faster, and I sent it flying downward toward Tetsuya's position. 

As it descended, the vacuum intensified, drawing in loose debris and dust. Upon impact, the spinning vortex would burst outward, releasing thorned branches designed to break through armor, chakra barriers, and whatever else stood in its way.

Tetsuya looked up as the spiraling mass of wood descended from above, its rotation tearing through the air with increasing intensity, and then he calmly raised his spear and spoke in the same even tone as before.

"[Spear Style- Heaven's Thrust]," he said.

He stepped forward and thrust his spear straight ahead—not with exaggerated motion or showmanship, but with a kind of simplicity that almost looked too relaxed for what followed. In that instant, something shifted. 

There was no gust of wind this time, no flying debris, no distorted terrain. The vortex of wood didn't explode, it didn't deflect—it simply split in half, cleanly and soundlessly, and then disappeared. 

Not shattered, not scattered. It was as if the entire jutsu had been cut out of reality and erased on the spot.

I landed on the ground a moment later, the soles of my feet meeting the earth without resistance, and I looked at him with a mixture of confusion and quiet shock. 

That technique of mine had torn through barriers, shattered defenses, overwhelmed multiple enemies before. 

Now it was just gone.

He stood there, lowering his spear slightly as he looked at me and asked, "Are you one of Orochimaru's experiments?"

I opened my mouth slightly, trying to process the question, but before I could give an answer, he kept going.

"Because if you are, I'm bored already. He told me he wouldn't send me any more of you. And just because you have Wood Release doesn't mean I particularly care."

I didn't know how to respond to that. This man had just attempted to kill me with absolute seriousness, and now he was casually dismissing the fact that I had used one of the rarest bloodline techniques in the shinobi world.

 Part of me had been preparing for the possibility that he'd report my presence to someone in the Akatsuki.

 If he hadn't agreed to train me or made it clear that he had no interest in exposing me, I would have had to open the 8 Inner gates right now and end this fight…if I could even.

And here he was, acting like none of it mattered.

So I asked him, somewhat cautiously but still trying to make sense of it, "You really don't care that I'm using Wood Release? That I have the kekkei genkai of the First Hokage?"

Tetsuya adjusted his grip on the spear and responded without hesitation, his tone still flat.

"Why would I care? You're not Hashirama. If you were, I'd be enjoying myself a lot more."

…

Authors note:

You can read some chapters ahead if you want to on my p#treon.com/Fat_Cultivator