...
Turning around, Hidetada saw the other monstrous centipede heading towards Duy. Its sinuous, armored mass moved rapidly across the forest floor, a blur of many-legged motion that managed to navigate the gnarled roots and jagged rocks that should have hindered its path. The air grew heavy with the scent of damp earth and decay as the beast closed the distance. Within a second, it was in striking range.
The Senju narrowed his eyes as he watched the centipede launch itself towards Might Duy, its sharp mandibles splaying open, wet with predatory hunger, ready to split his body in half. He considered interfering to save him but decided against it; this was a good opportunity to see the prowess of the 'Green Beast of Konoha'.
With his arm flexed in front of him, Duy flashed his signature grin, his expression not turning grim despite the giant, chittering creature looming over him. Even though the centipede was not a threat to any self-respecting shinobi, Might Duy did not have the ability to utilize chakra; he would have to kill the creature with sheer Taijutsu might alone. Then again, he probably trained here regularly, so the creature should not be too trouble for him.
Still, Hidetada tensed his muscles as tight as a stretched knot, his body coiled like a spring just in case something went wrong and Duy was not able to kill the creature. A sudden, sharp gust of wind blew through the air, brushing his brown hair and causing it to sway backwards. Lifting his arm to shield his eyes from the dust and debris now swirling toward him, he narrowed his gaze at the sight before him.
Might Duy was standing untouched, without even a speck of dirt on his green spandex. Soon, he began running towards the Senju heir with renewed vigor, his flashy grin never wavering. The creature lay dead behind him, its many legs twitching sporadically at random instances, its purple blood scattered like a gruesome crime scene across the surrounding trees and the moss-covered ground.
Seeing that the race was back on, Hidetada jumped backwards and shot himself forward with the help of a sturdy tree branch, his voice echoing toward Duy, "That was pretty impressive, my man! Let us burn brighter with the springtime of Youth!"
He suppressed a grin as those words escaped his lips; after seeing the powerful display from Might Duy, he was pumped to test and push himself even further with a training partner. Zipping past the trees, he turned his head sideways to see that Duy had caught up to him, returning a challenging grin.
"INDEED, my friend! You are a worthy training partner! Let us fire ourselves up! The last one to complete the one hundred laps will have to do FIVE HUNDRED MORE!"
Having said that, Might Duy dashed forward with even more speed, leaving a literal trail of dust in his wake. Grinning at the challenge, Hidetada pumped his legs as much as he could and shot forward to catch up to the strange man.
And so they ran their laps, a continuous competition blooming between them. Sometimes it was he who was ahead, while at other times it was Duy. As he approached the fiftieth lap, he could feel the burn setting itself deep into his legs, a dull ache that threatened to turn into a sharp cramp. The circumference of the Forest of Death was immense, and to run around it at such speeds without the use of chakra was a grueling task.
Yet, Hidetada ran without stopping for even a moment of respite, and so did Duy, who looked exactly the same as he had at the start of the race.
Finally, they reached the final lap. With salt-stung sweat dripping down his forehead and blurring his vision, Hidetada pushed his body to its absolute limit. He shot past Duy in a desperate burst of speed, stretching his muscles thin and harnessing every ounce of explosive power he could coax from his legs. The world became a green-and-brown blur as he surged forward, his lungs burning with every jagged breath.
He skidded to a violent halt, his sandals carving deep ruts into the dirt as he stopped exactly where the race had truly began. Taking a series of deep, shuddering breaths to steady his racing heart, Hidetada finally slumped to the ground, his arms trembling slightly as he used his hands to support his weight.
Might Duy crossed the finish line a mere second later. Despite the intensity of the sprint, he did not look tired at all; still, he dropped down beside him with a heavy thud.
While Hidetada was gasping for air with an enthusiastic smile across his face, Duy looked remarkably fresh, his face splitting into a wide, ecstatic grin that seemed to celebrate his own defeat.
He turned his head toward the Senju clan heir, his eyes sparkling with a mix of genuine pride and unbridled excitement before his boisterous voice boomed across the clearing, "HA! SPLENDID! TRULY MAGNIFICENT, HIDETADA-SAMA! My own legs are screaming in a chorus of JOY after witnessing such an overwhelming display of SPEED and VIGOR! To think that a sapling such as yourself could outpace a man who has dedicated his entire existence to the grind of the earth... it is truly a testament to the FIRE that burns within your soul! I expected nothing less from a scion of the Senju, but you have surpassed the very limits of my imagination!"
Might Duy paused to take a deep breath to continue his tirade while Hidetada scratched his head and stared at him incredulously. What the hell was this man talking about?
"My defeat today means nothing! It is the fuel that shall propel my own YOUTH to even greater heights! This is the essense of the SECOND SPRING!"
Duy actually wiped a stray, theatrical tear from his eye, his thumb already snapping upward into his signature pose despite sitting in the dirt. "Tonight, I shall do two hundred extra laps on my hands to commemorate this glorious loss! For every step you took to beat me, I shall take two to catch up! That is the way of the MIGHT, and it is the only way to honor a rival as formidable as you!"
Hidetada rubbed his eyes, not believing the sight before him. 'What the fuck?' What had inspired this man to give such a monologue? How did he even speak all of that in just two breaths? This was utterly ridiculous.
'Am I living in an over-the-top, dramatic anime?' He ran his hands through his sweat-soaked brown hair before shaking his head exasperatedly. 'I technically am, indeed, living in an anime world. What is my life even about anymore?'
While Hidetada was having an existential crisis, Might Duy was muttering to himself about how he would train relentlessly day and night to catch up to his eternal rival, each training method sounding even more grueling and harsher than the last. Surely this guy was a masochist, right? Who in the world pushed themselves that hard?
Within a few more seconds, Hidetada felt the familiar rush of vitality. His tired and emaciated body was restored to its original condition. Flexing his calves experimentally, he folded up his legs and stretched before thinking, 'If grandfather had Hashirama cells, would that mean I have Hidetada cells?' He resisted the urge to hit himself on the head at the stupid thought. Obviously, his cells would be called 'Hidetada' cells; they were his to begin with.
But did they have the same effects as those of Hashirama? It was difficult to say for sure. The Senju narrowed his warm brown eyes at Might Duy's form, who was still not finished with devising his new training routine to push himself even harder. The regeneration factor of himself and his grandfather was the same; it was incredibly efficient, almost to a terrific degree. No normal human should have a healing factor that fast.
Hidetada had tested and experimented on himself to find out the limits of the regeneration. It was a habitual, natural, and involuntary reflex of his body, something that did not require him to mold chakra consciously; the healing occurred in the same way as something like blinking or breathing. Moreover, it was incredibly fast and sealed up almost all wounds instantly.
It was hard to say whether he could regenerate a limb, and he was not willing to test that out on himself, thank you very much.
Still, there weren't any reports of Hashirama losing and regenerating any limbs. But, considering the pace of the healing, it was very likely that they both could attach a limb back on if it had been sliced off cleanly. Again, that was not something he was willing to experiment upon.
The image of Hashirama grew in his mind. The First Hokage had been a beast, to put it simply. There was no shinobi, alive or dead, that had, has, or will be able to surpass him.
Except for Hidetada Senju, of course.
Suppressing a smirk at that thought, he turned his attention back towards Duy, who had finally stopped muttering and was now staring at him. "Say Duy, what is your shinobi rank?" he asked with a curious tone.
Hidetada watched as Duy's eyes widened, the man's thick eyebrows jumping toward his hairline. For a split second, that boisterous energy wavered, replaced by a sheepish sort of pride as he rubbed the back of his neck and let out a loud, booming laugh to cover his discomfort. "HA! What a direct question!" Duy shouted, though he didn't look away. He straightened his back, puffing out his chest even as he sat in the dirt, his voice regaining its usual thunderous volume.
"I am a Genin! The Eternal Genin of Konoha! Many people look at this green jumpsuit and see a man who has stalled at the starting line, a man who could not master the clever tricks of Ninjutsu or the illusions of the mind! They see a withered leaf that never truly turned green!"
Duy suddenly pumped his fist up into the air with a grin, "But they are wrong, Hidetada-sama! Being a Genin is not my shame, it is my foundation! While others climbed the ranks and grew comfortable with their titles, I have stayed here, at the very bottom, tempering my spirit and my bones! I have spent twenty years in the shadows of the academy, grinding my teeth against the stone of effort! To the world, I am a failure who cannot rank up, but to me, I am merely a seed waiting for the right moment to erupt into a YOUTH that will shake the very heavens!"
For a second, it seemed like Might Duy was reminding himself of his own purpose as his voice wavered before regaining its normal vigor. Even at his response, Hidetada couldn't help but feel a little bad for him. Being stuck in the same position for such a long time with everyone around him belittling him was a heavy burden to bear.
It was probably one of the reasons why he hadn't been sent to the war; the shinobi at the head probably considered him a waste of precious resources that were crucial. But then again, it had barely been one year since the start of the war; he might be sent to the frontlines as just another body for the meat grinder soon if the intensity of the war reached new heights.
His face transformed as his eyes gained a hidden glint. Hidetada flashed him his own grin before replying, "In that case, Duy, it seems you and I are not so different after all. I am a Genin as well; actually, I haven't even officially gotten promoted to that rank yet."
Duy froze. The boisterous laughter died in his throat, and for a moment, the only sound in the clearing was the rustle of the leaves above and the distant, rhythmic chirping of forest insects. He stared at Hidetada with wide, unblinking eyes, as if he were trying to process the fact that the person standing before him was technically lower on the ladder than he was.
Then, Duy's face crumpled. Massive tears began to well up in his eyes, tracking lines through the dust and sweat on his cheeks.
"HIDETADA-SAMA!" Duy roared, suddenly lunging forward to grab Hidetada's shoulders with his heavy, calloused hands.
"Such humility! Such a magnificent display of a grounded soul! To think that you, a scion of the most noble bloodline, would stand here in the dirt and claim me as an equal in rank... it is too much! My heart is bursting with the sheer GALLANTRY of your spirit!" He shook Hidetada's shoulders with enough force to rattle his teeth, his voice cracking with the intensity of his passion.
Duy suddenly let go and slapped his own chest, his tears flying off his face as he stood up and struck a pose that looked like he was ready to charge into a war zone, "Let them keep their titles and their fancy vests, Hidetada-sama! We shall be the two Genin who redefine the very meaning of power! From this day forward, our YOUTH shall be a bond that no Jonin could ever understand! I shall train ten times harder now, knowing that my rival is walking the same path from the very beginning!"
He laughed awkwardly at Duy's response, scratching his cheek. How was he even supposed to reply to that?
An introvert was not something he had ever considered himself to be, yet faced with Might Duy's personality, he definitely felt like one.
Suddenly, Duy paused his movements and looked at him seriously. Hidetada was genuinely scared about what could make even him serious.
"What is the will of fire according to you, Hidetada?"
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Word Count: 2319.
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