A fierce gale slammed into Hagoromo's face as Guy closed the distance at hyperspeed.
Guy's right leg swept horizontally, looking like it was intended to bisect Hagoromo at the waist.
Here was the spectacle.
Hagoromo wasn't afraid—he was incredibly flexible.
His upper body arched backward, bending so far he practically folded himself in half.
Back-breaking—that's where the term comes from.
It's a highly technical maneuver. If you don't bend your back correctly, you just break your back.
Guy's attack naturally whiffed.
Hagoromo planted his hands behind him, kicked up into a handstand, and hooked one foot around Guy's shoulder.
His body tensed like a drawn bow, and using his hands against the ground, he rapidly propelled himself backward to create distance.
The most nauseating aspect of Hagoromo's fighting style for any close-combat specialist wasn't his raw destructive power.
It was the fact that getting close to him meant dealing with an omnidirectional Lightning Style defense that made it impossible to execute attacks normally.
Before you even land a solid hit, you get a full course of electro-paralysis therapy.
Guy had no choice but to use brute strength to forcibly tear himself away from Hagoromo's vicinity.
By now, the spar had dragged on for quite a while.
They had fought long enough to watch the moon rise over the training ground.
The lightning around Hagoromo's body flickered; his chakra was starting to run low.
But a spar is just a spar.
Hagoromo couldn't bring himself to strike with lethal intent, so the battle had devolved into a war of attrition.
Throughout the exchange, Hagoromo had countless opportunities to land a killing blow.
No matter how fast Guy was, Hagoromo could have skewered him with a Chidori or a Chidori Sharp Spear.
But he obviously couldn't do that.
Guy wasn't an enemy.
Because of this, even Hagoromo's defensive Chidori Current had to be severely restricted to avoid causing permanent nerve damage.
"Can you open the Fifth Gate?" Hagoromo asked between breaths.
Guy paused for a moment, his mind catching up to the question.
"I can open the Fifth Gate, but I cannot open it here."
When fighting a comrade, the Fourth Gate was the absolute limit.
Opening the Fifth Gate—the Gate of Limit—was strictly forbidden in a spar.
In truth, at this point in his training, Guy could barely force open the Sixth Gate to use the Morning Peacock.
But those moves were genuinely lethal.
If he used them, what would be the difference between that and Hagoromo using a lightning spear?
"Then how about we call this a draw? I don't see the point in continuing...
My chakra won't last much longer anyway," Hagoromo suggested.
Fundamentally, determining who is stronger between two ninjas usually comes down to who manages to kill the other first.
A spar always carries an element of performance.
By definition, a ninja's profession is based on one-hit kills, preferably via stealthy assassination rather than blatant brawling.
In reality, while their fight looked intense, both were fighting with their hands tied.
In this restricted state, Hagoromo couldn't put Guy down, but he had gained a solid understanding of Guy's current strength.
The same was true for Guy.
Using the Primary Lotus was his limit here; he couldn't unleash stronger moves against a friend.
But he had achieved his goal:
he proved that his Taijutsu, pushed to the extreme, was highly effective even against a mid-to-long-range powerhouse like Hagoromo.
Taijutsu was indeed the path he was meant to walk.
Hagoromo's chakra was nearly depleted, and Guy's body was reaching its breaking point under the strain of the Gates.
From either perspective, there was no need to continue.
Hagoromo withdrew his Lightning Style, and Guy closed the Gates.
"This is your victory, Hagoromo. After all, you didn't use your other ninjutsu," Guy said.
He was obsessed with winning and losing, but he only wanted a fair victory.
"You can't say that.
While both holding back and fighting under restrictions, we both did our best.
A draw is a draw."
Hagoromo disagreed with Guy's assessment.
He wasn't just comforting him; if he had that attitude, it would mean he was looking down on him.
He spoke his genuine thoughts.
Hagoromo didn't care about wins and losses anyway, so he quickly changed the subject.
"But the Chunin Exams are starting soon.
With the damage that forbidden jutsu does to your body, you probably won't be able to fight at full strength during the test..."
The moment the words left his mouth, Hagoromo realized he had made a mistake.
Because Guy's signature gleaming smile had returned.
He struck a confident pose and prepared to deliver a passionate speech about youth.
Hagoromo could already guess the first two words!
"Youth is..."
Yep, nailed it.
After enduring a barrage of Guy's fiery dogmas about youth and passion, Guy was the first to leave.
Because the Eight Inner Gates damages the user before it damages the enemy, the level of physical exhaustion Guy felt after the spar was on a completely different level than Hagoromo's.
He acted as if everything was normal, but it was impossible for him not to be affected.
Willpower can overcome many things, but it can't overcome a torn muscle fiber.
Therefore, Hagoromo wasn't optimistic about Guy's chances in the upcoming Chunin Exams.
Hagoromo picked up his gourd and began retracting the scattered iron sand.
The training ground was roughly 80% destroyed.
He could only hope that whoever was in charge of regular maintenance still believed life was beautiful after seeing a field violently pulverized purely by physical Taijutsu.
After finishing the cleanup, Hagoromo strapped the gourd to his back.
But instead of leaving immediately, he turned toward a specific patch of shadows.
"Third Hokage, you can come out now."
It looked like he was shouting at thin air.
But sure enough, a figure wearing a bamboo hat and smoking a pipe stepped out from the shadows.
"Hehe, so I was discovered," the Third Hokage said with a warm smile.
Lord Third, we are in the middle of a war.
Are you really so free that you have time to stand around watching kids spar?
Is this appropriate?
Unfortunately, Hagoromo's eyes couldn't convey that much sarcasm accurately.
In truth, Hagoromo had noticed someone arriving shortly after the fight began.
The commotion they were making wasn't small; if no one from the village security had reacted, the Leaf would have a serious problem.
As for it being the Third Hokage, that was just a wild guess on Hagoromo's part.
He hadn't expected it to actually be him.
The Hokage was likely there to step in and stop the fight if it looked like they were going to seriously injure each other.
He probably hadn't expected that despite both using highly destructive techniques, they would actually manage to pull their punches at the end without causing any major damage.
That was a good thing.
However, the Third Hokage didn't mention the spar.
Instead, he said:
"Regarding the information you brought back... after our deliberation, we've decided to inform the Hidden Sand."
So they are treating it as verified fact?
Hagoromo nodded.
At least my effort wasn't wasted.
But right now, he wasn't thinking about international politics.
He extended one of his arms toward the Third Hokage.
The Hokage looked slightly confused.
"Um, Professor..."
The Third Hokage blinked, then realized Hagoromo was addressing him by his old moniker.
Legend had it that the "Professor" knew every jutsu in the Leaf.
"Do you know any Medical Ninjutsu?
I'm pretty sure my bone is fractured."
Hagoromo wasn't being polite.
If the Hokage actually knew medical jutsu, he was going to make him heal it.
Anything the Third Hokage knew how to do, he did at a high level.
That's what it meant to be a legendary talent.
Hagoromo stared intensely at the Third Hokage...
The Third Hokage's family name was Sarutobi.
He had a thin frame and was rather short...
Wait, isn't this the famous petite build?
Looking at the Hokage's wide hat and thinking the word Medical,
Hagoromo couldn't stop his brain from replacing the Hokage hat with a Florence Nightingale nurse's cap.
Control your imagination!
Sorry, he couldn't control it.
In his mind's eye, Hagoromo had already forced the Third Hokage into a pink nurse's uniform.
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