"This time it's not about who goes farther, but about power."
"The rule is, you can use chakra to throw a knife at the same big tree. Whoever's knife hits stronger wins."
Asuma added the details of the second competition.
Shintaro gladly accepted.
Both held their chakra blades and each injected chakra into them.
This time, Shintaro did not use the Six Eyes to mimic the other party's method, but relied on his own understanding to inject chakra.
He chose lightning attribute chakra because he felt it was the strongest among the five basic attributes.
Asuma chose wind attribute chakra, his strength.
Once ready, they threw their chakra knives almost simultaneously.
Their target was a large tree, thick enough for two people to encircle it.
*Boom*
Two very different sounds emerged, and the knives they threw each caused significant damage to the tree.
One knife cleanly penetrated the entire trunk, leaving a blade-thin hole in the middle.
The other knife created a bowl-sized hole in the trunk, penetrating deep into the tree and leaving scorched marks around it.
The first was thrown by Asuma, and the last by Shintaro.
They both stepped forward to examine their own and each other's knives.
Both were surprised by each other's strength.
Asuma's wind blade had strong penetration power, while Shintaro's lightning blade had strong destructive power.
But at this moment, Shintaro pulled out Asuma's chakra knife and said, "You win."
Asuma looked to where Shintaro had been looking all this time. It turned out a stone had just been split in two by the wind blade's power.
Asuma sighed in relief seeing this and said, "Then let's find Kurenai. It's getting late."
Shintaro nodded, and they then brought the deer back to the wooden house and tied it outside.
They waited for Kurenai, who returned to the cabin with a bag of supplies. Shintaro then explained the situation to her and asked her to think of a content for the competition.
Kurenai thought the two men in front of her were playing a childish game and said, "Are you guys that childish? Still competing. Forget it, later you'll see who can prepare the ingredients for me first."
"We'll have potato soup tonight. One of you will be in charge of cutting the potatoes, and the other in charge of cutting the beef. Cut the potatoes and beef into pieces."
"I happened to come to feed the deer."
Kurenai handed a bag of ingredients to Shintaro, then happily went to the deer and looked at them curiously.
Shintaro and Asuma went to the kitchen and took out the potatoes and beef among the ingredients.
Shintaro asked, "Which do you choose?"
Asuma thought for a moment and said, "I'll cut the meat."
Shintaro handed him the beef, while he washed the potatoes first. After the preparations were done, the competition was about to begin.
For fairness, Shintaro and Asuma used the same cutting board. Since there was only one kitchen knife, Asuma's chakra knife was used. Shintaro took four palm-sized potatoes, larger than Asuma's hands.
They both shouted a countdown, then started at the same time.
*Bum* *Bum* Bum*
Shintaro held the chakra knife and started cutting the potatoes quickly. The cutting board made a clanging sound. The potatoes were quickly cut into thick slices and then into pieces.
Asuma's movements on the other side were much fewer. The chakra knife was equipped with sharp wind attribute chakra.
This allowed him to cut the meat, and his speed was no slower than Shintaro's.
They both finished their work at the same time.
At this moment, Kurenai opened the door and complained, "Why does only one of these deer eat the grass I feed? Eh, you have finished cutting, who was faster?"
Shintaro and Asuma answered in unison, "At the same time."
Since then, Kurenai entered the kitchen and began to check the quality of their work.
At this moment, she noticed something strange and stared straight at Asuma's meat. Looking down, she finally realized something was wrong.
She tried to pick up the cutting board, but only grabbed a wooden block, then pushed the cutting board, and the whole board scattered on the table.
It turned out the cutting board and the beef were cut by Asuma.
A black line appeared on Kurenai's face, and she said speechlessly, "There are only two cutting boards here. Really, you not only cut the beef, but also cut the board. Were you too impatient?"
Hearing her criticism, Asuma lowered his head and did not dare to respond.
"You two, stop causing trouble. Now I'll clean up this mess for you. You two just wait for dinner."
With that, Shintaro and Asuma were driven out of the cabin by Kurenai.
Outside, Asuma saw the moon appear in the night sky through the gaps in the trees and felt an inexplicable gloom in his heart, making him want to smoke.
"I lost." Asuma said.
"Yes, you lost, but it's 2-1, you're pretty good." Shintaro replied.
Asuma smiled bitterly and said, "It's truly an honor for me."
Originally, he thought he could accept failure calmly, but now it seemed his idea at that time was still too naive.
When failure really came, even though he knew his opponent was Shintaro or for various other reasons, it was still difficult for him to overcome the obstacle in his heart.
Shintaro suddenly said, "I think Kurenai's last sentence was quite good."
Asuma reacted for a moment, recalling Kurenai's last words, then murmured, "Were you too impatient? Yes, I was too impatient."
After he finished speaking, he thought for a long time, then sighed, "Oh yes, I was so impatient that I wanted to eliminate your shadow through three simple competitions."
"It seems I thought too much. You still remain my shadow." He said this, but he smiled instead.
"But at least this shows that I don't lose to you in everything. My Wind Attribute is still better than yours, right?"
Shintaro nodded and said, "I am indeed not as good as you in the use of wind attribute chakra."
Asuma accepted the confirmation, and an old knot in his heart suddenly untied.
He smiled and said, "If you want to learn, I can teach you."
Shintaro gladly accepted this condition and at the same time said, "Then I will also teach you a technique."
Asuma asked, "Isn't it the technique used by Namikaze Minato? Did you do the same thing with Kakashi last time?"
Shintaro was stunned for a moment, then laughed heartily and said, "You're really smart. You guessed it right, it's [Rasengan], but I still have to let Minato confirm it."
Asuma also gladly accepted.
After he opened his heart, their conversation opened up, and they talked about everything from time to time.
"Do you like hunting?"
"I've never tried it."
"I can teach you how to throw stones and shoot arrows, the two most practical hunting methods."
"Okay, then I'll teach you how to play shogi."
"Do you like playing shogi? Isn't it something only old people like?"
"Don't you like shamisen?"
Until Kurenai opened the door of the wooden house and shouted outside, "It's time to eat!"
Shintaro and Asuma just entered the wooden house and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner together.
Kurenai noticed that the relationship between the two people in front of her seemed to have improved. She was puzzled for a moment and thought, 'The relationship between men is truly strange.'
That night, Uchiha Shintaro and Sarutobi Asuma slept on the same bed, resting on each other's feet.