As the Kunai was about to touch Ryoko's neck, Tekka felt a surge of wild joy in his heart.
That thick layer of fat was indeed like natural armor, but the neck remained a fatal weakness.
As long as he could press the Kunai against the opponent's neck in a short time, the other's life would be in his hands.
At that point, the opponent would be considered defeated by him.
In that flash of lightning, Ryoko suddenly turned his head, a meaningful smile appearing on his face: "Do you think you're about to win? Unfortunately, it's all just your illusion."
Before the words even finished, he raised his right hand and shouted softly, "Partial Multi-Size Technique!"
His middle finger suddenly swelled, instantly transforming into a thick spear that struck Tekka's chest with lightning speed.
"Bang!"
Tekka had no time to react at all; he was sent flying by the immense force and slammed heavily onto the ground.
Clutching his aching chest, his mind was in a state of chaos.
He never expected the opponent to be hiding such a strange move; that middle finger, which suddenly grew long and hard, completely derailed his plans.
"Tekka!"
Inaho cried out and rushed forward, and after confirming his younger cousin was fine, he turned to Ryoko with a solemn expression.
"Is this the Secret Expansion Jutsu of the Akimichi Clan? I didn't expect you to have mastered it already."
Ryoko calmly brought his finger, now back to its original state, to his lips and blew on it gently, looking as cool as a Western gunslinger who had just won a duel.
Naturally, he wouldn't explain to his opponent that this secret technique was taught to him as an exception by his clan during his training in Root to increase his chances of survival.
After hard training, he had reached a level of perfection where he could use the Partial Multi-Size Technique with supernatural skill.
The Partial Multi-Size Technique allows any part of one's body to rapidly grow larger and harder.
While it seemed like a scaled-down ability, it didn't consume as much energy as the Full-Body Expansion Jutsu and allowed for precise strikes against opponents.
Therefore, this was Akimichi Ryoko's favorite secret technique and the one he had researched the longest.
Of course, it was definitely not to experiment with certain lewd ideas from his past life.
"Your turn."
Ryoko beckoned Inaho with a finger and said provocatively, "Let me see what progress you've made."
Uchiha Inabi's eyes narrowed as his figure suddenly lunged forward, his hands completing hand seals during the sprint.
In an instant, countless shuriken flew from Uchiha Inabi's palms, shooting toward Ryoko.
Facing the shuriken flying all over the sky, a hint of surprise flashed in Ryoko's eyes.
He keenly noticed that these flying shuriken were actually imbued with a bit of Chakra.
Achieving this wasn't easy; one had to have extremely precise control over Chakra.
"Did he tamper with the shuriken?"
As his thoughts raced, several shuriken clattered against his thick fat and were bounced off.
A few others, however, vanished in a puff of white smoke right before his eyes with a "bang."
The furthest shuriken, landing in a blind spot, instantly transformed into Uchiha Inabi, who was already forming hand seals.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.
After his transformation, he directly and quickly formed hand seals, releasing an orange wave of fire even more rapid than before.
The flames roared toward him, making them difficult to defend against.
This combo of shuriken clones and Fire Release was fluid and seamless, demonstrating tactical skills far beyond those of an ordinary Ninja Academy student.
"As expected of an Uchiha," Ryoko praised sincerely as he felt the scorching heat wave behind him. "The combat talent to grow stronger as the battle progresses is truly amazing."
Before he finished speaking, he lunged forward without hesitation, his round body flexibly hugging the ground as the blazing fireball roared just over his head.
This seemingly clumsy dodge demonstrated unexpected effectiveness at the critical moment.
It might have looked a bit ugly, but it effectively avoided the burning flames.
After dodging the flames, Ryoko's round body curled into a ball and rolled forward, appearing at Uchiha Inabi's side in the blink of an eye.
Inaho hurriedly tried to dodge but unexpectedly crashed into an exceptionally soft and thick "wall of flesh."
He looked up in shock to find Ryoko, who should have been far away, right in front of him.
Turning his head back to the "ball" that was still rolling, he saw it dissipate in a puff of white smoke—it was just a Clone Jutsu.
"So you were also using a clone to deceive me..." Inaho said bitterly, his body struggling incessantly.
He hadn't given up yet, wanting to counterattack and turn the tables.
But the more he twisted, the deeper he sank into Ryoko's soft fat, as if trapped in a quagmire from which he couldn't escape.
Seeing that he was about to be swallowed by the thick fat, Inaho finally shouted, "I give up! You win this time!"
He was truly afraid that if he waited any longer, he would be suffocated by this mass of fat.
Ryoko chuckled and released his grip, gently pushing him away. "Well? Do you yield?"
After steadying himself, Inaho snorted coldly. "I don't yield! I'll come back to challenge you again."
By this time, Tekka had also recovered from his shock. Seeing that his cousin had also been defeated, he immediately chimed in, "Uchiha never admit defeat! This time we just didn't expect you to have mastered the Expansion Jutsu. Next time we'll be prepared and definitely won't lose again!"
Seeing the two of them still full of fighting spirit after their defeat, Ryoko clapped his hands in satisfaction.
"Good, good, good! This is the Uchiha way—never giving up and growing stronger with every setback!"
Changing the subject, a sly smile appeared on his face. "However, I recall our bet was that the losers must fulfill one request from the winner. Now that both of you have lost, you have to listen to me."
"My request is simple: every day after school, come to my place and help me cook."
Hearing that it was just a request to help with cooking, The two Uchiha brothers were stunned.
They had expected some kind of difficult task, but they didn't expect such an ordinary request.
Helping with cooking—isn't that something anyone with hands can do?
"Are you joking?" Tekka asked in disbelief. "Making us Uchiha do something like this is a total waste of talent!"
Inaho also held his head high. "We are the noble Uchiha Clan! How can we do such menial work?"
Ryoko countered with a smile, "The noble Uchiha were just defeated by me. Right now, I am the most noble. It's an honor for you to be able to cook for me."
This logic of using their own words against them left the two speechless, and they could only reluctantly agree.
Ryoko led the two reluctant helpers back to his home and began giving orders in an orderly fashion.
Cooking in this era was still quite primitive, relying mainly on firewood, charcoal, and the like.
Preparing enough food for one of his meals was originally a time-consuming and laborious undertaking.
But with two Ninja apprentices helping out, the efficiency was completely different.
Ryoko brought the two to the kitchen and, pointing at the mountain of ingredients, began to direct them.
And when the two saw so many things, they were instantly startled and said, dumbfounded:
"This, this, this... you eat this much?"
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