That night.
"That was too dangerous. Don't ever do something like that again. If you had been half a second later, you would have lost that arm."
Bai Lu frowned deeply. After stripping away all the nuclear radiation, he examined Might Duy's left hand.
The flesh was mangled, and even the bones had suffered severe damage.
This was already a blessing in disguise.
If Bai Lu had fully unleashed that Technique, Might Duy's arm would have been instantly destroyed.
It would have been melted on the spot.
"Hahaha, at least the result was good! The Village's ANBU really came through!" Might Duy laughed heartily, completely carefree.
"Father..." Gai knelt, looking at his incredibly optimistic father with deep emotion.
Then, the father and son launched into another bout of lecturing and tearful embraces.
It gave Bai Lu a headache just watching them.
"Father, how did you know Mr. Bai Lu was hiding such powerful strength?" Gai asked, confused, after finishing his crying.
He and Bai Lu were arguably the closest of companions, having spent all their time together these past few years.
In Gai's perception, Bai Lu was an extremely lazy guy whose mind was very sharp, but who completely neglected training.
Duy smiled confidently: "Gai, Mr. Bai Lu's strength has always been this powerful. He has always trained rigorously in his own way, but for certain reasons, Mr. Bai Lu finds it inconvenient to use this power."
Duy glanced at Bai Lu, who was calmly drinking tea and smiling, and immediately recalled a scene he had witnessed a year ago.
To test that Technique, Bai Lu had ruined his own hands, and the majority of his body had suffered terrible corrosion.
That kind of injury made Duy's heart jump just seeing it. He thought Bai Lu was going to die and almost went to seek help from the Village's Medical Ninja.
"That time was truly perilous, Mr. Bai Lu .." Duy sighed with emotion.
Bai Lu put down his teacup, pondered for a moment, and said solemnly: "Everything requires a price. As long as you believe something is right, you should pursue it steadfastly. This is... youth!"
"Oh!"
"Ooh ooh ooh!!"
"As expected of Mr. Bai Lu ! To interpret youth to this extent?"
"Ah ah ah ah, Gai, did you see that? Mr. Bai Lu is your role model! Looking at him, you can see passionate youth!!"
"Father!"
"Gai!"
The father and son embraced, weeping bitterly.
"..."
Holy cow.
Bai Lu was unbearably awkward and fidgeted uncomfortably.
He admired Duy and Gai's concept of youth, believing the father and son weren't wrong; youth itself was a process of striving and fighting hard.
But damn it... Bai Lu looked at the two idiots with a pained expression, constantly repeating internally: "My subordinates, my subordinates. They are Family. I must adapt. I must get used to it..."
The father and son, who rarely found kindred spirits in this lifetime, were so fired up by Bai Lu that they immediately rushed out of the house to compete in running laps around the village while doing handstands.
"Mr. Bai Lu, Father is heavier than me, so for fairness, I need to find a way to gain weight. You can hold onto me." Gai said solemnly while inverted, stretching a hand out toward Bai Lu.
"...Get lost!"
...Bai Lu watched the figures of the father and son howling and running wildly into the distance, and slightly shook his head.
They truly were full of fighting spirit.
"However... However, those two guys probably haven't noticed the ANBU agents watching them from the surroundings."