"Damn!" Minato froze—he was standing right inside Haruki's Eight Trigrams formation!
"Two Palms!"
Haruki's hands shot forward like lightning, his twin fingers darting toward Minato's back.
Minato reacted instantly—his body moving as if on instinct—twisting around and leaping backward to open distance. Haruki's fingers missed him by barely three centimeters.
"Four Palms!"
Haruki was relentless. His footwork surged forward in a flash, body lunging toward Minato's chest.
Minato pushed both hands out, intercepting Haruki's strike with precision.
"Eight Palms!"
Haruki's alternating attacks came fast and fierce, but in the next moment Minato suddenly leapt high into the air, evading completely.
"Sixteen Palms!"
Flipping midair, Minato came down above Haruki's head. Haruki instantly snapped his hands upward, eight fingers jabbing at the airborne Minato. Would he be able to dodge this time?
Just before the strikes could connect, Minato was once again a fraction faster—vanishing in a blur. Body Flicker!
"Thirty-Two Palms!"
Haruki used Body Flicker as well, tracing Minato's movement and reappearing right in front of him.
His arms blurred with afterimages—sixteen rapid strikes thrust forward at once.
"Not good!" Minato's eyes widened. His body reacted on pure survival instinct, twisting into a sudden backfall. Haruki, only seven years old, had slightly shorter reach—just enough that his final strike missed by a hair.
Minato crashed to the ground. If Haruki had followed up immediately, the prone Minato would have been in serious trouble—lying down was his last viable evasion.
But Haruki's Thirty-Two Palms had just finished. As he shifted from jabs to an open palm, he was half a beat too slow. He thrust downward at Minato's chest—
"Boom!"
Dust flew—but Haruki knew he hadn't hit. That half-beat delay made all the difference.
At the crucial instant, Minato had used Substitution Jutsu. The only thing Haruki's palm smashed was half a block of wood.
Minato's real body now stood not far away, breath slightly uneven. Haruki too was panting lightly. Their eyes met—and they both smiled, battle heat blazing between them.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Their hand signs crossed in perfect sync, two puffs of smoke bursting into the air—each now had a clone.
"Body Flicker!"
"Body Flicker!"
Four figures vanished from the clearing. The brawl began.
Bang! Thud!
Minato and Haruki reappeared together, exchanging fierce blows before vanishing again—flashing into another location mid-combat.
Minato threw a punch at Haruki's back, but Haruki slipped sideways, counterattacking in turn.
After several exchanges, Haruki's speed lagged slightly—Minato's Body Flicker held the advantage.
Then—another Haruki clone suddenly appeared behind Minato, palm slicing toward his back.
"Smack!"
Minato spun to block—
"Swish!"
Another Minato appeared a short distance away, hurling a kunai toward the trio before rapidly forming seals.
"Not good! That's the real Minato—he's about to use Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" Haruki's mind jolted. One Haruki leapt back immediately while the other readied Rotation.
"Found you!" Minato's smile was cool. The one who'd leapt away was the real Haruki.
But Minato wasn't actually using Shadow Shuriken Jutsu—he'd bluffed to flush out Haruki's true body.
Both Minatos flickered in to flank the retreating Haruki—one in front, one behind—attacking simultaneously with a punch and a kick.
"Heh… you're not going anywhere now!" Haruki grinned instead of panicking—snapping both arms out to grab them.
From the other side, Haruki's clone had already built up chakra in his palm—
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
The chakra blast roared forward, a shockwave racing straight at the two Minatos pinned by Haruki's clone.
"Crap—that's the real one!" Minato realized instantly.
"Bang!"
The Minato struck by the blast dissolved into smoke. But the shockwave had already reached the remaining Minato—
"Boom!"
One Minato stepped forward to shield the other, taking the Vacuum Palm head-on—only to vanish into smoke as well.
The real Minato, positioned behind, sidestepped and immediately hurled a kunai toward Haruki.
"Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!"
The single kunai split into a thousand, forming a wall of steel raining down on Haruki with terrifying speed.
At the same time, Haruki thrust out another palm—
"Eight Trigrams Consecutive Vacuum Palms!"
"Thoom!"
The shockwave tore a hole through the steel rain, its force sweeping a cluster of kunai back toward Minato before continuing on, unrelenting.
"Boom!"
Still mid-technique, Minato couldn't dodge—he was blasted away. Haruki, in turn, was swallowed by the remaining storm of kunai.
"Poof!" "Poof!"
Both figures dissolved into smoke.
"What? All four were Shadow Clones?!" The surrounding shinobi gasped again.
From behind a tree, Minato's true form stepped out. But Haruki was even trickier—
"Poof!"
One of the random onlookers transformed back into Haruki.
The two leapt into the clearing once more.
"Haruki, no wonder you didn't dodge—you were trading hits on purpose. When you made your Shadow Clones earlier, you secretly made an extra one, hiding your real self in the crowd under the smoke cover, right?" Minato scratched his head.
"Heh, Minato-nii, weren't you the same? You made an extra clone and hid yourself behind a tree. When you made that clone in front of me, it was just to make me think one of the two was your real body, wasn't it?" Haruki chuckled.
"Hah… these two kids came up with the same tactic without even talking. They're using Shadow Clones like seasoned shinobi," Hatake Sayun said approvingly, eyes full of admiration.
"Their skill is far beyond ordinary children," Kato Dan added with a smile.
"Damn it! Everyone's so strong!!" Nawaki clenched his fists on the sidelines, his fighting spirit blazing.
At this point, neither fighter looked ready to continue. Both knew that to truly settle the match, they'd have to unleash their most dangerous techniques—risking serious injury.
The field had fallen silent. Most spectators were still stunned by what they'd witnessed.
Minato's ghost-like Body Flicker, powerful ninjutsu, and lightning reflexes. Haruki's perfectly timed Vacuum Palms, astounding midair Rotation, and storm-like Gentle Fist flurries—these weren't things just any ninja could do.
Their tactical sharpness, sense of timing, and mastery of technique were already remarkable. Ending with a Shadow Clone and Body Flicker mind-game was the perfect finish.
Both were far stronger than most chunin. The battle's intensity left the audience speechless for a long time.
Minato straightened, lowering his guard, and gave Haruki a thumbs-up. "Haruki, you're seriously strong!"
Haruki grinned and returned the bow. "Minato-nii, if we keep going, we'll have to use our ultimate moves to decide it. Mistakes would be inevitable. Let's call it a draw?"
"Yeah! I'm glad I got to spar with you!" Minato's blue eyes crinkled into warm crescents—like a little sun.
"Haha! Same here! The way you dodged my Thirty-Two Palms was awesome!" Haruki laughed. The two walked forward, clasped hands in the Seal of Reconciliation, and embraced briefly.
Haruki's Thirty-Two Palms had begun with two missed strikes. Normally he'd restart from two, but knowing it'd be even harder to hit Minato that way, he unleashed all thirty remaining strikes in one burst—hoping speed would overwhelm him. But Minato's reflexes and agility let him slip through every gap.
If Haruki had opened with Sixty-Four Palms, he could have finished Minato when he fell—but he'd held back, not wanting to hurt him seriously.
Minato, too, had pulled his punches—his shuriken and kunai were all training weapons. If he'd used wind chakra to make them truly lethal, even Haruki's Rotation might not have stopped them all.
Their Shadow Clone exchanges were likewise meant to avoid real harm—both arriving at the same trade-hit tactic in the end.
The match had been a contest of skill, technique, and wits—not a fight to the death. It ended in a draw.
"Whoa!" "Amazing!" "That's a real fight!" "Both are so strong!" "Incredible!" "How do they even do that?!" "Geniuses!" "So these are the students of the Sannin!"
The clearing erupted in cheers, applause, and awed shouts.
"Haruki! Haruki! Haruki!"
"Minato! Minato! Minato!"
The names rolled through the air in crashing waves, echoing long after.
"Compared to when I sparred him, Haruki's progress is unbelievable…" Kato Dan nodded with satisfaction.
"These two will definitely be pillars of the Leaf one day," Hatake Sayun said, grinning broadly.
"Haha! We won! We won!!" Tsunade leapt up, pumping her fist.
"Huh? But it was a draw, Lady Tsunade…" her bodyguard muttered, baffled by her excitement.
"I won money!!! Hahaha! As expected of my student! Pay up! Pay up!" Tsunade thrust out her hand toward the betting shinobi. She'd never once won this much before—usually she only lost, and kept losing.
The bookies' faces fell instantly. They avoided her gaze, each looking ready to vanish.
"Uh… Lady Tsunade, about that money… could we pay in installments? Just six months—no, seven!" one asked weakly, smiling nervously.
"Oh? What do you think?" Tsunade cracked her knuckles with a cheerful smile, the sound sharp and ominous.
Gulp.
"Hahaha… kidding, Lady Tsunade! Of course we'll pay in full… ha… ha…" the man laughed hollowly, feeling like he was bleeding inside. How many A-rank missions will it take to cover this…?
Tsunade grinned in triumph. "Haruki really is strong. And Minato's impressive too—Jiraiya picked a good student."
"But mine's no worse! Jiraiya, let's see you try to act cool in front of me next time—heh heh!"