"Begin!"
As soon as the words left the referee's mouth, Hinata Haruki leapt back, widening the distance between himself and Minato. At the same time, nine shuriken flashed from his hands, splitting into two arcs to attack from both sides.
(BGM: "MiddleAgeAttack!", Yasuharu Takanashi)
Minato's reaction was lightning-fast, his throwing speed just as swift. In response to Haruki's assault, nine shuriken shot from his hands, aiming to perfectly intercept each one of Haruki's weapons.
Minato's shuriken found their intended targets with flawless precision. Yet just before the two sets were about to collide, Haruki's shuriken suddenly shifted course mid-air, swerving past Minato's intercepting throws to continue their deadly path toward him!
But Minato's shuriken were no idle threats. If they failed to intercept Haruki's weapons, they would barrel forward toward Haruki himself.
Swish, swish, swish!
The two volleys of shuriken passed each other in the air, each now headed for its respective target.
Haruki's shuriken reached Minato first, forcing him to leap high into the air. The spinning steel passed just beneath his feet.
"Take this!"
This was exactly the moment Haruki had been waiting for. His Byakugan had already read Minato's movements, and chakra had been building in his palm for the perfect strike. With a thrust, he sent the blow through the air—
"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"
Compressed chakra burst from his palm in a shockwave, scattering the nine shuriken Minato had sent toward him. The turbulent blast didn't slow—it surged upward toward the airborne Minato!
But just before it struck—swish!—Minato vanished.
"Such speed—Body Flicker!" Haruki's eyes widened. Even with his Byakugan, he had only just managed to catch a faint afterimage. Minato had already reappeared behind him.
Minato's leg whipped up in a powerful kick aimed at Haruki's head. Smack! Haruki raised an arm to block, immediately countering with a quick strike at Minato's raised leg. Minato deflected the attack with his hand, following up with a sharp punch toward Haruki's chest.
"Incredible agility!" Haruki had already read Minato's muscle movements, sidestepping smoothly. His Byakugan could predict Minato's attacks, but Minato's sheer speed left him only moments to react.
Switching to offense, Haruki's twin fingers darted forward toward Minato's chest and abdomen.
Swish! Minato realized that close-range taijutsu offered him no real advantage here. Another Body Flicker—and he was gone.
"Again! So fast—he's refined the Body Flicker Technique!" Haruki's mind raced. He focused all his attention, his Byakugan scanning for even the faintest trace of Minato's movements.
"I'm going on the offensive, Minato!"
Drawing his hands back, chakra flaring in his palms, Haruki's Byakugan suddenly locked onto a high-speed blur.
"There you are! Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"
His right palm lashed out toward an empty patch of ground. The shockwave of chakra ripped forward, forming a cylindrical blast of turbulent air. Just as it reached that spot, Minato appeared—
If the blast had been slower, Minato could have sidestepped. Any faster, and it would have overshot. But Haruki had perfectly timed it to strike at the exact instant and location of Minato's reappearance.
This was the product of Haruki's relentless training—his ability to detect and lock onto all rapidly moving targets within his Byakugan's field.
"He saw through my Body Flicker?!" Minato's eyes widened. Without a pause, he flickered away again.
"Let's see you dodge this—Eight Trigrams: Consecutive Vacuum Palms!"
Haruki's left palm thrust toward another seemingly empty space, unleashing another fierce shockwave—the precise location where Minato appeared an instant later.
"Not good!" Minato couldn't avoid it. Boom! The impact sent him flying.
The spectators gasped.
"No way—did he hit him?!"
"With all that open ground, why didn't Minato just move elsewhere?"
"Was it… intentional?"
The more discerning eyes knew the truth: Haruki had masterfully forced Minato into a dead end, step by step.
Before the crowd's murmurs faded—puff!—Minato's body vanished into smoke.
"A Shadow Clone?!" Haruki's heart lurched. He spun around just in time to see the real Minato appear behind him, hands already forming seals.
"When my first palm struck the clone… he must have used Shadow Clone Technique at the very instant, both clone and original using Body Flicker. The clone drew my attack while his real body moved behind me for the strike!" Haruki's mind raced.
"Fire Style: Great Flame Bullet!"
Minato took a deep breath and unleashed a roaring fireball.
"Body Flicker Technique!"
Haruki reacted instantly, vanishing to evade the oncoming flames.
But Minato was faster still. With another flicker, he appeared at Haruki's side—perfectly aligned so the fireball now had a straight path toward Haruki's new position.
"Wind Style: Gale Palm!"
Minato's hands clapped together, releasing a fierce gust of wind that curved the fireball's trajectory. In an instant, the blazing sphere doubled in size, now hurtling toward Haruki from behind!
"He planned this from the start?! Using Wind Release to redirect his own Fire Release! And to do it immediately after a Body Flicker… this speed is unreal!"
Haruki's mind reeled, but his body moved fast. Landing from his flicker, he slammed both feet into the ground and leapt high into the air. The fireball roared beneath him.
"Now!!"
This was exactly what Minato had been waiting for—the moment Haruki was airborne, with no leverage to evade.
Four shuriken spun from Minato's hands, flying at Haruki from the front, back, left, and right. Even as they left his hands, Minato's fingers blurred in rapid seals.
"It's over! Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
The four weapons suddenly split into countless duplicates, a storm of steel filling the sky around Haruki, sealing every escape route.
From the sidelines, Tsunade frowned.
"Substitution? There's no cover. Body Flicker? No footing in midair. Blocking? He can't stop that many from every direction. Haruki, what will you do?"
Dan Kato's expression hardened. "How do you dodge a storm like that… in midair?"
Haruki didn't hear them—he was already moving. Twisting his torso sharply, he brought both palms to his right side as if to force his body to spin midair.
"Eight Trigrams: Air Rotation Reversal!"
Chakra burst from his palms, then from one side's tenketsu, then from the other in the opposite direction. Finally, every tenketsu on his body erupted—each angled to push his body into a counterclockwise spin.
The recoil of the chakra blasts forced Haruki into a rapid midair rotation.
The crowd gasped.
"Is he… using Rotation in midair?!"
Dan Kato nodded. "Not a normal Rotation—he's forcing his body to spin without any ground leverage, using only chakra bursts to accelerate."
Tsunade smiled. "No… that's not the Hyuga clan's standard Rotation. That's Haruki's own improved version. This boy's a genius."
Pale green chakra flared violently, encasing Haruki in a rising sphere. Ring-shaped gusts spiraled outward, flinging away every shuriken that came near.
Clink-clink-clink! The dense storm of steel was swept outward in all directions, not a single blade reaching him. Even Minato had to leap back to avoid the rebounding weapons.
The chakra sphere reached its peak before Haruki cut the flow, dropping toward the ground. His landing sent a shockwave through the earth, scattering dust and pebbles as he slid to a stop.
"Whew… that was close." Without that airborne Rotation, he would have lost.
"You let your guard down, Haruki!"
Before Haruki could recover, Minato flickered behind him. A precise hand chop struck the back of Haruki's neck—thud!—sending him forward to the ground.
Puff! The fallen body dissolved into smoke.
"A Shadow Clone." Minato's brow twitched.
Puff! The real Haruki was already behind him. Using the dust and fading chakra aura as cover, he had switched with a clone the instant he landed, transforming himself into a nearby rock.
Now, in a low stance with palms extended front and back in perfect alignment, Haruki's eyes blazed.
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"