"Oh? This kid's punch speed is incredible!"
Among the onlookers, Tsunade's amber eyes lit up with predatory interest. To be honest, she hadn't actually placed high hopes on Minato. While his raw talent clearly eclipsed Shinnosuke's, the latter was the Hokage's son. He had been personally tutored by Hiruzen Sarutobi since he could walk.
By contrast, Minato looked like a boy who had never stepped into a dojo in his life. His lack of formal combat experience was evident in the raw, unrefined way he threw that first punch. Yet, it was precisely this "amateur" who had just tagged the most well-trained student in the class.
Shinnosuke stood dazed, his head ringing from the impact. He quickly shook it off, chalking the hit up to his own carelessness. Lightly patting his stinging cheek, he shifted into a much more cautious stance. His eyes locked onto Minato's every movement as he began to move, circling toward the blonde's blind spot.
"Sigh..."
Watching from the front, Hiruzen Sarutobi palmed his forehead, his face a mask of weary helplessness. He had always worried that Shinnosuke was too "honest" in combat—he lacked that intuitive killer instinct. He had constantly lectured his son on the importance of tactics, and while Shinnosuke had clearly listened, he didn't actually understand them.
"Flanking... Is he really trying to circle a child who is faster than he is?" Orochimaru's expression was that of a scientist observing a particularly dim-witted specimen. "Fascinating."
"Hey, hey, give the Old Man some face," Jiraiya whispered, nudging Orochimaru with his elbow.
Orochimaru went silent, but Tsunade didn't bother hiding her amusement, letting out a sharp bark of laughter. The other Ninjas in the crowd shook their heads; Shinnosuke's move was textbook, but it was being used against the one person it couldn't possibly work on.
Sure enough, Minato simply pivoted on his heel. Every time Shinnosuke adjusted his angle, Minato followed with effortless economy of motion.
Shinnosuke froze, unsure of what had gone wrong. The script in his head was failing him. When his father or the Anbu trainers moved like this, they were behind him in an instant, finishing the drill with a cool leg sweep. Why was this kid always facing him?
Feeling the pressure mounting, Shinnosuke abandoned the clever tactics. He gritted his teeth and charged head-on.
"Phew, that's better," Jiraiya muttered. At least a frontal assault utilized Shinnosuke's systematic training. Minato might be fast, but in a chaotic brawl, the more experienced fighter usually won.
Smack!
The sound echoed again. Shinnosuke stumbled back, clutching his other eye. Not five feet away, Minato stood in a loose, casual boxing stance, his fist still extended.
"THIS! IS! IMPOSSIBLE!"
Shinnosuke roared, his pride flaring. He charged again, his blood boiling with a sudden surge of adrenaline. He didn't care if the kid threw a Great Fireball—he wasn't stopping. He saw his fist closing in on Minato's face. He saw the dawn of victory. He saw his father finally nodding in approval.
And then, Minato simply wasn't there.
With a speed that defied comprehension, the blonde boy blurred. From the corner of his eye, Shinnosuke saw a fist coming from his flank. The impact snapped his head sideways, but a flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes. He used the momentum to spin for a counter-punch, but he hit only air.
Minato had already read the rotation of his hips. Like a predatory cheetah, he flipped clean over Shinnosuke's head, landing silently behind him.
Not good! The moment his punch whiffed, Shinnosuke lunged forward in a desperate roll. He felt the wind of Minato's fist whistle just above his neck.
"Phew... close!" Shinnosuke scrambled back to his feet, panting.
"That adaptability... that's not a freshman level talent," one of the parents whispered. The praise for Minato only added weight to Shinnosuke's shoulders. He charged again, then again, blindly trying to force a close-quarters struggle to negate Minato's speed advantage.
But it was useless. His face, his ribs, his limbs—Minato tagged him everywhere, avoiding lethal spots with surgical precision. Shinnosuke couldn't even touch the fabric of the boy's shirt. He finally understood what his father meant when he said there was always someone better.
"Um... is this enough?" Minato asked, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. Looking at Shinnosuke, whose face was now swelling like a pig's, he felt a pang of guilt. His mental age was that of an adult; this felt like bullying a toddler.
"Not yet! Not yet!" Shinnosuke roared toward the sky. "I will never admit defeat! I am the man who will become Hokage! Aaaaaah—"
"Now that's a ninja!" someone in the crowd cheered, moved by the boy's grit. The atmosphere turned electric as the audience began to root for the underdog.
"Hmph... good aura, but useless," Tsunade said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Looks like I win the bet."
Despite her words, her face grew solemn. Beside her, Hiruzen and Orochimaru went quiet. They knew Tsunade's luck. She was a "Legendary Sucker" who lost every bet—unless something terrible was about to happen.
The first time she won, her grandfather Hashirama Senju had died. The second time, it was her grand-uncle Tobirama. To her, winning a bet wasn't a joy; it was a curse.
"Oh, come on, it's just a dinner of roasted meat..." Jiraiya started to comfort her, but he was interrupted.
In the center of the ring, Minato suddenly raised his hand.
"I forfeit!"
"The winner," the referee announced, stunned, "is Sarutobi Shinnosuke!"
"What?" Shinnosuke, who had been mid-charge, tripped over his own feet and faceplanted into the dirt.
Tsunade's amber eyes widened. After a moment of stunned silence, her face darkened, and she began rolling up her sleeves. "Are you kidding me? This brat..."
"Calm down!" Jiraiya grabbed her arm, only to be met with a palm to the head that nearly buried him in the ground.
Orochimaru chuckled. "See? If you really lose, you won't be happy either."
Hiruzen just shook his head, baffled by the twist. But no one was angrier than Shinnosuke.
"Wait a minute!" the boy shouted, scrambling up. "Why did you quit? I was clearly about to win!"
Minato nodded politely. "Exactly. We stop while we're ahead."
"That's not how it works!" Shinnosuke's face turned a violent shade of red. "By doing this... you make it look like I was just a nuisance!"
Weren't you?Minato thought, but he stayed silent. He didn't want to crush the kid's pride.
"Does this victory mean nothing to you?" Shinnosuke demanded, his voice cracking.
"Um... it really doesn't. I don't have anything to prove," Minato said with an apologetic smile. He had only accepted to test his own level. Bullying a child wasn't his idea of fun, and he didn't want to embarrass the Hokage by beating his son into the hospital.
"I haven't studied Taijutsu," Minato lied smoothly. "I'm just swinging randomly. If we kept going, I would have run out of steam and lost."
Liar!Shinnosuke screamed internally. If swinging randomly does this to me, then I'm worse than a civilian!
He felt like a clown. All that passion, all that determination, and his opponent had just handed him the win like a piece of scrap paper. "Damn it! Next time, I'll defeat you for real!"
"Ah, good luck!" Minato waved over his shoulder and began walking toward the exit.
He needed to get home. He had to handle his own cooking and cleaning now. He was already planning a simple dinner when the world suddenly tilted. A hand snagged him by the back of his collar, lifting him clean off the ground.
"Yo... kid."
Tsunade held him aloft, her expression dark and unreadable. "Minato Namikaze, right?"
"Senior Tsunade?" Minato blinked, looking remarkably innocent. "Do you need something?"
Tsk... why does he have to be this cute?Tsunade felt her irritation melting away. She had intended to terrify him for ruining her "loss streak," but looking at his sunny, sapphire eyes, a rare sense of guilt bubbled up.
Of course, she was still Tsunade. And in Konoha, everyone knew she didn't have much of a filter. Guilt or no guilt, scaring children was still her favorite hobby.
Current Status:
Chakra Levels: 2,500 Units
Synchronization Progress: 96%