With the annual Great New Year's Eve festival only half a month away, Kushina emerged from the doors of the Konoha Hospital, her eyes shadowed with dark circles and her yawns frequent.
Pretending to be listless, she walked to a corner, observed her surroundings with her peripheral vision, and after confirming that the annoying ANBU were not following her, a sly smile of successful scheming spread across Kushina's lips. She skillfully used the Transformation Jutsu to become Minato Namikaze and, full of energy, ran towards Konoha's East Gate.
"They keep forcing me to learn chakra control, Big Sister Tsunade is so annoying!"
"Kurama, don't you think so?"
The Yin Nine-Tails in the seal space twitched its ears, also wearing a look of annoyance.
"Brat, don't talk to me!"
"You know, I'm very unhappy lately!"
Kushina secretly pouted, mentally dismissing the fox who had lived for so long yet still threw tantrums like a child.
Wasn't it just that her other half went out to play without him?
I can't go anywhere either and am constantly watched by the ANBU.
I haven't even graduated yet, and my free time is already like this. Kushina couldn't imagine what kind of dire situation she would be in after graduating next year.
Sigh! Thinking about it makes me despair!
And that damn Minato Namikaze, and brother Nawaki, oh, and Yakushi Nonou who always followed brother Nawaki...
They never took me with them when I went out to train with Master Orochimaru.
It forced me to stay with Big Sister Tsunade and do all sorts of useless chakra control training, it's so annoying!
"Heh heh, I finally have a chance today, I'm definitely going out to have some fun."
"Kurama, let's go!"
Kushina clenched her fist and excitedly ran towards the training grounds in the east.
The Yin Nine-Tails lay in the center of the Eight Trigrams Seal pillar, snorting dismissively.
"It's you who's going out to play alone!"
"I..."
"Hmph!"
...
"The First Gate of the Eight Inner Gates – the Gate of Opening!"
"Open!"
Nawaki wiped the gash on the back of his hand, cut by the kunai in Minato Namikaze's hand, and clenched his fists tightly. A powerful surge of chakra erupted from within him, violently opening the first gate in his consciousness.
"Minato, in a basic taijutsu spar, I'm not as fast as you, so..."
"I'm going to get serious now!"
"Let's see the results of Nawaki-sama's training during this period!"
Nawaki gave a thumbs-up to the stern-faced Minato Namikaze in front of him, then turned to look at Orochimaru and Nonou, who were watching from the side, and flashed a big smile.
"Teacher, Nonou, witness my process of defeating this genius!"
Orochimaru's lips curled, and he nodded gently.
Nonou, like a little fangirl, excitedly waved at Nawaki.
"Nawaki-kun, go for it!"
Nawaki nodded heavily, his spirit soaring as he charged at Minato.
"Konoha's Intense Fist Style Taijutsu – Konoha Whirlwind!"
His body, moving at high speed, reached Minato in an instant. His right leg became a blur almost invisible to the naked eye, bringing with it a sharp whistling sound as it kicked towards Minato's upper body.
Minato's expression turned serious. He reversed his kunai, quickly formed a hand seal for Wind Release, and a gust of wind rose beneath his feet. Using the agility provided by Wind Release chakra and his own incredibly fast reflexes, he dodged Nawaki's side kick at the last moment, simultaneously slashing his kunai forward.
Even though Nawaki's speed had more than doubled after opening the Eight Inner Gates, Minato Namikaze found it relatively easy to handle this level of taijutsu attack.
Nawaki naturally knew what a genius his opponent was, someone praised by his own teacher. He didn't expect any effective results from this ordinary taijutsu attack, even in the opened gate state.
But he wasn't discouraged; this was just the beginning.
His whip kick missed. Nawaki used the momentum to spin his body. As his right leg pushed off the ground, dodging Minato's incoming kunai, his left leg shot out lightning-fast from bottom to top, aiming directly for Minato's abdomen.
Minato, though surprised, remained calm. As he retreated, he quickly formed a hand seal for Shadow Clone Jutsu, and with a 'poof,' summoned two clones, each wielding a kunai and flanking Nawaki.
"Wind Release – Wind Scythe!"
The Wind Release ninjutsu, originally used for mid to long-range attacks, had been modified by the genius Minato into chakra wind blades that could be attached to kunai, which he fiercely thrust towards Nawaki's sides.
"Good coming!"
Nawaki let out a low cry. His left leg, having missed its target, spun his body with the momentum, turning him into a whirlwind. With two sharp cracks, he kicked Minato's two shadow clones into pieces.
At the same time, Nawaki's momentum didn't stop. His fists and legs moved in tandem, pressing down on Minato like a raging storm.
The mental shock transmitted from the shattering of the shadow clones caused Minato's body to freeze for a moment. In that instant, Nawaki's furious kick landed heavily on Minato's jaw.
"Ugh..."
With a cry of pain, Minato's body flew uncontrollably into the air.
"Witness the techniques Nawaki-sama learned under Teacher's guidance!"
"Front Lotus!"
Nawaki let out a wild laugh, crouched slightly beneath Minato in mid-air, and leaped up, catching up to the airborne Minato.
Nawaki's figure appeared behind Minato out of nowhere. The two slender, specially made metal wires given to him by Orochimaru shot out from his arms, quickly wrapping tightly around Minato's body.
"Bang, bang..."
With a series of muffled thuds, Minato's body was sent higher and higher by Nawaki's continuous attacks.
"Hah!"
After reaching a certain height, Nawaki used a whip kick to turn Minato's immobilized body head-down. He tightly grasped the chakra steel wires wrapped around Minato and forcefully slammed him towards the ground.
"Boom!"
Both Minato and Nawaki landed simultaneously. The powerful impact made the ground tremble slightly. Nawaki laughed heartily, released Minato, and jumped out of the crater created by their impact.
"Teacher, I won this time!"
Nawaki gave himself a thumbs-up and grinned cheekily at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru looked at his disciple, who seemed to have lost his mind after learning taijutsu, with a speechless expression, feeling an urge to cover his face and run away.
"Tsunade, I'm sorry..."
"This child's brain is probably completely ruined..."
Nonou stifled a laugh and pointed to the large crater behind Nawaki.
"Nawaki-kun, Teacher hasn't announced the end yet. Don't you want to see what you just hit?"
Nawaki froze, a sense of unease suddenly rising within him.
"Lightning Release – Ground Running!"
"Wind Release Shuriken!"
Two soft exclamations came from behind Nawaki almost simultaneously. Minato's body in the crater had long since turned into a log for the Body Replacement Jutsu. Around the crater, two Minato Namikazes, one standing and one crouching, simultaneously launched ninjutsu attacks at the unsuspecting Nawaki.
"Brother Nawaki, the battle isn't over yet!"
Nawaki was greatly alarmed and quickly turned and jumped, attempting to dodge the lightning spreading across the ground.
"Sorry, I won this time again!"
A third Minato appeared instantly beside Nawaki, pressing down on his attempt to jump with one hand, forcing him back into the range of the Lightning Release – Ground Running, and holding a kunai to his neck with the other.
"Tap, tap..."
"A brilliant fight, as expected of you, Minato."
Orochimaru lightly clapped his hands and walked in front of Minato Namikaze, gently separating his two disciples.
"Taijutsu, reaction speed, Shadow Clone Jutsu, Body Replacement Jutsu, Ninjutsu..."
"Almost all have reached an impeccable level. Besides chakra reserves, you are already qualified to spar with some seasoned Chunin."
Minato Namikaze put away his kunai, bowed slightly to Orochimaru, breathing heavily.
"It's all thanks to Teacher's excellent guidance!"
"If Teacher hadn't shared his experience in ninjutsu with me, with only what I learned in the Ninja Academy, I probably wouldn't have reached the level to spar with Brother Nawaki in my lifetime."
Orochimaru nodded with satisfaction, then turned his gaze to Nawaki, letting out a dismissive snort.
Nawaki scratched his head, retreated from the opened gate state, and looked at Minato with a dejected expression.
"When did you use Body Replacement Jutsu? How did I not notice?"
Just as Minato was about to answer, he heard Orochimaru snort coldly, looking at Nawaki with frustration.
"Teacher only knows that ninjutsu cannot be released when the Eight Inner Gates are open, but doesn't know that you can't even sense chakra fluctuations and judge the combat situation?"
"Nawaki, you've taught me a lesson today!"
Nonou then covered her mouth and giggled.
Nawaki grinned awkwardly, smiling foolishly at Orochimaru while weakly defending himself:
"Teacher, I just learned to open the Eight Inner Gates and wanted to see how strong I was in combat."
"Although I didn't react to Minato secretly releasing the Body Replacement Jutsu, look..."
Nawaki pointed to the large crater on the ground, saying excitedly:
"This move has great power!"
"It truly lives up to being a technique developed under your guidance, Teacher!"
Orochimaru's face darkened, wishing he could slap this idiot to death.
"If you had paid a little attention to the Eight Inner Gates training scrolls, you wouldn't have said this move was created by me."
"It's the training insights recorded by Might Duy!"
Nawaki's eyes lit up, and he eagerly pulled out the scroll from his pocket, looking at it with a sudden realization.
"So that's how it is, there's someone in Konoha practicing this secret technique!"
"I must find Senior Might Duy and ask for some advice sometime..."
Orochimaru felt exhausted by this idiot's erratic thoughts. This disciple should probably have been taught by Jiraiya.
Both in personality and in brain, Nawaki was exactly like Jiraiya.
Just as he was about to reprimand his disciple, who couldn't grasp the main point, Orochimaru's senses suddenly detected a few familiar chakra fluctuations.
One came from Konoha, and the other two had taken a wide detour and were approaching from the outskirts of Konoha.
"What a coincidence!"
Orochimaru waved his hand at his three disciples, signaling them to recover their chakra on their own.
"Are they rushing back for the Great New Year's Eve festival at this time, or..."
"Do they have any significant gains?"