Naruto: Choosing from Birth

"What's going on? The person they sent up has such a huge following."

"Could he be even stronger than that female student just now?"

Killer B waved at the enthusiastic students below the stage. "Ah~~ I'm in a really good mood today. I'm sure I'll compose some awesome rhymes, so let me have some fun with Konoha's little buddies."

Hyuga Hiashi remained calm and composed. This guy who had come up was probably no pushover, but no matter how formidable he was, he would have no chance to struggle under my Gentle Fist.

After forming the Seal of Confrontation, Hyuga Hiashi immediately assumed a standard Gentle Fist defensive stance, preparing to see what this newcomer was capable of.

The result—

His opponent began warming up before the fight, stretching his legs while facing Hyuga Hiashi. Strange yo-yo noises kept coming from his mouth.

"How insolent! Are you looking down on me? Then let's see what you can do!"

Hiashi shifted from defense to offense. His left hand swept in an arc and rapidly struck toward Killer B, while his right hand stood ready, prepared to follow up whenever his opponent left an opening in his defense.

"Yo~~ huh. You stupid bastard, you lousy bastard. You actually sneak-attacked Lord Killer B."

"Killer B Reverse Windmill..."

Killer B planted both hands on the ground, his legs swinging like windmill blades as they swept aside Hyuga Hiashi's attack.

"Yo yo~~ rotten eggs, two and a half a pound... Killer B Windmill Egg Fists!"

He clenched both hands into fists, whirling them like windmill blades as he rapidly flung them toward Hiashi.

"Hmph! Childish. You're actually using a child's fighting style!"

"Get down there, Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Palm!"

A powerful aura instantly enveloped Killer B.

First Palm!

Clang!!!

Hyuga Hiashi chopped his palm across Killer B's opening, but with a clang, pain faintly shot through his hand.

A large iron bar fell from the right sleeve of Killer B, who had rapidly pulled back to defend...

"Sorry, I usually use these to practice with swords. Since I'm not skilled enough yet, I use iron bars instead."

Killer B scratched his head, speaking with a slightly embarrassed blush.

Veins bulged on Hiashi's forehead. "It's fine. Let's continue!"

Second Palm!

Clang!!!

A large iron bar fell from his right sleeve.

Third Palm!

Clang!!!

A large iron bar was knocked out from the wide leg of his left pant leg.

Fourth Palm!

Clang!!!

Another iron bar pierced through the fabric around his right leg.

"..."

"S-sorry. I want to practice Eight-Sword Style. I use all of these as swords. Right now, I only know Three-Sword Style, so I only dare carry three real swords on my back."

"Your palm techniques really are impressive. You knocked away all my Blunt Blades for training. No one else could do that."

"You despicable bastard, do you think I'd believe that? You're using iron plates to protect yourself. Then I'll beat every iron plate out of your body."

Byakugan!

The already bulging veins on Hyuga Hiashi's face became even more prominent, his eyes filled with savagery.

He stomped on the ground, kicking up a fierce gust of wind.

Fifth Palm!

It struck Killer B hard in the stomach as he was picking up the iron bars from the ground...

Clang!!!

"I#￥@#%￥￥..."

Killer B flicked up the final iron bar on the ground—the one called Blunt Blade—and caught it in his teeth.

"Killer B Three-Sword Style..."

"Sixth Palm!"

With a whistling voice, Killer B transformed into a streak of light and charged at Hyuga Hiashi like a storm.

"Yo yo, I still have strength to spare, my charm shines bright. The strongest Killer B is in his prime! Yeah..."

Thud!

Clang!

Pfft!

All kinds of impacts rang out!

On the arena, palm shadows and blade shadows from the two men blurred together.

Compared to Killer B, who fought with ease and only grew fiercer as the battle went on—

Hyuga Hiashi grew angrier with every exchange, veins standing out across his face. His opponent was shameless! Using weapons was one thing, but he was even verbally harassing him.

"Hiashi's rhythm is disrupted. His Eight Trigrams Palm can't lock down his opponent. He'll probably lose soon. I didn't expect Cloud Village to have so many powerful fighters."

Shikaku Nara's expression was grave amid the crowd.

"How could that be? Hiashi's Eight Trigrams Palm grows stronger with each successive strike. Later on, his opponent won't even be able to mobilize his Chakra. How could he possibly win?"

His companion, Choza Akimichi, replied unconcernedly. He then secretly looked around, and seeing that no one had noticed, hurriedly pulled out a handful of snacks from his clothes and stuffed them into his mouth.

"Just watch. It'll happen soon." Shikaku Nara rolled his eyes at his unreliable friend.

Sure enough, as time passed, Hyuga Hiashi's Eight Trigrams Palm failed to seal his opponent and instead got pushed step by step toward the edge of the arena.

Suddenly, Killer B flicked his head and fired the Blunt Blade in his mouth at Hiashi like a hidden weapon.

As Hiashi dodged, the blades in Killer B's left and right hands slashed directly toward Hiashi's ribs. Hiashi caught Killer B's forearm with a backhanded grab, his already aching hands trembling slightly.

"Yeah~ little fool――! Dance, dance like a colorful butterfly――oh~ yeah!"

Killer B stared at Hyuga Hiashi and smiled faintly.

"Self-created secret technique: Killer B Headbutt!"

Boom!!!

A savage blow of the head sent Hyuga Hiashi flying directly off the edge of the arena...

Killer B put away the iron bars and formed the Seal of Reconciliation.

Killer B won!

In an instant, cheers and jeers from Konoha and Cloud Village once again rose into one deafening roar.

Pfft~~

Choza Akimichi spat out all the food he had just put in his mouth. Was my mouth cursed? How could I have called it that accurately?

Killer B had really won with his head!

No one who came up afterward was a match for Killer B. They were all sent flying after just a few moves.

Though still so young, Killer B was already a full head taller and broader than children his age. He displayed the overwhelming advantage of his stamina to the fullest.

Seeing the increasingly grim expressions of Konoha's teachers, as well as Kushina, who seemed eager to get onstage and beat the other side senseless—

Minato Namikaze's gaze gradually hardened. He took a step forward and shouted:

"Fourth-year student Minato Namikaze requests a match on the stage!"

"Another fourth-year student? The grades at this Konoha Ninja Academy really are in reverse order, aren't they?"

"Minato? Isn't he ranked one place below Hyuga Hiashi in class combat rankings? Is he going up there to get beaten up?"

"That was last semester. Minato Namikaze improves so quickly every semester. Maybe he really can bring us a surprise this time?"

The Third Hokage watched the sunny blond boy from the leaders' platform. This must be the student Jiraiya had been paying attention to. He truly was an outstanding young man.

He then nodded to Nomura-sensei.

"Next up, fourth-year student Minato Namikaze!"

Minato Namikaze felt the gazes around him, especially Kushina's different gaze. He smiled faintly, raised his head, and leaped onto the arena.