Sparring

White clouds drifted lazily overhead, and the warm breeze gently kissed the faces of passersby.

Compared to the seemingly endless rain of the Land of Rain, the boundless deserts of the Land of Wind, the desolate Gobi of the Land of Earth, and the scorching plateaus of the Land of Lightning—

The Land of Fire had always been so favored by nature.

Orochimaru now liked flowing white kimono because he thought they looked cool.

In the training ground, Mito Uzumaki was sparring with Minato Namikaze.

Perhaps due to the influence of the Cosmic Cube, both Orochimaru and Mito Uzumaki had special effects whenever they used the Flying Thunder God. They were the effects of space-nature Chakra.

When dressed in white, Orochimaru's effects were white tinged with blue, while Mito Uzumaki's were purple tinged with blue.

Mito Uzumaki liked to wear a purple coat with a fishnet shirt underneath, looking every bit like a perverted gay uncle, though he, like Orochimaru, was under thirty.

A streak of golden light and a streak of purple light intertwined and clashed in the field, appearing evenly matched.

Ninja below a certain level probably could not even make out their figures. To see the details of their exchanges clearly, one either needed Kage-level strength or exceptionally sharp dynamic vision, such as an Uchiha with the Sharingan activated.

In fact, Kage-level powerhouses all had excellent dynamic vision. Otherwise, they would not have the reaction speed needed to survive battle after battle.

Mito Uzumaki's own limit had only been Elite Jonin, but after mastering the Flying Thunder God, he could barely be considered to have crossed the threshold into Kage-level.

For Minato to fight Mito Uzumaki to such a standstill at his age was extremely rare, but that did not mean his strength was on the same level as Mito Uzumaki's. He was not yet seventeen, after all. He was himself, not his overpowered son.

Minato and Mito Uzumaki's current strength was in a rather awkward state—they could fight anyone to a draw.

With the Flying Thunder God, even when facing opponents stronger than themselves, they could forcibly turn the fight into an even match. However, because they had been forcefully elevated to this level by the Flying Thunder God's bug-level speed, most of their other aspects had not reached the passing standard for that level.

In other words, their qualities in other areas remained within the range of Elite Jonin. As long as most Elite Jonin were sufficiently careful and cautious, Minato and Mito Uzumaki could not take them down quickly either. They could only use the Flying Thunder God to wear them down and look for opportunities—a forced fifty-fifty matchup.

"Rasengan!"

Minato used a Shadow Clone to deceive Mito Uzumaki, then took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack with the Rasengan.

Mito Uzumaki reacted in time, formed the final hand seal with one hand, and activated the Flying Thunder God, appearing above a kunai on the other side.

The next moment, a fierce gust swept in. Mito Uzumaki tilted his head, dodging a kunai Minato had thrown.

But Minato's figure suddenly appeared atop the kunai.

Although Mito Uzumaki had mastered the Flying Thunder God, he was only at the beginner level. The modifications he had received were incomplete, and his talent in space-time techniques only slightly exceeded the threshold required to learn the Flying Thunder God. In the future, even learning Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder might prove quite difficult for him.

Orochimaru speculated that an even more advanced application like Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder required mastery-level Sealing Jutsu to instantly draw and unfold the Flying Thunder God formula in midair, then transmit space-time energy into it.

But Minato's talent was truly ridiculous.

Before his son was born, he had been the current child of destiny.

He had been able to use Flying Thunder God: Second Step as soon as he learned the Flying Thunder God, and now he could already apply it extremely skillfully in actual combat.

Orochimaru estimated that this battle would likely last quite a while. Although Minato had a higher mastery of the Flying Thunder God, combat was not simply a comparison of who had greater mastery over ninjutsu.

Mito Uzumaki possessed abundant combat experience, while his physical abilities and Chakra reserves had basically reached their peak. In terms of raw strength, he actually surpassed Minato.

Minato was not yet the renowned Yellow Flash who could make Iwa ninja flee at the mere sound of his name and abandon their missions outright.

Although he had caught the tail end of the Second Ninja War and gained considerable experience, he was still somewhat immature compared to Mito Uzumaki.

His current level of strength was similar to Orochimaru before his transmigration and the Three Ninja before their battle with Hanzō, though slightly weaker.

He not only lacked foundation, but also the battle instincts forged through countless fights. Though he was meticulous in thought and possessed strong combat awareness—

Many things required time to accumulate. Which of the current ninja world's powerhouses had not grown through the tempering of countless wars?

Even the two overpowered ones who came later had developed resilient personalities from childhood due to their tragic backgrounds, then endured trials of blood and fire after becoming ninja before growing into saviors.

They were merely a tiny bit stronger than the other powerhouses.

Minato Namikaze and Mito Uzumaki ultimately failed to finish their duel because Hatake Sakumo arrived with Kakashi.

Hatake Sakumo had heard that Orochimaru had recently been bringing several people to train at this training ground, so he had decided to come take a look.

That was how he witnessed Minato and Mito Uzumaki's dazzling duel.

Though he was absolutely confident that he could defeat the two before him, he still could not help marveling at their strength.

In truth, with Sakumo's speed, as long as his opponent revealed even the slightest opening, he was confident he could defeat either of them. Even without an opening, the pressure created by his incredible speed would force one to appear—Sakumo was not only fast on his feet; his blade was fast as well.

But Minato was simply too young. Sakumo could already see a future powerhouse in him.

After watching for a while, Sakumo could not resist the itch in his hands and wanted to spar with Orochimaru. He wanted to know just how powerful his rival truly was.

Orochimaru agreed.

After they formed the Seal of Confrontation, Minato and Mito Uzumaki stopped fighting and watched from the side together with Kakashi.

Although Kakashi's mother had managed to give birth to him relatively smoothly, she had been badly weakened afterward and passed away not long after.

From then on, Sakumo transferred all his love for his wife onto his son.

Neither moved first, but their powerful auras had already spread through the area, carrying immense pressure.

Seeing Kakashi looking somewhat uncomfortable, Minato pulled his hand free from Kushina's grasp and stepped in front of Kakashi.

A gust of wind blew past, stirring up the fallen leaves on the ground.

Leaves drifted slowly down between the two men's eyes.

The moment they confirmed that the leaves had blocked a small part of the other's vision, both moved at the same time.

Countless snakes poured from Orochimaru's sleeves, but only some lunged at Sakumo. The others bore Flying Thunder God markings; compared to kunai whose trajectories could not be changed once thrown, these snakes were far more flexible.

Sakumo stepped forward, his right hand drawing White Fang upward in a snowy arc of blade light that slaughtered the venomous snakes. Then he spun around, using his free left hand to pull kunai from his waist and hurl them at Orochimaru.

Explosive tags were tied to the ends of those kunai...

Did sparring require spending money too?

Orochimaru, who was often troubled by insufficient Experiment Funds, rarely used things like explosive tags that cost far too much. Not long ago, the money in his wallet had taken a devastating hit.

Orochimaru had even started using snakes as kunai to save money on buying actual kunai.

Perhaps he could biologically modify a breed of snake specifically for use as kunai and shuriken in the future? That was not impossible. Although it would require additional research funding, it could save quite a bit in expenses down the line.

Orochimaru used Flying Thunder God to evade the explosive kunai Sakumo had thrown, then rapidly formed hand seals and unleashed Wind Blades at Sakumo.

His opponent's Lightning Release had extremely strong piercing power, so using Wind Release, which countered Lightning Release, for long-range attacks was the wisest choice.

But Sakumo was a powerhouse renowned throughout the Shinobi World. If people could figure out how to counter him that easily, he would never have earned the name White Fang.

"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"

An earthen wall rose before Sakumo and blocked the Wind Blades. A dog-head pattern was drawn on the wall...

Well, damn. So Kakashi learned to draw dog heads from his father!

Orochimaru stretched out his hand and used Shadow Many Snake Hands, trying to stop Sakumo as he rushed toward him.

A flash of white blade light swept past. The snakes failed to slow Sakumo's advance in the slightest, and he had already reached Orochimaru's side.

Orochimaru used Flying Thunder God to relocate once more.

How did a mage fight an assassin? Naturally, he first tried suppressing them with firepower to see if he could burst them down in one wave with overwhelming damage. If that did not work, he blinked away and kited them.

Orochimaru had only just used Flying Thunder God to blink out when another Sakumo burst from the earth and swung his blade at him.

The Sakumo who had attacked earlier had been a Shadow Clone created behind the earthen wall. This one was the real body.

Orochimaru drew the Kusanagi Sword with a backhand motion and blocked the strike.

His swordsmanship was not bad. Though he could not compare to Sakumo, he still surpassed ninety percent of the ninja and samurai in the Shinobi World who specialized in swordsmanship.

The idea had been good, but after only a few exchanges, the Kusanagi Sword in his hand was knocked away, and Sakumo's attack struck him as well.

With a bang, Orochimaru turned into smoke and dispersed. That Orochimaru had been a Shadow Clone as well, its purpose being to buy time.

"Ninja Art: Earth Dragon Fire Flow!"

He followed Earth Dragon Fire Flow with Wind Release: Great Breakthrough to intensify the flames, making it a combined ninjutsu of three different attributes.

This technique had a huge range and tremendous power; few ninjutsu could defend against it.

Seeing how ferocious the attack was, Sakumo chose to dodge aside. Compared to evading, taking it head-on was clearly not worth it.

At the edge of the field, Mito Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze joined forces to cast defensive ninjutsu. The aftershocks of this battle were a bit too intense, not to mention there was still a Little Boy behind them.