Uzumaki Kushina's Growth, Protagonist of an Era

Thump, thump, thump...

The abandoned training ground echoed with the sound of fists and feet colliding.

A man and a woman, one tall and one short, two figures were locked in a fierce taijutsu duel.

Logically, a big person fighting a small one was basically a weight-class suppression, with no suspense at all.

Even if evenly matched, the smaller one would dodge nimbly, using technique and speed to overpower the larger one.

But the scene on the field was the opposite.

Gojo Yoru, who had grown again to 1.64 meters, was using deflection techniques to block the wild punches of Uzumaki Kushina, who was only 1.42 meters with her shoes on.

Looking closely at his hands, one could see that the backs of them were already bright red.

That was from trading blows with Uzumaki Kushina.

The reason the sound of fists and feet colliding was so loud.

Was because every punch and kick from Uzumaki Kushina seemed to carry a current of air, producing a sonic boom.

Her terrifying monstrous strength, paired with those delicate little fists, was full of contrast.

Gojo Yoru wasn't just blocking and deflecting; every few exchanges, or a dozen or so, he would clash head-on with Uzumaki Kushina.

Either their fists would meet, or their feet would collide, producing a loud thud.

With each collision, an invisible current of air would burst from both their limbs, sweeping up fallen leaves and dust from the ground.

Afterward, a hint of pain would appear on Uzumaki Kushina's small face.

Sometimes she would even bare her teeth, as if she hadn't hit Gojo Yoru's limbs, but a steel plate.

That was pretty much the truth.

While Gojo Yoru was training Uzumaki Kushina's taijutsu skills, he was also using the mobile combat to practice Earth Style Nature Transformation.

After who knows how many exchanges, Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina suddenly and tacitly leaped backward, both rapidly forming different hand seals.

"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!"

"Water Style: Water Colliding Wave!"

The moment they landed, they each spat out a straight line of flame and water from their mouths.

The two collided, evaporating into a cloud of white mist.

Before the wind could blow the mist away, several Uzumaki Kushinas charged out from within, each holding a Rasengan, rushing toward Gojo Yoru.

Gojo Yoru also formed seals, creating several Phantom Clones to meet them head-on.

Uzumaki Kushina's Shadow Clone attacked Gojo Yoru's main body first, but the attack predictably passed right through him.

Then the Shadow Clones divided and conquered, each taking on one of Gojo Yoru's Phantom Clones.

One Shadow Clone, carrying a Rasengan, passed through Gojo Yoru's body. Just as she thought it was another Phantom Clone, her body was swept off her feet, and the Rasengan slammed into the ground, blasting a huge crater.

Using the cover of dust and white mist, Gojo Yoru's main body, relying on his ghostly silent Body Flicker Technique, quickly swapped positions with his other Phantom Clones, popping each Uzumaki Kushina into a puff of white smoke.

When only one Uzumaki Kushina remained on the field, Gojo Yoru assumed she was the real body, so he held back slightly, sidestepping the Rasengan's attack and locking Uzumaki Kushina's body from behind.

But Uzumaki Kushina turned her head and gave Gojo Yoru a triumphant smile. "Smelly-Mouth Night, you fell for it!"

Bam—

Two sounds of balloons popping overlapped almost perfectly.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

The Uzumaki Kushina in front of him had just turned into white mist when a young girl's sharp shout reached Gojo Yoru's ears.

Not far away, beneath the white mist, a rock transformed into Uzumaki Kushina, who then spat a stream of air at Gojo Yoru.

The stream rapidly expanded and spread, turning into a gale, like an invisible wave, instantly engulfing Gojo Yoru.

Because the range was so large, even Gojo Yoru, with his astonishingly fast Body Flicker Technique, couldn't dodge in time, nor could he use Earth Style to flip up a stone slab for defense.

Gojo Yoru just curled the corner of his mouth, stomped his foot on the spot, and raised both hands in a crossed blocking stance.

The gale engulfed Gojo Yoru, but it was like crashing into a boulder, unable to budge him an inch.

This technique wasn't the Armament Haki-hardened Earth Style: Earth Spear from the Naruto version, but Earth Style: Hardening Technique.

Although Earth Style: Earth Spear was only a B-rank Earth Style, it involved profound Nature Transformation and was a very rare Nintaijutsu.

The effect of this technique was to achieve deep physical reinforcement by circulating Chakra throughout the body; when activated instantly, it could form an indestructible body, with defensive power as hard as diamond.

Earth Style: Hardening Technique was a weakened version of Earth Style: Earth Spear.

Its effect was also to harden the body, but it could only harden the skin's surface, not as comprehensive or powerful as the Nintaijutsu-type Earth Style: Earth Spear.

Even so, it was more than enough to defend against Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.

After taking the gale's attack without a scratch, neither Gojo Yoru nor Uzumaki Kushina continued to attack each other.

"Not bad, Tomato-Nai, you even used tactics this time." Gojo Yoru praised without holding back, looking at Uzumaki Kushina as if seeing her in a new light.

"Hmph... thank me for going easy on you." Uzumaki Kushina lifted her chin, her face full of pride.

When Gojo Yoru had been resisting the gale earlier, Kushina had had plenty of time to create several Shadow Clones and unleash another Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, blowing him straight into the forest.

But she hadn't had the heart to do it—just as Yoru had mistakenly thought that Shadow Clone was her real body and instinctively held back.

"You've grown. I'm glad." This time, Yoru didn't mock her; he spoke from the heart.

Though he'd been a bit careless and still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, Kushina's growth over this period had genuinely surprised him.

Aside from lacking Asura's chakra, Kushina was now a high-spec version of Uzumaki Naruto.

The powerful vitality and chakra from the Uzumaki bloodline, combined with the Yin-Yang natures and immense regenerative power from the complete Nine-Tails, made Kushina—already a cockroach-level survivor—even tougher to put down.

As a transmigrator, Yoru knew exactly how deep Kushina's potential ran. He wasn't like Namikaze Minato, who only thought about getting stronger himself to protect her, instead of training Kushina—whose talent was maxed out—into a super powerhouse.

Knowing exactly how Naruto had cheated his way to power, Yoru simply copied that training method and had Kushina create massive numbers of Shadow Clones to train.

With the Shadow Clone acceleration hack, Kushina's strength skyrocketed every single day.

It had only been two months since she became the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Aside from the Body Flicker Technique, which he still couldn't hope to match, Kushina had already caught up to Yoru in every other area.

Ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, Fuinjutsu, Medical Ninjutsu, even Nature Transformation and perception...

Just as Nagato had shocked Jiraiya with his growth, Kushina—with her Super Kage Level potential—made Yoru feel a talent gap even more crushing than what Minato had shown.

What was even scarier was that Kushina hadn't yet mastered the Monster Strength Fist, awakened the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, or learned Physical Healing and the Adamantine Sealing Chains.

Once she did, her perception, healing, and sealing abilities would instantly rank among the strongest in the ninja world.

If it weren't for the Space-Time Bloodline as his Golden Finger, Yoru would have been utterly crushed by her, with no hope of ever restoring his husbandly authority.

But the talent boost from his first Evolution simply couldn't compare to a monster like this era's protagonist.