The World's Unevenness

Noticing Minato's move to cut the weeds and eliminate the roots, Jiraiya instinctively wanted to shrink back.

But if he were to retreat, those shuriken from just a moment ago would have landed right on his face...

That brat is too despicable!

Jiraiya cursed inwardly, lunging sideways and dodging Minato's counterattack at the cost of taking a kick to his thigh.

"Pfft, hahahaha!!"

Not far away, Tsunade saw this scene and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Orochimaru's mouth twitched, and beside him, Nawaki's lip curled: "Big Brother Jiraiya, you're really pathetic..."

"Shut up, this great one was just being careless!"

Jiraiya's face flushed red. As he spoke, he forced Minato back with a sweeping kick, utilizing his adult physical advantage to counter Minato with Steel Fist Style.

Tsunade snorted coldly: "Despicable! Using your physical advantage to fight a child!"

"I'm already holding back quite a bit!"

Jiraiya's mouth twitched. In truth, with his level of taijutsu, fighting Minato was effortless.

But the difficulty lay in defeating the opponent using equivalent strength and speed, all while ensuring he didn't hurt him.

Otherwise, given Minato's previous maneuver, if this were a real enemy, Jiraiya would have already kicked him in the stomach with a World Wave before he even threw the shuriken.

After parrying several of Minato's attacks in succession, Jiraiya felt he had basically figured out Minato's fighting style and grinned.

"Is that all? If it's only to this extent, then it's about time to end this!"

As his voice fell, Minato silently raised his leg. Jiraiya habitually crossed his arms to block, only to see a dazzling light suddenly erupt from Minato's lower leg the moment he kicked out!

Not good!

Jiraiya felt a sense of impending doom, sensing a massive force suddenly strike his arms. The next second, his entire body flew backward like a cannonball!

Such strong power!

No, it should be speed...

Jiraiya was shocked. He adjusted his posture in mid-air, landed on his feet, and slid backward for over twenty meters before standing steady.

"As expected, is it a Kekkei Genkai..."

Orochimaru watched Minato's figure, looking thoughtful: "A Kekkei Genkai I've never seen before."

Beside him, Tsunade's gaze was solemn. She hadn't taken this Light Release seriously at first, but she suddenly realized that Minato's kick just now hadn't had the slightest trace of chakra fluctuation!

The essence of chakra, simply put, is a type of energy refined from physical energy (body energy + spiritual energy).

The relationship between the two is: chakra equals physical energy, but physical energy does not equal chakra.

Aside from pure taijutsu, whether it be ninjutsu, taijutsu, or Kekkei Genkai, all require chakra to be activated. Even for ordinary people who awaken a Kekkei Genkai unconsciously, their bodies instinctively draw upon physical energy to convert it into chakra.

But judging from Minato's kick just now, his ability did not require the step of chakra conversion; it was activated directly from physical energy, without any loss caused by insufficient chakra control!

Is this really a Kekkei Genkai?

Or is it some other special ability?

"Phew... that was close, that was close!"

Jiraiya exaggeratedly wiped his forehead: "I didn't expect you brat to have such a trick up your sleeve; you really gave me a scare!"

Minato rubbed his leg, not rushing forward.

That kick just now was him using the power of the Glint-Glint Fruit to instantly erupt with the highest speed kick his body could withstand.

However, because it was his first time using it, he hadn't controlled the speed well, placing a significant burden on his lower leg.

"Oh my, it seems this move puts quite a burden on your body."

Noticing Minato's movement, Jiraiya gave a lecherous grin and began to weave hand seals unhurriedly: "In that case, I'm going to use ninjutsu now~"

The words had barely left his lips, and before he could even finish his seals, he saw Minato suddenly raise his hand and extend his index finger, a dazzling light blooming at his fingertip.

Again?

Jiraiya's face darkened, and he abandoned the seals to dodge aside.

Sure enough, the moment he dodged, a dazzling light flashed past.

The next instant, a loud boom erupted.

Jiraiya looked back and saw a flash of fire explode behind him. A dozen thick trees nearby were instantly carbonized, leaving a scorched crater in the ground.

"Hey, hey, what is this?"

Jiraiya's eyes widened sharply. Tsunade and Nawaki, who were watching from a distance, were also dumbfounded, and even Orochimaru's pupils trembled, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"This kind of power... and it's instantaneous?"

Tsunade's red lips parted slightly, her voice sounding a bit dry. Nawaki was even more shocked, his mouth hanging open as he stood there foolishly.

The power of an A-rank ninjutsu, activated without seals, and with an attack speed too fast to track...

Orochimaru's gaze was heavy as he shook his head slightly: "No, there is still a charging time... but that might just be because he isn't familiar with the ability yet."

"Whew..."

Minato let out a soft breath; that laser had consumed a significant amount of his stamina.

Given his current physical limits, he could release it at most seven or eight times.

Although he possessed the All-Encompassing Power, which allowed for a recovery speed far exceeding that of others, he was ultimately constrained by the stamina cap of his current age.

Seeing the stunned expression on Jiraiya's face, Minato hurriedly apologized: "Sorry, Jiraiya-senpai, I didn't expect the power to be this great either. This was my first time using this ability..."

To be honest, even he hadn't expected to release the laser so easily; it had felt almost like an instinct.

There was no difficult development process as he had imagined; simply condensing the energy and firing it resulted in such immense destructive power!

Previously, Minato's training had focused primarily on ninjutsu, and his development of the Glint-Glint Fruit's abilities had been centered more on utility.

For instance, Kizaru's Yata Mirror.

The principle involved projecting a beam of light that could reflect off surrounding surfaces at any angle, creating a track of light.

The user could then transform into light and move along this track at the speed of light.

At first glance, it sounded somewhat redundant, as moving at the speed of light was already a fundamental ability of the Glint-Glint Fruit.

In reality... this ability wasn't actually of much help to Minato; it merely changed his movement from straight-line light-speed travel to light-speed travel that could turn corners.

As for combat skills... it wasn't that Minato didn't want to develop them, but rather that the fruit's abilities were too conspicuous, and he honestly didn't know how to go about developing them.

The abilities of the Glint-Glint Fruit were simply too powerful!

For taijutsu, it provided a massive speed boost and could create weapons like light swords; for group fights, there were shadow clone abilities that were fully autonomous and could reform even if dispersed.

For long-range, there were lasers with extreme piercing power, which also came with a bonus high-temperature explosion upon impact, and for wide-area coverage, there was the Yasakani Magatama to carpet-bomb the field...

There were no flashy mechanics, only pure, overwhelming stats.

"This ability is a bit dangerous and not really suitable for sparring. Perhaps we should stop here for now..."

Minato rubbed his head awkwardly, his tone sheepish.

The speed of the laser was simply too fast; if it hit an arm or a leg, it would be one thing, but if it hit the heart, that would be disastrous. If one were unlucky enough to be caught in the follow-up explosion, even the gods couldn't save them.

"No! Go all out!"

Two figures flashed by instantly as Tsunade and Orochimaru appeared on either side of Jiraiya.

Tsunade crossed her arms over her chest, her gaze toward Minato burning with undisguised intensity: "Orochimaru and I will provide support from the sidelines. You just focus on giving it your all!"

This battle wasn't fair to Jiraiya, as the primary goal was to test Minato's strength, meaning Jiraiya had been passively enduring Minato's attacks the entire time.

Initially, the three of them had assumed that regardless of how much of a genius Minato was, he would at most possess the strength of a genin.

And indeed, Minato's previous performance hadn't been particularly exaggerated.

In terms of taijutsu, while his strength and speed were excellent, there were still many openings; his timing with shuriken was clever, and his combat intuition was sharp.

Overall, while he was a genius, he was still within an acceptable range.

But after that last laser blast, they were struck with the chilling realization that Minato already possessed the power to threaten their lives!

Furthermore, Minato was currently unable to use it with full proficiency, so leaving Jiraiya to face him alone would be irresponsible toward their comrade's life.

Looking at the bewildered little blond boy across from him, Orochimaru's gaze was complex.

This is a Kekkei Genkai...

Powerful ninjutsu that even geniuses had to train diligently for years to master, yet here it was, just a casual flick of a finger from a five-year-old child...

While Orochimaru was silently lamenting the disparity of the world, Nawaki, who had been watching from a distance, was already dumbfounded!

What on earth just exploded?

Was that Minato's move?

I just fought a guy like that?