Worlds Apart

Seeing Minato's ruthless attack, Jiraiya instinctively tried to retreat.

But if he backed away, those shuriken would hit him in the face...

What a despicable little brat!

Jiraiya cursed inwardly. He threw himself sideways, taking a kick from Minato to the thigh in exchange for dodging his counterattack.

"Pff—hahahaha!"

Watching from nearby, Tsunade couldn't help bursting into laughter.

Orochimaru's mouth twitched. Beside him, Nawaki's lips quirked. "Big Brother Jiraiya, you're so lame..."

"Shut up! I was just caught off guard!"

Jiraiya flushed. As he spoke, he swept out with a kick to force Minato back, then relied on his adult physique and used Steel Fist Style to counter him.

Tsunade snorted. "That's despicable! You're fighting a kid and still relying on your physical advantage!"

"I've been holding back plenty!"

Jiraiya's mouth twitched. In truth, with his Taijutsu skills, beating Minato would have been a piece of cake.

The hard part was defeating him while matching his strength and speed, without hurting him.

Otherwise, given what Minato had just pulled, if he'd been an enemy, Jiraiya would have kicked him in the gut with a World Wave before he could even throw those shuriken.

After blocking several of Minato's attacks in a row, Jiraiya felt he had a decent grasp of Minato's fighting style and grinned.

"Is that all? If this is as good as you've got, then I think it's about time we wrapped this up!"

Minato silently raised his leg. Jiraiya instinctively crossed his arms to block, only to see Minato's shin suddenly flare with dazzling light the moment he kicked.

Not good!

Jiraiya sensed trouble. A tremendous force suddenly struck his arms, and the next moment, he was sent flying like a cannonball!

What incredible strength!

No, it had to be his speed...

Shocked, Jiraiya adjusted his posture in midair. His feet hit the ground, and he slid backward for more than twenty meters before coming to a steady stop.

"As I thought, it's a Kekkei Genkai..."

Orochimaru watched Minato, deep in thought. "One I've never seen before."

Tsunade's expression turned solemn. She hadn't thought much of this Light Release at first, but she'd just realized that Minato's kick hadn't produced the slightest chakra fluctuation!

Simply put, chakra was a form of energy refined from stamina—the combination of physical and spiritual energy.

The relationship between the two was this: chakra equaled stamina, but stamina didn't equal chakra.

Aside from Taijutsu, everything from ninjutsu to Kekkei Genkai required chakra to activate. Even ordinary people who awakened a Kekkei Genkai unconsciously would instinctively draw on their stamina and convert it into chakra.

Yet judging by Minato's kick, his ability didn't need to go through that chakra conversion process. It was activated directly from his stamina, with none of the losses caused by a lack of chakra control!

Was this really a Kekkei Genkai?

Or was it some other special ability?

"Whew... That was close!"

Jiraiya theatrically wiped his forehead. "I didn't expect you to have another trick up your sleeve, kid. You really gave me a scare!"

Minato rubbed his leg and didn't rush forward.

That kick had used the Glint-Glint Fruit's power to unleash a strike at the highest speed his body could withstand.

But it was his first time using it, and he hadn't controlled the speed well. It had put quite a strain on his shin.

"Oh? Looks like that move puts quite a burden on your body."

Noticing Minato's movements, Jiraiya grinned lecherously and leisurely began forming Hand Seals. "In that case, I'll use ninjutsu next~"

Before he could finish the seals, Minato suddenly raised a hand and pointed with his index finger. A dazzling light shone from his fingertip.

Again?

Jiraiya's face darkened. He abandoned the Hand Seals and dodged.

Just as expected, a brilliant flash of light streaked past.

The next instant, an explosion rang out.

Jiraiya looked back and saw flames erupt behind him. More than a dozen thick trees around them were instantly charred, leaving a blackened crater in their place.

"Hey, hey, what was that?"

Jiraiya's eyes flew wide. Tsunade and Nawaki, watching from nearby, were equally dumbfounded. Even Orochimaru's pupils contracted, his eyes full of disbelief.

"That kind of power... and it was instant?"

Tsunade's red lips parted. Her voice was a little hoarse. Nawaki's jaw dropped, and he stood there dumbstruck.

An A-rank jutsu's power, activated without Hand Seals, with an attack too fast to track...

Orochimaru's expression was grave as he shook his head slightly. "No, there was still a charge-up time... Though it could also be because he hasn't gotten used to the ability."

"Whew..."

Minato let out a quiet breath. That Laser had taken a lot out of him.

At his current stamina level, he could release it only seven or eight times at most.

Although his Power of All Creation let him recover much faster than others, the limits of his stamina at this age were still fixed.

Seeing Jiraiya's stunned expression, Minato hurriedly apologized. "Sorry, Jiraiya-senpai. I didn't expect it to be so powerful either. It's my first time using this ability..."

Honestly, even he hadn't expected to release a Laser so effortlessly. It had felt almost instinctive.

There had been none of the difficult development he'd imagined. He'd simply fired the energy he'd gathered, and it had come out with such incredible power!

Until now, Minato had focused his training on ninjutsu, developing the Glint-Glint Fruit's abilities mostly for utility.

Take Kizaru's Yata Mirror, for example.

It worked by projecting a beam of light that could reflect off nearby surfaces at any angle, creating a path of light.

The user could then turn into light and travel along that path at the speed of light.

At first glance, it seemed pointless—after all, moving at the speed of light was already a basic ability of the Glint-Glint Fruit.

And in practice... it really hadn't helped Minato much. It had merely changed his light-speed movement into light-speed movement that could turn.

As for combat techniques... It wasn't that Minato hadn't wanted to develop them. For one thing, the fruit's powers were far too conspicuous. For another, he honestly had no idea how to develop them.

The Glint-Glint Fruit was simply too powerful!

It gave Taijutsu an immense speed boost and could create weapons like Light Swords. It had clones for fighting multiple opponents, and those clones operated automatically. Even if dispersed, they could gather again.

For ranged attacks, there was the highly penetrating Laser, followed by a blast of intense heat. And for wide-area attacks, there was the Yasakani Magatama to carpet-bomb the battlefield...

No flashy gimmicks, just pure stats.

"This ability is dangerous. It's not very suitable for sparring. Maybe we should call it here for now..."

Minato awkwardly scratched his head, his voice sheepish.

The Laser was just too fast. Getting hit in an arm or leg would be one thing, but taking a hit to the heart would be bad. And if he was unlucky enough to get caught in the explosion afterward, even a god wouldn't be able to save him.

"No! Go all out!"

Two figures flashed into view, with Tsunade and Orochimaru appearing on either side of Jiraiya.

Tsunade folded her arms, her gaze on Minato burning with excitement. "Orochimaru and I will back him up. Just give it everything you've got!"

The fight wasn't fair to Jiraiya. Since the main purpose was to test Minato's abilities, Jiraiya had been on the receiving end of Minato's attacks the whole time.

At first, the three of them had thought that, given Minato's age, even a genius like him could only be at the level of a Genin.

And Minato's performance up to that point hadn't been all that outrageous.

In Taijutsu, he'd shown impressive strength and speed, but he still had plenty of openings. His timing with shuriken was clever, and his combat instincts were sharp.

All in all, he was a genius, but still within the realm of what they could accept.

Only after that Laser exploded did they realize with a jolt that Minato already possessed enough power to threaten their lives!

And since Minato still couldn't use it proficiently, letting Jiraiya handle him alone would mean endangering their comrade's life.

Orochimaru looked at the confused blond boy across from them, his expression complicated.

So this was a Kekkei Genkai...

A powerful jutsu that even a genius had to master through diligent training, yet a five-year-old child could unleash it with a casual point of his finger...

While Orochimaru silently marveled at how vast the gulf between people could be, Nawaki, watching from nearby, was already completely stunned!

What the hell had just exploded?

Was that Minato's move?

Had I just fought someone like that?