In the stands, Hyuga Tianren and Inaba Uchiha sat together, chatting as they watched the match.
"My youngest son told me before that the Uchiha weren't very reliable as allies."
Hyuga Tianren said it with a teasing note in his voice.
Inaba Uchiha looked surprised.
"Oh? Your youngest son—little Xingzhuo, right? Why does he think the Uchiha are unreliable?"
Hyuga Tianren's expression grew a little more serious.
"He said the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan awakens through love and the loss of love. After going through something like that, any normal person would suffer some kind of psychological trauma. So he suggested I give you some advice: you should train some mental health ninjas."
Inaba Uchiha fell into thought.
The two clans were currently in their honeymoon period, and as head of the Uchiha, he had to take his ally's opinion seriously.
If anyone else had said this, he wouldn't have given it a second thought. He might even have retorted:
Your clan's the one with psychological trauma!
But these words came from the head of the Hyuga Clan, and from Hyuga Xingzhuo, who had developed the Mystical Palm Technique. He couldn't afford to ignore them.
After all, Hyuga Xingzhuo's influence was considerable, especially at the higher levels.
The Medical Ninjutsu he had developed benefited everyone in all kinds of ways.
So Inaba Uchiha's expression grew more sincere.
"That's an interesting point. What does young Xingzhuo think we should do to train mental health ninjas?"
Hyuga Tianren laughed heartily.
"Haha, I didn't quite understand that part. How about I have Xingzhuo visit you sometime?"
Inaba Uchiha's delight was genuine.
"Excellent, it's a deal. I'll bring the elders to welcome him in person. Hey, the next match is young Xingzhuo's. Oh dear, he's up against that fellow Setsuna."
Hyuga Tianren looked at the electronic screen in the arena, rapidly recalling what he knew about Uchiha Setsuna.
Then he connected it with the information he already had. His heart tightened, and he turned to the Uchiha Clan Head beside him.
"That kid Xingzhuo is Senju Tobirama's student. I'm going to watch from the sidelines."
His words were unclear, but Inaba Uchiha knew the circumstances too. He quickly pieced the information together and hurried after Hyuga Tianren.
"Let's go together, together!"
When Hyuga Xingzhuo and Uchiha Setsuna took their places in the arena, one had a fierce gleam in his eyes, while the other looked eager.
"Begin!"
As soon as the referee called the start, a thunderous rumble rang out across the arena!
Both of them moved at once.
Uchiha Setsuna immediately unleashed a large-scale Fire Style Ninjutsu: Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!
Xingzhuo summoned Rashomon to shield himself from the flames: Summoning Technique: Triple Rashomon!
When the flames, powerful enough to sweep across the entire arena, slammed into Triple Rashomon, the first gate quickly turned black and began shedding fragments.
The remaining flames were stopped by the purple barrier around the arena.
Behind Rashomon, Xingzhuo tore up a sealing tag.
A heap of sealing tags appeared, piling up to half his height!
Then Xingzhuo took out a brush, and little birds clamped the sealing tags in their beaks and flew into the sky.
Just as the second Rashomon was about to collapse, more and more white birds filled the sky.
No one knew what the white birds were for.
Only Yuto, watching from the stands, leaped to his feet in excitement.
In the next moment, the arena looked like a little pond connected to a water pump.
The sealing tags clamped in the birds' beaks activated. Countless interweaving whirlpools of suction appeared, and nearly all the flames in the arena were sucked away in an instant!
Even the paving stones and every trace left behind by the earlier Ninjutsu battles were sucked away.
Only the two of them, with chakra covering the soles of their feet, managed to stay in place.
Xingzhuo had been prepared for this and stood easily behind the third Rashomon.
Uchiha Setsuna, meanwhile, clung to the ground by force, but the powerful suction had already left him looking thoroughly undignified.
Just as his clothes ripped and he was about to embarrass himself, Xingzhuo saw Rashomon being lifted into the air by the suction. He hurriedly directed the flock of ink birds to stop the Sealing-In Technique.
Now Xingzhuo's clothes were still intact, while Uchiha Setsuna was dressed in rags.
Xingzhuo's combination of Super Beast Imitating Drawing and the Sealing-In Technique had done little damage, but it had been deeply humiliating.
Uchiha Setsuna trembled with rage and charged straight at him.
Xingzhuo directed the birds to spread evenly throughout the arena, then vanished from the spot.
He had used the Flying Thunder God Technique!
He had left a Flying Thunder God Mark on every bird!
The instant Uchiha Setsuna saw his opponent vanish, the tomoe in his eyes began to spin.
When Xingzhuo abruptly appeared behind him,
he drew his sword and slashed.
Faced with the attack, Xingzhuo reluctantly abandoned the Rasengan he was about to form and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to the farthest point away.
Uchiha Setsuna charged straight after him, not forgetting to unleash a Ninjutsu along the way: Fire Style: Wild Storm Dance!
A spiraling pillar of fire burst from his mouth and swiftly swept across the entire arena.
It was another large-scale, wide-area attack!
Xingzhuo had already sealed away a large amount of the flames from Majestic Destroyer Flame with the Sealing-In Technique. He couldn't seal away any more.
So he immediately drew Cloud Bird.
Super Beast Imitating Drawing: Cloud Bird!
As the spiraling flames were about to reach him, he flicked his hand, shaking the bird free from the Sealing Scroll, then climbed onto it and flew high above the arena.
Seeing this, Uchiha Setsuna immediately stopped using Fire Style: Wild Storm Dance and switched to the less chakra-intensive Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu.
In an instant, a huge fireball swept toward the sky, so large it could cover half the arena's airspace.
With the sealing barrier overhead, Xingzhuo had very little room to dodge.
And he was in a bit of a bind.
Large-area Fire Style attacks were a serious counter to his Flying Thunder God, flight, and even the creations from Super Beast Imitating Drawing couldn't withstand being burned. After those two Fire Style attacks, most of the birds in the arena had been reduced to ashes.
His Taijutsu offered no real advantage against an opponent at the Jonin level.
Rasengan and Chidori also required him to get close.
The problem was that his opponent, with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, had him completely outclassed in reaction speed and perception.
And his own abilities were completely countered.
So if he wanted to defeat his opponent, he could only rely on the Sealing Technique and fight dirty, or reveal the Yin Release Secret Technique he'd been researching: Air Palm Pointing.
Which should he choose?
He had no choice but to fight dirty with the Sealing Technique!
Before you continue