Facing Minato Namikaze

The door opened. "Yue, I'm not your teacher. Come in."

"Okay, Big Brother Sakumo."

Shangguan Yue walked in with practiced ease, hooked the door shut with his foot, then went over and picked up the specially made iron sword from the rack.

He swung it at the empty air in front of him, chopping again and again. Every swing made the air roar around him.

Shangguan Yue thought back to the gathering he'd attended with Tsunade a few days earlier. It had just been Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Hatake Sakumo.

Maybe they had some mission to discuss. The three of them had planned to get together, and Shangguan Yue had tagged along, meeting Hatake Sakumo.

He'd heard Tsunade casually mention that Sakumo was extremely skilled with a sword, even better than the three of them.

Shangguan Yue didn't know how powerful Hatake Sakumo was, since he'd never seen him fight, but he knew how strong Tsunade and the others were.

So he'd immediately tried to get in with him. After relentlessly pestering Sakumo, he'd finally convinced him to teach him some swordsmanship.

"Shangguan Yue, since you want to learn swordsmanship, you've got good physical conditioning. But you have no foundation to speak of, so start there."

Then Hatake Sakumo had tossed Shangguan Yue a huge iron sword. It weighed two hundred kilograms, which was quite a strain for him.

A few swings were fine, but constant chopping was exhausting. And the Sage Body's recovery couldn't keep up, so after a while, Shangguan Yue had to rest.

The special exercises Hatake Sakumo made him do were even more demanding, and Shangguan Yue could barely handle them.

Fortunately, Akimichi had sent word that sales had exceeded expectations in less than a month. Shangguan Yue's share was a full fifty percent.

After that, Akimichi took care of all Shangguan Yue's meals, delivering food right to his door. He could replenish his energy as soon as he'd used it up, which reminded him of food delivery in his previous life.

He had Akimichi set up a new team to start offering food delivery. It was a hassle, since there were no communication devices yet.

That was all beside the point. Shangguan Yue had his own business now and had been working nonstop. He hadn't visited Tsunade in ages, and she was craving meat.

"That Draw-Sword Strike just now was much stronger than before, but it's still not enough. If only I could release sword energy without using chakra."

"Smack. Focus."

"Yes!"

The pain on his head brought Shangguan Yue back to his senses. He went back to chopping until afternoon, when he finally stopped.

"Big Brother Sakumo, I'm heading out!"

"Mm. Go on. Keep it up tomorrow."

"Okay!"

Shangguan Yue left and headed home. He'd realized that his place was close to the Hatake residence, so he rarely went to the Senju clan's place anymore.

When Shangguan Yue got home, he eagerly entered Balance Space.

"Chuuni, can I absorb a new bloodline now?"

"Let me check."

Chuuni appeared beside Shangguan Yue, his eyes filled with divine power. He circled Shangguan Yue several times before nodding.

"You can now."

"Good. The time's almost half up. If I still can't challenge anyone, I'll have to enter them again later. What a hassle.

"Let's see who the daily refresh picked as my opponent. I haven't seen anything good in ages. I'm itching for a fight."

Shangguan Yue swiped across the light screen and opened the daily refresh interface.

"Huh? Minato Namikaze? Why's he so young? He's only a Genin!"

Shangguan Yue looked at Minato on the interface, who wasn't much older than he was, and felt a little disappointed.

"Whatever. Even a tiny mosquito is still meat. I'll make do."

"Start challenge mode. Opponent: Minato Namikaze. Deathmatch."

Shangguan Yue wasn't the least bit intimidated by Genin anymore. He went straight for a deathmatch. Moon Release enhanced his mental perception, and while he wasn't especially strong, he was excellent at staying alive.

The two appeared on the Challenge Platform. Shangguan Yue raised one hand, joining his index and middle fingers like a sword. An invisible sword appeared in front of him.

He pointed forward, and the sword shot toward Minato. Minato furrowed his brow, as if he sensed something.

Just as the sword was about to pierce Minato, he twisted his body at incredible speed, escaping without a scratch. Shangguan Yue stared in disbelief.

Shangguan Yue turned his fingers, and the flying sword spun around and shot toward Minato again, moving at incredible speed. Having learned from the first attempt, Minato dodged just as easily.

"Hey, what's with this guy? How are his reflexes so fast?"

Shangguan Yue raised his left hand and formed another flying sword out of mental energy. Controlling one with each hand, he sent the two invisible swords crossing through the air toward Minato.

He thought that would finish his opponent. After all, Minato didn't have Flying Thunder God yet, so he shouldn't have anything particularly remarkable.

But reality proved otherwise.

"Holy crap, he can do that too?"

Minato seemed to sense Shangguan Yue's flying swords before they reached him. He kept twisting his body at incredible speed, as if dancing through the air. The swords just couldn't hit him.

"Hey, I don't believe this! Split!"

The two flying swords split into four, then four into eight. Shangguan Yue controlled all eight blades, sealing off every possible escape route.

At last, Minato was grazed. That's right—grazed.

"Holy crap, how strong is this guy? Is he really a Genin? Chuuni, did you get the assessment wrong?"

"No. His chakra quality, reserves, and the damage he can inflict are all at the Genin level."

Minato wasn't so lucky after that. Each successive cut slowed him down until he was finally pinned to the ground.

"This guy!!!"