Battle Against Minato Namikaze

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

"Understood, Brother Sakumo."

Shangguan Yue walked inside with practiced ease, hooked his foot to close the door behind him, and walked over to pick up the custom-made heavy iron blade from the rack.

He began hacking away at the empty air, each swing causing the surrounding atmosphere to whistle with force.

Shangguan Yue recalled the gathering a few days ago with Tsunade, which had also included Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Hatake Sakumo.

Perhaps there was some mission involved; the group had decided to meet up, and Shangguan Yue had tagged along to join the fun, which was how he met Hatake Sakumo.

He had heard Tsunade boisterously claim that the man's swordsmanship was formidable—stronger than the three of them combined.

Shangguan Yue didn't know how strong Hatake Sakumo truly was, nor had he seen it, but he knew exactly how powerful those three were.

He had immediately sought to curry favor, and after some persistent pestering, he finally convinced Hatake Sakumo to agree to teach him some sword techniques.

"Shangguan Yue, since you want to learn swordsmanship, your physical fitness is quite good, but your foundation is practically non-existent. Let's start with the basics."

Hatake Sakumo had then tossed him a massive iron blade. It was incredibly heavy, weighing 200 kilograms, which put quite a bit of pressure on Shangguan Yue.

It was fine for a swing or two, but constant hacking consumed a massive amount of stamina, and since his Sage Body's recovery couldn't keep up, Shangguan Yue eventually had to rest.

The special movements Hatake Sakumo made him perform were even more taxing, doubling the consumption and leaving Shangguan Yue struggling to keep up.

Fortunately, news came from the Akimichi clan that sales had exceeded expectations in less than a month, and Shangguan Yue received his 50 percent cut.

From then on, the Akimichi clan covered all of Shangguan Yue's meals, delivering them directly to his door so he could replenish his energy as soon as he burned it off—which reminded Shangguan Yue of food delivery services from his past life.

He had the Akimichi clan organize a new team to start a delivery service; it was troublesome, as there were no communication devices at the time, but it was manageable.

These were secondary concerns, however. Now that Shangguan Yue had his own business, he was running around in circles day and night and hadn't visited Tsunade in a long time, leaving her craving a good meal.

"That Draw-Sword Strike just now was indeed much more powerful than before, but it's still not enough. When will I be able to emit sword qi without using chakra?"

"Smack. Focus."

"Yes!"

The pain on his head made Shangguan Yue pull his thoughts back and continue hacking away until the afternoon, when he finally stopped.

"Brother Sakumo, I'm heading out!"

"Mm, go ahead. Continue tomorrow."

"Right!"

Shangguan Yue stepped out and headed toward his home, noting that since he lived closer to the Hatake residence, he rarely went over to the Senju side anymore.

Once home, Shangguan Yue couldn't wait to enter the Balance Space.

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

"Let me check."

Chuuni appeared beside Shangguan Yue, its eyes brimming with divine power. It circled him a few times before nodding.

"It is possible."

"That's good. We're almost halfway through the time limit; if I couldn't challenge anyone, I'd have to re-register, which is too much of a hassle. Let me see—the automatically refreshed opponents for today. It's been a while since I've seen anything good; my hands are itching."

Shangguan Yue swiped across the light screen to open the daily refresh interface.

"Huh? Is this Minato Namikaze? Why is he so young? He's only a genin!"

Shangguan Yue looked at Minato on the screen, who wasn't much older than himself, and felt a hint of disappointment.

"Whatever, a mosquito is still meat, no matter how small. I'll make do."

"Activate Challenge Mode. Target: Minato Namikaze. Deathmatch."

The current Shangguan Yue didn't fear genin at all, so he went straight for a deathmatch. With the boost his Moon Release gave to his spiritual sense, he wasn't exceptionally strong yet, but his survival skills were top-tier.

The two appeared on the challenge platform. Shangguan Yue held out a hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together like a blade, and an invisible sword manifested before him.

He flicked his finger forward, and the sword streaked toward Minato Namikaze. Minato's brows furrowed as if he had sensed something.

Just as the sword was about to pierce Minato's body, the boy twisted his body with incredible speed, avoiding the strike by a hair's breadth, leaving Shangguan Yue stunned.

Shangguan Yue moved his finger, and the flying sword turned around to strike at Minato again with extreme speed. Having learned from the previous attempt, Minato reacted the same way.

"Hey, what's up with this guy? How is his reaction time so fast?"

Shangguan Yue extended his left hand and condensed another spiritual flying sword. Controlling both hands simultaneously, the two invisible blades crisscrossed in the air, flying toward Minato Namikaze.

He had expected this to finish the opponent off; after all, a Minato without the Flying Thunder God was just that—nothing particularly eye-catching.

But the reality was: "Are you kidding me? He can do that too?"

Minato always seemed to sense the flying swords in advance, twisting his body with such speed that he looked like he was dancing in the air, yet the blades just wouldn't land.

"Fine, I don't believe it. Split again."

The two flying swords split into four, then into eight, sealing off all of Minato Namikaze's escape routes.

Finally, Minato was grazed—yes, just a graze.

"Damn, what kind of strength does this guy have? Is he really a genin? Chuuni, you didn't misjudge him, did you?"

"Not at all. Whether it's the quality of his chakra, his storage capacity, or the damage he can inflict, it's all at the genin level."

Minato Namikaze wasn't as lucky after that; the repeated cuts slowed his movements until he was finally pinned to the ground.

"This guy!!!"