Matsuri vs. Minato Namikaze

As for Minato Namikaze, he practiced his speed and the ninjutsu he learned from the academy and Ino Yamanaka with desperate intensity. The "Yellow Flash" who would one day shock the ninja world was already beginning to show his brilliance.

After the formalities, it was time for a life-or-death struggle.

Uchiha Matsuri took the initiative, casually pulling out three kunai and throwing them at Minato Namikaze.

Minato Namikaze dodged the kunai with ease, then quickly threw two of his own with his right hand. The kunai flew straight toward Uchiha Matsuri, who jumped to dodge the blades that would have otherwise pierced his throat.

At that very moment, Minato Namikaze sprinted toward Uchiha Matsuri at high speed.

With a "bang," Minato Namikaze arrived in front of Uchiha Matsuri and kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him flying to land on the ground dozens of meters away.

Such incredible speed. I didn't expect Minato to have improved this much. Despite being kicked to the ground, Uchiha Matsuri's expression remained calm.

"No way, Matsuri is already on the defensive!"

"Minato is so amazing; he truly deserves to be the leader of the new generation of ninjas."

Seeing this scene, the students watching from the sidelines couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

Likewise, even Ino Yamanaka clicked his tongue in praise: "Well done, Minato! I didn't expect this child's speed to be this fast now."

Noticing Uchiha Matsuri had been kicked to the ground, Minato Namikaze ignored the praise from the crowd and rushed toward Uchiha Matsuri at high speed, gripping a short sword.

Squelch.

The short sword pierced Uchiha Matsuri's body.

"Did I win?" Minato Namikaze couldn't help but say excitedly.

Poof!

The Uchiha Matsuri struck by the short sword immediately turned into a log.

"So it was a Body Replacement Technique," Minato Namikaze said, feeling disappointed.

At that very instant, Uchiha Matsuri suddenly rushed out from the side, kunai in hand, and quickly released it toward Minato Namikaze's back.

Minato Namikaze, standing to the side, felt an extremely dangerous intuition in his heart. Suddenly, he subconsciously dodged to the side, and the kunai grazed his clothes, embedding itself into a large tree beside him.

That was close, I almost got hit, Minato Namikaze thought to himself. I can't make this kind of mistake in the rest of the duel!

"Damn it, I was so close to succeeding," Uchiha Matsuri said with regret. "It seems I can't just compete with him using kunai."

In the dozen or so exchanges that followed, Uchiha Matsuri was suppressed by Minato Namikaze, who was a step faster, and he couldn't help but feel frustrated.

In truth, Uchiha Matsuri had been struggling internally. Because he did not want to expose his single-tomoe Sharingan, he could not utilize the various advantages it provided during the battle.

First, he was unable to observe Minato Namikaze's movement trajectory. Since Minato Namikaze specialized in speed, Uchiha Matsuri was already at a significant disadvantage in their close-quarters combat. If he didn't use the power of the Sharingan to track Minato Namikaze's movements, he would be completely overwhelmed.

Secondly, he also lost the possibility of using genjutsu to defeat Minato Namikaze, even though the genjutsu Uchiha Matsuri could use wasn't very powerful.

However, if he didn't expose his trump card—the Sharingan—what was he supposed to do about the ninjutsu he had copied through it?

Thinking of this, Uchiha Matsuri felt speechless. Damn it, if I don't use ninjutsu in a fight against Minato Namikaze, am I really going to be stupid enough to just trade taijutsu with him?

"I can't worry about that anymore; what's meant to be exposed will be exposed sooner or later."

After dodging a few rounds of Minato Namikaze's kunai attacks, Uchiha Matsuri made up his mind to use the ninjutsu he had "learned" through his Sharingan.

With that thought, Uchiha Matsuri quickly formed the hand seals in the sequence: "Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger."

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Chakra rapidly gathered in Uchiha Matsuri's throat, and in an instant, a ball of fire erupted from his mouth, striking toward Minato Namikaze at high speed.

Finally, he's starting to use ninjutsu, Minato Namikaze thought to himself.

Just as the fireball was about to hit him, Minato Namikaze suddenly leaped to the side, and the fireball crashed directly into the tree behind him. The tree was instantly severed at the waist and quickly set ablaze.

"Amazing, he doesn't seem like a student who just graduated from the Ninja Academy like us at all," exclaimed Nohara Shin, who was watching from the sidelines.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

After Minato Namikaze quickly formed his seals, a whirlwind erupted from his mouth, rushing toward Uchiha Matsuri, who was only ten meters away.

Because he had used a large amount of chakra in his taijutsu battle with Uchiha Matsuri, Minato Namikaze only had forty percent of his chakra left, so he chose to go all-in, pouring his remaining chakra into this single move.

Witnessing Minato Namikaze use Wind Style, Uchiha Matsuri's hands moved rapidly to form seals.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

Uchiha Matsuri spat out several fireballs; the first few extinguished Minato Namikaze's whirlwind, while the remaining ones flew toward Minato Namikaze, who was kneeling on one knee.

Crap, I don't have enough chakra left, Minato Namikaze thought in alarm. Just then, Ino Yamanaka, noticing the abnormality, hurriedly formed seals for "Earth Style: Earth Flow City Wall," instantly erecting a high wall of earth in front of Minato to shield him.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The four fireballs struck the high wall and vanished instantly.

"That was close." Minato Namikaze and Ino Yamanaka both let out a sigh of relief in unison.

"You win."

Even though he had lost the match, Minato Namikaze still wore a smile.

"Uchiha Matsuri is the winner!" Ino Yamanaka announced loudly.

Upon hearing the teacher announce Uchiha Matsuri's victory, the surrounding students erupted into an uproar.

"See? I told you Lord Uchiha Matsuri was more amazing!"

"Matsuri and Minato are both so amazing, they can already use C-rank ninjutsu."

"Yeah, yeah, especially since they sparred with taijutsu for so long before using ninjutsu."

"Classmate Matsuri has so much chakra! Classmate Minato ran out of chakra, but Classmate Matsuri can still use ninjutsu attacks!"

Undeniably, among the students present, besides these two, everyone else only knew how to use kunai and the Body Replacement Technique taught in school. Seeing their spectacular battle, the surrounding students were nothing but astonished and openly envious.

"So amazing, both of them can actually use ninjutsu of this intensity. It looks like I need to work hard too." After watching their duel, Kushina Uzumaki couldn't help but clench her fists.

Hearing the unreserved praise from his classmates, Uchiha Matsuri couldn't help but give a wry smile inwardly. Fortunately, Minato Namikaze had also run out of chakra. Otherwise, with his own remaining ten percent chakra, he wouldn't have been able to use any ninjutsu at all and would have been completely dominated.