Sparring with Minato

"Yue Ying, you're injured. Let me heal you."

He removed the shuriken from Yue Ying's body and placed his palm over the wound, channeling a green light as he cast a healing jutsu.

In a short while, the wounds on her arm and thigh were completely healed.

Yue Ying replied with a bashful tone, "Thank you."

"It's nothing. We're teammates," Li Yu said candidly.

"I could clearly see how nervous you were, yet you still stepped in front of me several times during the battle."

"Perhaps it was you who gave me the courage," Yue Ying said, lowering her head and whispering, "Zi Yu-kun, you are still very impressive; you don't really need my protection."

Li Yu looked at Yue Ying's purple hair. Combining this with the plot of Naruto, he recalled that the female character Uzuki Yugao also had purple hair.

"We are teammates; we should help each other."

Just then, his shadow clone dissipated, and a stream of memories flooded into his mind.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Li Yu's mouth. The mission was complete.

While the group was chatting and waiting on the spot, the captain, Yan Xing, and the other two Anbu jonin returned.

And so, the patrol mission was cut short, and they returned to the village with the Anbu members to report their findings.

Upon returning to the Hokage Building, they met with the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, to report on the patrol.

In this battle, they had captured one jonin and three regular chunin from the enemy side.

They had killed one jonin, one elite jonin, three elite chunin, and three regular chunin.

There were no ninja insignias during the engagement, but based on their ninjutsu, they suspected the attackers were from the Hidden Stone Village; the specifics would be confirmed by the Torture and Interrogation Force.

The Third Hokage pondered for a moment. "Sakumo, with the intelligence leak in the village this time, we must increase patrols and surveillance both inside and outside the village."

"It is fortunate that the Yan Xing squad on patrol discovered the situation was amiss and turned back to provide support."

"Because the squad completed the mission with excellence, I am granting a special promotion: Shui Qi, Yue Ying, and Zi Yu are promoted to chunin."

Li Yu raised an eyebrow. He was a chunin now. The Anbu really did offer faster promotions than the regular ninja ranks; looking at Naruto and the others, despite all those special chunin exams, only Shikamaru had managed to become a chunin in the end.

They left the Hokage Building.

Following this incident, three ninjas had survived thanks to the presence of a medical ninja.

Tsunade's proposal at the post-war meeting to equip every squad with a medical ninja was accelerated as a result of this implementation.

Taking advantage of this mission, he could finally rest for a while.

Since Li Yu was off-duty, he wasn't wearing his Anbu mask or uniform. He walked down the streets of Konoha, unsure of where he was going.

At this point in time, Kakashi and Might Guy had only just been born, and the "Konoha 12" didn't even exist yet.

He wandered aimlessly until he arrived at the training grounds, where he saw someone with golden hair practicing shuriken and kunai throws.

A sudden flash of inspiration struck him: Namikaze Minato, the future Yellow Flash and Fourth Hokage.

Anyone who knew the plot also knew of Namikaze Minato's charismatic personality—he was a gentle man.

He wondered how things were going between him and Kushina.

Li Yu immediately quickened his pace.

Namikaze Minato heard someone approaching, looked back, and was the first to offer a greeting.

"Nawaki, what brings you to the training grounds? Are you here to practice, too?"

"How is Lord Orochimaru doing?"

As fellow disciples of the Sannin, how could they not know each other?

Li Yu replied politely, "Teacher is obsessed with his research; I rarely see him, so he leaves me to train on my own."

"Minato, how is Lord Jiraiya? Has he not been guiding your training?"

Namikaze Minato laughed awkwardly. "Master Jiraiya has gone off to collect material for his books."

Li Yu scoffed inwardly, More like he went off to peek at women bathing or to find women to drink with.

"I happened to see you training here, and my hands were getting a bit itchy."

This was a challenge issued to Namikaze Minato. Li Yu was very curious to see what Namikaze Minato's strength was like at this time.

Hearing Li Yu's words, Namikaze Minato extended an invitation as well.

"That works too. Combat is the best way to improve one's strength."

Li Yu stood opposite Namikaze Minato, kunai in hand, ready to strike at any moment.

At this time, the bored Third Hokage, having just finished admiring the scenery of the women's bathhouse, was wiping an unidentified red liquid from beneath his nose with a handkerchief.

He shifted his gaze to the duel between Li Yu and Namikaze Minato at the training ground.

"I wonder how the younger generation of Konoha has grown."

"I am quite looking forward to it."

At this moment, Li Yu and Namikaze Minato performed the sign of confrontation with one hand.

The sparring match officially began.

Li Yu was the first to throw several shuriken at Namikaze Minato, who immediately countered by throwing his own, knocking them all out of the air.

Namikaze Minato then threw another set of shuriken and quickly formed hand seals.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Suddenly, a massive barrage of shuriken shot toward Li Yu. Because he wasn't wearing a mask and wanted to hide the abilities of his Sharingan, he did not activate it.

Seeing the sheer number of shuriken, Li Yu had no choice but to use a ninjutsu he had copied during a battle a few days prior using his Sharingan. He formed the seals and slammed his hands onto the ground.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

He then leaped backward and formed the seals: Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Inside the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage, pipe in mouth, exclaimed in surprise.

"Nawaki, this child actually knows Fire Release?"

"I wonder where he learned the Uchiha Clan's Great Fireball Jutsu."

"I still don't know how many chakra nature transformations this child possesses."

Li Yu launched his attack at Namikaze Minato, who was currently mid-air after jumping over the earth wall; the timing of the Fire Release was perfect.

As expected of Namikaze Minato, his combat reflexes were fast; he used a Body Replacement Jutsu in mid-air.

He rushed at Li Yu from the side, leading with shuriken and thrusting his kunai directly at Li Yu. There was no time to form seals, so Li Yu blocked the strike with his own kunai and prepared to retreat. He had intended to create distance and rely on his larger chakra reserves to wear Namikaze Minato down from afar.

However, Namikaze Minato did not give Li Yu the chance to retreat, following up with a flurry of strikes and kicks, engaging him in taijutsu.

Li Yu did not back down; even without the Sharingan, the taijutsu of the Senju Clan was not to be underestimated.

Li Yu unleashed a punch of immense strength, but Namikaze Minato, relying on his combat instincts, leaped backward to evade.

Because the punch missed, the momentum was too great to pull back, so Li Yu could only change its direction and drive it into the ground beneath his feet.

Boom! Boom!

The ground cracked and collapsed over a large area, causing Namikaze Minato to lose his footing.

Namikaze Minato had miscalculated; he hadn't expected Li Yu's punch to have such power and such a wide range of destruction.

This was his chance. Li Yu quickly formed seals, pressed his palms together, and shouted.

"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"

Trees and vines grew rapidly, entangling Namikaze Minato from multiple directions.

Seeing this, Namikaze Minato's face filled with astonishment.

"It's Wood Release!"

Recovering quickly, Namikaze Minato prepared to use the Body Flicker Jutsu, but was suddenly caught by vines shooting up from the ground, which wrapped around his ankles.

In an instant, he was bound by the following vines, unable to move.

At this point in time, Namikaze Minato had not yet learned the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God Jutsu, nor had he created the Rasengan.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been so easy to capture him. He had taken advantage of Wood Release and his immense strength; in the future, he would need to use the stronger Wood Release: Deep Forest Bloom to deal with Namikaze Minato.

Thinking this, Li Yu immediately released the Wood Release ninjutsu and let Namikaze Minato go.

Namikaze Minato's face was slightly pale.

"Nawaki, this is the First Hokage's Wood Release, right?"

"It even absorbs chakra."

"As expected of the First Hokage's ninjutsu. I never imagined that someone in the Senju Clan could awaken Wood Release again."

"That punch just now was Lady Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred technique, wasn't it? I've only ever seen Lady Tsunade use it when beating up Master Jiraiya."

As he spoke, Namikaze Minato offered a warm smile and reached out to perform the sign of reconciliation with Li Yu.

Li Yu smiled back.

"Minato, you will definitely achieve your dream in the future."

"Isn't my dream also your dream?"

"Let's work hard together."

The two looked at each other and laughed.

At this moment, a smile appeared on the face of the Third Hokage behind the crystal ball.

"Nawaki has only just awakened Wood Release, yet he already has three or four tenths of the First Hokage's likeness."

Watching the duel between Namikaze Minato and Nawaki, he sighed.

"The new leaves have already begun to sprout."