Sparring

Several days later, atop a lush, leafy tree at the edge of the camp.

Three figures stood silently on its branches, taking in the entire training ground below.

Jiraiya folded his arms, his body swaying slightly with the branch beneath him, an entertained grin on his face.

He nudged Orochimaru beside him with his elbow and lowered his voice.

"Hey, Orochimaru, who are you betting on? I heard you put Nawaki through some brutal training lately."

Orochimaru's golden slit pupils watched the two people preparing below.

His voice was calm and flat. "Nawaki cannot win, even if he has improved from the recent intensive training."

"Oh?" Jiraiya raised a brow, intrigued.

"For you to make such a direct judgment, that Hyuga kid Tsunade just took in must really have some skill, huh?"

"Hmph!" Tsunade, standing beside them, crossed her arms and lifted her chin slightly, her face brimming with confidence.

"Jiraiya, quit talking like that. How could someone I taught possibly be bad?"

She paused, her gaze falling on her younger brother Nawaki's eager figure.

Her tone gained a hint of helplessness. "...If that brat Nawaki could just be a little more composed.

He might have had a chance today. But now..."

She did not finish, but her meaning was clear enough.

Jiraiya chuckled, about to tease her further, when Orochimaru spoke indifferently. "It has begun."

The three of them fell silent at once, their gazes focusing below.

Moonlight Kaede had already walked into the center of the field. He looked at Nawaki and Tianyi, both ready at opposite ends.

He called out, "Form the Seal of Confrontation."

Nawaki and Tianyi faced each other, raising their hands together to form the opposing hand sign.

Moonlight Kaede drifted backward and shouted, "Begin!"

"Take this!" Nawaki moved almost the instant the words left his mouth!

He had no intention of testing his opponent. Several kunai flew from his hands while his fingers formed seals before his chest!

"Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"

The kunai in midair became two, then four, transforming into a dense rain of shuriken.

They blanketed Tianyi's position! This was the result of Nawaki's recent hard training.

It had a broad range and activated quickly, meant to suppress his opponent from the start.

"Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"

"Boom!"

A thick earthen wall surged from the ground before Tianyi!

The timing was perfect. The dense kunai struck the wall with a series of thuds.

"Hey! No way, Tianyi!" Nawaki's eyes widened, and he forgot to continue his attack.

"You really learned it?! It has only been a few days!"

Just a few days ago, during Orochimaru's special training, Nawaki had been fretting over the hand seals for Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall.

If he formed the seals even slightly too slowly or his chakra output was unstable, the wall he raised would come out crooked or collapse halfway through.

Tianyi, who had been watching nearby, had teased him about it more than once.

Nawaki had stubbornly claimed then, "Earth Style does not suit me. Tianyi, you might not learn it faster than I do."

Yet Tianyi had really mastered it without a word!

"Getting distracted in battle is not good," Tianyi's voice came from behind the earthen wall, carrying a trace of helplessness.

I should give Nawaki an unpleasant memory.

Nawaki stiffened, immediately gathering his focus before breaking into a grin.

"Then let me show you the true results of my training! Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

He drew in a deep breath, his chest expanding before he forcefully exhaled!

The violent airflow struck the Earth-Style Wall like an invisible sledgehammer!

The sturdy earthen wall swiftly cracked and collapsed beneath the gale, dust billowing everywhere.

Tianyi was forced to leap out from behind the wall.

Now! A sharp gleam flashed through Nawaki's eyes. He had been waiting for this moment.

The instant his opponent was forced from his original position and hung in the air without anything to push off from!

Several black shadows shot from the sleeve of his right arm!

"Ninja Art: Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"

Several gray-brown venomous snakes swiftly coiled around Tianyi as he leaped from behind the earthen wall!

Their bodies tightened rapidly, binding Tianyi firmly in midair.

"Hahaha! Got you!" Nawaki laughed smugly as he stood in place.

He watched his opponent hanging in the air, wrapped in snakes and seemingly unable to resist.

In the distant canopy, a vein popped on Tsunade's forehead.

She clenched her fist and gritted out in a low voice, "That idiot... he is getting carried away!"

Jiraiya nearly burst out laughing, but hurriedly held it in.

He jabbed the expressionless Orochimaru beside him.

"Hey, the kid you taught is using his ninjutsu pretty well! But is he not falling for it way too easily?"

Orochimaru's golden slit pupils remained fixed on the field, the corner of his mouth curving ever so slightly.

"Nawaki's talent lies in his chakra reserves and intuition..."

His gaze settled on the Tianyi wrapped in snakes.

"But he is too naive. Sometimes, that makes him easy to exploit."

As if to prove his words—

"Poof!"

With a soft sound, the Tianyi bound by snakes in midair turned into a puff of white smoke and vanished.

"A Shadow Clone? When?!" Nawaki's laughter cut off abruptly, his pupils shrinking.

Almost at the same moment, a murky gray mist began spreading around the training ground from an unknown source.

It moved incredibly fast, covering several meters around Nawaki in the blink of an eye and drastically reducing visibility!

"Mist? This is... Hidden Mist Technique?!" Nawaki immediately sensed trouble.

His hands quickly formed seals again, trying to disperse the mist with Wind Release. "Wind Release: Great—"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!"

The sound of projectiles cutting through the air came from deep within the fog at vicious angles!

Nawaki was forced to interrupt his seals, rapidly swinging the kunai in his hand.

Several clangs rang out as he knocked aside the incoming hidden weapons.

Yet the attacks did not stop. It was as if countless enemies lurked within the mist.

Kunai and shuriken flew intermittently from every direction.

They forced Nawaki to keep moving and blocking, leaving him no chance to stop and form seals.

Worse still, the thick mist did not merely block his vision. It also seemed to interfere with his chakra perception.

It made it difficult for him to accurately determine Tianyi's true location.

"Damn it..." Sweat appeared on Nawaki's forehead as he tried to rely on his hearing and intuition.

But the attacks in the mist came first from the left, then the right, making it impossible to tell real from fake.

Then, the mist behind him shifted slightly, and a faint pulse of chakra reached him!

Nawaki reacted instantly, twisting around and stabbing backward with his kunai, only to hit empty air!

The next instant, a hand carrying a gentle force.

Pressed against the back he had exposed when he turned.

There was no force behind it, only a light touch.

Nawaki's entire body went rigid, cold sweat pouring down him.

Immediately after, the sound of projectiles tearing through the air erupted from the thick mist!

Sharp hissing came from every direction as Nawaki swung his kunai.

Yet he felt like an insect trapped in a spiderweb.

No matter how he blocked, some slipped through his defense and stuck to his body.

A moment later, the thick mist dissipated as quickly as it had appeared.

Sunlight once again spilled across the training ground.

Nawaki remained in a defensive stance, his entire body taut, confusion on his face.

He lowered his head and looked himself over. There did not seem to be any wounds.

Not far away, Tianyi's figure clearly emerged. He clapped his hands, a faint smile on his face.

At the edge of the field, Moonlight Kaede was clutching his stomach, laughing so hard he doubled over.

"Pfft—hahahaha!

Nawaki, you... look at your back!

Hahaha!"