Bang!
Mikami Yu's side kick was blocked by Hizashi Hyuga. The recoil startled both of them slightly. Hizashi Hyuga then steadied his stance, spun with the force, and drove his right palm straight at the opening in Mikami Yu's chest with a fierce whistle of wind!
So fast!
Mikami Yu's expression tightened.
But he had long guessed that Hizashi Hyuga was far stronger than Kaimon Hyuga. Though surprised, he did not panic. He immediately kicked off the ground with both legs and shot backward seven or eight meters like a startled raccoon, barely avoiding the Gentle Fist fingers that could seal off chakra flow.
The two instantly widened the distance between them by several meters.
The first exchange had been over in a flash.
Hizashi Hyuga slowly lowered the arm he had used to block, making no move to pursue. He merely stared at Mikami Yu with a look of astonishment. "Hey... that position-swapping Ninjutsu you used when you rushed over just now—was that really the Substitution Technique? Some improved version?"
Hizashi Hyuga had learned the Substitution Technique too.
After all, the Hyuga Clan was merely poor at using Five Elemental Ninjutsu. They still dabbled in basic or support-oriented techniques such as the Three Techniques, Medical Ninjutsu, and Sealing Technique.
But Hizashi Hyuga had never seen anyone make the Substitution Technique produce an effect like the Flying Thunder God.
And...
Had he formed hand seals just now?
The Substitution Technique was a simple E-Rank Ninjutsu, but precisely because it was simple, there was almost no room for further optimization or improvement. Turning it into a one-seal or no-seal Ninjutsu was even more impossible. Even the Second Hokage, who was best at simplifying hand seals, probably could not have done such a thing!
"Of course it was the Substitution Technique. What else could it have been?"
Mikami Yu answered with certainty while discreetly flexing the sole of his slightly numb foot.
That kick had felt like he had struck a steel plate. It was absurdly hard.
Still... after that preliminary probing, he had basically confirmed that Hizashi Hyuga merely wanted to broaden his horizons. He showed no obvious hostility or killing intent. In that case, Mikami Yu could be a little bolder and try some new tactics.
"If Senior Hyuga didn't see it clearly just now... then let's do it again."
As he spoke,
Mikami Yu moved both hands at once, his fingers filled with Kunai and Shuriken, then fired them all out in one sweep!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!
Seven or eight hidden weapons shot out together, colliding with and borrowing force from one another in midair. They traced dazzling arcs and descended upon Hizashi Hyuga from several angles at once! Though their trajectories were far less exquisite than those of a certain Uchiha genius who would later go to war at the age of four, they were already astonishing.
Facing the all-encompassing attack,
Hizashi Hyuga planted his feet firmly in place and shouted, "Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"
The next moment, his arms became a blur of afterimages. Chakra invisible to the naked eye wrapped around his palms as they struck, deflected, jabbed, and flicked with precise speed... The Kunai and Shuriken seemed to crash against an invisible wall, all of them slapped away or knocked down.
A string of crisp clanks rang out without pause.
Amid the flurry of hidden weapons—
Bang!
Smoke rose again!
Mikami Yu vanished from where he stood and abruptly appeared just one meter ahead and to Hizashi Hyuga's left, swinging a fist at the armpit beneath Hizashi Hyuga's raised right arm, which was busy blocking the hidden weapons!
Without even turning his head, Hizashi Hyuga sent his left palm pecking backward like a venomous snake at the attacker's throat! Yet his palm passed through nothing but a cloud of bursting smoke.
"Behind me!"
Hizashi Hyuga's Byakugan instantly caught the chakra disturbance behind him. He spun and delivered a fierce side kick, only for another afterimage to disperse.
"Left!"
"Right!"
Each time smoke burst open, Mikami Yu's figure flickered into existence like a ghost through gaps in Hizashi Hyuga's defenses, launching swift surprise attacks with either fist or foot! Yet every attack was blocked or forced back by Hizashi Hyuga's Gentle Fist, and the sounds of clashing fists and kicks rang out endlessly.
From beginning to end, however, Hizashi Hyuga's body never left an area within a single meter. Like a massive boulder, he remained unmoved beneath the assault of raging waves.
"It's useless!"
Between blocks and parries, Hizashi Hyuga shouted in a low voice, "My Byakugan has no blind spots! No matter which direction you appear from, you cannot escape its sight!"
"..."
Mikami Yu noticed it too.
His Substitution Technique was indeed fast. With the boost from his trait, it took only 0.2 seconds to activate. But after each use, he still needed time to reposition and move his actual body.
Though that time gap was short, it was enough for a Chunin with all-around vision and extensive combat experience to react and counterattack.
Which meant...
The reason Namikaze Minato became the Yellow Flash was not merely because of the Flying Thunder God itself. His extraordinary neural reaction speed, dynamic visual ability, and spatial balance were what allowed him to use the technique so brilliantly.
Ordinary people, such as Genma Shiranui and the other members of the Fourth Hokage Guard Unit, might have mastered the Flying Thunder God too, but they could only use it as a long-range teleportation array. They even needed three people working together to activate it, making it utterly useless in actual combat.
His first hypothesis had been confirmed.
Then next...
It was time to test something else.
At once,
Mikami Yu used the Substitution Technique once more to vanish from before Hizashi Hyuga, then immediately formed hand seals and used the Transformation Technique. Hizashi Hyuga, with his back turned, instinctively swept his Byakugan behind him, only to frown before suddenly whipping his head around.
Where did he go?
How had he suddenly disappeared?
Not above him, not underground, not anywhere nearby...
As Hizashi Hyuga showed a stunned expression, an unremarkable gray bird flapped its wings while keeping itself directly behind and to his right, within the cone-shaped space extending from above his spine—the sole blind spot of the Hyuga Branch Family's Byakugan.
At the instant Hizashi Hyuga's fist stance relaxed.
Poof!
Smoke exploded!
Mikami Yu's true body abruptly appeared in midair. He had already finished forming hand seals while still in bird form. Then he puffed out his chest and blew forward. "Fire Style... Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!"
[Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu: Hah! It's finally this young lady's turn to appear! Seriously, watching from the sidelines for so long was killing me... Watch me roast this pretentious cataract into charcoal! Burn!]
Fwoosh—boom!!!
With the boost from the [Spirit of Fire] trait,
A blazing orange-red fireball over a meter in diameter erupted from Mikami Yu's mouth! Scorching heat waves spread outward as it hurtled toward Hizashi Hyuga below, who had just realized something was wrong!
"What?!"
Hizashi Hyuga's eyes widened sharply, the rapidly expanding fireball reflected in his pupils. He had no idea how Mikami Yu had vanished from his sight, much less expected him to unleash such a powerful C-rank Fire Style technique!
At the critical moment, Hizashi Hyuga bellowed deeply as the chakra throughout his body spun wildly at an unprecedented speed. "...Rotation!!"
Before you continue