Who Cast the Fire Ball Jutsu?

Kurenai had undergone guidance from Mikami Yu and her father, Yuhi Shinku. She could not exactly be said to have transformed overnight, but her taijutsu had indeed improved considerably from before. Defeating Guy was unrealistic, but holding him off for a while was not much of a problem.

Besides, Guy probably would not hit a girl too hard.

Seeing that Might Guy had been held up for the moment,

Mikami Yu stood atop the raised platform and swept his gaze around. After confirming the positions of several key opponents, he raised a hand and flung out several wooden kunai!

Substitution Technique!

Whoosh—!

The next second, Mikami Yu swapped places with one of the kunai and appeared in midair before Kaimon Hyuga. His right leg lashed out like a whip. "Leaf Great Whirlwind!"

Boom!!

Mikami Yu had used this technique of treating the Substitution Technique like the Flying Thunder God before when sparring with Hizashi Hyuga. Kaimon Hyuga had probably learned of it from the latter, so he was not surprised in the slightest. He immediately lowered his stance and blocked with a bent elbow!

Bang!

"Oh? What was that?!"

On the rooftop of the school building.

Namikaze Minato, dressed in a Konoha flak jacket, stood beside Hiruzen Sarutobi, who wore the Hokage's robes. They watched the battle on the training ground from afar. When Minato saw Mikami Yu use a kunai to flash before Kaimon Hyuga, his eyelids twitched and surprise appeared on his face.

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained calm. He had already watched Mikami Yu's battle with Hizashi Hyuga through the Telescope Technique.

"What do you think?"

"...It does look somewhat like the Flying Thunder God, but it should not be the same. I did not sense any spatial fluctuations just now."

Having recovered from his initial surprise, Namikaze Minato pondered for a moment. "Perhaps we need to observe a little longer before we can be certain."

"All right, then let's keep watching."

Hiruzen Sarutobi put his pipe to his mouth and smiled.

Bang!

Leg and elbow collided!

Mikami Yu performed a backflip and landed lightly.

Kaimon Hyuga staggered back two steps before dispersing the impact. He abruptly raised his head, secretly alarmed. This guy's strength... how had it increased so much since last time?

Had he secretly developed again?

Though surprised, Kaimon Hyuga had no time to think further in a situation like this. With a low shout, he rushed forward again, both palms moving so fast they left afterimages.

"Take a look at the results of my training over the past month... Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms! Oraa, oraa, oraa!"

The assault was like a raging storm.

Mikami Yu nimbly twisted aside to evade while keeping a close eye on Kaimon Hyuga's footwork. As he retreated, his body seemed to grow slightly taller, and the contours of his muscles tightened beneath his white coat, becoming clearer—

"Transformation Technique: Partial Transformation: Might Guy's Body!"

As mentioned before, Mikami Yu intended to use the Vivid as Reality trait of the Transformation Technique to design several commonly used transformation templates for himself. One of them was a Might Guy template focused on taijutsu and direct confrontation.

To conserve chakra, he had not chosen to transform his entire body, instead using a partial transformation on his torso. This did save some chakra, but it demanded extremely high chakra control, so it still could not be maintained for long.

I have to end this quickly!

"An opening!"

The instant Kaimon Hyuga's breath slackened slightly after his uninterrupted barrage and the momentum of his Gentle Fist began to ease,

Mikami Yu suddenly threw a punch and launched his counterattack!

"!"

Kaimon Hyuga hastily crossed his arms before him and blocked the heavy blow. Just as he was about to attack the acupoints in Mikami Yu's arm with Gentle Fist, Mikami Yu ducked, twisted his waist, and drove an elbow into his ribs at close range!

The same trick again.

During last semester's final exam, Kaimon Hyuga had also been caught by this move. Though he had promptly lowered an arm to block it, he was still knocked backward. The offensive momentum he had just gathered immediately faltered, leaving him on the defensive.

Mikami Yu pressed his advantage without mercy, bursting forth with full power and launching a close-range assault. His fists rained down on Kaimon Hyuga. "Muda muda muda!"

Faced with Mikami Yu's relentless assault, Kaimon Hyuga could initially keep up with the rhythm and block a few blows. But he soon discovered that these punches and kicks were even heavier than before. In one careless moment, his wrist was dislocated by a strike, and several exchanges later, another punch slammed into his chest.

"Ah—"

Kaimon Hyuga flew backward and crashed heavily into the dirt several meters away, unable to get up for the moment.

Mikami Yu was about to pursue when his heart suddenly skipped a beat. He saw a black shadow on the ground twitch. Without thinking, he pretended to form hand seals for the Substitution Technique, instantly swapping places with the earlier kunai and retreating more than ten meters away.

"Shadow Imitation Technique!"

Nara Zhenyuan stood over ten meters away with his hands joined in a seal. A pitch-black shadow extended from beneath his feet, trying to wrap around Mikami Yu's feet.

Sarutobi Asuma also charged out from the flank, flinging a large handful of shuriken and kunai!

"Come on..."

Mikami Yu's mouth twitched. He was having a hard time holding it together.

He had indeed noticed earlier that Asuma and Nara Zhenyuan's positioning was deliberate, seeming to form a pincer with Kaimon Hyuga. But he had never expected these guys to actually dare pull something like this...

Three against one? Was that even fair?

Where are my teammates? Why have they not come over yet?

Oh, right. My teammates are getting beaten senseless by Might Guy. Never mind, then...

Though startled, Mikami Yu did not panic. As he pushed off the ground and rapidly retreated, his hands began forming seals again.

"Trying to use the Substitution Technique again? We won't give you another chance!"

Nara Zhenyuan and Asuma sped up to encircle him from the left and right. The former continued using the Shadow Imitation Technique, while the latter formed a string of hand seals and took a deep breath, his cheeks and chest swelling high. "Wind Style..."

"Great Breakthrough!!"

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!!"

Almost at the same time.

Asuma opened his mouth and expelled a violent blast of air toward Mikami Yu, while Mikami Yu spat out a massive orange-red fireball that surged forward!

Fire countered wind.

At that moment, the Fire Ball Jutsu erupted a second time amid the howling gale, becoming a blazing mass of flame that swept toward Asuma. As the scorching light and heat burst forth, the shadows in the nearby area were driven away, and Nara Zhenyuan's Shadow Imitation Technique instantly failed and vanished.

"What?!"

Who cast that Fire Ball Jutsu?

Asuma retreated awkwardly with the Body Flicker Technique, evading the flames rushing at him. Then, illuminated by the firelight, he exchanged a glance with Nara Zhenyuan not far away. The disdain on his face vanished, replaced by gravity.