"The final match... Minato Namikaze versus Uya!"
The head examiner waved his hand and announced the final match.
The atmosphere finally reached its peak. With practically everyone's eyes on him in anticipation, Minato Namikaze stepped into the arena and came before Uya.
Minato first smiled at Uya, then said, "I didn't expect you to be my final opponent... but I'm also very happy to get to fight you."
Minato's expression and gestures made Kushina, who was watching, purse her lips. She reached the same assessment as Uya.
An effeminate man.
Though he was immensely talented, handsome, and possessed a certain bearing, he somehow always gave off a somewhat girlish, weak impression.
"I'm honored, too."
Uya smiled faintly and nodded at Minato in return.
Minato gave an easy laugh. "Isn't 'honored' a little much?"
What Minato didn't know was that Uya's honor referred to his future self: the Yellow Flash, the Fourth Hokage!
Being able to fight the Yellow Flash, the future Fourth Hokage, was naturally quite exciting for Uya.
And with his strength, Minato truly was a formidable opponent!
So Uya was fully alert as well, taking this extremely seriously.
"Final match, begin!"
The next moment, as the head examiner abruptly waved his hand, the battle to determine the Ninja Academy's greatest genius began!
The instant it began, Uya had no intention of holding anything back. He charged straight at Minato at full speed and hurled a punch at him.
Underestimating a genius like Minato was the same as courting death.
He wasn't thinking of instantly defeating him; rather, even a lion hunting a rabbit still went all out!
The moment Uya unleashed his full speed, cries of surprise erupted.
This was the first time Uya had displayed his speed since the combat ranking assessment began.
Before this, he had crushed every opponent with utterly overwhelming strength.
At this moment, to the Ninja Academy students, Uya's speed was simply beyond belief!
In fact, in their eyes, Uya's body had almost become an afterimage. They couldn't track his exact position!
"So fast."
"He's not just strong?! Even his speed..."
Not only the students, but even the Jonin wore expressions of utter astonishment.
Such speed was almost on par with a Chunin's!
Uya wasn't wearing any weights.
His speed was now almost comparable to Rock Lee's after removing his weights. After all, Uya had opened the first gate of the True Eight Gates Released Formation!
The strength and speed brought by his surging heart absolutely could not be underestimated.
"So fast!"
A trace of shock appeared even in Minato's eyes. Facing the approaching Uya, he rapidly formed hand seals with both hands.
By the time Uya's punch engulfed his figure, Minato had already finished his hand seals.
Boom!!
With an explosive crash, Minato's body was shattered into pieces, only to turn into a wooden log in an instant.
Substitution Technique!
Uya wasn't surprised in the slightest. Without even turning his head, he abruptly clenched his other fist and struck straight behind him.
Crack!!!
The air shattered like a mirror, fine cracks spreading in every direction.
Behind Uya, a cluster of shuriken Minato had thrown at his back instantly froze in midair!
With a hum, all the shuriken were shaken apart, unable to even contend with Uya's power of tremors.
"He's every bit as troublesome as I thought."
Watching this, Minato, who had appeared behind Uya, wore an utterly grave expression.
Minato's reflexes surpassed practically anyone else's. In the original story, even the Fourth Raikage admitted his inferiority.
So he could react to Uya's speed.
Even so, Minato found him a headache.
If Uya were merely strong, he had plenty of battle plans, but with his speed also so great, this became troublesome.
The most difficult opponent... more troublesome than everyone else. I absolutely can't take that fist head-on, or I'll definitely be defeated instantly.
Murmuring inwardly, Minato drew another shuriken.
Uya turned around and looked calmly at Minato.
Whatever tricks Minato played, as long as Uya got close once, as long as he landed a single punch, it would absolutely be an instant defeat.
Even Chunin struggled to withstand Uya's power of tremors head-on. Though Minato was already very strong, there was still some distance between him and a Chunin.
Whoosh!!
The next instant, Minato threw the shuriken straight at Uya while abruptly forming hand seals with both hands.
As the shuriken flew through the air, it suddenly blurred and became two afterimages.
Then two became four, and four became eight.
In the blink of an eye, shuriken filled the sky, pouring down on Uya like a raging storm!
Everyone was stunned.
"That's the Shadow Shuriken Technique!"
"Did he learn it himself?! That talent is terrifying."
Both the students and the Jonin looked shocked.
Yet facing the sky full of shuriken, Uya remained expressionless. He merely clenched his fist calmly and punched!
A thousand ninjutsu, kunai, shuriken-I'll shatter them all with a single punch!
Boom!!
In an instant, the power of tremors erupted wildly. The entire rain of shuriken froze in the sky, then shattered and vanished one after another.
It was an incredibly stunning sight. It was hard to imagine these were moves two children who hadn't even graduated from the Ninja Academy could use.
But it wasn't over yet.
Amid that sky-filling rain of shuriken, several shuriken suddenly changed.
Hiss!!
Those shuriken actually had explosive tags attached!
"This move?"
Uya's expression was calm. He didn't even retract his fist, keeping it thrust into the air.
A thousand moves, ten thousand variations-I only need one punch to shatter everything!
Hum!!
The power of tremors erupted wildly, enveloping the entire area directly ahead.
Fine cracks spread through the air, as though this stretch of space had been shaken into a shattered sheet of ice.
Boom!!
The explosive tags abruptly detonated, but the power of tremors forcibly blocked the explosions, preventing them from advancing an inch!
However, this also filled the arena with smoke and dust, temporarily obscuring everyone's vision.
Just as the smoke and the sky-filling rain of shuriken gradually faded, a fierce wind suddenly came howling through, blowing everything away.
"Wind Release! Great Breakthrough!"
Minato had abruptly unleashed this Wind Release while Uya was dealing with the shuriken and explosive tags, seizing the perfect opportunity. By the time it was noticed, it was already practically upon Uya!
There was no time to dodge.
And this was a C-rank ninjutsu!