Naruto: Flash Reborn — Minato’s Second Life

The next two matches were battles between genin, which proved far more exciting than the first match between Yu Akasaka and Shibi Aburame. Each genin here had already mastered one or two ninjutsu techniques, incomparable to Yu Akasaka who hadn't even learned [The Three Basic Ninjutsu] yet as a student at the Ninja Academy.

However, these matches didn't interest Kushina and Mikoto much. The former had frequently fought against 'genin' recently and had even defeated several, so seeing them use their jutsu felt rather showy to Kushina.

As for Mikoto, being a member of the Uchiha clan, she'd seen higher-level fights before—watching genin battle didn't teach her much anymore.

Minato, however, was completely focused, believing that everyone possessed both strengths and weaknesses. He wanted to observe these fights to understand them, although the results weren't very significant, he still gained something from it.

Yan Uchiha was intently watching this place with a grin on his face that hadn't faded since he saw Minato's number.

He'd trained hard for a whole year—today was finally his moment to prove himself to everyone.

Among his peers, Yan Uchiha was definitely the strongest!

"The fourth match: Satoshi Miyazaki versus Hiashi Hyuga!" After the previous genin match had determined a winner, Sakumo Hatake immediately announced the participants of the next match.

Satoshi Miyazaki, who had been accompanying Minato and others closely, instantly wore a dark expression upon hearing his opponent's name. His eyes and actions had already shown signs of hesitation.

Hiashi Hyuga cast a glance toward him, then directly jumped into the arena.

"What bad luck..."

Satoshi Miyazaki gulped, but despite that, he still jumped into the battlefield to face off against Hiashi Hyuga.

"Why aren't you forfeiting? You should know you don't stand a chance against me, right?" Hiashi asked calmly without any mockery in his tone. It was common knowledge that their skill levels belonged to entirely different tiers.

Satoshi gave an awkward smile and said, "If this had happened three days ago and I knew my opponent was you, I might have turned around and run away already... But now."

As he spoke, his gaze shifted toward Minato, Kushina, and the others on the second floor.

"Aniki Satoshi, go for it!" Kushina led the cheer, while behind her, Yu Akasaka and Rina Takeuchi also encouraged him separately.

"Just do your best," Minato simply said.

A smile slowly spread across Satoshi Miyazaki's face as he faced Hiashi straightly and said, "But my companions are all cheering for me. If I give up without doing anything, wouldn't that be too pathetic?"

"Moreover, I've worked hard to reach this point. Letting go just like this really leaves a bitter taste in my mouth..."

"I see?"

Hiashi murmured softly to himself, then stepped back with his right leg, taking up the Gentle Fist stance. His left hand rested behind his back as his bandaged right arm lifted horizontally, revealing his palm outward.

"That is... the opening stance of the Gentle Fist."

Seeing Hiashi Hyuga adopt this stance, Nawaki spoke from the side, his eyes filled with curiosity. Although he had long heard of the Hyuga Gentle Fist, he had never truly seen it in action before.

Even though Satoshi Miyazaki had resolved not to back down, facing Hiashi Hyuga made him nervous. Still, he assumed a ready posture for taijutsu.

"The fight begins!" Sakumo announced and instantly appeared on the other side of the second floor.

When he declared the start, the two fighters didn't immediately engage in fierce combat like previous matches; instead, they stood motionless in place.

Satoshi Miyazaki felt somewhat taken aback because today Hiashi Hyuga was acting rather unusually, and then he suddenly jumped backward.

It was common knowledge that you should keep your distance when fighting a member of the Hyuga clan, though normally, Satoshi Miyazaki couldn't evade Hiashi's movements at all.

But today, Hiashi Hyuga didn't attack first, giving him an opportunity to create some distance. Then, several dark shuriken appeared in his hands.

These were the shuriken he had collected during his time in the Forest of Death days earlier, and now he was using them for the first time.

Shhik! Shhik!

Without hesitation, he threw all of them, even though he himself knew it wasn't really meaningful...

Indeed, Hiashi Hyuga stood rooted in place without taking a single step back, merely tilting his body slightly to dodge them.

At the same time he threw the shuriken, he started forming hand seals, albeit with some difficulty.

"This seal method is..."

Minato had memorized nearly every single ninjutsu and its corresponding hand seal from the ninjutsu scroll given to him by The Third, so he could immediately recognize what technique it was.

"Not good!"

Minato's expression subtly changed. Although it was just a C-ranked ninjutsu, given Satoshi Miyazaki's current skill level, he hadn't yet mastered it well enough to succeed.

In fact, if he messed up, it might even cause chakra-related injuries to his meridians.

Practicing ninjutsu wasn't completely risk-free.

Actually, Satoshi Miyazaki had learned this particular jutsu on the very first day when they fought against the genin Sakai. Facing Hiashi Hyuga, he dared not get close, and his Shuriken Jutsu proved utterly useless. This unmastered ninjutsu was his only hope for victory.

Minato saw through the situation, but Hiashi Hyuga naturally understood it even better—he could see the chaotic flow of chakra in Satoshi Miyazaki's body with his Byakugan.

Although Satoshi Miyazaki was slow in forming the seals, he had already created a considerable distance between them. Plus, Hiashi Hyuga initially had no intention of unleashing his full strength against him.

Under such circumstances, he once again made the opening move of the Gentle Fist. However, this time he pulled his right arm back, and the white-bandaged limb faintly revealed bulging veins.

[Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!]

With a sudden forward thrust of his right hand, chakra seemed to shoot out from his palm. Just as Satoshi Miyazaki was about to complete the final seal, that surge of chakra struck his hands, interrupting his hand seal formation.

The force also pushed his body back a few steps. However, at this moment, Hiashi Hyuga suddenly darted forward. Before Satoshi Miyazaki could react, Hiashi's left fingers struck his forehead, instantly dispelling the chakra mark.

The battle was already over. Yet on Hiashi's face appeared an expression of pain as he used his left hand to support his left arm.

"What is he..." Even Minato couldn't understand this action, although he knew that Hiashi had just saved Satoshi once.

"He used the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist technique, the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, to break Satoshi-sempai's hand seals. He did it to save him, but this move isn't easy to master. Therefore, he had forced it out prematurely. Its power was only enough to disrupt the seals, and it injured the meridians in his own arm..."

Beside them, Nawaki explained. Given his background, he naturally understood most family techniques among the Konoha families.

Satoshi was still dazed when he ended up defeated. Except for Nawaki, few people understood what Hiashi had done.

Facing Satoshi, Hiashi clenched his jaw through the pain and said, "You were too reckless. Ninjutsu you haven't practiced shouldn't be used in actual combat."

"Aren't you the same?" At this time, Sakumo Hatake appeared before the two, a slight smile visible in his eyes as he looked at Hiashi.

Compared to his father, the son truly had a warmer heart...

For someone destined to lead the Hyuga Clan someday, showing such compassion was no small feat.

...

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