Konoha's Ninth Training Ground.
Namikaze Minato, who was in the middle of his training, noticed Uchiha Kiyo approaching. He halted his practice and greeted him with a smile.
"Kiyo? Long time no see."
"Yeah, it has been a while," Kiyo responded, his expression calm and composed.
The two had a tacit understanding and did not bring up any unnecessary topics.
"Kiyo, are you here for me? Something on your mind?" Minato asked.
"Ah, yes," Kiyo nodded. "Two days ago, I heard from Fugaku that you've made great strides recently. So, I wanted to see it for myself and have a sparring session with you."
They exchanged a few words about their experiences over the past two years before Kiyo formally proposed a duel.
Minato gave him a complex look and sighed. "Kiyo, you've changed. You weren't this aggressive before."
Kiyo only smiled. He had heard such sentiments countless times before and had long since grown accustomed to them.
His previous self had been a persona, a carefully crafted act to avoid unnecessary attention. Now that he had gained significant strength and had some means to protect himself, he was still cautious but much more assured.
Seeing that Kiyo didn't respond, Minato didn't press the matter. Instead, he nodded.
"Alright then, let's see how much you've improved over the past two years."
The two warriors moved into position, standing fifty meters apart. They performed the seal of opposition before taking their stances.
As soon as the spar began, Kiyo rapidly formed hand seals.
"Continuous Ninja Tool Creation Technique!"
With his three-tomoe Sharingan activated, Kiyo launched a barrage of kunai at Minato, each one calculated and precise.
Minato reacted instantly.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A powerful gust of wind deflected the kunai, scattering them mid-air. At the same time, Minato blurred out of sight, leaving behind afterimages in his wake.
Even with his Sharingan, Kiyo barely managed to keep up with Minato's movements.
"As expected of Minato," Kiyo muttered, eyes carefully tracking his opponent. "His Body Flicker Technique is incredibly smooth, without a hint of stiffness."
Rather than attacking recklessly, Kiyo focused his attention on analyzing Minato's movement patterns.
"Earth Release: Earth Wall!"
A five-meter-wide earth wall rose from the ground, surrounding them within a hundred-meter radius. Though not heavily reinforced, it served to disrupt Minato's seamless movement.
Kiyo surged forward, a kunai in hand. As he moved, he used his chakra to break down specific sections of the earth walls in his path, ensuring they only impeded Minato's movements while leaving his own unobstructed.
This was an advanced application of his chakra control—using obstacles to hinder speed-based opponents while maintaining his own mobility.
Though Minato was highly skilled, he had yet to fully master distance control when chaining his Body Flicker movements. Against Kiyo's strategic placement of earth walls, his flow was slightly disrupted.
Five minutes later, Minato found himself with a kunai pressed against his throat. He let out a wry smile.
"You still caught me in the end," he admitted with a sigh. "That earth wall tactic of yours is really something…"
Kiyo chuckled. "It's a strategy I developed specifically to counter speed-type ninjas. Seems like it worked well."
Minato shook his head. "You're underestimating yourself. If you hadn't been using your Sharingan to track my movements, I would have been even harder to deal with."
Kiyo remained silent for a moment before changing the topic.
While his Sharingan had indeed given him an advantage, he had yet to develop powerful genjutsu techniques. Most of the illusions he had learned were low-level ones from his clan, and he had only recently started practicing more advanced genjutsu.
But he wasn't about to admit that to Minato.
"Anyway," he said, brushing off the conversation, "this match was valuable. Your Body Flicker is still terrifyingly fast. Without the earth wall, I wouldn't have been able to keep up."
Kiyo truly admired Minato's mastery of the technique. Unlike most, Minato had managed to eliminate the stiffness that typically accompanied the Body Flicker Technique.
This was something Kiyo hoped to achieve himself.
Currently, Kiyo's Body Flicker was at the standard level—useful for traveling at high speed but impractical for combat due to the momentary stiffness it caused upon landing.
For this reason, he typically used a taijutsu-based variation that relied on explosive bursts of chakra from his legs, rather than a purely ninjutsu-based approach.
Minato, however, had achieved the perfect balance between the two.
Through observation, Kiyo deduced the secret behind Minato's technique.
Most ninjas suffered stiffness from the Body Flicker because their movement relied entirely on chakra "pulling" their body forward. This made it difficult to react immediately after using the technique.
Minato's method combined both approaches: using chakra to "pull" his body forward while simultaneously utilizing controlled bursts of chakra in his legs to enhance movement.
By reducing the intensity of the chakra pulling effect while supplementing it with leg-based bursts, he minimized stiffness and allowed his body to react mid-movement.
The more he trained, the smoother his transitions became.
"This isn't just a jutsu," Kiyo realized. "It's a seamless integration of two techniques that require constant refinement to perfect."
He also noted that physical endurance played a role. Since he had trained his body to be stronger than the average ninja, he could afford to increase the power of his leg bursts while decreasing the chakra pull.
Alternatively, he could keep the chakra pull strong and simply reinforce his body's reaction time through training.
Regardless, one thing was certain—enhancing his physical fitness would further optimize his Body Flicker technique.
As Kiyo processed these insights, Minato called out to him.
"Kiyo, you were holding back, weren't you? You didn't use any Uchiha genjutsu."
Kiyo's expression twitched slightly.
He didn't want to admit it, but the truth was… his genjutsu skills were subpar.
Aside from a few basic techniques he had adapted into disruptive moves, he had never focused much on illusion-based combat.
However, among the jutsu he had recently acquired from the Uchiha clan, there were several powerful genjutsu techniques. He planned to master them soon.
Still, that wasn't something he intended to discuss with Minato.
Feigning nonchalance, he quickly shifted the topic.
For the next few days, Kiyo continued to train with Minato.
Kiyo refined his Body Flicker technique by incorporating Minato's principles, while Minato gained valuable experience from Kiyo's advanced combat tactics and ninjutsu applications.
Minato, who had primarily relied on raw speed, learned how to integrate tactical elements into his combat style.
For instance, Kiyo's ability to subtly modify the length of his kunai using the principles of the Transformation Jutsu was an eye-opening technique.
Even the way Kiyo used the Earth Dragon Spear—a technique originally designed for direct attacks—as a domain-control weapon inspired new ideas in Minato's approach.
Though Minato specialized in speed, learning these techniques gave him an edge in battle.
In the end, their sparring sessions proved beneficial to both sides—each sharpening their abilities through their exchanges.
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