The current score was tied at seven to seven.
The ninjas' battle on the green field was full of Taijutsu, ninjutsu, and even clashes of Kekkei Genkai!
Young Hashirama used the secret technique Hashirama Senju had taught him, one designed specifically to counter Dōjutsu!
Secret Technique: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!
As long as they scored one more goal during this window, then held the lead until the match ended, they would win!
"The Sharingan can't see anything!"
"Where are the Hyūga?! Can the Byakugan see it?!"
"Yes! But Naruto made a whole bunch of Shadow Clones again to confuse us! Is that kid's chakra bottomless?!!"
"Tell us the direction! We'll attack with Great Fireball!!"
While Young Madara Uchiha assigned everyone's positions and laid out their battle plan, Young Hashirama was also shouting instructions in the darkness to the young ninjas of the Uzumaki Clan and Senju Clan.
"Uzumaki Clan members, use Fūinjutsu to block Madara's Fire Release! Tobirama, you and Kakashi support Naruto!"
Young Madara shouted, "Watch Naruto Uzumaki! Don't let him score!!"
A fierce contest raged in the darkness. No one could see what was happening inside, they could only hear the young ninjas' voices and the heated commentary sent into their minds by the Yamanaka Clan.
The stubborn adult ninjas found it almost unbelievable that children from different clans could cooperate so smoothly in such a short time.
This was no longer the scheming, backstabbing power struggle of adult ninjas.
The young ninjas chosen for the green field were all under fifteen. Compared with adults who were always ready to fight to the death, their match was purer, more harmless, and in its smallest moments, far better at touching the hearts of adult ninjas whose emotions had long since hardened like iron.
For example, even though they belonged to enemy forces, the joy that Young Hashirama and Young Madara showed on the field was not something their fathers, Tajima Uchiha and Butsuma Senju, could fail to notice.
Then there were Izuna and Tobirama. These two highly capable children were willing to stand in support of their older brothers, offering their wisdom and strength to help fulfill their brothers' goals.
Madara was not good at coordination, and Hashirama was not good at planning strategies for multiple people.
Yet in just a few dozen minutes on the field, they had managed to bring together two unfamiliar clans and get them to follow their commands. The role their younger brothers played in that made men like Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, who had watched from the sidelines and were so powerful they could punch through the Ninja World's ceiling, feel a deep, aching itch in their hearts.
It really is wonderful to have a brother like Izuna/Tobirama by my side.
In the darkness, because of the Yamanaka Clan's secret technique, and because Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju were standing very close together with their thoughts strangely in sync, their thoughts were heard clearly by each other.
"The Senju-Uzumaki team scores. Eight to seven. They lead by one point."
The three referees from Ino-Shika-Chō suddenly announced the score!
Both the field and the stands were pitch-black.
They could not see at all how the Senju-Uzumaki team had scored!
Naturally, some of the audience refused to accept it!
Madara Uchiha in particular started shouting for the fatty from the Akimichi Clan to explain himself.
"Fa-tty...?"
The warm and gentle Taishi Akimichi gradually darkened.
Shikamachi Nara and Tobi Yamanaka hurried to calm him down, and only then did the match continue smoothly.
The young Uchiha Clan members on the field were, of course, just as unwilling to accept it.
Young Madara asked Sasuke, "Weren't you supposed to keep Naruto covered?!!"
"Sasuke!" Young Izuna said earnestly. "At a time like this, when you need to foul him, foul him hard! The referee can't see anyway!!"
Sasuke snapped, "What does that have to do with me?! I held Naruto back just fine!!"
"Then it was Obito!" Young Madara shouted. "Obito, did you go easy on Kakashi again?! Get your head in the game! That kid is way more elite than you!! Does he even need you to go easy on him?!"
In the stands, Adult Kakashi and Adult Obito instinctively glanced at each other. The awkwardness in their eyes did not need to be mentioned.
Young Obito inside the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique was even more embarrassed.
Although he could not see, he knew Rin was definitely watching them from the sidelines, and Kakashi was right beside him.
Do not ask how he knew Young Kakashi was beside him. The answer was intuition! The answer was biological magnetic fields!!
From the sidelines, Rin energetically cheered for her two childhood friends. "Fight! Go, Kakashi! Obito!!"
Obito gave a goofy smile toward Rin's voice in the darkness, then turned and shouted quietly through the darkness at Young Madara Uchiha.
"Don't talk nonsense!! I didn't go easy on Kakashi at all!!!"
"Then how exactly did they score?!" the Uchiha boys protested. "The referee isn't making it up, is he?!"
The Hyūga Clan boy had his Byakugan active. "No, the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Transmission Technique wouldn't make a mistake. The one who scored wasn't Naruto Uzumaki, and it wasn't Kakashi Hatake either."
"Then who was it?!"
"It was me and Tobirama~"
A teasing voice suddenly appeared beside Young Madara.
"Hashirama?!!"
Young Tobirama's calm voice held a trace of pride. "Naruto's shouting and Shadow Clones were all meant to draw your attention away. After all, he already scored several goals earlier, so it's only natural that you would instinctively run to guard against him."
Young Hashirama released the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique.
Only then did everyone else realize that the kunai in Young Tobirama's hand was actually the Second Hokage's kunai!!
"The Flying Thunder God kunai!!!"
A Young Hyūga asked, "What is that?!"
He looked at the white-haired, red-eyed boy across from him and the kunai in his hand, then asked the captain and vice-captain of his team, Young Madara Uchiha and Young Izuna Uchiha.
"Does that kunai engraved with the Senju Clan's crest have something to do with how they suddenly appeared in front of our goal with the ball just now?"
Off the field, Madara Uchiha, who was sitting in the audience, questioned Hashirama beside him. "They even learned the Flying Thunder God Technique?!!"
"No, no. Tobirama just modified the technique formula inside that Flying Thunder God kunai a little. As long as they inject their own chakra, they can teleport directly in front of your goal."
He pointed at the Uchiha-Hyūga goal, telling Madara to take a closer look.
Madara enhanced his vision with the Sharingan, and only then did he notice that the frame of the goal was also engraved with the Senju Clan's crest!!
Hashirama Senju chuckled foolishly with pride and gave Madara a thumbs-up.
"Hehe, pretty good plan, right?"
Hehe your head!!!
Madara Uchiha grabbed Hashirama Senju by the collar. "What the hell are you trying to do by carving the Senju Clan's crest on the entrance to our Uchiha goal?!"
Izuna also reasoned with Tobirama in the same way, by drawing his blade. "And you still say the Senju don't have wolfish ambitions!! You beast!!!"
Izuna Uchiha and Madara Uchiha were furious!
They should have been more ruthless before! They should have found a way to help the Young Madara and Young Izuna of this era awaken the Mangekyō!!
At the very least, they should have awakened the Sharingan!!
A miscalculation!! Those two, Hashirama and Tobirama...
They were too despicable!!!
"Referee! This."
That should count as a foul, right?!
Before Madara Uchiha could finish, Shikamachi Nara said, "What a pain. We're ninjas, after all. It doesn't count as a foul."
Izuna Uchiha could not take it anymore either!
"What about the ball?! They couldn't possibly have used the Flying Thunder God Technique to reach the Uchiha goal while kicking the ball, could they?! Carrying the ball by hand should count as a foul no matter how you look at it, right?!"
"Which eye of yours saw us carrying the ball by hand?" Tobirama Senju gave a cold snort.
Tobi Yamanaka suddenly had a flash of inspiration! He replayed the scene that had just happened on the field in everyone's minds!
This was a brand-new skill he had thought up on the spot!
It could be considered a breakthrough from rapid, uncontrolled growth!!
And because the images Tobi Yamanaka saw with his mind's eye were not affected by the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, the replay was an absolutely 8K ultra-HD restoration of every detail!
On the green field, Sasuke Uchiha was tying down Naruto Uzumaki. Young Obito, the goalkeeper from the first half, had run forward to play striker and mark Young Kakashi. The young ninja from the Hyūga Clan, Tenmon Hyūga, had been switched in as goalkeeper.
Everyone's attention was focused on sensing Naruto's side. His voice was loud, and there were so many Shadow Clones, each of them a physical body. Of course they drew everyone's attention in the darkness.
Immediately after that, the Senju brothers who had been freed from being marked began their performance!
Young Tobirama held the Flying Thunder God kunai and brought the ball to Young Hashirama, who was standing in front of the Uchiha goal!
That's right! He brought the ball with him!
The ball was stuck firmly to his foot!!!
"You haven't even learned how to climb trees with chakra? Seriously?"
Tobirama Senju's crimson eyes glanced at Izuna Uchiha beside him, his expression carrying a blatantly mocking smile.
"A brain is a wonderful thing, but unfortunately, not everyone has one."
Damn it!!!
How had they not thought of using chakra to stick the ball to themselves before?!!!
"Ref."
"What a pain. Doesn't count."
"..."~!@#￥%.
Do not ask. Asking means giving up on life!!
And the replay in their minds did not stop there!
Do not forget, the goalkeeper was a boy from the Byakugan clan! Even if he was from the branch family.
"Don't underestimate the Hyūga Clan's defense!"
"Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!!!!"
Tenmon Hyūga, a member of the branch family...
He could actually use the main family's secret technique, Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven?!!
A genius!!!
The Hyūga Clan elders watching from the stands could not help standing up!
They stared in excitement as the little soccer ball was sent flying by Tenmon Hyūga's Palms Revolving Heaven defense!
The range of that Palms Revolving Heaven was actually no worse than his older brother Tennin Hyūga's?!
It was just large enough to block the entire goal behind him. He was like a stone gate holding back ten thousand men all by itself?!!
However, in the next second!!
Bang.
The soccer ball knocked away by Palms Revolving Heaven turned into a puff of white smoke in midair and vanished?!