Chapter 148 Battle Intuition
While the two were exchanging pleasantries below, Onoki, seated in the VIP section, began probing Uchiha Touhuan.
"Hehe, Hokage, since this is a clash between our two direct disciples, how about we set up a wager?" Onoki chuckled.
"I wonder what the Earth Shadow wants to play?" Uchiha Touhuan asked with a light laugh.
"The Grass Village suffered heavy losses recently, and they were unable to complete their original mission quotas.
This extra quota should rightfully be distributed among the ninja villages of our two great nations. I'm sure the Hokage has noticed the increase in mission requests from the Grass Village recently."
"That's true." Uchiha Touhuan nodded.
"Then how about we each contribute 20% of our mission quotas as a wager?" Onoki suggested.
"Since the Earth Shadow wants to play, Konoha is willing to oblige." Uchiha Touhuan nodded.
"In that case, I'll be your witness." The Daimyo of the Land of Earth also joined in with a smile.
"Of course," Uchiha Touhuan nodded with a smile.
The conversation between the group made the Daimyo of the Land of Grass, sitting not far away, turn green with rage. The main character was right there, and they were using another village's mission quota as a wager between two brats?
After Uchiha Touhuan and Onoki settled on the wager, the referee announced the start of their battle.
As soon as the battle began, Naruto rapidly formed hand seals.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
Bang bang bang bang bang…
With a series of explosions of smoke, more than thirty blond-haired men instantly appeared on the arena, leaving the audience dumbfounded.
"Is this the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique created by your Second Hokage? This kid has mastered it at such a young age?" Onoki exclaimed in admiration.
"He's far from fully mastering this technique. Right now, he's just artificially creating clones with his chakra reserves. If he could control the chakra distribution of each clone, the number of shadow clones could at least double," Uchiha Touhuan laughed.
"This kid's chakra reserves are a bit unusually high," Onoki remarked.
"After all, he has the blood of the Uzumaki clan flowing through his veins, so it's normal for him to have more chakra," Uchiha Touhuan said.
"Is it just the blood of the Uzumaki clan? I think it's more than that," Onoki said pointedly.
"Of course it's more than that. This kid also inherited his father's extraordinary battle instincts," Uchiha Touhuan added.
"Is that so? Then I'll be watching." Seeing that Uchiha Touhuan refused to acknowledge Naruto's status as a Jinchuriki, Onoki could only say this.
"I'm going! Deidara-nii!" Thirty-odd Naruto shouted in unison, then swarmed forward.
Seeing this, Deidara could only pull out his clay and chew it, mumbling, "Little brother, not bad. Looks like I'll have to get serious!"
With that, Deidara spat out a flying bird. Naruto, seeing this, braced himself; he definitely couldn't withstand the power of the explosion his older brother had caused that day.
However, Deidara simply jumped onto the back of the clay bird and soared into the sky.
Naruto was dumbfounded: "How can you fly?"
"Hehe, admit defeat, little brother, you can't hit me." Deidara chuckled in the air, then pulled out a handful of kunai tied with explosive tags.
For Deidara, explosive tags, mass-produced industrial products, didn't fit his artistic vision.
He'd looked down on them two years ago, and pulling them out now was already showing Naruto mercy.
Flying through the air, Deidara shouted that art was explosions while hurling explosive tags and kunai downwards, not even bothering to aim, since the area below was swarming with blond-haired ninjas.
Naruto's dozens of clones scrambled to avoid the explosions, yelling, "That's so unfair!"
"So, little brother, if you can't hit me, you might as well admit defeat," Deidara laughed, his hands never stopping. "
The Earth Shadow's disciple is quite impressive," Uchiha Touhuan praised, "At such a young age, he's mastered many flying ninjutsu that many ninjas never achieve in their entire lives. His future strategic significance is immeasurable."
"Hehe, Hokage, you flatter me. I'll be grateful if this kid doesn't cause me any more trouble," Onoki said, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face.
"The Hokage isn't in a hurry at all. It seems your disciple has anti-air abilities, huh?" At this moment, the Daimyo of the Land of Earth couldn't help but ask, seeing Uchiha Touhuan's calm and collected demeanor.
"I haven't taught this kid anti-air ninjutsu yet," Uchiha Touhuan shook his head. "But I believe he'll find a solution himself."
"Is that so?" The Daimyo of the Land of Earth was also somewhat curious. "Does the Hokage have such high hopes for his disciple?"
"Of course," Uchiha Touhuan nodded. "After all, even I have to admire this kid's combat intuition."
On the arena, although Deidara was constantly pressuring Naruto, Naruto was handling it very well. His thirty-odd clones dodged and weaved, and so far he had only lost a few clones. Those few clones were those that were caught in the blast waves at the very beginning of the battle, when Naruto wasn't used to Deidara's attack rhythm. After gradually figuring out the blast radius of Deidara's explosive tags, Naruto's clones were able to escape the blast radius before the tags exploded each time.
"The Hokage's disciple's taijutsu is excellent," Onoki remarked. "I've heard that the Fifth Hokage earned his formidable reputation on the battlefield in the Land of Water with his wide-range lightning release ninjutsu and lightning release taijutsu.
It seems your disciple has inherited this talent. However, if he's just dodging, he'll likely lose this spar once his stamina and chakra are exhausted." Naruto realized this and began to retaliate with shuriken. However, his shuriken technique was rather atrocious. The shuriken he threw followed a straight, brute-force trajectory.
Deidara, flying through the air, could easily dodge such a shuriken with his eyes closed. Sasuke, watching from the stands, couldn't help but cover his eyes.
For him, who had learned his family's shuriken techniques from a young age, Naruto's method was a complete waste of his ninja tools.
Meanwhile, Neji, who had been observing the battle with his Byakugan activated, couldn't help but remark, "This guy probably only has the few shuriken in his ninja tool pouch. His sealing techniques can't possibly support him carrying a large number of shuriken on scrolls."
However, just then, a shadow clone below suddenly threw a kunai at Deidara in the sky.
Using the same powerful, brick-like technique as always, Deidara, without thinking, controlled his clay bird to dodge. However, after changing direction in mid-air, the kunai suddenly exploded into a cloud of white smoke, from which Naruto's figure appeared, throwing another kunai at the now-deviated Deidara before it exploded again.
"Using Shadow Clone Jutsu and Transformation Technique to briefly levitate? A clever tactic," the Earth Shadow remarked. "However, this kid still needs to work on his fundamentals. If his shurikenjutsu were a bit more refined, he might have succeeded."
However, the kunai flying towards Deidara transformed again in mid-air, repeating the same tactic, throwing another kunai before exploding.
This happened three times in a row, and Naruto in the air drew ever closer to Deidara.
"Such continuous dispelling of Shadow Clone Jutsu must be incredibly mentally taxing. Can this kid handle it?" Onoki couldn't help but ask.
Even with their Iwagakure's mainstream Earth Clone Jutsu, such continuous dispelling of clones, with the accumulated memories and sensations flooding the brain, would be too much for some veteran Jonin to bear. And Naruto was using the notoriously brain-taxing Shadow Clone Jutsu.
"Hehe, this kid's simple-minded, so this kind of Shadow Clone technique isn't too much of a burden for him," Uchiha Touhuan said.
Not only was the Earth Shadow shocked, but even Deidara, flying in the air, was dumbfounded. He also knew the Physical Clone Technique, and had even considered using it to skip class while his main body stayed home studying art.
However, after trying it once, the clone's entire day's memories flooded his brain, almost driving him crazy. His earth clone had spent the whole day at the Ninja Academy thinking about art, the amount of information was ridiculously high.
Therefore, he knew he couldn't do what Naruto was doing.
But in that instant of distraction, a kunai was already in front of him, transforming into Naruto with a bang. Naruto rushed forward and hugged Deidara, and the two of them fell from the giant bird in the air.
Seeing this, Deidara used his still-functioning hand to elbow Naruto, who was clinging to him, in the back. Thinking it was a clone, he wanted to break it and then control the clay bird to catch him. However, after two elbow strikes, Naruto's real body remained motionless.
"Damn! Is this your real body?" Deidara was stunned.
"Yeah!" Naruto chuckled in the air, clinging tightly to Deidara.
"Are you crazy?" Deidara roared, "Let go!"
"No!" Naruto held on tightly, and the two plummeted from a height of nearly fifty meters.
Uchiha Touhuan and Onoki in the stands saw this and immediately stood up. One transformed into lightning and flew out, while the other used the Light-Weight Rock Technique to fly past at high speed.
After Onoki used the Light-Weight Rock Technique to reduce their weight, Uchiha Touhuan caught the two blond-haired brats, one in each hand.
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