A few moments later...
The afternoon breeze blew awkwardly across Training Ground Number 7 once more. The chirping of crickets began to sound, filling the gripping silence between the two shinobi.
After spewing a string of curses and screaming until his throat felt dry, Shion's embarrassment and emotions slowly began to subside. He sat on the grass, smoothing out the pleats of his sailor mini skirt with extra protective movements, as if afraid the wind would betray him again. His beautiful face, thanks to the System's magical makeup, still bore a slight blush that ironically made him look even more mesmerizing.
Across from him, Minato Namikaze stood stiff as an ice statue. The Yellow Flash of Konoha, feared by enemies on the battlefield, now hung his head in defeat, his eyes obediently staring at the tips of his own ninja sandals. He didn't dare lift his face at all.
Shion took a deep breath, steadying his heartbeat. He glared fiercely at the spiky blonde-haired man in front of him.
"So, Pervert Senpai..." Shion called out, breaking the silence and forcing his tone to sound ice-cold, "...what exactly are you doing here?"
Hearing that moniker, Minato's shoulders slumped. He pinched the bridge of his nose in resignation.
"I told you, my name is Minato... Minato Namikaze," he corrected in a pitiful voice, lifting his face slightly but keeping his gaze strictly at Shion's shoulder level and above. "And please... please stop calling me 'Pervert Senpai'..."
"Hmph!" Shion turned his face away dramatically, crossing his arms over his chest. "You clearly just peeked at me, staring at something you shouldn't have seen, and you still refuse to admit it?!"
Internally, Shion was weeping tears of blood. 'Oh God, just kill me! Why do I have to act like a virgin maiden whose honor has just been violated?! I am a man! A MAN!' he cursed in invisible despair.
But in Minato's eyes, Shion's pouting face and teary eyes looked exactly like the reaction of a young girl who was genuinely hurt and felt violated. The guilt in Minato's chest swelled even further.
"I-It's not like that..." Minato tried to defend himself, his hands fidgeting nervously. "I really didn't mean to, I swear. The wind blew so fast, and my eyes..." He trailed off, realizing that the more he explained, the more it sounded like the excuse of a professional creep. Minato let out a long sigh and finally gave up arguing. "I'm sorry."
Shion glanced at Minato from the corner of his eye. Chronologically, the man in front of him was only two years older than him. At such a young age, Minato was already recognized as one of Konoha's strongest military assets. The fact that this genius was now completely helpless before him because of an 'underwear incident' made Shion feel the irony of the situation.
"You haven't answered my question," Shion pressed, returning to the initial topic with a demanding tone. "Why are you sneaking around here?"
Minato scratched the back of his head, though it didn't itch. "Ah, well... I just returned from the border frontlines. The report was pretty heavy, so before heading to the Hokage's Office, I stopped by this training ground to clear my head for a bit. This area is usually empty around this time."
Minato paused for a moment, an awkward smile gracing his handsome face. "And then... I saw you training. Your Taijutsu movements are truly extraordinary, so elegant yet lethal. As a fellow shinobi, I was subconsciously mesmerized and decided to observe you for a while from behind the tree. I didn't have any bad intentions, really. I just... got carried away watching your movements, until you slipped."
Hearing that sincere praise, Shion's feigned anger faded slightly. His pragmatic mindset as a pain-enduring ninja slowly took over his emotions.
Shion stared intently at Minato. His mind spun rapidly. 'Wait a minute... This is Minato Namikaze. An elite Jonin, a direct disciple of one of the Legendary Sannin, and the future Fourth Hokage. I don't know if he has perfected the Rasengan in this timeline yet... but regardless, his combat strength and experience are on a terrifying level.'
Shion's Byakugan eyes narrowed slightly. 'Even if he hasn't created his iconic jutsu yet, being trained and receiving direct guidance from Minato is an absolute massive advantage! This is fair compensation for my shattered pride!'
After thinking it over calmly, Shion stood up. He brushed the grass off his skirt, then took a step closer to Minato.
"By the way, Pervert Senpai," Shion called out, his tone now much calmer, no longer screaming hysterically.
Minato flinched slightly. "Yes...?"
"You're a Jonin, right?" Shion looked up, staring straight into Minato's blue eyes with a defiant gaze typical of a ninja. "As punishment for violating me today, you must take responsibility. Please help me train."
Minato blinked several times, processing the incredibly sudden request. He had been preparing to receive a slap or be reported to the village military police, but what he got instead was a request to be a sparring partner.
Seeing the serious face of the brown-haired 'girl' in front of him, Minato exhaled the breath he had been holding in his lungs. An overwhelming sense of relief flooded his chest. If Shion had kept scolding him and crying over the underwear 'incident,' Minato genuinely wouldn't have known how to react to calm her down.
The warm, bright smile that was Minato's trademark finally bloomed on his face once more.
"Of course," Minato answered gently, patting his own chest. "If it can make up for my mistake today, I would be happy to help you train, Shion-san."
…
Seeing the fine veins bulge at Shion's temples, signaling the activation of the Byakugan, Minato's posture instantly changed. His relaxed expression evaporated, replaced by the total vigilance of an elite Jonin who was well-versed in the harsh realities of battle.
Even if the opponent in front of him was 'merely' a young Chunin, Minato knew the biggest taboo in the shinobi world: never risk fighting a Hyuga clan member in close combat. Their Gentle Fist (Jūken) could seal chakra pathways with just a single fatal touch.
Moreover, although his own Taijutsu skills were formidable, Minato was well aware that he wasn't a pure close-quarters combat type ninja. From the very beginning, his advantage had always relied on speed, reflexes, and tactics.
"Here I come!" Shion shouted.
Taking the initiative, Shion focused chakra in the soles of his feet. In a flash, his figure lunged toward Minato like a white blur slicing through the afternoon wind.
Reacting to that incredible speed, Minato immediately leaped backward repeatedly to maintain an ideal distance. Mid-air, his hands moved like lightning, throwing a volley of kunai and shuriken with complex, curving trajectories. His goal wasn't to injure, but to restrict the girl's movements and ensure Shion's deadly fingers couldn't reach him.
Facing the rain of hidden weapons, Shion weaved gracefully. Realizing his attack had been dodged, Minato, still mid-air, formed hand seals at breakneck speed.
"Fūton: Reppūshō!"
Minato clapped his hands together, firing a compressed wave of wind that hurtled fiercely toward Shion. The wind roared sharply, strong enough to send someone flying and shatter bones upon direct impact.
However, to Shion, that deadly attack was not an invisible mystery. With a Byakugan purity rivaling that of the main clan's princess, he could see the structure, pattern, and chakra flow of the wind jutsu as clearly as watching water flow in a river.
Finding the weakest point of the jutsu, Shion's hand reached into the ninja pouch on his thigh. In an instant, he drew out a pair of short black iron batons.
Behind these weapons lay a hidden agenda: he deliberately used these ordinary iron batons as replicas to cover up his true ability to create 'Black Receivers'. Shion knew full well that he couldn't just magically summon objects out of thin air in front of others right now, especially under the watchful eyes of a genius like Minato. That would only invite suspicion and endanger his own life.
Channeling a bit of chakra into his batons, Shion executed an incredibly smooth yet blindingly fast slashing motion toward the wind wave.
SWOOOSH!
An astonishing sight unfolded. Shion's baton strike precisely severed the chakra node sustaining Minato's Fūton. In an instant, the dangerous gale fell apart, dissipating into a normal, gentle breeze that was only strong enough to flutter Shion's sailor skirt and long bangs.
Minato, having just landed on the ground, was stunned. His mouth fell slightly open. 'She... cut the chakra flow of my jutsu with a physical weapon?' he thought in amazement. He just realized that a Hyuga's eyes could be used to dissect jutsu in such a manner.
However, considering the Hyuga clan was highly secretive and guarded their Dojutsu secrets with blood, it was perfectly natural that Minato was unfamiliar with this level of Byakugan application.
Not wasting the moment while Minato was momentarily stunned, Shion once again focused chakra into the soles of his feet. The ground beneath him cracked slightly as he bolted at full speed, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
Minato's blue eyes widened. Operating on reflex, he immediately drew a standard kunai and crossed it in front of his chest to parry Shion's rapid flurry of strikes using the two batons.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Sparks ignited in the air every time metal clashed. Minato was forced on the defensive against the barrage of Shion's relentless, yet highly precise, 'dancing' attacks.
"Incredible..." Minato praised amidst the exchange of blows, his face radiating genuine admiration. "This is the first time I've seen a Hyuga use batons as combat weapons, Shion-san. You all usually rely heavily on the Jūken."
While continuously pressing Minato's defenses, Shion answered in a casual tone, though he let a trace of deliberate bitterness slip into his voice. "Because I come from the branch family, Minato-senpai. The high-level techniques I am permitted to learn are extremely limited. Therefore, I had to improvise with weapons so I wouldn't run out of tricks to survive on the battlefield."
Hearing that brief explanation, Minato's movements softened slightly. Although he didn't fully understand the political complexities and the cruel system within the Hyuga clan, he could more or less grasp the underlying meaning of Shion's suffering. It made him hold a much deeper respect for the 'girl' in front of him. At an age two years younger than Minato, Shion was fighting incredibly hard to overcome the limitations of her fate.
Minato parried one final strike and leaped far back. He sheathed his standard kunai, then smiled.
"Alright, I understand your struggle. In that case, let's turn up the difficulty, Shion-san," Minato said.
Minato's hand reached into his other weapons pouch. In one lightning-fast motion, he scattered half a dozen kunai in all directions. However, these weapons were different from ordinary kunai; they had a three-pronged blade with a thick handle wrapped in a unique seal formula tag. The strange kunai lodged into tree trunks, embedded themselves in the open field, and a few landed not far from where Shion stood.
Seeing the kunai formation, Shion's Byakugan veins pulsed, and his grip on the iron batons tightened. He became vastly more focused.
It seemed the real game was just about to begin.
"Get ready, Shion-san," Minato said softly, his voice piercing the silence.
ZAP!
There was no sound of an explosive footstep. No flying dust. In a millisecond, Minato's figure vanished from in front of Shion.
Shion's eyes widened. Even with his 360-degree vision, he almost lost track of the man. However, the survival instincts forged in the hellfire of the Third World War screamed loudly in his head. A danger signal flared directly behind his back.
Minato had teleported to one of the kunai embedded in the ground behind Shion. Without wasting a single millisecond, the Yellow Flash swung his standard kunai in a horizontal slash aimed at the nape of Shion's neck.
"Ha!"
Shion twisted his body forcefully. His waist cracked under the torque of the unnatural movement. He swung the iron baton in his right hand to block.
CLANG!
Sparks flew brightly in the air. The vibration from the impact traveled from the iron baton into Shion's palm, nearly numbing his hand.
Minato raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised. "You could react to this first strike? Impressive. The Byakugan's field of vision truly has no blind spots."
"Don't underestimate the branch family, Senpai!" Shion retorted, gritting his teeth and channeling all his chakra to push back Minato's kunai.
However, Minato had no intention of a test of strength. He released the pressure instantly, causing Shion, who was exerting full force, to nearly lose his balance. At the exact same time, Minato vanished again.
ZAP!
This time he appeared mid-air, right above Shion, holding onto a kunai stuck in a tree branch. An axe kick hurtled fiercely toward Shion's head.
The brown-haired girl rolled to the side with a movement that lacked elegance but was highly effective, letting Minato's kick demolish the ground she had been standing on a fraction of a second prior. Dust and gravel flew everywhere, but the protection system of Shion's sailor outfit automatically cleaned away the dirt before it could even stain the white fabric.
Shion leaped back, creating a safe distance. His breathing grew heavy. His heart pumped blood at maximum speed.
'This is insane,' Shion roared in his mind. 'His speed violates all laws of physics. I can see his chakra flow the moment before he teleports, but my body lacks the speed to respond to it in real-time. If I keep reacting after he appears, I'll only last a few minutes before my stamina burns out!'
Minato gave Shion no time to catch his breath. He launched a relentless barrage of attacks.
ZAP! CLANG! ZAP! SWOOSH! ZAP! CLANG!
Training Ground Number 7 had now turned into a terrifying stage of yellow flashes. Minato teleported from one kunai to another with ever-increasing speed. Kunai slashes, spinning kicks, shuriken throws from blind spots—they all came raining down like an endless storm.
Shion was trapped in the center of that maelstrom. His iron batons danced wildly, parrying, blocking, and parrying again. Every time he successfully deflected an attack, his arms and shoulders felt heavier. The hem of his mini skirt fluttered, defying gravity, radiating a lethal charm that unfortunately went completely ignored by Minato, who was now fully focused on the fight.
'Think... think, Shion!' His brain spun furiously amidst the hail of deadly attacks. 'Don't look at where he appears. Look at where he comes from. No... that's not it. Look at the kunai! Focus on the kunai!'
Shion drastically changed his tactics. He forcefully ignored Minato's physical form. He focused the entirety of his Byakugan's power on the chakra network in the surrounding area. Thirty three-pronged kunai were scattered around him.
Mid-fight, Minato threw three ordinary kunai at Shion's face. Shion deflected them easily, but doing so created an opening on his left flank.
Minato smiled thinly. He targeted a Hiraishin kunai stuck near Shion's left foot.
ZAP!
However, the scene played out differently this time. At the exact moment Minato vanished from his initial position, Shion didn't wait. Instead of preparing to block, Shion swung his iron baton with full force at the empty space beside his left foot, even before Minato's figure materialized there.
THWACK!
The sound of a heavy impact echoed. Minato, who had just materialized at that spot, had absolutely not expected to be greeted by an iron baton swinging fiercely toward his ribs. He was forced to abort his attack and cross his arms to protect his chest.
Even so, the momentum of Shion's strike landed, sending Minato's body skidding back two meters, leaving two small trenches in the dirt from his sandals.
A momentary silence blanketed the field. The wind blew, scattering a few dry leaves.
Minato lowered his slightly bruised arms. His blue eyes widened, staring at the young girl in front of him with undisguisable awe.
"You..." Minato took a breath, his voice heavy with absolute admiration. "You didn't react to my appearance. You predicted where I was going to go and attacked the spot where I would be, before I was actually there."
Shion, standing panting heavily with sweat trickling down his slender neck, only managed a forced, thin smile. "I... told you... I had to improvise to survive, Senpai."
Minato chuckled, a warm laugh that radiated the pride of a teacher discovering an extraordinary student. "Being able to read and adapt to the Hiraishin no Jutsu in your first fight... Shion-san, you possess a genius-level talent for combat analysis. Even many veteran Jonin would instantly surrender against this technique."
Hearing that sincere praise, Shion's face flushed slightly. 'Dammit... why does he have to look so cool and charismatic at a time like this?! Stop praising me, you Pervert! I am a man, I won't fall for your charm!' Shion screamed internally, re-fortifying his masculine pride, which had nearly been shaken by the dazzling handsomeness of the future Fourth Hokage.
"However," Minato's expression hardened again, his aura becoming twice as dense as before. "Predicting is one thing. But execution speed is another. If you can read my movements, then I just need to move faster than your body's reflex speed can respond to that prediction."
Shion's pupils shrank. 'He's still holding back?!'
Minato raised both his hands. This time, he wasn't just relying on the kunai already stuck in the ground. He pulled out a dozen new Hiraishin kunai from his pouch and threw them into the air simultaneously in all directions. The kunai scattered across the sky, blotting out the afternoon sun.
'No footholds? He's going to attack from the air!' Shion immediately dropped into a low stance, looking up to read the chakra spikes among the dozen floating kunai.
ZAP!
A yellow flash appeared at one of the kunai above Shion's head. Shion swung his baton upward.
But before his strike could hit the target—
ZAP!
Minato teleported to another falling kunai on the right.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
Minato bounced from one falling kunai to another mid-air like light trapped in a mirrored room. He didn't attack; he merely shifted with a speed that incinerated common sense. The air around Shion vibrated violently. The sound of tearing wind echoed from all directions.
Shion's Byakugan eyes began to water from being forced to process too much information in a fraction of a second.
Chakra spike signals popped up in Shion's brain like fireworks exploding simultaneously. Right! Left! Up! Behind! Everything lit up.
'Too many... I can't guess which attack is the real one!'
Shion twisted his body, attempting to launch a Hakke Kuusho to blow away all the kunai in the air, but just as his palm moved halfway, a Hiraishin kunai plunged right past his right shoulder.
The densest chakra signal exploded from that kunai.
ZAP!
Minato materialized in a crouching position mid-air, right beside Shion's right side. His left hand caught the hilt of the falling kunai, while his right hand, holding a standard kunai, darted toward Shion's neck.
Shion's body refused to surrender. His combat instincts forced him to lean backward into an impossible position, dodging the sharp slash that passed mere centimeters from his Adam's apple (which was currently hidden by the System's magic). The tip of Minato's kunai only managed to cut a few strands of Shion's long hair fluttering in the air.
Shion had managed to dodge! He shifted his balance, preparing to counter with an iron baton swing aimed at Minato's legs.
However, in the exact second Shion felt safe, Minato's blue eyes, staring straight at him, glinted sharply.
Minato released his grip on the falling kunai, and mid-air, he threw the standard kunai in his right hand at the ground right behind Shion's heel.
ZAP!
Shion's eyes widened to their absolute limit. He had just finished a backward evasive maneuver. His posture was compromised, his balance resting entirely on his heels, and his weapon was mid-swing in the air. He had absolutely no momentum left to dodge again.
Minato appeared behind him, catching the kunai he had just thrown right before it touched the ground. With a movement that was incredibly smooth and flawless, the Yellow Flash stepped forward, closing the distance between them to zero.
The cold, sharp metal blade pressed lightly against Shion's neck, resting right above his carotid artery. Minato's left hand gently but firmly gripped Shion's right wrist—the one holding the iron baton—completely locking down his movement.
The world seemed to stop spinning. The dust slowly settled to the ground. The afternoon breeze greeted the grass once more.
The fight was over.
Shion's breathing was ragged, his chest heaving violently against his exhaustion. His heart beat wildly until it hurt. Sweat drenched his face. His Byakugan veins slowly subsided and vanished, leaving a pair of pale white eyes staring blankly ahead.
"Checkmate," Minato whispered softly from over his shoulder, pulling his kunai away from Shion's neck. The blonde man stepped back, releasing his hold and allowing Shion to regain his personal space.
Shion dropped his iron batons to the ground with a loud clatter. His legs lost their strength, causing him to fall to his knees, clutching the grass with trembling hands.
He had lost. A complete defeat.
Even though from the start, Shion wasn't arrogant enough to think that he, a Chunin from the branch family who had only acquired a System 'cheat' a few weeks ago could defeat a living legend like Minato Namikaze, the loss still tasted bitter.
Minato, realizing how hard the girl had pushed herself, slowly crouched in front of her. He reached into his pocket and offered a clean handkerchief.
"Good job, Shion-san. You were truly incredible," Minato praised sincerely, a warm smile adorning his face. "I had to use consecutive Hiraishin just to break through your defenses. It's very rare for a shinobi your age to push me this far in a sparring match. Konoha village is very lucky to have you."
Shion accepted the handkerchief with trembling hands, wiping the sweat from his face. He stared at the ground with a dim gaze. Behind his exhausted and resigned face, a storm of thoughts and regrets raged violently within his mind.
'Yes, I lost. The gap in power between us is like heaven and earth,' Shion pondered bitterly.
The Byakugan purity he possessed helped him read movements, but without techniques to complement those eyes, it was merely a navigation tool lacking adequate combat weaponry. The iron batons were nothing but a desperate makeshift solution.
'If only... if only my fate were different,' Shion bit his lower lip tightly, hatred toward the Hyuga clan system reigniting in the depths of his heart. 'If I weren't from the Bunke... if I weren't restricted by archaic rules forbidding the branch family from learning secret techniques...'
The image of one of the strongest absolute defense jutsu in the shinobi world flashed through his mind. Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven). A secret technique passed down only from the main clan to its heirs.
In the combat scenario just now, when Minato used the multi-kunai maneuver from the air and teleported from all sides, visual prediction alone was insufficient. His bodily reflexes couldn't keep up. However, if Shion could master Kaiten, everything would be different.
By emitting chakra from all the tenketsu in his body and spinning rapidly, Kaiten would create a dome of absolute defensive chakra that had no blind spots. No matter what direction Minato appeared from—whether above, below, behind, or beside—the Hiraishin teleportation would immediately crash into that chakra dome and repel the Yellow Flash.
Kaiten was the natural enemy of high speed and surprise attacks, because the technique protected the entire space absolutely, regardless of who was faster to react.
'Even though I still wouldn't win against a talented monster like Minato, at least... at least with Kaiten and the main clan's Sixty-Four Palms technique, I wouldn't lose in such a pathetic way. I could put up a real fight,' Shion closed his eyes, feeling a sting in his heart that didn't come from physical wounds, but from deep-rooted injustice.
He was trapped in the body of an outcast soldier, his fate sealed by the invisible Caged Bird Seal, only able to look at the sky from the bottom of a well.
Minato, seeing the profound sadness in the 'girl's' eyes, felt guilty. He assumed Shion was too devastated by this defeat. The blond man patted Shion's shoulder gently, an encouraging gesture from a senior to a junior.
"Don't be discouraged, Shion-san. You are still very young, your potential is limitless," Minato consoled, unaware of the actual identity struggle raging within the soul of the person before him.
Shion opened his eyes, looking at Minato's sympathetic face. He took a deep breath, deeply suppressing his anger and frustration, and forced a smile.
"Thank you for your guidance, Minato-senpai," Shion answered softly.
Inside his heart, a new resolve began to form. This bizarre and humiliating System might have stripped away his pride as a man, forcing him to wear mini skirts and stockings every day. But in order to survive, and to prove that he could not be trampled upon, Shion swore he would squeeze every single drop of advantage out of this crazy System.