Kushina Uzumaki was in an exceptionally good mood today because she was about to gain a new follower—one with remarkably high talent. This would mark her first step toward her goal of becoming Hokage.
However, Kushina didn't directly tell Minato Namikaze that she wanted to fight him. Instead, she invited him under the pretense of sparring. Recalling Minato's enthusiastic expression back then, she thought maybe she could go a bit easy on him. After all, he greatly admired her.
Plus, since Minato was about to become her very first follower, even though Kushina found him somewhat "girly" and not quite manly enough, she decided she could forgive his flaws. After all, she aspired to be the woman worthy of becoming Hokage, and a Hokage must possess great tolerance. Although she wasn't exactly clear what "great tolerance" meant, it was a phrase her Grandma Mito once jokingly told her.
To ensure today's victory would be quick and decisive, Kushina had even asked Grandma Mito for specialized training against quick and agile opponents. She had endured a lot during this training period just to prepare for this moment. Now that her preparation was complete, it was time to subdue Minato and make him her number one follower.
So, Kushina even ate an extra bowl of breakfast to celebrate in advance. She was bursting with excitement and couldn't hold it in.
After finishing her meal without cleaning up, Kushina headed out. She walked toward the training ground with light steps, her face beaming with excitement.
Arriving at the training ground, Kushina saw Minato already waiting there. She nodded approvingly, clearly satisfied with his attitude.
When Minato saw Kushina, he froze for a moment—she was simply too cute, once again capturing his attention. As Kushina approached, he snapped out of his daze and quickly greeted her in a gentle voice: "Kushina, you just arrived. Would you like to take a rest first?"
With a wave of her hand, Kushina boldly declared, "No need. Let's start right away!" But in her heart, she thought to herself: I should make him change how he addresses me. "Boss" sounds pretty good. That's decided—I'll tell him after I win.
"Alright then, Kushina. Be careful," Minato replied, his gentle demeanor shifting as his expression grew serious and his eyes turned sharp.
If Shiyu Uchiha and his teammates were here, they would have recognized this as Minato's battle-ready stance. Opponents at this point must be as cautious as possible—extremely, unfathomably cautious.
But did she even realize who she was up against? Minato was no ordinary opponent.
Furthermore, from sparring with Minato recently, Shiyu Uchiha had deeply experienced Minato's unique fighting style. Minato was a lightning-fast, quick-strike type of assassin. If your reaction lagged behind his by even a split second, the battle could be decided in an instant. His style was particularly effective against someone like Kushina, whose chakra reserves were enormous and who excelled at releasing ninjutsu like a stationary artillery unit.
The duel began, and Minato Namikaze immediately surged forward with his Shifting Body Technique, appearing directly in front of Kushina Uzumaki before she could fully react.
Although Kushina barely managed to dodge at the last moment thanks to her superior physical abilities, while evading, Minato had already maneuvered to her side, placing a kunai against her shoulder.
This was clearly the consequence of not taking the opponent seriously enough. Otherwise, given Kushina Uzumaki's strength, she still had a decent chance of victory—never would she have been defeated in a single move without even getting a chance to fight back.
At this moment, both Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze simultaneously thought the word "Impossible." Minato had grown so accustomed to sparring with Shiyu Uchiha that he'd fallen into the habit of starting fights like this, even instinctively placing the kunai on his opponent's shoulder. He also prepared hand seals for his Substitution Jutsu, wary of it being a trap.
But Kushina wasn't used to such an aggressive start—thus, within a split second, she had already lost. Facing such a result, Minato doubted for a moment whether this was just a clone, but after careful observation, he determined it wasn't.
Meanwhile, Kushina couldn't help thinking she hadn't woken up yet or had been caught in some genjutsu. She tried various ways to verify her surroundings before ruling them out one by one, yet still found it hard to believe the reality.
Nonetheless, this incident highlighted how incredible Minato Namikaze's speed was when combined with his superhuman reflexes—how sharply effective his movements could be.
However, realizing what had just happened, Minato quickly withdrew his kunai, stepped back a few paces, rubbed his head, and said with frustration, "Sorry, Kushina. I didn't mean to. Let's try again, okay?" Obviously, he knew how shocking this must have been for her.
At this moment, Kushina had countless words to say, and deep inside was a sea of bitterness—but in the end, only one word came out: "Fine."
This time, Minato decided to yield politely, letting Kushina Uzumaki take the first move.
Determined to redeem herself, Kushina decided she'd simply been careless earlier and without hesitation, used the Shadow Clone Technique to create four clones. Each held a kunai in hand—five Kushinas altogether launched coordinated attacks toward Minato Namikaze. At the same time, anticipating Minato's speed, she held back a bit of strength just in case.
As Kushina charged forward, Minato kept retreating step by step to avoid direct confrontation, all while observing her movements closely. Relying on his exceptional reaction speed, sharp judgment, and deep understanding of Kushina's fighting style, he successfully identified her true body.
Then, Minato retreated into the forest, using the surrounding environment to his advantage. Hidden from Kushina's line of sight, he rapidly formed the seal for a clone technique, creating a duplicate right where she couldn't see.
Immediately afterward, he performed the Substitution Jutsu, swapping himself with the clone. His real body quietly positioned itself behind the clone, waiting patiently and ready to use the Shifting Body Technique on Kushina Uzumaki's true form at any second.
Kushina's shadow clones realized the Minato before them was merely a replica, but there was no time left for regret. A moment later, she felt a sudden impact against the handle of a kunai striking her stomach area. She knew instantly that once again, she had failed—and not even her Shadow Clone (technique) could save her in time.
Kushina Uzumaki was feeling incredibly frustrated at this moment. Thinking back to her mood that morning when she left the house and the sharp contrast with how things turned out now, it was like *distress opens the door for even more distress—it just keeps getting worse!* She was practically on the verge of tears.
She couldn't understand how Minato Namikaze could be so powerful that he actually defeated her. Yet the facts were right in front of her—what else could she do? She held back with all her might, determined not to let those little pearls slip down her cheeks. After all, Kushina Uzumaki still had her pride.
Still, Minato kindly said, "Well then… how about we go again?" He didn't mean anything by it—he simply recalled how Shun Mizutani and Taki Tachibana would always regroup and challenge Shiyu Uchiha again after each defeat—especially when Shiyu invited them to do so.
But hearing this made Kushina feel as though Minato wasn't taking her seriously at all. In an instant, that tiny spark of anger deep within her chest burst into a roaring blaze. Without hesitation, she launched herself at Minato once more.
Minato assumed Kushina had regained her composure, so he braced himself accordingly and faced her head-on. The reason he went all-out was because he had been influenced by Shiyu Uchiha's unorthodox philosophy: giving your full effort was the greatest sign of respect for your opponent.
After thinking it over, Minato found this idea surprisingly reasonable and decided to fully embrace it. But wait a second—was Kushina even really his opponent? That was definitely something worth considering.
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