Seeing Minato grin and give a thumbs-up, Yuki Aoba almost thought he was looking at a young man in a green jumpsuit.
The mechanics of the Duel Arena were certainly not that simple, but all one needed to do was demonstrate the ability to train. The combat mode alone—pulling two people into a one-on-one battlefield—was already incredible, not to mention the lottery system. Revealing three parts while hiding seven was the key.
Thinking of this, Yuki Aoba returned Minato's gesture with a thumbs-up and grinned.
"So, Minato, let's have a tense and exciting duel!"
Minato touched the ninja tools at his waist and nodded. "Alright!"
He drew a wooden kunai, gripped it tightly, leaned forward, and took his stance opposite Aoba.
Yuki Aoba mirrored Minato's posture.
They trained together often, but not in any formal way. Aoba would share training methods from his previous life, along with combat techniques he had picked up from watching videos. Their current stances, ready to explode forward at any moment, were exactly the ones they had learned in that past life.
With just a bit of force, they could burst ahead, maximizing explosive power.
The kunai in their hands were wooden replicas from a ninja tool shop—lightweight, but modeled one-to-one after the real thing. They were cheaper and perfectly suitable for the two boys.
Aoba looked at Minato. "Minato, ready?"
"All set!" Minato replied.
At Aoba's thought, a glowing number appeared between them, beginning a countdown. An invisible force froze them in place.
3… 2… 1…
The instant the countdown ended, Minato shot forward like a cheetah, kunai in hand.
Yuki Aoba remained still, responding to all changes with calm focus.
Minato was unbelievably fast—within a heartbeat he was in front of Aoba, his arm slicing toward Aoba's chest.
Aoba narrowed his eyes, stepped back to dodge, then lunged forward and slashed at Minato's arm.
Minato reacted immediately, rolling to the side and sweeping out with a kick that barely missed. Slightly out of breath, he praised, "You're really good. Even as my opponent, you're still impressive."
He dashed toward Aoba again—but suddenly stopped.
An oversized head-patting emoji appeared above Aoba's head.
Aoba kept a straight face, though inside, he wanted to laugh.
He never expected the Duel Arena to support emojis.
Seeing Minato freeze, Aoba smirked and charged.
"Konoha-Style Secret Technique—Thousand Years of Death!"
Minato, who had stopped in his tracks, shuddered at the mention of the Thousand Years of Death, having experienced its "power" before. Even so, his expression hardened, and he rushed toward Yuki Aoba.
"Yuki! This time, I won't let you have your way!"
"Minato! Lie down!"
The two shouted as they clashed, kunai ringing against each other. Every strike targeted a vital point, neither willing to hold back.
But Minato hesitated for a split second—just enough for Aoki to seize the opening. His wooden kunai stabbed Minato directly in the waist, drawing a pained cry from him.
Wood or not, it was still a product of a proper ninja tool shop. It hurt plenty.
Before Minato could recover, Aoki raised his kunai again and jabbed toward Minato's neck. Minato tried to dodge, but it was too late. His consciousness faded to black, and a moment later he found himself back in Aoki's room.
He instinctively reached for his neck and, finding no wound, let out a breath of relief. Then he glared resentfully at Yuki Aoba. It was his first time entering the dueling arena; even though he'd been told that "death" wouldn't harm him, he still couldn't help hesitating.
And that tiny hesitation was exactly why Yuki had betrayed him.
But after experiencing the duel himself, Minato finally understood the "special ability" Yuki had been talking about.
"What a powerful ability!" Minato blurted out.
He could clearly feel that Yuki's physical strength had increased dramatically—otherwise he wouldn't have lost so easily. Usually, they were evenly matched. Minato had quick reactions, while Yuki had brute strength. Their matches were always fifty-fifty.
Was this the enhancement granted by that special ability…?
Minato wasn't foolish. He knew there were people in the village with unique talents—bloodline limits. But he never expected his friend to have one.
Meanwhile, Yuki felt a rush of joy as he sensed the chakra swelling inside him.
He had loaded the "Naruto Uzumaki (Ninja Academy)" template—but only Naruto's abilities and physique from that stage.
More importantly, each victory granted him extra chakra. The downside was that only characters who appeared in the mobile game counted.
Thankfully, nearly all canon characters had shown up in the game. In other words, defeating anyone from the original work increased his dueling victories and his chakra. Beating other people only counted as a plain win.
For example, defeating someone like Minato Namikaze or Kushina Uzumaki awarded chakra.
After this fight, Yuki Aoi finally understood how much he gained from a single victory. His template didn't give him Naruto's chakra—only his body and techniques. So the chakra increase came purely from the duel.
He had beaten Minato once, and his chakra rose by one percent.
The amount was small, but steady. With enough accumulation, one day his chakra might even rival a tailed beast's.
Seeing the exhausted look on Yuki Aoba's face, Minato asked curiously, "Did you use too much chakra?"
"No." Yuki Aoba shook his head and grinned. "Activating the duel arena barely uses anything—about one percent is enough."
"That's amazing." Minato sounded openly envious. With such low cost and such high returns, the ability was practically cheating.
After his brief frustration, Minato quickly perked up again. "I'll definitely beat you next time!"
Yuki Aoba slung an arm over Minato's shoulder, grinning widely. "Relax, relax. I'll be the Hokage in the future, and you can be my assistant."
Minato: "???"
For a moment Minato was stunned, then his face flushed with anger. "What are you talking about? I'll be the Hokage, and you'll be my assistant!"
"Alright, alright, you can be the Hokage."
Yuki Aoba nodded, recalling a certain famous scene. If Minato became Hokage in the future, and he became Minato's assistant… would that moment repeat itself?
He turned to Minato with a solemn expression, his voice dropping into a rasp.
"Minato, hand him over to me."
Then he mimicked Minato's voice: "Impossible, Aoba."
"…What are you even talking about?" Minato frowned, thoroughly disgusted.
Yuki Aoba shook his head. "You don't get it."
"This is a famous scene."
Minato didn't understand, but he was too shocked to ask. Though, being used to Aoba's occasional nonsense, he didn't dwell on it for long.