On the training ground, flashes of steel danced and the sound of clashing blades rang out without pause.
Neither Mikami Yuu nor Shisui was even ten years old yet, and neither of their bodies had fully matured, but the level of swordsmanship they displayed already far surpassed their peers. At a glance, it almost looked like a duel between true sword masters.
The sight made Rin's and Kurenai's eyes shine, a faint flush rising to their cheeks.
Even Asuma felt his heart stir and briefly entertained the urge to switch classes and become a swordsman.
Whether it was stronger or not aside…
This style of fighting was just plain cool! Maximum visual impact!
Asuma even wanted to go a step further and do something flashy. They said, "One inch longer, one inch stronger; one inch shorter, one inch more dangerous." If Mikami Yuu could make a short blade just over half a meter long look this good, then if he, Asuma, used a super-short twenty-centimeter blade, wouldn't that look even cooler and deadlier?
Yeah, decided!
As soon as he got home today, he'd talk to the old man and see if he could get a chakra metal blade made!
Then he'd give it a cool name, shock Mikami Yuu, and make Kurenai look at him in a whole new light!
Finally…
After yet another fierce clash of blades, Mikami Yuu and Uchiha Shisui each stepped back a few paces, breathing unevenly.
"Let's stop here."
Mikami Yuu spoke first. "We'll call this one a draw for now. We'll fight again next time."
[Hatake Swordsmanship: What, stopping already? Well, fine. Since you've only just started learning the sword and still aren't skilled enough, I'll let it end here this time. Next time we run into this 'Uchiha-style Swordsmanship,' I'll make sure she leaves in utter defeat!]
"Sure, sure. What is mere Uchiha swordsmanship compared to our peerless Hatake swordsmanship? Of all the sword styles I've seen, I, Mikami Yuu, declare you the strongest!"
Mikami Yuu silently flattered her exactly the way she wanted.
As expected, the shameless praise worked:
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Hmph. How many sword styles have you even seen… and who's 'our family'? Still, at least you have some eye for talent. Next time you call me out, don't let me see you make the same mistakes again.]
[Hatake Swordsmanship Affection +2]
On the other side,
Shisui slowly sheathed his blade. The fighting spirit in his eyes faded, and he returned to being that slightly shy boy.
"Before fighting me, senpai had already fought three matches and wasn't at full strength. And yet… your swordsmanship is even more unfathomable. It almost felt like you could see the future. I've learned a lot."
"Likewise."
Mikami Yuu let out a breath. "At your age, being this good is even more incredible. We should exchange pointers more often when we get the chance."
"Alright."
Shisui nodded.
As a "high-potential romance target," Hatake Swordsmanship hadn't been especially easy to raise. On average, Mikami Yuu could only gain one or two affection points a day—faster than Eight Gates, slower than Great Fireball and Healing Technique.
But after this fight with Shisui, the affection jumped by five points at once.
That put Mikami Yuu in a great mood.
He even started wondering whether he should go pick fights with a few ninja skilled in "Konoha-style swordsmanship" or other "secret sword arts," one by one, and see if he could stimulate Hatake Swordsmanship enough to push her affection up in one go.
Yeah, he'd need to plan that carefully when he had time.
For that sort of thing, Minato might actually be useful. With his status as a jōnin, he probably knew a few experts in that field. Asking them to come by for a spar shouldn't be too hard. At worst, Mikami Yuu could just buy them a couple packs of cigarettes afterward.
As for now…
"Asuma, still want to fight?"
"…Forget it."
Asuma shook his head. "You just fought this guy. You've burned too much stamina, and I'm not going to take advantage of that. Next time."
"Alright then. We'll train again next time when there's time, same training ground. Shisui, you come too."
Mikami Yuu said.
"Okay. I will."
…
Meeting Shisui was just a small interlude.
After that, Mikami Yuu and Asuma's group rested for a while, went over what they'd just practiced, and once it got late enough, everyone headed home.
Over the next ten-plus days,
Mikami Yuu's life returned to a regular rhythm once again.
Every morning, he ran a few laps to train his body.
In the mornings, he went to Konoha Hospital to listen to Tsunade's lectures, occasionally acting as free labor and helping treat some of the hospital's wounded.
In the afternoons, he trained at the training grounds, and every so often sparred with Kakashi, Shisui, and the others.
In between, he also squeezed in several D-rank missions and one C-rank mission with Rin and Obito. That C-rank mission was a much more normal one, and they handled it easily without running into any enemy ninja.
He didn't know whether Obito ever went to talk to Kakashi about White Fang, but judging from the way the two of them still interacted, nothing seemed to have changed much. It was still one idiot and one grump. The only difference was that when Obito talked back to Kakashi, his tone seemed a little less harsh than before.
Rin had learned Water Clone and Wild Water Wave from Mikami Yuu and was practicing them diligently.
As for Mikami Yuu himself, he was working hard to push the affection and proficiency of Great Fireball, Phoenix Sage Fire, Hatake Swordsmanship, and the others.
He had also tried out Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation, but ran into a couple of problems:
First, the Phantom Stage consumed more chakra than expected.
From the moment it was activated, his chakra steadily drained even if he just stood there doing nothing. It automatically dispelled after about eight to ten minutes. And if Mikami Yuu cast high-drain jutsu like Great Fireball repeatedly during that time, the duration could drop to something even shorter than an Ultra Man transformation.
That problem was both troublesome and not too troublesome.
After all, Mikami Yuu was still young and still growing, and with the Constitution increases from "romancing" jutsu, his chakra reserves would definitely keep rising.
And besides, Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation didn't have to be paired with ninjutsu. It could also be combined with Hatake Swordsmanship.
But that led to the second problem—
The same point Hyūga Hizashi had made before: even if the Three Basic Jutsu could chain seamlessly, Mikami Yuu's nervous system still needed time to react.
Substitution Technique's activation time was 0.2 seconds, and under Phantom Play, it was basically cooldown-free, meaning in theory he could strike five times a second.
But in actual combat, every large positional shift still required a moment to adjust footing, judge distance, and prepare the next attack. So in practice, Mikami Yuu could manage at most two or three strikes per second.
In a one-on-one, that was fine.
In a one-versus-many situation, though, he had to account for every enemy's position, and every landing point of Substitution needed to be weighed repeatedly. The amount of information he had to gather and process became terrifying.
It was hard to imagine how much data Minato's brain processed in those few seconds when he instantly killed fifty ninja.
The fact that his CPU didn't burn out from that could only mean the upper limit of plant-people's brain capacity in the ninja world was absurdly high…
"Looks like I really do need to find time to talk to Minato-sensei…"
"To see if he has any way to train neural reaction speed after the fact…"