"Body Flicker Technique?!"
Kushina exclaimed in surprise, turning to Minato beside her. "Did you teach her that?"
Minato simply smiled and shook his head.
Swish!
Confronted by Naruto and his clones closing in from all sides, Chiharu suddenly accelerated to an astonishing speed and broke through their encirclement.
Naruto felt only a blur pass before his eyes before colliding with his own shadow clones.
Meanwhile, Chiharu, having successfully escaped, attempted to halt her momentum. It was evident she had only recently begun practicing the Body Flicker Technique—her feet left shallow marks in the ground as she struggled to stop.
"She must have learned it from one of my ninjutsu scrolls, though she hasn't quite mastered it yet," Minato explained to Kushina.
It wasn't particularly surprising to him. Both he and Shisui had mastered the Body Flicker Technique at around the same age. After all, Chiharu was the daughter of Konoha's Yellow Flash...
The collision between Naruto and his shadow clones resulted in a series of soft pops as they dispelled, leaving only his real body.
"Ouch," he groaned, rising to his feet. As he regained his composure, his eyes widened slightly as he stared at Chiharu. "That was so fast..."
Until today, Naruto had never realized just how swift his sister could be.
"Your shadow clones are still too fragile," Minato observed, appearing between Naruto and Chiharu. "With stronger clones, even Chiharu's unperfected Body Flicker Technique wouldn't have allowed such an easy escape."
"I'll keep practicing hard," Naruto nodded with a determined smile.
Minato shifted his attention to Chiharu. "The reason you can't fully control the Body Flicker Technique is your reaction speed. Starting tomorrow, you should begin training to improve your neural response time."
Unlike Naruto's enthusiastic reaction, Chiharu's delicate features formed a distinctly unenthusiastic expression.
She raised her bright eyes to Minato and said, "Dad, I haven't even graduated from the Academy yet. Isn't this training a bit premature?"
"Well..."
Minato, Kushina, and Naruto all exchanged surprised glances, their eyes widening at her response.
A curious smile formed on Minato's face. "That's true. If you don't want to train, I won't force you."
The fact that Chiharu had managed to learn the Body Flicker Technique at all was impressive. With her current abilities, as long as she maintained her performance, she would undoubtedly rank among the top graduates.
Regarding Chiharu's apparent reluctance to train intensively, neither Minato nor Kushina felt they should pressure her.
In stark contrast to Naruto's relentless drive to surpass Sasuke, Chiharu—despite her exceptional talent and academic excellence—viewed training merely as an entertaining way to pass time.
Though such an attitude might prove dangerous for an active ninja, Chiharu remained an Academy student for now. They would let her follow her own path.
"Thank you, Dad," Chiharu replied with a genuine smile.
She recognized her natural aptitude for becoming an exceptional ninja, but for Chiharu, living happily alongside her family and friends held greater importance.
Though her father stood at the pinnacle of the ninja world as its strongest shinobi, she had no desire to replicate his path.
That would be far too exhausting.
Under Minato's guidance, Naruto continued training with tremendous enthusiasm. His chakra control, once his greatest weakness, gradually became one of his strengths.
Almost imperceptibly, nearly half a year passed. Less than six months remained before Naruto and Chiharu would face their graduation exams.
At the Academy training ground, Naruto's class was engaged in simulated combat training.
Sasuke, as always, drew considerable attention, with admirers cheering enthusiastically for him.
However, unlike years past, Naruto now had his own supporters among the crowd.
On the training field, Naruto and Sasuke stood facing each other, their eyes locked in mutual challenge. Even their breathing seemed to synchronize as they prepared to spar.
"Begin!" Iruka announced.
Swish!
The moment the word left Iruka's lips, both figures vanished from their positions, moving with lightning speed and leaving only swirls of dust where they had stood.
Thud!
An instant later, Naruto and Sasuke collided, their forearms pressing against each other as they measured one another's strength.
Their movements changed almost simultaneously—each shifting their free hand from open palm to closed fist before striking at their opponent.
Sasuke's body trembled slightly upon impact. In terms of raw physical strength, he couldn't match Naruto, who had inherited Kushina's Uzumaki vitality.
A year ago, Sasuke might have compensated for this disadvantage through superior chakra control.
But in recent months, Naruto had made remarkable progress. His chakra control had improved dramatically, narrowing this gap significantly.
Swish!
Sasuke retreated strategically, but Naruto pursued him aggressively, unwilling to surrender his advantage.
With a flick of his wrist, Sasuke produced a kunai that gleamed with a pitch-black luster—not the wooden training weapons typically used at the Academy, but an authentic shinobi tool.
Abruptly shifting from defense to offense, Sasuke lunged forward, stabbing directly at Naruto with his kunai.
Naruto's reaction proved equally swift. He pulled a kunai from his sleeve and met Sasuke's attack head-on.
Clink! Clang!
The blades collided with sharp metallic sounds.
Though Academy regulations stipulated students should use wooden kunai during practice, most students in the graduating class had begun using real weapons during their sparring sessions.
Naruto and Sasuke, particularly, had advanced well beyond typical Academy students.
Across the training field, the two figures continued to clash repeatedly, their offensive and defensive maneuvers displaying remarkable discipline and technique.
The spectating students watched with wide eyes. Naruto and Sasuke had clearly outpaced most of their peers by a considerable margin.
From the sidelines, Iruka nodded approvingly. The combat skills demonstrated by Sasuke and Naruto matched or exceeded those of many Genin who had graduated a year earlier.
Their taijutsu prowess surpassed even what their teacher could demonstrate.
The close-quarters battle raged fiercely, with neither combatant gaining a decisive advantage.
However, as the match continued, Sasuke's movements and strikes gradually lost some of their initial power and speed.
Competing with Naruto in a contest of physical endurance clearly wasn't Sasuke's optimal strategy.
Finding a momentary opening, he created distance between them with several backward steps.
Whoosh!
Naturally, Naruto pursued him, but Sasuke had already launched a shuriken from his free hand.
Clink! Clank!
Naruto deflected the shuriken with his kunai, but this brief defensive action gave Sasuke the time he needed. When Naruto looked up, Sasuke was already forming hand seals at remarkable speed.
Recognizing the danger, Naruto attempted to retreat, but before he could create sufficient distance, Sasuke completed his sequence.
Drawing a deep breath, Sasuke exhaled a series of small fireballs.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
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