When Kushina returned that day, she was barely able to talk because she was so exhausted. It wasn't a surprise that she fell asleep as soon as she entered her room, crashing on her bed without changing. Minato wanted to ask what happened, but he had no chance, and the following day, Jiraiya didn't even let us sit down for a proper breakfast. While Kushina was whisked away again, this time, we were also led out of the room, escorted by our teacher. As for where we were going? I had no idea, but we were heading down a spiraling roadway, heading towards a flattened grassland.
"Sensei," I tried, immediately getting a straightforward answer.
"Yes," he said, jerking his head back, looking at us, "Both of you are coming with me for training."
"Yes, we get that," Minato blinked, looking at me, "We were more curious about what we will be doing.
"Sensei," I said, stretching my arms, "Why do I feel like it will be another fight?"
"Your senses are right," Jiraiya said with a smile, glancing at us. "Exactly what we are going to do, because morning is the best time to hit things."
"Didn't know that hitting things had a best time..." I mumbled, while Minato perked up instead.
"Who are we training with?"
"I am throwing you against Uzumaki chūnins."
"What?" That made me pause, almost stumbling over my steps, "Sensei, did I hear it right…? Plural?"
"Absolutely. Considering your levels, fighting against genins would be a waste."
Well... he was probably right, but still.... That made my throat feel a bit narrower all of a sudden. There was not much to do, so we followed him through the streets until we arrived at a circular training ground that was partially sunk into the ground itself. It wasn't flashy; no banners were flying at the edge, and luckily, no spectators were gathering either. At least, this wasn't going to be a showcase or something like that.
Those who were present weren't onlookers either, most of them wearing their clan's hadbands, which designated them as Uzumaki shinobi, mostly adults, with a few older teens, standing in loose groups around the perimeter, probably waiting for their turn in the arena. Some leaned against the stone walls, others sat cross-legged, watching the duel happening within, right until we arrived, because after that, I felt their eyes on us the moment we stepped into the open.
I hate this feeling of being assessed and evaluated like some kind of prized specimen.
"Alright," Jiraiya exclaimed, clapping his hands once as we became the focus of the locals, "We are here for the friendly spar. Boys," He turned to us, and I could tell he was hyping us up because our opponents weren't taking Konoha genins seriously. "No lethal force and no maiming. Got it? Try not to embarrass your village either, though... But I don't want to explain what happened to their shinobi after this fight, so put on some breaks! These fellow shinobi are not kage bunshins."
"Got it, Sensei," I rolled my shoulders, smiling, watching the others, noting that they thought our bravado was more than laughable.
Of course, Minato was undisturbed by it, so he simply adjusted his stance beside me, already focused on the battle, trying to read who would be our opponents. He didn't have to wait for long, and neither did I, as two Uzumaki stepped forward. They were… unimpressive. And I don't mean it in a bad way, they just... weren't. There was nothing notable besides the fact that they looked to be in their twenties.
If I had to describe them, one was broad-shouldered, more on the muscly end of the spectrum, his red hair tied back in a short knot with a set of seals tattooed along his forearms. The other was much leaner, shorter in height, with a coil of chain wrapped loosely around his waist and a somewhat bored expression on his face. Apparently, he wasn't thrilled to be sent out against us... Neither of them was, in fact.
"Kids?" the broad one asked, glancing at Jiraiya. "When I heard the higher-ups telling me to come here... I thought this was a prank. Tell me, Mister... Is this a joke? Are we to fight genins?"
"Genins?" the other added, clicking his tongue. "I heard that the guests we have asked for a friendly spar, a demonstration, but nobody said I would have to fight a pair of tiny genins. They are still wearing diapers..."
"Don't let their looks fool you," Jiraiya shrugged. "Or you will lose."
Of course, that earned a few amused chuckles from the onlookers, making me glance at Minato, who was already analyzing them. Oh boy, here we go! I just smirked at the thought, suddenly feeling like this training method was right up my alley.
"Minato," I muttered quietly. "Let's keep it clean. We are allies with them, after all."
"Of course," He nodded back at me once. "We will do it fast and decisively. This has to be only the warmup anyway. Conserve your moves for the follow-up sparring."
"Noted, boss!" I chortled and waited until they got into position, standing there, waiting for us to start... Really? Huh. So be it, but don't complain later!
I moved first, shooting sideways, cutting across Minato's line of advance, masking his body's movements before their eyes, drawing attention to myself. The broad-looking Uzumaki scoffed and stepped in to meet me, hands already glowing faintly as chakra surged around them, using something that I couldn't comprehend normally. The moment my brain recognized the issue, my Sharingan was already active, making sure I wasn't going in blind.
With a simple glance, I saw the seal activation a fraction of a second before it completed, which already meant that he was too slow, allowing me to slip past his strike, circling around him without being affected by whatever he prepared for me. More than that, focusing on me, he lost the chance to follow my partner's attackpattern, as Minato had already vanished from behind me. Even without the skill to blink, his speed and movement were so clean and precise that they looked like teleportation to anyone without trained eyes to keep track of him.
Of course, Minato's target was not the big boy, who was now wide open in the back, still at the end of his swing... We knew this was exactly what his partner expected to happen, standing ready to defend him. It was so obvious they were expecting us to gang up on one of them, so they moved accordingly. Predictable... even if they were right, that we would attack one of them simultaneously. What they miscalculated was who we were going to focus on from the get-go.
I almost chuckled, seeing his surprised look when Minato slipped past me and the big one, reappearing at the lean-bodied Uzumaki's flank and striking low, targeting his knee. The man barely reacted in time, too focused on protecting the other's back, twisting away as a chain burst from his sleeve and snapped toward Minato's torso, trying to counterattack him in a panic. Not that he had a chance to succeed, as with my dodge, I already stepped past the big one's range, my hand spread out, finishing a throwing motion. My kunai was already there, leaving my fingers faster than his chain, leaving his wrist, ringing loudly as my steel met their chakra-reinforced adamantine.
However, that was not all. I wasn't just aiming to block the chains from reaching Minato; I used the sound of the ringing as an opportunity to attack. As my Sharingan spun, I twisted my wrist and sent a pulse of genjutsu out, using the sound to affect our target, aiming to scramble his depth perception. It was a clean hit as the chain went slack, his body mistakenly calculating his next steps, planting his feet wrong, and misaligning his guard, allowing Minato to push him further back.
By then, the bigger Uzumaki finally turned around and lunged for me, his fist coming in heavy and faster than his body should allow. Still, it wasn't an issue because Minato was way faster and I was used to his speed. I ducked under his arms, stiffened my foot for support, and drove my elbow up into his ribs as a counterattack. The moment I did so, I felt something give away; it wasn't breaking per se, but for sure, I cracked some of his ribs. I knew, because the shock on his face was priceless.
Of course, Minato didn't let up either while I was preoccupied with my opponent. He was already moving in, weaving between the now-wrongly appearing chains, his movements tight. His opponent at least had some brain, because seeing him fail to capture Minato, the Uzumaki shinobi just snarled and slammed his palm into the ground.
At first, I thought it would be a summoning jutsu, but instead, a seal flared up under Minato, able to follow him, even if he broke his attack, wanting to dodge. Whatever he was doing, it clearly needed time to activate, so I abandoned my finishing move on the big one, slipping out from under him, letting him recover, and instead, I was already releasing a fireball directly at the other.
My jutsu wasn't large; it was now a smaller, but much more controlled and compressed version, forcing the Uzumaki to disengage and breaking his seal formation. The moment it disappeared, Minato used the opening instantly, appearing right in front of him again and driving his elbow into his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him, forcing him to collapse.
With him down, I also changed targets, spinning in the air like a damn ballerina, dodging two chains whizzing past my body before landing between them. Seeing that I dodged, the remaining Uzumaki shinobi roared at me while he swung again, desperation creeping in now. He was surprised we took down the other... But he wouldn't give up. He even activated his tattoos as a defensive array flickered to life around his body, my Sharingan immediately refocusing as I noticed the layered lines of chakra appearing around his body.
It wasn't anything like Susanoo, nor was it like the Raikages' jutsus in the manga... but it was similar to the latter.
I let him form it, curious how it worked and how it felt, while my Sharingan spun again, making calculations and trying to read into it, as in my mind I began to comprehend how he was doing it... what tattoo had what effect, what part of their formation did what... There. Recognizing the focal point, I stepped inside the seal's rhythm, slipped through a momentary gap, right where the reappearing chains whipped past my face. They were, this time, made out of chakra instead of adamantine, probably a weaker jutsu or something... Still, too late, buddy! I was already there before him, and I brought reinforcements. Minato, with his speed, was just a moment behind me, as if he were my shadow now, as we both aimed at his legs, kicking them out from under him, shattering his defenses. As he fell, Minato flipped over and was already on his back, kunai at his throat, while I threw another out, nailing it into the ground at the lanky one's face, just as he was trying to push himself up, nearly scratching his cheek. If I weren't so good at throwing, he would have stayed down, heh!
With our clear victory, complete silence hit the training ground... Two chūnin, lying on the ground, beaten and broken by two genins. As I scanned the spectators, multiple Uzumaki shinobi had leaned forward, some even risen to their feet. Nevertheless, one thing was clear in all of their eyes: They were alerted, recalculating everything they thought they knew about us.
"Again," someone muttered, apparently volunteering to fight us while Minato and I just exchanged glances, retreating to a new starting position, watching as our sparring partners were switched out.
"Careful," Jiraiya chuckled, but this time, it was aimed at us, "They'll start taking you seriously now. Don't get cocky!"
"I can feel that..." I murmured, seeing that those who we beaten down weren't looking angry at all... even if they were groaning now. Instead, they were impressed, which I did not expect to see on their faces. Huh... that's... new.
As for our next opponent, who was alone this time, he scanned us, stopping to gaze at my Sharingan before nodding.
"I had never fought against an Uchiha, but I heard a lot." He stated, cupping his hands before getting into a fighting stance, and the chakra he released made my eyes start spinning. "This will be educational."
"This will be tricky," I muttered, making Minato nod, deadly serious with a slight, cheeky smile on his face.
"But not impossible..." He whispered back, making me smile, too.
Indeed. Even with the difference in the amount of chakra between him and us... That alone meant nothing.