The medical-nin, who clearly enjoyed a good spectacle, grinned as he tossed over his own ninja pouch together with Yuya's.
"You two, catch!"
Gojo Yoru and Minato Namikaze each reached out, caught a pouch cleanly, and strapped it on with practiced ease. Neither of them fumbled. Neither of them hesitated.
Then, facing each other once more in the open space, they raised their hands and formed the seal of opposition.
"Please guide me well."
The words fell in unison.
Before Yuya could even finish calling for the match to resume, both boys moved at exactly the same time. Their hands flashed to their waists. Three shuriken came flying out from each side, slicing through the air toward the other, while their owners immediately chased behind them with kunai already drawn.
The students around the field watched with widened eyes.
In the narrow space between breaths, Gojo and Minato tracked not only each other, but also the crossing trajectories of all six shuriken. Their eyes were terrifyingly steady. Their reactions were so sharp that it felt less like two children fighting and more like two mirrors reflecting one another.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The incoming blades were knocked aside almost in the same instant.
And then the two black blurs collided.
From the point of view of the other fourth-years, Gojo Yoru and Minato Namikaze seemed to vanish from several meters away and reappear in the middle of the field, where steel flashed and sparks almost seemed ready to leap from the clash of their weapons.
The pace of the exchange was dazzling.
At their age, most students had not even been allowed to use kunai in practical combat, yet the two of them handled the weapons as naturally as if they had been born with them in hand. Every parry, every sidestep, every counterattack was clean and measured. The grace of it made the fight resemble not a children's brawl, but a duel between seasoned swordsmen.
The medical-nin who had suggested this no-rules match a moment ago could no longer smile so casually.
His expression had gone rigid.
What kind of joke is this? Are these really just two fourth-years?
Even Yuya's back had stiffened. His eyes stayed locked on the field, his body subtly angled forward, ready to leap in at any second and forcibly stop the fight if anything went wrong.
These were the two students he was proudest of. He refused to let carelessness ruin either one of them.
Close-quarters combat was cruel that way. One flicker of distraction, one tiny mistake, and the outcome could be decided in a heartbeat.
In that regard, Gojo Yoru had the edge.
After only a few exchanges, he found an opening.
Their kunai collided again in a slanted cross. In that instant, Gojo's index finger slipped through the ring at the end of his kunai. Using the force of the clash, he smoothly turned the weapon from a reverse grip into a forward grip, then slashed straight toward Minato's chest with a move so sudden it felt almost unnatural.
Anyone else would have been caught.
Minato Namikaze's body, however, seemed to react on pure instinct. The moment he saw the shift in Gojo's grip, chakra burst into his feet. Before the blade could even reach him, he disappeared in a blur.
Gojo did not look surprised.
The instant Minato vanished, Gojo spun and hurled his own kunai toward the eight o'clock direction behind him.
Clang!
Another kunai appeared out of nowhere and met it head-on.
The weapons bounced away, tumbling across the dirt.
Then the rhythm of the battle changed.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Kunai gave way to fists, elbows, knees, and legs. The duel turned into a savage taijutsu exchange, and this time Gojo seized the advantage even faster than before.
The difference in physique was too obvious.
At this age, girls often developed earlier than boys. Gojo Yoru, who had already shot up to a full one point six meters, was only about a head taller than Kushina Uzumaki. But compared to Minato, the difference was even more pronounced—close to twenty-five centimeters.
That gap in height brought with it a gap in reach, weight, and sheer leverage.
Minato blocked one of Gojo's whip-like kicks with both arms, and the force alone nearly tore his stance apart. His whole arm went numb on the spot. His center of gravity shifted, and he almost toppled sideways from that single impact.
Shock flashed through Minato's eyes.
In just one year… how had Gojo's strength grown this much?
He did not hesitate. Borrowing the recoil, Minato sprang backward to open distance.
Before he had even landed, his hands were already moving through seals.
The moment Yuya and the medical-nin saw the very first sign, both men's expressions changed.
Gojo, who ranked among the top students in academics as well and had memorized the standard hand-seal sequences long ago, recognized the nature instantly.
Wind Release.
His own hands moved just as fast.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Two voices rang out almost together.
Minato landed, cheeks swelling as he inhaled and then blasted out a violently compressed stream of wind. In an instant it expanded into a roaring wave of pressure, invisible and brutal, surging across the field like a formless beast.
At the exact same moment, a thick square slab of earth erupted upward in front of Gojo.
The gale smashed into stone.
Boom!
Dust and debris exploded outward. The impact sent gusts whipping across the playground, forcing the students watching nearby to raise their arms over their faces. Clothes flapped. Hair flew wild. Several of them even staggered backward.
Yuya and the medical-nin both let out quiet breaths.
"As expected," the medical-nin murmured. "He can use elemental ninjutsu already."
"Genius," Yuya said under his breath.
Because the violent wind had not yet fully dispersed, Minato was unable to take advantage of his own attack and use the Body Flicker Technique to dart around the earth wall for a sneak assault.
Gojo seized that fraction of time.
His fingers flashed through another set of seals.
Bang! Bang!
Two bursts of white smoke appeared out of thin air beside him.
When the dust began to thin, two figures identical to Gojo Yoru stood to his left and right.
Yuya and the medical-nin did not react much at first.
Judging by the hand seals, this should have been the ordinary Clone Technique, the most basic of academy techniques. Illusory bodies. No substance. No threat except as a distraction.
If Gojo had used the Shadow Clone Technique instead, they would have intervened at once.
But what happened next made both men's eyes widen.
As the last of the wind died down, all three Gojos burst out from behind the earth wall together and charged straight at Minato.
Minato's pupils narrowed.
He reached into his pouch, drew out three shuriken, and flung them at the three approaching figures without hesitation. He wanted to confirm whether Gojo was truly using an advanced clone technique or merely trying to bluff with illusions.
The real Gojo tilted aside and let one shuriken slip past him.
The other two figures did not dodge at all.
The blades pierced straight through their bodies.
Yet neither illusion burst into smoke.
Neither vanished.
Minato's heart skipped.
Not normal clones.
By then, Gojo was already on top of him.
Minato gritted his teeth and rushed forward instead of retreating. His thoughts raced. If the real body was hidden elsewhere, then all three of these were bait. If not, then something was very wrong with those phantom images.
Gojo's fist came straight in.
Minato sidestepped and let it pass. At the same time, he whipped a backfist into Gojo's chest with perfect timing.
His hand passed right through.
No resistance. No impact. Nothing.
Yet the shuriken had already proven that this was not a simple illusion that would break on contact.
Then where was the real body?
Could it be that all three were false, and the real Gojo was concealed somewhere out of sight, waiting for the moment Minato's attention fractured?
That thought had only just formed when a fist suddenly expanded in his vision.
One of the "phantom" Gojos had already closed in.
Minato's expression changed violently.
In that instant, he understood.
Too late.
Bang!
The punch landed squarely on his face.
His handsome features twisted under the force. The impact did not merely snap his head to the side—it sent his entire body flying, feet leaving the ground as he was hurled backward across the field in a spray of dust.
A collective gasp ripped through the crowd.
The students froze, stunned by the sheer violence of the hit.
And yet, for Gojo Yoru, that punch was only the beginning.
The moment Minato was blasted backward, the other two figures moved as well.
One blurred toward Minato's landing point. The other cut across from the side, sealing off escape. Their movements were too coordinated, too natural, too lethal for ordinary illusions.
The medical-nin's scalp tingled.
"What exactly is that technique…?"
Yuya did not answer. He was staring so hard his eyes were beginning to ache.
Because he had realized it too.
These were not shadow clones. They were not simple phantoms either.
They were something in between—illusory images with enough presence to mislead perception, survive being pierced, and coordinate with the real body in motion. A body-flicker feint taken to a monstrous level. A moving mirage. A phantom hidden inside speed itself.
Phantom Body Flicker Technique.
No one had named it yet.
But the idea of the technique had already imprinted itself in every witness's mind.
Minato hit the ground, rolled, and forced himself upright before the follow-up assault could fully close on him. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. One side of his face was already swelling.
Yet even now, his blue eyes remained bright.
Bright—and utterly focused.
He understood at last where the danger lay.
Gojo's frightening part had never been only his speed, or his strength, or even his talent with ninjutsu.
It was that he kept evolving.
Every time they met again after some interval, the boy standing opposite him would have become more terrifying than before. More complete. More impossible.
And Minato could feel it more clearly than anyone.
Gojo Yoru had not challenged him to a no-rules duel merely because he wanted to win.
He had challenged him because he regarded Minato as the only opponent here worth unveiling this much to.
A strange heat rose in Minato's chest.
The pain in his face. The numbness in his arms. The pressure of facing a rival who seemed to be sprinting farther and farther ahead—none of it frightened him.
Instead, it lit a fire.
He straightened.
Across from him, the three Gojos advanced in silence, one real and two false, yet each one carrying enough presence to make the students watching feel their scalps go numb.
Gojo Yoru's icy blue eyes met Minato's once more.
That gaze said everything.
Show me what else you've got.
Minato wiped the blood from his lip and smiled.
Then he lowered his center of gravity and raised his guard again.
The real duel was only starting.