"Bang!"
Mikami Yuu's side kick was blocked by Hyūga Hizashi. The rebound force startled both of them slightly. Hizashi immediately steadied his stance, borrowed the momentum to spin, and his right palm—carrying a sharp ripping wind—shot straight toward the opening in Mikami Yuu's chest!
So fast!
Mikami Yuu's heart tightened.
But he'd already guessed Hizashi was far stronger than Hyūga Kamon. Surprised but not panicked, he stomped hard with both legs and retreated explosively—like a startled raccoon—leaping back seven or eight meters, barely avoiding the Gentle Fist fingertips that could seal chakra flow.
The two instantly opened several meters of distance.
First exchange—lightning-fast, a blink and it was over.
Hizashi slowly lowered the arm he'd used to block. He didn't pursue, only stared at Mikami Yuu with a look of astonishment.
"Hey… that swapping technique you used when you charged in—was that really Substitution Technique? An improved version?"
Hizashi had learned Substitution too.
The Hyūga clan simply wasn't good at the five elemental releases, but they still trained in foundational or support-oriented techniques like the Three Basic Jutsu, medical ninjutsu, and sealing.
Still, Hizashi had never seen anyone use Substitution in a way that looked like Flying Thunder God.
And…
Did you even form hand seals just now??
Substitution might be a simple E-rank technique, but precisely because it was simple, there was almost no room to optimize it further—let alone simplify it into a one-seal or seal-less technique. Even the Second Hokage, famous for streamlining hand seals, probably couldn't do something like that!
"Of course it's Substitution. What else would it be?"
Mikami Yuu answered confidently, while subtly flexing his numbed foot.
That kick had felt like he'd slammed into a steel plate—absurdly hard.
Still… after this initial probe, he'd basically confirmed that Hizashi really was just here to satisfy curiosity. There was no obvious malice or killing intent. In that case, Mikami Yuu could afford to be a bit bolder and try some new approaches.
"If you didn't see it clearly just now, Hyūga-senpai… then let's do it again."
As he spoke,
Mikami Yuu moved both hands at once, fingers filling with kunai and shuriken—then he fired them all in one burst!
"Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—!"
Seven or eight projectiles surged out together, colliding midair and borrowing momentum, drawing dizzying arcs as they blanketed Hizashi from multiple angles at the same time! The finesse wasn't close to that future four-year-old Uchiha prodigy who'd go to war, but it was still impressive.
Facing this covering attack,
Hizashi planted his feet like roots and barked, "Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"
In the next instant, his arms became a blur of afterimages. Invisible chakra wrapped his palms as he slapped, brushed, tapped, and flicked with perfect precision—like an unseen wall. The kunai and shuriken were swatted away and knocked down in rapid succession.
Clink-clink-clang-clang—the crisp sounds merged into a continuous chain.
And in the gaps between the flying weapons—
Pop!
Smoke burst again!
Mikami Yuu vanished from where he stood and abruptly appeared just one meter to Hizashi's left-front, throwing a punch toward the hollow beneath Hizashi's raised right arm—his armpit!
Hizashi didn't even turn his head. His left palm snapped back like a venomous snake, pecking toward the attacker's throat—yet it passed through nothing but a burst of smoke.
"Behind!"
Hizashi's Byakugan instantly caught the chakra fluctuation at his back. He spun and fired a sharp side kick—only for another afterimage to disperse.
"Left!"
"Right!"
Every time smoke exploded, Mikami Yuu's figure flickered out like a ghost from a defensive gap—then launched a lightning-fast ambush with fist or foot. But each time, Hizashi blocked with Gentle Fist or forced him back. The impacts of fists and feet rang without pause.
And from start to finish, Hizashi never moved more than about a meter from his spot—like a boulder standing unmoved under crashing waves.
"It's useless!"
In the midst of parrying, Hizashi shouted in a deep voice, "My Byakugan has no blind spots! No matter what direction you appear from, you can't escape its sight!"
"…"
Mikami Yuu noticed it too.
His Substitution really was fast. With the trait, casting took only 0.2 seconds—but after each cast, relocating and moving his real body still took time.
That time gap wasn't long, but against a chūnin with 360-degree vision and real combat experience, it was enough to react and counter.
Which meant…
Namikaze Minato wasn't the "Yellow Flash" merely because of Flying Thunder God itself. His abnormal nerve response speed, dynamic vision, and spatial balance were what made that technique truly terrifying.
Most people—like Genma and the other members of the Fourth's guard squad—even if they also knew Flying Thunder God, could only use it as a long-range teleportation array. They even needed three people to cast it together, and it had basically no practical combat value.
So the first hypothesis was confirmed.
Next…
It was time to test something else.
Right then,
Mikami Yuu used Substitution again, disappearing from in front of Hizashi. Immediately after, he formed seals and used Transformation Technique. Hizashi, with his back turned, reflexively swept his Byakugan vision behind him—then suddenly frowned and snapped his head around.
Where is he??
Not above. Not underground. Not around either…
Just as Hizashi's face showed shock, an utterly ordinary-looking little gray bird was flapping its wings, keeping its body positioned in the cone-shaped space behind Hizashi's right shoulder—extending from above the spine.
That was the Hyūga branch family's Byakugan's one and only blind spot.
The instant Hizashi's posture loosened—
Pop!
Smoke burst!
Mikami Yuu's real body appeared midair. His hand seals had already been completed while he was still in bird form. He drew his chest up high and blew forward:
"Fire Style… Great Fireball Jutsu!"
[Great Fireball Jutsu: Hah! Finally my turn! Seriously, watching from the side for so long was killing me… Watch me roast this smug cataract into charcoal! Burn!]
"Fwooo—BOOM!!!"
With the Spirit of Fire trait boosting him,
a blazing orange-red fireball over a meter in diameter erupted from Mikami Yuu's mouth! Scorching heat waves spread outward as it shot toward the Hizashi below, who had only just realized something was wrong!
"What?!"
Hizashi's eyes widened, pupils reflecting the rapidly expanding fireball. He hadn't seen how Mikami Yuu disappeared from his sight—and he definitely hadn't expected a C-rank Fire Style with this kind of power!
In the critical instant, Hizashi let out a low roar, chakra spinning through his entire body at an unprecedented speed—
"…Rotation!!"