The first battle on Arena Two, which began with a suicidal provocation from Huoguang, ended instantly under Kushina's unreasonable brute force.
The audience outside the arena was left with nothing to watch from this baffling fight.
"This young man from Iwagakure isn't good enough..."
"I thought he was a powerful ninja when I saw him use that technique to create another person!"
"I didn't expect that little girl to defeat him like this with just one move, tsk tsk..."
The clueless onlookers, seeing Huoguang being dug out of the ground by Anbu ninjas, with his broken bones and limp body, and comparing it to his performance when he first stepped onto the stage, were utterly disappointed.
"Who says not!"
"It's better to watch the matches on the other arenas! Look, that young man from Iwagakure on Arena Three, he runs so fast!"
...
Arena Three.
Motou watched opposite Minato Namikaze, or rather, he was truly looking at the strangely shaped kunai in Minato's hand.
Unlike the usual style, the kunai in Minato's hand had a fork extending from the base of the blade on each side, looking like a miniature trident.
And on the handle gripped in his palm, faint carved characters could be seen through the gaps in his fingers.
"Fussy..."
Motou sneered inwardly.
"To show off his talent in ninja tool throwing, he specifically designed the kunai to be this unique..."
"I've seen plenty of arrogant guys like you!"
"Let me show you how a true master fights with their weapon!"
After uttering a condescending taunt, Motou drew the long sword on his back, tapped the ground with his toe, and his figure blurred into afterimages as he lunged at Minato.
Facing an opponent who excelled at long-range attacks with ninja tools, close combat was the only correct choice.
This was what Motou thought, and this was what he did.
Minato was slightly surprised as he watched Motou charge at him without any preparation.
This was the first time he had encountered a ninja like Motou, who attacked immediately without even probing the opponent's situation.
Shouldn't a ninja battle begin with a barrage of ninja tools or disruptive ninjutsu, finding the opponent's weaknesses, then formulating a battle plan, and finally achieving victory?
"Is it because he's so confident in his own strength?"
"He seems like a powerful opponent!"
"If that's the case... I can't hold back either."
"Losing the first match would be too embarrassing..."
With this thought, Minato's gaze immediately turned serious.
"His speed isn't that fast, but..."
"Why isn't he guarding his back? Has he set up a trap I haven't detected?"
Filled with such doubts, Minato slowly let go of the kunai in his hand, allowing it to drop straight to the ground. At the same time, Minato's figure vanished instantly, and he appeared behind Motou with a Rasengan in his right hand.
"Huh?"
The sudden disappearance of his opponent sent a jolt of unease through Motou, who was in mid-charge.
"How can he be so fast? I thought..."
As the doubt arose in his mind, Motou sensed a powerful chakra fluctuation suddenly appear behind him.
Without time to think, Motou twisted his feet, darting to the side while fiercely swinging his long sword.
Minato's feet whirled with wind, dodging the long sword, and he instantly caught up to Motou's retreating body, pressing the Rasengan against his chest.
"Ah..."
With a drawn-out scream, Motou flew out of the arena in a spin under Minato's astonished gaze.
"This... so weak..."
After standing silently for a moment, Minato gave this speechless evaluation and slowly returned to his original position to pick up the kunai.
"Haha..."
"This old man is dying of laughter!"
In mid-air, the Nine-Tails, having witnessed Motou being instantly killed by Minato's Body Flicker Technique and Rasengan, was laughing so hard he was about to fall.
"What's going on with these two young men from Iwagakure?"
"One uses genjutsu on Kushina, the other tries to compete with Minato in speed and combat reaction..."
"I've never seen so few talented individuals like this in all my years..."
"Haha..."
Orochimaru's eyes also flashed with a hint of amusement.
"It must be that child Mitsuki who misled these Iwagakure ninjas with incorrect information."
"Since leaving Kirigakure, he's gradually regained his youthful liveliness..."
...
Below the arena, Daishi, who was on the verge of going mad from his two companions' miserable fates, glared angrily at Hozuki Mangetsu, who was locked in a fierce battle with Pakura on the ring.
"It's all his fault..."
"I thought this guy deliberately leaked the information about the Leaf ninjas to us, wanting to use us to curb the arrogance of the Leaf ninjas."
"I didn't expect it to be all false information..."
"How despicable!"
Betrayed by Hozuki Mangetsu, Daishi was enraged. After handing over Huoguang and Motou to the medical ninja, he went below Arena Four filled with hatred.
When the fight above ended, he would take advantage of Hozuki Mangetsu's depleted chakra to get revenge for his two companions.
Hozuki Mangetsu on the stage didn't care about the thoughts of some naive individuals. At this moment, he was trying to figure out how to make the serious-faced young lady who kept attacking smile.
"Scorching Release – Flowing Fire!"
Pakura, with a slight frown, spat out a large patch of scorching flames, engulfing the annoying flowing water that twisted and turned in front of her.
"Oh, so hot!"
"Miss, I'm about to boil from your passion..."
Hozuki Mangetsu poked his head out of the water flow, controlling a portion of the water to extinguish a gap in the ring of flames, and it gurgled out.
"Miss, why don't you believe what I say?"
"A beautiful girl like you would look even better if you wore your clothes properly."
Pakura's cheeks flushed slightly. In shame and anger, she kicked Hozuki Mangetsu, who was in front of her, into a splash of water.
"So spirited!"
"Miss, let's be friends!"
Hozuki's figure silently materialized behind Pakura. With one hand using the Water Release: Great Flowing Water technique to press on her shoulder, he formed his other hand into a gun shape and lightly touched her temple.
The first real physical contact between the two since the battle began made both of them shiver simultaneously.
"So hot!"
"So cold!"
Strange sensations began to blossom in the hearts of the two young boys and girls.
...
"These two children... why does it look like they're not fighting?"
A sharp-eyed spectator outside the arena noticed the state of the two and muttered to themselves with a strange expression.
"I feel the same way..."
"Seeing them, I suddenly remembered the past..."
"That year, I was eighteen, and she was also eighteen, we..."
...
Orochimaru, watching from mid-air, couldn't help but show a pleased smile at his "promising" disciple below.
"Future hero of Sunagakure, Pakura, is quite a good match..."
"Hmm?"
Orochimaru, who was plotting how to create more opportunities for these two young people to interact, suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise and looked in the direction of the Land of Wind.
"What's wrong?"
Nine-Tails, who was watching with keen interest, noticed Orochimaru's unusual behavior and asked in confusion.
"The summoning scroll I left in Rouran earlier was triggered, but it seems the fluctuation of summoning power disappeared due to insufficient chakra."
"It looks like Rouran is facing a problem she can't solve."
Nine-Tails flicked its tail, its expression becoming more confused.
"That doesn't seem right?"
"I recall you saying that the crisis in Rouran was still more than ten years away."
"Could it be..."
Orochimaru shook his head.
"I'm not sure, let's go and see!"