22 22. One Vs Four
'Speaking of the Kura clan, that little kid has some potential. Perhaps he can revive the legacy of his clan.'
Hiruzen rubs his chin as he ponders about the future development of Yuji.
'He is still a budding potential. I heard from Tsunade that the kid received the legacy of the Kura clan. I will wait for him to graduate from the academy if he still retains his talent; then perhaps he can earn a spot in the anbu.'
Hiruzen turns his attention to Sakumo.
"You did well, Sakumo. Continue to monitor the situation at the borders. I will discuss this with the village elders and send some reinforcement to the border. We can't maintain a passive position for long."
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Sakumo bows and leaves the office with his subordinates.
"Hmm… Sakumo is a person with great potential. He has enough strength and contribution to support the village. Perhaps he can become my successor as the Fourth Hokage. However, the village elders are in favor of my students over him. Still, I want to groom him as one of the candidates for the position."
Hiruzen jots down something on a few scrolls. He hands them over to an anbu member.
"Relay the message to village elders. I will hold an emergency meeting."
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" The Anbu grabs hold of the letter and disappears from the Hokage Office.
"Sigh… back to paperwork!" Hiruzen stares at the stack of papers.
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"That was quite delicious! I am almost full." Choza rubs his stomach after eating his fill of the fishes.
"We would be surprised if you aren't." Shikaku shakes his head.
"You almost ate the same amount as all of us combined!" Nawaki points a finger at Choza.
"Hehe…" Choza scratches his head in embarrassment.
"It was so good that I couldn't hold back."
Choza turns to Yuji and hands him the Shoyu bottle.
"I don't have much use for this since I don't know how to cook. So, I will give it to you. Just let me eat some fish from time to time."
Yuji stores the bottle in his bag.
"Only on the condition that you have to catch the fish on your own."
"Deal!"
"Now what's next?" Shikaku cleans his teeth with a toothpick.
"I would like to take a nap!" Choza lies down against a boulder.
Zzzz…
Soon, loud snoring noises echo in the surroundings as Choza enters a slumber.
"…"
"He is quite a fast sleeper!"
"Don't mind him. I want to fight against Yuji. I think today is the day I beat him up for real!" Nawaki clutches his fist.
"Sure, why not!" Yuji apathetically answers him.
"Hey! At least show some interest. You are hurting my confidence, yakow!"
"Then, come at me!" Yuji gestures to him.
"Haah, I will gladly take that challenge."
A few seconds later,
Swish… whoosh…
Nawaki is lying down on the ground with Yuji holding his hands at his back.
"That was fast!" Shikaku stares in amazement.
"Yuji was holding back!" Minato points towards one of Yuji's arms, which was sticking behind his back the entire time.
"He just used his left hand to subdue Nawaki. That's impressive!" Shikaku notices the difference in ability.
"That's not all!" Minato shakes his head.
"Even both of us combined can't force him to use his other hands."
"What?" Shikaku's eyes widen.
"He is that good!"
"Of course!"
"Why don't all of you come at me at once?" Yuji challenges them while loosening his grip on Nawaki.
"All of us… you mean all four of us?" Nawaki stands up and dusts his clothes.
"Yes, all four of you!" Yuji stares at Nawaki, Minato, Kushina, and Shikaku.
'I want to see how far can I push myself without using any technique from my past life. I have noticed it before, but the martial arts technique from my past life are far more refined than the combat arts of this world. However, it only holds if the chakra isn't involved. However, once chakra comes into the picture, the sheer power of these techniques leaves all the martial arts techniques from my past world in the dust.
There were some martial techniques involving ki in my world, but such techniques were very rare and hard to come by. I did fight a few shinobi, ki practitioners, and chakra awakeners in my past world. But their techniques were rigid and were lacking most of the time. Perhaps it's due to the fact that most of their teaching was lost in time.
However, fighting against a few kids without any chakra is a piece of cake for me. I will only use one hand during this practice. I can circulate chakra within my body to strengthen it, but it's still not possible for me to expel the chakra out of my body.'
Yuji recalls a practice session with Nawaki and Kushina a few days ago. Tsunade helped them during the chakra training. She taught them hand signs to expel chakra from the body to use a jutsu.
Minato, Nawaki, and Kushina were able to use some small jutsus after much practice. He was the sole exception who couldn't even expel a shred of chakra from his body. When he attempted the hand signs for a wind release jutsu, his chakra became as dense as lead and refuse to budge within his body, much less expel from his body.
'I am still not sure of the reason, but Tsunade-san and Old Granny Mito told me that I have no talent for traditional Ninjutsu.'
Yuji closes his eyes and focuses his senses on the four kids around him.
Swoosh… whoosh…
He dodges a sidekick from Kushina and ducks down to avoid a roundhouse kick from Nawaki.
"Yoshaa!" He grabs Minato's sneak attack from a tricky position and throws the latter using his own momentum.
Whoosh…
Minato performs a backflip and lands on the ground.
Haah…
Yuji dodges sideways and avoids a punch from Shikaku.
'Damn, and here I thought I had you." Shikaku clicks his tongue.
Oryaa…
Kushina charges at him with a punch.
Whoosh…
Yuji jumps in the air and grabs hold of her hand. He uses the momentum of her attack to gain some altitude and push her back with his feet. Kushina almost loses control of her body and trips to the ground.
"Now's my chance!"
Nawaki dashes from the side and aims a dropkick at Yuji while in mid-air.
Swish…
Yuji twists his body at an almost impossible angle and barely avoids the kick.
"What the…? How did you avoid that?" Nawaki misses his kick and slams into a nearby tree."
'Now where is Minato? He is the most dangerous among them all!" Yuji warily looks around as he lands on the ground.
Fwish…
A black shadow quickly crawls beneath his feet and merges with his shadow.
"AH!"
Yuji freezes at his place, unable to move from the spot.
Whoosh…
Minato jumps out from a nearby bush and aims his hand toward Yuji's neck.
"I lost!" Yuji raises his hand in defeat.
Phew…
Shikaku heaves a sigh of relief and the shadow binding beneath Yuji's feet vanishes. He regains control of his chakra.
"What was that? Some sort of Ninjutsu." Yuji asks Shikaku in curiosity.
"We won! So, you have to keep your promise." Kushina and Nawaki walk towards them.
"Don't worry, I will keep my word." Yuji nods at them.
"Still, what was that shadow?" He asks Shikaku again.
"Oh, that! It is a ninjutsu technique of my clan called Shadow Paralysis Jutsu. My old man pestered me to no end, so I started learning it a few days ago. I am still not good at it. But this technique allows me to paralyze someone else movements for a while. Though I will also be unable to move during that time." Shikaku scratches the back of his head.
"Still, it's my loss. I was caught off guard by your unexpected technique." Yuji accepts his loss.
"No… no… you almost managed to free yourself from the technique. I was barely able to hold myself together." Shikaku falls to the ground in exhaustion.
"If not for Minato's timely move, we would have lost the fight." Shikaku also credits Yuji's prowess.
"Is that so? Then, I guess I forced you to use your trump card." Yuji nods at him.
"So, what do you want from me?"
"I promised Nawaki to be his sparring partner. As for Minato and Kushina, I will help them with their arithmetic homework. What about you?"
"Hmm… Me!" Shikaku ponders for a while.
"I don't have anything particular to ask from you. But can you help me carry him?" Shikaku points towards a sleeping Choza.
"Him! We can just wake him, right!" Kushina stares at a sleeping Choza.
"It's impossible!" Shikaku shakes his head.
"Not even God can wake him up once he enters his sleep after stuffing his stomach. And today he ate quite a lot at that." Shikaku shakes his head.
"We won't know unless we give it a shot!"
An evil grin appears on Nawaki's face. He picks up a bird's feather from nearby.
"Muhaha… behold my tickle-no-jutsu!"
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