"Minato, announce the result!"
Tsunade called out to Minato, who had retreated to the spectator stands after giving the start signal. She then began walking disappointedly toward the competitor's tunnel.
"Then, the result of this duel is—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
Tsunade also sensed the gaze from behind. She whirled around... The previously vacant-eyed Kuro, who had been staring at the sky, had now lowered his head and was looking directly at her.
Moreover, both the color of his eyes and their expression had changed.
Kuro's pupils were black, cold, and emotionless. But now they were a wine-red, filled with a sense of... amusement.
It was the playful, predatory gaze of a cat spotting a mouse. The aura radiating from him had become utterly different… aggressive and intense, making even the air feel thick and heavy.
"What's going on?"
A young attendant felt the shift in atmosphere but didn't understand its source. He swallowed hard.
No one answered him.
Everyone felt the oppressive energy saturating the air. They feared that blinking might cause them to miss a crucial moment. Even the Third Hokage wore a deeply serious expression, not bothering to ask what was happening.
Only Ryuji's smile grew wider.
No one here was a match for Aka. He was certain of that, at least.
Though it was perhaps unreasonable to ask her to fight Tsunade using Kuro's body while also avoiding killing the opponent... If it was her, she could undoubtedly do it.
Because she was currently the strongest Shinobi in the world.
"Is this Kuro... that powerful?"
Karura noticed the change in the spectators and shifted her gaze to the arena... Kuro was still embedded in the wall, but his opponent, Tsunade, now showed a grave expression.
This clearly indicated something.
'Even if I had been the one fighting, I couldn't have caused such a reaction...'
…
"Tch. You can still fight?"
Gone was Tsunade's earlier casual demeanor. She stared intently at Kuro, her expression serious. "I'm glad you can keep going, but I just wanted to vent some frustration. I didn't plan on getting dragged into a tough fight."
"Getting beaten up can also relieve frustration."
Contrary to Tsunade's expectation, 'Kuro' actually responded to her, making her eyes widen in surprise.
If his earlier silence wasn't an act, then this guy was just a closet exhibitionist.
No, not that. It was more like he had become a different person.
Seeing the look in 'Kuro's' eyes, Tsunade revised her initial thought... 'His personality seemed to have completely changed from before.'
Thud!
'Kuro' strained and yanked his left arm free from the wall. With another effort, his right arm came loose as well.
Then, he pressed both palms against the wall on either side, pushed hard, and leaped down to the arena floor.
The Sunagakure's Shinobi in the stands erupted into cheers, shouting their encouragement with all their might.
'Kuro' seemed completely unaffected. He closed his eyes, familiarizing himself with this body. A flood of data and information streamed into his awareness.
'Physical fitness: average.'
'Chakra Nature: Lightning.'
'Core combat style:... Nin-Taijutsu?'
'No wonder he lost so badly. With this body's constitution, even just moderately enhancing cells with Lightning Chakra would push it to the limit. Using a full Nin-Taijutsu style wouldn't be very effective.'
'Sensory ability: Broad-area search type, not detailed insight. Useless for the current situation.'
'Condition: Three ribs fractured. Will impede movement.'
'Standard Ninjutsu repertoire includes...'
"I really am being looked down on."
Seeing 'Kuro' muttering to himself after freeing himself, Tsunade snorted coldly and took a step forward.
Her movement wasn't particularly fast, but the power behind it was immense.
With a single step, the ground beneath her cracked in several directions. She seemed to shoot forward, covering the over twenty-meter distance in just three strides. Her right fist, enveloped in concentrated Chakra, aimed a devastating blow straight at 'Kuro's' head.
'Kuro' seemed oblivious, still muttering with his head down, making the spectators hold their breath.
Whoosh!
The fist was lightning-fast, arriving in the blink of an eye.
But at the very instant before impact, 'Kuro' moved.
His body erupted with electrical light. His legs bent, his body sank into a crouch while his head snapped to the left. The fist passed by so close it almost grazed the tip of his nose.
"Impossible!!"
Spectators from both sides shot to their feet, exclaiming in disbelief. Those from Konoha instinctively looked toward a stunned Minato.
Dodging an attack when it's mere millimeters from your skin is nearly impossible... In a fight between equals, no one's raw speed can outpace an already-launched punch, unless it involves instantaneous, teleportation-like movement.
This was why the Konoha's spectators instinctively looked at Minato... Because dodging at the absolute limit and counterattacking was his signature tactic.
Dodging at the extreme limit wasn't for showmanship. It was strategic. In that moment, the attacker believes the hit is guaranteed, and their guard drops significantly.
A counterattack launched then is almost certain to land. Even a Kage-level opponent, encountering this for the first time, could easily fall victim to it.
It was similar to the Second Hokage's favored feigned-retreat tactic, but far more extreme and dangerous.
But Minato's neural reflexes were inhumanly fast.
What was impossibly risky for others was routine for him. Combined with the Flying Thunder God Technique's spatial teleportation, it made him nearly unbeatable.
However, there was a crucial however.
Setting aside Minato's freakish reflexes, he also had the Flying Thunder God Technique for teleportation to execute this tactic fully.
The complete process involved: engaging the enemy, strategically placing Flying Thunder God's markers through the fight, performing the extreme-limit dodge to lower the enemy's guard, then teleporting to a blind spot for the finishing strike.
Yet this 'Kuro' had achieved the same visual effect using only Lightning Attribute Chakra to enhance his speed.
What did this mean?
Could 'Kuro's' raw speed rival the Flying Thunder God's instantaneous teleportation?
Of course not.
Even within a confined space, no pure speed could match the instantaneity of spatial teleportation.
'Kuro' accomplished this through computational power rivaling a supercomputer, calculating the shortest, most optimal evasion path in a fraction of a second.
Coupled with even more perverted reactions and the burst of speed from Lightning Chakra's cell activation, he naturally achieved this feat.
…
The reactions of those outside the arena did not affect the two combatants within.
After narrowly evading the attack, 'Kuro' immediately launched a counterattack, much like Minato's usual pattern.
Still in a crouch, the lightning around his body intensified. His right hand formed into a knife-hand, wreathed in crackling lightning, and thrust upward. His legs straightened in the same instant, propelling the hand-strike faster toward its target.
But Tsunade was no amateur, and she had seen Minato's pattern before... While she hadn't expected 'Kuro' to employ a similar tactic and thus was somewhat caught off guard, 'Kuro' also wasn't attacking from a blind spot via instant teleportation like Minato would.
Therefore, she managed to react in time.