Before Reina had even given the signal to start the spar, Seimei had already decided how to use the battle to make Hyuga Natsumi reveal her true combat prowess.
Hyuga Natsumi was a genius. He did not doubt it.
If everything he had heard about her was correct, then she could outmatch many average full-fledged Jonin. In short, in terms of combat prowess, she should be a competent, above-average Jonin, but still a fair distance away from stepping into the realm of an Elite Jonin.
Her chakra reserves, age, combat experience, and many other factors were holding her back.
But that was fine. She was still young.
Well, he and Reina were young, too. But they were kind of anomalies, so it didn't count.
Seimei wouldn't spam her with an overwhelming number of ninjutsu. That would achieve nothing.
How could you determine a Jonin's combat prowess if you thrashed him/her with the prowess of an S-rank ninja in a few moves?
He would do what his father did while battling him.
Suppress his power to just a notch above Natsumi's true combat prowess.
To determine whether she was a competent ninja, Seimei needed to test her wit, information-gathering skills, quick thinking, and tactical battle prowess.
After all, in this day and age, before reaching a certain level of power, ninja warfare was still information warfare.
So…
Sorry, Hyuga Natsumi. I may need to beat you up a bit. But don't worry, I am pretty good at medical ninjutsu. You will be fine. To compensate for emotional damage, I will even treat you to a BBQ.
Anyway…be strong. Amen!
Seimei thought inwardly and got ready to begin the battle.
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"In that case…let the battle begin."
As soon as Reina's voice echoed in the private training ground, Seimei and Natsumi both moved toward each other like arrows from the bowstrings.
Chakra flowed through Seimei's blade, making it harder and sharper.
At the same time, Natsumi's hands, covered in special chakra-enhancing gloves, glowed in a blue hue.
One look was enough to understand just how much chakra she had gathered in her hands, ready to release them all through her tenkensu (chakra point) at pinpoint accuracy—a demonstration of her mastery over Gentle Fist Technique.
In the blink of an eye, both of them, who were standing twenty meters apart, were now just a few feet away.
Seimei's blade and Natsumi's moved with the deadly intent of a carnivorous beast, aiming to take a chunk of meat from the opponent.
Seimei swung his sword upward diagonally, from left to right, targeting Natsumi's neck. And Natsumi's right hand shot forward, looking to target Seimei's chest tenketsu to disrupt his chakra flow.
Clang!
Sparks flew in the air as the blade and chakra-covered hand met each other, ending up disrupting each other's schemes.
Since Seimei was suppressing both his physical strength and his chakra to match Natsumi, the impact sent their hands flying backward.
Seimei was fine. Everything was within his calculation.
Unlike my Chakra Enhanced Strength, the Hyuga clan's taijutsu, Gentle Fist, relies on flooding and bursting chakra from a ninja's tenketsu with pinpoint accuracy. The moment my blade's edge touched Natsumi's index and middle finger, she released a burst of violent chakra from the precise point of contact, producing an effect similar to the Chakra Enhanced Strength.
Although its area damage burst power is lacking, since the chakra erupts from a very small, focused point, the Gentle Fist's penetrative and localized destructive power is no less formidable.
And it costs fewer points of chakra, a good match for the Hyuga clan ninjas.
Seimei's brain worked fast as he analyzed Natsumi's technique with ease.
He liked to overpower his opponents with sheer amounts of chakra and destructive ninjutsu. But it didn't mean he lacked tactical prowess in battle. If anything, his father, Senju Tobirama, made sure he could analyze his opponent's weak points on the fly and counterattack most efficiently.
In any case, Seimei was having fun. But his opponent, Natsumi, clearly wasn't.
When she clashed with Seimei's blade, the sheer force behind the strike already rattled her forearm's bones. Even after disengaging, she still felt lingering pain in her arm and fingers.
Is this the physical strength of the genius from the main line of the Senju clan? No, this guy's physical strength is still outrageous. I have to be careful, especially to look out for the Chakra Enhanced Strength.
No way I am engaging with that move directly.
Still, I need to increase the chakra output of my Gentle Fist Technique.
As Natsumi was reevaluating her battle plan, Seimei decisively swung his ninjato downward, targeting her left shoulder.
Natsumi acted quickly and raised her left hand.
Clang!
Sparks flew once again with a sharp sound of metal colliding with metal as the edge of Seimei's ninjato and the back of Natsumi's hand, covered in silky gloves woven with chakra metal and beast bone alloy, met, allowing Natsumi to temporarily block the sword.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Natsumi shot her right hand, which was glowing with blue chakra, at Seimei's chest once more like a viper attacking its prey.
The speed of her attack was exceptionally fast—so fast that her right hand literally blurred.
However, Seimei was faster.
Before Natsumi could land the attack, Seimei quickly moved his left hand and caught her wrist in a vice-like grip.
Seeing her predicament, Natsumi reacted quickly.
Her right leg shot upward, her boot aiming at Seimei's chin. She even felt a mere kick was insufficient and coated her boot with chakra, ready to show her new teammate what Gentle Fist felt like with kicks.
But Seimei's Tenseigan had already caught her movement the moment her leg muscle twitched before gearing into motion.
Seimei's gaze fell toward the incoming chakra-reinforced boot and then to her fair, long, toned legs.
Nice legs indeed…cough cough…I mean, what an amazing reaction speed and burst power!! She had indeed trained her leg…cough…limbs well.
Bah, what am I thinking?
It's all puberty's fault.
Seimei reined his thoughts in before they could go haywire, released his grip on Natsumi's right wrist, and quickly jumped back several meters in the blink of an eye.
And before his feet touched the ground, he grabbed several shurikens in both of his hands and threw them at Natsumi.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ten shurikens flew at Natsumi like bullets. Instead of coming in a straight line, they traveled in wide arcs before closing in toward her direction, giving her little room to dodge.
Crackle! Crackle!
And worst, the shurikens were charged with lightning-natured chakra, making them even more lethal.
Left with no choice, Hyuga Natsumi formed two hand seals at blinding speed and slammed her hands on the ground.
Earth Release: Earth-style Wall
The ground in front of Natsumi trembled, rose, and morphed into a large, sturdy wall of earth, three meters tall and four meters wide, just before the electro-charged shurikens could hit her.
Thawk! Thawk! Thawk! Thawk! Thawk!
Crack! Crack!
Ten deadly shurikens lodged deeply into the surface of the earth wall, and the lightning-natured chakra in them crackled with purple lightning sparks, damaging the wall and creating several cracks around the shurikens' point of impact.
But Seimei didn't stop with the shurikens. He was a relentless ninja who believed in never letting his opponents breathe.
So, the moment he threw the shurikens, he had already begun molding and gathering water-natured chakra in his body.
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique
A massive amount of water swirled into existence around Seimei. They twisted and swirled before forming a large, 10-meter-long, serpentine water dragon construct within less than a fifth of a second.
ROAR!
The water dragon roared and rocketed toward Natsumi's earth wall with the momentum of a speeding truck.
And just half a second after the shurikens struck the wall, the speeding water dragon slammed into the wall, crushed it, and then dived down toward Natsumi.
But Natsumi, who already had her Byakugan activated, wasn't surprised by the sudden arrival of the water dragon.
She moved back at least ten meters away in a flash just before the water dragon could hit her, causing Seimei's jutsu to miss and crack open the empty earth instead.
BOOOM…
At the same time, arcs of purple lightning flashed around Seimei's legs.
Crackle! Crackle!
Lightning Release: Thunder Body Flicker
Suddenly, Seimei's figure vanished from the spot as he dashed toward Natsumi, leaving a trail of purple lightning behind.
In less than a tenth of a second, Seimei reappeared right above Natsumi. His right hand's fingers clenched into a fist, and he gathered a substantial amount of chakra in it.
Chakra Enhanced Strength
Natsumi's pupils constricted as the punch landed on her body.
But the moment it did, Natsumi's figure transformed into a wooden log with a puff of smoke. She had clearly slipped away with the Substitution Technique.
BOOOOM…
The chakra detonated from Seimei's fist, and the wooden log burst into splinters.
At the same time, Natsumi appeared behind Seimei, gathered chakra around her right palm's tenketsu, coiled her body in a spinning motion, and thrusted the palm at his back.
Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher
A close-range vacuum shell was formed in her palm, which had enough power to crush and crumble house-sized boulders into dust.
Against most average-tier Jonin of the five major hidden villages, this one attack would have secured her a decisive victory.
Unfortunately, Seimei was not one of those mediocre Jonin-level ninjas.
He reacted quickly, twisted his body, concentrated a large amount of chakra into his elbow, and sent a backward elbow strike to intercept Natsumi's palm.
Chakra Enhanced Strength
The moment the elbow and palm met, Seimei detonated the chakra gathered in his elbow.
And the result…
BOOOOM…!!
An explosion of chakra erupted from the point where their elbow and palm collided, sending ring-like, visible shockwaves around them.
The ground beneath their feet cracked as they locked into a standstill for a brief moment.
And then, the sheer power behind Seimei's strike (which was already nerfed since Seimei limited his power to match Natsumi) sent Natsumi skidding back for a dozen meters before stopping.
Despite excellent control over her facial expression, Natsumi's face couldn't help but grimace in pain as she felt the very bones of her right forearm rattle.
Unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury of waiting for the pain to ease.
Because Seimei had already made his move.
Earth Release: Earth's Grasp
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