Mikami Yuu guessed that since Orochimaru had shown him that scroll, he probably had newer versions in his possession too—ones corresponding to the other "limbs" of the Cell Activation Technique.
But getting those things out of Orochimaru's hands would be difficult.
And even the version Orochimaru had was probably still incomplete, unless he kept researching it all the way to completion and then chose to share the finished technique with Yuu without holding anything back… and that kind of treatment was probably reserved for Orochimaru's future "real son," Sasuke.
"…Forget it. I'll study it myself for now and ask Tsunade later."
"Anyway, it'll take a while before the affection reaches 25. I'll just try unlocking the first-stage trait first. No need to rush."
Having made up his mind, Mikami Yuu carefully rolled the scroll back up, returned it to its place, gave the secret-filled archive room one last look, then turned and left.
…
It was noon, the sun blazing overhead.
At a training ground on Konoha's southern side—
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A dense, unbroken storm of metal impacts rang out in a sharp, continuous shriek.
At the center of the field, two figures blurred together beyond easy distinction. One of them—a white-haired figure—kept flashing in and out of view in midair, short blade spinning in his hand as he launched ambushes, backstabs, and slashing attacks one after another at the golden-haired figure in the middle!
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The blade tore through the air again and again with a piercing whistle.
It was Mikami Yuu, with Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation active.
And the one serving as his sparring partner—
was Namikaze Minato.
By now, after more than a month of special training, Mikami Yuu's stamina, speed, explosiveness, and spatial balance had all improved dramatically. He could already manage three to four slashes per second. Each time he blinked into existence from an impossible angle, he immediately unleashed a ruthless, razor-sharp strike that was extremely hard to defend against.
If the person standing in front of him right now were Obito or Rin, they probably wouldn't even last ten seconds.
But Minato, from beginning to end, remained completely composed. With a single kunai in one hand, he shifted in tiny steps within an area of less than three square meters, relying on astonishing neural reaction speed to block every attack—and still had enough room to talk.
"Yuu!"
Minato's clear voice cut through the noise of clashing steel and reached Mikami Yuu's ears.
"Your Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation has definitely improved a lot. But it's still not enough!
"Against ordinary opponents, this style is more than enough to rapidly break down their defenses. But if you run into someone fast enough to react—or an enemy who specializes in enhancing their body with ninjutsu—then once they survive your opening assault, they're very likely to catch your weakness and turn the fight around…"
As he spoke, one especially crisp metallic clash rang out—
Cling!
Minato suddenly applied force, pinning down the slash Mikami Yuu had launched from a rear blind angle with his kunai. In the instant Yuu's wrist went numb, Minato used Body Flicker to appear behind him and tapped the handle of the kunai against the back of Yuu's neck.
"Like that."
"I have a technique called Spiraling Flash Super Wheel Dance Roar Type Three. It's built on a similar idea to your Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation—using high-speed movement and precision strikes to create the effect of multiple attacks.
"But the main purpose of techniques like this should be to rapidly reduce enemy numbers when you're surrounded. Once the opponent is strong enough to survive the early pressure, though, an excessively high relocation frequency can actually create openings for yourself.
"So at that point, you need to change tactics. Look for the enemy's weakness, close in at the right moment, and kill in one strike!
"That last slash you used to kill the scar-faced chūnin during the Land of Tea mission—that was a very good move. It should be some kind of burst-type secret technique, right? If the enemy doesn't know about it in advance, even some jōnin would have trouble stopping it."
"…That's true."
Mikami Yuu nodded and dispelled the Phantom Stage.
As a veteran Flying Thunder God user, Minato's opinion was very solid.
Taken by itself, Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation really did have the flaw of being unbeatable for mowing down weaker enemies, but lacking bite in high-level fights.
Sure, there weren't many people at higher levels with Minato's kind of reaction speed—but once you got to jōnin and above, most of them had at least a few tricks to defend against close-range assassination methods. Earth Release hardening techniques, all kinds of Body Flicker and clone techniques, genjutsu, and Kumogakure's "Lightning Release Chakra Mode" all counted.
Against that level of opponent, Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation alone didn't hit hard enough. He still needed to stack buffs for the "sonic-speed blade," or pair it with ninjutsu.
That was also why Minato himself had given up relying on ordinary ninjutsu and instead focused on developing the Rasengan and chakra-enhanced close combat under Wind Release.
"Oh, right."
A thought struck Mikami Yuu, and he spoke up.
"Minato-sensei, I heard you're very skilled in sealing techniques?"
"I know a little."
Minato answered modestly. "Why?"
"I was thinking…"
"If I could engrave some kind of sealing formula onto a blade, then after striking an enemy, it could instantly obstruct their chakra flow—or even directly restrict their movement—wouldn't that improve the lethality of Shadow Prison Formation to some extent?"
"And maybe… even take it a step further."
That meant coating the blade not only with a sealing formula, but also with poison and anesthetic—creating a triple-layer weakening effect. Even against a jōnin, if that created an opening of only a few tenths of a second, it might still be enough for a one-hit kill.
As soon as Mikami Yuu finished speaking,
Minato raised an eyebrow, then nodded.
"…That does make sense. In theory, what you're proposing is possible. And there really are sealing techniques that can do something like that—Sealed Binding Formation, Evil Sealing Method, and a more advanced one called Self-Cursing Seal.
"But engraving those formulas onto ninja tools, and making them trigger in real time during battle, requires an extremely high level of sealing skill. Most people couldn't manage it."
"Then—"
Mikami Yuu was about to continue when Minato smiled, his tone growing gentler.
"But if it's Kushina, then there'd definitely be no problem. My Flying Thunder God kunai were made with her help."
"You mean… Mistress?"
"Ahem, don't say things like that… not yet…"
Minato choked on his own breath and quickly waved his hands in denial, looking flustered in a rare way.
After coughing a couple of times, he continued,
"I'll ask Kushina about this for you. But Yuu, that blade of yours is borrowed from Kakashi, right? If you want to engrave sealing formulas on it, you'd better ask the owner first. Don't just decide on your own."
"And just engraving the formula alone won't guarantee a stable trigger. You also need enough understanding of sealing techniques yourself. Here's what we'll do: later I'll bring you two books first. Take them home and read them. After that, I'll try teaching you some sealing techniques and see whether you have aptitude for this field."
~~~
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