"Ahhh, damn you, Sasuke!"
Naruto was controlling [Uzumaki Naruto] to chase after [Uchiha Sasuke], but since they moved at the same speed, there was no way he could catch up.
He couldn't help feeling frustrated when he remembered how he had been tricked into using his Substitution Jutsu.
The substitution had a 15-second cooldown. During those 15 seconds, if you were hit, you couldn't retaliate—unless your opponent made a mistake.
And the invincibility period after the substitution was extremely short. If you didn't catch your opponent right away, you'd lose your counterplay, and with it, your initial advantage.
The priority now was to go on the offensive and deal as much damage as possible before Sasuke's substitution was ready again.
Thinking of this, Naruto quickly chased after Sasuke and released a Secret Scroll technique—a massive stone ball falling from the sky.
[Earth Style: Rockfall]
Sasuke was struck by the stone ball, and Naruto followed up with a basic attack.
"The attack range is a straight line, huh?" Sasuke wasn't panicked. Instead, he thought about it calmly.
If he had moved off the horizontal line of the duel field earlier—say, by going up or down—could he have dodged Naruto's attack?
He didn't know what the X-axis or Y-axis was called, but he realized this through actual combat experience.
While getting hit, he glanced at his own Secret Scroll technique—it was a streak of blue-white lightning.
When training in the practice field, Sasuke had carefully tested it from far to close range.
The Lightning Strike could be used to attack slightly off a straight line, but its range wasn't as long as Naruto's Rockfall.
Sasuke patiently waited until his substitution was ready.
In the meantime, Naruto had used both his first and second abilities to deal damage, but the cost was that Sasuke could now safely initiate with basic attacks as soon as his substitution ended.
Their substitution cooldowns only differed by about two to three seconds, so when Sasuke landed a hit on Naruto, he didn't follow up with a skill—he just kept up consistent basic attacks.
"Trying to bait me again!" Naruto muttered, but his finger still hovered over the substitution key.
Sasuke continued with basic attacks, still not using any skills.
As seconds ticked by, Naruto grew impatient. If this kept up, Sasuke's substitution would be ready again.
Bang! (Substitution sound effect)
As soon as Naruto substituted out, he chased Sasuke and immediately blasted him with a Rasengan.
Sasuke twitched his fingers, trying to sidestep downward off the X-axis, but Naruto followed him with the Rasengan, stepping down as well, and launched him into the air.
"You can move like that too?" Sasuke frowned.
No choice. He had to wait for his substitution again.
But Sasuke took two more hits from Naruto's skills. His health bar was looking pretty grim.
Looks like Naruto knew exactly how important it was to pump in damage.
Afraid that too much of a health difference would be impossible to recover from later, Sasuke used his substitution as soon as it was ready.
He followed up with a Lightning Strike to seize the initiative, and immediately used Fireball Jutsu and Lion Combo to deal heavy damage.
"Now that's a substitution advantage!"
Takuya watched, clicking his tongue in amazement. Sasuke was behind in health, but his substitution cooldown was seven or eight seconds faster than Naruto's.
Although he lost the initiative at the start, his fake-out with a basic attack clearly earned him an advantage. Whether he could expand on that advantage was the key to victory.
Still...
This was one hell of an exhilarating fight!
At the same time, even though Naruto and Sasuke had only exchanged a few moves on the screen, many in the ninja world had already grasped the concept.
"Is this a round-based combat system?"
Traveling through another nation, Jiraiya raised his eyebrows, noticing the difference.
He had to admit, this style was a big departure from traditional ninja battles. In this format, Substitution Jutsu was absolutely critical.
Without substitution, you just had to take the hits.
So mastering and controlling the opponent's substitution timing, then using your own substitution at the perfect moment—this seemed to be the path to victory.
As soon as Naruto appeared, Jiraiya recognized him, but what surprised him was that Naruto actually knew how to use the Rasengan.
Had someone been training him these past few years?
Still, he looked a little clumsy—he had to use shadow clones to assist, turning what should have been an instant-cast jutsu into something convoluted.
"That kid Naruto... he's got Earth Chakra too? That Earth Style move wasn't bad," Jiraiya murmured to himself, stroking his chin.
But then, his jaw practically hit the floor.
"Wh—Sarutobi's Enma?!"
When that monkey king crashed down into the duel arena, summoned by Naruto himself, many in the ninja world were stunned.
That thing was way too iconic. Wait a minute... Had the Third Hokage already named that brat his successor?
The other villages—like Iwagakure—began to grow suspicious.
Back in the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't know what others were thinking, but he was definitely feeling a little rattled.
He wasn't against letting Naruto contract with Enma, but wasn't this all a bit sudden? Did Enma approach Naruto behind his back?
Watching his old comrade wreak havoc on the screen, the visual effects practically shaking the entire arena...
Sarutobi couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
Unlike the spectators, Sasuke—who was experiencing it all firsthand—was starting to question his entire reality.
"Wait... he just summoned like that? And that final move's range—wasn't that way too excessive?"
Sasuke watched his own character soaring high into the air, a single bead of sweat sliding down his forehead.
Naruto seized the moment to land massive damage.
Each burst of golden, critical-hit damage numbers popped up, making Sasuke's eyelids twitch nonstop.
Hiss! That looked painful!
Sasuke quickly took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down—he had a reason he had to win this match.
Bang! (Substitution sound effect)
But just as Sasuke substituted in, he froze—then burst into barely restrained joy.
Naruto, on the other hand...
"No!!!"
On the screen, [Uzumaki Naruto] suddenly summoned multiple shadow clones, unleashing a barrage of attacks on empty air within a wide area.
Naruto clutched his head and cried out in agony.
[Uzumaki Naruto: Two Thousand Combo Barrage]
He had slipped—his finger had accidentally clicked on his ultimate move instead of the Secret Scroll.
Four energy beans, gone in an instant!
"Hahaha! Naruto! You got careless again! Still, this battle… it really made me get serious. I don't think I'll forget it."
Sasuke couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from curling up as he controlled [Uchiha Sasuke] to run outside the range of Naruto's ultimate.
He could easily get out of it—the invincibility window after substitution was more than enough.
But as he closed in on Naruto after the ultimate ended, landing hit after hit...
He gradually fell silent.
Time... wasn't on his side.
Maybe he'd overthought things during the fight, or maybe he hadn't paid enough attention to the importance of shaving down the opponent's HP.
Sasuke had gambled too much. And after Naruto had used his ultimate to stall, there wasn't enough time left for Sasuke to deal the damage needed to win.
His last-ditch effort was just summoning his eagle and unleashing his own ultimate move.
Amidst flashing lightning, the match concluded.
[Time's Up]
[Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!]
Inside the small room, Sasuke's expression froze. His hands, once tightly gripping his phone, slowly loosened.
He had lost. Even though it was just a game he'd only just picked up, with only ten minutes of practice, he had still lost to that loser.
And with it, he lost a critical opportunity...
Suddenly, Sasuke noticed an emoji appearing under Naruto's avatar—a small hand gently patting a white dumpling on the head.
His expression cycled between green and red several times before he finally muttered, with an odd tone:
"That guy… is he trying to comfort me?"