"Oh? This kid's punch speed is quite fast!"
Among the onlookers, Tsunade's eyes lit up.
To be honest, she didn't actually have high hopes for Minato.
Although the talent he displayed was higher than Shinnosuke's, Shinnosuke was, after all, the Hokage's son and had been personally taught by Hiruzen Sarutobi since childhood.
In contrast, Minato clearly lacked combat experience.
This was evident from both the previous assessments and the way he had just thrown his punch.
Yet, it was precisely such a child with zero combat experience who landed a punch on Shinnosuke—who had been trained by the Hokage—right from the start...
Shinnosuke was also a bit dazed by that punch.
However, he quickly adjusted his state, attributing it to having underestimated his opponent too much.
Lightly patting his cheeks, he became much more cautious this time.
His eyes remained fixed on Minato's every move as he swiftly moved to circle behind him.
"Sigh..."
Seeing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but palm his forehead, his face full of helplessness.
He had always felt that Shinnosuke was too honest and lacked combat talent.
Therefore, when educating Shinnosuke, he often reminded him to pay more attention to the application of tactics.
Looking at Shinnosuke now, he had indeed taken it to heart, but clearly, he still couldn't understand the purpose of tactics.
Without understanding, he naturally couldn't apply them correctly.
"Flanking... Is he circling behind that child to attack, trying to force an opening?"
Orochimaru's expression was as if he had seen a rare specimen.
"Hmm, circling behind someone who is faster than himself..."
"Hey, hey, leave the Old Man some face..."
Jiraiya's mouth twitched, and he lightly nudged Orochimaru with his elbow.
Orochimaru said no more, but Tsunade, who was standing nearby, burst out laughing.
The ninjas among the onlookers also shook their heads secretly; clearly, Shinnosuke's move was as foolish as could be.
Sure enough, just as everyone expected, Minato simply turned around, and Shinnosuke's tactic was declared a failure.
Looking at Minato, who always kept facing him, Shinnosuke for a moment didn't know where things had gone wrong.
The script wasn't supposed to be like this!
Clearly, Dad and the others could always easily get behind me!
And at the end, they'd always add a cool leg sweep... Why doesn't it work when I do it?
Seeing Minato's calm face, Shinnosuke suddenly felt the pressure.
Gritting his teeth, he stopped caring about tactics and charged rapidly toward Minato!
"Phew, that's more like it..."
Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief.
No matter how poor Shinnosuke was, he had still learned basic combat patterns.
In contrast, although Minato was fast, his combat experience was definitely inferior.
For Shinnosuke, who had systematically studied taijutsu, even if he took a few punches in a frontal confrontation, his chances of winning were very high.
Just as he was thinking this, there was suddenly another crisp smack sound.
Shinnosuke clutched his other eye and stumbled back.
Not far in front of him, Minato still held the posture of having thrown a punch.
"THIS! IS! IMPOSSIBLE!"
Compared to the first time he was hit, Shinnosuke recovered quickly this time, gritting his teeth and charging at Minato again.
He swore that even if the opponent threw a Great Fireball this time, he would never retreat a single step!
Carrying a burning determination, Shinnosuke felt the blood surging in his body, and infinite power seemed to erupt from him!
"Hyaaaaaah!"
A passionate punch smashed heavily toward Minato's face.
Seeing his fist almost touching Minato's face, Shinnosuke seemed to see the dawn of victory.
He saw his victory, saw the recognition from his father, and saw Minato disappear before him at a speed he couldn't comprehend.
From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a fist striking from his side.
Feeling the sense of power from that fist, Shinnosuke's head was knocked askew, but a flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes.
He used the momentum to turn and throw a punch, but unexpectedly, it hit nothing.
At the very moment he intended to turn, Minato had already seen through his intention based on his body's rotation.
Then, like a vigorous cheetah, he flipped over Shinnosuke's head and appeared behind him just as he finished turning.
Not good!
The moment his punch missed, Shinnosuke lunged forward without a second thought.
Sure enough, just as he lunged away, Minato's fist swung through empty air.
"Phew... That was close!"
Rolling nimbly to his feet, Shinnosuke finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, that's impressive! That yellow-haired kid..."
"That kind of adaptability is something many upperclassmen don't even possess."
The watching parents were buzzing with discussion.
Hearing the praise for Minato, the pressure on Shinnosuke grew even greater.
Another charge, another dodge.
Shinnosuke completely ignored Minato's counterattacks, blindly trying to force a close-quarters struggle to deny Minato the room to use his speed.
However... his face, abdomen, limbs—except for the lethal spots, his entire body was hit by Minato, yet he still couldn't even touch the corner of Minato's clothes.
At this moment, he finally understood what his dad meant when he said there's always someone better...
"Um... is this about enough?"
Looking at Shinnosuke, whose face had swollen like a pig's head, Minato awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.
There was a significant gap in their mental ages and natural talents, which made him feel like he was bullying a child.
"Not yet! Not yet!"
Shinnosuke roared toward the sky.
"I will absolutely never admit defeat! I am the man who will become Hokage! Aaaaaah—"
"Oh! Not bad, kid! Keep it up!"
"Haha, that's right, keep going! Now that's what a ninja should look like!"
Perhaps moved by Shinnosuke's persistence in falling and getting back up again and again, the onlookers began to cheer for him, and the atmosphere suddenly became heated.
"Hmph... Good aura, but it's useless."
Tsunade crossed her arms, pushing out her heavy chest.
"Looks like I win this time."
Despite saying so, her face didn't show the slightest joy of winning; instead, it looked somewhat solemn.
Beside her, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru were also somewhat silent.
They knew Tsunade's gambling luck; she lost every time she bet, her luck being extraordinarily poor.
It wasn't that she had never won, but every time she won a bet, something bad would happen around her.
The first time she won in her life, her grandfather Hashirama Senju died.
Later, when she won again, her grand-uncle Tobirama Senju died.
While it didn't necessarily mean someone would die every time, something bad did happen every single time.
As for how serious it was, that depended on how much she won.
"Oh, don't worry, it's just winning a meal of roasted meat..."
Before Jiraiya could finish his words of comfort, Minato suddenly raised a hand in the field.
"I forfeit!"
"The winner, Sarutobi Shinnosuke!"
"What?"
Shinnosuke, who was charging toward Minato with boiling passion, stumbled upon hearing this and fell flat on the ground.
"Hah—?"
Tsunade also widened her beautiful amber eyes and opened her mouth, looking at Minato in disbelief.
After reacting, her pretty face suddenly darkened, and she instinctively rolled up her sleeves.
"Are you kidding me? Is there some mistake? This brat..."
"Calm down, calm down..."
Jiraiya quickly tried to pull Tsunade back, only to have her palm slam onto his head, nearly flipping his skull cap off.
Orochimaru chuckled.
"See, if you really lose, you won't be happy either."
Tsunade became even angrier, but since Orochimaru had used Hiruzen Sarutobi as a shield after speaking, she could only vent her rage by pummeling Jiraiya.
Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head and laughed; he hadn't expected such a twist either.
Tsunade was very angry, but someone was even angrier than her: Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
"Wait a minute!"
Shinnosuke scrambled up and pointed at Minato.
"Why are you forfeiting? You guy, I was clearly about to defeat you!"
Minato nodded.
"Isn't that just right? We stop while we're ahead..."
"That's not it at all!"
Hearing this, Shinnosuke's face suddenly turned bright red.
"By doing this... doesn't it make it look like I was just being a nuisance?"
Weren't you?
Minato was momentarily speechless.
A youth's pride is most precious, and with his personality, he couldn't bring himself to say anything harsh.
Shinnosuke clearly noticed this too, his face turning even redder, though it was mostly out of frustration.
"Does the victory of this battle mean absolutely nothing to you?"
"Um... it seems it really doesn't. I'm different from you; I don't have anything to prove."
Minato smiled apologetically.
It was just a taijutsu match; he hadn't taken it to heart at all.
Accepting the challenge was only to verify his own taijutsu level.
Continuing a battle that felt like bullying a small child had no meaning.
Moreover, the opponent was the Third's son; if he lost too miserably, it wouldn't look good for the Third.
The Third's performance in the original story was hard to judge, and Minato couldn't say for sure what kind of person he was.
So even though the power of the Glint-Glint Fruit gave him the confidence to protect himself, he wouldn't go out of his way to offend the man.
"I haven't studied taijutsu, so I'm just swinging my fists randomly.
I don't have any moves to end the fight in one blow. If we kept going, I would definitely lose."
That reason has no persuasive power at all!
If swinging randomly can beat me into this state, then what does that make me?
Hearing this, Shinnosuke roared silently in his heart.
What passion, what will, what determination—it was all an illusion!
The honor he cherished, the title of top student he was determined to get—the opponent didn't care at all and just gave it away so casually.
Doesn't this make me look like a clown?!
"Damn it!!!"
Watching Minato's departing back, Shinnosuke shouted.
"Next time, I will definitely defeat you!"
"Ah, good luck!"
Minato waved over his shoulder, not stopping his pace.
His assessment was over.
Now that he was alone at home, he had to rely on himself for food and clothing.
Although his father had saved up quite a bit of family wealth from trading over the years, enough to support him until graduation from the Ninja Academy, cooking and doing housework every day still took quite a bit of time.
Leaving the school, Minato was planning what to make for dinner when his body suddenly felt light.
A hand grabbed him by the back of his collar, lifting his feet off the ground.
"Yo... kid!"
Tsunade held Minato with one hand and put the other on her hip, her beautiful face looking somewhat dark.
"Minato Namikaze... right?"
"Senior Tsunade?"
Minato nodded, a trace of confusion on his cute young face.
"Do you need something?"
Tsk... why does a boy have to be this cute?
Looking at the sunny little boy before her, Tsunade's expression softened slightly.
She curled her lip, and most of the irritation she felt from feeling like she'd been played when Minato forfeited dissipated.
She had originally intended to scare the kid, but the opponent's appearance was too top-tier—so top-tier that before she could even act, a sense of guilt uncontrollably welled up in her heart.
But guilt aside, who in Konoha Village didn't know that she, Tsunade, had always lacked integrity?
Scaring children was her favorite thing to do!