As soon as Tobirama's words fell, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo sprang into action.
Danzo quickly jumped backward to create a distance between himself and Hiruzen and started forming multiple hand seals in quick succession.
Danzo completed all the hand seals in just over half a second and puffed his chest, where he gathered tons of Wind Release chakra.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough"
He released a fast stream of wind from his mouth, which transformed into a massive windstorm containing hundreds of sharp wind blades.
Hiruzen wasn't idle either.
When he saw Danzo forming hand seals, he already guessed what kind of Ninjutsu he was about to perform.
So, he also started preparing his own Ninjutsu.
Just as the windstorm was about to reach Hiruzen and sweep him off his feet, he finished his hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground.
Earth Release: Earth-style Wall
A massive wall, 4 meters high and 7 meters wide, rose up right in front of Hiruzen, blocking the sharp wind blades and gusts of wind of the Wind Release Ninjutsu.
The wall suffered many cuts and cracks, but it showed no sign of shattering.
Danzo, already expecting this, performed another set of hand seals and unleashed another Ninjutsu.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Bullet"
Vacuum techniques were an advanced form of Wind Release nature transformation techniques.
Its power, penetrative, and destructive capabilities were way higher than regular Wind Release Ninjutsu, making them highly lethal.
Tobirama had already banned Danzo from using these techniques during friendly sparring without his supervision.
But since he was here now, Danzo used vacuum techniques without restriction.
Just as expected, 10 vacuum bullets released by Danzo easily penetrated the earth wall and went straight towards Hiruzen standing behind it.
Hiruzen dodged nine bullets, but the last one still pierced through his right thigh.
But Danzo was not happy.
Why?
Crack~ Crack~
Booom!
Because the moment the earth wall crumbled, he could clearly see the 'Hiruzen' who was hit turning into the earth before crumbling apart.
"Earth Clone technique? Damn it," Danzo cursed under his breath and started searching for the real Hiruzen.
Suddenly, Danzo's instinct rang alarm bells in his mind.
He gave up looking for his opponent, activated the Body Flicker Technique to flicker away from his location, and appeared 50 meters away.
He focused on his previous location, only to see Hiruzen's figure rising up from the ground, right where he was standing moments ago.
Danzo's expression turned grim. He immediately pulled out his ninja short sword from his back, used the Body Flicker Technique to arrive right next to Hiruzen, and slashed at him.
But Hiruzen reacted fast.
He blocked the sword slash from Danzo with his kunai and counterattacked.
The spar soon turned into deadly melee combat.
Danzo swung his short sword toward Hiruzen's neck from his left, and Hiruzen once again blocked it with his kunai before kicking Danzo's torso.
Danzo's reaction was lightning-fast as he brought his knee up to block the kick.
He grabbed a kunai with his left hand and stabbed it toward Hiruzen's stomach while roaring, "Take this, HIRUZENNNN!"
Hiruzen, whose kick just connected with Danzo's knee, used the reaction force of the clash, pushed his foot against the opponent's knee, and quickly jumped out of the way.
Danzo's kunai hit nothing but the air.
Not wanting to give his opponent even a moment of respite, Danzo charged forward and once again engaged in melee combat with Hiruzen.
The two exchanged hundreds of moves within the span of 30 seconds before disengaging and creating some distance.
----
While Danzo and Hiruzen were locked in a fierce duel, Tobirama appeared beside Seimei and asked, "Did you see what just happened?"
Seimei kept his eye on the ongoing duel and replied, "Yes, Father!"
"When Danzo was preparing the Wind Release: Vacuum Bullet Ninjutsu, Hiruzen either sensed or anticipated this move and swiftly created an Earth Clone to replace himself."
"Meanwhile, he used Earth Release Ninjutsu and went underground, slowly creeping in towards the location just below Danzo."
"It was likely the D-rank Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique."
"Hiruzen wanted to grab Danzo's legs and drag him underground while only keeping his head above the surface to subdue him."
"But Danzo's sharp combat instinct allowed him to avoid the danger."
"He quickly sensed something amiss and flickered away from his previous location."
Tobirama nodded in acknowledgment and said, "Good. That's exactly what happened here."
Seimei hesitated for a bit but then addressed Tobirama with a strange expression.
"But Father."
"Yes, Seimei?"
Seimei's expression became increasingly strange as he asked, "Why is Danzo shouting out the names of his moves like a fool?"
"Won't it just alert his opponent?"
"Isn't it literally saying, 'I will tell you the name of my move so prepare the countermeasure as soon as possible,' right in front of his enemies?"
"Are you sure he didn't get hit in his head or something?"
"Maybe the wet nurse dropped him to the ground right after his birth."
"Otherwise, why would he keep shouting his moves' names and other ridiculous slogans?"
Hearing Seimei indirectly curse Danzo once again, Tobirama was at a loss for words.
He couldn't refute that Danzo was shouting his moves.
He really couldn't find words to explain anything.
Besides Tobirama, Uchiha Kagami, Akimichi Torifu, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura were also speechless.
They wanted to defend their fellow disciple, but they didn't know how.
"Cough cough…I'll take care of it," Tobirama finally replied with a little embarrassment.
Seimei didn't say anything and just nodded.
----
Meanwhile, the duel between Hiruzen and Danzo was already reaching its climax.
Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu—both parties were fully utilizing every single discipline of Shinobi warfare to secure an upper hand.
Fire Release: Great Flame Technique
Hiruzen expelled a large stream of flame from his mouth that widened progressively as it blazed toward Danzo.
The temperature of the flame was so high that Danzo was already feeling the heat even when the flames were still far away from him.
Not wanting to get burned, he decisively used his best Water Release defense technique.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall"
Danzo spat out a large volume of water from his mouth, which quickly formed a defensive water curtain in front of him.
Sizzle~ Sizzle~
The flame hit the water barrier, causing the barrier to emit a sizzling sound as a large amount of water evaporated and created a large amount of mist covering both Danzo and Hiruzen.
Danzo once again formed hand seals to unleash a Wind Release Ninjutsu.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough"
He exhaled a storm of wind that swept the mist away from the training ground.
However, Hiruzen was nowhere to be seen.
Swish~ Swish~
Danzo suddenly picked up the sound of metal cutting through the air from behind his back.
He quickly turned around while jumping back, only to see 10 shurikens coming towards him.
Fortunately, he jumped in time, so 5 shurikens missed their marks.
However, the other 5 kept moving towards Danzo, who was still mid-air.
Clearly, Hiruzen had anticipated his move and threw 5 extra shurikens to block his retreat.
However, Danzo was a bona fide Elite Jonin. If five shurikens were enough to trap and injure him, he would have died during his missions long ago.
He quickly slashed his Ninja short sword to block all 5 shurikens in mid-air and then landed safely on the ground.
Hiruzen, however, was unwilling to give him even a little moment to breathe.
Just as Danzo landed on the ground, he finished his hand seals and exhaled a large amount of chakra-infused ash mixed with gunpowder.
The dense black ash obscured Danzo's vision and surrounded him.
"Oh Shit!!"
Danzo couldn't help but curse out loud and tried to get away from the ashes.
Right at that moment, a tiny spark emerged from Hiruzen's mouth, causing all the ashes to ignite with a violent explosion.
Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning
BOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
The explosion sent a massive shockwave in all directions. A pillar of orange fire rose into the sky, causing the surrounding temperature to rise so much that it caused the wind to distort.
The heatwave spread everywhere.
Hiruzen quickly formed a simple set of hand seals and released a gust of wind from his palm to clear the smoke.
Once the smoke had cleared, Danzo's disheveled figure could be seen in the distance.
His clothes were in tatters. His clothes and hair had clear burn marks. Most of his skin was red from contact with fire. However, both of his arms' skin was completely charred.
They needed immediate medical attention.
Seimei, Hiruzen, Tobirama, and others could see a massive wooden log that was still burning in a place between Hiruzen and Danzo.
Clearly, Danzo used the Substitution Jutsu to get away from the explosion and coated his entire body with a dense amount of chakra at a moment's notice.
But even all this couldn't save him from getting burned. Hiruzen's Fire Release technique was just too powerful.
Even though he lost his direction as Hokage later on in the original Narutoverse, his mastery of Ninjutsu was definitely no joke.
He was a true powerhouse.
He didn't have any secret techniques, bloodline, or Kekkei Genkai.
Even so, he reached the very peak of the Kage level entirely through his dedication and hard work.
The Hiruzen Seimei could see now was still a pure-hearted young man.
If he didn't get twisted, then he would indeed be a person Seimei could respect from the bottom of his heart.
Seimei ended his inner monologue when he heard his father's voice.
"The duel ends here. Sarutobi Hiruzen wins," said Tobirama.
Then he turned to Utatane Koharu and commanded, "Koharu, treat Danzo using your medical Ninjutsu as much as you can. And then send him to the Konoha hospital for further treatment."
"You have just started learning the Medical Ninjutsu. You can't heal this kind of injury and burn completely yet."
"Yes, sensei." Koharu immediately replied and went ahead to treat Danzo.
Watching this scene, Hiruzen scratched the back of his head awkwardly, let out an embarrassed chuckle, and said, "Haha…cough…things went a bit out of control."
Hearing this, Danzo was so angry that he almost vomited a mouthful of blood.
The only reason he wasn't cursing out loud was because every single one of his movements caused him to wince in pain.
Danzo could only glare at him angrily.
The others also gave Hiruzen a deadpan expression.
Watching his sensei and companions giving him strange looks, Hiruzen's face flushed slightly in shame.
If he were an ostrich, he would have already buried his head in the ground.
-------------------
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