Chapter 128 – One-Handed Seals
During the battle between Namikaze Minato and Ishiro, the surrounding Konoha shinobi still had room to chat at first.
But now, as the two entered a tense standoff, everyone held their breath and watched intently, afraid even the slightest sound might disturb the clash.
Everyone knew this silence wouldn't last. At any moment, the two might collide again.
Their chakra auras locked, and a suffocating murderous pressure spread across the clearing. Even the jōnin watching nearby were beginning to feel overwhelmed.
It wasn't that the pressure itself was immense, but rather that the earlier exchange made it clear: putting oneself in either combatant's shoes meant only one outcome—death.
That fear, the sense of death being utterly out of your control, created a psychological weight most couldn't bear.
If the crowd hadn't been composed of jōnin with naturally strong wills, someone might've already panicked and fled.
Fortunately, just as a few of the special jōnin with weaker mental fortitude were on the verge of collapsing, the duelists moved.
Ishiro did something unexpected—he gave up his advantage as a long-range ninjutsu user and charged toward Minato, just like the latter had done.
The moment they moved, several spectators audibly sighed in relief. They'd been holding their breath so long for fear of disturbing the fight, they were starting to go lightheaded.
Embarrassed at their reactions, a few exchanged sheepish looks. Luckily, no one was paying them any mind—everyone's eyes were glued to the combatants.
As the two clashed mid-charge, they drew their respective weapons: Ishiro with a long sword, Minato with a standard kunai.
Seeing that Minato didn't use his signature special kunai, Ishiro realized that the Flying Thunder God Technique wasn't in play—yet.
Minato, on the other hand, noted that Ishiro's sword was just a standard iron-forged weapon—not a chakra-enhanced blade. This made him suspect Ishiro wasn't proficient in close combat.
Given Ishiro's position and strength, Minato thought he should at least be wielding a higher-grade custom weapon.
But once they actually exchanged blows, Minato revised his assessment.
Ishiro's swordsmanship wasn't extraordinary, but the occasional bursts of blade aura (kenki) he unleashed forced Minato to stay alert.
Getting struck by his earlier Water Needle jutsu might only result in injuries. But those slashes? One clean hit could cripple—or worse.
So Minato kept a cautious approach.
Ishiro's B-rank kenjutsu was a defensive style, and though Minato's superior reaction speed and more advanced Flicker Technique gave him a clear edge, he couldn't break through Ishiro's defense in the short term.
This defensive strategy had been honed under the guidance of Zaiten—pairing solid defense with unpredictable bursts of offensive blade aura. The sword's reach granted him additional range, exploiting the old truth: a longer weapon is a stronger weapon.
This formed a structured approach for Ishiro when facing melee-focused enemies: defend with B-rank kenjutsu, counter with kenki, and maneuver using silent flickers.
This was Ishiro's first time deploying this strategy in live combat—and it worked quite well.
Though Minato had the upper hand and forced Ishiro into retreating repeatedly, Ishiro still managed to hold his ground.
Seeing this, the observing Konoha jōnin could no longer remain calm.
Until now, many of them were still pondering ways to close in on Ishiro, hoping that through clones or coordinated pincer attacks, they could get within striking distance.
They hadn't really considered what they'd do once they got close—simply assuming that as melee experts, they could handle a ninjutsu specialist up close.
But now reality hit them square in the face.
Ishiro was casually wielding blade aura—a skill even many kenjutsu specialists hadn't mastered.
Demoralized, the jōnin began exchanging desperate ideas on how to deal with Ishiro if they ever encountered him in battle.
None of them cared if Ishiro could hear their chatter. At this point, they just wanted to shake off the helplessness gnawing at their pride.
But not everyone was panicked.
Aburame Shimi, a seasoned elite jōnin, took a deep breath. What he felt was more shock than fear. To think that Iwagakure had someone like this in addition to Ikura…
"We've all been fooled by the persona Ishiro crafted for himself," Shimi muttered.
Until now, the other villages had viewed Ishiro as a strategist—much like Konoha's Nara clan: intelligent and capable, but not someone to fear on the battlefield.
People like that were important, yes, but they weren't seen as true threats.
Because of this perception, despite being highly monitored by other nations, Ishiro had never been targeted for assassination and passed through his vulnerable genius years unscathed.
"What a calculating mind… what composure," Shimi murmured in awe.
He didn't realize, however, that Ishiro's combat style had only recently solidified.
Its two core pillars—blade aura and combat experience against elite jōnin—had only come together in the past few weeks.
Especially the blade aura, which Ishiro had unlocked entirely by accident. If he hadn't used genjutsu to help Kawakita experience an epiphany during his own training, Ishiro might never have learned it.
Ishiro remained unaware of the psychological bomb he'd just dropped on the Konoha jōnin—and even more unaware that, in Shimi's eyes, he had become a deeply cunning tactician.
Not that he would've cared. To Ishiro, what his enemies thought of him meant little.
Despite looking composed, Ishiro felt immense pressure.
He may not have sustained any injuries during the melee, but the intensity of Minato's assault was unlike anything he'd experienced.
Minato was fast. His rhythm, his pressure, the frequency of his attacks—everything was relentless.
If not for Ishiro's Flicker Technique creating those vital moments of escape, he'd already be dead.
Yes, Ishiro was still unscathed—but he knew the margin for error was zero. If he slipped, there would be no injuries, only death.
And now, an even greater threat loomed.
Minato was rapidly adapting to Ishiro's tactics—especially his use of the Flicker Technique. What had once given Ishiro the chance to reset the battlefield now barely bought him time.
Previously, when he used Flicker to create space, he could catch his breath.
Now, the moment he Flickered away, Minato was already on him again.
That gap was shrinking. His window to recover was closing.
It felt like he was feeding the main character EXP. If this went on, he'd surely lose.
Left with no choice, Ishiro decided to play his trump card first.
"Flicker!" He vanished again, creating distance—but, as expected, Minato followed immediately.
This time, however, Ishiro changed his approach.
While defending with his long sword in his right hand, he began forming seals with his left.
It was slower—certainly slower than his double-handed sealing speed of 5.2 to 5.7 signs per second—but his one-handed seals still reached 3 signs per second.
Minato was startled. He instinctively aborted his assault, flinging a kunai and retreating rapidly.
Ishiro parried the kunai effortlessly and continued sealing. After six signs, a simple water line shot toward Minato's throat.
Minato shifted mid-air and dodged cleanly—but Ishiro took advantage of the moment to execute two extreme-range Flickers and reestablished a 100-meter gap between them.
They stared at each other once more.
The second round had ended—and Ishiro was still on the losing side.
The tactics he had forged through a month of training under Zaiten had proven too passive against someone like Minato.
And Ishiro knew it: their earlier exchanges only appeared balanced because Minato hadn't yet fully grasped his fighting style.
If they repeated that exchange now, Ishiro was certain he'd be completely overrun.
Most critically, he'd been forced to reveal his greatest trump card—one-handed sealing—just to buy a moment of breathing room.
Meanwhile, Minato hadn't shown even a fraction of his true capabilities.
If Ishiro didn't know the original story, he might've been proud of his performance so far.
But he did.
And he knew: Minato wasn't just a close-combat ninja—he was a master of one-handed seals.
Even if Minato hadn't reached his peak yet, Ishiro believed his sealing technique couldn't be far behind. Even if not quite as fast, it wouldn't be slow either.
While Ishiro's one-handed seals looked impressive, he alone knew their limitations.
He could only perform three jutsu this way: the Clone Technique, Water Line, and Water Pressure Line.
And those required nearly double the number of seals compared to using both hands—Water Line normally required 3, now 6; Water Pressure Line required 4, now 8.
On top of that, one-handed sealing was slower overall. This greatly limited his tactical options.
Ishiro knew just how far behind he was. But the spectators didn't.
All they saw was a shinobi casually using one-handed seals—a legendary skill.
No one cared how fast his seals were or how strong the jutsu was. They'd already been thoroughly shocked.
At this point, the Konoha shinobi stopped comparing themselves to Ishiro entirely.
They no longer imagined themselves in Minato's place—now they were just observers.
The gap was simply too vast. They didn't even dare to compete.
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