"Aaaah, you bastard Sasuke!"
Naruto controlled [Uzumaki Naruto] to chase [Uchiha Sasuke], but with their movement speeds being identical, catching him was naturally impossible.
He felt a wave of frustration when he realized he had been baited into using his substitute so easily.
The Substitute Jutsu has a 15-second cooldown. If you're hit during those 15 seconds, you can't fight back unless the opponent makes a mistake.
Since the invincibility window after a substitute is extremely short, failing to catch the opponent immediately means losing your chance to counter, stripping away the advantage of having the first move.
The priority now was to hunt him down and deal maximum damage before Sasuke's substitute refreshed.
Thinking fast, Naruto chased Sasuke and activated his Secret Scroll—a giant stone ball falling from the sky.
[Earth Style: Rock Fall]
Sasuke was knocked into the air by the stone. Naruto rushed in to follow up with basic attacks.
"So the attack range is a straight line?" Sasuke didn't panic; instead, he analyzed the situation.
If he had moved away from that horizontal line—say, moving up or down—could he have dodged Naruto's attack? He didn't know the terms "X-axis" or "Y-axis" yet, but he had realized the concept through combat.
While taking damage, he glanced at his own Secret Scroll—a bolt of blue-white lightning. During his ten minutes of practice, Sasuke had tested the ranges. The Lightning Reach could strike outside of a straight line, though its distance wasn't as far as Naruto's Rock Fall.
Sasuke waited patiently until his substitute bar was full. During this time, Naruto dumped both his first and second skills to maximize damage, but the price was that Sasuke could now use his basic attacks to start a combo the moment he substituted.
Their substitute cooldowns differed by only two or three seconds. After Sasuke hit Naruto, he didn't use his skills immediately; he kept his combo stable with just basic attacks.
"Trying to bait me again!" Naruto curled his lip, but his finger hovered nervously over the substitute button.
Sasuke kept attacking, holding his skills back. As the seconds ticked away, Naruto grew restless. If he waited any longer, Sasuke's own substitute would be back up.
Poof! (Substitute Sound Effect)
The moment Naruto substituted, he went aggressive, lunging forward with a Rasengan. Sasuke flicked his thumb, preparing to move down to dodge the X-axis, but Naruto adjusted his Rasengan downward by one step, hitting Sasuke and launching him.
"You can move during the attack?" Sasuke frowned.
There was nothing he could do but wait for his substitute to refresh. However, after taking two more of Naruto's skills, his health bar was looking grim. Naruto clearly understood the importance of "bursting" damage.
Fearing the health gap would become insurmountable, Sasuke used his substitute the moment it was ready. He followed up with a Lightning Reach to counter-initiate, then unleashed his Fireball and Lion Combo for maximum damage.
"There's a substitute gap!"
Ryuma watched with fascination. Sasuke was behind in health, but he was seven or eight seconds ahead of Naruto on his substitute cooldown. Although he lost the lead initially, his "Single-Tap Bait" had undeniably given him an edge. Whether he could capitalize on that advantage was the key to victory.
Still... what a heart-pounding battle!
In the light curtain, Naruto and Sasuke had only exchanged a few rounds, but many in the ninja world had already begun to grasp the logic.
"Is this a turn-based combat system?"
Traveling in a foreign land, Jiraiya raised an eyebrow as he spotted the pattern. It was certainly different from traditional shinobi duels.
Under these specific rules, the Substitute Jutsu was clearly the most vital resource. Without it, you were a sitting duck. Therefore, managing the opponent's substitute while timing your own was the path to victory.
Jiraiya recognized Naruto immediately, but he was shocked to see the boy using the Rasengan.
Had someone been teaching him secretly? It looked a bit clumsy, though—needing a shadow clone for assistance turned a perfect instant-cast jutsu into... that.
"Does the kid have Earth Style chakra, too? That Rock Fall move is quite decent," Jiraiya muttered, stroking his chin.
But a moment later, his jaw dropped.
"What... ENMA?!!"
When the Monkey King Enma crashed into the arena—summoned by Naruto—many people in the ninja world were stunned. That summon was far too iconic. Was the Third Hokage already grooming this brat as his successor?
The Hidden Stone and other villages began to murmur with suspicion.
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't know what others were thinking, but his own mind was a mess. While he didn't mind Naruto forming a contract with Enma, wasn't this a bit sudden? Did Enma go behind his back to find Naruto?
Watching his old partner dominate the screen with special effects that shook the very arena, Hiruzen fell into deep thought.
Unlike the spectators, Sasuke, as the one actually experiencing it, began to question his life.
"Wait, you just dropped the summon like that? And isn't that final hit's range a bit ridiculous?"
Sasuke watched "himself" get launched high into the air, a bead of cold sweat rolling down his forehead. Naruto seized the opportunity to pile on the damage.
Gold numbers representing critical hits popped up one after another, making Sasuke's eyelids twitch.
Yikes! That looks like it hurts!
Sasuke took a deep breath to force himself to stay calm. He had a reason why he must win this duel.
Poof! (Substitute Sound Effect)
Sasuke substituted, but he froze for a split second before a surge of irrepressible joy took over. Naruto, on the other hand, had the opposite reaction.
"NOOOO!!!"
On the screen, [Uzumaki Naruto] suddenly summoned dozens of clones, launching a torrential storm of attacks into... thin air. Naruto clutched his head and wailed.
[Uzumaki Naruto 2k Combo]
Naruto's finger had slipped. He meant to tap the Secret Scroll, but he hit the Ultimate instead. Four "beans" (Ult Charge), cleared in one click!
"Hahaha, Naruto! You were careless! But I must say, this battle forced me to be serious for once. I won't forget this."
The corners of Sasuke's mouth curled up. He controlled [Uchiha Sasuke] to run far away from the range of Naruto's Ultimate. He could easily escape; the invincibility frames from his substitute were more than enough.
However, as he rushed back in to punish Naruto after the Ultimate ended, Sasuke's expression slowly went blank.
Time... was running out!
Perhaps he had overthought his strategy, or perhaps he hadn't noticed the necessity of closing the health gap earlier. Sasuke had engaged in too much tactical maneuvering. After Naruto's accidental Ultimate stalled for several seconds, Sasuke no longer had enough time to deal the necessary damage.
In a final act of defiance, he released his Summoning Hawk and his own Ultimate. Amidst the lightning and thunder, the PK came to an end.
[TIME EXPIRED]
[WINNER: UZUMAKI NARUTO!]
Inside the small room, Sasuke's expression froze. He slowly loosened his grip on the phone. He had lost. Even if it was a game he'd just touched, even if he only had ten minutes of practice, he had still lost to that "dead last" loser. He had lost a crucial opportunity...
Suddenly, Sasuke noticed an emoji appear under Naruto's avatar. It was a small hand patting the head of a white, round blob.
His face turned red, then pale, shifting through several colors before he spoke in a strange tone.
"Is that guy... trying to comfort me?"
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