The Show Begins
Minato stood perfectly in the middle of the rectangle, looking dead on the youngest among them as he said “I want to challenge Kumo-kun.” He Had heard some of the other kids who had been rude to Kushina-san, discussing their plan to intimidate Shirubā-kun by beating him in sparring. He was determined to give the kid a fairer shake. He would try to show the boy the proper amount of respect, but he had to school himself to not injure him either.
Shirubā narrowed his eyes somewhat, he had heard about the Namikaze’s from Jiraiya. A family of notable shinobi, not a noble clan but consistent with their high level shinobi. The most recent addition to their ranks was now in the ring waiting for him. He stepped forward with slow, deliberately meek steps. If there was one thing he needed when going up against a known name, it would be to seem like nothing at all. “Remember, this is sparing, do not attack with killing intent.” the two boys nod to their Sensei before both taking stances.
Minato-san was hesitant to fight him, Shirubā could tell just by the way he was holding his stance. When he stood opposite Tsunade for training, she was much more relaxed, she knew how she was going to attack before he ever showed up for their daily matches. Minato was much more taut, Namekaze-san was glancing to several parts of his stance as well as subtly trying to adjust his own away from, what he figured, was probably the stance he was trained to be comfortable with, to one he seemed less familiar with. Not one to make illuse of an opponent he might actually be able to make some headway against in a fight while they were busy underestimating him he built up the necessary chakra for his opening move. His hand flew into the Tigger hand sign, in his mind the technique name echoed Body Flicker! In a whirl of leafs he disappeared, reappearing mid air behind Minato, swinging his leg in a powerful kick.
Whatever Minato had been expecting of his younger opponent, a body flicker hadn’t been high on his list, luckily his reflexes were ready where his mind had been lagging. He ducked quickly under the kick, placing both his hands on the ground for support to do a handstand. Landing a blow to the other boy’s exposed back, more on instinctive reflex than with real intent, the blow sent the kid rolling. Shiruba tucked his arms into his chest as he made impact with the ground, he rolled a few times before he managed to stop himself. Minato-san had hit him quickly, but the blow had much less power than even the softest blow Tsuna hit him with.
Ending up in a low, wide legged crouch with one arm was under him for balance, the other came up and reached for the kunai holster on his left thigh. He flung it at a very high speed at his opponent. To make it more difficult for Minato-san, Shiruba wove the Ram→Snake→Tiger signs for the Clone Technique. His jutsu made his single kunai seem like five, one in the center with two above and besides to make a star formation. Kagami was quickly realizing, only slower than perhaps the boys opponent, that Shirubā needed no help for this contest, and his class had been stunned into silence as they watched.
Minato didn’t have the space to go soft like he had thought, so now it was time to kick himself into full performance mode. He didn’t have the time to distinguish which kunai was the real one, so he decided to simply not be in its way. He gathered his chakra, pooling it into his legs primarily but distributing throughout his entire body. This process took him scant seconds, fewer passed before he disappeared completely from Shirubā’s line of sight. Shirubā glanced from left to right, knowing his front was covered by the kunai and assuming the beneath him wouldn’t be where Minato-san would attack from, he was preparing to lunge forward into a roll to avoid the attack from either behind or above when he was blindsided.
That kick was harder than the last one, and Shirubā was certain it would leave a mark as he stumbled face forward. He caught himself in a handspring, turning midway through and dashing forwards, kunai in hand the second he feet touched the ground. The only problem was his opponent was gone again, he was starting to turn his head again when the fist connected with his right cheek. Minato expected to knock the boy off his feet again or at least disorient him, he wasn’t prepared for his arm to be grabbed in a steely grip by two small hands. He was less prepared when he felt himself being lifted and flipped backwards towards the ground.