Chapter 71: Uchiha Homura's Talent

The battlefield was still smoldering with scattered small fires remaining from the earlier clash between Nawaki and Sarutobi Ao's ninjutsu. Although their ninjutsu were of different elemental properties and not directly opposing each other, they still partially canceled each other out to some degree. However, this was not the case for Minato's fire style technique against Uchiha Homura's. 

The sheer power of the fire release ninjutsu used by both exceeded Sarutobi Ao's earlier attempt. Uchiha Homura glanced at his sleeve which had been partially burned away by the fire, and even put his hand out to feel the faint black residue coating his originally fair skin - the result of smoke from the flames he narrowly avoided.

He stared at his soot-stained palm, trembling slightly not from fear but something else. Uchiha Homura raised his piercing hawk-like gaze towards Minato, his obsidian eyes now ringed with blood-red vessels as his face contorted.

A year ago, due to a lapse in his mental state during battle, he failed to fully concentrate when using the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, allowing Minato's unreadable speed to defeat him. He had spent the past year rigorously training, all to defeat Minato squarely. But just when he thought Minato had no advantages left against him, his opponent resorted to one of the Uchiha clan's strongest specialties - fire release ninjutsu - to overpower him directly. 

It was an absolute humiliation. As someone who had been treated like a genius from the day he entered the ninja academy, Uchiha Homura could not tolerate the idea of an unremarkable nobody catching up and threatening his status. Minato came from a ordinary background, without the benefit of a powerful clan's bloodline or a strict training regimen from childhood.

All of these factors contributed to Uchiha Homura's extreme mental imbalance. He let out a maddened roar to vent the turbulent emotions swirling in his chest, a display that made even Takenouchi Rin instinctively recoil in the stands.

"He's lost for sure," muttered Sarutobi Ao. While extremely skilled, Homura's loss of composure had handed the psychological edge to the more level-headed Minato in this match.

"That guy..." Kushina's usual bravado faded as she watched Homura's disturbing transformation with a troubled expression. As much as she disliked him, she did not wish to see him go down such an extreme path.

Beside her, Mikoto's brows also furrowed with concern at the Uchiha prodigy's alarming behavior. The weight of being overwhelmed in his own specialty must have crushed his spirit.

"Uchiha Homura, you..." Minato's expression also changed, regretting his earlier taunting words that had seemingly pushed his peer over the edge in a moment of youthful arrogance. 

The unhinged Homura tore off his remaining intact sleeve before making a cross hand seal. All eyes were on him, but no one could guess his intent. 

However, in the stands the experienced Sakumo Hatake had already noticed the banded wrappings around Homura's wrists, adorned with intricate black markings - signs of a summoning seal. With his knowledge, he immediately recognized them as a special type of storage seal used to summon tools, similar to storage scrolls.

Minato also noticed the strange wrappings, wondering what Homura was planning. With a pulse of chakra, twin black kunai appeared between the Uchiha's fingers before he flung them with blinding speed towards Minato.

Though temporarily puzzled that Homura thought such a basic attack could defeat him after their previous clashes, Minato's confusion turned to shock as his opponent's arms blurred through a series of seals. In an instant, the two kunai became a torrential downpour of hundreds of black kunai covering every angle of attack.

"So fast?" Even for his famed speed, Minato was taken aback by the sheer density of Homura's kunai barrage. But the onslaught did not let up.

"Uchiha Kunai Net!" Homura roared, his eyes wild as over a thousand kunai converged on Minato in an inescapable net. Even with the Yellow Flash's movement speed, avoiding every single projectile while being overwhelmed from all sides would be impossible. Any hesitation would result in being pincushioned by the relentless volley. 

"You've got to be kidding me?" gasped Nawaki, appalled by the sheer intensity of the wide-ranged attack that seemed unavoidable. Minato wouldn't even have the chance to weave hand seals for a counter technique!

"He even mastered that technique?" Mikoto's eyes widened in shock.

The Uchiha Kunai Net, an advanced form of the clan's signature kunai techniques, was just as Homura demonstrated - trading precision for overwhelming speed and sheer volume of kunai to smother the opponent. While deceptively simple, only those who had grueling trained in kunai skills understood the difficulty in launching hundreds of kunai in rapid succession while precisely controlling their speed and force.

The seemingly chaotic storm actually interwove precise attacks targeting the opponent's vitals from every angle. With so many kunai aimed at each vulnerability simultaneously, even a genius could not perceive and avoid every intersecting trajectory in the chaos.

While it appeared to be a basic kunai barrage on the surface, the Uchiha Kunai Net required immense skill that most Uchiha chunin could not properly master, let alone wield in actual combat at Homura's level. For him to accomplish this feat revealed a prodigious talent bordering on monstrous.

(end of chapter)