I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 38 Am I the one being targeted?

Tatsuma didn't activate all of his hair, as that would be too taxing for him. He simply tossed his head, and hundreds of strands of hair, infused with chakra, suddenly straightened, broke off, and shot towards Kushina.

Faced with a dense mass of hair, Kushina dared not block. No matter how fast she was, she only had two hands, which was not enough to stop so many strands of hair. Therefore, she decisively chose to roll to the side to dodge.

But this was exactly the result Tatsuma wanted to see. When Kushina regained her balance after rolling over and looked at Tatsuma, she found that he had already quickly approached her, and even had hand seals that she couldn't understand.

However, when Tatsuma finished his last Tiger Seal and took a deep breath, Kushina sensed something was wrong. This was clearly a prelude to the activation of a Fire Release ninjutsu!

"We absolutely cannot let this ninjutsu be used!"

The thought flashed through Kushina's mind. She then lunged forward, lowering her body to avoid being burned by the flames that had not yet been unleashed. Her right fist was clenched as she struck Tatsuma's stomach.

"Bang!"

The moment Kushina's fist struck Tatsuma's abdomen, a cloud of smoke rose up, and her expression changed drastically. This was clearly another clone technique, and a basic one at that, not a physical shadow clone capable of releasing ninjutsu.

At this moment, she maintained her forward momentum and stepped out of the smoke area, but what she saw was another Tatsuma, another Tatsuma who had finished his hand seals.

"The Enchanted Technique: The Abyss View!"

The moment the illusion was released, Kushina, whose face was originally filled with shame, anger and panic after being deceived by the clone technique, suddenly froze. She then lost control of her forward-rushing body and fell to the ground.

Seeing Kushina lying on the ground, Tatsuma did not make any rash moves. Instead, he took two steps back and formed hand seals again.

"Ninjutsu! Needle Jizo!"

The moment the hand seals were completed, a wisp of hair quickly grew from the back of Tatsuma's head, straightened under the control of the chakra shape transformation, and stabbed towards Kushina, who was lying on the ground.

"Sizzle~"

His hair pierced the ground, but Kushina, who had been in the original position, had long since disappeared. Tatsuma remained calm, pulled his hair back, and then frowned as if he had sensed something. He immediately turned to the side and bent his arm to block.

"Bang!"

A dull thud rang out, and Kushina, who should have fallen under the illusion, appeared beside Tatsuma and delivered a side kick to both of his arms.

"What terrifying power!"

After quickly creating distance, Chenma had no choice but to shake his hand.

Although Kushina had broken free from the genjutsu's control, her chakra was extremely disordered, clearly the price she paid for breaking the genjutsu.

If Kushina's chakra hadn't been disrupted, Tatsuma might not have been able to withstand that kick.

Both of them took a short breather, but not far away, Sarutobi Akiura, who was watching the battle, looked unusually calm. He hadn't expected that the battle between the two students would make it difficult for him to keep up with the flow of the conversation.

The two seemingly simple rounds contained a great deal of information. First, Tatsuma used his hair to distract Kushina and then used the opportunity to perform a clone technique.

He then controlled the clone to form hand seals to mislead Kushina. However, in Kushina's blind spot, behind the Tatsuma clone in front of her, the real Tatsuma cast an illusion, causing Kushina to fall into the trap.

Kushina's subsequent collapse, and the timing of when she used the genjutsu release, left even Sarutobi Akira, a Chunin who had served as a ninja academy instructor for many years, somewhat confused.

Moreover, the physical skills and strength of these two people caused him to feel a faint pain in his body.

Beside him, Orochimaru maintained a smile. He was very satisfied with the performance of the two, especially Tatsuma's skillful application of Jiraiya's ninjutsu, which gave him the feeling of seeing a Jiraiya with enhanced intelligence.

Of course, Orochimaru understood that his teammates weren't actually lacking in intelligence; it was just that, given Jiraiya's personality, he would definitely unleash all the advanced ninjutsu he possessed, even if it meant exhausting his chakra.

Tatsuma's meticulous and calculating fighting style wasn't Jiraiya's preferred style, but while Jiraiya disliked it, Orochimaru did.

Orochimaru glanced down at Minato, who showed no surprise whatsoever. He was even more eager to see if these two top students, who were ranked equally, were truly, as Sakumo-senpai had said, a combination of the strengths of both him and Jiraiya.

After a short rest, Tatsuma and Kushina had both regulated their aura and chakra, and their expressions became more serious than ever before.

For Tatsuma, Kushina's control over her power was completely different from that of the girl who had just arrived in Konoha a year and a half ago. Moreover, Kushina had not yet used any ninjutsu or sealing techniques, which made Tatsuma feel somewhat threatened.

Kushina, on the other hand, was extremely dissatisfied. Despite dedicating almost all her time to training over the past year, she found herself still unable to defeat Tatsuma, which greatly frustrated her.

"Your chakra is probably running low, isn't it? I won't be fooled by your fancy ninjutsu anymore."

Despite her frustration and inability to find a solution, Kushina remained confident and said, "Yes, it's difficult to use the Shadow Clone Technique now." Tatsuma nodded and said straightforwardly, "That's right, it's hard to use the Shadow Clone Technique now."

After saying that, the two raised their kunai. Since ninjutsu was not very useful, they decided to use taijutsu instead.

The two lunged forward, and Kushina, still adhering to the principle of striking first, thrust her kunai straight at Tatsuma's heart. Without saying a word, Tatsuma turned to the side, raised his hand, and with a flick of his sleeve, thrust his kunai from under Kushina's arm, aiming straight for her throat.

"snort!"

Kushina stretched out her right hand, pressed down and flicked it, throwing Tatsuma's left hand outward. She then punched out with her left fist, trying to attack Tatsuma's center, but Tatsuma's right hand remained in position.

He directly blocked Kushina's fist with his elbow, the tip of his elbow colliding with Kushina's knuckles. Even though Kushina was stronger, she cried out in pain and quickly withdrew her hand.

But Tatsuma didn't seem to want to give Kushina a chance. With a flick of his right elbow, he grabbed Kushina's left wrist and then delivered a left front kick to her abdomen.

Even though Kushina tried her best to press down on Tatsuma's calf with her right hand, she could only move the point of impact from the xiphoid process of his ribs to his lower abdomen.

"Bang!"

This kick was solid, and Kushina's face, which was already flushed from the exercise, began to turn purplish-black. At this moment, Kushina's left hand was still being held by Tatsuma, and she was unable to break free.

Without further hesitation, Tatsuma switched hands and feet, and used a move he learned from Tai Chi, which he had taken as an elective in his physical education class in his previous life. He used it to throw Kushina to the ground.

He then twisted Kushina's wrist, forcing her to roll over and lie face down. With a kneeling motion, he locked Kushina's left hand behind his back, and then placed the kunai across the back of Kushina's neck.

Then, he extended his other hand, forming a reconciliation seal, and placed it on Kushina's hand, saying with a smile, "I won."

"Ding~ [Strength +3] [Constitution +3] [Spirit +3]; [Seal (Uzumaki Kushina Limited Edition) +10%]"

"Alright, let's begin the second round. Tatsuma, you and Minato, it's your turn."

Just as Tatsuma was rejoicing over his gains, Orochimaru's sinister voice rang out again. Tatsuma's expression suddenly froze. He was almost out of chakra! His stamina was also running low! And most importantly, the place where Kushina had hit him was still very painful!

Wasn't today supposed to be about preventing Kushina from graduating? Shouldn't Kushina have fought two matches in a row? Why him?!

(End of this chapter)