Chapter 266: Surprised Minato

Minato’s Chakra burst from his feet, and he rapidly shifted to the more open left side, then threw Flying Thunder God Kunai towards Kakashi and Rin Nohara, while carefully observing his surroundings, trying to find Obito’s real body.

Kakashi and Rin Nohara easily dodged the Kunai Minato casually threw, and both pressed towards Minato.

Kakashi pulled out a Kunai, each time aiming for Minato’s vital points, but Minato’s skill with the Kunai was superior, and he calmly blocked all of Kakashi’s attacks; Rin Nohara’s harassment also didn’t have much effect.

But this was just their pre-arranged attack plan: while Minato was blocking Kakashi’s stab towards his heart, Rin Nohara condensed a large amount of Chakra in her arm, greatly enhancing her physical strength, and unleashed a Strength of a Hundred Technique towards Minato.

This punch needed no words; even someone who didn’t understand Chakra could grasp its power, because the momentum of the punch was completely different.

Minato immediately increased his strength to push back Kakashi, who was wrestling with him using a Kunai, then condensed Chakra in his palm and collided with Rin Nohara.

Bang!

With a loud bang, under the heavy force, Minato was knocked back two meters.

“Such powerful strength. I didn’t expect this seemingly ordinary child to possess such immense power,” the repelled Minato said in surprise.

The strength beneath Rin Nohara’s slender body shocked him. He had used Chakra just now, and although he was still holding back, for Rin Nohara, a freshly graduated student, to achieve this level was quite remarkable. Rin Nohara’s academic performance at the academy wasn’t as outstanding as Obito’s.

Kakashi seized this opportunity, quickly thrusting towards Minato, forcing Minato to flash backwards.

Just as Minato was considering whether to show more of his strength, he suddenly felt a hint of danger. Kakashi in front of him stopped moving and began forming hand signs.

“Explode.”

“Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!”

At the same time, Obito’s main body appeared on a nearby large tree, spewing out a large number of small fireballs to seal off the position.

Rumble!!!

The explosive tags Kakashi had buried underground detonated, and a fierce blaze engulfed Minato’s position. The thick smoke from the explosion obscured what was happening inside.

Obito jumped down and walked beside Rin Nohara, scratching his head and saying, “What should we do? We didn’t kill Minato-sensei, did we? He doesn’t seem to have dodged our attack.”

“We’re done for! Minato-sensei is Muzuki-sensei’s good friend.”

Kakashi gave Obito a speechless look. “Don’t you know your own strength? It took all three of us going all out to defeat a Kumogakure Jonin, and Minato is clearly not an ordinary Jonin. How could he be easily taken down by us?”

“Probably not?” Rin Nohara said with some uncertainty. She had the least combat experience and had never fought against powerful enemies, so she felt Minato was in great danger.

The smoke quickly dispersed, revealing a charred landscape, but Minato was nowhere to be seen.

Kakashi’s expression immediately became vigilant, and he was very surprised in his heart; he had no idea how Minato had disappeared.

“You truly gave me quite a surprise. It seems I need to respond to you more seriously.”

Minato’s voice came from behind them. Kakashi swiftly turned his head and found Minato, smiling and completely unharmed.

Obito immediately shielded Rin Nohara, utilizing his Breathing Technique to its fullest, entering an extremely focused breathing state.

“Such speed, indeed difficult to deal with.” Kakashi’s eyes flickered, not overly surprised. After all, Minato was someone even Muzuki said was strong; it would be strange if they could take him out with one wave.

Watching the three immediately re-enter combat mode, Minato also felt a little emotional.

He was fortunate to be the instructor for these three. If it were a more ordinary Jonin, they might have truly stumbled due to carelessness. Who would have thought that three nine-year-olds could display such strength?

Obito’s Fire Release, Rin Nohara’s immense strength, Kakashi’s offensive rhythm and traps—their abilities all far surpassed those of their peers.

Whoosh! Whoosh!!!

Minato threw a handful of Flying Thunder God Kunai towards the three.

Clang!

Obito swung his Kunai, blocking the attack. The Kunai embedded itself in the ground next to Obito.

Immediately after, Kakashi and Obito exchanged glances and nodded.

“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!”

Obito condensed a large amount of Chakra in his throat, rapidly performing Nature Transformation, spewing out a large amount of flames, which ultimately formed a giant fireball over four meters in size.

Meanwhile, Kakashi silently leaped onto a large tree, using it as a springboard to rapidly approach Minato, while simultaneously throwing Shuriken to seal off his position.

Whoosh!

Just as the fireball was about to arrive, Minato instantly vanished from his spot. The fireball and Shuriken missed their target. Kakashi rapidly scanned his surroundings, searching for Minato’s location.

Bang! Bang!!

Minato, using Flying Thunder God, appeared next to Obito and Rin Nohara, hitting both of them with extremely swift taijutsu, sending them crashing into a tree.

“So fast!” Obito, who was more resilient, quickly got up and exclaimed in surprise.

He had no idea how Minato had gotten there; he just appeared and knocked them flying.

Kakashi, who had located Minato, showed a thoughtful expression.

If he remembered correctly, there seemed to be a Kunai at the location where Minato had appeared earlier. Could it be a coincidence?

Kakashi silently noted the positions of the two Kunai, then launched another attack.

Rin Nohara, not wanting to be a burden, also endured the pain and stood up, assuming a fighting stance.

The two who quickly got up, plus Kakashi who rushed back, stood in three different positions, surrounding Minato.

The first to move was Obito. His extreme Breathing Technique state couldn’t last long; he had to end the battle quickly.

After Obito charged forward, Rin Nohara again used Strength of a Hundred Technique to rush towards Minato, and Kakashi also used Body Flicker Technique, tightly gripping his Kunai, to stab at Minato.

Minato unhurriedly threw a Kunai in Obito’s direction.

The moment Obito dodged the Kunai by sidestepping, Minato’s figure vanished, appearing behind Obito, and punched Obito, sending him sprawling on the ground.

“It must be connected to the Kunai!” Having witnessed Minato use Flying Thunder God directly, Kakashi immediately deduced that Minato’s miraculous Body Flicker Technique was related to the Kunai he threw.

“Damn it!” With the girl he cared about right in front of him, and he was either being knocked flying or knocked down, Obito’s inner flame ignited. He didn’t care about much else, directly using the characteristics of Flame Breathing to make flames appear on his feet, kicking towards Minato, while secretly forming hand signs with his left hand.

Minato jumped back to dodge. Obito, having completed his hand signs, immediately flipped over and opened his mouth, spitting out several small fireballs towards Minato.

“He can use Fire Release in this situation?” Minato was incredibly surprised.

Obito had been lying face down on the ground just now; he shouldn’t have been able to form hand signs.

Whoosh!

Minato’s body once again vanished from everyone’s sight. Kakashi immediately burst with Chakra, pushing his Shave to the extreme, and charged towards Minato’s Flying Thunder God Kunai.

There were currently three Flying Thunder God Kunai on the field: the first Kunai was used to attack Kakashi and Rin Nohara, and was now quite far from them; the second was used by Minato to attack Obito and Rin Nohara; and the third was the one that knocked Obito down. Kakashi was charging towards the second Kunai.

At this moment, the Kunai next to Obito was not safe, as it might be covered in Phoenix Sage Fire, and the first one was too far away. The second Kunai was closer to Rin Nohara, so Kakashi judged that Minato would transfer to the position of the second Flying Thunder God Kunai.

“Full Concentration, Thunder Breathing!”

Kakashi inhaled a large amount of oxygen to strengthen his body, then concentrated his strength in his legs, followed by rapidly performing Lightning Release Chakra Nature Transformation, allowing the Lightning Release Chakra to enhance his legs, reaching a peak speed.

After using Flying Thunder God, Minato had intended to attack Rin Nohara, but upon realizing that Kakashi was rapidly charging towards him, he immediately switched from offense to defense.

“Has he already guessed the effect of Flying Thunder God? What strong analytical ability,” Minato thought in surprise.

Minato’s reaction was extremely fast, faster than Kakashi’s speed. Even though Kakashi acted decisively, he still failed to hit Minato.

His attack missed, but Kakashi, who was approaching Minato, showed no discouragement; instead, the corners of his mouth curled into a smile.

Minato couldn’t see Kakashi’s expression beneath his mask, but he keenly sensed something was amiss, and then he discovered the explosive tag attached to Kakashi’s body.

“Explode.”

Boom!!

An explosion sounded, and the blaze engulfed both Kakashi and Minato.

“Kakashi is truly cunning,” Obito said with a sigh of relief.

Of course, Kakashi wouldn’t sacrifice himself and Minato for a training exercise. From the moment they went to find Minato until now, Kakashi had always been a Shadow Clone.

It was all Kakashi’s plan. Obito’s Shadow Clone was the first bait, and Kakashi’s own Shadow Clone was the second bait.

The smoke dispersed, revealing the same scorched ground as before, with nothing else.

Whoosh!

Minato appeared at the location of the first Flying Thunder God, but the moment he appeared, he saw a Kakashi holding Purple Lightning charging towards him.

Fizz fizz fizz!!

Kakashi controlled Purple Lightning to split into a large number of lightning snakes, surging towards Minato like a tide. Minato’s extremely quick reaction allowed him to dodge the attack, but Kakashi’s goal was not to hit Minato’s body; all he wanted was the bell on Minato’s waist.

A small bolt of lightning struck the bell, knocking it off, and it was caught by Kakashi, who was bursting with extreme speed.

“Minato-sensei, does this count as a successful training?” Kakashi asked calmly.

“It’s a success. To be honest, your performance greatly surprised me,” Minato said with a smile.

The performance of his squad members truly far exceeded his expectations. Although he held back a lot, not even using his important sensory abilities, he was still the Yellow Flash who slaughtered on the battlefield. It was extremely difficult for Kakashi and the others to snatch the bell from him in one go.

Obito’s Fire Release was not only powerful, but it also had a release method he didn’t understand. If it hadn’t been for Obito’s fallen Phoenix Sage Fire just now, he wouldn’t have been forced to use Flying Thunder God twice in a row.

Kakashi possessed extraordinary combat intelligence. After only a few exchanges, he analyzed his Flying Thunder God and immediately devised a combat plan sufficient to snatch the bell.

Even Rin Nohara had her moment of glory, forcing him to use Flying Thunder God with her Strength of a Hundred Technique in that trap.

Minato felt that his three students, even an ordinary Jonin might not be able to defeat them if they weren’t careful. Their combat abilities were truly not to be underestimated.

“It’s finally over. Minato-sensei, you’re really fast,” Obito, who had rushed over to support Kakashi, said with a sigh as he heard their conversation.

Muzuki was also fast, but Muzuki’s speed was different from Minato’s. Muzuki was fast, but Obito could still sense a blue light flashing, just couldn’t see it clearly. Minato’s speed was very strange, appearing out of thin air and disappearing out of thin air.

“Sorry, I don’t seem to have been of much use,” Rin Nohara said, feeling like she had just muddled through and won.

Because she had long focused on Medical Ninjutsu and wasn’t strong in combat, Rin Nohara hadn’t participated in Muzuki’s team battles. Her only battles were in practical exams against classmates. Suddenly fighting a strong opponent like Minato, Rin Nohara truly felt like she couldn’t keep up and was just coasting along.

Hearing Rin Nohara’s words, Obito disagreed, saying, “That’s not true. If it weren’t for you, Rin, helping out, Kakashi’s Shadow Clone would have been defeated long ago and wouldn’t have been of much use. And that punch where you knocked back Minato-sensei was really cool.”

He wasn’t saying this purely out of affection for Rin Nohara; he genuinely felt that the battle would have been different without Rin Nohara.

“Obito is right, Rin. You just play a different role in combat than we do,” Kakashi said, nodding.

In gaming terms, Kakashi and Obito were the main damage dealers, while Rin Nohara was the support. The main role of support, of course, was not in dealing damage.

In fact, Kakashi thought the current team composition was more reasonable. Rin Nohara had mastered Medical Ninjutsu, so if he and Obito were injured, she could treat them.

Fighting Might Guy was different; the three of them could only charge head-on.

Hearing Kakashi and Obito’s words, Rin Nohara felt much better, but she also secretly resolved to train her taijutsu even harder to play a greater role in combat.

“This intern program created by Muzuki is indeed excellent. If future graduates can all have this kind of coordination, the strength of the village’s Genin will improve significantly,” Minato recalled Obito and Kakashi’s coordination and felt that the intern program could be promoted more widely.

Obito, who had teamed up with Kakashi during the internship, clearly coordinated much better than Rin Nohara. Obito and Kakashi could understand each other’s thoughts and execute them with just an exchange of glances.

“You completed the training even earlier than I expected. Today, take a rest and practice your combat coordination. Tomorrow, I’ll take you on a mission,” Minato thought for a moment and announced the upcoming arrangements.

This coordination training was mainly for Rin Nohara; Obito and Kakashi were perfectly fine.

“Yay! We get to go on missions again!” Obito cheered.

He was already impatient to defeat various enemies in front of Rin Nohara and then enjoy her praise.

“Ninja missions, huh…” Rin Nohara recalled the mission experiences Obito had told her about, and there was a hint of anticipation in her heart.

Kakashi had originally wanted to tell Obito not to get too excited too soon, but seeing that Rin Nohara also seemed a little excited, he kept quiet. His experience was also a bit insufficient now.

Today is also 8k.