Chapter 542: The girl is surrounded by enemies

"Ouch ouch ouch! You guys stop pulling, this master is going to crack!"

The Nine-Tails, pulled to deformation by two huge forces, grinned in pain in the Tailed Beast Card space. The chakra it was once proud of couldn't exert any effect at this moment.

The Nine-Tails, like duckweed in the rain, finally recognized the cruel truth: even if Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara were not there, it, known as the strongest Tailed Beast, was nothing more than a piece of meat on the chopping block.

"You let go first."

Uchiha Hikari sneered and said to Uzumaki Mito, but secretly used force under her hand. Unfortunately, the Nine-Tailed Card seemed to be welded in the other party's hand. No matter how she tried, she couldn't shake it, only barely holding on.

"I only used 30 percent of my strength, and you're already not doing it. Just admit defeat obediently. When it comes to strength, I've never been afraid of anyone."

Regarding Uchiha Hikari's proposal, Uzumaki Mito shook her head in disdain. As she spoke, she added a few more points of force. The balance of the Nine-Tails Card, which was deadlocked in mid-air, was instantly broken.

"Ah ah ah! Really, I'm serious, my butt is already cracked, if you don't believe me, look!"

The Nine-Tails' painful screams grew louder, but it didn't stir any sympathy from the two women. The two, locked in a struggle, didn't care about the Nine-Tails' life or death at all; they only wanted to win.

"Boom boom—"

On the other side of the field, huge explosions occurred one after another. Pits were everywhere on the hard ground, and the smoke and dust rolled up by the air waves

A blue light flashed, and Senju Hijiri, covered in dust, landed in a sorry state. Her silver-white hair was messy, sticking to her forehead in strands from the sweat.

"Huff, huff... what a ruthless taijutsu."

Her ruby-like eyes were full of shock. Before her heavy panting could subside, Senju Hijiri's perception radar lit up again, and she immediately forced her body to turn.

"Swish!"

Almost the moment she turned, Senju Itama, with an aura like thunder, arrived. A pair of seemingly delicate but actually devastatingly powerful fists swept past. The sonic boom generated by the friction between the fists and the air left Senju Hijiri temporarily deaf in both ears.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz..."

Senju Hijiri, clutching her ears, quickly retreated to open up distance. The delayed dizziness surged into her brain, and her legs went soft, causing her to kneel on one knee.

"Ah! Grandma, Little Auntie, she..."

Seeing this scene, Tsunade, who had been worried for a long time in the audience, stood up abruptly, her large, watery eyes veiled in mist.

"Don't worry, Hijiri will be fine."

Reaching out to pat Tsunade's little head, Senju Toka appeared as steady as Mount Tai.

They are all family; she won't go for the kill.

"Give up, Hijiri."

Senju Itama slowly dissipated the strange power wrapped around her fists and earnestly advised her cheap big niece.

"You are still young; there will be opportunities in the future."

Looking at Senju Hijiri, who was kneeling on the ground in silence, she felt she might have gone too far. Hopefully, she hadn't shattered the child's Dao heart with those few punches.

"Little Aunt, I..."

Senju Hijiri slowly raised her head, a flash of unhealthy crimson appearing on her fair face. Senju Itama's heart tightened at the sight. Could it be that she hadn't held back her strength and had caused the other party internal injuries?

"Don't move, I'll treat you."

Appearing with a Body Flicker in front of Senju Hijiri, whose little face was pale, Senju Itama, letting down her guard, quickly lowered her body, reaching out to check her big niece's injuries.

"Tap~"

As a result, to her surprise, Senju Hijiri, who appeared weak, actually reached out her hand and pressed it squarely on her shoulder.

"Finally caught you."

"Uh?"

Senju Itama, confused, was slightly stunned. The next second, she only saw a blue light shine.

"Where is this?"

In a daze, she discovered she had appeared outside the examination hall, while the culprit who brought her out wore a smile of a successful scheme.

"Little Aunt, sorry."

"Wait! You?"

Poof~

Before Senju Itama could ask, Senju Hijiri raised one hand and disappeared into a puff of white smoke.

It turned out that the one pretending to be weak just now was Senju Hijiri's Shadow Clone.

"Damn it!"

Never expecting to be played by her young big niece, Senju Itama couldn't accept this reality. She immediately rushed to the passage, preparing to enter the examination hall again, but was stopped by the guarding Shimura clansmen.

"The gate is closed; entry is strictly prohibited."

Senju Itama was dumbfounded. This time, she had lost face big time. Upon returning, she would surely be mocked by that old woman Uchiha Hikari and laughed at by her sister-in-law.

"Then being a spectator is fine, right?"

"Please show your ticket."

Feeling her empty pockets, Senju Itama's face turned bitter. When she bought snacks earlier, she had spent all the pocket money she carried; now, she didn't have a single cent left.

Do I have to go home to get money?

Just as Senju Itama turned around in disappointment, an Uchiha clansman clutching a ticket ran over excitedly.

"Uchiha Itako, why are you here?"

The clansman saw Senju Itama and instinctively stopped and retreated, his eyes searching for a certain hateful curly-hair.

"What are you holding?"

"A ticket, I finally queued up to buy... Ah! What are you doing?"

Seeing the ticket in the clansman's hand, Senju Itama's eyes lit up. With lightning speed, she snatched the ticket from the other party's hand.

"Borrowing it for a use. Don't worry, I'm not taking it for free; put it on the curly-haired baboon's tab."

"No way! ~"

Watching Senju Itama's carefree departing back, the clansman, ruthlessly ravaged by a miserable fate, reached out helplessly, tears dripping down his cheeks.

Under the intense emotional impact, his black pupils unconsciously turned crimson, and a third black tomoe gradually gestured within the pupils that originally only had two.

"Huh? It's already three tomoe?"

The clansman, who was crying bitterly, felt the profound aura emanating from his eyes and instantly stopped his tears. He took out a mirror he carried and looked at it; his face immediately bloomed with brilliance.

"Isn't it just queuing? I love queuing!"

"Eating all day long, and now look, you can't even react to the Flying Thunder God."

Turning his head to look at Senju Itama walking over slowly not far away, Uchiha Gin mocked sarcastically.

"Who knew she was a clone."

Senju Itama, being lectured, looked resentful. She sat down beside Uchiha Gin without ceremony and reached for the popcorn bucket clamped between his legs.

"Still eating? But you came at the right time; a good show shouldn't be missed."

"Crunch, crunch~"

"Where did you buy the popcorn?"

Chewing the fragrant and delicious popcorn in large mouthfuls, Senju Itama blinked in confusion. Compared to Uchiha Gin's so-called good show, she was more curious about where this popcorn, marked with a limited flavor, came from.

"You mean this? It's theirs."

Uchiha Gin was already accustomed to Senju Itama's wanton behavior. After rolling his eyes, he pointed to the side.

"Wuwuwu, Grandpa Gin, don't finish it all, leave some for me!"

"Uh... are you even human, snatching a child's snacks?"

Looking at the tearful white-haired brat beside him, Senju Itama looked disgusted.

"I didn't take it for free, right, little Orochimaru~"

Gently shaking his finger, Uchiha Gin nudged the black-haired boy who appeared the calmest among the children. He had exchanged this bucket of popcorn for top-secret intelligence.

"That's right, Jiraiya, you idiot, stop crying."

Under the gaze of Uchiha Gin's mocking eyes, Orochimaru's face tightened slightly. He turned his head stiffly and said to the snot-nosed Jiraiya.

"You talk nicely, but it's not like you spent the money to buy it."

Jiraiya flipped up upon hearing this and grabbed Orochimaru by the collar, his little face full of annoyance.

It was a coincidence.

Just now, Uchiha Gin discovered that the seat he was sitting in happened to be adjacent to several familiar brats. Except for Tsunade, who was sitting with her grandmother, all the other five brats were there, plus a silver-haired little boy he hadn't seen much.

After a simple greeting, Uchiha Gin was a bit curious why the bowl-cut kid among the brats had come too.

Although the 100,000-ryo ticket wasn't expensive, for Might Dai, whose family conditions weren't wealthy, it was already a huge sum.

"Haha, Sakumo-kun is treating!"

Might Dai laughed and gave a thumbs up, answering Uchiha Gin's confusion.

"Hey, hey, hey, I remember saying it was a loan, right?"

Hatake Sakumo, wearing a scarf, rolled his eyes significantly.

"Such a small matter, Sakumo-kun, don't take it to heart. Don't worry, I will definitely pay the money back~"

"The relationship between you guys is really good."

Looking at the few people with a fiery relationship, Uchiha Gin nodded thoughtfully. Just then, Senju Hijiri and Senju Itama in the arena started fighting, so he shifted his attention away from the little ones.

"Little Jiraiya, where did you buy your popcorn?"

However, seeing the wonderful competition in the arena, Uchiha Gin felt he needed some snacks as a side dish, so he set his sights on Jiraiya, who was holding a full bucket of popcorn.

"This is a limited flavor I bought after queuing for a long time."

Hearing Uchiha Gin's question, Jiraiya didn't notice that a disaster was about to strike and was still proudly showing off the popcorn in his hand.

"So that's it. Bring it here~"

You said it was a limited flavor; isn't this clearly seducing me!

Uchiha Gin unceremoniously snatched the unopened popcorn from Jiraiya, clamped it between his legs, tore open the packaging, and began to taste it in large mouthfuls.

"Huh? You robber!"

The sudden change stunned Jiraiya. It wasn't until Uchiha Gin swallowed a large mouthful of his own popcorn that he realized and scolded him.

"Respecting the old and loving the young is Konoha's traditional virtue. I'm old and have low blood sugar; it's easy to get dizzy if I don't eat something sweet."

Uchiha Gin talked nonsense while showing off the popcorn.

"I want to call the police! Security team, security team..."

Jiraiya didn't care about that; facing a shameless robber, he chose to pick up the weapon of the law.

"Little cousin, he is looking for you."

Nudging Uchiha Izuna beside him, Uchiha Gin reminded him with a smile.

"..."

Looking helplessly at his big cousin, Uchiha Izuna decided to play deaf and dumb, directly ignoring Jiraiya's request for police.

"Wuwuwu, my popcorn~"

"Wuwuwu..."

"Alright, alright, isn't it just a bucket of popcorn? I'll trade it with something, okay?"

Listening to Jiraiya's sobbing like he was crying at a grave, Uchiha Gin, annoyed, scratched his head.

"Trade? Do you know how important popcorn is to me? Unless you trade it with ** magazines!"

"Little cousin, he is looking for you again."

This time, Uchiha Izuna, nudged by Uchiha Gin, left his seat in anger.

Play is play, trouble is trouble, don't joke about ** magazines.

"Really, I'm not Erlang; where would I have that kind of thing? How about this, I'll trade with you for a very important piece of intelligence."

Uchiha Gin pondered for a moment and decided to trade with something else.

"Intelligence?"

Jiraiya stopped sobbing upon hearing this, his cat-like face full of confusion.

"That's right, this is my exclusive news, and it is closely related to your future."

Nodding pretentiously, Uchiha Gin called the little ones closer.

"What exactly is the intelligence?"

"Are you guys graduating from the Ninja Academy soon?"

Without directly answering the little ones' confusion, Uchiha Gin asked back.

"It's not soon; we have already graduated."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. They had already passed the Ninja Academy exam and received their Genin headbands; now they were just waiting for the village to assign them a Jonin instructor.

"So fast? Then have you chosen your Jonin instructor?"

Time flies; in the blink of an eye, these little brats have become his colleagues.

"We don't have the qualifications to choose."

Speaking of such professional problems, Orochimaru stepped forward. For Genin of their ordinary background, it was already a blessing to have someone to instruct them.

"Don't belittle yourselves. I have learned from reliable hearsay that among you, there will be a few lucky ones who become the Hokage's disciples."

"Ah!!!"

Uchiha Gin's news was like a heavy bomb, stirring up a thousand waves in the young hearts of the little ones.

"Shh~ keep your voice down. This is S-level intelligence; trading it for a bucket of popcorn is cheap for you."

"Then wouldn't I become the Hokage's disciple?"

Jiraiya stood up excitedly, his eyes full of little stars.

"Bai Chi, a Jonin instructor will only have three students, and we have six people."

Orochimaru poured a basin of cold water at the right time. Jiraiya calmed down instantly. Looking at his classmates beside him, a sense of powerlessness arose spontaneously.

That's right, everyone is so excellent; how could he, a tail-end, be the Hokage's student?

"Jiraiya, I believe you will definitely become Hokage-sama's student."

The little boy Helu keenly sensed Jiraiya's disappointment and hurriedly encouraged him, cheering him on.

"Ganbatte!"

"Thank you, Helu, you are my good brother for life."

Jiraiya was greatly comforted. After patting the little boy's shoulder, he turned to look at Uchiha Gin and happened to smell the sweet fragrance. For a moment, his taste buds and tear glands secreted a continuous stream of liquid.

"Wuwuwu, Grandpa Gin, at least leave me a bite~"

"Ouch! Falling for such a simple trap, is there only eating and drinking in that brat's head?"

Ignoring the pleading Jiraiya, Uchiha Gin looked at Senju Itama, who had been sent away by the Flying Thunder God, and shook his head in disappointment. But the next second, his gaze was attracted by another familiar figure.

"Eh? What does Little Zhili want to do?"

In the arena, Senju Hijiri's main body, who walked out slowly from the smoke that hadn't dissipated, had a flash of triumph on her face.

What's the use of having brute force? Didn't she still lose to her strongest brain?

Next, it's time to do business.

Senju Hijiri thought while turning around, only to find a purple-haired girl standing behind her at some point.

"Are you... Uchiha Gin's student?"

"Are you also an enemy?"

(End of chapter)