Chapter 597: The Girl Surrounded by Enemies

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Stop pulling, you two! This great master is going to split in half!"

The Nine-Tails, deformed by the two immense forces pulling at it, grimaced in pain within the Tailed Beast card space. The chakra it once prided itself on was now completely useless.

Like duckweed in the rain, the Nine-Tails finally realized the cruel truth: even with Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha absent, it, the so-called strongest Tailed Beast, was nothing more than meat on a chopping block.

"You let go first."

Uchiha Gin sneered at Kushina Uzumaki while secretly exerting more force, but the Nine-Tails card seemed welded into the opponent's hand; no matter how hard she pulled, she couldn't shake it loose and could only barely hold her ground.

"I only used thirty percent of my strength and you're already failing? Just admit defeat obediently; I've never feared anyone when it comes to raw strength."

Kushina Uzumaki shook her head in disdain at Uchiha Gin's suggestion. As she spoke, she added a bit more force, and the balance of the Nine-Tails card, which had been deadlocked in mid-air, was instantly broken.

"Ahhh! Really, I'm serious, my butt has already split open! If you don't believe me, look!"

The Nine-Tails' agonizing screams grew louder, but they failed to stir any compassion in the two women. The pair, locked in a test of strength, didn't care about the Nine-Tails' life or death at all; they only wanted to determine who was superior.

"Rumble—"

On the other side of the arena, massive explosions erupted one after another. The hard ground was riddled with craters, and the dust kicked up by the shockwaves filled most of the space.

A blue light flashed, and a disheveled and dust-covered Himari Senju landed awkwardly. Her silver-white hair was a mess, plastered in strands against her forehead by seeping sweat.

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

Her ruby-like eyes were filled with shock. Before her heavy breathing could settle, Himari Senju's sensory radar flared again, and she immediately forced her body to twist.

"Swish!"

Almost the moment she twisted, Bandai Senju arrived with the momentum of thunder. A pair of seemingly delicate but actually devastatingly destructive fists swept past. The sonic boom generated by the fists rubbing against the air left Himari Senju temporarily deaf in both ears.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz."

Clutching her ears, Himari Senju retreated rapidly to create distance. A delayed sense of dizziness surged into her brain, and her legs went weak, causing her to drop to one knee.

"Ah! Grandma, Auntie is..."

Seeing this, Tsunade, who had been anxious in the spectator stands for a long time, stood up abruptly. Her large, watery eyes were veiled in a faint mist.

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

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

They were all family; they wouldn't use lethal force.

"Give up, Himari."

Bandai Senju slowly dissipated the monstrous strength wrapped around her fists and earnestly advised her cheap niece.

"You're still young; you'll have chances in the future."

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

"Auntie, I..."

Himari Senju slowly raised her head, a flash of unhealthy crimson appearing on her fair face. Seeing this, Bandai Senju felt a pang of anxiety; had she failed to hold back her strength and caused the girl internal injuries?

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

Appearing in a flash before the pale-faced Himari Senju, the off-guard Bandai Senju quickly lowered her body, reaching out to check her niece's injuries.

"Tap~"

To her surprise, the seemingly weak Himari Senju actually reached out her hand and pressed it squarely onto her shoulder.

"Finally caught you."

"Eh?"

A bewildered Bandai Senju was slightly stunned. The next second, she saw a blue light flare up.

"Where is this?"

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

"Auntie, sorry."

"Wait! You?"

Poof~

Before Bandai Senju could ask, Himari Senju raised one hand and vanished into a puff of white smoke.

It turned out the one acting weak just now was Himari Senju's Shadow Clone.

"Damn it!"

Never expecting to be played by her young niece, Bandai Senju couldn't accept this reality. She rushed to the entrance, preparing to re-enter the hall, but was blocked by the waiting members of the Shimura clan.

"The gate is closed. Entry is strictly prohibited."

Bandai Senju was dumbfounded. This was a huge embarrassment; she would definitely be mocked by that old woman Uchiha Gin and laughed at by her sister-in-law when she got back.

"Then can I go in as a spectator?"

"Please show your ticket."

Feeling her empty pockets, Bandai Senju's face turned bitter. She had spent all her pocket money on snacks earlier; now she didn't have a single cent left.

Did she really have to go home to get money?

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

"Uchiha Banzai, why are you here?"

Seeing Bandai Senju, the clansman subconsciously stopped and stepped back, his eyes searching around for a certain hateful curly-haired person.

"What are you holding?"

"A ticket, I finally bought it after queuing... Ah! What are you doing?"

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

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

"No way! "

Watching Bandai Senju's dashing departure, the clansman, ruthlessly ravaged by a cruel fate, reached out helplessly as tears streamed down his cheeks.

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

"Huh? It's already three tomoe?"

The weeping clansman felt the profound aura radiating from his eyes and instantly stopped crying. He pulled out a mirror he carried with him and took a look; his face immediately bloomed with brilliance.

"It's just queuing, right? I love queuing!"

"All day long you only know how to eat, eat, eat. Now look, you couldn't even react to the Flying Thunder God."

Turning his head to look at Bandai Senju walking over from not far away, Uchiha Gin mocked her with a sarcastic tone.

"Who knew she was a clone."

The lectured Bandai Senju wore a look of indignation. She sat down next to Uchiha Gin without ceremony and reached for the popcorn bucket held between his legs.

"Still eating? But you arrived at the right time; a good show is not to be missed."

"Crunch, crunch~"

"Where did you buy this popcorn?"

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

"You mean this? It's theirs."

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

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

"Eh... are you even human? You're even snatching snacks from a kid?"

Looking at the teary-eyed white-haired brat beside them, Bandai Senju looked at him with disdain.

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

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

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

Under Uchiha Gin's teasing gaze, Orochimaru's expression tightened slightly. He turned his head away stiffly and said to the snot-nosed Jiraiya.

"Easy for you to say, it's not like you were the one who paid for it."

Hearing this, Jiraiya jumped up and grabbed Orochimaru's collar, his little face full of anger.

As it happens,

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

After a simple greeting, Uchiha Gin was curious why the bowl-cut kid was also here.

Although the 100, 00 ryo ticket wasn't expensive, for the not-so-wealthy Might Dai, it was 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?"

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

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

"You guys really have a great relationship."

Watching the lively group, Uchiha Gin nodded thoughtfully. Just then, Himari Senju and Bandai Senju began to fight in the arena, so he shifted his attention away from the little ones.

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

However, seeing the exciting 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 disaster was about to strike and proudly showed off the popcorn in his hands.

"I see. Hand it over~"

You said it yourself that it's a limited flavor; isn't that clearly just baiting me!

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

"Huh? You robber!"

The sudden turn of events left Jiraiya stunned; it was only after Uchiha Gin had swallowed a large mouthful of his popcorn that he reacted and rebuked him.

"Respecting the old and cherishing the young is a traditional virtue of Konoha. I'm old and have low blood sugar; if I don't eat something sweet, I get dizzy easily."

Uchiha Gin talked nonsense while stuffing his face with popcorn.

"I'm calling the police! Security team, security team..."

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

"Little cousin, he's looking for you."

Nudging Uchiha Izuna beside him with his elbow, Uchiha Gin reminded him with a grin.

"..."

Glancing helplessly at his older cousin, Uchiha Izuna decided to play deaf and dumb, directly ignoring Jiraiya's request to call the police.

"Waaah, my popcorn~"

"Waaah..."

"Alright, alright, isn't it just a bucket of popcorn? I'll trade you something for it, is that okay?"

Listening to Jiraiya's wailing, which sounded like he was mourning at a grave, Uchiha Gin, feeling thoroughly annoyed, scratched his head.

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

"Little cousin, he's looking for you again."

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

Play is play, and joking is joking, but don't joke about ** magazines.

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

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

"Intelligence?"

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya stopped sobbing, his face, looking like a tear-streaked cat, filled with confusion.

"That's right, this is my exclusive news, and it's closely related to the future of you few."

Nodding with a feigned air of mystery, Uchiha Gin beckoned the few little ones to come closer.

"What kind of intelligence is it exactly?"

"Are you all about to graduate from the Ninja Academy?"

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

"It's not 'about to,' we've already graduated."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes; they had already passed the Ninja Academy exams and received their genin headbands, and 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 so fast; in the blink of an eye, these little brats have become his colleagues.

"How would we have the qualifications to choose?"

When it came to professional questions like this, Orochimaru stepped forward; for genin of their humble origins, having someone to instruct them was already a stroke of great luck.

"Don't sell yourselves short. I heard from reliable inside information that among you few, there will be a couple of lucky ones who become the disciples of the Hokage."

"Ah!!!"

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

"Shh~ keep it down. This is S-rank intelligence; trading it for a bucket of popcorn is getting off cheap."

"Doesn't that mean I might become the Hokage's disciple?"

Jiraiya stood up excitedly, his eyes filled with little stars.

"Idiot, a jonin instructor only has three students, and there are six of us."

Orochimaru poured a bucket of cold water at the right moment. Jiraiya calmed down instantly, and looking at his classmates beside him, a sense of powerlessness welled up.

That's right, everyone is so excellent; how could a dead-last like him possibly be the Hokage's student?

"Jiraiya, I believe you will definitely be able to become the Hokage's student."

The little boy-girl Hiruko keenly sensed Jiraiya's disappointment and hurriedly spoke up to encourage him, cheering him on.

"Ganbare!"

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

Jiraiya felt greatly comforted. After patting the little boy-girl on the shoulder, he turned to look at Uchiha Gin and happened to catch the sweet, cloying aroma. For a moment, his taste buds and tear ducts secreted a continuous stream of liquid.

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

"Oh! Falling for such a simple trap—is that kid's brain only filled with the words 'eat' and 'drink'?"

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 drawn to another familiar figure.

"Huh? What is little Jiri trying to do?"

On the field, Senju Hizuna's main body slowly emerged from the lingering dust, a flash of smugness crossing her face.

What use is brute strength? She still lost to her superior brain.

Next, it's time to get down to business.

Senju Hizuna thought to herself as she turned around, only to discover a purple-haired girl standing behind her, though she didn't know when she had arrived.

"You are... Uchiha Gin's student?"

"Are you... also an enemy?"

(End of chapter)