Chapter 374: Battlefield Training

"What bad luck, it's the Yellow Flash."

The moment the Iwa-nin saw Minato Namikaze leading the team, they felt what little hope of escape they had vanish completely.

Minato Namikaze had gained renown among Iwa for his extraordinary speed during the battles in the Land of Grass, making him the Iwa-nin's most feared shinobi after Jiraiya.

Now, Minato Namikaze had further risen in fame across the shinobi world by fighting the new AB Combination of Kumo to a standstill on the battlefield in the Land of Hot Water, a feat that made him a renowned powerhouse and increased his danger level even more; the Iwa-nin did not believe they could escape from such a Minato Namikaze.

"Don't be arrogant. We don't need sensei Minato to deal with you lot." Obito and Kakashi exchanged a glance, assuming combat stances as they spoke.

The two walked ahead, shielding Rin Nohara behind them, steadily closing in on the five Iwa-nin ahead.

Meanwhile, Minato Namikaze flicked out several Flying Thunder God kunai to seal off any potential escape routes for the Iwa-nin.

He would not participate in this battle; he would only back up Obito and the others.

Before stepping out, Minato Namikaze had already sensed the chakra signatures of the five Iwa-nin; only one might be a jōnin, while the rest had weak chakra, likely chūnin or genin—Obito and the others could handle them.

The leader, an Iwa tokubetsu jōnin, felt a surge of joy at Minato Namikaze's apparent arrogance—if he couldn't beat Minato Namikaze, then surely he could beat three kids around ten years old, right?

"They want to use us as a whetstone? Then they'd better be prepared for their blade to break," the Iwa tokubetsu jōnin thought fiercely.

Originally, encountering Minato Namikaze meant certain death, but if their opponents were Obito and his two companions, that changed everything.

As a tokubetsu jōnin with three chūnin and one genin as teammates, he was confident this lineup could surround and kill a jōnin—there was no way those three kids could be a jōnin and two chūnin.

However, the Iwa tokubetsu jōnin did not let his guard down; he knew Minato Namikaze would not just stand by and watch. If his subordinates were in danger, Minato would surely act personally. Yet this was their only chance to survive—if they managed to take someone hostage, they might retreat; at worst, they could kill a Konoha shinobi.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Rammus Technique!"

Under the command of the Iwa tokubetsu jōnin, the four Iwa-nin gathered their chakra and spat out stones, hurling them at Kakashi and Obito.

"Breath of Fire, Total Concentration!"

"Breath of Lightning, Total Concentration!"

Obito and Kakashi immediately focused their breath, ready to act.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Obito gathered chakra in his throat, then rapidly converted it to fire-nature chakra and expelled it in a single breath.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

A fierce orange-red flame continuously spewed forth, rapidly forming a massive fireball that hurtled toward the five Iwa-nin.

The enormous fireball swallowed the stones the Iwa-nin had spat out and continued crashing toward their position.

"A prodigy shinobi, huh..." The Iwa tokubetsu jōnin tightened his grip on his sword, fixing his eyes on Obito.

Given the fireball's considerable power, the Iwa-nin had no intention of taking it head-on; they scattered to dodge.

"Flash: Double Slash!"

At that moment, Kakashi moved.

He did not waste the opportunity Obito had created, instantly bursting chakra in his legs as a dazzling lightning appeared, and Kakashi shot forward like a bolt of lightning.

Swish! Swish!

Two arcs of lightning flashed, blood blossomed, and instantly two Iwa chūnin fell dead under Kakashi's blade.

The Iwa tokubetsu jōnin's eyelids twitched—he realized he might not be able to evade such a fast blade.

Now the Iwa tokubetsu jōnin understood Minato Namikaze's intent: Minato wasn't being arrogant—these three brats were no ordinary shinobi!

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

While the enemy was evading the Great Fireball, Rin Nohara rapidly formed hand signs, using the Water Dragon Bullet technique to create a water dragon that surged toward the Iwa-nin.

Just as the Iwa-nin thought they had dodged the water dragon, Rin suddenly changed the technique, shape-transforming the Water Dragon Bullet into a thick stream of water that drenched them all to the bone.

This was a technique Mei Terumī had demonstrated during the Chūnin Exams; Mugetsu had studied it for a while, successfully replicated it, and then taught it to Rin Nohara.

Because this technique demanded high skill in chakra shape transformation, Rin could only use it while maintaining the Breath of Water's Total Concentration.

"Lightning Release: Purple Lightning!"

Kakashi's hand erupted with chakra, an extremely dazzling purple lightning appearing in his grip, then splitting into large arcs of electricity that enveloped the Iwa-nin.

The Iwagakure ninjas who had just been hit by the Water Release had a really rough time; only the Iwagakure Special Jonin barely held on, while the other two Iwagakure were electrocuted and collapsed.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower, Crimson Claw!"

Seeing the Iwagakure Special Jonin's speed limited by paralysis, Obito unceremoniously used a B-rank Fire Release, sending a barrage of flaming shuriken slamming toward the Iwagakure Special Jonin.

Boom!!

An explosion sounded, and there were no longer any Iwagakure ninjas left standing on the field.

"Everyone performed well, both in teamwork and individual performance." Minato praised without holding back.

At first, he was worried that Obito would go all out and recklessly spam large-scale Fire Release.

Although that would still win the fight, it would waste a lot of unnecessary chakra, and it would be dangerous if they encountered more enemies.

Obito chuckled, "After all, it's just an A-rank mission. The enemies aren't that strong."

"If you had to do it alone, you'd know whether the enemies are strong or not," Kakashi said flatly.

"Kakashi, that's unreasonable. They were a squad too, so why would I have to go alone?" Obito argued logically.

"Alright, stop arguing. Kakashi is worried that you'll get hurt due to carelessness, Obito," Nohara Rin said helplessly, stepping in to mediate.

"It's because I'm worried his mistakes would cause damage to our entire squad," Kakashi emphasized.

"I wasn't..." Obito wanted to counter Kakashi, but was interrupted by Minato.

"Since the mission is complete, let's go to the camp and rest for a while," Minato Namikaze said with a gentle smile.

Although Kakashi and Obito argued easily, Minato Namikaze could tell they had a good relationship — arguing was part of their daily interactions.

However, this was still the battlefield, and they had expended a lot of energy searching along the way, so he wanted them to rest and conserve energy.

"Camp? Aren't we going back to Konoha?" Obito asked in confusion.

"During wartime, Master Jiraiya, as a unit commander, also has the authority to issue missions. We can take on missions here for a while longer," Minato explained.

Since they were going to relieve the pressure on Konoha, Minato naturally wouldn't just go back after one mission; he had to stay a while and kill more enemies.

Of course, to take care of Obito and the others, Minato wouldn't take on overly dangerous missions.

"I see, that's pretty convenient," Obito had no objection to this and even thought it was reasonable.

If they went back and then took another mission, then left the country and returned to the village, the travel alone would take a lot of time.

Then the three of them went with Minato to Konoha's camp in the Land of Grass.

"Haha, Minato, with you here, I can take it easy now." Jiraiya was very happy to learn of Minato's arrival.

As a ninja, Minato Namikaze was just too useful — he could one-shot lower-rank ninjas like cutting grass, could handle strong opponents like

「Toad Uncle, what about me? Are there any really difficult A-rank missions? I'll take care of them all for you. 」Obito looked like a mission maniac.

「Hmm, Kakashi's here too. He might just become a famous genius ninja on the battlefield. 」Jiraiya looked at Kakashi, nodding with a smile.

Obito's forehead creased into a well-shaped wrinkle; he felt Jiraiya was doing it on purpose.

「And little Rin, we're really short on medical ninjas on the battlefield. You're a huge help. 」Then Jiraiya gave Rin Nohara a thumbs up.

「Damn Toad Uncle, I'm standing right in front of you, can't you see me?! 」Obito panicked when he saw Jiraiya had praised everyone in the team except him.

「Goggles kid, show me some respect. Either call me Toad Sage or Lord Jiraiya. 」Jiraiya rapped Obito on the head with a hand-chop.

「Otherwise, if you piss me off, forget A-rank missions — you won't even get C-rank. I'll make you do D-rank every day. 」

「Alright then, Uncle Jiraiya. 」Obito changed his address reluctantly.

Calling him Sage was out of the question; in his heart there were only two Sages: Sage Mu Yue and the Sage of Six Paths.

「You little brat. 」Jiraiya was amused by Obito's obstinacy.

「Jiraiya-sensei, stop teasing Obito. Let me understand the current battle situation. 」Minato said helplessly.

Jiraiya was so easygoing that there was no way he'd get angry over someone not calling him Lord. He was just finding Obito amusing and messing with him — Minato knew that all too well.

……

On Monday, Anko went to the training ground Mu Yue had mentioned.

Anko thought she was early enough, but when she arrived, she found that Muyue and Shisui had already arrived, and she was the only one not there yet.

"Good morning, Teacher Muyue, and everyone." Anko didn't mind such a small thing and greeted them with a big grin.

"You guys came so early. I arrived three minutes early myself."

"Since everyone knows each other, let's skip the self-introduction and start training directly." Muyue nodded and said.

The three students all nodded, having no objections.

Then Muyue took out three bells from his ninja tool pouch and said, "The training content is simple: snatch the bells from my hand. The one who snatches one, I'll teach them a powerful ninjutsu or taijutsu."

Although it was still bell-snatching, Muyue didn't use the old trick of passing if you snatch one.

The old bell-snatching was meant to train ninja cooperation and teamwork awareness. However, because the gap in strength between Shisui, Anko, and the others was too large, forcing cooperation might have the opposite effect. Therefore, Muyue changed the rules, turning passing into a reward. This bell-snatching was no longer a project for training cooperation, but rather a project for testing strength and stimulating interest in training.

"How strong is 'powerful'?" Anko asked curiously.

"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

Muyue quickly formed hand seals in his hands and spat out a sharp lightning spear, chopping down a small patch of trees. For a moment, the loud sound of large trees falling echoed continuously.

"Rankyaku!"

Then Muyue gathered chakra into his foot and quickly kicked out several slashing strikes, splitting rocks into pieces.

"Something like that." Muyue said with a gentle smile after withdrawing his foot.

He was not lacking in powerful taijutsu or ninjutsu. There were some overly strong techniques that he couldn't teach now because they couldn't be used anyway.

"Wow, I want to learn this!" Anko's eyes lit up the moment she saw Muyue casually kick out a slash powerful enough to split rocks. This was way cooler than spitting out small fireballs.

If she learned it and showed off in front of Kotetsu and Izumo, they'd be so jealous.

"If you want to learn, then come snatch the bell. If you snatch it, I'll teach you today." Muyue slowly hung the bell on his waist and said.

"Mm-hmm." Anko nodded excitedly.

"Teacher Muyue, there seem to be two bags of dango on the ground behind you that no one wants." Anko rolled her eyes and shouted to Muyue, then immediately grabbed toward his waist.

Bang!

Muyue put his middle and index fingers together, tapped Anko on the head, and sent her flying several meters away.

"Damn it, he didn't fall for it!" Anko felt frustrated. Such a big temptation and he didn't even look back.

"Generally speaking, dango left on the ground that no one wants are probably spoiled." Shizune couldn't help but remark.

Shizune was a relatively quiet person, but Anko's point of complaint was too big; she really couldn't hold it in.

"That's not necessarily true. Maybe someone forgot to take them." Anko maintained her objection.

"Flame Breathing, Total Concentration!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Chain!"

Shisui pushed Flame Breathing to its limit and then spat out two giant fireballs at Muyue.

Shisui was very clear about Anko's strength, because every practical exam, he would go and bully Anko. As for Shizune, since they had been training together recently, he was also relatively clear. So Shisui didn't expect to snatch the bell by fighting together with them.

It wasn't that he didn't want to cooperate with his teammates in battle, but if the gap in strength was too big, it was meaningless.

Apart from the three basic jutsu, Anko only knew one D-rank small fireball. As for Shizune, she was a full-time healer, with all her skill points invested in treatment.

To put it bluntly, Shisui could take care of both Anko and Shizune with just one Shadow Clone. Was there even a need for cooperation?

Of course, this was only in training. In a real battle, Shizune as a healer was still very useful. Shisui wasn't so confident as to think he would never get injured.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Muyue gathered a large amount of chakra and spat out a thick water dragon, extinguishing the two incoming fireballs, and then continued charging toward Shisui.

Shisui immediately activated his Sharingan, his eyes quickly turning blood red, greatly enhancing his insight.

Although Muyue's water release was greatly weakened, it wasn't something Shisui could easily block at his current level. Shisui could only be sure of canceling it by using his most powerful Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, but that would consume too much chakra, so it was better to dodge.

Whoosh!

Just as Shisui dodged the Water Dragon Bullet, Muyue focused his breath and chakra, burst forward, and appeared in front of Shisui, pointing a finger.

Bang!

Zhishui instantly retreated at extreme speed and returned to Hongdou and the others in a lying-flat posture.

Seeing that Zhishui also failed at light speed, Hongdou immediately felt a sense of relief in her heart.

Even Zhishui, who had dominated her, failed so quickly; it definitely wasn't that she was too weak, but that this training was too difficult.