Chapter 266: Surprised Minato

Chakra burst from Minato's feet as he rapidly shifted to the relatively open left side, then threw a Flying Thunder God Kunai towards Kakashi and Rin, while carefully observing his surroundings in an attempt to locate Obito's real body.

Kakashi and Rin both easily dodged the Kunai Minato threw casually and moved towards him together.

Kakashi pulled out his Kunai, aiming for Minato's vital points with each thrust. However, Minato's Kunai skills were superior, and he calmly blocked all of Kakashi's attacks, while Rin's harassment had little effect.

But this was part of their prearranged attack plan. Taking advantage of Minato blocking Kakashi's stab at his heart, Rin gathered a large amount of Chakra in her arm, significantly enhancing her physical strength, and struck Minato with an Enhanced Strength punch.

This punch needed no further explanation; even someone unfamiliar with Chakra could understand its power because the momentum of the punch was completely different.

Minato immediately increased his strength, pushing Kakashi, who had been competing with him using Kunai, away. He then focused Chakra in his palm to collide with Rin.

Boom!

With a loud crash, Minato was pushed back two meters by the immense force.

"Such strong power. I didn't expect this seemingly ordinary child to have such incredible strength," Minato was very surprised by the recoil.

He was astonished by the strength beneath Rin's frail body. Just moments ago, Minato had used Chakra, albeit with some restraint, but for Rin, a newly graduated student, to achieve such a level was already quite impressive. Rin's performance at school was not as outstanding as Obito's.

Kakashi seized this opportunity, quickly attacking Minato and forcing him to retreat.

As Minato pondered whether to use more power, he suddenly sensed a hint of danger. He saw that Kakashi had stopped his actions and began forming hand seals.

"Explosion."

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"

At the same time, Obito's real body appeared on a nearby large tree, spitting out a large number of small fireballs to seal off the area.

Boom!!

The Explosive Tag buried underground by Kakashi was detonated, and the intense firelight engulfed Minato's position. The thick explosion smoke obscured what was happening inside.

Obito jumped down and walked over to Rin, scratching his head and saying, "What do we do? We didn't just kill Minato-san, did we? He seemed not to have avoided our attack."

"This is bad; Minato-san is a good friend of Yumi-sensei."

Kakashi glanced at Obito with some exasperation. Didn't he realize his own strength? They had barely managed to take down a Hidden Cloud Jonin with the combined effort of three of them, and Minato was clearly not an ordinary Jonin. It was unlikely they could take him down so easily.

"Probably not, right?" Rin said uncertainly. With the least combat experience and having never fought a strong enemy before, she felt Minato was in great danger.

The smoke quickly cleared, revealing a ground scorched black, with Minato nowhere to be seen.

Kakashi's expression immediately turned cautious, deeply surprised. He had no idea how Minato had disappeared.

"You really surprised me. It looks like I'll need to respond more seriously."

Minato's voice came from behind them. Kakashi whipped around quickly and saw Minato, smiling and completely unharmed.

Obito immediately moved in front of Rin, using the Breathing Technique to its fullest, entering an incredibly focused breathing state.

"Such speed is indeed hard to handle," Kakashi's eyes flickered. He wasn't too surprised, considering Minato was known to be strong, as even Mutsuki said. It would be odd if they had taken him down so easily.

Seeing the three immediately enter combat mode again, Minato felt a bit of emotion.

He was grateful to be the sensei of these three. If it had been a more ordinary Jonin, he might have really been caught off guard. Who would have thought that three nine-year-olds could display such strength?

Obito's Fire Release, Rin's immense strength, Kakashi's attack rhythm and traps—these abilities were far superior to their peers.

Whoosh! Whoosh!!!

Minato threw a Flying Thunder God Kunai at the three.

Clang!

Obito swung his Kunai to block the attack, and the Kunai embedded itself in the ground next to Obito.

Immediately afterward, Kakashi and Obito exchanged a glance and nodded.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Obito gathered a large amount of Chakra in his throat, quickly performed Nature Transformation, and unleashed a massive fireball that grew to over four meters in size.

Meanwhile, Kakashi silently jumped onto a tree, using it as a springboard to rapidly close in on Minato, while throwing Shuriken to seal off the area.

Whoosh!

Just as the fireball was about to reach him, Minato disappeared from his original spot. The fireball and Shuriken missed their target, and Kakashi scanned the area rapidly, searching for Minato's location.

Bang! Bang!!

Using Flying Thunder God, Minato appeared next to Obito and Rin, and with extremely swift Taijutsu, he knocked both of them into a tree.

"So fast!" Obito, who was relatively resilient, quickly got up, astonished.

He hadn't seen how Minato moved over so quickly and knocked them away in an instant.

Kakashi, noticing Minato's location, had a thoughtful expression.

If he remembered correctly, Minato's previous appearance also had Kunai involved—could it be a coincidence?

Kakashi silently noted the locations of the two Kunai and launched another attack.

Determined not to be a hindrance, Rin also got up despite the pain and took a combat stance.

With the two quickly back on their feet and Kakashi returning, the three of them surrounded Minato from three different angles.

Obito was the first to act. His breathing in this extreme state couldn't last long; the battle needed to be concluded quickly.

Obito charged forward, followed by Rin, who used Enhanced Strength to charge at Minato again. Kakashi also used Body Flicker Jutsu, thrusting Kunai towards Minato.

Minato calmly threw a Kunai towards Obito.

As Obito sidestepped to avoid the Kunai, Minato's figure vanished and appeared behind Obito, delivering a punch that sent Obito crashing to the ground.

"It must be related to Kunai!" Seeing Minato use Flying Thunder God from the front, Kakashi immediately deduced that Minato's extraordinary Body Flicker Jutsu was connected to the Kunai he threw.

"Damn it!" Obito, frustrated that the girl he cared about was either being knocked away or knocked down, ignited with inner rage. Ignoring everything else, he used the Flame Breathing technique to set his feet on fire and kicked at Minato, while his left hand quietly formed hand seals.

Minato leaped back to avoid the kick. As Obito completed the hand seals, he quickly flipped and spat several small fireballs at Minato.

"To be able to use Fire Release in this situation?" Minato was extremely surprised. Just moments ago, Obito had been face-down on the ground and shouldn't have been able to form hand seals.

Whoosh!

Minato's body vanished again in front of everyone. Kakashi immediately erupted with Chakra and used Soru to its fullest, rushing towards the Flying Thunder God Kunai.

There were now three Flying Thunder God Kunai on the field. The first Kunai was used to attack Kakashi and Rin, and it was now farther away from them. The second Kunai was used by Minato to attack Obito and Rin, while the third one was the Kunai that knocked Obito down. Kakashi was heading towards the second Kunai.

At this moment, the Kunai next to Obito was not safe and might be affected by the Phoenix Sage Fire. The first Kunai was too far away, and the second Kunai was closer to Rin, so Kakashi judged that Minato would likely move to the position of the second Flying Thunder God Kunai.

"Total Concentration, Thunder Breathing!"

Kakashi inhaled a large amount of oxygen to enhance his body, then concentrated his power in his legs. He quickly performed Lightning Release Chakra Nature Transformation, enhancing his legs with Lightning Chakra and reaching peak speed.

Minato, after using Flying Thunder God, initially intended to attack Rin. However, upon seeing Kakashi rapidly charging at him, he immediately shifted to a defensive stance.

"Has he already guessed the effect of Flying Thunder God? Such strong analytical ability," Minato was greatly surprised.

Minato's reaction was extremely fast, even quicker than Kakashi's speed. Despite Kakashi's decisive attack, he still failed to hit Minato.

The attack missed, but Kakashi, who had closed in on Minato, was not discouraged. Instead, he smiled with a hint of satisfaction.

Minato couldn't see Kakashi's expression under the mask, but he keenly sensed something was off and then noticed the Explosive Tag attached to Kakashi.

"Explosion."

Boom!!

A loud explosion occurred, engulfing both Kakashi and Minato in firelight.

"Kakashi is really quite devious," Obito said with a sigh of relief.

Of course, Kakashi would never sacrifice himself to take Minato down in a training exercise. Since they began looking for Minato, Kakashi had been using a Shadow Clone.

Everything was part of Kakashi's plan. Obito's Shadow Clone was the first decoy, and Kakashi's own Shadow Clone was the second decoy.

As the smoke cleared, the scene remained the same as before—only the ground was blackened by the explosion, with nothing else.

Whoosh!

Minato appeared at the location of the first Flying Thunder God Kunai, but the moment he arrived, he saw Kakashi, wielding purple lightning, charging at him.

Crackle!

Kakashi controlled the Purple Electricity, splitting it into numerous lightning snakes that surged toward Minato like a tidal wave. Minato's quick reflexes allowed him to dodge the attack, but Kakashi's goal was not to hit Minato's body; he was targeting the bell on Minato's waist.

The tiny bolts of lightning struck the bell, knocking it off. Kakashi, who had erupted with incredible speed, caught it in his hand.

"Squad Captain Minato, does this count as a successful training exercise?" Kakashi asked lightly.

"Yes, it does. To be honest, I'm very surprised by your performance," Minato said with a smile.

The performance of his squad members truly exceeded his expectations. Although he had held back a lot, even not using his crucial sensing abilities, he was still the battlefield's Yellow Flash, and it was quite impressive that Kakashi and the others managed to grab the bell from him on their first try.

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

Kakashi showed extraordinary combat intelligence, analyzing his Flying Thunder God technique in just a few encounters and immediately devising a battle plan capable of grabbing the bell.

Even Rin had her shining moments, using Enhanced Strength to force him into a trap where he had no choice but to use Flying Thunder God.

Minato felt that these three in his class were formidable—an ordinary Jonin might not necessarily be able to defeat them if they weren't careful. Their combat abilities were truly not to be underestimated.

"Finally, it's over. Minato-san, you're really fast," Obito, who had come to support Kakashi, remarked after hearing their conversation.

Mutsuki was also fast, but his speed was different from Minato's. Mutsuki's speed was such that Obito could still catch a glimpse of a blue flash, though he couldn't clearly see it. Minato's speed, on the other hand, was more mysterious, disappearing and reappearing out of nowhere.

"Sorry, it seems I didn't contribute much," Rin said, feeling as though she had just happened to win.

Due to her long focus on Medical Ninjutsu, Rin's combat abilities were not strong, and she had not participated in Mutsuki's team battles. Her only combat experience was in practical exams against classmates. Facing a strong opponent like Minato, she truly felt out of sync and as if she was just going through the motions.

Hearing Rin's words, Obito disagreed, saying, "That's not true. If it weren't for your support, Rin-chan, Kakashi's Shadow Clone would have been taken out long ago. You didn't play a small role, and that punch you landed on Minato-san was really impressive."

It's not just because of Rin's feelings; he genuinely believes that the battle would have been different without her.

"Obito is right. Rin-chan, your role in the battle is different from ours," Kakashi nodded and said.

In game terms, Kakashi and Obito are the main damage dealers, while Rin is the support. The primary role of support is, of course, not in dealing damage.

Kakashi actually thinks the current team composition is quite reasonable. With Rin mastering Medical Ninjutsu, he and Obito can receive treatment if they get injured.

It would be different when fighting Guy; the three would have to fight all-out without such support.

Hearing Kakashi and Obito's words, Rin felt much better, but she also made a firm resolve to work harder on her Taijutsu to contribute more in future battles.

"This internship program created by Mutsuki is indeed very good. If future graduates can coordinate like this, the strength of Genin in the village will improve significantly," Minato reflected on Obito and Kakashi's teamwork and felt that the internship could be promoted more widely.

During the internship, Obito, who had teamed up with Kakashi, clearly had much better coordination than Rin. Obito and Kakashi could understand each other's thoughts and execute plans simply by exchanging glances.

"You finished the training sooner than I expected. Today, rest and practice combat coordination, and tomorrow I'll take you on a mission," Minato said, outlining the next steps.

This coordination training was mainly for Rin; Obito and Kakashi had no issues.

"Yay, we get to go on a mission again," Obito cheered.

He was eager to defeat various enemies in front of Rin and enjoy the praise from her.

"Ninja missions..." Rin recalled the mission experiences Obito had shared with her, feeling a small sense of anticipation.

Kakashi initially wanted to tell Obito not to get too excited, but seeing that Rin also seemed a bit excited, he kept quiet. His own experience was a bit lacking at the moment.

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