Cooperation

"Boom! Boom!" The team of Shadow Clones charging out immediately noticed the fireball, but it came too fast. They only had time to shove one Shadow Clone away before being swallowed by the flames.

In an instant, two Shadow Clones were engulfed by the fireball and burst apart. At the same time, Uchiha Hirohiko flew out of the bushes the fireball had come from and brought down an axe kick in midair, shattering the Shadow Clone her companion had knocked to the ground.

On the other side, the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm struck a Shadow Clone, sending her flying with tremendous force. Three Shadow Clones crashed into one another. The one struck first burst apart with a "boom," while the other two lost their balance from the collision.

At that moment, Hyuga Yukina sprinted out, both fists erupting with Gentle Fist. With two sharp impacts, she destroyed the two Shadow Clones.

Almost at the same time as Uchiha Hirohiko, she had taken care of two Shadow Clones.

In an instant, Kushina Uzumaki had lost six Shadow Clones. Excluding the nine surrounding Chiba, she still had four teams of Shadow Clones left.

Including herself, there were twelve people.

Are they planning to destroy all the Shadow Clones and then find my location?

Kushina Uzumaki saw through their intentions.

And did the three teams of Shadow Clones Chiba drew away happen to create some blind spots in their vigilance? Was that why those two teams of Shadow Clones had been unable to react immediately and fell victim to Hirohiko and Yukina's attacks? The three of them usually did not talk much, yet their coordination was surprisingly good.

Kushina Uzumaki still felt gratified.

After all, with excellent coordination, even three Genin could kill a ninja far stronger than themselves.

And their strategy was not bad either. It was just a little reckless!

At this point, among Kushina Uzumaki's remaining four teams, one was in front, two were positioned on either flank of that team, and the final team was the one Kushina Uzumaki herself was in.

Just as the two teams of Shadow Clones were ambushed and eliminated, Uchiha Hirohiko and Hyuga Yukina had barely come to a stop when the two teams positioned on either flank of the central Shadow Clone team rushed forward, surrounding Uchiha Hirohiko and Hyuga Yukina respectively.

For a time, Chiba, Uchiha Hirohiko, and Hyuga Yukina were all completely surrounded by Shadow Clones.

With three of Kushina Uzumaki's Shadow Clones surrounding each of them, Uchiha Hirohiko and Hyuga Yukina had also been forced into a desperate situation.

Their earlier destruction of the Shadow Clones had depended entirely on the element of surprise. Facing three fully prepared Jonin-level Shadow Clones, no matter how talented they were, they could not break out.

It was over...

Watching them, Kushina Uzumaki came to that conclusion.

Still, she was very pleased. These three students had coordination and talent. With strict training, they would surely soon become ninja capable of standing on their own! Kushina Uzumaki had great confidence in them.

Just then, within the encirclement of nine, an Earth Cone suddenly thrust out from the ground. One Shadow Clone was pierced straight through and burst into white smoke with a "boom," while a figure raced up along the Earth Cone.

Chiba!

Kushina Uzumaki's eyes widened slightly.

That was an Earth Release ninjutsu! He... he could use Earth Release too?

At that moment, Chiba raced along the Earth Cone while the eight Shadow Clones behind him quickly reacted and gave chase.

"Hirohiko!" Chiba shouted. Reaching the tip of the Earth Cone at full speed, he leaped into the air and brought down a lightning-fast axe kick, destroying one of the three Shadow Clones surrounding Hirohiko.

The surrounded Uchiha Hirohiko seemed to have been prepared for this. He sprinted toward Chiba.

"Smack!"

Chiba landed. Almost the instant he straightened up, Uchiha Hirohiko's hand had already reached him. Chiba grabbed it, spun around, and hurled Uchiha Hirohiko away.

Chiba was already in Gate of Life Mode. With that throw, Uchiha Hirohiko flew at tremendous speed toward Hyuga Yukina's encirclement, gripping a Kunai tightly in his hand.

"Boom!"

One Shadow Clone in Yukina's encirclement had her back to the incoming Uchiha Hirohiko. Although the other Shadow Clones had noticed and tried to push her away, Hirohiko was far too fast. Before their hands reached her, his Kunai had already plunged into the back-facing Shadow Clone. He tackled her to the ground, and she immediately burst apart.

Seeing a gap open in the encirclement, Hyuga Yukina swiftly ran toward Chiba. As she passed the Uchiha Hirohiko who had tackled the clone to the ground, she casually hauled him up. The three quickly regrouped, standing back-to-back in the same defensive formation as Kushina's Shadow Clone teams. Each held a Kunai, watching all directions.

Kushina Uzumaki's Shadow Clones had already arrived, and twelve Shadow Clones surrounded the three of them completely.

Chiba panted. The chakra from his Gate of Life Mode was nearly exhausted as well. "Hirohiko, Yukina, are you two all right?"

"I'm fine. I'm still intact," Hyuga Yukina said, though she sounded somewhat strained. Nearly eighty percent of her chakra had already been consumed. That Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm alone had cost her a great deal of chakra. After all, the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm was at least a quasi-Jonin-level Gentle Fist technique. For someone her age to have mastered it was simply unimaginable. Even the vast majority of the main family could never master it in their entire lives.

Uchiha Hirohiko was panting like Chiba as well. "Twenty percent."

Those two concise words revealed Uchiha Hirohiko's current condition.

He had only twenty percent of his chakra left. That was not much either.

Watching from afar, Kushina Uzumaki let out a breath. The coordination among the three just now had been flawless, so smooth that it had even created a sense of beauty in battle.

For a moment, she had truly thought they might break out of the encirclement and launch an attack! Now it was finally over, but their final effort was still worthy of praise. In battle, giving up meant death. This was exactly the spirit of never giving up.

Kushina Uzumaki was truly satisfied with her three students, though she also felt the weight on her shoulders.

Teaching the three of them well was her responsibility! Just as Kushina relaxed, Chiba's lips curled into a smile. "Then, Hirohiko, Yukina, let's begin!"

"Yeah!" the two answered.

The instant Chiba finished speaking, two Shadow Clones in the team before Kushina suddenly spun around and punched another Shadow Clone at the same time. That Shadow Clone instantly burst apart. Then they rushed toward Kushina Uzumaki's main formation.

What! Kushina Uzumaki's eyes widened in shock.

Her own Shadow Clones had betrayed her?

As she reeled in shock, the two traitorous Shadow Clones had already charged over. The other two Shadow Clones in the main formation seemed unable to believe it either and froze in place. When the traitorous Shadow Clones closed in, they still had not reacted before being destroyed on the spot.

Joyful smiles appeared on the faces of the two traitorous Shadow Clones.

They were going to succeed!

"Boom! Boom!"

Just as those smiles spread, Kushina Uzumaki suddenly threw two punches, instantly destroying both Shadow Clones.

"Don't celebrate too soon!" Kushina Uzumaki said.

As she spoke, a figure dropped from the sky and grabbed her fist with a "smack."

"Looks like this is Teacher Kushina's real body!" Chiba's voice sounded in front of her.

Looking down, she saw Chiba half-crouched on the ground, faint dust stirred up around him by his descent. He smiled at her. Looking again at the encirclement, Hyuga Yukina and Uchiha Hirohiko had clasped both hands together in a cross, forming a springboard.

Had he used the two of them to leap over in one jump?

This kid... had he set a trap? When my Shadow Clones went to search the bushes earlier, he suddenly flew out and destroyed one with a kick. Then he deliberately attacked the other Shadow Clones and deliberately got kicked into the bushes, luring two Shadow Clones into chasing him.

He must have swapped the Shadow Clones at that time. Were those two traitorous Shadow Clones Hirohiko's Shadow Clones transformed into my appearance? No! Hirohiko had enough chakra for, at most, one Shadow Clone. As for the other... the Hyuga Clan rejected every ninjutsu aside from the Three Body Techniques, so it could not have been Yukina. Was it Chiba? Earth Release, taijutsu, Shadow Clones! He had mastered all of them! What terrifying talent. Perhaps even Minato could not compare to him! Then all those subsequent maneuvers—him deliberately drawing so many Shadow Clones, Hirohiko and Yukina's ambush, their operation to escape the encirclement... it had all been to draw my and the Shadow Clones' attention onto the three of them. To create the right conditions for the surprise attack by those two traitorous Shadow Clones—no, Hirohiko and Chiba's Shadow Clones?

For that final move, had he predicted that I would definitely destroy the Shadow Clones? Then, taking advantage of that instant of my relaxation, he touched me!

And he had calculated the distance from the encirclement to me... then coordinated with them to leap over.

What meticulous thinking! Shock was reflected in Kushina Uzumaki's eyes.

After-dinner exercise... she had actually lost!

These three were simply too outstanding! Especially Chiba—he was practically an unprecedented, peerless genius!