Wind Release Countered Lightning Release

Uzumaki Shinmen was temporarily placed in the custody of the jonin team leader from the Waterfall Hidden Village, but he remained unconscious. The rest continued the competition.

Minato and the others stood on the second floor, watching team after team enter the tower.

Mikoto, standing beside them, was baffled. "Why is the Cloud Hidden Village so overbearing? They know he's an Uzumaki Orphan, yet they still refuse to let him go?"

Senju Chihiro sighed.

"Actually, this is a problem left over from history. Although the Uzumaki Clan were related to and allied with the Senju Clan by marriage, Uzushio, where the Uzumaki Clan lived, lay outside the Land of Fire and belonged to the Land of Waves.

"When Konoha was founded, the Land of Fire and the Land of Waves failed to reach an agreement, so the Uzumaki Clan did not join Konoha Village.

"Now that Uzushio has vanished, Konoha cannot legally inherit all of Uzushio's assets either."

Kushina looked in Uzumaki Shinmen's direction, somewhat worried. "Shinmen definitely doesn't remember me. He was only two when the clan was destroyed. He might even have a name given to him by the Cloud Hidden Village now."

Mikoto comforted her. "Blood is thicker than water. Your bloodline is the best proof. Your little brother will definitely recognize you."

Minato looked at Ei Yano Yu, mentally calculating how to apply to Jiraiya-sensei and the village for special training resources under the pretext of challenging the Third Lightning Kage's son.

The third round of the Chunin Exams would begin in five days. By then, the daimyo, nobles, and others would all arrive, so time was pressing.

Six teams from Konoha Village had entered the third round: Minato's team, Kushina's team with only one member remaining, Chihiro's team, Mikoto's team, Nara Shikaku's team, and Hyuga Hiashi's team, for a total of sixteen people.

Only Ei Yano Yu from the Cloud Hidden Village had entered the third round.

One team from the Waterfall Hidden Village had entered the third round.

Twenty people had entered the third round. The jonin from the various ninja villages on the second floor all had different thoughts. As in previous years, this Chunin Exams had seen quite a few casualties.

Hiruzen Sarutobi announced that the main tournament would be held in five days, emphasizing that the Chunin Exams hosted by Konoha Village were absolutely fair and impartial, with no shady dealings whatsoever.

Jiraiya glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi and nearly failed to hold back his laughter.

His gaze grew distant as he recalled everything from childhood to the present. Talking about fairness in Konoha was rather amusing.

He later learned that he had become Hiruzen Sarutobi's disciple because Sage Shima had come to Konoha and spoken with Hiruzen Sarutobi about the heir to Mount Myōboku's Summoning Technique.

The Great Toad Sage had made a prophecy, saying that a white-haired boy would recklessly enter Mount Myōboku. Only then did Hiruzen Sarutobi choose Jiraiya, the sole white-haired child of that class, as his disciple.

Before Jiraiya had even signed a summoning contract, Hiruzen Sarutobi had taught him the Summoning Technique. As a child, Jiraiya had rashly used it and been reverse-summoned into Mount Myōboku.

After finishing his speech, everyone dispersed. Hiruzen Sarutobi said to Jiraiya, "Jiraiya, make sure Minato's special training is done properly. He must defeat the Third Lightning Kage's son beautifully in front of the daimyo and nobles."

"Don't worry. Minato will be extremely serious for the sake of saving Kushina's little brother. But what about you, old man? Can that jonin from the Waterfall Hidden Village really guard Kushina's little brother? His identity is neutral enough, but he isn't strong enough, is he?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "I'll have ANBU guard Kushina's little brother. You don't need to worry about that."

Upon returning to the Hokage Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi saw Nara Shikaku, who had come to report.

Nara Shikaku had been tasked with gathering and analyzing intelligence on the Lightning Kage's son.

Handing over a thin sheet of paper, Nara Shikaku said, "My apologies, Lord Hokage. I kept as close an eye on Ei Yano Yu as possible and even teamed up with the Hyuga Clan.

"However, Ei Yano Yu's battle with Minato Namikaze had no buildup whatsoever. They fought to the death for just over ten seconds, and it ended swiftly.

"I inspected the scene afterward. None of the traps set by the Cloud ninja had been used; they were instantly destroyed by Minato Namikaze's large Summoning Beast."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded. "There was nothing wrong with what you did. Minato Namikaze was simply too strong. Minato's judgment was also correct. Only by acting that way could he avoid greater losses for Konoha Village."

Nara Shikaku nodded. He now knew that Kushina Uzumaki was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

If it had not been for Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki might very well have gone berserk under the shock of seeing her younger brother controlled by Cloud ninja.

He had never expected to have spent several years as classmates with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Fortunately, he had behaved himself at school and never provoked Kushina.

"All right, Shikaku. Go prepare for the third round. You should also understand from this incident that while schemes can be useful, before absolute strength, any scheme is ineffective."

Nara Shikaku understood that principle too, but he had no idea how to improve his strength like Minato Namikaze had.

Back at the Ninja Academy, they had all been in the same class. At the time, Minato Namikaze had been roughly on par with the young clan heirs from the various ninja clans. Yet for some reason, after following Jiraiya, Minato Namikaze's strength had advanced by leaps and bounds.

Even his father did not know the reason and could only attribute it to talent.

None of them believed Jiraiya possessed any exceptional teaching ability. Jiraiya absolutely did not have that kind of ability.

Just like Hatake Sakumo, the Konoha White Fang, who had not followed any remarkable teacher yet had still carved out a path to become Jonin Squad Leader through the Body Flicker Technique and Lightning Release alone. That was the position his father had dreamed of obtaining.

Outside the Death Forest, Thunder Kage Advisor Dodai and Ei Yano Yu waited for the bodies of their Cloud ninja.

Before long, several people emerged from the Death Forest.

Dodai froze. The person delivering the bodies was actually Orochimaru, one of the Konoha Sannin.

Orochimaru had no interest in the Chunin Exams, nor did he have any interest in performing before the daimyo.

However, when Root ninja told him there was a Magnet Release corpse from the Cloud Hidden Village in the Death Forest, he came without hesitation and took over the task of recovering the body from ANBU.

Orochimaru looked at the body bag with lingering interest.

Magnet Release Troy had died miserably. A high-energy spherical attack had blown open his chest directly. The advantage was that there was no need to cut open his body specifically, which would carry a risk of exposure when stitching it back up. The disadvantage was that his internal organs had been rather severely damaged.

With superb skill, Orochimaru took samples of Troy's heart, spine, nerves, muscles, brain, and more. He also collected a square Magnet Release shuriken. The Cloud Hidden Village would never notice anything.

It had been a truly fruitful day.

After handing the corpse over to the Cloud ninja, Orochimaru watched Ei Yano Yu's retreating back and licked his lips.

The Lightning Release Chakra Mode was also an exceptionally powerful secret technique. Every generation of Lightning Kage had been immensely strong, capable of clashing head-on with tailed beasts.

Raising his hand to inspect his somewhat slender arm, Orochimaru felt tempted.

Should he find a way to acquire some of Ei Yano Yu's cells?

The Third Lightning Kage was impossible to defeat, but Ei Yano Yu was not strong yet.

Just then, Jiraiya suddenly emerged from the forest behind him.

Orochimaru waved for the other ANBU to leave, then turned to face Jiraiya.

Jiraiya said, "Orochimaru, my student Minato will be fighting Ei Yano Yu in five days. Wind Release counters Lightning Release, and Minato's chakra natures are wind and earth. You happen to be skilled in both Wind Release and Earth Release, so why not teach my student a thing or two?"

"Heh heh, why should I teach some child? It's not as if he's Nawaki."

At the mention of Nawaki, Tsunade's younger brother, Jiraiya's expression suddenly darkened.

Ever since Nawaki's death, Orochimaru had grown increasingly impatient with the younger generation. Jiraiya wondered when that habit would ever change.

Jiraiya said, "Minato said he collected some cells from Magnet Release Troy's corpse. I imagine you'd be interested. Besides, I rarely ask you for anything, right? This is the sort of request an old classmate only makes once every few years."

Orochimaru suddenly narrowed his eyes, intrigued.

Although he had already obtained tissue from Magnet Release Troy's corpse, Orochimaru was still surprised that someone had so accurately guessed his preferences.

"Fine. Since you've asked, I can teach your student Wind Release. Your student is quite interesting."