Wake Up, Shinmen

Minato came to the entrance, pretending to be tired from playing, and sat on the railing of the temporary fence the circus had put up.

"Hey, Clown, you've been wobbling back and forth on that unicycle the whole time. Doesn't it hurt your butt?"

The Clown turned around and saw the blond boy who had just bought a ticket. "Why did you come out? I'm telling you, if you want to go back in, you'll have to buy another ticket!"

Minato said, "Really? That's bad. My little brother and I ran away from home without bringing much money, so we can't afford to go back in and spend any more."

The Clown's eyes shifted slightly. "You and your little brother ran away from home?"

Thinking of Konoha Village, Minato worked up his emotions and said:

"Yeah. My family is very big, with lots of people.

"You're still young, so you don't understand. Once there are too many people, everyone starts having their own schemes.

"Whether it's a major matter or some petty grudge, people fight over it, fighting to the death. Oh, that's not quite accurate. Only people die from the fighting; no one comes back to life.

"As long as I take that first step, as long as I start competing and fighting for things too, then either someone will kill me, or I'll kill someone else.

"I couldn't stand it, so I took my little brother and ran away, escaping those problems for the time being."

Upon hearing Minato's words, the smile vanished from the Clown's face. A clown's makeup had to be smiling; otherwise, it would give off a somewhat sinister air.

The Clown murmured, "Yeah. Once you start fighting, it becomes troublesome."

After a brief moment of dejection, the Clown piled a smile back onto his face.

"Young man! How can you choose to run away? And how long can you keep running? Among a pack of wolves, only the wolf with the sharpest fangs can become the alpha!"

"That makes sense." Minato sized up the Clown. "Judging by your reasoning and the way you speak, you don't seem at all like a child wandering around with a circus. Don't tell me you're also a child who ran away from some great clan?"

"Heh heh, I'm different. I didn't run away voluntarily like you did. I saw that things were going wrong and fled to avoid disaster."

"Avoid disaster? Looks like you had it worse than I did." Minato said, "I'm nearly out of money, but I've learned ninjutsu and can take on mission commissions. You seem pretty wealthy. Do you happen to need a mission commission right now?"

"You've learned ninjutsu too?" The Clown smiled. "Forget the mission commission. Do you see that middle-aged man walking over? He's our circus's ringmaster. If you can beat him, I'll let you and your little brother join the circus and earn money together."

The Clown did not realize that his tone sounded strange, as though he were the real ringmaster.

The ringmaster had long noticed Minato chatting with the Clown at the entrance. As he walked over, he said to the Clown, "It's time to go back. Today's game is over."

The Clown turned his head. His face paint had smudged from sweat, making his expression even harder to read. He merely asked, "Can't we play a little longer? This boy is very interesting."

The ringmaster said firmly, "No."

Looking at the stern ringmaster, Minato guessed that this man was likely the one directly assigned to watch over the young Bumper Guard General.

Minato cut in, "Clown, you said it yourself. As long as I challenge the ringmaster, my little brother and I will have a chance to join the circus and make money!"

The ringmaster froze, not knowing why the Clown was doing this.

Without giving the ringmaster any chance to refuse, Minato prepared to make his move.

Even if he was the captain of Bumper Guard General's Guardian Ninja, he would at most be at jonin level.

Within Konoha Village, jonin were the village's core. They could attend the Jonin Meeting and know of and participate in the village's major decisions.

Konoha was now at the end of its prosperous era, and there were only around 120 jonin.

The ringmaster before him could not possibly be stronger than Konoha's elite jonin.

Minato took out a kunai and spun it around his finger. "Ringmaster, let me see what you can do."

Chakra surged through his meridians, yet nothing showed on the outside. Minato later learned from Jiraiya that this method of circulating chakra was called the Chakra Breath Holding Technique.

The next moment, Minato vanished.

The Clown did not see Minato at all. He only heard the sound of metal striking metal.

He hurriedly looked toward the source of the sound, only to see the ringmaster being kicked away.

Many ninja raised by nobles retained habits from the Warring States era, such as wearing iron armored bracers.

Many older ninja in Konoha, including the Third Hokage, also wore bracers.

Just now, Minato's kunai had stabbed into the bracer the ringmaster hurriedly raised, after which Minato launched a flying kick and sent him flying.

The force rebounding through his foot proved that this ringmaster was indeed a jonin.

Minato did not know exactly who the ringmaster was. Having gained the upper hand, he was ready to stop while he was ahead.

However, when Shinmen saw Minato fighting someone, he suddenly charged over like a madman.

Electric arcs leaped across Uzumaki Shinmen's body as he lunged at the ringmaster.

His eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins. His expression was pained and ferocious, and he had completely lost his reason.

"Shinmen! Wait! Shinmen!"

Uzumaki Shinmen had endured three years of torture in the Cloud Hidden Village without dying, proving that his physique and talent were the strongest among that batch of kidnapped Uzumaki children.

Lightning Release: Lightning Snake Lightning Whip!

This was the only ninjutsu Uzumaki Shinmen had secretly learned while in the Cloud Hidden Village. It was a technique the Cloud ninja used to torture Shinmen.

Every time the Cloud ninja used Lightning Snake Lightning Whip on Shinmen, it left a long electrical scar on his body and instantly paralyzed him, robbing him of the ability to react.

Shinmen held a lightning whip several meters long in each hand and lashed them at the leader.

"Wake up! Shinmen!"

The wounds on his body had healed, but the wounds in his mind were far from healed. After being provoked, Uzumaki Shinmen had been completely consumed by hatred.

Since waking up, Shinmen had not yet seen his sister. He only knew that Minato Namikaze, Senju Takeoto, Haneina, and Tsunade were the ones who treated him best.

However, Shinmen's strength was still far from jonin level, so he was no match for the leader.

His lightning whips could not strike the leader, but the leader could counterattack Shinmen through the gaps when the whips recoiled.

Minato had no choice but to block the leader on one side while trying to dissuade Shinmen on the other.

Amid the chaos, the audience saw people using ninjutsu and began running about in panic. Others also appeared beside the Clown.

The mind reader removed his blindfold, revealing his Byakugan. He truly was a Hyuga Ninja.

Minato and the Hyuga Ninja exchanged glances, and the Hyuga Ninja also noticed Minato's unusual nature.

To possess such strength at such a young age, and to handle himself so easily before the leader—he had to be an extremely famous youth from the Land of Fire.

Combined with the intelligence his clan had given him, the Hyuga Ninja recognized that distinctive golden hair.

Although the Clown could not use ninjutsu, he could also tell that the blond youth was unexpectedly powerful.

The Clown suddenly grabbed the Hyuga Ninja's sleeve.

"An opportunity! Hyuga River! Use the chaos to get rid of the Grand Minister's people!"

Hyuga River froze at his words, but he saw determination in the Clown's eyes.

Under all kinds of suppression, Bumper Guard General had matured far too early. After being held down for so many years, he had long reached the limit of his endurance.

Hyuga River nodded and charged into the battle.