Patrol Team, Squad Five

A Puppet Master without puppet protection is like a fish on a cutting board, ripe for slaughter.

Chizuko sent her puppets to kill Katsuki, but only managed to eliminate a shadow clone. This instantly alerted her to a sense of danger, and she quickly recalled her puppets, but it was too late...

"Crack!"

The ground beneath her feet trembled slightly, and a black and red shadow shot out from underground. A short sword wrapped in blue lightning struck directly at Chizuko's heart.

Magnet Release, Sand Hand.

Rasa also appeared silently in the flowing sand. With a mere gesture, the flowing sand surged out like a great river, transforming into a massive palm that fiercely gripped Katsuki's body. The short sword stopped just a few centimeters from Chizuko's chest. Katsuki's entire body exploded into white smoke.

"Another shadow clone? Damn it, where does a Genin get so much chakra?" Rasa almost cursed aloud. What kind of monster was this? A Genin, wasting chakra like this, it was an outrage.

Among the many physical clone techniques, Shadow Clone Jutsu consumed the most chakra. If it weren't for its ability to transmit information gathered by the clone back to the original body, its practicality would be greatly reduced. Furthermore, aside from spies, ordinary Chunin and Genin generally wouldn't use such chakra-intensive clone techniques.

Clearly, this red-haired Konoha ninja was no ordinary ninja.

Rock Rods and the Stealth Jutsu, coupled with the arcs of electricity attached to that short sword, confirmed he was a genius with innate Lightning and Earth Release.

Rasa's mood was foul. If he only had this one opponent, it would be manageable; he had enough confidence in his Magnet Release. However, Katsuki's side had superior numbers. None of the five opponents looked easy to deal with.

In this series of battles, he had already used several ninjutsu. Even though Magnet Release didn't consume much chakra, every bit added up. He was still just a Genin, with limited chakra reserves, and he had already depleted nearly half of it.

Another point was that their captain had disappeared without a trace, which made him very uneasy.

At this very moment, deep in the forest, the middle-aged Sand Ninja knelt on the ground, hot air puffing from his nostrils, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, staining the earth beneath him.

"Wh-why? Why would a dignified... huff... a dignified Jonin be part of a patrol team?"

The middle-aged man looked up at the youth standing on the treetop, his face filled with unwillingness and grief, a sense of powerlessness washing over him.

A Jonin was hidden within a small patrol team. He no longer knew what to say about such a shameless act. When did Jonin become as common as cabbage, where one could encounter one in any random patrol team, and not just any Jonin, but a skilled one at that.

This was unreasonable!

Indeed, patrol teams were typically composed of a mix of Chunin and Genin. Forget Jonin, even a Special Jonin would be rare—of course, this was all according to common sense.

Ninomiya Hao glanced pityingly at the unlucky fellow before him. Encountering him was simply bad luck.

Jonin were the most precious elite of a village. Logically, tasks like patrolling wouldn't fall to Jonin, especially during wartime when they were often dispatched for strategic missions or to defend the village if there was nothing else.

However, there were always exceptions.

Given Kushina's identity, assigning a Jonin specifically for her protection was hardly excessive.

After all, she was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. This level of protection was actually somewhat lax, but to avoid attracting too much attention with a large entourage, Hiruzen had handpicked this elite, Ninomiya Hao, from the front lines to serve as a bodyguard.

Ninomiya Hao had no complaints about this. The importance of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was self-evident. Moreover, this significantly overstaffed squad under his command was quite interesting. Not only was the Jinchuriki's brother a disciple of Lord Sakumo, but the team also included members of the Uchiha and Hyuga clans, as well as that exceptionally talented commoner kid.

A very interesting team.

As a genius himself, having become a Jonin at a young age, Ninomiya Hao was very serious in his work. By his nature, he would handle invading spy teams like this by simply cutting them all down without a word.

But now he was a babysitter. The higher-ups had specifically arranged for him to patrol near the border with Kushina and the others, intending to use this relatively peaceful environment to train the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki so she would have more experience on the battlefield. If he took all the credit, it would be meaningless.

What he needed to do was eliminate the factors that posed too great a risk, letting ordinary Chunin and Genin handle them for practice, while keeping shadow clones hidden to monitor for any unexpected events.

Meanwhile, on the other battlefield, Rasa and Chizuko were locked in a fierce struggle. The opponents were numerous and their combined attacks were like a tidal wave, coming one after another with seemingly no end.

Magnet Release was formidable!

Especially in group combat, the Gold Dust Flow was controlled with incredible ease, and the transitions between offense and defense were seamless. Rasa, the future Fourth Kazekage, even as a mere Genin, was already approaching the Chunin level in terms of strength.

And then there were Chizuko's puppets. Their poison was extremely troublesome. Initially, it made everyone hesitate when attacking, but it was Katsuki and Kushina's shadow clones that suppressed the puppets' movement space, allowing them to gain the advantage.

"Screech."

Electricity crackled beneath Katsuki's feet, and arcs of lightning danced around his short sword as he tore through the Sand Hand before him, advancing step by step towards Rasa.

"Is that all you've got? Weren't you just arrogantly shouting about defeating us? Why aren't you saying anything now?" Otohiko shouted loudly, a mocking smile on his face, like an incessantly buzzing fly.

It wasn't that Otohiko was being rude, but he found himself somewhat powerless against Rasa. His specialty was Fire Release, but his first two fire jutsu had already consumed a significant amount of his chakra, and they were not very effective against the Gold Dust Flow. At least, not with his level of Fire Release.

As for close-quarters combat, he didn't have the advantage of Lightning Release chakra enhancement like Katsuki and Otome. In desperation, he could only resort to verbal attacks.

Water Release, Water Whip.

Kushina flicked her hand, and a long water whip wrapped around her hand lashed out, entangling the puppet that was wildly moving through the air. However, after only two seconds, it was sliced apart by the poisoned blade. With a clatter, it spun around and directly annihilated three of Kushina's clones before lunging towards Kushina and Minato...

Or so it should have happened. However, the puppet fell to the ground with a thud halfway through its attack.

Chizuko danced her fingers blankly, only to find her body becoming stiff and her consciousness beginning to fade. In a daze, she saw a golden phantom before succumbing to endless darkness!