Fighting Hard in Garbage Time

"Kurokawa, have you finished that brat off yet?"

On the other side, the four-man squad surrounded by Master Minato had already lost three Chunin members, leaving only the Jonin Narita Daisaku struggling to hold his ground.

Master Minato's strikes were more like a light massage—lacking in raw power but overwhelming in speed and mobility. Narita Daisaku had to focus every ounce of his concentration on parrying those attacks, leaving him no time to check on the other battlefield.

As long as Kurokawa finishes that kid and comes to support me, everything will be fine. Namikaze Minato is fighting four people at once; his stamina must be draining fast.

"Right away!"

Hearing the reply, Narita Daisaku felt a weight lift from his chest. Finally, he wouldn't have to face Namikaze Minato alone.

With their combined strength, they would surely be able to push back Namikaze Minato and secure a chance to escape.

At this very moment, Narita Daisaku had downgraded his original goal of "annihilating the pursuer Namikaze Minato" to "if I can run away, it's a success."

Who could have guessed Namikaze Minato would be this ferocious? He was holding the upper hand against an elite squad single-handedly, and in less than ten minutes, he had already killed three Chunin who possessed Anbu-level coordination.

Wait!

That wasn't Kurokawa's voice!

Narita Daisaku's heart skipped a beat. While parrying Master Minato's strike, he glanced toward the other battlefield and turned deathly pale with terror.

Uchiha Mai had used Outer Style: Dream Bullet to shatter Kurokawa's throat, completely neutralizing his ability to fight.

Following that, he formed his other hand into a claw and thrust it forward, piercing straight through Kurokawa's throat. With a spray of gore, he tore through the flesh, ending Kurokawa's life for good.

Deprived of blood flow to the brain, Kurokawa lost consciousness in an instant. His head lolled to the side, and he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

"Master Minato, I'm here to assist you!"

Uchiha Mai shook the blood from his hands and charged toward Minato and Narita Daisaku, intending to "support" Master Minato and pad his combat record.

Narita Daisaku had been suppressed by Master Minato for so long that his stamina was nearly depleted, and with multiple critical joints and body parts severely injured, he was at the end of his rope. Master Minato would have finished him off in moments.

If he didn't rush over now to claim the credit of "joining forces with Namikaze Minato to slay a Kumogakure Jonin," would he even be human?

In high-stakes battles like those involving Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Lu Bu, why would a weakling like Liu Bei dare to intervene? It was only because Guan Yu and Zhang Fei could fight Lu Bu to a standstill.

When it came to seizing opportunities during garbage time, Uchiha Mai never lagged behind.

No need!

Master Minato felt a slight resistance in his heart. It was touching that his student was filial enough to rush over to help his teacher after finishing his own opponent—that was a good thing.

It was just that the timing of his arrival was a bit awkward; he could have easily finished off his opponent regardless.

Seeing Uchiha Mai charging in, Narita Daisaku knew that if the two of them teamed up, he would be facing certain death.

Though, to be fair, he was already facing a hundred-to-one chance of survival.

If he fought, there was a sliver of hope. If he didn't, he was just waiting to die.

Narita Daisaku's rage surged, and in this life-or-death moment, he decided to gamble it all.

While parrying Minato's attack, he rapidly performed a few hand seals with one hand. He channeled his remaining chakra into his palm, causing it to crackle with energy as he clenched his fist.

Lightning Style: Lightning Fist!

This was a jutsu—or perhaps a Nintaijutsu—similar to Chidori or the Raikage's Lightning Style: Lariat, though it had never appeared in the original story.

In truth, it was nothing more than changing a few seals and adjusting the chakra pathways. At its core, ninjutsu was just a matter of shape transformation and nature transformation.

Any capable Jonin would modify common jutsu to better suit themselves, creating their own "pseudo-exclusive" techniques.

The thousands of jutsu Kakashi had copied with his Sharingan were exactly these kinds of things.

The vast majority of those thousands of jutsu were minor variations of exclusive techniques. They lacked the versatility of the most popular jutsu in the ninja world, but in the hands of a specialist, they were slightly more effective than the standard versions.

Narita Daisaku swung his Lightning Fist at Namikaze Minato without holding anything back, desperate to trade his life for the Master's.

Master Minato frowned slightly. He was determined to take Narita Daisaku's life, but he wasn't in such a rush that he would risk a mutual destruction; that would be unwise.

Namikaze Minato had no choice but to pull back his attack, abandoning the killing blow to swing his Kunai and strike at the arm Narita Daisaku was swinging toward him.

A flash of white light streaked by, and Narita Daisaku's elbow was severed as if by Gilgamesh.

Despite suffering such a grievous wound, Narita Daisaku was not dismayed but overjoyed, for this move was a desperate gamble to find life in the jaws of death.

Although Master Minato had severed the enemy's arm, his tide of attacks was interrupted, giving Narita Daisaku the chance to run.

"Farewell, Namikaze Minato."

Narita Daisaku let out a loud laugh, channeled chakra into his legs, and turned to flee in the opposite direction. He was gone.

This was a classic case of sacrificing the pawn to save the king.

Uchiha Mai was slightly stunned to see Narita Daisaku sacrifice an arm to escape Master Minato's range, but then he was filled with wild joy.

There was such a good thing as this?

He had only intended to "fight hard during garbage time" to gain some presence, so how did the kill end up being his?

What was this?

This was a scenario where a powerful Kumogakure Jonin forced back the Konoha Jonin Namikaze Minato, and the outstanding Genin Uchiha Mai arrived just in time to save the day and resolve the crisis for Master Minato.

He had stolen this kill with perfect justification.

Gongshoudao

activated, 500,000 gold paid, duration set to 2 seconds.

Uchiha Mai lowered his torso slightly to reduce air resistance, launching himself forward like a cheetah. His speed surged even further, intercepting the fleeing Narita Daisaku in an instant.

"Nani?"

Narita Daisaku was struck with terror. He had just escaped the tiger's den only to fall into a wolf's lair; how had this brat's speed suddenly skyrocketed?

In his prime, Narita Daisaku wouldn't have cared if three Uchiha Mai were tied together. Even if the brat could fight, he could always just run away.

However, the current Narita Daisaku had been worn down by Master Minato, his stamina nearly depleted and his combat power severely compromised.

"100th Style: Demon Burner."

Mid-dash, Uchiha Mai drove his elbow diagonally upward into the chest of the caught-off-guard Narita Daisaku, snapping several ribs and sending him flying diagonally into the air.

Uchiha Mai took another step before leaping up, a fierce uppercut shattering Narita Daisaku's jaw. Chakra surged forth, erupting into flames to deal a third wave of damage to Narita Daisaku.

Simultaneously, Uchiha Mai spun his body 360 degrees in the air with effortless grace, the flames trailing around him like a ribbon—incredibly cool.

"BOOM!"

Having suffered successive heavy blows, Narita Daisaku crashed heavily onto the ground, crushing the weeds in the forest; he was already a corpse.

Uchiha Mai landed steadily after finishing his 100th Style: Demon Burner combo. He brushed the stray hair from his forehead and said expressionlessly, "There is only one reason you died: you angered me!"

He was showing off.

Master Minato: "..."

Uh, isn't it because I beat him half to death that you were able to swoop in and steal the kill?

The setting of "thousands of ninjutsu" is my own headcanon, as there are too few ninjutsu appearing in the original plot.

At the same time, I hope to elevate the prestige of Jonin as much as possible.

It is perfectly reasonable for a Jonin to master shape transformation and nature transformation, making minor adjustments to universal ninjutsu to tailor them to their own style, right?