"Kurokawa, have you taken care of that brat yet?"
Elsewhere, of the four-man group surrounded by Master Minato alone, the three Chunin had already kicked the bucket one after another. Only the Jonin Narita Daisaku was still struggling to hold on.
Minato's hits admittedly felt like scratches, more like a massage, but his movement and attack speed were incredible. Narita Daisaku could only focus entirely on fending off Master Minato's attacks, with no time to watch the other battlefield.
As long as Kurokawa took care of that kid and came to support me, everything would be fine. Namikaze Minato was fighting four opponents alone, so his stamina consumption had to be considerable as well.
"Right away!"
Hearing the reply, Narita Daisaku relaxed slightly. At last, he would not have to resist Namikaze Minato by himself anymore.
With the two of them working together, they would surely be able to drive Namikaze Minato back and secure a chance to escape.
At this moment, Narita Daisaku had already lowered his original objective of "eliminate the pursuing Namikaze Minato" to "getting away counts as success."
Who could have expected Namikaze Minato to be this fierce? He had faced an elite squad alone and still gained the upper hand, counter-killing three well-coordinated Chunin with Anbu experience in less than ten minutes.
Something was wrong!
That was not Kurokawa's voice!
Narita Daisaku's heart lurched. While resisting Master Minato's attack, he glanced toward the other battlefield and immediately went pale with fright.
With a single Outer Style: Dream Bullet, Uchiha Mai shattered Kurokawa's throat, crippling his ability to move.
Then, with his other hand curled into a claw, he thrust straight forward and pierced through Kurokawa's throat, leaving several bloody holes and killing Kurokawa completely.
Deprived of blood from his carotid artery, Kurokawa lost consciousness in an instant. His head tilted limply to one side before he collapsed to the ground.
"Master Minato, I'm coming to help you!"
Uchiha Mai shook the blood from his hands and charged toward Minato and Narita Daisaku, intending to "support" Master Minato and pad his record.
Narita Daisaku had been suppressed by Master Minato for a long time. His stamina had been heavily drained, and several vital joints and body parts had suffered serious injuries. He was already at the end of his rope. Master Minato could kill him at any moment.
If he did not go over there and rack up the achievement of "joining forces with Namikaze Minato to kill a Kumogakure Jonin," could he still call himself human?
Why did Liu Bei dare to step into high-end fights involving Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Lü Bu? Was it not because Guan Yu and Zhang Fei together could already fight Lü Bu to a draw?
Uchiha Mai had never lagged behind when it came to fighting hard and taking risks during garbage time.
No need!
Master Minato was somewhat reluctant inwardly. It was a good thing that his student had the filial devotion to come help his teacher after taking care of his opponent.
It was just that his timing was a little awkward. Whether Mai came or not, Master Minato could easily kill the opponent himself.
Seeing Uchiha Mai rushing over, Narita Daisaku knew that if the two successfully joined forces, he would be left in a situation with no chance of survival.
Though he was already in a near-death situation as it was.
If he fought, there was still a sliver of hope. If he did not, he could only wait to die.
Rage rose within Narita Daisaku, and malice followed. At this critical moment of life and death, he decided to gamble.
While resisting Minato's attacks, he rapidly formed several hand seals with one hand. The little chakra he had left gathered in his palm, then exploded as his suddenly clenched fingers crushed it tight.
Lightning Style: Lightning Fist!
This was a ninjutsu similar to Chidori and the Raikage line's Lightning Style: Liger Bomb, or perhaps Nintaijutsu. It had not appeared in the original story.
Really, it was nothing more than changing a few hand seals and altering the chakra pathways. Ninjutsu, when all was said and done, was simply shape transformation and nature transformation.
Any capable Jonin would modify some relatively common ninjutsu to better suit themselves, turning them into their own customized "pseudo-secret techniques."
The thousand or so ninjutsu Kakashi copied with his Sharingan were exactly this sort of thing.
The vast majority of those thousand techniques were secret techniques with minor tweaks. They were less versatile than the most popular techniques in the Ninja World, but in the hands of their designated users, they could be slightly stronger than standard ninjutsu.
Narita Daisaku swung his Lightning Fist and smashed it toward Namikaze Minato without holding anything back, intending to trade his life for Master Minato's.
Master Minato frowned slightly. He was determined to take Narita Daisaku's life, but there was no need to rush over one or two moves. Both sides being badly hurt would be unwise.
Namikaze Minato could only withdraw his move and give up on instantly killing Narita Daisaku, instead swinging the Kunai in his hand toward Narita Daisaku's incoming arm.
A flash of white light passed, and Narita Daisaku's elbow was severed like Gilgamesh's.
Yet after suffering such a serious injury, Narita Daisaku was delighted rather than worried, because this move had actually been a desperate bid for survival.
Though Master Minato had cut off one of his arms, his tidal offensive was interrupted as a result, giving Narita Daisaku an opportunity to flee.
"Farewell, Namikaze Minato."
Narita Daisaku laughed loudly, coated his legs in chakra, turned, and fled in another direction.
This was sacrificing the rook to save the king.
Seeing Narita Daisaku escape Master Minato's attack range at the cost of an arm, Uchiha Mai froze briefly before inwardly rejoicing.
There was such a good thing?
He had only wanted to fight hard during garbage time and make his presence felt. How had the whole kill become his?
What was this?
This was a powerful Kumogakure Jonin forcing back the Konoha Jonin Namikaze Minato, while the outstanding Genin Uchiha Mai rushed over at full speed to save the day and resolve Master Minato's crisis.
He could steal this kill with complete justification.
[Gongshoudao] activated. Paid 500,000. Duration set to 2 seconds.
Uchiha Mai lowered his torso slightly to reduce air resistance, then launched forward like a cheetah. He was another notch faster than before, instantly intercepting the fleeing Narita Daisaku.
"What?"
Narita Daisaku was horrified. He had barely left the tiger's den only to enter a wolf's lair. How had this little brat's speed suddenly surged so much?
At his peak, Narita Daisaku would not have cared even if three Uchiha Mais were tied together. No matter how capable the brat was, Narita Daisaku could always just run away.
But now, Master Minato had practically rubbed away all of Narita Daisaku's stamina, greatly weakening his combat power.
100th Style: Demon Burner.
While charging forward, Uchiha Mai drove an elbow diagonally upward into Narita Daisaku's unguarded chest. He broke several ribs and sent Narita Daisaku flying diagonally upward.
Uchiha Mai took another step, then leaped high and shattered Narita Daisaku's jaw with an uppercut. Chakra surged forth and exploded into flames, dealing a third blow to Narita Daisaku.
At the same time, Uchiha Mai spun a stylish 360 degrees in midair. Flames wrapped around his body like a ribbon and flashed past, looking cool as hell.
Boom!
After suffering consecutive heavy blows, Narita Daisaku crashed heavily to the ground, flattening the grass in the forest. He had become a corpse.
After finishing his 100th Style: Demon Burner, Uchiha Mai landed steadily, brushed aside the loose hair on his forehead, and said expressionlessly, "There is only one reason you died: you angered me!"
He was really putting on airs.
Master Minato: "..."
Uh, wasn't it because I beat him half to death that you could pick up the wallet?
The setting about "a thousand ninjutsu" was my own addition, since too few ninjutsu appeared in the original story.
At the same time, I wanted to raise the prestige of Jonin as much as possible.
A Jonin learns shape transformation and nature transformation, makes minor adjustments to techniques usable by everyone, and reshapes them into forms more suited to their own strengths. That is reasonable, right?
Before you continue