Yang Xing gasped for breath, completely out of strength. He could only sit on the ground. It was obvious Minato Namikaze had deliberately chased after him, just to mess with him.
Just look at that grin of his.
Watching the two exhausted little guys panting, the Fourth Hokage folded his arms across his chest and didn't hurry to make a move. "I really don't understand. How did you know I was there?"
"Just got lucky." Yang Xing waved a hand, making it sound easy.
Minato didn't buy it. He fixed his sharp gaze on Yang Xing and calmly said, "Well, let's say that's what happened. But there's one thing I don't understand. Your method wasn't wrong, but the rule I gave was to touch the bells. If you hadn't thrown those shuriken and instead crept up behind me together, you might have managed to touch a bell. So why did you use the shuriken first?"
"Haha!" Yang Xing couldn't tell him about the system mission he'd accepted. That mission to defeat the Fourth Hokage? He'd take it to his grave.
"Kid, I get the feeling you're hiding something."
"Ah, Kakashi, now's your chance! Hurry up and use a jutsu!"
Yang Xing's shout made Minato spin around, tensing as he prepared to deal with the threat. Kakashi's strength couldn't be underestimated. If the Fourth Hokage got taken down, it would be a huge embarrassment. But the moment he turned, he sensed something was wrong.
There wasn't even the slightest trace of chakra nearby. Where was Kakashi? There wasn't even a rabbit.
Whoosh!
There was only a swift rustle in the bushes. By the time the Fourth Hokage turned back, the two little guys had vanished right before his eyes.
A wry smile tugged at his lips. "That kid really is a handful!"
Yang Xing ran several hundred meters with Rin Nohara before finally stopping.
"Phew, we're safe."
"Could you let go of my hand?" Rin Nohara wasn't too happy when she felt Yang Xing tighten his grip on her hand.
She tried to pull away, but Yang Xing clearly had no intention of letting go.
"No, no." Yang Xing turned around, his expression deadly serious. "Didn't you see? That wasn't the Fourth Hokage we knew. We're in danger now."
"Huh?" Rin Nohara blinked her pretty eyes and stared at Yang Xing, still looking bewildered.
"I almost didn't notice it either. That Fourth Hokage was actually an impostor. Just think about it: when he chased us, he couldn't keep up. And the way he tried to scare me was so strange. Don't you think?" Yang Xing held her small, smooth hand tightly, doing his best to look upright and sincere.
Rin Nohara was an innocent girl. Seeing how serious Yang Xing looked, she grew a little uneasy. "Really? The Fourth Hokage is so strong, that can't be right... But he did seem different just now. He wasn't like the Fourth Hokage we used to see in Konoha." She murmured to herself, clearly halfway convinced by Yang Xing's nonsense.
If Yang Xing's teacher had heard that story, he would have given him a hard smack on the head.
Yang Xing himself didn't care. Deceiving a little girl felt great, and fortunately there were no police around to worry about.
In any case, Yang Xing's claim that the Fourth Hokage was an impostor had gotten Rin Nohara thinking. She hadn't even noticed how close the two of them were standing.
And although the girl did smell nice, Yang Xing really didn't have time to think about that right now.
He'd suddenly realized there might be a way to complete his mission. The possibility excited him so much that he didn't even care that he was standing right next to a cute little girl.
"To 'defeat him once'—taken literally, that just means making Minato Namikaze admit defeat. The system never specifically said I had to beat him with my actual strength." Yang Xing's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help cheering in his mind. "I really am a genius."
He calmed himself down, then looked at the little girl who had believed him and said earnestly, "All right, it's only a guess. Next, let's expose the Fourth Hokage for who he really is."
Rin Nohara nodded emphatically. "Okay!"
After nodding, her little face turned anxious again. "But he's so strong. The two of us..."
"I have a perfect plan. It might help us find out whether that really is the Fourth Hokage, and it might even let us win this game." Yang Xing raised a finger and spoke with an earnest expression.
Rin Nohara looked doubtful. "Really?"
"Trust me."
Maybe it was because Yang Xing looked so sincere, or maybe it was because he seemed so fired up. At any rate, Rin Nohara couldn't bring herself to refuse. She wanted to know how Yang Xing planned to win, and that interested her more than anything else.
So Yang Xing led Rin Nohara back toward Minato Namikaze's location—lured her along... no, led her there.
The leaves swayed in the breeze atop the tree.
"Where did those two go?" Minato Namikaze frowned as he surveyed the area. He didn't want the two kids wandering too far and getting lost. He was about to use a jutsu to find them when he heard something and sensed someone approaching.
"Kakashi, I didn't expect you to keep up. But it seems you've forgotten something." Minato Namikaze smiled oddly at Kakashi as he came after him. Glancing toward the place Yang Xing had run off to, he chuckled to himself. "Well, you don't understand yet, and I don't have time to play around with you."
"Wind Style: Wind Cutter." Kakashi paid no attention to anything else. He'd already raised one hand, the palm surrounded by fierce wind chakra. He swept through the leaves in the air and charged straight at Minato Namikaze.
Unfortunately, Minato Namikaze simply leaped lightly and dodged Kakashi's one-handed slash with an elegant move. A faint smile played on his lips as he swiftly pushed off the branch with his toe and dashed forward before Kakashi could react.
Without even looking back, he left at a rapid pace.
Kakashi's face darkened with frustration as he hurried after him. He was supposed to be the strongest in the team, the one most likely to catch Minato Namikaze's interest. Why did the Fourth Hokage seem completely uninterested in him, as if he were chasing someone else? Who could have stirred up the usually composed Fourth Hokage and gotten him fired up?
Minato Namikaze was fast, but Kakashi wasn't far behind. He soon sensed someone's chakra. Its strength and location both left him puzzled.
"There he is. But why is that kid's chakra so strong? He's not hiding it anymore. What's he up to? I'd better be careful. Yang Xing really is the most troublesome kid I've faced so far. He's already this cunning—who knows what he'll be like when he grows up?" Remembering how Yang Xing had tricked him earlier, Minato Namikaze couldn't help smiling.
Now that he'd sensed Yang Xing, he didn't hesitate for a moment. With a few leaps, he dashed toward Yang Xing's location.
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