The Mountain Bandits

So, Uchiha Matsuri was completely unfazed by the prospect of facing more than a hundred mountain bandits.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, more than a hundred men suddenly leaped out of the bushes on either side.

"Just four of them?" The bandit chief was overjoyed.

According to his informant, a lucrative merchant caravan would be passing along this road sometime in the next couple of days. That was why more than a hundred bandits had set an ambush here well in advance.

As dusk settled, the bandits couldn't make out the Forehead Protectors on Jiraiya and the others, so they had no way of knowing who they were.

"You four, hand over your goods if you know what's good for you. Otherwise, you won't leave here alive!" the bandit chief shouted.

"Bah! You bandits have some nerve, acting so brazenly. Do you even know whose caravan this is?" Before Jiraiya could speak, Koji Moriya climbed out of the carriage and cursed at them. "You four, teach these bandits a lesson!"

"Brothers, attack!" Enraged, the bandit chief waved his hand and gave the order. At his command, more than a hundred bandits charged forward, raising their blades.

When he saw the bandits were serious, Koji Moriya lost all the swagger he'd shown moments earlier and hurried back into the carriage. "Jiraiya, protect the goods!"

Despite his earlier bravado, Koji Moriya had only been acting tough because Jiraiya and the others were there to protect him. Without them, he would probably have abandoned the goods and run for his life long ago.

"Minato, protect Mr. Moriya. Matsuri, E, these bandits are yours." Jiraiya gave Uchiha Matsuri and Kiba Inuzuka a meaningful look.

"Understood." The three nodded in unison.

Jiraiya's plan made his intentions clear. Since the two of them refused to yield to each other, why not use this opportunity to see how they measured up?

Jiraiya was naturally eager to see the result.

He knew Kiba Inuzuka inside and out. After more than a year of training and experience, Kiba was already approaching Chunin level.

But Jiraiya knew very little about his new subordinate, Uchiha Matsuri. Although they lived under the same roof, Jiraiya had never seen Matsuri's true abilities.

Especially after Minato Namikaze learned the Flying Thunder God Technique, Jiraiya had become even more convinced that Uchiha Matsuri had fallen far behind Minato. (Jiraiya didn't know that Uchiha Matsuri had awakened the Two-Tomoe Sharingan, nor that he had learned the Yin Seal.)

Although Uchiha Matsuri had always borne the twin reputations of genius and "Uchiha," Jiraiya had just as much faith in his own student, Kiba Inuzuka.

At Jiraiya's instructions, Kiba Inuzuka was overjoyed. How could he pass up such a perfect chance to show what he could do?

Kiba Inuzuka glanced at Ono in his arms. In response, Ono barked twice.

"Fang Over Fang!"

Kiba Inuzuka immediately unleashed his strongest technique.

After using the Beast-Man Clone, Kiba Inuzuka and Ono spun rapidly, forming two "tornadoes" that barreled toward the bandits.

"Damn it, they're Konoha shinobi!" someone among the bandits cried in alarm.

"So what if they're shinobi?! Don't forget, there are more than a hundred of us, and only four of them!" When he heard one of his men falter, the bandit chief cursed at him.

In truth, the bandit chief was even more frightened than the others when he saw his opponents use ninjutsu. But as their leader, he suppressed his fear, put on a calm front, and arranged his men into formation.

What the bandit chief hadn't expected was that one Fang Over Fang from Kiba Inuzuka would kill more than twenty bandits in an instant.

After eliminating more than twenty enemies, Kiba Inuzuka looked at Jiraiya with a smug expression. Jiraiya returned an approving glance.

But when Kiba Inuzuka turned to look toward Uchiha Matsuri, he was stunned.

On the other side, Uchiha Matsuri finished weaving Hand Seals at lightning speed.

"Lightning Release—Thunderstorm Birth!"

Thunder suddenly rumbled across the sky. Several bolts of lightning struck down, killing the hundred-plus bandits and their chief in an instant.

"Holy crap, that's way too powerful!" Kiba Inuzuka was dumbfounded as he watched Uchiha Matsuri wipe out the bandits.

After Uchiha Matsuri used Thunderstorm Birth, even Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze, watching from beside the caravan, couldn't hide their astonishment.

"That's an incredible amount of chakra," Minato Namikaze said, visibly shaken.

"I never thought this kid had reached this level." Jiraiya stared intently at Uchiha Matsuri. "He's grown so much since I first met him."

"Teacher, how strong is Matsuri now?" Minato Namikaze asked nervously. He still felt a strong competitive drive toward Uchiha Matsuri.

Among the most talented young shinobi of their generation, these two were often compared by everyone from civilians to shinobi throughout the village.

After gaining an initial grasp of the Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato Namikaze had thought he'd left Uchiha Matsuri behind. But he hadn't expected his rival to be growing just as quickly as he was. That would only spur Minato Namikaze to train even harder in ninjutsu, determined not to fall behind Uchiha Matsuri.

"Matsuri is already beyond Chunin level." Jiraiya looked at Uchiha Matsuri with a sigh. "I never thought that little kid would grow this much. Even an elite jonin couldn't defeat him easily!"

"I see." Minato Namikaze nodded at this and quietly set himself a small goal.

Naturally, Uchiha Matsuri, several dozen meters away, couldn't hear their conversation. After seeing the charred corpses spread across the ground, he turned and returned to the caravan.

"Nice work, Matsuri." Jiraiya gave Uchiha Matsuri a thumbs-up.

"Thank you for the praise, Teacher," Uchiha Matsuri replied flatly.

Uchiha Matsuri had never felt particularly close to Jiraiya. And this praise was nothing more than Jiraiya's attempt to make up for having underestimated him.

Unlike Uchiha Matsuri, who remained calm, Kiba Inuzuka couldn't hide his disappointment.

That battle should have been his chance to show off, but Uchiha Matsuri had stolen all the attention. Worse, Kiba had used his ultimate move just to kill a little over twenty people, and he was exhausted afterward. Meanwhile, Uchiha Matsuri had taken out more than a hundred with one move and wasn't even winded.

After glaring at Uchiha Matsuri, Kiba Inuzuka fell silent.

"Jiraiya, now that you've dealt with those few obstacles, quit wasting time," Koji Moriya impatiently called from inside the carriage.

"Right. Now that the bandits are taken care of, let's get moving," Jiraiya instructed Uchiha Matsuri and the others.

"Understood."