Slap! Slap! Slap!
"Obito! Wake up!"
The violent shaking woke Obito up. He felt like something was pressed against his head. It hurt badly, and his face was burning too.
What greeted his eyes was a head of white hair he hated. Obito froze for a moment, then quickly flew into a rage.
"Damn it! Kakashi, did you slap me?!"
"I didn't!"
"Stop wasting time! I only have two clones left, and Sensei's wife is about to catch up!"
Hideki's voice rang out from behind them. Obito turned around and saw Hideki forming hand seals.
Hideki was forming the hand seal for Shadow Clone again. After two puffs of smoke, two utterly lifeless Hidekis appeared.
"I'm counting on you. I'll eat extra tonight to make it up to you!"
Hideki called out to his Shadow Clone warriors.
The two Shadow Clones sighed and each made the motion of forming a Rasengan, but they clearly did not have enough chakra.
Left with no choice, the two Shadow Clones could only set off barehanded on their brief journey.
Since they had nothing left to live for, they might as well face death without fear.
After sending off the two Shadow Clones, Hideki immediately leaped lightly, snapped a branch from a small tree, and began drawing on the ground.
"There's a small river at the southwest corner of Park No. 2, the one beside our usual training spot. We definitely can't beat her. If we stick together, we'll just all get taken out. We need to split up and run there."
Hideki drew a rough map on the ground and pointed to a corner of it.
"Are we going to use the current to launch a counterattack?" Kakashi asked with a frown. Then he seemed to think of something, his face filling with surprise. "Hideki, don't tell me you've already mastered that thing Lord Hokage gave you..."
"Mastered my ass! We're going there to run away!"
Hideki was speechless. Kakashi was usually pretty smart, so why had he become just like Obito?
Hideki pointed beyond the map. "Sensei's wife doesn't know how to hold back. Forget about the bell-grabbing mission. Staying alive comes first."
Kumi was beautiful and kind-hearted. Hideki did not want to make her worry about him ×3. Besides, Nonō was at Konoha Hospital. What if she lured him away? Wouldn't he be delivering himself right to her?
"Follow this river downstream. We won't have to go far before we reach Konoha's border. Then we run along the border for a while, and we'll reach Konoha Gate."
Hideki's plan was simple.
They definitely could not beat her. That would not be hot-blooded—it would be asking for a beating.
Getting hospitalized over some bells really was not worth it... In fact, by the true rules of the bell-grabbing test, the moment the two of them desperately rushed back to save Obito, they had already passed.
Of course, judging by how quickly his Shadow Clones kept disappearing, along with the pain they sent back—
Hideki could conclude that Kushina probably did not know any of that. She was still chasing them with every intention of teaching them a proper lesson!
Come to think of it, this was pretty bizarre. What the three of them needed to figure out now was how to stay alive. This world... was really something else!
"But I don't think Konoha Gate can necessarily stop Sensei's wife either... Besides, after becoming ninja, we can't leave the village without permission. We probably won't be able to get out!"
Kakashi voiced his concerns.
But Hideki shook his head. He could not say that he knew Kushina was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. He had enough sense to keep that to himself.
"At our age, if we just take off our forehead protectors and pretend we're leaving the village for a trip, it shouldn't be a problem."
Kakashi's eyes lit up at that. Even Obito caught on and immediately gave a thumbs-up. "Hideki, you're amazing!"
"Lord Hokage..."
On the crystal ball, Kushina dealt with two more Hidekis using two forehead flicks.
Hiruzen Sarutobi could not bear to watch, so he quickly switched back to the scene of the three boys. The sight of them gritting their teeth and running for their lives was heartbreaking.
No wonder Minato had asked to intervene again.
"Minato... you should know that the purpose of this test is..." Hiruzen Sarutobi stopped halfway through.
Years of being in power had made Hiruzen Sarutobi habitually want to drag things out a little.
But on second thought, had the purpose of the test not already been achieved?
Reckless Obito had been taken out in a single exchange, and the three of them had chosen to keep running, clearly giving up on the mission.
Yet before abandoning the mission, they had not abandoned their companion. By all rights, they had already scored full marks on the test.
Hiruzen Sarutobi inwardly cried out in alarm. He had overplayed his hand!
He cleared his throat. "I originally wanted Kushina to get more familiar with the children. Since things have turned out this way... go quickly!"
Minato was overjoyed. He did not even respond before vanishing from the spot, moving so fast that even Hiruzen Sarutobi could not see his movements clearly!
"Oh? Your Flying Thunder God has improved again?"
Watching the faint spatial chakra fluctuations left in the air, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled with satisfaction.
First came the Legendary Sannin, then Minato, and now these three little ones were so outstanding as well.
Konoha's future truly needed no worrying about...
Hideki ran at full speed. The three of them had set out from different locations toward the same destination, but he was the unluckiest one.
For some reason, Little Pepper had locked onto him alone and was chasing him relentlessly!
There are so many Shadow Clones. Isn't that enough for you to beat up?!
Hideki cursed inwardly as he ran.
It was true that he had "awakened" a Sage Body, and his chakra was probably three to five times what it had been when he graduated.
But even he could not withstand this kind of expenditure. He had already thrown out more than ten Shadow Clones along the way. The key was that he could not assign them too little chakra either. Although they all went down in one exchange, they at least had to buy him some time.
He had tried having his Shadow Clones attack with Rasengan, but aside from wasting chakra, it had done nothing.
He had also tried having his Shadow Clones transform into Minato and even Hiruzen Sarutobi, but Kushina had still quickly seen through the disguises.
Fortunately, Hideki was not far from the destination. Obito and Kakashi were loyal enough to stand by the small river and wave at him from afar.
They had not fled ahead on their own. It looked like they had been waiting for quite some time.
Hideki glanced once more at the faintly approaching Kushina behind him and sighed.
Kushina was definitely going easy on him. Otherwise, with her strength, she could probably have caught up in seconds.
But against Genin, a Jonin going easy was far from enough... Couldn't she learn from Minato? Stop at just the right point, with perfect restraint.
It was not as if Hideki had not considered using his ultimate move.
He had used up a lot of chakra, but if he and Kakashi and Obito squeezed out everything they had, it was not impossible.
But this was not a fight to the death. There was no need!
I'll just consider it repayment for that bowl of ramen, Hideki comforted himself.
He waved at the two from afar and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Run! She's about to catch up!"
Life was truly merciless to the three boys.
The three of them set off on the run once more. It was almost laughable—such a vast Konoha, yet there was nowhere for the three of them to hide. It was truly absurd.
Meanwhile, Kushina felt that she had finally found her rhythm.
"Be harsher on the Shadow Clones, so he understands how vicious enemies can be. Be gentler on the original body, so he can feel the love of his Sensei's wife~"
"Who would've thought? I actually have talent for being a teacher!"
Kushina was brimming with confidence. She had even decided that she would supervise the three boys' D-rank mission tomorrow as well~
But at that moment, a figure suddenly appeared beside her.
It was Minato, arriving with Flying Thunder God.
Minato looked somewhat flustered, but when he saw no sign of the students beside Kushina, he immediately let out a sigh of relief.
He forced a doting, wry smile and gently tested the waters. "Kushina, how about..."
"Little Hideki, that trick won't work on me."
As that fist grew larger and larger before his eyes.
Minato: "??????"
Kushina: "Huh?"
The Little Sun had fallen.
Before you continue