Long Ye's Difficult Choice

Dusk fell.

Somewhere in the forest.

Those brats, why are they holding their ground so well? Are they planning to play a psychological warfare tactic with me?

Minato Namikaze had waited in a tree all day. To prevent the four of them from suddenly launching a sneak attack, he had not left for even a single step. Anyone else would have grown somewhat restless after waiting this long.

Right at that moment, the sudden sound of rustling rang out from all directions.

Minato Namikaze's lips curved into a smile. Have they finally come?

Swish, swish, swish...

A flurry of piercing sounds echoed through the air.

Over a dozen figures rushed out from all directions in the forest, killing toward the location where Minato was.

Shadow Clone Jutsu!!

Minato saw clearly that the people who rushed out were Obito and Kakashi, numbering over a dozen in total. It was obvious that the two of them had used the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Are their true bodies hidden among these clones? Or could they all be clones?

Minato Namikaze pondered to himself.

He severed four ropes in succession, and Kunai shot out from the dense foliage of the tall tree where he was stationed, hurtling toward all directions without any particular order.

Obito and Kakashi, attacking from four directions, were once again intercepted by the Kunai.

Bang, bang, bang...

Clone after clone was struck and destroyed.

Kakashi's clones were the first to be completely wiped out.

Clearly, his true body was not among them.

As for Obito's clones, only a single one remained. This clone was also the only one among the dozen-plus clones that had rushed to a position closest to Minato.

Right at that instant!

The barrage of flying Kunai finally ran out and stopped firing.

"Teacher Minato, have you run out of traps?"

The clone that rushed to the very front suddenly spoke, while completing hand seals at the same time.

Fire Release: Dragon Flame Jutsu!!

Obito blew out a straight stream of flames.

This ninjutsu was Obito's signature move, and its power was quite extraordinary, enough to cut through large trees.

His goal was also very simple: to cut down the tree Minato was standing on, thereby forcing him down from it.

Minato Namikaze finally made a move in a true sense for the first time.

He brought his hands together, changed hand gestures a few times, and a water dragon subsequently appeared, crashing head-on into the incoming flames.

Sure enough, it's Water Release!

Obito's ninjutsu was blocked, but instead of being disappointed, he revealed a look of expected joy.

With a loud boom!

The straight stream of flames and the oncoming water dragon collided head-on without any fancy tricks, just like dropping a deep-water bomb into a calm lake, shattering water splashes all over the sky.

Unsurprisingly, Obito's Dragon Flame Jutsu was completely countered by the Water Release, and before it even reached Minato, it was thoroughly extinguished and vanished without a trace.

At this moment, Obito's advancing form suddenly made a sideways dodge, and directly behind him, a person abruptly appeared.

This person had been hiding behind Obito all along, and with the cover of Obito's Fire Release, even Minato Namikaze failed to spot them, nor had he anticipated it at all.

This person was none of them other than Long Ye.

A barrier was released in a split second.

At this time, he stepped on lightning, moving as fast as lightning like teleportation, and with a fierce leap, he arrived right in front of Minato Namikaze in the tree.

His right hand completely transformed into blue flowing electricity, the flowing electricity mutating into the shape of a beast as he mustered all his strength and struck toward Minato.

Long Ye was determined to succeed, and he could find no reason for this move of his to fail.

If the opponent jumped to dodge, that was precisely what he aimed for; if the opponent chose to block, he also had the confidence, relying on the high-intensity electric current, to cause the opponent's body to experience a brief paralysis.

Even if the duration was only a blink of an eye, he believed that Kakashi, who had remained hidden from start to finish, would also accurately find the opportunity of this single fleeting moment to complete their plan.

Another one of these bizarre Lightning Release techniques?

Long Ye's electro-transformed fist reflected in Minato Namikaze's eyes.

His memory drifted back to the scene from the day before yesterday when Long Ye used this exact move to instantly knock down Uchiha ninja.

He had already perceived back then that Long Ye's Lightning Release did not possess destructive power, but it did possess a paralyzing ability capable of causing someone to go into instant shock. Anyone with weak chakra who encountered it might even be charred in a split second.

Having seen through the characteristics of Long Ye's Lightning Release, he naturally could not let the other party get close.

Wind Release: Tornado Hurricane!!

Minato Namikaze formed seals, blowing out a breath forward that transformed into a powerful tornado, whipping up a gale of flying sand and stones.

Long Ye had not expected the opponent to have such a move. Since he was airborne and in a forward-advancing posture with no leverage point to dodge, he crashed straight into it, and the strong whirlwind completely blocked him.

Simultaneously, a figure flashed out from the forest.

This person timed it with absolute perfection, right when Minato was executing his ninjutsu, so his appearance gave Minato no time to care.

Lightning Cutter!!

Kakashi finally made his move.

Long Ye's attack had not achieved the expected result, but his goal had already been achieved, creating a perfect attack opportunity for Kakashi trailing behind.

The Lightning Cutter finally succeeded.

The tree where Minato stood was sliced through by the flashing lightning light, and the giant tree crashed down violently.

Minato Namikaze, up in the tree, had no choice but to leap and dodge.

Swish, swish, swish!!

Three Kunai attached with Explosive Tags accurately pierced into the tree trunk before the tree even hit the ground.

The one making this move was Rin.

"We got him!!"

Rin's excited voice came from one direction.

Only three consecutive explosive bangs of boom, boom, boom were heard.

The broken tree was blasted into four or five pieces.

After the explosion, the three bells on the tree branches were sent flying toward three separate directions.

The one who reacted the fastest this time was Obito. He was the first to make a move and the first to complete his assigned task; locking onto a bell, he flew forward and grabbed it in his hand.

As for Kakashi, he belonged to the lucky ones, as one of the bells happened to fly in his direction. With quick eyes and nimble hands, he raised his hand and caught it effortlessly.

As for the last bell, it was blasted high up into the air.

Long Ye and Rin leaped up simultaneously to grab it.

Because Long Ye had been hit by the Tornado Hurricane ninjutsu, by the time he broke free and went to scramble for the bell, Rin had already taken a step ahead of him.

Yet even now, Minato Namikaze still had not given up.

Just as Rin was a single step away from the bell and would be able to grasp it in her hand the very next moment, Minato used the Flying Thunder God Jutsu to flash right behind her.

And directly behind and to the side of him happened to be Long Ye.

The three of them were separated by no more than half a step.

This is... Rasengan!!

Long Ye's expression changed drastically.

He saw that at this moment, Minato had condensed a green energy sphere in his hand, and judging by the direction he was facing, it was unmistakably aimed at Rin.

Moreover, it was certain to strike her body the very moment before Rin could grab the bell.

Naturally, Long Ye also understood that Minato Namikaze could not possibly harm Rin; the scene before his eyes was undoubtedly meant to prevent Rin from obtaining the final bell.

In an instant, two choices lay before Long Ye.

The first choice was to turn a blind eye and reap the spoils as the sitting fisherman.

Because Minato Namikaze would definitely be able to stop Rin, he could completely take advantage of this opportunity to catch up from behind and succeed in the process.

The second choice was to fulfill Rin's wish and stop Minato.

At the present distance, he was fully capable of doing so, but the resulting consequence would be that Rin successfully obtained the bell while he would be eliminated, missing out on the Chunin Ninja Exams.

Crucially, this particular Chunin Ninja Exam concerned his acquisition of the final forty demon points, gathering the count of one hundred to advance to a one-star demon—the grand matter he had been dreaming of.