"Looks like I have to fight Minato sensei in the end," Obito sighed as he looked at the smiling Minato in front of him.
Obito was on guard, knowing that after today's training, Rin would return to Tsunade to continue her studies, and he wouldn't see her for a while. He wanted to appear cool in her memories.
Kakashi was also focused, intently watching Minato.
As Minato's disciple, he had gone on many missions with him and was well aware of Minato's terrifying strength.
Even when facing formidable enemies like the candidate for Raikage, Minato was still able to lead them all to safety.
"Let's begin!"
As soon as Minato finished speaking, a flurry of Shuriken and a giant Fireball came rushing toward him.
Minato calmly threw out five Flying Thunder God Kunai around him.
Seeing this, Kakashi furrowed his brows; this was the insurmountable aspect of the Flying Thunder God technique. Even if his speed was fast, he couldn't attend to all five positions at once.
Kakashi's mind raced as he speculated that Minato would first target Rin, the medical Ninja, so he immediately surged toward the Kunai closest to her.
Obito and Rin were already aware of the capabilities of the Flying Thunder God, so they quickly retreated after Minato threw the Kunai.
Whoosh!
Minato anticipated Kakashi's prediction, moving to the Kunai near Obito and quickly launching three more Flying Thunder God Kunai toward the three of them.
While the Flying Thunder God Kunai were in flight, Minato activated the Flying Thunder God again, closing in on Rin and Kakashi.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
Worried about Rin, Obito directly unleashed a barrage of Small Fireballs toward Minato's position.
However, what Obito didn't expect was that Minato not only appeared but disappeared again in an instant, reappearing next to the Flying Thunder God Kunai flying toward him.
Obito's pupils shrank sharply; he couldn't afford to be careless against Minato. He immediately entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode and activated his Sharingan. With the aid of the Sharingan, he saw Minato coming, but his body couldn't react in time to the incoming attack.
Boom!
Obito took the hit from Minato and was sent flying three meters before crashing heavily to the ground.
Only then did Kakashi realize just how much Minato had held back when they were competing for the bell. Minato was able to use the Flying Thunder God to move continuously in such a short time.
If he hadn't activated Transparent World, he wouldn't have even registered that Minato had come back. This just showed how terrifying Minato's speed was.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
Rin quickly formed hand seals, summoning a water dragon that charged toward Minato.
Swish!
Minato's figure flickered and disappeared from his original position, reappearing next to the Flying Thunder God Kunai he had thrown earlier, easily dodging the Water Dragon Bullet.
Kakashi's eyes sparkled as a bold tactic flashed in his mind.
He looked at Obito, who was getting up like a carp, signaling him with a gesture and pointing a finger at the ground and Minato.
Although Obito didn't fully understand what Kakashi was planning, he grasped the general idea of what he needed to do.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Having activated Flame Breathing Chakra Mode from the beginning of the battle, Obito smoothly converted most of his Chakra into fire-type Chakra and expelled it.
Obito's Chakra was rapidly consumed, and he unleashed an increasing amount of flames, ultimately creating a sea of fire burning at a terrifying temperature.
The sea of fire enveloped all the Flying Thunder God Kunai and, under Obito's control, split into three streams of flames charging toward Minato.
This was Obito's all-out Fire Release; after this move, he would be left with only ten percent of his Chakra.
Obito knew that this Fire Release wouldn't defeat Minato. If he ended up losing badly, he wouldn't hesitate to pin the blame on Kakashi, since it was Kakashi who prompted him to do this.
The towering flames surged toward Minato, completely engulfing his body.
Kakashi didn't focus on Minato; he held his breath and concentrated all his attention on Obito, slowly closing the distance between them.
Zzzz!!
Brilliant yellow lightning crackled around Kakashi, shining particularly brightly against the backdrop of the surrounding flames.
As Kakashi activated his body with lightning-type Chakra to enhance his strength, he also focused his breathing to the utmost, using Transparent World to consolidate all his power into a single strike.
Swish!
Just as Obito was watching the flames with his Sharingan to see if they could reach Minato, a figure silently appeared behind him.
"Thunder Flash!"
Kakashi unleashed all his strength, transforming the White Fang Tanto into a lightning blade. He charged at the figure behind Obito like a bolt of lightning.
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted, and the dazzling electric light seemed to tear everything apart, the air growing ominously heavy under the terrifying pressure.
Minato's arrival and Kakashi's attack happened in an instant. Even though the attack wasn't directed at him, the close proximity set off alarm bells in Obito's mind.
As Kakashi approached, a look of approval appeared on Minato's face.
But just as Kakashi's lightning blade was about to reach Minato, a Kunai broke through the flames and flew toward him.
Swish!
Boom!!
The ground shook with a loud crash as a narrow, charred cut appeared behind Obito. Thanks to Kakashi's excellent control, Obito didn't even get his clothes singed.
Bang!
A powerful force hit Kakashi's back, instantly knocking him to the ground.
Obito used his last bit of Chakra to strike at Minato with Fire Fist.
Swish!
Minato swiftly appeared behind Obito and delivered a punch that sent him crashing to the ground.
At that moment, Rin arrived just in time. She maximized her Water Breathing and launched an attack at Minato.
Next, Minato demonstrated to Rin that he was still strong even without using Flying Thunder God.
In less than three minutes, all three of them lay sprawled on the ground.
"The copying ability of Sharingan is so useless. It's supposed to be able to copy Ninjutsu, but it can't copy anything when facing someone strong," Obito couldn't help but complain.
He had previously tried to use Sharingan to copy Mutsuki's other Breathing Technique Chakra Modes, but predictably, he failed. He also failed to copy Armament Haki and couldn't copy Minato's Flying Thunder God either.
Obito didn't understand what the copying ability of Sharingan was really good for; surely he could practice easy Ninjutsu himself.
"Actually, most Ninjutsu can be copied, but my Flying Thunder God Jutsu happens to be an exception," Minato said with a smile to comfort him.
"Obito, you need to pay more attention to details during combat." Minato then began to review the battle.
"At the moment I struck you, I had already marked you with a Flying Thunder God Mark, but you didn't notice it; instead, Kakashi did. You should learn this aspect from Kakashi."
"However, your teamwork was quite good, and Obito, you were very decisive in your actions with Fire Release; you're very proficient in it, which is great." After pointing out Obito's shortcomings, Minato immediately praised him successfully.
That last Fire Release was indeed impressive and even stronger than during the Chunin Exams, clearly showing he had put in a lot of effort in his training.
"Hehe," Obito chuckled.
"Kakashi, you performed very well. You quickly came up with a countermeasure when you noticed that Obito was affected by my technique, but did you perhaps overlook Rin-chan's strength and lack coordination with her?" Minato pointed out Kakashi's issue.
In Minato's view, although Kakashi has some minor issues, his overall performance qualifies him to be a Konoha Jonin without a doubt.
Kakashi excels in his hard skills, problem-solving abilities, and tactics. The reason he lost to Minato isn't due to any shortcomings on his part, but rather the vast difference in their strengths; for Minato, killing an ordinary Jonin is not much different from defeating a Genin.
Kakashi nodded, acknowledging his mistake; he indeed did not pay enough attention to Rin's abilities.
It's not that Kakashi has any particular feelings towards Rin, but rather that he subconsciously thinks her abilities wouldn't be useful in this situation.
Even if he were to include Rin's strength in another battle now, he believes the outcome wouldn't change.
As a medical Ninja who also serves as support, Rin can only be effective when the power gap isn't too large, and their disparity with Minato is significant.
If his teammate was Guy, Kakashi would adopt a completely different strategy, as Guy's strength is comparable to his and Obito's, providing substantial assistance.
"Rin-chan, your training in Medical Ninjutsu is excellent. If you keep this up, you might become a great medical Ninja like Tsunade-sama in the future," Minato encouraged Rin, who was treating Kakashi and Obito.
Rin had a somewhat complicated expression; previously, she would have thanked Minato, but after spending some time with Tsunade, the idol's halo had mostly faded.
Although Rin still regarded Tsunade as a great medical Ninja, she decided against aspiring to be like her, not wanting to envision a future where she would be someone who sleeps until noon after a hangover.
"I will work hard in my training," Rin replied firmly.
She knew she had dragged the team down in this battle and would study Medical Ninjutsu more seriously after returning.
Minato showed a relieved expression and then reminded Obito and Kakashi about some issues.
While Obito could unleash powerful Fire Release and Kakashi could deliver strong slashes, Minato noticed that both techniques consumed a significant amount of Chakra and stamina, so they needed to use them cautiously during battle.
Actually, Obito knew this as well, after all, he had practiced for so long, and Mutsuki had mentioned it countless times.
He only activated the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode directly during training because he wanted to show off a bit; in a real battle, he would definitely wait until the crucial moment to activate it.
The Flame Breathing Chakra Mode consumes too much Chakra; even standing still, it constantly drains his body's Chakra, and using Ninjutsu consumes even more.
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