Konoha's Tag-System Ninja

Chapter 63: Chapter 63: The Yellow Flash!

After a brief exchange, the two sides once again faced off.

Rasa stared at Minato Namikaze, his mind racing as he tried to figure out how to catch or strike Minato.

"The only way is to attack his blind spot when he initiates an attack..."

"Or to have a reaction speed faster than his."

Rasa pondered, but inwardly frowned.

Impossible! There's no way to catch him!

He then shifted his gaze to Shūichi Hoshita.

If he couldn't directly target Minato Namikaze, then he would start with his subordinate.

"Pakura, Madai, focus all your efforts on that kid!" Rasa commanded.

Pakura and the others immediately understood—Shūichi Hoshita was to be the weak point they would exploit to break through Minato Namikaze.

No one found it dishonorable to gang up on a smaller opponent; they all nodded in agreement.

On the other side, Shūichi Hoshita keenly sensed Rasa and his team's focus on him. In a low voice, he called out, "Minato Sensei!"

With his wealth of experience, Minato Namikaze had already sensed their intentions and caught the meaning in Shūichi's words.

Use it to our advantage. Bait!

After all, it was only a shadow clone!

At this moment, two Sand Jonin began retreating from the battlefield, taking with them the heavily injured Jonin that Minato had struck down earlier, moving away from the area covered by Minato's Flying Thunder God kunai.

Shūichi Hoshita glanced over and grew more alert. He didn't believe those two Sand Jonin would just sit back and watch the rest of the battle.

At that moment, Madai, the Jonin who had been standing behind Rasa and Pakura, suddenly moved. He rushed forward, kunai in hand.

Rasa and Pakura also sprang into action. Rasa manipulated his Iron Sand, forming a dense barrage of senbon that rained down.

Meanwhile, Pakura's Scorch Release fireballs circled around from both sides, aiming for the rear of Shūichi and Minato.

Shūichi took in the entire situation, his hands swiftly forming seals. With just two hand signs, he unleashed a fire stream from his mouth, which quickly expanded into a massive dragon-shaped flame.

Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!

The dragon-shaped flame engulfed the incoming Iron Sand senbon, melting them into droplets of molten iron that fell to the ground.

As the flames dispersed, the sound of whistling shuriken filled the air—Madai was charging in with a flurry of shuriken.

Minato Namikaze raised his hand and threw his own shuriken with pinpoint accuracy, intercepting Madai's attack.

Just then, Pakura's Scorch Release fireballs came at them from behind.

Both Shūichi and Minato dodged in unison.

Rasa raised his hand, sending a wave of Iron Sand surging toward Minato, unleashing a relentless series of attacks.

At that moment, Shūichi no longer had time to observe Minato's side of the battle. He was now engaged in a fierce fight with Madai, the Sand Jonin, while also dealing with two more Scorch Release fireballs.

He was being pushed back step by step!

The middle-aged Jonin, Madai, was already formidable on his own, and with the added power of the Scorch Release, Shūichi Hoshita could only keep up thanks to his heightened reflexes and intense focus.

However, what troubled him the most were those Scorch Release fireballs. Even if he sliced them apart with his Blue Flame Sky Blade, they would recombine, making it more effective to just smash them apart with a Rasengan.

Suddenly, Madai retreated and began forming hand seals, and the frequency of the Scorch Release fireball attacks increased, leaving Shūichi Hoshita no time to think of anything else.

Though Shūichi could also use the Rasengan, he chose not to.

Sure enough, Madai finished his seals, took a deep breath, and unleashed a violent windstorm.

But this jutsu wasn't just aimed at Shūichi; it targeted everyone on the battlefield, including Rasa and Pakura, covering the entire area and even the Flying Thunder God kunai scattered across the field.

In the midst of playing cat-and-mouse with Rasa, Minato Namikaze suddenly appeared beside Shūichi. Before the storm could engulf them, the two vanished again.

Rasa, now protected by a shield of Iron Sand, stared intently at the flickering yellow light.

Good, he hasn't retreated!

Rasa smiled.

Pakura dispersed her Scorch Release fireballs, forming a ring of fire around herself as a protective barrier.

Outside the battlefield, the two Jonin tending to the wounded began forming hand seals at the same time.

Wind Release: Great Cast Net!

One after the other, the two of them unleashed the same jutsu, creating a massive, razor-sharp web of wind that swept across the entire battlefield just as Madai's Wind Release started to wane, resulting in a relentless, continuous attack.

Rasa, with only his eyes exposed, looked out at the battlefield now shrouded in the raging winds and thought, "In this situation, if you don't want to die, escape is the only option."

If Minato Namikaze fled, it would indeed be a shame, but it would also provide crucial information about his teleportation technique.

Additionally, it would clarify whether Minato's technique was merely high-speed movement or true space-time ninjutsu.

However...

Minato Namikaze silently reappeared behind the two Jonin who had just unleashed their Wind Release jutsu, with Shūichi Hoshita by his side.

At that moment, both experienced Sand Jonin sensed something was wrong. Sweat formed on their foreheads as they abruptly halted their jutsu and twisted their necks to look back.

Minato's Rasengan came crashing down, while Shūichi was even more direct, slicing down with his Totsuka Blade.

Splurt!

Boom!

The ground split, and the bodies were cleaved in two.

Without uttering a sound, the two Sand Jonin were killed by Shūichi Hoshita and Minato Namikaze.

Madai, standing outside the storm's reach, turned his head and widened his eyes in disbelief at the scene before him. "How is this possible?"

As the storm subsided, Rasa and Pakura dispelled their defenses and turned to look at the rising dust cloud. Their expressions were grim, filled with disbelief.

"This guy can place a marking on people!"

Rasa reacted quickly, instantly realizing what had happened, feeling so frustrated that he nearly coughed up blood.

Two encounters, and they had already lost three men!

Just then, with a poof, Shūichi Hoshita dispersed into a cloud of smoke.

"A shadow clone!" Madai couldn't help but exclaim.

Which meant that Minato Namikaze never really needed to rescue Shūichi in the first place. The only reason he did so was to trick them into continuing with their plan.

Their entire strategy had been completely seen through and exploited due to a lack of information.

"Sunagakure shouldn't provoke Konoha. I hope you relay that message to the Third Kazekage."

With those words, Minato Namikaze vanished.

The battlefield fell into silence.

After a long pause, Rasa looked up at the moon hanging in the sky and said, "Pakura, destroy all those kunai with the markings!"

Pakura nodded silently and sent out her Scorch Release fireballs, melting each of the kunai.

As for the idea of taking the kunai back for research, they didn't even consider it. No one dared to touch the kunai marked with Minato's jutsu.

...

The memories from his shadow clone returned, and Shūichi Hoshita and his group immediately stopped moving.

Sure enough, Minato Namikaze appeared shortly after.

"Let's rest for half an hour before we continue," Minato said.

Kurama Sanyō let out a sigh of relief and smiled, "Looks like we won't have any pursuers."

Minato smiled, "That may be true, but we should still stay vigilant."

Shūichi, on the other hand, was deep in thought: After this battle, the name 'Yellow Flash' is probably going to start spreading throughout the ninja world.

The road to glory is paved with countless bones!

In the ninja world, any renowned title is built upon a pile of corpses.

The Yellow Flash, the White Fang of Konoha, and even the Killer Bee of the Cloud Village...

Shūichi cleared his mind and said, "It's been a long time since I've had a good meal. I'll go hunt something for us."

Minato nodded but added, "Shisui, go with Shūichi."

...

After a meal of roasted rabbit, the four set off again, reaching the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers by dawn. They then continued southeast along the border, eventually circling around from the north to return to Hegu Town.

Konoha ninjas were stationed there, and it had even become the rear base for Konoha's operations against the Land of Rivers.

To Shūichi's surprise, he spotted Kakashi there.

"Kakashi, when did you get here?" Shūichi asked after greeting him.

"Last night," Kakashi replied, then added, "The village is still sending reinforcements, so it seems the situation at the front isn't going well."

Shūichi chuckled, "No, I didn't come from the village—I'm returning from the front lines."

Kakashi was stunned.

At that moment, Kurama Sanyō's voice called out, and Shūichi Hoshita patted Kakashi on the shoulder. "I'm off. If you head to the front lines, be extra careful, especially with Sand ninjas' puppet masters."

With that, Shūichi quickly left and rejoined Minato Namikaze and the others as they set off again, arriving at the Konoha-Sand front lines by midday.

The commander here was Sakumo Hatake!

Seeing the four of them, Sakumo smiled and said, "Minato, we're lucky to have you all."

Minato responded humbly, "You're too kind, sir. We were just doing our duty."

Sakumo, knowing Minato's gentle and modest nature, smiled and then turned his gaze to Shūichi Hoshita. "Shūichi, thank you for guiding Kakashi."

Shūichi was momentarily taken aback and quickly replied, "You give me too much credit, sir. Kakashi has helped me a lot as well. It's more of an exchange between friends than guidance."

Sakumo's admiration for Shūichi grew, and he said, "If you ever need help with swordsmanship, feel free to come to me anytime."

Shūichi was overjoyed and quickly bowed in gratitude. "Thank you, sir! I will!"

This was not the time for modesty.

Minato Namikaze then went off to attend a Jonin meeting and exchange information.

Shūichi and the others waited for nearly an hour before seeing Minato again.

"We'll have to split up now," Minato's first words startled the three of them.

"Shisui, you three will escort the injured back to Hegu Town. Once you arrive, Shūichi, you'll stay there and join the medical team."

Minato then looked at Uchiha Shisui and Kurama Sanyō. "As for you two, you'll temporarily join other teams until the mission is completed."

Shūichi immediately understood—Minato was about to engage with powerful Sand ninjas, and it wasn't suitable to bring them along.

Kurama Sanyō breathed a sigh of relief and joked, "I was worried you wouldn't be our squad leader anymore, Minato-sensei!"

Minato patted Sanyō's shoulder and advised, "Be careful during the mission!"

"Don't worry, Minato-sensei, we will!" Sanyō assured him, thumping his chest.

After that, Shūichi and the others escorted a group of injured ninjas back to Hegu Town.

There wasn't much time to talk as Uchiha Shisui and Kurama Sanyō were quickly called away by a middle-aged ninja.

Meanwhile, Shūichi dove into his duties as a medical ninja, barely having a moment to rest.

Injured ninjas were continuously brought in from the front lines, while those who had recovered in Hegu Town were sent back to the front.

Shūichi gradually got to know more Konoha ninjas, and his exceptional medical skills earned him the respect of many, especially after word spread that he had trained under Tsunade.

Over time, this rumor evolved into him being called "The disciple of Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin."

To this, Shūichi neither denied nor confirmed the rumors.

After all, he had trained under Tsunade!

If others misunderstood, that wasn't his fault.

(End of Chapter)

Next Time: New Master Tags!

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