Mayuri Kurotsuchi Card Game, starting from Naruto

Chapter 70 Minato Squad

"Everything has risks. But don't worry, at least I won't let Hongdou get involved if I'm not sure," Lu Nie comforted Shisui.

After the three finished their tests, they went to Ichiraku Ramen together for a meal. When they parted, Shisui paused for a moment, looking at the much quieter shop, a hint of bewilderment on his face.

"Are you worried about something?"

Walking side by side on the road, Lu Nie's words startled Shisui from his dazed state.

"No, it's just..." Shisui subconsciously shook her head, wanting to say something, but then stopped.

"Are you worried about the impending war?" Lu Nie asked bluntly, looking at the slightly complicated, hesitant expression on Zhi Shui's face.

"As expected, with Lu Nie's intelligence, he was able to see it." Zhi Shui seemed somewhat relieved after hearing Lu Nie's words.

"Even without intelligence, we can easily analyze things by looking at how many merchants have come to the village recently, how many missions they have, how long the ninjas have stayed in the village, and how busy Orochimaru-sensei is, right?" Shika Nie glanced around. The atmosphere of Konoha during wartime was completely different from that during peacetime.

The Anbu, the Hokage's direct ninja unit, has been unusually active in the village these days. While ordinary people might not notice, those with sensory abilities and special skills can clearly sense the Anbu ninjas' activity.

"The ninja world has only been at peace for a few years." Shisui, who did not like war and killing, sighed.

Lu Nie smiled, not bothering to give Zhi Shui a long lecture or explain the causes and nature of war to him.

In their previous interactions, he explained the essence of many issues to both water and red beans, including those concerning war and peace.

They simply don't have the power to influence even a single village, let alone the entire ninja world. Therefore, these questions are meaningless to Shika Nie.

He also doesn't need to worry about Shisui and Hongdou.

Red Bean isn't stupid; it's just that when she's on a mission with him and Shisui, she habitually doesn't use her brain and just follows the commands of her external brain.

Although Shisui is kind and gentle, that kindness is only towards his beloved village and friends. His aversion to killing does not mean he will be soft-hearted towards the enemy on the battlefield.

When encountering enemies during missions, Shisui was the fastest and most decisive member of the team.

……

Chou-mao-shen!

Blinding flashes of light, accompanied by a cacophony of noise, echoed through the depths of the forest.

A figure crackling with lightning, leaving a swaying afterimage in people's eyes, pierced towards Minato Namikaze.

Under the tense gazes of Obito and Rin, the lightning bolt was abruptly stopped just before it reached Minato Namikaze. Before their eyes, the ball of electricity that Kakashi Hatake was clutching in his palm was forcibly stopped by Minato grabbing his wrist.

"Minato-sensei is amazing! I can't even see Kakashi's speed, yet he was able to precisely cut into the lightning and grab Kakashi's wrist to stop the technique." Obito exclaimed from the side.

Hearing his words, Rin beside him nodded vigorously. However, a look of worry unconsciously appeared on her face, as if she was concerned about Kakashi's condition.

"The purpose of your attack is too obvious. It's easy for a quick-thinking ninja to see through it and turn the tables on you," Minato Namikaze warned.

"It's not over yet."

As Kakashi spoke, the electricity in his hands suddenly surged, like a net instantly unfurled, the lightning blazing brightly! The birdsong suddenly rose in pitch.

Falling leaves landed within the area enveloped by the electric light, and were instantly pulverized into ashes.

Minato Namikaze released Kakashi's wrist the instant the lightning blazed, allowing the lightning in Kakashi's hand to advance smoothly once again.

brush!

The lightning bolt pierced through empty air.

Minato Namikaze vanished from his original spot as if by teleportation, reappearing in another location behind Kakashi.

At that moment, the lightning in Kakashi's hand surged, seemingly enveloping his entire body in its light. The lightning in Lingwu's hand possessed immense destructive power.

Just as Kakashi subconsciously scanned his surroundings, trying to find Minato Namikaze, a sharp kunai was already pressed against his back.

The electric light faded.

Kakashi slowly turned around.

"Was that change just now because you used the Bloodthirst Armor?" Minato Namikaze also put away his special kunai and asked Kakashi with some delight.

"Yes. The Blood Armor can increase a person's strength, speed, and reaction time, and it can also enhance the power of techniques! When you grabbed my wrist, Minato-sensei, the only thing I could think of was to enhance the power of Chidori and spread its power." Kakashi nodded.

"Kakashi, your hand."

Seeing that the sparring match between the two had ended, Obito and Rin rushed over together. As they approached, Rin noticed the cracked skin on Kakashi's hand caused by Chidori and instinctively gasped in surprise. Then, under Obito's envious gaze, she used medical ninjutsu to heal him.

This has happened quite a few times recently, but each time it still makes Obito feel a pang of sadness.

"That's a good idea, but you can't maintain your Blood Armor Mode for long, can you?" Minato Namikaze said, looking at Kakashi who was slightly out of breath.

Chidori is a ninjutsu that consumes a lot of chakra, and Kakashi's still-developing body couldn't use it more than a few times.

The Bloodstained Armor technique releases an excessive amount of chakra by squeezing the meridians, increasing the power of ninjutsu and the amount of chakra, but also increasing chakra consumption. This further exacerbated Kakashi's already precarious condition.

"It can only be maintained for a short time," Kakashi answered honestly.

"In battle, use the Still Blood Armor mode as much as possible unless absolutely necessary. Although its amplification effect on the human body is not as great as the Moving Blood Armor mode, it has the advantage of working well with Chidori."

"One offensive and one defensive stance will make you more composed when facing battle," Minato Namikaze advised.

Kakashi's mastery of the "Dynamic and Static Blood Armor" technique gave Minato Namikaze a feeling of facing a weakened version of the Third Raikage's son, Rui.

Once Kakashi has mastered the Bloodstained Armor Mode, even without using Chidori, he is still terrifying enough to many ninjas below the Jonin level when he uses swordsmanship.

Kakashi nodded.

As a genius, he is adept at learning from battles and adapting his fighting style to the circumstances of each encounter.

He has already begun to consider modifying Chidori into another type of ninjutsu.

"Failed again, Kakashi!" Obito said sarcastically, looking at Rin who was carefully re-bandaging Kakashi's hand.

"Obito, Kakashi is already very strong! The reason the battle ended so quickly is because he was facing Minato-sensei!" Rin puffed out her cheeks and defended Kakashi.

Hmph! Obito gritted his teeth and glared fiercely at Kakashi.

"How about you guys? How's your control over the movement and bloodlust gear going?" Seeing that the team was about to start arguing again, Minato Namikaze quickly stepped in to change the subject.

"I've mastered the Blood Stasis Mode." Lin raised her hand. She knew her role in the team perfectly well: a medical ninja!

According to the rules set by Lady Tsunade for medical ninjas, their primary responsibility during battle is to ensure their own safety and not participate in combat!

Therefore, Lin hasn't focused on learning the Blood-Activating Armor technique these past few days, but instead has been working hard to master the Blood-Still Armor technique. In her opinion, this is the skill she should be learning and mastering the most.

The defensive capabilities provided by the Bloodstained Armor effectively address the issue of low survivability for medical ninjas, who are easily preemptively eliminated by enemy ninjas.

They can even devise a tactic based on the opponent's desire to eliminate the medical ninja first.

Minato Namikaze gave Rin a smile of approval, then turned his attention to Obito, whose gaze was darting around.

"Obito".

"This technique is too difficult!" Uchiha Obito, who was called out, grabbed his hair in frustration, making his hairstyle a mess.

He swore he had been studying very hard, but the basic requirements for this technique were too high. It was not friendly at all to a rough-and-ready type of ninja like him.

"Leave it to me, Minato-sensei. While you're teaching Kakashi, I'll also try my best to teach Obito. The Blood Armor Technique is indeed very difficult; it requires precise chakra control, some knowledge of the human body, and ideally, some medical ninjutsu. I'll teach him little by little until Obito masters it," Rin quickly said.

"Rin!" Obito looked at Nohara Rin with teary eyes, and the bitterness in his heart instantly disappeared, replaced by the motivation that Rin had given him.

"Idiot!" Kakashi's retort was instantly caught by Obito.

"Who are you calling an idiot?" Obito flipped up his goggles-like glasses, rubbed the tears welling up in his eyes, and glared angrily in Kakashi's direction.

"This is a technique that only smart people can master. It's very difficult for someone like you, a loser, to master it," Kakashi replied honestly.

"Damn it!" Obito felt as if a string called reason had snapped in his head. Without bothering to put his goggles back on, he lunged forward, trying to tackle Kakashi.

But Kakashi shifted his body slightly, raising one leg slightly, and caught Obito off guard, causing him to make full-body contact with the ground.

Watching this usual lively scene, Minato Namikaze, while grabbing one of Rin's hands to stop the situation from escalating, awkwardly touched his hair.

In the end, Minato Namikaze treated everyone to dinner, bringing this farce to a close.

……

The Hokage Meeting Room.

"Take a look, here's the latest intelligence." The Third Hokage, smoking his pipe and with a worried expression, publicly circulated a piece of intelligence.

In the meeting room in the village, the Jonin who were not out on missions were passing around the intelligence handed over by the Third Hokage.

"Has Iwagakure finally entered the fray?"

The first thought that came to the minds of the many Jonin and ninja clan leaders who had read the intelligence was one of relief.

Bad news, Iwagakure has finally left the fray.

Good news, they're not targeting Konoha for now.

"The Hidden Cloud Village is about to be defeated." Some Jonin speculated based on the information they had gathered.

Although the Cloud Village's martial prowess is second to none in the entire ninja world, the Third Raikage, who was able to fight against tailed beasts for days and nights, is renowned throughout the ninja world.

But all of this cannot conceal the fact that the Hidden Cloud Village has almost mobilized its entire force, trying to pick a loose apple from an unknown, easy target, but has yet to succeed.

The resilience of Sunagakure exceeded the expectations of the entire ninja world, especially after the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, who was hailed as the strongest. Surprisingly, Rasa, who possessed Magnet Release, and Pakura, who possessed Scorch Release, emerged.

Despite Konoha secretly diverting some of Kumogakure's forces, Sunagakure was able to hold its own against Kumogakure, led by the Third Raikage, for over a year without being at a disadvantage, astonishing many people's predictions.

This includes Rasa's Magnet Release's advantage over the Third Raikage, and Sunagakure's Wind Release's advantage over Lightning Release.

The Hidden Cloud Village's surprise attack failed to take down the Hidden Sand Village in a short time; instead, they were dragged into a quagmire of war, something neither the Third Raikage nor his strategists had anticipated.

Worse still, more than a year has passed, and the Cloud Hidden Army, mired in the quagmire of war, is now in a difficult situation.

This extended period of time allowed the surrounding ninja villages to prepare for war.

For example, Iwagakure Village?

After observing for a long time, Tsuchikage Onoki finally prepared everything and decided to join the war to seize the current victory.

During this period, the envoys from Sunagakure and Iwagakure villages maintained close contact.

With the tacit approval of Chiyo and her brother, Rasa, who had withstood wave after wave of attacks from the Third Raikage A and always took the lead in stopping the Third Raikage's rampage, became the core of the relationship between the two villages.

Everyone who knew this information understood that Rasa was only one ritual away from becoming the true Fourth Kazekage.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, once the war with Kumogakure ends, Rasa can return to the village and become the Kazekage. In fact, his current prestige and power on the battlefield are equivalent to those of a de facto Kazekage.

The only one who could threaten their position was Pakura, the scorching ninja who also shone brightly in the war.

Rasa was even somewhat relieved that it was Kumogakure that invaded the Land of Wind this time, as it was countered by his bloodline limit and escaping techniques. If it had been Kirigakure in the Land of Water, then Pakura would be the one now considered the Kage.

With the alliance between Sunagakure and Iwagakure, no one believed that Kumogakure could hold out. In this Shinobi World War, the powerful Kumogakure might be the first to be eliminated, at least temporarily.

"The Hidden Stone Village has gathered a large number of ninjas and surrounded the battlefield between the Sand and Cloud Villages. If nothing unexpected happens, the Cloud Village will have no choice but to cut off their own arms to ensure the retreat of their forces."

"If the Cloud Ninja forces are completely surrounded and annihilated, the Cloud Village should be expelled from the Five Great Hidden Villages." Nara Shikakichi said, presiding over the meeting only after all the Jonin present had read the information.

"We don't need to pay attention to the Cloud Village now; its defeat is inevitable. What we need to focus on is the next moves of the Iwagakure and Sunagakure villages."

The Tsuchikage has deployed so many ninja; he won't be satisfied with just defeating one Cloud Ninja. His next target will likely be our Konoha.

Furthermore, according to intelligence from Root, Kirigakure also intends to join this war. They have already dispatched elite Kirigakure ninja, led by the Seven Swords, to infiltrate the Land of Fire.

(End of this chapter)