I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 139 Everyone has encountered a mischievous friend who raised their hand for you during their school days.

"Ding~"

Faced with three kunai being shot at him, Tatsuma simply swung the shuriken in his hand. When the shuriken struck the first kunai, the kunai changed direction, and the shuriken also changed direction.

The shuriken and kunai that changed direction hit the other two kunai respectively. Unlike the tense trio, Tatsuma stood still with a childlike smile on his face.

But his shuriken throwing technique left the three of them, as well as the judges and examiners, dumbfounded. It was just too artistic!

The referee ninja was only a Chunin, while Tatsuma's kunai throwing skills were beyond the reach of even most Jonin. In addition, he had learned the Shadow Clone Technique of the Shōjutsu, which enhanced his analysis of ninja tool trajectories, and the amplification brought by [Divine Strategist] allowed him to easily calculate this way of "teasing" others.

After the three-person team was surprised, the ninja in the middle made a hand gesture, and in an instant, the ninjas on both sides rushed towards Tatsuma, while the ninja in the middle began to form hand seals.

The two ninjas charging towards Tatsuma also drew their kunai again and thrust them at him. However, to Tatsuma, who had been training with Minato and fighting against those elite ninjas, the speed of their attacks seemed like slow motion.

He grabbed the wrist of the man rushing towards him from the left with his right hand, and then unleashed his power, throwing him to the right.

"Bang!"

The two charging ninjas collided instantly. At that moment, the ninja opposite him who was forming hand seals also finished forming them, took a deep breath, and was about to release a ninjutsu at Tatsuma, but he could not find his target.

"Very good teamwork, but still a little lacking."

The sound from behind startled the ninja who was about to unleash a ninjutsu, but before he could react, he felt a sharp pain in his lower back, followed by a pain in his face, as he crashed into his two wobbly teammates.

In an instant, the three of them fell to the ground, while Chenma stretched out his foot and hooked it into the ground. A kunai that had just fallen fell into his hand, and he quickly tied an explosive tag to it with a wire.

"Swoosh~"

The explosive tag landed between the three. The referee ninja raised an eyebrow and was about to stop him when Tatsuma smiled at him and made a gesture to tell him not to interfere.

"Bang!"

An explosion rang out, and the shockwave from the detonating tag pushed all three of them off the stage. The referee ninja saw that the tag was much less powerful than a normal one, and that there was only a shockwave and smoke without any flame, so he knew it was specially made and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Congratulations, you have passed the second round of assessment. The third round of assessment will be held in three days. Please be sure to attend."

The referee ninja took out Tatsuma's exam admission ticket, stamped it, made two notes in his notebook, and then handed the ticket back to Tatsuma.

Thank you.

Tatsuma picked up his shuriken, took his exam admission ticket, and left the arena. He nodded to the three resentful-looking genin. Since his conversation with the three wasn't considered sincere praise, Tatsuma didn't get the chance to pick up his talent.

But Tatsuma didn't care. After all, given the level of the three of them just now, it was already the highest praise he could give them if he said they cooperated well. It wasn't that Tatsuma couldn't lie and praise others, but these three were just too difficult for him to say.

They rushed to the arena where Minato was. Minato had just stepped onto the stage. When he saw Tatsuma, Minato smiled and nodded at him, but this displeased the ninja team opposite him.

One person said, "Hmph! So you're not the only one trying to grab attention by referring to others. But that kid should have lost by now, right?"

"Hahaha~"

The two people beside him laughed rather unrestrainedly. Tatsuma stroked his chin, watching the smiles fade, and looked at Minato, who was standing among the three. So, Minato really was the kind of person with protagonist luck? Why didn't anyone mock him just now?

Minato's gaze swept over the three men, and Tatsuma, not afraid of escalating the situation, asked, "Minato, how long will it take you to win?"

The three men's mockery stopped abruptly, and before they could utter another taunt, Minato calmly said, "Twenty seconds."

"Are you really that slow?"

Tatsuma continued to tease him with a smile, and Minato, seeing Tatsuma's carefree, gossipy smile, simply stopped pretending and said, "Ten seconds it is then."

After saying that, he looked at the referee ninja and said, "Sir, may we begin?"

The referee ninja had already questioned both sides and confirmed the information, but the arrival of Tatsuma had slightly slowed down the pace. Now that Minato had spoken, he nodded in agreement.

"start!"

These three older genin didn't recognize Tatsuma and Minato, but the chunin did. After all, he was a genius who could go to the battlefield at the age of nine, complete dozens of missions, and successfully return to the village from the front lines.

He glanced at the three older genin with pity in his eyes, then quickly retreated to the side. The three genin were about to attack Minato in anger, but found that Minato was nowhere to be found, just like Tatsuma's opponent couldn't find Tatsuma just now.

Moreover, Minato's current speed is even faster than Tatsuma's.

Only a golden afterimage flashed by before two ninjas were sent flying. The genin who had spoken was kicked in the back knee by Minato and fell to his knees.

Of course, Minato wasn't the type to humiliate his opponents. He did it simply because he was short. Against an adult opponent, he could only place a kunai on the enemy's neck from behind if the opponent was kneeling.

You lost.

Minato's voice rang out, and the referee ninja immediately pronounced the verdict. The ninja still struggled, saying that he just didn't react in time and that Minato was unethical and attacked him by sneak.

But his incessant chatter did not change the referee ninja's decision. After explaining the procedure to Minato, he handed him the admission ticket. Tatsuma looked at Minato as he stepped off the stage and said, "You were too conservative. You should have said 'in an instant'."

"I thought they would be able to react."

Minato reverted to his sunny boyish demeanor, scratching his head somewhat embarrassed. He had planned to defeat each opponent in three seconds, which would allow him to finish within ten seconds.

He just didn't expect that his probing would be too much for the three of them to handle, so he took the opportunity to resolve the situation more decisively.

"At your current speed, over such a short distance, I might not be able to keep up with you to defend, let alone them."

Seeing that Minato didn't seem very confident in himself, Tatsuma smiled and said, "Minato nodded, but there was no smugness on his face. After all, he knew that Tatsuma was saying that he might not be able to keep up with the defense. After all, defense is passive and will always be slower."

However, Tatsuma could choose to attack. With Tatsuma's superior strength and physical skills, Minato quickly rehearsed in his mind that either he would give up attacking, or he would injure Tatsuma eight hundred times and then lie down and extort eight thousand from Tatsuma.

After leaving the Land of Iron, Minato and Tatsuma proposed a sparring match again, with Minato demanding that Tatsuma unleash his true power. As a result, he was thrown against the wall, and it was Tatsuma who pried him off.

"Let's go to my teacher's house. Nawaki's graduation exam is coming up soon, and Kushina has also signed up for early graduation. Do you want to go see how they're doing now?"

Tatsuma asked Minato, who was taken aback, then asked worriedly, "Did Kushina sign up too?"

"Yes, it was an application I secretly submitted before the deadline."

Upon hearing this, Minato, who had originally intended to go home to change his clothes, couldn't wait any longer. He nodded and was about to head towards the Senju clan's territory when he suddenly stopped, looked at Tatsuma, smiled, and said:

"Tatsuma, how about we have a speed contest? Let's see who gets there faster!"

Tatsuma's face darkened. When did Minato pick up this bad habit?! He clearly stated that he was not as fast as Minato, yet Minato still wanted to compete with him. How could Minato, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, have such a dirty heart?

"good!"

But Tatsuma still agreed with a dark face. He also wanted to see what Minato's true level was. Tatsuma picked up a pebble from the ground, glanced at Minato, and threw it upwards.

The two no longer needed words to define how the game would begin and end; their tacit understanding was enough.

The moment the rubble hit the ground, the two of them shot out like arrows. Minato chose to climb onto the roof, using various high-difficulty moves, using both hands and feet to keep running, while Tatsuma chose to travel on the ground.

after all

"Bang! Bang!"

The ground was riddled with holes the size of heads. The force transmitted through his feet allowed Tatsuma to reach even greater speeds. This was his only way to possibly defeat Minato, though it was a bit too destructive.

However, when Tatsuma arrived at the Senju clan's territory, he found that Minato had already arrived. Although he was still catching his breath, there was no doubt that Minato had won. He proved that he was the faster man-boy.

Seeing the unusually smug smile on Minato's face, Tatsuma suddenly said, "As expected of you, Minato, you've improved so much. Your combat skills must have improved a lot too, right? Let me see them!"

"good!"

Minato's reaction was almost instinctive, but as soon as he finished speaking, he regretted it and wished he could slap himself twice. Why couldn't he control this instinctive reaction?!

Three days passed quickly, and Tatsuma and Minato arrived at the site of the third assessment. By this time, there were far fewer people, and the third round was not a team battle, or rather, it might not be a team battle.

It's a free-for-all, where you can team up with other ninjas, form new squads with other ninjas, or go it alone.

Many Jonin were present at this assessment, including Hiruzen Sarutobi. After all, the third round was not a merit-based promotion system, but a comprehensive assessment. These Jonin would give their opinions after the assessment to decide which ninjas could advance.

Of course, the final winner, who is the last person on the stage who still has the fighting power and has not been eliminated, is guaranteed to advance.

Because there were too many ninjutsu techniques, the exam was divided into two testing areas, but they were conducted simultaneously. Tatsuma and Minato were assigned to different testing areas. At this time, many people in the testing area were talking, seemingly inviting each other to form teams.

Tatsuma and Minato didn't participate; instead, they stood in the middle exchanging information, discussing who they needed to pay special attention to in their respective exam rooms and in each other's.

As they talked, Tatsuma asked, "Minato, do you think you can hold out until the end?"

Upon hearing this, Minato glanced back at the people fighting alongside him. Although many of them were from ninja clans, he still nodded and said, "Making it to the end shouldn't be a problem."

Tatsuma grinned, put his hand on Minato's shoulder, and raised his voice slightly, saying, "As expected of you, Minato! You're just like me, confident enough to eliminate everyone!"

Why don't we have a competition and see who can eliminate the opponent faster?

Minato's rational mind told him that Tatsuma was tricking him again, calling his perseverance to the end "eliminating everyone." While the result was correct, the attitudes were completely different.

However, upon hearing phrases like "As expected of you" and "Let's have a competition," Minato realized that his rationality was too slow, as his body had already reacted first.

"good!"

The moment the words left his mouth, Minato felt countless malicious gazes fall upon him. In an instant, a chill ran down his back, and his scalp felt slightly itchy and numb. Even his already upright hair stood on end even straighter.

"Gurgle~"

Minato swallowed hard, wanting to explain something, but at that moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi on the high platform suddenly smiled and said, "It seems everyone is full of energy. The village needs young and energetic ninjas like you."

"You're all probably impatient, so let's go on stage and begin!"

Before going on stage, Minato glared fiercely at Tatsuma, but his gaze now lacked the imposing aura and killing intent he displayed during the Nine-Tails' attack that night, and had no effect on Tatsuma.

(End of this chapter)