I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 39 Following the rules can be infuriating.

Tatsuma suspected Orochimaru was playing him, but he had no proof.

He could only stare at Orochimaru in disbelief, while Orochimaru continued to display a seemingly elegant but actually somewhat sinister smile. In his life, Orochimaru's greatest pleasure was toying with these self-proclaimed clever "geniuses".

Furthermore, directly targeting Kushina would be easily noticed, so it's better to target Tatsuma instead, making Kushina feel like she's the lucky one.

After all, she had a break in the middle, and after the break, she would face Minato, who had just finished a battle. As for whether Kushina would win because of this?

Although letting Kushina survive the first round was not what Sarutobi-sensei wanted, Orochimaru didn't care. As long as Kushina couldn't graduate in the end, that was fine, wasn't it?

Tatsuma narrowed his eyes, looking at Orochimaru's creepy smile, then released Kushina, letting her go back to rest.

"Any other questions?"

Orochimaru tilted his head slightly, looking at Tatsuma. Tatsuma shook his head, formed the opposing hand seal, looked at Minato, and said, "Minato, we can begin at any time."

Minato originally wanted to give Tatsuma more time to recover his strength, but seeing that Tatsuma showed no sign of delaying, he had no choice but to step forward and form the opposing hand seal as well.

But Minato felt something was off; it seemed... Tatsuma hadn't praised him today?!

It wasn't that Minato wouldn't fight if he didn't hear Tatsuma's praise; rather, after two and a half years together, Minato realized that Tatsuma would never forget to praise his opponent, so there was only one reason.

The two formed opposing hand seals, then lowered their hands. Orochimaru also focused his attention on how Tatsuma would conduct this match despite being at a complete disadvantage in terms of stamina and chakra.

However, after the two formed the opposing hand seals, they did not immediately attack, which made Orochimaru frown with some doubt. Just then, Tatsuma looked up and revealed a bright smile.

"Lord Orochimaru, I surrender."

"Um?"

Tatsuma's words surprised Orochimaru. After all, the information Orochimaru had gathered about Tatsuma revealed that Tatsuma was incredibly competitive, to the point that he wanted to compete in every little thing in life.

But now Tatsuma has suddenly given up. Orochimaru glanced at Minato, whose face showed "I knew it," then turned his gaze back to Tatsuma, who had already formed the reconciliation seal, and asked, "Can you explain why?"

"Because I've already qualified for the next round of testing, haven't I?"

Chenma's smile remained bright. He was indeed competitive, but that was based on the premise that he had a chance to win and thus acquire his opponent's talent.

In his current state, he has no chance of defeating Minato. He is just competitive, not masochistic.

Tatsuma's question made Orochimaru's expression stiffen. His rules clearly stated that everyone had to win at least once to advance to the next round of assessment.

Orochimaru never expected that Tatsuma would use a rule he casually mentioned to "trick" him, especially since Tatsuma also presented him with another difficult problem.

The current situation is that Tatsuma has one win and one loss, Kushina has one loss, and Minato has one win. If Minato plays the rules like Tatsuma in the third round, then all three of them can get at least one win and qualify for the next round.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll use your defeat without a fight as a reason to disqualify you from continuing the assessment?"

Orochimaru looked at Tatsuma, wanting to see what he would choose, but Tatsuma shrugged and said, "You forgot, you didn't mention any other rules. I even asked specifically."

Indeed, Orochimaru recalled their previous conversation. He had secretly praised Tatsuma for being thoughtful and meticulous, but he hadn't expected that this was to prevent him from causing trouble. And he had actually stepped into Tatsuma's trap.

No, in a sense, he set this trap himself. If he hadn't deliberately made things difficult for Chenma, then Chenma wouldn't have been able to take advantage of the trap.

"Alright, let's begin the third round: Minato versus Kushina."

Orochimaru withdrew his gaze and looked at Kushina, who was still shocked and unable to fully comprehend the sudden change in direction. After regaining her senses, Kushina glared at Tatsuma with displeasure and said:

"All you do is resort to underhanded tactics!"

"Don't forget, now you're the only one left who needs to pursue victory. Keep going."

Tatsuma responded sarcastically, and the two passed each other. Kushina tried to bump into Tatsuma with her shoulder, but Tatsuma seemed to have anticipated it and brushed past her, causing Kushina to stumble a couple of steps.

"hateful!!!"

Having failed in her attempt to steal a chicken and ended up losing the bait herself, Kushina transferred her resentment to Minato, who was standing in front of her with a helpless smile. Looking at Minato's seemingly embarrassed and apologetic smile, Kushina said irritably:

"Sissy, what are you laughing at? You think you've already won?!"

Minato paused for a moment. His strange smile just now was merely an expression of amazement at Tatsuma's bizarre actions and the obvious animosity between Tatsuma and Kushina.

However, Minato never expected that his smile would once again be misunderstood by Kushina. He himself couldn't even remember how many times Kushina had misunderstood his smile.

However, Minato didn't argue. This was just his personality. Tatsuma often called him a steamed bun. To be honest, Minato didn't know why Tatsuma would use "steamed bun" to describe his personality.

Minato shook his head, clearing his mind, and raised his hand, which he had just lowered, forming the opposing hand seal. He said, "Kushina-kun, do you need to rest for a bit?"

"Hmph! You've already formed your opposing seals, are you really planning to let me rest? Besides, I don't need it!"

Kushina moved her still very painful left shoulder joint, and her right hand had already formed the opposing hand seal. The moment the two put their hands down, Minato's eyes changed.

Six shuriken suddenly appeared in his hand and shot towards Kushina before she could react.

As the shuriken slipped from his hand, Minato frowned, regretting that he shouldn't have used the same race-against-time mentality he had with Tatsuma when fighting Kushina. After all, he and Kushina hadn't had many real combat experiences and weren't familiar with each other.

Therefore, his fighting style could very likely have accidentally injured Kushina, but now it was too late. By the time Kushina reacted and dodged, it was already too late. Two shuriken slashed across her body, splattering blood.

From the very beginning, the outcome of the battle was already predetermined. Kushinabi was defeated even faster when fighting Tatsuma. Tatsuma was in poor condition, and she wasn't in much better shape either.

A moment later, Minato, who had won two games, looked at Kushina, who was sulking after losing two games, and extended his hand, saying, "I'm sorry, but I promise you, I will carry your determination and become a ninja first."

"Who asked you to bring this?! Waaah~"

As she spoke, Kushina suddenly burst into tears. Minato was at a loss, while Orochimaru, Sarutobi, and Tatsuma all looked in the distance, seemingly oblivious to the situation, leaving Kushina to continue crying.

They knew that Kushina needed a painful experience to release her emotions.

(End of this chapter)