Namikaze Minato: "!!"
Hatake Kakashi: "!!!"
Uchiha Obito: "!!"
The three of them, hidden in the treetops in the distance, were greatly shocked!
Genin?! Konoha Shinobi?! Hokage?!
Uzumaki… Naruto…?!!
Obito felt a fire ignite within him at the mention of these words!
It was as if hot blood surged through his limbs! That overwhelming emotion resonated like never before!
'Even Sasuke-kun can't do it! What kind of prestige are you rushing over there?!'
"Remember that one day, I will become the Hokage of Konoha Shinobi Village!"
Hokage…
It was their dream!
Never wavering, firmly believing in that dream!
Obito's eyes flashed with excitement, and he could hardly wait to open his Sharingan immediately to clear the thick fog and see the battle inside!
Beside him, Namikaze Minato, who was about to start, slightly pulled back his Kunai.
Uzumaki?!!
He knew of Uzumaki, and he was very familiar with it.
Because Konoha only had one ninja from the Uzumaki clan—his girlfriend, Uzumaki Kushina.
If there were any other Uzumaki boys, they would likely be Genin...
The Third Hokage shouldn't have told him.
Unless the person was from Danzo's assassination unit, 'Root.'
Minato's face was solemn. They had been here for less than ten minutes, yet they had received unimaginably complex information.
In the thick fog, Sakura and Sasuke were taken aback by Naruto's momentum.
The client and team leader, Jōnin Kakashi, also clearly perceived Naruto's growth.
"Sasuke, cover your ears. I have a strategy to tell you!"
Sasuke was a little surprised. At this moment, that guy could still think of strategies?!
There was silence for more than ten seconds in the thick fog.
"What do you guys want to do?! Didn't I tell you to run away?! The moment I was trapped, the outcome was already decided! Our mission is to escort the client!! Do you hear? Run away! Run away with Mr. Dazna!!"
The leader Jōnin suddenly shouted. Uchiha Obito gritted his teeth, wondering what this stubborn leader was thinking?!
Minato gave Obito a reassuring glance with his hand on Obito's shoulder.
'There is something in that man's words.'
What?!
Sure enough, the next moment, the client named Dazna spoke up—
"What? I caused my own disaster. I can't be someone who is greedy for life and afraid of death! Now I don't care about any commissions; let's go and beat them!!"
"!!!"
According to the rules of ninjas, they are tools to complete tasks. If the client does not speak, they should focus on the mission first.
It turns out that the Jōnin leader was talking about the client!
This would not affect the commission and would also allow the students to give it their all. It could be seen that he was indeed an elite Jōnin.
Minato nodded, affirming this inwardly.
Immediately after, in the face of Naruto and Sasuke's eagerness, a mocking laugh echoed from deep within the fog.
Naruto: "What are you laughing at, you idiot!"
"Look at your little devils in Konoha. They're all Genin. I want to laugh at how innocent they are."
"Innocent?" Naruto tilted his head.
Zabuza: "When I was your age, my hands were already stained with blood."
"!!" Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were taken aback.
Kakashi: "Zabuza, don't cut it again!"
"Oh? It seems you've heard some rumors."
In the water prison, Kakashi explained the origin of the name to his students.
"The Mist Shinobi Village in the Land of Water is also known as the Village of Blood Mist. If you want to become a ninja, you need to face the greatest difficulties..."
Zabuza looked at Kakashi: "You even know about that graduation exam?"
"Graduation... exam?" Naruto was familiar with this, as he had almost passed the Clone Technique after failing the exam three times!
That's right, Konoha's test was the Clone Technique, but Kirigakure's test was—
"Let the students who get along with one another kill each other day and night, stimulating the most ferocious inferiority and desire to survive as a ninja! Whether through strength, deception, or opportunism, it doesn't matter! Only those who survive can become real ninjas!"
"!!!"
Obito and Kakashi were stunned for a moment, and they subconsciously looked at their mentor, Namikaze Minato.
"Is this true? Minato-sensei?!"
Obito asked quietly.
Minato nodded; the infamous name of the Blood Mist was indeed widely rumored.
It seemed that the hostile forces in the thick fog were really ninjas from the Blood Mist. Minato frowned slightly. Was Kirigakure also attacking Konoha, or was this not the territory of the Land of Grass or the Land of Fire at all?!
"But ten years ago..." the Jōnin leader of Konoha in the thick fog said, "there was a boy who made a huge change in the rules of the Blood Mist, and that boy was later called 'The Evil Ghost'!"
"Evil Ghost?" Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura repeated the key words from Kakashi's mouth.
Minato pondered another word—change?
In his memory, ten years ago, the Mist Shinobi Village had not undergone any major changes.
Sakura: "What did that 'Evil Ghost' do?!"
"That 'Evil Ghost' boy killed all the more than 100 candidates in that class without hesitation! He was just a young child who had not yet obtained the qualifications of a ninja, yet he could be so cruel. It's almost unheard of."
"!!!"
Not only Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were shocked.
Namikaze Minato and the two teenagers beside him also expressed disbelief.
What puzzled Minato even more was that he had never heard of such an event happening in the Blood Mist!
And he had never heard of the name Zabuza Momochi.
What exactly was going on?!
While everyone was stunned, the murderous aura of Zabuza once again shocked Sasuke and Naruto, and he chose to attack Sasuke first, trampling him underfoot.
"Hateful!"
Naruto couldn't bear to see Sasuke being trampled and crushing his internal organs!
"Shadow Clone Technique!!"
Instantly, 'Bang! Bang bang! Bang bang bang! Bang!' The sounds were endless.
A strange look of surprise appeared in Namikaze Minato's eyes once again.
Not to mention that the Shadow Clone is a B-level ninjutsu that most Genin can't use yet, just listening to the subsequent unstoppable bangs, Minato counted at least fifty!
This quantity! Not even Kakashi, the son of Hatake White Fang, who had been promoted to Jōnin at the age of 12 and was known as a genius!
Fifty Shadow Clones test not only the skill in ninjutsu but also the amount of Chakra!
Therefore, after the Shadow Clone developed by the Second Hokage exceeds a certain number, it is referred to as the 'Multiple Shadow Clone Technique,' raising its level from B to A. Even improper use could bring disaster to the practitioner's life, as noted in the Forbidden Techniques written by the First Hokage!
To possess such a large amount of Chakra at that age...
— Uzumaki Naruto.
Only the innate Chakra amount of the Uzumaki clan could explain it!
"It's coming! Everyone!"
With around fifty Shadow Clones, if this young man grows up, it would be no problem for him to become a ninja army.
However, he was still too weak after all.
No more slicing and swinging; all the Shadow Clones were sent flying. With a bang, those Shadow Clones fell to the ground and turned into smoke.
But the boy's plans didn't stop there!
"Sasuke! Next!!"
The boy threw the Fuuma Shuriken from this mission!
Sasuke's eyes changed suddenly as he caught the huge folding shuriken!
"That's it!"
Immediately—
"Fuma Shuriken Shadow Windmill!"
The folded shuriken unfolded in Sasuke's hands and flew in the direction of the gust of wind!
Wait! It wasn't meant for Zabuza in front of them!
It was the unbreakable water that trapped their Jōnin mentor behind!
However—
"You are so naive!"
Although Zabuza was holding the Water Prison Technique with one hand, his other hand firmly caught the wind demon shuriken projected by Sasuke!
"What happened?!" Obito couldn't see what was happening in the thick fog and rubbed his eyes hard.
This rubbing allowed him to see a bit of the human figure in the thick fog!
The energy that had been accumulated for so long flowed in his mind, waiting for an opportunity! His eyes awaited an awakening that would allow him to brush away the dust and regain their original splendor!
But it was clear that the time for that awakening had not yet come.
Now he could still only see vague shadows in the thick fog.
Beside him, Kakashi said, "It's still a long way to go with that Fuuma Shuriken."
"No! It's not just one!" Although Obito's Sharingan couldn't open yet, his eyes lit up in the thick fog.
"What?! Can you see?!"
"I can't see clearly, but there's a Fuuma Shuriken hidden in the shadow of the first Fuuma Shuriken! Tsk—! It was also avoided by that guy!"
Obito could vaguely see that a tall, thin man seemed to be holding something ball-like in one hand, catching the first Fuuma Shuriken with the other. The second Fuuma Shuriken could have hit him, but he didn't expect the man to jump up and completely retract his leg to avoid the blow!
"What a pity!" Obito couldn't help but click his tongue.
However, his vision was limited in the thick fog!
He couldn't see the corners of Sasuke and Naruto's mouths twitching, 'Success!' with confident smiles.
Then, they heard—
'Boom!' A sound!
The second Fuuma Shuriken that was evaded by Zabuza...
Transformed!
No, it wasn't that the Fuuma Shuriken had transformed! It was that the Fuuma Shuriken was made by Uzumaki Naruto!
"It is so!"
Obito was shocked; this was the strategic plan of the boy who wanted to be Hokage, just like him!
"What happened in the end?!"
Even though Kakashi had just been promoted to Jōnin, he was a kid a year or two younger than Obito and couldn't help but whisper angrily, asking Obito what he saw.
Obito told him and Minato-sensei about the vague figure he had seen mixed with his own analysis and guesses.
The two couldn't help but praise the boy named Uzumaki Naruto in their hearts.
"The water prison is broken! Naruto attacked the enemy from behind, forcing him to let go of the Jōnin in the water prison!"
Minato: "Obito, can you see what that Jōnin looks like?"
"Um... I can't see clearly..."
Uchiha Obito rubbed his eyes again, and for a brief moment, he seemed to see clearly!
But that figure...
He was stunned in shock!