Kushina was leading a small squad, patrolling inside the town in a circular pattern centered around a certain building, remaining constantly alert to her surroundings.
"Do you think Minato and the others will fall for it?" Konan, following behind Kushina, asked.
"With what I know about Minato, absolutely not!" Kushina shook her head decisively.
"Eh?" Konan was stunned. "Then why are we deploying like this?"
"What else could we do?" Kushina said helplessly. "In this setup, we're on the passive side. All we can do is shrink our defenses and hold the line."
"If we wanted to take the initiative and take them out ahead of time, that's totally unrealistic. It's impossible, we'd just get picked off one by one instead."
"So we can only find ways to delay them, buying time for reinforcements to arrive. The decoy targets are just to disrupt their judgment and give us more time."
Just as Kushina finished speaking, violent fighting and shouts erupted from the north side of the town.
Seeing this, Kushina leapt up in an instant, landing on the roof of a three-story building. After scanning the scene, she sprinted toward the direction of the battle.
"Minato!" Upon seeing Minato cutting down foes left and right with his short blade while flashing in and out of the crowd with the Body Flicker Technique, Kushina shouted, drawing back her right fist and striking at him with full force.
Seeing Kushina, Minato's mood instantly brightened, but he immediately used the Body Flicker to evade.
However, Kushina's mastery of the Body Flicker was also at an extremely high level. In an instant, she entered her Ultra Precision Mode, wherever Minato appeared, she could instantly follow, unleashing a storm-like barrage of attacks.
Minato had already sheathed his short blade and began exchanging blows with Kushina in a blur of movement, each chasing and striking at the other.
He knew very well that his chakra-metal short blade couldn't withstand Kushina's punches, there was no way he could meet her strikes head-on.
Unable to use Flying Thunder God Technique and prohibited from using harmful ninjutsu, their battle quickly became a stalemate.
Wherever their fists or kicks landed, the area instantly turned into rubble. Multiple spots on the ground were left with terrifying cracks.
"The Hokage's Chakra Enhanced Strength: Ultra Precision Mode?"
In the viewing hall, many people recognized the technique. Seeing the shockingly destructive fight, and Kushina acting like a humanoid beast, everyone was stunned.
Minato's strength was known throughout Konoha, even in pure taijutsu, no one had heard of an equal.
Yet this red-haired girl, whose name wasn't even widely known, could fight him evenly in hand-to-hand combat.
The terrifying power behind each of her punches and kicks was enough to send chills down their spines.
No one else could get involved in this battle, and because Minato's speed was so fast and his landing points unpredictable, they didn't even have a chance to sneak attack.
But with Kushina holding him down, nearby ninjas quickly surrounded them, planning to go for a direct kill on Minato if sneak attacks weren't possible.
Seeing over twenty people about to surround him, Minato suddenly stopped attacking. After adjusting his position, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and directly took one of Kushina's punches head-on.
The terrifying force of that punch sent Minato hurtling backward at extreme speed.
In an instant, he shot through a weak point in the not-yet-formed encirclement, and after a few quick Body Flickers, he vanished from sight.
"Damn it!" Kushina gritted her teeth hard, but didn't pursue.
From start to finish, only Minato had shown up, Fugaku and Hizashi hadn't appeared at all.
Once he had slipped into the forest and confirmed no one was pursuing him, Minato's face twisted in pain. He clutched his left forearm, rubbing it furiously.
He never expected Kushina to hit him with such force. But still, his mission for this trip had already been accomplished.
After easing the pain in his hand a little, he immediately rushed off in another direction.
"How are the casualties?" Kushina asked as she came up to a medical-nin crouched on the ground examining the scene.
"Seven have been declared dead," the medic replied grimly. "All had their throats cut with a single strike. No wounded."
One of the rules of the exercise: if a vital point was struck, it would be counted as a kill.
Naturally, Minato wouldn't actually kill anyone, his short blade only nicked the skin at their throats. But that also meant that, if he wanted to, he really could have killed them.
Everyone nearby looked grim.
It had barely been five minutes since the start, and they had already lost seven people.
Even though these seven weren't especially strong, they couldn't afford losses at this rate.
Reality, however, gave them no time to rest.
---
South side.
A sudden, violent explosion rang out.
"Someone hit a trap?" Upon hearing the blast, the ninjas nearby rushed toward it.
Mikoto was the first to arrive. She crouched to examine the trap and immediately frowned.
The trap had indeed been triggered, but to be precise, it had been discovered and disarmed by the enemy, not used to injure them.
"On guard!" At the command, everyone instantly became more alert.
Several other ninjas were still hurrying toward the blast site. One squad, while passing through an alley, suddenly heard the meow of a cat.
They quickly turned their heads, ready to respond immediately.
But in that single glance, all four members of the squad froze in place, dumbstruck.
The next moment, four identical figures abruptly appeared before them, each holding an unsheathed kunai. In perfect unison, they drew the blades across the four ninjas' throats.
In the blink of an eye, the four figures merged into one again and vanished, as if they had never been there.
The four dazed ninjas stood in place for a long moment before regaining their senses. Feeling the pain at their necks, they instinctively reached up.
When they saw the faint red on their palms, bitter expressions crossed their faces.
They didn't know exactly what had happened, but they knew they were already dead.
In the theater where the live feed was being shown, the audience was stunned.
What had they just seen?
Why had four Fugakus suddenly appeared? They didn't look like shadow clones.
And what was with that body flicker? Why did it happen so strangely, without any warning?
Many experienced ninjas immediately realized: those four Fugakus weren't clones, but phantoms created by some special jutsu.
Yet each phantom seemed to have a solid form, able to launch real attacks, and able to use that same uncanny Body Flicker.
This scene immediately brought to mind Fugaku's nickname.
Earlier, when they saw Minato's extraordinary, almost superhuman Body Flicker Technique, many had been puzzled.
Why, then, was Fugaku the one known as "Fugaku of the Body Flicker"?
Was it simply because the Flying Thunder God was so dazzling that it overshadowed Minato's own Body Flicker, and Fugaku had nothing else notable except decent mastery of the technique, so he earned the title?
But after witnessing Fugaku's even more unpredictable version of the Body Flicker, along with phantoms that could use it as well, they realized the rumors had been far from the truth.
"This is what you call having nothing impressive to show?"
"This is the absolute peak of Body Flicker technique, for crying out loud!"
"In terms of mastery over Body Flicker alone, even Minato can't compare."
"And on top of that, there's that genjutsu, just one glance and the opponent freezes on the spot. The combination of the two is downright terrifying."
In the next moment, a figure suddenly appeared, then vanished from the spot with four people in tow.
The one who acted was Shin.
In this match, his job was to monitor the entire field, ensure everyone's safety, and take out those who were eliminated.
Before leaving, he cast a gratified glance in the direction Fugaku had gone, and nodded in satisfaction.
What Fugaku used was called the Phantom Body Flicker.
The Phantom Body Flicker is vastly different from an ordinary Body Flicker Technique.
First, although it evolved from the regular Body Flicker, its difficulty level skyrocketed several tiers higher and requires hand seals to execute.
Second, it draws on the power of the Sharingan, a ninjutsu that only the absolute geniuses of the Uchiha clan can learn.
In the normal timeline, this astounding technique would have been invented by Shisui. But he hasn't even been born yet, and with Shin's research-obsessed mind, boasting triple the talent of Tobirama, there's no way he would let such an opportunity pass.
Naturally, he carved out some time to study it, and a year ago, he created the Phantom Body Flicker himself.
Later, Fugaku teamed up with Hizashi and Minato, and their bond grew stronger.
As a favor to Minato, Shin gave both Fugaku and Hizashi considerable guidance.
Among them, Fugaku mastered the unique Phantom Body Flicker, which no one else could learn, along with several ridiculously potent genjutsu. With these, he was practically unstoppable on the battlefield and in missions.
Hearing the commotion from the north and south, Hizashi on the west side kept adjusting his breathing.
At this moment, he was a little nervous.
Although he had carried out many dangerous missions with Minato and Fugaku, and had killed his share of enemies, the strongest opponents were always handled by Minato, and the second strongest by Fugaku.
So he knew his role well, he was support.
But now, he had to be the main attacker.
He quickly steadied himself. After all, he had officially become Shin's student. How could he disappoint his teacher?
The next moment, Hizashi activated his Byakugan and carefully observed the front.
"Damn, I've been spotted!" he realized, seeing the enemy's sudden commotion and their quick, orderly movements.
When his gaze fell upon Tsuki in the distance, he immediately turned and bolted without hesitation.
If he could easily detect others, then another Hyūga like Tsuki could just as easily detect him.
After running two hundred meters, Hizashi grew frustrated.
The enemy had no intention of chasing him. Instead, they readjusted their defenses and stayed put, rendering all the traps he had painstakingly set up useless.
"Damn it, looks like I'll have to go head-on!" He gritted his teeth, making up his mind.
"First, take out the eyes."
That was something Minato often said.
It meant that in battle, you should prioritize taking out the enemy's scouts first, turning them into "blind men with their eyes open."
And right now, Tsuki was the enemy's "eyes."
As long as she was there, he would have absolutely no chance of launching a sneak attack.
So whether the others lived or died didn't matter for the moment, Tsuki had to be eliminated.
Having made his decision, Hizashi immediately doubled back, stopping when he was about fifty meters from the enemy's first defensive line.
Ignoring their current movements, his hands began to form seals at lightning speed.
As he finished, countless splashes rose from a small river nearby, spinning and steaming upward, filling the area with a thick mist.
The fog spread outward at an incredible pace, quickly enveloping the first defensive line and growing denser by the second.
Hiding in Mist Technique.
"Quick! Use Wind Release to blow away the fog!" Tsuki ordered the moment she realized what was happening.
Two ninjas skilled in Wind Release immediately stepped forward and began forming hand seals.
But before they could finish, a massive wave of water surged toward them, slamming into their bodies and forcefully breaking their seals.
Water Release: Water Formation Wall.
The rules stated that the three members of the assassination team were not allowed to use any offensive ninjutsu.
However, the Water Formation Wall was defensive in nature, and the waves it created wouldn't actually harm anyone, so it didn't count as a violation.
While everyone was startled by the sudden flood, Tsuki's heart skipped a beat. She suddenly spun around and struck out with a Gentle Fist attack toward the figure behind her.
But what she thought was a certain hit was effortlessly caught with one hand by Hizashi.
In the next instant, Hizashi's chakra flowed into her through the arm he held, leaving her completely immobile.
"Sorry, Tsuki."
With that, Tsuki instantly lost consciousness, not even knowing how Hizashi had managed to grab her.
The moment Tsuki was taken out, the two Wind Release users, whose earlier seals had been interrupted, finally regained their freedom and began forming seals again.
A massive gust of wind roared through, immediately dispersing the thick fog.
But along with the fog, Hizashi had also vanished without a trace.
As for Tsuki, she was already unconscious, and beside her lay two more fallen ninjas.
It came down to inexperience: the two Wind Release users hadn't used their technique to blow away the mist right away.
Instead, they waited until Tsuki gave the order, giving Hizashi the perfect opening to take her out, and with her, the enemy lost their scout.
Now a hundred meters away and well hidden, Hizashi was very pleased with himself.
Not only had he taken out their "eyes," but he'd also dropped two more opponents.
From here on, he could toy with them however he wanted.
The thought made a cruel smile curl at his lips.
Meanwhile, at the defensive group's central position, Kushina looked at the two Hyūga clan members who'd been taken out and felt like crying.
Including Tsuki, all three Hyūga were now out of the game.