Everyone finally understood why, whenever these three went on a mission together, nothing could stand in their way.
And this was still their state after having been sealed.
If they were allowed to go all out, forget a hundred men, even a thousand probably wouldn't be able to match them.
It's no exaggeration to say that, during the Second Great Ninja War, those Suna ninjas who infiltrated the Land of Fire didn't die unjustly.
Inside a villa at the center of a small town, twenty ninjas were currently huddled inside, standing guard at the basement door with the utmost vigilance.
The others were stationed outside, completely surrounding the villa.
The reason they didn't all cram into the building was that if ninjas concentrated too densely in one place, they would actually put themselves at a severe disadvantage.
After all, when ninjutsu is released during battle, it's easy to injure your own side if allies are too close, ninjutsu has no eyes, it doesn't distinguish between friend and foe.
Crowding together has another flaw: it makes you an easy target for powerful wide-area techniques that can wipe out an entire group.
Back then, Mū had once unleashed a Dust Release technique, instantly annihilating a densely packed hundred-man unit from Kiri.
That's why, in later ninja battles, even on battlefields with tens of thousands, fighters were usually spread far apart, still operating in small squads.
But that created another vulnerability: it made them easier to be picked off one by one by powerful enemies.
Especially when facing speed-type ninjas, this was exactly why the great ninja villages feared Shin and Minato.
Now, the three figures who represented nightmares themselves were already closing in on the villa.
Even without sensory abilities, Hizashi's Byakugan allowed them to perfectly avoid the traps that the defense squad had set up in advance.
Counting the number of people outside the villa, and confirming that the few troublesome figures weren't among them, Minato gave a faint, mocking laugh.
"What is it, Minato?" Fugaku asked.
"These rookies aren't being honest," Minato explained. "They've had their elites use Transformation Jutsu to hide among the crowd."
"I get it now!" Fugaku said in sudden realization. "Once the fight starts, many of them will deliberately rush in to die."
"And the moment we let our guard down, those disguised elites will launch a surprise attack and try to hit us hard."
"Isn't this the exact tactic that bunch used against us during that mission in the Land of Grass?" Hizashi laughed from the side.
"Haha, exactly!"
"So what do we do?" Fugaku asked. "Ignore them and just storm the villa?"
"The villa's probably full of traps," Minato shook his head. "In such tight quarters, we'd have no room to dodge. If we got too serious, we might injure ourselves as well."
"And we have to keep our word, if we say we'll wipe them all out, we must wipe them all out. Otherwise, the mission's a failure."
Hizashi grinned wickedly. "So you mean, just like the last few missions, we put on a little performance?"
Fugaku showed the same mischievous smile. "I really want to see the look on their faces when they think they've succeeded, only to be counter-killed by us."
"Alright, enough smiling," Minato reminded them. "This time we don't split up, we'll show these uncoordinated rookies what real teamwork looks like."
They quickly discussed their tactics.
One minute later, on the east side of the villa.
A figure suddenly appeared, the short blade in his hand ghosting across the throats of two ninjas before charging forward.
The guards immediately reacted, forming four-man squads to attack the intruder in coordination.
The figure was Minato.
But since he had already plunged deep into their formation, they couldn't recklessly use ninjutsu, forced instead to draw kunai and fight in close combat.
Minato, however, seemed oblivious to the ninjas attacking from both sides, heading straight for the squad in front of him.
Just when the nearby ninjas thought they were about to land a hit on him, two intersecting figures flashed past.
Taking advantage of the moment when the surrounding enemies attacked Minato, one figure shot over his head at incredible speed, rushing toward the enemies in front of him.
Another moved to Minato's left, striking at an opening in the nearest enemy's defense from a crossing angle, while Minato himself suddenly spun without warning and lunged toward an opponent closing in from his right.
In that instant, the enemies in front of Minato and on both sides froze in shock.
But in battle, there's no room for hesitation.
So, moments later, seven or eight people were down, some struck by Gentle Fist, some stabbed in the heart with kunai, others with their throats slit.
And this was only the beginning.
Throughout the fight, Minato's team of three continuously rotated positions, weaving past and around each other, yet always ending up in the spot most advantageous to themselves, or most disadvantageous to the enemy.
Along the way, some opponents made the mistake of locking eyes with Fugaku, momentarily losing focus before being swiftly eliminated.
In less than two minutes, half of the forces outside the villa were gone.
Just as the three were fighting at full tilt, an opening appeared on the left flank. A ninja who had been dodging clumsily on that side suddenly kicked off the ground with explosive force, kunai in hand, thrusting toward Hizashi.
But the instant he stabbed Hizashi, the body burst into a spray of water.
"A water clone?!" The ambusher's face twisted in shock.
He could swear he'd been watching Hizashi the whole time, there was no chance to perform a Water Clone Jutsu, yet it had undeniably happened.
Before he could make sense of it, Minato was already behind him, short blade curling around his neck from behind and slicing lightly.
As he dispatched the ninja, Minato couldn't resist taunting, "Kid, that's how you do a sneak attack."
"What kid?" the ninja protested indignantly. "Minato, I'm clearly older than you! You're the kid!"
But all he could do now was complain in vain, he was already "dead." By the match rules, even if no one carried him off immediately, he could only lie there like a corpse.
Several others also thought they'd spotted opportunities to ambush Minato's team.
But without exception, they discovered too late that those "openings" were deliberate traps. The moment they committed, they exposed massive vulnerabilities, allowing the trio to cut them down with ease.
Bang!
One ninja, struck by Hizashi's Gentle Fist, instantly transformed into a log.
Just as he moved around behind Hizashi to counterattack, Fugaku's shuriken struck him.
A split-second later, Bang!
The body exploded into a puff of white smoke. A figure was already retreating rapidly, leaping away from the battlefield in just a few bounds.
But as he prepared to kick off the ground again to retreat further, the earth beneath him suddenly collapsed. His foot plunged into the hole, throwing his movement completely off balance.
In the next instant, Minato's figure appeared before him like a phantom, short blade slicing across his neck.
But the figure only gave Minato a strange smile, and then suddenly exploded in a violent blast.
He had placed an explosive tag on that shadow clone.
The real ninja was hiding behind a tree not far away, reluctant to reveal himself.
But when he saw Minato fall for his trap, he couldn't hide the surge of excitement on his face.