"See that? It's just the two of them!"
After leaving school, the Clone and Kushina walked down the street, chatting and laughing.
At the street corner, Kota and his two friends peeked around the corner, wary of accidentally running into Tsunade.
When they confirmed it was only Minato and Kushina, they eagerly rushed out and blocked their path.
"Hmph, finally got you cornered, you brat!" Kota boasted, grinning smugly. "Namikaze Minato! Let's see how you strut now!"
"It's you again!" Kushina frowned at the trio blocking their way, instinctively rolling up her sleeves to fight, but the Clone raised a hand to stop her.
"Leave this to me," he said with a gentle smile, his words simple and reassuring.
The feeling of being protected made Kushina's cheeks flush. She waved her small fist. "Good luck, Minato! Beat them up for me!"
The Clone stepped forward, his gaze calm as he looked at the three. "So, you're here to pick a fight?"
"What? Were we not obvious enough?" Tetsuo sneered, his malicious grin bolstered by Kota's unusually muscular build for his age, making him seem like a fox borrowing a tiger's might.
"Not exactly a fight..."
Seo raised his hand in a defiant gesture. "Just some friendly sparring between classmates, you know? Letting you run around so recklessly might attract the wrong kind of attention."
"Ah... is that so?"
The Clone nodded knowingly, glancing sidelong at the nearby bushes with a calm smile.
"I'm not sure how we've offended you, but if you insist on fighting, please make it quick. My chakra is running low."
"Don't worry, we won't waste your time!" Kota declared, jabbing a finger at the Clone, his voice tinged with glee. "Teach him a proper lesson!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The three of them spread out and charged at the Clone from three different angles.
"Kushina, back off a bit," the Clone said, shoving her aside. His eyes darted between the three attackers, feeling slightly satisfied.
It seemed these three still possessed the basic discipline of ninja, refraining from charging in all at once. This made it reasonable that someone unprepared for a three-sided assault, like him, might momentarily falter and leave himself open.
Behind and to the right, Seo reached for Minato's waist, but the Clone seized his wrist and hurled him toward Tetsuo, who was lunging from the left rear.
Thud!
Their foreheads collided with a simultaneous cry of pain.
The clone twisted his body and kicked Kota in the face.
Pfft...
Kota's head snapped sideways, the kick sending him staggering before he collapsed to the ground on his side.
"With strength like this, you dare to try and block someone?"
Looking at the three men who had been instantly knocked to the ground, the clone sighed softly. "If there's nothing else, I need to go grocery shopping..."
"Damn you! Don't get too smug!"
Kota roared as he scrambled to his feet and swung a punch at the clone's face.
The clone was about to dodge when Seo, still on the ground, grabbed his ankle.
At the same time, Tetsuo wrapped his arms around the clone's waist, shouting with fervor, "Got you!"
"Minato!"
Kushina, who had been watching from a distance, gasped and instinctively moved to rush to his aid.
"Kushina, don't come any closer!" The clone's expression darkened as he shouted. "Stop, Kota!"
But Kota showed no intention of stopping, his fist hurtling toward the clone's face.
Seeing this, the clone's face twisted with urgency. "I'm a Wood Clone! If this gets damaged—"
Thud!
The fist crashed into the clone's face, cutting off his words.
A satisfied grin spread across Kota's face.
But in the next instant, there was a dull pop as a sharp branch pierced his abdomen.
Sensing something amiss in his abdomen, Kota instinctively looked down. As he saw his stomach pierced through, his smile gradually froze.
The water gate before him gradually transformed into a wooden hue, then into a massive tree. The remnants of the face struggled to utter its final words: "I... can't control it... Run... quickly!"
As the last traces of human skin vanished, the clone completely transformed into a sturdy tree.
Branches relentlessly pierced the bodies of the three boys, yet subtly avoided fatal wounds, as if the clone's final effort.
"Aaaaah!!!"
"It hurts!"
"Help me!!"
Coming back to their senses, Kota and the others let out agonizing screams, but it was futile.
The towering tree grew rapidly with cracking sounds, lifting the three boys several meters high in a brutally cruel scene.
"No! Quick, save them!"
A figure darted out from the bushes. Shinnosuke shouted at the petrified Kushina, who had been frozen in terror.
He leaped up, pulled out a kunai, and slashed through the branches impaling Kota.
Kushina snapped out of her shock and rushed forward. With a high leap, she broke the branches with two powerful punches, freeing Tetsuo and Seo.
"They've lost so much blood!" Kushina exclaimed, panic in her voice as she stared at the three figures sprawled on the ground. Their bodies were soaked in blood, and their limbs showed varying degrees of withering, looking shriveled and terrifying.
"What should we do now?"
"You stay here and watch them. I'll go get help. The teacher is still at school."
With that, Shinnosuke hurried back to the academy to fetch assistance.
Soon, Shinnosuke returned with Umino Ikkaku and several teachers. They rushed the three injured students to the hospital and notified their families.
"Doctor, how are they doing?" Umino Ikkaku asked anxiously after the emergency treatment.
"They're out of immediate danger, but..." The doctor hesitated. "Are they students at your school?"
"Yes," Umino Ikkaku nodded.
"Though they're stable, their cells are dying at an alarming rate, and their bodies are severely withered. I've never seen injuries like this before." The doctor shook his head. "This is severe life force depletion. It will take years to recover, and even then, they likely won't be able to become ninja."
"I see..."
Umino Ikkaku's expression was grave. "I understand. Thank you for your help."
He turned and left the room, walking into the corridor. He looked sternly at Shinnosuke and Kushina. "Tell me exactly what happened just now."
Kushina clasped her hands behind her back, looking uneasy. She worried that revealing the truth might lead to Minato being punished.
"Let me explain," Shinnosuke sighed. "This morning, Kota and the others got into an argument with Minato... though it was really just Kota stirring up trouble."
Umino Ikkaku frowned deeply. He had just made Kota and his friends copy lines as punishment yesterday, and he hadn't expected these troublemakers to learn nothing from it.
"When school ended, I saw them tailing Minato and Kushina, so I followed them..."
Shinnosuke detailed the entire incident, including how Kota and his friends had provoked Minato, how Minato had effortlessly defeated them, and how their harassment of Minato as he left had led to the accident.
His account carried a clear disdain for Kota and his friends, but also a subtle protective tone toward Minato.
As Shinnosuke spoke, Umino Ikkaku's furrowed brow gradually smoothed.
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