The three of them arrived at the Root training base.
Minato and Mikoto stood opposite each other. Orochimaru's hoarse voice sounded from the side, carrying a faint reminder: "Mikoto, Minato is very strong. Go all out, don't have any thoughts of underestimating the enemy."
"Yes, Teacher!"
Mikoto responded softly, formed the seal of confrontation, her gaze focused under the mask: "Please give me your guidance."
"Please give me your guidance."
Minato's voice was clear and calm.
The moment his voice fell, a pair of scarlet Sharingan quietly emerged in Mikoto's eyes. The moment she met Minato's eyes, a Genjutsu was released abruptly!
However, almost at the same time, the chakra in Minato's body fluctuated slightly, and the Genjutsu dissipated invisibly like a mud cow entering the sea.
Such a fast reaction!
He could actually detect and break it instantly?
Mikoto's heart trembled. Without time to be surprised, she flipped her wrist. Several shuriken were already between her fingers. With a wave of her hand, she threw several exquisite arcs.
Several shuriken collided with each other in the air, and then shot towards Minato from all directions at a faster speed.
"Uchiha Style Shurikenjutsu, very beautiful!"
Minato praised, tilted his body slightly to dodge a few shuriken, and then reached out with his right hand, inserting his index finger into the center of the last shuriken.
At the same time, he formed a seal with his left hand alone and casually threw back the spinning shuriken on his fingertip.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Swish swish swish—
In the blink of an eye, countless shuriken shot towards Mikoto like a rainstorm!
One-handed seal?!
Mikoto's face changed. Although she was shocked, it didn't affect her reaction. Her hands formed seals quickly: "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Boom!
The fierce high temperature erupted abruptly. A fireball with a diameter of more than ten meters engulfed all the shuriken attacking from the front, and rushed towards Minato with unabated momentum.
Watching the huge fireball coming towards him, Minato clapped his hands gently. A thick earth wall rose from the ground and easily blocked it.
Starting with Genjutsu, followed by Shurikenjutsu. The Shurikenjutsu is very outstanding.
Skilled in Ninjutsu application, and the seal-forming speed is also fast.
The response to the enemy's movements is also timely. Even among Chunin, this is considered a good level.
Minato evaluated silently in his heart.
Then what remains is... Taijutsu!
In the next instant, Minato rushed out from behind the earth wall and appeared in front of Mikoto in the blink of an eye.
Mikoto seemed to have been prepared for this. She pulled out a kunai and met Minato.
Dodging the direct stab of the kunai sideways, Minato punched Mikoto on the right rib.
A trace of pain flashed in Mikoto's eyes, but her movements didn't deform at all. Her fingers moved rhythmically, changing the kunai from a standard grip to a reverse grip, stabbing backhand at Minato's neck.
Minato raised his right hand to block, and then kicked her flying with one foot.
Mikoto cried out in pain, rolled on the ground twice in a wretched manner, and then quickly got up again, her brows furrowed under the mask.
Such fast movements...
Even the Sharingan can't capture it!
Minato nodded secretly. Her Taijutsu is okay. At least she can barely keep up with my speed after holding back.
If it were Nawaki, he would have been lying on the ground after the first punch.
Judging from the current fight, her Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu development is very balanced.
"Do you have any other means?" Minato asked gently.
Mikoto clutched her right rib, sucked in a breath of cold air, and stood up with difficulty.
Looking at the boy opposite who was half a head shorter than her but could easily crush her, her mood was very complicated.
Early this morning, the patriarch appeared at her door with Orochimaru.
The other party told her solemnly that in order to ease the long-standing estrangement between the village and the clan, the family needed a sufficiently outstanding junior to assume the responsibility of communication between each other.
And the current leader of Root, Senior Orochimaru, selected her among the younger generation of Uchiha and expressed his willingness to accept her as a disciple.
Maintaining the relationship between the family and the village, this reason was noble enough.
As a member of the Uchiha clan, she had deep feelings for the family and was willing to take on this responsibility.
Not to mention that Orochimaru was the disciple of the Third Hokage and the leader of Root. Becoming his disciple was in itself a very precious opportunity.
So she agreed without hesitation, followed the other party to Root, changed into the standard plate armor and short sword of the Anbu, and decided on her mask and code name: Neko (Cat)!
However, before she could start her first mission, she met Minato.
This existence whose strength was extremely inconsistent with his appearance made her almost lose her combat ability in just two moves.
This made her feel very depressed.
She had obviously just become Orochimaru's disciple, but was easily defeated by a child four years younger than her in a few moves.
Although from the teacher's reaction, it could be seen that the other party's strength should be far above hers.
But such a rapid and wretched defeat still made her worry about whether she would disappoint her teacher and thus be expelled from the master's sect and kicked out of Root or something.
Being kicked out less than a morning after joining would be truly shameful.
"That's enough, let's stop here."
Orochimaru clapped his hands gently, stepped forward, and interrupted her wild thoughts.
"Sorry, Teacher, I disappointed you."
Mikoto lowered her head, daring not to look at Orochimaru.
"On the contrary, your performance was excellent. Your Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu abilities are balanced, with no obvious shortcomings. Your measures to deal with attacks are also flawless."
Seeing the unease in her heart, Orochimaru smiled and comforted her gently.
"You will understand in the future that losing to Minato-kun is not something shameful. If it were me, I would at most struggle a bit more. Look on the bright side, at least you still had a chance to fight back."
Hearing this, Mikoto's pupils shrank, looking at Minato in shock.
She had overestimated Minato's strength as much as possible, but she didn't expect the other party to be so strong!
No wonder he had the privilege of entering and leaving the Root base at will...
Orochimaru looked at Minato: "Then, Minato-kun, I'll leave Mikoto to you for this period of time. Let her be your guard."
"Do I still need a guard?"
Minato hesitated. "Will it be inconvenient? I can send a clone to Root for guidance."
"War is approaching. In the near future, someone may assassinate you, the Wood Style user. Minato-kun is very strong, that's right, but it's hard to guarantee that the enemy won't target Nawaki and Kushina."
Orochimaru explained, "Besides, Mikoto has just been promoted to Chunin not long ago. Her strength does not meet the requirements of Root for the time being. Keeping her at the base will only make other members feel that I am unfair."
"But following Minato-kun, helping take care of the deadweights is no problem. You can also assign her some tasks, like monitoring targets, running errands, and delivering messages."
"Is that so? Then... alright."
Minato nodded. He planned to follow Orochimaru's suggestion and conduct special training for Nawaki, letting him feel the threat of death up close and understand that only those who survive are qualified to output damage.
Anyway, teaching one is teaching, teaching two is also teaching.
It's just that for some reason, he felt that Orochimaru seemed to intentionally send Mikoto to him.
But he didn't ask this question aloud, otherwise, it would make him seem very narcissistic...