Naruto: Minato Namikaze, born evil

Chapter 68 Escort Mission

The three arrived at the Root Training Base.

Minato and Mikoto stood facing each other. Orochimaru's hoarse voice rang out, carrying a faint reminder: "Mikoto, Minato is very strong. Go all out and don't underestimate him."

"Yes, teacher!"

Mikoto responded softly, forming a contrasting hand seal, her gaze focused beneath the mask: "Nice to meet you."

Please give me your guidance.

The sound of the water gate was clear and calm.

The moment she finished speaking, a pair of scarlet Sharingan appeared in Mikoto's eyes, and the instant she met Minato's eyes, she suddenly released a genjutsu!

However, almost at the same time, Minato's chakra rippled slightly, and the genjutsu vanished without a trace, like a mud ox sinking into the sea.

What a quick reaction!

How could they detect and crack it instantly?

Mikoto's heart skipped a beat. She had no time to be surprised. With a flick of her wrist, several shuriken were already between her fingers. With a wave of her hand, she unleashed several exquisite arcs.

Several shuriken collided in mid-air, and then shot towards Minato from all directions at an even faster speed.

"Uchiha-style shuriken, so beautiful!"

Minato gave a thumbs-up, slightly sidestepped several 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 hand seal with his left hand and casually flicked it back, returning the shuriken that was spinning at his fingertips.

"Sword Shadow Clone Technique!"

rustling-

In the blink of an eye, countless shuriken shot towards Mikoto like a torrential rain!

One-handed hand seal?!

Mikoto's expression changed. Although she was shocked, it didn't stop her from reacting quickly, her hands forming hand seals: "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

boom!

A sudden burst of intense heat engulfed the incoming shuriken, and the fireball, several meters in diameter, continued its relentless charge toward Minato.

Watching the massive fireball hurtling towards him, Minato gently clapped his hands together, and a thick earthen wall rose from the ground, easily blocking it.

The illusion technique was used first, followed by the shurikenjutsu, which was excellent.

He is skilled in ninjutsu and can form hand seals very quickly.

Their response to the enemy's movements was also very timely, which is quite good even among Chunin.

Minato silently made his assessment.

So, all that's left is... physical techniques!

The next instant, Minato's figure burst out from behind the earthen wall and appeared in front of Mikoto in the blink of an eye.

Mikoto seemed to have been prepared for this, and drew her kunai to meet Minato.

Minato dodged the kunai's thrust by sidestepping, then punched Mikoto in the right ribs.

A flicker of pain crossed Mikoto's eyes, but her movements remained unchanged. Her fingers moved gently, shifting from a clenched fist to a reverse grip, and she thrust her hand towards Minato's neck.

Minato raised his right hand to block, then kicked him, sending him flying backward.

Mikoto cried out in pain, rolled twice on the ground in a disheveled state, and then quickly got up, her brows furrowed behind her mask.

Such fast movements…

Even the Sharingan couldn't detect it!

Minato nodded secretly. His opponent's physical skills were decent; at least he could barely keep up with his speed after he released water.

If it were Rope Tree, he would have been lying on the ground after the first punch.

Judging from the current encounters, the opponent's ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu are very well-rounded.

"Are there any other methods?" Minato asked gently.

Mikoto clutched her right rib, gasped, and struggled to her feet.

Looking at the boy opposite her, who was half a head shorter than her but could easily overpower her, she felt very complicated.

Early this morning, the clan leader appeared at her doorstep with Orochimaru.

The other party solemnly told her that in order to ease the long-standing estrangement between the village and the family, the family needed a sufficiently outstanding junior to take on the responsibility of communicating with each other.

Now, Orochimaru, the leader of Root, has chosen her from among the younger generation of the Uchiha and expressed his willingness to take her as his disciple.

Maintaining the relationship between the family and the village is a noble enough reason.

As a member of the Uchiha clan, she has deep feelings for her clan and is willing to take on this responsibility.

Not to mention that Orochimaru, as a disciple of the Third Hokage and the leader of Root, would have had a very precious opportunity to become the other party's disciple.

So she agreed almost without hesitation, followed the other party to the Root, changed into the standard plate armor and short sword of the Anbu, and decided on her mask and code name: Cat!

Before she could even begin her first mission, she encountered Minato.

This being, whose strength was completely at odds with her appearance, almost rendered her unable to fight in just two moves.

This made her feel very frustrated.

Despite having just become Orochimaru's apprentice, he was easily defeated in just a few moves by a child four years younger than him.

Although the teacher's reaction suggested that the opponent's strength was far superior to his own.

But such a swift and humiliating defeat still made her worry that she might disappoint her teacher and be expelled from the sect or kicked out of the Root.

It would be incredibly embarrassing to be kicked out in less than a morning.

"That's enough, let's stop here."

Orochimaru clapped his hands lightly, stepped forward, and interrupted her reverie.

"I'm sorry, teacher, I've let you down."

Mikoto lowered her head, not daring to look at Orochimaru.

"On the contrary, your performance was outstanding. Your ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu abilities were well-balanced with no obvious weaknesses, and your response to attacks was flawless."

Seeing the unease in the other person's heart, Orochimaru smiled and gently comforted him.

"You'll understand later that losing to Minato-kun isn't shameful. If it were me, I would just struggle a bit more. Take it easy, at least you still have a chance to fight back."

Upon hearing this, Mikoto's pupils contracted, and she looked at Minato in shock.

She had already overestimated Minato's strength as much as possible; she never expected him to be this strong!

No wonder he has the privilege of freely entering and exiting the Root base...

Orochimaru looked at Minato: "Then, Minato-kun, I'll be entrusting Mikoto to you for the time being. Let her take on the role of your bodyguard."

"Do I still need guards?"

Minato hesitated for a moment: "Wouldn't that be inconvenient? I can send a clone to Root to provide guidance."

"With war approaching, someone might try to assassinate you, with your Wood Release bloodline, in the near future. Minato-kun is indeed very strong, but it's hard to guarantee that the enemy won't target Nawaki and Kushina."

Orochimaru explained, "Besides, Mikoto has only recently been promoted to Chunin, and her strength is not yet up to the requirements of Root. If she stays at the base, the other members might think I'm being unfair."

"But it's still okay for her to stay by Minato's side and help take care of the burden. You can also assign her some tasks, such as monitoring targets, running errands, or relaying messages."

"Is that so? Well... okay then."

Minato nodded. He planned to follow Orochimaru's advice and give Nawaki special training so that he could experience the threat of death up close and understand that only those who survive deserve to deal damage.

Whether you teach one person or two, it's still teaching.

For some reason, he felt that Orochimaru seemed to be intentionally pushing Mikoto toward him.

But he didn't ask the question aloud, otherwise he would seem narcissistic...