Losing a man to another man—
That was the most tragic defeat of all.
In the end, Yūhi Kurenai was not as clingy and exhausting as early-Shippuden Sakura.
Once she understood that Uchiha Mai intended to enter Minato-sensei's team together with Might Guy, she suppressed her unwillingness and sat down on the ground herself, signaling that she would no longer compete.
If you can't hold onto the sand, then scatter it to the wind.
There is a kind of love called letting go—
For love, giving up eternity—
If my leaving gives you everything—
Let true love take me away, say goodbye—
…Yeah right.
They were never even together. What breakup?
In less than a single minute, Uchiha Mai had swept through everyone except Guy like an autumn gale flattening fallen leaves.
Of course, there were factors like sneak attacks and the opponents being too weak.
But the decisiveness and strength he displayed still left the spectators stunned.
If this were the neighboring Battle Through the Heavens universe, someone would already be shouting—
"Terrifying!"
Did Mai possess chūnin-level strength right now?
By his own judgment—no.
In terms of taijutsu and chakra-enhanced strikes, he might barely touch the lower threshold of chūnin, but ninjutsu was still his glaring weakness.
Even if he could be considered chūnin, he'd be the weakest tier.
Kakashi became a chūnin in his second year after graduation, yet didn't advance to jōnin until he was twelve or thirteen.
A six-year-old chūnin and an eleven-year-old chūnin—
Were they on the same level?
Obviously not.
In his previous life, Mai had read countless Naruto fanfics.
Readers often complained about authors inventing power tiers—
Special jōnin, elite jōnin, pseudo-Kage, Kage-level—
"None of this exists in canon! Do you even understand Naruto?"
But honestly—
If everything had to be exactly the same as canon, what was the point of reading fanfiction?
The truth was simple.
Just like society never openly divides people into classes based on wealth—
But everyone still knows who's rich and who isn't.
Where there are people, there is hierarchy.
Mai had personally experienced it.
Many shinobi in Konoha silently rated others in their minds based on battle records and strength.
Same village or not—
Who had killed enemies, who survived missions, who was strong—everyone knew.
Naturally, labels formed.
Fresh academy graduates were "brats."
Those who survived a few years were "old hands."
New chūnin were "rookies."
Those who completed many chūnin-level missions without dying were "veterans."
The village wouldn't say it out loud.
People would.
Experience, danger instinct, decisiveness, composure—
Those differences were real.
Mai even wished ninja ranks were divided into clear levels—
Genin 1–10.
Chūnin 1–10.
At least then he could clearly see how much stronger he'd become.
Like an online game—
Seeing the experience bar rise gave motivation.
Overall, Mai placed himself at bottom-tier chūnin level.
Taking out a few rookies in under a minute was simply normal performance.
He slowly turned around, raised two fingers, and smiled at Minato.
"Senpai, only two people are still standing now."
Namikaze Minato: "..."
After a long silence, Minato scratched his head awkwardly.
"Um… Uchiha Mai, right?
"This was actually supposed to be a test of teamwork and the Will of Fire—
To see who would step forward and sacrifice themselves for others…"
He recited, almost word for word, what the Third Hokage had instructed him beforehand.
It was extremely awkward.
Minato didn't think he'd done anything wrong.
After all—this was exactly what the Hokage had told him to say.
So why did it suddenly turn into a brawl?
Uchiha Mai: "..."
Now it was his turn to be speechless.
You've got to be kidding me.
I thought you were a decent man, Minato-sensei.
Turns out you're playing the same old套路 as everyone else?
So what now?
A test of self-sacrifice?
I just personally knocked out four competitors—
Doesn't that mean—
In a flash of inspiration, Mai spoke up:
"Then you should choose me even more."
"Oh?" Minato blinked. "Why's that?"
You beat your teammates half to death and still think you're justified?
Mai clasped one fist into his palm.
"To be honest, senpai, the moment you entered the classroom, I recognized you.
"Golden hair of noble brilliance.
Handsome features carved like a god's work.
Tall, upright figure.
Warm, confident smile.
"All of it gave you away.
"You are—Jiraiya of the Sannin's disciple, the elite jōnin known as Konoha's Little Sun—Namikaze Minato."
Minato nodded repeatedly.
Well said. Every word hit perfectly.
Though it was a bit too direct—he was starting to feel embarrassed.
After scratching his head shyly, he asked,
"But… what does that have to do with you beating them up?"
"Everything!"
Mai struck his palm again.
"An elite jōnin's team is definitely an elite squad.
"Even if you take care of new members, you'll still be assigned dangerous missions—
Operating in hostile territory, constantly exposed to risk.
"Letting underqualified shinobi join such a team is bad for both you and them.
"If something goes wrong, they could die.
"And you'd be forced into an impossible choice.
"Save them—and risk mission failure.
Complete the mission—and become heartless.
"That's cruel to you."
He gestured toward the four unconscious bodies.
"They were taken down by me with ease.
"That alone proves they're not yet qualified to join your team.
"What I did—was for their sake.
"And for yours."
Mai wore an expression of noble self-sacrifice.
If I don't enter hell, who will?
He nearly moved himself to tears.
Wasn't this the Will of Fire?
"Eeeemmm…"
Minato rubbed his chin, thinking.
That… actually makes a lot of sense.
For a moment, he genuinely had no rebuttal.
Then he suddenly remembered something and looked toward Might Guy.
Mai calmly continued,
"As for Guy—he may come from a common background and lacks ninjutsu talent, but his true strength surpasses the other four.
"His taijutsu talent is no weaker than mine.
"And his effort surpasses mine tenfold.
"Someone with both talent and perseverance like that will definitely become a jōnin someday.
"When that time comes, his massive chakra reserves can compensate for his shortcomings in ninjutsu."
What was ninjutsu talent?
Affinity sensing.
Control precision.
Activation speed.
Most of it could be compensated with sheer chakra quantity.
Hand seals existed only to better control chakra—
To achieve the same technique with less cost.
With enough chakra, anyone could be terrifying.
Give someone Senju Hashirama-level chakra, and as long as they weren't brain-dead, they could casually become a walking artillery platform—
Hands clapping, ninjutsu firing nonstop.
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