Ao was standing rather casually beneath the shade of a tree, without making any preparations or even assuming a defensive stance.
After all, he was a jōnin.
If dealing with three genin required him to make a grand show of raising his guard, it would be nothing short of an insult to the strength of a jōnin.
As Ao idly wondered how the three little ones would launch their attack, a thick mist quietly spread across the small woodland.
“Hmph.
Using Hidden Mist Jutsu to obscure my senses first?
Not a bad idea.” Ao still didn’t move.
Instead, the corners of his mouth curled upward slightly.
These little brats seem to be underestimating me.
As a jōnin of Kirigakure, how could Ao possibly be unfamiliar with fighting in the mist?
Once the mist had completely enveloped the area, more than a dozen senbon silently shot toward him from both sides.
Unlike kunai and shuriken, senbon were much smaller, meaning they produced very little sound as they flew.
They were a common silent attack used in conjunction with the Hidden Mist Jutsu.
Their lethality, however, was considerably lower than that of kunai or shuriken.
Ao casually drew a kunai and slipped his index finger through the ring at its handle.
With a smooth series of flips and spins, he knocked every incoming senbon out of the air in just a few movements.
He hadn’t even moved his feet.
However, two figures immediately burst from the forest behind the senbon.
It was Mei Terumi and Tachibana Kenji, each wielding a kunai as they attacked Ao simultaneously from opposite sides.
After training together for so many days, the two appeared to be remarkably well coordinated.
When they reached Ao, Mei lightly leaped into the air, driving her kunai straight toward his face.
Tachibana Kenji, meanwhile, remained bent almost parallel to the ground as he advanced, aiming for Ao’s ankles.
Yet even though Ao wasn’t a jōnin specializing in taijutsu, attacks of this level posed no threat to him.
Ao’s left foot shot upward as fast as lightning and struck Tachibana Kenji squarely beneath the chin.
At the same time, his right hand seized Mei’s wrist—the one holding her kunai.
He planted his right foot firmly against the ground, tensed his waist, and used the momentum to hurl Mei violently toward Tachibana Kenji, who had been kicked into the air.
But when Mei crashed heavily into Tachibana Kenji— Poof!
The two “people” simultaneously exploded into splashes of water.
Water Clones.
Not bad.
Since the Water Clones had merely been a feint, the attack naturally wasn’t over.
At some point, Mei’s true body had appeared behind Ao.
Her hand seals were already complete.
She crouched down and slammed both palms against the ground.
“Earth Release: Earth Flow Split!” At Mei’s low shout, the earth beneath her palms rapidly cracked apart.
Like a spiderweb, the fractures spread forward and reached Ao’s feet in the blink of an eye.
The ground trembled and shattered beneath the expanding cracks.
Large chunks of earth were thrown upward, forming waves of soil.
Ao could no longer remain standing casually in place.
He immediately concentrated chakra into his feet and leaped into the air, intending to escape the range of the technique.
Of course, Ao also knew that being airborne and unable to change direction made this the perfect opportunity for the students to attack.
Sure enough, a thick, rapidly rotating stream of water shot through the mist.
Judging by its speed and its diameter—larger than Ao’s thigh—he knew that getting hit by it would certainly hurt.
Fortunately, he had already prepared for this when he jumped.
His hands rapidly formed seals before he brought his palms together and thrust them outward.
“Wind Release: Air Cutting Palm!” It was merely a simple C-rank ninjutsu, yet it generated a powerful gust of wind that easily dispersed the incoming column of water.
“Not bad coordination, but…” Before Ao could finish praising them, he noticed something approaching from the position where his body was about to land.
Tachibana Kenji, with a little frog perched on his shoulder, suddenly emerged from the crown of a tall tree and dove toward Ao with a short sword in hand.
Ao was still in midair and could only twist his body forcefully before delivering a horizontal kick.
The kick sent Tachibana Kenji flying.
However, when Tachibana Kenji was kicked toward the ground, a burst of smoke erupted from both him and the little frog that remained in the air.
The “little frog” in midair was actually Tachibana Kenji disguised with the Transformation Technique.
Tachibana Kenji canceled his Transformation Technique.
He was now holding a rapidly spinning shuriken made entirely from crystal-clear water above his head.
“Take this—Flying Water Shuriken!” Although he called it a Flying Water Shuriken, Tachibana Kenji had absolutely no intention of throwing it.
Instead, he simply pressed it directly toward Ao.
Ao was already covered in metaphorical black lines.
But in this critical moment, he had no time to perform another ninjutsu.
He could only raise his hand and slap Tachibana Kenji’s wrist aside.
The Flying Water Shuriken grazed Ao’s hair and shot into the forest with a shrill whistle.
“Wait—the short sword!” If Tachibana Kenji’s true body was right in front of him, then who had been holding the short sword when he kicked that person away?
Before Ao could think it through, Tachibana Kenji had already grinned and seized Ao’s wrist.
The “Tachibana Kenji” who had just been kicked away emerged from the dissipating smoke.
It was Zabuza Momochi, who had been waiting for this opportunity.
Zabuza had already used the Clone Technique, creating three copies of himself as they charged toward Ao, who was now restrained by Tachibana Kenji.
Three identical Zabuza Momochi clones, each wielding a short sword, attacked Ao from three different directions.
Seeing this, Ao had no choice but to grab the Tachibana Kenji who was clutching his wrist.
His right arm tensed.
Using Tachibana Kenji as a weapon, he swung him through the air in a huge semicircle.
“Whoa, whoa, wait!” Amid Tachibana Kenji’s miserable scream— Poof!
Poof!
Bang!
Two of the “Zabuza” clones exploded into clouds of smoke.
The final Zabuza—the real one—was struck by Tachibana Kenji, leaving him seeing stars before the two of them crashed to the ground together.
Meanwhile, Mei Terumi was darting across the fractured terrain.
She had originally intended to move in and support her teammates, but after seeing that both of them had been taken out, she decided to go all in.
She immediately formed hand seals and unleashed another ninjutsu.
“Water Release: Water Shockwave!” With a sharp cry, Mei expelled a torrent of water from her mouth.
The water transformed into a massive, surging wave that swept toward Ao, carrying countless chunks of earth created by Earth Flow Split along with it.
As for whether the two teammates Ao had just knocked down were also within the attack’s range…
That wasn’t something Mei had time to consider.
Tachibana Kenji, lying helplessly on the ground, sensed trouble the moment he heard Mei’s voice.
Even when Ao had grabbed him and thrown him through the air earlier, Anticipation had only issued a mild warning.
Now, however, it was practically screaming inside Tachibana Kenji’s head.
Lying on top of Zabuza with his entire body aching, Tachibana Kenji turned his head and stared at the incoming wall of water and enormous chunks of rock and earth.
He could only let out a weak groan.
“Don’t…
The plan didn’t include this…” …
The surging wave of water slowly receded.
The small woodland in the training ground had been reduced to an absolute mess.
Ao held Zabuza Momochi in one hand and Tachibana Kenji in the other.
He dispelled the chakra gathered beneath his feet and landed steadily on the ground.
A moment earlier, he had seen that the two fallen boys genuinely had no more tricks left.
After being bombarded by one attack after another, Ao’s head was beginning to ache.
He had decisively scooped up both boys, made a single leap, and landed atop the waves created by Water Shockwave, escaping Mei’s final surprise attack completely unscathed.
After landing, Ao casually set the two boys down.
Their expressions, however, couldn’t have been more different.
Zabuza looked somewhat sullen as he turned his head away.
Clearly, he was dissatisfied with his own performance during the battle.
Their original plan had been that if the initial ambush failed, Mei would engage Ao in close combat together with Tachibana Kenji and keep him occupied while Zabuza searched for an opportunity to use Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu as a finishing move.
Who could have expected that his ambush would fail, that Tachibana Kenji would crash into him and knock him down, and that he would nearly be swept away by Mei’s Water Shockwave?
Unlike the sullen Zabuza, Tachibana Kenji didn’t feel embarrassed in the slightest about losing to a jōnin like Ao.
Instead, he looked toward Mei Terumi, who was approaching sheepishly with her tongue sticking out.
“That last Water Shockwave of yours felt a little like a combined Water-and-Earth Release technique.
That’s pretty impressive!” Hearing that, Mei immediately stopped feeling guilty.
She raised her little chin proudly.
“See?
I came up with that attack the instant I saw you two fail.” Hearing Mei say that their ambush had failed, Zabuza became even more irritated.
But he couldn’t exactly argue with her.
Ao spoke up at that point.
“All right.
For your first time working together as a squad, your coordination was excellent.” “Next, I’ll treat everyone to a meal.
After that, we’ll review and analyze today’s battle.” The three exchanged glances before quickly following Ao out of the training ground.
Lan, which had spent the entire battle using only one ridiculously powerful Water Gun, hopped out of the forest after seeing the waves recede.
But all it saw was the back of its master disappearing into the distance.
The little frog tilted its head.
Its tiny brain was filled with enormous confusion.