"Lord Hokage, you've worked hard. For the final sweep, it's best to experie firsthand."

  "Uh..." Before the words fully he person had already slipped away.

  The Third Hokage was left speechless.

  This brat...

  So real!

  When he needs you, he's all politeness. But once he's done, he vanishes without a trace.

  The others quickly followed suit.

  The Third Hokage only internally grumbled for a moment before leading the group to the designated Point A in the Forest of Death.

  Reality wasn’t a game—there were no live updates or dynamic maps. So Kyoichi had predesigwo locations, with Point A as the final battle zone.

  Now, two sides stood in frontation.

  On one side: exhausted remnants, battered and weary.

  Oher: two fully aeams, brimming with momentum. Having just secured a victory, they had looted all of Asuma’s supplies and tools.

  Every member popped a Soldier Pill immediately, replenishing their strength. With their fresh arsenal of ons and ninja tools, this wasn’t even a fair fight anymore.

  Genma Shiranui pulled out a handful of shuriken, ready to unleash a jutsu—only to see a storm of shuriken already flying at them.

  A dense barrage.

  As if they were disposable.

  He froze for a sed.

  Then, exging a gh Might Guy, he muttered, "Guy… we ’t win this fight."

  "Huh?"

  Guy looked fused.

  If they couldn’t win, didn’t that just mean they had to fight even harder?!

  "Ahem. Look, we just o p the top five. You go… give them one big kick."

  Genma cleared his throat.

  They couldn’t win ht—

  But they could backstab their way to safety.

  The main issue?

  Nara Enji clearly had no iion of charging ahead. Meanwhile, their own team had Might Guy—who was reckless enough to definitely go down first.

  So...

  Why not eliminate him first?

  Keep their own spots safe.

  "...Isn't this kinda bad?"

  Rin Nohara looked stunned.

  Hadn't they just agreed to an alliance?

  How had they immediately turo betrayal?!

  Might Guy didn’t care.

  pared to Rirusted Genma’s judgment more.

  And so...

  As Enji maneuvered to dodge the ining shuriken barrage, Guy suddenly exploded into motion.

  Activation Teique, Shadow Dance.

  Then—

  Oating kick.

  Nara Enji was sent flying, crashing straight into the middle of the battlefield.

  In the instant—

  Both sides unleashed their attacks.

  Before Enji could eve, he was forcibly teleported away—swiftly removed by Minato Namikaze himself.

  "Shikaku-senpai, your 's kids are still too naive."

  Kyoichi shook his head in mret.

  Alliances?

  With only one slot left iop five, who in their right mind would believe in alliances?!

  "’t bme him," Shikaku chuckled. "He didn’t have any other choice."

  Nara Enji might have been na?ve, but he also had er options.

  They were the weakest team left—whether through betrayal or brute force, they were bound to be eliminated.

  An alliance gave them the best ce.

  But…

  With so many flig agendas, how could anyone expect real unity?

  Kakashi stood by, deep in thought.

  This situation…

  Wasn’t it exactly like the retionships between the small ninja vilges?

  Sure, uniting would make them stronger.

  But—

  Five people.

  Four teams.

  Only three could advance.

  How could anyone guarahat the alliance would actually be them?

  Kyoichi’s words had been dead-on.

  And then… Kakashi remembered something else.

  "Useless… is worse than being dead."

  "But… if teamwork is most important, then… what was my father?"

  His fists ched.

  His father, Sakumo Hatake, had been driven to suicide—because he chose to save his rades over pleting a mission.

  His heart ached.

  Kyoioticed.

  But he said nothing.

  He already knew what Kakashi was thinking—there was o spell it out.

  Ba the Battlefield

  With Enji’s team eliminated, only five teams remained.

  At this point, true alliances were pointless.

  Shisui and Kurenai had already stopped w together—there was no reason to anymore.

  Might Guy still hadn’t activated the Eight Gates. He only used the Breathing Activation, a teique from Might Duy, which stimuted his cells and partially opened his body’s limiters.

  Even so…

  His taijutsu was overwhelming!

  His target?

  Ebisu from Kurenai’s team.

  Ebisu didn’t even stand a ce.

  Genma and Rin als into a—not against Kurenai, but to assist iraining Shisui.

  Guy brutally pummeled Ebisu.

  Despite being teammates just minutes ago, he showed zero hesitation!

  As he turo attack Raido, somethi wrong.

  Both the distand enviro felt… off.

  Genjutsu?!

  When?!

  Guy immediately dispelled it.

  But—

  The moment he regained crity…

  Kurenai was already in front of him.

  Her leg swung up.

  BOOM!

  The ground shattered, f a deep crater.

  Guy was sent flying.

  A green blur caught him mid-air.

  Might Duy!

  "Father, I still—"

  "Guy, you IDIOT!"

  Duy’s punch left Guy’s head spinning.

  Then, clutg his son, he burst into tears.

  "Guy, you did great! You gave it your all!"

  "Uh…" Hagaetsu covered his fa embarrassment.

  Before, he couldn’t uand why Guy was so… Guy.

  Why he always screamed about youth and passion…

  Now he uood.

  Like father, like son.

  Meanwhile…

  Everyone else was stunned.

  Who would have thought—

  That the seemingly frail and delicate Kurenai…

  Had mastered Tsunade’s Heavenly Foot of Pain Teique?!

  And—

  The most insidious part?

  Kyoichi had taught her to pair it with genjutsu!

  Even if the oppo wasn’t fully caught in the illusion, even a split-sed disruption was enough.

  It was terrifying.

  An absolute trump card.

  "Kyoichi… this is reckless."

  The Third Hokage frowned.

  Had that kided squarely on Guy’s head, he’d be dead.

  And more than that—

  This teique wasn’t meant for ordinary people.

  Tsunade could use it freely because her body was absurdly strong.

  Kurenai… was not.

  She might be able to pull it off once, but to her, Morength was basically a forbidden teique.

  He was about to speak.

  But—

  He saw Raido and Ebisu rushing toward Kurenai.

  Kurenai swiftly formed hand seals.

  Her palm glowed with chakra as she healed herself first.

  Raido stood guard, sword in hand.

  Clearly—

  Kurenai uood her own limits.

  "Lord Hokage, I don’t believe forbidden teiques should be banned—only that one should uand when and how to use them."

  Kyoichi’s tone was firm.

  He kly what the Third Hokage was thinking.

  But—

  He disagreed.

  The Hokage was too servative.

  If forbidden teiques were so dangerous, why had Tobirama Senju ied so many?

  The Third fell silent.

  Kurenai Yuhi had just unleashed her Heavenly Foot of Pain and immediately followed up with Mystical Palm Teique to heal herself, maintaining a certain level of bat readiness. Without wasting time, she turned her attention to treating Ebisu.

  A single so-called "forbidden teique" had pletely shifted the tide of battle!

  Was it worth it?

  Otlefield, absolutely!

  Besides…

  Kurenai’s dition wasn’t too bad. With her teammates c her, she would be able to recover quickly—though in the short term, using Heavenly Foot of Pain again was out of the question.

  Recovery had its limits.

  The ligaments and muscles she had just healed were still fragile. If she forced another use of the teique, she might end up crippling herself for real.

  Gcell