Plan
Plan
Surveying the area from a high position, he still couldn't see any of them.
Just as he was starting to lose momentum, another fireball was shot right in his direction.
'Crap! Why did I jump…'
Faced with a second-round, Jiraiya used the water wall once again, completely nullifying it.
Disappointed by his student's lack of understanding, he sighed.
"If I blocked it once already… Did you really think that just because I'm up in the air, I wouldn't use my Jutsu?"
As soon as the fireball disappeared, his field of vision was covered with steam.
Just as he was about to start falling back down, a bunch of Shuriken came flying out of the steam cloud, catching him by surprise.
'It was just a distraction!'
Reacting quickly, Jiraiya covered his entire body with hair-spikes, blocking all attacks.
"Now!"
Back on the ground, Minato gave the signal. Next to him, Nozomi activated her Byakugan and looked for the bells, seeing through everything… Including the steam and hair.
'There!'
As soon as Jiraiya's hair-coat receded, she shouted.
"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" (Body Replacement Technique!)
Before Jiraiya could catch wind of what was happening, the bells he carried with him disappeared, being replaced with a smiling Nozomi, who rested in his arms.
"What?!"
"Got you! Hehe!"
Landing on the ground while princess-carrying Nozomi, Jiraiya looked around in confusion. In front of him, Minato and Jun were standing proudly, both holding one of the bells.
Jumping off from his arms, Nozomi ran up to her teammates and placed a finger on the bells, grinning from ear to ear.
"We won!"
Jiraiya stood there, flabbergasted. Those three had completely outsmarted him.
Suddenly, he started laughing, weirding his students out.
"Hahahaha! Well done! Well done indeed…"
Smiling, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, along with the bells they were holding.
"You were close... But not quite there yet!"
"What!?"
Nozomi stared in Shock as the real Jiraiya came out of the nearby trees, holding two bells.
"A clone… We should've seen it coming."
Realizing that he had also been played, Jun respected Jiraiya's shrewd plan. After all, there was a limit to what he could do with his current level of strength.
Also, he knew Jiraiya had gone easy on them from the beginning. This just excited Jun more, when thinking that he could fight this man more often in the future.
"A clone, huh? Well, there wasn't anything we could do about that. Well played, Jiraiya-sensei."
Minato admitted defeat as he sighed.
Next to them, Nozomi couldn't believe her ears. Stomping her foot on the ground, she refused to accept defeat.
"That's unfair! Are you guys just gonna take it lying down? He's a Jōnin, yet he had to resort to such underhanded tactics!"
"That's where you're wrong."
Hearing Jun deny her statement, Nozomi looked at him for an explanation.
"We should be happy with how far we pushed him. Technically, we won the fight… Even though we lost the war, it's a step in the right direction."
"Jun-san's right. I'm happy with our performance! Especially you, Nozomi. The plan would've been impossible without you!"
"You…"
Hearing Minato's praise, Nozomi blushed and stumped her foot, deciding to not pay these brutes any more attention. [1]
Watching them, Jiraiya smiled. He felt lucky to have been assigned as the teacher of these three little freaks.
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[1] Just to make it clear, Nozomi blushed because she got praised, and her opinion was completely rejected at the same time. It's not like she fell for Minato, more like she was flustered from the conflicting responses of both of the guys.
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