Meanwhile, on the other side of the Forest of Death—
Minato's team also encountered enemies: three Grass Ninja—two men and one woman.
The two male shinobi appeared to be a few years older than Minato and looked almost identical, clearly twin brothers. The only female ninja among them seemed younger—about the same age as Minato.
What stood out most was her striking blood-red hair, which instantly reminded Minato of his classmate, Uzumaki Kushina.
However, unlike Kushina's fearless and bold aura, this red-haired kunoichi from the Grass Village appeared timid and meek.
He also keenly noticed the fear in her eyes whenever she looked at the twin Grass shinobi—her supposed teammates. Altogether, it was a very strange and unsettling ninja team.
While Minato was observing them, the twin brothers were also sizing up his squad.
Then, one of the Grass ninja sneered arrogantly and said, "Three little Konoha brats. Hand over your scroll, and we might spare you a beating."
The other immediately chuckled coldly in agreement. Clearly, they didn't consider Minato's team a threat in the slightest.
Faced with such provocation, the impulsive Tomoki couldn't hold back. He stepped forward instantly. "Bastards! How dare you look down on us? I'll show you just how strong I am!"
Before the words even finished leaving his mouth, he charged in headfirst. But while Tomoki was full of spirit, he lacked the strength to match it.
Alone against two Grass ninja, he was no match for them—and in just the next moment, he was mercilessly beaten.
"Brat, let us show you what true power looks like!" The twin brothers grinned viciously, showing no mercy in their attacks.
Seeing this, Minato's expression immediately darkened, and he quickly stepped in.
Unlike Tomoki's recklessness, Minato's strength spoke for itself. The moment he acted, he effortlessly brought down both Grass ninjas.
His furious counter left them coughing up blood, injured from the strike.
Under normal circumstances, Minato was a kind and cheerful person. But if anyone dared hurt his comrades, he would show a terrifying side.
"What...?!!" The twin Grass ninja were stunned.
Minato had moved so quickly that they hadn't even realized what had happened.
At that moment, Ayame rushed forward to help Tomoki to his feet. "Tomoki, are you okay?"
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Tomoki stubbornly replied, "It's just a scratch. I'm fine."
But when Ayame gently pressed the spot where he'd been hit, he immediately hissed in pain.
"Always pretending to be tough," Ayame muttered, annoyed, but chose not to scold him further.
Tomoki, wincing in pain, shut up immediately and said no more.
"Mai! Get over here and let us take a bite already!" The twin Grass ninja, having recovered from the shock, barked angrily at the red-haired girl.
Mai flinched instinctively at their tone, but still stepped forward and held out both arms.
The two brothers grabbed her arms roughly, not caring about her at all. They pulled back her sleeves to reveal forearms covered in bite marks.
Then, to Minato's shock, they leaned in and bit down hard.
Mai let out a low, pained groan—but the wounds Minato had inflicted on the twin brothers began healing at a visible rate, returning them to full strength.
Had he not seen it with his own eyes, Minato would never have believed such a miraculous method of healing existed in the shinobi world.
It was far more effective than any medical ninjutsu he knew. However, judging from Mai's expression, the process clearly wasn't painless.
It made sense—any ability that allowed for such rapid recovery from just a bite had to come with a heavy price. Thinking of this, Minato asked in a low voice, "Isn't she your comrade?"
But the twin Grass shinobi only responded with cold sneers. "Comrade? She only survived thanks to the Grass Village's help. Of course, she has to pay for it."
Hearing that, a surge of fury rose in Minato's chest.
To someone who valued comrades above all, it was unthinkable to treat a fellow shinobi this way. That one sentence exposed everything: to them, Mai wasn't a teammate—just a human tool for healing.
Absolutely disgraceful.
"You brat! You caught us off guard earlier, but now we'll show you what we're really made of!" The two showed no remorse whatsoever and immediately began forming hand signs for a jutsu.
Clearly, Minato's earlier strike had left a deep impression. They knew he wasn't someone to take lightly. So this time, they didn't hold back—they went straight for ninjutsu.
The Grass Village was notorious for researching techniques from other nations—often stealing and studying foreign jutsu until they could claim them as their own.
Because of this, the Grass ninja had access to a wide variety of jutsu. Now, one brother unleashed a Fire Style technique while the other used Wind Style.
In an instant, a massive flaming serpent formed and shot toward Minato at high speed.
"They can use combo jutsu?!" Both Tomoki and Ayame were stunned.
After all, a combination jutsu wasn't something that could be performed just by using multiple jutsu at once. If the users weren't perfectly in sync, it could easily backfire—and conflicting elements might even injure the users themselves.
Generally speaking, only seasoned chunin or higher could perform such techniques reliably.
So seeing these two execute one flawlessly was truly surprising.
What they didn't know was that the twin Grass shinobi had years of tightly coordinated teamwork behind them—as brothers, their synergy was exceptional.
This combo jutsu had always been their unstoppable trump card.
Feeling the intense heat rushing toward him, Minato was indeed a bit surprised. He had to admit—their combined jutsu was quite powerful. Any average Genin would be overwhelmed.
But although surprised, Minato remained calm.
He wasn't your average Genin. If not for the rule requiring official exams, his strength was already more than enough to qualify as a Chunin.
Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!
With swift hand seals, Minato released a fierce gust from his mouth that collided with the flaming serpent—completely blowing it apart.
The sight left the twin Grass ninja in utter disbelief. "How is that possible?!"
It was common knowledge that Wind Style was weak against Fire Style.
For Minato to use Wind Style to overpower their Fire Style in such conditions could only mean one thing: the gap in strength between them and Minato was far too great.
So great that even elemental advantages meant nothing. For the twin brothers, that realization was hard to accept—but reality didn't care about their feelings.
Faces filled with despair, they were both blown away by Minato's jutsu—sent flying along with several nearby trees before crashing dozens of meters away.
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