Early the next morning, Minato led Nawaki, Kushina, and Mikoto to a secluded valley outside Konoha.
"This is a trap training ground," Minato explained, standing at the valley entrance. "As the name suggests, it's filled with various trap devices."
"Before we came, I made a few modifications to the devices here."
With that, he casually pulled out two Exploding Tag-like papers: one blue and one red.
"These are training-use tags I created. The blue one represents a standard Exploding Tag, sealed with water."
"The red one is a high-power Exploding Tag, sealed with a small-scale Fireball. While it won't cause fatal injuries, it will inflict some painful burns."
Minato tossed the two tags. The blue one exploded with a splash, scattering water in a radius similar to a standard Exploding Tag.
The red one detonated with a bang, releasing a human-head-sized fireball.
"Next, you must cross this valley alone. If you trigger a blue Exploding Tag and are splashed by the water, it counts as one death," Minato explained.
"What about the red Exploding Tags?" Nawaki asked eagerly.
"Triggering a red Exploding Tag means the entire team dies," Minato said gravely. "It also means you'll have killed your teammates and caused the mission to fail completely."
A heavy silence fell over the group.
"Furthermore, there are other traps in the valley, also color-coded. Red signifies the most severe outcome," Minato explained. "My Wood Clone is in the valley, constantly updating the trap locations. Each death will cause the Clone to bring you back to the entrance and send the next person in."
"I'll go first!" Nawaki declared, clenching his right fist and pressing it against his left palm, eager to start.
"Discuss amongst yourselves," Minato said with a gentle smile, gesturing for them to proceed.
After a brief consultation, they decided on the order: Nawaki would go first, followed by Mikoto, with Kushina entering last.
At the entrance, Nawaki's expression turned serious. He took a step forward.
Splash!
A cluster of water erupted at his feet, drenching his clothes.
"..."
The air fell silent for a moment, then Nawaki clutched his head in his hands, his face contorted in frustration. "What the hell was that?!"
Minato crossed his arms. "Nawaki, you're out~"
"Pfft-hahahaha!"
Seeing this, Kushina burst into laughter, clutching her sides. "Killed by an Exploding Tag? How pathetic!"
Mikoto couldn't help but smile. She hadn't expected Minato to casually set an Exploding Tag in such a place.
The most ridiculous part was that the tag had exploded upward from the ground, leaving Nawaki's pants soaked while his shirt remained relatively dry. He looked like he'd wet himself.
"Damn it, stop laughing! You wouldn't get past it either!" Nawaki growled, his face dark. He sat down under a tree near the entrance, waiting for the other two to fall into the trap.
"I'll give it a try."
Mikoto stepped forward, her eyes instantly turning blood-red. In each pupil, a black tomoe began to spin slowly.
Setting an Exploding Tag trap requires reserving a certain amount of Chakra.
While the Sharingan couldn't see through objects, it could detect Chakra. As long as the tag wasn't buried too deep, it would be difficult for it to threaten her.
Having learned from Nawaki's mistake, Mikoto didn't dare to act rashly. She cautiously surveyed her surroundings, venturing about twenty meters forward.
She stepped over an extremely thin steel wire, then landed on a pile of fallen leaves.
Click. A mechanism was triggered.
Mikoto's expression changed. She darted backward, and in the next instant, over a dozen wooden kunai embedded themselves in the spot she had just occupied.
One of the kunai had pierced the steel wire she had stepped over. A muffled thud echoed from beneath her feet as the ground collapsed.
Did he even calculate the distance of my retreat?
Mikoto was surprised, but having experienced the Chunin Exams, her reflexes were far superior to Nawaki's.
Almost simultaneously, she threw a kunai that struck the trunk of a nearby tree. A steel wire was tied to the kunai's ring. Pulling the end of the wire, Mikoto used the leverage to launch herself toward the tree.
She landed on a branch and scanned her surroundings, spotting camouflaged Exploding Tags everywhere. She wondered why Minato was so obsessed with Exploding Tags.
Unbeknownst to them, Minato's actions were born of desperation.
He had painstakingly tried to prevent Nawaki from meeting the same fate as in the original story.
Yet, the boy had immediately stepped on an Exploding Tag that Minato had casually buried in the mud.
Minato even suspected he might have some sort of affinity for Exploding Tags.
Boom!
A deafening explosion echoed through the valley.
After stealthily advancing over fifty meters, Mikoto stepped into the mud, triggering a chain reaction of Exploding Tags hidden beneath the mire.
"Failed again..."
Mikoto sighed, pulling her mud-caked foot free.
A Wood Clone instantly appeared beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. In a flash, they materialized beside Minato at the entrance.
Mikoto stared at Minato in astonishment. "Is this... Space-Time Ninjutsu?"
"Just a little trick," Minato replied with a smile. "How were you eliminated?"
"I stepped on a patch of flat-looking mud," Mikoto said with a hint of frustration. "The traps are just too dense, and many are chained together. I was caught within a hundred meters."
"Not bad. You've surpassed someone's record by 0.6 meters," Minato said with a smile, trying to console him.
Nawaki's face darkened, and he turned away, muttering, "I just let my guard down..."
"My turn! My turn!"
Kushina strode to the valley entrance, brimming with enthusiasm.
"Watch this! Shadow Clone Technique!"
With a pop, a Shadow Clone materialized beside her.
She pointed toward the valley. "Go! Kushina Number One!"
"Understood!"
Without hesitation, the Shadow Clone charged into the valley in a suicidal assault.
Nawaki stared in astonishment. "Huh? Is that even allowed? Damn it, why didn't I think of that?!"
"That just proves Kushina's battle IQ is higher than yours," Minato chuckled. "Though most people couldn't pull that off."
Shadow Clones evenly divide the user's Chakra. While the remaining Chakra returns to the body upon dissolution, it normally dissipates quickly. For ordinary shinobi, this still represents a significant drain.
Only a clan like the Uzumaki, with their immense Chakra reserves, could use it so recklessly.
However, this method alone wasn't enough to get Kushina through the valley.
The training ground spanned two kilometers, and while the traps at the beginning were dense, they were merely appetizers. The real challenge lay ahead.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Shadow Clones triggered trap after trap. After charging recklessly for over thirty meters, Kushina Number One was blown apart by a barrage of wooden shuriken.
Kushina, however, calmly walked through the safe path cleared by her clone's sacrifice.
Then she created another Shadow Clone and repeated the process.
Boom!
The second clone fell into a pit trap after advancing just over ten meters.
The third clone crossed an open area, with Kushina hanging back not far behind.
Then, with a boom, Kushina's main body was blasted through and through.
"Why did that happen?" Kushina asked, her face puzzled as a Wood Clone appeared beside her. "The Shadow Clones got through fine."
The Wood Clone chuckled. "Who said traps have to be preset?"
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