For the current Konoha, two of the Three Sannin were still clocking in for work on time, the Third Hokage wasn't very old yet, Minato Namikaze's momentum was unparalleled, and the Uchiha clan was still alive and well. So in terms of military power, they were more than sufficient to suppress the Hidden Cloud.
Konoha was in great shape; its strength could be said to be unprec—uh, its strength could be said to be neither unprecedented nor never to be replicated. Although Konoha's relative strength was already quite high, this era just so happened to be wedged right in the middle of two eras where cheat-like characters walked everywhere. One had to concede that point.
But no matter how you put it, the Hidden Cloud remained a formidable rival for Konoha, the strongest enemy in this entire Great Ninja War.
Although Konoha's strength was formidable, it would be described as a comprehensive, well-rounded village. But to describe the Hidden Cloud, one had to use a different term: A militant faction.
This was evident from the Raikage at the highest position down to the most ordinary Hidden Cloud ninja. Hidden Cloud ninjas excelled in kenjutsu and Lightning Style, and even more proficient than those two was their ninja-taijutsu (nintaijutsu). If one were to solely compare close-quarters hand-to-hand combat, the Hidden Cloud was enough to outshine all the other villages.
Therefore, they were hard to fight.
After the massive battle with the Hidden Stone, the Hidden Cloud's strength suffered heavy losses. But precisely because of this, they fought with their lives on the line on the current Land of Rice Paddies battlefield.
First losing the Third Raikage, then being surprise-attacked by the Hidden Stone right outside their village—this forged an atmosphere throughout the entire Hidden Cloud that an army fueled by grief and indignation is bound to win. Fight, then. You don't even need to kill us; before the fight even starts, we've already mentally prepared to fight to the death ourselves.
With their internal mental fortifications complete and their external strong physiques, the current Hidden Cloud, despite being at a disadvantage, was paradoxically incredibly strong.
On the frontline where Konoha and the Hidden Cloud were locked in close-quarters, interwoven combat, because of this fighting style and death-defying attitude, the Hidden Cloud actually gained the upper hand in several consecutive clashes after the war restarted, despite being at an overall disadvantage.
This tough bone was not easy for Konoha to chew.
That was why Konoha made the decision to disengage from direct contact with the Hidden Cloud frontline, not hesitating to temporarily pull back the entire line in an attempt to open up some distance, regroup, and regain the advantage.
Currently, Konoha's primary objective was to eliminate the jagged sections of the Hidden Cloud frontline that protruded toward the Land of Fire.
And the Minato squad's mission was the secondary cleanup following these battles.
Aside from Minato's squad, the other squads executing this type of mission were similarly high-tier configurations. For one simple point, the squads' reconnaissance capabilities were exceptionally strong. To prevent any stragglers from infiltrating Konoha's lines, almost every squad was equipped with a Byakugan-wielding Hyuga.
"Ahead at nine o'clock, distance one thousand two hundred meters, quantity one... and the target is not moving," Shibi Aburame said in his unflappable tone.
Even without a Hyuga ninja, when it came to reconnaissance, Minato's squad was equally outstanding. They might be slightly weaker in instant omnidirectional scanning, but in terms of deployment range, Shibi Aburame was incredibly strong.
While reporting this situation, his gaze remained fixed on a small black bug on his right index finger. Even though he wore a pair of round sunglasses that hid his eyes, Hagoromo felt absolutely certain of this.
Minato nodded and made a hand gesture, signaling everyone to attack directly.
There was only one enemy... Minato was actually signaling everyone to surround the enemy in case of unforeseen circumstances, but as for the lone enemy, he would handle it.
Following Minato's instructions, the four of them quickly moved to flank. During this time, the target remained in their original position without any movement.
At a distance of just over a kilometer, given the Minato squad's movement speed, even while maintaining concealment and suppressing their movement noise, they surrounded the enemy in practically the blink of an eye.
In both the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Stone, there was a rule that if one encountered obstruction from the Yellow Flash during a mission, they could deem it a failure and retreat. However, in reality, this order was meaningless.
Because it wasn't practical at all.
If you could still run away after seeing Minato, would he still be that terrifying? It was precisely because of the tragic reality that you couldn't win and you couldn't run away that the Yellow Flash possessed such a fearsome reputation.
Moreover, in most cases, he discovered the enemy before the enemy discovered him. If you added the scenarios where they spotted each other simultaneously...
In short, there was only an extremely slim chance that an enemy could spot Minato first and quietly retreat without him noticing.
This time, the enemy was completely oblivious to the Minato squad's approach. He hadn't changed his position not because he was injured and couldn't move, but because he was hiding, waiting for prey to walk right into his trap. This required ample patience to wait for the target to come to the door.
It was just a pity that what he waited for was a much superior hunter.
In Hagoromo's eyes, Minato's attacks always carried a certain nonchalance. The actual process of dispatching the enemy took less effort than sneaking over.
The enemy was hiding in a tree canopy. Upon reaching striking distance, Minato directly threw a Flying Thunder God kunai at the target.
The kunai grazed the enemy's body and embedded itself into the tree trunk behind him.
Based on a normal ninja's reaction, after being attacked, the enemy first glanced back, realizing that the attack was just a kunai. Then, he would use the attack's direction and angle to determine the attacker's location, shift his gaze over there, and only then would there be further physical actions—perhaps counterattacking, perhaps dodging—originating from conscious thought.
Generally, there was nothing wrong with this reaction. But the difference now was that his enemy was Minato: the moment he shifted his gaze, Minato instantly appeared where the Flying Thunder God kunai was.
And then, there was no 'and then'.
For the enemy, he merely blinked and shifted his gaze, and as a result, Minato didn't even need to form a Rasengan—he just directly slit his throat.
Speaking of the cost-effectiveness of a ninja's attacks, assassination is often the best method, allowing one to go up six flights of stairs without losing their breath. Minato's awesomeness lay in the fact that, in many cases, his standard attacks could be considered assassinations.
This was a ninja who made it hard to distinguish between an open attack and an assassination.
The reason he developed the signless ninjutsu, the Rasengan, was probably to match the rhythm of his high-speed attacks via the Flying Thunder God. Amidst that kind of high-speed teleportation, darting back and forth, trying to weave hand signs was just too impractical... and the Rasengan undoubtedly supplemented Minato's attack power while using the Flying Thunder God.
Having dispatched the enemy as easily as having a snack, the Minato squad's mission continued.
The difficulty of this mission actually lay mainly in the need to operate right under the Hidden Cloud's nose. The squad was moving laterally almost right up against the Hidden Cloud's frontline. Not far away was the enemy's main force. The slightest carelessness, and the enemy might bear down on them in large numbers, plunging the squad into an encirclement.
Fortunately, the enemy's primary attention had been drawn by Konoha's elimination operations.
Not long after eliminating this enemy—Shibi Aburame reported a new situation. But this time it was slightly different; he directly halted his forward steps.
As the eyes and ears of the entire squad, once he stopped, the rest of the squad stopped as well.
"There are new enemies. The distance is still very far..." he said, his tone unchanged.
Generally, Aburame would choose to report the positions of nearby enemies; those too far away did not take priority. Yet this time, he reported this intelligence very solemnly.
"There are two enemies."
"So?" Minato asked. Shibi was emphasizing the number of enemies. Recalling Jiraiya's previous warning, it was obvious he already had a guess.
"The specific situation is still unclear, but my Parasitic Insects... they are afraid. They are exhibiting intense fear and dread."
As Shibi Aburame's voice fell, the remaining three exchanged glances. A two-man team... the AB Combo?
They hadn't expected to run into them this quickly.
And this type of powerful enemy was the Minato squad's highest-priority target to eliminate. Therefore, not only did they not retreat, but they abandoned standard enemies and sprinted straight toward such targets.
However, upon catching up to these two people, Hagoromo's mood felt as inexplicably chaotic as if he had just downed a whole jar of chili crisp.
He had come with the mindset of dealing with burly older men, but what he ran into was this.
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