Minato understood everything the moment Chiyo said that name.
So that was it.
This attack was not only about Ryūgetsu Outpost. It was not only about the replacement force from Wildfire Outpost. It was not even only about revenge against Konoha.
It was because of the White Fang.
Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law had both been elite jonin of Sunagakure. They had also been skilled puppeteers who caused Konoha countless problems during the previous Ninja World War. From Chiyo's perspective, the hatred she carried was not unreasonable. The White Fang had taken people precious to her, and now she believed another Hatake stood before her.
Minato could understand the emotion behind her revenge.
But understanding was not the same as forgiving.
On the battlefield, one village's hero was another village's nightmare. In war, hatred was born naturally, passed down from corpse to corpse, until someone finally became strong enough to end it or cruel enough to continue it.
Chiyo had brought an elite force here.
She had intercepted Konoha's reinforcements.
She had surrounded Team Minato with puppets, poison, and killing intent.
There was no point asking for reconciliation now.
So Minato only sighed softly.
His eyes swept across the remaining Sunagakure shinobi, still calm despite the deadly situation. Then, in a tone as relaxed as someone choosing food at a restaurant, he asked, "Kakashi, if you had to choose one person from the enemies in front of us to fight, who would you pick?"
He paused.
"Except Pakura."
Kakashi froze.
Choose someone?
What did that even mean?
Still, since Minato had asked, Kakashi silently examined the enemy formation. His gaze paused briefly on Chiyo, then shifted to a middle-aged puppeteer controlling a double-bladed puppet. The man had a viper tattoo crawling across one side of his face and looked far more dangerous than the ordinary Sand shinobi around him.
"That puppeteer," Kakashi said quietly. "He looks strong."
Minato nodded.
"Obito?"
"Huh? Me?"
Obito blinked, then pointed without hesitation. "That guy with the scar on his face. The one baring his teeth at me. I really want to punch him."
Minato looked toward Rin.
"Rin?"
Rin tightened her grip on her kunai and glanced toward the enemy line. "For me… that female ninja over there."
Their conversation was not hidden.
The Sunagakure shinobi heard every word.
Chiyo's brow furrowed, and her voice turned sharp. "Minato Namikaze, is this your final testament? Are you choosing which of my people will kill your students?"
Several Sand shinobi sneered.
Mockery mixed with their killing intent.
Chiyo's eyes narrowed. "That is not impossible. Except for those two descendants of the Hatake family. They must die by my hand."
Minato smiled gently.
"Sorry."
His right hand slipped into the bulging ninja pouch at his waist.
"The situation may not be quite what you imagine."
The next instant, his hand flashed upward.
Dozens of specially made three-pronged kunai scattered into the air like falling petals.
They did not fly directly at the enemy.
Some landed between the Sand shinobi.
Some pierced tree trunks.
Some struck rocks.
Some fell behind Ren and the others.
Others stabbed into the ground around the battlefield, forming a strange and seemingly careless pattern across dozens of meters.
The Sand shinobi stared in confusion.
At first, they had raised their own kunai to block, thinking Minato had launched a hidden weapon attack. But most of the weapons had missed them completely.
No.
They had not missed.
They had been placed.
Chiyo's instincts screamed.
Her aged eyes widened.
"Move!"
Her voice tore through the forest.
"Kill them now!"
But she was too late.
Minato Namikaze had already completed his opening move.
The world seemed to slow.
Then it shattered.
Minato vanished.
A golden flash appeared beside one kunai.
Then another.
Then another.
Then another.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
In the eyes of everyone watching, Minato's body no longer existed as a single person. Yellow light bloomed across the battlefield from dozens of positions at once, each flash appearing and disappearing before the mind could process it.
The encirclement broke instantly.
Steel kissed flesh.
Blood sprayed.
Throats opened.
Wrists snapped.
Bodies flew.
The Yellow Flash became a golden storm, and the Sand formation was torn apart in a single breath.
"Gah—!"
"My arm!"
"Stop him!"
"He's behind—"
The screams ended almost as soon as they began.
Sunagakure shinobi who had been full of killing intent a moment earlier collapsed like wheat before a scythe. Some clutched their necks as blood sprayed between their fingers. Some fell backward with their chests split open. A few reacted fast enough to block, only to be kicked aside like broken dolls, crashing into their companions and rolling across the dirt.
Then Minato reappeared exactly where he had started.
His expression had not changed.
His breathing had not changed.
Only the battlefield had changed.
"Spiraling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three."
Only after everything was finished did he calmly speak the name of the technique.
Silence fell.
The once-complete encirclement was now filled with corpses, wounded shinobi, spilled blood, and the thick metallic scent of death. The mountain forest that had felt dangerous a moment ago now felt frozen.
Only a few enemies remained standing.
Chiyo.
Pakura.
The three opponents Kakashi, Obito, and Rin had chosen.
And one or two lucky survivors who had stood far enough away from the first wave of slaughter.
Obito and Rin stared with their mouths open.
Their brains nearly stopped working.
"W-what just happened?" Obito whispered.
Rin's eyes trembled. "That was… Minato-sensei?"
They knew Minato could use the Flying Thunder God. They had seen him travel with it. They had seen him use it defensively. But this was different.
This was massacre through speed.
Twenty-plus enemies in a heartbeat.
Even Kakashi remained silent.
Across from them, Chiyo's face finally changed.
Her pupils shrank as she stared at the blond young man before her.
So this was the Yellow Flash.
Sunagakure's intelligence had called Flying Thunder God an advanced Body Flicker Technique.
That description now seemed laughable.
Minato had not shown complicated techniques. He had only teleported close, cut, vanished, appeared again, cut again, and repeated the process with terrifying precision.
But when absolute speed met flawless technique, simplicity became death.
Some of those who fell had been jonin.
They died before they could even form hand signs.
Minato exhaled softly, as if he had merely finished a warm-up.
"All right."
He glanced at his students.
"Ren, Kakashi, Obito, Rin. If you have chosen your opponents, you may begin."
Kakashi and Obito finally understood.
That question earlier had not been casual.
Minato had not asked who they wanted to fight because he was uncertain.
He had asked because he intended to leave those enemies alive.
Ren had already expected something like this, so he remained calmer than the others.
At least on the outside.
Inside, his thoughts were screaming.
Can a human reaction speed really reach that level?
Minato Namikaze…
Are you even human?
Also, choosing enemies and leaving them alive like ordering dishes was almost too insulting. Did Sunagakure have no dignity left after this?
But since Minato had already prepared the stage, there was no need to hesitate.
Ren's gaze locked onto Pakura.
She had not fully recovered from the shock of Minato's attack.
That was his chance.
His heel struck the ground.
His body shot forward like an arrow released from a drawn bow.
Substitution Jutsu: Simulated Realm Instantaneous Transfer!
Chiyo's eyelids twitched.
Another Flying Thunder God?
No.
It was similar, but slower.
The moment she sensed Ren's movement, Chiyo shouted, "Pakura!"
At the same time, her fingers moved.
Chakra threads flashed.
Two puppets, Crow and Black Ant, lunged toward Ren with terrifying speed, blades and hidden mechanisms opening at once.
Before they could reach him, a golden flash crossed their path.
Minato appeared between Ren and the puppets.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A violent gale exploded outward, blasting both puppets away and forcing Chiyo to adjust her threads.
"Go, Ren."
Minato's voice remained calm.
"Leave this to me."
Then he looked at Chiyo.
"Elder Chiyo, your opponent is me."
"Thanks!"
Ren adjusted his posture midair and shouted toward Pakura, "Pakura, let's talk in private!"
His right arm pulled back like a bowstring.
Then he punched.
No tricks.
No fancy movements.
Just a direct, brutal strike.
"Super Strength Technique: Basic Crushing Fist!"
Pakura's pupils contracted.
A deadly sense of danger surged through her body. She had no time to release Scorch Release. Instinct took over. She crossed both arms in front of her chest and retreated with all her strength.
Boom!
The punch landed.
The sound was dull, heavy, and violent.
Pakura felt as though a boulder had slammed into her arms. Pain shot through her bones, and her defense nearly collapsed. Her feet left the ground as the force blasted her backward toward the dense forest.
Ren did not let her recover.
He pushed off the ground and chased.
While Pakura was still unable to stabilize herself, he threw several more punches, each one forcing her farther from the main battlefield.
Their figures vanished between the trees.
This time, his words had become reality.
Ren and Pakura had truly gone to "talk in private."
Kakashi moved almost immediately afterward.
He raised his chin toward the viper-faced puppeteer he had chosen earlier.
The man froze for a second, then anger flared in his eyes. With a cold snort, he controlled his puppet and followed Kakashi into another section of the forest.
Obito and Rin also moved, drawing their chosen opponents away from Minato and Chiyo.
"Pakura! Shingo!"
Chiyo's eyes flashed with fury.
But before she could pursue, gold appeared before her.
She pulled her fingers sharply.
A worm-shaped puppet that had been lying low against the ground suddenly rose up, unfolding a heavy shield from its back.
Salamander.
Almost at the same instant, Minato appeared in front of it and drove his kunai forward.
Clang!
The sound of metal striking metal tore through the battlefield.
Minato's kunai left only a shallow white mark on the puppet's shield.
Using the recoil, he flashed backward, narrowly avoiding Crow and Black Ant as they attacked from both sides.
He landed dozens of meters away.
"As expected of Elder Chiyo," Minato said softly. "You truly are strong."
While speaking, he glanced briefly toward the forest.
Obito and Rin had already drawn their enemies away.
The remaining Sand shinobi understood the situation too well. Staying near Minato meant death could arrive from any direction at any second. Fighting the students at a distance at least gave them a chance to survive.
Perhaps they could even take a few Konoha heads.
After all, those children did not look as terrifying as the Yellow Flash.
Chiyo allowed it.
Her gloomy gaze remained fixed on Minato.
"Hmph. You brat. Are you mocking me?"
By now, Chiyo had confirmed it.
Minato's Flying Thunder God was far beyond her original estimate. Its speed, flexibility, and killing power were not something ordinary Sunagakure shinobi could handle.
Even she, if careless, could have been assassinated in that first exchange.
A puppeteer's body was not especially strong without protection.
Sometimes, it was even weaker than an ordinary shinobi's.
But still…
Was Flying Thunder God truly this powerful?
Or was Minato Namikaze simply an exception?
After all, the last shinobi widely known to master Flying Thunder God had been Tobirama Senju, and even he had died against Kumogakure's Gold and Silver Brothers' force.
That was one reason Sunagakure had underestimated the Yellow Flash.
Now Chiyo understood.
That had been a mistake.
A costly one.
She suppressed her thoughts and snorted coldly.
"Minato Namikaze, don't think a Space-Time Ninjutsu makes you invincible!"
Her fingers spread.
Chakra threads tightened.
"When I crossed blades with the Three Legendary Sannin, a brat like you was still playing in the mud!"
Her killing intent surged.
"Kill!"
Crow and Black Ant shot forward again.
Blades flashed.
Poisoned needles fired.
Hidden mechanisms opened one after another.
Salamander remained close to Chiyo, guarding her against sudden assassination.
Minato held his kunai and retreated lightly, moving between attacks with dangerous precision. He fought while observing Chiyo's puppet formation, searching for a gap, a rhythm, a mistake.
A normal stab could not break Salamander's defense.
He needed something stronger.
A decisive technique.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Should I use that?
But that technique was not complete yet.
If it failed on the first strike, Chiyo would never give him a second chance.
Minato continued dodging as the puppets pressed in.
Explosions echoed from deeper inside the forest.
Steel clashed in another direction.
Somewhere farther away, Obito shouted.
Another impact shook the trees.
For the first time, Minato's calm gaze shifted toward the battlefields where his students had disappeared.
Ren.
Kakashi.
Obito.
Rin.
They should be fine…
Right?
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