The deafening explosions of high-level Ninjutsu clashing echoed through the mountains; a battle of this scale was impossible to hide.
Saiki's physical speed was absurd, but he couldn't ignore the laws of distance like the Flying Thunder God, nor could he instantly materialize in multiple locations at once.
Whether he chose to unleash a massive, singular ultimate move to wipe them all out, or systematically hunt them down in a prolonged melee, the sheer noise and collateral damage would inevitably expose their position.
Faced with a swarming, buzzing cloud of insects that would trigger trypophobia in anyone else, Saiki felt absolutely no regret. If it meant protecting Tsume Inuzuka's reputation, he would gladly slaughter the entire Leaf frontline camp without blinking.
He tightened his grip on 'Thunderstorm'. The razor-sharp, water-natured chakra flowing along the blade dissipated, instantly replaced by crackling, violent arcs of electricity—a shift to Lightning Style designed to push his speed even further beyond its limits.
The Aburame clan's insect manipulation was incredibly versatile, covering offense, defense, and reconnaissance with equal proficiency. But sometimes, being a jack-of-all-trades meant lacking absolute stopping power in any single category.
Chopping up a cloud of bugs was a complete waste of time. Saiki ignored the swarm entirely. Wreathed in a localized Lightning Style Chakra Mode, his silhouette flickered and vanished from his spot. The insects couldn't even catch his scent before he was gone.
Even if Tatsuma Aburame was an Elite Jonin, Saiki didn't view him as a genuine threat—let alone the rest of the Root operatives.
An elite Chunin is still just a Chunin. Saiki had lost count of how many he had butchered on the Cloud front. The moment Saiki vanished, a blood-curdling scream echoed through the trees.
Just like that, Saiki transformed into a streak of pure, lethal lightning, flickering through the dense forest with terrifying velocity.
When the surviving Root operatives tried to capitalize on their comrades' deaths to cast counter-jutsu, Saiki didn't even bother dodging. He simply cleaved through their attacks with a single stroke, taking their lives in the follow-through.
The roar of Ninjutsu and the agonizing screams of Root assassins filled the mountain air. Saiki might not possess the instant teleportation of Minato Namikaze, but in a mere dozen heartbeats, he had systematically butchered half the squad.
"Don't scatter! Form up! Cover each other's blind spots! Do not let him pick us off one by one!" Saiki's speed was incomprehensible. Realizing his insects were utterly useless at this velocity, Tatsuma Aburame roared the order in desperation.
In this current nightmare, Tatsuma genuinely wondered if they had accidentally engaged the Third Raikage. The boy's reaction time and agility were so absolute that despite spreading his insect swarm across the entire clearing, not a single bug had managed to latch onto Saiki.
If even one insect had bitten him, the specialized venom and the bugs' ability to rapidly multiply by gorging on his chakra would have significantly weakened him.
But the bugs weren't entirely useless. The sheer volume of the swarm forced Saiki to occasionally swing his blade to clear a path, which marginally hindered his momentum. If not for the insect screen, his slaughter would have been even more efficient.
Meanwhile, at the main Leaf command tent.
It was deep into the night, but Jiraiya was still awake. Even though the Cloud hadn't launched another massive offensive over the past few days, the sheer volume of logistical and strategic paperwork required his constant attention.
Minato Namikaze—a man deeply trusted by Jiraiya, and possessing a tactical and administrative intellect far superior to his teacher's—was sitting nearby, helping him process the endless stacks of documents.
BOOM!
Hearing the distant roar of battle, Jiraiya snapped his head up, his expression hardening. "What is that? What's happening out there?"
Minato also looked up from his desk, his eyes darting toward the direction of the explosions.
A scout rushed into the tent moments later. Both men looked at him as Jiraiya demanded, "Report!"
"Lord Jiraiya! A high-intensity engagement has broken out approximately six to seven kilometers to the southeast. We don't have concrete details yet, but the sensory division is currently analyzing the signatures."
Hearing this, Jiraiya's brow furrowed deeply into a tight knot. Noticing his teacher's sudden shift in demeanor, Minato waved a hand to dismiss the scout before asking quietly, "What is it, Sensei? Is something wrong?"
Jiraiya kept his brow furrowed, looking at Minato. "If my memory is correct... that exact coordinate is the location of the covert Root outpost."
"Root." Even within Konoha, very few individuals knew of the organization's existence, as Root technically operated under the official umbrella of the Anbu.
However, both Jiraiya and Minato were privy to the truth. Hearing that a Root base was under attack on the front lines caused Minato's expression to turn gravely serious.
Wherever there are people, there are conflicting interests. On the surface, the Konoha Elder Council existed to assist the Hokage in governing the village, but in reality, they also existed to check and balance his power.
Within that council, Danzo Shimura was Hiruzen Sarutobi's closest confidant. Outwardly, Danzo acted as Hiruzen's "black glove," handling the village's dirty work, but the true nature of their relationship was a tangled, deeply complex web of mutual exploitation.
Take the Root operative Saiki had just executed—the one who cast the Fire Style: Great Flame Technique. The implications of that specific jutsu were profound.
Those who knew of Root assumed it was Danzo's exclusive, private army. Yet the Great Flame Technique was a highly guarded, signature jutsu exclusive to the Sarutobi clan.
Of course, Saiki didn't know—or care—about any of this political subtext, and the operative who cast it had already been chopped in half.
Because Root's existence was strictly classified, it was inconvenient for their operatives to mingle with the regular Leaf forces at the main camp. Therefore, Danzo had bypassed standard channels and directly pressured Jiraiya to secure that specific, isolated location for their frontline base, requesting that Jiraiya keep regular patrols away from the area.
After a moment of thought, Jiraiya looked at his student. "Minato, you're the fastest. Go check it out. We can't afford any massive intelligence leaks or internal disasters right now."
"Understood, Sensei!" Minato nodded. In the next instant, a flash of yellow light illuminated the tent, and he vanished via the Flying Thunder God.
By the time Minato received his orders, the battle on Saiki's end was already over.
Tatsuma Aburame had been utterly broken. He knelt in the dirt, gasping for air, while Saiki held him suspended by the throat with a single, vice-like grip. Saiki's face was a mask of freezing apathy. "I'll ask you one last time. Did you transmit the intel?"
Just as the "Children of Destiny" in this world could achieve Six Paths-tier power and become the strongest beings on the planet by age sixteen, Saiki's "cheat code" allowing him to reach Kage-level power by age ten wasn't actually that absurd in context.
An Elite Jonin leading an eight-man squad of Chunin was undeniably a formidable combat unit. But against Saiki, they were nothing more than target practice. The moment he closed the distance, they were dead.
Faced with Saiki's icy interrogation, Tatsuma—knowing his death was absolute—refused to answer. Instead, he twisted his bloody lips into a mocking sneer. "What do you think?"
Tatsuma was consumed by regret. He never expected Saiki to be this ruthlessly decisive, nor this overwhelmingly powerful. He deeply regretted not recording his suspicions about the boy's true threat level and transmitting them back to Danzo immediately.
In the next fraction of a second, the blade flashed like falling snow. Tatsuma was brutally cleaved in half. Thanks to the Senjutsu chakra infused in the strike, his very soul was annihilated, ensuring that even the Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation) could never bring him back to spill his secrets.
Saiki's sensory perception was incredibly potent; he could vaguely sense the surface-level thoughts and emotional states of others. However, Root operatives were branded with complex, deeply ingrained cursed seals specifically designed to protect their secrets and scramble telepathic intrusion—especially a high-ranking commander like Tatsuma.
Having undergone years of brutal interrogation resistance training, Tatsuma's mind was a fortress that Saiki—a novice in psychological warfare—couldn't hope to crack. Tatsuma's final, mocking question was a deliberate attempt to sow doubt and paranoia in Saiki's mind. And it worked.
But there was another reason Saiki executed him without further hesitation: his sensory net had just picked up a familiar, "yellow" chakra signature rapidly closing in on his position.
Ever since the battle began, Saiki had kept a fraction of his perception locked onto the direction of the main Leaf camp. He had to admit, Minato's response time was truly terrifying.
Gripping his bloodless sword, Saiki sprinted toward the entrance of the subterranean Root base at full speed.
In a matter of breaths, he reached the concealed entrance. Without breaking stride, he swung 'Thunderstorm'. The highly condensed, pressurized Water Style chakra formed a razor-sharp blade capable of slicing through solid boulders. But when the strike hit the hidden blast doors, it merely triggered a localized ripple, like a stone dropped into a calm pond, failing to leave a scratch.
Saiki frowned. He unleashed a second, significantly more powerful slash, but the doors held firm.
However, he quickly deduced the mechanics of the barrier. Much like the Five-Seal Barrier used by the Akatsuki—which required five tags to be removed simultaneously—this specific security seal could only be disengaged from the inside.
He didn't have time to systematically dismantle the array; Minato was seconds away. And even if he had the time, his knowledge of Fuinjutsu (Sealing Techniques) wasn't advanced enough to guarantee he could crack it.
Fortunately, no barrier is absolute. Every shield has a structural limit. Even the legendary Four Red Yang Formation, cast by four Hokage, could be torn apart with enough raw, overwhelming force!
Without another second of hesitation, Saiki ruthlessly burned a massive, precious reserve of his Senjutsu chakra. He flooded 'Thunderstorm' with the purest Water-natured energy. The blade, which usually shimmered with a blue-white aura, turned a blinding, absolute white. Saiki could almost hear the tortured steel of the blade groaning and cracking under the sheer volume of power it was being forced to channel.
Without any exaggerated movements or dramatic wind-ups, Saiki simply brought the sword down in a clean, vertical chop. The blade erupted with a flash of light so blinding it turned the night into high noon.
In the forest, Minato Namikaze—who had been regretting not leaving more Flying Thunder God markers in this sector, forcing him to physically sprint while throwing kunai to bridge the gap—suddenly skidded to a violent halt. A primal, suffocating wave of lethal danger washed over him, forcing him to look up toward the small hill ahead.
A blinding pillar of light bisected the entire mountain. Accompanied by a deafening, world-ending roar, the hill—standing over two hundred meters tall and spanning several kilometers wide—was literally split clean in half. It was a level of apocalyptic destruction comparable to a full-power strike from Madara Uchiha's Perfect Susanoo.
"What in God's name just happened?!" A cold knot of pure dread gripped Minato's heart. Faced with a display of such unfathomable, god-like power, the future Hokage actually hesitated for a fraction of a second, wondering if continuing forward was a suicidal mistake.
The seismic shockwave and the blinding flash were so massive that Jiraiya, who had stepped out of the command tent to observe the direction of the explosions, saw it clearly. Thanks to the elevated position of the main camp, he had a perfect view. Under the moonlight, he watched an entire mountain be cleaved in two. Jiraiya's jaw dropped in sheer, paralyzed awe.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Minato steeled his resolve. If I let fear stop me now, how can I ever claim the title of Hokage? Relying on the absolute evasion of the Flying Thunder God—a technique that guaranteed he could escape even if he couldn't win—Minato pushed forward.
Arriving at the base of the shattered mountain, he found the initial battlefield. The clearing was littered with corpses that had been cleanly, brutally bisected. Even though Minato fundamentally disagreed with Root's extreme ideology and methods, they were still ninja of the Leaf. His brow knitted into a tight, angry furrow.
He looked up toward the midpoint of the ruined mountain, locking onto the only remaining source of chakra. And then, that final chakra signature vanished.
Because of the suppressing nature of his Pre-natal Qi, ordinary sensors found it nearly impossible to track Saiki unless he actively flared his aura. The sudden disappearance of the final chakra signature simply meant Saiki had just executed the last surviving Root operative inside the base.
Staring at the rows of filing cabinets and intelligence scrolls within the ruined facility—documents that undoubtedly contained highly classified, critical information—Saiki didn't hesitate for a second. He exhaled a massive Fire Style jutsu, lacing the flames with a heavy dose of Senjutsu chakra. The temperature of the inferno was so absolute that the very earth and stone of the base began to melt into slag, instantly vaporizing every scrap of paper and evidence inside.
"Saiki... it was you..."
Minato Namikaze finally arrived. He watched as Saiki calmly walked out of the roaring inferno. The boy held his drawn sword, a pristine white "Auspicious Cloud" hovering above his head, its misty rain creating an impenetrable, divine shield around him. Seeing this, Minato's grip on his specialized kunai tightened until his knuckles turned white.
"Oh! Minato-senpai! What brings you out here?" Saiki asked casually, acting as if he hadn't just committed mass treason, his tone perfectly flat and polite.
In this situation, many would undoubtedly curse Saiki for being "too ignorant of political progress." If he had just endured the insult, played the political game, and leveraged his insane combat record on the front lines, he would have absolutely secured a path to becoming a future Hokage.
But Saiki was a man who embraced the life of a "salted fish" (a slacker). To him, the only thing that mattered was living comfortably and happily with the women he loved. He had zero interest in empty titles or political glory, because he understood a fundamental truth: accepting the power of a leader meant accepting the grueling, endless responsibilities that came with it.