"Yes, you three continue with the original mission. Be careful!" Minato nodded, then reminded them before leaving, "You still have the kunai I gave you, right?"
Without a word, Kakashi took out the special three-pronged kunai that Minato had gifted him and showed it briefly in front of him.
"Protect yourselves and take care of Rin. Especially you, Obito—stop being so reckless." Minato gently patted each of his students on the head as he spoke.
"Don't worry, Sensei! I'll definitely protect Rin!" Obito grinned, baring his teeth confidently.
"As long as you don't make Rin protect you and stop dragging us down, I'll be satisfied." Kakashi added with a sharp remark.
"What did you just say, Kakashi?!" Obito turned to glare at him angrily.
"I'm just telling the truth, loser. In our last battle, if Rin hadn't blocked that kunai for you, you'd already be injured. And that danger could have been avoided in the first place!" Kakashi said seriously.
"You're so annoying!" Obito's face fell as he pouted and lunged at Kakashi, only to be swiftly tripped. He landed face-first on the ground.
Minato smiled as he watched his students' usual antics. After saying his goodbyes, his body vanished in an instant.
Across the Land of Fire and all the locations he had passed through before, Minato had left his Flying Thunder God markers, allowing him to travel quickly between them.
The sudden assault from Iwagakure did not catch the Konoha forces off guard. Under Orochimaru's command, the enemy's ambush failed, forcing the Iwa shinobi into another prolonged battle of attrition.
Each Konoha ninja had a slug perched on their shoulder, providing medical support and chakra recovery. This gave the Konoha forces a significant advantage in the battle of attrition.
The most noticeable effect was the drastic reduction in casualties.
When Ōnoki arrived with Kitsuchi and the elite Iwagakure forces, Orochimaru also led his personal guard to meet them as usual.
As the two armies clashed in an intense battle, a ten-man squad of Iwagakure jōnin took advantage of the night, bypassing the battlefield and heading straight for Tsunade's location from the rear.
Upon spotting the camp ahead, the Iwagakure squad, assigned to an infiltration and assassination mission, swiftly approached. They silently used their own techniques to either suppress or disguise their chakra as much as possible.
They knew they had only one chance. With Minato Namikaze deployed elsewhere and unable to assist, and Orochimaru along with the main Konoha forces occupied at the frontlines, no reinforcements would come.
As long as they could break through the camp's defenses and eliminate Tsunade, their mission would be a success. Chapters first released on novel·fıre·net
"This feeling...? Is it Iwagakure's assassination squad? No... This chakra—so wild and enormous—it's a Tailed Beast! Damn it!"
Inside the camp, several sensory-type ninjas had been on high alert, already warned to stay vigilant. They continuously scanned the surroundings using their perception abilities.
At first, they failed to detect the infiltrating Iwagakure squad within two kilometers of the camp.
But when an immense and violent chakra signature suddenly appeared within their range, they instantly realized something was wrong.
Tsunade's heart tensed as she saw a black sphere soaring toward them, condensed from highly concentrated chakra.
Tsunade immediately recognized what the sphere was. She was shocked that Iwagakure had actually sent the Jinchūriki out, and quickly began thinking of ways to prevent it from landing inside the camp.
Though most of the seriously wounded had already been secretly moved elsewhere, there were still many lightly injured ninja left in the camp to avoid alarming the enemy.
If that thing landed in the camp, the chances of survival for the ninja in the impact zone would be nearly zero.
One after another, huge walls with demon fangs, resembling the gates of hell, rose from the ground, forming three barriers between the camp and the Tailed Beast Ball.
The Tailed Beast Ball crashed into the gates, almost effortlessly destroying the first gate, then smashing into the second, and finally the third.
The grand explosion instantly engulfed the three seemingly indestructible gates. The enormous fireball and shockwaves created by the blast tore through the camp, accompanied by howling winds.
Tsunade, standing at the high ground in front of the camp, had her hair and clothes whipped by the powerful gusts.
"Good thing I made it in time."
In an instant, she entered her Hogyoku mode and summoned the Triple Rashōmon. She gazed at the destroyed gates, which had successfully detonated and blocked some of the Tailed Beast Ball's explosive power. She spoke with lingering palpitations.
"It's the Five-Tails!"
In the brief moment when the firelight dispersed the darkness, a tall figure wrapped in violent chakra sped toward them with a whistling sound, crashing forward at an incredible speed.
Every ninja along the way, launching jutsu and creating obstacles, couldn't stop the figure in the slightest.
It was like a gigantic beast, breaking through everything in its path.
The target was clear as day. Within a few flashes, the Jinchūriki, now in a half-tailed beast form, had already reached Tsunade. Without any clear features left, they swung their claws and swiped at Tsunade.
The howling wind was torn apart, and the opponent's arm swung, leaving afterimages.
But just as it was about to strike Tsunade, a sudden resistance emerged, inexplicably blocking the space between him and Tsunade.
At the same time, an overwhelmingly powerful force struck the half-tailed beast Jinchuriki. His body froze mid-air for a moment, then with a whoosh, he shot straight out, leaving a line in the air. He crashed into the ground with a loud boom, creating a massive circular crater in the earth.
Rinnegan eyes in Kagetsu's left socket focused intently on the Jinchuriki who was sent flying.
With the tough and resilient body of a Jinchuriki, this strike would cause pain, but it wouldn't be enough to take him out of the fight.
His gaze flicked to the side where Shisui was, and Kagetsu sighed.
If only Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan hadn't gone blind, tail beasts—being chakra-based creatures—were naturally countered by his dojutsu.
However, having a Jinchuriki right here was a surprising advantage. Regardless, whether used for research or as a chakra source, tail beasts were rare and precious materials.
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