"Konoha's pursuit unit?"
Aoshi's sudden appearance made all six Kumo-nin instantly go on high alert. After all, they were still in Konoha's territory. If they got pinned down here, it would be a nightmare.
But soon, looks of confusion spread across their faces.
There was no one else. From beginning to end, only Aoshi stood before them.
"What, Konoha has no one left?" The Fourth Raikage sneered, clearly unimpressed by Aoshi's lone pursuit.
"Don't let your guard down. Finish him quickly. We need to move, now." It was Dodai, one of the Raikage's most trusted men, who gave the order. Even A didn't argue with his judgment.
"Big bro, let me take him." Killer B stepped forward, eager to defeat Aoshi with his own hands. But his request was rejected by A.
"B, now's not the time to act on impulse. You all go. I'll deal with him and catch up." A might have made his name during the Third Great Ninja War, but that didn't mean he was weak now.
As the son of the Third Raikage, he had long since earned the rank of elite jōnin in Kumogakure.
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, A charged toward Aoshi at blinding speed.
Having trained in Lightning Release–based taijutsu since childhood, his physical strength was immense, and his speed even more terrifying. He shot forward like a bolt of blue lightning.
Aoshi's pupils shrank instantly. Such incredible speed—he almost didn't have time to react. Worse yet, even when his mind caught up, his body couldn't.
The future Fourth Raikage A was simply too fast; there was no time for defense. And this was despite Aoshi having trained his body daily ever since unlocking the Eight Gates.
While he didn't surpass taijutsu-specialized jōnin, he was at least on par with elite chūnin skilled in close combat.
Yet even he couldn't respond in time. That alone showed how frightening A's speed was. And he wasn't even at full strength yet.
Boom!
But it wasn't Aoshi who was struck. Instead, A was sent flying!
In the crucial moment, Aoshi had used Shinra Tensei—the Almighty Push! As a basic ability of the Rinnegan, it activated instantly.
But its chakra cost was massive. If not for his drastically improved chakra reserves, he might not have been able to use it at all.
"Impossible!" Just seconds ago, A had been storming in like an unstoppable force—only to be repelled in a single move. Dodai and the others were stunned, frozen in disbelief.
Especially Killer B. As A brother, he knew his big bro's strength better than anyone. In his mind, only the Third Raikage could definitively outmatch him.
He had believed that as long as A acted, Aoshi was done for. Now, the disappointment of not being the one to defeat Aoshi turned into pure shock—and for the first time in his life, a sense of failure.
All that bitter training over the past month… felt like a joke. If Killer B was shaken, Motoi and Hiko were even more so.
Despite already holding Aoshi in high regard, they had clearly still underestimated him. Motoi especially now felt like a fool for having dared to provoke someone this powerful.
While they were stunned, Aoshi seized the moment. He immediately used Banshō Ten'in, the Universal Pull, to retrieve Kushina.
But Killer B, still holding onto her, was pulled along with her toward Aoshi.
"Damn it! What is this technique?!"
Killer B drove his blade into the ground to resist the pull—but it was useless. He kept sliding toward Aoshi.
The other four finally snapped out of their stupor. Realizing they couldn't afford to underestimate Aoshi, they prepared to strike together.
Still holding Banshō Ten'in with one hand, Aoshi formed a seal with the other and unleashed Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu.
A massive water dragon burst forth from thin air and roared toward Killer B and the others. The impact forced Killer B to release Kushina.
The water dragon didn't stop—it surged toward Dodai and his team. Dodai quickly countered with Lava Style: Rubber Wall, neutralizing the water dragon.
His Lava Style, a kekkei genkai, allowed him to create elastic rubber barriers. In the original timeline, Dodai had used this technique to shield Naruto's Shadow Clone from Madara's Tengai Shinsei.
Meanwhile, now safely pulled into Aoshi's arms, Kushina finally regained consciousness.
"Aoshi?" She blinked in confusion at the familiar face before her. Her mind was still foggy. Then it all came back—she had been attacked by Kumo-nin.
She didn't know exactly what had happened while she was unconscious…But seeing that they were no longer in Konoha, it was easy to guess—she'd been kidnapped.
Which meant—Aoshi had come to rescue her.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several square-shaped shuriken suddenly shot toward them at high speed—it was an attack from Toroi.
But Aoshi, well aware of Toroi's magnetic ability, didn't give him the chance to mark them. He grabbed Kushina and instantly body flickered to safety.
Setting her down, Aoshi formed a seal with both hands and used Wind Style: Vacuum Wave Jutsu. Razor-sharp wind blades surged forth, shredding Toroi's magnetically guided shuriken midair.
"There's no way this guy is just a genin!" Dodai couldn't help but complain as he watched Aoshi effortlessly handle their attacks.
He had received intel on Aoshi after the second exam—but even that hadn't prepared him for this.
"Doesn't matter if he's genin or jōnin. We can't let him leave alive."
A, who had been blasted away earlier, now stood beside Dodai—completely unscathed.
Aoshi frowned slightly. He hadn't held back with his Almighty Push. Most would've been critically injured by that. But A looked like nothing had happened.
No wonder, in the original timeline, he was one of the few who could take a hit from Rasengan with his bare body. His physical durability was absolutely monstrous.
"But his abilities are strange… Do you have any way to counter them?" Dodai asked.
A remained silent. It was precisely because he didn't know how to deal with them that he hadn't attacked again. Normally impulsive and quick to anger, A could think strategically when it mattered.
But Aoshi gave them no time to plan. He launched another offensive—this time, summoning six water dragons at once.
Water Style: Six Water Dragon Jutsu!
Only those with extraordinary Water Release talent and immense chakra reserves could pull off such a feat. Once again, Dodai and his team were left stunned.
Did this guy's chakra have no limits?
For a brief moment, a single thought echoed in the minds of all six: "Just how much power does this monster have?!"