"Cough, cough…" Jiraiya coughed twice.
Although he had been saved by Minato using the Flying Thunder God, Jiraiya was not in good shape. Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, his upper clothes had been blasted into tatters, and there were several burn wounds on his back.
Minato looked at his teacher with concern. "Sensei!"
Jiraiya shook his head. "…Cough, cough… It's nothing serious!"
"Hmph!"
Orochimaru snorted. With his knowledge, he could naturally tell that Jiraiya's injuries would not heal in less than a month.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
Suddenly, a violent storm sphere as large as two people rushed in from the smoke. This vacuum sphere was enormous—far larger than Tsunade's hundreds combined.
It was the Vacuum Great Sphere spat out by Kairen using Susanoo. Unlike Tsunade's suffocating attacks, this was a heavy wind cannon capable of blasting people into pieces.
The Vacuum Great Sphere carried a frenzied gale and was about to explode right in front of the three of them.
Minato threw a three-pronged kunai, shooting it to a point just in front of the Vacuum Great Sphere.
"Flying Thunder God Transfer!"
A vortex like an ocean whirlpool appeared in space, slowly swallowing the Vacuum Great Sphere.
Jiraiya stared at Minato in shock. "That move!!"
Minato nodded. "It's a derived ninjutsu of the Flying Thunder God Technique!"
"I didn't expect your talent in Flying Thunder God to be this strong—you've already surpassed the Second Hokage!"
Jiraiya continued with satisfaction. "Worthy of being my student. This kind of talent of yours—"
Jiraiya's words suddenly stuck in his throat, unable to come out. What he should have said was: your talent is the strongest among all the ninjas I've ever seen.
However, after being beaten into a rout by Kairen, Jiraiya suddenly realized that the ninja with the strongest talent stood above them—the child who could be called Senju, or could be called Uchiha.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A chaotic gale blew away the smoke that enveloped the three.
Bright moonlight shone down.
The sky full of stars outlined a beautiful starry panorama, yet beneath this tranquil painting—
A hundred-meter-tall flame giant looked down upon the earth, like a god standing in the firmament, indifferent to all living beings.
Jiraiya continued what he had been saying earlier.
"Compared to this child, the brilliance of any ninja will seem dim!"
"Minato, you were born in the wrong era!"
Minato lifted his gaze upward.
At a glance, he saw Kairen within the diamond-shaped crystal. The forehead protector on the other's brow was already gone—clearly, he had abandoned his identity as a ninja.
Minato spoke softly upward. "Kairen, are you going to betray your own ninja way?!"
Kairen folded his arms and smiled.
"My ninja way is to sow seeds across the world. I've never betrayed it!"
Minato was an earnest man and actually took Kairen's ninja way to mean farming.
He pointed at the devastated land below.
"If you love nature so much, then why do you wreak such wanton destruction upon the earth?"
Kairen's Mangekyō Sharingan swept across the land. The entire inner city had been smashed to pieces by him—there wasn't a single intact house to be found.
Pitted and gouged everywhere.
Fortunately, the daimyo of the Land of Fire wasn't stupid. When dispatching an army of a hundred thousand samurai to besiege Kairen, he had already ordered the residents of the inner city to evacuate outside the city.
After a brief glance, Kairen shifted his gaze to the three below.
"I keep my word. You dodged my Yasaka Magatama just now, so hurry up and get lost!"
Someone had completely forgotten about the super Vacuum Great Sphere he had just fired.
"Kairen, you—"
Minato wanted to continue persuading him, but Jiraiya grabbed him.
Jiraiya said, "Don't try to persuade him. That child has already fallen into demonic obsession."
Minato sighed. His relationship with Kairen had been quite good.
Kairen's shadow clones would often visit, telling jokes to him and Kushina. Everyone chatted freely about the future of ninjas.
Just a few days ago, everything had been fine—they walked arm in arm, sparred with ninjutsu, and even took photos together.
But fate was something no one could grasp. Even Hshirama and Madara who founded Konoha Village turned against each other—let alone Kairen!
...
"Cough, cough… Minato, the ninja world is about to face a huge problem."
Jiraiya's serious yet weak voice rang out.
He then explained softly, "The Great Toad Sage said someone has blocked the future of the ninja world. Now I've basically confirmed it."
"That person is Kairen. The power he possesses is enough to overturn the entire ninja world, and he scoffs at the Will of Fire."
Minato turned his eyes to Jiraiya's pale face. It looked as if even the slightest movement would extinguish the life flame in his heart. Such a powerful teacher—yet he had been beaten into this miserable state by Kairen?
Minato was a kind person, and his personality was not as cheerful as Kushina's. The two were like opposites. Minato did not get angry easily, but once an honest person got angry, it was terrifying.
"Jiraiya-sensei, is Kairen really that strong?"
"Yes!"
Jiraiya nodded solemnly. He and Orochimaru had summoned the sacred land's summon beasts, only to be beaten into a rout—nearly wiped out entirely.
Minato fell silent.
A few days ago, he had lost to Kairen. Even then, he acknowledged the ninja talent Kairen possessed. If Kairen continued to grow, Minato would not be his match at all—he wouldn't even have the strength to fight back.
And now it was even more so. His teacher and Orochimaru had been beaten so miserably; one could imagine the level of power involved.
Kairen stood in the sky.
Seeing that Jiraiya and Minato still hadn't taken action, he condensed a steel trident and pointed it at the three.
"Why haven't you gotten lost yet? Are you really looking for death?!"
Below, Minato raised his voice again in persuasion.
"Kairen, you gained such power at a young age, which has already caused your mentality to swell. You must overcome the violence in your heart, or you'll fall into the demonic path."
Minato analyzed Kairen's ten-plus years of life. Gaining such power in a single stroke would inevitably cause a mental explosion—acknowledging heaven as the boss and himself as second-in-command.
This was a sign of immaturity.
Kairen curled his lips above.
"What mentality explosion? I admit my brain isn't great, but I'm definitely not immature!"
His temperament was already mature.
Even Tsunade had been put on the dining table by him as a side dish. What was immature about that?
If there was anything immature, it was not being ruthless enough.
If he were even more vicious, he'd exchange for Kotoamatsukami in minutes. One Kotoamatsukami would solve it.
These people brainwashed by the Will of Fire were just self-righteous, taking it for granted that they could forcibly stuff their own ideas into others, without caring whether the other person was willing.
Kairen's eyes turned ruthless.
Kairen suddenly hurled his spear downward.
"Have a taste!"
Minato's azure eyes stared at the spear of destruction descending from the sky.
He then glanced at the cold expression on Kairen's face—those Mangekyō eyes like the gaze of hell itself, devoid of even a trace of humanity.
Minato let out a sigh, then grabbed Jiraiya and Orochimaru and activated the Flying Thunder God, leaving the capital of the Land of Fire.
Kairen's fiery red steel trident pierced into the earth. There was no one left at the spot—his strike landed on nothing.