Although the ninja continent was already being called "Earth" by the Otsutsuki on the moon and in outer space, and it was the largest landmass on the planet, to ninja who could move at speeds measured in Mach numbers, it was still only a palm-sized place.
That continent was so limited that even five great nations could barely divide its resources among themselves.
If they went without food or drink, ninja could cross from one great nation to another in a single day and night.
That was why this six-nation war had erupted so suddenly—and why it had escalated into a white-hot conflict just as suddenly.
The great nations that controlled the largest territories on the continent all had intelligence networks spread across every corner of the shinobi world. Even Sunagakure, which had lost its "king of intelligence" a few years earlier, had already recovered and rebuilt a new intelligence apparatus.
With information being transmitted through summoning techniques, not only the leaders of the great hidden villages, but even the leaders of the smaller villages could learn the current situation with incredible speed.
Kushina Uzumaki's complete tailed-beast transformation, and Yahiko's wooden Buddha statue, were both mountain-sized existences. And since they were not all that far from the western border of the Land of Fire, they naturally could not be hidden from the spies keeping watch on that front.
So the Five Kage, the top leadership of the Five Great Hidden Villages, and the battlefield commanders all instantly obtained two new pieces of intelligence:
Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchuriki had already become a perfect jinchuriki.
And the Wood Release incident from a while ago had not been Konoha's doing at all, but the work of Hanzo of the Salamander's direct student—the second Wood Release shinobi in the world.
They were all shocked, but at the same time, many of their doubts were instantly cleared away.
The one who understood most of all was the Third Raikage, who was currently observing the war from Kumogakure.
"No wonder they suddenly all joined forces," he said coldly. "So there really is a Wood Release shinobi backing them—someone capable of standing against the space-time shinobi and the Nine-Tails jinchuriki."
"Hmph. So they didn't come to us because they look down on the Land of Lightning?"
"If they won't share the meat, then I'll take it by force."
With that, the Third Raikage immediately gave the order.
"Prepare the Heavenly Transfer Technique at once. I'm entering the war personally."
"Yes, Raikage-sama."
His subordinates were no longer surprised.
Every generation of Raikage had been known throughout the shinobi world as reckless battle fanatics.
And the Third Raikage, the strongest Raikage of them all, had always charged at the very front ever since becoming a ninja.
Even after becoming Raikage, that habit—and his thirst for combat—had not changed in the slightest.
Whenever war broke out, he always volunteered to fight personally. Officially, he would say that he didn't want his beloved subordinates to die. In truth, his hands just itched for a fight.
And because Kumogakure possessed the Heavenly Transfer Technique, the village was also accustomed, in times of life-and-death crisis, to doing everything possible to request support from the village—then having the Third Raikage descend from the heavens to turn the tide.
So his subordinates began preparing the Heavenly Transfer Technique with practiced ease.
At the same time, the fighting on the northern border of the Land of Fire had also grown extremely fierce.
Kumogakure's entry into the war forced Dan Kato and Minato Namikaze to split up.
Originally, the two of them had formed an almost perfect combination.
Dan would use the Spirit Transformation Technique to carry out Yin Release assassinations against enemies whose spiritual energy and Yin chakra were inferior to his own, while Minato would stay behind to protect Dan's body. The moment danger arose, he would use Flying Thunder God to teleport Dan's body away.
Under that combination, Iwagakure—never truly eager to invade in the first place—had, under Onoki's arrangements, fallen into a stalemate with the northern front of the Land of Fire.
But Kumogakure's arrival broke that balance.
Against the Cloud ninja, who were all extremely fast and specialized in Lightning Release-enhanced taijutsu—and especially since the ones leading them were the future A and Killer B, the next generation's A-B Combo—Konoha had no one who could match them head-on.
Dan Kato and Minato Namikaze had no choice but to break their team apart.
Minato, whose speed was second only to Gojo Yoru's, volunteered to deal with the A-B Combo.
Dan, who excelled in Yin Release, took command against the Earth ninja forces, who specialized in tunneling and subterranean warfare.
While Kushina Uzumaki and Yahiko were fighting their otherworldly battle, another spectacle was unfolding in the northern forests of the Land of Fire—
Minato Namikaze against the A-B Combo.
There were no Konoha ninja or Cloud ninja anywhere around them.
In a battle of this level, having allies nearby would not help in the slightest. It would only get in the way.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Blue-white and golden flashes streaked through the forest again and again, accompanied by shrill tearing sounds and the faint crackle of electricity.
If one looked closely—and listened carefully—one would realize that those breaking-air sounds and electric crackles were all being produced by the blue-white light.
Scattered across the ground and embedded in tree trunks nearby were a number of unusually shaped three-pronged kunai, each with a silicone grip cover around the handle.
Every time the golden light flashed, it appeared beside one of those Flying Thunder God kunai.
And every time it appeared, within the next instant—or even less than a tenth of a second—the blue-white light would appear right in front of it, as though the two were playing an unending chase.
And from time to time, as the two lights pursued one another, octopus tentacles would suddenly grow out from certain trees like Wood Release, lashing or binding toward the golden light to create openings for the blue-white one.
When the scene zoomed in, it became clear:
this was no chase of light at all.
It was two absurdly fast young men engaged in a savage close-quarters battle.
They were Minato Namikaze and the A-B Combo.
Because of the butterfly effect, Minato and the A-B Combo were fighting this battle years earlier than in the original story.
And that gave Minato the advantage.
In the original timeline, Minato had suppressed A—who had already mastered Lightning Release Chakra Mode—and Killer B, who had already become the Eight-Tails jinchuriki and could transform parts of his body into octopus tentacles, with nothing more than Flying Thunder God and wind-nature chakra coating his kunai.
But now, Minato Namikaze no longer even bothered coating his kunai with Wind Release.
After only a dozen exchanges of that "chasing game," and after observing Killer B's movements along the way, Minato—whose combat IQ and battlefield reading were both exceptional—had already grasped the A-B Combo's essential patterns.
So Minato shifted from active offense into apparent passivity.
He slowly closed his eyes, used Flying Thunder God a few more times—
and then golden markings suddenly appeared around his eyes.
When he opened them again, his blue eyes had turned into toad-like sage eyes.
That change in his eyes also changed his entire aura.
Boom!
Just like before, the moment Minato teleported beside one of his Flying Thunder God kunai, A's body became a streak of blue-white lightning and chased after him at once.
A's forearm—thicker than Minato's thigh—and his fist—larger than Minato's head—were both wrapped in blue-white electricity. Carrying power great enough to shatter stone and rival the monstrous strength of the Senju clan, the punch blasted straight at Minato's head.
This time, Minato did not teleport away.
He simply tilted his head slightly and cleanly dodged A's straight punch.
Then a heavy thud, like a fist smashing into a sandbag, exploded through the forest.
The blue-white figure was sent flying backward.
Only after crashing through several giant trees did it get caught by an octopus tentacle and come to rest on a treetop.
"Big Brother, are you alright?"
Killer B—who had not yet developed his rap style—asked worriedly.
"Hmph... I'm fine!"
A let out a grunt, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and stared at Minato, whose eyes and aura had become calm and distant, as though he had become a completely different person.
"B, be careful. That bastard's reaction speed and physical strength both jumped by a huge margin."
"He's the direct student of Jiraiya from the Sarutobi team. If I'm not mistaken, this state he's in should be Mount Myoboku's Sage Mode."
"Then let's go at him together, Big Brother."
A layer of transparent red chakra suddenly covered Killer B's body. He had entered the tailed-beast cloak state.
"Good!"
A had only just nodded when Minato—standing ahead of them—calmly formed a seal, created a shadow clone, and then both vanished with Flying Thunder God.
Whoosh—
The instant Minato disappeared, a tail-like tentacle wrapped in the same transparent red chakra erupted from Killer B's body and shot out like an arrow, easily capable of smashing through rocks and trees alike.
Against this kind of strike, the earlier Minato would have needed to evade.
But this time, Minato instantly formed a Sage Art Rasengan and slammed it into the incoming tentacle, reducing the entire thing to fragments.
At the same time, A glanced rapidly left and right, searching for the second Minato—whether it was the original or the shadow clone.
But in the next second, his expression changed sharply.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!
Three Minatos appeared on treetops in different positions and each hurled three Flying Thunder God kunai toward the A-B Combo.
Then they formed hand seals and shouted,
"Ninja Art—Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
In an instant, numerous afterimages appeared around those few kunai, and then solidified into real projectiles, turning into a rain of blades that threatened to swallow the A-B Combo whole.
If these had been ordinary kunai, it would not have mattered how many there were. The A-B Combo would not have feared them in the slightest. Killer B could have simply grown a few octopus tentacles, and the air pressure created by their swings would have knocked the entire barrage away.
But now Killer B could not split his attention.
And more importantly, these were not ordinary kunai.
They were Flying Thunder God kunai.
In only an instant, A understood exactly what was about to happen next.
If he were alone, then with his short-range burst speed—which was no weaker than Flying Thunder God in direct combat—he would already have vanished the moment those shadow-cloned kunai appeared.
But there was no "if."
Killer B was right beside him.
And his little brother did not have A's speed.
There was no time left to think.
Acting almost entirely on instinct, A grabbed Killer B's arm with both hands, spun him once, and hurled him away in a certain direction.
"Big Brother!"
As Killer B flew through the air, he saw the rain of three-pronged kunai about to swallow A whole. He let out a raw, desperate shout and extended an octopus tentacle, trying to drag A away with him.
But his own body was flying backward faster than the tentacle could extend.
He could do nothing.
A, having thrown Killer B to safety, did not simply wait to die.
Looking at the Flying Thunder God kunai now surrounding him from every direction—even the ground at his feet being covered—A punched out, creating a terrifying shockwave that either blew several kunai away or changed their trajectories.
A few of the shadow-cloned kunai, apparently taking only limited force, vanished into smoke on the spot.
Although he had punched open a small gap, A did not dare use body flicker to charge through it.
Because he understood perfectly well that the moment both his feet left the treetop, he would lose all initiative.
Only by staying planted where he was could he still react in time.
As for Flying Thunder God kunai themselves, A did not fear them at all. Without Wind Release chakra coating them, they could not pierce his Lightning Release Chakra Mode defense in the first place.
And the next moment proved him right.
When all the Flying Thunder God kunai were only a few dozen centimeters away, a flash of gold suddenly appeared to A's right.
Already fully prepared, A instantly chopped out with a powerful hand blade, striking Minato squarely in the neck.
Bang!
As expected, that Minato was just a shadow clone.
Squelch!
Almost at the exact moment A's hand blade hit the clone, another Minato teleported to his left.
But instead of attacking, he held a kunai coated in Wind Release chakra and sliced clean through the entire treetop beneath A's feet.
A and the severed treetop instantly dropped.
And the moment he lost his balance, yet another Minato appeared behind him, holding a blue-white Rasengan in his palm and pressing it toward A's back.
But A seemed to have predicted exactly this.
He suddenly drove his other elbow backward, aiming straight at Minato's head.
If Minato wanted to land the Rasengan, he would have to take that elbow strike head-on.
And A's arm was longer. With the boost of Lightning Release Chakra Mode, the elbow might even arrive a split second before the Rasengan.
Even if this Minato was only another shadow clone, it would still be blown apart first.
A was fast.
Unfortunately, no matter how fast his speed and reactions were, they were still not faster than Minato Namikaze—whose teleportation and neural reaction speed were both utterly abnormal.
Flash—
A burst of gold.
The Minato who had just cut the treetop suddenly appeared right in front of A.
In the next instant, that same Minato became the Rasengan-holding Minato behind him.
This was Flying Thunder God transfer.
A bang came from behind, indicating that two of the three Minatos who had thrown the Flying Thunder God kunai had already been destroyed, leaving only one.
But at that point, it no longer mattered whether this Minato was the original.
Boom!
The Rasengan, formed from senjutsu chakra, struck A squarely in the chest.
A's Lightning Release Chakra Mode, which granted him powerful defense capable of withstanding heavy attacks, was as fragile as paper before that Rasengan.
The instant he was hit, A's chest caved in and twisted, spiral patterns appearing across it, and his entire body spun backward through the air like a high-speed grinding wheel.
With a single move, Minato Namikaze killed A.
Decisive. Ruthless.