The butterfly effect caused by Gojo Yoru may have prevented Namikaze Minato's sealing talent from being pushed to its absolute peak, but it also made up for the senjutsu talent that, in the original story, he hadn't fully awakened even by the time he died.
In the original final battle, Minato casually said he had only learned it not long ago and still wasn't very skilled at using it, yet he could instantly enter Sage Mode—a feat even Jiraiya, and even Naruto Uzumaki before reconciling with Kurama, couldn't manage.
With the infinite chakra of his Edo Tensei body, his Sage Mode endurance was nearly as absurd as Senju Hashirama's.
But now, things were the opposite from the original story for Namikaze Minato.
Not only had he learned the Rasengan ahead of time, but because the exchangeable sealing techniques between him and Jiraiya were limited, Minato—whose talent was monstrous and who learned those techniques at terrifying speed—went to Mount Myoboku to study senjutsu the moment his chakra barely met the threshold, unwilling to spend his life unable to even glimpse the backs of Gojo Yoru and Kushina Uzumaki.
He was nothing like Jiraiya, who had started studying senjutsu as a boy despite his mediocre talent, yet by middle age still needed the help of the two toad sages just to extend his Sage Mode duration.
Minato had astonishing talent in senjutsu as well. He learned Sage Mode in just one week, then slowly improved its duration over time. By now, he only needed a few seconds to enter Sage Mode.
That talent had deeply shocked Jiraiya.
If not for Gojo Yoru—the embodiment of miracles—Jiraiya might even have suspected that Namikaze Minato was the Child of Prophecy he had been searching for.
This was also Minato's first time using Sage Mode against an enemy. None of his previous opponents had ever been worthy of forcing out that trump card.
Of course, the reason Minato chose to activate Sage Mode was simple: he wanted to kill A instantly and avoid any accidents.
After all, Konoha itself already had the strongest duo of a jinchuriki and a taijutsu specialist.
Even though the A-B Combo was nowhere near Gojo Yoru and Kushina Uzumaki in strength, after observing them for more than a dozen exchanges and realizing that Killer B could freely use tailed-beast power, Minato still worried that the Eight-Tails jinchuriki might already be a perfect jinchuriki capable of full tailed-beast transformation.
If Killer B could enter full tailed-beast form, Minato would have had almost no answer to that kind of giant beast.
Even if his sealing techniques could restrain it, A would never give him that chance.
Kumogakure's Lightning Release chakra really did deserve its reputation.
Even if his opponent wasn't the Third Raikage, who had the strongest individual combat ability, A's Lightning Release Chakra Mode made his short-range movement only a fraction of a second slower than Flying Thunder God.
Without entering Sage Mode, Minato really would not have been able to overwhelm or instantly kill either of them.
Thankfully, by relying on his information advantage and the second stage of Flying Thunder God—namely Flying Thunder God transfer—Minato's tactics had played out perfectly.
Crack, crack, crack—
"Pfft—"
Watching A fly backward, Minato could hear bones breaking and blood being spat out even from a distance.
Clearly, A was critically wounded, perhaps already on the verge of death.
After all, that had been a Sage Art: Rasengan—an attack infused with natural energy.
But Minato, decisive and ruthless in battle, still had no intention of letting A live.
He flashed away in a streak of golden light again, teleporting to the Flying Thunder God kunai closest to A. Raising one hand, he formed another Sage Art: Rasengan and moved in without hesitation to finish him off.
Boom!
The instant Minato drove the Rasengan forward, it struck something with a deafening impact.
But it hadn't hit A, who was still flying backward.
Instead, it had struck a blue-white figure that had appeared almost exactly like Flying Thunder God itself—instantly and without any warning.
Minato's palm pressed against a chest even broader and darker than A's, separated only by the Rasengan and a thin layer of electricity. The Rasengan spun wildly, trying to twist, tear apart, and pulverize the obstacle before it.
In the end, however, it was the Rasengan that gave way, exploding into a violent wave of chakra that whipped Minato's clothes in the wind like a hurricane.
If Sage Mode hadn't granted him such powerful durability, the backlash alone might have injured his hand.
Looking at the Third Raikage standing before him—having blocked his Sage Art: Rasengan with nothing but raw physical toughness—Minato's pupils contracted, his eyes filled with shock.
He clearly found it hard to believe that in a world where even the strongest ninja would die if struck in a vital spot, something this inhuman could exist.
"Kid, are you ready to die?"
The Third Raikage roared angrily.
In the next second, that blue-white light shot toward Minato like a meteor.
For most people—even those with above-average reflexes—something moving at that kind of lightning speed would be impossible to respond to, let alone counter.
But Minato, though still in a state of shock, flashed away in an instant, vanishing in a streak of gold and causing the Third Raikage's Hell Stab to hit nothing.
Seeing Minato reappear on a nearby tree, close enough to reach with a single body flicker, the Third Raikage did not press the attack. Instead, he turned his back to Minato, showing not the slightest concern for him.
Looking at Killer B, who had stopped A's backward flight, caught him, and was now clearly panicking, the Third Raikage ordered, "B, take A to a medical ninja immediately. If his injuries are too severe, send him back to Kumogakure. Leave this place to me."
"Got it, damn old man. Be careful. That guy's no joke."
With his target now set, Killer B immediately extended an octopus tentacle, wrapped it around A, and vanished.
Minato watched the whole thing without making any move to stop them.
Instinct told him he couldn't have stopped them anyway.
Even though both A and the Third Raikage used Lightning Release Chakra Mode, the Third Raikage was on a completely different level.
A man's reputation was not built on nothing.
After Uzumaki Mito died, and before Gojo Yoru revealed his space-time bloodline and became famous throughout the shinobi world as the incarnation of miracles, the strongest people alive were never the perfect jinchuriki—not even the Eight-Tails jinchuriki, second only to the Nine-Tails.
During that span of time, the title of strongest in the world had always been shared between Onoki and the Third Raikage.
They were the true peaks of the Five Kage.
As for which of them was stronger, no one could give a definite answer.
Because this world had elemental and ability-based counters.
To some, Onoki—who could fly and wield an instant-kill ability—was the stronger of the two, the true number one.
To others, the Third Raikage was the strongest: his short-range speed was barely inferior to Flying Thunder God, his Lightning Release Chakra Mode rendered him effectively immune to all ninjutsu, even a Tailed Beast Bomb fired by the Eight-Tails' true body couldn't break his defense, and his Hell Stab could pierce absolutely anything.
Even though Minato had never fought either of those two monsters before, in his eyes, the Third Raikage was unquestionably more dangerous than Onoki.
Onoki's Dust Release required a startup.
Even if he could form it in just one second, that was still enough time for Minato to escape with Flying Thunder God.
Even when Onoki and Roshi had created a nearly perfect instant-kill strategy, they still hadn't managed to kill Gojo Yoru. At most, they had only forced him to reveal his intangibility.
Dust Release was powerful, but it consumed enormous amounts of chakra. Even Onoki, standing at the peak of the Five Kage, could not use it recklessly.
As long as one evaded a few shots, Onoki would eventually have to switch to normal ninjutsu or retreat into the air.
But the Third Raikage in front of him was completely different.
Turning to face Minato—who still had not taken the opportunity to attack while he sent A away—the Third Raikage said expressionlessly, "You did a fine job taking care of my son, kid."
"Now—"
"It's my turn to play with you."
The last words had barely left his mouth when he was already in front of Minato, three fingers held together like a lightning spear as he thrust at him.
Hell Stab: Three-Finger Nukite!
Once someone reached the absolute ceiling of strength, every move and every strike became a dimensional attack against anyone weaker.
Onoki only needed a single Dust Release to make anyone below the peak of the Five Kage as helpless as an ordinary civilian.
The Third Raikage was the same. He didn't need to create a whole arsenal of Lightning Release taijutsu like A.
All he needed was the ultimate shield of Lightning Release Chakra Mode and the ultimate spear of Hell Stab to rampage across the shinobi world unchallenged.
Against A's straight punch, Minato in Sage Mode had at least been able to contend. He could even block it with his own hand.
But in front of the Third Raikage's Hell Stab, Minato felt true mortal danger.
Forget taking the hit directly—even getting grazed by it felt like it would slice his body open.
Without enough information yet, Minato stayed calm and did not recklessly counterattack. Instead, just as he had against the A-B Combo earlier, he vanished in an instant with Flying Thunder God.
The Third Raikage did not chase after him the way A would have. Instead, he glanced at the Flying Thunder God kunai at Minato's former position, flicked a finger, and sent out a strand of black lightning that destroyed the silicone protector wrapped around the kunai's handle.
Then he turned to look at Minato, now standing on another tree, and sneered.
"Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchuriki is already tied down by the second Wood Release shinobi, and Gojo Yoru is missing. If even you—the third Flying Thunder God user—run away too, then I'll start slaughtering people."
Hearing that, Minato's eyes narrowed sharply, and he stared at the Third Raikage with icy resolve.
"I'm not running."
"I should hope not."
The moment those words fell, the familiar sight of golden and blue-white lights crossing through the forest appeared once more.
If one side could not gain an overwhelming advantage through speed and injure the other, then the fight would inevitably become a contest of chakra reserves.
Whoever ran out of chakra first would fall into the disadvantage.
Minato's goal was to wear the Third Raikage's chakra down to the point where it was nearly spent, then retreat and recover his own chakra, stalling this peak-of-the-Five-Kage monster as long as possible.
The Third Raikage, on the other hand, had no way to deal with Flying Thunder God's long-range teleportation. So he used the lives of Konoha's ninja as leverage, trying to force Minato to stay and fight, hoping to seize this chance to cripple him or even kill him.
If he could do that, Kumogakure's forces would be able to steamroll the northern border.
Unfortunately for him, he had arrived too late.
More accurately, he had underestimated the Yellow Flash of Konoha.
He had never imagined Minato could badly wound A so quickly and nearly kill his chosen successor while facing both of his sons at once.
If A had not been so critically wounded, then with the Third Raikage tying Minato down, the two brothers could have gone after Kushina Uzumaki's shadow clones and steamrolled the northern border of the Land of Fire anyway.
Still, they at least had Iwagakure as a powerful ally.
Unfortunately, the Third Raikage was overestimating that ally.
If Yahiko had never threatened Onoki, then perhaps the little old man really might have joined in like the Third Raikage and tried to take advantage of the chaos.
But now, Onoki only wanted to protect himself.
Since he was already struggling just to keep up appearances, and Kushina Uzumaki had now sent so many shadow clones to reinforce the battlefield, how could Onoki not cooperate as much as possible?
Unless the Third Raikage successfully killed Minato, or the A-B Combo returned to the field quickly, the war on the northern border was guaranteed to turn into a drawn-out stalemate.
And while the Third Raikage was personally fighting the Yellow Flash on the northern front, the eastern front of the Land of Fire saw Sakumo Hatake's taijutsu squads colliding with the Mist's assassination corps led by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. It too became a drawn-out war of killers.
As for the southwestern front, which had nearly collapsed, the arrival of the Sarutobi team's reinforcements made it impossible for Sunagakure to advance any farther.
And so, all four fronts fell into deadlock.
The only thing capable of breaking that stalemate was a powerful outside force.
Onoki had the qualifications to become that force.
The reanimated Five Kage summoned by Uchiha Madara also had those qualifications.
But neither side was willing to act.
The former only wanted to protect himself.
The latter did not care about Yahiko's life in the slightest, and did not want to expose Edo Tensei, which might lead Yahiko to discover the truth and think about betraying him.
Madara's target, from beginning to end, was always Uchiha Obito—the one he considered suitable to become his true proxy.
Faced with the siege of five nations, Konoha had already committed all of its military strength, including retired ninja who still had the ability to fight.
Many clan heads had personally gone to the front as well.
If not for the fact that the Hokage had to remain as the last line of defense in the village to protect the civilians, and because the frontline commanders could still hold off the enemy, even Hiruzen Sarutobi would have gone to war himself.
Naturally, the prodigies who had taken the Chunin Exams and achieved excellent results had also been sent to the battlefield.
And Uchiha Madara had already begun to move.
So, day by day, time passed.
Locked in a brutal war of mutual attrition, every nation suffered heavy losses, yet none managed to push any further.
The same was true for the battle between Kushina Uzumaki and Yahiko.
If Yahiko's Wood Release had possessed the ability to absorb chakra, he might already have defeated Kushina Uzumaki.
But there was no such if.
Without chakra absorption, their ever-escalating fight became a direct contest of chakra reserves as well.
And Kushina Uzumaki, the number one stat monster in the entire shinobi world, lacked many things—
but chakra was not one of them.
For the sake of his pride and his future plans, Yahiko also could not bring himself to ask Nagato and Konan to step in and help him.
Because of the favor he owed in being taught the Six Paths techniques, he intended to use them against Gojo Yoru later.
When Yoru appeared, he would need Yahiko and Konan to help pin down Kushina Uzumaki.
Kushina was the same type of monster as him. Even the salamander's deadly poison couldn't penetrate her chakra defenses.
But Gojo Yoru was different. His chakra and the salamander's poison could restrain Yoru.
So Yahiko had no choice but to continue dragging the fight out with Kushina.
And so, with the cooperation of a few "actors," time slowly crept toward the final stage of Gojo Yoru's third evolution.
~~~
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