Rustle, rustle, rustle—
Figures darted through the border forest, the metallic clang of weapons echoing intermittently through the trees.
Clang!
A kunai clashed against a short sword. Facing the Sunagakure ninja before him, with reinforcements rapidly arriving behind the enemy, Matsushita Iwa's face contorted in a snarl.
"Damn you, Sunagakure!"
"Hmph, Konoha ninja—so weak!"
The enemy sneered, his short sword relentlessly targeting Matsushita Iwa's vital points. The blade's glint wove a deadly net, forcing Matsushita Iwa into a perilous dance.
Watching Matsushita Iwa break into a cold sweat, the Sunagakure ninja's smile grew increasingly arrogant. "Is that all you've got? Then die!"
Swoosh!
The words had barely left his lips when a bone-chilling blade flashed through the air. The Sunagakure ninja's head flew high, his face still frozen in that arrogant grin.
A figure with white hair stood before Matsushita Iwa, his cold gaze sweeping over the enemy ranks.
"Lord Sakumo!"
Matsushita Iwa's heart suddenly relaxed as he recognized the figure's back.
"Don't lose focus. Quickly rally the remaining front-line teams and retreat to the camp."
Hatake Sakumo's voice was calm, showing no panic despite the overwhelming enemy numbers.
"Lord, there are too many enemies! The camp won't hold!" Matsushita Iwa pleaded urgently.
"At the very least, we must keep them beyond the border."
Sakumo's voice turned stern, leaving no room for argument.
"It's Konoha's White Fang..."
The leader of the Sunagakure forces narrowed his eyes, a flicker of apprehension crossing his face as he recognized the newcomer.
Hatake Sakumo was slightly older than Tsunade, but still under thirty. He possessed striking good looks, radiating youthful vitality, and carried an aura of sharp intensity tempered with composure.
"I recall you're Haku, aren't you? A highly talented Puppet Master from Sunagakure." Sakumo sized him up. "I heard you were once a candidate for the Third Kazekage position. It seems you didn't secure the position."
"Stop trying to sow discord," Haku retorted.
Haku chuckled coldly. "No matter how long you stall, you'll still die here."
"That's not necessarily true."
Hatake Sakumo reached for the short sword at his back, his gaze sweeping over the encircling enemies. A sense of heaviness settled in his heart.
There were at least fifty enemies, while their side consisted of only two small squads, one of which was injured.
"Let me stay behind to cover your retreat!" Matsushita Iwa gritted out. "If we hadn't come to support you, you wouldn't be in this situation."
"No, there are too many of them. You wouldn't hold out for long. Covering the retreat would be pointless," Sakumo replied, shaking his head slightly, his eyes never leaving the surrounding enemies. "Form a defensive formation and withdraw toward the camp."
"Planning to act like cowards?" Haku sneered. He waved his hand, and the surrounding ninjas immediately formed a semi-enclosing formation, their hands weaving through hand seals.
"Wind Release: Air Cutter Wave!" × N
In an instant, countless wind blades slashed toward Sakumo and his group. The surrounding trees were severed at their waists by the invisible blades.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
With a thunderous roar, an arc-shaped earthen wall erupted from the ground, completely blocking the incoming wind blades.
In the span of just one or two seconds, some Sunagakure ninjas had circled around behind Sakumo's group, completely surrounding them.
It seems we'll have to force our way through.
Hatake Sakumo sighed inwardly. With his strength, he was confident he could break through the encirclement, but the others would likely suffer heavy casualties.
Just as he braced himself to lead them in a desperate charge, a three-pronged kunai flew as if from a thousand miles away. It traced a parabolic arc through the air, and before the bewildered eyes of both sides, it landed with a soft thud in the ground just in front of Sakumo.
As both sides wondered how a kunai could have traveled so far yet landed with such little force, a young boy with spiky blonde hair, no older than eight or nine, suddenly materialized before Sakumo.
"Konoha reinforcement—Namikaze Minato."
Minato swiftly introduced himself and raised his hand, creating three Shadow Clones. Each clone grabbed two of the Konoha ninjas.
In the next instant, the entire Konoha group vanished into thin air!
The entire sequence took less than two seconds.
"Huh?"
The sudden turn of events left the Sunagakure ninjas momentarily stunned.
"Where... where are they?! Where did they go?!"
Staring at the empty clearing, Haku suddenly roared, his face flushing crimson.
He instantly teleported to the spot where the Konoha group had just been standing, his eyes falling on the three-pronged kunai.
"Space-Time Ninjutsu? Wait, could this be the Second Hokage's—"
Before he could finish, the scene before him flickered, and that little blonde kid reappeared right in front of him!
He instinctively drew a kunai, seizing the opportunity to strike.
A kid who'd mastered Space-Time Ninjutsu, and didn't look a day over ten years old—
If allowed to grow, he would become an absolute nightmare for Sunagakure!
Haku's mind raced, but the world before him seemed to skip frames as a vibrant blue orb suddenly filled his entire vision!
In his fading consciousness, he seemed to hear the panicked shouts of his subordinates—
Bang!
Having dealt with Haku effortlessly, Minato vanished again, kunai sheathed, leaving the Sunagakure ninjas leaderless and in disarray.
Meanwhile, at the Konoha Camp, Hatake Sakumo and his group were still bewildered.
"Lord Sakumo has returned!"
The surrounding ninja cheered as they spotted the group, as if they had found their backbone.
Hatake Sakumo turned to Minato beside him. "What exactly is going on here?"
"I am Namikaze Minato, sent by Lord Hokage to support Senior Sakumo on the front lines. Here is the mission order."
Minato handed Sakumo a scroll. The latter took it, broke the seal, and quickly scanned the contents.
"It seems my fears were correct. The front line cannot be lost, but with Sunagakure's overwhelming numbers, holding the line will be difficult."
Sakumo frowned slightly and turned to Minato. "Young Minato, if I'm not mistaken, you just used the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique, didn't you?"
Minato nodded. "Yes, I did."
"How much Chakra do you have left? If possible, could you help bring back the other squads?"
Hatake Sakumo asked.
As the front-line commander, he technically had the authority to assign missions directly to Minato. However, considering Minato's young age and potentially limited Chakra reserves, and the fact that he had just helped Sakumo escape the Sunagakure encirclement, Sakumo's tone was very polite.
But before Minato could respond, a Yamanaka Clan ninja standing nearby spoke up first.
"Lord Sakumo, these are all the surviving squads at the front line. Six squads have lost contact, and most of the teams that successfully retreated are wounded."
Hearing this, Sakumo's brow furrowed deeply. He turned to Minato and asked, "When did you receive this order?"
"About twenty minutes ago."
Minato calculated the time. In those twenty minutes, he had spent five minutes leading Nawaki and the others to the front-line camp, five minutes verifying their identities, and the remaining ten minutes successfully locating the seven ninja squads, including Sakumo's group.
This mobility is utterly unreasonable!
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