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"What happened?"
The violent tremor from the sky not only startled the villagers of Konoha but also Tsunade, who was buried in her official duties in the Hokage Office.
Although the war situation on all fronts had been progressing smoothly during this period, the matters awaiting her resolution had increased rather than decreased. At the same time, she felt a slight unease due to Sawara Kiri's departure from Konoha. When she sensed the commotion outside, she immediately stood up from her desk and asked the Anbu outside the window loudly.
"Fourth Hokage-sama, it seems… it seems to be commotion coming from Chaldea."
The Anbu who appeared before Tsunade also had a hint of uncertainty in his voice, pointing towards the floating island in the center outside the French window.
Tsunade's gaze followed.
Due to Orochimaru and Sawara Kiri's involvement, she knew very little about the details there, only that the various experiments being conducted inside were very dangerous.
At this moment, seeing such a huge commotion, her brows couldn't help but furrow into a knot.
Immediately after, she saw her press a button on the desk without hesitation and asked loudly:
"Orochimaru, report the situation!"
A slight static sound, caused by electromagnetic interference, came from the radio. After a short while, Orochimaru's hoarse voice sounded from the other end of the microphone, his tone as calm as ever:
"The situation is under control."
"In about three minutes, a long-range attack will be launched in the direction Jiraiya set."
"Remember to issue a calming announcement to the village."
Upon hearing this, Tsunade's beautiful eyes widened, and she grabbed the microphone, speaking loudly and urgently:
"Hey, what do you mean by long-range attack? What's going on with Jiraiya? How much are you hiding from me—"
"Click."
Unfortunately, as if he had anticipated her thoughts, Orochimaru immediately hung up the communication before she could finish speaking.
Only Tsunade was left, veins bulging with anger.
Those two bastards!!
The expression under the mask of the Anbu Miss, who stood silently beside her, couldn't help but tense, but out of duty, she still asked softly, "Fourth Hokage-sama, what about the calming announcement...?"
"Do as he says!"
Tsunade said grumpily, "They didn't even bother to inform us in advance, yet they caused such a huge commotion."
After speaking, she didn't return to her seat but walked directly to the French window, looking at the massive floating island in the distant sky, resembling a mountain.
She wanted to see what this 'long-range attack' was all about, hidden so deeply by those two guys.
The Anbu behind her immediately received the order and departed.
In just a moment, the tremor covering the entire village suddenly ceased. Within the Ryumakyu Transfer Array at the bottom of the floating island, which supported its existence, a brilliant light suddenly erupted towards the sky, all converging towards the Chaldea floating island.
All the villagers of Konoha stopped their actions, raising their heads in unison towards the direction where the brilliant light was blooming, gazing at the pillar of light that rolled back like a reverse waterfall, seemingly oblivious to the full Konoha broadcast sounding in their ears, as if even their minds were about to be absorbed into that dazzling stream of light.
The next moment, it seemed to have finished charging.
A part of the island landmass located at the central side of the entire Chaldea floating island slowly but quickly separated to both sides, revealing a huge, dark cannon muzzle.
A low rumble, like an earthquake, sounded again, but it was not as piercing as the initial one.
Multicolored hues continuously converged and absorbed towards the center.
In the sky above Konoha, it was as if a second sun had risen.
Suddenly.
"Buzz—"
A suddenly heightened buzzing sound captured everyone's attention.
A mottled, rainbow-colored bridge of light suddenly surged forth from the cannon muzzle, spanning the entire sky of Konoha, outlining an infinite brilliance at the furthest reaches of sight.
It plunged directly into the edge of the world.
It was unknown where it was headed.
It was a long time before the Konoha villagers present calmed down, almost instinctively recounting the momentary shock to people they knew or didn't know around them, making the entire street and rooftops messy.
Tsunade stood quietly at the top of the Hokage Building, her hands behind her back, gazing at the distant stream of light, her heart filled with an unspeakable astonishment.
Then, she couldn't help but bite her teeth and mutter softly:
"Those two bastards…"
Such a massive weapon was hidden in the village, and she, as the Hokage, didn't even know about it.
Am I really being sidelined?!
On the other side, the Fire-Lightning front line boundary.
"Retreat!"
Jiraiya only left this one word before shooting back into the battle group behind him.
As for the positioning token he threw from his hand, it floated in mid-air as if frozen.
"Don't even think about running!"
The Fourth Raikage had already noticed Jiraiya's movements and roared, about to charge in his direction.
At the same time, although he didn't know what the token-shaped talisman was for, a strong sense of crisis arose in his heart after seeing Jiraiya's action.
However, his figure had barely shot out from its original position when a special Kunai, entwined with Wind Release, shot into the soil in front of him with a prediction beyond ordinary people.
Ay's gaze shifted with it.
Immediately after, Namikaze Minato's figure flickered out from in front of him.
The Spacetime Rasengan in his hand, transformed into a light arrow, was entwined with distorted ripples and blasted directly towards him, creating a piercing sound of rushing air.
The Fourth Raikage's steps immediately paused, and the Shikon no Tama in his brow suddenly flickered.
The violent spacetime distortion trajectory once again slid off the surface of his body.
However, there was no surprise in Namikaze Minato's eyes; instead, he narrowed his eyes slightly, paying attention to his footsteps.
'Does he have to stay in place when using this move?'
However, this thought only flashed through his mind.
Whether the opponent needed to stay in place to use this move, the difference was not too great for the Fourth Raikage's extreme speed.
As expected, after only a brief pause, he roared, and the Tailed Beast Chakra entwined around his body surged dramatically. His whole body burned with blazing Chakra fragments like flames, and his speed was even faster than the previous second. He formed his huge palm into a blade with his fingers and swung it down towards Namikaze Minato without hesitation.
"Tsk—"
With a piercing sound of rushing air, his hand blade almost grazed Namikaze Minato's cheek, tearing open a clear trajectory.
Relying on extraordinary neural reactions, Minato slightly shifted his body, then unhesitatingly moved into Ay's inner circle, holding a special Kunai in an inverted grip. The highly compressed Wind Release Chakra entwined around the tip of the Kunai was faintly visible as he thrust it directly upwards.
The Raikage, however, did not dodge or evade, like a giant tank spewing steam, he stubbornly charged, colliding with his Kunai.
Just by touching the Tailed Beast Chakra on the surface of his body, the tip of the Kunai Minato held inverted in his hand sounded a 'clang' as if it had struck a copper wall and iron barrier.
But he remained tenacious, using the immense force of the collision to step back, lowering his stance to avoid the opponent's sweeping elbow strike. He then stepped forward, sliding past his thigh, leveraging the height difference between them, and thrust his Kunai again.
If viewed from a distance, one would see the two combatants entwined in battle, almost as if they were dancing, passing through each other at speeds too fast for the average human eye to follow.
One charged head-on, while the other was like a fluttering butterfly.
Only the occasional residual shockwaves from their clashes, which effortlessly leveled the surrounding giant coniferous forest, revealed the danger and ferocity of their close-quarters combat.
"Clang!"
Another clash of hand blade and Kunai; the Raikage's body was incredibly sturdy, almost inhuman.
However, being held here, his heart grew increasingly anxious.
No matter how many people were left at the Konoha command center, as long as Jiraiya hadn't died here, Konoha's front line could never be easily breached.
Moreover, there was that talisman in the sky, whose purpose was unknown.
Because of this, his gaze towards the Yellow Flash in front of him grew increasingly hostile.
Until the two sides separated again, he suddenly stopped.
"Yellow Flash."
"Do you think this level of attack can stop me?"
The Fourth Raikage's voice was muffled and cold, yet subtly carried a hint of determination.
Originally, he had wanted to conserve some of Gyuki's Chakra, to use it when attacking the Konoha front line.
But now that the situation had come to this, there was nothing left to hold back.
Namikaze Minato's expression tightened.
As expected.
Almost at the instant his words fell, the already intensely concentrated Tailed Beast Chakra around the Fourth Raikage's body immediately surged to another level.
The Chakra tails, which had previously been somewhat ethereal, suddenly solidified into a tangible form, transforming into thicker, more massive octopus tentacle tails. At the same time, his size also suddenly began to expand.
With a sudden burst of smoke, a monster that had expanded hundreds of times its original size abruptly stood in the center of the short coniferous forest.
Just its bull-headed humanoid torso alone was over a hundred meters tall.
Namikaze Minato, standing before him in his normal human form, appeared as tiny as an ant.
"I told you to do this a long time ago, Ay!"
Gyuki's arrogant voice came from his mouth: "He thinks he's Sawara Kiri, trying to stop the two of us by himself?!"
"Please, Gyuki!"
The Fourth Raikage's will spoke: "This time, we absolutely cannot let Jiraiya and the others escape!"
"Leave it to me!"
At the moment he heard that voice, Namikaze Minato's thoughts suddenly tightened.
Without any time to react, his figure had already shot out from its original position, even faster than his thoughts.
The next moment, a Longtail, like a train, wildly swept horizontally through the coniferous forest.
Giant trees, thick enough for over a dozen people to embrace, were as fragile as blades of grass under the immense force of this Longtail, easily crushed and annihilated.
Namikaze Minato's figure continuously moved along the coordinates of the Flying Thunder God Technique, his expression tense as he looked at the colossal creature in front of him, clenching his teeth.
'I must hold out until Sensei and the others are at a safe distance.'
At the same time, his peripheral vision glanced at the talisman suspended high in the sky.
'Is this thing really as effective as Sensei said?'
In contrast to his tense posture was the wild rampage of the Eight-Tails Gyuki.
Facing humans in his Tailed Beast form, he didn't need to think about how to inflict damage.
Every punch, every kick, and even just the residual shockwaves from his attacks, were enough to easily crush them to oblivion.
His figure continuously charged head-on, chasing Namikaze Minato's movements, but this overly agile little thing made him slightly annoyed.
"Gyuki, wide-range attack!"
"Leave it to me!"
After realizing that conventional attacks would be difficult to land on the opponent, Gyuki grinned.
Ever since he was killed and revived by Sawara Kiri last time, these little things from Konoha had become thorns in his side, and he didn't mind cooperating with the Kumogakure guys even if it was just a little.
The next moment, he suddenly clenched both fists, standing like pillars in the ground. His bull-headed maw opened, directly facing the direction Namikaze Minato was escaping.
The surging Chakra continuously condensed, forming a spherical mass in a two-to-eight ratio of Yin and Yang.
Finally, it converged into an ultimate, gloomy black.
"Biju Bomb! Barrage!"
Gazing at the continuously condensing Chakra singularity in the distance, Namikaze Minato immediately stopped, holding his special Kunai horizontally, pointing directly towards the direction from which the Biju Bomb was coming.
"Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder!"
A circular Sealing Technique suddenly expanded into the void.
Immediately after.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!!!"
A series of slightly smaller Tailed Beast Balls were continuously spewed out towards him like rapidly firing bullets, suddenly unleashing a massive barrage.
All the surrounding trees were swept away by the violent gales. The accuracy wasn't precise, but it was a genuine area-of-effect attack, easily leveling the Flying Thunder God coordinates he had previously left in the vicinity.
The pitch-black Tailed Beast Balls crashed like an overwhelming tide into the Sealing Technique he had set up in advance, and then, following the spatial sealing coordinates, were transferred to one distant coordinate after another, forming mushroom-like explosion points, with a continuous roar of explosions in his ears.
If only one person were participating in the battle, Namikaze Minato could have chosen a less clumsy tactic.
But unfortunately, his primary goal was not to survive, but to buy time for everyone to retreat.
However, no matter how skilled Minato was in space and Sealing Techniques, his Chakra was limited.
Continuously shifting such massive Chakra clusters was extremely difficult, even for him.
As the sealing formula continued to absorb the Tailed Beast Balls, more and more cold sweat trickled down his cheeks.
But—
'It's not enough!'
Namikaze Minato gritted his teeth, his eyes resolute.
"Die—!"
Accompanied by Gyuki's arrogant roar, a Biju Bomb several times larger than the previous ones suddenly condensed.
However, before this attack could be launched from his mouth.
For some reason, his movements suddenly paused.
Namikaze Minato's expression froze, and he looked towards him in confusion.
Then, his eyes reflected a mottled rainbow bridge that seemed to traverse the sky, crossing from unknown hundreds of kilometers away, tearing through the heavens.
'What is that thing?'
Both Gyuki and the Fourth Raikage couldn't help but have this somewhat bewildered thought at this moment.
Almost instinctively, Gyuki suddenly raised his head and unleashed his final, fully charged attack towards the rainbow bridge.
However, the Biju Bomb that collided with the rainbow bridge was like a bubble hitting an iron rod.
The moment it touched, it was crushed by incredibly terrifying Ryumakyu Chakra and then continued to penetrate, centered on the talisman coordinates.
The Fourth Raikage's eyes widened as he looked at the sky and suddenly shouted loudly:
"Gyuki, lend me all your Chakra!"
No sooner had his voice fallen than the fragment of the Shikon no Tama in the center of his brow glowed with maximum intensity.
There was no dodging, no resisting.
He could only fight with all his might for survival.
Minato, on the other hand, suddenly smiled when he saw this scene.
In an instant, his figure disappeared.
Only Gyuki's massive body remained roaring at this spot, going all out against that sky-spanning attack.
"Thud—"
Even hundreds of kilometers away, the ground beneath their feet trembled violently for a moment, as if a heavy hammer had struck a drum.
Everyone instinctively looked in the direction from which the tremor came.
Dust and smoke billowed, reaching across heaven and earth.
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