Chapter 110:
"Mom!" Seeing Hinata get pulled in by Universal Pull and then blasted away by Almighty Push, Boruto's face filled with worry. "Damn it!"
"I'm fine, Boruto."
Just as Boruto was about to use Shadow Clone Jutsu, the adult Hinata, who had been flung away, struggled to get up from the ground and spoke with difficulty.
This wasn't Hinata's first time experiencing something like this. The last time, she was protecting Naruto. This time, she was protecting Boruto.
"Don't be ridiculous! I'm Uzumaki Naruto—I haven't fallen so low that I need someone else to protect me!" said the young Naruto. From childhood till now, this was the first time he'd ever been protected by someone else. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Hundreds of young Narutos appeared all at once.
"So many shadow clones!" Boruto gasped in amazement.
"Everyone, let's go!" said the lead Naruto, echoed by the others.
"Hashirama's little brother's jutsu? How dull... You want to dance too, do you?" Even though the scene of being surrounded by hundreds of shadow clones looked impressive, for the battle-hardened Uchiha Madara, it didn't put the slightest pressure on him. "Almighty Push!"
With one use of Almighty Push, all of the charging young Naruto clones were blown away into clouds of white mist.
"That's it?" Old Madara scoffed.
"We're not done yet—Rasengan!" Boruto threw his small, invisible Rasengan.
During the attack, the tiny Rasengan suddenly vanished, as if it had disappeared due to insufficient chakra. But anyone who let their guard down thinking that would be in for a nasty surprise.
Of course, someone like Old Madara wouldn't fall for that. His battle-honed sixth sense instinctively told him something was off, prompting him to dodge just in time and avoid the attack.
When the invisible Rasengan reappeared in the spot where he had just been standing, Old Madara's face clearly showed interest. "An invisible jutsu? Now that's interesting."
"What?! He actually dodged my jutsu!"
This was the advantage of a seasoned veteran—after all, there were countless cases of powerful shinobi getting taken out during the war era just because they let their guard down.
"This is the end—Universal Pull!"
From Madara's palm, a gravitational force emerged, pulling Boruto rapidly toward him.
"Boruto!" Young Naruto quickly grabbed him, but it only slowed the pulling force slightly.
In that moment, a yellow figure teleported to Boruto's side, placing a hand on him. He turned to look at adult Hinata. "Sorry, Hinata. I'm late."
It was the Seventh Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto.
Elsewhere, hidden in the shadows, Minato patted both sides of his dented torso, restoring his body that clearly bore a fist-shaped indentation. He turned to Kushina and said, "See? Told you—there was no need for us to get involved. Plus, we were explicitly ordered not to interfere with the Holy Grail War, and the directive came directly from that director."
"What director? Such a coward, doesn't even have the guts to show his face. If that S.H.I.E.L.D. director ever appears in front of me, you'll see if I don't punch him into next week. The nerve to put me in a pink Patrick Star body!" At this, Patrick Star Kushina shot Minato a look. "Hey, Minato, you've been acting weird lately—staying out of everything and even stopping me from getting involved."
"Is... is that so...? Hahaha." Minato scratched his yellow, bald, sponge-like head and laughed awkwardly.
In reality, Shunhi had previously spoken with Minato and told him that he was a double agent planted in S.H.I.E.L.D. by Hydra.
Minato was a very reasonable person. Even back when Obito released the Nine Tails and caused his and Kushina's deaths—almost destroying Konoha—Minato didn't harbor much hatred. Instead, he regretted not making it to Obito in time to save him.
To be honest, Minato didn't care much about his current body. Just being able to come back to life, reunite with Kushina, and see Naruto again was more than enough for him.
As long as S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't doing anything to threaten the shinobi world, Minato actually felt grateful to them.
As for Shunhi's confession about being a double agent, Minato found it believable. After all, someone capable of becoming Hokage couldn't possibly be as simple as he appeared on the surface.
Although the shinobi world had been rather unstable since S.H.I.E.L.D. showed up, Minato noticed that every time they stirred something up, it made a lot of noise but had little real impact. Coupled with the fact that Shunhi held the position of Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Minato quickly pieced things together.
He was genuinely moved at the time and patted Shunhi's shoulder. "You've been through a lot these past years, Shunhi."
Shunhi instinctively replied, "It's no trouble. I'm here to serve the people of Konoha."
"No—to serve all the people of the shinobi world."
Now that's what you call having a sense of duty. No wonder he became Hokage. From that moment on, Shunhi and Minato were in complete agreement.
To avoid blowing Shunhi's cover, Minato hadn't told anyone about this and, at Shunhi's request, continued holding both himself and Kushina back from getting involved in anything that happened during this time.
Back to the main story—now that Naruto in his Sage Fox mode had arrived, adult Hinata visibly relaxed. "I'm okay, Naruto."
Though she was covered in wounds, none of them were fatal.
"A Jinchūriki and their tailed beast managing to reconcile... The Hokage of this era really is interesting."
Hearing the voice of Old Madara, Naruto finally paid attention to the enemy before him. Honestly, someone like Naruto—who had always respected the elderly and cared for the young—found it hard to go all out against an old man. So he decided to try talking-no-jutsu first: "If humans and tailed beasts can reconcile, then humans and other humans definitely can too."
"Hmph. Still clinging to Hashirama's ideals? Since arriving here, I've learned a bit about this era. The so-called peace now is built on nothing but your power. I bet even the other four Kage combined wouldn't be your match. That just proves my philosophy of peace was the right one all along!"
"Looks like... talking won't work on you."
"It's been a while since I've fought someone strong."
The battle was about to begin.
Though Naruto didn't want to bully an old man, he had no choice. This was for peace. Besides, he hadn't forgotten about the Holy Grail situation.
"Only one of them...?"
Naruto looked around. According to the intel provided by Mitsuki, S.H.I.E.L.D. had summoned four Servants in total.
Even though Naruto's current power far outclassed Old Madara, that didn't mean he could take him out in an instant. If the other S.H.I.E.L.D. Servants attacked the people Naruto was protecting while he was caught up fighting Madara, he wouldn't be able to defend them in time.
So Naruto assumed a defensive stance and waited for Sasuke and the others from the village to arrive.
But thanks to having Minato's endorsement, Shunhi had become much bolder. He directly ordered Flaming Cloud Evil God and Gray Wolf to join the Holy Grail War, tasked with intercepting all of Konoha's support forces—except for Sasuke.
If it really came down to the final act, they'd just pin all the blame on the S.H.I.E.L.D. director. And with Minato backing them, clearing their names would be a piece of cake.
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