The Flying Thunder God Technique.
The pinnacle of extreme speed in the Ninja World.
When Minato, who had mastered the Flying Thunder God, fought an enemy, it was always a one-hit kill, never dragging things out.
But now, Minato's two seemingly certain kill strikes had both missed, causing his expression to turn solemn, his eyes radiating an unusual chill.
"An ice clone that even the Flying Thunder God couldn't catch? The Yuki Clan has a strong one like you?"
"No wonder even Jiraiya-sensei suffered such a great loss against you."
Minato looked up towards the treetop of a towering ancient tree in the distance.
On the treetop, a figure clad in a black robe stood at the high point, his right hand holding a gleaming long sword, looking down at him from above.
"Yuki Sora…"
"You are stronger than imagined."
Minato said, his voice cold.
"No need to be so tense."
Sora, however, smiled lightly: "Konoha's Yellow Flash, for people like you and me, enemies we can see are not frightening. What is truly frightening are the enemies we cannot see…"
"Enemies we cannot see?"
Minato's gaze flickered.
The next instant, his figure vanished from the spot once again.
Whoosh!
His figure flashed past like a stream of light.
A hundred-meter distance was crossed in the blink of an eye, as if snapping a finger.
When he reappeared, Minato was already swinging the Flying Thunder God kunai in his hand, aiming for Sora's throat once more.
A covert assault, a kill in a fleeting moment.
The speed is extremely fast!
The attack hidden within the light and shadows possessed an extreme speed that even ordinary Kage-level Ninjas couldn't react to!
Sora's face was as calm as still water.
The moment Minato vanished from his original position, the Zanpakuto in Sora's hand traced a path of light, following an incredibly graceful trajectory, precisely appearing on the inevitable path of the kunai's slash.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing.
The Zanpakuto and the Flying Thunder God kunai collided, emitting a crisp, clear ring.
'His speed is slower than before. Is the first decay distance of the Flying Thunder God one hundred and fifty meters?'
'Earlier, he specifically moved a hundred meters away, was he testing the limits of the Flying Thunder God Technique?!!!'
In the instant they crossed blows, both Sora and Minato's expressions underwent subtle changes.
The next moment, Minato, now at close quarters, launched another attack. The kunai in his hand twisted, deflecting the force from the front of the Zanpakuto, then slid along the blade's length to strike at Sora's body once more.
The kunai sliced through the air, making a rustling, tearing sound.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Sora turned his hand, gripping Hyorinmaru in a reverse hold, pulling it back before him, using the blade to block three consecutive slashes from the Flying Thunder God kunai.
'Truly, the student surpasses the master…'
'Minato actually made the same choice as Jiraiya.'
A trace of appreciation appeared in Sora's eyes.
Before, during the battle with Jiraiya, he also chose close-quarters combat immediately after closing the distance, using short-range strikes to engage, suppressing the Zanpakuto's sharp edge.
Minato's choice was no different. In fact, his speed was faster, and the rhythm of his assault was even more intense.
Ding!
Ding~
When the Flying Thunder God kunai collided with the Zanpakuto again, it made a strange sound.
Crack!
Snap!
The next moment, a tremendous counter-shock force directly snapped the kunai in Minato's hand.
With a look of surprise on his face, he used the recoil force to quickly fly backward. After a few flips in mid-air, he put distance between the two.
He was wary of Sora's exquisite swordsmanship and naturally didn't dare to fight him empty-handed.
'It actually broke?'
Minato landed on the ground. He looked down at the Flying Thunder God kunai in his hand, which had been severed by the Zanpakuto.
A rather helpless expression appeared on his sunny, heroic face.
His Flying Thunder God kunai was top-of-the-line among ninja tools!
Made from rare special alloys, its sturdiness and sharpness were more than five times that of ordinary kunai, and the price was nearly ten times higher.
To put it bluntly, the Flying Thunder God kunai in Minato's hand, in terms of weapon quality, could probably be mentioned in the same sentence as Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swords.
And now, the Flying Thunder God kunai, which had always been indestructible, had broken for the first time. This made Minato feel both helpless and horrified.
After that exchange with Sora, he even felt a long-lost sense of powerlessness.
'This Yuki Sora is so troublesome!'
Minato gritted his teeth inwardly.
His fighting style was simple and brutal. Using the Flying Thunder God Technique as the tactical core, he would instantly close the distance and harvest his opponent's life with his special kunai.
For Ninjas with high attack and low defense, this was practically a public enemy-level strategy.
It was also with this BUG-like fighting style that Minato wreaked havoc on the Iwagakure and Kumogakure front lines, making the Jonin of the two great villages nervous and terrified.
Even Kumogakure's speed-specialist A, and the Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki, Killer B, were suppressed by him alone on several occasions.
However, when facing Sora, that nearly invincible Flying Thunder God tactic had completely failed, making Minato feel somewhat unaccustomed.
Sora stood firm and unmoving.
He held his sword in place, when suddenly frost began to condense on the blade, causing a black pattern to gradually appear on the edge.
"Is this your Flying Thunder God's mark?"
As Sora chuckled lightly, the mark imprinted on the Zanpakuto actually shattered and disintegrated like ice.
Looking up again, the eyes of Minato opposite him were filled with horror.
'It actually disappeared!'
'I can't sense that Flying Thunder God's mark anymore!'
Minato's face changed dramatically.
His Flying Thunder God's mark was an indestructible pattern. Once a mark was left, it would never disappear until death.
And now, that Flying Thunder God's mark had been effortlessly erased by someone!??
"It's truly unimaginable what terrifying things would happen if a monster like you appeared on the front lines."
Minato's expression was grim, 'After fighting the rampaging Kushina, he still had such energy left. The opponent's combat power and Chakra Reserves might have already reached legendary levels.'
"That is only to be expected…"
Sora said with a faint smile: "Isn't the current stalemate between Kirigakure and Konoha precisely because people like you and me, who possess the capacity of a Kage, haven't decided the outcome yet?"
"The day you die by my hand, the last barrier Konoha has against Kirigakure will also completely disappear."
Minato was momentarily stunned.
"The capacity of a Kage?"
"Yuki Sora…"
"So you also have the ambition to become the leader of a village?"
"Then…"
"I must win this battle even more!"
As the words fell, the figures of the two vanished from the scene once again.
The next moment, on the long-devastated battlefield, two dazzling streams of light suddenly flared up.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Golden and Black clashed!
The blazing lights constantly collided with each other like meteors.
Large areas of the ground collapsed without warning. The spiderweb-like collapses even spread out continuously like ripples from a drop falling into a lake.
Ripples spread out, the sounds of fierce combat continued.
Bang!
Bang!
Clang, clang, clang!
Boom!
Suddenly, an explosion loud enough to tear human eardrums sounded.
The two had completely abandoned so-called Ninjutsu methods of attack, engaging with the purest and deadliest slashes.
Zanpakuto!
Flying Thunder God kunai!
Countless terrifying attacks came from the shadows, carrying the sound of tearing air as they aimed for fatal spots, only to be suppressed back by rays of equally stunning dark light.
Exquisite!
Brilliant!
Divine!
Attacks as dazzling as starlight were constantly wielded freely in the hands of the two. Lethal moves capable of instantly killing ordinary Kage-level opponents were traded like ordinary skills.
Clang clang clang!
Clang clang clang!
The sound of metal clashing was incessant.
The Zanpakuto and the Flying Thunder God kunai collided constantly at different positions.
The force also grew greater and greater.
In just ten seconds, the Flying Thunder God kunai in Minato's hand had snapped a full five times.
Fragments of the special alloy kept falling.
'Damn it!'
'His sword is very strong. The difference in weapon quality is too great!'
Minato couldn't hide the shock and anger in his eyes. He felt that their speed and combat power were clearly on the same level, but the difference in weapons was like cloud and mud.
Having five kunai snap in quick succession, how was he supposed to fight like this!??
Minato felt so frustrated he wanted to vomit blood. Losing in a fair fight was one thing, but losing because of weapon quality was like using an uncommon weapon against a divine artifact, who could accept that?
Whoosh!
At the one last snap, Minato used the recoil force to jump backward.
While in the air, he threw seven or eight Flying Thunder God kunai at Sora.
Simultaneously, his hands flew through hand seals.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Bang!
White smoke exploded.
Instantly, a shadow clone distinctly appeared.
"Although it's a big move I just developed, against an opponent like you, I can't keep it hidden any longer…"
"Take this!"
"Yuki Sora!"
Minato's gaze sharpened as he shouted sternly: "This is the resolution I bet for the sake of the village…"
"It is the power obtained by burning the Will of Fire!"
"Flying Thunder God!"
"Space-Time Hurricane Flash Sequential Steps: Style Zero!!!"