Chapter 43: Minato vs. Rōshi
Kakashi gave a slow nod, a faint trace of exhaustion flickering across his face—so subtle it was almost impossible to notice.
They had just finished preparing to leave when the stone beneath their feet suddenly sent out a strange, low-frequency tremor.
Within that vibration lurked a wave of Chakra so violent it made their breathing hitch. It was like a volcano that had slept for thousands of years suddenly awakening, unleashing a scorching heat that tore through both sky and earth, surging from the northeast and sweeping outward in every direction.
"Hm?" Izumo's expression changed instantly.
He held his breath, and his master-level Chakra perception spread out like a delicate spiderweb.
The Chakra was so immense it defied imagination. Its heat flowed like raging magma, wrapped in a savage aura that pressed down on everything it touched.
This was exactly like what they had faced not long ago in the forest—the Four-Tails' Jinchūriki, Rōshi. But now, the power was several times more terrifying.
"This Chakra… this is a Bijuu transformation from the Four-Tails' Jinchūriki," Izumo said heavily to Kakashi.
Kakashi's Sharingan snapped open, the red tomoe spinning rapidly as he tried to pierce through the thick clouds of dust and catch a glimpse of the anomaly in the distance.
Even from dozens of kilometers away, the sky-and-earth-shattering aura made the hair on his arms stand on end.
"So this is the enemy you faced before? Going up against a monster like that… how did you even survive?!"
"He hadn't transformed into the Bijuu back then," Izumo replied in a low voice.
Before his words could fade, the distant sky suddenly erupted with a blinding pillar of orange-red light, like a colossal torch connecting heaven and earth.
At its core, dark red, lava-like patterns churned endlessly, instantly painting half the night sky in a blazing orange glow.
A moment later, a deafening roar exploded outward. The shockwave slammed into them like a tangible, massive hammer, making the canyon walls creak and collapse as gravel and stones were flung into the air.
Even the ground beneath their feet began to quake violently, forcing both of them to lower their bodies just to keep their balance.
Izumo and Kakashi stared in unison.
To the northeast, the mountain range looked twisted and warped beneath that pillar of light.
Countless massive boulders were hurled hundreds of meters into the air, while black dust billowed upward like a mushroom cloud, instantly blotting out the sky.
The once-stretching outline of the mountains was completely altered in just a few seconds. A gigantic chasm spread outward from the center of the pillar of light, as if the earth itself had been ripped open by the claws of a colossal beast, leaving behind a gaping wound.
"Even the terrain is changing…" Kakashi's voice was filled with shock he couldn't hide.
Izumo felt it quietly within himself. The newly awakened seed of Chakra in his body allowed him to sense the horror of that power even more clearly.
Bijuu Chakra surged like a flood of raging magma. Wherever it passed, nothing remained.
The air was scorched and warped, and even the natural energy between heaven and earth was thrown into complete chaos.
"If we go there now, we'd just be throwing our lives away," Izumo forced himself to suppress the turbulence in his chest. "For now, we should retreat. That's a battlefield for high-level ninja. There's no place for us to interfere yet."
Kakashi nodded silently. He wasn't reckless.
That brief display of power was more than enough for him to understand that the gap between them and that level of combat was as vast as the difference between sky and earth.
All he could do was avoid becoming a burden and return to the camp as quickly as possible so reinforcements could arrive in time.
The two of them hesitated no longer.
They turned into fleeting shadows, racing back toward the Konoha encampment.
"The power of a Bijuu… really isn't something ordinary ninja can fight against," Kakashi muttered as he ran, a glint of seriousness flashing through his eye.
"Lord Minato bears the title 'Yellow Flash of the Leaf.' No matter how powerful Rōshi's Bijuu form is, that doesn't mean he can land a hit on Lord Minato," Izumo said.
After running nonstop for half an hour, the silhouette of the Konoha camp finally came into view.
The defensive barrier surrounding the camp was already active. Pale blue energy light enveloped the entire area. Several patrol ninja clutched their weapons tightly, clearly unsettled by the disturbance in the distance.
"That's Captain Kamizuki and Jōnin Kakashi!" Recognizing the two figures, the patrol ninja let out a sigh of relief and quickly formed hand seals to open a gap in the barrier so they could pass through.
"You're finally back!" Rin hurried out from the crowd, worry almost spilling from her face.
She immediately supported Kakashi's arm, her fingertips pressing lightly against the edge of his bandages. After making sure no fresh blood was seeping through, the tension in her shoulders slowly eased.
"That tremor earlier made the ground shake. I was really worried, terrified that something had happened to you and Minato-sensei."
"We're fine," Kakashi said, shaking his head slightly.
But his gaze passed over Rin and landed on four members of the defense force standing not far away. "What are they talking about?"
Rin followed his line of sight. "They're four survivors from the front lines. Minato-sensei brought them back to camp fifteen minutes ago, then disappeared again!"
Before she could finish speaking, a tall defense force ninja had already noticed them. His rough palm waved energetically, and his voice boomed like a ringing bell.
"Jōnin Kakashi! Your captain, Lord Minato, is absolutely incredible!"
The tall ninja was named Tanaka, a squad leader in the defense force. Right now, he completely ignored the pain pulling at the wound on his shoulder. Even droplets of saliva flew as he spoke with unrestrained excitement.
"You didn't see it yourselves! Lord Minato ordered the four of us to throw kunai at fifty-one Iwa ninja! We all thought we were dead for sure!"
"But the moment we finished throwing and got back up, all fifty-one of those Iwa ninja dropped to the ground at the same time! The sight… damn it… it was unbelievable!"
The ninja listening around them unconsciously let out the breaths they had been holding.
Taking down fifty-one elite ninja in an instant was far beyond the understanding of ordinary shinobi—like witnessing a living legend.
"But just when we thought victory was in our hands, that monster suddenly appeared!" Tanaka's tone grew heavy.
The excitement drained from his face, replaced by lingering fear. "A creature covered head to toe in red fur, tens of meters tall! With just one attack, the entire area turned into a sea of magma!"
"Yeah… it was too terrifying. They said it was Iwagakure's Jinchūriki," another ninja said, pressing a bandaged arm. His voice still trembled. "Lord Minato teleported the four of us back to camp, then faced that monster alone. We don't know how he's doing now…"
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