Yin Release: Day-Chasing Fierce Wolves!

"Thirty kilometers straight ahead, a squad of Iwagakure ninja is approaching rapidly. At least three of them have chakra levels equivalent to jonin, with around thirty at chunin and genin level."

On Kannabi Bridge.

Minato Namikaze pressed his fingers to the ground, closed his eyes, and spoke in a low voice.

Chakra Sensory Technique.

The Flying Thunder God was an extraordinarily complex technique, far more difficult to learn than ordinary S-rank ninjutsu.

If Minato had spent the time he used to learn the Flying Thunder God developing a Kekkei Genkai, he might have managed to create one.

But that would have been putting the cart before the horse. The Flying Thunder God was far stronger than the vast majority of Kekkei Genkai.

And the prerequisite for learning the Flying Thunder God was powerful sensory ability.

Minato had no authority to teach the Flying Thunder God, but he had taught Kagami Uchiha the Chakra Sensory Technique.

Kagami Uchiha's current sensory limit was ten kilometers, far below Minato Namikaze's.

That was talent.

"Looks like word of Lord Orochimaru's invasion of the Land of Wind has already spread." Minato's expression was grave. "I wonder how the battle is going on his side."

"Don't worry, Minato. Lord Orochimaru can handle it." A masked man wearing sunglasses spoke from within the group.

Shibi Aburame.

This time, in addition to Minato, Kagami, and Fugaku, there were four Konoha jonin, along with Xuan Huo, who possessed a Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

They were Shibi Aburame, Choza Akimichi, Nara Suzaku, and Inoichi Yamanaka.

Shikaku Nara was serving as commander-in-chief on the eastern front. Otherwise, they would have gathered the current generation of Ino-Shika-Cho.

It could be said that, apart from Xuan Huo, everyone present had deep ties with Minato. They had voluntarily joined this dangerous operation.

The Third Shinobi World War had only just begun, yet more than half of the village's core strength had already been won over by Minato. It would be strange if Orochimaru could win a jonin trust vote.

"There are only thirty kilometers left. They'll appear soon. How should we deal with them?" Fugaku asked in a low voice, arms folded.

"Should we negotiate?" Nara Suzaku spoke up. All the interactions with other ninja along the way had been handled by him.

His mind was slightly inferior to Shikaku Nara's, but diplomacy was his specialty.

Minato frowned slightly and looked toward Kagami Uchiha.

The two seemed to understand each other without words. They exchanged a glance and smiled.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Kagami."

"Alright."

Kagami Uchiha dashed out in a flash, his voice carrying back. "Xuan Huo, follow me."

"Understood!"

Watching the two sprint away, Fugaku looked at Minato in confusion.

"Did you just give some kind of order?"

The eight-man squad had no designated captain, but everyone had tacitly accepted Minato's leadership. Only he could unite them all.

The warmth had vanished from Minato's eyes, replaced by a trace of chill.

"At this point in time, a squad from Iwagakure like this can only be an advance force sent to scout Konoha's battlefield."

"We must wipe them out. Maybe that'll buy me a little more time."

After hesitating, Choza Akimichi still asked, "Couldn't they possibly... be carrying out some other mission?"

"Even if they are."

Minato replied flatly, "We still can't let them pass."

"The defenses on the western front are weak right now. That's a fact. We can't let them confirm that information."

"At the very least, the main battlefield has to be here. We can't let the battlefield be in the Land of Fire."

This was different from when they carried out missions together in peacetime. Back then, Minato could still be somewhat swayed by personal feelings.

But this was war.

Sunagakure had already gone to war with Konoha!

Orochimaru, Hiruzen, and Minato all shared the same goal.

To end the war in the Land of Wind as quickly as possible, so they could deal with the battles to come.

Unlike the Third Hokage, who hoped the shinobi war would be delayed, Minato and Jiraiya had traveled the shinobi world on missions and had long known this great war was unavoidable.

Then they would fight somewhere else as much as possible!

It was better for other countries to suffer than for the Land of Fire to suffer.

Minato was kind and friendly even toward ordinary villagers, but no one from another village had ever called him a good man.

Gripping a Special Kunai tightly, Minato Namikaze ordered, "Kagami has one of my Flying Thunder God kunai on him. He'll strike first, and we'll follow to prepare support."

"Shibi, Suzaku, Choza, Fugaku, each of you pick a direction and form an encirclement."

"Don't let a single one of them escape. Understood?"

"Understood!"

The five quickly scattered, but...

Why was Kagami the one leading the charge?

Not only Fugaku, even Shibi and the others did not understand.

Minato Namikaze did not explain. They would know soon enough.

As they rushed forward, Kagami Uchiha rapidly formed hand seals with both hands, gathering chakra. Xuan Huo was forming seals as well.

During his two years at the Ninja Academy, Kagami Uchiha had trained under Shen Huo, and Xuan Huo had often been present too.

The two had developed considerable coordination. It was also during that time that Xuan Huo had completely come to admire Kagami.

This was an unparalleled genius. Being able to serve under him was already something to be thankful for!

The presence of the Iwagakure ninja drew closer and closer. Kagami could already vaguely sense them.

Closer...

A little closer.

The moment figures appeared in his vision, Kagami Uchiha suddenly slammed both hands onto the ground.

"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"

There was still nearly a kilometer between them. That squad did not possess the Sharingan, so they could not see Kagami Uchiha and Xuan Huo.

The swamp that suddenly appeared caught them completely off guard. The ground abruptly turned into a bog. Apart from a few alert ninja who leaped away, dozens had their feet caught by the swamp and slowly began sinking.

"What kind of technique is this?!"

"Swamp of the Underworld! Such a huge range... could it be Jiraiya?!"

It couldn't possibly be Hiruzen Sarutobi, could it?!

Some powerful techniques carried distinct personal signatures. For example, when people saw a white-haired man using chakra blades, they would instinctively think of the White Fang.

Although Iwagakure excelled at Earth Release, their large-scale Earth Release techniques were mostly shaping techniques that altered the terrain's form.

Techniques that changed the nature of the earth like this belonged to Konoha's true teachings.

The Second Hokage's techniques had all been placed within the Sealing Technique. Konoha ninja possessed ninjutsu of every attribute, along with their own specialties, because of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The Third Hokage, known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," could skillfully combine ninjutsu of five different attributes. He was no joke.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could practically be called the limit of what a non-Kekkei Genkai ninja could achieve. He had no weaknesses in any area, and even in his fifties, he could beat the prime Orochimaru to death.

If he had not softened at the last moment, Orochimaru would never have been able to defect.

"Stay calm! Don't struggle too hard. I'll save you. Da Shi, Iwaguru, stay on guard!"

A jonin formed hand seals and created boulders across the swamp as footholds, beginning to rescue his teammates one by one.

"Earth Release: Four Enclosure Pillar Prison."

Boom...

Thick earthen walls rose around all four sides of the enormous swamp.

"Da Shi! Smash it!"

"Alright!!"

A burly Iwagakure ninja covered his arm in rock and shattered one side of the Earth Flow Wall with a punch.

Bang!!!

Earth and stone flew everywhere, and dust filled the air.

Through the smoke, Da Shi saw two eerie red glimmers.

"What a shame. You happened to hit the one-in-four chance."

Kagami Uchiha's lips curved upward.

Whoosh!

Xuan Huo leaped forward, and the chakra he had been building surged wildly out through his throat.

Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!!

Flames erupted like crashing waves, scorching the air.

"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"

When it came to Earth Release, Iwagakure were the real experts.

Da Shi had just smashed through an Earth Flow Wall, yet he swiftly erected another one. Tear it down, build it again.

Fire and earth did not particularly counter one another. Xuan Huo's Great Fire Annihilation was quite powerful, but it was not enough to break through an Earth Flow Wall cast by a ninja of the same level.

At that moment, the originally scorching space suddenly gained a touch of coldness.

Feeling the bone-chilling, sinister aura at his side, Xuan Huo's heart burned hot.

That's it!

Such pure, such profound darkness!

This is the man I chose!

Kagami Uchiha placed his right hand over his left and extended them forward as though holding a gun.

This was not one of the twelve hand seals.

"This is... you little brat, did you even steal the Ten Shadows Technique?!"

A massive shadow gathered before Kagami Uchiha, forming one enormous black wolf after another.

Each black wolf was the size of a calf. They continued splitting until there were dozens of them.

The pack radiated ominous yin energy.

Within their pupils...

Were crimson Sharingan!

Kagami Uchiha gritted his teeth and clenched his hands tightly, a bloodthirsty, excited smile on his face.

"Go tear apart their flesh..."

"Yin Release: Day-Chasing Fierce Wolves!"

The wolf pack swept forward like a surging black storm, their howls shaking the heavens.

The earth trembled, and the stench of blood spread through the air.

Bathed in flames, the wolves shattered the earthen wall.

Like black clouds bearing down upon a city!